Thanksgiving

So my Thanksgiving was fun. My boyfriend and I woke up and fed our daughter applesauce (we figured that we'd be having applesauce later so we'd give her some in the morning.) The night before Thanksgiving I stayed up pretty late baking all different deserts and things and on Thanksgiving my mom woke up early to cook our turkey and ham as well as a few other things. I helped her bake some pies and stuff..

We got all packed up with the food in our car and then we went over to my uncle's house at around 3 o'clock or so and ate dinner at maybe 4:30 or so.. The baby had some sweet potatoe (again, figured we'd give her something we were having.) Then she tried some mashed potatoes and she didn't seem to like them at all. I think it was only because she wasn't expecting such a different taste than the sweet potatoes. After dinner I got what my boyfriend calls "the itis" from the turkey and I fell asleep for a while. When I woke up everyone was eating desserts and drinking coffee/tea/milk and I joined them. Later on my mom and her husband went home and took my baby with them, my boyfriend and I stayed over my uncle's house for a while and we played some board games with family. I won, of course. =]

All in all it was a good Thanksgiving. I hope everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving!

"Can a drug culture be changed?"

I thought that the question "Can a drug culture be changed?" was referring to an actual drug culture, like a drug test. After reading some of my classmate's responses to the question I think I was wrong. I am going to answer that question as well the question that most of them answered though..:

I definitely think that a drug culture can be changed. I think there are many doctors and scientists that know just what to add or take out of a drug culture to change it.

I do not think that a culture with drugs will be able to change. I think that drugs have become so common that there is no way to completely get rid of them. I think in other countries drugs are less of a big deal. I think in our country though that drugs have just become a part of so many people's daily lives that the drug culture cannot just be changed. Hopefully sometime in the near future drug varieties and drug use will decrease, but I highly doubt it.

Compare & Contrast

I think there are a lot of differences between Tweak and Beautiful Boy such as, they start at different points in Nic's life, they are from two different points of view, Nic's father doesn't know everything about Nic as Nic obviously does.

My thoughts on Beautiful Boy are not quite clear to me yet since I'm not too far into the book.

What's the appeal of meth to users? other drugs/alcohol/tobacco?

I think the appeal of meth to users is that it's a way to get away from everything. It is a way to just forget about your problems and your life and just... "live."

I think the appeal for other drugs is just about the same as meth. Tobacco is just a quick fix for stress or other emotions you're dealing with. Alcohol is also a quick fix, but I think people like to drink for fun (when they are not alcoholics.) Alcoholics drink because they've been drinking for a long time and their body has built up a tolerance to the alcohol.

Personally, I think all narcotics should be illegal. Including pot, heroin, cocaine, lsd, crystal meth, speed, and all of the others. I think pot should be legal for medical purposes only and you should have to have a prescription that can only be filled every so often.

I think cigarettes (as well as all other forms of tobacco) should also be illegal. They have no benefits at all to the human body. Everything they do is just adding to people's illnesses and creating more.

In reality alcohol should probably be illegal with the exception of wines. I guess I don't think alcohol should be illegal though. I think there should be stricter rules about alcohol and bars and things like that.

Research

My research is going decently well I suppose. I've never really been good at doing research, or motivated to do research. But, this time... I'm trying. I'm actually doing the research. I guess it's because I'm interested in my topic, since I chose it myself... and since I can relate to some aspects of it. Of course, even I don't know the answers to most of the questions I asked. And, I don't know other people's answers... I only know how I would answer the questions, somewhat.

If I were Nic's parent...

If I were Nic's parent, I'm really not sure what I would have done. I guess I would've tried hard to keep track of him and what he was up to. I would have admitted my own faults instead of treating him like everything was his fault until the end. I guess I wouldn't know what to do without being in a situation like that first, which, I'd kinda rather prefer to never be in. =)

Resources

For my paper I plan to research teenage pregnancy,

• why have the rates of teenage pregnancy gone up so high so quickly?
• do most of the women keep the babies or do most of them have abortions?
• is there a specific race of girls that is getting pregnant?
• is there a specific state that the rate of teenage pregnancy is higher than others?
• do most teenagers get married soon after they get pregnant?
• is there a certain cliche of girls who get pregnant more often than others?

I plan to find the answers to these questions as well as some others.
Here are some websites that should help me:

1. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120501208.html
3. http://www.livestrong.com/article/12504-teen-pregnancy-rates-usa/
4. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,380323,00.html
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/washington/06birth.html
6. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_ATSRH.html

there are a lot more sites that I will probably use, but these are a few of the ones that I think will be helpful.

Questions about Meth...

What exactly is it?
Who first created it?
Why do people feel the need to make more drugs than there already are?
How is it made?
Can anyone off the street just go an make a meth lab?

TtWwEeAaKk

The book Tweak is a really great book. I'm not a big reader but once I get ahold of a book that I'm interested in, you won't catch me without it during my free time. I obviously don't know how much of the book is true, or if any of the book is true. But, really... it doesn't matter. The book was a good book whether it was real or made up. I can definitely agree with my classmates when they say it's the best book they've ever been assigned for a class. I'm excited to read Beautiful Boy by Nic Sheff's father, David Sheff.

I've never been a "girly girl" of any sort, so saying that I love a happy ending is kind of weird for me. But, the truth is, I do like happy endings. So, in the middle of the book when Nic was getting help from Spencer and it really seemed like he was done with drugs, I kind of knew that he wasn't... Mostly because the book was only half over, but also because I guess I got to know Nic by reading the first half. I am happy that Nic is done with drugs, hopefully he doesn't relapse again.

What Inspires Me?

There are a few things that inspire me.
They're mostly simple things..

