Post-secondary students are unable to juggle the expectations of their studies,
part-time jobs and social lives; there are too many demands on their time.
A post-secondary education is an expensive thing, the cost of which rises dependant on the length of the program; the longer a student works to get a high-paying career the farther in debt the student goes. The solution a part-time job.
It’s a Tuesday night and Nichole Bunn, a first year accounting student at Thompson Rivers University, rings customer’s items through her Shoppers Drug Mart till. She yawns, stares blankly at the clock, and waits for another customer to enter the vacant store.
Bunn, like many University students, is forced to spend her spare time working to pay her way through school. She works an average of 15 hours a week, yet there are students out there that work two or three part-time jobs on top of school, others hold full-time employment.
“I work because I like to be able to pay my rent, buy food, and save up for good stuff,” said Bunn, “Mainly rent”
“Sometimes it is overwhelming to go to school and have a job…you have to do homework but don’t have time,” said Bunn, “basically the first couple months I didn’t have time to sit and focus on it…I was working all weekend.”
Bunn is not alone, students have bills, and the money to pay for them has to come from somewhere.
“I work so I have spending money…so I don’t feel like I’m going in debt,” said Kevynn Ma, a third year business student at Thompson Rivers University
“I just quit my job,” said Ma, “I was working 16 hours a week…I didn’t have enough time to do my school work and my grades were suffering.”
“I had to think about what was more important to me,” said Ma, “my part time job, or my future career.”
The education students are receiving is not as enriching as it should be, students just don’t have the time to concentrate on their studies if they wish to pay their rent, a solution would be more government funding towards post-secondary education.
In France for example post-secondary education is paid for entirely, an education is something that should be accessible to all.
“I think it would be a waste of money to fund all of it,” said Ma, “If you do well your first year they should fund the rest of it”
“I think they should at least pay for books,” said Bunn, “it’s really expensive.”
The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation's study on student debt, released Nov. 1 2006, reports that among undergraduates who graduated with debt in 2006, the most indebted hail from Atlantic Canada, where students owe an average of $29,747. British Columbia has leapt into second spot after seeing the fastest three-year increase in the average student debt in the country, from $19,917 in 2003 to $26,675.
Among graduates who borrowed in Quebec, where tuition fees are the lowest and the grants program the most generous, the average debt is $12,992, by far the lowest in the country; the average debt in Ontario is $22,589, and $22,787 in the Prairie provinces, just below the national average of $24,047.
Since then the foundation says national student debt levels have risen with recent changes to the federal and provincial student loans program. As a result many students entering the work force after graduation are burdened with the knowledge that their first years paycheques will go towards paying off their debt, for many this could take decades.
A separate study by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, released in the same year, warns of the possible dangers of student indebtedness. It found that debt affects persistence, meaning students who borrow more are more likely to drop out.
According to the study 57 per cent of students reported borrowing some funds to use towards their college education, 29 per cent had borrowed more than $15,000.

I am a member of Generation WWW

I am quite aware that as a journalist I should be checking my sources, be aware of where my content is coming from and be curious about whether it is truth or not. Yet as a member of Generation WWW, It is of little concern to me, or at least according to Ken Alexander it is.
When I am surfing the internet it is of little concern whether a 40 year old, with an English degree, wrote the article that is taking up my time, or a 13 year old with an in depth vocabulary wrote it.

If it entertains me, solves the dilemma I am facing-even if that dilemma is what kind of seasoning I should put on my honey mustard chicken- or makes logical sense I will likely be understanding of it and be quite capable of taking in what is presented before me.
It may be truth, it may be fiction, it is up to me to decipher my path, along with all those surfing this wave known as the web along my side.

Now I understand that for most of us we wish to have an educated source writing what we are reading, but how does one become educated in certain areas, I do not believe that years of experience, related to the aging process known as life, or a University degree are the only ways to achieve an education. As I once read on a birthday card “age only matters if you are a cheese.
When I am perusing internet gaming sites for tips or reviews, I have a few places I check to begin with. The bungee web-site would be an obvious place, as the makers of bungee games would be educated video game programmers who created the games, and in essence would be capable of giving me a decent amount of information about them. The fact that they may be biased is obviously in the back of my mind.

The next step is to Google a review, which I do suppose shows just how deep in the internet our generation is. “To Google,” has not only become a verb, but one that is recognizable to the majority of the people in the world.

