Reflection

When I read that we had to begin a blog, I was like no way. I am not a writer and I was not for sure were to even begin. I found plenty of things to write about it was just finding the time to do it. I felt like I was running out of time at the end of the day and blogging was all I had left to do. You would think that finding ten to twenty minutes would be easy to find. I was wrong. I did find time to sit and blog and I am glad I did. I was amazed at how easy it was to sit down and write about the days events. I can honestly say that the easiest thing for me was I had a lot to write about. I was on vacation so I was able to write about the things we did and saw. If it wasn't for being on vacation I would have struggled with this assignment but. as the weeks went on I began to struggle. I had to go back to Peter Elbows Freewriting article. This article seemed to but me back at ease and on track. I realized that if I just sat down and typed that things come easier. There was a flaw in this plan though. When I went back through to read what I wrote it was a hot mess. I did have to make changes and edit out things that were not appropriate. This assignment looking back was a blessing in disguise. I believe that it has helped me in the writing process. It has made sitting down and writing so much easier. I learned that if you do not have anything to write about you can write about random things. Then you can elaborate on them. I hope that everyone gets the chance to blog because it truly helps in the long run.

Galagxy

Today is my day to volunteer at the Gay and Lesbian Center of the Ozarks(GLO). Every Tuesday is youth night from 3 to 10. This has been a great experience for me. The youth are amazing. Most of them come from broken homes and are struggling with their identities. They kids are very unique in their own ways. You are probably thinking that they are all gay or lesbian but this is far from the truth. They are a lot of them as well that are straight but still struggle with home issues. Talking to the youth it is amazing to see their perspective on life. I feel for all of them and wish I could help each and every one of them. They is a young man that recently lost his father and is struggling with day to day life. He came up to speak with me because he needs help. He made his dad a promise before he passed that if anything happened he would take care of his mother. He feels like he is struggling with that promise and does not want to feel like a failure to his dad. My heart goes out to him. He is currently trying to find a job because without his dad's income they are being faced with losing their vehicle and home. I am currently in the process of helping this young man look for a job and just giving him someone to talk to. The feeling that you get by helping someone is amazing and feels like I am able to give back to my community. Plus the fact that I have been where these kids have been in struggling with your sexual identity I feel like I can help them in some way. I feel like I am paying it forward from those who helped me along the way.

Freewriting

Freewriting has been an amazing tool in helping get everything out. I love that I can just sit down and write about random things or just one thing without having to worry about punctuation or spelling. In freewriting everything is uncensored and in its truest form. I have been able to get out some great ideas by freewriting and it has helped make me a better writer I believe. One other form for prewriting is making lists I often do this after I have done the initial prewrite. When I go back over the prewriting I pick a topic that I believe to be the most interesting and then I make a list on just that topic. This helps me put my paragraphs in order and helps me stay on track with my paper without jumping from place to place. I then begin to write my paper. I do this without stopping or worrying about what I write. I do my first draft more as a freewriting exercise just with the topics that I am writing about for the specific paper. This way it is an unedited version. I believe that this has been a good tool for me because then the things that I say that may not be printable I can edit. I can edit them into a more constructive sentence that may not be as harsh and be able to get my point across better. Once I am done editing I have someone else look over my paper to see what they think or ask if they have any suggestions that might improve the quality of paper. This may sound odd but I take my paper to someone who likes to read without knowledge of great english skills. I believe that this is helpful because I want to capture my audiences attention. This is just a few things that help me in my writing. I hope it helps you too.

Sunday July 17th

We finally made it back home and we are all in one piece. Having two kids and two adults in a car ride for 22 hours is definitely not fun. Everyone needs their space and a car is not big enough. I am suggesting a van next time so everyone has room to spread out and we do not feel like we are sitting on top of each other. The first thing we did when we got into town was drop the kids off at their dads. They really missed him after being gone for two weeks. I think it is amazing how a child's mind works. When they are around us day in and day out they hate us or do not want anything to do with us. However after a couple of weeks they want to follow your every move. They realize that life is not so bad when were around. So after we dropped the kids off we finally made it home. After being gone for two weeks I felt as if I was walking into a strangers house. After unloading the car and getting everything back in order I thought I would grab something to drink. This, of course, back fired because our house guest ate us out of house and home. The last thing you want to do after being in a car for 22 hours is go to the grocery store. However with no milk, bread, cereal, or anything of real substance it had to be done. Well being home feels fantastic even though we do not have beaches or the ocean but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I began to think on vacation how nice it would be to move but then all the things that we love about going on vacation would be an everyday occurrence and we would then take it for granted.

