Ways to waste a scammer's time

You come home and find a few missed calls. Often, they don't leave messages. Or you pick up the phone and a guy with an Indian accent claims to be from Microsoft and that there's a virus on the computer. Just in case you don't know, they are scammers. They steal from people everyday and tend to get vulgar if they find out they can't scam you. I like to do what many others do and waste their time so they have less time to scam others per shift. The longer you waste their time, the less time they have to scam others! Plus, if you can record it, you may be a popular YouTuber! So here are some suggestions:

1. Stop for multiple distractions. Every 5 minutes, pretend someting comes up. If it's an interest rate scammer, you could make up 5 numbers for your credit card (I don't suggest a real one because they may still be able to scam you) and say you have to go to the bathroom. Then you could give a fake expiration date and say you have to answer a knock at the door. Continue to do this until they hang up! (For a hilarious example of this, watch this video:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_ll_qnBNTY
2. Ask to have every instruction repeated. These scammers prey on ignorance, so there's not much risk in having them explain everything. Ask for every single instruction to be repeated, and question every detail. Say that's there's no key labeled 'Enter' on your machine. Ask them whether you need to left-click or right-click every single time. Explain that your machine is very slow and will take a long time to boot up.
3. Have them explain to you even the smallest tasks in the most detail possible. With a computer scammer, ask how to turn the computer on. When you finally turn it on, they will instruct you on how to open a "Run" window (Windows key and letter R). Ask exactly which finger to use and how long to press it down. If it's a Healthcare scammer, ask which eye to read your card out of and how to find the front and back of the card.
4. Get emotional! Act really desperate and lonely like you need a friend and they called at just the right time. Ask all about them, where they live, relationship status, kids etc. Eventually you'll creep them out. Then start crying and complaining about how they're the only one who loves you, play a gun shot sound effect and drop the phone.
5. Have multiple converstations. Every time the scammer asks you a question, shout the question to someone else in the room. If no one else is around, do it anyway and pretend to hear someone (which might make the scammer think you're crazy!) Once you have answered their question, answer a really personal question! (Are you a virgin? What's your Social Security number?)

I love wasting a scammer's time. It makes for good YouTube videos! Let me know how you waste a scammer's time!

Why live on campus during college

As students are going off to college, if it's not too late to decide this, they may be wondering whether to live at home, on campus, or in an apartment. Some colleges, such as Indiana University, require first-year students to live on campus, and some require students to do so even longer. I have been living at home for college and after I make money, I will live on campus. Here are some benefits to doing so that I have researched.

