The Woman...

From my daily commutes from my apartment to school, I often pass through a large wooded area with many little gardens; this place is called McCrory Gardens. I will pass through there and see many people that like to go there and relax or have a picnic. Usually, I can see all sorts of people there that have smiles on their faces and thinking the day is great. On this several occasions, I have gone through the gardens and found a woman with her dog. This woman was usually dressed in pretty lazily clothes that seemed to keep her cool; but once the weather started to get cold, she would dress up in much warmer clothes that made her look like she was prepared for the first snow of the year. Her dog was a multi-colored beagle. She would usually walk around the building in the garden with her dog, and as I passed her, we would exchange glances.
On this one particular day, I walked through the garden, not expecting to see this woman, but not surprised to see her as well. As I entered the garden, the wind hit me, making me quite chilled. Because I had to enter it to get to my apartment, I zipped up my coat, and continued to walk. I got to the building where I usually see the woman, and there she was sitting on the ground with her back against the fence that surrounds the garden. She was bundled up so tight, I could hardly tell it was her. I was surprised to see her on the ground, because she was reading a book that, I could tell, she had been reading for sometime, as it appeared she was over half done with the book. She must have been sitting there for sometime because the grass where she was sitting had been flattened for sometime. But no dog, it was the first day that I did not see her with the dog. The dog was no where to be found, I even started to walk slow so I could possibly see the dog. As long as I stood there, the dog never was to found. And so, I walked home, in wonder of where the dog had gone too and in hopes that the next day I would see that dog. The reason why I wanted to see that dog so bad was because it reminded me of my own dog.

Walk to the Store

Tonight, I walked to the store. A nice cool night for a walk, and going to get something I needed. On my way, I saw the auto repair guys jumping around on a tire. Got into the store, and went right to the electronics. Notice a 20-something female looking at some CD’s, while I also noticed a group of high school guys checking out this same girl.
A tall father teaching his son how to play a cartoon video game, while his daughter was playing a football game; she was kicking butt, by the way. A kindly old lady was trying to pick out a television, and asked me which one I liked best. I told her which one I thought was best, and then helped her to the employee who was the expert.
Working late at night, were the old, the young, the beautiful, and the experienced. All the workers seemed to only have one cohesive thought in common: get the work done.
Another gray bearded father was helping his two young daughters pick out a dress for another day in kindergarten. Kids half my age were strolling around the store, looking like they were important to the store; even though none of them bought anything, and the newly turned 21-year-olds buying their first case of alcohol.
Found the ties, finally. Not a single one of those ties did I like. Ceiling fan? Not for me. Found a rug with ‘Got Dirt’ on it, too expensive. Were there any good posters? More comic book heroes’ ones’.
Walking out, I almost bumped into a girl. She apologized for it, I told her it was alright, and we talked for a bit. I walked out into the clear night sky, and saw two stars in the sky. Walked home.

Dang, I forgot what I went there for…

Cutting Back...

As I grow older, I realize that it’s increasingly harder to keep in touch with many of my friends and family members. For those that do not know me, I’m quite a friendly guy, and I have come to the conclusion that when you are as friendly as I am, there will be a day when you must decide who you should keep in touch with and who you NEED to keep in touch with. Calling my sisters and parents has become a weekly routine that I’m still trying to get in the habit of doing. My best friend and I talk almost every other day, so I’m not worried about talking to him, but there are other friends that I find I wish I kept in touch with, and ponder day and night how they are doing.

Unable to know anything different, I’m a family person. I appreciate my family, and I would not give up any of them for anything. I would take a bullet for a family member. The distance between us has not hindered my communication skills with them, it’s the fact that I am purely lazy and unable to care much about their daily lives when I have so many other things on my mind. I have a very extensive family, and since I have about 30 first cousins – let alone all of their children – it’s hard for me to know what they are all doing. One of my cousins is pregnant for the third time, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember when she had her second born child. Even my closest cousins, I’m unable to keep in touch with. Sometimes, it’s because I don’t have their number, but as I’ve come to realize, there is nothing new with my life that would interest them at all; still attending college, still living in Brookings, SD, still driving my Buick. There is a lot more interesting things going on at the local Dairy Queen, then my life. So why should I bore my cousins with such dismay? Because they are family, and even if they don’t really care about my non-interesting life, it does them good to know so it’s not awkward at Christmas time.

As stated above, I am a friendly person. I know a lot of names, and try my hardest to remember them all. But when the time comes where I have to choose which friends to hang out with, or call up to help me move, I know just which friends to call. I’d like to say that of all the people that I know, only about 10 of them can I truly call my friends; everyone else is an acquaintance. There comes a day when you know you have to choose between two friends, but it’s which friend you choose that will make you a better person There is a time when you NEED to keep in touch with people, family and the closest of friends. In the end, it’s when you are on your knees needing some help that your family and closest friends will help pick you up and dust you off, and push you along on your way again. Those are the friends to trust and to rely on.

The point of this entire babel is to understand that you should not have to make extra effort to keep in touch with those you truly care about, it should just happen. No one should have to cut back. I try to change everyday, I am not perfect, but I try to be everyday. Do you?

Final Video for MCOM 225

In my group was Stephanie Fischer, Lisa Koch and myself. Hope you enjoy!

Child Abuse Websites are getting Shut Down

Here is a link to CNET News.com.

This article talks about the fact that child abuse websites are still on the rise, and that if the countries around the world get together, we can shut them all down! The article said that more than 3000 child abuse websites are active right now. I think that we need to shut all of those websites down immediately because these websites are taking advantage of children. This topic will strike a nerve in many people, and it will strike the nerve differently as well; but I know that when I hear about child abuse going on in the world it makes me upset.
In Britain, it is said that less than 1% of these kind of websites are still around in that country. That number is down from 18% in 1997, so Britain shuts down these kind of websites quite suddenly, and they are better because of that fact. We need to protect out children, not let them get abuse by sick-minded people in the world! We must stop this now, we just must!

Spielberg's New Video Game

Here is an article from CNN.com.

The world of gaming is about to get a game with the help of an award winning movie director. Steven Spielberg has been helping with the development of a new game for the Nintendo Wii. This new game is called "Boom Blox", and it has been under development with Spielberg and Electronic Arts. The game will have 300 levels, 30 wacky characters, and a variety of game modes. Spielberg said that he wanted a game to play with his children.
I think that this game looks rediculous and not something that I would find interesting to play. But it was created by Spielberg, so that means it MIGHT be interesting to see and play. I say that I will not play it, but I also know that if I were to start playing it, I probably won't stop playing it! I'm kind of a video game addict. But before I can play this game, I need to get myself a Nintendo Wii. So much to do, so little time.

The Ol' Windows XP is Best

Here is a link from CNN.com.

This article talks about people that love their Windows XP version so much that they will not upgrade to Windows Vista. But I must agree with these people! I love my Windows XP, and I'm not looking forward to upgrading to Vista. Why do you ask? I have not tried Vista, I have not seen anyone with it, and I know that it's been out for awhile. With all of the people saying things about Vista, I'm not sure that I want to even try it. My XP is just too valuable to me, and I have so much information on my computer that I sure don't want to lose it by upgrading to Vista. I think I will just wait until the new version of Windows comes out!