Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Significance of a Memorable Gift


The Significance of a Memorable Gift

            When getting a loved one a gift for the holidays, have you ever stopped and thought of getting him or her something other than jewelry?  Maybe, or maybe not. Yes some people would be really mad if their boyfriend didn’t get her expensive earrings or a necklace but those people are called selfish. To them it is all about how much is spent and how big the item is. But let me tell you something, it’s about knowing he or she got you something out of love, not money.

            If you would rather have a 500 carrot necklace than a scrapbook of every date you have been on along with dinner and a little something special, then good for you. It just goes to show you are all about the money and have to be bought rather than loved. Ten years from now you will look back and say, where did that necklace go? Or why did I even want this? When you could pull out the scrap book and show your kids what you and your husband looked like in college, with your retro clothes and long and have a good laugh. But instead you get to forget when you even received that expensive necklace that has hardly any memorable meaning to it.

            Putting time and effort towards anything you do is much more worth it than buying something. Giving is the meaning of Christmas. No not giving the one you love everything she can imagine because you are rich. But giving something that has a meaning. A gift with no meaning isn’t a gift at all. Without meaning there is money wrapped in a box. But something that has significance is worth holding on to and worth a smile every time it is seen. It is supposed to not only bring back memories, but make them as well. (316)

Holiday Shopping


Holiday Shopping

            It’s that time of the year again where the stores are a disaster! Everywhere you go it is super crowded and crazy loud. In all of the stores babies are crying people are coughing and all you get out of it are a few presents and giant migraine.

            For starters the morning before you go out you have to look through all of the ads and write down a list of what you need from each store, hoping they haven’t ran out of what you need before you get there. Then you have to make sure you have everything on the correct lists and stay within your budget by searching and searching for sales. After all of that now you have a huge mess of papers all over your living room floor,

            Now that you have finally managed to make it out of your house you realize you have to clean your car out because you have no room for the presents. After you hit the first bump in the road you still manage to have the big list with all of your items and are headed to the first of many stores.

            As you are arriving to the first store not only is it packed and freezing outside, you have to park what feels like a mile away! When you are walking inside you are just wishing and praying that this will all be worth it when it comes Christmas morning.

            When you reach the front door your eyes almost bulge from your face. You see over thousands of people and hardly any items that you are looking for. You feel you stomach tighten while you fret with a panic. All you hear is heartbeat and the sound of your children crying because they didn’t get what they wanted come Christmas morning. Luckily after an hour or two you manage to find almost everything on your list for that specific store and are checking out and ready to hit the next place.

            After the hassle of carrying everything to your car and loading it you hit a traffic jam of about a 20 minute wait of just trying to get out of the parking lot onto the main road! You finally make it to the next store and you are a little behind schedule but all that you can possibly think about is how am I going to make sure and get all of these things on my list!

            By the time ten o’clock rolls around you have been shopping for almost twelve hours! In all that time you had managed to make it to more than ten stores, three different cities including the one you live in and managed to complete your big list of items while maintain your budget. You are exhausted but very proud that you hung in there and put up with the crowd and all of the sales clerks that were ringing up items more than needed. You say to yourself I’m done! Only to think that you have to do this same thing again next year.

            As you arrive home you send your kids downstairs so they don’t realize what is going on while you carry in all of their gifts. After you sit down for the first time in a long time you exhale with a feeling of joy, visualizing the smiles that are going to be on your kids’ faces. Only to realize you still have to wrap all of the gifts… (583)

 

Christmas Parties


Christmas Parties

            My favorite part about Christmas is attending all of the Christmas parties! Being on numerous athletic teams and having many groups of friends I get to be at a lot of Christmas parties. Never have I once been to a boring party because they are always filled with joy.

            At the parties we make Christmas cookies together and decorate them and we sometimes have contests to see who made the best looking cookie! While the cookies are baking we start a Christmas movie and sit down and watch it together. After the movie is finished the cookies are too. When then have a huge dinner and eat the cookies for dessert.

            Since it is still light out we go outside and play in the snow or sometimes we will make up a scavenger hunt to go on, because those are always fun! When it becomes dark out we head back inside to do our gift exchange. Before the party my friends and I all got together and picked a name from the hat and we couldn’t tell anyone who we had. That way the day of the party it was a surprise and we had presents for each other to get in the holiday spirit!

