Pride... it can really bite you in the ke-ster later...

Hey!

What would have been this morning's escapade into the beach surrounding Charleston. It was kinda humorous watching Laura's niece catherine run around and harrass her parents. Around one o'clock after about four to five trips from the jeep to the house and back again we eventually got to the beach. Once we got half way we had to go back once and pick up some state park car tags to get in free, but as it turned out the beach we were going to was owned by a county park not state. So, the trip back was meaningless and we had to pay more money to go swimming.

I have to go now, but I will write more tomorrow night if not the next day. Sorry for the short entry someone has to use the computer.

L8r

Animals watching other animals... stalkers?

Hey,

Earlier today Laura's family and I went to a Zoo in the area and got to see all kinds of really neat tropical animals. Now that I think about it, I've got a good question for those who actually read this blog.

Does watching animals eat, sleep, and deficate make us voyeurs? Should we be allowed to "stalk" animals in this manner? It just seems kindof like prostitution except switching the *looks at the reader in a meaningful manner* with stalking. These animals can't leave and although they get well treated and wonderful food the Zoo itself doesn't give voluntary leave policies to the animals.

It does sound rather strange to allow animals "leaving policies or maybe severence pay" but everything we have now a days has something similar stipulations. From marriage to death there is plenty of fall out options and what not, why can't the animals have those too?

As previously asked, are we voyeurs because of the activities we take part in when visiting the Zoo? It seems like the animals just want to live their lives like their species normally does, but we put them in cages so everyone can see. Voyeurs, as far as I know, peep on others for the sheer joy of knowing what another is doing. Isn't that like going to the Zoo? Except now we are bribing the animals with good food and attention to take part in this plot.

I do love zoo's, very much so, it just makes me curious about some things about whether or not the animals could be left out in the natural habbitat. Granted, there are some animals raised by humans from young ages as pets, but when they matured the people either couldn't afford to feed and take care of them or didn't have the space. So, some animals don't have much of an option having lost all the instincts that would normally accompany one of their species, whatever it is.

Another thought has crossed my mind recently. Before the group of girls and I left South Dakota, we talked the night before and a interesting thought was brought up. Is birth control really a good idea?

Thinking about it, I am seriously considering never going on the pill or any other birth control method. Here is the run down on the thought process that brought this conclusion about.

God doesn't believe in abortion. Abortion: the abortion of a fetus, embryo, or fully formed child before it can breathe on it's own. Preventing the creation of a fetus is one and the same with abortion, at least in my mind. So, in essence God (in my eyes) wouldn't accept birth control either since it would prevent/kill the chances of a kid.

The argument that taking birth control pills or procedures can't guarantee no child is invalid. It doesn't matter if it is still a possibility it's the fact that you're trying to prevent a child.

If you seriously don't want a child yet, don't have sex. It's not that hard to deal with. n.n

Now that I have completely blown your mind, I will leave you to post comments if you want or just run away.

L8r

Cleaning Day

Well, this morning the three of the five of us left to go back to South Dakota. Amber, Kim, and Rachel boarded their airplane at around eleven o'clock ready and raren to go. Laura and I were still waking up and becoming ready to work our butt off the rest of the day.

From the airport we went directly back to Laura's house (I still had pj pants on) to eat some breakfast and prepare to clean the house for Laura's brother's family to come. Cleaning was really exhausting but we cleaned the house very well and I definately feel some small sense of accomplishment knowing I helped make it look nice again. We finished the cleaning at around three o'clock and the family wasn't to be expected til around five or six. After a bath, and some relaxation watching Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, we recieved many phone calls. One was from Mark, Laura's brother, and he said he was going to be here at approximately ten o'clock. This, compounded by the clean kitchen and how much work we did gave us the privilage of going into a very nice Chinese place.

At around eleven thirty they arrived as we were watching some anime. We're finishing up Chobbits. For those of you that have never heard of the series, it is about a Persicon (think robotish) and a would-be college studen falling for eachother. At mid-way through the third episode we heard a baby cry and new without a doubt that the kids had arrived.

Tomorrow, I don't have a clue what the plans are. Saturday, Laura's brother Robert and his wife will be joining us in the morning. Sunday evening Lacie will be coming home, but I will have been gone for about half the day. Hopefully during that time, I'll be hugging the love of my life -- Kevin.

I should get going, the kids will be put to bed shortly and the parents not long after. Should I be able to, I may continue posting tomorrow.

L8r

Exploring

This morning all five of us girls, woke up around seven and eight o'clock so that we could get ready and head toward Charleston, SC. Since the trip itself takes about an hour and a half we wanted to be able to get there in time for our boat trip to the Fort Summter ruins at two.

We were about a half an hour early to the boat tour place, and examined all the information in the little shop just in front of where our boat would dock. The trip from the dock to the actual ruins took approximately a half an hour and was really relaxing with the sea air blowing towards us.