Saturday July 16

So today was our last day in Florida. We had one stop left to make which was the Lion Safari. The drive through Safari was almost an hour long. It was amazing though seeing animals we do not see on a normal basis. The lions were amazing to look at. They were behind a fence but the pictures we were able to take were amazing. The next animals that we do not see on a normal basis is the Rhinoceros. They are huge animals and are able to roam without being behind a fence. My favorite animals though is the giraffe. Seeing them up close and in person is breath taking. They are huge animals and can reach heights up to 18 feet. We got to feed the giraffes and even pet them. They are super gentle animals and very loving animals. Their tongues are super slimy though and they have very bad breath. The experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity though. I would definitely recommend it. Then it was back on the road to head home. They drive is horrible. After being in the hot sun and then driving 21 hours it can take a toll on ones body and mind. You start doing crazy things, like singing loudly in the car to stay awake. All in all it was an amazing two weeks. Now it's back to the grind stone and normal everyday tasks. I could not have ask for the trip to come at a better time because it gave me lots of great things to write about. Well now it is one to start my second essay about a place. I do believe that it is going to be tougher than I anticipated. Hopefully though i can breeze through it with no problems.

The Childrens Museum

Today was an early start. We had bought passes to four places here in the Miami and Ft Lauderdale area. We had done the zoo and the seaquarium and now it was time for the Children's Museum. It was located in Ft Lauderdale so it was a 45 minute drive. It is located in Broward County which it where the TLC show The Police Women of Broward County is filmed. I almost wanted to get pulled over just so I could be on tv but I thought better of it so it was on to the Museum. When you first walk in to the museum it's open and they have a huge pulley system that transports balls all around to front opening. When you walk into the museum they have a section on the aquatic sea life that is being endangered by our polluting. Then right next to that they have a spot about how to recycle and conserve energy. On the second floor that have a huge section on space. There were many different machines that simulate what it would be like to fly in space and what a space craft looks like. I thought that the coolest machine was one that you could get into and it would simulate a space flight. Could you imagine just being able to float in the air? I bet it would be cool. The last and final section was on your heart and health. They had this cool looking spin bike that was hooked to tv screen and you could type in different foods and it would tell you what you needed to do to work it off. A banana takes 17 minutes to work off but the 2 slices of pizza takes about 2 hours. I said to Audra no pizza for me I never get it worked off. We finished our day at the beach and souvenir shopping then headed back to the house for dinner. We are now finishing up laundry and getting ready to leave tomorrow back to a normal life. We do have one stop on our way home which is the Lion Safari. So until next time have a good night. 

Thursay July 14th

Today was not a very productive day. We lounged around the house and went swimming. We also watched a lot of tv. Charley, Audra's dad, is a big current events person. He watches everything from MSNBC to FOX NEWS. This is something I wouldn't normally watch but here it's different because he is good at explaining what there saying. I understand more that way and I get caught up on my current events. The big issue right now is the fight between Democrats and Republicans and whether or not they want to raise the debt ceiling. I wouldn't normally see this as a big issue but when they talk about paychecks not going out in August for SSI and other government benefits it really hits home. My grandparents draw SSI and it makes me wonder that if they don't receive a check will they be able to maintain on just a 401k or my grandfathers pension. It's things like that I truly do not think about because it does not affect me. This is why my I believe essay hits home in more ways then one. When I was working paycheck to paycheck I knew that SSi was being with held and that went I retired I would be able to draw but with the issues the government is having, even back then, I began to wonder will there be anything for me to draw? This is why education is important because I want to be able to have a job that I love and make enough money to put back for retirement in case there is no more SSI. I know it's a far stretch but I want to be prepared and I want to be able for my children not to have burden about how they will care for me along with their families when the time comes. I am not a political person but I do care about my future and my kids future.