13. Done

My blog experience was up and down. Once it was assigned at the start of the year, I sticked with it. I was able to put my posts up on time each week for the first several weeks. After a few weeks went by i began to hate the blog assignment. I began to be careless about what I put into the blog and eventually, that carelessness eventually turned into laziness. My blogs became few and far between, with the occasional blog posted a few hours late, or not at all for that matter. This was not an easy assignment. It was not hard in the fact that it took studying or hard work, it was just a chore i had to do each week that i did not enjoy.

I think the purpose of the blog was so you as well as I could see my writing progress through out the year. Do i believe I have accomplished the purpose of this blog? No. The blogs I wrote were careless and meaningless, therefore you could not see the progress I should have been making in the class. Yeah, I had an occasional interesting blog, mainly at the start of the semester, but as time flew by, they turned into meaningless and careless posts.

12. SORRY

So, yeah... This is my first blog in like three weeks..I keep forgetting sorry Dr. Miller. But I have a lot to talk about now. Well, lets start with thanksgiving, It was a lot of fun. I got to see my family, well most of them anyways. I have not seen them since the middle of august, so it was a much needed visit. O yeah, the food was good too. Moving on, after thanksgiving I had to face the reality of coming back to school for two and a half more weeks. And school since then has been mostly reviewing and getting ready for exams that are coming up this next week so dont for get to study. Well that brings me up to this past weekend. I went to NT formal. It was a lot of fun, thats why this blog is a little late. I did not get back till this afternoon, but i figured that a late blog is better than not having a blot for the fourth week in a row. well in 8 days i get to go home!! im excited to see my family once again and to see my friends for the first time since i left. Although i have not been home sick since i left home i have missed my friends and family. But i feel that leaving home for college has taught me a lot like how to manage my money and my time. Well like i said exams are this coming up friday through tuesday. so good luck everyone, hope yall do well!! STUDY HARD!!

11. This ones for you Dr. Miller

Okay as Dr. Miller has noticed in class Julia Porter and me are NEVER in class at the same time. As he would say "They just can not stand to be in the same room together." Or "We much have had a break up." Neither of these are true. As a matter of fact we are still together. In fact as many of you might know I am, as of recent, a Shawreth active. You might be asking, "What does this have to do with anything?" Well the each club and tribe have different swaps through out the year. Well tonight, Wed. November 12, was our first swap with KT. Here is where it starts to come together. Julia Porter is in KT, and who was there tonight skating, Julia Porter. Well Julia is not the greatest skater in the world so I helped her. We held hands skating around the rink talking and carrying on. I will have to say that it was a rather enjoyable time that Julia and me spent together, and I look forward to spending much more time with her. .................*sigh*.................. Go read Julia Porter's blog maybe she will have some more things to say about this wonderful night :)....

10. BIG WEEK

Well this week was a big week in many ways. To start off the week, we had the presidential election on Tuesday. That was crazy. Even around campus you had so many different ideas of who should win and why they should be president. Well I voted for the first time and I voted for McCain. While he did not win the election, all i can do is sit back and hope for the best. Who knows maybe Obama will do a good job and bring our country out of this economic slump that we are in.
I am just glad that i got to vote this year.

The second thing that happened this week was we singed up for new classes next semester. I am glad to say that i got all the classes that i wanted and that i needed, even if i did have to get up at 5 am. O well i think it was well worth it. One thing that singing up for new classes has shown me is that this semester has gone by so fast. It is still hard for me to believe that it is almost chirstmas time. This makes me happy because ill get to go home for the first time.

So all in all this week was a good week. I voted, got my classes and we got one week closer to the end of this semester. Thats about all i got for this week, hope everyone has a great week this week.

9. A good week

So this week was a good week. I can not really complain about anything. The weather was nice, classes went well, nothing really went wrong. It was much needed week, the past two weeks have not been that good, so to have a week like this is refreshing. It is amazing to me how fast this first semester has gone by. I mean, we are signing up for classes next week, for classes next semester. It seems just like it was yesterday when were signing up for classes at orientation. One class that i am excited about is a class called "Popular music and society". I am excited about what i am going to learn in that class.

Another thing that i am excited about is the closely approaching formals and informals. I will be going to LT and NT formals. I am excited about going to both of them. My highs school did not have dances so i am excited that i get to actually go to a dance that my school is having. Yeah i went to other schools dances but never had one of my own so this is a first for me. I had to buy a tux, i think i will be using it a good bit so i believe it was a good investment. Well thats pretty much it for this week. hope everyone has a good week this coming week, dont forget to vote for president on tuesday. Its a right that not everyone has, use it. There are men and women dying every day so that we can keep that right.

8. Life keeps going

Ok well this past week has been so busy for me. Even though this week was so busy, it was a great week. Having to prepare for follies, classes, getting grades, I even dropped a class. As everyone knows,...(or should know) grades for midterms came out this past wed. My grades were..well...okay.. not great but okay. I had an F in college algebra, but I am dropping that class in a hurry. I do not believe that grade is a result of me being lazy, but the lack of well.. teaching skills. So after meeting with some people, i have been advised to drop the class. Ill be left with 12 hours on this semister so it will leave me a little short of "on track" but o well it will all work out.

