SMU: My New Home

Family weekend has come and gone. I remember anticipating my parent’s arrival for weeks. It meant free food, shopping with my mom, and a taste of home here at SMU. I did manage to eat amazing food off campus and shop, however my parents visit reminded me that I am on my own, and that SMU is my home now- not Chicago. I loved every minute with my parents this weekend, but much to my surprise when the time came to say goodbye, I wasn’t upset. When they left me back in August, I was a mess. I was so unsure of everything and had no idea what to expect. Now that I’ve become acclimated to Dallas, and made new friends, I’ve started my own life here, independent from my parents. I almost couldn’t wait to have my parents leave so that I could resume my newly created life. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents more than anything, but i’ve just become so used to my new routine and way of life that I was ready to get back to it. I feel guilty for being happy that they left, but it just didn’t feel right. This is my home now, and I’ve built a life independent from my parents. It will be interesting to see how things are when I go home in three weeks…will I fall back into old routines, or have a hard time leaving my SMU life?

Early Adoption: A good or bad thing?

If your anything like me, you’re dying to get an iPhone- if you don’t already have one. Unfortunately for me, my cell phone carrier doesn’t support the iPhone. While I was upset at first, I knew that Apple would release something similar or market the iPhone to other cell phone carriers. And, true to Apple form, they have released a similar product to the iPhone: The iPod touch.

I’ve always been one to buy new technology before anyone else. I love trying out new products, and nowadays with technology booming, it’s hard to resist. I bought the first generation iPod before people really knew what they were. And now with millions sold each year, I feel proud that I was one of the first people to buy one. But, like most early forms of technology, there are problems. While I love my iPod, I can’t even count how many replacements I’ve had. Just from the hard drive freaking out and crashing, or the screen freezing. While Apple gladly replaces them, each time it breaks I find myself saying, “That’s it, I’m done with iPods!” but then I realize how amazing it is when it does work.

This leads me to the iPod touch. I’m dying to get one. It has everything I want from the iPhone, just not the phone. It’s even thinner than the iPhone too! I’ve been doing research on the Touch, and after much consideration I’ve decided to wait. This is rare for me. I usually buy new products impulsively, but I’ve not read many great reviews. And, i’m almost completely convinced there will be flaws in the first models of the touch, and just like the iPhone, the Touch will go down in price by at least $100. While the Touch does boast a new, very exciting feature: Wireless iTunes music store, I’m not completely sold on the whole concept yet.

So is it really better to buy early so you can be one of the first owners, or to wait, read the reviews and wait for a price slash?

YouTube

YouTube. We all use it. I’ll even admit to using it. I constantly go on to watch funny video clips that my friends discuss, most of them hilarious, some just stupid. Just this past weekend my roommate shared with me some of her favorite video clips, and I was genuinely disturbed. I think Youtube is a great site to go to when you want a good laugh, but if you really think about it, why on earth are people broadcasting themselves on the internet doing the most absurdly strange things?! There are two people on YouTube that I’ve found who have “Video Diaries”. Basically it is them recording themselves talking about their lives. The first guy my friend showed me a few months ago. It was hilarious at first, and I honestly could not stop laughing. But while I was laughing, I actually felt sort of bad. While it gives me a good laugh, I worry about these people. Why would they videotape their lives and post them for everyone to see? I wonder if they realize that people just watch their video clips for pure amusement? I mean if they have 100+ entries all with mean comments, you'd think they'd read them and stop broadcasting themselves. One comment on his most recent video should make anyone stop posting videos. "first off, you're ugly as hell, second, get a pair of balls already, she is jsut a girl. third, who fucking cares about ther JACKET! look at you tie!" I mean, come on! Are people that bored and desperate that when people are blatantly mocking them, they STILL broadcast?!

We all know that Britney Spears has been a big topic of discussion lately, and in response to her flop at the MTV VMA’s, Chris Crocker- a YouTube video diary addict posted a seriously disturbing video . While he says that he is serious, and really is upset, I really question what he is doing on YouTube.

I would never be caught dead doing that and it worries me that some peoples lives revolve around YouTube and how many hits they get.

Have We Forgotten?

September 11, 2001. That date is forever etched in my mind, and the images that follow will disturb me for the rest of my life. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Who would have thought that at the age of 13 my world would be forever changed? I was school when the news broke out and I remember the day being filled with questions and confusion. Was it really World War 3 as people were saying? Did New York City really explode? I guess everything got blown out of proportion that day as most adolescents don’t’ know what there talking about when it comes to world news. But I do know this- the world did change, and it may not be world war 3 but there is definitely a war still going on, whether people want to admit that or not.

As the six- year anniversary approaches this week, I find myself filled with confusion again. My heart breaks when I think back to that dark Tuesday, and I can’t help but think that people have forgotten what happened that day. Each year I become more observant of people around me and I’ve noticed that as the years go on people seem to have really forgotten. The first anniversary was the hardest one, and the ceremonies that took place were extremely moving, and I noticed Americans taking pride in our country. But now, no one seems to notice that the anniversary is this Tuesday. I think it should be a national holiday or day of remembrance for the thousands of innocent lives that were lost.

Another issue that has been on my mind for the past few years is the War on Terror were fighting. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of not following the news on a regular basis, and I just read the headlines on the Internet. However, I don’t even need to read the headlines to be enraged. I just listen to ignorant people talk around me. “We shouldn’t be fighting in Iraq! Were killing innocent people!” “Why can’t we all just get along and be peaceful!?” I too wish the world could be a peaceful place full of rainbows and butterflies, but that is just not the case. People in America seem to take advantage of our freedom, and fail to realize that if they were living in the middle east their freedoms would be greatly limited. I just wish people would understand that even though Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terrorist network are rooted in Afghanistan, the middle east is the forefront for the war, be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan etc. I just recently watched a video online saying that Osama Bin Laden is probably hiding in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. What angers me is that our troops can only search for him on the Afghanistan border, which makes no sense considering we give 10 billion dollars in aid to Pakistan- you think they’d let us look for him?

I hope that that by the next anniversary of 9/11 in 2008 I’ll be able to blog about the capturing of Osama Bin Laden instead of his search.