World Ending

I'm surprised that there hasn't been much hype about the world ending.  According to the Mayans, they stopped making the calendar and it ended on December 21, 2012.  That means that supposedly the world is going to end that day.  My theory is that they got bored with creating the calendar and just happened to stop that day.  Supposedly Mayan predictions are pretty accurate.  I know that there are a lot of believers out there.  If the world does end, we only have two weeks left!  I obviously don't believe that the world is going to end.  I figured there would be more hype about it though.  I'm guessing that as we get really close people will start freaking out.  I'm expecting grocery stores to be mobbed.  That obviously makes no sense because if we are all going to die, why buy tons of food?  I expect people to think that they will need food though because they expect to live through the world ending like in the movie 2012 (like they will be able to live past that!).  There have been a few crazy people that have predicted the world was going to end about a year ago.  We are still here!  That's why I have no worries about the world ending in 2 weeks.

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts

It's only fitting.  Whenever I am stressed, I eat more dessert than usual.  That isn't saying much since I eat all the time anyway.  It's not good that I eat more when I'm stressed.  When I eat more, I feel guilty that I'm not working out, which stresses me more.  It's a vicious cycle.  I'm not saying that I'm stressed right now.  I'm sure it will come very soon.  Next Friday is technology awareness day where I'm bringing kids to present how we do the school newspaper.  It's also the first day of three in a row that my books are being promoted for free.  I have lots of tweets and promotions I have to do that day.  I'm fine now, but will be stressed that day, and all of the following week with the amount of hours I'll be working.  When you are stressed, as many college kids are right now because of finals, eat desserts.  You will feel better!

Use one Word to Describe Yourself

Lately I've been thinking of titles and topics for blog posts and immediately putting it into my notes app in my iPhone so I don't forget.  I'm very proud of myself for coming up with topics in advanced.  As you know, I used to struggle to come up with topics while sitting at the computer trying to write a blog post!  I thought of the topic, "Use one word to describe your life" first and then thought of this one.  I have not come up with one word to describe my life so far.  The point of these two posts is to get people thinking.  I don't want responses such as, awesome, cool, fun, unfinished.  Also, I wouldn't want people to just say the one word.  They then have to explain themselves.  The word I came up with to describe myself is driven.  If you asked me this in high school, this word would not have come up.  I have no idea what word I would use, probably lazy.  In high school, I just did enough to skid by.  My GPA was an 83 and it was only that high because of band.  Gym did not count towards the overall GPA.  In college, I received a 3.54 out of 4.0 for my undergrad and 3.90 out of 4.0 in grad school.  Something clicked inside of me that said I needed to put effort in.  That drive started my freshman year of college and has not left me.  I put a ton of hard work and effort into everything I do.  In order to achieve goals in life, you have to put in hard work.  Unfortunately, many kids these days do not understand that.  They want everything spoon fed to them.  It's amazing some of the things the kids want me to do for them in the computer lab.  This goes from any age 5-11.  They want me to spell words for them, click on a website that I just showed them how to get to, and practically do their work for them.  It's scary.  My favorite is when I ask the younger kids how to make a capital letter on the keyboard.  They all tell me that they hit the caps lock key, type the letter, and then turn it off instead of holding shift.  That just shows the laziness many kids unfortunately have.  Hard work pays off in the long run.  Although I am still looking for my hard work to pay off, I know it will soon.  I truly believe that if you put a lot of hard work and effort into something you really want, you will be able to reach your goals.  You just need to realize that it will not come served on a silver plate to you.  You need to go out and fight to get what you want in life.  I have that drive and plan to put in 100% effort into everything I do until I physically cannot do it anymore.

"If you're bored with life-you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things-you don't have enough goals." -Lou Holtz

Live and Die With your Favorite Team

It's amazing how as a society, our moods are greatly affected by how our sports team does on a weekly or daily basis, depending on the sport.  While at the Siena game Saturday, they were losing big time and my friend noticed my sour mood.  She said it was sad that I was so upset.  Whenever I watch the Dallas Cowboys on TV, I am always screaming at the TV and am always depressed when they lose (very often this year).  Everyone wears the team jersey and hat and screams at the TV.  What good is that?  Obviously the players don't hear you.  It's just fun to feel like you are actively participating in the game.  Even when you are at the game screaming, more than likely, the players don't hear you unless you are in the front row.  Let me tell you, I don't have enough money to sit in the front row of any sporting event!  I was so close to getting a Stanley Cup last year with the New Jersey Devils.  I wasn't too close to a world series with the Yankees.  I am nowhere near a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys.  They won't win a Super Bowl until their owner, Jerry Jones, gives the team to someone else (that's not happening ever).  Why do I still root for them, I have no idea!  Ya gotta love sports!

