"Miss Independent, oooh the way you shine. Miss Independent"

Hello world.
It's been awhile since i've blogged for a more personal side. You know when you take long breaks in between blogs there's just so much thats happened that you don't really know where to start. The big thing in my life that takes up most of my time now is College. For those of you who didn't know, I'm a freshman this year. I'm not having the traditional college experience. I made the decision to live at home and drive to campus for classes. One of the main influences that led me to this decision was money and wanting to graduate free of loans (yes, it's possible!). I always wanted to be there for my family and the friends that are like family to me. Life is so short; I want to spend as much time with the ones I love the most as possible you know? I guess part of African culture is Family Over Everything. I would easily sacrifice things that are just for fun (partying and such) to be helpful to my parents, my brother, aunts, cousins. Younger girls need someone to look up to more then ever. If you have little sisters or cousins, you should definitely be an open, safe person for them to talk to (as long as you feel you're on the right track yourself. Don't lead them astray).

Speaking about people going astray, it's amazing how much trouble people can get into within the first couple days of the school year. In America people have had this idea that college is the time for experimenting. I see where the idea sparks from. You can't really go off doing things that could possibly have negative results when you're married with five children. College is a time where you're independent, but don't have anyone depending on you. It's one of the best times to go off and kind of find the person you want to be. All this in mind, statistics show that many people go off track this first year. My personal thinking is that I don't need to try anything that I know is bad or has negative consequences. My brother put his finger on the stove and got burned. Chances are if I do the same thing, the result won't be different. The stove will still be hot, and my finger will still be burned. I don't think you need to purposefully make mistakes to learn from them. You can take what has happened to other people and make an example of it.

A lot of these have consequences too big to bear. As far as drugs go there are many reasons their illegal. I'm not just talking the hard core stuff  like heroin, but even taking a tylenal has its consequences on your body. I know that I get one body to use for the rest of my life. I have to desire to insert anything unclean that could cause me harm in any shape or form. A glass of red wine a day is healthy. Getting wasted multiple times is not, because the more you do it the more your body suffers the consequences. I never had overbearing parents that tried to make me avoid everything the plague, so maybe that why i'm not so in awe and crazy for  drinks and drugs like most people my age. They're a part of life, and if you want to do those things I'm not judging you. It's your life to live. But I personally don't see the point in drinking if i'm using the money daddy put on my credit card to buy the beer or whatever. If I don't have my own, then i'm obviously not at the point in life where I should be doing those things. It's like a man asking his mother for a ride to the strip club. "Pick me up at 10? " Does that sound right to you? As far as i'm concerned, you can't be "independent" if you need to use someone elses money to be that way. Just food for thought.

song of the day: Miss Independent - Neyo

Quote of the day:  True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.