park center w. nancy

Today my friend Nancy and I were just hanging out and we were sort of bored, so we decided to go down to park center and play tennis. When we got to park center we asked the lady for two tennis rackets and gave her our two dollars. As we were walking away we realized we needed at least one ball. So we went back and asked her and she said they were all out. I don’t understand how they can be all out of tennis balls when there were only like two courts being used outside. Nancy and I decided to play racquet ball instead even though I have never played before. We searched around for the courts until finally we found these short little doors that you have to go in. We went in and at first we were just lightly hitting the ball against the wall until we got into it and then we started hitting it really hard. We didn’t know how to keep score or anything so we just kept hitting the ball and making each other have to run for it. It was actually a pretty good work out. That was my first time playing racquet ball and it was a lot of fun, especially because I was able to play with my best friend. We laughed the whole time. The funniest part was when one of us would randomly get hit with a ball. Neither of us got hurt but it was really funny. I never realized how fun of a sport it was until today. We definitely plan on going back down there and playing some more games before we leave for summer vacation. Speaking of summer vacation, it is so close. It’s going to be sad to leave everyone but I can’t wait to see my friends and family at home. Hope everyone has a good summer!

"The Bully in the Mirror"

I recently finished a book called, “The Bully in the Mirror.” The book was based on a 16 yr. old boy who was once an overweight boy and decided to do something about it to get noticed. The story traces the life of Alexander Bregstein in order to show that young teenage boys also have self esteem issues when it comes to being noticed by the outside world. Many young people as well as older people are only seen as being overweight when really there is a whole other side to them that people do not see. In the story, Alexander plays the part of many teenage boys who are overweight and feel they need to change their physical appearance to get noticed for who they are and not just for what they look like. The story also shows that many boys may be taking how they look to a completely different level when it comes to getting noticed from their physical appearance. I think the story was somewhat truthful, in that, girls are not the only ones who care about their appearance. Many girls take the way they look to extreme levels. Whether it is by hurting themselves mentally and physically or just by spending money to get to where they want to be, girls are not the only ones who have this mindset. Many teenage boys feel they need to look good in order to get the attention they want from others. I think that people should be accepted for who they are and not by their looks. However, you have to keep in mind how important it is for one to exercise and stay fit to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Looking good is one thing but you have to be able to see when it is being taken too far.

I Live New York Summit

I wasn’t really sure what to write my blog on so I’m writing it about a speech that I attended a while ago called the “I Live New York” Summit. The event was held in the auditorium of Old Main. We were able to hear Silda Wall Spitzer, New York’s first lady, speak about political issues in our state. Many of the issues Silda spoke about I was able to relate back to class. The purpose of the summit was to show the importance of engaging young people, such as our generation, in government and politics of New York. As Mrs. Spitzer said, the issue we should be concerned about is, “Keeping the next generation in New York.” What is causing the lack of engagement? According to Spitzer, many people are leaving New York to pursue more rewarding and successful jobs due to the lack of available jobs in our state. Spitzer believes that, “Brain drain,” is one of the primary causes of the lack of engagement in New York. In other words, our generation is not being informed with enough information to create an impact on their knowledge of government and politics. In my opinion, if we do not become involved now, then we will not have the knowledge or the experience for when it is our turn to be in charge. After listening to the first lady speak, I realized how important it is for my generation to become involved in or at least have knowledge of the political and governmental issues that are taking place in our state. I think a good start to this issue would be to educate children with minor issues and as they get older inform them with major issues that their generation will possibly be held responsible for taking care of. Overall, the “I Live New York” Summit was pretty interesting.

