I come from a land down under ;)

It's all said and done, it's real, and it's been fun

2009-05-06T20:08:00Z

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} As the year is finally coming to an end I would like to take this time to thank all of you for coming and reading my blog. This has been a really exciting year filled with growth, experience, and love. I was able to do so many things this year and I was so happy that I could take all of you along for the ride. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my experiences as much as I have with writing about them.

To all my friends who are graduating college this year I say farewell with all the love in my heart. You are all such wonderful people that I am so thankful I was able to have in my life. You all have touched me and helped me grow and I will always be thankful for our amazing memories. You leave ready to take on the world and I challenge you to question all that is around you and go out and kick up some dirt and let people who know who and what you are about. Great things will come to all of you. I just hope you always remember to have laugh and know that life is not about how many hours your work or what your job title is. It is about how you live your life and about how much love you give to others. Always remember that when times seem rough and you long for your college days know that they are right there with you, always in your memories ready to be replay again and again. Remember to have fun and live life to the fullest because you only get one shot at it and you want to make it worth wild. I love you all and wish you only the best. Thank you for being in my life.

Now onto you incoming freshmen, everything you know is about to change. You are going to find yourself questioning everything you have ever known. You are leaving behind a time and place you will never know again. Which is really the point of going off to college, you get the chance to really see what you are made of. By leaving the comforts of home you are leaving a lot of things. You are leaving behind your moms or grandmas great home cooked meals. You are leaving behind friends you have known for a lifetime. You are leaving behind a bubble of security which is has extended all that it can and is ready for you to burst out and explore new places. Leaving all this can be very scary and you will find yourself lonely at times yearning for the comforts of home and friends that know you better than you know yourself. And what you need to know about that is, is that everyone feels that way at one point in time during the first year or another. These same fears will be spread all along your new dorm, for everyone is leaving home for the first time and everyone is feeling a little out of place. There is a caution to this fairy tale life you are about to come into that is college and that is something that many people do not talk about. As you start to make new friends some of your old high school friendships may start to weaken. You need to know that this is okay. That you will not stay best friends with everyone from your home town, you are going to grow and change some much within your first year of college and so will those very same friends that you have known all your life. It is okay to let each other change and grow. If it is a real friendship you will make it through everything just give it time, space, and a lot of understanding. And lean on those new friends you meet at college for again they will be going through all this as well.

Now here is some advice, take what you want and leave the rest

* Laugh as much as you can while you are here and do as much as you can

* Join clubs and teams on campus its the best way to meet new and amazing people that you never would have otherwise

* When you are old enough go out to the village and have a fun night, go the Dill Street long enough to see what the inside looks like but go and stay at the Locker Room all night. Get Carters and Greeks as much as you can. These nights will be some of the best nights so make them count,

* Go to TIS and buy as many BSU t-shirts that you can I think I own them all, they are cheap and are a good thing to just throw on when late to class

* Get to know your teachers. They don't want you to do poorly in their class so if you get to know them they might even give you a little extra help

* Know that your GPA only matters to the first job you will get right after college. After that they ill go off your work record. This doesn't mean you can slack off but what it does mean is that it's okay if you don't have a 4.0. Life is all about balance. I'll keep my 3.0 and all memories of the wild nights that kept me from a 4.0

* Know that if you ever feel lonely the people you love most in the world are just a phone call away. Stay in touch with them because in the end they are the ones who you can always count on

* Take all your core classes as soon as you can...I am kicking myself now for putting some classes off til my last year.

* Study abroad...trust me on this...if this is the only thing you do out of this list it will be well worth it.

* Go to as many free things BSU offers as you can wheather its a speaker or a comic it will be worth it

* Live off campus at least after your second year. It will give you a good taste of what it feels like to be really grown up and you will learn how to budget your money.

* Go vist other colleges and your friends at those colleges

* Get a job

* Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are the only one standing.

* Go to Sunshine Cafe at random hours of the night.

* Know that sometimes it's more important to stay up and watch old movies with your friends then to study for a test that is next week

* Also know that it's okay to stay up and making memories even if that means that every now and then you will sleep through your first class :)

* Be open minded to others. The great thing about college is that everyone is so different than the people from back home. Everyone here come from very different backgrounds and very different lives. It will be good for you to see how other people live and how they see the world.

