By my title you may think this post will be about some fortune telling event or someone with the wonderful powers of being able to see into the future, but it is not. Some of you might even think it’s going to be an inspirational message about looking ahead and striving for success. But, that’s not it either. That topic will actually be discussed in my next post. THIS post is just to describe my excitement about returning to Winky Doodles Paint Ball Park. This weekend my roommates and I are planning on going back for more battle ground action. Dre decided she wanted to take her brother Matt with us because he would totally love it. He, much like us, is always up for anything fun, adventurous, and exciting. I will definitely be prepared this time- NO RED SHIRT FOR ME! I made myself a huge bull’s eye the last time we went by wearing that color. My “roomies” and I were even thinking of going to the GI Supply store and getting some camo army pants and green or brown t-shirts to better disguise ourselves from our “enemies”. You can buy clothes from there at a discounted price so they are not so expensive. We are DETERMINED to leave the battlefield victorious, NOT defeated! Stay tuned to see what happens next…

This past weekend I had the unexpected pleasure of having my first paintball experience. My roommates and some friends decided, randomly, to go play paintball this past Saturday. I had never done this before, but always wanted to. I had no idea what was to be in store for me…

For those of you who don’t know, paintball is a “sport” where you and your team go into a ” battle field” full of random objects to hide behind. You are basically at war against another team who starts on the opposite end of the field as you. The whole time you’re in the netted battle field, hard-shelled balls of paint are being shot, from large guns that looks similar to military weapons, at up to 280 miles per hour across the field, in all directions. If you’re hit with one of these balls, the shell breaks, exploding colorful paint on you. The object, of course, is for your team to have the most people still “alive” at the end of the game. Whichever team’s players are all hit first, loses.

When we arrived at Winky Doodles Paintball Park, we had no idea what to expect. Dre was terrified; she is extremely girly and has NEVER shot any kind of gun, so she was really nervous about this whole experience. It was actually quite comical. She was even whining. Our friend, Alba, had brought her “battle gear”, wearing her husband’s army pants and army boots. She was definitely ready for the battle that was to take place. After getting our equipment (guns, face shield & goggles, chest protector, and ammunition) we listened to a safety speech by the “referees”. They went over all the rules of the park and explained the danger behind paintballing. Our first game was very exciting. I felt so nervous, my palms sweaty and my heart racing. I had no idea what to expect and our friends had told us that it does hurt a little when you get hit with a “bullet”.

The refs shouted, “GO GO GO!” and the game was on. We ran quickly to different bunkers to find shelter from the flying paintballs. There were about eight of us on each team. As we hid behind the bunkers, we’d peek up and fire our paintballs at the enemy team. Within only a few minutes, members from both teams were being taken out, splattered with bright orange and white paint. I was thankful I was not the first to be out. Just as I rose from a bunker to shoot… BAM! I was hit on the hand. Man, it sure did sting! I walked out to the back of the course to safety. As I was talking to one of my friends, we looked and saw Dre walking towards us. She was out too now! It was hilarious though because as we watched her walking towards us, we noticed a bright orange spot, right smack in the middle of her forehead. She had been shot in the head!! We laughed for a while about it as she rubbed her head. Dre said, “I may have been shot in the forehead, but I shut Diana up when I shot her in the shoulder first! Ha ha ha!” Diana is our other roommate. She is an engineering major at UTEP and she often “talks smack” to us all the time about how engineers are so smart and good at everything. So, it was quite humorous that the “smart engineer” got taken out.

I think after the first game, those of us who had never played this game before were more relaxed. It was actually quite fun, even though being shot could be a little painful, sometimes more than others. Being shot in certain places hurt s lot more, like the inside of your legs and arms and in the neck. I had several bruises later in the day, but the fun definitely out weighed the soreness from being shot. It really was like being in battle, in the middle of a war zone. I remember during one of the games, as I was hiding for cover, I looked up into the sky and saw a sea of paintballs soring through the air, flying every direction you could imagine. It was so crazy. And, even when you thought you were protected, only peeking out at tiny bit from the protection of your bunker, you could STILL get hit by a bullet that was looking for you.

All in all, it was a great time: adrenaline pumping excitement. My roommates and I are already planning another trip to Winky Doodles.

Yesterday we started our new block schedule, having reading and writing together as one class, Language Arts. This is a pretty big change having the two classes combined. I know it has only been one day, but we’d like to know your thoughts about it. What do YOU think of having reading and writing together as one class? What was the first day in this new setting like? Do you think it will be good/bad having the two classes as one? WHY?

Man, I remember the days, years back, when I could eat whatever I wanted, no matter how sugary, fatty, or greasy, and there were no consequences for my actions. Among some of my favorites have always been chocolate frosted donuts from Dunkin Donuts, pasta, Mexican, and Chinese food. Oh! How I LOVE Chinese food, especially from PF Chang’s, my favorite restaurant!

But, sadly, that is no longer the case. The closer I get to my inevitable doom of reaching the age of 30, I am seeing that my metabolism just doesn’t work the same as it used to. All the junk and high calorie foods I used to eat without worry, are coming back to haunt me and laugh in my face. They are even taking a vacation around my waist, adding unwanted fat.

