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Republicans
1. John McCain- Sen of AZ- Left for dead for
weeks, McCain’s campaign has come out of nowhere to lead the pack in almost all
Republican polls. If he wins South
Carolina, a state that eluded him in 2000, he may have enough steam to power
him all the way to the nomination.
2. Mike Huckabee- Fm. Gov. of AR- After an
impressive win in Iowa, Huckabee moved into New Hampshire and made a good
showing, and looks like the odds on favorite for South Carolina. His next step is Florida, which is going to
be a dogfight between McCain, Giuliani, and himself. Thank YOU, Chuck Norris.
3. Mitt Romney- Fm. Gov of MA- Romney would be
the fastest falling star in this race if it wasn’t for Giuliani, but Romney’s
fall is even more amazing because he has spent so much money just to come in
second. Still, he leads in the delegate
count. Michigan is a must win.
4. Rudy Giuliani- Fm. Mayor of NYC- How could
he have gone from the front-runner in every national poll to obscurity? Rudy has put his faith in the “50 State
Strategy,” which could pay off if the Republican landscape stays as chaotic as
it has been. Rudy’s the essential wild
card team, hoping for Romney or Thompson to come from behind in the next two
contests, and then come from behind himself in Florida.
5. Fred Thompson- Fm. Sen. of TN.- With a
great showing in the South Carolina debates, this literal sleeper has started
to make a showing in South Carolina, and could possibly garner enough support
to win there, although he has tough opponents in Huckabee and McCain. He might stick around for awhile, but all
accounts say that his campaign will end before the new Law and Order season
ends.
6. Ron Paul- Cong. Of TX- He raises a lot of
money and has one of the most dedicated supporter bases of any campaign. That being said, he looks like the crazy
grandfather up on stage with the other candidates, and has about as much chance
to take the Republican nod as Kucinich has to take the Democratic field.
7. Duncan Hunter- Cong. of CA- Known as the
conservative that knows what to do with the border, this candidate’s time is
up. Stop Kidding yourself, its
over. Go home.
Democrats
1. Hillary Clinton- Sen of NY- She went from
the top of the race to the surprise loser of Iowa, back on top to the pack with
the New Hampshire field. This race,
once thought to be just a race to see who’s #1 on the ticket and who’s #2 has
now become more than that with comments that hit a little close to home flying
on both sides. Whoever can come out
looking better will win the nomination.
2. Barack Obama- Sen. of IL- His coronation
was put on hold with a Clinton win in NH, but don’t count him out yet. He is probably the most charismatic and
engaging candidate we’ve seen since Reagan, and he garners attention from
across the pond. Obama has to be
careful, because this nomination is his at some point, and he can ruin that
inevitability by running a bad and nasty campaign.
3. John Edwards- Fm. Sen. of SC- He would be
the “Kennedy” candidate if it wasn’t for Obama, but has hung around and will
continue to until Super Tuesday.
However, if you can’t win a state that you were once a senator of, how
electable are you?
4. Dennis Kucinich- Cong. of OH- The
Democrat’s version of Ron Paul, Kucinich has no chance. His fellow Dems should tell him to resign to
keep their debates free of crazy leftist rants.
5. Mike Gravel- Fm. Sen. of AL- Mike who?
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| I love being home. This summer, being home meant a prison away from the things, people, and places that I love. No, it was more than a prison, it was a remote work camp in the middle of Siberia.
But that's all different now. This Siberian death camp has turned into a roomy Swiss chalet. I come back here and nothing is familiar, nothing reminds me of my stress and pressure of school, or things left there. Its new, clean, fresh, a brand new slate that I can start a new life on, new memories.
And as I sit here, perfectly content with my life, all I can think about is one thing... one thing that I left behind. And I can't wait to see that one thing again.
I have to get over the old and embrace the new. That's all I need.
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| Just a disclaimer, I'm having a bad day, so I probably don't mean half of this, but its what I'm thinking, and I just need to get it out somewhere.
Today has been terrible: absolutely, undeniably terrible. Its for a number of reasons, and not because nothing good happened to me today, cause it did, but there have been one after another things that have either pissed me off or made me want to just curl up in a ball, draw the curtains, and just sleep until this day was over.
I have a million and two things left to do this semester, and its not looking like I can hold it together before I have a flipout or a breakdown. When I feel like this, I go where everyone else goes, their friends. Save a few who I know are genuinely busy and care, but don't ever have the time to talk, I have a few good friends who i just wonder what the hell happened. I have one in a foreign country that I counted on to be there for advice on certain things, and I haven't heard from her in forever. I tried to do some things when I got back in Latrobe, but I never got a reply. There a couple others that are off doing school things that they say they care, and they say they'll talk sometime, but they never do. I understand, its fine, but don't make the promise five times and then never keep it. It hurts too much, and it makes me question whether I can count on you. I think not.
As for other people to go to, I have no one here. The one person I did have won't talk to me, and I hate that more than anything else in the world. I hate being mad for the big things let alone the stupid things, and I'm still gonna be bitter, obviously, but I'll get over it because I can't afford to lose the one true friend I had here for another person who I fear is talking about me behind my back. And other people here, I got NO ONE that I can talk to about this stuff. I lost that support this summer, both inside a week, and I've been struggling here ever since. The first month of being back was miserable, and after that I put on a happy face, but still felt the clenching in my chest every time I saw those people, those people who carried me through the first few years of school that cannot be there for me now. I was miserable as I have felt in a long time, and its starting to feel that way again.