* Most important thing to remember is college goes by in a flash, before you know it it's done and you will look back and wonder where all the time went. Enjoy yourself, have fun, make mistakes, question the world around you and open yourself up to being questioned. Laugh until you cry and love until it hurts.

but trust me on the study abroad thing....

Thank you all so much.

Much love

Cheers

Quote of the day:
If you're feeling frightened about what comes next, don't be. Embrace the uncertainty. Allow it to lead you places. Be brave as it challenges you to exercise both your heart and your mind as you create your own path towards happiness, don't waste time with regret. Spin wildly into your next action. Enjoy the present, each moment, as it comes; because you'll never get another one quite like it. And if you should ever look up and find yourself lost, simply take a breath and start over. Retrace your steps and go back to the purest place in your heart... where your hope lives. You'll find your way again

2009 NEDA CHAMPS

2009-04-29T15:19:00Z

2009 NEDA NATIONAL CHAMPS!

Debate winners!

2009-04-27T15:53:00Z

My partner and I getting our second place award

National Champs

2009-04-21T23:15:00Z

BALL STATE WON THE NATIONAL DEBATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!

Ball State went and dominated at nationals this past weekend.

Open:
Carrie and Kaytee
Sam and Ben both were semi-finalist

Novice
Nick and I got second

Crossfire
RJ and Lauren Harper bot second

We also had two All Americans who were Sam and Ben

Sam and Joel each won first place in theri divison for speaker awarsds

RJ got second in cross fire

Carrie Jared and I got third place in our divison

Nick and Lauren Bade got fourth and fifth

Kaytee got sixth

and Misty got tenth

This past weekend was so amazing and I was so happy that I was able to go and be apart of it. We got to go walk all around DC and we went and saw so many different things. I stood where Martin Luther King JR stood to give his speech. I saw the Lincoln, Washington, Vietnam memorial We went and saw the White House and the Holocaust museum. It was such a great time and i was so proud that I was able to be apart of this team. We all worked so well together and really put in a lot of work and it paid off.

If you want to join the Debate team next year please send me an e-mail and I will be able to give you all the info you need

lcdixon@bsu.edu

Hope everyone is having a great day

Cheers

Quote of the day
It is easy to forget how perfectly life works out. When you are down, you believe that things never work in your favor. But if you look back, you see that, in many cases, things happened exactly the way they needed to

The Good Stuff

2009-03-26T15:24:00Z

I know it has been awhile since I wrote last but like always school work has over taken my life. I think that teachers really don't understand sometimes that their class is not the only class we are taking. I mean they all give us so much work and don't think about the fact that we are taking at least four other classes along with there and being active in school activities, ughhh it is just too much sometime! I feel like there are just not enough hours in the day! I have so much to do but never any time to do it. When I get a free second I don't even know what to do with myself.

So for some debate updates, nationals is coming all to soon! We leave the 16th! Nick and I have had a hard time making up our minds on what case to run. We keep flip flopping between Oh I dunno about three different cases. I think we are just going to stick with our FEMA case because this past Sunday we had some Alumni come back and watch us debate and debate against us and it was so helpful! We got to see what graduates from BSU are doing now with their different degrees and how debate has helped them. One guy even talked about how he doesn’t use anything that he learned in his classes on a regular basis but uses his debate skills every day with dealing with people and being able to communicate with them. It was really cool because there were people in a wide range of different careers. We had college professors, lawyers, high school teachers, business men and one girl who helps write bills for Indiana. It was a really amazing experience that I hope they continue to do.

Well that was just a short little update about life and such.