While on the island, Laura and I found a really cool hole in a wall somewhere and would have explored it further but we did not have flashlights. Both of us felt that it must have been missed because it was in a dark area that wasn't blocked off but not frequented much.

After our tour of Fort Summter, we proceeded to walk around the Market place in Charleston. There was some wonderful tacky shops, souvenier shops, and candy stores in the two to three and a half block area. The five of us hit up all the candy shops for some yummy candy that starts with v.

Amber got a neat shirt for Jon. Kim picked up some more post cards, and Laura bought a nice cool bottle of water. <3

After we had felt we'd checked out all the shops that we needed to, we checked into the place we had to go to for our Dungeon ghost tour. Then we went to a nice place called Wild Wings which had wonderful chicken and pot stickers. At a half an hour to eight, we went back to the Ghost check in place, and picked up our directions and name of our tour guide and headed to the jail.

The tour itself was really cool, and some of the rooms creaped Laura and I out. There were two rooms that made the hair on my skin stand on end. When I touched a door that had fallen because of a ghost my hair stood up, as well as when I touched the old wrought iron cage carriage they used to bring convicts to the prison on.

From there, we decided it was time to get back home. It was already getting a little late, and three of the five of us will be traveling home tomorrow. At noon, our time (11 in SD), Amber, Kim and Rachel will be leaving Columbus and heading toward Chicago to meet up with a plane and head to Sioux Falls.

I am going to get to bed now, so that Laura can get her rest and I will be able to as well. Her brother Mark and his wife will be coming tomorrow at five for Memorial weekend. I haven't seen them in several years, and it has been a while for Laura's family as well. I don't know when the next post will be.

See you then.

Alicia

Excitement

Hey ya'll,

This morning around noonish, we all decided to go to the nearest little down and check it out. Since we wouldn't have time to go to Charleston like we had hoped since most of the stores would be closed by the time we got there.

We ended walking around the small town, (I have brochures so I will write details later) and take a tour through the local opera house and a orchid farm. It was rather awesome, I have some fabulous pictures of flowers.

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Charleston at around 10:30AM and hopefully going to the fort and a ghost tour. We are all very excited, especially Kim for the ghost tour since none of us have been on one before and this is the south... so a lot of history has happened here.

Well, that's all for now, I have to get to bed before I can't.

L8r

A True Vacation

Midway through the spring semester my friends, who have organized a yahoo group in order to keep in contact, thought of making a trip to visit our friend from Middle School, Laura Beesley. Kim, Amber, Rachel, and I haven't really had much chance to hang out this past year since Amber transfered to Aberdeen and Kim to Brookings. We planned to take a week trip to visit Laura in South Carolina and hang at the beach for a couple days.

We left from Sioux Falls airport Tuesday morning at around five-forty-five in the morning. The trip out went rather smooth even for traveling in a small plane. The man that worked the counter of United Airlines in Sioux Falls allowed all of us to sit by eachother but the second flight out from Chicago he couldn't promise it. Though, our second flight had two open slots in the back so I moved forward one to sit by Amber.

When we arrived at the airport, we found Laura sitting in the sunshine rocking on an old fashioned rocker enjoying herself. Immediately from there, we proceeded to pick up some chicken from a nearby place and head directly for Myrtle Beach. Three hours later a group of five moderately sleepy and urinary filled girls stepped out of the Bravada and gazed at the ocean. For some, it was the first time, I was excited because it had been many years since I had smelled the salty air.

After signing in we took the luggage up to our tenth floor room and unpacked just enough before taking a quick and mildly damp walk on the beach. Most of us were so excited to see the ocean that we didn't care that our pants or shorts got a little wet. With the quick gaze at our watches we ran up to our room and prepared ourselves for the Mideaval Times. Rachel had not been to one before, so we were all excited for her.

Kim and I could hardly speak when we finished with the performance. Amber and Kim seem to believe that our green knight didn't like us very much, which I didn't care about. It was just fun to watch knights fight and the neat smoke effects. It was kinda neat when Rachel was talking about how cute the black and white knight. I saw who she was talking about and thought to myself...

my Kevin puts that man to shame...

The next day we all woke up around six-thirty and went down for our free continental breakfast. After finishing up our eggs and grits, we went up to our room and gathered our beach items we headed down to the soft sand. For the rest of the day, with the exception of the noon hour, we played in the oceans on boogie boards and sun tanned on the beach (I did.). By the evening, we were all sun and water logged, and wanted to just cool down and relax. For the rest of the evening we stayed in the room and played some brain game, it was really fun.

The next day, being Thursday and the day we had to leave. We were all burnt and had had too much sun the day before. So, after about four seconds of negotiations, we decided to leave almost immediately after packing. I had nearly finished packing when I decided to go and get my sand and shells for everyone at home. When I came back to the room, there was no one in the room, and only one of my bags was there. When I grabbed it and headed for the stairs, I came across Amber and we headed to the parking garage.

