Happy New Year!”

By Terrence Cain

If you're a Pagan you know October 31^st as a day of celebration of a bountiful harvest of the crops and a celebration of a new year beginning. This day for us is called Samhain, pronounced Sau-in. It's a Gaelic-Celtic holiday that has been celebrated for centuries. Many believe October 31^st to be the true end of summer and November 1^st to be the start of a new year. If you're not a Pagan then you only know October 31^st as Halloween, a holiday for dressing up in scary costumes, or some ridiculous non-threatening outfit, that you will undoubtedly parade around in either at a party or with friends or family to go trick-or-treating door to door in while yelling; “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to it! If you do, I'll be good to you, but if you don't I'll come back and play a trick on you!” Yes, I was bad kid growing up. I used to smash pumpkins, teepee houses, and egg cars if I wasn't given candy on Halloween night, but enough about my criminal past. Happy Halloween to all. Be safe, don't be indulging in any criminal mischief, and have a good time. Now on to more pressing matters.

This week was pretty interesting. I had an exam in my Criminology class, passed it just as I did the last time. In my U.S. Government Class we're getting heavily into the many facets of the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s; showing how the black's civil rights led to the women's, the Indian's, the disabled, and now homosexual civil rights. In my Horticulture class we planted seeds and talked about the various ways farmers speed up the process for bountiful harvests. Horticulture has become one of my favorite classes and I really enjoy Prof. Berry's class. Well that's pretty much it for now. Hopefully the Rangers will win the final game since they fudged their chances last night. Have a great weekend and a very happy Halloween! This is Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

“Mid-Terms”

By Terrence Cain

It doesn’t feel like it, but yes, we are in mid-terms right now. It feels like it was only yesterday when the fall semester started. It seems like this year is going by fast for some reason, and I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’ve heard others on campus expressing this feeling, including the professors.  And it begs the question; where did the time go? I guess that’s a question for the ages, now isn’t it?

In Monday’s Criminology class we finished up with the statistical discussions on crime and how some of it is most likely inaccurate do to the fact that not all crimes are reported. In my Horticulture class on Tuesday when we went to lab we used the green house to start an experiment of sorts. We all had to find two different plants, cut stems at forty-five degree angles and repot them using a root hormone with fungicide in it called Rootone-F. This particular chemical will cause stems to sprout roots. It’s amazing what chemicals can do, especially to plant life. We learned about plant grafting and how scientists have been able to take plants of different kinds, but from the same family, and make them grow multiple fruits. One tree we talked about was one that could grow several different kinds of citrus fruits. It boggles my mind how they’ve been able to get lemons and oranges to grow from one tree.

Now in my U.S. Government class we finished up with the bill of rights on Tuesday before we took our test on Thursday. My heart tells me I pass all but maybe one question because my mind went blank on it as usual. In Algebra I’m working on graphs, so I won’t bore you with all of that. It is going to be a busy weekend again for me because I will be studying for my Criminology test on Monday. I’m just glad the temperatures are going to be really nice this weekend. Until next week; this is the Howard College blogging machine, over and out!

“The Beat Of My Drum”

By Terrence Cain

There has been so much going on in the world lately that it makes what I’m doing look like a minuscule drop in the ocean. Even if what I’m doing is just a tiny speck in the universe’s vast ocean I will just keep pressing on anyway because I’m not giving up for any person or thing. Even when I get frustrated and end up hating one of my subjects, let’s say Algebra for instance, I still know that I’m never giving up on finishing college. I can’t give up, I just can’t. “Terrence Cain admits defeat?” No, you’re never going to hear that headline or read that anywhere at any time or place. Maybe it’s the Irish blood in me. Maybe it’s the fact my parents raised me to never give up, to never accept “loser” as a title for myself. Or maybe it’s because I’ve gone through way too much in my life to get to this point and say that others have won in their fight to keep me down.

I don’t mean to get on my soap box and start preaching; but this week has been a long and rough one for me. I hope that this week’s post will inspire others to do as I am doing and fight to keep banging that drum for personal success and happiness. Life is never easy, but you as a person can do so by just keeping your head up and your thoughts focused and sharp.

I had tests in both Horticulture and Algebra this week and I’ve never been very good at tests. On test days I feel like Adam West in the 1966 Batman movie where Batman is running all over the pier trying to get rid of a bomb with that feeling inside me always saying; “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb!” I know that sounds a bit exaggerated, and maybe so, but that’s just how I feel on test days when I know I’ve done everything I can to study and yet my brain goes blank the very minute I read the first question presented to me on the test.