Hope all is well

Cheers

Quote of the day:

Often, the greatest growth takes place under the hardest of circumstances. Look deeply to learn the lessons of the coldest, most painful times, for within them lies your greatest potential for transformation

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2009-03-09T18:50:00Z

So this past weekend we had our last debate tournament until nationals and Ball State dominated! We got first and second in all three divisions. Nick and I got first in our division going 4-1 and we he got fourth place and I for third place speaker awards. Joel and Lauren got second and they each took home a speaker award. Ben and Sam took first in their division going 5-0 and Sam got first place speaker award. Kaytee got second (by the way Kaytee debated all by herself and went 5-0) and she also got a speaker award. J and Misty got first place in crossfire and Lauren and RJ got second and all four of them got speaker awards. Now I want to spend a little time talking about one of our debaters RJ, RJ is blind and has major hearing loss and let me tell you he is an amazing debater. I thought it would be really hard for him to be able to hear and come back with arguments but really he is amazing. He speaks so well and has so much passion when he debates. He has this computer type thing that makes it so he can find all of his evidence and it shows up in brail for him. Also he uses this hearing device that his partner Lauren moves to his opponents so that he can hear them and be able to follow the arguments. It is pretty amazing to see him debate it gives you the confidence you need to know that anyone can do anything as long as they try and believe in themselves.

So how all we have left is nationals and that is going to be in Washington D.C. this year. We have our work cut out for us because everyone is going to be coming after us for how well we have been performing. We have a month to really build up our cases and make them as strong as we can. We have a really great chance at winning so we really have to work hard and make sure we are really prepared.

Well that’s all for me. It’s spring break so now I have time to write by two twelve page paper that are due when I get back.. L

Hope all is well!

Cheers

Quote of the day
"There is a place in this world which no one else but you can fill." -Jigsha Desai

This wont last forever, so let me make this count

2009-03-01T06:04:00Z

You know we only have so much time here to do as much as we can, and the older I get the lazier I feel about just letting time pass me by. I want to do and see as many things as I can but it’s almost like the more you plan the more you see that you don’t have all the time you really need.

My sister is graduating high school this year and I just can’t believe how time has just flown by. It seems like yesterday I was graduating and she was just stepping into high school. I am so proud of all that she has done and what an amazing person she has become. My grandpa always says that the older you get the faster time goes and I think he is right.

So to all of you out there who are reading this I hope you are doing everything you want to be doing and enjoying every minute of it. Too often we lose focus on what really matters in life because we become so swept away by everything we have to do in a day. I hope you take time to laugh and hang out with your friends. I hope you do well in school and become all that you want to be. I hope you remember that your family, whether the ones you are born with or the ones you make for yourself love you and are so proud of you even if they don’t say it as often as they should.

Often times I have to remind myself of the last piece of wisdom I am giving out, that in life even if things don’t go the way you planned them to, everything ends up the way it’s supposed to. And even if right now seems to be a dark time in your life there is a reason for what it is happening even if you can’t see it now, one day everything will be as it should.

That is all for me

Cheers

Quote of the day:
there have been lots of ups and downs, but ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what makes you who you are. we all know how to laugh, we all know how to cry, and we all know how to love back. we all know heartbreak, but the world keeps moving, and we keep moving along with it. and everything we experience helps us realize how beautiful life really is

Wear Sunscreen

2009-02-28T22:37:00Z

Wear Sunscreen
Mary Schmich

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.

Oh nevermind. you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.

But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looke.

You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts.

Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy.

Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind.

The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive.

forget the insults. if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives.

some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t.

maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can.

don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old.

and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you.

Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it.

Advice is a form of nostalgia.

dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

It's gunna be a what? Girl Fight

2009-02-24T16:06:00Z

So this past weekend at the debate tournament things got pretty heated between me and this girl from another school. She walked into the room with the HUGE attitude of like I am better than you than gave me, this F you look that even my partner was like...man she just gave you a death stare. So then it was on and we pretty much went back and forth the whole debate. When I got up to question her partner i just nailed her and was the harshest I have ever been on someone before. At the end of the round I went to shake her hand and she didn't even look me in the eye and then after the rounds were over that night one of the schools kept talking crap about us and they would all look over to our team then laugh I almost lost it at one point. So I go to cool down in between these two double doors and the mom of one of the debaters walked past me and looked at me as if i was the dirt she walked on, man that just sent me off and I was ready to lose it! See these other schools think they are better than us because they are all private extremely religious schools. Then here we are this crazy public school who gets to live in buildings with boys and don't have to have chaperone's when they are with someone of the opposite sex so of course we are bound to hell.

So on a good note, both Sam and I got second place for speaking awards in our divisions. Joel another one of the debaters got 4th place in my division, and he has her partner Lauren who this was her first tournament did a really great job. Sam and Ben got third place over all. Next tournament is at Anderson then we just have nationals left. This semester is going by so fast!

