Family Feud

My family loves to play board games; it’s quite the tradition in my house. However, someone always gets upset, or someone gets hurt, the game easily turns into anything but fun, no matter how hard we try to make it enjoyable. Paradoxically, a few months later, or another event in which all the family is around we all get excited at the thought of playing a board game, knowing how it will most likely end. What made me think to write about this in my blog this week was the most recent family event that took place about a few weeks ago…Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day my family wasn’t all together, seeing as both my older brother and sister has fiancés and they have a couple families to visit. So our family’s Thanksgiving took place on Friday, and of course once the bellies were full and the plates and leftovers were cleaned up, everyone gathered into the living room to play a board game. This year it was my younger sister’s idea to get a new game instead of playing the usual, Family Feud DVD game, Outburst, or Charades. We got the game “Battle of the Sexes,” so we split up into boys and girls, and then realized it was uneven and they made me switch the guys side. Then it was time to lay down the rules…once they were laid down most people seemed pleased, we were just ready to start the game…and so it began.

Everything was clam and fine until certain rules which were established at the beginning of the game started to get challenged, and then whoever it was would grab the directions and we would waste about 10 minutes while someone read and analyzed the rules of the game, and of course the rules were vague in the way they were written which lead to us having to interpret them, which lead to controversy. Once, that rule was established the game would continue. Towards the end of the game some of the questions that were asked in the game began to become repeated, and so that led to us having to make up a rule such as, “If you remember the answer you are not allowed to answer.” This rule was put in place after my older sister got angry at the fact that my memory was amazing and I remembered the answer to all the previous questions, I let her make the rule and didn’t argue.

However, later when one question was repeated my older sister, Candice, remembered the answer and yelled it out, and so being the stubborn, typical person in my family I called her out on the rule which, she herself had put in place. So then she decided that I was allowed a free is. Now looking back on it now, if everyone in my family wasn’t so interested in being fair, and so obsessed with the justice of the game, a lot of argument could have been avoided…a lot. But since we all have the same genes, no rule gets looked over, and not a single ten minutes goes by without a challenge of the rules is presented. Battle of the Sexes was coming to an end and my older brother, Brandon and his fiancée, Carolyn, were growing tired.

Candice however was very awake and ready for the next game, and so a fight between games was beginning. Brandon was ready for bed and wanted to sleep but Candice wanted to keep playing, and seeing as how Brandon and Carolyn were staying the night at Candice’s apartment one could see how a problem had now been created. So the yelling began, and the insults were exchanged, feelings were hurt, and in the end we were sitting in a circle of chairs around the table playing Outburst, Candice had won, and the new rules were being presented.

Round two, everyone was playing Outburst minus my mom who had gone to bed in the midst of the drama. The first few minutes of the game were fine of course, however once it was my dad’s turn to describe the word to his team, without using it, he began to act it out, which was against the rules, and so everyone started yelling at him, because he had misunderstood the rules, well more like just didn’t hear them. The rest of the game surprisingly went pretty smooth, except that I kept forgetting to give the opposing team’s points to them on the score sheet, because I was the score keeper, but besides that the game wasn’t bad. It ended nicely, everyone was tired and we all went home or to bed.

Even though our family bonding times always end in arguments or have bumps along the way I look at it like just the way our family works. There are calm times, when things are smooth, but soon something happens to start a fight and we hit some bumps for a while, but we work through them and then things are calm, at least for a while, but at the end we forget about how badly we fight because we remember that we enjoy each other’s company, and no matter what game is thrown our way it will never change the way things are.

Lil Miss Prankster

So for this week’s blog I decided to write about something I have mentioned in a previous blog, and that is my prankster reputation. Along with much else, I inherited my dad’s act of pulling pranks, not only was I skilled but I enjoyed pulling them. Again, I didn’t start to show my true personality until I reached the age of 12, this is also when me and my dad discovered that I was going to be just like him.

I started out slow, with pulling pranks on people like my mom, who just so happens to be extremely gullible, I haven’t figured that one out, considering she is married to my dad. For me, the pranks that come to mind or I scheme are usually complete improve, on the spot thinking, it is a rare chance when I think of a scheme far in advance, and it is sought out or planned. I believe that to think of a plan on the spot is shows a lot more skill then one that is planned, yeah those can end up being amazing, but it is much more genuine when one goes with a situation at hand and turns it into a prank, like myself. Pranks just come to me, I will be sitting there and BOOM! It will hit me…an idea, and the wheels in brain start-a-moving, and then I act.

One night on the way home from softball practice my mom had offered to take home one of the players on my team. The girl lived in a cul-de-sac and she got out of the car and was pulling her bag out of the back of our car, and as she was doing so I heard one of our chairs fall out with it, I didn’t hear the girl put it back in but when I turned around I saw that she had. So, knowing that my mom had heard what I did and she hadn’t turned around to see whether or not the girl had put our chair in the back of our car, I saw a great opportunity for some fun. My mom waited and watched to see that the girl had gotten into her house, and then she turned around in the court and right when we reached the spot which we had been stopped at, I yelled “Mom! There’s a chair in the road!!” She slammed on her breaks and screamed, thinking it was our chair, I couldn’t keep from laughing and that was when she realized that her little angel was becoming a female microcosm of her husband.

Another time in which I saw a perfect opportunity to freak out my mom was a random morning when I had woken up and walked down stairs, to see my mom looking through the refrigerator with the door wide open, making a wall between me and her. Once again, “light bulb” I had it! I quietly sneaked into the kitchen and stood right up against the open refrigerator door, and then as she began to close it, I screamed “Hoodoloooo!” She about peed her pants, she let go this glass breaking scream which didn’t end even after the fact she realized it was me, she claimed she couldn’t stop screaming.

