the story so far

Originally, I was going to make my posts on this blog entirely about jeeps, but I procrastinated to this point and have seemingly found inspiration elsewhere. Today marks the end of a relatively successful first semester of college for me, and for most it’s probably just another stepping stone, but it took quite a bit of work and personal growth for me to get to this point.

About Three years ago, I graduated high school. Admittedly I was somewhat of an underachiever at this point in my life, having barely made it out with a 2.0. I knew if I had any interest in doing something with my life, it was going to be an uphill battle from this point forward, and it has been. Even If I were to get accepted there was no way I could afford to start college, as my parents didn’t have any money and I knew damn well I wouldn’t qualify for any scholarships. The next logical step in my mind was to join the Air National Guard and work to put myself through school, so I swore my oath of enlistment and was given an Aug 12 ship date.

I didn’t manage to get much accomplished for the majority of that summer leading up to basic, as I blew through most of the money I made working and spent most of my time just hanging out with friends instead of getting in shape. I also ended up going through a particularly nasty break up about a week before I left, which did not enforce the mindset I needed to be in at all.

Needless to say, Basic was quite the wakeup call for me. In some senses, literally as revelry at five AM might be the worst sound imaginable if you’re not a morning person (I am not). Furthermore, I wholeheartedly believe that if I were in any worse shape when I arrived I would have been kicked out, as I was a few seconds from missing the minimum time on the initial PT test. Being the slow kid that just graduated high school, I wasn’t exactly well liked in my flight (platoon, in army speak).

Before long some of the members of the flight started calling me sluggins behind my back, which in all honesty was kind of hurtful. But in a way I’m glad they did, of course it took a toll on my self-confidence for a while, but I think it also fueled the motivation to prove them wrong. I completed basic in October, and continued training as an aircraft mechanic for the next 7 months. I spent a majority of that winter in Sheppard air force base in Wichita Falls Texas, and later moved to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.I think technical training was really a turning point for me, both academically and in personal motivation. I graduated that march top of my class, with a 96 average.

After my technical training was finished I returned home as a traditional guardsman, only going to drill one weekend a month. I began working full time and take a couple of classes over that summer, both of which I did well on, but do to tax complications wasn’t able to attend Coastal Carolina University that fall. The following spring I tried once again to start classes with Lee university only to have financial Aid fall through again. At some point throughout the year something about Boone caught my attention and I decided I’d feel at home going to school here. So this previous summer I decided I’d save up enough to have a failsafe incase financial aid fell through again, (it almost did). I got a job landscaping, and within a couple of months was promoted to supervisor, which definitely helped me financially support myself throughout the summer and staring school

So today I’ve managed to complete my first full time semester in over four attempts to start school. In two years I’ve gone from nearly failing my senior year of high school to successfully managing two part time jobs, being a full time student and close to $1700 a month in bills without going into debt, (that number is painful to look at). I’m proud of the person I feel I’ve become, but I know I still have room for growth, and I look forward to it.

Finally!

Don’t you ever miss all those high school days? Well I don’t! thank goodness that all of my high school days are over and done with. My high school experience was a good experience but I personally thought that I didn’t go to the best high school *cough* Avery *cough*. Out of all my years in high school I would have to say that my senior year was defiantly the best out of the four, just because I was finally going to graduate! of course I was going to miss my friends and all the fun memoirs that we made at prom and on graduation day. Prom was a unforgetfull event especially since on the day of prom the power went out but that defiantly did’t stop us from having a good time, Graduation day was even better, walking across that stage knowing that you're never going to step foot in that place ever again. 😃

Camping ⛺️

When ever summer comes around one of my favorite things to do is to go camping. Camping to me is such a fun and relaxing getaway to stay stress free and not have to worry about anything that might be on my mind. We go camping every summer but we try to go at least a few times not just once. At the location that we go camping can be a little terrifying especially when it’s night time. This one time at the campsite the crazies thing happened! Their was another family camping up the dirt road from the site that we were at. It ended up being such an eventful night let me tell you. These two women came running to our site screaming and crying that their dad was going to kill one of the women’s son (something like that) but not to make the story short the guy died at the camping site, that was such a sleepless night just watching the police cars and EMS go by. To this day we still go camping at the same place to have fun and hopefully that never happens again.