The first one is, my family/friend's belief in me.

• I don't want to disappoint them.
• I want them to be proud of me.
• I want them to be able to trust that I'll do a good job.
• I want them to keep believing in me.
• I want their support in the decisions I make.

The second one is, my daughter.

• I want her to grow up knowing that I was a good mother to her.
• I want her to grow up and be able to be proud of who I am.
• When I found out I was pregnant, I decided that I needed to go to college.
• I love to see her smile and I don't ever want to lose that.
• I want her to grow up to be a good person, I want her to want to be like me.

The third one is, my music.

• I don't think I could really live through a full day with zero music of some sort.
• I love to sing, I love to dance, I constantly have some kind of music in my head.
• Music is with me through good times, the bad times, the happy times, and the sad times.

**Memoir Legitimacy**

I was just reading some of my classmate's blogs about the legitimacy and two of them hit on a great point that I didn't think of when I wrote my response. Nic was completely drugged out when he was writing the memoir so there is a lot of it that could be completely made up. Everyone, including me, kept saying how nobody could make up that detailed of a story. But honestly.. that's not true. I've had conversations with people that were on drugs and it's like one lie after another. Just thought I'd throw that out there... I know I already answered the question.

Memoir Legitimacy

Nic's memoir definitely seems legitimate. If he did lie about anything, or change anything around, it was only by a little bit. He gave a lot of detail about everything, down to putting the needles into his veins and the way that it felt. He even talked about what he was thinking about at all the different times of his life.

No, I doubt any memoir is exactly the truth. Even when I try to tell a story about something that just happened I usually forget some of it and probably end up changing it.

My Job + My Accident

Mmkay, so... today I am going to blog about my job. I am actually at work right now. My job title is EMT Instructor Aide. I am an aide to an EMT-B(asic) class. I help out with practicals and I do a few lectures. The staff here is about 15 or so people. A few of them are Instructors, and most of them are aides. I used to work in a law office during the day, but I went on leave 2 days before my due date and haven't returned since then.

It's a lot easier for me to do the EMT class because I can bring my daughter with me. I have been an EMT for about a year an a half. I have been an aide for a year and 3 months. I really enjoy being an EMT and riding with my local First Aid Squad. It is a great thing to get into if you want to be a med student, but I guess I just do it for the experience, the fun, and I get to meet a lot of new people who become lifelong friends.

I was in a car accident in July of 2006. I was crossing the street and I was struck by a pick-up truck. I was in a coma for 10 days. I spent 2 weeks in the trauma center and another 3 weeks in a rehabilitation center. I don't remember anything from the night of the accident and there are a few other things I don't remember. I guess that partially has to do with why I wanted to become an EMT. I have a Traumatic Brain Injury called Diffuse Axonal Injury, and unfortunately, TBIs never go away.

Drug Problem? weed, cocaine, meth, heroin, acid, alcohol.

Is there a drug problem in the US? You better believe it. I was actually just talking to my mom about this tonight. Being a mother is a scary thing, especially being such a young mother and knowing what goes on in schools. I asked my mom, how do you make sure your kids stay away from drugs? It is crazy ridiculous how many people, especially young people, do drugs. As for the question of whether or not marijuana is a drug. Of course it is. It alters human thoughts, makes them "feel good", temporarily forget their problems and it leads to people trying other drugs. Almost all people who do heavier drugs than marijuana, started off with just marijuana.

I'm not sure why drugs are such a huge problem in the US, I disagree with my peers when they say that drugs are a problem because they are illegal. I feel that if drugs are legalized that will just make it ten times easier for teens and younger children to get them. Drugs are a big enough problem already, do we really want the children of our day to become a bunch of potheads, coke addicts, and meth users? I'm not sure about you, but I sure as hell don't.

Teenage Pregnancy

For my research project I plan to focus on the topic of Teenage Pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is the best topic for me because I have a lot of experience with it. One of my best friends got pregnant Junior year of high school and had her baby in February, 2008. I myself got pregnant August, 2007 and gave birth in May, 2008. I don't exactly have any resources as of right now besides myself. Of course, I feel as though I would be the best resource because I have recently been pregnant.

Some other resources I might use would be the internet, and television. I haven't exactly watched it, but there is a new television show called The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. I'm sure there is a lot of information in that show that most people wouldn't know about. Obviously, being a teenage mother I feel strongly about Teenage Pregnancy. I have strong opinions about a lot of other topics such as making marijuana legal and abortions, but I think I will stick with researching Teenage Pregnancy.

Thoughts on Tweak

I am actually really enjoying the book so far. I'm interested to know what else is going to happen because I know Nic is not done with drugs, even though he seems like he's on the road to recovery. I think the impact of books about drug addiction can either be very good or very bad. The good being, the book would scare people and they would not want to try drugs, and the bad obviously being that people would want to try the drugs because of the feelings the author explains or whatever other reasons.

I'm sure that not all books about drug addiction are scary, but I think this one is pretty bad. Nic seems like he wants to quit, but then he changes his mind, or he feels like he isn't strong enough to stick with the program. It is just scary to think that this can and does happen to real people. Sometimes I hate reading books that are true stories or watching movies based on a true story because I begin to think about that being my life or someone's life that is close to me.

ryEn, that's me.

Okay so, my name is Ryan.. here's some stuff to know about me:

• I hate the spelling Ryan, so since I was in 6th grade I've spelt it Ryen.
• I have a 14 week old daughter.
• My boyfriend is in the Army Reserves.
• I am a certified EMT-B.
• I am a certified CPR instructor.
• My major is Family Child Studies, but I don't know what I really want to do with my life.
• I am very indecisive.
• I am very outspoken.

That's about all I have to say about myself for now...