The Most Recent News

The doctor called this morning (rather early might I add) and said that I am an interesting case, I DO NOT want to be an interesting case (it means they don't know what's going on). I have been diagnosed with MALT or Mucosa-Associated Lmphoid Tissue which is often found in the stomach as MALT Lymphoma, a very mild treatable lymphoma that can actually be treated with antibiotics (to kill H-pylori bacteria which cause ulcers) however I don't have MALT in my stomach (haha that's unfortunate cuz a malt sounds really good right noww too bad I'm allergic to gluten, anyway) I have it in my ileum and colon which is perplexing to the doctors as they've never seen it before.

Our current plan of action includes me being a human pincussion and having blood tests for multiple different viruses (including epstein bar or mono which I've already had) and most likely lymphoma as well. My doctors will also consult with doctors (mainly pathologists) at the University and possibly at Mayo. At least they found something.

My Rather Comlicated Health Issues

So basically if I don't write all this out somewhere I might go crazy.
It all began 3 or 4 weeks ago (I can't quite remember) when I stayed home from school with flu-like symptoms thinking that a day of rest would cure me little did I know 3 or 4 weeks later I would be in miserable pain with no answers....

More to Come

LAX Parts 1 and 2

Well that was thoroughly confusing, so I'm gonna ramble for a while and try to figure it out for myself, perhaps my ramblings will help other confused Lost fans as well:

2004 (alternate reality/timeline created by the detonation of the nuclear core):

In Flight:

So basically the plane (Flight 815) hit similar turbulence over the Island but didn't crash since the nuclear explosion (from 1977) apparently sunk the Island and destroyed the pocket of electromagnetic energy that would have crashed the plane. (We know this is a completely alternate timeline/reality because Desmond is on the plane and Hurley is the luckiest guy in the world.) While on the flight Jack meets Bernard, Rose, Cindy, and (sort of) Kate. He saves Charlie's life (with Sayid's help) when Charlie panics and attempts to swallow his stash to hide it, obviously his plan fails when Jack opens his airway by removing the stash from Charlie's throat. Also on the plane Arzt meets Hurley, Boone and Locke have a conversation where Locke says he went on the walk-about in Australia (I think he was lying as he is still a paraplegic), and Sawyer briefly meets Kate, Marshall Edward Mars, and Hurley (he advises Hurley to not tell people he won the lottery b/c other people may try to take advantage of him).

After landing in LA:

• Charlie gets arrested off the plane for the illegal substances he was carrying.
• Jin gets taken into custody for not declaring his enormous wad of cash (more than $10,000) and Sun lies to the airport security about not being able to speak English.
• Jack finds out that the airline lost his father's body somehow and meets Locke whose case of knives has also been lost. Locke comforts Jack in a way over the loss of his father and Jack gives Locke his card and offers him a free consult for Locke's paraplegia saying that nothing is irreperable.
• Kate escapes from the Marshall while still in handcuffs stealing his coat to hide her wrists. She gets on an elevator with Sawyer who assists her in getting off the elevator after two airport security guards get on. Kate eventually escapes to the car loading area and hijacks a cab in which CLAIRE is the passenger after being spotted by the Marshall.

So that, I think, is all of the 2004 plot, I may have forgotten something, but if I forgot something it must not have been that important. More to come later about 2007 on the Island, but now lunch is over and I must go to class.

2007 on the Island:

