p365: may 29

may 29: went to discovery bible church for the last time to see ben and say goodbye. after lunch i came back and did some major packing. i feel like it's never ending. when i get back home i'm unpacking everything and doing a major purge of my life. i'm a pack rat and really need to get over it.

met up with balls and mary. mary's engaged! we were talking/looking at a bunch of wedding stuff. it's a lot of fun! we grabbed some dinner and hung out some more. balls just got back from her world race training. i'm so excited for her.  she's going to grow so much over this next year.

this is olive who just lazed about and watched me pack. i like this picture a lot. i think it's neat and i like the expression on her face, even if it's a little blurry.

p365: may 28

may 28: did some more packing and worked on my surprise for bruce and becky. i spray painted two huge b's that i got from the scrap exchange. they were broken from old bb&t bank signs. it was a lot of fun. i really liked working with spray paint.  i think i may do it more often.

went over to b&b's to hang out for the night. becky and i exchanged art. she made me this canvas for my new house. i LOVE it. i know so much time and love went into it. i can't wait to hang it up at my new place.

p365: may 27

may 27: last day at work. had a farewell lunch at southern roots. my co-workers gave me a card and a target gift card. one of my co-workers gave me a ball state travel mug. it made me really happy.

it was kind of surreal. as i drove away from campus my head knew that i wouldn't be back for awhile, but i don't think it's hit my heart yet. hpu has been my home for the past five years. i can't believe that i'm actually leaving.

soapbox

WAR SCHOOL from Ben Newman on Vimeo.


allow me please, to step on my little soapbox.

after watching this video what was your reaction? shock? horror? despair? the better question is, did you know that this is happening? every day? outside of our little comfy american bubble, children are being forced to do unimaginable things. things that we think only happen in movies or in books. here in america we are outraged that our gas prices are rising, that our iphone is broken, that our shoes don't match our outfit when around the world children, innocent children, and being forced and trained to do things that would rip anyone's soul to shreds.

this video forces you to open your eyes, to broaden your mind, and to think about more than yourself.  i came across it on tumblr. aside from being disturbed by what i was watching, i was even more disturbed by what i read.

lightburninonthedancefloor:

saracanfixit:

turboswag-:

kyyyyyyyylee:

-wewereinfinite:

starryash:

giantasspandas:

cigarettes-and-whiskey:

puremutiny:

This actually made me cry, please watch.

Chills. Brutal truth is just too much sometimes. But damn you all should watch this.

k when the little girl was forced to do that.. homan, teaaaaars :’/ This shouldnt be happening

The human society is disgusting. Ugh.

please, everyone that follows me, take the time to watch this. you really should.

This is so sad and upsetting

THIS IS INHUMAN. The world is fucking sick.

I can’t believe this is happening… and I didn’t realize it was until I watched this video. Some people are absolutely disgusting.

I had no idea this was happening until Tumblr pointed it out to me. Like, the world isn’t just about Glee and Apple products? Wha?

holy shit this video is incredible

wow.

OH MY GOD. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

Fuck. I cannot-

really opened my eyes

I have no words.

well this was amazingly shot, but i can’t even… no words. this just broke my heart. 

——

That was really powerful for 8 minutes. oh, god. 

At first I was like, “what the actual fuck?” And then I was like “No way this shit is actually happening man.” But then I cried a little bit when the end came up and said the facts about the ‘training camps’. This is fucking disgusting. ):

the fuck is this. i am shocked.

this is so sad. I cried. I cannot believe this actually happens in real life. This world is disgusting. What a shame it is.

oh my dear. this is insanity.

Please watch this. This shouldn’t be happening. This world disgusts me. 

just watch it.

Please watch and reblog. If you can reblog pretty photos and quotes then you can take 2 seconds and reblog this.

 omg. i can’t even.