Thats all for me

Cheers

Have a good day

Quote of the day:

When you are arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing

Debate Debate Debate

2009-02-13T14:07:00Z

I know it has been a little while since I have posted anything but school is really keeping me busy. We went to our first debate tournament and we did not do as well as we hoped, but it was good because we got to see some of the cases the other teams were running. Carrie and I both go speaker awards and Carrie and Kaytee took fourth place. We are defiantly going to be ready to go for the this weekend coming up in Danton. Nick is my new partner and we seem to be getting along really well. We have a lot of the same ideas and we complement each pretty well. I think we should do a really good job once we get our case set up and ready to go.

I think I should explain what I mean when I talk about our "case" see in our type of debateing there are two different styles. We have Crossfire and Novice/Varsity. In crossfire you talk about if we should or should not do something. in novice/varsity you provide a plan on how you are going to take care of a problem. Last year I was in crossfire and now this year I will be in novice. At first I was really nervous about doing it because there is so much more that goes into it but now I am really liking it.

On Sunday Nick and I will go upaginst Ben and Sam for a practice round. Both Ben and Sam are really amazing debater. Sam, I am not going to lie kinda scares me because she is so great with coming up with amazing questions to ask people about their case. It really is awesome how good she is. Ben was my partner last weekend and he did a really great job with helping me and giving me feedback on what I could work on. It was great to have Ben there and show me the ropes of how all this works. Ben and Sam together during their first year won at Nationals so that just gives you a little insight to how good they both are. So lets hope that Sunday they can rip apart our case and make it as good as it can be for when we leave next weekend.

Well thats all, I have to go check a bus to get to my class.

Hope all is well

Cheers

Quote of the day
"Do everything you want and if it’s something you regret in the morning… sleep late."

Winter/ Debate

2009-01-30T14:06:00Z

Like I have been saying a lot these past few post, I very much dislike winter!! And on top of that I had a meeting set for this morning at 8 when I do not even have class until 10 and the person I was meeting with never showed up so I lost a few hours of much needed sleep. :(

But on a better note, I am back in the swing of things with the debate team! I really missed it while I was away. You really learn so much it is crazy! Right now our resolution is "The United States Federal Government should significantly limit the authority of the Department of Homeland Security." I thought this topic was going to suck but really it has been great. There is so much stuff that you never even think about until you sit down and start to research and discover all kinds of wild facts. We leave on Thursday for our first debate tournament of the semester, we have to take a eight hour bus ride to get to the school, not looking forward to that. But there is talk that this year nationals are going to be in DC so I am really hoping that is true! Last year they were held in New York City and Ball State WON! It was amazing! We got to go around in limo for five hours all over down town it was great... and the best part is I didn't have to pay for a thing! Yeah being on the team BSU pays for everything so it was great to go and do all that we did pretty much for free. Well I am going to go walk to class now, Hope everyone is having a great day!

Cheers

Quote of the day:
"You can't give up Looking for a diamond in the rough Because you'll never know When it shows up Make sure you're holding on Cause it could it be the one"

living off campus

2009-01-17T19:10:00Z

I guess I should fill you in on some of the challenges that come with living off campus.

1. The walking to class when its cold part
I live about a 15-20 min walk from campus. The walk is really not that bad if well its not -31 out like it has been the past few days. It really takes the breath out of you to have to walk all the way when is it in the neg. But the closer you get to campus the more you are going to pay in rent.

2. Heating the house
So I live in a bigger house. It is also a older house. It takes a lot to heat it. Also we have a big sliding glass door and three large windows and the front door all in our main living room so it leaks in cold air all the time which keeps our heat on all the time trying to keep our house at 61 (which is what we keep it out to try to keep the bill low) but the past few days the heat has been on non-stop because it has been so cold. I had to go out yesterday and buy stuff to put over the windows to try to stop the cold wind from coming in. Our house yesterday was at 48 degrees because our windows leak so bad. But the plastic we got for the windows really works great.