• Kate wakes up in a tree and proceeds to almost fall out of said tree she can't hear anything for a while (most likely due to the noise of the explosion/white flash thing) and she eventually stumbles upon Miles who also cannot hear.
• Kate discovers that they are back in 2007 when she finds that they are at the hatch that Desmond imploded.
• Jack is laying unconsciously by the hatch and Kate wakes him up and fills him in on everything she knows which isn't much.
• I don't remember where Sawyer was but eventually he appears/wakes up and is enraged that 'it didn't work' and that Juliet is dead, he blames Jack for her death.
• All of a sudden Kate hears muffled noises coming from the hatch and it slowly dawns on the survivors that even though she fell for about 100 feet and was buried in shrapnel Julite is still magically alive.
• Meanwhile Hurley wakes up at the hippie van with Sayid (who is dying from his gunshot wound) and Jin. Jin runs to get Jack b/c Sayid is dying of a gunshot wound.
• Hurley sees Jacob stumble out of the jungle.
• Jacob informs Hurley that in order to save Sayid he will have to have Jin take him (Sayid) to the hole in the wall where he was with the French team. He then tells Hurley to remember the guitar case that he gave him and that he (Jacob) is dead.
• Back at the hatch Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Miles are frantically digging through imploded metal in attempt to reach Juliet who has ceased yelling for help. One of the metal pieces covering the entrance to the hatch is too heavy for the people to use so they decided to use the bus.
• Jin and Jack go back to the van (or at least Jin does, I can't remember if Jakc went with him) to help Sayid and get the van to move the metal to rescue Juliet.
• While the others are gone Sawyer informs Kate that he plans to kill Jack if Juliet dies.
• When at least Jin (and possibly Jack) arrive at the van Hurley asks Jin about the place that Jacob mentioned and Jin says that he knows what Hurley is talking about. They load Sayid into the van and drive the van to the hatch where they use the van to haul the piece of heavy metal off of the entrance to the hatch.
• Sawyer jumps in and finds Juliet who is indeed dying.
• The two share a touching moment in which Juliet tells Sawyer that she is sad her plan (exploding the bomb) didn't work because she wanted him to have never had to come to the Island.
• They kiss, she says "I'm................(I think he was going to say pregnant)" and then Juliet dies.

It's Back!

In approximately 8 and a half hours Lost will return with the premiere of its final season, now I may keep this blog up to date at all, but perhaps with the return of Lost I will have something to write about (however Lost returning will not provide me with the time I need to write).

I'm so excited!

Memoir Parts of My Essay

Memoirs (Obviously these are not in order)
Shenanigans
After moving to a rural neighborhood and celebrating my tenth birthday my parents finally granted my lifelong wish and began paying for me to take riding lessons at a local stable. During my third lesson I was thrown from the back of a two ton horse, had the wind knocked out of me, and almost had my face kicked in. The trauma of falling off alone would probably have been enough to cause any other girl to never want to look at another horse let alone get on one ever again. I on the other hand blamed myself for letting the horse spook and got right back on. This was the first time I was almost killed by a horse and the first time that I didn't care.

The summer I leased Spider I had just finished riding one day when Anna showed up to ride a friend's horse (Tory) while her friend was away. I decided to stay at the Barn and visit with her while she rode. Another rider came out while Anna was riding and got her own horse ready to ride. It is good manners if you are on the ground to open the gate for a rider if they need to go into a pasture to ride, so good-manner little me opened the gate to the mare pasture so that this other rider could go in. Much to my chagrin one of the mares on the other side of the gate had decided that the grass on the other side of the fence did indeed look much tastier than the grass in the pasture. I tried to shoo her away so that the other rider could come through, but she wasn't moving. Suddenly another mare (who must have also thought that the grass outside of the pasture would make a fine lunch) bit the mare I was trying to shoo away. This caused the first mare to charge out of the pasture bowling me over in the process. Her hoof was less than an inch from my face. The rest of what happened in that instant is a blur to me, but someone (be it Anna, her dad, or the other rider) must have kept the other mare from coming out for if she had she certainly would have trampled and killed me. Anna thought that I was dead and was pleasantly surprised when I moved to get up. All I remember from the rest of that day is that Spider (who was in the stall closest to the mare pasture and had therefore witnessed the entire ordeal) was rapidly pacing his paddock and that after I got up I tacked him up for the second time that day and rode with Anna for the rest of the afternoon.

One evening towards the middle of my lease on Spider I was riding him in the mare pasture. I being bored with only moving at a trot decided that it was time for Spider and I to canter. Unfortunately I made quite a few mistakes when I asked him to move faster which caused him to skip the canter and head into a full-fledged gallop around the pasture. I tried to keep a cool head about the situation and get him to slow down, but after losing my stirrups and eventually the reins I was about ready to bail off (which would have most likely resulted in a few broken limbs). Luckily for me at the moment I was about to bail off Spider ran into the corner of the pasture and was therefore forced to slow down and stop. This was the first and last time that I have ever been afraid while riding. I immediately hopped off and started walking Spider around to cool him out. Usually I would have ridden him to do this, but I was shaken. During my next lesson Danni made me reenact what I had done and showed me everything that I had done wrong. After that I realized that what had happened was my fault and thus armed with my new knowledge I knew that it would never happen again so I stopped being afraid and have never had a problem of that sort with any horse ever again.

Banchee Woman lives up to her name at times. She will spook at just about anything for no reason at all which causes me quite a bit of grief. Luckily now that I have been riding for seven years I have learned how to calm her down and show her that the things she shies away from cannot possibly hurt her.