My pranks began to expand to people in my school, the “not friends” everyone has. It wasn’t to be mean it was just to mess with them, it was my way of accepting them. Anyway, one day I actually sat down and thought of a prank to pull. Me and my friend had been talking about when people in high school decorated each other’s lockers on their birthday, and we were wondering if anyone had ever had their locker decorated on the wrong day, like a random day that wasn’t even close to their birthday. We then thought it would be funny to do this to someone. Catherine, then came into the picture, I saw her as a perfect candidate of someone to do this to. We got on facebook and found out her birthday we then thought it would be funny to decorate her locker, not on a random day, but on the day right before. So she would b e like “wow my friends don’t even know my birthday…” My friend and I decided that we would do it anonymously, and that we would use bizarre objects to decorate her locker.

On the day of the prank I brought in wrapping paper one would use for a baby shower, and we made a sign reading, “Bappy Hirthday Catherine love all your friends and your fish.” We didn’t even know if she owned a fish but we thought it would make it more bizarre to add it, we bought some yugioh stickers and then we went to work. The next morning when Catherine arrived at her locker, which we only knew where it was, because it was conveniently next to mine, she was in complete shock, she was so confused and tried to figure out who did it the entire day, she asked all her friends, and none of them had any idea, she even suspected me, and of course I denied it. I waited a month before I finally told her that it was me.

Another prank that I played on the same girl, Catherine, was formulated with a “light bulb” idea but I planned it, after the idea was formed. Catherine was in my last block of the school day and everyday when the bell would ring to let us out of class the announcements would come on which always started with a list of students who needed to report to the office, and jokingly every day after that class I would tell Catherine her name was said when it clearly wasn’t and she would just blow it off and be like “okay Crystle…” So one day the “light bulb” hit me and I thought, it would be funny to get her name read on the announcements.

One day during lunch I went to the office and handed the secretaries in the office a random piece of paper out of my English binder and told her that I needed her to give this to Catherine P. and asked for her to read her name over the announcements. So at the end of the day when we were exiting our class and the announcements started Catherine’s name was read, and as always I told her and she was so surprised, she couldn’t believe it, and we laughed at the irony, or so she thought. Later that day, I went to a basketball game and she saw me and came up to me and was like “you will never believe why they called me to the office!” So I played along and was like “why?” She explained in detail how she went to my English teacher and asked her about the paper, and she was so confused for a very long time. I never told her it was me, and so I guess that is a mystery she will always wonder about.

Bus Station from Hell

The weekend of my dreams was only inches away, I could feel it, as me and my best friend sat at the Roanoke bus station waiting for our bus. We had rushed to get there, and due to much traffic from the Virginia Tech football game, it was amazing we made it there on time. However, once we arrived we realized that the fact that we were on time didn’t seem to matter, as the bus was not.

Almost an hour of waiting had gone by and I had already seen some of the funniest and strangest things of my life. While in the bus station there was an indoor place where we were sitting. Here there were rest rooms, vending, and a check in desk. There were a few other characters, however, that made this wait one of the most interesting I’ve ever had, which says something, considering that I have seen quite some interesting things while waiting in line for an amazing roller coaster at a theme park, many a time.

There were three so called “normal” people across from us, a girl and guy who were friendly and holding a conversation with each other and next to them a girl who didn’t talk, but once, when she was on the phone. On the bench perpendicular to us there were two gentlemen, one who sat in the same position, with the same look on his face for who knows how long, and the other who was on the search of a phone charger that would fit his phone. He gave up quickly once he asked all of the people in the station and none of them had one that fit.

There were a few wanderers outside, and on the way to the bathroom I noticed a guy sleeping on the ground. Even the worker behind the desk wasn’t what I would call “normal.” He had something painted on the side of his face that looked like a crescent moon around his eye which led down the side of his cheek. Then there was the man I found to be the most interesting, he claimed he was a veteran and he walked around with a cane, he was in and out of the building constantly, and I wasn’t quite sure if he was homeless or actually waiting on a bus. He had a few bags with him. He would stay out and smoke a cigarette or two and then come inside and start yelling at the people on the inside, that the guy lying on the ground needed to be woken up.
We all figured that the man on the ground had some relation to the veteran, but then he went over and woke the man up and told him to get up, he helped the guy into a seat and then covered him with his blanket. He asked him when his bus was, and so just about every five minutes the veteran would come back and wake up the sleeping man. At one point he yelled at the guy to get up and go outside to “stretch his legs” and “have a smoke.” He seemed to have a sweet heart but at the same time he would walk by me and give me evil glares, and he would tell the man that none of the people in the bus stop wanted to wake him up.

It was quite the night, and it hadn’t even begun, over an hour past our departure time, the next bus for a different destination had already come, picked up the sleeping man, who ended up not missing his bus, and a few others. Now there were a whole new set of characters, including Mr. Veteran, like I said I don’t know if he was waiting on a bus or if he was just the man assigned a duty of waking up the people who fall asleep. This whole new bunch, brought a whole new set of stories.

There was one family of three, a father and his two kids, one boy that was probably around the age of 4 or 5 and a girl who was around the age of 2 or 3. The little girl was very shy; when Jessie and I smiled at her she hid her face in the space between her father’s knees. The boy seemed very tired, as well as the girl, seeing as it was only 4:30 in the morning by now. You could see this by the massive bags under their eyes and the fussy tones. Jessie decided to go across the street and get us some McDonald’s breakfast. As we sat their eating our hash browns, the little girl started to warm up to us, she sat in between us and we gave her some of our hash browns and she really became really pleased with us then.

Slowly, I noticed that the father was bringing in their bags, off of the bus they had just come off of. I began to realize that the bags the man was bringing in were very unusual, they were not the typical duffle bags you take on a trip, but rather two very large body bags, a very big laundry bag, a few little bags that had toys in them, and another bag which was filled with snacks. This didn’t seem like the family was simply going for a visit anywhere. This made me wonder if maybe the family was moving somewhere. Had their mother kicked them out? Had their house been foreclosed on? And if that then where was their mother? It made me sad to see this and think about the future of these kids, and how this might affect them. Their father seemed like a very caring and loving dad.

