DON'T CHA...which this song was never sung?

For those of you who listen to the radio, ever have on MTV or some other way have heard the "Pussy-Cat Dolls" song Don't Cha, you know what I am talking about. It's stupid, and it's catchy. And I made the mistake of thinking it would be a funny way to pick on Tom while we were on the phone if I started to sing the chorus. I figured he would find it...annoying and silly, like I do, and would pretty much command that I stop singing stupid songs to him or he would hang up, at which point I was going to start singing at a much higher volume for about two more seconds right before I stopped. Why these ideas go through my head, I may never know. But it backfired when he found the song hilarious and decided that he and Ben need to do a rock and roll cover of it. Well. That wiped the smile right off my face. Not that it won't be hilarious to hear their version of the song, but I don't need any more help having annoying songs stick in my brain. If only it were that easy to remember all the rules and tenses of Spanish and the boring notes I take in Biology...not that my bio teacher is boring-quite the opposite. But anyway, the point is that this song is getting in the way of me and my life. I can't quit singing "dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" *sigh*....I'll just post the lyrics and let you see why it's so stupid for yourself....

Don't Cha

Oh, baby dolls

I know you like me (I know you like me)
I know you do (I know you do)
Thats why whenever I come around shes all over you
And I know you want it (I know you want it)
It's easy to see (it's easy to see)
And in the back of your mind
I know you should be home with me

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

Fight the feeling (fight the feeling)
Leave it alone (leave it alone)
Cause if it aint love
It just aint enough to leave a happy home
Let's keep it friendly (let's keep it friendly)
You have to play fair (you have to play fair)
See, I dont care
But I know she aint gon' wanna share

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha , baby
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

I know I'm on your mind
I know we'll have a good time
I'm your friend
I'm fun
And I'm fine
I aint lying
Look at me, you aint blind [2x]

See, I know she loves you (I know she loves you)
I understand (I understand)
I'd probably be just as crazy about you
If you were my own man
Maybe next lifetime (maybe next lifetime)
Possibly (possibly)
Until then, Oh friend your'e secret is safe with me

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

This version of the song is a bit milder than the one with the f-bomb in it, but I assume the worse one is the version they have featuring Busta Rhymes. Oh my head. Funny story: One of my sorority sisters is in a class with a gay guy, and the other day in class he was singing a variation of this song..."Don't cha wish your BOYFRIEND was hot like me? Don't cha wish your boyfriend was a freak like me? Don't Cha Don't cha?" haha

This song is officially driving me crazy.
~Megs

Sick and Tired

of being sick and tired.....
Basically, I had a Spanish test Friday, a practice in-class composition in Spanish Monday, a Psych 2980 (Research Design) test Monday, babysitting tonight, and a test at 11 am for Marine Science tomorrow. I have to make up sleeping through my Marine Science lab(!!) today (due to heavy medication before bed) by going to a make up for it on Thursday. That means that I will have to go to my biology lab Thursday morning, miss some of biology lecture in order to make it to the MarS. make-up lab (it's really just a different lab section, but my TA is in charge of it, so she let me make it up then), and I don't get out of class till about 3:00. Also on Wednesday I have my small group then Campus Outreach. SO...yeah, I am going to CRASH Thursday night. I mean, WHEW I am tired, and I can't wait to be done with classes Friday. Tom will come down to see me which will be fun. Saturday he has his big brother/lil brother retreat on the lake (Jackson). Sunday, I am going to my sisterhood retreat and riding up with my lil and grand-lil and maybe some more girls too. (Fun times! woohoo!) we are going to Sandler's Creek State Park (Lake Hartwell) to hang out and get some sun and eat and just have a good time. I am excited to have a relaxing day, but honestly I know that I am going to end up bringing my Spanish book because I will have an in-class essay the next day and no, it's not open book. AAAUGH. I need Christmas break. And it's only September. .....I need to chill out.
I'm off to study more Marine Science. Please pray for me and my psycho schedule.
Love,
Meghan

