And THAT my friends, is what college is all about

I had a FANTASTIC night tonight.

After my World Ocean class ended at 7:15, I hunkered down outside the classroom (which is really like a huge auditorium) and waited for 8:00...which is when Bingo started! I met up with Paul, Taylor, and Korbin and ALL OF US WON SOMETHING. First, Paul won this weird freaky light thingy...dunno what it's called but it's spiffy. Then I won a Subway's gift card (which will turn into a random present for David) and a box of candy for Taylor. And THEN, using one of my Bingo sheets, Korbin won this legitimate fleece jacket that says Millersville Meteorology on it. Not gonna lie, it's pretty spiffy.

So that lasted from about 8:00 to 10:00ish? Then it was time for Late Night! We all went to The Anchor, and Paul and I got these wonderful little cups of worms and dirt. YUM. Walking out, we ran into a bunch of people from marching band and of course we ended up forming this little circle and having an awesome conversation in the middle of the hallway. Eventually, me, Paul, Tyler, Rick, and Haydn moved to the couches, plopped ourselves down, and didn't leave until around 11:30 when a janitor told us the building was closing. OOPS.

So many random hysterical conversations that all inevitably led back to drum corps or music...you gotta love bandies. :)

So true!

HMMMM...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/15/charity-president-unhappy-about-paul-ryan-soup-kitchen-photo-op/

Hello, Paul.

Keep working on your essay!

Romney wants to cut PBS? Seriously?

Romney wants to increase military spending? SERIOUSLY?

Though my favorite part of the entire night was after Romney had been talking for a couple minutes about how if he was elected he'd sit down with Democrats on the first day and establish a positive relationship...and then Obama started his next segment with something along the lines of, "You'll have a very busy first day then, because you've also promised to cut Obamacare on your first day and that won't be popular with the Democrats at all."

BURN.

Yaaaaaay politics

Warning to those who are about to read this...the following post is about politics. I never post about politics. EVER. I never talk about politics. EVER. Never EVER. Oh gosh...I'm starting to sound like that stupid Taylor Swift song...

Anywho. I'm really kinda psyched about being able to vote in the upcoming election. I've never been into politics and I still don't totally understand everything, but a lot of my classes in college discuss current political issues and I've had some fantastic conversations with my friends about what we believe in and all that good stuff, so it's really got me thinking about who I'm voting for.

Tonight I went on 2012-presidential-candidates.findthedata.org which compares information about each candidate side-by-side. I've known for awhile that I'm voting for Obama, and reading about some of Romney's stances tonight just completely confirmed it for me.

Let's go through this issue by issue, shall we?

First of all, Obama believes in upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, whereas Romney wants to repeal it. I definitely think the ACA (Affordable Care Act) should stay in place. It will expand coverage for 32 million more Americans while at the same time lowering health care costs over the long term. It also has provisions dedicated to improving the quality and system of service, places a strong emphasis on prevention (free disease screenings and immunizations, HIV screening, STD/STI prevention counseling, cervical cancer screening, contraceptive coverage, etc).

Second point. Obama supports same-sex marriage while Romney opposes it. Having a dad who's gay and living with the most amazing partner, I am a strong supporter of same-sex rights and equality, including gay marriage. I am extremely impressed that Obama announced his support for same-sex couples, knowing that it is such a controversial issue in this nation, and admire his courage. Romney? Yeah, no respect yet.

Next category...abortion. This one's interesting for me. Obama is pro-choice, while Romney is pro-life. While I personally don't think abortion is ever the right option, I also believe that pro-choice is the correct political policy for our country. Trying to enforce pro-life at a national level is impossible, just the same way I think there will never be a national law permitting same-sex marriage. There are just too many people whose opinions you simply can't sway. So although I believe in pro-life, I don't think it's the right choice for our country...if that makes sense.

Romney allows the death penalty sentence. I don't think I'm okay with that. I don't fully have a formed opinion on this one though.

Romney also promotes abstinence only education. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND??? That is INSANE. However "moral" you want high school and college students to be, it's not gonna happen. You can't promote education for your ideal world when everyone lives in reality. If you do, you just come off as being dumb. Refusing to teach teens about contraceptives is ridiculous. End of discussion.

AND ROMNEY DOESN'T BELIEVE IN CLIMATE CHANGE. WHEN THERE'S EVIDENCE ALL OVER THE PLACE SUPPORTING ITS EXISTENCE. Sea levels are rising. In the last century, levels rose about 17 centimeters. The rate has nearly doubled that in the past decade. The global temperature is rising, oceans are warming, ice sheets are shrinking, POLAR BEARS ARE DYING.

Moving onto foreign affairs. In terms of the United States' role in the world, Obama believes we need to "work with multilateral organizations and allies to achieve objectives". Romney, on the other hand, wants to "construct foreign policy that broadcasts American exceptionalism [and] act unilaterally to accomplish the United States' goals". UHHHHHHH??? Seriously? Do you know how selfish and egotistical that sounds? WOW...


I could keep going down the list and writing in caps locks but I think I've made my point. :P

All the fun!

OH MY WORD COLLEGE IS SO AWESOME. I keep meaning to make a blog post about all the funny stories/fantastic times I've had so far but I keep forgetting...so I'm gonna try to write one really quickly now before I go to my next class!

First off, I have made many wonderful fantastic friends. The Honors College at Millersville is like a big family, it's really awesome. My entire hallway gets along great and every night there's usually a big group of people stuffed into one room and we just sit and chill, play card games, or watch a movie. I'm especially close with Paul (who's in the hallway across from mine) and Brittany. On the third day I knew Brittany, I proposed to her. She had drawn Batman on her whiteboard on her dorm door, and I instantly realized I needed her in my life. And I know Paul from marching band, he plays tenor sax and he is one of the chillest dudes I've ever met. Incredibly laid back and just fun to be around all the time. The three of us do a bunch of stuff together...eat, play foxtail out on the quad (big grassy area by the dorms), have dorm fort sleepovers...oh yes, you read that correctly. :) DORM FORT SLEEPOVER!

One night, we discovered that Brittany's shoes have weird holes in the sides of them, and so we decided to stick plastic forks and spoons into them...that's the logical thing to do, right? And then she walked to midnight breakfast (which is a huge buffet they serve at midnight on Saturdays in one of the dining halls, DELICIOUS) with them still in her shoes. It was slow going...but HYSTERICAL. So many people asked her what she was doing, and she'd say, "It's a social experiment"...and then they walked away from us, haha.

Then once we got our food, she actually used the plastic silverware that had been in her shoes to eat her breakfast. She turned herself into Wolverine by sticking them between her fingers:

Oh yes. She is indeed awesome.

The three of us also play this fun game of Volleyball Tennis. We lay in the hallway on our backs, and pass a volleyball between the three of us, and whenever the person with the ball throws it, they make a "tennis" noise...aka sex noise. Within MINUTES, people are out of their rooms staring at us and asking what we're doing...it's quite funny. Paul has the best "tennis" noises...it's a little disturbing, actually.

The Honors College family has also kind of made up its own slang and way of speaking. We tend to verb EVERYTHING...so instead of saying, "Do you want to go to the Upper Deck for dinner tonight?" we say, "Let's Upper Deck-it for dinner!" And we like to use "all the" in front of everything, as in, "I'm having ALL THE fun" or "ALL THE awkwardness of the turtle!" Things like that.

I have many more stories, but I have to start getting ready for class now...well, technically I have to get all my stuff together for class, which is followed IMMEDIATELY (as in I have to run) by marching band, which goes until 6, and then jazz band starts at 7...so I really have to get my stuff together for all three.

I will leave you with some more random college pictures... :)