Lets see.....follies...aw yes,,...follies. We work hard to put togather an awesome skit. to prefore. We did well, we came in second place. That was a lot of fun, getting to see your hard work pay off in the end made it all worth the effort. O top of follies, we have home coming tomorrow, or today seeing as its 3 am right now haha, (i just remembered about this, and did not want to forget.) That shoudl be fun, I really hope we win the homecoming game. well between home coming, follies, and grades that pretty much wraps up my week. Yeah it was a busy week but one that i feel was very productive. I hope i have more weeks like this to come. Hope everyone has a good week next week. Take it easy

7. On Time

For the first time in the past two weeks my blog will be on time. It is weird, i am sitting in my bed at 1am on Sunday morning and remember that i have a blog due later today, seeing as i forget things real easy i am doing it now. This week proved to be better than last week and even the week before that. I think what made it a little better was that i got to sleep in the first two days of the week. But for the most part my week was uneventful.

On Saturday i slept in and then went to the mall with some friends. I had to buy a tuxedo for the formals i have been invited too (LT and NT). I figured that if i am going to be going to several formal events in the next couple of years i might want to but a tux now rather than later. After i had bought the tux we went to eat and then to a movie. We say Max Payne. It was a good movie, if you have not seen it you should go and watch it.

This week coming up should be a good week. I have no tests that i know of yet so thats a good thing. I am hoping that it is going to be a nice and relaxing week, lets hope it turns out that way atleast. Well that pretty much all i have for this week. If it seems like my blogs are getting shorter and less interesting, im sorry, i really am running out of things to say. well i hope everyone has a great week this week.

6. worst week ever

Okay,...this has got to be the worst week i have had here at MC so far.  To start if off, it was ust so busy.  I think what made this week the worst was friday.  Well i was going to go see Life house in concert, but something came up and i was unable to go.  That kinda make me mad but okay, life will go on.  Well friday afternoon was my hometown rival football game, which was covered by ESPN U this year.  The only place on campus that has this channel is Hampsteds.  I was excited that i was going to get a little taste of home here in Mississippi.  Well as it turns out Hampsteds closes at 6 pm on friday.  I did not know this till i had gotten there and looked at the door.  So that just put a bad cap on an all ready bad day.

Saturday turned out to be a little better.  I got to sleep in all day and just chill around the room, which was really nice seeing that the day before was not that great.  After I got done sleeping in i went shopping.  Abercrombie and fitch had some great sales on jeans, so i stocked up no them which i needed.  O i almost for got, i went to a thrift store and found a nice button down shirt for $2.50.  But that pretty much sums up my O so wounderful week. hope you enjoyed it

5. My Fifth Blog!!!!

ok well honestly I have no clue of what to write about this week. My week was not that interesting to be honest, I went to class, took a test or two, of which I think I did not do too well on. One thing i have learned this week is that I have no idea how to study. Yeah, as I mentioned in last weeks blog, i have never had to study before now. So this is a learning experiance to me. Before I came to college, people told me that the freshman semister would be my hardest. At first I did not believe them. I thought they were just over exadurtating and that i was going to be fine. Im not failing anything but i sure could make better grades than what i have been making. And on top of not knowing how to study, rush has started. This means that i am going to try twice as hard to make good grades that before. But in the end i think i will be able to study better and hopefully start to make better grades.

Other than learning that i have no clue how to study, this week has not been too much fun. This weekend we had the tail gate. That had to be the higelight of my weekend. They did have good food there though, I think this might be why i like it so much haha. But this upcoming week is looking like it is going to be a busy week. Between school work, papers, studying and various other things i belive i will not have much free time on my hands but I will be ok, ill make it though...I hope....

4. Learning something new every day

Well I think this week has be the most hectic week of my life. I had 3 tests, two of which I did not do so good on. But thank God for teachers who give extra credit!!!! I have not had time to do anything this week, so I am pretty excited that it is the weekend. I think that this week has been the week where i realized that this is not a vacation, I am not able to just sit by and watch life go by. I actually have to study and get involved here. This is something unusual to me since I never had to study in high school.

Some of the things I have learned this week is that studying is more than just reading over the pages in a book and thinking I am prepared for the test. This is not how it works for those of you who have not figured it out yet. You actually have to think about it and grasp an understanding of the material you are going over. The other thing I have learned is that you need to do your math homework, even if the teacher does not take it up or grade it. This is also new to me, well kinda. In high school i never did my math homework either, but the teachers still checked to see if I had done it. And when i did not do it, i got a zero for my homework grade, but I know what was going on enough to get a good grade on the test so I ended up ok. Well Mr. Killman does not take it up or check if we did it. So my thinking was "Hey! Im not going to do it at all and it will be like high school." I WAS WRONG! This is why I made a 64 on the test.

