An Interesting Thought

It's 2:00AM (on the dot, cool! haha) and my brain is on the fritz. I've worked an 8 hour day and have come home to prepare dinner, clean the apartment, do laundry, and homework (which I am still working on - oii vey...).Enough rambling, I want to get to the point!

I'm doing a Sociology assignment where our professor asked us to share our thoughts on the recent Arizona shooting and specifically if we thought it was the individuals fault, or society as a whole and why. Well, after thinking about it... this is what came out of my brain, onto my fingertips, and into the computer! Enjoy, and please post comments if you have any on the topic!

Normally neighbors, close friends, and even family are interviewed post a shooting ( or whatever the incident may be for other situations), and everyone seems to be shocked that the guilty party could do such a crime against humanity.

This really got me thinking about how much of a self absorbed society we are. Who really knows their neighbors anymore? With privacy fences, busy schedules, and simple lack of care, we can live for years feet away from a complete stranger that you have only, at best, given an occasional passing friendly wave to. More often than not I observe people walking down the sidewalk with ear buds in, listening to their Ipods with eyes glued to the ground. Nobody wants to lift their head while passing, smile, and say Hello anymore. Even being on an elevator with a stranger these days is awkward and small talk is quick and shallow.

I wonder how many situations like this we could prevent in our society today if we took those precious moments to get involved in our neighbors lives, look up and be friendly to passing strangers, and do our best to show someone that we don't know on an intimate level sincere kindness. Unfortunately, myself included in this statement, we are all too busy and especially focused on Me, Myself, and I.

Perhaps this twenty two year old kid was in a world of hurt for who knows how long, but nobody stopped long enough to even notice him, care for him, or try to understand/help (all of which I could possibly be completely wrong about). He is responsible for his actions, but I also think our society has a long way to go in regard to being a helpful, healthy environment for one another.

Star Wars & The Big Lebowski

Sorry all, I've been slacking. With the holidays, Dave being home for break and me starting school I have had very little time for movies pretty much anything fun. I'm trying to get back on track and in the last few weeks i've managed to knock FOUR movies off the list!

Star Wars: A New Hope

Star Wars:Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

and

The Big Lebowski

The Star Wars movies were definitly epic! One thing I must comment on though, Darth Vadar never says "LUKE... I am your father" and certainly not in that deep, evil-sounding voice that most everyone repeats that quote using. I was pretty disappointed by that but I can officially say I've seen the Star Wars series now, yay!

The Big Lebowski was awesome man. And I think after watching that I'll be using the word 'man' about 50% more in my sentences. I also have a strange urge to buy a rug and to go bowling man... My favorite quote (color me biased if you will, me being half chinese and all):

Walter: "Also, Dude; "Chinaman" is not the preferred nomenclature. "Asian-American", please" -YEUS!

14 down...76 to go....

The List:

12 Monkeys
A League Of Their Own
Airplane
Akira
Aliens
American History X
Animal House
Best in Show
Better Off Dead
Big Trouble in Little China
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Boondock Saints
Bull Durham
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Caddyshack
Casino Royale
Clerks
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Daze and Confused
Deliverence
Evil Dead II
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams*
Fight Club
Fletch
Ghostbusters
Glory
Goldfinger
Gremlins
Heathers
Highlander
Jaws
Lethal Weapon I
Life as a House
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Blue Heaven
Naked Gun
National Lampoon's Vacation
Office Space
Pale Rider
Planes Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Policy Acadamy
Porkys
Predator
Primer
Pulp Fiction
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rainman
Rambo: First Blood
Raw Deal
Red Dawn
Reservoir Dogs
Robo Cop
Run Lola Run
Say Anything
Scarface
Sixteen Candles
Spaceballs
Stand By Me
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars:Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator: Salvation
The 6th Day
The Big Lebowski
The Breakfast Club
The Godfather
The Golden Child
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Goonies
The Jerk
The Karate Kid
The Natural
The Professional
The Shining
The Three Amigos
The Usual Suspects
The Warriors
Top Gun
True Lies
True romance
Unforgiven
Untouchables

Young Frankenstein

Dream, Set Goals, Achieve. 2010.

