Day 04 - Your view on religion
At 16, I converted to Catholicism. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought. For six months I spent my Wednesday nights at an RCIA class and my Sunday mornings at a teen confirmation class. I've never seen God more clearly than I could the night I was confirmed.
It's been all downhill from there.
Do I think there is a God? At this point, I really don't know. I want to believe there is. I know that I've felt him before, and I catch myself talking to him all the time. But I've tried and tried for the last few years to feel the way I felt when our relationship was good, and I can't get back to that. I don't know how. I'm lost.
Except a distant uncle, no one in my family is Catholic. I spent Easter in Alexandria with some of my Catholic friends and their families, and I was convinced that it was right for me. I like the formality of it. The rich history is extremely important to me. The sacraments make sense. Not using birth control... that's another issue.
I think religion is important, and I think Catholicism is right for me. Religion is fundamentally a relationship, and I'm not great at those. It doesn't mean I wouldn't like to be. I keep thinking that as I grow up, as I eventually become a wife, as I eventually become a mother, it'll come to me. I hope that when I calm down from my weekends out and parties I have time to focus on being a great Catholic.
Hopefully it won't be too late.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??! - W.C. Fields
Day 03 - Your views on drugs and alcohol.
I'm sure this post will one day be a potential future employer's jackpot, but hey, YOLO, right?
Drugs
The word "drug" covers a broad spectrum. There's marijuana and cocaine, LSD and prescription drugs. Drugs are everywhere these days. I went to a high school where I could have found almost any drug you wanted on any corner, and I had friends who tried smoking and friends who tried acid. In high school, I was never one of those kids. I was the girl who sat back and judged everyone who did. The kids that tried drugs hung out in the McDonalds parking lot on Friday, and, frankly, that was "trashy" to me. A few months later, college got me to eat those words. I'm not necessarily saying I've tried drugs, because this is the internet, and even though I joked about future employers seeing this, they actually really could. I will say, however, that college made me stop judging.
I don't condone anyone doing drugs. I think anything harder than marijuana can really mess you up and that if you smoke it often enough marijuana can do that, too. I firmly believe that marijuana is a gateway drug, no matter what people who regularly smoke it say. Try it once or twice, maybe, if that's your thing. If you like it that much, do it every once in a blue moon. That's your business. When it turns into wanting to do it every day, or every week even, that's a problem. I've seen it take hold of too many people for it to interest me. Anything harder than pot scares me way too much to even entertain. "Celebrity Rehab" will scare you out of that real fast...
Alcohol
Touchy, touchy. Alcohol is a pretty big controversy in my house. My parents owned a liquor store for 12 years of my life, and my grandparents still own one. No one in my family (minus one uncle... but everyone has those) drinks regularly. My great grandfather had a real issue, so all of his children and grandchildren have been too scared to drink very often.
Do I think moms should let their high schoolers run around drunk every weekend? Absolutely not. High schoolers need to go ice-skating or do their homework. But college is college. If we have any ounce of self-respect, we're probably going to go out almost every weekend. A lot of people going out will drink. Some will not. It's really a personal choice. I don't think you have to drink to go out and have fun with friends, but if you're not throwing up, drinking every single night, or driving, I really don't have a problem with it. I've seen it make for some pretty interesting nights. Like marijuana, though, it can take hold of you. Drinking every day isn't cool. Drinking every day of every weekend really isn't cool either. Letting alcohol interfere so badly that you miss work or class isn't worth it.
If it's not extremely addiction-forming and not something that takes a hold of your life, go for it if that's what you choose. When it comes to drugs or alcohol, I like to think that everyone's business is their business (unless they're driving or hurting others, of course).
Do what's right for you, but be smart about it. Oh, and keep it off Facebook. Please.
Writer's Note: YOLO was a joke. I'm not that lame. Seriously.
I'm sure this post will one day be a potential future employer's jackpot, but hey, YOLO, right?
Drugs
The word "drug" covers a broad spectrum. There's marijuana and cocaine, LSD and prescription drugs. Drugs are everywhere these days. I went to a high school where I could have found almost any drug you wanted on any corner, and I had friends who tried smoking and friends who tried acid. In high school, I was never one of those kids. I was the girl who sat back and judged everyone who did. The kids that tried drugs hung out in the McDonalds parking lot on Friday, and, frankly, that was "trashy" to me. A few months later, college got me to eat those words. I'm not necessarily saying I've tried drugs, because this is the internet, and even though I joked about future employers seeing this, they actually really could. I will say, however, that college made me stop judging.
