Protecting Myself--Part I

Last week, my mother called me and told me that if I wanted to take a CCW (conceal and carry) class, I needed to let her know asap because my aunt was trying to set up a class for us for that weekend. 

I had been wanting to take the CCW class in order to apply for my permit but I hadn't really given it much serious thought. My aunt and mother bombarded me with the news about the class out of nowhere. Naturally, I was taken aback. Like I said, I had been wanting to take the class but I wasn't sure if I was even being serious about it. After all, I would have to pass a class about firearms to even apply for the permit--and I didn't know much about guns. 

I mean, I've been around guns my whole life. Many of the men in my family and around me are hunters...and I definitely love having my freezer full of venison. It is much more lean than hamburger meat and can become quite a delicious substitute for beef in many different recipes (chili is especially good with venison). I've gone with my Dad on hunting expeditions, though I've always assumed that I could never kill an animal. I would go with my Dad into the woods, help him set up his tree stand, and sit with him until it got dark, keeping a watchful eye out for any deer. Usually, after the first two hours or so, I indulged in a nice nap. It's pretty obvious that I'm not a born killer. I love nature, so being out in the woods is always calming...but I just can't see myself sending Bambi's Pap-Pap into the next world...and thus into my freezer. 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...the CCW class. Why would a nice young lady like myself want to carry around a deadly weapon anyway, right? I know what you're thinking...it's dangerous...especially since I told you that I don't know much about guns. This is the reason: I am a nice young lady...and I'm also pretty small. I don't weigh a whole lot so if it came down to being attacked by some crazy person, I wouldn't be able to defend myself. I've already had a rather unpleasant (I'm not going to go into details) experience during my first semester of college. 

I'm serious about wanting to protect myself. I don't want to become a statistic, and I definitely don't want to be plastered all over televisions if some crazy person kidnaps me for who knows what reason (though we all know what they want, right?). I can take a more hands-on approach with my own safety. I want to be alert at all times...and I want to be able to defend myself if (God forbid) a situation arises. I've never wanted to just carry around a gun because I wanted to be "cool," or because I want men to think I'm a tough chick. Ideally, the point of carrying around a gun is NOT to use it at all...it is purely there for a worst case scenario. 

I'm not going to go around and advertise that "I'm packing heat". In fact, if I do get my permit, I don't want anyone to know about it. People that advertise that they have it are just asking for someone to break into their house to steal the gun that they're bragging about. Because my identity is pretty well protected in this blog, I don't really have to worry about sharing my experience.

In fact, I want to share it because I want to encourage other young women to think about how they would protect themselves if something bad were to happen. Applying for a CCW permit is definitely not the best option for everyone, but everyone should have a plan of action if something bad does happen to them. It is better to be prepared, always. Remember the fire/tornado drills we thought were so stupid and annoying when we were younger? Imagine if your school never held those drills and a tornado or a fire really happened. Would you have been prepared on your own for that? Would you know where to go or what to do? How would you deal with the panicky feelings you would be having? These are the questions that women of all ages need to ask themselves in relation to being attacked or robbed. As women, we tend to think that everyone is inherently good...and we want to make connections with other people and "fix" them if they are "broken". Unfortunately, the world is not like that. There are people out there that are just bad--if they want to hurt you, they will have no problem doing it. I know this from first hand experience. 

(continued in part II)...

Cleaning Days vs. Study Days vs. Play Days

I have the unfortunate problem of not being able to multitask very well. I'm sure I'm not the only person with this problem. I have entire days where I just focus on one thing/theme for the day. I'm sure this isn't the most healthy/well-rounded lifestyle, but sometimes these days just seem to happen.

I'll wake up and think, "Okay, today is going to be a cleaning day". I'll spend the entire day doing laundry, dishes, sweeping, and just working on making my house more presentable overall. There are probably people out there in the big, big world that may think that waking up and wanting to clean is something that they wish they could have. It's not so perfect though. The problem is, for at least 80% of my time, it ISN'T a "cleaning day". Thus, my messy lifestyle builds up day after day until finally, my brain switches into "clean mode" and I go cleaning crazy. Many of my friends have witnessed my messy lifestyle, and very few have witnessed my house when it is actually pretty clean. It's kind of like I let things go until I just can't take it anymore and all of the sudden the scary cleaning lady makes an appearance.

I don't know why this always seems to happen to me. Why can't I have a mix day? You know, do a load of laundry while studying or watching a movie or something. I just can't seem to get my mind to mix things up. I just get fixated on something and can't seem to look away from it, whether it involves doing tons of dishes, watching marathons of a tv show, or playing hours of "Just Dance" on my Kinect.