What a year 2010 was. It went by fast, but it could be near the most difficult, yet rewarding year of my entire life. Funny how that works, right?

Janurary - Things were pretty laid back as I was finalizing plans to move to Louisville.

Febrary - Life started kicking into full gear as I packed my things and drove the 14 hours (thanks, blizzard) to Louisville from Virginia.

March - Lucky for me, two weeks after I arrived in Louisville I scored an awesome job working at an Insurance company AND got  PJ in a great daycare to boot. Life in Louisville was better than I had ever hoped.

April - I hit a few bumps in the road but was still fully enjoying this new chapter of life. What an adventure!

May - I turned 21!!!! Need I say more? :)

June - I moved into my very own apartment. Also, June 23rd Dave got his acceptance letter to Ross University. Preperation to help move Dave over seas was under way!

July - What a whirl wind of a month. Helping to get ones affairs in order to move over seas in just about two months is a really big feat. I also traveled to VA to work on finalizing my divorce...

August - Dave moves to Dominica for Med School and my little boy turned THREE! Everyone is getting all grown up... tear..

September - I become unemployed but it was HUGE blessing in disguse. After two dreadfully long weeks of job searching, I got a job offer (at another insurance agency)! Better pay, better work enviornment, more opportunity for the future. Score!!!!

October - Busy as a bee attending pre-licensing classes for FOUR different State Exams to get my insurance licenses! Helllooooo back up career :) I also finally decided it was time to stop pushing off school (one of the MAIN reasons I moved to Louisville in the first place) and got all my ducks in a row for that.

November - I took two out of the four state exams, passed, and am now a licensed Insurance Agent  - watch out Louisville! Also still studying for the other two exams and still preping to make sure everything is ready for school in Janurary (registered for classes, financial aid stuff, etc).

December - Dave came home for the holidays! Had a wonderful trip to Pittsburgh where I went to my first official NFL game (Steelers vs Jets) and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with the Beneigh family. I must also add that on December 5th I traveled to VA (again) and my divorce (after two long years) finally became legal.

Whats the latest for 2011?

Maybe today is a bad day to be writting this blog, because I'm about to have a mental breakdown. After having completed my financial aid application (and following up TWICE about it and being told TWICE that everything was fine) I found out today that my file is in fact incomplete. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: "I still haven't heard about my financial aid, can you tell me what's going on?"
Financial Aid Person: "The file is incomplete...hm..."
Me: "What do I need to do??? I've followed up TWICE and was told everything was ok. I need to buy my books and make sure tuition gets paid, classes start on Janurary 10th..."
FAP: "Looks like it just never got completed on the office end, you have done everything you need to do, but you still don't have any money awarded to you at this time"
Me: "So, what do I need to do?"
FAP: "Let me transfer you to your financial aid counseler"


FML.

All I have to say now is that my motto for 2010 was Dream, Set Goals, Achieve. I feel like I was able to do each of those to the fullest and I am proud of where my life has come as a result.

I'm tempted to make my motto for 2011 Up The Creek Without A Paddle, but maybe I should give 2011 a little more of a chance. It is only the third day of the year... but damn it's been a hell of a three days so far.

Before I end this post, I also want to give a little update on Mommy-hood. Single parenting sure isn't easy, but I couldn't have a better little boy! PJ became potty trained in March 2010 (no more buying DIAPERS!!!!! yay!), and now runs around the apartment singing his ABC's and pretends to be Superman. We're still dealing with the attitude, but is it just me, or do the Three's feel tougher than the Two's? Either way, I feel like I'm starting to find my footing in that crazy thing called Mommy-hood. Bring it on, 2011!

Thank you to all my family and friends who have been so loving and supportive over this past year. I wish you all the best for 2011. Don't forget to think of me when you win the lottery...