Spider
In my third summer of riding my parents finally agreed to pay for me to lease a horse (leasing a horse is like owning a horse without the actual ownership). That meant that for one whole summer I would finally have a horse to call my own. The horse I leased was a 20-year-old quarter horse gelding and barrel-racing champion named Spider. He may have been 20 in age, but he acted like a 3 year old colt. He was full of energy and fun to ride. During the summer I took all of my lessons on him and thus started learning how to barrel race. Everything I know about barrel racing I learned from him. Over the summer he was my best friend and closest companion. He cared for me and I loved him. Whenever my mom would drive me out to the barn he would see our car coming and scurry into his stall eagerly awaiting my arrival. At the end of the summer Spider's owners put him up for sale and offered him to us first. Unfortunately for me at the time my parents did not want to buy Spider, it wasn't because they couldn't afford the asking price, it was because Spider was old and required extra care and the extra expenses proved to be too much for them at the time. I was sad, but I understood. Thus Spider was sold to a young couple and their young daughter. It was heartbreaking for me that another little girls dream was coming true while I was still waiting on mine. I took part of that winter off from lessons because I had health issues and riding in the bitter Iowa cold would have been detrimental to my health. When I finally did start riding again I was demoted to the old lesson horse (Big Wheel) so that I could relearn certain aspects of riding. That Spring it was determined that I would co-lease a horse with my friend Anna. This horse was much younger and more challenging than Spider. He was a 6-year-old paint gelding named Hook and he was a handful. That Spring and Summer I spent my time riding and helping to train Hook in the sport of Barrel Racing, then tragedy struck. I received a call from my lesson teacher (Danni) one Friday evening in early Summer. She was calling to reschedule a lesson that I had missed. After agreeing on a day and time we said our goodbyes and hung up. About a minute later Danni called me back to let me know that Spider had died the prvious day, she wanted me to know so that I wouldn't wonder where he was if I went out to ride as he and Hook had been sharing a stall....

Obviously there is a lot to say about Spider and I just realized that I could probably write a whole memoir on him. I wonder if that would be okay, I shall ask Mr. Ayers tomorrow.

Hook
Hook was and is one of my favorite horses ever. His personality was comparable to that of a great dane puppy. I use that certain breed in his comparison because like a great dane Hook was enormous and like a puppy Hook was rather playful, but more importantly extremely ADD. He had a lot of energy so for the first time ever I had to lunge him before I rode so that he wouldn't run away with me the moment I got on. Hook was a joy to ride, he was a slower moving horse (meaning he was a little lazy) which was nice because it meant that I wouldn't have to constantly be asking him to slow down...

And More (I am pleading for your help)

Why I Ride
I ride because it's challenging. The common misconception about riding is that it only involves pulling on the reins to control where the horse is going and at what pace. In reality if you spent your entire ride pulling on your horses face you would get nowhere, if you were riding my horse you would either get bucked off or run away with. To actually control the horse while you ride you must use subtle signals in the form of muscle contractions from your legs, hands and abs. The best riders crunch their abs 100% of the time while they ride. Different levels of muscle contractions mean different things. The challenge is found in figuring out how to control your horse without using your hands. It is not only an athletic challenge, but a mental one.

I ride because it's enthralling. The sheer power of a horse moving beneath you as you ride is a thrilling feeling. Not only that, but being in complete control of that power is an amazing sensation. (I think I might leave this snippet out or find a way to add it to the empowering section.)

I ride because I love it. Ever since I was a little girl I have been in love with horses. I suppose that every little girl is in love with horses, but the thing that separates me from all the other girls in the world is that I am willing to put up with the good and the bad for the love of my sport. I am willing to drive out to the Barn in subzero temperatures and stand around while my horse eats. I am willing to put up with her moodiness in order to keep riding. I am willing to get ride again after nearly being killed by a horse because I know that quitting will not make me any happier. I am willing to wade through knee-deep 'horse mud' to retreive my horse from the pasture in the Spring. I am willing to do all of these things because learning to ride was quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to me. I am willing to do anything because I truly and deeply love to ride.

More snippets from my to-be essay (I will rearrange them later) Once again read and please leave comments

Why I Ride

The number one reason that I ride is because riding is empowering. Horses are incredibly powerful animals and when I ride I feel as though I am part of that power. The feeling of moving at a breakneck pace on the back of a 2000 pound animal is similar to the feeling of flying. It is incredibly freeing. When I ride I feel as though I am unstoppable, that nothing can hold me back and that feeling is the most wonderful feeling in the world, a feeling that I only feel when I ride (I need another word for feeling, just too lazy to find a thesaurus right now).