After looking at all these new faces, and listening to some of the people talk it made me wonder where these people were going in life, and how had they gotten to where they are now. Who knew that sitting in a bus stop at the crack of dawn could get one thinking so profoundly?

Oo...GG

Everyone always has that crazy great grandma who gives you the funniest stories to tell your friends. So I am sure you know where I am going with this...I have the great grandma of all great grandma's, but we just call her GG. This lady can be so intimidating, one of my first crazy memories of GG was when my cousin and I had been visiting her at her home, and my cousin said a cuss word, and the fact that she was only 6 years old and using cuss words really made GG mad when she heard it. However I hadn’t realized that GG had entered the room and heard my cousin say this word until I turned around to see my GG hitting my cousin in the back of the neck with her cane.

In GG’s older years she has really become senile, GG has had 3 birds who have all died, and which all were given the name Mickey by my GG. Our family makes the joke that the name is cursed. One afternoon GG was over at my grandmother’s home, and my grandmother has a bird named Joey. While sitting at the dinner table I proceeded to watch GG look at Joey and say “Joey, I called you Mickey for a week and you liked it.” It took all I had not to laugh and pray that Joey wouldn’t soon die. Later that night I saw that GG was having a slice of cake before dinner, and since this is something I know that I would get in trouble for doing, I asked GG why she was having dessert before dinner, and she replied, “Im on a hunger strike, I only eat enough to get me through the day.” Once again I held back tears of joy, I didn’t understand why if she were striking against hunger she would stop eating, it was completely contradictory.

The next summer I went down to visit my grandmother, the stories seemed to get funnier. My aunt, GG’s daughter, had taken GG to look at an Old Folks Home that my aunt wanted her to live in. At their arrival at the home my GG had taken one look at the people sitting outside the place and said, “they look like Jackasses” Since GG did not want to be taken to a home she made up the only excuse which she found applicable at the moment. A few days later GG was over at my grandmother’s house and my sister and I were watching a TV show called “What not to wear” as we were watching it, out of the blue, GG says “ That girl looks like a jackass” This time I don’t think either my sister or I could hold back our laughter, she was so crazy, there was clearly no reason for GG to be calling this lady a Jackass, and so we found it hilarious.

This weekend when my grandmother came to visit she filled me in on the latest GG stories. GG had apparently overdosed on some medicine the hospital had given her and so she started hallucinating, which meant that at 4 in the morning she was calling numbers off of the front of the phone book and telling the people that there was a midget and a tall person in her apartment trying to murder her, and that there was a man in her bed. The cops showed up and found GG wandering in the parking lot, hiding from these people who did not even exist. It’s sad to say but my GG is definitely losing it, at least I know I will have some great stories to tell about her.

Weekend of Generations

This weekend was parents weekend, as you all know, at Virginia Tech. For me this meant that my mom and her mom, my grandmother, were coming down. My younger sister had homecoming the same weekend and so my dad stayed up with her. I was excited to see my mom but most excited to see my grandmother, who I usually only saw about once or twice a year. This past July, my second grandfather passed away and since then I have seen my grandmother twice, including parents weekend, which makes this year a total of 4 times that I have seen her.

This is quite unusual for the average year.
Ever since I was a little girl I would spend each summer visiting my grandparents at the beach and then either we would visit again for Thanksgiving or Spring Break. So I feel as if my grandfather's passing has brought my grandmother closer to the family. Which is something I definitely enjoy. Though it was hard losing my grandfather, I am an optimist and so I saw it as a chance to get to know my grandmother better and to get closer to her. I went and visited my grandmother 2 weeks after my grandfather had died, and I had already started to notice some changes, for the better.

My best friend, Jessie, and I were going down to Myrtle as a kick off to the summer and also to spend time with Grammy. I was nervous bringing Jessie there since I remembered every summer when my family visited my grandparents they would get annoyed of us easily and always yelled at us, I was afriad this would happen while Jessie was there which would put a damper on the whole vacation. Luckily, there was only once when Grammy asked for us to do something and she was totally cool about it, the entire time Grammy didn't complain or yell at us. I was surprised and a little taken a back.

However, this made me realize that it was never Grammy that was so upset about us leaving lights on in the rooms when we left or having our toys all over the place, it was Poppy, my grandfather, and since he was always stressed about it he would yell at my grandmother who would then yell at us. I also felt like she was also a little relaxed more now as well. I really started to enjoy my grandmother's company instead of worrying about her yelling at us.

So this weekend I was very excited, I had never just spent time with my grandmother, mother and I. I really realized how much alike my mom and grandmother were and how I was quite different, but had similarties with both of them. My favorite part of the whole weekend, besides the fact that I actually felt tall for once considering that my grandmother is 4'9 and my mother 4'11, was when we went and took a picture together. Now the three of us all have a picture of 3 generations, I know that when I get older I will look back at this picture and think how cool it was, and remember this special day. I also hope that one day I will be able to take a picture of Grammy, my mom, I and a future daughter of mine, where there are 4 generations.

Swine Flu Extravaganza

On Friday, I met up with my best friend, Jessie, for lunch just like we do four days out of every week, just to be greeted with a not to happy look. When I asked her what was wrong she told me she wasn’t feeling well. So just like I do when anyone else tells me they’re not feeling well I assume it’s just some beginning phases of a cold and nothing too serious to worry about.

Later that night Jessie and I went and met up with some friends, went to Squires to shoot some pool and had a good time. I could tell Jessie wasn’t feeling well or being herself and I even got annoyed at the fact that she didn’t want to chill more after pool. However, I got over my selfishness and realized it was probably best for her to get some rest and so we called it a night.

