I wish that I could master the art of being patient! Here's something I found online that I thought was pretty good.

When waiting is the hardest choice

"Are you facing a difficult time in your life? Give yourself the gift of patience. Patience is the main ingredient necessary to get through tough times. Yes, it's hard to be patient! But, without patience, you would have no hope. And, if the universe was organized so that your desires materialized instantly, that wouldn't serve you either. Patience helps you grow. It nourishes both compassion and empathy. So, embrace patience. Ultimately, this makes you a stronger woman. Be patient!"              

What makes a person snap and go on a shooting rampage? I didn't personally know him but he was a graduate student here and was in my program. I didn't want to believe it when I got the email from one of our deans. I don't remember him, but I'm sure I must've seen him because our program is so small I think there's maybe 200 students and that might be overly estimated. It's just so scary to think that it could've easily happened here. My mom was really disturbed by all of this because you think that it can't happen to you but it could've easily happened here, it really hit home for her and also because NIU is only 45 minutes from home. 

Social workers do not promote violence, we promote peace and social justice and it is so tragic and unfortunate that someone in our program would do something like this. I know people who knew him and they said he was a nice guy, they would never imagine that he'd be capable of something like this. What makes a person snap? It just makes no sense! One of my friends was saying that we can't trust anybody anymore and that she wishes that we could just have online classes. This won't solve anything! You cannot stop living your life because something like this happens. If it's my time to go, it's my time to go. This unfortunately could happen anywhere at any time and as we've seen in the news it does. It's sad but true. You cannot prevent these things from happening. I just wish our society would talk more about mental illness. If we could just be more open to it and understand it more maybe we could help these people who feel that violence is the only answer to their problems.

This week should definitely be interesting as we all attend classes. I know we're going to talk about it in our classes because we are social workers and talking is what we do. We have truly been affected by this and it's something that none of us are going to forget. Even though most of us probably don't know the victims, we will all be grieving for them and for their families.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I love Turkey Day! Things are going pretty well here, we're all holding up pretty well since my grandpa died. I think Christmas will be harder because it was his favorite holiday and he was a kid at heart. Anyway, I plan on getting up early tomorrow morning and shopping til I drop!! I'm always up for sales, more these days than in the past! I have so much school related stuff to do, it's not even funny! I also am crazily making a million cards to send overseas to all my troops! I have around 40 done so far! If I didn't have all this grad school stuff to do I'd be finished with them by now! Uh, I am so ready for Christmas break! 4 weeks of relaxation and no school related stuff! It can't come sooner!!

Just thought I'd do a little update on me! Grad school is going pretty well. I really love being at U of I. The campus is beautiful and there's way more to do here than there was at Ferris! I love my apartment even though it's not perfect! My roommates are cool although I am the only one that really cleans the place, which kind of sucks, especially since I don't even like cleaning! Other than that, I don't really have any complaints.

I start volunteering at the Crisis Nursery on Monday for one of my classes! I'm super excited about this because it involves me taking care of and playing with little babies!!! Anyone who knows me well knows that I absolutely love babies, so I can't wait to start!!!

I went home this weekend since it was my brother's birthday and homecoming, which was fun. Gracie is getting so big while I'm gone! I wanted to cry when I saw how big she has gotten since I last was home! She's so sweet though and I love her to death! I did some major shopping while I was home too which was great because you just can't beat Woodfield! The mall is huge! Normally, I'll be lucky if I find some stuff at one store, but this time it was like I found something that I liked at every store, which made it hard to decide what I really wanted and what I could do without since I'm on a budget! I made out pretty well though and spent under $100 for all the stuff I got!

Other than that, not much is going on! I'm still waiting for my Prince Charming, hehe! I know he'll come eventually, so for now I'm enjoying being single!!