Can sports determine your mood?

The answer to this question is: ABSOLUTELY. Today was a good day. They say if you’re optimistic good things will happen. This has been a tough year and it is really hard to find something to smile about. However, today was all smiles for me.

First, my car started making a rattle every time I hit a bump in the street. Not good. It could have been the wheel coming off, my CV Joint going out which would have cost an arm and a leg to fix, or my struts were going bad. My dad pulls off the wheel and checks my brakes first. My caliper is lose. Why is my caliper lose? I don’t know. We’re puzzled by the fact that the two bolts holding it on are missing. How? Good question. Good thing is that AutoZone carries the bolts and it was fixed within 10 minutes and under $11. Nice!

Second, my daughter came home from her fathers in a good mood. She was the perfect angel. This is shocking because she never comes home in a good mood. She told me all about her weekend which included saying goodbye to her aunt that is taking a vacation in Indianapolis. She said, “Janel is leaving to Logans, she went on a BIG plane because Logan lives far.” Totally cute. Put a smile on my face hearing all about her weekend with her dad.

Third and probably one of the best things ever: Jimmie Johnson wrecked within the first few laps of the race today in Texas. Why does this make me happy? Because I can not stand the little prick. I think he is the biggest narcissist who ever graced NASCAR with his presence. He comes off as a genuinely good guy, but deep down he is the devil. Kasey Kahne didn’t have such a great day, BUT HE FINISHED IN FRONT OF JIMMIE! Good day indeed.

Lastly, football. Football rocked this week. We’ll do the earlier games first. Indianapolis Colts are still undefeated! What? Is that because Peyton Manning rocks? I think so. Then the 49ers LOST! Yay!!! I hate the 9ers for two reasons: 1. one of my ex boyfriends adored them and 2. they’re my dad’s favorite team. “booooooo” Now onto the thing that probably put the biggest smile on my face. To all you Eagle fans I have to say this: BOOYAH BIZNATCH! On my dad’s football pool at work, only like 5 people picked the Cowboys. Sad. That just put “Uncle” Rick 1 game closer to winning this week. Cowboys pulled it off miraculously.

So, now back to my initial question, “Can sports determine a mood?” Yes, I am living proof that sports can make a person happy; and I didn’t even have money on the games!

It’s nice to check out…

I’ve basically checked out of my Spanish class. I’m getting a bad grade and in order to save my GPA I have checked out. I can retake the course if I receive a C- or below. I’m aiming for a D. I don’t want to stop going to class so I can learn it better for next quarter, I just don’t care anymore. It’s allowing me to not stress so much in that class and divert my attention to my other struggling course. However, I received a B on my midterm without even cracking the book. Now the effort I’m no longer putting forth in Spanish will enable me to study politics and economic issues surrounding greed better. That and the weight on my shoulders has been completely alleviated.

We’re talking about homosexuality in this class right now. This one guy next to me is freaking out. I hate people that are completely closed minded that they can’t accept gay marriage. I am not going to get into it right now. My views are that people are able to do what they want when it comes to love. If they love someone, they can get married, as long as they’re human (haha). There is no sacred marriages anymore, therefore there is no threat to marriage. That’s my opinion, take it or leave it.

I want to take a trip to Washington. However, being broke and my sister having a baby in May, I don’t think it would be able to go this year. When I graduate from college I want to return to Chicago so I should start saving for that.

Sheri goes to Chicago Fund… Yeah, I should start a thing.

Maybe the switch to Ford isn’t so bad

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_ford

Surprisingly, Ford announces $1 billion profit. Wow. So Petty’s idea to switch to Ford in the 2010 racing season could be a good thing. Unfortunately, for Dodge fans however, this move sucks. On the flip side, Dodge and NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series car is the Challenger.  I am jealous. I wish I could drive a Challenger for a living. Ha.

The race yesterday was incredible, well the last few laps anyway:

It was insanely worrisome for the first few minutes. You couldn’t help but think the worst until you could finally hear his voice and he said he was okay just waiting to get the car turned back over. My dad was on the phone when it happened. He asked, “Have you seen a wreck that bad?” I told him that I haven’t in a long time except for a couple of Gordon’s wrecks these last few years.

All in all, I want a ford, so it’s all good. Someone can buy me a Fusion.

It’s hectic…

I’m taking a break from my hectic life right now. I need some me time and I haven’t had much time to write. Writing calms me, helps me clear my mind and helps me relax.

I’m pretty stressed right now, to say the least. I have like zero dollars. I have like stress galore right now. My grades are not where they should be. These last 5 weeks of the quarter I must get my ass in gear and try harder. 5 weeks left. Wow.  I register for Winter tomorrow morning at 6:30 am. Woot.

