Who Dey? Yeah, the Bengals.

This past Sunday the defending AFC North Division Champion Cincinnati Bengals played the Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, at Pittsburgh.

 The match up screams intense, a nitty gritty rivalry. Bengals QB Carson Palmer has openly admitted to hating the Steelers, their colors, and their fans. Yet Steeler’s QB Ben Roethlisberger says he doesn’t hate anybody, and is sorry to hear the Bengals feel the same way.

But all talk aside, Sunday’s battle came down to the toughest team, the sharpest team-and Pittsburgh walked away with a loss added to their charts, and not any loss-a loss at home.

Interception here, pick there, then a touchdown. QB’s got sacked like potatoes, while the wide receivers played good leap frog match-ups. Unlike the physical brutality taken by the Bengals versus the Cleveland Browns, no new injuries were sustained during the game.  Both teams had benched and starting players with nagging injuries from last week’s games or pre-season mishaps.(Chad Johnson/T.J. Houshmandzadeh of the Bengals, Troy Polamalu and Big Ben for the Steeler’s.)

Despite the Steeler’s defense maintaing a fierce momentum in the first half, the Bengals responded with a defending roar on offense to secure the win. (2 TD’s by Houshmandzadeh, 2 TD’s by Chris Henry.)

 Later this week-an overview of the Cincinnati Bengal’s pending legal issues and character disputes about the team. How much is up to Marvin Lewis and how do the fans respond?

Ah, finally.

I’ve done it.

Finally.

I decided my major.

Yep. I’ve decided.So technically, my blog is due for a description change, but only a minor one.

 I’ve been filling out college applications, writing personal statements and scholarship essays, and more often that not, you get asked about your future plans. One of those future plans being where you’d like to go and what you’d like to do in college.

It felt quite nice to write “major in Journalism”, and have no doubts. Sure, a pang of sadness for letting go of my once prevalent teaching ambitions, but no regret. I’ve even told a few people with a smile on my face and don’t hesitate to say, “Yeah, journalism.”

Could I be making the wrong decision? Sure. Could I end up switching? Perhaps. But right now, I am solid in my decision. I’ve had a lot of my friends, all seniors, ask me how I got to this decision. Many of them labeled me as “lucky” for even having the slightest idea for what I wanted to do.

Firstly, I took time to not think about it. I forced myself to back down on the paranoia and just take some time for me. But only a little bit.

Then I contemplated the pros and cons of each career, the biggest one being job security, then happiness and income. Income soon became a non-factor and being true to myself made it’s appearance. I realized that I had originally considered Special Education because I knew it would make a lot of people go, “Oh, awesome!”. Which isn’t exactly the reaction I’ve been getting when I tell others about journalism, but that’s OK. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I’ve been in school, and only considered being a teacher once I hit High School, along with questioning my ability to stand out as a writer.

It was then I realized that I would be letting myself down if I didn’t go with my gut instinct, my original intention-to be a writer. I could enjoy being a teacher, no doubt. But I feel it wouldn’t be fair to whatever students I may end up with if I couldn’t give 110% to the job, if I harbored any regrets over not choosing Journalism, and there would be some.I feared the regret would interfere with doing my job.

I still wonder what I’ll miss out on by not being a teacher, but know that I will always have a respect and place in my heart for those who do go into that career and the students of the special education program. Special Ed students will always be my favorite to teach and interact with, as they have been so far.

 But it’s so much easier to complete the college application when I’m honest with myself. To write down my intended major and not second guess. Are there going to be people that wish I’d gone with being a teacher that they’d always seen me as a great teacher? Yeah.  But all I can say is thatif they give me a chance, I may be end up being the journalist they wanted to see as well.

Political Doctrine

With the upcoming elections, all the political hoopla is on the rise in terms of media reporting.

And it’s driving me nuts!

Every and almost any news station/newspaper across the US has started publishing predictions and possible outcomes for the election. Obviously the main focus is on Republicans vs Democrats, since it just wouldn’t be the US if that wasn’t the core to an election.

So, what about the other issues on the table? Abortion? Gay Rights? Healthcare? Does it really matter whose in power, as long as the right thing is done? But what’s right and who can handle it?

The battle between the two dominating political parties scares me. It scares me because it makes me wonder what any of them care about-if their political party wins or what they’ll get a chance to accomplish. Will the Democrats just care that they get to oust the Republicans, or on the flip side-will the Republicans be so smug if they win that what their agenda is will go unnoticed?

Is this political pow wow hurting our country more than it’s helping? I say it is. I don’t give whistles and horns about someones political party and who they choose to defend-as long as they’re educated about issues.

No, I do not have a political party. Regardless, I’ve taken to educating myself about the issues with the help of my Government class. It’s hard to choose a party when you don’t even know all of the issues on the table. I don’t believe all of the “Oh, it’s just one vote, it doesn’t mean anything” nonsense. Until then, I will continue my frustration and wonder..in an election, what really matters?

“Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.” 

 ~Richard Armour

You are for you.

It seems like life purposely brings up as high as you can go, sits you at your best, only to bring you down just as quickly.

My birthmother’s husband, Jack, suffered a double stroke and massive heart attack last Tuesday. He has 10% of his brain function left and doctors said he probably won’t ever be back, that he won’t make it. We found out yesterday.

I wasn’t super close to Jack and I didn’t get a chance to talk with him as much as I liked, but he still had an impact on my life. He helped my birth-mom stay sober, the two of them ran a branch for AA, to help out other alcoholics through their experiences. He helped her change her life and my sister’s life around 180 degrees when they were at rock bottom. The few times I came over to visit, Jack was always welcoming and nice, let me know that even though legally I’m not his daughter, I could go to him if I needed to. He was, simply put, a great guy.

It goes without saying that I really wish I’d gotten to know him better. To let him know how much of a difference he made, how much I really owe to him for turning my family’s life around. It’s a horrible feeling knowing I may not be able to do that. It makes me sick to my stomach. Last night when I found out? I just sat in bed all night, I didn’t want to deal with anything. Knowing how much my birth-mom and sister are hurting, hurt me even more.

These kinds of life lessons are hard to learn. I also had to learn the lesson of taking responsibility and being organized today, but that’s for another day. (Long story short: Your parents REALLY do know best. Listen to them. You’ll thank yourself down the road.)

So please, keep Jack Connors in your prayers and thoughts if you can. Hopefully, this can and will turn into a situation where the doctors are wrong.