My Momma

For many of the people who watch the Super Bowl, it’s all about the football. Yet for many others like me, we watch for the half time and the commercials. My favorite commercial this year was the one with the little boy and the boyfriend. I thought that this commercial was very well written to get the audience’s attention. It keeps the men involved tuned with the beautiful women that comes in right away. Then it keeps it connected to the screen as you watch her walk away and you wonder were the scene is going to go. Unexpected to a lot of us her five year old son slaps the boyfriend and puts him in his place. "Don't touch my momma and don't touch my Doritos." This line made me laugh and made me remember this commercial out of all the rest. Then to top it off you hear the mother ask if Jaylen is "playing nice." That last line was the sinker for me because it made the 30 second blip that much funnier. I believed that this was a great advertising campaign for the product and that id made a lasting impression this year during the Super Bowl.

New Drinking Rules

A week ago the Omaha World-Herald published an article about underage drinking and the new bill looking to be passed in Nebraska. The bill would remind minors about the consequences and dangers of underage drinking. Legislative Bill 258 is read as such. "Nebraska youths convicted of minor in possession would lose their driver’s licenses for 60 to 90 days for a first offense and for at least six months for a second conviction. MIP offenders not yet old enough to drive would have to wait six months for their permit or license, with another six-month delay for a second offense." To me this means that underage drinking has become an even larger problem for kids in Nebraska. You don’t have to look hard to see the results of underage drinking. Each year, alcohol-related accidents claim the lives of thousands of young adults across the country. The Centers for Disease Control reports that about 4,700 people a year age 21 and younger die from alcohol-related causes. According to the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, teen drivers ages 16-19 represent 7 percent of all licensed drivers yet account for 16 percent of the accidents where alcohol was a factor. Yet even with this new rule one has to ask if it'll really make a difference. In today society no matter how old you are, drinking is considered cool. If we really want to fix the problem we have to change the way are culture looks at alcohol consumption. This new bill may do its best to keep minors from drinking but I believe in the long run it will not have the desired effect that many people would hope for. I agree with the idea of the bill but not he concepts. I believe it will not work and a new idea needs to be looked at. Drinking is a tough subject for many people so if this bill is to work parents, and minors need to change their ways as an example to others before they can ever hope for any real change.

Broken Hearts

There’s nothing in the world quiet like a broken heart. It’s the type of thing that leaves you breathless. No matter how old you are, or how much you've learned, broken hearts always hurt the same. My first broken heart came when I was 15 and my dog of 13 years named KC died. It was the first time I'd lost something dear to my heart. It still hurts when I think of her. My second broken heart came when I was 17 and my boyfriend of two years and I broke up. I may have been young but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. My mother told me that broken hearts were natural, that everyone has them at some point in their life. I didn’t believe her then, but I know better now. At the time it was the worst feeling id ever felt. I became overwhelmed by the emotion and it took me in a very bad direction. I didn’t talk to anyone about the feelings but people could see how much it was affecting me. It wasn’t until I started spending time with another boy 6 months later that brought me out of my bad time. I’m still seeing him to this day, three years later. The one thing that kept me somewhat sane in all of the chaos was my writing. Even though the writing was never very positive it was a way to organize my thoughts that kept me so occupied. I didn’t talk to my broken heart for almost five years, and then a week ago he called me. Are talk was great, it was the first time I was able to open up and tell him all the things I wanted to all those years ago. We laughed about everything and left nothing off the table. When I hung up the phone I knew that we wouldn’t talk for awhile like before but that was ok. I know in my heart I will always care for him but it took my heart a very long time to heal after him and I would never go down that road with him again. He will always be my best friend in many ways and I owe him so much.
After are talk I started to think about the concept of broken hearts and what it meant to me and other people. The dictionary definition of a broken heart is the following-despair; disillusionment; devastating sorrow, esp. from disappointment in love. Even though all these words hold true they don’t even begin to touch on the actual feeling and process. I asked a friend what her first broken heart felt like, she smiled before she began. "I didn’t eat for awhile, I just wasn’t hungry anymore. I didn’t sleep very well and I cried allot. The crying was the worst part." I asked her again what it felt like and she said she really couldn’t explain it but she would never in a million years be able to forget the feelings. I started to wonder how this felt for boys then. Where the feelings the same? Does it hurt just as bad? Girls really can’t help but put their emotions out there for the world to see, it’s hard for us. Yet with men, they always seem fine. They never show that there hurt or that they feel alone. We spend so much time after a broken heart trying to get the other people to think were ok when the story about the pain is still just as strong as it was yesterday. So then I asked, who would I be without my story. Who would I be if I didn’t have this story in my head? Happy, I would be happy. I had to question every aspect of my story to figure out what was really true. That was the hardest part, yet after I read through all the lines of my "story" I was left with one line, the most important part of the story. Only I can make myself happy. I had never thought about things that way before and for the first time in a very long time I was able to let go of all my stories and be free to start over and live my life. A broken heart may hurt and take the wind out of your sails but it doesn’t mean it’s the end. It only means you have a beautiful opportunity to start over, and that ladies and gentleman is the most amazing part of it all.

