Big Ben

Okay, so I am fair-weather football fan honestly. Being from Pittsburgh, I love the Steelers and have watched them since before I can even remember but recently only when they have been successful and I don't follow any other teams. Having said that, I do not know much about the whole process of suspending a player and what not and how they determine whether to suspend somebody or not. However, I think that Big Ben should be suspended or have some form of punishment. I'm not saying that he did what he's been accused of, but I will say that any average Joe in the same position as he is would been a lot more trouble then he is in and I find that to be bullshit honestly. He is a celebrity, yes, but he should still be put under the same scrutiny as another person charged with a crime. Sure, this is really no evidence and the claim is thin but even more then half of Pittsburgh thinks that there should be more to this then him not even being charged and left to just deal with the media.
Which brings me to a second point, the media is being ridiculous! I mean can you say overdone much. I was watching ESPN the other day and every 15 minutes, I kid you not, they repeated the video clip of some guy saying that he will not be charged as there is not evidence and whatever. It was ridiculous and frankly I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing it. I just went onto a local news station's website and the main story on the page was something about Dan Rooney and his statement on the whole situation. Because that is so much more important then say a major car crash on the Turnpike that shut down a whole section or new budgets for the city or whatnot. At this point, nobody cares anymore and it's just annoying to continue to see more and more stories on the issue when there are things that are so much more important. But in the end it comes down to celebrities sell and bring in an audience, especially one as big as the Steeler's quarterback. It's just a shame that people care so much more about sports then they do things that are going on in their area and political decisions that are being made that will have positive and negative effects on their daily lives.

Jobs and Careers

So I've been looking for a job for the longest time, submitting tons of applications all over the place and still can not find anything. Now I'm trying to figure out a career for myself and am falling short there as well. I know I want to major in Photography, but where will that get me? I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck trying to figure out how I am going to be able to afford everything. I would like to stay at the school I originally started at, Point Park, because, although I was there for only one semester, I loved it. But I am a little limited there as to what I can go into unfortunately. I have recently been reconsidering my original plans as either forensic science or psychology. Unfortunately Psychology can be the same way as Photography, sure some people can go out and find great jobs and make great salaries but others can be trying to figure how to survive on what they make.
So yet again I'm back to not knowing what I want in life. If I went with what I love to do it would be Cooking or Photography and unfortunately those can be kind of sketchy careers to have just because you could end up working and making just above minimum wage.
As for the job thing, I have no clue what is up with that. I read a newspaper article not that long ago that basically said teens are going to have an even tougher time finding jobs this year due to a series of different things. What sucks is I have bills to pay and no way to pay them right now. I was thinking for a while, what if I do an at home photography business where I go and take pictures at family events and such for cash, but I know. I wouldn't even know where to begin to advertise myself for something like that. Sure I could put ads in local papers, but I am an amateur photographer and although I know I am good and can take some really great pictures, I just don't know that people would actually go for something like that. So I have no clue but I need to find something fast! I understand I barely have any experience but I've got an excellent work ethic and I'm a fast learner and I just wish employers didn't go so much by previous experience and interviews because someone could have an excellent looking work experience and be the perfect interview but be a horrible employee who never shows up and fulls around on the job. You never know until you hire someone.
Right now, I'm just trying to figure out my life and what I want to do with it. Unfortunately, it's a lot longer thought process then it ever was when I was in high school.

The Lovely Bones

So slowly but surely, I have been reading The Lovely Bones which is a wonderful yet tragic novel full of sadness and learning to move on. I had seen the movie first, which I don't often do and honestly am disappointed in the movie. The book focused so much more on the girl watching her family try to cope with everything and how they move on from her death but the movie focused so much more on her time in heaven. Anywho the movie is still pretty good but it only has the basic outline of the book in it, other than that the two are completely different.

Anyway, while reading the novel the other day, I looked at the back of the book and in it is a grayed out section that contains discussion questions. Normally I would ignore those but lately I have found it interesting to see what others deem the most important parts of the book. The first question mentions the very beginning of the novel, which most people remember as being "My name was Salmon, like the fish..." when actually the very beginning of the novel describes Susie as a child and her father explaining that the penguin in the snow globe is in his own perfect world. The question asks how that relates to Susie's situation and whether it really is a great and perfect world or whether it's a curse.

Personally, I find it to be a curse. Sure, she can do whatever she wants in her heaven, but she is still subject to seeing everything in the outside world. She, like the penguin is in a glass bubble, watching the world go by around her and she can't be a part of it, she can't even stop it. It's a curse because she has to watch her family try to live with the fact that she is dead and watch her murderer get away with what he did to her and other women. She has to watch the mistakes her mother makes, her father obsess over her death, her sister grieve in an unhealthy way. She has to watch all of this and not be able to do anything to help them or stop them or allow them to fully move on. That is why it is a curse, because like that penguin, she is stuck watching everything fall apart and try to reconnect itself and that in itself is a terrible thing.

Anyway, I just really thought that was the perfect question because everybody has their own opinions to something like that. Some people would say it's great because she can no longer be harmed and she has the opportunity to move on and be in peace; but to me, it's a true curse that I really would never want to go through. It's selfish but who really wants to watch everybody they ever knew continue to live and move on with their lives when they are incapable.