From a Thankful Senior

Posted on November 21, 2018
by Kristen Beyer

Thanksgiving is a reflective time; the word “thanks” is in the title. Although the history of Thanksgiving is more complicated than that presented to us in grade school, the modern connotation of the event is all about spending time with family and taking stock of the good stuff (yes, that absolutely includes perfectly whipped mashed potatoes holding a beautiful crater of overflowing gravy). I have a lot of things to be thankful for myself, so I decided it would be a good time to share some of these things.

My Oswego education. I’ll be graduating on December 15th in front of my family.
My newest family member: my nephew Grant.
A delicious meal and the opportunity to eat it with loved ones.
My caring, creative, crazy friends that I’ve made both at Oz and in life in general. (a “Friends” Thanksgiving gif is almost obligatory, no?)
The social media team. I’ve been doing this since my sophomore year which means it’s been 2 and a half years of photographing geese, dogs, hockey players, and filming and writing about my personal adventures.

With graduation coming up in a few weeks, I’m currently trying to polish my resume, finish five different papers and projects, apply to jobs, and balance a few other spinning plates as well. This break and this particular holiday have been very important for me, not only to have a bit of extra time to work on these things, but to also remember what I have going for me. I’m very thankful for my time in Oswego in general. I have changed and grown so much and feel as though I’ve truly come into my own. I’ve met amazing people and learned so many things, both in and out of the classroom. As I enter the most confusing and transitional period of my life yet, remembering this and trying to use it to my advantage will be more important than ever.

I’d like to thank my boss Tim Nekritz for putting me on the social media team and giving me a platform to create content of my choice for the school. I also want to thank everyone reading this and everyone who has ever read one of my blogs, watched one of my vlogs, viewed my Snapchats, and looked at my Instagram posts for Oz. I hope that I have been educational, entertaining, or at the very least distracting (in a good way!). Take it from one very thankful Laker: take the time to think about the good in your life. You might be happier than you’ve ever been, you might be going through hard times or transitioning into something new; no matter what, if you think hard enough there will be something to be thankful for. Now enjoy the dinner rolls.

Before your food coma…

Posted on November 23, 2016
by Kristen Beyer

I’m sitting in my warm home with my mother realizing halfway through making pumpkin pie that she only has enough to make one pie and not two while my sister is trying to show me different things she wants to do with her Pre-K students. My sister’s fiance is in the garage fixing his truck. My dad is out working in the cold; unfortunately, he doesn’t get today off.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and as I’m writing this, I don’t need to think hard about what I’m thankful for. I have a home and people who love me. I have fantastic friends, and I’m fortunate enough that I have the ability to pursue a college education. I’m lucky that I had Friendsgiving on Sunday and Thanksgiving with my family tomorrow.

As much as I’m happy and grateful for everything in my life, I don’t want this post to be a laundry list. Instead, I would like to ask that anybody reading this remember what they are thankful for and make sure to spread extra love and kindness this holiday season, whether that is at the dinner table or in life in general. Don’t let Aunt Sue’s political opinions or Grandpa Jerry’s food complaints get you down. Love is what is important. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom’s not impressed with this pie. She’s having an off-day for pie making.

Thanksgiving ’09

Posted on November 22, 2009
by Christopher

So, this weekend has been pretty productive, and that is one reason why I love weekends that precede breaks. Since I know that it is my last weekend before the break, I try my hardest to get everything done that I possibly can so that I don’t have to do work over break, and my weekend is therefore very productive. I really enjoy getting work done, especially when you have a list in front of you, and the more you work, the smaller that list gets. It’s simply an amazing feeling. Obviously, coming up this week is the very reason why we don’t have class, which is Thanksgiving, and so, I figured that, more than anything, it would be appropriate to write a blog pertaining to that for which I am thankful.

Firstly, I am thankful for my relationship. I am sure that I have mentioned it in previous blog entries, but my relationship is soon to be eight months long, and I have never in my lifetime been happier. For once, it feels like I have found the person that I am supposed to be with, the one person who I am going to spend my entire life with and who I ultimately was always meant and destined to be with, and that is an amazing feeling, that knowledge. So, I am definitely thankful for that.

Secondly, I am thankful for my friends. Without them, I don’t know how I would get by. They don’t even need to know that I am experiencing a difficult situation. Just being with them and spending time with them helps me through, and I have some friends now that I never could have even dreamed of having, friends who understand me and friends who I can say anything to, and they’re not going to judge me, because they are my friends and because they are just good people.

