Number 9:
I meant to include this in my last post about my list of things to work on (I believe it was yesterday... I'm losing all sense of time). Anyway, last Friday night, I met up with my best friend from when I was a sophomore in high school. He was actually two years ahead of me in school and so he graduated at the end of that year. He's been at William & Mary for the past 4 years and just graduated last month, double majoring in Computer Science and Physics. His family moved to Blacksburg shortly after he graduated from high school and so the only time I've managed to see him since his graduation was the spring of my junior year when I happened to be in the Williamsburg area for an orientation for a mentorship program at NASA Langley I was going to be in the following summer. So its been over 3 years since we've seen each other and I could've told you before I hung out with him last week that we've both grown up a lot, matured, and had a lot of different experiences.

Anyway, back to the point... It was pretty cool to hang out with him, though we didn't spend much time together... only about an hour downstairs in the tv lounge in the dorm I'm staying this summer. In high school, I kept up with current events and by the end of senior year I had established my own sets of morals and political views, and even was able to think for myself and have strong opinions on controversial issues... Ian was the same way then and continues to be now. Though he has vastly different views than me on a lot of issues, I respect him for having thought his views out and having even legitimate reasoning behind his stances. Anyway, I've noticed myself slumping over the past two years that I've been at Tech in keeping up with current events. I'm not proud of this by any means and I know that its a horrible waste for an intelligent human being like myself to not stay up to date with the state of the nation and world I live in. Because now, I don't have as STRONG of stances on current issues because I've almost sheltered myself from news of what is going on in the world. I hardly watch tv, so I don't get much news that way. I don't listen to the radio unless I'm in the car, and then I like to have music (especially if I'm driving by-myself so I can sing!). But on top of that my only real source of printed or e-media news is when I pick up the Collegiate Times here on campus... and that's a stretch for 'real' news because for the most part it focuses on news for the Virginia Tech campus and local area (Blacksburg/Christiansburg)... especially in the summer....

This morning I did pick up the Roanoke Times when I was at home in Vinton and read some of the articles....

BUT, This is something else that I need to work on because I, as a citizen of the United States, have the freedom to take a part in my government by voting and with this comes the responsibility of being an informed voter. I feel that I have a responsibility to my world to be aware of what is going on in it.... so that brings me to Item Number 8... To Leave Mental Complacency Behind!