The Continuous Development

It is now 10:24 pm and Okaloosa Island Beach is being closed off. It is now considered hazardous to your health due to the aroma of the oil. Tar balls are continuing to wash up onto the beach, just like I predicted that would be during high tide. If you look out onto the ocean, you can see the oil coagulating on the top. Hopefully, tomorrow morning I can get one last look at how the oil spill is developing.

(Marine animals are suffering in the picture below)

(The picture below is from nwfdailynews.com)

53% of Americans disagree with the way Obama is handling this and I do not doubt that that number will continue to rise if no actions are taken. Cleaning up the shore to make it look more appealing does not mean that it is not there, it doesn't make it just go away. It has gotten to the point where announcements are being made about calling 311 if you see any animals in danger. By tomorrow morning, I would not be surprised if the beach is covered.

The news team stopped by around 5:30 pm, which made sense as to why the beach was cleaned by the time my mom and I dropped by after dinner. Once again, this proves that Americans are being uninformed about what is really going on. The only thing that news video showed was dime sized tar balls with a clear ocean in the background. Does something seem wrong with the fact that they are so willing to clean the beach up before a news team comes by for a story but they are not willing to clean this up to save the living conditions of the fish, animals, fishermen, and homeowners?

About 2 hours before the beach was closed due to its condition. The link is attached, pictures are provided from 5 miles out.

Start praying.

http://nwfdailynews.emeraldcoastphotoswest.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1025615&CategoryID=28208&ListSubAlbums=0

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/okaloosa-30053-villani-island.html

Okaloosa Island Pier

One of the things you must do when visit the beach is visit the pier. All the different types of fish you see are just amazing. On our visit, we were able to see large sting rays eating fisher's bait, barracudas lurking in the water waiting for fish to be thrown back in, dolphins jumping in the sunset, and little sharks. Or should I say, things we thought were sharks, we were in for an awakening.

My family and I overheard a woman telling her children that there were sharks. So of course, we hurried over to where the woman was and looked over the edge. Sure enough, there were 'little sharks'. In my opinion, I would not have said they were little. Anything over 4 feet is considered a big fish to me. As time went by, we stayed there watching the 'sharks' and people came by to see what we were looking at.

One of the fisherman, who spends most of his days on the pier fishing, came over to ask what we were looking at.

I pointed down near the pillars and said that we were looking at the group of 5 or 6 little sharks. He looked over the edge and laughed. I looked at him a little confused at what he thought was funny. I looked at me and said "honey, those aren't little sharks, those are the little fish that STICK to the sharks". If you look closely to the pictures below, you can see them.

That thought scared me. I looked back over the edge at the 4 foot long strange fish and remembered the old days of watching Discovery Channel. I pictured the sharks with those so-called 'little fish' attached to the bellyside of the shark. They did not look quite that big when I saw it on television. I looked back over the edge, and come to my surprise, a huge shark was next to all those fish. I called the guy back over and he looked down. While pulling his hat back, he assured me that those were the sharks he was talking about, the Tiger Shark, which can grow up to 16 feet in length. That thought made me shiver and I decided to go to a different side of the pier. Come to my attention, they were not that easy to get away from. The further down the pier I went, the more I saw them. I was also informed by an air traffic control man that sharks swim closer to the shore than people think.

I found a group of fishermen and decided watching them would take my mind off of the sharks.

I wound up next to a young man and things seemed pretty calm. I was looking over the edge and found myself looking at long, slick fish. I asked the man next to me what they were and he told me that I was looking at a group of Barracudas and that they like to wait for people to unhook a fish and throw it back in.

Moments later, the guy that I originally came to watch was surronded by a crowd of people and reeling in with all his strength. About 15 minutes later, he finally reeled in a fish called the Cobia.

All in all, I must say that it was an interesting visit and you never know what you'll learn or the things you'll find on your visit.

Clean Up Clean Up Everybody Everywhere

So, in response to my earlier post, I must say that I am impressed. The beach was covered in tar balls when we walked back up to our condo around 2:30 and by the time we were dressed and ready for dinner on the local beach hotspot, the oil on the shore was cleaned up and people were back to swimming. If you looked out onto the ocean, you saw 3 or 4 boats sucking up the oil from the water, and some even pulled out the dolphins from earlier and cleaned them up.

