Some great news for me! After two years at LCC and a lot of hard work I will be receiving my Associates' Degree and heading off to greener pastures in search of my Bachelors! LCC has been good to me and I will miss going to school there with my boy but I'm ready for the U of O!
But that isn't why I am writing.
I am taking an Anthropology class in World Archaeology this term which is a really fascinating subject. So far we've learned about the Mayan culture, the preserved remains at Pompeii, and how archaeologists study remains they have uncovered. While diving into chapter 5 I learned about previous human beings and their differences from modern human beings(us). The oldest human remains that have been discovered are about 400,000 years old. There has been "Premodern" "Transitional" and "Neandertal" humans along with anatomically modern humans discovered, this has all been determined by the remains and bones that have been left behind and carbon dated.
So what is so interesting about this?
Well apparently several of these different species of humans lived on the Earth at the same time and possibly interacted with one another. A French author wrote a novel about the presence of a "lesser" human Neandertal and the slavery and discrimination they could have been subjected to.
Think about it...
The humans that exist on Earth right now are all of the same species. While many of us may look different from one another and there will always be different people, we are all technically the same species. And yet we let the way we treat each other depend on skin pigment and personal views despite the fact that there is no pre-determind physical appearence that classifies us as different.
Imagine if we DID have different species of humans! The amount of discrimination that would then exist would be even higher than it is now!
Many people in the past and today think of human races as different trees planted in the same field when really we are just different branches of the same tree. Whether we are related or not, strangers or friends, family or...otherwise, we all belong together and depend on each other. Don't let appearence determine your views of a person because we are all people
Different Colors, Same Species....
on Monday, April 20, 2009Hooray for Family, Insurance, and Deductibles...
on Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day number three of being home alone and I say, "Hey I have to come home to an empty apartment so I may as well drive so I don't have to walk home from the bus station."
When I walk out to my car I notice glass and a gaping hole where my back window used to be. Ya know those little ones that are shaped like triangles? There has been car break-in after car break-in near the downtown area for several weeks now and up until Jason's vacation we were pretty good about keeping stuff out of there so as not to tempt lowly criminals.
So I go to walk around to the other side of the car so I can start pulling stuff out of it and the passenger window is busted out too! Small snowflakes began falling faster and faster around me as I taped garbage bags over my sad car. For the hundredth time I miss Jason more than ever...
Typically I wouldn't even blog about this sort of crap. Desperate people who are willing to destroy and steal other people's property do not deserve the time of day or the wasted tears. Luckily I called those wonderful parents of mine and within minutes I had several phone numbers to different glass businesses, a phoned police report, and a claim number from our insurance company. After three glass companies told me they couldn't get to it til tomorrow Davis Glass said they could not only fix it today, but they could come to my apartment to do it.
The thief stole a broken printer(I was going to take it to an electronic recycling company) and my case of CDs but left Jason's case(proving that I have better taste in music tee hee or because they have the same CDs...). The point is I may have lost some important items but less than two hours after finding my damaged car I have someone coming to fix it, a job who let me come in a little late, an insurance company to pay for it, a boy who misses me, teachers who understand, two parents heading my way, and pissed off friends.
The wa
y I see it that makes me one of the luckiest people in the world..
Time to relieve some stress!
on Sunday, November 2, 2008So this has been one of the most difficult, stressful, and busy terms I have had yet. I have been working at the magazine on Monday and Wednesday mornings(and many other free days), going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, working til 9 and 10 on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays, trying to get homework done and still find time to boost our social life.
I have let myself get far too stressed out which has a negative affect on the rest of my life. It is time to do something about it so here is my plan.
Everyday I will:
Find ten minutes to meditate and ten minutes to stretch or do some yoga
Floss
Take ten minutes simply sitting with Jason and talking about our days
Write three journal pages
Eating at least three meals
Every week I will:
Take one long walk
Snap some photos
Read something for pleasure
Do one exercise routine
Blog
Go on a date with Jason
Have a beer with friends for an evening
I am already beginning to feel better and realizing that everything cannot go perfectly all the time.
I must learn to not hold my friends to such high standards and to reach out to friends I haven't seen in awhile.
I have to begin appreciating myself and embracing all the things that make me me!
