The Place I Will Be In Debt To For The Next 15 Years

     It's that time. The time when juniors in high school start searching for places called "Colleges", where they will ultimately dump all their parents money into education, and booze. Come on, they don't call it the "Freshmen Fifteen" for nothing.
    In reality, searching for a college  is extremely hard. Unless your family has an unlimited amount of money to spend on your college education, and your drinking habits, then trying to find that one place that you want to attend, and you can afford,  is like trying to find The Lost City of Atlantis. Every time you look up a college, it fits a couple of your criteria, but either they don't have the program you want to join, or it's gunna cost your parents a limb and all their kidneys for you to attend.
     Where do I start? You start with picking what you want to do the most for your future career.  When I started searching for colleges, I thought I wanted to acquire my Airframe & Power plant certification, but after some searching around, I couldn't find any good four year schools for it. So, I upped the anti to mechanical engineering. With this I can fix anything, as well as build new things (not to mention get paid bank for it). This change in direction opened up a plethora of new schools that I can pick from. Now, every time I look at a new school, I make sure that they have a reputable mechanical engineering program. If not, then it's not the college for me.
     The next step in finding the perfect college is making sure it's within your budget, that's respective to your career choice. Don't expect to become a dentist, and not have to pay up the wazoo for it.  Make sure that your budget is reasonable, but flexible. Remember, you can always apply for scholarships and financial aid. This budget ensures that you don't bankrupt your parents, and yourself for the next 15 years.
     The next question to answer is, " Does this college have extracurricular activities that I would like to participate in?" Many colleges flaunt the number of clubs and activities they have, but this means nothing unless they have the clubs and activities that you want to do. Participating in some sort of sport or club in college is essential to making new friends, and ensuring that you get outside and experience new things. Most colleges have outdoor sports, intramural sports, and many clubs that you can offer. Even though making sure that the college has the right type of curriculum for you is most important, you'll be miserable if you have no life outside of your academics.
     One thing that is very important is accreditation. You may have thought that you found the perfect school, but after one year you absolutely hate the place. This is where accreditation comes in. Being an accredited college means that your credits are recognized in other schools. If you want to transfer schools then you need to transfer your credits. If your school isn't accredited, then you can't transfer those credits, and you will need to start all over. Hopefully, you don't need to transfer schools, but it's always a good idea to check, because it's always better to be safe than sorry.
     College is always hard to think about when you're a junior in high school, but time goes by fast, and before you know it you'll be packing your bags and heading off into the great unknown. It's better start now and take the time to follow these guidelines, so that you can be comfortable with your decision in which college you want to go to. After all, you don't want to waste that money on something you're going to change in a year.
   

A Jaded Set of Skills

     When I think about when I went into high school, I get this picture from Ned's Declassified. You know, the TV show about those kids who give everyone advise about going though high school? Most students who enter high school think that their life is already over, or they are undefeatable.  Also,  most students come in with a jaded set of goals, or think that there are certain things they need in order to succeed. However, none of this is true when going through high school.
     Most people think that who their friends are, and how reckless they are is what matters the most. They think, "Yeah, if I go to this party, and get super drunk then people will like me." Also, if they hang out with the kids that party they will look cool as well. In reality, the only thing that hanging with the party kids will get you is a big ole guilty by association tag. If a kids friends get caught smoking pot, then you can bet your bottom dollar that everyone will think that that kid smokes pot too, even if they never have. It's a simple rule that my parents have told me since I was in elementary school: You are guilty whether or not you committed the crime. Having the right relationships in high school are essential to maintaining a good reputation, and minimizing rumors, and drama.
     Wiki How created a "5 Ways to Survive High School" article, and the first and most essential thing is to "Develop the Right Relationships." Make friends with everyone! Don't settle for only one group of people to be friends with. Having a diverse friend group ensures that you will always have someone to hang out with. Also, be friends with people who can teach you things. Befriend a musician, a writer, a mathlete, AND  a member of student council. These people can help you find what you are interested in doing. The most important relationships to have, is with your teachers. Develop a strong relationship with a few of your teachers, and you will succeed academically while you are in high school. You don't need to have their class every single year, but you can always go ask them for help when you don't understand what you learned, or even use their classroom when you need to study. Also, don't suck up to your teachers, but be cordial. Most teachers hate it when students are kissing butt just to get a good grade.
     These relationships are what will lift and carry you through high school. Having crappy relationships, and hanging out with people who constantly start drama is not what you want in high school. It sucks when you are constantly having to sort things out or pick sides in arguments between your friends. That's why developing many good and healthy relationships will keep you out of the drama circle. It also will help you strive to better yourself, and won't make you slack off on your academics. To see the other 4 ways to survive high school, you can check out the article here, http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-High-School

The Redneck in Me

     Food. Literally. It's the fruit of life, at least mine anyways. My mother and I are food addicts. We are constantly searching for different recipes to try, and experimenting with different ingredients. Well, my dad is a hunter, and this year we put an elk in the freezer, so we have an over abundance of elk meet to use. My mom and I aren't too keen on elk meet, but we have been good about replacing beef with it, and we have found some delicious meals to use it in.

     The elk steak wouldn't be my first choice. The processor gave us, tenderloin, steaks, ground elk, and 3 different kinds of sausage: black pepper, country, and italian.  The sausage is the best out of all of it. Maybe I'm just a sausage kind of girl, but I always tend to pick the sausage 99% of the time, when given the choice.
     With our elk we substitute it into hamburger helper, put it into gravy for biscuits and gravy, make elk burgers ( or elk sliders), and the country sausage is perfect for breakfast sausage patties. At first, I was a little weary of the elk, thinking that it would be too gamey, or just not taste good, but over all I give it a two thumbs up.