Time to get fit!

Yesterday, two lovely ladies and I went out to eat at one of my favorite little reataurants in Gretna--The Green Apple. I love how this food is so delicious, but entirely homemade and healthy!

Just after we had finished eating, we went next door to check out a gym. It's called Anytime Fitness. We walked through the door into a huge room filled with equipment. The owner was very welcoming and showed us around just for us to discover two more very large rooms filled with wonderfully useful workout items. There was even a tanning bed in a fourth room!

After the tour, we went into this woman's office to discuss the costs and all that is included. Because the three if us are students, we were offered a dicount. For $29 each month, we will have a literal 24/7 access key to any Anytime Fitness in the US! This price also includes access to any and all classes with no additional fee and a one-time free meeting with a personal trainer! Now, tell me that this isn't a great deal!

I am excited to join this gym because I am tired of feeling like I should be more healthy. I'm tired of feeling exhausted all the time.

However, I have started keeping a better eye on what I am eating. I downloaded a calorie counter about a month ago, not necessarily to lose weight, but to see what it is that I am eating. To my amazement, I was eating close to 3000 calories a day or more! I have since cut my calorie intake in half (but I haven't tried to be too strict). I have felt healthier, but I still feel like I should be doing more.

The three of us are heading to the gym on Monday to sign up. I honestly can't wait to start my future of feeling and being healthier!

Journalism: Majoring in Information

I am currently enrolled in an academic transfer program with a focus on journalism. As I progress through my major, it becomes more and more clear to me that this is what I truly want to do with my life.
Maybe it's just my personality, but I crave honesty. I strive for the truth. Journalism gives me that. I am passionate about being honest and delivering honesty to people in such a way that may be trusted.
Journalism is information.
However, journalism (and media in general) oftentimes becomes corrupt and filled with exagerations. I am majoring in information to be honestly informative. I will not be one who delivers false truths.

Love your children everyday.

Today began like any other normal daycare day. I woke up super early to safeguard and care for children that are usually either extremely sweet or extremely rotten.

One little boy of ours is a special needs child. He has a wheelchair and cannot speak outside of random sounds. It just so happens that he left the state 6 days ago to undergo more surgery. (I hope it is understood that I cannot give out specifics.) He came back home last night earlier than the doctors and his parents had expected. He did very well with 3 straight days of surgery.

Last night, around 10:30 pm, a rescue call went over the scanners for a 6 year old boy. The boy was unreponsive and CPR was in progress. Not long after the CPR was announced, the scanners informed their listeners that this child has gone into cardiac arrest.

Calvin passed away last night.

He was 6 years old.

He had just started kindergarten this year.

He has a little brother and two parents who loved him very much.

He was one of the most sweet and ornery little boys I had ever met.

He was adored by everyone he encountered.

Daycare will never be the same without him.

We all loved him.

So,
cherish your children. Love them. Care for them. Surprise them. Laugh with them. Hold them. Kiss them. Cuddle them. Make them feel safe.

You never know how long God will let you keep them.

A joke to some, but not to all

This just so happened to appear on my timeline on Facebook and I found it impossible to ignore. I'm not sure if this was intended to be a "serious" post, but I found it to be quite serious. 

Everyday, there are people struggling with the need to cut themselves. Yes, it is a need. What most people don't realize is that cutting is an addiction. It is a sort of relief from mental stress and abuse. When someone feels so overcome with emotions, sometimes the only way to deal with them is through physical destruction. The girls in this picture probably don't know the kind of effect they could be having on people when they say things like this. 

As I read the comments on this picture, I was truly shocked. There were plenty of people saying that cutting is just a way for people to get attention. Some comments said that this person who cut needs help. Sometimes "help" does anything but make it better. What cutting addicts need is for people to listen and to support them.

When I was a cutter, I searched for people who would understand and who would listen to the reasons why. I found few, but those few made a difference to me. I quit cutting for a few years and, to this day, I still struggle with the addiction of cutting. Some days, all I want to do is cut, but I have to find a way to resist the urge. 

Most of the comments referred to these girls as "bitches" and "stupid hoes". Isn't this name calling just as bad as their name calling? Doing exactly what we detest in others is no way to make things right in the world. 

Ghandi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

We should really take his advice if we ever want to make a difference. 

