Hearing me rant

I am irritated with people who take advantage of financial aid and other government handouts. I understand that they are there for people who need money to be able to attend college and that they do help a lot of people. I am pissed off at the people who play the system. I work 25 hours a week and take 18 units and I get absolutely no government help. I am driven to make my many dreams and goals come true and I am doing whatever it takes to get to that point. My parents are a huge help and even though they will never want to admit it they are nervous about how the next few years are going to hit my family financially. I am not mad that I don't get financial help because I do have a pretty good life. My family has a house, we have three cars, and overall we do pretty well financially but lets face it with the prices of colleges pretty well isn't good enough. Life would be so much less stressful if I knew how I was going to pay for college, but I don't. 

One of the most irritating thing is when I'm talking to someone about school and I ask how many units they are taking and I get this answer. "Oh, i'm taking 12 units so I have a full load and can get financial aid." When I hear that I just want to start cursing and saying some very hurtful things, because I work my butt off and take 18 units not because I have to but because I want to. 

The next irritating thing. My dad is an anatomy teacher so he gets a lot of pre nursing students in his class. At the beginning of the semester because of how impacted our classes are he has to turn away a lot of students that could be great students and that would have been a great addition to the class. Instead sometimes he gets students that skim because they just need to get there financial aid. Pathetic! 

The final irritating thing. I was sitting in my Italian class yesterday and these two people were talking about financial aid. The girl said that she can't wait to get her financial aid because she needs a vacation. I got so irritated! Seriously that is what financial aid is to some people. A vacation! I would love to be able to take a vacation but I have work and school and no government handouts helping at all.

I understand the importance of financial aid and I am not saying that this describes everyone who gets financial aid. But like everything else there are problems with how it works. I think that is the issue. 

Something to think about

At the moment this blog was posted there were  6,999,321,881 in the world.  313,151,189 of those people live in the United States. For this blog I am just going to give you one of my favorite quotes and let you figure out what it means to you.  

"At this moment there are 6,470,818,671 people in the world. Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day. Others are just not facing the truth. Some are evil men, at war with good. And some are good, struggling with evil. Six billion people in the world, six billion souls. And sometimes... all you need is one." -Peyton Sawyer (One Tree Hill)

Home Sweet Home

To me home is whatever we make it and what we believe our home is can change. These are what I have considered as my home in the last year! 

Home is where you grow up: I have grown up in Chico, California, which is in the valley of northern California about an hour and a half north of Sacramento. You may have heard of Chico, because it is the home of Chico State, Aaron Rodgers (from the Green Bay Packers), and Shawntel Newton (from the Bachelor).  Chico has grown a lot and isn’t the small town that it used to be, but still has the small town feel. When you go to the store in Chico you are likely to see a familiar face. Chico will always have a special place in my heart. I was born there, my dad was born there, and my mom grew up there. I know that no matter where life takes me Chico is always going to be my hometown and will always be the place that I made the memories that formed me into the person I am.

Home is your family: I have a pretty great family even though I don't always show them how much I appreciate them. My mom, my dad, and my sister are home. Even though my parents haven' t gotten rid of me yet I know that leaving them is going to be one of the hardest things i'm going to have to do. Because to me my parents are the reason that I am where I am and any kind of success that I have had I owe to them for raising me into the person I am. I love you mom and dad! My mom, dad, and sister aren't my only family. I have my uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents. They are all my family too. I know that no matter what I can count on all of them to be there for me when I need and to me that shows that they are my home. 

Home can be a friends family: I became extremely close to my ex boyfriend's family. I was at their house almost every night at dinner. Even though I hadn't known them for very long I felt comfortable around them. They always included me and supported me almost as much as my family. Even though things with my ex didn't work out I am always going to have that memory of his family bringing me in and giving me a second home. 

I guess what I am trying to say is home is what you make it. I am still searching for exactly what home is and I think we always are since it changes constantly. Home is where you feel safe and comfortable. Home is filled with people who love you and care about you. Home is different for everyone! 

A Perfect Proposal

A perfect proposal is something to me that comes from the heart. It doesn't have to be big it just has to mean something to the person. I witnessed one of the best proposals ever but i'm a bit biased because it was between two of my favorite people! My uncle proposed to his girlfriend yesterday on February 17th and nothing could have made it a better proposal.

It happened during my uncle's reenlistment ceremony into the Navy. During the ceremony they called up his girlfriend to give her a certificate of appreciation for her support of my uncle. When reading the certificate they called her his fiance, she looked confused and turned to my uncle and he was on one knee. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen and another one of those moments that change you. I am so grateful to have both him and her in my life and can't wait to continue watching them build their lives together they are two incredible people and even though I already considered her my aunt now it will become official! 

The moment that changed my life...

Its crazy to think that one moment can change your life completely. That one conversation can change the way that you view life and yourself. I started this blog as a way to see how those moments change me but what I didn't think about is the most important moment that changed my life. The moment I knew that I wanted to give my life to Christ. Honestly lately I hadn't given much thought to this day because with recent events it makes it kind of painful, but confronting painful things are what makes us stronger right? Anyways some parts may be rather vague because I don't need to completely talk about my past but in the end I hope you can understand how one single conversation changed my life.