Saturday afternoon I awoke, realized I had slept for a long time, and the checked my phone just to see that Jessie had not texted me, which I thought was weird because by this time on most Saturdays she would be lunch or figure out plans for the day. So naturally, I called her and she picked up with a sad voice, apparently I had woke her up, which again was abnormal for Jessie to sleep in so late. She told me she wasn’t feeling well and I asked if she wanted anything to eat. I then stopped by Deet’s on my way to her dorm and grabbed us some breakfast and Jessie some hot tea.

When I walked into Jessie’s dorm I could tell there was seriously something wrong with her. We ate our breakfast as she explained to me how she was feeling. I asked her if she thought it could be Swine, both of us laughed at the idea, until she searched the Swine Flu symptoms and told me she had all but one. This was the first moment in which I began to take her being sick seriously. Then she told me that when she was in the shower she put the water temperature as high as it could go and she still had goose bumps. This really frightened me, then we found out that she Schiffert Health Center closes at 12 on Saturdays and is not open on Sundays. I felt Jessie’s head and a rush of panic came over me, I could tell just by the touch of my hand she had a fever.

This began the search, I had Jessie on her lap top looking for nearby doctor’s offices or urgent care centers while I was on the phone with her mom describing what was going on. Her mom wanted me to talk to her R.A. and find out if she knew of a place. I ran down the hall to find out her R.A. was in Cali. I came back and Jessie told me she found a place online, I called them and they told me they were a hospital. I then called back Jessie’s mom and she asked me to see if there was another R.A. I ran to the room of the second R.A. on Jessie’s floor and read her white board, saying “In Richmond for the weekend.” This infuriated me how could the only two R.A.’s on this floor both be gone, what if someone were to get hurt. I called again, Jessie’s mom and she was just as upset so she told me to find another R.A. and that she was going to all some friends in Blacksburg she knew. Jessie still had not found a place closer than 43 minutes away and she said she really didn’t want to go that far.

I than ran downstairs to find the hall office, when I couldn’t find it I asked someone who just so happened to be an R.A., I told him what was going on and he called VT Rescue, the ambulance service. I talked to them on the phone and they told me if they were to come they were going to take her to the hospital. In my quick decision making, I decided that taking Jessie should go to the hospital, I wasn’t going to have my best friend suffer all weekend just because the doctor’s office wasn’t open.

I returned to the room told Jessie not to panic but she was going to the hospital. I got on the phone and called both of her parents to let them know. While in the mean time I got a nasty text from Jessie’s boy friend wanting to know what was going on and why hadn’t I told him. I told him not to worry and that she was going to be fine that I just didn’t want her to go without seeing someone. The VT Rescue help showed up and took Jessie’s temperature which was a 101 and also told me she had a high blood pressure of 160. I responded with take her to the hospital. I then took my first ride in an ambulance as a non patient and texted more people at one time then I had in my life. Everyone was worried and wanted updates of what was going on. When we got to the hospital they made me wait in the waiting room for a good while, they then allowed me to come back in the room with her.

The nurse asked me to call her mom and find out what medicine it was that Jessie was allergic to, this surprised me I never knew this about my best friend. When I called her mom she told me Jessie wasn’t allergic to any medicine. I told Jessie she wasn’t allergic to anything and she said “O that nurse is gonna be mad at me, I told her I was allergic to a medicine that started with a “D.” I looked at her puzzled and asked if they had given her any medicine that would justify for her acting so strangely. She told me no and then said when the lady asked me if I had Tuberculosis I said Yes. I replied with “what” Jessie had never had Tuberculosis. I guess it was the fever, but either way Jessie was not in her right mind, so I had to set the doctors straight.

After a couple hours and some testing they came back to say Jessie most definitely has Influenza and that they were pretty sure she had the Swine Flu. It was crazy to think just a few hours ago we were laughing at the thought. The nurse then warned me that I might get it. So far I’m good and I know that if I am to come down with the Swine Flu that Jessie will be there to take care of me, just as I have for her.

Better Than Handmade

The Saint Vacant shoe advertisement which is labeled “Better Than Handmade,” features a picture of two feet working on a shoe with the clever slogan, “Better Than Handmade.” This advertisement does a great job of being straight forward, clever, and humorous. The main purpose of this ad, getting people to buy their shoe, is constructed well. People pay attention to eye catching and humorous statements and so these factors alone make one want to go out and purchase the shoe.

The feet hard at work making the shoe emphasizes that this type of shoe is specifically made to fit your feet, because “it is your feet which are making the shoe.” The expression “Better Than Handmade” fits very well, people love handmade items and so the fact that these shoes are “better than handmade” was a great choice of slogan made by the shoe company, and also that they are made by your feet, and so giving the assumption that they shoes are designed perfectly for your own feet.

There is definitely an emotional argument being used here as it draws on the humor of the intended audience. Here the audience can be anyone, but the specific group the ad is targeting is men, which is noticeable by the tools and the garage/basement setting. As well as the actual shoe being displayed, which is a men’s style. As one flips through the paper or magazine the ad is very eye catching, as one does not usually see feet working on a pair of shoes as a societal norm. So the ad immediately draws the audience’s attention by the visual. Even without reading the slogan one could get the point of the ad just by looking at it, which is another important part of advertisement; simple and straight forward.

Another key factor with the “handmade” or rather “footmade” idea one gains a sense of trust, as one does when he/she hears something is handmade, there is something special about a product that has been handmade. He/she trusts that the person took special care in making the product versus mass producing it and so the as does a great job of creating that trust as well.

The background of the picture also does a lot to persuade the audience that the shoe company is hard working as there are tools, a fan, and the light on, meaning its night and the person has been hard at work if they need a fan on them. Also the picture makes one feel as if they are experienced in their shoe making abilities, they have the right tools, a designed place to work, and a very specific shoe making stand in which the shoe is propped up on. All around, the ad does a very good job of getting across their point and achieving their purpose. After seeing this ad it most definitely makes one want to go out and buy a pair of these shoes.

