The #1 way to feel like a little kid again is...

GO SLEDDING!

That's right, sledding is the classic winter past time for children of any age, from 1-100! Me and some friends went sledding today, keep in mind that I haven't been sledding since I was like 8. Boy, was it fun! The wind in your face, the bumpy ride down hill, then as you are at the end of the hill, you find yourself screaming "again! again! again!" over and over. So if you're ever bored during the winter time, grab some gloves, take a sled, pick up your camera, and go sledding!

Good Afternoon Mr.President

Well it's official, Barack Obama is the new president of the United States of America. While some may think he is too inexperienced to lead our country, others are inspired by his story, words, and promises. So inspired that thousands of followers went down to the nation's capital to have a first hand wittiness of the swearing in ceremony. If you didn't watch the inauguration, then, well, you should probably read tomorrow's paper, or youtube it because it was actually very interesting. It's great to see that the transfer of power can be made so peacefully. In his speech, President Obama talked a lot about fixing all the problems we have now with the economy and all. Boy, I wish him the best of luck with that because it'll sure be interesting to see what he does there. It's funny when you think that this morning we had Bush as our president and now Obama, it should feel different, don't you think? You can certainly tell that things are different with our country in general when 40-50 years ago racism was common, and King was fighting for African American right, and now, in 2009, the 44th president of the United States of America is a black man. It shows how our country is maturing and is becoming more open minded.
President Obama has a long, hard road ahead of him, coming into office with all of these hard times, and being expected to fix them since he promised change in his campaign speech. I pray that God will give Obama the strength and wisdom he needs to lead America, and that America will be positively affected by his "changes."
Today is a day for the history books, I hope you will all remember where you were when President Obama took office.

Metallica

The lights go off, the room booms with chants and cheers from the die-hard fans. The spotlights go on and BANG! the band that everyone has been waiting for has arrived.
Metallica put on one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. They came out rockin' with "That was just your life", the first song off their newest album "Death Magnetic". Along with the song came a phenomenal light show, with beams of lights in various colors streaming all over the place. The band brought a full force of energy to Boston that night, it was truly the show to be at. As if a light show wasn't enough to get the fans going, when they performed "The end of the line" they brought some incredible pyrotechnics.
You know you have a hit band when the audience is screaming along right there with the band. Throughout the whole stadium, you could see head bangers, arm pumpers, hands clapping, people jumping and most importantly, fans singing along to their favorite songs. It was as if the music was hypnotic and the fans pumped their arms in unison throughout almost the entire show (I wonder how they feel today).
Mteallica's sold out show was full of energized, loud, powerful music that really gave the fans a night to remember.
I've been to a lot of great concerts and I must say that Metallica makes the top 3.

Parlez-vous en francais?

Translation: Do you speak French?
My answer: NO!

I started taking French when I was in 8th grade. I though it would be fun and cool to learn the language, boy was I wrong. I'm now in French 3, and the teacher speaks French the majority of the time. Example: In the mornings we'll sit down and she'll ask questions (in French) and expect someone to 1. Know what the heck she's asking, and 2. Be able to answer her (IN FRENCH). Blank stares and confused faces sweep across the room. No one ever knows what she's saying, and she won't tell us what she is asking until the victim has made a complete fool out of themselves. We may be in a high level of French, but that doesn't mean we can fluently speak the crazy language!!! The common answer to any question in that class is either "uhhhhhh" or "je ne sais pas!" (meaning: I don't know!)
She also like to speak French when she's teaching a new lesson. How are we supposed to know what she is talking about when we can't even understand what she is saying?!?!? Seriously folks, this is just absurd! But I have to admit that despite the confusion, it's a great language to learn. I always enjoy spicing up daily conversation with random French words, even if I don't know what I'm saying haha.

Well, that was my little rant of the day, now after a long stressful week of midterms, it is finally TIME FOR BED!