Jeep

Jeep

    On Wednesday night I got a call from a guy that I had looked at a Jeep he had for sale on craigslist awhile back and we had bought it earlier in the fall, but when we went to go get it he had lost the title for it the day before we went to go get it. When he lost the title he's not allowed to sell it to us until her gets a new one. He ordered a new title and it took about three weeks to come in and the guy called me again to see if we still wanted it and he brought it to us Friday morning. I was excited because I bought it with my own money and it was the first big purchase I have made since I have become an adult. I will need to fix it up little like paint is faded in a few places but nothing that will need some serious work, but I'm happy with the buy because I'm not able to drive my daily driver up here when it starts to snow. I had to buy it because my daily driver is a 1970 Dart Swinger that my dad and I rebuilt for my first car. I love that car more than anything and it's very important and valuable to me, I wouldn't trade it for the world. The Jeep will be perfect up here for the winter but when it comes spring time I'm having my dart back up here as soon as possible. The Jeep has much better gas mileage but I'd rather have my dart here because I built it from the ground up and it's much cooler than my Jeep. I always get a thumbs up driving it down the road and it always feels good getting those because it shows people appreciate my hard work my dad and I put into the car to get it to where it is now. We bought it in a junkyard and now it went from a junkyard to a show car in just over a year.

Deer Down

Deer Down

    This weekend I went to the camp hunting again with a group of my dads friends. before I was able to go I had to finish so many papers and test to be able to go, but worked all day Wednesday and Thursday to be able to go.  

    Waking up early that morning I had a really good feeling about today. Once the sun had just broke the surface and the light was shining through the woods I made my way to the stand. I didn't get much sleep the night before because of everyone snoring and I absolutely hate snoring with a burning passion, I laid my head back on the tree to take a nap since it was so quiet and peaceful in the woods. Just before I fell asleep I hear something creeping in the woods. I get to my senses and I'm alert to see if I see anything. I waited about ten minutes before a buck came from the thicket  up on the hill. Being very still and quiet I cocked the hammer  of the gun back and aimed the gun at the buck. I waited for it to stop moving and I pull the trigger. The gun misfired and made a click sound. the bucks head lifted right up and was staring right at me. not moving and staying completely still until the buck put its head back down. Once again I pulled the hammer back and fired. Hitting the deer just a little to the right of the heart the buck buckled and walked a few feet and fell to the ground.

    I was so excited because I knew I could make some deer spaghetti and some jerky. I texted my dad saying “deer down” he came and made me gut and skin the deer which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Since I was little my dad has always done it for me but know he made me do it. It took a lot longer than I expected because I had to figure out how to do everything while my dad talked me through the process. Once it was gutted and cleaned we hung it up to let the cold crisp mountain air cool and harden the meat. The colder it is the better the meat is when you take it to the meat processor.

    I love being able to hangout and learn new things from my dad because he is one of my best friends and being able to spend time with him is always fun since I do not get to see him everyday like I used to since I've been in college. Things like this is something I will always remember and that's what makes it so special.

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break

    I went to the camp this weekend, the camp is in between Boone and Wilkesboro. The camp is on 10 acres of land on the top of a mountain with a gorgeous view. We planned on doing multiple things we needed to do around the cabin to fix it up and get wood ready to burn for the winter.