I think that the final part of my life that I want to talk about, something that I am thankful for, is the very fact that I am sitting in a dorm room right now writing this blog entry. Not everyone who wants to go to college has the opportunity to, and that is something that I am well aware of, something that I don’t ever take for granted or forget. I am here not only because I took the initiative and the effort to be here and because I worked hard to be here but also because I was lucky enough to have received such a generous financial aid award. Without there, I would not be here right now pursuing my dreams, so that is also something for which I am most definitely thankful.

As far as the holiday itself, I will most likely be doing what I always do every year. We don’t cook but instead go to the Beeches Inn which isn’t that far away from my house. We go there every year, usually between noon and 1 p.m. with an afore-made reservation, and it’s usually a good experience. I know that some of you may be thinking that I have been deprived of enjoying a home-cooked meal, since that is something that you most likely have the privilege of enjoying, but every family’s tradition is different. Besides, I don’t feel deprived of anything. If anything, I feel privileged myself, because home-cooked meals at my house call for days upon days of leftovers, and we do have a home-cooked meal on Christmas.

I am really looking forward to going home, seeing my boyfriend and spending time with friends. Trust me, as I think a lot of us do, I really need this break. I know some students, such as my roommate, who haven’t been home at all so far this semester, and I don’t know how anyone could do that. I would most definitely go crazy. Anyway, I am so happy that there are only two days of classes this week. I will be leaving Wednesday morning and will try to write a blog before then. If something interesting happens in my life prior to Wednesday morning, then I will try to write about that. Otherwise, maybe I will write a review or something. I recall Julie-Jo suggesting last year that we try to mix up or blog entries to incorporate different subjects, and I often do the best that I can to follow that advice.

Thanksgiving and broken car.

Posted on December 1, 2008
by Leah

ok I’ve got a good thanksgiving story for you all :-p

Welll… let me just start by saying that my car is a 1986 Saab. That should explain a lot.

Anyways, towards the last few days that I was in Oswego, my car started getting louder and louder when one day, i turned the key, and this roar came from the engine that was completely new to me. I was running late for class, so i was like, “oh well, I sound like a race car for today.. no big deal”. I’m used to things happening to my car, and a loud engine did not seem very out of the ordinary, since my car is old enough to legally drink in any country.

Later that day, I called my dad and he said there was something wrong with the exhaust system most likely, probably the catalytic converter. he said, “just make it home to Buffalo, and ill fix it when you get here”.

When I got home and my dad had a chance to look at my car, he informed me that the entire catalytic converter was now missing from my car’s ensemble. Of course I had no idea when or where I lost it, which probably angered whoever was driving behind me at that point.. :-/ He told me that he would have to order a new one, and that wouldn’t come until around christmas time. So he decided he would just attach the two pipes underneath my car so that it wouldn’t be loud anymore, and I could go back to school and deal with it until christmas… sounded like a plan to me.

After a very filling and refreshing thanksgiving break, I began the journey back to Oswego. Everything was going great and I was on the Ontario parkway around Brockport. Low and behold my ever-so-exciting car decided to yell at me again, fist softly whining, and eventually crescendoed into the roar much like the one before. Except this time, when I took my foot off the gas I heard clunking and clanking underneath my car, which I concluded to be the pipes dragging on the pavement. To say the least, i was extremely frustrated and upset; mostly at my father, who claims the name “mister fix-it” and thinks he can repair anything. Lucky for me, I have an aunt in Rochester with an extra car who was gracious enough to let me switch it with the race car. At the moment, my poor little Saab is sitting in my aunts driveway, awaiting repair and my return for christmas break.

Of course also at this time it was beginning to snow/slush, and I was trying to make it back for practice at school at 5:00. to make a long story…still too long, i got stuck behind a bunch of grandmas and got to practice 30 minutes late.

So, whats the moral of this story? I’m not really sure except that you should probably give yourself lots of time to get back to Oswego in the winter time, and you probably shouldn’t own a 1986 Saab. Although I love my little race car, it throws a lot of curve balls at me, and every trip is an adventure. other than that, I had a great Thanksgiving! My exchange student from high school from Germany goes to school in the US now, so she flew in for a visit which was really nice, and naturally we both ate way more food than our swim coaches would like to know. :-p

Hope everyones Thanksgiving was as exciting as mine, I’ll get back to you soon!

<3 Leah