Graduation

So Graduation is almost here, guys...  We've made it through the mandatory number (ahem. well, less in my case) of days of our Senior year.

We've sent out announcements, planned parties, said farewell on class trip, and are finally here.  Tomorrow we don our caps and gowns for rehearsal.  Then Sunday we say goodbye, not necessarily for good, but for now.  We all leave to spend our summers separately, just as we have for the 12 years prior, but this time, we're not all coming back together at the end.

It's bittersweet; I'm not sure if I'm ready for the finality of it all.

Granted, I'm super pumped to go to college, but I'm sad I won't be with the same people I have since I was 5.  I'm excited for new opportunities, but sad that old ones have to go away.

We're here on the verge of real life.  We've got colleges, jobs, and careers waiting for us.  It's totally unpredictable at this point.

It's time to begin again as the small fish and work our way back up.  I know we'll all meet again at some point, and I'm okay saying goodbye.

Although I'll definitely cry at Graduation. =)

Sharpies

I really like Sharpies.  They are epically awesome and permanent.  And they come in amazing colors.  I love how I can write on nearly anything with a Sharpie and it stays there nearly indefinitely.  Until you take some heavy-duty cleaners to it and it's gone.


Do you remember the Spongebob episode where he gets a pen to write with at boating school?  He calls it the most permanent of all permanent writing utensils.

I'm sorry, Mr. Squarepants, but you're WRONG!

Sharpies definitely have to take that role.

Pizza

I love pizza.  I could eat it all the time as long as it's good pizza.

Totinos pizzas that you bake at home are the BEST. =) They're the perfect size and they taste FANTASTIC!

But that's beside the point.  I'm watching Spongebob right now.  They're going to the beach. How in the world do they go to the beach when they're under water?! How crazy is that?!

They're playing "Small Plastic Disk That You Throw" aka Frisbee.

There are fish eating SANDwiches! Hahahahaha!  I really think I should go try to sleep now.  My attention span is about 2.5 seconds long, and it's not working out to well for me.

Facebook.

Facebook is weird.

It's awesome for finding old friends or staying in contact with people you're not constantly around.

But it's also really addicting.

Like tonight for example.

I'm sitting in a room with a couple people, and we're all on our laptops on Facebook.

One of the guys posted a status and the other started constantly commenting on it.  I jumped in on it and we're up to about 100 comments.

On ONE status.  AND WE'RE SITTING IN THE SAME ROOM!!!!

Less than 10 feet from each other!!!

Sure, we could have a real conversation, but we're just chilling on facebook chatting on there.

Insanity.

I think technology takes a lot out of people's lives.  Sure, it's fantastic for quick conversations, but I truly think today's society needs more personal interactions.  Kids are afraid to pick up the phone and call each other because they want the instant gratification of a text message and don't want to put themselves on the line.

People need to shut down the advanced technology once in a while and actually make a phone call or write a letter or something.  Do things the "old school" way for once.  Learn that we aren't as entitled as we let ourselves believe.

That's another problem with today's society.  People feel like they're deserving as so much but they haven't truly earned the right to it.  It's terrible, in my opinion.  People don't understand a good, hard day's work and the gratification that comes from seeing something built with their own two hands.

I honestly think this is one of the fantastic opportunities I've been given through the FFA.  I am better able to see problems and find a solution; not necessarily for everyone, but for me.  I see what I dislike in other people and am able to fix it in myself.

And yes, I know I talk about FFA a ton, but that's my thing.  It's made me who I am today, and wouldn't be here without it.

But back to facebook.  It's cool and all.  It definitely has a place in our lives, but we need to learn to step away once in a while and have some quality personal interactions with people.  Or lives will be better for it.

Banquets. Blech.

Banquets are icky.  Not because I don't like going.

I like going.

I just don't like planning.

You see, there's a bunch of junk behind the scenes that you wouldn't even think about.  Like the food.  How it gets there, who pays for it, how much you pay for it, EVERYTHING must be planned.  And planned nearly minute by minute.

Then there's the script.  Whatever someone says at a banquet is usually planned.  Which means someone else probably wrote it for them.  It's really kinda nasty trying to come up with the script, especially when you're giving awards.  You've got to make sure all the names are pronounced correctly by the reader which means phonetically typing them out.  (Which isn't fun when you don't know how to say it yourself.)  Then you also have to make sure all the awards are physically there and that you haven't lost any of them (ahem. learned that one from experience) and that they have all the names spelled correctly on them!  It's just a whole bunch of crazy planning that all leads up to an approximately 2 hour session.

Then, when it's all done, the President (AKA Me in this case), can pass on the torch to the new Prez, clean up the room, go home, and relax, finally, after a long 2 months of planning for 2 hours.

Ahh, my life.

And then get to start all over again with the next one that is taking place 2 weeks after the first one.

Yay.

Fate

I've been doing a lot of deep thinking recently (Thanks, Wyatt) And that's a legit thank you, not a sarcastic one.

We were sitting at lunch a week or two ago and Wyatt started talking about how the experiences we have had define us, and how we would be different if each of those events weren't there or were slightly different.


Think about it for a minute.


What if you'd not had that childhood pet that you learned so many lessons from?

I know for me, that would truly change what I'm made of.  My family has always had horses, and I rode my first horse when I was just old enough to hold up my head.  I've learned many lessons from them as well.