Another reason I ride is to de-stress/relax. The world of horses and riding is completely separate from the real world. When I am at the Barn I am able to let go of the real world and focus solely on riding. When I ride the world dissolves around me and only my horse and I exist.

I ride because of the relationships that develop because of it. Out at the Barn everyone is family, all the riders/boarders help and support each other. This is because everyone at the Barn is there because they share a love of horses, which means no one is there to pass judgement on anyone else which allows for many friendships to develop. Friendships with other people are not the only relationships that develop. The most important relationship that develops is the relationship between horse and rider. If the horse and rider do not have a good relationship they will not work well together and thus will be unsuccessful in all of their equestrian endeavors. Horse and rider must work together as members of the same team. They must understand and respect each other. But most importantly they must trust each other. Just like in any other relationship, if there is no foundation of trust they will fail. I ride because the feeling of knowing that an enormous incredibly strong animal that could kill me on a whim trusts and respects me is the most incredible feeling of all. She follows me wherever I lead and trusts me to do what is best for her.

Okay, time for feedback (I feel that the underlined part might go best somewhere else). I am very stressed about this essay, time to go ride, methinks.

"Why I Ride" READ AND LEAVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM PLEASE (this is a work in progress) Slide 1 and 2

I lived an incredibly safe and sheltered life before I started riding. The most dangerous thing I did was walk to and from Madison Elementary every day, I had never had a near death experience, and a small gash to my chin was the worst injury I had ever endured. One might say that my life was good, but most would probably agree that my life was downright boring. After moving to a rural neighborhood and celebrating my tenth birthday my parents finally granted my lifelong wish and began paying for me to take riding lessons at a local stable. During my third lesson I was thrown from the back of a two ton horse, had the wind knocked out of me, and almost had my face kicked in. The trauma of falling off alone would probably have been enough to cause any other girl to never want to look at another horse let alone get on one ever again. I on the other hand blamed myself for letting the horse spook and got right back on. This was the first time I was almost killed by a horse and the first time that I didn't care.

Since I began riding seven years ago I have been stepped on countless times, thrown once, been almost bucked off multiple times (by multiple horses), run away with once, and almost run over and killed once. I have sustained multiple bruises, sprained my shoulder and elbow a couple times, and knocked a few ribs out of place. I think I'm a better person because of it. You're probably thinking that I'm crazy and I very well might be, but considering all of the good experiences I've had with horses and all of the good that my interaction with horses has done for me I don't see any reason that I would ever want to quit riding.

Una Leyenda (sin acentos): El Sol y La Luna

Antes de que hubiera luz en el mundo los dioses de Teotihuacan hablaron entre si para decidir quienes iban dar luz al mundo. Para dar luz al mundo dos dioses tenian que echarse en una gran hoguera y morir. Por fin uno de los dioses mas jovenes se llama Tecuciztecatl, dijo que estaba dispuesto a echarse a la hoguera. Todos los dioses le felicitaron al joven. Entonces Tecuciztecatl pregunto a los otros dioses quien estaba tan valiente como el, quien tambien estaba dispuesto a morir para dar luz al mundo. Todos los dioses guardaron silencia entonces discutieron entre si hasta un dios viejito y humilde se levanto y dijo que estaba dispuesto a echarse a la hoguera tambien. Ese dios se llama Nanoatzin. Primero, los dioses no pensian que la vida de Nanoatzin estaba tan bueno como la vida de Tecuciztecatl, pero cuando el viejito dijo que el estaba el solo otro dios que estaba dispueesto a morir para dar luz al mundo todos los dioses le felicitaron a el mas que le felicitaron al joven. Luego los dioses hicieron la ropa muy fina necesaria para la ceremonia. Nadie comio durante la semana por todos estaban en un estado de meditacion. Cuando llego el dia encendieron una gran hoguera. Tecuciztecatl trato cuatro veces a echarse a la hoguera pero tenia miedo asi no podia. Entonces Nanoatzin entro la hoguera y se acosto tranquilmente. Todos los dioses dijeron "Grande es Nanoatzin!" con mucha reverencia. Tecuciztecatltenia verguenza y entro al fuego tambien. Todos los dioses esperaron hasta una luz aparecio en el este. Esta luz era la luz de Nanoatzin, el sol. La luz era muy brillante. Luego una otra luz tambien aparecio en el este, era la luz de Tecuciztecatl y era la luna. La luna era tan brillante como el sol. Los dioses no pensian que la luz de Tecuciztecatl debio ser tan brillante como la luz de Nanoatzin. Asi un dios agarro un conejo y lo arrojo a la luna. Hasta el dia de hoy el sol es mas brillante como la luna.