At this point I will review multiple reviews by multiple users. I have the ones that are the most useful to me are the ones written by 15 year old kids, who spend hours, days even weeks without breaks, playing a game.

In my opinion this kind of experience makes you an expert, and as a result you have the right to review and post whatever you wish on the internet in regards to a game you are that familiar with. I, like many other gamers, will suck in your every word, all the while ignoring the fact that you haven’t yet hit puberty.

There is an exception, An Australian journalist known simply as “Zero Punctuation,” who reviews games for an on-line magazine known as the escapist. Every word this man speaks is pure genius, his reviews are to the point and absolutely brilliant. He trashes every game his editors put on his desk, tares apart anything he possibly can, yet at the end of the day you still want to play the game. The thing is he puts engaging anecdotes into his stories that force you to think, I want to play this just to see how stupid it is.

I do not know this mans actual name, I do not know where he is from, he may not even be Australian, though he does speak with an accent. I do not know what this man looks like, how old he is, what his references are, or how reliable of a source he is.

The same could be said for this “Alexander Ken” fellow. What kind of a name is The Walrus, it sounds like a fishy publication to me, yet I am reading what he writes.

I do know this however; they both entertain me, is that not the purpose of the internet?

I can not fail!

I can not flunk out of University. No one will ever catch me, no one will ever discipline me; I can do as I please, attend when I wish and pay attention as little as I want. So take that University!

I myself should have been failed in every class I took last year according to the University structure regarding attendance. Sure there were extreme circumstances that limited my ability to attend, but most of my teachers were unaware of these circumstances and simply assumed I was a skipper.

Yet I passed these courses simply by submitting my assignments.

How is it possible that a university be capable of failing a student for the reason they do not show up. I am paying to be here. I see no difference whether I attend or not. My work may very well be better than little miss perfect attendance sitting across the room from me, but no, teachers reserve the right to fail me because I do not attend.

A friend of mine failed all of his courses during his first year of University. He spent the entire time getting wasted; However there are some good memories with a bottle of vodka, my crappy Chevrolet Cavalier, a box of eggs and of course Halloween masks on any day of the year. If you ask Mike these memories were worth his terrible grades.

At the end of the first semester he received a notice informing him he was on probation for the remainder of the semester. His solution was to drop-out. Sure you can’t flunk out but anyone I know that has been put on probation ended up dropping out on their own accord, apparently the formula works.

Students who do poorly are put on probation. The University is now in the wonderful position where they have no need to take disciplinary action. The Student, feeling like a failure will likely take it upon themselves to drop out.

WolfPack defeats ThunderWolves

The TRU WolfPack men’s basketball team defeated the Lakehead University ThunderWolves in exhibition play Thursday night at the Tournament Capital Centre.
The 87-77 win marked the last home game in the team’s exhibition season.
During the first quarter of the game Lakehead lead the scoring, taking every opportunity they could, while TRU seemed to be holding back. At the end of the quarter the WolfPack was losing 18-26.
In the second quarter the WolfPack took a positive turn and managed to take the lead back from Lakehead.
WolfPack player number 21, Drew Bleth and player number four, Jeff Friesen, dominated the court during the game on Thursday. As half time approached the WolfPack was winning 39-33, with 13 of those points being credited to Bleth and 16 of them to Friesen.
The third quarter was a constant back and forth of baskets resulting in the WolfPack leading once again, 69-60.
For a brief time during the final quarter of the game Lakehead overtook the WolfPack, but they battled back and took the lead, resulting in an 87-77 win for TRU.
Number 21 Drew Bleth was the team’s top point scorer of the evening with an impressive 26 points, while number four Jeff Friesen followed closely behind with 24 points.
“Friesen had his moments… he had a strong game, Drew had a strong game too,” said Head Coach Thom Gillespie in an interview after the game. “It was definitely a team effort.”
“There is a lot of new and young talent and we can expect the same in the coming games,” said Gillespie. “Flashes of Brilliance and moments of not greatness…but certainly a good group of guys.”
Gillespie said that the team’s focus in upcoming games would be to take care of turnovers.
This is Gillespie’s first year coaching at TRU, but given the teams record in the exhibition season so far we can expect good things from him and the team in the season to come.
The men’s season opener will take place on Friday October 24 at eight p.m. against the University of the Fraser Valley in Kamloops at the Tournament Capital Centre.
The WolfPack women’s basketball team opens their season at six p.m. on October 24 as well, just before the men.

Hi my name is kaleena...