Country Gal

Howdy!
I am still wearing my cowboy hat and boots as I type this up! hehe. Tonight was Gamma Phi Beta's Field Party Date Night- basically like the equivalent of Christmas in date night terms for me because I LOVE dressing out in my cowgirl clothes. Tom is actually in Panama City with his fraternity brothers, but since I couldn't just miss this event, I tagged along with a group of people that included Jessica (my lil sis), Kelsey (her roommate, whom I adore) and Angela (Kelsey's big sis that is in my pledge class, used to room with my big sis-Alicia, and whom I think is super fun to hang out with) and their dates Ben, Patrick, and Jeff. It was great to meet those guys- they are into music and serious about their Christianity. Hopefully I will be able to get Tom into Athens sometime when they can meet him-they were nice guys. There were some more people we sat with, but they drove separately. But everyone was fun to hang out with. We put down blankets in the field and ate KFC, because everyone knows that you eat fried chicken and mashed 'taters when ya live in the country. hehe! Also there was a big ole bonfire for the entire field of people to use, so we made smores- though I felt like the fire would melt my clothes bc it was so hot! The band was great again this year, and in one part they let this younger group play that could definately use some work.....by young I mean about 15 years old, and they were rhyming words with the same word. For example (this is from the chorus of a song they wrote): "Let's head back to Athens where we started out, We always had our friends there who helped us out." or something like that. It was cute, and obviously better than the music I have written, which at last count was none- but still, they need to do more work on their lyrics and singing too. Basically though, the field party was a smashing success (hehe who says that?) and it was a lot of fun.

Earlier today I had my first Spanish exam of the semester, and it was TOUGH. I feel like the more I go to class, the more stupid I become. Does that make sense at all? It does to me. Try to go to that class and you will understand how I feel. But anyway- I am SO glad it's the weekend because I can sleep late tomorrow and I get to see Alejandra and Tom (Saturday and Sunday respectively), but honestly I am just dying for next Friday to be here (after the classes, naturally). It's just that I have a Psych 2980 test on Monday and a Marine Science test on Wednesday. I also have the usually 17 hour schedule and that includes marine science lab on Tuesday at 9 (meaning wake up around 7:30) and babysitting Tuesday night- then heading back to study more for Marine Science test at 11AM the next day. UGH. I know this is morbid, but I know I am not the only one who has thought this (ahem-Jessica), but sometimes I think it would be easier to just "accidentally" step in front of a bus- not the whole way, but enough to go to the hospital for a few days- just to get a break from all this work and CRAZY schedule. But then I am like...I am losing my mind. Honestly, it wouldn't solve a thing- I would just be broken physically and still have to make up all that crap in the summer or some other time I don't want to do it. So...no bus accidents for me. Besides, that would really hurt and those busses...they are kinda huge and scary if they are screeching towards you- I don't want one coming at me.

I am super congested and my throat is killing me, so hopefully that will stop in the next few days. That would be great.

I am a grand-big sis now. Can you believe that? A GRAND big sis?? where has the time gone? Her name is Sophe Cook, and she is just awesome. I am so glad she is in our family. Basically, you get a family tree when you are adopted into a family as a lil sis. There are cute little names for a lot of the families...like : The Angel Family, The Princess Family, The Belle Family, The Pink Flamingo Family....and my family is nameless! We are like the...anonymous family or something because we were never named. But Jessica, Sophe, and I want to change all that. Any suggestions?

The posted pics are from tonight. They are of the group we were with, of Jessica and Sophe, and stuff like that. Enjoy.

Have a good weekend!
Love,
Meghan

Here, There and Everywhere

Hello All!
Yesterday was quite a day for me! I had a marine science lab at 9 AM, biology at 12:20, and an advising appointment at 3:00, but I actually got to start that early-allowing me out early which was great because I had to be at the house and ready to leave for Emory by 4:30. Whew. Basically, yesterday I had to go to Emory with some sisters because we are colonizing there (we sound like ants or something), and we needed to go up to meet the girls and help the people in charge of the Emory chapter answer any questions,just meet the girls, and give them a feel for what our sorority is like. That meant that I couldn't just get up and go to Marine Science lab looking cruddy. Boo.

