Evil: close to home

      Today I heard some news that made me wonder what is wrong with people. The news story was relatively local, it occurred in Port St. Lucie. A 17 year old boy was mad at his parents because they would not allow him to have a party. His reaction was to murder them with a hammer and then post on Facebook that he would be having a party this weekend while his parents were out of town. As his parents laid dead in the master bedroom, this boy threw a party throughout the weekend. Apparently there were rumors during the party that something suspicious had occurred and that the parents were not really out of town. A partygoer alerted the police. The boy is now in prison. With all the evil in the world, it still amazes me when these occurrences happen close to home. It makes you wonder whether people are born evil or just become this way. Are we all capable of such horrid actions?

Rule #3: Never get a hickey

       My mom has always had rules that she has repeated throughout my lifetime. I may have not always obeyed them but I always new they were right. One of my mom's top rules was never get a hickey. She explained to me that a hickey was just basically someone marking you as theirs. Regardless of you having a significant other it was degrading. As I got older she furthered explained that if you were single with a hickey you may meet the man of your dreams but just come off as a slut. I agree with her on all these points but at some point or another most people will get a hickey. My friends know all the ways to help minimize their appearance and I myself became a pro as I took care of my brother's. When my friend called me for help with his "hickey" I was more than happy to help, until I saw the picture of it. It covered his neck from one ear to the other. It was several shades of purple, blue, and red. It literally looked like someone beat him with a bat. We were all in awe. We had never seen anything like it before. If this had been a girl's neck she would have been a slut but he instead was praised and girls in fact went after him. I guess my mother's rules also have double standards!

one side of his neck

Oleta River State Park

       Volunteering is a huge part of the Student Government Association (SGA). Every month we try to have at least one big volunteer event. This month we volunteered with Urban Paradise Guild at Oleta River State Park. We planted extremely endangered native plants back into the environment. I had never realized the hard work that it is to plant until today. We planted over a 100 trees and smaller bushes. We worked in teams and learned how to "plant with love." We were all happy to do it but it was very hot outside which made the work even harder. We all got extremely dirty and sweaty. After we finished at 12:30, SGA hosted a barbecue for all the volunteers.  At this point sitting down in the shade was the best feeling in the world. We ate burgers and hot dogs and drank a lot of water. We soon had our energy back and went kayaking. Oleta River is a peaceful and fun place to go. I hope to visit again and see my trees grown!

Boat Life

       There are many benefits to living in Miami. My favorite has to be our options of daily activities. We can go to the pool, the beach, the park, have a barbecue, go to parties or "day jams" but my favorite has to be boating. I woke up today at 2 on a Saturday to a text saying "Boat today!" I immediately hopped into action. I organized rides, showered, shaved, and put on a bathing suit. I was ready within 20 minutes. By the time we got everything together, we finally left the dock at 5 p.m. I was happy that I had some old friends that I hadn't seen in years, going on the boat with us. The day was beautiful and extremely hot. We drove to Mashta Flats which is the sand bar near Key Biscayne and we tied up with a few other boats even strangers. The best thing about boating is that for some reason everyone becomes a lot nicer. You become friends with the boats next to you and you allow random people on your boat. Everyone is out there to have a good time.  Miami is known as the Magic City and you can see the magic best on the water. I love my city <3

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2

     The Harry Potter series has been my favorite series of books and movies by far. I read each book numerous times and saw each movie at the midnight premiere. The last movie would be no different. My best friend bought my ticket months in advance so needless to say the anticipation grew everyday. Every theatre was sold out and the line at the mall reached to several floors and to the other side of the mall. There were fans dressed up and discussing each book. It was a nerds dream and I was in heaven. Unfortunately, the movie was a let down for me. I expected so much more from the LAST movie. My main complaint is that it was not as epic as it should have been. I am not one to ruin movies so I am not going to go into details but I truly believe there could have been more added to the movie. They removed some of the best lines and the best battle scenes. I am the only one out of my friends who believes this but I am not the only one from my theatre. I insist you all read the books but warning: the movies will disappoint you.

you are a slut.

     Every few years, there is a case that captures the attention of the entire country. This time it was the Casey Anthony murder trial. I thought I was the only person really following the trial until I went on Twitter or Facebook. Everyone had suddenly become lawyers and everyone had an opinion. What surprised me the most was that people from other countries were also following the trial. My best friend's boyfriend, Billy is a student at the Disney study program. He along with a bunch of international students would watch this trial daily. They would then discuss it with their friends and family in their perspective countries. Billy tagged me and others from England in the photo below. The caption was "Got to love the American justice systems subtlety."  The conversation that pursued was very interesting. 


     Although I wish this case was not the one to get the attention of the world, I am glad that young people became interested in recent news and the judicial system. 