Beauty

I watched Jess blow dry her hair, put on makeup and get "all dolled up" so she could go to work. This was something I had watched her do a hundred times and never thought anything of it until today. As I watched her, I noticed something. Even though she was beautiful without the makeup she still put it on and hair sprayed her poof to make her hair "perfect." I asked Jess why she did all of it. She only shrugged and said because she looked better with it on then not. This got me thinking.
For years women have done things to enhance there appearance so that men will find them more "attractive." We buy creams, lotions, cancellers, blushes, eye shadows, mascara, eyeliner, and sprays. All in the name of looking better. Men don’t do this. They step out of the shower towel try their hair and walk out the door. Imagine how much money women would save if they didn’t buy hundreds of beauty products for their hair and there face. Imagine how different things would be. If we did things so the same caliber as men, if we honestly put as much time into are appearance as they did then would be taken more seriously, or less?
The real question I guess is why do we do it? Why do we put that much effort into something that most men don’t even notice? The only ones that notice are makeup and are fancy shoes... are other women. Where did this obsession with looking good for men start? The only reason we still try to do all of these things is because society tells us to. In the commercials, in the magazine adds, and in the movies. Women have been "dolling up" for years. It's seen in the history books and in other societies, but why? Where did the idea come from? Why don’t men partake in this beauty ritual as well? What if the roles were reversed? How would men be treated? Would women’s rolls in society be different? The men vs. women dilemma has been a long time controversy with power. I wish for a day the rolls could be reversed and I could see how different are lives would be.

Energy Drinks

When it comes to students and their drinks, we get whatever we can to stay awake and keep ourselves on top of our game for class, dates, and homework. For some people coffee doesn’t kick in fast enough or last long enough so they have turned to energy drinks. One of the most popular of these is the drink called "Rock Star" that was introduced about 4 years ago. Since then it has landed in vending machines and schools all over the country. Many energy drinks have a very high percentage of carbohydrates that can make it more difficult for food and nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestines. In some cases, gastrointestinal problems and distress are a possibility. This side effect is one reason why these energy drinks are not as good for athletes as they are purported to be.
For people like me who have "heart murmurs" coffee, pop, and energy drinks are things that affect my heart greatly. When you take products like this it causes your body to speed up and pump the blood faster through your body in an unnatural way. This can cause serious health problems.
When an energy drink has a high sugar content, it can have a laxative effect, as well as causing a sudden "crash" when the sugar leaves the bloodstream and the energy high disappears. Clearly, the energy-producing ingredients in the energy drinks result in a desired effect: a stimulation of the nervous system that can also cause changes in neurotransmitters, making people feel more energized. However, if caffeine is the ingredient primarily responsible for creating this energy high, drinkers should be aware that high levels of caffeine can have both laxative and diuretic effects. There are even things in the drinks that boost your immune system, improve memory, burn fats, and calm the body at the same time. All of this is done unnaturally and can be very harmful to the body.
So if we know that energy drinks cause all these bad symptoms then why do we take them? Why do we always seem to be attacked to that which is the worst for us? People have even posted questions on the web about the effects of drinking 5 and in an hour. In a YouTube video with Dr Whiting he talks about the effects of energy drinks. If you search through YouTube you start to see all the bad videos about these drinks. The more you learn about it the more you see the side effects. So this once again makes me ask why? Why would you put this into your body? To me, it’s only about a step away from doing drugs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCJwBTNNid4