Big Families

When I think of family, I think of a large group of people who are all connected by blood and marriage, and who are all close to each other, love, laugh and support each other. For me, I have loved having a large family. I have three siblings, who I am very close to. Thought two of my siblings are half, because my older sister and brother came from a different mother than my younger sister and I, I do not say that they are, because to me they aren’t only half there, or only half love me, they are my whole siblings.
I treat all my siblings the same and that is because my parents taught us too, they never treated us differently, we were all equal. I was as close to my older sister as any other younger sister to an older sister, if not closer. My older sister and brother came to our house every other weekend, due to custody. However, when my sister was there and I was just a baby, she was the one who would wake up in the middle of the night and carry me around when I cried. She was so excited when she learned that my mother was pregnant, and knew that she could not wait until she have a younger sister to take care of. The bond between my older sister, Candice, and I has always been crazy strong ever since.
When I was a young child I grew to become inseparable from Candice. She used to tell me how annoying it was sometimes when she had to sneak out of the house if she wanted to play with her friends, because if I saw her leaving I would want to go with her. It was also very hard for me to understand the concept when my sister and brother had to leave after only being there a few days, every other weekend. Again, my sister, brother and dad would all have to sneak out of the house to take them home. My mom told me a story of how one time when I was young, they had all snuck out of the house to take them back to their mom’s house, and when I realized that my sister wasn’t around I went and checked behind the couch for my older sister, which was the spot she had always hid in when we played hide-and-go-seek.
Eventually I learned to understand that this is how things were, and so I started going with my dad to drop off my older sister and brother. I had a ritual cry after we dropped them off and I would watch out the back window of our blue mini-van until I could no longer see their house. My dad would then stop by the local convenient store and he would let me get candy, however he made me promise not to tell my mom. My dad felt bad that I was so upset and so he would always let me get whatever candy I wanted and since my mom did not usually let me eat candy it was a very special treat that I always looked forward too.
These moments and long trips back from dropping off my older siblings were what started me and my father’s relationship. However me and my dad did not start to get to close until I my later years when I started to grow into my own person, which just so happened to be a female microcosm of my dad. We loved sports, and loved to be as crazy as possible. I also inherited my dad’s prankster reputation. Every Sunday and Monday nights it was us in front of the TV, watching football. My dad said there was no reason for him to yell at the TV anymore because I had taken that over. My dad was also my softball coach and together we won two championships and then afterwards we would go in our basement and rock out to “We Are the Champions” by Queen. I would share stories of the pranks I played on people at my school and he would share stories of the pranks he used to play in his younger years.
When I was three my younger sister, April, was born. The first time I saw her was when she was in the hospital my mom said that when my dad had brought me in I looked at my mom holding my baby sister and asked “Where is she?” my mom responded with “Right here.” Apparently I thought she was going to be a lot bigger. My grandmother described my relationship to my younger sister, at this age, as one to a pet. One time I called my grandmother up and asked her if she wanted to come pet the new baby. My relationship to my sister did not change much. We did not get along ever, I hated the fact that she stole away my attention, which made me constantly fight for the attention in the oddest ways. We fought like no other, and I loved that I could intimidate her, well that was until she grew to be taller than me.
Last year was the first year April and I grew to be close. I found her hanging out in my room a lot more and me not having the urge to kick her out. She was a freshmen in high school and I a senior. So she came to me for advice a lot, she had many of the same teachers I had once had, she thanked me later for the reputation I left her. I helped her with boys and friends, and so when it came time to drop me off at Virginia Tech I found her goodbye the hardest. I did not want to leave her. I realized then that I had never once really been without her, though we fought so much, she was always there if I ever wanted someone to talk to or play with.
There are many other special bonds I share with each member of my family, which is why I love having one. I always know that I have a lot of people at home who all know me well, care for me, and will do anything for me. I love knowing that, and so I plan on having myself a big family when I get older so that my kids get to experience this same feeling.

L-O-V-E

While reading the assigned “I believe” statements for our homework last class, a specific quote from the work “I Agree with a Pagan” by Arnold Toynbee, really stood out to me, “Love is what gives life meaning and purpose.” This quote then got me thinking, how could one come right out and state so exactly what gives our lives meaning. It was almost as if he had no doubt at all. He mentions that this is also the basis of the Bible and in God’s teachings. Which I can quite positively agree with.
I then moved to question whether or not love is the sole purpose of life. I then started to realize that love is everywhere. When one first uses the word love, I first jump to think, true love, passionate love, the love you feel between you and the person that is meant for you. However, that is just one of several types of love. There is then the love that you feel towards you family and the love you feel towards your friends. Another different type of love is the love we feel towards something we are a part of, such as our country and school.
Then love can even move on to mean, the way we feel for a certain tv show, or sports team. Love is really everywhere. It is more in our lives than I realized until questioning. So I can most definitely agree with the quote from Toynbee, love really is the meaning of our lives. We go through so many different ways of showing and expressing it. I am sure anyone who has had their heart broken knows what it feels like to lose love. Some say that the heart break feeling is one of the worst feelings we can even experience. For me this has definitely been true. I have not experienced anything more painful then that of a heart break. This coming from a girl who has had 6 surgeries, and taken a line drive shot to the face.
So this leads me to my next point, for me the word “love” is not simply something I throw out there or take with a grain of salt. I treat the word love like I do the word hate, I only use them when I actually mean them. Once again this coming from experience, I have had both of those words used towards me when someone did not mean either of them. The pain of finding out someone used the word love when they did not mean it hurt just as much when they said the word hate and I took it as how they truly felt.
Due to this I make sure I do not use either of the words if I do not truly mean them. I would not want to put anyone through either of those pains. However back to what I mentioned earlier with the different ways the word love can be used, it is fine to tell your friend you love them, because they know you are not telling them you love them romantically. Even still with this type of love I still try to make sure I use it only when I mean it.
All this thinking about love reminds me of the song “What is Love?” when I am singing along to the song I am not thinking of the meaning. But when I sit back and think about it, this is what comes to mind. If someone were ever to ask me what I thought love was I would tell them most simply it’s a feeling. To me the complexity of love is way too much to sum up in a few sentences. Love is defined in several ways, it depends on which “love” you’re talking about.
For me friendship love is simply caring about that person. However romantic love is when you make yourself second to that person, when you think of them first and yourself secondly. Well at least that is what I have come to find. These are just two of many different types of love, and so I am sure you can see how that might take more than a couple sentences. How could just a small, four letter word, have so much meaning and complexity behind it? I think the answer lies in the quote above, it is because “love is what gives life meaning and purpose.” Because if you really think about it, what would the world, or our lives be like without it? Yes, love brings us heart break, but for me I would endure years and years of heart break as long as I got to have at least one day which was completely full of love.
Love is a crazy feeling, because when you do truly love someone you do not hold grudges, and no matter how badly you fight with that person it does not matter because at the end of the day you love them and you will do anything for them, including giving your heart to them and letting them break it. Love is the sole purpose of life and I would not want to leave this world without saying that I loved and I was loved back.