gas prices

I don’t know if anyone has realized it but gas prices are increasing so much, it’s crazy. I can remember when I first started driving it was only two or three dollars. Now it is almost up to four dollars. The news stated that last week gas prices hit a record average of $3.60 as the big oil companies like Exxon Mobil logged billions of dollars. There are many reasons why gas prices are so high though. For one, the price of crude oil which accounts for over half of the cost of gasoline at pumps hit records close to $120 a barrel. $120 is at least five times greater than the prices in 2002. In accordance with the raise in gas prices, United States drivers are expected to decrease their use of gasoline for the first time since the year 1991. Recently, there were hundreds of trucks protesting the diesel fuel prices because they have reached an average record of $4.38 per gallon. There are Democratic lawmakers who want to add on a new tax on oil company profits to help with the gas prices. Also, Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton both want to temporarily suspend an 18.4 cent per gallon gasoline tax over the summer. By doing this, the average family would save about $30 over the summer. According to oil companies, the high energy prices are not their fault. They are blaming the prices on crude oil markets. I think that gas prices have become such a problem for everyone who drives including families who do not have a high income, people who are retired, tractor trailer drivers, and even us teenagers who do not have a steady income. My parents have been looking for a new car for me but the options have been narrowed down so much because these days with all the driving I do I definitely need a car that is good on gas. Somehow I think officials are going to have to find away to decrease gas prices or else there will definitely be consequences in our economy.

drinking and driving

Recently, there was a major issue that happened with some kids from Binghamton University. I’m sure many people have heard about it but I think it is something that other students should learn from. Last Friday, May 2nd, Cornell University held an event called Slope Day. Slope day use to be when the students would buy alcohol for the last day of school and have a party on a slope at the college. If there was snow they would sled down the hill. Apparently the go sliding down the hill in the mud as well. Now the college started supporting the event and buying the alcohol for the students. Friday, a few kids from Binghamton came up for the party and ended up getting drunk. Later on the four students ended up driving back, which was not the smartest decision. As they were driving through the town of Caroline in Tompkins County the 20 year old driver hit a tree. One of the students suffered from a severe head injury and was transported to Cayuga Medical Center. He was then taken to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse where he was then pronounced dead. The driver was charged with driving while intoxicated and also Vehicular Assault in the second degree. Now he is facing years in prison due to his bad decisions. I think this is important for other students to hear this story because it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Drinking is one thing, but drinking and driving is something so serious. People always think they’re ok to drive but in reality it only takes one bad decision to create a disaster. We all know people who drink and drive or who have done it before and always claim to be ok to drive; in fact no one is ok to drive if they’ve been drinking. I think it is important for people to realize the possible consequences before they make decisions.

the weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. It was alumni weekend for our sorority and there was so much going on. Friday night we had a get together for the alumni. Everyone had a lot of fun and enjoyed everyone’s company. Saturday we had a barbeque for the alumni. We barbecued chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs and everyone thought the food was really good. Saturday was also Monroe fest. I felt like just about the whole college was there. I only made it for a little while because our barbeque lasted so long but it was pretty fun. Saturday night my big was in the tan off at lucky’s so a few of my friends and I went there to cheer her on. She has dark skin to begin with but since she has been tanning she was extremely dark. While I was at lucky’s I was standing there talking to one of my guy friends. Even though he wasn’t 21 he was still drinking. The cops came in and as soon as he saw them he put his arm around me and put his drink down. It was too late though. The cops came up to him and asked him to see his ID. My friend said he didn’t have one and that he used someone else’s. The cops obviously knew something was up so they took him outside and asked him a lot of questions. My friend tried his best to get out of it but it didn’t work. He ended up getting brought down to the police station where they gave him two tickets. I felt bad for him because there are so many people who drink underage at bars and he just happened to get caught. I don’t think it’s fair that the cops have to ruin people’s nights like that. Even though it is a law, everyone does it! I guess everyone should just be smart when they’re out at the bars.