I don't condone anyone doing drugs. I think anything harder than marijuana can really mess you up and that if you smoke it often enough marijuana can do that, too. I firmly believe that marijuana is a gateway drug, no matter what people who regularly smoke it say. Try it once or twice, maybe, if that's your thing. If you like it that much, do it every once in a blue moon. That's your business. When it turns into wanting to do it every day, or every week even, that's a problem. I've seen it take hold of too many people for it to interest me. Anything harder than pot scares me way too much to even entertain. "Celebrity Rehab" will scare you out of that real fast...
Alcohol
Touchy, touchy. Alcohol is a pretty big controversy in my house. My parents owned a liquor store for 12 years of my life, and my grandparents still own one. No one in my family (minus one uncle... but everyone has those) drinks regularly. My great grandfather had a real issue, so all of his children and grandchildren have been too scared to drink very often.
Do I think moms should let their high schoolers run around drunk every weekend? Absolutely not. High schoolers need to go ice-skating or do their homework. But college is college. If we have any ounce of self-respect, we're probably going to go out almost every weekend. A lot of people going out will drink. Some will not. It's really a personal choice. I don't think you have to drink to go out and have fun with friends, but if you're not throwing up, drinking every single night, or driving, I really don't have a problem with it. I've seen it make for some pretty interesting nights. Like marijuana, though, it can take hold of you. Drinking every day isn't cool. Drinking every day of every weekend really isn't cool either. Letting alcohol interfere so badly that you miss work or class isn't worth it.
If it's not extremely addiction-forming and not something that takes a hold of your life, go for it if that's what you choose. When it comes to drugs or alcohol, I like to think that everyone's business is their business (unless they're driving or hurting others, of course).
Do what's right for you, but be smart about it. Oh, and keep it off Facebook. Please.
Writer's Note: YOLO was a joke. I'm not that lame. Seriously.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future - Oscar Wilde
Day 02 - Where you'd like to be in 10 years
Growing up in the South, I'd like to see myself married with kids.
I've become a victim of my environment. Years of being raised in the southern culture have drilled in my mind that "married with kids" should be my first answer. Some people escape this mentality, but I haven't. It's the number one priority in my mind. It keeps my biological clock ticking. Fast. I'm twenty and I have two years until I graduate. Down here, that doesn't leave a lot of room for error.
My cousin got married the weekend after she graduated from college. Three years later, she hasn't mentioned to any of us having kids anytime soon. A lot of people think that's weird. That's how we're bred to think.
In ten years, I would hope my kids would be just before school age, so I'd like to be at home with them. I'm all about going to college and getting my degree, and I really do want to work, but I feel like the five years before a child goes to school is a critical period. If at all possible I will stay home with my kids for at least that long. I would also hope that I would have an absolutely amazing marriage - one that still takes my breath away and gives me butterflies.
On the career front, I would hope that I would have my masters in public service or public administration and have worked at least a few years for a big nonprofit. Grad school and nonprofit work will probably bring me to Baton Rouge, and I could definitely see myself living there permanently. It's doesn't exactly compare to the town I live in now, but it's got a ton of diversity and a lot of culture. I could be happy there.
So for now, that's my plan. Husband. Kid(s). Nonprofit work. Baton Rouge.
We'll see how that works out.
Growing up in the South, I'd like to see myself married with kids.
I've become a victim of my environment. Years of being raised in the southern culture have drilled in my mind that "married with kids" should be my first answer. Some people escape this mentality, but I haven't. It's the number one priority in my mind. It keeps my biological clock ticking. Fast. I'm twenty and I have two years until I graduate. Down here, that doesn't leave a lot of room for error.
My cousin got married the weekend after she graduated from college. Three years later, she hasn't mentioned to any of us having kids anytime soon. A lot of people think that's weird. That's how we're bred to think.
In ten years, I would hope my kids would be just before school age, so I'd like to be at home with them. I'm all about going to college and getting my degree, and I really do want to work, but I feel like the five years before a child goes to school is a critical period. If at all possible I will stay home with my kids for at least that long. I would also hope that I would have an absolutely amazing marriage - one that still takes my breath away and gives me butterflies.