I look pictures of me, from just one year ago, with a frown. My waist was slimmer, and the unwanted curves just a figment of my imagination. This realization has led me back to a place that I was once very familiar with when I was in my early 20’s, an old friend you could say. As my life has become busier, faster paced, and more demanding of my time, I have found less time and energy for the physical activities I have enjoyed all my life, like basketball and soccer. Because of this and my increasing age, my body can not burn fat as quickly and easily as it used to. So what now?

Well. I refuse to allow my age to get the best of me and my body. After the holidays I decided to get a gym membership. I enjoyed going to the gym years ago and I figured it was time to MAKE time to return. Everything about it was positive: research has proven that exercise gives you more energy throughout the day, PLUS I could stay in shape, while at the same time, burn fat and build muscle. I now go to the gym every day: in the morning I do weight training and in the evening I run on the treadmill.

Though I have not been back at the gym long, I DO already notice the increase in my energy. And boy do I need it! You guys keep me on my toes and running all day long and believe me, it can sure be draining at times. The only negative part of this whole thing is that I have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get my workout in, get ready for work, and be here on time.

This week’s blog is incorporates a combination of Writing and Science. In Ms. Martinez’ class you have been studying natural resources. You need to use the information you have been learning and think about the following questions. Pick ONE of the questions below and write a DETAILED post that discusses it.

** Please remember that not everyone knows about what you are writing about (I don’t hear what Ms. Martinez teaches you) so it would be a good idea to have a short beginning that INTRODUCES the topic and gives a little background information about it. Here are the questions to choose from:

1. Should we worry about conserving renewable resources? WHY OR WHY NOT?

2. If the sun were to stop shining, what EFFECT would there be on renewable resources? How would the EFFECT be different on NON-renewable resources?

3. What things/actions can people do to help conserve energy and resources? WHY should people do this and WHO benefits from it?

Remember yesterday we discussed that a position presentation involves persuading the audience on an issue of importance such as preventing global warming from getting worse, abolishing school uniforms, or getting rid of TAKS testing. Yesterday you wrote seeds in your seed books about various issues you were interested in. Today, your assignment is to pick ONE issue, possibly the one that interests you most, and write a post about it. Be sure to express your opinion on the issue and give reasons WHY you are either for or against it. What is it that YOU want to happen with this issue? BE DETAILED ANS EXPLAIN YOURSELF. TRY TO CONVINCE YOUR AUDIENCE.

** REMEMBER YOU MUST PUBLISH YOUR POST BY THE END OF THE PERIOD!! ALSO, THIS POST SHOULD BE THE FIRST THING YOU DO BEFORE ANY OTHER POSTS OR COMMENTS!!

Don’t you HATE that feeling that surges through your body when the alarm sounds and you slowly crack your eye lids open to realize it is STILL DARK outside? That is exactly what I felt this morning. When my alarm buzzed off this morning, I could have sworn that I had only just gone to sleep a few moments earlier. It was like I was dreaming, only it was NOT a desirable dream. This was more like a nightmare. No more sleeping in with the dogs, no more lazy, relaxation on the sofa watching movies, no more hanging out with my roommates (since we were all on vacation), no more Guitar Hero, no more fun stuff. Man, I all I wanted to do this morning was smack off the alarm snuggle back deep into my pillow and let the comforter swallow me in it’s warmth. Kaiser, Aiden, and Linkin didn’t even want to get up. As a matter of fact, I had to drag them out of bed and force them to go outside to relieve themselves. As I slowly crawled out of bed, the house seemed so dark, so quiet… still sleeping, like most of you probably were at that time of the morning. I did not even do my hair this morning, finding it much easier and giving me ten more minutes to lounge in bed, I decided to throw a beanie on to cover up the bird’s nest that my hair had become over night. After doing my makeup and getting dressed I slugged off to work.

Once I arrived at work, it was quite amusing to find that many of my colleagues were curious as to “what” I was hiding under my hat. I guess they are so used to me doing crazy things with my hair style and color, they assumed that I had modified my hair even more in some crazy way. I even had to take my beanie off to prove it to some of them. I must admit, the humor of the whole thing almost encourages me to think of another wild and outrageous design for my hair. It IS, after all, time to get a hair cut and retouch the color, he he he.

It was good to see my colleagues once again and catch up with them, their lives, and their holiday experiences. The day had a slow start, trying to get my body and mind to move at the same speed, but now that it’s almost over, I think I’ll be okay for tomorrow when all of you return to drain my energy from me. Ha! Though I do not consider myself to be old (age is only a number; you are truly as young as you choose to be), I DO most definitely miss the energy that your body has when you’re the age that you all are. Anyways, ready or not, the second semester is here. Let’s make it a successful AND fun filled one

I’m sure all of you who are into video games and the different game systems will be able to appreciate this post. This Christmas a friend of ours (mine and my roommates) and her husband stunned us when they bought us a Wii for Christmas. We were definitely not expecting them to get  us a gift like that, so we were definitely appreciative. Alba and Johnny knew we had been planning to buy one, so I guess rather than waiting for us to make the purchase, they decided they’d do us the favor. We used to have a PS2, but it was broken thanks to our wonderful kitty cats . My roommates and I have definitley fallen in love with the Wii and played it most every day since we got it. Dre has become quite the aggressive competitor on Guitar Hero World Tour because it’s her favorite game. She makes sure that she can beat anyone else’s score and “note streak” on every song. The Wii has definitely created much fun for our house as many of our friends have come over to have a small tournament like competition with Guitar Hero. I’m sure we’ll get lots of use out of our new Christmas present!