final blog

The essay Virtual Communities: Cyberhood vs. Neighborhood by John Perry Barlow discusses the different aspects of community in the virtual world and the real world. The experience through our class assignment, to create and maintain a weekly blog adds to some of his ideas. 

            Barlow’s search for community led him to cyber space and back.  Throughout his experience he realizes the lack of personality cyberspace contains.  The “prana” is what makes a community diverse and is the main thing that cyberspace is lacking.  Since our class interacts on a personal level for fifty minutes four times a week, prana exists.  We know how each other sound, act, talk, and can recognize specific mannerisms that make us who we are. 

            When we made our blogs, it gave our class an additional form of communication, which opened the opportunity to further our community and relationships.  The diversity contained in each blog added to the diversity within our class and allowed us to understand our classmates better.   The level of understanding varied with the blogs – ranging from sports to reviews to random thoughts as did our class vary opinions and ideas.

            I enjoyed the opportunity to write my own blog and be creative with what I wrote.  I chose to stick with random things since I enjoy sharing experiences and situations which rarely share a common theme.  Although it was sometimes a burden to think of something to write, I enjoyed writing my blog and reading the blogs of my peers.

Rock of Love

So this evening was the finale of Rock of Love.  Thankfully, Amber won! I would have been heartbroken if Daisy won because she is a dirty stripper! I have also decided that even though Brett Michaels is a total scum bag, I completely adore him and will be on Rock of Love III if him and Amber don't work out.  Of course I will have to overcome obstacles such as drinking age and school but I know it can be done.  I can just imagine taking him home to mom and dad in South Dakota or taking him to Biff's Bagels here in Flag.  

HAHA OF COURSE I am only kidding and am simply an obsessed fan of the show.   In essence, I am glad Amber is Brett's Rock of Love and which them the best of luck.

Initiation weekend

So for those of you who don't know, I am a member of the Tri Delta sorority here at NAU.  I am strongly involved and enjoy every moment.  This weekend ,however, was one of the more special experiences.  It was new member initiation!  The weekend consisted of having brunches, rituals, and bonding times in celebration of our little pearls becoming pine trees---symbolism of course! Another special part of initiation is the "No Booze No Boys" policy that is in place for the day before and day of initiation.  Since we are forced to have girl only time, my "big" and I decided to buy Sweeny Todd and some Oregano's.  To some, this has little significance but to me it is HUGE!!  My Big and I find a lot of weird things that we have in common and we discovered another thing which is the mucial Sweeny Todd!  I absolutely love this movie! I saw it 3 times over christmas break and have a mini poster pinned on my wall next to my desk for daily viewing! So we watched the movie, sang along and ate our food.  In addition, it was excellent bonding time for my sisters and I and I am so glad to have them in my life!

A trip to Prescott

On friday night, I went with two of my friends, Mariel and Erinn, to meet my friend Mariel's mom who was visiting her dear friend.  When we arrived at out destination in Prescott, we did not know what to expect.  The house from the outside was worn down and the yard was dry, but on the inside, there was tons of beautiful art and it was gorgeous.   The house belonged to Mariel's Mom's best friend Becky.  We were greeted with warm hugs and joy for it was my first time meeting these ladies.  While we were there, we ate Thai Food, hot tubbed, and had great conversation.  It was awesome being with ladies who had been best friends since college.  They shared stories and wished us the best of luck with our friendships, hoping that one day we could have a relationship similar to theirs.  It was great getting to know them and I never really thought I could have so much fun hanging out with a friends mom and her friends!

 

Song time?

So, this weekend started off like any other but ended to be very special to me.  To start my explanation, I write music and recently decided to make an "Artist" Myspace page and post some of my songs.  I added a few of my friends and most of my Delta sisters, so Friday night after a mediocre night I got out my guitar and took it down the hall to my sister's room.  There they made me play over and over again till my fingers hurt!  The best part though, was that towards the end, we were making up stupid verses and sang about random things.  To some this may not seem significant but to me it is because for so long I have been afraid to share my music with anyone, even my family.  Now that I am here and have friends as close as them, I feel like its ok to be me and express myself in every way.  It is a huge personal step for me to be able to open up with people about something as personal as a song and lyrics.  This even has led way to a closer relationship between my sisters and I and also it has become a growing point in my life that I am very thankful for! 

My tatoo

Feb. 29 is a day to be celebrated.  Not only does it come once ever four years, but it was also the day I got my tattoo.  I have been wanting this tattoo for a very long time and made my appointment about a month ago.  As the days approached tattoo day, I lost sleep with excitement and nervousness but when I walked into the shop all doubt was gone.  My tattoo artist worked very well with me and drew up exactly what I wanted.  The process took about 4 hrs and was a total adrenaline rush! I was completely exhausted afterward as well as excited and satisfied.  The names in the cloud represent my family- they are my foundation and biggest support.  The angel then depicts me and the stars are my future and future endeavors.  However, if you ask my friends that were with me, they are the stars above, since they got to pick the colors.  Without my family and friends, I would be lost.  Although I am a strong and independent individual, I still rely on their support to encourage me through the hard times and share the good times.  My family is most important to me and feel so proud that I can wear their names on me forever!

As I was happily walking down the street today, I started to think of what I was going to write for my first blog post.  I pondered the idea all the way from Mountain View to the Music building and thought of topics such as music, school, life, food, and the dream I had last night.  By the time I reached my destination, I realized that all the things I had thought about were very important and significant to me.  Therefore, I decided to make a list of my Top 10 Most Important Things.

Top 10

10)Water

9)Face Wash

8)My Computer

7)Dental Hygiene

6)Nail Polish

5)Exercise

4)Music

3)Friends

2)School

1)Family and God - yes..they go hand in hand

To some these may not seem important, but to me I would be lost without them.