Changing your mind...

So I realize it has been a while since blogging. It seems like I kind of forgot about this wonderful blog. Well, according to this title, I shall be talking about changing your mind. Or mine. Hmmm...haha anyways, recently I decided to change my major, which is pretty huge, especially for me. It seems like I have wanted to be a veterinarian for like EVER (actually only since I was a freshman in high school). It's funny because when I was younger, one of my friends had always dreamed of being a vet. In fact, whenever we played together, we always ended up "operating" on one of my stuffed animals. She was always the vet and I was always the vet technician, basically like a nurse. As I got older, the idea of being a vet really took hold in my mind. I thought that would be the coolest thing ever! When it came to pick my classes for high school, I had immediately begged my mom to let me register for the Introduction to Agriculture class that would eventually lead to taking the pre-vet class later on in my high school career. She told me absolutely not and wouldn't I rather take an accounting class? That definitely did not fly by me. When I was a sophmore, I begged her again to let me take the class. She instead wanted me to (again) take the accounting class. Thankfully, the accounting class was completely full, so she let me take the agriculture class. I was so stoked. Finally I could follow my dream of being a vet! At my IEP, the people even arranged for me to job shadow a vet to make sure I could physically  do the job. An IEP is probably one of the worst things invented (it's a meeting where they basically just talk about you and how you are doing in classes and whatnot. Because I'm so independent, these meetings were a TOTAL waste of time, but that's besides the point). All through the rest of high school, I was prepared to do whatever it took to make my dream come true. I ended up visiting the vet school at the University of Illinois. You could not get me to leave! I just had question after question about the school. One of the professors was already planning on how to allow me to do equine surgery! How cool is that?!?! When I started at the University of Alabama, my heart was still set on someday practicing veterinary medicine on animals of all shapes and sizes. However, as the year began to fade, I began to think about whether I truly wanted to spend the next 8-10 years studying to be a vet. Was I still passionate for the practice? Was I willing to spend all that money on college tuition? In the end, will I be happy with my career choice? Will I be able to make a positive impact on the world? All of these questions swirled around in my mind. Finally, I decided that no, I wasn't passionate for the practice, no I'm not willing to spend all my time and money on this career, no I don't think I will be happy in the end, and no I don't think my impact on the world will be very big if I become a vet. As of right now, I have decided to become a teacher. Hopefully, I can teach either science or math because I still love all the things to do with biology and the world's systems and everything along those lines. You know, I had a great English teacher in high school. His first year teaching was my senior year. He not only taught us what was on the curriculum, but he also taught us life skills and gave us advice on how we should live our lives. I want to be like him and inspire a kid to make his/her dreams come true because I know they can do it. Teaching is a difficult job, and those who decide to teach aren't paid NEARLY enough for what they do for the kids of today. I just want to be that teacher that everyone respects and can learn a good lesson from. "If you can make guacamole from the lemons life gives you, then you have learned something." A quote from the guy who inspired me to do what he does best: teach.

I'm not in Kansas anymore

So the last few days have been pretty rough. You might have heard that deadly tornadoes ripped through Alabama. Well, that tornado just so happened to be a few hundred feet from where I was sitting, huddled in the hallway with a lot of the people in my dorm. The devastation is incredible. Thankfully the tornado missed all of campus and all of the dorms. However, 15th Street and McFarland Ave. were badly damaged and destroyed. A lot of people lost everything: their homes, their jobs, and some even lost their lives. Most people were out of power for about 3 days, but some are still struggling after this tragedy. School was canceled for the rest of the week, and our finals were canceled as well. I actually found this out from the radio because our power was out. Let me tell you, when it's nighttime and you don't have power, it gets REALLY dark! We had emergency lighting in the hallway, but it's definitely not the same. Instead, I stayed up until odd hours of the early morning playing poker on Wednesday with some of the guys and getting a football thrown at me to try to flip me over with some of the guys and my roomie. Memories were made in the midst of this tragedy, but all I could think about was going home. Then, I felt kinda selfish because a lot of people don't have a home to go to, but God spared me for a reason. I'm not done with whatever my mission is here on Earth. I just wanted to take some time to thank the people I know for always being there for me, even when I'm being slightly difficult lol. I also want to say that I want to take time to be there for you, whoever you are that is reading this. I want to be a better, positive person that you can always lean on. Sometimes it's tough and I don't always have the time with studying and basketball practice, but you can depend on me. No matter what. Tell your friends and family that you love them because you never know when your going to take your last breathe. Appreciate the little things and throw some carpe diem in your life : ) Go do something for someone else because there is always someone who is hurting or going through a harder time than you are. Live epically.