Teach for America

It's something I'm considering as an option after college. Loan deferment is a plus. CNN has a little something to say about it right now.

One More Thing

I just watched an interview from the Colbert Report on the 18th. Meghan McCain was on and I really like her, despite being extremely liberal.

Here's a CNN article about it and you can watch the interview below.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Meghan McCain
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Keyboard Cat

Teenagers!

They like hugs. It's weird to not be able to say "we" now.

“If somebody were to not hug someone, to never hug anybody, people might be just a little wary of them and think they are weird or peculiar,” said Gabrielle Brown, a freshman at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in Manhattan.

Comforting as the hug may be, principals across the country have clamped down. “Touching and physical contact is very dangerous territory,” said Noreen Hajinlian, the principal of George G. White School, a junior high school in Hillsdale, N.J., who banned hugging two years ago. “It was needless hugging — they are in the hallways before they go to class. It wasn’t a greeting. It was happening all day.”

Schools that have limited hugging invoked longstanding rules against public displays of affection, meant to maintain an atmosphere of academic seriousness and prevent unwanted touching, or even groping.

But pro-hugging students say it is not a romantic or sexual gesture, simply the “hello” of their generation. “We like to get cozy,” said Katie Dea, an eighth grader at Claire Lilienthal Alternative School in San Francisco. “The high-five is, like, boring.”

Also, texting is apparently a bad thing? I wouldn't disagree so much, except that talking on the phone is worse than texting. The article does touch on the ability of texting to bring people together and blah blah blah.

The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.

Dr. Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in Greenbrae, Calif., recently surveyed students at two local high schools and said he found that many were routinely sending hundreds of texts every day.

“That’s one every few minutes,” he said. “Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That’s going to cause sleep issues in an age group that’s already plagued with sleep issues.”

I'm sorry, but I still have sleeping problems. When you're younger, it's just how most of the people are. We imbibe caffeine like we're hooked up to an IV of pure Mountain Dew or energy drinks, so what else would a parent expect? Couldn't it just be that those of us who text late at night do so when we're not able to sleep, instead of the texting being a cause?

Stupid California

The State Supreme Court voted to uphold Prop 8 today. 

GRRRRR

At least they are allowing those who got married when same-sex marriage was legal to stay officially married.

Seizures

My sister and I went to see Star Trek Monday, but she was feeling really odd and nauseous. As we walked around Barnes and Noble searching for a place to sit down, her whole body went limp and she stopped responding to my voice. I eased her down to the ground and held her head in my lap as I watched my sweet baby sister helplessly seize and shake. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but as soon as I did, I had help.

There was a woman behind me with her cell phone already out who was able to call 911 within seconds of when Kelsey's seizure started. Even more luckily perhaps, a gentleman who works at the store is married to a woman with epilepsy and was able to help me handle the situation. Unfortunately for myself, he arrived just a short time after I put my finger in Kelsey's mouth to stop her from biting her tongue off. I do not really regret that decision, but I'm thinking it's not so good that I still have no feeling in the tip section of that finger.

The seizure lasted between a minute and a half to two minutes. It was the longest-shortest time in my entire life. My sister is like my daughter, is my best friend, and one of the people that makes my world a better place. Sure, we fight a lot, but I think that she and I both know how very much the other loves her. The ways in which her body contorted and twisted, trembled and shook - there are no words which can describe the terrible mark those sights have left on me.

As Kelsey started coming out of her Grand Mal seizure, I was sure she was dying. Her clenched jaw began to ease up, but her breathing was still so labored, almost non-existent; her eyes were still in the back of her head and her face was still the palest I've ever seen it. The man whose wife had epilepsy was talking me through the situation, telling me that she would be alright, but there was a big part of me that couldn't believe this Good Samaritan.

Nothing... nothing... finally a breath. I laid her down on the ground in the open area which had now become our ground zero. She kept crawling around, squirming and grunting. I just kept talking to her, saying her name, and telling her that everything was going to be alright... even though I wasn't sure it would be. I had to believe, if only just for her. It was a few moments later that the paramedics showed up.

Altogether, about five minutes had elapsed from the time my sister passed out. I was very impressed with the quick response from the EMTs. The both of them were very helpful and I was so grateful to have these men who knew how to handle both the situation and someone who is younger and very confused. The younger of the paramedics was very good with Kelsey throughout our time with them.

Once the paramedics had gotten some vitals from my sister and vital information from myself, we got Kelsey onto the stretcher and headed for the elevator. Kelsey still doesn't remember being fully with it during this time period, but she was so scared. She kept talking about how she wanted our mom, that I needed to be right with her, and that she didn't want to go to the ambulance. I had tried to maintain my cool throughout the situation, but seeing her so confused and so very out of it made my heart drop.

Once we got down to the ambulance, the paramedics wanted me to sit in the front seat, where Kelsey couldn't see me. I began to call my parents and let them know what had happened now that I could count on paramedics to care for my sister. My mom sounded brave on the phone, but I could feel her heart sink; the situation was the same with my step dad. The paramedics came over and let me know that I could come sit right next to Kelsey instead, helping the two of us feel a whole lot better.

We sat in the ambulance for what felt like ten minutes before actually leaving for the Children's Hospital. En route to the hospital, my sister finally came to completely. By this point, we had talked five or six times about what had happened, but this last time there was a different look in her eyes. She understood what I had said and started worrying about our financial situation instead of her own health. She also stared making more jokes, so I knew that she had come back. She didn't really recall any of the events of the day or even the night before.