            Once we were finished with the exchange we took a boat load of pictures so that night we could make our Christmas scrapbook for that year. After we were finished taking pictures we went to the computer and printed out numerous copies of each picture and everyone brought their own scrapbook to add to from the previous year. This is a great way to hold all of your memories over the years, plus we had a blast doing it.

            To top the night off we all set up our beds in the living room preparing ourselves for an all nighter! While some of us go make all the popcorn and get the left over cookies and other goodies the others go to the garage and get the pop. We celebrate yet another successful Christmas party and end it like we always do, with a Christmas movie marathon! (354)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Christmas Break


Christmas Break
 
            Christmas break is one of my most favorite times of the year. It is a time where I can go sledding everyday with my friends and spend a lot of time with my family. Of course there is Christmas day where we get to open up presents that “Santa Claus” brought us, but that is not what Christmas is all about. Yes I like to open up presents and feel that surprise like butterflies go through my tummy but that’s not my favorite part.
 
            My favorite part of Christmas Break is when all of my college friends come home and we all reunite. I love being able to catch up with all of them because I have a few really close college friends that I would consider my best friends. It is really hard to go up to their college and spend a weekend with them because I have sports of my own back here at home. There are some times, very few maybe two times where I can go see them during a school term, but that is not enough for me. My friends and I try to keep up with texting each other but it is hard because they have classes at awkward times and I have practices after school, but somehow we make it work. Because of all of these interruptions keeping us apart, are the reasons I look forward to Christmas Break because I may only have one week off but college students have roughly five weeks off! That means we get to spend a lot of time together.
 
            Another reason I enjoy Christmas break is because of all of the Christmas cookies my mom and grandma bake and all of the dinners my dad and grandpa put together. Every night I get to look forward to coming home to a wonderful and thankful dinner with cookies for dessert.
 
            One thing I dislike about Christmas Break is that I see all of these pictures of people on Facebook and tweets on twitter about having so much fun in Cancun or Florida and how tan they look when they come back home. I will never get to go on Christmas Break while I am in high school because I have basketball practices and if you miss practice to go on vacation it is not acceptable and you have to sit out of a lot of games. That is one downer but oh well, because I guess if you look at it I am having just as much fun going sledding and hanging with my friends and family. The only difference is that when we go back to school I won’t be tan and everyone that went on vacation will be. Which It doesn't really matter because I could really care less if I was tan or not. (472)

The First Snowfall of the Year


The First Snowfall of the Year
 
            Winter is my absolute favorite time of the year. It is the one time where everywhere you go all you see are the trees covered with the wonderful white snow and it is so bright outside. As a kid you are praying every morning and every night to have at least a two hour delay if not a snow day. On snow day the nearest hill is filled with kids piling on sleds and being reckless, but they don’t care as long as they are having fun! After a long day in the snow and you are forced to come in due to the frostbit you swear you have on your toes and fingers. When you walk in the doors of your house feeling the rush of warmth while you are trying to get those hundreds of layers of clothes off so you don’t suffer of heat stroke! You get a wonder surprise of delicious hot chocolate over flowing with marshmallows because your mother knows that’s the way you like it.
 
            Something I don’t understand is how you can hate a season? Whether it is fall, winter, spring or summer I just don’t get it. Yes I understand how old people don’t like the extreme winters because they are already cold enough as it is , which is why a lot of grandparents are what we call snowbirds and go south for the winters just like birds. Hence the birds in snowbirds. As a child and not liking snow the only explanation I can come up with is that is how you were raised. Being a kid and not liking snow is just a childhood fun sucker! Kids in Florida die to see snow and then there is you, living up here where we have wonderful snow filled winters and you hate it.
 
            The first snow fall of the year is either a really good day or a dreadful day, depending on who you are. For me I wake up with the biggest smile on my face and can’t wait to get outside and others just wish it was spring already. Last year was a terrible winter for me because we had hardly any snow and I couldn't go sledding at all and I didn't get to go to Sundown once to snowboard because there was no snow. The worst thing of all was that we didn't even have a white Christmas so it didn't even feel right to be celebrating it. (418)

Sunday Night Football


Sunday Night Football

            Sundays are my free, laid back and homework days. Some people are probably thinking right now of how crazy I am for saving all of my homework for Sundays but that is how it works for me. Don’t get me wrong if I have a free Saturday here and there I will start my homework and sometimes finish it which is good for me because that means instead of multi tasking while trying to watch the Packers I just get to relax.

            During this time of the year is when football begins to get super competitive and serious and I resist to ever missing the Packers play because they are my favorite team in the NFL. I love watching the Packers play and hopefully one of these days my dad will get us tickets to go see them for real! Seeing the packers play in real life would be a dream come true.

