My Vocabulary

Over the past few days I have been paying attention to the words and phrases that I use the most. These are a few of the words and phrases: Like, So, And, Yea, Aint, Yall, Oh, Lol, Ha-ha, What, Idk, and Ok.Most of the time when I use these words, I am having a conversation with my friends. When I am speaking with my friends, my language is not proper and consists of slang words. Most of the words that I use the most, I say through text messaging. Some of the words are easier to text and they are quick to type over and over. I think that a bunch of words that I use repetitively are picked up from texting. I think that “yall” and “aint” are some of my favorite words to use because they are part of my southern twang. I generally use the word “Oh” when I do not have a response to something. Also, most of the time when I say "Lol" or "haha"it does not mean literally laughing out loud, sometimes it just makes the point that you think something is funny. I also have a problem with run on sentences and I think it is because I use the word “and” a lot in my everyday language. I say the word “like” over and over but, mostly because I am thinking. I think that I say “yea” a lot because I tend to agree with people. I am a very indecisive person, hence the reason I say “I don't know" lot when I am speaking with people or texting someone.

These are the words that I use the most and they are part of my everyday vocabulary. I think it would be nearly impossible to stop using these words because I do use them unconsciously.

Those were the days.....

There are days when I feel so stressed with all of my schoolwork, that I just wish that I could go back to high school. I wish there were days when I could relax and not have to worry about a test, quiz, or major essay. I just feel like I can never get caught up.

Sometimes I wish that I could go back to high school when everything was easy. I could wake up and go to school from 8 to 3, and then come home and do whatever, or go to work. My schedule was fixed and I did not have to worry about going to class at night, and having hours in between to manage my time.

I could come home and spend time with my family, or go to my boyfriend’s house. Life was good, while I was in high school. I do not get to see my family and my boyfriend as much as I used too and this makes me sad. I miss having a carefree life.

The one thing that I miss the most about high school is that I got to see my friends every day. Almost every weekend we would all hang out and spend time together. We would go out to dinner or just go to each other’s house. I hate how I am apart from some of my best friends.

Another thing that I miss about high school is that I performed extracurricular activities such as: cheerleading and clubs. I miss the way I was so involved in my school and I knew just about everyone. My high school was small, so I was on a first name basis with the teachers. There were a couple of teachers who were my best friends. If I was having a bad day, there were a couple of teachers who knew what to say to make me feel better. In college, you are not on a first name basis with the professors.

Sometimes I wish that I could have time to take up a hobby, or just have time to work out a lot more than I do now. I also would love to have time to go to the park and just have time to do leisure activities. The only thing that I do now is work, school, sleep, and eat.

I would definitely have to say that I miss the free time and the carefree spirit that I had. However, I am ready to move on with life and graduate from college.

Haunted Trail

The weekend of the 17th my family and I went to Clayton Fear Farm to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My dad, brother, boyfriend, and I were all psyched and ready to go to this place because we had heard it advertised on the radio and the internet. The internet made it seem like it was the best haunted place to go in North Carolina.

The farm had seven attractions that people could do and we decided to do all seven. The attractions consisted of a hay ride, a trail in the dark, a 3d house, a corn maze, a haunted house, and some other attractions. After looking on the internet and reading the descriptions, I had set my expectations high. When we arrived at the farm, there were a lot of people there. We were waiting on my aunt to arrive with my cousins and we were all going to go on the hay ride together. My mom does not like scary stuff, so it took a lot of persuading to get her to go with us. The hayride ended up being cool, but not scary. There were several effects that were cool, but nothing really jumped out at me and made me scream. I was sort of disappointed. :(

We ended up going through the other attractions and it seemed as if the chainsaw theme was overrated. In every attraction there was someone chasing you with one and after a while, it got old. We ended the night going through the corn maze, which was not fun either because people had made their own paths, so you couldn’t tell if you were going the right way or a made up way.
I feel as if this farm had great ideas, but they really need to lower their prices, and make it scarier. They also need a lot of work. The volunteers were mostly kids, so it makes it harder to scare adults if you are half their size.

Next year I want to try somewhere different, but I want to make sure that it is going to be worth my time and money.

Topic for Third Essay

The topic that I chose for my third essay is “Who is an American?”This is a topic that many people have different opinions on. I want to focus on the freedoms in the Constitution and the basic rights that citizens have in America.

I understand that not all people think the same way, so I would like to get different definitions from native born citizens and non native born citizens. There might be a few people who have grown up in America, who may take some freedoms for granted, compared to a non native born citizen.

In this paper, I might include some definitions of citizenship, nationalism, and patriotism. In my own opinion, I think an American is a person who has the ability to do almost anything that they want, unless it concerns breaking a law of the government. Some of the things that are different in America are: people have a right to practice their own religion, choose their own spouses, own their own property, run for political offices, and attend a public school. These are just a few things that come to mind when I think of how Americans differ from others.

I think it would be interesting to go to a completely different country and see how different their rules and laws are. I think America is a great country and Americans are lucky.