Alright, so my advising appointment with Prof. Dowd was AWESOME. Basically, she is the best advisor in the world. We have the same birthday, so in the fall we always listen to each other's bday stories (she was at the beach, I hung out with friends at home). Then we get down to business, but somewhere in there we get to talking too, and she was asking about me and Tom and my promise ring. I promised her to come by or email her when we get engaged one day but told her it isn't happening any time soon! haha. Ok, so this is the best part- I have been wanting to study abroad in Costa Rica for a Maymester since I started thinking about it last semester. And I am definately going to pursue that. I also thought that would be a good tool to get me on track to graduate more closely to May of 2007. (Long story short, my first semester in my freshman year I was in a dif major, and I dropped a class- making my GPA and hours suffer. But she told me yesterday that I "recovered VERY nicely and no one would know if (I) didn't tell them." That made me feel better.) I asked her if I was on track to graduate in May '07. She said she didn't think so but we looked it over and found out that I am highly likely to graduate on time. Technically I am 2 hours short of being a junior, but since I am taking 17 hrs, I will be exactly in the middle of my jr year after this semester, and if I take 15 hrs next semester, I will be a senior at the end of the Spring Semester. By taking 2 classes in Costa Rica, I will actually put myself 6 hours ahead in my senior year, and that is fantastic! I am so excited about that. Even more exciting is that Alejandra is going to see if she can find a way to go on the CR Maymester with me and UGA. Sometimes schools will allow grades to transfer if you take classes on a study abroad trip with another school, so pray for that to work out- it would ROCK MY FACE OFF if she could come too! Next semester I am FINALLY going to be in upper level Spanish -Span 3010 (it is in conversation and composition..but harder than what I have been doing this semester and the last two semesters). In CR, I would be trying to get 2 more upper level Spanish classes out of the way. The downside of study abroad is that I can't take friends, Tom, and Family with me. That makes me so sad- I would be missing Jonathan's Med School graduation, Tyler's Third bday, and Me and Tom's 6-year anniversary. BOO on that. Dang it May-you are too popular of a month! No one better decide to get married this May, or I will hurt them!

Ok....So, Jessica rode to Atl with me, and that was SO MUCH FUN. We are so dorky, and I love hanging out with her. We just can talk about anything, and have a lot in common- like that we love Phantom of the Opera and Gamma Phi songs for example. She saw Phantom last Friday, and we had the soundtrack cds blaring and we were singing along. Now the notes in some of those songs are hard to hit anyway, but add to it that she is an alto and that I blew my voice out yelling at the game during parents weekend- I can't sing high notes right now. Did that stop us? NO. We were screeching out what would have been torturous sounds for anyone to have to listen to the whole way there and back, and then we would just die laughing; it really sounded that bad. At least I did- she actually wasn't so bad. Before we put in the Phantom music though, we were blaring my "Walkin' on Broken Glass" cd-basically it's a burned cd of songs that we sing in the a cappella group in Gamma Phi. The songs are for rush, for singing competitions, the national anthem for UGA athletic events (yes, we sing everywhere on campus but football games), etc. Basically, we are the only girls besides the song chair (I heart Jen Griffith!) that listen to that cd because we want to in our free time, not because we have to or need to. We also love that she is an alto and I am a soprano, because we harmonize on pretty much every song, and that is fun too. But yeah, just riding around with her and goofing off and talking meant I had a great evening.

Another thing that was fun was going to eat at Chili's with Megan, Megan, and Jess. (there are a ton of Meg(h)ans in my sorority). I didn't know Megan (Barclay,our President) or Megan (McDonald) very well, so it was fun to get to hang out with them. We went to the Kappa house at Emory because Megan B's older sister used to be one there and now works there as a chapter advisor. They have a condo where the 4 exec members live and where the chapter meets to have their chapter meetings. In August they are going to have "Sorority Village" at Emory available to all the sororities on campus- including Gamma Phi, which is awesome. Those houses will be spilt in two for housing two sororities per house, and they can hold 24 rather than 4 girls. Ok, after that we went to Chili's, and there was a guy (super overweight in his late 30s I would guess) there for a dude's bday as a singing telegraph. He was dressed in a full body leotard of light pink with fairy wings and a rainbow wig on his head. To complete the ensemble, he had a fairy wand that resembled one the kids I babysit have. Of course Jessica and I couldn't let him leave without getting a picture with him, so we caught him on the way out the door. We used her camera, so when she emails me the pics, I will try to remember to add them.

Ok that is all for now- I have a test on Friday in Spanish, in Psych 2980 on Monday, and in Marine Science on Wednesday, so I am going to be studying a lot for a bit. Pray for me!
Love,
Meghan

Back to the Drawing Board

Ok I don't have much time to post bc I have to leave soon! (as in..one minute!) I am gonna go eat with my pledge class at the house before chapter and am supposed to arrive at 5:15. It's 5:00 now.

Ok- This weekend was good, but Tyler, Lisa, Maddie, and Mom were all sick which was a bit sad. Tyler had croupe, so Jonathan and he missed the game. It was HOT there, and Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Jordan left early. Kristen and Tom stayed with me till third quarter, but then we decided to miss some of the traffic and head home. I had a good time over all though, and I think they did too. UGA could stand to do a lil better on the offensive line for blocking, but that is all I have to say about that. Tech is going to be tough to beat if we keep acting this way.