Before class today Heather and I were sitting in Dairy queen discussing what we thought would be happening in our class with Shawn beginning at 12:30. Heather was picking disgusting warm lettuce out of her 1.79 chicken wrap well I enjoyed a pumpkin pie blizzard, which by the way only come out in October and are highly recommended by me, but this is beside the point. We decided that in class Shawn would likely make us interview someone else in class and have to report back on what we found... Something similar to those first awkward days in high-school when you found yourself forced to introduce the person next to you in the class by what you had learned in your 5 minute interview session with them previously. Though in this case we expected it to be something more enlightening than, “Hi this is… what was your name again? Ka…Kleenex, no that’s not right.” It happened okay, not my proudest moment and definitely a tangent but this was what I was expecting to be presented with in class today.
So upon our arrival to class and Shawn presenting us with the assignment of the day I was not really surprised. I paired up with Jenny because she was sitting beside me and I honestly haven’t spent very much time getting to know her, aside from the occasional chat over beer’s at “the fox and hounds,” but nothing of a substantial matter.
As we were given the assignment I was pleased to see that Shawn had provided us with a set of questions to ask the other person, I’m terrible at preparing questions for interviews by the way and feel that I will fail as a journalist because I “ummm” and “Ahhhh” so much I expect my interviewee to run away from me in a fit of boredom. Which I suppose I could come to the conclusion that I have abandonment issues, which would make my answer in my interview that I have a fear of “being alone” quite true.
O snap I have gone off on yet another tangent... back to the exercise.
So I suppose that from this exercise I have come to the realization that I need to prepare better questions before getting to my interviews, although my ability to make them up as I go was somewhat effective in interviewing Jenny today.
I have also come to the conclusion that when all else fails and you find yourself unable to come up with another question the best way to get information out of someone is to simply ask “why.” Have you ever found yourself faced with a four-year-old asking you this same question over and over, you can’t help but answer them, no matter how many times they repeat it you want to do your best in answering the question, even if you don’t know the answer. Now of course we can’t ask it to much as our interviewee may get fed up with you, like many parents due with their children when they are sick of answering their questions.
Which reminds me of an episode of family guy, totally off topic but definitely shows the power of asking too many annoying questions. “Dad why did the dinosaurs go extinct,” Chris asked to which peter replied “because you touch yourself at night.” This tangent has a point… KNOW WHEN TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND KNOW WHAT YOU SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT ASK.
So time is seemingly over and my last realization of the day is that I forget to introduce myself when doing an interview, doesn’t matter who I am interviewing, I begin with, “ Hi I’m a reporter from the Omega, can I ask you some questions?” And ultimately need to change that up to include my name because I am sick of forgetting and at the end of my interviews throwing in…
“ By the way my name is Kaleena, thank-you for your time.”

Baseball winning streak halted

The WolfPack baseball team’s 11-0 winning streak was halted Saturday in a game against the Kwantlen Polytechnic Eagles at NorBrock Stadium.
The team came into the weekend on a high after their success against Kelowna on Wednesday; the 9-5 win brought the total wins this exhibition season to 10.
The team started out their first game Saturday afternoon with promise, but by the end of the fifth inning were losing 3-0 to Kwantlen. The sixth inning was the turning point, and as Head Coach Ray Chadwick pointed out “we battled back and won.” The team’s first run was scored by number one Scott Nevison followed closely by an impressive four more runs in the sixth inning bringing the score to 5-3, and their winning streak to eleven. Number 21 Adam Halland, number two Kyle Dhanani, number 55 Ben Bradford, and number 49 Robert Morrison are credited with the remaining runs in the first game.
The team’s first defeat of the season came in game number 12 as once again they found themselves losing 3-0 at the end of the fifth inning. This time the WolfPack was not able to pull off another miracle in the sixth, though a strange sense of déjà vu arose as number one Scott Nevison ran into home scoring the first run of the game for the WolfPack once again. Number 16 Matt Walker scored a run in the seventh inning, and number two Kyle Dhanani finished up the scoring in the eighth.
Unfortunately Kwantlen achieved two more runs between the sixth and ninth innings, with the final score being 3-5 in favour of Kwantlen.
Coach Chadwick credits the loss to a number of mental mistakes and the fact the team did not make plays behind the pitcher finally caught up to them.
This loss is especially disappointing to the team as Kwantlen is a “team we should beat every time,” said player Adam Halland. “We didn’t really hit very well and we could have hit better,” Halland stated.
Though the loss ends the teams winning streak it definitely does not end the exhibition season, the team shows great promise for what is to come, with 16 new players out this year, there is still plenty of baseball to catch.
The team’s next home game is October 4, at 2 p.m. against Kelowna at NorBrock Stadium.