I feel as though this paper might be a challenge because I expect to find a lot of information. I think that I need to focus on making sure that my sources are accurate. I also think it will be difficult to completely focus on the facts, rather than putting my own personal opinion in the paper. For my sources, I want to use at least three different types. I would like to find a good book that discusses American values, liberties, and freedoms. I want to find a compare and contrast article with two different people’s viewpoints. I hope to find a credible website that provides me a lot of information as well.

The one thing that upsets me about this paper is that it is due on my birthday.

My religion......

As a young child, I attended church every Sunday and some Wednesday nights. I grew up in church and I was raised to believe that there was a God. I believe that there was a creator, who made everything. I know that there is a Bible, and I also know that there are other religious books. I believe in right from wrong, and I feel like the commandments are a set of laws that are set forth for people to abide. I believe that if I live a good life and ask for forgiveness of my sins, then I will go to Heaven. I also believe that when you pray, you are sending a direct message to God.
There are a couple of things that I do not understand about religion. One of the questions that I have is: Why there are so many different beliefs about religion and who is correct? If everyone worships something different, then how does one person know that their belief is true? How are people supposed to know which religion to practice?
I feel as though religion was based on different people disagreeing with one another. There are several denominations within each type of religion and most religions are practiced in certain regions around the world. Evidently, this was the case because even in Christianity, there are different types, Baptist and Pentecostal, for example.
Another thing that I believe about religion is that it depends on where you grow up and what your parents believe. Obviously, your parents are going to teach you their beliefs and it is normal to obey your parents.
One area that is confusing when it comes to religion is what comes after death. Some religions believe in reincarnation, heaven and hell, and some do not believe in anything.
I am skeptical about religion because there are many hypocrites in the world who proclaim to be religious and do bad things. This is contradictory and I would rather someone not profess to be something that they are not.
My general beliefs in life are to obey my parents, do not harm others, make good decisions, forgive others, and basically live a good life. I believe if I do all of these things then I will have a happy life and eternity.

Football Madness....

One of the best memories that I have from High School is Football. I was a cheerleader and Football season was my favorite. I loved Football for many reasons.

The beginning of the year is exciting because you have a fresh new team and everybody cannot wait to see if the team is going to be great or not. I love Football because it is a contact sport and you can get into it. I was one of the only cheerleaders who knew how the game was played and I would constantly have to remind everyone what was going on. I used to get so excited when our team was running for a touchdown or kicking the ball for a point. I loved when the announcer came on the intercom and got the crowd into the game.

As a cheerleader, one of my favorite parts of the game was when the boys ran through the banner at the beginning of the game because you could tell how pumped the boys were. They would come blasting through there screaming and yelling because they were ready to play. The other part that I loved about Football season was Homecoming because we have spirit week. This is a week full of school spirit and getting the players ready and excited for the upcoming game. I used to love advancing in the season to get to go on to the championships. I remember my junior year going on a road trip all the way to the mountains to play a game. This was exciting because we got out of school early and everyone came outside to wish the boys luck and waved to them as they drove away.

I love Football weather because in the beginning it is sort of hot and comfortable and near the end of the season we are all bundled up in earmuffs, gloves, and drinking hot chocolate!

The one thing that I do hate about UNCW is the fact that we do not have a Football team. This is a bummer to me because I was so involved in Football throughout High School. I loved the school spirit at my old High School and I just know that we could have a great team at UNCW. I feel as though there would be several fans and several people to support this idea. I would love to see UNCW get a Football team before I graduate.

Congestion on Campus

The assignment on page 351 says that we have to come up with a complaint and propose a solution for it. Well there are a few things that bother me about the UNCW campus, but there is one that just gets on my nerves! I have a major problem with the traffic on Chancellors Walk.

Our campus is really pretty and I do think it is organized in an easy way to get around. However, during the day it is so busy on Chancellors Walk. People are constantly walking up and down at different paces and many are not paying attention to anyone. The problem with this is the fact that there are not only people walking, there are people rollerblading, riding a bike, riding a scooter, and also people skateboarding. This definitely causes some congestion on the sidewalk. There needs to be separate sidewalks for people to get around. This is a problem because people get held up when there is no way to get around and people get ran into. If there were separate sidewalks or paths for bikers, skateboarders, walkers, and roller skaters then there would not be as many accidents or “traffic jams.”

At my old high school we had to walk down the hallways in a one way direction. I think this would be a great idea on the sidewalk as well. I think if you kept people walking either to the left or to the right, then you wouldn’t have people running into each other.

I also feel as if it is hard for people to realize when someone on wheels is coming up from behind, and what if you have to turn to the left or to the right and someone crashes into you and you get hurt? I honestly do not want this to happen to me, but I am sure it has already happened to several people.

If we had separate lanes, then people would not have to worry about moving to the side to let someone by, or having to walk in the grass because someone does not want to move out of the way. The other day I was walking straight ahead paying attention and someone on a bike is coming straight at me. I think that they are going to move over, since they are on the bike, NO! I jump to the left to keep them from hitting me and then they reply sorry. This makes me angry!

If you are riding on wheels, I feel as if you should be more respectful to the people on the sidewalk, because we are the ones who have to step in the wet or muddy grass and get our shoes dirty, while the people on wheels do not.

If there were designated lanes, these problems would probably not occur.