Matilda

Tonight my roommate and I decided to have a movie night. We were flipping through the channels because we really don’t have any good movies in our room and guess what movie was on. Matilda was on. We were so excited because we have not watched that movie in forever. Matilda was one of my favorite movies when I was younger as well as my roommate’s. I remember watching it and thinking that if I got yelled at I would have powers too. So I was telling one of my guy friends that I was watching Matilda and he laughed and said, “I use to try and have powers; I use to try really hard.” I just laughed because now I know my friends from home and I were not the only ones who use to try and have powers when we were younger. If we really did have powers though, it would be so cool. I think Matilda was a really good movie for kids to watch because it made kids want to be like her and she was such a sweet girl. Even though she lived a hard family life, she never gave up on her own life. A lot of people in life take after their parents. If their parents live successful lives then a majority of the time their children live up to their parent’s standards and become successful. In Matilda though, Matilda comes from not such a successful family. However, since she is basically the smartest girl ever she decides not to move down south with her family and to stay with her teacher ms.honey. She loved ms.Honey and also wanted to be able to go to school because she eventually loved her school and loved all of her friends. I think Matilda is such a great movie and everyone should watch it if you never have!

missin my fam <33

This week was especially tough; my brother turned 15 years old. It was the first family birthday party that I missed in my entire life. I wanted to be there but being at college there was no way to go and make it back in time. Another reason is that since I don’t have my car here at college, it would have been difficult for my mom or dad to drive here to pick me up then drive and then have to drive me back the next morning. They could have had it over the weekend, but I had a sorority formal to go to, so I couldn’t make it. I did call and was able to speak to my brother briefly and I was able to say hi to my family on speaker phone. I wish I could have been there. My mom said she really missed me not being there and it was a dull ache that she couldn’t shake. She gets teary eyed very easily. She said I always sat next to my brother when he blew the candles out and this year it was just my cousins next to him. Besides from his birthday, my brother had a baseball game. He hit his first ever over the fence home run, I was sorry again that I couldn’t be there for it. He was so excited to hit it. My mom said the fans said they had never seen a home run there before and every time Nate got up to bat after that, they would yell out, “Back, Back – Here’s the home runner”.
In a few weeks, I’ll be going home, I can’t wait to see my family. I’m sure it won’t take too long to get used to being home.

summer plans

Summer is right around the corner and I am so excited. There is so much I want to do this summer I don’t know how I am going to fit it all in. Recently one of my best friends from home made the decision that she is going to be living in New Jersey for the summer with her sister. A few of my girlfriends are planning a road trip to go see her for a few days. That should be a lot of fun. I’m also going to be working a lot this summer so it is going to be difficult to fit in everything I want to do but I am going to do my best. I waitress at a restaurant called Green Acres. I also applied for an internship over the summer where I would be working with physical therapists. This would be perfect because physical therapy is what I am studying to hopefully become someday. Another plan for the summer I have is to visit some of my pledge class sisters in Long Island. A lot of people think it is crazy but since I am from upstate, I have never been to Long Island. I also have only been to New York City once. I’m really excited to go down because I know we will have a lot of fun, at least they talk like it’s a lot of fun. Between having two jobs I know it is going to be hard to fit in downtime but I know with the downtime that I have I am definitely going to be taking advantage of it and doing the things I want to do. Another thing I always do in the summer is get a gym membership. It looks like I am going to be getting up early to go to the gym or else I don’t see when else I will be able to go. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great summer!

busy busyy

Lately there has been so much going in my life. Between homework, friends, and everything with my sorority I have been so busy it seems like. Last week was senior pledging. For senior pledging the seniors get to relive some memories and have a lot of fun with it. That started last Sunday but I wasn’t involved in it until Tuesday. Since Tuesday night, I have been out every night having to go to all these different events and everything. Of course I have fun, but sometimes I feel like I am doing so much and I need a break but I don’t have time to take breaks. I also need to remember to keep my priorities set straight. It is difficult when there are so many fun things going on to and you have homework to do. Sometimes you have to pick and choose your plans but it is not always that easy. It’s especially hard because it is the end of the school year and everyone is ready to get out of here for the summer. I am excited to go home for the summer and see all of my friends and especially my family but I am definitely going to miss all of my friends here. I think that I have met some of my best friends here at college and it’s going to be sad to leave them but I know that even with time being apart and everything we will still be just as close when we come back next semester. On the other hand, I feel as if some of my friends from home and I have definitely grown apart. We all went off to college and met new friends. The ones who were my best friends will still always be considered my best friends though and I cannot wait to see them.