Alrighty, So funny thing happened in Spanish today. (Today was the best Spanish class I have had of the semester.) Basically this chapter in our book is over the sexes, and we discussed women's rights (derechos de los mujeres) in different countries. Then we split up (boys versus girls) to make a list of traits, jobs, sports, whatever to do with either guys or girls. Our teacher is a woman and she kept listening to the boys then coming over and telling us what they said, then she would give us ideas of what to put- it was so funny. One of the words she said was "caverniculos" or something like that, but it means cavemen. hehe. She had us put them on the board, and the we went over them all and the reactions were quite funny. She couldn't quit laughing when she got to cavemen! hehe. Well, I looked up and saw that they guys put (under women) "dependientes"- it means "dependent." So I ran up right before we went over it and wrote under our list for guys "dependientes de sus madres" (dependent on your mamas). When she got to the end of our list and read that out all the girls died laughing, and the guys were all saying "HEY!" Then we she read their list I asked "dependientes? de que?" (asking on what were we dependent) and then one guy said "de sus PADRES" (on your daddy!), and I replied "No-del dinero de mi padre!" (no- on the money of my daddy!") which sounds bratty, but I just meant it to be funny. Anyway, the whole exchange got the class laughing, and it was the first time this semester I REALLY enjoyed my spanish class, so I thought it was worth posting. YAY!

Ok, well time to go to the house. Tonight I have supper, chapter, then singing practice, then it's back here for more homework. Tomorrow I am headed to Emory to help out with a Q&A rush for Gamma Phi's first chapter there. WOO HOO for spreading out. If I see girls there that I met at Oxford, it's gonna be pretty funny.
YIKES- It's 5:14!!
~Meghan

Parent's Weekend and Stuff...

This week was a very long one, school-wise. I had a ton of stuff to do for classes every day not to mention a Bio test on Tuesday. But enough about that. I live for the weekends. This weekend is going to be great (I hope) because it's parent's weekend for Gamma Phi. That means that Kristen will be in town, and I haven't gotten to see her in a while so that is exciting. I wish James could come too, but he had to stay in St. Louis. It's also just great because Tom is staying at my house all weekend! But mainly what Parents Weekend means (this year anyway) is that Mom, Dad, Jonathan, Tyler, Kristen, Jordan, Sarah, Tom, and I will all be at the football game at UGA tomorrow, which is AWESOME. It's a lil less awesome bc we are playing Louisiana-Monroe, whoever they are. I don't mean that in a mean way...it's just...UGA is a great team, and I haven't gotten to see my dawgs play this semester yet. I was kind of wanting to see them beat a more high-profile team. But that's ok, because this weekend is going to be really fun.
I also had my first CO (Camous Outreach) small group this semester. We are going to be studying First Corinthians this semester. It's really special because my lil sis in Gamma Phi, Jessica, is our small group leader. I'm really proud of her. I can see a difference in maturity and also her faith since last year. Not to say she wasn't mature, but I just respect her even more now, and I love her to death.
Before I run off...I just gotta say...I just watched a "Super Sweet 16" by MTV....umm... The girl-Jazmin (she spelled it that way)- she is one of those people that could stand to be beaten up. I just wanted to...I don't know ...hurt her. What a brat. She actually had a stage and a VIP room, and if you weren't one of her VIP girls, you weren't allowed in there or on the stage or in her limo. She got mad at her best friend and kicked her off the VIP list the day before the party. She got a brand new BMW convertable for her bday present, and she had 360 ppl at her "Cali Beach" style party. She had guys hired to sit in lifeguard stands and take their shirts off at her command. She also flew to NYC on her parent's jet to shop for her dress. At the very end she actually said, "My party cost more than my parent's wedding...but I don't care- I deserve it....Princess Jazmin-duh!" If that isn't ridiculous, I don't know what is.
~Meghan

AAhhhhhYEAH

I had a wonderful weekend! Here's a quick rundown with some pics!...(more are on my moblog)!

Friday, I went to Atl to see Tom after classes, and I got my wallet back- YAY! Tom and I went to Theta Xi, and I got to meet his big bro, Jason, as well as some of Tom's other brothers! Jason is Theta Xi's President, and he is really nice and easy to talk to.