Drunk Driving

As you know, many small things irritate me.  However, two things that make me really lose my cool are bullying and drunk driving.  I've already posted about bullying.  It's now time to vent about drunk driving.  Our community was rocked over the weekend when a drunk driver hit another car from behind, killing two high school students and severely injuring two.  The driver was completely fine, though.  Every single person in my community was affected by this horrible tragedy.  All four students were high school seniors.  Three of them were from one school, one is from the high school in my district.  Historically, our two districts have been huge rivals.  However, they are rivals on the field and now a community and united off the field.  They were on their way home from a Siena game when a drunk driver nailed the back of the car.  The large SUV was an absolute mess.  It scares me because only about an hour earlier, I was on the same road coming home from the Siena game.  No matter how much you have had to drink in one night, it is too much to get behind the wheel!  You are putting so many lives at risk!  It's not worth it!  Your parents or friends will have no problem picking you up if you had too much to drink.  No one wants to deal with the alternative.  Unfortunately, two innocent lives were killed Saturday night because of someone that got behind the wheel after drinking too much alcohol.  I have driven to a party before with plans to not drink much.  However, I drank more than anticipated, and texted my brother to pick me up when he got out of work.  I picked up my car the next day.  It was inconvenient, but much safer.  I will not tell you not to drink, since I drink once in awhile myself.  However, I urge everyone to be smart about it and to stay away from the wheel when you have consumed any alcohol throughout the night.  This could have easily been avoided.  This tragedy is something the parents and community of the two that were killed will have to face for the rest of their lives.  They will never get over it.  The drunk driver will never get over what he did.  These kids were so young and had so much to live for.  DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

One Reason I don't Like Working at Grocery Store

Obviously I have a very long list of reasons that I don't like working at the grocery store.  One of the biggest reasons is because it requires 0 brain power on my part.  I noticed today that I hardly pay attention to what I'm doing while greeting the customers, scanning/bagging the groceries, and cashing out the customers.  I was zoned out during most of the shift.  It didn't help that I was ridiculously tired.  However, although I hardly paid attention to what I was doing, I still got the customers out quickly.  I scan and cash them out very fast.  I have been doing it for well over 9 years.  I can do the simple math in my head most of the time.  Obviously when I put the numbers in the register, it tells me how much change to give.  Some cashiers have to think about how to add the change up and give it to the customers, though.  I enjoy jobs with a challenge.  I like thinking and learning in a job.  This job doesn't do it for me.  That's why I really don't like it, but money is money and that's what I need!

What Didn't I do Today?

I have been going full speed all day today and it's nowhere near done!  I woke up (always a good thing) went to my friends apartment to check it out and see if I can financially move in, went to the bank, got home and shoveled, then started defrosting my freezer (will explain more after) while doing that, I emptied the dishwasher, punched in rough estimates of my monthly expenses for an apartment to see if I can swing it, did some laundry, made lunch, and lost my mind.  We have a very old freezer in the basement.  It collects ice and it builds up so that everything in the freezer gets freezer burnt.  It also prevents more food from going in.  The last time I defrosted the freezer was 2 years ago.  We should do it every year.  In order to defrost it, I have to take all of the food out of the freezer and boil water to put inside the freezer so that the ice can melt.  You repeat the boiling water process as many times as it takes until all of the ice is melted.  You have to do this in the winter so that the food can stay cold outside.  It took me six (6) hours to finish it!  To say I am tired is a vast understatement.  The freezer sure looks good now, though!  In about an hour, I'm going to the Siena Saints vs. UAlbany college basketball game.  After that, my friends and I are going out.  I'm sure I won't be home until at least 12 and then I have to work tomorrow at 7!  Ugh... at least tonight will be fun!