Focus...

I can’t seem to find a point of focus for myself lately. I attempt to work on an assignment for a class or attempt readings in another and in the end accomplish nothing. I’m feeling as though I fail at every aspect of a course, at every aspect of this program; hell at every aspect of my life. No matter what I do I can not commit myself to anything. I sat down today to ready four chapters in a text book, I couldn’t even get through one before I found myself with my computer back in its home known as my lap. Everyone else seems to know what they are doing, where they are going, what they should be working on and how to go about getting it completed. I on the other hand, have accomplished nothing, completed nothing and am finding myself torn between work and school so vastly that I’m seriously considering dropping both and become a hobo. I could find myself a nice box to live in, write poems or blogs on the inside of it, using blood and feces as ink. An intriguing idea, though not in the least bit promising for a future career, I can keep myself focused on what I am writing now, why not what I have to do for my classes. I think my issue is that In order to be motivated I need a deadline for myself, I can never accomplish anything if I spread the work for it out over time, I simply need to sit myself down and complete something. I will do this tonight…Or right now. I shall got and read some of the chapters for one of the classes and feel as though I have accomplished something in life, even though I know our readings our useless as I have gotten through multiple class discussions or even debates on things I have not actually ready. Which reminds me I had to do some readings for my class that starts in 30 minutes… At last a focus; readings due now!

To Summarize, or not to Summarize

How does one summarize a summarizing exercise… I have no idea, and it is taking me an increasingly vast period of time to think of the best way to express the happenings of last week. Now logically this could be the conclusion as to why I, like many others in our class, was only capable of summarizing three articles in the time allotted to us. It is not a lack of motivation that limits my writing abilities but a slightly obsessive compulsive perfectionist issue I find myself faced with. I refuse to mark a piece of writing as completed unless it is something I am perfectly happy with. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, when you consider the horrific amount of assignments I did last year the day they were due, resulting in not so amazing marks as most of these were 3,000 page research essays. My thought process at the beginning of this year was that in an attempt to pull up my unsatisfying grades from last term I would actually commit myself to my studies, Maybe spending that extra time and effort this year would pay-off; Wrong. Putting in the extra effort will seemingly be useful, but I am finding that taking the extra time will not be a success, as in the newsroom deadlines jump out at you like a clown hiding in your closet. This particular exercise proved to be helpful in providing me with areas of interest that I need to work on, and helped me to discover that my ability to put out a 3,000 word essay in 30 minutes is indeed a useful trait in this industry. In the end I found the exercise to be an enjoyable experience, though it was somewhat frustrating that I didn’t get through more of the articles. I now have an idea in my head of what is expected of me; as previous to this I had no idea what to expect in Journalism school.

Have you ever heard a child utter the words ‘my dad could beat up your dad,’ followed by a retort of unorthodox sorts; ‘Yeah… well…My Dad is an alien!’ Unlikely and although we know little Jimmy is lying we can not punish him for wanting to express himself. “All kids tell stories,” “They are limited only by the boundaries of their vocabulary,” Professor Maxine Ruvinsky from McGill University stated within her lecture on the bicameral mind September 17 at Thompson Rivers University.
Story telling is a part of our nature, a part of our learning process, a part of our culture, yet it is ultimately a substantial part of the process leading to the development of the brain. Twenty years of brain research has brought us to the conclusion that the brain can be broken up into two separate hemispheres; the left, logical mathematical side, and the right, artistic design side. Writer Gabriele Lusser Rico’s book “Writing the Natural Way” goes on to say that these two sides need to work together in order for us to properly function.
Language is a vast part of our culture without the left hemisphere of our brains we would not be able to express ourselves, yet it is the raw nature of the right hemisphere that allows us to create a picture of what it is that needs to be expressed. In quoting Nom Chomsky, Ruvinsky stated that “Children learn language only by using it”, “No one, least of all the average mother, or father I would add, knows how to teach it to them.” It is our desire to express the stories or pictures in out heads that compels us to learn speech, to learn to express ourselves and in the end to learn to make use of the left side of the brain.

Writers block...