Sometimes, I will have study days--I'll go study crazy. I'll read all of my assignments, do all of my homework, and go highlighter crazy. I may even read ahead or research something that a professor only lightly mentioned in class. I will organize everything, and I may even type out or rewrite some of my notes, adding more information that I found while studying on my own.

Then there are the less frequent "play" days. This type of day is probably my favorite but also probably my least productive. I will sleep in until half the day is gone. Then I will get up and do a bunch of silly stuff, like playing video games for hours, playing music and dancing around with my dog, throwing Jaco his squeaky toy over and over again, and I may even just have a movie marathon. I like the play days because I'm extremely lazy but I actually spend some time just on myself.

I'm trying to get better at managing my time and mixing up my activities each day but it is really a challenge for me! I think I'm starting to get better though. Today, I slept in (play day), put in a load of laundry and folded one that I didn't finish folding last night (cleaning day), and I completed a couple homework assignments (study day). I guess things are looking up...I just hope that I can keep this up without my brain turning back to "auto" mode, and my fixation days will reappear. -_-

The Woes of Washing Machines

Okay. So I realize that this is my first EVER blog post and I should probably be writing something more related to me personally, but I decided to take the polar plunge and post something that has been plaguing my life for a few months now. 

Recently I moved into a house that my parents bought as a rental property. Other than being utterly broke and struggling to pay my bills, it's pretty awesome. I'm living independently with my dog Jaco, all the food in here is mine, and I can walk around in my underwear if I want.

However, I've been having issues since I moved in with various appliances. Besides having to replace a used refrigerator that matched my cream colored stove with a black used refrigerator that is now collecting water in the bottom of it, I've had no end to problems with my washer/dryer. 

This all started when my grandma, lovely and doting woman that she is, sent a washer and dryer to my house from one of her rental properties. I was excited to finally not have to go to my parent's house to wash my clothes (even though I HATE doing laundry almost as much as I HATE washing dishes). Life was going pretty well until I discovered that the dryer was burning my clothes and continually setting my smoke detector off. This is an annoying smoke detector and makes me want to cower in a corner. Anyway, so once again my grandma worked her magic and bought a used washer and dryer to switch out with the washer that was working okay and the dryer that was catching stuff on fire. 

Unfortunately, upon switching out the washer/dryer, I discovered that the new (used) washer was making a horrible noise and the agitator was not functioning. Greeeaaaattt. So, now I had a dryer that was working but not a washer. I'm sure you can begin to imagine the giant piles of laundry that have been taking up residence in my basement since all of this mess started. 

Equally frustrated was my grandmother, who went to Lowes yesterday and ordered me a new washer, exactly like the washer she had just purchased because HER washer had also quit working. This morning, Lowes was supposed to deliver my new washer. I was about as excited as I could be that I would be doing laundry tonight--finally! I had explicit instructions from my grandma to have the delivery guys move the old washer into the garage so that my cousin could scrap it for some cash later today. 

Woohoo! My new washer was installed!

...dun dun dunnnnnn!!!...

The delivery men had taken the old washer with them instead of putting it in the garage. I hadn't realized this until two seconds after the guys pulled out of my driveway and headed down the road. Shiiiiiiitt! I called my grandma, she called Lowes, and the guys came back to unload the old washer and put it in my garage. 

Cool right?
 Right.



But...



I was investigating my new washer when I noticed something strange. My grandmother had given me some new H.E. (high efficiency) detergent because the regular soap I had wouldn't work in the new washer. Oddly, when I inspected all the doodads/knobs on the front of the washer, I noticed that there was nothing indicating that the washer was an H.E. Likewise, my grandma had explained to me that her new washer didn't have an agitator. So mine shouldn't either, right? I mean, she bought me the EXACT SAME model. 

WHAT THE HELL?!?



Naturally, I called her again (adding to her own washer woes) and we determined that my washer probably wasn't the same one. My grandma came over to my house and determined that, yes indeed, my washer was totally different. Soooo...

Once more my grandmother called Lowes. It turns out that she accidentally bought the wrong one yesterday when she was in a hurry at the store. The washer I have was sitting in the exact same place as the one she had bought. 

Luckily, things are looking up (mostly). Lowes is going to come back out here and switch the washers. Hallelujah, right?!? The only downside is that I have to wait until Monday for the delivery. Another four days of using the same two towels to dry off with after I take a shower. Another four days of having to look at the mountain of dirty clothes that has accumulated in my basement. Fffffuuuuuuuuuu....