Wow, it's been a while since I updated this thing.  Geesh.

School: sucks.  Nothing more to say.  Finals are this week.  I have a few papers to write.  I work ten shifts (over 34 hours) this week.

Work: is alright.  I'm getting a lot of hours this week which means a bit of money which means I can pay rent and tuition...screw food.  I've gotten used to not getting to eat...a few days of discomfort will not matter if I get my bills paid.

Life: dangerous.  My hospital bills are getting high and socail services has called me twice, along with the Dean of Students, to make sure I am not in an abusive relationship.  Just because I have had about six concussions, nine stitches in my forehead, a weave for my ear, and multiple cuts and bruises does not automatically make me a victim...unless the abuser is gravity.  Dean of Students: I am being abused by gravity.  Please put me in a safe house and call the police- I would like to press charges.  I guess it's good that the faculty care so much- maybe they'll actually be able to help someone who is actually being abused.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am going to be late to work this morning.  I have a splitting headache and the start of a beautiful black eye.  I'm tired because I stayed up writing a paper on a movie that I didn't watch that was due at midnight.  I'm listening to M.I.A. Paper Planes...very good song.  Had to explain it to my older sister...very funny.

I'm kinda burning myself out right now.  I'm looking for another job because work won't let me drop a shift...even though school is supposed to come before work...whatever. 

The only thing I really have to look forward to is Christmas and going to Georgia.  Fun fun.  My dad says that once the FBI is after you and break into your house/work/whatever everything kind of loses its appeal.  He's right.  Fun fun.

I get to walk home...in the rain.  YES!  But no at the same time because then I will be cold and it will not be fun.  On the freaking bright side (imagine a rainbow here) I got my Idea Proposal back from my Santa/Dumbledore/Mark Twain Greek Myth prof...and I have a go on my paper!  My paper is comparing Mythology and "Interview with a Vampire" (the book not the movie...).  I'm going to talk about how Louis is every single one of the six main archetypes plus the Shadow at one point or another in his Mythquest.  I am thoroughly excited.  On the downside, I have an English Linguistics test on Monday and I still can't really hear the difference between the "schwa" sound and other vowels...and I can't hear or feel the difference between an omega th or the other th...kill me now.  I have no idea.  I hope I pass.  I also tested negative for TB and got fingerprinted!  I am not almost complete with EDFE 110!  I'm on the first step of becoming a teacher and warping the minds of thousands of children!  YES YES YES!!!  Life could be better, but I'll take what I get!  Woopie!

So, today, my roommate finally got here and we went grocery shopping.  Since I do not have a car anymore, I couldn't go and get food...so I didn't have any food for the past three days...and I'm a wimp when it comes to going without food because, well, I love my food.

Anyway, so we got food and I helped her get settled in...and then....we made....PECAN PIES!  Yay!  I freaking love baking and I love baking pecan pies.  It's a recipe that's been in my family for freaking ages...yum.  I am excited to have a piece...

yay ^_^

 So, I was watching the news yesterday (because my Internet wasn't hooked up yet, so I couldn't read it).  The story that was on really caught my attention.  Gov. Perry granted teachers the right to carry and conceal firearms in a small school.  I thought I had misheard the reporter, but I did not.  As long as the teachers meet the criteria (1. teacher must have a concealed handgun license, 2. be authorized to carry the gun, 3. have special bullets that lesson the chance of ricochet, 4. have training in crisis management/hostile situations), they are allowed to have guns at school.

I'm completely against this.  I think that the whole gun issue is a grey area (Guns don't kill people, people kill people vs. Guns are weapons that kill) and I believe that each situation needs to be individually assessed.  I think that people have the right to carry guns and I also think that registration should be limited (actually, I think that a person should also have a psychological exam) so as to not impose on an individual's right to privacy.  However, I am completely against allowing teachers to carry and conceal firearms.

1. Accidents happen.-I'm sure there is a list or percentage somewhere on the internet that has the total of deaths caused by accidental shootings, but I can't find it.  Guns are foolproof.  Sometimes guns go off withou warning. Even those individuals who have been trained extensively become careless.  What if the gun were in the teacher's desk and a kid accidentally bumps the desk and the gun goes off?

2. People are unpredictable.-Teachers are people just like everyone else.  They suffer from depression and have emotions too.  If a firearm is made available to them at any time and they become unreasonably upset, the teacher might decide to do something drastic because the gun is at their desposal.  If I were a parent sending my child to school where the teachers were allowed to have guns, I would constantly worry and panic- IF I allowed my child to continue to attend.  People are irrational when they become emotional.

3. Professions.- Some teachers might be cut out to take down other individuals who threaten their class...but they are TEACHERS...not the police, not Special Weapons and Tactics.  No matter how much training a teacher gets, they are first and foremost a teacher.  They have not been specially trained to fully assess a potentially deadly situation.  They could endanger the students' life if they take an unwise action.  That's not to say that teachers should not take action against a possible threat, but it should be defensive action- a teacher should defend their students to the death (and I can say this because I am going to be a teacher and I think that teachers should protect their students in any way possible).

4. High school/middle school students.- Students, even more so that most people, are unpredictable.  They have crazy hormones and are more prone to depression, anger, and suicidal thoughts.  Put a gun within a child's reach who has the reason to use it and they won't have to think twice about the hows- a gun will be at the ready.  The student wouldn't even need to sneak a gun in or get hands on it in the first place.

These are the major points that I have.  Some people might think, "Hey, I would rather take the chance that 1,2,3, or 4 could happen in the offchance that someone comes to school and points a gun at me."  As someone who knew people in Columbine and who went to Platte Canyon during the shooting on September 27th, I have to say that having a teacher bring a gun to school would not comfort me in the slightest.  The teachers were just as scared as us and they had no idea what to do; they could only wait for SWAT and the cops.  Adding more guns into the mix, in teachers' hands, calls for disaster.  Once a gunman enters a school, there is nothing anyone can do except try to get through it.