Lonely

I've been feeling terribly lonely as of late, quite thoroughly. Most of the close friends I had not even a year ago are now zipping through each of their own universe at a thousand lighyears per second. As it turns out, high school friends don't last forever. Who would have guessed, right?

I think about this extensively almost everyday. Memories of deep conversations and shopping trips plague my mind. They don't seem to want to stay out of my head.

Most everyone I know from school has attempted to convince me--not necessarily intentionally--that it is my fault entirely for losing such great company. I realized yesterday that this is total bull shit. If they were so great to have around, why did they leave me when I needed them most? When I was falling forward and too weak to catch myself? I left these friendships with bruised cheeks and scraped palms.

I want to say, I love you. I love you for being amazing when you were. I love you for teaching me to let go. I love you for allowing me to have you during the time that I did.

But I love who I have now more. I love them to the very death of me and would sacrifice an impressive amount for any of them. I love them for taking a leap of faith when I was too afraid to jump alone. I love them for teaching me that I can love unconditionally in any setting I want. I love them for not judging. I love them for loving me--the real me--not the one you all think you know.

I love my real friends dearly.

Pumping Away All Our Money

I just caught wind that gas prices in Ashland, Nebraska are going to be increased by about ten cents by tomorrow. We think, Hey, what's ten cents matter? It is exactly this mentality that allows gas prices to continue to skyrocket.

According to the USA National Gas Price Heat Map at Gas Buddy, almost all areas in the U.S. are currently at ridiculous gas prices. With only four counties in the entire U.S. (that I could count) at less than $3.50/gallon, some areas are experiencing up to $4.20/gallon and higher! Just two years ago, gas prices were down to a national average of about $2.69/gallon. The next year began with an average of about $3.58/gallon. What happened to this?

Commodities
Crude Oil	96.80	- 0.38%
Natural Gas	3.01	+ 0.47%
Gasoline	3.05	+0.12%
Heating Oil	3.18	- 0.18%
Gold	1733.48	+ 0.42%
Silver	33.47	- 0.12%
Copper	3.70	- 0.39%

(Chart found at Oil Price)

Why are gas prices still increasing? Let's ask our government officials.

Always a Way

 I was talking to one of my co-workers the other day and she mentioned the feeling of being trapped. She brought up that--in certain circumstances--many people feel as if there is nothing to fix what has been done. For example, an abused wife may feel trapped in her marriage because she is afraid of what would happen in the event that she divorced her husband. But does anyone ever sit down and ask themselves, What would happen?

Being a recovered victim of feeling trapped myself, I can honestly say no. Most people do not sit down and question possibilities because, in our minds, we see the current situation as the only option. I am here to say that there will always be a way out of every undesirable spot in our lives. And, no, you are not alone in anything that may be happening. The feeling of being trapped is the greatest scam anyone has ever tricked themselves into believing. You are never trapped. Things may get rough. They may make you break. But there is always a way around them. I can guarantee that there are others who have gone through the same things you have. All you have to do is ask for help--no matter how hard it may be.

So, what would happen?

Does it really matter? The only thing that truly matters is your happiness, and that isn't going to come if you're just sitting there waiting for things to get better. It isn't going to happen while you're sitting there watching those around you be happy at your expense. Get up and make a move. Get out and find someone better.

No one deserves to feel trapped.

Now for an even more serious matter...

September 10 is Suicide Awareness Day--a day devoted to raising awareness about and preventing suicide. Now, when most people hear the term suicide, they consider only its meaning. Not many people want to think about why it had happened or who it may have been that pushed that person just a little too far. Why? Could it possibly be because those same people may feel just a tad guilty? Maybe a joke was said, or a jab was made.

When we are young, we are all told to think about what we say before we say it. Do we do it? Probably not most of us. I hardly did growing up. I never even thought that I could possibly be the one to make someone feel so helpless--I was only having fun, right?

I am here to say that we all need to watch what we say and do to others. It may be the one thing they need to convince themselves to do it. It may be the last thing we ever say to someone because it may just push them to take his or her life.



Suicide Hotline:
1-800-273-8255

Feeling trapped or helpless? Here are a couple links that may help:
Your Life, Your Voice
To Write Love On Her Arms
It Gets Better

I will always welcome e-mails from anyone who just needs to talk: earthchild_sash@yahoo.com