This is it . . . for now

I have come to the end of my blogging experience for the semester, and I have learned a lot. I always wanted to start a blog, but I never really had a reason to do it. This class gave me the opportunity to write and have my work read by anyone that comes across this page. It is a little scary to send something out to the world to see what they think about it, but its also exciting. I realize that no one really reads this other than the people in our class, but I still feel like I have broken out into a new world of writing.

I am planning on keeping up my blog in the future, but it will most likely take a slant towards politics, as that is the one subject that I never run out of opinions for. I am going to take a break for a little while, and come back refreshed and ready to spew my opinions. I warn you, if you aren't at least somewhat liberal-minded when it comes to politics, you may not want to read this blog. I have a tendency to be overly liberal, and while I respect the opinions of others, I don't always act like it. Who knows, maybe I will have a future in blogging about politics . . . I doubt it, but I can dream, can't I?

So Close!

I can't believe that the semester is almost over. Today was really strange knowing that it was the last day of blogging. It made me think about the things I still have to finish, and how I can't wait to get it all over with. I always wish that the semester will be over right after it starts, but by the time summer vacation is over I am also always ready to go back. Going back after a break is always nice, because you get to see everyone again and it feels like you are making progress towards getting out of school. Now that I am so close to graduating, I feel mixed about summer vacation. While I am excited to sleep in and not worry about homework for most of the summer, I am kinda bummed that I can't keep plugging away at my classes. I want to be out of college, but summer vacation only adds three months to the wait time.

Things I Learned in High School

I love this weather!

I know that many people like having sunny, warm weather all the time, but I have really been enjoying the weather that Nebraska has been experiencing lately. I love sunny weather, but I also really like rain and thunderstorms. I like having rain, sun, and thunderstorms all in the same day. This creates a variety that is characteristic of Nebraska weather. I am not a fan of this variety during the winter, when we can be teased with above freezing temperatures one minute, and then have a blizzard with below-zero temperatures. I have also been enjoying the weather lately because I can wear winter and spring clothes at the same time. I am not someone that likes wearing heavy coats, so its nice to be able to wear a jacket instead of something heavier.

This spring has also been much more enjoyable for me because it has had above average precipitation. I have really bad allergies, and usually spend the month of April sneezing and rubbing my eyes. This has not been the case this spring. I have been able to spend time outside without spending the next four days laying around with hay fever. The next time you think about complaining about the weather we are having this spring, think about the allergy sufferers that are receiving a well deserved break from seasonal allergy symptoms. This break has also helped my bank account, as I don't have to spend as much money on allergy medication.

Comedy Central has been castrated

Yesterday I wrote about how the creators of South Park had received death threats from a Muslim extremist group, and had altered this weeks episode to bleep out all mentions of Muhammad. This morning I read that the episode was not censored by the creators of South Park, but by Comedy Central itself.

Matt and Trey, the creators of South Park, made a statement that they were unhappy with how Comedy Central handled the situation. I have to agree with their point of view. It seems ridiculous to me that the network would censor the show against the wishes of the people who created it. Trey and Matt were the people who were directly threatened by the Muslim extremists, not Comedy Central. I would understand if the people threatened would want to give in to the wishes of the group, but I really don't think it was Comedy Central's place to censor the episode for them.

I have always liked the fact that Comedy Central was unafraid to ruffle the feathers of it's viewers, but this all changed today. I am extremely disappointed in the network. There are many times when I am offended by the nature of their programming, but that doesn't keep me from watching. I understand the concept of the network, and I don't go off the deep end when they make fun of things that hit close to home for me. I guess the terrorists really have won. I used to think that Comedy Central had balls, but I guess the terrorists chopped them off.

What the bleep?

It is no secret that many people feel offended by the characters and events portrayed on South Park, but most people know not to take the show seriously. This is obviously not true of Muslim extremist groups. I was watching CNN yesterday afternoon when they were talking about death threats that had been made to the creators of South Park due to their depiction of the prophet Muhammad on last weeks 200th episode.

When I saw this, I wasn't surprised, but I was very surprised when I watched South Park last night. The creators of the show have never worried about what people think about their depiction of different cultures, but this time it seems to have caused them to think twice. When I watched last night, all mentions of Muhammad in the episode were bleeped out. There was also a large portion of the end of the show that was bleeped due to what can only be assumed as anti-Muslim remarks. Although it must have been somewhat frightening to receive death threats from a group of Muslim extremists, I am surprised that it caused the creators of the show to censor themselves.

This led me to wonder whether the censorship was intentional on the part of South Park. When watching the episode, the bleeping actually makes the viewer more aware of the comments, which is what I think the creators were going for. They are fighting back by technically giving in to the demands of the people threatening them while making sure that the public is well aware of the comments the characters in the show are making. If the bleeps were intentional on the part of South Park, and not a result of the death threats, I think they should be applauded for their creativity. If not, I am a little disappointed that they gave in to people who are dumb enough to let themselves get angry about a cartoon completely based on nonsense.

How does she do it? - Final Draft

I have used many different words to refer to my mom over the years, but negative has never been one of them. I have never met someone that could be more positive than my mom, to the point of being downright annoying at times.

When I asked why she was so positive all the time, my mom responded by asking me what complaining really did for my daily life. She mentioned that the only thing complaining has ever done is made things worse, so she prefers to look on the bright side of things. She takes on the role of motivator in our family, because both my dad and I spend a large amount of time whining about our lives instead of trying to make them better. I asked her the other day how she stayed positive when she was around the two of us, and she said sometimes she fakes it. She admitted that there are days when listening to our problems makes her want to scream, but she knows that we need someone to vent to.

My mom never vents to anyone, and the reason for this is that she really doesn’t have anything to vent about. My mom doesn’t let things get to her like most people do. I worked at the same store as her when I was in high school, and I often witnessed her handling difficult customers with an ease that baffled me. Someone could be incredibly rude to her and my mom would still walk away with a smile on her face. She insists that people who try to bring you down to their own level of negativity aren’t worth your time or energy. This doesn’t mean she avoids them, but she refuses to let negative people get a reaction out of her.

Having a great attitude comes naturally to my mom, and she attracts people to her like a magnet. When she finally convinced me to create a Facebook page for her, my mom added more friends in a week than I did in over a year. She now spends part of her day looking through her friends’ pages and ‘liking’ their status updates. This may seem like a waste of time to some people, but making others feel appreciated is something that my mom takes very seriously. Every card or gift she receives causes my mom to go into a long round of “thank-yous” and “you shouldn’t haves.” My mom believes that people who know you appreciate them are more likely to be positive about life, which makes being around them a more pleasant experience.

The one piece of advice that my mom gave me about staying positive is the use of body language. She believes that if you keep a smile on your face at all times people will be more likely to smile back, which improves your mood, even if you weren’t really happy in the first place. Learning all of these things about my mom makes me wonder how often she really is happy, and how often she fakes it. In the long run it really doesn’t matter, because faking it leads to the real deal.

We can all take an example from my mom and others like her. There is always someone else on Earth that is going through something ten times worse than we are, and instead of feeling bad for ourselves, we should try to create a positive atmosphere that doesn’t allow negative feelings to develop. So the next time you are annoyed by someone you think is overly happy, think about how you can be more like them instead of how crazy you think they are.