Been awhile..

Well it's been quite a long time since the last time I posted a blog. I thought I was going to keep up with this, but things have just gotten in the way. It's almost Thanksgiving break, and I'm so excited! I'm not sure how much I'm liking living in Austin. John and I are not working out right now and that has been really hard for me. We were together for a year in high school, then circumstances caused us to be apart for two years. All I've thought about those two years was how happy we were going to be once we were finally together, but it hasn't turned out that way. I guess nothing ever works out the way you plan, or at least that's what experience has repeatedly shown me. I'm very relieved that this first semester is almost over. I'd say these past four months have been the hardest in my life, and I can't wait for a break. I'm flying home this Tuesday. I'm terrified of flying, so pray for me! Seeing my family and being away from school will be fantastic. I really hate how much I looked forward to moving all throughout high school, and now it's been a nightmare. I feel like I've lost all of my friends, and I'm having a hard time making new ones. Sure, there are people I consider 'friends,' but I wouldn't share my problems with them. I feel really alone all the time and I don't know what I can do about it. I try to go out and do things, but I just don't feel like being there. People can tell I'm distracted and worried about something else, and that discourages them from hanging out with you. But I really don't feel like I can be very happy, like there's a hole in my chest and stomach that physically makes me feel like I can't be around people. I don't know what that is. I know that it goes away when John is around, but he doesn't want much to do with me anymore. So, all in all, I hope this break will help me get through finals and make it to the holidays.

Pictures! FINALLY

Yay! So I finally found my USB cable for my camera. It was in the console in the couch, where I told John to look like, a month ago. Haha, silly boys :)

So these are all out of order. It's really hard to upload pictures to this thing!

"Why don't you send in Kurt Russell?"

"We did! And Kurt Russell was raped by Christmas Critters!"

Haha, oh South Park..

Me and John :)

Where are we? On a tropical beach??

No. We're at a smoothie shop! Silly..

We also have a great view of downtown from our dorm!

Can you see the capitol...?

Woops! I forgot my camera was zoomed in...

There we go. Me and one of my sweetmates, Sue.

She is from Korea :)

This is the 'kitchen.' The microwave permanently smells like popcorn, thanks to Amy :)

Living Room!

Other side of the living room...

We have the best view in Dobie! There's the stadium!

We have a great view of campus from our window. Look at the lovely Tower! Hook 'em!

Birthday Caaaaaake!

Me, my brother Ryan and my aunt Tricia all share birthdays within like, a week of each other.

So the whole family went out to Tricia's house to eat a big dinner and have birthday cookie!

This is my silly brother, Ryan, scaring our baby cousin Bailey. Haha!

This is my half of my dorm room! Yes, I had to take my stuffed dog.

John got it for me for Valentine's Day last year :)

And this is my drawer/closet/sink/bathroom, along with

my favorite Audrey Hepburn poster! John got that for me, too...

RTF Assignment #2

I decided I'm going to copy and paste my assignments from my film class onto this site, just so the people that are curious can keep up. There's nothing 'official' about these posts - I don't have to follow any strict guidelines or rules on how or (mostly) what to write. My discussion leader gives us a pretty vague topic, and we get to research what we'd like to talk about. So this blog is actually the second assignment, but I'm going to start with it because the first one was just an 'introduction blog' telling about yourself. In this blog we had to discuss how agenda setting and framing by the media impacts society. Again, this is all me and my thoughts. The grading policy is more of a weekly 'did-you-do' grade, not so much by the content.

Framing & Agenda Setting Shaping Public Opinion In Times Of Crisis

Media agenda setting refers to the deliberate coverage of topicsor events with the goal of influencing public opinion and publicpolicy. Because of a rise in acknowledgement of related theories such as framing and gatekeeping, the media is losing its power to directly persuade audiences to their biases as easily as in previous decades. Newspapers and magazines remain, however, profoundly influential on what subject viewers discuss. Instead of focusing on preventative measures such as symptoms and methods of treatment in cases involving HIV/AIDS, West Nile Virus, or SARS, the media tends to instill panic in the population.  Throughout the SARS scare Asian news media scarcely taken into consideration by American or British news corporations. This simple act would have provided clearer insights into what was actually happening in the SARS hot spot, as opposed to alarming thousands of Americans in California every time a flock of birds flew in from the East. American media wanted to keep the SARS threat in the news as long as possible to attract anxious viewers. Similar patterns are abundant in semi-current news trends such as mad cow disease and the West Nile virus as well as natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or a national catastrophe such as September 11. During times of crisis, the mass media are the only means by which the massive amount of information is made available to anxious family members and friends, as well as audience members around the globe. Media framing and agenda setting shape reality, therefore affecting public opinion. The public looks to the media for answers during times of crisis, and it would seem likely that crisis news would lose some neutrality. It becomes easier and more entertaining to focus on government imperfections or to exaggerate victim stories rather than focus on balanced news. Criticism of government policy and officials seem to escalate during times of crisis, therefore shaping audience members’ views on government effectiveness. The media is assigned a powerful and influential role in shaping public views on social, economic, and government issues, especially during times of crisis. This exemplifies the influence and affect that agenda setting and framing have on shaping public opinion.

First Timer

Okay, so this is my first official BLOG. I used Xanga way back in the day, but I don't think I ever posted anything significant in there. Only pictures of cute icons and junior high nonsense. I've also posted a couple of 'blogs' for my film class here at UT (University of Texas at Austin - Hook 'Em!), but they are more about assigned film topics rather than personal rants. First of all, I would like to congratulate myself on the creative name for my blog! Haha, I thought it was very clever, and it will probably keep me giggling to myself for a while. A few random incidents led me to committing to blog-writing. First of all, I wanted to keep track of my sister's blog. She was recently engaged and is keeping friends updated on wedding plans via Blogger. I also became interested in blogging as a result of the blogs I have to write for class. Some of the topics were a lot of fun, so I thought I would give real blogging a try. We'll see if I actually keep this updated.

So, there has been a lot of craziness going on in my life lately. I officially became an Austinite last week after my car got towed for the first (and hopefully only) time. Apparently tanning salons don't like you leaving your car in their parking lot very long. But I had been bouncing around various parking spaces in the area around which I live for a while now, so I had been suspecting it would happen eventually. So my boyfriend and I set out to find the tow lot, which was way out in the boonies. It felt somewhat like Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory. After paying the gentleman a nice $200 fine, I got my poor car back without too much damage done. Except for the 200 bucks that I'll never see again.

Another stressful incident that happened this past week as well (the day after the car towing, in fact) was repeated visits to the doctor's office. I've been experiencing some difficulty breathing after doing simple tasks, like climbing a flight of stairs, as well as getting exhausted, overheated, and lightheaded easily. I went to the doctor to figure out if there was something going on, and apparently something very serious was happening. After some blood work, I supposedly had an elevated result on a D-dimer test, which tests for possible blood clotting. The doctor thought it may be a serious side-effect of my contraceptive pills. Basically, I was told it was likely I was experiencing blood clotting in my lungs and/or heart and require a CT scan immediately. This is a very long story, but supposedly the D-dimer test is typically for old folks, not a college student like me. So is this doctor scaring me into spending my money for a hokey reason, or do I have a legitimate reason to worry about my health? After consulting with my parents and my doctor back home, the conclusion was: better safe than sorry. I spent the entire next day bouncing between doctor's offices, trying to find someone to give me a CAT scan from 7:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. It was all accomplished in the end, and the hokey doctor called back later in the evening and confirmed that I am not clogging my arteries with contraceptive pills. That's good to know.