    We woke up around 6am early Saturday morning to get ready to go for a morning hunt. My dad was making coffee and some toast to have before we went to our deer blinds. The sun was just starting to break the mountain ridge and I started to make my way down the hill to the deer blind. It was about 7:05am went I got into the deer stand and was waiting for a deer to emerge from the hills. The weather was brutal that morning it was 32 degrees with 25 mile hour winds thrashing through the mountain valleys. Sitting there just waiting to hear or see something I hear some rustling on the other side of the mountain. I look around very carefully trying my best not to move to fast so that I wouldn't be seen. I see some movement but not enough to tell what it was. All of a sudden I see two squirrels fighting and chasing each other up and down the trees. The noise they were making sound just like a deer walking through the woods. After seeing them I decided to walk  up the hill to the warm camp and go get some breakfast. It was to cold to just sitting there and not see anything in over two hours. I walked back up the hill and my dad just pulled up and we starting cooking some bacon and eggs for breakfast.

    Later on in the day my dad was asked to build a new gate for the community and we brought it up with us to put on after our morning hunt. We brought the welder and all the part to put the new gate together since the last one was all rusted and falling apart. The gate was hand made and had some turkeys, a big deer head and some 30/30 rifles on the gate to make it stand out. It took almost two to three hours to put the gate on by the time we welded it on, painted it and put the lock system together, but once it was finished it looked amazing. My dad was very proud of his work he had done and what made it special to him is that everyone will see it when they are heading to there mountains houses.

    Once the gate was finished we went back up to our camp grabbed our gear and rushed to the deer blinds so we could get a hunt in before it was dark out. I love hunting but I hate hunting at night. Because you have to wait until it's dark out to come out of the stand and most of the time you can't see five feet in front of you. It's not that I'm scared of the dark it's that I'm not able to see my surroundings and there are about four or five bears we have seen up there and there's also coyotes up there I'm not scared of the dark I'm scared of what might be in the dark. I just don't like that I can't see anything only what my flashlight allows me to see. I made it out of the woods and I saw something in the field it was a deer. I aimed my gun but it was to dark to shoot it which is against the law. So I let the deer walk and I will hopeful be able to get one this weekend when I got back hunting with my dad and his friends.

Movie Critique

A Few Good Men Movie Critique

RadioRebel

The movie I chose was A Few Good Men. This movie was directed by Rob Reiner and featured, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. The bias in A Few Good Men is that two Marines were ordered to give another Marine a ‘Code Red’. A Code Red in the Marines is an illegal punishment. This film is based on true historical events. However, the movie is lacking historical truth. The filmmakers stretched the truth many times. In the movie, the victim of the Code Red died, but in the actual event the victim did not die. Also in the movie there were only two Marines that were being accused but in the actual event there were seven Marines being accused.

In A Few Good Men, Lieutenant Kaffee, who has a history of plea bargains, gets assigned the case of Private First Class Louden Downey and Lance Corporal Harold Dawson. Downey and Dawson are accused of killing a fellow Marine, PFC William Santiago. Lieutenant Kaffee reviews their case and tells them they should take a plea bargain. Downey and Dawson reuse to take the plea bargain, saying they were given direct orders and they did nothing wrong. Lieutenant Kaffee gets upset and wants to resign as their attorney the next day in court. Kaffee shows up to court the next day and to his defense team’s surprise, he pleads not guilty. Kaffee and his defense team only have three weeks to gather enough evidence to prove that Downey and Dawson are not guilty.

I liked the movie. My favorite part was when Galloway was leaving Kaffee’s house and when she stepped outside of the door she turned around to say something to Kaffee and he interupted her. He told her that he knew they had both said things to each other in the past that they didn’t mean and that she didn’t have to tell him she liked him that he already knew. Then Galloway replied with, “I was just going to tell you we got this” and left. I thought that was funny. The only thing I didn’t like about the movie is that Kaffee didn’t believe that he could win. He said that he would just keep improvising but in the long run they would end up losing. I believe that the casting for this movie was amazing. I believe this because Kaffe was supposed to be a young inexperienced attorney and Tom Cruise played his part very well. He was young at the time and he had the right facial expressions and the right tone of voice for it. The Marines were also cast very well. The men who played the Marines honestly looked a lot like actual Marines. They were buff and just had the cocky attitudes like Marines have. Also the decision to cast Demi Moore as Galloway was a very good decision. In the movie Demi is playing a very independant, honest, smart woman. I believe that she played it very well.