So this is where I am. Midterms are over for the most part. I feel like I’m drowning. My mind is on my personal problems and not in the books where it should be. My education is usually a way for me to escape my problems, but unfortunately, they’re becoming harder to escape.

Skye is becoming harder and harder to control. It’s beginning to seem like she has no respect for me. Part of my problem is that I’m living with my mom and she thinks I’m being too strict. As I put Skye to sleep last night, for instance, I let her watch Rugrats for 30 minutes. Well I put the volume down on her TV because it was way too loud and Skye threw a fit. She goes crying to my mom after I tell her that it was too loud and if she stops crying she would hear it. My mom tells me to turn it up a little and ends with “Pick your battles.” And so I told my mom, “That’s the problem. She doesn’t listen to me at all anymore. She runs to you and you give in because she’s throwing a fit. Her father gives in because he can’t tell her no. I’m working against the two of you. No wonder she doesn’t respect me,” turned around and walked away with tears in my eyes. How am I supposed to be an authority figure when my mom and her father gives in and I’m the only one working to do something about it? I’ve tried talking to her father about it, but I can’t control him when she’s over at his house and I am not.

School work is also beginning to overwhelm me. I don’t understand Spanish as it gets harder. I’m stressed about what I’m going to be doing next quarter. I’m stressed about getting a job because then I’ll have even less time to study, take care of Skye and see her, and even less time for classes. My sister said, “So you take 12 units instead of 16.” I could, but then I’ll be stuck here for another quarter. All I want to do is graduate on time so I can walk in 2011. I need to walk. I want to walk. It is my goal that no matter what happens in my personal life, my educational goals are met. With the restrictions put on us regarding classes and units and such, I don’t think I’ll graduate on time and this depresses me.

I have a lot more to say, but I must cut this short. Thank you for letting me vent. If you have any advice, I’d welcome it.

The Best Concerts EVER!!!

I didn’t realize that I’ve been to so many concerts in my life. But here’s my list of the best:

11. *N Sync @ the forum: This concert was the best Christmas gift ever! However, it was my least favorite because I was in a bad mood because of my people anxiety. I hate crowds. Then we were on the very top of the Forum in LA. Nosebleeds. It was AWESOME though, I was with some great people!

10. Alabama @ Glen Helen: I believe it was their farewell concert. It was awesome. I remember being on the lawn with my favorite people of the time: Lana (cousin), my mom and my Uncle Bob. I don’t remember too much from this concert. I just remember having a good time on the grass listening to some great music

9. New Kids on the Block: I don’t remember this concert all that much. I think we were at the Pacific Amphitheater. I was with Lana, Brandi (my sister) and my mom. I remember Brandi screaming like crazy when Jordan Knight’s shirt came off. I don’t remember much more than that just that I knew every song thanks to my big sister and her music always on. Of course, every little sister wants to be just like her big sister.

8. 311, the Expendables, Matisyahu and the Whalers @ Verizon Amphitheater: This was a great concert, for what I stayed for. By the time 311 came on stage I had a massive headache because of all the pot smokers around me. I never want to be on the grass for another 311 concert, that’s for sure. Lots of great music and lots of fun.

7.  *N Sync @ Snowed In: This was an extremely intimate affair up in the snow in Big Bear. They performed their new single (at the time) “This I Promise You”. It was awesome. The only thing that would have been better is if my mom didn’t have to run home because of my father’s jerk-ness.

Now it gets extremely hard to rank, so these last ones are in NO particular order:

Alan Jackson & Martina McBride @ the Pond and Alan Jackson & Zac Brown Band: Both of these concerts were awesome. Alan Jackson really knows how to put on a great show even though he just stands there. However, the energy is electric and everyone has a good times. When Martina opened for him  there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. When Zac Brown Band opened, no one knew who they were, now they are one of my favorite bands.

*N Sync @ the Hyundai Pavillion: Jordan Knight opened, so of course my sister wanted to go. We got excellent seats thanks to my dad. An amazing 15 rows back, we were so close to *N Sync and it was AMAZING! One of the best nights of my life.

Audioslave, Seether and 30 Seconds to Mars A W E S O M E! Seether was the greatest band ever and one of my favorite moments was when Shaun Morgan (Seether frontman) jumped on stage to do a song with Chris Cornell. AWESOME! 30 Seconds to Mars wasn’t the greatest performance though. Jared Leto cussed way too much, I got the feeling he thought he was cool. Lame. Lol. But Jared is hot, so it’s all good.