fact

Recently my exboyfriend’s sister had a baby and so during her pregnancy we were all looking up things for her to be aware of when she becomes a mom. I came across some interesting information when I was looking online one day about pregnancies. Apparently, new research has shown that depending on what the mother eats at the time of conception, it is associated with the child’s sex. A study was done with 740 mothers who were giving birth for the first time. Within the 740 women, they were split into three different groups. The groups were split up according to the number of calories that the women consumed per day around the time of consumption. The results showed that 56 percent of the women who consumed the most calories gave birth to boys whereas only 45 percent of the group who consumed the lowest energy intake. Another factor was that as well as consuming more calories, the women who had sons were also more likely to have eaten a higher quantity and more diverse nutrients. They consumed more things such as potassium, calcium, various vitamins, and much more. The reason for all of this is that by skipping breakfast your glucose level decreases. Research also shows that higher levels of glucose promotes the growth and development of male embryos and decreases the chances of the development of female embryos. I think that all of this information is very interesting and if someday you are hoping your child is a boy then you should consume more calories and nutrients. On the other hand, if you want a girl then you should decrease your consumption of calories and nutrients. Of course this doesn’t work 100 percent of the time but if the chances increase, why not try it?

Formal in Albany

Last weekend was our formal in Albany. My whole sorority bought a bunch of rooms at the holiday inn express, where our formal was held. Originally we were staying two people in a room at a time. We all got thinking about it though and thought that we should just all pile into a room. Sooo, there was eight of us in one room and it we all had so much fun. It was seven girls and one guy, he loved it. Of course getting ready was a little bit hectic though. Everyone was trying to hog the mirrors and we all had to do our hair and our makeup in about an hour and a half so we were rushing like crazy. The formal started at 7:00 but we ended up being about a half hour late. Dinner was from eight until nine and the food was really good. There was chicken, potatoes, vegetables, ziti, rolls, salad, and a lot more. Dessert was by far the best though. For dessert they had out canolis. Where I am from, canolis are rare so when we come across them it’s so great. Our formal ended at 11 and then we all found ourselves downtown partying until four in the morning. Everyone had such a good time. I always thought that Cortland was a lot of fun and that downtown Cortland was fun too but Albany definitely has Cortland beat. That was my first time partying in Albany and it was definitely a good experience. My friends and I already made plans to go back. Overall, formal was a lot of fun and was definitely worth the money spent. I’m hoping that next year we have formal in Albany again so we can do the same thing all over again!

So, lately my aim has not been working and it has been bothering me so much. Every time I go to sign on it says “connection lost.” I don’t know why it keeps saying that because my internet is working fine. I never realized how addicted to aim I am. I remember being younger and all my friends would get online together and we’d all talk for hours upon hours. It’s different now though because I just like to have an away message up. I hardly ever come back from away. So what is it about aim that we all like so much? Obviously it’s a very convenient way of communicating with people, but half the time we have away messages up and aren’t instant messaging. It’s also a good way to talk to friends that you haven’t talked to in a while. Everyone says that facebook is a way of stalking people but if you think about it, so is aim. With today’s updated version of aim you can look at people’s away messages from days and days ago. Aim and its features have improved so much since the first time I ever used it. Today, you can have your “eye” open or closed. When it’s open people know you’re on, and when it’s closed people don’t know you’re on. Sort of creepy if you think about it. You can also change the colors of your buddy list which is pretty cool. Since my aim wasn’t working I decided to uninstall it and download the newest version. This one is cool because along with aim itself, I downloaded aim tunes. With aim tunes you can listen to music and share music with other people. I think aim was a great invention. So many people have it and use it on a regular basis, it’s ridiculous.