1. Close to everything. If you wake up late and need to get to class in 10 minutes, you can do so. No need to waste time driving or finding a place to park, JUST GO!
   Also, need last minute tutoring or time to study in the library? Simply walk over! Also, does your school rarely close for anything? My school almost never has snow days (and we have a HIGH commuter population! I don't know what that population is, but it's high!) If your school rarely closes, at least you can be a little safer by walking rather than driving just up the street. This minimizes your driving even more!
   Finally, you may be closer to your job. You might be able to get a job on-campus or close to school. That means less time and money is spent on driving and gas bills.
2. Close to activities. In relation to the last pointer, you will have an easy walk to activities. The time you would have spent driving if you lived on-campus is cut out. You also don't have a curfew, so you can go to plenty of activities. When you live off-campus, you have to consider how late you are willing to drive. If you live at home, your family may not be too happy if you stay out too late. This won't be an issue living on-campus.
3. More time to study in groups. If you live at home, you may need to either get up really early or stay up pretty late to meet up with friends. This means group projects will be harder to complete because your availability is pretty limited. If you happen to live in the same dorm, you may be able to do your project in the commons area of your dorm, or you might be able to spend more time using resourses that may only be accessible in the library, such as a diagram of a pancreas.
4. Fewer Bills. If you live at home or in an apartment, you will have more gas to pay for and you will have to pay for electricity and water bills. If you live on-campus, these prices will be factored into your rent bill so you will not need to worry about this. You also won't need to drive as much, so you will be spending less on gas and other car bills. While living on-campus often doubles the bill of the already-expensive decision of attending college, it may be worth your money and you will be able to save some money if you choose to live on-campus.
5. Fewer Distractions! One of my pet peeves (pun intended!) is that when I did my homework, my cat was always going "Meow! Meow!" really loudly and would not stop until I got up, went into another room (usually our guest bedroom), and petted her for a while. Unfortunately non-guide pets are not usually allowed on campus, but when you have a distracting pet, this can be a good thing. (Since my school is close, I will soon live on-campus and come home weekends. A downside is that you may not know what to do with the pet, but chances are you can leave them at home and know they are in good hands!) You also won't have rowdy siblings to drive you crazy! You may live in a noisy dorm, but you can often find a place to study in quiet in the library. 
6. Your parents might back off. I love my parents, but my mom is honestly such a worrier. She didn't like when I signed up for a 7:30pm class and wouldn't be getting home by 9:30. In addition to that, while I don't have a specific curfew, my parents would not be happy if I didn't get home until midnight. She won't have to worry about me because I won't really leave school (on weekdays at least) except for work. 
7. Academic support. If you are a student in college, you are almost always welcome and encouraged to different academic supports, such as tutoring and Writing Labs. However, you may need to go out of your way to go to such services. For instance, you may need to drive home on a rainy night if you take up such a service while living at home.
8. More time. I live about 40 minutes from my school, and I know people who drive even further! If I went to school 4 days a week and 40 minutes each way, that's over 5 hours I could have spent studying each week! On top of that, although our school is pretty small, I usually spend at least 10 minutes looking for my car! I would probably free up about an hour a day (even more!) if I lived on-campus. In college, every second of free time counts because you're pretty busy!
   Not only do you get more time due to driving, but your parents aren't there to give you a curfew (though sometimes dorms give you one). My parents do not give me a specific curfew, but they wouldn't be too happy if I didn't get home until 10:30!
   Finally, by having no curfew and less driving to do (only between school and work, not between school, work, and home), you have more time available to work, which is good because many college students work in restaurants and retail places, which often have long business hours and are sometimes open 24/7.
9. Better statistics. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/19/students-who-attend-college-full-time-even-one-semester-are-more-likely-graduate
   https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/09/01/why-living-on-campus-is-good-for-students
   Both of these websites point out that students are more likely to graduate if they live on-campus at any point in time, even for one semester.
   https://www.collegebasics.com/going-to-college/benefits-of-campus-living/
   This website shows that students who live on campus get better grades, make more friends, and have more access to a social life. I joined a worship organization when I started college and many of the members lived on campus. In fact, we had bible studies in the commons room of the dorms, so many of the members lived on-campus and I felt the dorm community myself. At my school, though, we are surrounded by rural areas where people live with their families and attend IUS so they can live at home, so I didn't really even think about living on campus prior to CRU. I was interested almost immeaditly in living on-campus because people seemed to enjoy living on campus and just have better grades and a better social life. (To my surprise, when I first brought it up to my parents, my dad was okay with it and my mom totally supported it!)

Let me know if this helps! I hope that reguardless of your choice of housing, you are successful and have fun in college!