When I was 6, we got a new horse.  His registered name was Doubled D Fayme.  He was 17.2 hands tall (which equates to just under 6 feet tall at the withers [which is basically the knob at the top of the horses back that is at the base of the neck and where the front two legs meet at the top {confusing, I know}]).  But anyway, he was gigantic, so we called him 'Tiny'.  I love the irony of it.  He was as gentle as you could ever imagine.  At least until you got between him and his food.  If you were the unlucky soul, he would push you out of the way (never in a mean way, though) and continue on his way.  When I was about 9, I managed to be that unlucky person.

We have 6 main pastures in our house.  The East pasture, the "arena", the West pasture, the north pasture, and the big pasture, and the woods.  Tiny had a disorder called HyPP (Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis.  If you want to know more, ask, I don't want to bore you here.).  It basically is a genetic disorder that messes up how he reacted to Potassium and Electrolytes, and was the reason he was so large.  It is on a recessive gene, and Tiny managed to get 2 of the recessive alleles, so he had the disorder pretty bad.  We had to keep him in the West Pasture because it was the only one that had no possibility of getting him sick; the others all had vegetation that he couldn't be around.  The only way in and out of that pasture at the time was through a gate only slightly wider than than one of the classroom doors here.

I went out to bring him in the barn one night, snapped a rope on his halter, and opened the gate.  Trent had just put Tiny's oats in his bucket and Tiny knew what that sound meant.  He pushed me aside, but with a little more force than I think he realized.  I was knocked to the ground, and fell underneath him.  He clipped my head with the front of one of his hind hooves on his way past me.  I was dazed, but took off after him to the barn, crying the entire way.

To me, this is one of those "What if" moments.  What if he had stepped on me? What if Trent hadn't put out Tiny's oats early?  What if I had rushed ahead of him to make sure I got out of the gate?


I recently received some bad news.  I have been working towards a goal of running for major state FFA office since I was a freshman.  I have done everything in my power to better myself in order to be selected to run.  I have practiced and presented countless speeches, served on various committees, and forced myself to become the person I wanted to be.  I participated in the nomination process, but was not selected to continue on to the next level.

Being told that hurt.  I keep having those "What If" moments about it.  What if I had done better on the nomination test?  What if I had presented a slightly different speech for one of the scenarios?  What if I'd been more outgoing or had more Ag Issues knowledge for my interview?

But what I've realized in the past day is, even though this dream I've had forever has ended, I'm okay.  I know that I have so much more ahead of me.  I'm not even 18 yet, and I have the world at my fingertips (Bahahaha, literally, cuz I'm on the internet. =D).  I have my corny sense of humor and the knowledge I've gained through this process to help me in college and in life.

Although one of my dreams will never come true, I've had many others that have.  And I think disappointment keeps people working towards bigger and better things.  I knew my FFA career would have to end at some point.  I'm sad that it has to be now, but I know that since this door closed, another door will open even if I have to make a hole in the wall to find it.

I fully believe in fate.  I believe that things happen for a reason and that, even though we may not know why right now, we will when the time is right.  When dreams end, that just means it's time to dream about something bigger and newer.  After something as big as this, I'm starting small.  My dream is to find a twin size Mossy Oak Camouflage bedspread for my dorm room.  I'm living with a bunch of engineering majors, so I plan to bring out the "Aggie" full force and show them a little Hick-ness.

After that, who knows?!  Life is unexpected.  We have to take the bad with the good, and have faith that everything will be fine, whether we truly believe it or not.  I honestly thing that this is the right thing for me right now.  I know it sounds crazy, but I'm okay with it.  I know that I'll know why eventually, and that things will be better than they were before this.

Fires

Dear People,

It's definitely field fire season.  That means that there are going to be a lot of afternoon calls from now on.

And field fires are often hard work.

I think they're more work than house fires.  Because with a house fire, I'm a lot of external support.

I change air packs.

I get chain saws, pike poles, axes, and other equipment for the guys working on ventilation.  Which is what these guys are doing.

I fill air tanks with breathing air so they can go back into the smoke.

 I get water and Gatorade so they stay hydrated.






And basically just get anything else they might need.

On a field fire, though, it's a bunch of quick hard work.
  This is our Wildfire.  It was made by 1st Attack Engineering, and is specially designed to aid in fighting field fires.  Just behind the cab are two jump seats (they're made out of race car seats) that the two firefighters buckle in to.  They each have a nozzle attached to a hose that only extends about 3 feet from the truck.  There's also a hose reel on each side that will stretch about 50 feet from the truck.

  This is Jeff.  He's the guy that builds them.  He looks scary, but he's kinda like another dad to me.  He's a really neat guy.

  This is just a little fire.  Looks nasty, but it's not too bad.  With our truck, putting out this little guy isn't bad at all.

  Even this one still isn't too bad.

But when you come up on this, it's a little frightening.  At least Mr. Tractor still has some time to get moving before the fire gets to him.  Because if not, he'd be a crispy critter.

So: basically, use your heads.  Don't be stupid.  Burn stuff when it's not windy.  Don't burn 80 bajillion piles at once.  And don't leave while stuff's still on fire.

Be cautious and warn your parents to do the same.

Sincerely,
Me. =)