In the 10th grade I had to memorize a sonnet, and I believe it goes very well with what I am talking about.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments, love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come,
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare; Sonnet 116

157 Food I Despise

My parents had a very hard live raising me due to my hatred of food. Well it’s not that I hate food but that I am an extreme picky eater. Most of the time when my parents cook, I don’t eat, or I find something that I like and that is easy to make. I am not exactly sure why this is, sometimes there are foods that I like, but I only like them certain ways. For instance, cheese, if someone were to ask me if I liked cheese than I have no idea how I would answer, when I order tacos I do not want cheese, but I like cheese on my pizza and cheese on my burgers. This goes the same for a lot of other foods too. However I took the time to come up with a list of foods I just straight up despise.

1. Mac and Cheese
2. Raisins
3. Fish
4. Tuna
5. Shrimp
6. Lobster
7. Crab
8. Clams
9. Any other sea foods
10. Brussel Sprouts
11. Peppers
12. Beets
13. Squash
14. Corn dogs
15. Kiwi
16. Guacamole
17. Fig Newton’s
18. Dots (candy)
19. Sushi
20. Calamari
21. Water
22. Milk
23. Tomato Juice
24. Tomato soup
25. Chicken noodle soup
26. Peas
27. Sauerkraut
28. Anchovies
29. Mushrooms
30. Sour Cream
31. Jalapenos
32. Cereal
33. Oatmeal
34. Omelets
35. Grape Fruits
36. Moon pies
37. Butterscotch
38. Hard Candies
39. Pie (all)
40. Whip cream
41. Cool whip
42. Chocolate cake (breaded part)
43. Strawberry Ice Cream
44. Cotton candy flavor
45. Ice Tea
46. Cole Slaw
47. Sweet Potatoes
48. Cranberry Sauce
49. Stuffing
50. Corn Bread
51. Burritos
52. Salmon
53. Lamb
54. Deer Meat
55. Yogurt
56. Dragon Fruit
57. Baby Food
58. Rollo’s
59. Limes
60. Pop Tarts
61. Relish
62. Honey
63. Honey Mustard
64. Turkey Dogs
65. Tofu
66. Blue Cheese
67. Orange Juice
68. Chocolate Milk
69. Energy Drinks
70. Asparagus
71. Turnips
72. Spinach
73. Propel
74. Turkey meat on the bone
75. Chicken Breast
76. Spam
77. Rabbit Meat
78. French Dressing
79. Protein shakes
80. Protein bars
81. Energy bars
82. Black Coffee
83. Poached Eggs
84. Deviled Eggs
85. Eggs Benedict
86. Sunnyside up (Eggs)
87. Roast
88. Casseroles
89. Zucchini
90. Sweet and Sour Chicken
91. Egg rolls
92. Meatball Subs
93. Artichokes
94. Pudding
95. Crab Cakes
96. Sardines
97. Curry
98. Marshmallows
99. Pickled Eggs
100. Pigs in a blanket
101. Fruit Dip
102. Taco Salad
103. Stuffed Grape Leaves
104. Paprika
105. Calf’s brains
106. Calzones
107. Cocoanut
108. Vanilla Wafers
109. Prunes
110. Prune Juice
111. Shortbread
112. Applesauce
113. Dried Fruit
114. Fruit Snacks
115. Edible Flowers (And yes I have tried them)
116. Roast Goose
117. Egg Salad
118. Buttermilk
119. Carrot Cake
120. Pound Cake
121. Gingerbread
122. Fig
123. Jell-O
124. Jelly
125. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
126. Sugar free anything
127. Ginger Snaps
128. Cannoli
129. Graham Crackers
130. Apricots
131. Date Nuts
132. Plums
133. Tarts
134. Popcorn Balls
135. Duck
136. Filet Mignon
137. Dumplings
138. Freezer Meals
139. Vegetable Lasagna
140. Enchilada
141. Green Olives
142. Mock Duck
143. Cool Ranch Doritos
144. Rye Bread
146. Whole Grain Anything
147. Soy Milk
148. Okra
149. Yams
150. Cottage Cheese
151. Lima Beans
152. White Chocolate
153. Gooseberries
154. Papayas
155. Pomegranates
156. Salt Water
157. Molasses

These are all of the foods and drinks I could think of which I would never even dream about touching. My poor parents have struggled with coming up with dinners that suit me and my younger sister. I am sure when I am older karma will happen and I will end up with kids that are pickier than I.

What is IDST?