As amazingly well shot as this is, and as much as this is a cause I really, really care about, it seriously almost makes me as mad how many comments are all “oh man I can’t believe this actually happens.” The fact that we live in a society that can so easily ignore/almost hide that this is a huge problem world wide is equally heartbreaking.

http://www2.invisiblechildren.com/ <— don’t just reblog. Do more. 

how can some people not know what is happening? do you not read the newspaper? do you not turn on the tv? heck, do you not watch movies? blood diamond? black hawk down? tears of the sun?

aside from all of this another question popped into my head. this video depicts white children soldiers.  how would these bloggers react if the children soldiers were black like so many in the world are? maybe it's the devil's advocate in me, but i wonder if they would react as strongly if the children in the video were black.  would people be as appalled and disturbed? this is something that is a reality for so many countries in africa. does the rwandan or darfur crisis ring a bell? the civil wars in the congo? children in these countries fear for their lives on their miles upon miles commute to school everyday. they worry about being kidnapped and brainwashed and forced to murder their families and friends.

it's proven that when the crisis in darfur and rwanda broke out america tuned out. i spent a whole semester researching it. american's couldn't relate. they didn't understand or know where the countries were so they didn't care. africa is one of those continents that has countries that are out of sight, out of mind.  i just wonder how americans would react if this were to happen in predominately white areas like canada or western europe? would they be more outraged because appearance wise, it hits closer to home?

i don't mean to sound preachy or accuse anyone of not caring. i just wonder what the world would be like if we were all more aware and more informed of our surroundings.

p365: may 26

may 26: had a good-bye lunch with lauren. :( exit interview at work and then going away party with some of my co-workers. my new glasses came in today!!!

p365: may 25

may 25: back to work for my last week...or i guess 3 days. super pack mode has been initiated. ugh. i hate it. i wish i could teleport everything from here to pa and then from pa to in.

p365: may 24

may 24: last day in indy. leanne came to town the night before. we explored alicia's greenhouse, went to charming charlie, and then lunch in downtown carmel. david was trying to tell leanne how the statues came to be.

leanne: "this isn't narnia david!"

p365: may 23

may 23: spent another day in the city then hit the road to head back to indy. on the way back we saw this beautiful sunset. it was crazy, but i'm so glad we stopped to see it.

p365: may 22

may 22: wedding day!!! got to see my beautiful friend emily get married. it was so wonderful. i had so much fun at the wedding and i had a blast catching up with friends.

p365: may 21

may 21: had breakfast with molly and then drove to chicago. we checked into the hotel and made it into the city. got to have dinner at an awesome irish pub/restaurant called the emerald loop, then walked around downtown for a little. i know i say it a lot, but i am head over heels in love with this city.

p365: may 20

may 20: friday! worked then drove to charlotte to fly up to indy. it was nice because i got to see matti! she also got to meet buddy bear.

p365: may 19

may 19: it's buddy bear's last day in the south. he said he's going to miss it, but is kind of ready to get home to the mid-west. he's all packed and anxious for the travel. he's excited to fly though, especially at night. buddy bear is quite the traveler.

p365: may 18

may 18: uneventful day at work. sam was in town for the night. she's riding with bruce and becky to charleston, sc for jenna's wedding. i went over to hang out with her and b&b.

buddy bear was excited to meet another one of my friends. he bowed to greet her in typical east asian style. he's such a gentleman.

p365: may 17

may 17:  hung out with bruce and becky tonight. got some chinese food then ran some errands around greensboro. good times. i'm going to be sad to leave them in a couple of weeks.

buddy bear knew i was going to get chinese and asked me to pick him up a pair of chopsticks. he felt like it helped to complete his ensemble.

p365: may 16

may 16: monday monday. another work day. actually, it's my last full work week at hpu. next week i'm missing a few days for emily's wedding.

buddy bear was wanting to get in touch with his roots so he donned the appearance of his far east brothers the panda bear. the look suits him if you ask me.

p365: may 15

may 15: church and lunch with friends. more packing, organizing, and generally attempting to get life in order.

on top of packing up my room i also started packing for indy/chicago this weekend. buddy bear is anxious to get back and hopped into my suitcase. no worries. he'll be travelling via backpack, not suitcase. don't want the little guy to suffocate or anything.

