War of the Worlds

I was reading today in the news how a military helicopter was fired upon as it flew over the Superdome in New Orleans, LA. In another incident, a large group of people, some armed with firearms, crowded a helicopter landing pad as the pilot hovered to land. The pilot then climbed and flew away from the pad, for fear of being shot at or the helicopter being climbed on and overloaded.

I imagine some image in my mind like a scene from the recent movie War of the Worlds. The scene that comes to my mind is the part where Ray and his two children are driving in the van, which then gets mobbed as people try to climb in the van. Ray then pulls out his gun, only to be held at gunpoint himself and the keys of the van taken from him. The camera then follows Ray and his children inside a resturaunt of sorts. However, in the background, the audiance sees the mob pulling guns on each other, all trying to commandeer the van, various people getting shot and killed over a material possession.

This is what I imagine, to some extent, to be happeing in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. To me, it not only is terribly sad, it just demonstrates the depravity of a person, rather than the "everyone's-bascially-a-good-person-down-deep" philosophy that's prevelent today

Gas at Circle K=$2.99/gallon! Plus five car line!

Coffee=good

According to major news sources, coffee provides more antioxidents than any other source, including tea and fruits and vegetables.

The weekend-seperate from the rest of the week

This weekend was really fun. I went with a bunch of people to Lake Murray for a 24 hour period of awkward games, good conversation, excellent s'mores, good food, and fun in the lake.

Saturday afternoon we left (sidenote: 40 minutes behind schedule, but no big deal) and drove to lake Murray. The drive up was interesting, trying not to lose people, and Shea even made a wrong turn just to make us fell liek we were "lost." Ya know, the vacation feel. You have to get lost at least once, or else it's not vacation, right? Anyway, we got to the campsite about an hour later (campsite is an understatement-two very nice lakehouses). After some "icebreakers" and conversation, we sat around and watched the Weather channel and ate some lasagna. Then we went outside and and had s'mores over a fire. And then some of us laid out on the dock and watched the stars. Because of the low light level and the clarity of the atmosphere, the sky was beautiful! A huge amount of stars were in the sky. It's been in a while since I've seen that many stars in the sky.

Today was great too. Wakeboarding and boats (ummm...duh!). That was fun. I promise, I really did put sunscreen on my face, even though it probably doesn't look like it. And church was good tonight.

But now it's bed time

Surprise! A new roommate!

Well, I hate to sound callous, but that is sorta what happened.

About a week ago, my first roommate wanted to live in a corner room witha friend of his. He said that he wanted the small amount of extra space the corner rooms provide, as well as a private bathroom that the corner rooms have. He also told me that he was thinking about it and not sure if he was going to change rooms.

Well, the next day, I come in from work, and his side of the room is completely bare. Everything had been moved out. Well, I guess he moved out, I said to myself. I thought that you had to get something signed by the roommate who was staying, and I haven't signed anything, but I guess not.

So, a week goes by and nothing else happens with it (other than my RA saying that I didn't have to get the roommate contract signed). Then, last night, I'm walking in my room from dinner. The door's unlocked. Uh oh. This isn't good. I'm walking in expecting to find a burgular in my room. I open the door all the way and walk in. There's a some guy I've never seen before sitting at my old roommate's desk. He tells me he's my new roommate. I'm thinking, ummm...housing never told me anything.

And not that he's a bad roommate. He's really cool, and easy to get along with. That was just a little surprising finding someone new in my room and no notice whatsoever

Stormy weather

Today it rained again.

Now, I do like rain (refer to old post). My only problem was that I wasin my work uniform, and I only have one with me, and it's soaked right now. So I now have a jury-rigged laundry line across my dorm room with my uniform dripping on the floor.

But it is a lot cooler outside now than it was earlier today. And less humdity.

The registrar

My adventure for the day: dealing with finanial aid and the registrar's office.

When I looked online today, my financial aid was $0.00. And that's not such a good thing. I had both the SC LIFE scholarships and a Federally subsidzed loan. And somehow they disappeared. Not good.

So I had the run-around-campus to get that sorted out. As of this post, it's still not all sorted out. [Sigh]

Heat index

It's freaking hot outside today.

Especially because my car has no air conditioner. I wish I had a working A/C pump like all the other lucky people I see driving around.

Well, the heater works great, I know. Now I just have to wait for a cold snap.

Updating

Today was my last day of work (at least for the Myrtle Beach store). On Monday, I get my orientation for the Columbia store.

Let's see, I move in on Saturday. Great! That means I don't pack until Saturday. If I have a downfall, I think that would be it. But is it a downfall? I get what I need and nothing extra into my bag. My mom thinks that I'm too much like my dad.

That's another thing that scares me. I'm turing into my dad. That's not a bad thing. My dad is a very godly man and I want to be like him. But I'm starting to use his phrase-ology and colloquilisms. It's...[shivers]...I don't know. Kindy creepy. ;-)

Time of the year

Yes. It's that time of the year again. August always puts me in a nostalgic mood. Think of all the memories. Every year this time, you started a new year at school, not sure of what to expect, not knowing who was going to be there. Did someone new move into the area? Did someone else move away? Your entire life was being shaped before your eyes without you knowing it.

It all really started for me when I was 7 years old. My family moved from Buena Park (a suberb of LA) to SC. Some people say that they moved as a kid, but nothing rocked my world like that trip. My family basically picked up and moved 3,000 miles from one coast to the other.

Up until that point, I had been home schooled. My mom was my teacher, and I enjoyed school like that. Wake up at 9, do your lessons at your own pace, and normally you were finished by 2. You could go on field trips during the entire day and not worry about any homework. I would see my friends whenever our parents would get together, and we'd have a blast.

Then all of that changed in October of 1993. My dad, who had worked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, was informed that by the end of the year, he wouldn't have a job (part of Clinton's rash of military base closings). He finally found another job here in SC, so, in October of '93, our family packed all of our belongings in a moving van, and shipped them to my grandparent's house outside of Myrtle Beach. Then we got in our VW van and drove across the country. It wasn't a terrible trip. As I said, I was homeschooled, so my mom made the trip a sort of extended distance learning expireience.

But when we arrived in SC, I realized that my entire life had really changed. My parents, doing their best to provide for me, enrolled me in a Christian school. So, in August 0f 1994, I started 3rd grade at my first ever school-type evironment. It definately was a change for me.