What is IDST? This is the question I get every time I tell someone my major. I then follow that question up with it is Interdisciplinary Studies; however the confused expression on their faces does not change. So I then have to go into explaining something that is actually extremely complex or trying to find a simple definition to satisfy their question. Eventually after repeating this process over and over again it starts to become quite aggravating.
My simple version of what it is and why I am majoring in it is, well it is the only thing offered that supports what I want to do. Virginia Tech along with every other university now, in Virginia, does not have an Elementary Education Undergraduate major. It is only offered in Graduate school, and one must obtain a Master’s degree in order to become an elementary school teacher in the state of Virginia. So I must major in Interdisciplinary Studies, and this isn’t even very short at all.
Those who do know what Interdisciplinary studies at Virginia Tech is know that it is taking two or more minors and making that a major. What they do not know is that IDED falls under Interdisciplinary Studies. IDED is a short way for saying the Education and Social Degree option, which is a major, created by Joan Wilson, who is still a faculty member and advisor at the school. Once Virginia Tech lost the undergraduate elementary education major she made up a major which satisfies those undergraduates who are trying to pursue a career in elementary education. This is not two minors put together; it is an actual major, which was placed under Interdisciplinary Studies.
Though I have mentioned what Interdisciplinary Studies is at Virginia Tech I have not explained exactly what IDST is. If one breaks down the word Interdisciplinary there is the word discipline and inter, however I would like to think of the word as integrating. So this explains what Interdisciplinary means, it is integrating different disciplines. To be an Interdisciplinarian, one looks at complex phenomena such as poverty or terrorism and they come up with a solution to the problem by integrating different disciplines and bringing in insights from all angles which apply. This is different from someone who studies in specifically one discipline, such as Biology, they do not simply look at the problem from only a biological aspect but they may bring in psychology, English, and math.
So what? Now that I have explained what Interdisciplinary means, so what? Interdisciplinary is the best way to look at a problem, not just looking at it from one aspect or discipline but combining them all to come up with one consensus. Interdisciplinarians look at the problem first and decide “what disciplines would be best to help solve this?” They care for the problem first and then take into account which disciplines apply, and then come up with a basic conclusion by integrating all of the ideas, in order to best serve the issue. If one single discipline were to look at the problem and try to solve it, they would fail, seeing as they do not have insight from other disciplines in order to come up with the best solution. Also if one is to take multiple disciplines and each makes their own assumptions on how the problem might best be solved, and not integrate or look at the problem its self first than they will also fail. Interdisciplinarians are very important in helping to create the best conclusion. I am not bashing disciplines because without discipline there would not be interdisciplinary, I am simply saying that we must pull all disciplines applicable and integrate them to best solve complex phenomena.

"A Tuti Ta"

One thing most people do not know about me is what I have the greatest passion for, and that is children. Ever since I was a young child “school” was always my favorite game to play. I could play school for hours, I loved setting up the classroom, coming up with a fake class list, making worksheets, and even hanging up posters and making bulletin boards, and that was only the preparation. I would then take forever reading to a fake class, teaching them about science, math, history, or English, for hours!! My voice would sometimes even become sore. This game started to turn into reality when I was in the fourth grade.
Every summer starting in the fourth grade I would go into the elementary school where my mom worked and I attended and I would help all the teachers set up their classrooms, sometimes it was sharpening pencils or laminating and cutting out posters but I didn’t mind I loved doing all of it. The teachers started catching on and would beg for my help each year, I loved it, and I felt so wanted. Once I got into high school I stopped working at the school and only went in to visit when my mom wanted me to help out with events. I started to drift away from the career of a teacher and was looking into other things I might want to do, such as, acting.
In my junior year of high school, however I started to notice that whenever I went somewhere, where there were kids I was always around them, more so than adults. I started to realize that I enjoyed their company a great deal. I also saw that acting wasn’t a realistic major and that teaching is something I could positively see myself doing. So I took an Early Childhood class, in this class we would go into a head start class with four year olds and we would come up with lesson plans and teach them. The head start classroom was in our school and so it was very accessible. I enjoyed the class so much, I loved making lesson plans and both my teacher and I found that I was very good at it, and more creative than I had ever thought.
Being a teacher in the head start classroom was very natural to me, even the head start teachers commented on how good I was with the children. In my senior year I got to take the Early Childhood 2 class, where it was the same only we were focusing more on how to be a daycare manager. We still got to go in and work with the kids, and make up lesson plans too. This year was especially significant on the influence of me becoming a teacher because of one specific child. Carl was the wild child of the classroom, and was always mis behaving, he got worse as the year went on. He was disrespecting the teachers and would not listen to them. One day I had gone into the classroom and had found Carl and was playing with him, he was pretending that he had lost his straw to his drink when really he had hid it behind him; however I went along with it. Later the head start teachers had told my teacher that Carl hadn’t played like that with a teacher in a long time. When I found this out it surprised me and made me wonder “why me?”
For the lesson plans we always had to teach the kids one song and read them a story every time we went into the head start. I had learned a song from my experiences working in a kindergarten class though another class called Teacher Cadet that I was also enrolled in. The song was called “A Tuti Ta” it was very strange, but the kids seemed to love it. So I took it to the head start class, and I came to find that they too absolutely loved the song. The kids every day after that requested that we sing that song every time we came. We didn’t but we did do it very often. One day Carl’s case worker came up to me and asked me for the lyrics to the song, she said that he loved it and it was about the only thing that would get him to listen to her or the teachers, she said it was all he talked about, and he would go around singing what he remembered from the song all of the time. This touched me, I felt so special that my simple idea to teach them the song had had the impact it did on Carl.
Carl and the Early Childhood class really made me want to teach. I want to feel like that all the time, what other job rewards you in such an amazing way? I can’t wait until the day when I have my own kindergarten class and I am teaching them “A Tuti Ta.”

