Reflection

During the semester i think i have become a better writer. There are definitly areas where i still need to work at especially when dealing with dialogue within the paper. I get mixed up about whose voice i am using when i am writing a piece with a lot of dialoge. Having written papers this semester using a lot of descriptive words, and research background have helped me produce stronger papers. I always know for anything i try to improve, there is always room for improvement. Since writing is a trial and error, and the more you write and re-write the better a writers piece becomes, i know for me to keep improving, all it takes is for me to continue writing. It takes time to write, any kind of writing that i can do will help. I wished duriing this semester we had to write a paper that dealt with dialogue solely. IT would help me realize how to exactly write a story with lots of dialogue. I liked the different sport stories we read about during the semester. There is soo much going on in these stories that deals with foreshadowing, stories with in stories, sections, and research. Its nice to read peices that are well written in areas such as sports that i am really into. I actually have kept the book and will refer back to it and hopefully will read it every now and then to get a different percpective on different situations in sports. Overall this course was helpful to me, and reminds me how much i should be working on my writing to improve my overal written language.

The Freeze

Well i think thats it for the warm weather. During the last week we had our first frost, had a small taste of snow, and now especially in the great town of Cortland we just saw our last few days of warm weather leave swiftly. How depressing. On-top of all that we just moved our clocks back, something i hate doing because that, for me really marks the sign of winter. The daylight is fading a 5pm. And the early morning frost is highlighted from the morning sun.
God i hate this time of the year. For the next 3 or 4 months getting up early to de-frost the car, or just walking outside will take some considerations. It becomes tougher to do certain things. One thing where being cold outside helps is when i need to work out. If it is soo cold outside that nothing is really going on, i tend to want to hit the gym more often, providing me the opportunity to so something active. I cant say i really hate the winter, because i do like seasons, but when march rolls around and its still cold and snowy it gets tiring. Then i am ready for a change. I think i would like to move somewhere where the cold seasons arent so pronounced. A more moderate winter would be appreciated for myself. I guess if was into more winter sports it would be different, but i have never tried to ski or snowboard so i am not a huge fan of snowfall. So pack yourself tightly because those long brisk walks around campus seem alot colder when that wind is whipping through.

Car Troubles

Sooo, recently i had a bad thing happen to my car. First of all I had my car in the shop for a routine oil change (well so I thought). The next day, yesterday (Sunday night) i drove it back to Binghamton. I live in Poughkeepsie so its a good 2 hr drive. Well while i was driving i thought i may have run over something that may have damaged something under my car. I was driving at night and i thought i may have noticed some smoke coming from the back of my car through my rear view mirror. I couldnt really tell if it was smoke or fog, but after a passing car shined thier headlights..i definitly noticed the smoke. For some reason i just kept driving, thinking to myself I really should check this out. I thought a few things, maybe i am dragging something, maybe my tire is flat, or maybe something worse. I figured maybe i will stop if i hear any weird noises or my car was running funny, but it wasnt. So i proceeded. So after 15-20 minutes or so the smoke stopped, but now my oil light began to flash. In my head i was thinking something is weird, i just got my oil changed 24 hours ago. I kept driving. Finally i pull into Binghamtom, and now i am about 5 miles from where i need to go.

I slow my car down through the side streets and now i began to hear my car, and it does sound bad. My car barley makes it to my house and during that 5 mile stretch my car constantly was dying on me. I did not think i was going to make it. I turned into the drive way and gasped to myself "thank god". By now it was close to 9pm. I go in and get a flash light, i checked under the car and opened my hood. Everything under my car was wet..but from what? I think its oil, my engine looks fine, and oddly there is oil all over my trunk. Like someone sprayed my car with oil. So my unlcle and I try to think whats going on with my car, by the way neither of us know anything about cars. I try to start my car again, i did but this time it sounds worse then before. I finally call AAA and get tow. Now im thinking about what am i going to do about classes the next day.

So AAA drops the car at Toyota, i get a call the next day. Toyota says my engine is shot, it will coast roughly 5,000$ to replace it. My car is worth around 7-8,000$ so its almost not worth it. But i asked what happened? Well the service guy asks if the car was in the shop recently, i said yea, just yesterday. Well it turns out when i got my oil change the guy didnt tighten my oil cap enough and while i was driving it blew off literally. So here i am without a car and possibly out of a few thousand dollars. But at my parents house they found a big oil spot, took a picture. Then at the oil change place they found another oil spot, took a picture. So we made a claim about the garage and comes to find out they will have to pay the entire engine job. Great! i thought. They even have to pay the expense of a rental car that i will get for about 2 weeks.

Soo when i thought i ran over something, it turns out thats when the oil cap blew out and caused a small fire and actually burned the oil causing all that smoke. Cant believe all that happened and i didnt stop. Well i guess after all this mess, it turns out to be something good. A new engine is like getting a new car. I had almost 90,000 miles on the car in just over 4 years, wow! But now since ill be getting a new engine i could probably get another 200-250,000 more miles, thanks service people ~!

Halloween

Just like every other kid i always loved halloween. Its a time to dress up and take on a personality of a character. Whether you want to be goofy, scary, or just a hero of yours there is never a wrong answer. I think i did see the best costume i saw in a while down in nyc. If you read the "Post" you may have seen this costume as well, (there was a picture of this guy inside). This guy constructed a port-a-john out of cardboard and put this make shift bathroom over his head and around his body. His legs stuck out the bottom so he was able to walk around. He had fake legs that he used and made it look like he was taking a shit while the bathrooms door swung open. He used a newspaper and a cigarrette as props. He also had his pants down at his ankels to sell the point that he was taking a shit. It was hillarous, everyone was amazed by the thought of his costume.