Putting my dog down+ memory day

Before I get into the sad part, I have a back story to tell. Several special things have happened to me on May 18th, which is today.
- 2008: First communion
-2009: Big project at school due
2012: Multiple big projects at school due
2015: Practice test for a test that we had to pass to graduate from high school, which I passed on my first try!
2017: I was invited to a small award ceremony at school (which I totally forgot about!)
2018: Got my driver's liscense
2019: I got a job today! (Crew member at Hardee's!) Also, I'm Catholic and we had a special event called the "May Crowning" at our church today!
I found out last year that the Monday between May 18-25 is a day in Canada that celebrates the birthday of Queen Victoria, and Victoria is my middle name. I wonder if I'm going to die one year on May 18!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway, now for bad news.
Over the last few weeks, one of my dogs, who is more than 13 years old now in human years (and is probably almost as old as me, even older perhaps, since I'm 19!) Over the last few years, he walks with a limp, he drinks a lot (he used to only drink from a creek nearby, but now he freqently drinks and he will drink any water he finds! We think he's diabetic!), and he just seems confused. Over the last few weeks, his limp is worse than ever and he howls in pain. We are planning to have him put down tomorrow. My mom says she would have had it done today, but that would have ruined my memory day! (That's what I call May 18 due to reasons I discussed above.) Our neighbors came over and agree with putting him down. (He's not technically OUR dog, but the person who adopted him died in early 2000's and he has wandered around the neighborhood since that time.) We will be sad to let him go, but glad he will be pain free. I couldn't help but think it will happen almost a year after Sophia Gall died. I will post about that on May 31.

Tips for a first job search in college and fast food jobs

Are you a college student with no job experience? I am and finding a job has been hard! However, I have some tips to share.

1. Don't limit yourself to one city, one county, or even one state (sometimes). I live in a town with a population of only a few hundred, so the only possible jobs in my town are at two gas stations and a Dollar General (or at our school, but of course that mostly requires a degree. I'm talking about people my age). I honestly refuse to try to get a job in my town because it's just too good to be true. Honestly, I live in a county with a 3,600 person population with the county seat having just over 3,000 people and I'm having trouble getting a job there (and have almost given up, although I did have an interview yesterday).
2. Almost exclusively restrict yourself to fast food. Almost everyone I know worked in fast food for their first job. It may be torture, but retail workers are generally looking for someone who has had at least one paid job, usually in retail. I have gotten an interview at a few non-fast food places but I've never been hired. (Embarrassingly, I've only been hired at one place and despite the employer claiming she's emailed my necessary forms to start the job several times, I've not received them, so I gave up on that job.) 
3. Look up your state's minimum wage and ask for it. In most states, the minimum hourly wage is $7.25. This is what you need to ask for. If you ask for a price too high, you will not be hired because you will cost the company too much money. 
4. Volunteer while searching. Since most places want some kind of job experience, you should volunteer while searching for a job. Volunteer places tend to allow everyone to work. I have volunteer experience as a girl scout and an altar server. (I know I'm a hypocrite since I think girls should not serve, but I started before the meaning of altar boyhood occurred to me and by that time, the damage at my church had been done.)

Now for fast food jobs:

1. Stay busy and energetic. Fast-food jobs, of course, means giving food out QUICKLY. People are rushing to get to work or their activities. This is why there is a rush hour- where you don't do or think about anything except taking people's orders, cooking the food, and serving it. You must accommodate this schedule and work as quickly as possible or you will get fired.
   Also, if you're not busy, clean the restaurant up. A dirty restaurant is dangerous and illegal.
2. Work exactly when you don't want to. Fast food jobs are busiest on weekends because people are out and about on Saturdays and going to church on Sundays. Unfortunately until you have enough experience, you cannot keep Sunday as your Sabbath Day and have a job. You simply cannot. Also, my parish has masses on Saturdays at 4 and there are only four altar servers, including me. When I get a job, I will make sure I am working during that time because Saturday at 4 is when people are getting busy. Unfortunately, I have to be working at this time or I will not get a job. This is true for other teens at my parish as well. (Not only that, but if you really need a job, night shift may be just what you have to do.)
   Also, my girl scout troop takes an annual trip to Holiday World every year. I don't even have a job yet and my troop leader doesn't even know when we're going there yet, but I already plan on working that day. I need a job, so I'm just going to work then. (Also, work on holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, if they're open). 
3. Get to work early. Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable. Be late once and you're fired!
4. Keep your personal life personal. People go to fast food to get food quickly, and people work at fast food to have money. It's hectic enough for everyone, and everyone has problems, but never, EVER, complain about your job or personal life. You will automatically get fired for doing so.

Let me know if you have other tips!

Thanks,
Sarah