This movie ties into what we learned about court in class. We learned how a court room is set up and how court cases work. In the movie there was a lot of time spent in the courtroom. There was also a lot of questioning going on. You can learn a lot about American government and law from this movie. You learn the process lawyers and attorneys go through while working a case. It shows how hard it can be. It also shows that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. In the beginning Kaffee thought that his clients were guilty but at the end it turns out they weren’t.

In my opinion I think that this movie did help me understand law a little better than I did before, I am the type of person that has to actually see something being done to fully understand it. So seeing a court case and seeing what the lawyers go through helped me a lot. Some things that occurred in the movie that I already knew about was the questioning process and the court layout. I knew how the court was supposed to be set up because I learned it in class. I also knew about the questioning process because I sometimes watch law and order.

Poem

Romeo standing below my balcony

How did you get here, I don’t wish to talk

I wish he would respect vows of chastity

Did his parents never tell him not to stalk?

Marry me rosaline please honey bee

I don’t know what I’d do if you said no

Who cares about chastity, please be with me

Romeo, I call out, please just go

Romeo left crying I feel so bad

I need to get ready to go and party

I've got to go, I am summoned by dad

I can't miss this party and be tardy

He has met Juliet I am so glad

Atleast now I don't have to tell my dad

Poems

Do you see her?

She’s sitting in the corner crying

She smiles on the outside but is she really happy?

People say mean things

Her mom says sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt

She’s dying inside

With Every cut she remembers what they said

You’re worthless, No one will ever love you

She hears it so much she starts to believe it

Finally she has had enough

The world will be a better place without me she thinks to herself

If I were to die right now nobody would come to my funeral she thinks to herself

She sits in class staring into space

would it be worth it she thinks?

The next day she doesn't show up to school

The school gets a call from her mother

She’s gone she says

look around

Do you see that person?

Hachiko

My mother and father picked me up from Hickory High school a couple years back when I was a freshman. When we arrived at home there was a puppy sitting on our patio couch on our porch. My dad thinking it belonged to someone because it had a blue collar with white polka dots advised us to bring it inside and feed it until someone came looking for him. We took care of him for two weeks. Within those two weeks the dog would run to the end of our fence as I was leaving for the bus and he would be waiting at the end of the fence when my bus pulled up to drop me off in the afternoon as well. After the two weeks my dad told me and my mom to start asking neighbors if they knew who the dog belonged to. Me and my mom went a couple streets down and posted signs instructing people to call us if they knew whose dog it was. We took signs to vets but never got a phone call back. We didn't have the heart to take it to the pound because we knew what would have happened to him if he didn't get adopted so we ended up keeping him. We named him Hachiko. We named him Hachiko after the movie of the dog who would walk with his owner to the bus stop to leave to the city for work and would wait at the bus stop when his owner would get off the bus from a work day in the city. This is a great movie, I highly recommend it to those who love dog movies. Max is another good movie about and army dog. During the time we had him which were about eight months Hachiko would manage to get out of the fence somehow about 1 every week or 1 every two weeks. After eight months he had run away, we looked and looked for hours it seems like. My dad found him three streets down. He had been run over. I have never experienced a death in the family but the death of that little dog hurt so much! It felt like I had lost someone so important in my life. I cried for a week straight. I didn't feel like going to school. I just wanted my dog back. It was so sad and pitiful. My parents also felt hurt. I told myself I never wanted another puppy again. Humans just as animals get attached and when something happens both parties suffer. Christmas of 2015, my boyfriend bought me a toy poodle, I've had her for a year now and I love her so much, I can't imagine what I will feel if something happened to her. As she gets older I also worry about her health and her age. I'm scared but I plan on loving her and enjoying her while she is with me! Pets are not just pets. Pets turn into family. They're smart creatures, I have learned a lot from Luna. It's easy to get attached to your fur babies when they're so cute and loving. Luna is very lovable she loves to cuddle and play fetch. At times I feel bad because between school and work sometimes I can't dedicate time to her that she needs.