Then we headed back to his apartment. George and Alejandra came over, and we all walked to Moe's to eat with Robert Lee and Daniel. Afterwards, we walked back...Atl looks pretty cool at night with all the lights going on! We all hung out at the apartment for a while before George left, then Tom and I took Alejandra back to Emory a little while later.

Saturday I went to the Tech-UNC game...umm...UNC...not ranked. And Tech beat them by 6 points or so. Unfortunately. But that's ok- we were able to get back to the apartment in time to watch the end of the UGA game and see the Dawgs beat the Gamecocks. Whew- that was a close game (17-15)!! That night, Tom made hamburgers and we ate with Robert Lee, Daniel, Jordan and Sarah. It was pretty fun- Jordan and Sarah ended up hanging out with us till about 1am. I felt bad for Jessica (Daniel's gf) bc she kept commuting to work in Conyers and back to Atl. She is a waitress at Cafe Milano, and I can imagine how tired she was making that drive continuously all weekend.

Today, Mr. Tommy and Mrs. Patti took me and Tom to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Fox. It was great!!! I love theatre, and it was just so awesome because the seats were in Row B----yeah, that's right- SECOND ROW BABY! How generous of them, right? I am soooo happy that we were able to go with them! (Thanks again!)

After the play, I had to go back to Athens ASAP so that I could be at the house by 6:00pm. We were having The Annual Gamma Phi Beta Chili Cook-Off. It's our Fall philanthropy, and the money goes to about 3 or 4 different charities- usually it's the same ones year after year, but in light of the date (September 11th) we decided to give some of it to an organization for families of men and/or women in the armed forces, as well as families who lost someone in the Armed Forces.

Ok- I have a Biology test on Tuesday and have a lot of reading to do. Pray for me please!!
Love,
Meghan

Wallet and Katrina

Ok- first off...I got a new Drivers License so I could drive back to school Tuesday morning, and after I was here about an hour, Mom called. Apparently the GT Police found my wallet outside of a building at GT, and they called blockbuster in Athens for my number. (who knew being a member of blockbuster would be so helpful?) But Blockbuster wouldn't give my number, so they got his info and called my house- and gave the info to Mom. Mom called me, I called the police, and I talked to Capt. Thomas. Tom went to the police station and got the wallet for me. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! That is truly an answer to prayer, because pretty much everything was still in it! And thanks to all of you guys who prayed for it to be found.

Ok, that is all I have to type-I have some Spanish to get to. But I wanted to put in that blurb as well as paste in the rest of my post for this blog. It was emailed to me by Jennie Armstrong (I babysit for her and Scot every week), and I found it rather interesting....

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
> >
> > by Robert Tracinski Sep 02, 2005 by Robert Tracinski
> >
> > It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.
> >
> > If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.
> >
> > Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.
> >
> > But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
> >
> > The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.
> >
> > The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.
> >
> > The man-made disaster is the welfare state.
> >
> > For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.
> >
> > When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).
> >
> > So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?
> >
> > To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:
> >
> > "Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.
> >
> > "The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....
> >
> > "Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.
> >
> > " 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "
> >
> > The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.
> >
> > What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?
> >
> > Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?
> >
> > Sherri figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)
> >
> > What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.
> >
> > There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.
> >
> > All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.
> >
> > No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.
> >
> > What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.
> >
> > But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
> >
> > The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.
> >
> > Source: TIA Daily -- September 2, 2005

Welcome to CrazyWorld

This weekend was NOT normal. Ok...so Friday Tom and I were supposed to go swing-dancing at this free swing-dance lesson that Tech provides, with Davey and Kristen, and two of her friends and two of the Theta Xi brothers. Before I left for Atlanta on Friday afternoon, Tom called to say that they found out the event wasn't occuring that weekend and that we would do it some other time. Disappointing, but not the end of the world.

I arrived at the apartment, and I met Kristen's friends, Meaghan and Stacy. They were really nice and fun to be around. I also spent a little time talking to Daniel and Robert Lee, then I went into Tom and Davey's side of the house to wait to go eat. We went out to eat at a BBQ place, where I had sweet tea bc I wasn't that hungry anyway, and I don't eat bbq- called Ribs and Blues. And then we went across the street to Marble Slab to get treats- mmmm cake-batter milkshake with heath bar pieces for me. All of this was Tom's treat, and I thought it was sweet of him. Correction: all of what I ate was Tom's treat. haha. Robert Lee spilt from the rest of the group to go see a friend after that, and the rest of us continued on to Theta Xi.