I miss my family. SO BAD. I used to be able to go home whenever and escape whatever I needed to whenever I needed to. I can't do that now. My brother is there, but its not the same. My grandparents are there to help, but they just don't understand. I need my parents. My mom to tell me that she's sorry, of course, I need to feel that safe again. But most of all I miss my dad, telling me that he's proud of me, telling me that I'm better than the people I'm mad at, better than that to sink to their level, to tell me that I'm a better man than he ever could be, which is a lie. And I need my dogs, cause they always know when I'm upset, and no one makes me feel better than them when I'm having a bad day.
I can't take it here anymore. I hate being an RA. I'm not good at it. I don't get along with half of the staff, not to mention the central staff where I lost most of my respect of most of them except one, and thank God its my GRD. I can't do what they're asking me. This building is incompatible with the community they want. I can keep them safe, help them when they need it, but they have to ASK FOR IT. I can't do that when they don't care about the school, when they want left alone, when they don't respect me. And because of that I live every day thinking that they're gonna tell me I'm terrible at this, and that I'm gone. I'm trying, I really am, I just can't deal with apathetic and disrespectful people. And that's what I have for the most part.
I hate it here, I want out. I'm gaining acquaintances, but I'm losing friends, if I ever had nay to begin with. I'm letting people I respect down. I don't care anymore. I'm tired of being a jerk. I'm tired of making thing worse for people. I'm tired of this person I am. I hate change. I want my old life back. I want to go back to summer before 7th grade and do it all over again, or going into High school, or college, knowing what I do now, so i can make the better choices and be a better person, to not lose the nice, thoughtful, considerate, and good person I was. I'm not that person anymore. Life, as it always does, spoiled me to the rest of the world, and with that I pushed away my extended family, my elementary friends, the Choir Kids, my Seton Hill friends, the Bethany people, the Drama Campers, my Youth Friends, my girlfriends, my best friends, my relationship with God and finally my immediate family until I am here, writing at my computer, unable to go anywhere to relieve this pain I have in the pit of my stomach, unable to go anywhere to be with people who love me enough to make me feel better, unable to relieve this sickness I feel inside.
I guess that's it, I'm gonna go and lay down for awhile, reset, and then put my happy face back on, and go do it all over again.
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| William Cullen Bryant once said, “Weep not that the
world changes — did it keep a stable, changeless state, it were cause indeed to
weep.” It seems to me now that a large
portion of my world has changed over the last three months. I have said goodbye to many things, and said
hello to many more. Basically my life this summer would make a good subject for a country song (although I kept my dog and truck). I have always been
the kind of person who likes stability, safety, comfort, and familiar things
that create a wall of protection around me.
No matter what life throws at me, that wall of familiarity has served as
a barrier of protection shielding me from pain caused by change. I now know that it is only through pain that
we become stronger.
Now, the cliché of “What doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger” has been thrown around constantly, and most of the time it seems to
me that these people are saying it from a place of comfort and protection. But while you may feel contempt when confronted
with this canned advice, take a minute to think about it. Its really an incomplete thought, because
just enduring physical or emotional pain doesn’t make you stronger unless you
cope with it and learn from it. It is
only when you learn about why that pain took place, and how to ensure it will
never happen again, that you can move on and become stronger.
So this was basically the theme of my summer. For starters, a week after school, I was
stripped of the one thing that brought me the most comfort in the world, my
home. I have lived in the same
nine-room home for 17 years. I have
been able to come home from school K-college to a family who loves me and a
familiar sight that helped me deal withy whatever mini-crisis I was going
through at the time. But now not only
is the building not in my possession, but it may not be in existence for much
longer. The people who bought it were
the same people who wanted to tear down my house and create a “peace garden.” I drove past the other day, and although it
was hard to drive by and not stop, it was even harder to know that one day I
will drive by and it will be gone.
Although I graduated high school two years ago, it
now seems that the falling-outs that people face after graduation are finally
hitting me. I haven’t talked to many of
my high school friends all summer, and even my very close few have fallen out
of touch. Its not anyone’s fault and
its everyone’s fault, but it still is another layer of protection crumbling
around me. I don’t have those close
friends who can talk to me about everything, who call me just to say hi, to
come visit me no matter the distance. I
see that happening for others and wonder, “What’s so bad about me that they
don’t do that for me. I don’t even get
a promised phone call.”
And then one day I visited with a friend of mine I
hadn’t seen since I left, and I felt like we had seen each other yesterday, but
at the same time like we’d been separated for years. He gave me a hug, breaking the man code, and we talked about the
summer. I then realized that a true
friend was one you could not see and then when you did, it seemed like no time
has gone by since the last time you met.
You have to cherish those friendships and then forget the people who
don’t make the effort. If they do pay
attention to you, then pay attention to them back, be the bigger person, and
don’t hold a grudge. Otherwise, they’re
not worth the time and tears.
In terms of coping with change in people and places,
it’s really simple. You keep
moving. Standing still and complaining
and crying about love lost is not going to help you deal. There’s a level of grieving you need to do
when you lose something that made your whole world, but the world didn’t end
because you lost it. You move on, you
cope, you adapt to the change. You
don’t ignore it and run on full speed, but take some time to think about it and
simply move on.
Jean Jacques Rousseau said “everything is good when it
leaves the hands of the Creator; everything degenerates in the hands of
man.” For too long have I been taking
things into my own hands, or the hands of my family, friends, and other loved
ones. I have had terrific support from
my family, whom I love dearly. I have
had support from my friends, a committee of people who raise my spirits when I
need it. But these people you can’t
always count on, and I know now that when change comes, I have only two people
that I can count on. One is obvious,
unwavering, and steadfast. The other is
weak, mortal, and getting stronger every day.
The first is obvious, the second is me.
Its time for me to take the change thrown at me and make the best of it. | | |
| I'm now writing here...
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ShawnConway/
Thanks
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