            For me doing homework while watching the game makes me feel like I am getting a lot more done in a smaller amount of time. I think this is, because I am balancing out doing something boring and having fun. This method works very well for me and it may work well for you too. The only problem with my time management method is that sometimes I go to a friends’ house to watch the game and I either go early to hang out for a while or stay a little later. In this case I would wake up early in the morning to finish my homework before I leave my house, that way I am not paranoid about getting my homework done in time when I get home. So then I can just relax, have fun and enjoy my time with my friends while it lasts.

            So my friends and I were having this debate on whether Sunday Night Football was better or Monday night Football. I said Sunday because you can hang out with friends and relax all day where Monday you either have school or work and you still need to get your homework done and need to get to bed at a decent hour. What do you prefer, Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football? Leave a comment and let me know! (382)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Sucky Jobs


Sucky Jobs

Sunday nights are the highlights of my week. It is the day where I get to sleep in and do nothing but watch Sunday night football with my dad while wearing our Packer jerseys. I love football season because it brings me that much closer to my dad. I don’t get to see my dad a lot because he works during the night and sleeps during the day. In the morning if my dad doesn’t work overtime he gets home around 7:30. Some days I don’t go to school early and am almost late just so I can stay home and eat breakfast and have a conversation with my dad in the morning.

Some people don’t realize how difficult it is to live a normal life with a single parent but I kind of know the feeling. My dad has never once seen me play volleyball because he has to go to work before the game is even over and he is sleeping when it starts. My dad has only seen me play club soccer about ten times and I’ve been playing since I was four years old, not to mention my high school soccer games, he has only made it to a handful. Last year my high school soccer team made it to the state tournament and luckily my dad made it to all three of those games including the game that we won the state title. Having my dad there meant the world to me and I will never forget it.

Everyone needs to have a bonding activity with their parents but I’m lucky enough to have two. Other than watching football my dad and I dance. I dance for studio dance and they offer a class called father daughter. My dad didn’t like it at first because he felt girly but he kept doing it because he knew how much it meant to me to spend that much more time with me. We have been doing this dance together for 14 years and we will continue to do it until I leave for college because it is kind of a getaway for us. 

I absolutely hate when I hear my classmates talk crap about their parents and say how they wish they would just leave, because I bet if they left the kids would have wish they never said that. Even though my dad can’t make it to all of my sporting events or my academic award assemblies I know he still cares about me the same amount as my mom. My time with him is just limited and when I am with him he shows that he does love me but he just can’t always be there to show it because of his job. That’s why when my dad is at my games and I see him in the crowd I get this huge smile on my face with warmth in my heart and play better than I have ever played before.  Just because I see my dad less than three hours a day doesn’t change a thing. It just means that the hours I spend with him make it that more special. (529)

Christmas Is Almost Here


Christmas Is Almost Here
 
Christmas is full of joy, happiness and spending time with your family and loved ones. The whole month of December kids around the world are counting down the days until Christmas. They can’t wait to open up all the presents that Santa brings them and to feel the rush of excitement. They feel paranoid all month because they don’t want to be on the naughty list before Santa comes to their house.
 
 Family and holiday traditions are one of the most unique things about this time of the year. My mother and I always make cookies for the neighbors, my friends and my fathers’ and my mothers’ work members all December long. It is great bonding time and a lot of fun! My family and I also just try and spend a lot of time together and are grateful for what we have. I noticed over the years that as a family we were just happier and not as greedy when its Christmas time because my mom always told us how we were lucky to get anything on Christmas, because some kids parents can’t afford to buy them a present.
 
Christmas for me isn’t all about the presents but more about the thought people give for others. From school to your best friends, to your teachers, to your neighbors, to the people you walk by once or twice, the sense of joy they can feel by you simply smiling with a friendly wave or nod. I like to give what I can to others because I was raised knowing that not everyone was as grateful as my brothers and I. Which is why I am involved in my Student Government at school because we buy gifts for people in need that way I can give back what I have.
 