Writers block is a crutch used by many of us use to make up for a lack of concentration, a lack of commitment, a lack of motivation. Many artists require a muse to create, a writer is an artist what is stopping them from finding their muse, for most it is a mental contamination known as writers block. Some would consider it a disease others consider it an excuse for laziness; those people don’t understand that writing is in fact a mentally exhausting career, or in the opinion of many, a career at all. When a writer reaches the point at which their brain can no longer grasp the words they wish to express they often give up far too quickly, it is due to this abruptness to hault that many writers claim sickness in their head. Jason Zebahazy once said that “Writer's block is the greatest side effect of boredom,” a very true assumption in my opinion, as one can assume those who reach the point of writers block are no longer content with what they are writing. If you are interested in the piece at words will pour out, as blood and guts do from those dying in horror films. Interest is the key in overcoming boredom.
If a Baby learning to walk were to give up the first time they fall down, we would resultantly still be crawling around the earth on our hands and knees. The ability to overcome writers block is simple; Get up and try again. If we mentally stop ourselves from moving forward we are obviously going to be at a standstill, Consider this, stop your car at a light and turn it off; logically you are not going to be able to proceed when the light turns green. It is the responsibility of the writer to realize that there is nothing wrong in their head, there is no reason that the words are not coming, they are literate after all, or else they wouldn’t be in this career. In the very unluckily event that you are now saying to yourself, maybe I am illiterate that could explain why I can’t write, STOP! You are obviously quite capable of reading this article, therefore illiteracy is not your issue. If you are at a standstill, don’t give up, simply pick up your pen, or turn towards your keyboard and change the subject of your writing to something that interests you.

Searching for truth

Life is a mass of lies, no matter where you turn or who you come into contact with, you can never be certain whether you can trust them or not, or trust yourself for that matter. Seemingly this is a result of numerous failed marriages in the lives of both of my parents, or my own hideous attempts at soul searching. In either regard, Journalists set out to sort through the lies, through the deceit and get straight to the facts, exposing others while being able to express themselves at the same time. For this reason I am pursuing this lifestyle, attempting to shed light on the truth when there may very well no longer be any out there.

Along the way I anticipate being able to learn new things, whether it be about other people, cultures or even lifestyles. I expect that Interviewing from a journalistic perspective will get me to that point. Travel will be inevitable, an aspect I appreciate greatly within my life, which if opportunity arises I am certainly not one to pass it up. Yet I know that no matter where I end up in this world, or when I arrive, there will be a dumpster full of deceit for me to sort through.

