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Opinion
January 18, 2012
The Rambler | www.therambler.org
New year calls for self discipline Rolandra West Staff Writer
rdwest@txwes.edu
It’s Dec. 31 — students are on their phones updating their Facebook statuses and sharing their New Year’s resolutions. We watch the ball drop and kiss our significant others as the clock strikes midnight. Our new resolutions are in first gear and nothing can stop the excited feeling of a new year. Two weeks later, we are sitting on our couches and repeating to ourselves we can get back on track tomorrow. There are a few of us who do follow through with our resolutions, but, for the most part we tend to fall back into our old habits within the first two weeks. Every year we make resolutions to lose weight, study harder, be nicer to our family or get more involved in
our communities. These resolutions can be accomplished and we should try our best to achieve them. According to www. freeimageslive.com | Courtesy huffingtonp ost.com, People all over the world have made their New Year’s resolutions and are vowing to stick to them. The real question is: can they accomplish them? the reason for our failed resolutions is site also says we tend to blame of actually accomplishing our energy we can apply these When we make it a point because we are lacking en- our failed attempts on lack of resolutions. new resolutions to our daily to change our lives for the ergy. Over and over we say time instead of lack of energy. Another problem people lives. better we will start to see a we are going to eat better, get However, I do believe time have is materialisitic tenThe only way we can have more improved version of healthy and live on the edge, is a factor and the best solu- dancies, especially when it more energy is through dis- ourselves. Whether we have but we never actually take tion is to make a schedule, comes down to our goals. ciplining ourselves. We must improved our health, peraction. Instead, we make ex- hopefully keeping our reso- We rely on cars, houses, elec- make sure we get the recom- sonal life, grades or activicuses. Somehow it is never lutions on track. A schedule tronics and social networks mended amount of sleep, ties, we will feel more confiour fault. can increase productivity to fulfill our happiness and keeping stress to a minimum, dent in the goals we plan to The Huffington Post’s web- and gives us a better chance satisfaction. If we have more eat healthy and exercise. accomplish in the future.
...and you can take that to the Bank (s)! Shauna Banks Opinion Editor/Columnist sbbanks@txwes.edu
Rambler
Thumbs up to Dora’s new Asian bar. We often opt for the pizza when nothing else strikes our fancy, but this new found Asian cuisine is right up our alley!
Thumbs up to a whole week of the Spring semester already being over. We weren’t eager to jump back on the bandwagon of endless classes and papers no one really wants to write, but the time is flashing by, and that’s how we like it!
Thumbs up to Bradden Van Noy (SGA president) and Melissa Murnane on their engagement. We know you’ll make a stunning bride and groom at your wedding. Keep him in line Melissa!
Erica Estrada | Rambler Staff
Gift giving gets complicated Stuffed lions, and tigers, and bears — oh my! Like your mom always told you when you got clothes for gifts as child, it really is the thought that counts when giving and receiving gifts for any holiday. With Valentine’s Day really not so far off, the question of what to get my other half looms over me like an unpredictable cloud. He’s not as easy to impress with gifts as I am. Even as an adult, I adore the stuffed bears that say “I love you thissss much” and a nice box of chocolates, or those silly candy hearts that urge the recipient to “be mine.” Even though I’ve yet to come up with anything to give a 28-year-old man for a holiday that he would rather forget existed, I have come to a different realization: gifts are not always all they’re cracked up to be. In many instances where I’m expected to buy gifts, it often ends up being more stressful than enjoyable. Christmas has to be the biggest culprit. What the heck do you really buy for Nana, who already has 25 frames that say “World’s Greatest Grandma,” candles decorating every nook and cranny of her house and enough kitchen gadgets to fill two kitchens? (A Tony
Romo T-shirt and Cowboys drawstring bag it turns out. Who knew?) This past Christmas, my boyfriend and I decided we would limit the amount of money spent on gifts. However, I actually do enjoy getting gifts for people I care about — and with my new found love for couponing, a free or nearly free gift is just that! The Black Friday bug bit me in the hiney and did not let go for most of that day. Nothing made me more proud than the deal I scored from Best Buy — a $600 laptop for $299! Low and behold, my boo actually needed a laptop, so it was just perfect. Well, so I thought. It was of course all smiles and crazy levels of excitement upon him opening the laptop on Christmas Day. After all, he was running on a laptop so old, it still worked best when used with a dial up connection. Yikes. That’s where it all went wrong. Less than a week after it had been pulled from the box, we were struck one morning with the realization that it had a cracked LED screen. Of course I sped like a bat out of hell back to Best Buy, demanding an exchange. But no sirree. No returns accepted on what they deem to be “ac-
The Rambler Alejandra Garcia, editor-in-chief Shauna Banks, opinion editor Stephanie Randall, sports editor Jordan Twine arts & entertainment editor Meisa Keivani Najafabadi, photo editor Brandon Loredo, multimedia editor Erica Estrada, cartoonist/photographer Wendy Moore, faculty adviser Dr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison Frederick Slabach, publisher
cidents.” So now, that “Heck yes! Score!” moment, has turned into a $300 ouch. After shaking my fists and moaning and groaning, I realized it really wasn’t something worth getting that upset over; it was just a simple item. I really hadn’t lost anything in the grand scheme of things. I still had the love of my life home and safe, my silly dogs yip-yapping around me with their new 97 cent tennis balls and most of my sanity. So the moral of the story is this: if a gift has you wishing you could pull your hair out, maybe a gift isn’t the best idea. But on the other hand, some of the simplest gifts that call for the least amount of money and zero stress can bring the biggest smiles and enjoyment (just ask all four of my dogs). Christmas came and went, and my favorite gift was without a doubt the fancy looking ink pen I got, with silly beagles pictured on the casing. Remembering that I adore our dogs was the true gift in that. So in the end, even though most people may not truly ever believe it—it really is the thought that counts. And you can take that, to the the bank!
“We are not afraid to follow the truth ... wherever it may lead.” — Thomas Jefferson
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Ratings
Thumbs down to the circus the race for the presidential republican nominee has turned out to be. Perry bombs his debates, Cain can’t seem to keep his hands to himself (so all those women say) and Bachmann drops out of the race before the primaries even begin. Thumbs down to the people who decided not to walk the extra few yards to the dumpster to deposit their trash over the holidays in West Village. The patio bares no resemblance to a dumpster, and we know you’re all smart enough to realize that. Besides, we all need to work off those holiday calories, right?
Campus comment:
What do you think of Wesleyan’s new website?
“I don’t like the email. I like the design but I don’t really pay attention to it. I just get on and off.” - Garrison Hawley, sophomore, English major
“It looks a lot better. It’s more updated.” - Phillip Chavez, freshman, exercise science major
“It’s easier to navigate. It was hard to find how to pre-register at first but now they have everything set up.” - Madalyn Russell, junior, theatre major
“I like it, but what I found confusing was there was no tutorial on how to work it. Many people were confused about it.” -Amanda Moten, senior, history major
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press, Student Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers. Opinions expressed in The Rambler are those of the individual authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.
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