Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Virgina Tech

I just finished reading an article about the Virgina Tech Shooting. I feel sick to my stomach.

The article went into detail about the shooting, and the sounds of the gun being fired over and over again, killing and wounding innocent students.

My heart goes out to the students, teachers and family members of those killed or wounded by the shooter.

I just couldn't believe it when I read the article. My mom had sent me an e-mail saying that a gunman killed a bunch of people there, but it didn't fully dawn on me until I read that article I have linked above.

I feel angry at the guy who brought the gun into the dorm building. How could he stand there and just shoot a bunch of innocent people, with an "eerily calm expression on his face?" Why would he do that? I'm sure there's some reason inside his mind for doing it, but no one will know, because the coward shot himself in the head.

This is another one of those incidents that will go down in history, like the Columbine shooting. Where some kid goes and shoots a bunch of his peers.

Someone must really have something wrong with them if they can actually shoot someone. I'm not just talking about this time, but every time someone wields a gun and fires it at a human being. A living, breathing human, with a family, a history, goals, aspirations, wants and needs. Someone who is just like everyone else. How can one not feel remorse for killing someone.

I don't think people have taken the time to think about death. It's the ultimate end. It's irreversible. Once some one's heart stops, they're gone forever. So many of the people killed are killed young, before they ever hit their prime, before they could make a difference in the world in their own small way. Children lose parents, people lose siblings, husbands lose wives and wives lose husbands.

This incident has opened my eyes to how cruel some people are, that they can go in and shoot someone. No wonder this world has so many problems. We all want to kill each other. Why?

Friday, April 13, 2007

Looking Back

I can't believe how quickly my first year of college went. I still have a week and a half left, but its basically over now.

At the beginning of the year, I really hated college. I missed my family and my high school friends, and I didn't like being two hours away from home.

I was really "depressed" at the beginning of the year. I felt like I didn't have many friends, and I spent a lot of time in my room with my roommate.

However, my life changed when my friend Sara from down the hall told me about this group she joined called Drive Safe Kalamazoo. It's a safe ride program run entriely by students.

Anyway, I joined it, and a few weeks into it, I was already friends with several people in the group, including a few members on the exec board. After Christmas break, I threw myself into DSK, and I volunteered almost every weekend, and sometimes twice a weekend. Then I applied to be on exec board for next year, and I got Co Director of Recruitment, Retention and Recognition.

When I got to know the other people in DSK, I finally felt like I had found a place where I belonged. Not to mention a lot of the people in DSK like country music! People talked to me, I talked to other people, and one of the things that made me most happy was that people knew my name. I always have more respect for people who manage to remember my name.

There are a few things about this year that I wish I could change, but that's not possible, and like goes on. But I'm glad that things got better as the year went on, and I'm actually enjoying my time here. Next year will be even more amazing.

I've learned a lot this year, and I think I have changed a little bit as a person, but not in a bad way.

Not to mention, the sun is shining today and the snow is melting!!

Have a wonderful day.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Americans Kind of Suck

This topic is something I'm rather passionate about. And that is Gay Rights, and their ability to be married, or at least Legally Joined.

I read a news article in my school's newspaper today about a bill that was passed by the Washington State Legislature that gives homosexual couples the right to "visit a partner in the hospital, inherit the partner's property without a will and make funeral arrangements, among other things."

I whole heartily support this decision. This is a very important, while small, step for homosexuals in America.

What really bothered me about this article was the quotes from those who opposed the bill. Republican John Ahren said "There's no question about it, this is a bad, bad bill. This is really a sad day."

What I want to know is, why? Why are so many people against gay marriage? Why do people think this is such a horrible thing?

I understand that the Constitution of the United States states that marriage is between a man and a woman, but this was written by the same kind of people who used to kill women because they thought they were witches, and who enslaved people just because they were of a different color and spoke a different language.

The point I wish I could make to everyone is that if two guys or two girls want to get married, then it does not effect their life in any way. If you see two guys shopping together, holding hands even, then does your life get effected? No. If you see two women kissing, is your life changed for the worse? No. Besides, some perverted men ENJOY seeing two girls make out, so what's the problem? Geez.


Sure, if a man and a man are married, they won't have to buy tampons. Big deal. And if a woman and a woman get married, they won't have to buy condoms. Big deal.

A man and a woman are two people, a man and a man are two people, and a woman and a woman are two people. Two people make up a marriage. I fail to see the difference between same sex and different sexes. The only difference is the penis and the vagina.

If I could hear a good, well supported argument for why they shouldn't be married, maybe I'll reconsider my opinions. But no one will be able to make one up. They will use their own biased as factual evidence.

"Well it's not natural." Neither is incest in, but no one says anything. There's no law against that.

And with the amount of homeless children in the world, if same sex couples were able to adopt, then those children would have homes. Sure their lifestyle might be a little different, but I don't think children would grow up to be any worse if they had two moms or two dads. It would almost be the same as a child growing up in a single parent household, without the influence of one of the partners.

So come on America. Let's stop being selfish and let them get married.

I'm not done with this topic, by the way. There will be more to come about this.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

[expletive] SNOW!

I really should write more in here.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to my phone ringing. It was a friend of mine who is in the same 9:00 am class as me. She asked if I was going to class today. I said I was, and asked why.

"Have you looked outside yet?"

"No..."

"Look outside."

So I climbed out of bed and looked out the window. I could barely see up the hill beside my dorm because it was snowing so much. I laid back in bed and said I'd try to get to class.

I walked to class in tennis shoes, because I left my snow boots at home thinking I wouldn't need them anymore this year. Why is it snowing in April?

If someone doesn't tell me why the weather is acting like this, I'm going to start making up my own crazy theories and posting them all over the Internet. Actually, I have a few right now.

1. Aliens have created a sophisticated weather control device, and they're slowly trying to destroy the planet Earth, or at least trying to make every human go insane. I suppose this is their idea of entertainment.

2. Mother Nature is REALLY pissed off.

3. Eventually, within the next couple of years, maybe a decade or so, July will be winter and December will be summer. Of course, the sooner this happens, the faster I will adjust. Because honestly, I'm not gonna complain if I never have to walk through a blizzard to class ever again.

Anyway, those are my theories.

And to make matters worse, my professor at 9:00 am this morning was playing Christmas music when I walked in. Of course, I left behind my ipod, so I had to listen to it.

However, there is, in fact, nothing I can do about this current weather situation, so I suppose I'll just "slosh" my way to class everyday until this melts, and we have to go through the "winter to spring transition" again. ... yay...