I especially love Christmas because it is the one time of the year that Christmas is on the radio! I love Christmas music because it is so cheery and joyful. The beat is impossible not to catch on to and listening to one song puts me in a happy mood. Not only is the Christmas music only available during the winter but snow is also! I love to go sledding and snowboarding with my friends because it is a great way of bonding for us. Once we go out our parents have to drag us back in but the time was well spent. Christmas is that time of year where if you aren’t having the best day, that can easily be arranged. (425)

High School Memories


High School Memories
 
High school, such a thing with many changes and memories. Everyone looks at high school with a different perspective. Parents are always worried about you making it to your classes on time and not getting pushed around in the halls and mostly they are afraid of their little baby growing up. Teachers hate the halls more and more each year because the new set of freshman never know what they are doing or where to go. As a student you want to fit in and look cool. The seniors of course are bossing everyone around and the freshman look like deer in head lights. After the first month all of that dies down.
In high school is normally when you find friends that will last a life time. You meet people that go to different high schools from your new classmates and athletic events. Some people even find the love of their life. Then you have the other kids who just hope to make it to graduation day.
 
The memories that high school brings us are life time memories. There are things that you will never forget and things you wished that you’ve never experienced. The homework brings the worst memories of high school to us but eventually you get used to it and will keep living the day as usual. There are some weeks at school just feel a month long but with your friends around the whole four years of high school experience flies by! So live every day, week, month, trimester and year as if it was your last. Just make sure to make something of yourself and don’t be that kid living in the shadows of someone. Be yourself when it comes to anything and don’t try and impress others by lying to make yourself sound more interesting because someday it will come back and get you. (314)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

It's That Time of the Year Again


It’s That Time of the Year Again

Halloween comes and goes so quickly every year. Mostly because we, as in children and young adults, over look Halloween and start preparing for Christmas. For most Christmas is a much bigger deal than Halloween, but that’s not always the case.

For young elementary kids Halloween is a huge deal!! They get to go around to all the neighborhood houses and say, Trick-or-treat, and receive a boat load of candy! Of course there are always those houses that hand out fruit or healthy foods just to be a Debbie downer on sweets. 

Next we have the awkward middle school age where you don’t know if you should go trick-or-treating still. So instead you stay home and carve pumpkins and hand out candy. But then you see all of your middle school classmates out having fun so the next year you decide that you aren’t too old and participate in trick-or-treating once again.

Halloween in high school can get a little crazy and a wee bit out of hand. As a freshman being invited to an older Halloween party means the world to you. You feel so important and cool that you are going to this costume party. Until you get dropped off by your mom and walk in. As soon as you open the door you got the wrong impression for this costume party. You look down and you’re dressed up as a football player and when you look around everyone looks like whores. Their butts are hanging out boobs are everywhere, you think to yourself if the invite didn’t say costume party I would have thought it’s was a birthday suit party only! You decide to say because the upperclassmen don’t harass you too much because they know you didn’t know what to expect. But then there are alcohol and illegal substances everywhere so you call your mom to come get you. As you get in the car the cops are turning down the street, so it looks like you made a great decision after all and will probably think before you go to another upperclassmen party.

Grandparents love Halloween because they get to see all these little kids running around asking for candy. I love going to the old people’s houses because they always say, “you look so adorable here take two handfuls”. You get way more candy that way.

Halloween is fun for all ages, whether you receive candy, hand it out or just throw a party. Every age has a different way of celebrating, but no matter what it is. It always turns out fun. (436)

Presents, Homemade or Purchased?


Presents, Homemade or Purchased? 

Would you rather receive a handmade present or a present that was bought? Okay, granted the purchased present looks better, is better quality and is in fashion. But handmade presents mean something. Receiving a handmade present really means the world and warms your heart, knowing someone put time and effort into something for you.

It’s a lot of fun making the present too! It’s like a little craft that you get to give someone and you know they will love. To make the gift extra meaningful you can make the gift you are giving to a friend and make one for you too, that way it can be a friendship ordeal. Instead of everything being a surprise you and your friend could have a craft week where you get together and make and exchange gifts. That way you get to spend time together and have fun!

For Christmas many families get together and draw names out of hats for a “secret Santa”. This is a lot of fun especially for little kids. All month, depending on when you draw names, the kids are anxious to find out who their “Santa” is. While each person is wondering what they are going to get they are also wondering what they are going to get the persons’ name whom they drew.

Of course as a kid you want that new hip toy from the coolest store. But, looking back at it wouldn’t you have wished you got something meaningful that was handmade? I know I would. I always found it cool as a child when the neighbor girl up the street that was five years older than me, made me and her matching friendship bracelets and shirts. It made me feel special that someone who I look up to would do that for me. When she would hand me my present I would have the biggest smile on my face and would think I was dreaming.