p365: may 14

may 14: wedding season commences! ran some errands during the day then got ready and headed to randleman, nc to attend paul and aimee's wedding!

it was a fun time and i got to see some friends that i haven't seen in awhile. this is ben being a wonderful groomsman. paul and aimee were trying to leave and he was blocking they're way. what a jerk.

p365: may 13

may 13: dun dun dun. friday the 13. nothing too exciting at work. hung out with jen and demmi all night, which was fun.

came home and started to pack some. buddy bear wanted in on the action and was hanging out in one of my plastic tubs.

p365: may 12

may 12: olive was feeling left out because buddy bear cuddled with daisy the night before. she wanted to feel loved too so they had some quality bonding time.

p365: may 11

may 11: another typical day at work.

went to bruce and becky's for the night for dinner and the watch modern family.  buddy bear was tired of being left behind so he tagged along. he and daisy became pretty good friends, especially since she didn't try to eat him. :)

p365: may 10

may 10: uneventful tuesday.

new episode of the voice. buddy bear got caught up in the moment and wanted to be a star too. typical bathroom singing into the hairbrush.

p365: may 9

may 9: slow monday at work.

buddy bear is anxious to go to chicago.  he was counting down the days, only 12 more!

p365: may 8

may 8: day of recuperation.

buddy bear was feeling the hpu spirit and wanted to join in.

p365: may 7

may 7: graduation day!!! another crazy day. had to be at the ceremony at 7 am and wasn't done until 3:30 pm. then went to winston to catie hammond's graduation party and got to meet her family and family friends. after that went out with catie, balls, mcgee, and erica. it was so weird. it doesn't feel like it's been a year since i graduated. it was also sad to say goodbye to people.

this is me and my two littles. i'm so proud of them!

(buddy bear had the day off. he just relaxed at home.)

p365: may 6

such a crazy day. worked commencement luncheon and baccalaureate.  kelly stayed with me so she could go to graduation. we watched the gran torino.

the movie has intense at some points, so kelly made sure that buddy bear had his eyes covered. we didn't want to traumatize him.

p365: may 5

may 5: craziness at work. getting ready for graduation weekend.

buddy bear wanted to play hide and seek with olive. he was staking out in her play cubes. she didn't take the bait.

p365: may 4

may 4: had an eye appointment at 1:15 and was planning on going back to work afterwards, but the appointment lasted until 4 and the dilated my eyes, so i was basically blind and useless. made it home and passed out because my eyes and head were throbbing.

buddy bear decided he was going to relax tonight with a southern treat of cheese grits and washed it down with some mint tea. i think he's really enjoying his time in the south!

p365: may 3

may 3: busy busy day of work. that's what happens during the week of graduation.

i got to talk to francesca! i haven't spoken to her in awhile. it was good to catch up. she's going to india for the summer and i'm so excited for her. i hope i get to see her at emily's wedding.

buddy bear wanted in on the action. hopefully he'll get to meet her in a few weeks!

p365: may 2

may 2: monday's are always kind of dull.

buddy bear is getting acquainted with olive. olive usually doesn't like stuffed animals and sometimes attacks them, but she seems to like buddy bear. they even shared a moment on the windowsill. bff's in the making? it's a possibility. i'll keep you posted.

p365: may 1

may 1: may day!!!

buddy bear had a very active and action packed weekend.  he decided to unwind at night by relaxing with a good book. he appears to be a fan of dan brown.

p365: april 30

april 30: buddy bear got to make another new friend!

eliza came down to go to the steak house on campus with me. she was excited to meet buddy bear. buddy bear even got to see the steak house and have some delicious lemon cello cake and orange blossom tea (we had to sneak him in).

buddy bear had quite the exciting weekend!

p365: april 29

april 29: buddy bear got to go on an adventure to charlotte. i met kb and brandon there for dinner...well i met kb there for dinner. brandon let us have some girl time.

we went to the cheesecake factory for dinner and saw usher! he was eating three booths away from us. it was crazy.

anyways, buddy bear was lucky to meet a lot of new friends this weekend.