Blog 10: End of the Road

My favorite part of this course wasn't any one particular topic, but rather, getting to hear (or, read) the opinions of my classmates. It really was a privilege! I feel like my opinions were just neatly thought out and wrapped in a bow, so it was totally refreshing to see a different aspect. I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts and I look forward to topics in the future if anyone else decides to continue their blog! :)

Blog 9: The New Frontier

I remember when I first started using a computer at home. I was so excited to get to use the machine to do other things than play "The Oregon Trail" like we did at school. Being the 90's, we set up our AOL accounts (mine was some annoyingly long name with "cutie88" at the end of it... tacky, I know). Mostly all I did on the internet was check my email (mostly from my mom) and look up pictures of my favorite *NSYNC member. One late night, I discovered instant messaging. My whole world changed.

I thought it was the best thing in the world to talk to my best friend through the computer! It wasn't long until we were pros and were using all the cool lingo, like "brb, g2g c u 2morrow! lylas! ttyl!". My parents never really monitored my computer usage, of course we had parental blocks and all of that, but otherwise they weren't really worried about what might happen.

I remember one night my best friend said that we should join a chatroom and be annoying prepubescent girls and mess with whoever we could. Well in the midst of our online escapade, I got an IM from a name I didn't recognize. I didn't think it was dangerous, so we talked for a bit. Nothing serious. The conversation with my new online friend was going swimmingly, until he asked me a question. I can't remember exactly what it was, but I definitely remember his response: "I'll kill you anyway."
I immediately shut the computer off and ran to my sister's room in total hysterics. I told her what happened and she reassured me that I was gonna be okay and calmed me down. I obviously haven't forgotten about it. Thankfully, I have been surrounded by people who protect me and taught me how to protect myself while using the internet. Unfortunately, hundreds of people have experienced far worse than what I have.

Blog 8: Smoke-Free is the Way to Be

I absolutely believe that TWU should be a smoke-free campus. In fact, if I were "Queen of the World" as one of my professors puts it, I would make it a smoke-free UNIVERSE! I personally have never smoked or used any kind of tobacco product, so I realized that it doesn't necessarily apply to my daily life. And I can even understand how TWU smokers must feel, they technically should be allowed to smoke when and where ever they feel like it. But I just really cannot stand smoking. It is definitely one of my biggest pet peeves! I won't get on my soapbox and preach to you all the evils of smoking.. Your health and your body are your own, and you can make whatever decisions you'd like about smoking. But my biggest problem with smoking is that other people's smoking affects my health too!

I honestly can't understand why people smoke. All of my grandparents smoked (at some time or another) and they all had health complications because of it. I just think that if society keeps making it unacceptable to smoke in public, whether its on campus or in a restaurant, maybe finally we'll be rid of this awful habit! That's what I'll hope for, anyways! :)