So I guess you could say that this week has been a learning experance for me. Now that i know that I actually have to study to pass in college I think I am a little more prepared for the next week. Other than the accademic aspect of this week it was good. I think I am finally getting into a grove here, I am learning that i do not have to be involved in everything. I am also learning how to manage my time a little better. Well thats about it for this week.

3. "To be or not to be, that is the question"

Okay, last week i posted a blog discussing the choices between right and wrong. This week I have decided to talk about change. Before I left my home town I kept telling myself, "This is a chance for a new start, you can make your self who ever you want to be." And I still think that, this is a chance for a new start, and I can make myself who I want to be. As we go though life we all make mistakes that we wish other people never knew about. But some things are inevitable, people will find things out about you that you wish they never knew. So when I came here no one knew anything about me, nothing was expected of me, which was nice. Before I left I was thinking to myself, which qualities of myself do I want to chance, because after all, I can be anyone I want to be.
Well when I got here, I acted the same way I did at home, my personality did not change, nothing about me changed, except my surroundings. For a while I was disappointed. I mean, I had planed to change, to become a new person. But I figured out something, If I had attempted to change everything about me, then it would not be the real me. Now will I change over time, of course I will, but it will not be because I forced myself to change. As we mature, we change this we can not help. But I'm glad we change, in fact I think I would be more disappointed in myself if I did not change at all while at college.
I guess what I am trying to say is to be who you are, be real. If I had changed like I thought I wanted to, I would be a fake. The person I would have changed into would not be me, but rather the person I thought that people would like me to be. So it may sound childish, we have all heard it a million times, but I am going to be me for me, I am not going to conform to just "fit it". Your best friends in life are going to like YOU for who YOU are, not what other people think you should be. Life is too short to conform just to fit it. Don't be caught in the lie that you have to fit into a certain mold to be accepted.

2. The choice of right and wrong.

Do I choose to do right or do I choose to do wrong? What is right? What is Wrong? Growing up we are taught to do what is right, and not to do what is wrong. At first we are taught what the difference between right and wrong are by our parents. As we mature our morals begin to get challenged, and we begin to discern for ourselves what the difference between right and wrong is. Leaving for college has been an event in my life that has forced me to mature. Right as I arrived here at MC I was faced with some decisions to do either right, or to do wrong. With out my parents here to guide me, I was on my own to decide what to do.
One of the things I was most excited about when leaving for college was that I was going to a place where I was known by no one. All my life I have been watched very closely, partly because my father is a pastor, and because of that, people seem to hold me to a higher standard than other people my age. Do I think that is wrong? No, in I Timothy it speaks about the qualifications of a pastor. In verse 4 of I Timothy it states, " One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." Believe it or not this puts a lot of stress on me. because what ever I did was reflected back on my father. So my thinking was that if I can get away from where people know me, I can do whatever I want, and I will not have to worry about people watching me. I was wrong.
It occured to me not long after I got here, that it did not matter who my parents were or what their jobs were, I represent Jesus Christ. Forget being held to the standard of your earthly father, no matter where we go, we are always held to the standard of our saviour. He expects way more out of us that our earthly father ever could. Have I failed since I have been here to represent Jesus in the way I should? Of course I have, but this is something I will always continue to work on. So remember where ever you go, you are always held to a higher standard than that of your own.

1. 500 miles away, but still at home

Some of you may know me by now, but for those of you who do not, I am Jared Willis and i am from Valdosta Georgia. For those of you who watch ESPN that's "Title Town". When looking for a college to attend I knew I had to leave home. Not because my parents made me or because i hated the people there, I left home so i could meet new people and experience new things. I had been considering MC for a while and felt like that was where God was leading me. So i applied. When i got the acceptance letter i was excited beyond belief, who couldn't be, you get to live on your own and make your own choices. I mean is that not what is all about...right? For a while i thought so, and for a while i lived with the mentality of "Yeah! I'm finally out of here!" But when it came time to leave everything for real, your friends, your family, everything you have ever know, its a different story. Don't get me wrong, i was still excited about leaving, i just started to realize what i was leaving.

We left south Georgia and drove north to Atlanta. In Atlanta we spent the night with my grandmother, woke up the next morning and headed to Mississippi. We arrived here in Clinton mid-day August 20. When the morning of the 21st rolled around i began to get a little scared, but still excited nun the less. My family helped me move into the dorms and get settled, most like all of the other freshman. When it came time to say goodbye to my family one last time, it hit me even harder, the people that I have been so dependent on for the past 19 years of my life are no longer going to be there at my ever becking call. It was an emotional time for everyone, mostly for my mom, but they left and i went back to my dorm.

Lets jump ahead a few weeks to today. I have started classes and meet new friends. I have found that the people here are very nice and accepting for the most part, but you will all ways have a few that are still living like they are in high school. So with all this said i would like to thank you all for making me a part of the "MC family". I can truly say that I am 500 miles away, but still feel at home.