Not All Glory

Here is another essay that I wrote for my freshman comp class in junior college.  The assignment was to chose a poem from our anthology and exposit it's meaning, using research and our own interpretations.

Not All Glory

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. 

- George McGovern 

In his poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen contests the wisdom of those who lead young men to believe that war is something to desire and aspire towards.  He attacks this concept with evidence from his own personal experiences at the front, using graphic imagery to impress upon the reader the horrors, the ugliness of battle.  War is not the beautiful, exhilarating and glorious experience that Romantics make it out to be; rather it is hard, ugly and more often than not, traumatic for those involved.  Owen knows this, having experienced war on the front, and he writes hoping to warn his readers. Hoping to protect them from having to experience this disillusionment firsthand. 

The title of the poem ironically suggests that it will be a

Three Years

Three years.
Three years is a long time, and three years is a short time.  So many, many things can change in the span of three years.
Hopes.  
Dreams.  
Fears.  
The very essence of who a person is.  
And yet at the same time, you blink and three years have past like blur.  Life is funny like that.

This particular time of the year means a lot to me, on many different levels.
It's November.
The beginning of my favorite of the Southern California seasons - cool and (if we're lucky) wet.  
The month of Thanksgiving.  
The month in which, three years ago, events occurred that changed my life.  
It's funny how day to day, you generally don't feel like you are changing, but when you look back over your life, you realize that who you were one. . . two. . . five. . . ten years ago would barely recognize the person you are today and you wonder how that happened.

The past week I have been doing a lot of reflecting, thinking and reminiscing.  This last week marks my third year following the Lord.  Three years ago, I was a different person with different plans, goals and dreams.  I was walking

Reflections. . .

Life is full of seasons and changes.  Nothing stays the same.  People come and go from your life; they grow up and move on.  Physical, material things rot and fade away.  Everything in life will eventually be touched by the fingers of change; nothing and no one can escape.

The last few months have been a painful, scary and yet exciting time.  I've experienced so many changes and been thrown so many curveballs recently that at times I feel that if life doesn't slow down, I might suffocate.  In one day, my circumstances can change one, two or even three times.  But I guess that's what happens when you grow up.  You get to see and experience everything from the front lines, because mom and dad are no longer standing as a barrier between you and the "real world".

Here I am, sitting in my dorm room.  All grown up and on my own at a college a little less than three hours away from my hometown.  I've been here since August and now, for the first time in two months, I finally feel like I have a moment to breathe and just be.  As I sit and allow myself to simply exist, I am hit by the weight of all that has happened in the last few months.

I'm at college.  I don't think the reality of this fact has really hit me yet.  For as long as I can remember, college has been the distant dream.  Something I wanted, but doubted would happen.  I figured that by the time I had been out of high school for two years,

Life Changes

So, in the last month I have:
~Gone to a conference
~Decided what school I am transferring to next fall
~Started the spring semester at my current school
AND
~Started a home-based business to help pay for school

School is school. There is not to much to report on that subject, but I am super excited that I finally have been able to make a decision about which one I am going to go to next year. It's a really great Christian school in SoCal and I cannot wait for next school year!

I am also SUPER excited about this new business that I have. I am now an independent distributer for a 55 year old health and wellness company called Shaklee. One of the products that they offer is a weight loss program called Cinch. I have been doing it for about 3 weeks now, and already my pants are starting to get a little looser. On top of that, after about 4 weeks of taking their vitamins, I am seeing a drastic improvement in my skin. It's kind of a long story, but if you would like to know why I got involved with this company in the first place, you can read about it here. Long story short, I have had a skin condition since I was 11 years old and the doctors were not able to help me. I had given up hope of getting better and was desperate when Shaklee was brought to my attention. I decided to try it, and 4 weeks later my skin is the clearest I have seen it in longer than I can remember.
Anyway, I am going to be tracking my weight loss journey on here as I go, so check back next week to find out how I am doing.

A New School Year

So, today was the first day of school for my family. It was kind of weird for me. It was weird to wake up (at 9ish) and pad out to the great room in my pajamas (just like I've been doing all summer) and see all my siblings all dressed and ready for the day, sitting at the table or in the living room waiting for my mom to start teaching. I think that that's when it really, REALLY sunk in that I'm in a new phase of life. It's not like I'm done with school, I'm taking classes at our local city college, but I don't start for another couple weeks and it's weird to watch my siblings doing everything I've been doing for the past 12 years of my life and know that I'm not going to be doing those things as a student ever again. Weird. Kinda Scary. But mostly Exciting.

I went out to the college today to take my placement test. You know, the one where they evaluate how good you are at English and Math and tell which classes you can take. So, I know I'm pretty good at English, I mean, I got straight A's my whole life, but Math, well, let's just say I barely passed. Thus, I was expecting to get into the highest English classes (which I did) and the lowest math. Great was my surprise when I got the results and I tested into College-level Algebra! Whoot!

I am very excited for this fall. I am taking 4 classes at our local college, (1 math and 3 exercise) and am compiling a list of classical literature that I need to read. I shall be posting my thoughts on the books I read as I read them. Well, that's it for tonight. Catch ya'll later.