The Last Blog!

     I can honestly say that I am actually sad that this semester is coming to a close. First of all, because time seems like it is going by so fast and there is nothing I can do about it. Secondly, because my next semester is going to be fifty times harder than this one was, as they are medical classes. Last of all, because I actually kind of liked writing these blogs, then again I hated it! I really liked reading other people’s blogs because I found them more interesting than mine! I also liked writing them because they helped me get things off my mind while helping me improve my writing skills. I think that writing skills are important in my line of work (radiology) because if I have to send letters to patients, doctors, or memos to my co-workers, then I will be able to sound professional. I don’t want people to look at my letters or notes and think, “Wow, what school did she go to? Is she even a real Radiology Technician?” However, it is a love/hate relationship with these blogs. I hated writing them because it was always so hard for me to find what to write about. I didn’t want to write about something that everyone else was going to write about, but at the same time, I still wanted the blogs to be interesting so people’s chins won’t be hitting their keyboards from exhaustion because my blog was so boring! I look back now and I kind of wish that I had written more exciting blogs, or interesting blogs.  There is nothing I can do about it now, but I know I have definitely improved my writing skills because of all of these blogs and I am especially pleased about that! I have never blogged before in my entire life, and I liked trying something new.  However, even though I liked trying something new, I know that I won’t ever blog again unless I am forced to do it for a grade. I know that I would never be able to post anything that anyone would ever find interesting. I try to make my writing interesting, but it seems as though I never can get my writing quite high enough for my standards. My grammar is even hard for me to perfect. I don’t know why I am like that, but at the same time I’m glad that I pick my essays and papers apart like that because it helps to strive to be a better writer. I really hope that I can further improve my writing skills, even though I think this is the last English glass that I have to take. I am also just blissful that I am ending English 102 with such a good grade! That means that I have gotten a good grade in every English class I have taken! I am ending this school year enormously proud of myself because I am doing things that I never thought I would be capable of doing.

My New Career Path!

     Recently I decided to change my major. I have changed my major from Elementary School Education to Radiology, specializing in Ultrasound Technology.  I first went to sign up for classes in the Health Science building and that thing is HUGE! It gives the feel of a hospital just like its intention! I proceeded to room 325, where I met Christie, who works at the front desk. I think that she is probably the nicest person that I have ever met that works at MSSU. She was very helpful and she helped me sign up for classes. Because I signed up for classes so late by mistake, I had a hard time finding the classes I needed, but somehow she helped me! I’m not saying it was any easy task! First of all there was something wrong with her computer while I was there, which was not her fault at all! Sometimes technology can have a mind of its own! It took me about two hours to get signed up for classes, but she was very informative about the program. She was straight to the point and she didn’t sugar coat anything. She told me that the semester I am about to go into is going to very hard. I am glad that she told me exactly how she felt about my classes so I would know what to expect. Christie also said that 50 people apply for the program every year and only 10 get accepted into it, so I should work very hard to maintain my grades and if I am struggling, that I should definitely seek a tutor if need be.  I was informed of what I needed to get into the program and how I needed to do it. She told me about how I needed to take the summer to job shadow radiologists as much as I could to help me have a better chance at getting into the program as well and so I will know what to expect with the Radiology Program. I know that right now I am very scared to start the new school year, but at the same time I am excited. She said that she loves helping people sign up for the classes because these people she is helping will one day be able to help her medically or perhaps one of her family members. She was very professional and she knew a lot about all of the classes and the Radiology Program. Needless to say I am very scared, yet very excited about the future to come. I’m not too confident about how well I will do in school, but I am glad because that will keep me on my toes so I can strive to do well. It's not very helpful that my family members seem to be viewing my career change negatively as well, saying that they do not think that I can do it, but I'll prove them wrong. The future seems so far away and I can’t wait! I wish that I could just reach up and grab it and get it over with, but I cannot.  I am looking forward to my first attempt at getting into the Radiology Program. If I don’t make it in the first time I will try until I do!

