Blogging!?!

Blogging….hmmm well I honestly think that blogging, for me at least, is just a avenue to express my opinions. Blogging in general can be anything for anyone: a way to promote a product, a way to promote yourself, a way to update people on your life, etc. My experience with blogging began with the journalism program that I was apart of. Profs would ask students to blog about what they learned or want to learn in class or they would ask student to response on a certain topic. This is my only experience with blogs. Other then that I have not invested time into blogging for my own purpose. Seeing that I have a Facebook and MySpace account I found that I could express myself through those avenues.

As with the other blogs I have posted these blogs that I have posted in this last semester have been for assignment for a class. I don’t really find them useful for me because I don’t think that many people read blogs unless they are searching for a particular topic. Because I feel this way I don’t really take them so seriously. I write only to complete an assignment. Its not that I don’t think that blogging can be a good way to get a writing career started but writing is not something that I want to do in my life.

That being said, I do think that it is possible for a writer can get noticed by a legitimate publication through their blogs. A famous movie comes to mind, Julie and Julia, was a perfect example of this. This movie tells of a writer who gets famous but writing a blog about using Julia’s Famous cooking recipes. After her blog becomes popular she gets many job offers from publications. I think that if wanted to be a writer this would an awesome way to get my name out there as a writer. Every time you post a blog you’re basically publishing your own work. Technology has most definitely changed the way the field of Journalism operates. Now a days people can be a famous writer without even have to talk to a publication.

God, Are you there?

Listening to God. In all honesty I have a hard time listening for God. I know a lot of people say that they hear God tell them things but I don’t think I can say that for sure. I know there are times when I feel a certain way about something, like my conscious telling me how to feel or act. I’ve heard people refer to that as the Holy Spirit talking to you. I guess I believe that too. There has been many times when I have seen someone who appears to be hurting in one way or another, whether it be a homeless person or just someone at the mall that looked sad. I have a conscious feeling that I should stop to help them. Sadly there have been more times that I have continued on walking away from that person. I know in my heart I should have turned back and I seldomly do. There was recently a time that I walked away not wanting to listen to the Holy Spirit when it was telling me that someone was in need. I walked away, got in my car and was about to leave work when the feeling was so strong that I turned my car and went back. That person was truly in need of a hug and a shoulder to cry on. Looking back to that moment I realized how awesome God is and that he can accomplish many things if we are willing to listen. I didn’t want to talk to that person and even drove away but ultimately I knew that God wanted me to be there for her. There are so many times that I have walked away, never to look back and it makes me wonder what would be different if I had stopped for them, stop to listen to God.

There are times that God wants to work in our lives but we refuse to listen. For me, there have been way too many of them. I know that God is there, watching my every move and listening to every thought yet I still do things that I know he would not be happy with. Why? Why do we do this to ourselves and to God? My life could be so much better if I just would have listened to him. At this point in my life I have decided to stop asking myself those types of questions, why or why not, mainly because it’s the past. Because it’s the past there is nothing that I can do about it. The only thing that I can do is focus on the future. I try my best to listen to the Holy Spirit. I know what’s right and wrong but it is ultimately my decision to make. That’s the wonderful thing about God, having a choice. God wants us to choose what we want to do. He could easy just make those decisions for us but he doesn’t want prisoners. He wants willing followers.

Personally, I think Valentine’s Day is extremely overrated. Valentine’s Day should not be the only time boyfriends/husbands buy their girlfriends/wives chocolate and flowers. It should not be the only day couples buy each other gifts expressing their love for each other. These things should happen any and everyday of the year. For this reason there should not have to be a day called Valentine’s Day.

I understand the idea of Valentine’s Day and think that its nice to get chocolate and flowers but I still think that Valentine’s Day is completely overrated. Too often we hear this overrated opinion coming from the bitter single women that hate to see others in love because they themselves are not in love. But I am not her. Interestingly enough I am very much in love with an awesome guy. I don’t want to completely bore you with my love life but my boyfriend is the BEST ever. We have only been together for 8 months but in those 8months I have received a bouquet of flowers 3-4 times. That may not seem like a lot but for those of you girls that receive flowers for Valentine’s Day and your birthday…I get twice as much as you do. J Every time he gives me flowers I am completely surprised. Its never for a special occasion or certain time of year but just because…The first time I got flowers it was the second day we had been dating. I guess he was wanted to show me how much I meant to him even though we had just started dating. One of the other times I got flowers was because I had had a really horrible day at work. It was soo nice to come home to a bouquet of red roses. There had been many other ways my boyfriend has expressed his love for me at the most randomest times. To me those are the best times to tell someone that you love them, when they are not expecting it.