Conquering the world, one shoe at a time

    Upon entering my room the other day my brother made a rather logical comment after observing the vast collection of shoes shelved in my room. “Why are girls so obsessed with shoes?” he asked, a fairly simple question, yet the answer I attempted was far from being simple. I began to answer in due fashion yet found myself unsuccessful, “let me get back to you on that one,” I stated, at which point he lost interest in me and left the room promptly.
The comment remained in my mind for several minutes afterwards, which considering I have the attention span of a goldfish was a considerable amount of consideration, contemplation of this intrigued me, why are we obsessed?
    There is of course the obvious answer I receive from most girls I have come into conversation with about this particular topic in the past; which is of course, “because they’re pretty,” but lets attempt a thought process that requires an IQ of at least 50. Certainly shoes are pretty, often they could be described as gorgeous, yet at the same time so are kittens but that does not cause the vast majority of females in this world to be obsessed with owning 100’s of them. Now don’t get me wrong there are those odd “crazy cat ladies” who do in fact gain such an obsession but that is an entirely different topic, for an entirely different day.
   Aside from the fact that shoes are pretty what else is there that attracts us to them so deeply. A few years ago I recall watching an entire 30 minute episode, on some sleazy late night television show, about the sexual attraction to shoes, which I found wildly entertaining, but was quite doubtful that this was in fact where our attraction stems from. Yet it did have some intriguing point that should definitely be taken into consideration when considering this obsession.
    For example foot fetishes need to be taken into account; sadly as I do not have any sort of foot fetish myself I may not be the most reputable source in this regard, but I can at least attempt it. In grade twelve a friend of mine told me a story of the happenings of the previous weekend, which amused me enough at the time that I still remember the details vividly years later, and I know wish to pass this tale on to you.
    A group of four acquaintances of mine had decided to purchase the absolute worst, and cheapest porn video they could find for our friends 18th birthday; as in Canada 18 is the legal age at which individuals are able to purchase and own pornography, for this reason my group of friends had made it a tradition to search out the absolute worst example of pornography possible and gift it to the birthday person.
    Now this particular birthday porn was to be viewed by the guests attending the gifting as it makes the gift that much more amusing. In this particular case the film started out like most other films in this genre, super cheesy and chalked full of terrible acting. Yet what made this example of pornography just that much more memorable was the fact that not more than a minute into the film the rather large male actor, viciously and swiftly inserted the entirety of his foot into the females vagina. Now if that thought wasn’t unpleasant enough for you the fact that this man had gigantic feet must also be taken into consideration.
    Now for myself at least, this very thought makes me a little bit queasy, for that reason I am truly happy I was not there to witness this spectacle, but the fact that there are people in this world who find sexual satisfaction or arousal from something of this nature is totally beyond my understanding. Yet with that in mind we can imply the connection between foot fetish and shoe fetish. By metaphorically replacing the foot in the above scenario with a penis and then imagining that being inserted into the vagina instead we can see that some could connect the visual aspect of inserting a foot inside a shoe to the visual appearance of sexual intercourse. Hence the obsession or sexual draw towards shoes.
    On the other hand there is one major point which must be considered in the case of numerous females around the world, low self esteem. For many of us being unhappy with ourselves sends us searching for love, or gratification in other places by other means. We may turn to eating, others may turn to sex, others may turn to suicidal and unhealthy tendencies; but there are a number of us, myself included, who turn to material objects in order to make us feel better about ourselves.
    In a world in which the media makes us feel as though we are not thin enough, as though we are not pretty enough, and as though we are not good enough, we are very often unhappy with at least some part of ourselves. For this reason shoes become our oasis, they are perfect in every way shape and form and make us feel perfect in owning something so beautiful. In wearing them we can feel sexy when the world tells us we are not, we can feel beautiful when the media’s image says otherwise and we can conquer anything the world throws our way, because for some a pair of shoes can give us the courage that we need to get through a day.
    A pair of shoes is not just purchased to sit on a shelf looking pretty, a pair of shoes is bought to make the owner feel better about themselves, to brighten their hopes, raise their spirits, open their eyes that there is good in this world when everything seems meaningless and most importantly to make them feel good about themselves. So the next time a girlfriend of yours wants to buy shoes allow her to do so, because although it may be a small boost in self esteem she needs, and a large poke at her pocketbook, shoes are a far healthier means of gratification than the alternatives.

Live!

The meaning of this particular quote by Alison Willcocks is something that can be interpreted in numerous ways. Although the first section is the most well-known, the entirety of the quotes meaning is best amplified upon observing the full text:
"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was. We do not possess anything in this world, least of all other people. We only imagine that we do. Our friends, our lovers, our spouses, even our children are not ours; they belong only to themselves. Possessive and controlling friendships and relationships can be as harmful as neglect."
No truer words have ever been spoken, or found by myself throughout my lifetime. I agree with them entirely and disagree in no regard. In all of the occurrences of my life, I can trace the outcome back to this particular quote, as odd as that may seem, it is in fact the truth. It was not until recently that I truly respected these words to the fullest degree possible.
We must learn to cherish those around us, do not force them to stay, they will truly end up loathing you when all is said and done, or at the very least lose all respect for you as a result.
I recently had something, or someone rather, return to me that I never thought I would see again, I had lost faith in the fact that they were an integral part of my life, and that they would return no matter what. In their return I realized just what I was missing for all those years, a part of me I had set free without even realizing it, yet in its return I am beginning to feel what I had all that time ago… Despite the fact that I did not show that particular person the appreciation they deserved.
It's funny, in a time of need, we find out which friends or lovers truly should be kept around, it is their ability to want to help you out no matter how terribly you treated them that proves to you that they are truly yours to have, and yours to appreciate. Even after setting them free, or pushing them away, or treating them badly, or even neglecting them; the loved ones that come back to you when you need a shoulder to cry on, an arms embrace, or a soothing word, no matter what the circumstance; Are the ones that you need to cherish the most. We must do this as they are an integral part of our lives, yet they are not something that we can take for granted or attempt to show ownership over, they are simply their for support, and as such must be told how much you appreciate having them in your life.
Never take anything for granted in life, you never know, today may be your last. Live life to the fullest, tell those you care about how you feel, appreciate what you have, and enjoy every minute of every day… Nothing in life is worth wasting sleep over while stressing, and even less is worth wasting time over in tears. Enjoy yourself, and simply LIVE!