Teen Pregnancy

     At least once a week I will look on my Facebook and I will see several of my friends saying something about how they can’t wait to see tonight’s “Teen Mom” episode, or  tonight’s “16 and Pregnant” episode, and every time I read it, I roll my eyes.  I don’t understand why someone would want to watch such garbage. My boyfriend’s little sisters are always watching one of them and it makes me makes me mad because they are fifteen years old and I don’t want them to get the wrong idea. It seems to me that teens that are watching this show will get the wrong idea about being a teen mom. I mean, these girls had a baby when they were fifteen or sixteen years old, and because of that, they are getting to be on TV and they are making money for it. However, I was doing some research, and perhaps I’m wrong. I came across an article written by the Senior Vice President of MTV Lauren Dolgen, explaining why she created “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant.”  She came across an article that affected her profoundly. It was an article talking about Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy. Inside the article she said that it had statistics about how many teens are pregnant every year that do not have a lot of money like Ms. Spears did to give her a boost.  Critics like me say that these shows are glamorizing teen pregnancy and making it look fun. To be fair, the girls in these shows are being made to overcome some pretty rough obstacles and make some pretty tough decisions that a teenage girl shouldn’t have to make.  Dolgen then goes on to say, “We believe that our audience is smart enough to view "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant" as the shows were intended -- as cautionary tales about the consequences of unprotected sex, and the reality of becoming a parent too early.” I have recently viewed “16 and Pregnant” and I understand what she is saying. If you watch the show you will see it is much like a documentary. These girls are going through rough times such as having to give their babies up for adoption, relationship difficulties, and having to find a job to raise their baby that will soon be arriving. I do recall that my boyfriend’s sister, Ashley said while we were watching the show, “I will never have kids until I am older! Their lives look hard!” I couldn’t believe it when I heard it!  Another article states that “A report released Dec. 21st, 2010 by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reported that 82% of teens say that by watching the show they have a better understanding of the struggles and challenges that teen parents face.” Who would have thought that a simple reality TV show could help bring down teen pregnancy rates? I have a new appreciation for this show and I will not longer view it negatively!

"Monday, Monday. Can't Trust that Day!"

     My alarm goes off at 4 a.m. Monday morning to the beautiful tune of the piano. I roll over slowly, dripping in sweat because it is stifling in my bedroom to turn off my alarm. I rub my eyes longing for my bed again. I walk to the bathroom like a zombie and there I brush my teeth, comb my hair, put on my make up, and get dressed. I call my giant Great Dane, Hiro to come to the back door where I will be letting him out. It was pouring down rain outside, but because I was so hot I did not put on shoes or a jacket. I had a hold of Mister Hiro’s collar and before I could put him on his lease that is in tacked in the ground he leapt in the other direction playfully. “Hiro, no, no boy!” I said sternly reaching for him quickly. He leapt back again before I could grab him and ran for the neighbor’s yard as fast as he could. I promptly ran after him, tripping over a giant limb that had fell from the night’s storm, my face falling into a big puddle of water.  I had no time to get angry because I did not want my dog to get hit by a car, or run away. I jumped from the ground as quickly as possible and looked up. He was nowhere to be found. “HIRO!” I called fearfully as I crept through the lightless alley. I saw a shadow moving through the darkness. “That better be you!” I said in a shrill voice, running at the shadow, the rain beating down on my head like a waterfall. I reached the end of the alley where I found my dog just standing there waiting for me, as if his little game was over and he was ready to go home now. “BAD BOY!” I said to him and pulled him by his collar, back to the house and put him inside. I had fifteen minutes to dry off and be at work! I dried off promptly, grabbed my umbrella, and jumped in the car. As soon as I got to work I opened my car door and got out my umbrella because it was still raining really hard. I was not looking forward to walking in the rain again but at least this time I had by trusty umbrella! I pulled my umbrella close to me like it was my only friend, grabbed my purse, and jumped out of the car, making a run for it. As I ran, my shoe fell off and a large gust of wind took over my umbrella, pulling me to the ground as I held on to it as if it were my only child being swept away by the high tides of the ocean. I couldn’t keep my grip on the umbrella and it blew away. I got up, feeling defeated, but also glad that wasn’t really my only baby.  However, if this was a test, and I was truly supposed to keep a hold of that umbrella because it was my baby, then I definitely failed it! I unlocked the door and went inside, water dripping from my body. I walked through the doors for employees only and there was the last person I wanted to see, my decorator. “Well you look pretty today!” He said sarcastically. I pictured myself punching him in the face and then calmly walked to the break room and grabbed a towel to dry myself off. That is how my Monday morning went. Hope everyone else’s was much better than mine. I still can’t decide whether to laugh about it or cry about it.

Who has my Kidney?

Sometimes in life organs go bad and you have to get them replaced. How do hospitals decide who gets an organ transplant? Do they investigate the person’s family to see how kind this person was considered to be and whether or not they were a drain on society? Do they look at their medical records and see if they have had a long history of trouble with the certain organ that is needing replaced? Do they investigate why this organ has gone bad? Was it from too much smoking, drinking too much alcohol, or eating too many fried foods or foods that were not good for them? Some donors will tell the hospitals that they only want their organs to go to a person who is in their family that needs a transplant and others will request their organ go to someone who will not misuse it. For example, let’s say that someone is donating their liver and they want it to go to a person whose liver did not fail because they drank so much, or something like that. Some rude donors will say that they are going to donate their organs only to a person of the same race as them, which is not right in my opinion. It seems pretty cruel to refuse an organ to someone who needs one. Most hospitals will look at the donor’s preference when searching for who gets the organ they are donating. The person who is to receive the organ first of all must be able to pay for the organ. This means that most people who cannot afford the organ will not get the organ and will likely die. I think that is very sad. I wish there was a way that we could change something like that because that means that a very deserving, good person could die. After that they usually go with the standard procedures of picking out a recipient. Who needs the organ the most? If there are two people that equally need the organ as badly as the other then they must go with who was on the list for the organ first because it’s first come, first saved. They will also look at whether or not you are of this nation because tax-paying people’s money is sometimes paying for this organ. I’m not sure if I agree with this but I guess when you think about it, I could see some people saying that. An example of this would be a prisoner. Would you want a prisoner to get your heart if you donated it? Convicted rapist Kenneth Pike, of Auburn, New York was put on the heart transplant list. He was recently offered a heart and turned it down even though it would save his life. The reason he turned it down is because it was causing such an uproar with the public. People did not want their tax paying dollars to go toward giving a new lease on life to a man who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl (who was related to him) in 1992. The heart transplant would have cost $800,000 and because he is in prison, tax payers would be the ones who paid for it. Kenneth Pike, who is 55 years of age is supposed to be serving 18 to 40 years in prison for this horrendous act, so would he even get to use this heart if he received it? If he was imprisoned in 1996, then that means that he has about three more years to go if he is to be let out at 18 years, but will he rape another? You would think that someone like this wouldn’t even be considered because of what they did. Do you think that this man deserved a new heart?

