TJ's blurbs

10. Thanksgiving

2008-11-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

So I slacked off last weekend and didn't do a blog. I apologize for that. I was spending the weekend with my family and I really didn't want to be on the computer. Anyway, Thanksgiving is coming up very soon. For most of us, we get out on Tuesday and for some, they get to leave today or Monday. I'm really excited about getting to go home this week and stay there longer than just a weekend. It's going to be great that I get to see family I haven't seen in a very long time.

Many think of Thanksgiving as a holiday to get together with some family, eat a bunch of food, watch football, and sleep it all off. We lose sight of what it's really about. Thanksgiving is, of course, about being thankful for everything we have. We should all be thankful for getting together with our family, whom we love, and eating family that we actually have. Some people aren't as fortunate to have all that food. Some struggle to get enough for just a few people, let alone for a whole family reunion.

I say this not because I'm pointing out others for not being thankful, but because I haven't been very thankful here lately either. I realize how lucky I am to have a family who cares about me who is paying for part of my college and supporting whatever I do in life. I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving and remember what this holiday is for.

9. Thanksgiving coming up

2008-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving coming up, I have come to reflect on what I'm actually thankful for in my life. My first semester of college hasn't been unbearable, but it hasn't been the easiest in the world either. Even though it's a little tough, I'm really thankful that I have an opportunity to have a college education. I know others are not as fortunate as I am.

As I am thankful for my education, it also makes me thankful for my parents. They're the ones paying for my education and supporting me while I'm in college. I wanted to get away from home during the summer and be off on my own but being away has only made me miss and appreciate my parents even more. Every time I come home, I just have this great feeling of being welcomed and missed, and I love that. I really am thankful that I have loving parents who support me.

The final thing that I'm really thankful for is my great country that I live in. I'm thankful for many other things, but these three things stick out the most in my life right now. Even though I didn't support the man who was elected as president for the next four years, I'm glad that we, as Americans, can voice our opinions by voting. Apparently the majority of America wanted Obama in office and I need to support that decision, even though I don't necessarily agree with it. I'm just thankful for the freedom that we all have from living in this great country.

8. Voting in the elections

2008-11-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

I am sad to say that I won't be voting in this year's elections. I am from Alabama so that means I would have to have an absentee ballot since I would be in Mississippi the day of the elections. I tried to get all my papers and registration forms together to send in but I was confused on what addresses to send them too. Plus, I think I waited too late to do all of this anyway. I was really looking forward to voting and voicing my opinion as an American on who I think should become president. Believe me, I will be more prepared next elections and I will have already been registered.

I hope the majority of you will be voting this year, unlike me. This is an important election that will effect our country greatly, depending on who is voted into office as president. There are many different issues that have arose during the presidential campaign: abortion, gay rights, universal health care, military and defense, and many more. I'm not going to try to step on any toes here, but I'm going to say what I have to say. Many of us here at Mississippi College are Christians, I presume. Some of us chose to come here because of its Christian values while others came simply to play sports or because this school had their major. Many of the issues I just mentioned test what Christians stand for. If you are a Christian, why would you stand for abortion when it says in the Bible that a child is a blessing from God and that murder is a sin? If you are a Christian, why would you stand for gay rights when it CLEARLY states in the Bible that a person should not have any sexual relations with the same gender and that marriage is between a man and a woman. Period.

If you cannot already tell, I support John McCain and Sarah Palin. Not because they are white and not because they are Republican. I support them because of what they stand for and they mostly align with my Christian beliefs. If you support Obama and claim you are a Christian, I believe you have some serious soul searching to do. But that's just my opinion. It's not up to me. That's between you and God.

7. Homecoming

2008-10-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

I don't have too much to talk about this week because not much happened except for Homecoming. Since I'm a freshman, this is my first college homecoming I have experienced as a student. Around noon, I went and ate some lunch at the Caf with one of my friends. It wasn't the usual where we had to stand in line and the lunch ladies served us. They had the food set out on tables and you could serve yourself. I guess that was just apart of the homecoming festivities. Anybody could go in and eat for free from what I could tell.

After I ate my friend and I just chilled in the room for a while then we went outside to watch the parade. There were many tailgaters outside enjoying the homecoming atmosphere. I heard a drum beating as well and I assumed it was some sort of tradition for homecoming at MC. We got to the street the parade was going down and we found a seat to watch for a little while. It reminded me a little bit of high school with all the floats and the homecoming court.

It was a pretty fun atmosphere and it was relaxed. It made me glad I could just be around the festivities and not have to worry about school work or anything for a little while. I know this has nothing to do with the mission statement, but I honestly didn't have anything that related to it.

6. Service project

2008-10-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

I actually like service projects. It makes me feel accomplished that I did something good for somebody else. My classmates and I had to do a service project for English Comp, just like the rest of you. I had signed up for the one that was at these apartments in Raymond on Thursday. We were supposed to play with kids and stuff. I really like kids, so I thought it would be pretty cool. Plus, it was only supposed to last 2 hours.