The ironic thing was, we were all nearly ready when we prepared to start up the Bravada but the key wouldn't turn. Apparently, we left the back end open too long and the battery had died. So, we preceeded to call AAA and find a truck to come jump start us. Since I was the only one with AAA and didn't have my card with me (I lost it long, long ago) we had to go through a really long ordeal.

That afternoon, after the car got charged and some food was consumed, we made it to Laura's house. A quaint and pretty house set back in the woods. Although there is large quantities of spiders and bugs, it's a very comfortable house. Since arriving here, we have seen the five of the six Star Wars movies, including the new one.

We are currently watching that one now. In a few moments, I will be leaving to help make dinner while Amber, Rachel, and Kim watch this last episode. Last night, I talked to my Kevin for the first time since we left. It was SO WONDERFUL!!! I had missed him so much, but wanted to make sure he didn't loose focus on work this past week.

I will be leaving now. Later.

Al

I am back! n_n

LIke my friend Kevin said in his blog about recovering from Finals week. I have recovered from the insane week, and feel even more myself since finishing school for the summer. The Wednesday told about in Kevin's blog, which I shall explain in mine as well, I hadn't been able to speak properly and was an illhumored blob of mush.

The Wednesday, previously spoken of, had been the day of my last final. It had been a rather hastily put together presentation on a manual of my mothers digital camera. My documentation and presentation class required us to review a manual we had read and discuss it in class. Of course, school work had taken up most of my life and I didn't have the time to read the manual. So I stood up there and summed up how good the manual was, which I seriously believe, in general terms.

When we began Dungeons and Dragons that night, I had gotten to the point where my speech was nearly unrecognizable. Since, a lot of you don't know me or know me well, I am sensitive to how people respond to my suggestions and thoughts. I understand, of course, that people have the right to not agree with and what to do them, which is alright. Though, I get weapy, if someone rudely and angrily shoots down my ideas or thoughts. Which caused much of the problems with the Dungeons and Dragons campaign that night. I won't go into it, but I am OK with it now. n.n It is, after all, just a game.

I am so happy to find out that Kevin is getting out of his cute and precious shell and getting to know people and feel connected to them again! (= Go KEVIN!

On the way home from work today, I was thinking. Yes, I do do that you know ;). I was thinking, if the world was having population problems, and we needed to control them better. Would it make more sense for companies to charge less for birth control to the homeless (give it to them free) and the poor (very cheap), and charge outreagious prices to the rich (they can afford it). Thus, the poor have a better chance of not having more children (should they decide to go this route), and the rich will have children but be able to provide for them. Since they would have to purchase a lot of items for the kids, it would boost commerce. Maybe it is just me, but I think that is an awesome idea. n.n What do you think?

Well, I should stop typing now. I could go on for hours and hours on my thoughts on various things. Which, by the way, I will be doing randomly. Sometimes I may even have more than one post a day.

For a little on what is going on with me right now. My grandma was admitted to the hospital about a week ago, she is doing a little better not much though (she has mental illness, i.e. dimensia). The doctors have said that she can go to Assisted Living this coming week. Which, is where she had been living before the hospitalization. For a while, they hinted at her having to be put in a nursing home for a while or even possibly permanent. So, the news of my grandma's ability to go into the Assisted Living again, is a definate God sighting.

I am getting the hang of my job at the coffee place. This past work experience, today, was wonderful! I had an awesome time getting to know my collegues, the customers, and what I need to do. It is definately a job I'd like to keep for a long, long time.

Wednesday of next week, a bunch of friends of mine and I are going to be going to South Carolina, to visit our friend Laura Beesley. She has been visiting us about once a year, and although I have visited when possible, the others have not been able. We will be spending three days on the beach of the Mirtle; go one evening to the Mideaval Times; and in general hanging out. x3

That's about it. Talk to you later!!! x3

Motivation

Hey,

With the help, of my friend Kevin, I've had the motivation to type my thoughts on the web again. Although I don't have the hesitancy of posting my thoughts for the world, I do lose motivation for writing when there are no viewers. Hense, I have had more than the average number of blogs that have gone dead over the years.

This past week has been a wonderful reprieve from homework and demands upon me since finishing my Spring Semester at Dakota State University. My mother hasn't felt very well, so she went to the doctor yesterday to find out she has some lower intestine infection and needs to relax for a week. Without her being cheery and running about encouraging me to get out of the house and do things, I've stayed inside and done pretty much nothing all day.

My motivation for work tomorrow from eleven o'clock (central time) until like four is really low. On Saturday, I have to work at Common Grounds again at the same time, and I am so tempted to see if I can have someone work for me. Though tomorrow will be just the third time that I have worked there. Is it really necessary for me to ask for a day off and have someone else work for me, when it will be just my forth day? Isn't that a little sad?

I'm going to go back to doing nothing. See you later. :)