We ate dinner at Floyd's Shrimp House right on the beach. The food was delicious! I had shrimp alfredo and you could tell that the shrimp was fresh. And of course, my family had to order a dish of their fresh sushi, which was also to die for. If you ever visit Okaloosa Island, stop by for a wonderful dinner.

My brother and father went back to the pier to fish while my mom and I walked along the beach. There were still quite a few tar balls but not near as much as there were earlier in the day. I have to admit, I am afraid to walk down to the beach after high tide tonight.

Luckily, the shores were clean enough to take family pictures, and since I love photography, I also went to the liberty of taking a few pictures of the beach. I am just happy that things cleared up for out last night. I went ahead and posted my favorite pictures. Hopefully, I will have some more photos in the morning.

From Vacation To Disaster

When my family and I first arrived here on Okaloosa Island, everything was more than we expected. We had a beautiful condominium, handfuls of tourist attractions, and a more than gorgeous beach with white sand, clear waters, and a beautiful sunset.

I am originally from Florida and the beach has always been one of my favorite places to visit, and because I lived here for almost 10 years of my life, I was hesitant to step foot in the water because the temperature of the water in June is usually a little chilly. I stepped one foot in and the water was warm. I was a little confused by this but didn't really think much of it. The second thing that really through me off was the color of the seaweed, it was lime green, almost the same color as if you visited a sushi restaurant and ordered seaweed salad. Also, the seaweed was not all connected, it was chopped up and scattered across the water.

By the second day, the water was still warm but the seaweed had all been washed up to the shore. Everything seemed to be going great. We all took a walk down to the pier and saw sharks, barracudas, and even had the experience of watching a man catch a fish called a Cobia. Which is supposedly very delicious.

The third day, which is today, my father and my brother visited the pier once again so that my brother could fish. Within 5 minutes, my mom received a call from my dad saying that the oil has washed up to the shore.

The first picture of the oil on the shore was taken today at 12:33 pm, the one below was taken at 1:47 pm. What is the beach going to look like by the end of the day when high tide kicks in?

There are 2 1/2 million gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf PER DAY, estimates are raising.

I walked down to the shore and was highly disturbed. Tar balls were covering the shore, oil was resting on top of the water, dead fish were washing up, and birds dove in for food and never came out. The lives of these animals are going to be lost because no one is doing anything to clean up this mess. Do I believe that they are trying all they can to cap it? Yes, possibly, but no actions are being taken to clean it up.

Dolphins were about 50 feet from shore struggling to swim, in a group of about 15. The coast guard informed me that sharks are usually found about 10 miles out, now they are being found about a mile. He also said that seaweed is being cooked by the temperature of the oil, which was why it was scattered instead of all connected.

When my mom and I returned to the condo, we turned on the local news to see what was being said about the oil on the beach. The weather man was standing in front of a picture of the beach where you could clearly see the oil on the shore, about 5 seconds later, he moved over so that could no longer see the snapshot of the oil. Also, the beach provides warning flags: Green means everything is ok, yellow is warning, red means bad water conditions, purple means dangerous fish, and double red means that the beach is closed. If the beach is closed, all of the people who rented a condo get their money back. There is oil all over our beach and there is still not a double red flag, why? Money.

Anyways, I want to save my rantings for later on tonight when things get worse.

Later on tonight, we will be going to dinner at Floyd's on the pier, so we'll see how thins go. The pictures at the very top were taken 2 days before the oil snapshots. It continues to get worse by every passing hour.

When are we going to put an end to this?

Love, Fudge, and Team Work

For starters, Happy Memorial Day everyone!

John and I, along with my family, had a cookout with the neighbors. After a couple of hours of 'healthy relationship competition' (as John called it) in a game of Kirby Air Ride, we decided it was time to head back over to the house, sit back, relax, and watch some television.

Most of the time, it is hard for us to agree on a show to watch, but when we see Cake Boss, we both approve. And just our luck, it was a marathon! After about an episode of watching them put together delicious, mouth watering looking cakes, I decided I was going through one of those cravings, girls, you know what I am talking about.