At Theta Xi, Alejandra called me, and OH MY GOSH. It was so good to hear from her. I just LOVE her, and I haven't gotten to talk to her since she stayed with me at the end of the semester last spring. She has been in France and Texas and Costa Rica, and everywhere but here, so FINALLY she is back! =) *grin* I talked to her for about 20 minutes, but we were all walking back to the apartment by that point and I felt rude, plus she had to go see someone, so we hung up. While I was on the phone, everyone that I was walking with had stopped to play frisbee, so I pulled out my camera and took some pics after hanging up with Alej.

Fast-forward to Saturday. My car is packed and I am carrying my purse out there. I had taken all my cameras out of my purse, so it was lighter...but TOO light. So I look inside, and sure enough- no wallet. I thought, "must have fallen out in Tom's room." Nope. We tore that apartment apart, took everything out of everyone of my bags, called both Ribs and Blues and the Marble Slab we went to, drove around where we walked, looked in Theta Xi, asked around, called Davey and the girls to see if they had it, called Melissa (my roommate) to see if it was in my room, and Tom even drove me out to Athens so we could check for ourselves that it wasn't there. And it wasn't. It wasn't in my car either. My dad checked when I got home. THIS IS BAD. I hope that last sentence was pretty much stating the obvious to those who actually read this, but I just wrote it, because that kept running through my head. The only other place it could be is in the office of my apartment complex, and that is closed on weekends. (and today is Labor Day). SO, I was freaking out, and called my sister, Kristen, to see what she would do. She said she would call Mom for me since I was so upset, and she did. I don't know what I would do without my sister. She is seriously one of my best friends, and just was there for me, even in St. Louis when she was trying to have fun with her husband at a Sumo Exhibition. =)

And, yeah, mom was pretty mad. But I would say that overall, it sucks more for me than anyone. I mean, I lost my drivers license, my student id, my spare key to my car, my money, my checks from babysitting and other stuff, my frequent buyer cards, my pictures, my atm card, and my visa-which makes the family mad at me because they can't use theirs either. So...yeah. Stinks for me.

PLEASE pray that it shows up sometime. (Sometime soon. as in...now). I am already having to rearrange my entire Tuesday schedule so that I can go to my Marine Science lab (9:05am) because I have to go get a new license on Tuesday just so I can drive myself back to school. I also have to babysit tomorrow, so I get the fun of telling them what happened with that check. I guess they could see online if someone deposited it. I get to tell two other ppl the who story too-I had already signed their checks. And whoever has my wallet has my id, so it shouldn't be too hard. I really hope it is in the office and not stolen. I just don't know when it would have been taken, and it's hard to think I just left if somewhere because I didn't take it out to use it since Thursday night when i bought gas. I distinctly remember getting into my car, holding my wallet, and looking at the crazy price of the gas on the receipt before putting it back in my purse. My dad double checked my car when I got home too. It seems hopeless, but it didn't disappear into thin air, and God has done more miraculous things than make someone's wallet turn up in the past. So please just pray for it.

OK, other than the wallet situation, I watched the Dawgs WALLOP the Broncos Saturday evening, then watched Tech upset the War Eagles/Tigers- whatever Auburn is, that night. And that was fine by me. I don't like Auburn any more than the next bulldog. =) Not that I was exactly rooting for Tech. I just sort of sat there in awe of how different Auburn was after they lost so many players from last season.

Sunday-church and lunch (steak, yummy) with family, then I made some cookies, Jordan and Sarah came by, and Tom came over, so that was fun. We all hung out and played with Maddie and Tyler- who are both so funny. Then we went to his house where Mr. Tommy and Mrs. Patti made some awesome supper. (chicken this time) Henry, Will, Jordan, Sarah, Ben, Tom, and I ate with them. Jordan had to take Sarah back to her car, so he left. And we swam for a while then got out and played Hoopla with Davey and the girls when they came back and Jordan when he got back. Overall, Sunday was fun, minus the lost wallet situation. Jordan got an ipod with picture capability, so he is pretty excited about that, and I think it's awesome. I heart my Ipod.

Alrighty, well I need to get moving. I want to play with Tyler and Maddie some. Tom is coming over at 12:30 or so to eat lunch with me before he heads back to Tech. *smile* I was planning to go back to Athens today, but I guess not. It feels weird to be immobile. I even had a nightmare that I got pulled over and I didn't have my license so my mom was supposed to bring it to me in Athens, but my wallet was still gone and she was just mad. It woke me up. freaky...

Later on!
Much Love,
Megs