Wipeout v. Howie Do It

An interesting question arose at the dinner table last night when ABC's Wipeout had it's season premiere: "Is the show overly cruel?" My answer to this question is no for one main reason: peole choose to do this to themselves compared to Howie Do It (which could in my books be considered a cruel show) where unsuspecting victims are preyed upon by a snarky bald man and his camera crew. People don't sign up for Howie Do It there loving friends and/or family usually sign them up so that they can have a quick laugh as they watch their unsuspecting friend/family member be humiliated in front of however many million TV viewers plus the people in the audience. That, while being funny, is rather cruel. Contestants on Wipeout, on the other hand, sign up to be publically humilated in from of millions of TV viewers and some of them actually enjoy it. Thus, while the contestants on Wipeout are not only humiliated, bbut generally beaten up, it is not a cruel show because participation is voluntary whilst Howie Do It, where people or solely humiliated is a cruel show because participation is forced (subliminally speaking). So ends this short rant about what makes a show cruel.

Essay Brainstorming

Question (please answer the first part the rest of it sort of turned into a rant, I'll underline the question to help you out): Which form of multimedia thing would best suit my new essay? Video, (not) radio (I need visuals), cartoon (I can't draw), or powerpoint? Okay so basically video or power point. Being as I have no equipment or editing knowledge I am currently leaning towards power point essay, but even after viewing many examples I still have no idea how to go about creating a power point essay. I really have no idea how to do much of anything actually and I'm beginning to wonder whether or not I should have ever taken this class. I keep failing. I swear if my grade in this class brings my GPA down...actually I don't really know what I'll do, be glad that my future major has nothing to do with language arts most likely. I plan on having a medical career which is excellent because I am good at science and math whereas I am an utter and complete failure at all things involving the English language (I'm pretty good at other languages though). I hate this, I absolutely loath this feeling of failure and it seems that I haven't been able to escape it all year in this class. First term C+ (on the essay), second term B (on discussion), third term C (on the essay). I think these grades are trying to tell me something, and I haen't listened. I probably should have dropped during first term and taken U.S. Humanities instead. It may sound like quitting, but I wouldn't necessarily call it quitting as someone quits when they don't want to work to overcome the challenge, I, however, tryed and failed to overcome the challenge which would seem to reflect a lack of talent in the area hance I should never have tried, thus it would not have been quitting. It would have saved me a lot of stress and pain that's for sure. Well I suppose I have learned something as I did not make the same mistake on my schedule for next year. I am taking 3 science classes (1 AP, 1 normal, 1 at KC college), one AP math class, one AP foreign language, technically 3 normal history classes (one per term), and one normal language arts class. Recently I had thought about maybe taking AP Lit, but now I think that idea has most definately been shot down, oh well, good riddence. Now I just need to not fail this essay like I failed the last one and then I will be done with this class forever. Unfortunately for me I don't know if it's possible for me to not fail this next essay.

To the brainstorming part:
Okay so I've basically decided to write about why I ride (horses) which I plan to make some sort of a twist on "Why I Write" essays. If this were a normal essay written out on the computer I don't think I would have too much of a problem (it would be all about me-my voice is present, it's something I feel strongly about-easy for me to write, I plan on writing about all of my 'interesting' experience with horses which all should have deterred me from ever wanting to ride again and then try to explain why I still ride-interesting). The problem for me is I don't know if I can explain (in a way that everyone would understand) why I ride without sounding like a cheeseball. I don't know if I could make anybody understand with words, which is where the pictures and possibly videos come in. I think my gameplan at this point is to start writing about why I ride and those 'interesting' times on the blog and possibly also on word and then take a bunch of pictures of my horse and me riding my horse (with some help from a few friends) to help explain the reasons...I think this sentence has gotten away from me so I'm going to opt to end it here. Okay, sounds like a plan, but I could still use feedback (being as no one has given me feedback thus far).