Three things I did well today:
Meditate
Cleaned my apartment
Relaxed
Three important things I will do tomorrow:
Study for my midterm
Try harder at work
Make the magazine proud!
A Dog's Prayer
on Thursday, October 30, 2008Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.
Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.
When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer use to bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Though you had no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land, for you are my God and I am your devoted worshiper.
Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I would not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.
And, beloved master, should the great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me a merciful eternal rest - and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.....
-Annonymous
This was found on an animal control website for Lane County as I searched for statistics for my persuasive speech on animal control.
Loneliness
on Wednesday, September 17, 2008What is loneliness? Why do people get lonely? I think it's imprtant for every healthy person to be attached to other people socially and personally even though people are NOT perfect and will eventually let you down in some way or another. It's inevitable.
My ultimate let down was when my brother left. The sad part for me was he hadn't told my Mom that he was going to leave town. She was and still is the only person he was in contact with and she was crushed. I never expected that he would stay away for what I fear is for good. I don't know what is worse...saying goodbye to someone and KNOWING that they won't be back for some time(or for good) or holding onto hope that they might come back and finding, after years, that hoping is pointless. It still hurts, and will always hurt and because of that relationship being broken I haven't connected to anyone like that since, with the exception of Jason, my boyfriend:) Any close friend I have had in this 8 year period has been lost in one way or another. Whether we have simply grown apart or I felt they have betrayed me somehow I don't have much of a problem writing people out of my life...forever. It sounds harsh but people come and go and everyone is there for a reason. It's easier to shut people out and lean on my family than expose how truly vulnerable and sensitive I am. My family and I are very close now. My parents and sister are so very important to me and with Jason in my life I feel very fulfilled as far as my family goes. They are my world:)
That said, I have lived in Eugene for close to two years and truly love this unique city. Jason and I live in a nice apartment in downtown, I finally have a job I enjoy, and for the first time in my entire life I am doing really well in school. I really shouldn't have anything to complain about. But you'd think after two years I would've found some lasting friendships and in some ways I have. I have people here that I know I could count on no matter what but on a daily friendship basis I haven't found many that make an effort or make time to see and be around me. I make an effort with some and not so much with others but you'd think I would've found a connection with SOMEONE by now. It makes me wonder...if I am just one of those people who is meant to be their own friend...
I write, I take photos, I play piano, and mainly, I sit at home and clean. I tend to be shy and don't put myself out there unless I really know a person. I don't mind my own company but it gets, well, lonely. When my emotional needs aren't met I feel conflicted, and lash out at the people that are around me when it's not their fault to begin with. Maybe close friends are simply overrated and my inability to overlook betrayal will always stand in the way of finding that best-friend-no-matter-what. Maybe I need to learn how to better be my own friend rather than focusing on what I don't have. Maybe I need to stop trying...?
A Long Week
on Friday, July 11, 2008It's been a very long week for me. I started my new job on Monday which has been a lot of fun as well as a lot of work. Jason walked me to work, bought me lunch, cleaned the whole apartment, and walked me home! He really made my first day special.
Then things went south...
My computer decided to quit on me. After waiting two days for the disc-to-end-all-problems to arrive from HP my sad laptop formatted my hard drive and still won't work. All my photography, writing, and school work from the last six months is lost forever and I am so very sad...
I haven't felt this sad since my precious journals were destroyed in the back of my car...
On top of that Jason and I were going to miss Country Fair this year due to not being able to find tickets(tickets are almost impossible to find and usually require you to work in order to attend and camp). So while everyone(including my sister and friends) is off having fun at the Oregon Country Fair Jason and I decided to take the opportunity to go home and see his family since he didn't get to see them when we were home last weekend. Then my friend Chelsea calls in a frenzy yesterday blurting out that she has TWO FULL PASSES for 60 dollars to the country fair! Unfortunately we promised the family we would be there and we will...feel special Mom and Dad...feel very special...
To pour salt in the wound Jason's family isn't even going to be home this weekend save for his mom who works all weekend and his little sis.
Man it has not been my day...maybe tomorrow will be my day...
This sad lover lost their way...
on Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Full of doubt and about to pout
Little Heart Ring
