4 years!!

Today my boyfriend and I have been dating for four years. FOUR YEARS!! Geez, that is a long time. We just did the simple dinner and a movie, but it was nice! We are movie junkies, so that is completely fine with us! We started dating our freshman year and have been together through all four years. It is crazy to think that it's already been that long. We have been through a lot together.

Hopefully one day I'll get a ring :]! Now that we have both graduated and have real jobs maybe we can start thinking about "settling down".

Say it isn’t so!

The past few weeks we have been dealing with this idea of books becoming digital. I have been hearing this from a lot of different perspectives and my mind is going crazy trying to wrap my head around this issue.

I talked to the Librarian at the university I work at about this issue. She is convinced that it will never happen. She said this "fear" has been around for the past decade and nothing has happened yet. She stands firmly on the grounds that students learn more from using actual books.

But is that just a librarian talking or is that really the case? Is there something about actually having the book in your hands or will the future generations prefer a computer on their lap? I hate the idea of books becoming extinct, but is it a necessary transition?

Run Baby Run!

A goal I have set for myself this year is to run the half marathon at the Memorial Marathon. That is 13 miles! The weird thing is I don't run. Honestly I haven't "ran" in about three years. I signed up for a 5k on Labor Day and ran about two miles of the three. I only almost died like twice. I did it in 43 min (which is not that good). After this race I realized the need to train, go figure! I hope that writing this blog will keep me encouraged to keep it up! I'll keep the blogging world posted on my progress!

MTV Music Awards

Yes, I am really about to blog about Kayne West! I'm sure just like hundreds of other people who thought what he did was stupid. It showed no class. For those who may not know, Taylor Swift won "Best Music Video" at the MTV VMA Awards tonight. During her acceptance speech, Kayne went up on stage and took the mic from her. He went on to say, "I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time." He completely ruined Taylor Swift’s moment.

I will agree that Taylor may not have been the best choice for the “Best Video” at the MTV music awards, since she sings country music. But that doesn't change that she did, and she got the votes. She was completely shocked and didn't know what to say after Kayne embarrassed her in front of millions. I felt bad for her, and I don't care if Kayne is known for being outspoken and causing uproar, that is a little too far.

Sorry but I had to get that off my chest!

"Government barking at the door of free speech"

I just read an article in the Gazette, "Government barking at the door of free speech". It talks about the issue with anonymous bloggers, writers, ect. It recalls the current court case where Google was forced to give the name of one of their anonymous bloggers because of the content in the blog.

The writer of the article quotes Barbara Allen, a former Tulsa World editor and reporter, "This is a country that supports a free press and freedom of expression, and on that has very thoughtful laws about what is and what is not considered protected speech. I cannot support the kind of paternalist view that suggests 'nastiness' is something the government should attempt to control or regulate. It truly flies in the face of the foundation of this country."

The writer believes that we should not blog anonymously. He says that it's reasonable for the courts to hold people accountable for what they say, but when they are ordering for the names of anonymous bloggers to be revealed, it can't be good for free speech. So, his main argument is don't write anonymously. By doing so you are doing your part to keep the government from barking at the door of free speech.

I found this article intriguing and it left me with a few questions...

Should bloggers write anonymously or not?
Should the court system order companies to give them names?
What does this do for free speech?

Grad School

Well, I have survived my first two weeks of Grad School. In this transition, I have not only started a different realm of education, but I have also started at a new school. Coming from Southwestern Christian University, UCO is a whole new world. My first day of class two of my professor’s cussed in class. I know this is nothing shocking to students who went to state schools, but for me it was evident that I had been on a Christian campus for four years. As different as the atmosphere is, I think it will be good for me.

I am excited to see a different perspective in the classroom. In no way did Southwestern guard me from the real world, but at a non-Christian school there are obviously going to be various perspectives and world views. I am excited to be in this setting and I’m anxiously awaiting the new ideas that will come my way. How else do I expect to be a legitimate teacher if I only have one way of looking at things?