On the career front, I would hope that I would have my masters in public service or public administration and have worked at least a few years for a big nonprofit. Grad school and nonprofit work will probably bring me to Baton Rouge, and I could definitely see myself living there permanently. It's doesn't exactly compare to the town I live in now, but it's got a ton of diversity and a lot of culture. I could be happy there.
So for now, that's my plan. Husband. Kid(s). Nonprofit work. Baton Rouge.
We'll see how that works out.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Day 01 - Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.
My current relationship is really the root of this whole blog. Of my possible adventure into journalism. Of the time I've recently spent learning to edit. Of the hours I've spent in our lab. My boyfriend is persuasive.
He's the current associate editor of our university's newspaper, a member of a fraternity, junior class president, and the best thing that has ever happened to me. If he read this, he would probably be more angry about the fact that I left an accomplishment or two out than happy that I'm writing. He's difficult and pretentious. He's also one of the best writers I know.
For eleven days, he's out of the continental United States. Hence the blog title. Right before he left, he hugged me goodbye and told me he loved me for the first time. I haven't said that word in a very long time, and I don't think I meant it to the one person I said it to before him. I mean it with him. He pushes me, challenges me, and supports me in ways I never thought possible. I'm extremely blessed.
We spend a lot of time together, we road trip to each other's hometowns, we take "How Liberal or Conservative Are You?" quizzes driving down the road, and we stop behind gas stations so he can smoke. I tell him all the time that he is a lot to deal with, but I really know that I'm just as much to handle even if he never says it. He brings me soup when I'm sick and puts on Grease 2 for me when I'm sad.
I love him. In the words of Benjy Davis, he's "so much better than I deserve, more than these stupid words." Hopefully he knows what he's doing with this journalism stuff.
My current relationship is really the root of this whole blog. Of my possible adventure into journalism. Of the time I've recently spent learning to edit. Of the hours I've spent in our lab. My boyfriend is persuasive.
He's the current associate editor of our university's newspaper, a member of a fraternity, junior class president, and the best thing that has ever happened to me. If he read this, he would probably be more angry about the fact that I left an accomplishment or two out than happy that I'm writing. He's difficult and pretentious. He's also one of the best writers I know.
For eleven days, he's out of the continental United States. Hence the blog title. Right before he left, he hugged me goodbye and told me he loved me for the first time. I haven't said that word in a very long time, and I don't think I meant it to the one person I said it to before him. I mean it with him. He pushes me, challenges me, and supports me in ways I never thought possible. I'm extremely blessed.
We spend a lot of time together, we road trip to each other's hometowns, we take "How Liberal or Conservative Are You?" quizzes driving down the road, and we stop behind gas stations so he can smoke. I tell him all the time that he is a lot to deal with, but I really know that I'm just as much to handle even if he never says it. He brings me soup when I'm sick and puts on Grease 2 for me when I'm sad.
I love him. In the words of Benjy Davis, he's "so much better than I deserve, more than these stupid words." Hopefully he knows what he's doing with this journalism stuff.
Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. - Khalil Gibran
First things first. I've never blogged before. I've never really thought about blogging before. But I'm a 20-year-old college junior who still changes her mind about what she wants to do every other week, and this week I think I want to minor in journalism. Consider "Words to Learn By" a test run.
That said, I know I won't do this right. I'm going to make mistakes. Grammar mistakes, life mistakes, boring topic mistakes, tons of mistakes. I'm not going to even attempt to use AP style, even if living in my university's journalism department may beat it into my head. I just want to write. I want to get everything out and see if I really enjoy this cathartic past-time. That's my sole goal.
I'm starting with the 30 Day Blog Challenge. Lame, I know. If I actually want to write, I should probably be able to think of my own topics for 30 days, but I'm new to this, so cut me a break. Here's the picture. Posts start today. Let's see what happens.
That said, I know I won't do this right. I'm going to make mistakes. Grammar mistakes, life mistakes, boring topic mistakes, tons of mistakes. I'm not going to even attempt to use AP style, even if living in my university's journalism department may beat it into my head. I just want to write. I want to get everything out and see if I really enjoy this cathartic past-time. That's my sole goal.
I'm starting with the 30 Day Blog Challenge. Lame, I know. If I actually want to write, I should probably be able to think of my own topics for 30 days, but I'm new to this, so cut me a break. Here's the picture. Posts start today. Let's see what happens.
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