I got up from the couch and tried looking for the bag of salt and vinegar chips that were in the pantry the day before. Come to my attention, my dad had eaten them. Disappointing, but I moved on. I then looked at the tv to see the chef talking about fudge. And that little light bulb appeared over my head. FUDGE. And not just any fudge, my grandma's homemade, melt in your mouth, fudge. So of course, I had to call her because I had never made it without her next to me. I recieved the directions over the phone and she told me to call if I needed any assistance. It was exciting for me just because I had never done it by myself before, and because I got that time to talk to my grandma about something we both enjoy.


Now, it was time to create. I read the ingredients and 2 cups of sugar seemed a lot less when it wasn't in the pot. I then added the 4 tablespoons of cocoa as directed, and lastly, the cup of milk. I put the oven on high and watched it boil. John started smelling the chocolate and came over to see what all I had done. When he looked into the pot, he glanced at me and asked me if something was missing because it was watery, and not thick like fudge. I smiled realizing that was what I had said to my grandma the first time I watched her make it. I told him to be patient and never to doubt my grandma's fudge recipe. He then had the idea to make a peanut butter cream cheese topping to put over the fudge when it was done. He just winged it. He threw in butter, half and half, loads of peanut butter, and cream cheese. After the creamy chocolate boiled and started folding, I tested it in cold water and knew it was ready to beat. I added butter and vanilla and let John beat it while I stirred his peanut butter creation. I ran over to him to check the fudge, and by this time, my mom was also in the kitchen interested in the fudge. It was ready and I knew it. I could feel it. Of course, I had to call my grandmother for the 4th time to make sure. He quickly poured the fudge onto a plate and it hardened immediately, we almost didn't have time to spread it. Then, my mom grabbed the peanut butter mixture and added it as a finishing touch.


The three of us stepped back and realized how much work that actually took, but it was a success. After it cooled, we were in heaven! John's peanut butter topping was amazing and the fudge was perfect, creamy, and delicious.

What Is Christianity Becoming? The Museum of Idolatry

Have you ever come across a website where your first thought was something like "what in the world" or "is this serious"? Have you ever had your beliefs mocked and ridiculed?

As I was browsing the web, just trying to possibly find a topic, and I came across a website that literally made my jaw drop in disgust.

The 2nd youtube video on this website is a "man" called The Demoniac Preacher, 'preaching' to his audience while he mocks my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is also a advertisement of a Sunday service at this "church" and the introduction is, and I quote: "Jesus' death and resurrection are just not relevant anymore. So...rather than risk being irrelevant, Pastor Tom Skiles decided to preach about the movie Avatar on the highest holy day in the Christian Church". A church service on Avatar? On Easter Sunday?

Also, this 'church' promotes a play called Corpus Christi. The only reason I have ever heard of this disgusting and offensive play is because it was performed at Tarleton (another reason why the school now disgusts me). Anyways, ever heard of it? Well if you have not, read on for a quick summary.

The 'gay Jesus' play may be hitting the stage in North Texas after all.
Cathedral of Hope , the large Dallas church whose ministry is primarily directed toward gay and lesbian Christians, has announced that it will host a Los Angeles production of Corpus Christi, a play by Tony Award-winner Terrence McNally. The play is about a 20th-century Christ-like figure (called Joshua) who is gay. In one scene, Joshua kisses Judas at the senior prom at "Pontius Pilate High School." In another, he performs a wedding ceremony for two of his disciples, who are also gay.
Earlier this month, the play made headlines when a theater student at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, chose to direct a version as a class project. The student's play was to be staged on the Tarleton State campus. But that show was canceled at the last minute, after vociferous criticism from Stephenville clergy members and others.

Another name for this play is the "Gay Jesus Play".

First of all, I find it shocking that a so-called 'christian' church supports and promotes gay and lesbianism. Does it not specifically say in the bible that homosexuals will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven? Don't believe me. Get a bible and read it! Here are examples:

• If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.(Leviticus 20:13)


• Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)


• Romans 1:26-27 - For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And what is even worse about this, is while introducing this play, the director said that although there may be some who disagree with this play, he would ask that you not judge. THEN has the audacity to use the bible and say "Judge not lest ye be judged"!