Hoobastank @ L.A. County Fair: AWESOME Concert. It was full of high energy, I knew every song. It was one of the best. Lana was there, Brandi and my cousin Madelyn. I believe it was Madelyn’s first concert. It was so much fun. I met the cute Spider monkey that takes money from people’s hands dressed up in a Dodger’s outfit. Totally cool.

Gary Allan @ Club Nokia: AWESOME! I waited so very long to see this man in concert. It was well worth it. It was so nice to see him up close. I enjoyed it greatly and it was a dream come true. I got some great pictures of it and loved it. I would greatly go again and would love to be closer.

Pride

Today there are so many things we should be proud of but do not necessarily reflect on

Here are 10 things I am proud of:

1. My daughter. She is everything to me and would make any parent proud. She is by far the greatest accomplishment in my life. She is the rock that makes me whole. She is the reason I have goals in my life. She is the reason I work my ass off trying to make sure we have a life.

2. My education. It’s hard being part of the first generation to go to college. I am only the third to accomplish this feat (that we know of in my insanely huge family) and I’ve made to Cal Poly. I have 2 associate degrees from Riverside Community College and I’m working on my B.A. from Cal Poly. Who wouldn’t be proud?

3. My goals. Some people find it weird to have pride in your ambitions; they feel it is important to feel the pride after you have accomplished them. One thing I’ve learned is that it is important to have obtainable goals and ambitions. It makes you human. You should be proud of that.

4. My sister. Again, is it really so strange for a little sister to be proud of her big sister? I don’t think so. My sister has been such a huge (and positive) influence on my life. I followed in her footsteps when it came to my education, starting at the same high school, community college and transferring to the same 4 year college. She has everything I want: a husband who is seemingly the perfect match for her, a loving relationship, an adorable son, a college education and with all this, she stays at home. Who would not be proud of such feats (although the staying at home thing isn’t on my to do list but she’s thinking in the best interest of her son which is always great!).

5. My parents. My parents are awesome. Mainly my mom, but my dad has some awesome qualities as well. My mom is an amazing woman. She is a strong woman. She is a proud woman. She has taught me so much about life and reason that I would not be the same person I am today without her and her guidance. My dad would do anything he could to make sure you have what you need. He may bitch and moan about it, but he would give you the shirt off of his back. They didn’t mesh together well, but a failed marriage doesn’t define you. As a separate entity they rock.

6. My family. I’ve stated before that my family isn’t the best. We have our problems and our differences, but I have two of the best families. My dad’s side is insanely huge and I love each and every one of them. My mom’s side is not as big as my father’s, but there is a ton of love. My uncle calls them the “little house on the prairie family”. Whatever. My little cousins all work hard, my big cousins all rock. What is there not to be happy about there?

7. My school. I have school pride. I am not ashamed to place a big Cal Poly Pomona sticker on my back window. I am proud to wear that Cal Poly sweatshirt. I am proud to tell the world I go to Cal Poly. This school is awesome and it is an honor to have been accepted here. It is an honor to work with some of these instructors: Dr. Hall, Dr. Rocklin, Dr. Griswold. They are all amazing instructors!

8. My country. The United States used to be the envy of the world, or so we’re led to believe. Even though we’ve been the laughing stock of the world for a while in recent times. This place is still a great place to live. Land of the free comes with a price tag (human life, included, so we must thank our soldiers). Our forefathers were on to something big and we’ve been disappointing them for far too long. We need to shape up and be proud of what we are given.

9. My home. My house may not always be the cleanest, but it is my humble home. I may not own the abode, but it is mine. It is filled with my pictures, belongings and memories. It’s enough to be proud of.

10. My friends. I have some of the greatest friends around. I can talk to them about anything and I know they have my back if needed. I have friends of all shapes and sizes and genders. They are the best. I love my friends and acquaintances.

What makes you proud?

What makes a preschool good?

I often ask myself this question as I hear horror stories from some parents that have children in other preschools. I’ve been fortunate on my quest to make sure my child has a strong and firm foundation in her education. I’ve heard horrible things such as kids coming home with bite marks on their arms and unexplained bruises and scratches. I’ve heard of children screaming bloody murder as they cling to the legs of their parents at the mere thought of going to school.