O sweet spontaneous - e.e. cummings

i love writing in all lowercase letters.

to me all words look better in lowercase. you would think since i was an english major that it would drive me absolutely crazy when people didn't use correct capitalization, but it doesn't. if i enjoyed writing (which i don't) my trademark would be lowercase letters. e.e. cummings did it why can't i? and yes, i am completely aware that cummings may have preferred capitol letters.

he demonstrated unconventional orthography in a lot of his poetry. he experimented with structure, capitalization, and punctuation. a man after my own heart!

i may become a writer just so i can break the normality of the written world. the only problem is, i would more than likely write children’s books and they wouldn't appreciate my revolt. so i guess i will continue to conform to the real world and use CAPS when i write...

beccah nelson

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

So Snow in March! I don't really care much for snow or cold weather, but when it gets school cancelled for a day I am completely okay with it. I would like to say I got a lot done with that day off, but I didn't. I caught up on much needed sleep which was great. I did have plans to be productive, but that never really happens. Sitting here tonight looking back at the weekend I wish I would of got something done. I'm trying to catch up on little assignments by tomorrow so I can feel like i have accomplished something over the weekend!

I have a pretty busy week coming up, but I am going to keep my focus and really try to get some stuff done. I am running out of time, and I don't want to do my usual and stress out the last week of school trying to finishing everything. I'm also heading up to Dallas this weekend, which should be fun! Making a move there is looking pretty near in my future. I'm going to check things out and see what I think, I also get to check out some schools while we are up there. Hope it will be a good experience.

Take two...

This past week has been crazy! I feel like I got absolutely nothing done. I am extremely behind at work and with my school work. My problem is I have a big problem with saying NO! And because of that my legal pad continues to grow with "to do" items. What I need to do is pencil in some time to organize my LIFE!

I have so many project going on right now that I need to take care of; Annual Meeting, Memorial Marathon, Spring Banquet, research papers, thesis paper, applications, and just life decisions that I am dealing with right now.

Annual Meeting and Memorial Marathon are huge! I feel like I keep getting more and more responsibilities handed to me dealing with these two projects that it is becoming overwhelming. One good thing is that it is job security :) I guess! But nonetheless I am ready for them to be over with.

Spring Banquet is coming quick and I'm starting to regret being SS President. I didn't realize that Spring Banquet was such a choir. With budgets being cut it makes it even more difficult. But things seem to be coming together slowly.

My thesis paper is becoming a reality, and I am not fully prepared. I am trying to do research, but I don't feel like I have even scratched the surface to what I need. I am dedicating this week to my thesis paper!

Decisions I am facing right now top all of my list. I am having to actually make a decision that will greatly affect two people instead of just myself. I've never had to decide anything like this before and I don't know what to do. I am praying and hope that I will soon have peace about the situation.

Okay now that I have had my pity party I am ready for this week.

Real Life!?!

Real life is beginning to creep up on me. I can hear its footsteps in the back of mind.

It is my last semester at SCU and Senioritis has kicked it up a notch. I am absolutely ready to graduate, yet I am completely terrified with what graduation holds. !ReAL lIFe! (scary music plays in the back ground)

So what will I do with my life? That I do not know. This is where Beccah Meets World... face to face. I am going to face a lot of challenges in the next few months, and this blog will be by my side as I embark in this journey of my new beginning.

I am in the process of applying for Grad School now, which in its self freaks me out. I know that is where I go next, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the whole idea. I am also working on my resume. I took a class last Saturday over resumes and interviews, which just left me with more questions over the subject. I am contemplating on joining the site www.linkedin.com. I've heard that it's social networking for professionals. I've also been told that it is much like an online resume. I feel so grown up even talking about such things :).

Even though I sorta have a plan, I still sit here with questions. Where have the past four years gone? What are my friends going to do after graduation? What is life like outside of Southwestern? As scary as it all is, I'm ready!

Bring it on world!