Too many times guys think that they only have to be affectionate to their women once a year, but this obviously (or maybe not so obviously to some guys) does not get them to far. Its funny to me that people celebrate Valentine’s Day even though their relationship is completely falling apart. Last year my ex and I were “on a break” that I knew was the beginning of the end, and he wanted to go out for Valentine’s Day. I told him that I didn’t think we should out on a show pretending we were happy. One day of kindness and affection would not make up for the hurt he caused me.

I guess what I’m saying is that I love the idea of Valentine’s Day but think that the expression of love should happen everyday. Even if the expression of love is shown in the smallest of ways, it goes a long way.

Haiti

With all the earthquakes going on in the world and especially in Haiti it really makes a person stop and think about life and how fragile it is. I’m sure that the people of Haiti had no clue that their life was going to literally come crashing down. Although there are methods to try to predict these things the people of Haiti could not have predicted the damage it would have on them. It hurts my heart to see people suffering and struggling for the basic necessities of life while our rich nation complains about the little things. On that note I must say that I am very proud that there are people in our nation whom have come together to donate time and money to helping those in Haiti. Its really interesting to see people’s reactions to an event of this magnitude. Some people are ruthless and do not care about the people there and others have dedicated tons of hours and money into trying to rebuild that nation.

I have been in shock and awe to see how some of the people of Haiti have reacted to their own country’s circumstance. I so very surprised to hear that in all the chaos and death around them people have decided that they would loot. I can see if they were looting grocery stores and other such stores for things necessary to live but I cannot understand how people can steal other things. There are people stealing from all types of stores, maybe in hope to make some money off of the items as this disaster comes to an end. Eventually if and when those store owners are able to get there store up and running again they will realize that on top of the products they lost to the earthquake, they have lost more to their fellow citizens whom have decided to take advantage of a distraught people. They have even become violent with people, which is extremely sad to hear. Not only do they have to worry about earthquakes but also people.

The other thing that is sad to hear is how many children have become orphans because of this event. Granted there were already many orphaned children in this country but now there are even more and less resources to help care for them. It hurts to think of all those people out there all alone let alone think of all the children who cannot care for themselves properly. Like I said before its things like these that make people stop and think about how short life can really be. It makes me think about my position in life and if certain things are really worth what they seem to be worth. I stop to think about those things that I have put the back burns because I feel like I can just “get to it later.” I began to rethink my priorities and start focusing on things that are not so insignificant in life.

Christmas Break

For most people, there is one place where they can feel completely relaxed and at ease. For me that place would be with my family. I guess many people can say the same but I feel like the world could crumb around me and as long as I had my family I would be okay. The end of the end of the semester ended like most; jam packed with studying for finals and a severe lack of sleep. I was glad it was over. I packed my stuff and headed to my dad’s house. For those that don’t know me I have two families. My mother’s side, which includes: four younger sisters, mother and my stepdad (who raised me since I was three). My Dad’s family includes my dad, my stepmom and my little brother who just turned one. I live with my dad during the breaks and summers because he lives the closes to Riverside and since I work here I have to be able to commute. My mom lives in Victorville, which is about an hour away. Anyways back to my break. I packed my stuff and moved back into my room at my dad’s house. Since I have to families you can only guess what my holidays are like. I usually spend Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas day with my dad. This year I had to add my boyfriend’s families in there also. The original plan was that I was supposed to get out of work at 6pm and then rush to my bf house and pick him up. After that we were supposed to go to see his family first then rush to my dad’s family second. This was Christmas Eve. Since we already had two houses to go to on Christmas Eve, I told my mom I would spend Christmas Day with her. I didn’t see how I could fit in three houses on Christmas Eve. The thing is that it is tradition for me to go see my mom on Christmas Eve and a few days before my mom and I spoke and she told me that she was going to miss me greatly. This made me extremely sad. I called my bf and asked if we could visit his family on Christmas Day instead of on Christmas Eve. He told me that we could and I was extremely happy. I know that this probably doesn’t sound like a big deal but in Hispanic families Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve not Christmas day. Since my bf and I are both Hispanic visiting family on Christmas Day would mean missing the whole celebration. Christmas Eve came and I got off work. The new plan was to go to my dad’s then my mom’s. I still had not told my mom that I was going to come on Christmas day because I wanted to surprise her, so I left her sad the whole day by making her think that I was not coming. We spent a few hours at my dad’s then rushed up to the hill to see my mom. She was so happy; she almost cried. She said it was the best Christmas present ever! The next day we spent the day with my bf family. Overall I had a great break. I wish it had never ended.