The Start of a New Season

Kelly Clarkson. Ruben Studdard. Fantasia Barrino. Carrie Underwood. Taylor Hicks Jordin Sparks. David Cook. All of these singers have one thing in common; they all got their start on the infamous American Idol. Whether you love A.I. or hate it, the show finds some incredible talent. Who finds the talent, you ask? Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and new judge Kara DioGuardi. DioGuardi is pretty much a legend in the music industry. She is a songwriter who's songs have appeared on more than 100 million records. Artists including (but not limited to) Pink, Sanntana, Britney Spears, Jewl, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and many many more. Only two episodes into season 8 and she has already proven herself more than qualified to help guide and criticize the contestants. DioGuardi makes a great addition to the panel. You have Randy Jackson, the chill judge that *nicely* speaks the truth (dawg). Then there's Paula Abdul, despite her kindness towards the contestants, the audience is always questioning everything she says and does. Who could forget the bearer of bad news, Simon Cowell. He's the judge everyone loves to hate, always saying the truth, no matter how harsh it may sound.
During the premiere week, I noticed they didn't show as many terrible auditions as they usually do. I am so thankful for that because honestly, the joke auditions are just a waste of time to watch, and you can barely stand to listen to half of them. If I am going to watch the whole American Idol process, then I want to see some talent, not the losers who couldn't make it.
I think this season will bring a lot of talent, more talent than last season at least. It will be exciting to see how America will vote this year, will it be based off of talent, or just another popularity contest. Let's have fun watching step by step as America turns an "average joe" into an American Idol!

Resisting Temptation

I recently read Genesis 2 and 3. The chapters about Adam and Eve, and they're decision to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree God told them not to eat from. When God found out about this, he confronted them. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the persuasive serpent. As with all bad choices, consequences were upon them. One of the consequences: increased pains in child birth (thanks Eve, that's great, really).

This story has a few lessons. One: When you do something bad, there will always be a consequence, like being grounded, or having detention, or getting in trouble with your boss at work. Lesson two: Our bad decisions can affect other people, just like Eve's consequence of child birth pain, our consequences can affect our friends and family. Like if someone cheats on a kid's test, both would get in trouble. Or if your talking in class, you and the person you wanted to talk to would probably get yelled at. Even if you and a sibling were fighting, I bet you'd both get yelled at from Mom and Dad. Lesson three: We need to resist temptation! Resisting temptation can be very hard sometimes. Just like with Adam and Eve. They had a huge garden of fruit to eat, but they fell into the devil's temptation and decided to eat the fruit. Satan wants us to doubt God's motives, to think his rules are too unfair. Eve fell for it. Just as with Eve, we find daily temptations. Whether it's teenagers being tempted with drugs, alcohol, sex, gossip, or so many of the other thing teenagers come across at high school; or adults, thinking "Gee it can't hurt to run that red light, no one's watching" or something like that. Satan wants you to believe that doing all these things are good. God tells us that Satan is wrong, all these things are not good for us, and wants us to listen to Him, not Satan. Temptation is difficult because we, as sinners, are faced with it constantly, we feel it inside us all the time. But when we listen to God's word, have faith in him, and decide to make the right decisions, God is happy, and by resisting temptation, we have less consequences and are happier.

New Year's Resolutions

When people think about a new year, they usually think about resolutions. Whether it's losing weight, quitting smoking, being more organized, what ever floats your boat. About 98% of Americans don't stick to their resolutions. I think that after a while, it just becomes a hassle, or they get tired of it. So we should pick resolutions we like, one that we can think about and say "ya I'm really passionate about this, I'm not going to give up." If you are really passionate about something then your probably not going to give it up as fast.
I've been thinking about what I want my new year's resolution to be. I wanted one that was realistic. Challenging, but not impossible. One that I was going to be absolutely passionate about and really want to stick with it. For my new year's resolution, I've decided to read the Bible in 1 year. I've gotten together with some people from my church, and together we can encourage each other to really make this new year's resolution a great one.

Tips:

• Make it possible
• FUN
• Make sure it's something you really want to do
• Support-Why not put a group of friends together for guidance and encouragement?
• Don't give up! It may be hard at first, but stick with it and it'll become a routine thing.