We finally got to the emergency room entrance of the hospital after almost losing Kelsey to traffic during the ride. Her stretcher wasn't secured all the way and she started to drift towards the doors. The paramedic in the back didn't notice right away, but I did. After everything we'd already been through that day, I had to re-lock her stretcher into place too. I'm just happy she didn't fly out onto the busy road behind us.

We were shown to Kelsey's room and she was able - for the first time - to move on her own. The attending nurse got some more vitals and then left us to get Kelsey into her hospital gown. She was still amazingly dizzy and it was near impossible for her to stand on her own for longer than a second. We got her changed into her gown. It was the first time we'd been alone since we'd left the car before ten thirty. Understandably, after the day's events, we hugged so tightly and began to cry. It was about this time that my parents showed up, turning the crying duo into a foursome.

We were in the hospital for a few hours. Between phone calls and text messages, most of anyone important knew about the situation relatively quickly. The nurses got Kelsey on a saline IV, then ran blood tests on electrolytes, an EKG, and a CT scan. After all those tests, there wasn't any reason found for Kelsey's seizure. She only has a 30% chance of having another seizure again in her whole life, but that won't prevent me from watching her like a hawk when I can be around.

Oh, Netanyahu...

You've been a busy boy.

Monday, the current Prime Minister of Israel met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the peace process in Israel/Palestine... Interesting. It seems like Netanyahu wants Egypt's help with a new crack at peace in the holy land (meant semi-sarcastically, trust me).

Thursday, he made a surprise trip to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II:

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, said that the Israeli prime minister and the Jordanian monarch discussed bilateral issues and the peace process with the Palestinians. On the subject of Palestinian statehood, Mr. Regev said only that “the Prime Minister expressed his view that he is committed to moving forward and is committed to tangible steps that will benefit people on the ground.”

A statement issued by the royal palace after the meeting and quoted by news organizations said that the king had also asked Mr. Netanyahu to accept the Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel normal ties with the Arab world in return for a full withdrawal to its pre-1967 boundaries and a solution for the Palestinian refugees of 1948.

If that wasn't enough for the day, Netanyahu met with Pope Benedict XVI to ask for a denunciation of Iran from the Catholic Church.

In a closed 15-minute meeting in Nazareth, the northern Israeli city where tradition says Jesus lived, the pope and Mr. Netanyahu discussed “how to advance the terms of the peace process,” Father Lombardi said.

Mr. Netanyahu said he and the pope had discussed “the historic process of reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism.”

Father Lombardi said they had also discussed the continuing negotiations between the Vatican and the State of Israel over the Roman Catholic Church’s legal and taxation status in Israel.

Why is there a need to discuss the reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism? I guess I'm not important enough to say, but if there is a reason, it must be to try and figure out a way to bring about the same sort of phenomenon with the other monotheistic faith, Islam.

Throughout his visit to Jordan and Israel, Benedict has been calling attention to the plight of Christians in the region, whose numbers have been declining.

Unfortunately, Christians end up being grouped with Muslims as a minority in Israel. These same people who have experienced "reconciliation" with Judaism are forced into the most terrible parts of Israel/Palestine and are even made to use roads of a lesser quality because of their 'religious and ethnic inferiority.'

This upcoming Monday, Netanyahu visits DC in order to meet with President Obama. This is a major part of the Obama administration's stance on the conflict in the holy land - that there should be a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine:

The Obama administration has fired its own warning shots. It asked Congress to make minor changes in a bill to allow aid to flow to a Palestinian unity government that would include members backed by Hamas — a step away from a blanket refusal to deal with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organization.

The changes ruffled lawmakers in Congress, who tweaked the wording to make it more restrictive. But the episode rattled Israeli officials, who recently waged a fierce military campaign against Hamas in Gaza to stem its rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns.

Adding to Israel’s qualms, a senior State Department official, Rose Gottemoeller, said at a recent conference in New York that the United States favored having Israel sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which would require it to declare and give up its nuclear arsenal.

We will see how well the talks go, but with the tension regarding Iran, it may be a trickier situation than the optimistic one many hope for. Netanyahu says, though, that Israel will not strike against Iran without Washington's approval. Let's hope they don't get it.

Star Trek

I love it. 

It cannot really be compared to the original movies or the television series. It's more like the Willy Wonka movie with Johnny Depp - completely different from the original but not quite equal enough to compare. Really, this movie is an alternate universe version of the Star Trek we know and love.

Oh, and I love Zachary Quinto as younger Spock. This could be due to the fact that I have a Spock fetish, or just because he's awesome.

Back Home

Mmmmhmm.

Back to having no room, listening to everyone bicker/complain, and appreciating having many hours at work.

Only 114 days or so until apartment-with-my-twin time.

Moving

Except for the fact that I and my laptop are sitting in my dorm room, I've gotten everything moved out. It feels nice to have gotten that all done so quickly (relatively) but I'm gonna miss this room... and hearing the church bells all the time, at least until September.

Oh Carroll College, how I'll miss you so.

If they don't give me a choice next year when I graduate as to whether college or university is on my diploma, I'm going to have a conniption fit.

Also, for randomness, here's a YouTube video of the Death Cab/Cold War Kids/Ra Ra Riot concert I went to. Cold War Kids is totally my favorite band now.

New Blog

I know I don't post that much on here as it is, and I feel terrible about that, but now I'm about to make it worse.

I've started another blog. It's only about the JRA/Still's Disease aspect of my life, so I will still be posting things here. However, the content here will be much more focused on the other random crap I talk about on here anyhow.

Also, first post on here since I turned 21. Whoo! I got to go to a Brewers game, see Trevor Hoffman save the day, and had a generally nice birthday.

Having a birthday right before finals has its drawbacks though... So tired...