On the other hand, when i lived on my own and gave out candy to kids that was great too. But what i didnt like was the mess that was left the next morning. Of course kids like to have fun, but does that mean they have to throw eggs, shaving cream bombs, and toilet paper in the trees and at different houses? Shaving cream isnt that bad since it usually just washes away. But eggs and toilet paper is not that easy to clean up. I can remember a week or two later, still seeing tiolet paper wraped around the limbs of trees. I wish there was a biodegradable toilet paper kids could use, but there isnt. Eggs are just nasty. When i was younger my parents hated when i bought eggs and shaving cream out, but i insisted that i never use it on cars or houses. I would only use it on or against other people, they figured that would be ok.

I guess being a PE major, i am somewhat against giving kids candy, but i would only be a hypocrit if i really was against it. I guess for one time a year kids should have the ability to splurge.

Cancer

So this past weekend i just went down to nyc to visit a friend of mine who is just recieving his last few treatments of chemotherapy. This friend who i will call "Will" began feeling pretty bad during june and july. He was getting very ill and doctors couldnt figure out what was going on inside his body. He would frequently get bad fevers and would become weak. A few times he complained of being weak in his limbs. At times his arms and legs would fall asleep on him or become numb. After several visits to the doctor and numerous tests, doctors finally found something. It was a benign tumor the size of a fist right near his heart. This was causing the numbness in his limbs because the tumor was restricting blood flow.

3 months later he just finished his last chemo treatment. I havent seen him since May and i figured this past weekend was the best time to see him and lift his spirits a little bit. We have been close friends since we were 7 yrs old, my family and his are also very close, so when we first heard about it ..it scared us. Its hard to find time to visit since the chemo generally makes people have bad fevers and kills thier immune system. If a person as any feeling of a cold they should not be visiting a cancer patient.

So a few friends and I went to the hospital, and those friends reminded me that our friend "Will" does look different, i figured how different could he possibly look? I walked in the room and there was Will, and wow it hits you quick- he has changed. Will was the type of person to grow out his hair and have facial hair, this time he is totally bald. I expected that. The part that i didnt intend on seeing is how bloated or over-weight he looked. Massive amounts of fluids are pumped into him daily. His arms, fingers, and especially his head and face were very bloated. I almost didnt recognize him. He used to look 30, now he looks as if he is 15. But when he saw me, it was the same old "Will". The cancer is 100% gone, and he is able to share a few laughs with us. He still has a long way to go, but it nice to see such a positive outlook from someone who has been through hell.

It lets me step back and look at my own health, i know i have to change things. Will didnt have the healthiest life but im glad he understands now the importance of health, as do the rest of us

wildfires

Can you believe these wildfires out in california? Unbelieveable. I think it stinks to live out there. It seems like california residents have to deal with a lot that nature has to offer. First you have to fear the earthquakes, the mudslides, and now wildfires. I dont even really understand how these fires begin, is it just a cigarette or a match that gets thrown? cause if thats the case thats terrible. So many acres are burned to the ground over a tiny cigarette butt?..And the fact that we dont have any real plan to stop these fires is incredible. I understand that these flames at at times over 50 feet in the air and the combination of dry terrain and gusty winds doesnt fair well for the residents of california. I dont know how to stop the fires, i would think using like 20 of the huge planes that carry sand, dirt, or water over the land that has not been subjected to fire would help, but it doesnt really seem that thats the case. Its sad to see all these families have to evacuate and when they come back their houses are totally demolished by fire. I keep thinking what if something like this ever happened in or near cortland. I mean there is so much forest up in this area, what if we didnt get any precipitation for a long time, this could really happen. It is scary. But I really hope for everyones sake over there, the weather changes and some rain is in the forecast. I feel bad for these people

Weekend

I dont know why this is, but during every weekend on friday i try to talk myself into not going out and just catching up on work. I could really use a few days just to get ahead for all my classes especially those group projects that i always seem to procrastinate doing until the very end. On those fridays nights i actually do get some things done, but when saturday rolls around im not so lucky. Its like clockwork i get a call from someone going out and i always end up going out. I then try not to go ALL out and just have a few, that never happens. It stinks. Since i am 26, i thought after my first 4 years of college that i would grow out of this phase of going out but i havent. Granted i have slowed down alot since i was 20 and 21. The reason why it stinks soo much is that it takes my body soo much longer to recover from those nights. It takes atleast another good 2-3 days to really recover, its sad. But those nights are fun, but enjoy them while they last

Thank god for that Yanks game on sunday night, i was getting nervous by the 4th inning when they kept hitting into double plays. I thought this is not the way i visioned to post-season for the yanks. And on friday with the bugs, that was crazy. I felt like i had those bugs all over me i kept itching my neck and everything. I cant believe nobody stopped that game. I thought it was funny that all the players kept joking after the game that the bugs were attractied to derek jeters cologne, "Driven". Although they lost, i think its good that players can still be joking about things that happpened in the game.
Down 2-1 going into tonights game i hope there is a game 5 , i really cant watch the other teams in the playoffs besides the yanks. Plus the Jets stink, the knicks will be embarrassing and it will start to get cold out. So my fall doesnt look too promising if the yanks dont win.