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.