No Idea What this is For/From (it was in a Lost Promo) but is Really Excellently composed

Just hit play and listen while you work on your essay or some other such project (the picture kind of creeps me out so I made it really small). 6:39 to the end was the music for a Lost promo.

In Plain Sight

This is another excellent show that I casually watch. It's on on Sunday nights on USA at 9. It's about a U.S. Marshall who works in witness protection in Albuquerque (which I obviously cannot spell) and the people whose lives she changes as well as her own family problems.

Characters:

The main character of the show, Mary Shannon is a U.S. Marshal working in witness protection (Witsec) out of Albuquerque. She is dating a baseball player/star name Raphael (Raph for short) although their relationship has been bumpy thanks in part to her sister. Mary was recently kidnapped when a bunch of drug thugs mistook her for her sister (see next paragraph for more details). When the thugs discovered who she really was Mary was almost raped and murdered thanks to the thugs stupidity (they didn't search her for a weapon), her own level-headed actions, and her partner Marshal Marshall Mann she escaped with only a few minor injuries and of course mental trauma. After finally being cleared for active duty Mary was free to work as a Marshal once more. Lately her mother (Jinx) has just returned from rehab (alcoholic) after receiving a DWI. Mary's father is a convicted felon who is on the run. He has written many letters to Mary over the years as it was Mary who looked after the rest of her family when he left. Recently it was discovered that there may be a man who can help Mary track down and meet with her father.

Mary's younger sister, Brandi, is currently taking college classes so that she can get a real job and support herself both Brandi and her/Mary's mother are living in Mary's house). Earlier she was in a relationship with a man (Chuck) who was involved with trafficking drugs. When Chuck sent Brandi to close a deal (Brandi was holding his drugs for him, a whole suitcase full of meth) she couldn't go through with it and ended up calling the cops on the other partakers in the deal thus screwing them over. After returning from the deal Brandi visited/stayed with Raph for a short while (the two had been very close friends as Brandi had taken care of Raph when he injured his arm) Later Chauck and Mary (who was mistaken for Brandi) were kidnapped by the screwed over thugs who were looking for the drugs that they payed for but never received, the drugs that were supposedly still in the suitcase at the Shannon residence. Meanwhile the FBI got involved with the drug case after Chuck was kidnapped (Chuck had been in the process of giving himself up to the FBI in exchange for entering Witsec when he was kidnapped, the FBI agents were killed). They knew that Brandi was somehow involved with the deal and placed her under house arrest of sorts so she was unable to help Mary. When Mary is finally safe she returns home to get rid of the drugs once and for all. As she is leaving the house with the suitcase she is stopped by the FBI who upon opening the suitcase find nothing but towels. They then proceed to tear apart Mary's house in search of the drugs. They find nothing and the arrogant FBI agent who ordered the search refuses to pay to fix the house thus the house is still in shambles. Brandi is currently dating a billionare recovering alcoholic.

Jinx is Brandi and Mary's mother who is slightly eccentric and a recovering alcoholic. She desperately wants to reunite with her husband and loves both of her daughters dearly. Raph is Mary's boyfriend he recently confessed an affair he had with his physical therapist and after a rough patch was able to work things out with Mary. Marshall Mann is Mary's partner who cares for her, but is more like her brother than her boyfriend. He and Mary often engage in sarcastic battles of wits.

This show is at least half-way through its second season but is definately worth watching over the summer and next year on USA.

Reflections

Well now that the school year is coming to a close I suppose it is time to reflect on how my blog has developed over the course of the year. My blog started off as a collection of random posts about un-related topics. As of first trimester I had no real centric theme. However during second trimester the weather caused school to be cancelled/delayed for a week which allowed me time to grow bored. This major weather cancellation also happened to occur the week before the new season of Lost premiered when ABC aired a three hour block containing the final episodes of season 4. It also happened that over the previous summer I had become quite a Lost addict and had managed to watch most of the seasons (except for season 3, but that's a whole nother story). Anywho I found my calling. I began to blog about new episodes of Lost as well as random movies that I had watched which boosted me well past my blog quota for that trimester. This trimester I have not had as much time to blog what with all the AP things happening, but I have managed to keep my blog from becoming the sad little excuse for a random rant that it was during the first trimester.