Funny News

     Do you ever just need a laugh? Some people read jokes; some people watch funny movies or read the funnies from the newspaper. I think you should consider looking for funny news headlines. In Virginia a woman walked into the courthouse for a trial like it was any other day. While she was being checked in security they did not realize that she was holding a tiny monkey in her bra. She entered the court room and out comes a tiny monkey in a beautiful flowered dress! The court was silenced and the monkey had to leave.  She said that the reason she had the monkey was not to disturb others, but that she had to keep him because he was still a baby and he could not be left at home by himself. You would think that going to something so important such as court, she could find someone to baby sit her baby monkey for at least a couple of hours. I can’t really understand why you would even want a monkey for a pet, but that is just my opinion. I mean, a few years ago I watched a news clip about a lady who got her face ripped off by a monkey!  In Berlin, a German Circus family was arguing with another circus family about tent space, and because they could not resolve to argument they felt the need to start a shoot out to resolve their problems! How crazy is that? What person in their right mind would want to resolve a problem with a shoot out? No one was killed but some were injured. It doesn’t seem like a proper way to argue. They are giving circus people a bad name!  The one that takes the cake for me is about the man who wanted to rob a bank. He walked into Bank of America and decided he wanted to rob the place. He wrote on the back of a Bank of America deposit slip “This iz a stikkup. Put all your muny in this bag.” He was standing in line and got nervous, thinking perhaps someone had seen him write this stupid note. He then thought he could take it across the street to Wells Fargo. He proceeded to the Wells Fargo teller line and waited in the long line. He then gave his note to the teller. She noticed the terrible grammar in the note and that it was written on the back of a Bank of America deposit slip. She then told him that she could not accept this and that if he wanted to withdrawal something that he had to go fill out a Wells Fargo slip and get back in line. He said that he understood and went back to Bank of America to their long line and before he could get to the teller he was arrested. That is amazing. How stupid could you actually be to believe what that teller was saying? If you are going to rob a bank you need to plan it and do it right. You should also start by getting someone who is not so stupid to help you do it. Banks have pretty high security measures. Did he have a weapon when he did this? He should have used it if he was going to be that stupid. It amazes me how stupid people can actually be.

Six-year-old has Gun

     Imagine the feeling you would get if your child’s elementary school called you telling you that there had been a shooting and you must go pick your child up from school immediately. That is exactly what happened Wednesday in Houston, Texas at a local Houston elementary school. A six year old boy had stowed away a gun in his pocket and when he went to lunch, he went to sit down and the gun fell to the floor, firing. The boy was injured, including two other children. A five-year-old girl’s knee was injured, and then the boy with the gun suffered a gunshot wound to his foot, while another six-year-old boy was injured by shrapnel grazing his leg.  I’m sure that many parents are feeling extremely unsafe right now. It makes you want to reconsider letting your children out into public! I wonder what was going through that boy’s mind when he brought that gun to school. I also wonder how no one could have noticed a gun that would be huge in a six-year-old boy’s pocket. Kids are small and guns are usually pretty large compared to someone so small. Was it a hand gun? The article doesn’t even say. Perhaps that child had some pretty big pockets. Was there anything out of the ordinary going on with his body language? Did he seem nervous, or perhaps upset in any way? Did anyone pay attention to the child? Was he neglected by his parents and he was just seeking a little bit of attention that he never got at home? Just seems that there could have been some way to prevent it. Perhaps they had never had problems like this at their school, and it is sad to think that you should have to take such high security measures such as a metal detector at an elementary school.  It scares me to even let my child go to a public school! I don’t think I would ever even have a gun in my house that was not in a safe, or somewhere children would never reach it. I’m sure that every parent in that school had thought, “what if it had been my child?” What would you do if your child was shot in school? How would you react? If they were okay would you let them go back to that school? The school in Houston says that they are going to heighten security measures from now on, but it is so sad that they even have to do that. It seems like younger children are getting into more trouble and it makes you wonder why.