Drink a Beer, Save a Kid

       If you go to a college party, you'll normally see dancing, beer pong/beer games, and people talking. You'll also see many, many cans of beer. When someone cleans up the next day, they normally do not consider recycling. So all the cans and bottles end up in the trash. I never really saw anything wrong with this until I was told about the Ronald McDonald's House Charities pop tab collections. This charity collects the pop tabs and recycles them to help families pay their stay at the house while their children are in the hospital. This lead to a brilliant idea, at parties and get togethers I would collect these pop tabs. At least some good could be done at parties. I got a jar and wrote on it "Drink a Beer, Save a Kid." This jar was a hit at the parties. As I explained why I was doing it to people, they got more and more into it. After only one weekend, I had collected over 200 pop tabs! This jar is not only helpful for the charity but a way to socialize with complete strangers!

Inauguration Day June 30, 2011

      I woke up today in disbelief. Today had finally come. I was finally going to be officially inaugurated into office. I would officially be the President of Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. This event had been rescheduled over and over again so the fact that it was actually going to occur today blew my mind. The entire morning I had this nervous feeling in my stomach because I had to give my first speech. After my English class, I kept rereading my speech to the point that I almost memorized it. As I walked into the room that I would be inaugurated in, I got even more nervous. I stood behind the podium and pretended my friends, family, and colleagues were all staring back at me. Fast forward 3 hours later, the program had gone by quickly and my mom, dad, brother, many of my friends, fellow students, deans and administration were there. It was my time to shine and I did. I gave my first speech a little quickly but otherwise perfect. I left the podium with a smile and hugged my new executive board, excited for the rest of the school year.    


                           

Horrible Bosses

I have always loved going to the movies but with ticket prices rising, I always jump at free tickets. My friend was given free premiere passes to see the movie “Horrible Bosses” in Regal theatre in Miami Beach on Lincoln Road. Any reason to get dressed up is a good reason. So we put on our wedges and some cute outfits and hit the town, mind you we were only going to the movies. As soon as the movie began, I was laughing. When they say horrible bosses, they mean horrible bosses. These people came straight out of hell with one sole purpose: make everyone else’s life miserable. The entire movie is about how these three best friend’s attempt to kill their bosses. To be honest, I would want to kill their bosses for them. As we left the movie, we were repeating some of the funniest and extremely inappropriate lines. Now every time I see my friend, I look at her and say, “I’d like to bend you over a barrel and show you the 50 states.” People look at us like we’re crazy lesbians but we just die of laughter. If you enjoyed The Hangover, the first one not the second one, then you will love this movie.

The Two Escobars

        Today my mom told my dad he had to feed us. I kid you not this is exactly what she told him. Normally when we have dinner at my dad’s house, he’ll order take out or cook for us. Unfortunately this time he is in the middle of moving and things are tight money wise. So we had the finest of all the fast foods, McDonalds. He then took us to his new place where he at least had the couch and Comcast. There we sat and enjoyed our artery clogging yet delicious food while we searched for a free movie on On Demand. The movies in this section are never the best ones but we always seem to manage. As we went down the list, a movie by the name of “The Two Escobars” caught our attention. The movie ended up being a documentary about Pablo Escobar, a notorious Columbian drug lord and Andres Escobar, a famous Columbian soccer player. I had never realized that there had been such a connection between the drug lords and soccer in Columbia. These two men were not related but grew up in very similar conditions and they loved their country very much. Pablo Escobar was the reason many people died but he did many charitable things for the poor people. When a pueblo burnt down and 700 families had nowhere to live, the politicians and government did nothing while Pablo Escobar built each family a home. In the end, both Escobars die by the hands of the same people. This documentary was very interesting and I would highly recommend it to anyone. 

The Morning After

            July 2 may not be an important day for many but for me it means my best friend’s annual birthday pool jam. My best friend, Danielle, for the past three years has been hosting a pool party to celebrate her birthday. As her best friend, I am heavily involved in organizing them. Every year it gets bigger and better. The activities stay the same every year: pool, bounce house with foam, hookah, and dancing. When you put that all together and add some alcohol and jello shots, the party takes a life of its own. The part I look forward to the most though is the morning after. A group of us always sleep over and the next day various things occur. First we sit at breakfast with Danielle’s parents and exchange the stories of the night. We stay sitting long after we are done eating, simply laughing. Then someone always suddenly remembers they were using a camera last night and the pictures are passed around the table. After a few hours we realize we need to pick up. As we prepare ourselves for the worst we stand by the doors, trash bags in hand and just stare at the mess. Instantly we just smile at it all, and then look at each other. After that euphoric moment of “wow what a night” we simultaneously begin to head out. This was the first year we had to walk down the block picking up trash. While throwing out trash, we find shoes, sunglasses, jewelry, clothes, and bathing suits. After we are done, we sit and wait for the phone calls of people claiming their items and begin to plan for the following year.