Looking back I remember hating my blog and hating having a quota to meet each week because I had no idea what on Earth I could possibly have to contribute to the world. I had no strong opinions on anything that I thought other people would be interested in. Now I absolutely love my blog (I still despise the quota thing because of all of the other things I have to do for school that have to take presidence over blogging), but I think I will probably keeep my blog at least until the Lost series finale next year (when I hopefully will have won my bet and have a very long blog post consisting of pure gloating). In the long run I'm very glad we were required to start our own blogs this year. It was nice to have an outlet for my opinions on something that very few other people care about.

Las Vegas - The show about the town not the town

(Characters from left to right: Sam, Mary, Danny, Mike, Ed, Delinda)

So I've found a new show to follow over the summer (is it still following if the show has already had its series finale and you're watching reruns on TNT?). "Las Vegas" originally was on NBC on I'm guessing Friday nights (it seems like a Friday night show) and is about a fabricated casino/hotel, the Montecito, on the Las Vegas strip (it was actually, I believe, at the Monte Carlo) and the main/head employees whose lives are affected by the Montecito and the other employees. This show has quickly become one of my favorite shows because it combines comedy, sarcasm, action, a hint of drama (okay more than a hint), and some romance to create the show that is perfect for every mood and everyone.

Characters (background info, basically if you read this you can start watching on Monday and know enough to follow the plot):

Ed Deline: Originally Head of Security eventually President of Operations Ed is the Godfather of the Casino/Hotel. He takes care of his people and investigates when shenanigans (i.e. murders, suicides, thefts, kidnappings, etc.) occur. Ed is an ex-marine and also ex-CIA so he has connections which enable him to get things done faster than any police department and sometimes even faster than the FBI, he also has a lot of enemies. Ed's government/foreign connections often get him and anyone involved with him into all sorts of shenanigans. However, he is very strong, and well trained in martial arts so although he may look like an old fart he most definately does not act like one. Father to Delinda (adopted father of sorts to Nessa) and wife to Jillian, although all of the heads of departments are like his children. Ed is my favorite President of Operations.

Danny McCoy: Danny is a Las Vegas local (he was born and raised there along with Mary who willbe discussed later and Luis who is a Las Vegas cop). His father owned a construction company and his mother died when he was young. Danny is/was a marine and has been deployed twice. The second time he was deployed he was sent on a top secret mission and only Ed knew where he was and what happened to him while he was there. When Danny comes back he proposes to Mary who sort of accepts for a while but (although it was her dream) eventaully declines. When Danny came back he was not the same person, he was impulsive and wasn't able to sleep. This change was due to the fact that while he was on his mission he and his team were ambushed and he was forced to call in an airstrike on top of himself and his team, he was the only survivor and although his actions saved many lives he refuses to accept the fact that he is a hero. This is made apparent when Danny refuses to accept the Silver Star that he has been awarded for his bravery. Danny is absolutely in love with Mary, has had a relationship with both Delinda and Sam (although he acts more like Sam's older brother) and is good friends with Nessa. He will do anything it takes to protect any of the girls (as was seen when he, under Ed's orders, tried to keep Sam in her suite while there was a murderer after her) Ed considers Danny a son and Danny considers Ed a father-figure. He is currently (as in if you start wathing on Monday) Head of Surveillance and Security.

Mary Connell: A local and Danny's childhood sweetheart. Mary's father was abusive, she spent most of her childhood with Danny and his family (she hid at his house for 21 days after running away from home). Danny told her father that if he ver touched Mary again he would kill him and reaffirmed his threat when Mary's father showed up at the Montecito. Mary loves Danny but cannot find a good enough reason to marry him (she thinks that he's not thinking it throuh, I say oh well). Mary is very nice which makes her somewhat gullible and gets her into trouble every so often. She is good friends with practically everybody at the Montecito and is who everyone goes to with their emotional problems (all other sorts of problems go to Ed). Mary is the 'sweetheart' of the Casino and is Head of Special Events (meaning she plans concerts, weddings, magic shows, etc.).