Needless to say, you should check the website out for yourself and speak up against those who mock your beliefs. This is unacceptable and I speak for myself when I say that I am tired of the mockery, I am tired of people thinking it is ok to say it is ok to be homosexual by trying to say Jesus was homosexual. Jesus was perfect, sinless, and died on the cross so that christians could go to heaven, so that they could be forgiven for their sins, and this is how 'christians' are repaying Him? Pathetic. I am at the point now where I do not even want to call myself a christian if this is what 'christianity' is coming too. I know my beliefs and I am sticking to them. I believe in God, the maker of heaven and earth, who sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. Why is there any need to label my beliefs if I stand strong on what they are? Should I give anyone the right to think that I believe Jesus was a homosexual or that I think His death and ressurection are irrelevent to Easter Sunday? Should I give anyone the right to believe that this church's preachings are acceptable? NO! If being a 'christian' means mocking my Lord and Savior, supporting homosexuality, and leading a life of hypocrisy, then I am not a christian.

Here is the website, check it out and get the word out. It is time we start standing up against this mockery and hypocrisy. Also, notice the categories on the side labeled "Christian Erotica" which is a link that takes you to a section of the site where you can purchase pornography, sex toys, prostitution in the church, how you can meet homosexual singles, a "Belly Dance for God" video, and it also talks about about a youth group sex series. The video of this series starts with a line that reads "12 reasons to do it before you're in 12th grade" and "Undress her with your eyes before you get caught". Whatever happened to lust and immorality being a sin? Have these people forgotten that Corinthians says that every other sin is committed outside the body, but immorality is a sin committed inside the body which is where Christ dwells? Or do they just not care? And this is supposed to be ok? This is supposed to be what God wants?! Or how about their line "Undress her with your eyes"? Is that not lust? What if I mentioned Matthew 5:29 where it says: "So if your eye--even your good eye--causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."? Once again, maybe they just don't care.

http://www.alittleleaven.com/
http://cathedralofhope.com/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=305

That's the website. I know you'll be just as shocked as I was. And just incase, I added the website for the church in Dallas (the 2nd link).

What Is It I Want To Write About

Due to my university choice, my major on its way, and living life, I have been thinking over and over about what it is I want to do with my major. What is it that I want to write about. This question kept me up at night because there are so many different topics out there, but if I had to choose one, what would it be?

After going through all the "what ifs" I could think of, I narrowed my choices down to a few topics. During college, I may write about the adventures of college life or if that doesn't seem to go anywhere, I can write about my truest and deepest passion, dance. I have been dancing for 5 years now and I love every bit of it. Dancing is my own personal escape from the world around me, it is truely my dream and John recently reminded me by asking why on earth I haven't been dancing. When my response like "I don't know", I knew something had to change here. So I took myself back a minute and remembered what it felt like to walk into a dance studio, the smell of wood and the view of ballet bars and mirrors. With a good, worn out pair of jazz shoes, one pant leg pulled up so I can watch my form, and a smile on my face, I am ready as soon as my feet touch the floor. Once the music plays, I disappear from the world as I know it. Everything fades; thoughts, fears, stress, everything.

Choreographing is an activity I really enjoy. The past semester at Tarleton, I taught at a dance studio with a good friend of mine and it reminded me just how much I have been missing. It has also motivated me to get a grip and do what I love to do. I am going to take classes this coming semester, and who knows, maybe I'll tryout for the dance team next year. Maybe when I get on my way in my career, I can open my own dance studio and start a dancer's magazine. We'll see.

Lastly, my final topic is travel. I have not been to very many places, but I have always wanted to travel. My boyfriend and I have been dreaming of taking a trip to Ireland together. I also want to visit Italy, Spain, Russia, Australia, and South America! There is so much to see, and I only have one life to live. Hopefully when I get out of college, I am blessed with a job in the travel industry. I would love to write about the experiences I have and the people and places I discover. Who knows, maybe I can change the ideal vacation to something more than just renting a cottage in the same boring place every year. Maybe I can motivate my readers to visit the Alps, admire the paintings in Rome, appreciate the volcanoes in Hawaii, or have the drive to go scuba diving in the Caribbean.

So now that you know my ideas, what do you think?

Anyways, I am so excited to see where life takes me, and I am ready to get there with all the people who love and support me.