Here is a little history leading up to that moment. During my junior year of high school I started going to Young Life. My boyfriend at the time convinced me to go with him. I had never really believed in God because I grew up in a non religious house. My parents never had anything against religion they just weren't interested. Honestly, I think they were kind of surprised when I told them what I was doing but they were supportive of my decision. Anyways I spent about 6 months hearing amazing stories about Christ through my Young Life Leaders and it really made me wonder is there really this amazing God that can do such incredible things? The summer after my junior year my boyfriend and I decided to go to Woodleaf with our Young Life group for camp. I thought to myself maybe this is what I need to really know if I believe in God. My boyfriend was always really supportive of me tying to find my path and knew that I had to come to the decision of giving my life to God myself. One night during our week at Woodleaf we were given free time, my boyfriend and I found ourselves in front of the store at a bench. We started talking about the talk that we had listened to that night. The talk was about sins and how our sins can effect those around us. I broke down crying because there were somethings in my life that I wasn't proud of and they were things that him and I didn't often bring up because they were painful. I sat there crying and he just hugged me and told me "Regan I forgive you. I love you for who you are and even though you did things in the past that you aren't proud of and that hurt me, they have made you into the person you are today and I love you." Up until that moment I never really understand the power of forgiveness. Honestly I was amazed and that moment I fell deeply in love with not only my boyfriend but God. You may be wondering how that made me fall in love with God. Well, for awhile I didn't understand either I just kind of knew in that moment. Later when I thought about it I realized why. The bible says that sometimes God shows himself to us through other people and thats what it was. Even though it was my boyfriend saying he forgives me I could hear God in my head telling me that he forgives me too. And that was the moment that I knew I wanted to give my life to Christ. At lot has changed since then and at times I have drifted away from my faith but in the end I know that my heart belongs to Christ. I still find it incredible that a single moment like that can have such an impact on you. 

As an ending I want to give you one of my favorite bible verse because to me it sums up everything that I realized was true about God.

Luke 6:37 

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." 

Happy Valentines Day! XOXO

There is something that I have been trying to wrap my head around all day. So lets start from the beginning. My mom made wonderful banana and chocolate chips (or so I thought) muffins, for my sister's class. I ate a few and they were really good. I asked my mom about the chocolate chips and she said that they aren't but a healthy alternative.

Okay, well I am a lot like my dad and the minute we hear the word healthy we both think gross! Yes I admit there are some things that are healthy and are still good but to me things like muffins are not supposed to be healthy just like fruit isn't supposed to go on pizza. (Yes, I don't like Hawaiian pizza!) 

My mom explained that all treats brought to my sister's class needed to be healthy. This really irritated me. Yes, I understand that we have an obesity issue in the United States but if you can really tie that to kids getting candy a few times a year at school then you have some magic powers that we should know about. 

I just don't see the point to have kids not receive candy at school when I bet they are going to go home and their mom or dad is going to give them candy! Kids DO NOT get over weight because they ate candy at a Valentines Day party in 3rd grade! Kids became over weight because of how they eat at home. So why not let kids live a little. 

I remember in elementary school Valentines Day was almost as good as halloween! All your classmates give you little Valentines Cards with a piece of candy, what little kid wouldn't love that? Well I guess this is just one more thing that my kids are going to miss out on because our society is changing. Is it good or bad I guess I we will have to wait and see!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

XOXO

My Future

Today a man in my psychology class said something that got me thinking all day and honestly really bothered me. My professor asked us to get to talk to the other students around us and get to know someone new. I turned around to talk to the two men behind me. They were both quite about older than me but that is expected at a community college. I introduced myself and then they asked what my major was. I told them that my major is communications and one of them said, "well you could change your mind so keep your options open." To be honest that remark really made me angry and this is why...

When I was about six years old I decided that I wanted to be a weather woman. Which is actually a pretty realistic goal when most kids at that age want to be an astronaut or a singer. One day my dad told me that no one likes weather women because they are often incorrect about the weather. So being a typical six year old girl I was crushed. You never want to have your daddy tell you that. So what do I decide? I want to be a News Anchor!

For years I would wake up early just so that I could watch the Today Show in the morning. My mom would come out of her room and be surprised to find me on the couch watching the news. I mean really what kid watches the news? But I loved it. I loved hearing all of the stories and knowing what was going on in the world. Even in high school my teachers would be surprised on how important current events were to me. But to me what is the point of life if you don't know what is going on around you? Even as a young child I realized this. 

Anyways, I continued with this dream of one day being on the Today Show and being the next "Katie Couric"! I wanted to be like "Katie Couric" when she was on the Today Show not the Nightly News and when she became all fake, just wanted to clear that up. When I got into high school I wanted to take a class that was in someway close to broadcast journalism so I decided to write for the school newspaper. I started my sophomore year and continued until my senior year. Senior year I was also an editor and even though I loved writing I knew that I didn't want a career in journalism. So I sat down and wondered what else could I do? Well I could major in journalism and become a high school english teacher and make a difference in a child's life. I thought maybe I could even teach overseas. 

Then I came up with the idea of majoring in Communications! It was a great idea because then it is an umbrella for all of the things that I have always wanted to do and I think it really fits me. I sat down and thought about all of the different things that I could do with this career, there is a lot! I decided that I want to be a public relations specialist! Which to me sounds like an amazing job. For those of you who don't know what a public relation specialist is someone who promotes a person or organization which to me sounds like a great career. 

Yes, I understand that things change, but in my situation I don't believe that my opinion is going to change. Maybe the job might change but you will never see me being a mathematics major, a biology major (sorry dad!), or a psychology major. My interest has always been some sort of communications and I believe it always will be! It is not the place of someone who knows nothing about me to say that I am going to change my mind. Just because he changed his mind and is going back to school does not mean that he knows anything about me. I am not the kind of person who is ever going to be undecided. I enjoy having a goal to look forward to. In a year and a half I plan to move out of Chico and attend a CSU in Southern California and get a bachelors degree in Communications and a minor in Italian. After two years at whichever CSU I chose I hope to move to Italy for a year and continue my studying abroad. Then move back to the states and work in the Public Relations field. So lets see if I change my mind!