The End........

The end of the semester has finally come. This semester was a very interesting for me. I learned a lot of things that I will use in my future. One thing is for sure, when I send out an email at work, I am much more aware of my grammatical errors, and find myself revising each and every email I send out. I also now have a tendency to correct my wife’s text messages she sends me. I still make errors, and don't completely understand it all, but this class has made a drastic difference in anything I write. I also realized this semester how much I actually enjoyed reading. I now try and regularly take a trip to the local library with my kids, and not only do we pick out books for them, I will pick out a book to read myself. I find reading a stress reliever, never thought I would be saying I love to read. I can count on one hand how many books I had read in the last ten years, and until this semester started, I hadn’t read a single book since high school.......bad, I know. I would read magazines, and newspapers, etc., but never books. I now love to read books about hunting, and I actually am enjoying a John Grisham book right now. 

                When this semester started, I thought this English class would be the death of me. English was not my favorite subject, and all I kept thinking of is my high school English instructor, Ms. Schultz, she was a crazy old lady.  She stood about 5 ft. tall and weighed about 80 pounds soaking wet. She was the toughest lady I have ever met, she was also the mouthiest little thing, and nobody got away with anything in her class. She could take down the naughtiest kid in the class with just her mouth. Yes ……she had a way with words that I will never forget.  I was deathly afraid of her when I took my first class with her, but as time went on, I grew to like her. In fact she taught me so much. So when I enrolled in this class, the first thing I thought of was Ms. Schultz. Much to my surprise, not all English teachers are like Ms. Schultz. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and really liked the discussion boards, blogs, and reading The Glass castle. Next semester, its back to the business classes, I am looking forward to that also, but this English class was an enjoyable break from them.

   

                                                         Back to School

       I did not go to college right out of high school, I decided to get a full time job, and think about my options. I was young, and I was thinking I have my whole life to go to college. Well, I ended up getting married and having two kids, so college got put on the back burner. I worked as a laborer in the freezer at Kemp's stacking and loading ice cream into trucks, then I got hired at Federal Mogul. I took the position at Federal Mogul just because my body could not take any more of that work in -30 degree temps, and working 16 hour days. I was constantly sick with pneumonia, and my body could not physically take that job anymore. When I took the job at Federal Mogul, I thought it was just going to be a temporary job as a machine operator until I could figure out what I wanted to do. I ended up being a machine operator, and then being promoted to a Utility, then I was promoted to a Lead Man, and finally they hired me as a Supervisor. Never in a million years did I think I was going to be a Supervisor in this place. I love my job, and everything that goes along with running a company. It intrigues me, and I learn something new everyday. I decided to go back to school last fall, just to be able to further my career with Federal Mogul, and because they are requiring all Supervisors to have a degree. I am the only Supervisor without a degree, and I have worked my way up the ladder fair and square with just plain hard work and patience. Going back to school has been a challenge for me, I have been out of high school for 12 years now, so it's like learning all over again. I feel like Adam Sandler from the movie Billy Madison. In fact, my wife occasionally sings me the song from the movie "back to school, to prove to dad that I'm not a fool, I got my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight". Yes that's how I feel in a nutshell, although on the other hand I am excited finish my degree and see how far it can take me in the career world. Also to show my boys how important a college degree is and that you can do anything you put your mind to .

                                                   Research Paper Writing
     When I seen the assignment for an argumentive research paper. I thought to myself, “This could be interesting”. I have not written a research paper since I was in high school, 13 years ago…….um, yes that is a long time ago. I was thinking also what a challenge this is going to be because my wife and I are in the process of buying a house, so we are very busy juggling, kids, jobs, packing, and all the new challenges that go with buying a new home. My plate is overflowing with responsibility right now and it’s a little tough to handle at times. I know all of this will pass, and I will get through it, but right now I wish it was all over and that it was summer break, and my summer vacation away from work for 2 weeks………cannot wait. I struggled with coming up with a topic to write about, I thought about it for days. One night my wife said why you don’t write about ADHD, I thought to myself “no  that wouldn’t be interesting”. Then I thought about it some more and decided to do some research about it, and pinpoint what about ADHD exactly going to write about. The more I researched the topic, the more I loved the topic. I am very familiar with what ADHD entails, because my wife was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago. What amazes me is that she went all her life knowing something was wrong, and remembers not being able to concentrate even as far back as elementary school. Finally after the birth of our second son she felt extremely overwhelmed; she was rarely able to finish a task she started. At times she would start 5 projects at once, and not finish them. She just could not concentrate, and has a very impulsive behavior, for example we would have plans to go somewhere and she would be getting ready to go, and then she would start to clean out the pantry in the kitchen, and have everything tore apart then we would end up late to where we were going in the first place. She was also very forgetful, always losing her keys, cellphone, sometimes even her purse. She is a super neat freak with the house, and an over the top germ-a-phob, so she is constantly cleaning, which is good for me cause my clothes are always clean and ironed, and my truck is always spotless thanks to her. She  is also the nicest person you will ever meet and can talk to anyone. She has a lot of friends, and she is known as the fun one in the group. This is one thing that first attracted me to my wife 15 years ago, I loved that she was outgoing, sometimes crazy, and a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl. I am going to admit, sometimes the ADHD gets in the way, but it’s not her fault.  I wanted to write this research paper on ADHD to get a better understanding of this disorder, so I can be more understanding to my wife with what she struggles with on a daily basis.  

