Christmas break can't come fast enough

From Tuesday night to Saturday night it seemed like all of my worries were gone. I had the best Thanksgiving and ate way more than I should have. I got to see friends that I haven't seen since fall break. Spending time with family was something that I didn't even realize how much I had missed. Being home was great. Even though I can't wait to see all of my SMU friends - being home can't be beat.

But now I'm back. And it sucks.

I feel like all of my teachers have piled on all of the work. I have four papers due before the end of semester. But that's not the end of my work.. Let's throw in a speaker for EE and a few homework assignments and a test and don't forget the debate for Contemporary Moral Problems. School sucks. Why do all of my teachers wait until the end to give all of these assignments? Why do I put off everything until the last possible minute?

Sorry for this. I had to vent. And have another post. Ha

One assignment down - way too many to go.

"Steroids for your Brain"

I posted a comment on Kelevra's post entitled, "Steroids for your Brain"
It was a really good post about the similarities between steroids and drugs like Adderall.

Youth Voter Turnout

I commented on blogger012's post about Youth Voter Turnout.. and thought a lot of the posts on the blog were very interesting! Props to you blogger012!

Oh and I responded to a couple comments on my own post about Halloween Hoes

Miz Alice's relation to Heat-Moon

After reading the assigned passages from William Least Heat-Moon and getting feedback from my group about my question and answer, I feel that I have a greater understanding of the connection between Miz Alice and Least Heat-Moon. The question that I had posed was,"How does when Miz Alice says, "Learning rules is useful but it isn't education. Education is thinking and thinking is looking for yourself and seeing what's there, not what you got told was there..." relate to Least Heat-Moon and where he is at this point in his life?"

I think that what Miz Alice has to say directly applies to Least Heat-Moon at this point in his journey. After losing his job and wife, Least Heat-Moon makes the decision to travel across the country and live out of the back of his truck. Although some may argue that he is making the journey to simply get away from his problems, I think he is getting away to find himself. He is simply observing the things around him and learning about different places and himself. this point in his life Least Heat-Moon is in essence, forgetting the rules and as he says, "living the real jeopardy of circumstance." This goes hand-in-hand with what Miz Alice says about how to get a real education. As she says, "eyeballs" are all you need to put things together and think for yourself. Heat-Moon is doing just that by seeing new places and meeting new people.

Almost Famous

I posted a comment on Almost Famous's post about the friendships that will last throughout college.

Halloween Hoes!

As the end of October approaches I can’t help but get excited about Halloween! I love this time of year because the weather is always perfect, the best candy is out, and carving pumpkins is pretty fun! Halloween at home always meant handing out candy at my house with some of my friends then heading to whatever party was going on that night.

From what I’ve heard about Halloween here, I think it’s going to be pretty different to say the least. Sure there were always girls who took the liberty to dress with the most interesting costumes in honor of the Halloween spirit, but me and my friends either didn’t wear costumes or came up with funny ideas that we all could take part in.

I think the college idea of Halloween is a little distorted.

Why has Halloween turned into a contest of who can have the most revealing costume? Is it really all that fun to throw on a pair of wings with lingerie and call yourself a “fairy” or something? Or one of my personal favorites, lingerie with a pair of ears and suddenly you're a cat.



Does Hollywood and the media tell us these kinds of costumes are appropriate? Are you frumpy and old fashion if you choose not to dress along with this trend?

Sure dressing like that might get you a little attention that night, but seriously, have a little class.

Comment on Jessie

Last night I posted a comment on jessie531's blog about teen pregnancy

Clothes Call

I posted a comment on Mrs. John Mayer's post about what to wear to class on a daily basis.

Britney Spears

I made a comment on Britney Spears post "Friends: Quality or Quantity"

Britney and I shared the same viewpoint on the topic, and I thought it was a great post!

Can you come back after the death penalty?

When I was trying to think of something I could blog about, I considered things that I would personally like to know the answer to. One thing that has been on my mind is our football program. I think being raised around LSU football is what has made me fall in love with the game. Last year I devoted a ton of time to (and won) a fantasy football league, and had an absolute blast. This New Years I paid an outrageous price for sugar bowl tickets so that I could watch Hawaii and Georgia play in the Superdome. I love everything about football. It is so exciting to watch, especially if you're at the game. But SMU football, now that's a different story. So I decided to use blogging as an excuse for find out more about our program, and hopefully will get some information from other people too.

What exactly is this death penalty that everyone keeps bringing up? How long will it take the program to get back to it’s full potential? If we had a better football team, would support be better?

After googling to find out more than what my dad had told me about what happened in 1987, I read a pretty good article.If you want to read more about what happened to cause SMU to get the death penalty. In the article it states that the purpose of shutting down the program was to "eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations." Fair enough, but why is the program still not back on it’s feet? I don’t mean to be such a downer, but no one thinks it’s any fun to watch a losing team. All I can hope is that June Jones turns the program around and by the time we graduate we all have a team to be proud of.

Goose & NOLA Girl

I commented on Goose and NOLA girl. I thought Goose's post about her roommate was pretty good and NOLA girl's was easy for me to relate to. Check both of them out if you get a chance!

Taking Attendance? Back to High School?

Since my arrival on campus two weeks ago, I have been surprised to find that SMU has made checking attendance a mandatory part of daily classroom procedure. Even though I have heard that there are a few professors unwilling to conform to new university rules, I have been highly unfortunate to have only one of these professors as my own. In my opinion, taking attendance is a waste of valuable classroom time and although it may encourage students to be in class, if someone wants to skip then the threat of being marked absent is not enough to make them go.

I wonder how many universities actually require their professors to take time out of their teaching to do roll call? To take attendance in huge lecture halls of public universities would be crazy and take entirely too much time. Since college students are legally adults shouldn’t they be able to decide for themselves if they want to attend class?

To read SMU President R. Gerald Turner’s comments on taking attendance