I figured there would only be a few people there to play with a bunch of kids. It was the complete opposite. When I first got there, there were about 20 students to one kid. Seriously, there was only one kid. As soon as I noticed this, I started thinking how I was going to profile a kid when there was only one and everybody (for the most part) was playing for him. Others were just standing off to the side and I have to be honest, I was one of them. I didn't know what to do with just one kid.

I stayed there for about an hour and left early. A few more kids showed up but not enough where there were enough for all of the students. This discouraged me and I felt like my experience was just a waste. We were made to do this service project but I feel like this should be optional. The students who want to do the service projects should volunteer. The ones who don't want to shouldn't have to participate in these projects. I honestly think this would create a better experience for those who want to be there since there would be less of them and more kids to play with and profile.

5. Fall Break

2008-10-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited about this fall break. We have a bye week in football so I went home this Friday. I've stayed at my parents house Friday night and Saturday night, and will stay here Sunday night as well. I plan on going home Monday morning because we have football practice that afternoon.

Anyway, I've spent most of my break spending time with my family. It has felt so good to be home and away from school for a while. I haven't really done much school work or studying because surprisingly, most of my teachers have told me to not worry so much about school work and just relax this weekend. Even Dr. Randle said our response papers aren't due until Wednesday (I think). I have even more respect for my teachers than I already had because they're not pushing the students to continue working hard over the break. They know that we need time off to let our minds and bodies rest from their demanding classes. To me, this demonstrates excellence in education as well.

I hope everybody is having a great fall break. For you over-achievers out there, just take a break this weekend. I know it's great to stay on top of your school work and I am still in the process of learning how to do that. It is also good to settle down for a bit and not worry so much.

TJ

Blog 4: Being away from home

2008-10-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

I label this number four because I wanted to keep up with everybody else since I missed last weeks blog; and for that, I apologize. I've been thinking about being away from home lately.

College is supposed to be a great time in a person's life, if they choose to attend, of course. Most kids want to "let loose", so to speak, and get away from the home life for a while. I was thinking that before I came here. I just wanted to get out and be on my own. I have found that to be hard as of right now. I hate being so far away from home. I'm five hours away from family and friends that I grew up with and lived around all my life. I'm making good grades right now but I am not enjoying myself as much. I thought I would be having the time of my life but instead, it's almost dreadful right now.

I've made friends that I really enjoy, but I miss my old friends too and being able to hang out all the time. Now it's hard to even hang out with my new friends because of all my classes and football. Even when I have a little spare time, I need to be studying. But I guess that's just a part of college wherever you go. I guess I never really planned on moving so far away from home and if I was going to, it was going to be fine and dandy anyway because I wouldn't have minded being far away from my family and friends. I'm here to tell you that right now it's not that great and I wish I was somewhere just a little bit closer. Not so close that home is 15 minutes away, but somewhere where I could come home on the weekends and not have to leave so early on a Sunday because it's such a long drive back.

This is just something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I don't know if you will necessarily enjoy reading it, but hopefully you will understand on where I'm coming from and who knows, you may relate to it.

Thanks,

2. Being made to go to Chapel

2008-09-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that we have Freshmen experience on Tuesdays and Chapel on Thursdays. I honestly do not like being made to go to these functions. I like my Freshmen experience group because they are funny, but I still don't like being made to go. Chapel isn't really that good because I don't get that much out of it. We are in college now and shouldn't be made to do anything like that. I would be more inclined to go if I knew I wasn't being made to go.

I knew that I was going to be made to go to Chapel before I came here, but I didn't think it would hit me like it has now. I really enjoyed the freedom of going to church because I wanted to, not because I was being made. I don't want to be treated like a little kid anymore because I am starting to grow up.

Some of you will probably look down on me because you think that everybody should be made to go to church and all that good stuff. I am a Christian, but I believe that you should have a choice to go to Chapel. God gave all of us a choice to chose his free gift of salvation. We should be given a choice to go to Chapel or not. Forcing religion on somebody who is not a Christian will not bring them closer to God. It will only push them away.

1. Beginning Blog

2008-09-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. This is TJ. I sit way on the other side of the world in our classroom by Mr. Randle's graduate assistant. Hopefully I'll get to meet most of you before the semester is over with. And now that my introduction is over with, I will start my blog.

This week has been pretty good. My earliest class throughout the week is 925, so that means I don't have to get up too early. I love sleeping in. One problem I did have this week was with my labs. I have a chemistry lab on Tuesday night from 6-9 and a biology lab on Wednesday night from 6-9. I play football, so that sometimes conflicts with my labs since I have practice from 330-530 during the week. Tuesday wasn't that bad because I got out of practice, hurried to eat and take a shower, then went to my lab. I was probably about 10 minutes late, so I didn't miss much and I was still able to complete the lab.

Wednesday night was the real problem. We got out of practice early because we didn't do well and had to keep repeating drills. I got out around 6, and I still had to take a shower and eat. This would make me very late to my lab, so I just decided to miss and hoped I could make it up. At around 645, I headed up to Hederman and went into the Office of Biological Sciences. I talked to a professor there about my situation and he said that I would be able to make it up either on Thursday night or Friday afternoon. I was so relieved because I did not want to miss an important grade. I decided to make it up on Friday afternoon and I ended up doing really well in the lab. I think this experience demonstrated the "excellence in teaching" portion of the syllabus.