Samantha Jane Marquez: Sam is a freelance Casino Host who lives at the Montecito and puts on a show for not needing anyone and being heartless, but is really a generally caring person (deep, deep, deep down). She ran away from home (she was living with her grandmother) at 16 and witnessed a murder (the murder of her employer/boyfriend/billionare fellow) at age 17. When the murderer escaped from prison he came after Sam for two reasons 1)She testified against him causing him to go to jail and 2)she knew where her billionare beau had hidden solid silver bars (what he didn't know was that Sam had already collected said bars and locked them in a safe in her suite). Thanks to Danny and Ed the culprit was put bakc behind bars (where he eventually died) and Sam was safe. Sam doesn't truly trust anyone and cares mostly about her job because it is the only security that she has, she rarely puts down roots. Her job as a Casino Host is to keep the high rollers playing for as long as possible and to supply them with any luxury they might require that would cause them to stay and play longer at the Montecito. Lately she tried to help bust the Juarez Cartel after finding out that one of her whales (high rollers, you need to know that term in order for the show to make sense) was laundering money for them. This happened right after a big spat with Ed and so Ed does not entirely trust her. Anyway Sam eventually met with the head of the Cartel wearing a wire for the FBI and was almost killed in gunfight that ensued after the wire was discovered, luckily Ed was there to come to the rescue. Sam is an otherwise completley self-reliant person and can hold her own with just about anyone. Recently it was revealed that Sam was and is still married. She also seems to have an affinity for lying. (I think if you put her, House, James 'Sawyer' Ford, and Ben Linus in the same room only one of them would survive and my money would either be on House or Sam. I think the two of them would make the perfect couple as they both possess the same personality traits, but maybe that's just me.)

Mike Cannon: a physics/engineering genius Mike has a degree from MIT and originally worked as Head Valet at the Montecito due to a claustrophobia problem he had (this problem became quite evident when Mike freaked out during a power outage when he, Ed and Mitch (another security agent) were locked in the security room). Anywho Mike was promoted (demoted really as it was a pay cut) to a security agent when Ed decided that his MIT expertise were absolutely indespensible to the security team and were being wasted on the valeting. Mike has never to my knowledge been in an incredibly serious relationship because women apparently find his incredible smarts unappealing. Ed trusts Mike to help him solve all sorts of crimes and the like with his vast knowledge of all things mechanical. Mike is a computer/mathmatical/physics genius and these attributes allow him to do things that other people otherwise could not (use microscopic cameras to catch thieves and cheaters). Mike was recently responsible for resuing a young lady froma serial rapist/killer and also helped Ed get out of an unjust Traffic Violation ticket. Mike is Danny's best friend and is the closest thing that Danny has to a brother. The two get competitive at times, but make a hilarious and dynamic duo.

Delinda Deline: Delinda has a genius IQ which you would never guess from watching the show as she seems to insist on acting like an airhead. Every once in a while her genius shows when she helps solve a murder (as she did recently) or exhibits her wilderness survival techniques. Delinda runs the Montecito's restaurant/club the Mystique and therefore has to constantly put up with her chef's (Gunther) antics and predjudices. She is a fashion genius, but als very, very ADD. She and Sam are the two most kidnapped people on the show due to their contacts (Delinda's relationship to Ed and Sam's relationships to multiple millionares). She had a brief relationship with Danny at the beginning of season one but Ed quickly put the kabosh on that ater catching them in bed. Ever since then it seems that Delinda has a new boyrfriend every week. It was recently revealed that Delinda was married for a weekend and no one has seen her ex-husband since then (suggesting that Ed may have been less than thrilled). Delinda and Nessa grew up together and are practically sisters which means they also bicker quite a bit. Although Delinda may seem like a ditz she is actually brilliant, it just rarely shows.

Nessa Holt: Nessa is the Pit Boss at the Montecito and is a genius at all things invollving gambling. She can spot a cheater/card caounter from anywhere int the casino. She can also tell who is winning a game of poker simply by observing their behavior for a few seconds. Her father was a con man who was allegedly used and then killed by the CIA. It has been suggested that Ed was involved in her father's 'death,' but nothing has been confrimed. Ed has however raised Nessa ever since her father disappeared. I say disappeared because it would seem that her father has been to the Montecito to check up on Nessa quite a bit meaning that he is not acutally dead, but rather hiding in an untouchable country. Nessa is also capable of holding her own but can not stand to be on the outside of a secret. I think she has a little thing for Mike, but who knows. She is also competitive when it comes to who she and Delinda date. Danny has also promised to show her the sites of Vegas but has never gotten around to it. Not too long ago Nessa was payed a visit by a woman who seemed to know how to get Nessa into contact with her father. The woman actually turned out to be a thief, but was quickly caught by Ed, Mike, and Nessa. Since then Nessa has given up on finding her biological father as Ed has been more of a father to her than that man ever was.

I think that covers just about everything you need to know for Monday. Now that I have finished making the show sound like a cheesy soap opera I highly recommend that you watch it and judge it for yourself. As I stated earlier I think it has something for everyone to enjoy, but maybe that's just me (I doubt it though).