This seems to mostly happen with Algebra. I was told earlier this week by someone, and I’ve heard this before, that numbers and letters are virtually the same. I disagree. They’re total opposites. With words you can somewhat mess with them and come up with new words and meanings for them. Numbers are straight forward; sometimes even complex or confusing, and no matter what they will never allow you to do anything outside the rules. And for most people that’s why they have a much easier time with numbers than they do with letters. For me, however, it’s in complete reverse.

Numbers make me wince and letters make me swoon. That’s why I’m here in college. Journalism has always been an interest of mine and I’ve always done well in school with words, but those pesky numbers get me every time. Maybe it’s because there are almost no rules in language, except for the one that tells you to not sound like a fool of course. The only time you have rules in language is when you have to turn those words and ideas into a printed group of words on paper, then you have all kinds of rules, but even if you throw all those rules out you can still understand what someone is trying to convey because of how easy language is to manipulate and arrange. You really can’t manipulate numbers; and if you don’t pay close enough attention you can really screw things up in a formula. Someone with ADD, such as myself, that makes it even harder because the focus is never one-hundred percent clear.

Still, though, I’m not giving up. College courses are indeed hard, but they should be because it’s the hard things that will make you smarter. It’s the complex ideas and formulations that will show you the pathway to a new idea that was never thought of before. Like me, you’ll get frustrated and angry. You’ll probably even cry and say to yourself; “I quit! I’ve had it! No more, this is too hard!” But hopefully you’ll be too bullheaded like me and fight off those negative feelings and keep pressing on and try to make your frustrations work for you instead of against you.

You all have a whole life ahead of you. Know that college is not forever. From everything I’m doing I should be done by 2014, that’s not that far away. And I know for a lot of you it’s not that far either. It gets easier once you get into your field of study because college prepares you for almost everything you will encounter in your line of work. Just keep on truckin’ because you’ve got nothing to lose by succeeding. Thanks for reading this week’s post. This is the Howard College blogging machine, over and out!

“Beautiful Creator”

By Terrence Cain

On October 5^th co-creator of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs, passed away after an eight year battle with pancreatic cancer. They gave him three to six months to live, but for a time they thought he had won the battle. Sadly his cancer came out of remission and took his life. The Apple Corporation has been an integral part of mine and millions of other’s education for the past twenty-two years or more.

I remember as a child when I was attending Burleson Elementary in my hometown of Odessa, Texas that we had a computer lab that we would visit regularly to learn how to type, spell, and do math on an Apple computer. We would play education games like Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego? and Where’s Waldo? A lot of my early introduction to technology was from products built by Steve Jobs, or at best based off ideas he originally came up with.

As an adult I’ve used many of his creations. I’ve used Mac computers and laptops, I’ve used many different iPods, and I know a vast majority of people today use the Apple iPhone. It was indeed a total shock to my system on Wednesday night as I was watching CNN and the Breaking News banner came up to announce his passing. Steve Jobs gave me and so many others so much joy in knowing what technology can do for us and what great things can come from a beautiful creator such as Steve Jobs was. Steve had so much more to do. A life cut too short at fifty-six. I don’t think I’ll ever look at my iPod or laptop in quite the same way ever again.

I don’t mean to get all philosophical on you. I just felt I needed to share that because the truth is that Apple didn’t just touch people at home or at work, but in the educational world as well. Every classroom I see in Howard College’s Big Spring campus has an Apple computer in it. Even my editor, Cindy Smith, uses an Apple computer in her office. The innovations will always be there, but sadly his new ideas and what Steve Jobs would have done in the future will forever be gone. Thank you Steve Jobs, you made my life better with your beautiful and wonderful creations. You made everyone’s life better because of your ideas.

In this week’s classes I had some good and interesting discussions in both my Criminology and U.S. Government classes. In Criminology we talked about what is considered to be illegal in one place may not necessarily be in another; such as indecency laws and traffic laws. In my U.S. Government class we discussed mainly the first amendment, freedom of speech. We talked a lot about it and how it has at times been abused by those in power. We talked about the second, third, fourth, and fifth amendments as well but not to the degree we talked about with the first amendment.

Not much I can really say about my Algebra class. I’m just happy my grade is still up in the As. In my Horticulture class we talked mostly about soil and what is the perfect soil for most plants and crops. We also got to see samples of different soils and talked about them and their textures as well. Well that’s all I have to say for now. I’ve got a busy weekend for myself, so take it easy and have a great weekend. This is Howard College’s blogging machine, over and out!