If you haven't already made a resolution but still want to then no worries! I mean come on, we're only 6 days into the year! You can do it!

So. What's your new year's resolution?

You can never have too much of something

So. Would you like to know what really REALLY bothers me? I'll tell you! When you misplace something, you search ALL over for it, can't find it, replace it, then as soon as you got the item replaced...the original item has been found!
A few days ago when my cell phone was low in battery I thought to myself "OH I better go get my charger and find my phone" Sounds easy right? Well, let me tell you, it wasn't all too easy! I searched my room, the kitchen, the living room, the basement, my moms car...the charger was no where to be found! I swear I looked EVERYWHERE! But no. It wasn't anywhere, I could tell you that the thing grew legs and walked away! So today since my mom was going out I gave her some money to buy me a new charger...she did and everything was well. BUT! (and there's always a but) I was getting some candy out of a big bag with stuff that I got for Christmas (I am now having a candy overload) so, I look in the bag to get my candy and would anyone like to guess what I found? Well don't ya know I found my charger just chillin in there! I know I searched that bag for my charger before hand and it wasn't there...it's like the crazy thing just appeared there, a nice little slap in the face!
Well, now I have 2 chargers...hopefully I won't misplace them both at the same time!!! I guess you really can't have too much of something

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer

"Imagine a young boy who has never had a home. His only possessions are the old torn clothes he carries in a paper bag.His only world is isolation and fear. Although this young boy has been rescued from his alcoholic mother, the real hurt is just beginning-he has no place to call home." (From the back cover of The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer)

So over the past few days I've been reading The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer for a book report at school. I like this book a lot so I figured I would share a little review of it.
The Lost Boy is a sequel to A Child Called "It." The book is about author, Pelzer, and how he was brutally abused as a child. Now, A Child Called "It" mainly talks about the abuse he went through and how he tried to survive as a young child. The Lost Boy is more about what happened after he was taken out of his home and put into foster care. He goes from home to home, struggling to find a place he can call his home. He also has to deal with all of his emotions after being abused and struggles with how to deal with those emotions, and fitting in. Dave is truly an outcast. Both of these book are extremely interesting, detailed, real, and inspiring for any reader. If you read The Lost Boy, or A Child Called "It" then I would really like to know what your thoughts are on it. Personally, I think it's an inspiring book that really opened my eyes see to how lucky I am, and how grateful I am that I have a family that loves and cares for me, I don't have to struggle to survive or find food.

Well, I'm off to write a book report...oh the excitement is overwhelming!

Times are a Changin'

I've been thinking about how technology has changed so much over the years. Seriously, it wasn't too too long ago when everyone was listening to cassettes instead of CDs, my cousin was telling me how she recently went and bought someone a cassette of God only knows what rapper, and I was thinking "wow. A cassette. I haven't even seen one of those things in years!" And last night I was talking to my grandmother who just recently went and saw Marley & Me, her first movie in 40 years! She says to me "Jordain, it's been 40 years since I've been to the movies, and it'll be another 40 years until I go see another one, they are so different now!" And she of course went on to say how it was so loud and the seats were uncomfotable, etc., etc. I've also been thinking about how much we really do depend on technology. When the ice storm happened a few weeks ago, a lot of people lost power. I was at my home for maybe 2 hours in the dark, no t.v., no music, no computer (or internet), no way to cook, no phone, cell phone dead. I think I just about went crazy until my aunt came and picked me up. It amazes me how people lost power through that storm for hours...even weeks and we were just at kind of a loss as to what to do. While way way way back in the day there was no t.v., music, phones, cars, stoves, or anything and they got along just fine. I sometimes wonder when people started depending on technology for everything and forgot about how we never used to have that, they couldn't call someone up on the phone or email someone whenever they pleased, they had to walk to see someone if you want to go back farther, then they had to make their own fire to cook, and hunt for food....boy times are a changin' and it'll be interesting to see what 2009 will bring us.