Ground Hogs Day

Throughout history it seems that when someone comes up with a brilliant idea...it’s usually a copy from somewhere else. This is true about Ground Hogs Day.
The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvanian German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. The holiday also bears some similarities to the medieval Catholic holiday of Candlemas. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication.Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.
In southeastern Pennsylvania the people celebrate Ground Hogs Day differently. This day is an event where food is served, speeches are made, and plays are preformed. During the even only Pennsylvania German dialect is allowed to be spoken. If any English is said then that person must pay a nickel, dime, or quarter per word in English.
The Actual holiday has been celebrated since 1886 and takes place in Lancaster County, Schuylkill County, Sinnamahoning Valley, and Bucks County. It’s gone as far as to become the official holiday for the University of Dallas in Irving Texas. The day became even more popular when the movie "Groundhog Day" was mad in the early 90's.
It’s a silly theory really. Every February 2nd people gather around the chosen Groundhog and wait for him to tell us if there will be six more weeks of winter. If he crawls out of his hole and continues forward to search for food then it means winter is over. If he turns around and crawls back in, then winter continues. What animal wouldn’t run back to its hole when 100's of people are staring at you? I don’t remember a year when are trusted Groundhog haven’t retreated back to the hole. Since 1999 to 2010 the name, prediction and location of the groundhog has been kept on record. How can the groundhog in Charlotte NC, and the one in Holtsville NY, say two different things? One says winter hey one says early spring.
I mean come on how can you trust a groundhog named "General Beauregard Lee" to tell you if you should buy more firewood for your home?

Final Editorial

We live in a world where power is everything, where freedom is everything. Yet in are world today we are starting to see things differently. Since the current election of the new president, are world has become a like a main event at a carnival. Like at any good carnival, it is designed to make people laugh. When our political and economic standing came to a crash, we became the laughing stock of the show.

We live in a world full of false promise. Since the day Obama took office he has promised us reform, hope, structure, and peace. We have yet to see this. We have begun to question the ring leader who has promised us the show of a life time, and has yet to deliver.

We live in a world full of hope. We watch as his promises of a new health care plan is lighten up in lights at the carnival, only to have the current pulled back to show us a show that’s not everything its hyped up to be. We have been hoping for so much more. We believed that there could be more.

We live in a world of fear. As the ring leader tries to recover his faulty promise of a good show we start to see his true colors. In the new plan everyone will have to serve in the military for two years in a foreign country. This puts fear in people’s hearts. This is not the show they wanted to see.

We live in a world full of lies. We are starting to see that we only looked at the picture of the show before we walked inside the tent. This show is not what we wanted. No one has yet to read Obama’s entire health care plan. Every time congress votes, he adds more pages. One part of the plan gives Obama all of congresses power. Did they skip this page? I hope not.

We live in a world full of uncertainty. We walk out of the show wishing that it could have been better, wondering what to do now. The ring leader only smiles, wave’s goodbye, and encourages us to come again. We are pulled into a promise that in the end we never received. If we agree to a health care plan that no one will read fully, that no one cares to understand, then why should we vote for something that we know nothing about.

We want to live in a world where we are safe. Where we know we will have are basic freedoms. We want a world where the government stays out of our lives. We ask only for the comfort of respect and honesty. We don’t want the government to decide are lives. We want to live are own.

We should always question that which others except.