I’ve been fortunate. Except for the occasional (and also very normal) outbursts of crying and clinginess in the morning because she wants me to stay or she wants to go to “your school”, my daughter has not done any of this. She is excited to go to school and often wants to bring a gift to her teachers (be it a leaf, flower, petal, weed). She has never came home with stories of bites or unfairness from her teachers. The only times she has told me of an argument or disagreement came from a couple of boys, one of which was her best friend Luke when they refused to share with each other, or another child who is no longer at the center when he would hit her for no reason and promptly was disciplined for his actions. They’re very good at sending home reports, like one time when a teacher accidently pinched Skye’s neck as she was buckling her helmet for the tricycles. She was very apologetic and had me fill out a sheet stating I knew of the injury and if I were to take her to the doctors for any follow up reasons I would let the center know immediately. When she spikes a fever, they call right away and remove her from the classroom until I am able to pick her up. I’ve had no problems with this school. So do these reason’s make it a good preschool?

I think I must go further. The staff there is amazing. They are the nicest people. You walk in and you feel welcome, they ask you how school is going and strike up conversations with you. The teachers are very friendly and after looking at their site, some are well educated, which is very promising. As I’ve volunteered at the center, I’ve seen how well they teach the children and how they deal with disciplining issues. I’m impressed. Skye has completely amazed me with her development and progress since attending the school. They even make sure the parents are involved in the curriculum by sending home homework and participating in literacy activities such as reading and counting and grocery store activities and when we complete a log and turn it in, they get a free Scholastics book. They get a free book on certain holidays. I love this school. I can not express it any more than I have already. This school is amazing! It’s so amazing I am part of the parent advisory board this year. I love this place for actually getting my child ready for elementary school and getting her excited about school and participating.

I don’t like neglecting you, my poor little blog.

Why does it always seem I neglect you before a quarter is about to start? Strange. So I had a couple ideas of what to write a blog about and, of course, I didn’t write them down and now they are lost inside the depths of my brain. Let me replay the current events since my last post and maybe it will pop into my head…

1. Skye started preschool again. (mental note: next blog will be about preschools and their programs)
2. I’m the Starbright Room’s representative for the Parent Advisory Board at the school, which makes me feel awesome because I feel like I can make a difference for kids at the school years to come and it looks great on my resume.
3. Skye, my beautiful little toddler is no longer a toddler anymore. She turned 4, which by most accounts now makes her a pre-school aged child.

Okay, by doing that a few things came to mind. Homework. Homework is a wonderful thing. I love that her school has started them on homework already. I think it’s very important to start kids off right away with homework. It helps teach them responsibility and gives them the practice they’ll need later on once they’re in elementary school and beyond. Her homework is aligned with what they do in class, so if one week they’re working with the letter P, their homework is geared towards learning more about P, we often do things like cutting out things in magazines that start with the letter P. She’s only been in school for a week but she’s already blowing me away with what she comes home with (when she’s not ignoring me and being stubborn when I ask her how school was).

Never forget…

I’m doing something so typical with my blog today. September 11, 2001. Where were you that day? What were you doing? It seems like I do this every year, and I probably do, but maybe it’s my American pride coming through or it could be the fact that so many innocent people lost their lives on this day that I feel like even 8 years after their passing they deserve to be memorialized all over the country.

President Bush was, by no means, a great speaker. The man sucked at his speeches. However I have to quote something he said because it was like he was reading my mind. This war we’re fighting is not about religion like most Islamic countries fight in the name of. This war we’re fighting is about evil. I’ll let you read the quote:

How do I respond when I see that in some Islamic countries there is vitriolic hatred for America? I’ll tell you how I respond: I’m amazed. I’m amazed that there is such misunderstanding of what our country is about, that people would hate us. I am, I am — like most Americans, I just can’t believe it. Because I know how good we are, and we’ve go to do a better job of making our case. We’ve got to do a better job of explaining to the people in the Middle East, for example, that we don’t fight a war against Islam or Muslims. We don’t hold any religion accountable. We’re fighting evil. And these murderers have hijacked a great religion in order to justify their evil deeds. And we cannot let it stand.
–George W. Bush, press conference

As President Clinton made apparent, these people don’t distinguish between military uniforms and civilians. We’re all targets. No one is safe. Is the price of your beliefs really worth the cost of innocent lives? Absoutely not. No belief is worth human life. No war needs to be engaged in the name of religion. While they are fighting in the name of beliefs and values, we’re fighting in the name of evil and wrong.

On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning.

Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians.

All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.
– President George W. Bush, September 21, 2001

We must not forget the reason we’re fighting this war. We mustn’t forget what we owe to the almost 3000 people who died during this “sucker punch” attack.

We must never forget.

Richard Petty switches to FORD?!

Wow, Kahne’s new ride next year will be a Ford. Who would have thought?! Good thing I didn’t go out and get that huge DODGE tattoo on my butt (just kidding, never even thought of it). Good thing deep down I’m a Ford girl. I’m sure mopar is sad to lose good drivers like Kasey Kahne and Elliot Sadler…