3. Food
So living off campus we don't have a meal plan, we just go and buy whatever food we want. This works out great sometimes because you don't have the same old things to pick from every day, or you don't have to worry about running around and trying to spend your meal points before a certain time. But it kinda sucks because I spend money on food at home and then I am on campus all day and buy food again because I get hungry during the day. I know I could pack a lunch but I am not a great cook and eating BP&J everyday will get a little old when you see all the great food the Atrium has. I wish i was not as lazy and really prepared food to bring with me to save some money. But really Atrium food is real cheap. I get soup and fries and water for under five bucks.

4. Bills
Paying bills sucks. I hate when that time of the month comes when all our bills come rolling in. But I guess you take the good with the bad. Some of my roommates while I have been away have had some hard times getting bills paid on time. This really annoys me, I hate when bills are paid late. Just a little FYI pay the bills on time it saves on late fees.

5. Freedom
I love not living on campus. I think dorm life is great for a freshmen year, but after that no way Jose. I don't like all the rules that come along with living on campus. Also I like to have friends over of when my family comes to visit let them stay with me instead of getting a hotel. Having your own house or apartment is so great because you can paint the walls, put up whatever you want and be able to have more than one person fit in your room and have it be comfortable.

6. Pets
Living off campus is also great because some places let you have pets. I have a dog that I can not live without. I love her and she is like my child. It takes a little looking for but there are places out there that let you have pets. Most the time you have to have a deposit for them but it is worth it. Living on campus gives you a sense of security, but it can be scary to live with just a few roommates. Having my dog makes me feel much safer in my home. Not that Muncie is a bad area but I think it is just better to be safe than sorry. Beside it's nice to come home from a long day of class to a pet the loves you and is happy you are home.

7. Backyard
It's really great to have a backyard and when it's nice out having people over for a BBQ.

8. Parties
It's much better to have parties in a big house than in a tiny dorm room. :)

Ok thats all for today.

Hope all is well

Cheers

Quote of the day:

All things splendid have been achieved by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance. -Bruce Barton

Winter

2009-01-14T14:03:00Z

Let me tell you, I HATE winter! And it sucks living just far away from campus to make the long walk in the cold make you hate your life, but then its also not long enough to really get a parking pass. Looking out my window this morning there is like 2 inches on snow on the ground from last night and than when I looked up the weather we have a weather advisory warning. All this cold really does make one miss the beach! Well I am off to fight my way to class. Have a great and warm day everyone!

Cheers

Quote of the day
"Baby its cold outside."

Hawaii!!

2009-01-10T02:49:00Z

So I just got back from Hawaii and let me tell you it was amazing! I went there for nine days with my family and we did so many awesome things! We went swimming with sharks one day that was my favorite. We jumped in this cage and they were like nine feet long. It was so crazy thinking about being down there with them. We were told to not touch them but I did and it was a real rush haha. We also went snorkeling and it was really awesome the reefs were really shallow and I got cut up a little bit from crashing up against them. We also went and saw Pearl Harbor and it was such an sad thing to go through. To go and look at this place where all these men are still engraved is very sad. To walk around there trying to think about how that day went what they were are all thinking it was such a weird feeling.Then we went to the Mighty Mo and walked all around the ship it was really awesome to go all up and down this HUGE ship. We got to see where everyone slept and the steps to go up and down the ships are so tiny it must have been so hard to run up and down them. It was so great though. The weather there was perfect. It was never to cold and never to hot. we stayed less then a 5 min walk to the beach. We also tried surfering we just rented some surf bords for an hour and we just around down out there and a huge Sea Turtle came up right by us. It was pretty great. My brother actually got up a few times he did pretty good. Well thats all. It was a really great time and I am so happy my family and I got to spend my time together. Tomorrow I go back to school and start getting ready for my classes.

hope all is well.

Cheers

Quote of the day:
"Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters."

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right

2008-12-31T23:04:00Z

Hello everyone! I wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe new year! As we close the door on this past year it is really amazing to think about all the amazing things that have happened these past 365 days. We had everything from a man smashing records from a cube in China making us stand up and cheer when we beat the French from having someone put the hope back into our lives and making us believe that Yes We Can make a change and having for the first ever an African Amercain leading the free world.

So with this we say goodbye to you 2008. Thank you so much for the good and bad times that you have brought us. I hope that 2009 will bring as many amazing things as 2008.

Quote of the day:

"We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential." ~Ellen Goodman