     I am a Christian; I gave my life to Christ when I was nine years old. Yes, I know I was young, but that was when I knew that Jesus was my Lord and Savior. Since then I have tried to do my best to be a faithful follower and servant. I read my Bible, pray, and try to follow His will for my life on a daily basis. I’m not going to lie, I am not perfect, but I give it my best. God did not make us perfect, so even being an avid believer; we all sin on a daily basis.

       With this being said, I am a firm believer that God should be a part of public school. I do not think we should have stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance because it says, "One nation under God", or I don’t think they should ban prayer in public school either. I know many people have their opinions, but I am seeing our nation turning away from God and moving closer to socialism. When I say this I mean that the people of the United States have come to believe that government is there to take care of us, when we should be able to take care of ourselves, government is supposed to be there to protect us. We are getting so wrapped up in debt; the government cannot even afford to pay our schools to give our children education, or even keep our kids safe in school. With all the school shootings, and bulling going on in the schools this day in age, I think if they put the principles of God back in public school , some of this stuff would stop. Since the courts started banning prayer, and references to God, even going as far as to taking down the 10 Commandments out of public places, the nation including our school systems, have gone downhill. Even on our currency it says "In God we trust", why can’t we go back to our nation and schools trusting in God. I am also a firm believer in the power of prayer, and I think that all of us who do believe need to pray for all the people in this world that don’t know God, and we also need to pray for our government, and the men and women that we voted in office. God has a plan for each and every one of us, we need to believe, study His word, and pray so we will follow His will for our own life.

                                                         The Glass Castle

     In my college English course we were to read the book “The Glass Castle”, by Jeannette Walls. This book is a story of the trials and tribulations of her life. It was actually a really good book. Me being a guy, I don’t read much unless it has to do with hunting, fishing, or sports. I found this book to be very intriguing and keeps the reader interested; actually I had a hard time putting it down.

     Before I began the book, I stared at it for a few weeks, thinking “I should really start reading this book”, but never picked it up. When it came down to crunch time, I started it on a Sunday afternoon, thinking I was just going to read a couple chapters. I honestly thought the book was going to be like reading a text book…..boring. Much to my surprise the book was very interesting and the first day I read 150 pages. I had a hard time putting it down, it kept me wondering “what could possibly happen next”. Jeannette Walls did a great job describing all the situations she was put in as a child, in fact she did such a great job you could paint a picture in your head, and almost imaging yourself there. It had a great balance of being enjoyable to read and also having a meaning.

     I would definitely recommend this book to others. It has great meaning, and I think all high schools should have it in their curriculum for the students read. If teenagers read this book, maybe some of the bullying would stop, and make them think twice of making fun of another less fortunate student.  

                                                Tattoos and piercings

What do I think of tattoos? Well…….I think tattoos are okay on some people and look not so good on other people. I myself do not have a tattoo, I have always wanted to get one, but have not gotten up the courage to get one yet. I think tattoos that mean something and are not obnoxious are good. A tattoo is not something I feel you should just decide one day to go and get, I think you should thing about the idea, and decide what you want, and where to put it on your body. I think this because you are stuck with this tattoo for the rest of your life, and I myself do not want a tattoo of something I will regret when I am 50 years old. Like all those young women who got the sun tattooed around their belly buttons before they had children, and then after giving birth the sun is all stretched out and ugly looking. Not to mention, in my opinion around the belly button is a bad place to get a tattoo. Other than that I don’t have a problem with tattoos, I feel it’s your own choice to choose whether or not you want to have a tattoo, or piercing. I think most tattoos are well thought out processes, and have some kind of meaning to the person. I would like to get a tattoo of my children’s names or something to do with them. Someday maybe, I just haven’t worked up the courage to do it yet.

Piercings are another thing to me. I am not a big fan of piercings, especially when there are too many piercings on a person, or when they are inappropriate. I don’t mind ear piercings, belly button piercings on women for that matter, but when a person chooses to pierce everything on their face, that’s when it gets to me. I would never say something to a person with several piercings or treat them any differently, but this is my personal opinion about piercings. It is not my place to judge a person with tattoos or piercings it is their own personal choice to do what they want with their body.

                                                                              Family Dynamics

              I think everyone can say that they have functional and dysfunctional elements in their families. To start with, no one was made perfect, and this is why we have both elements. I think everyone has that so called "dysfunctional family members", who starts fights, sticks their nose in everyone else’s business, and always have drama in their life. I think this is perfectly normal to have those, I admit, I have not been perfect at times, but we were all made sinners.  We all need to ask for forgiveness when we screw up, and also learn to say sorry when it is needed. I have family members who will have a “blow up” , and go years without taking to each other, then make up but neither of them will admit what they did wrong in the situation, or say sorry. It is sad how we as humans can hold such terrible grudges. We all have our opinions in life, and we are entitled to them, but there is a time and a place when we should speak our opinion. I think that sometimes it is better to just keep your mouth shut.  I also think it’s all in the way you handle all the family dynamics, and how your family gets through the rough patches in life. If you can sit down and talk about a problem, that is good, if you yell, scream, and throw punches, that’s where the problem comes in. We all have family dynamics that we are not proud to be a part of, but in the end you should accept your family for who they are and not judge them. I have many "dysfunctional” family members, and sometimes they can make life interesting, and not to mention, they make me realize what I do not want to live like.