Softball

14 years of my life have been devoted to one sport, softball. Due to this immense amount of time spent participating in one sport I have learned a mass variety of technical lingo which is specific to the sport of softball. It is interesting to think that one does not know all that I know about softball because it is so natural to me. I have grown up in the world of softball. My dad has been my coach many a time and my mom always there on the side line as a supporter and cheerleader. I started the trend and it also got passed along to my younger sister who has been playing softball for 10 years. Even my best friend plays softball, and so it is weird when I come across someone who does not understand what the “drop third strike” rule is or the difference between a bunt and a slap.
I love the world of softball and it saddens me to think that I might lose it someday. I hope to pass it on to my children in the future, and maybe be their coach. I would love to pass this world and knowledge on to my kids and maybe someone else’s kids by being a coach. I would hate to think that 14 years of learning all that I have had gone to waste. I also would enjoy having my kids gain the experiences from softball that I have.
One of my most memorable experiences while playing softball has happened while I was a part of the Dominion High School softball team. The last few weeks of my senior season were the highlight of my softball career. Our team had grown so close to each other and we were getting along great. We had our inside jokes such as whenever we felt we had been robbed of a hit we would yell out “Bojangles.” The most spectacular win we had was the first playoff game of the season we were the 6th seed out 8 teams and not expected to win against the 3rd seed who just so happened to be our school rivals. We amazingly pulled out an awesome win, after we had been tied the entire game 0-0, we scored the first run in the seventh inning and came back to stop the other team from scoring to end and win the game 1-0 letting us advance to the next round, despite what everyone had thought would happen. I would like to think of this as the largest upset of the season.
Games like that are the reason I love the sport, and why I have stuck with it for 14 years. Its passion, and heart that drives one to stick with a sport for so long. Feeling the unity of a team and to pull out an amazing win as we did is something I hope everyone gets to enjoy at least once in their lives. I feel like everyone should experience playing a sport or being on a team of sorts during their life time, I would recommend softball, but that’s just me, there are many other sports out there and one does not have to be amazingly skilled at the sport to enjoy what it brings to life.

Kyle Barger

On average, the typical eighteen year old, college student, studying in the United States has not seen much of the country, let alone most of the world, which is what makes Kyle Barger so amazingly unique and so incredibly one to be envious of. Aside from seeing traditional United States infamous landmarks, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the typical Oahu out west in Hawaii, Kyle has seen a good portion of Europe, Canada where he visited Niagara Falls, and even Africa. In fact, Kyle mentioned that he “actually took [his] first steps” in Hawaii as a child.
Kyle started his travels out very young. Before even his first steps in Hawaii he went to Africa, where his mother actually lived and was raised. Even still he was a young boy when he took his third out of country trip. This was when he went to Niagara Falls in Canada. He says that he was so young, he only briefly remembers “standing in a cave in the cliff watching the water fall right in front of [him].” For spring break in the fifth grade Kyle went to Europe, where he visited three countries, including; Switzerland, Germany, and France. There he got to eat “a lot of great food and did a lot of sight-seeing like the Alps” said Kyle.
One trip in which Kyle actually stayed in the States was when he was ten. He went to New Mexico and then up to Colorado, where he white water rafted on the Colorado River. He also went to Four Corners, and visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona, all in one trip! The summer before Kyle’s junior year Kyle had the chance to choose where he wanted to go as a graduation gift, he chose to revisit Hawaii, seeing as the first time he went he was only one or two years old. He stayed on both the islands of Oahu and Honolulu. There he got to experience snorkeling in a volcano crater, and got to see many “famous landmarks like Black Sand Beach, Diamondhead Crater, Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor,” and even “volcanoes erupting.” Kyle described. Kyle mentioned how “It was cool because the first trip I could say I took my first steps in Hawaii but the second trip I can say I drove in Hawaii.”
Beyond large trips Kyle has done some of the more typical, smaller trips such as going to the beach, Disney World, whale watching in Maine, and visiting the monuments in Washington D.C. One great reason he got to take all of these mind bottling trips is because “he has been a pleasure to be with, to do things with, and to take places” His mother explains. Kyle’s family travels so often because they believe it is “important that we get to know and appreciate all kinds of cultures and people” describes Martha Barger, Kyle’s mom. Kyle considers himself a family person, due to his travels, he says it has brought his family closer together, which also has a lot to do with why he chose a college so close. Kyle enjoys spending time with his family and friends and so Virginia Tech seemed like an ideal college since he is from Roanoke, which is around 45 minutes from campus.
Kyle was naturally shy as a child and did not expand who he was close to much outside his family which also has made the impact on the family guy he is today. Kyle explained, “I hated talking to people that I didn’t know and I wasn’t willing to go out and try new things.” Kyle’s mom describes his shy attitude as “his easy-going, low-demand personality.” However she admits “He spent as much time hiding behind my leg as walking beside me! When people would speak to him he would duck and hide.” Ironically, despite his shy personality as a child he did get to go outside the country and experience life outside the States.
His family definitely helped him to become less shy, “For years we worked with him until he finally reached the point where he would look people in the eye and speak to them!” states Martha Barger. Kyle has made quite the shift in the past five or so years. Martha mentions how Kyle “didn’t like to try new things” however “he has learned that there is a world of opportunity out there, and reaching it almost always requires those first steps into the darkness of the unknown.” Kyle gives much credit to him coming out of his shell to his best friend, Jared, whom he met in the seventh grade. Kyle said, “Jared has always been really outgoing and talkative so we were complete opposites” however “he kept inviting me to hang out with him and he showed me all the stuff he was interested in and he would push me to do things that I didn’t really want to do or was too afraid to do but I did them any way. So slowly but surely I started to grow out of my shy phase and I got into a lot of new things and picked up a lot of the same interests that Jared had.”
Kyle has made a miraculous change in personality most people do not experience. “I’ve become a completely different person than I was for the majority of my life.” Kyle describes. “Kyle has found his own personality and confidence!” deems Martha. “If he feels shy inside, he does a good job managing it” she continues. This new spectacular Kyle that has risen to the surface has “lots of things he enjoys doing now because he [is] willing to try!” quotes Momma Barger. The best way to describe Kyle now is in the words of his mother, Martha Barger, “Fun…Kyle is fun to be around …he loves to jet-ski, play sports, play electronic games, and travel. Kyle enjoys the fun part of life as much as anyone else I know!”