Giving people, especially younger kids, a gift that came from your heart can make their day. You will forever be remembered as an idol to that little kid. Even though they are younger than you, you made them something and said it was a friend charm just to make them feel special.  They will never forget that, trust me I know! (388)

Balls Balls Balls...


Balls

When you say the word balls, it means something different to people of all ages.
Two year olds might think of nerf balls to through around in the house.  Probably a gift from an adult so when they through it they won’t break anything. They also might use them to plan in the bath tub. They fill them with water and then squeeze them so the water comes shooting out.

Three and four year olds might think of a soccer ball. Their parents take them out in the heat, the rain and the cold just to kick that ball up and down a field to get it in a net. 

Five and six year olds and not just boys might think of a football. Boys and girls go out and put flags on and run with that pig skin ball to get a touchdown.

Okay we’ve got nerf balls, soccer balls and footballs. No let’s move on to softballs and baseballs. Kids of all ages use these balls in the summer.  Volleyballs are used in schools and on the beach by both girls and boys.  They even use volleyballs in the Olympics.
College boys like to get down and dirty while throwing that rugby ball around if they aren’t padding up and throwing the football. The basketball is another ball that is used from age three all the way through college.  Now we’ve talked about all of these different ages that play with balls but what about those adults out there.  Adult’s even grandparents enjoy hitting that little white ball into a hole. Of course they also like getting in the cart to get to the ball they just hit. Adults can play with this ball for hours. Adults also like getting exercise with the racquetball and a tennis ball. Oh yes there is another little white ball that adults like hitting on a table and that is the ping pong ball. Let’s not forget the cricket ball and bowling ball. 

What would life be like without balls? There are so many balls of shapes, size and colors and all used for different sports. Without balls there would be no school sports, no club sports and no pro sports for people to watch on TV.  Just think there would be some many less events at the Olympics without balls.

So there are soccer balls, nerf balls, footballs, softballs, base balls, racquetballs, basketballs, rugby balls, golf balls, tennis balls, ping pong balls, volleyballs, cricket balls, and bowling balls. How many different types of balls can you name? (427)  

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Dreading This Season...6th Man


2012 Basketball Season

Wow does time fly! I cannot believe my junior basketball season is about to begin. We have a whole new varsity team, coach and all. We worked a lot this summer to get to know one another so we weren’t coming into this season blind. But to be honest, and I don’t know if this is just me, but I am not all that excited.

Some girls on the team that may or may not be the best players keep tweeting nonstop about basketball and how they can’t wait. One girl even made a countdown until our first practice, she wrote; “countdown till love”, mostly just to suck up. I’m really getting sick of all this drama and people just sucking up to the coach so they will start or get playing time. It is just like damn why can’t you show your skill in practice to earn your spot like the old days. Why does it have to be about who you are? It shouldn’t matter how tall you are or if you are the coaches’ daughter. IT SHOULD BE ABOUT SKILL! The best should start and play. It shouldn’t matter if you are a senior or not, if a junior is better than the senior and it is obvious then the junior should start. That would be the right thing, right? WRONG, no matter who you are, you could be the number one recruit in Iowa as a junior and that coaches’ daughter will still play and start over you.

I’m sorry but 5A high school ball is about winning. I don’t care if your Athletic Director says it’s all for fun or not, It’s a lie. It is all about winning, you want that state title, everyone does. You want those scholarships for a Division 1 college because it is what you have always dreamt of!

So I don’t know maybe I’m being a little defendant and deliberate but I really don’t give two shits. Ball is ball, whether its club or high school you are playing for something. Call me crazy but to me it shouldn’t matter who you are when it comes time to step on the court. The real ball players should be playing not the kids whose parents suck up all the time, or just because you are the coaches’ daughter. I do not care if you were the shit back in your 1A school and ran the court; this is a lot faster play. I’m not one to judge but if you keep getting shut down time after time changes should be made, but they won’t because that is the world we live in today. If you think you can run all over these teams with your daddy’s play, think again. Welcome to 5A. (465)

The Positives and Negatives of Siblings


The Positives and Negatives of Siblings

Having siblings can be a good and not so good thing, depending on if they are younger or older. Having older siblings can be a good thing because they experience a lot of things and you can learn from them. But it can be a not so good thing because if you have older siblings then your parents may learn they need to start being more strict when you get older.

Being a middle child is most of the time unfortunate. Most of the time the oldest is spoiled because they are the first born and they have the most pictures in the photo album and the coolest clothing as a toddler because it was a big deal having a baby to the parents so they go all out. The youngest normally gets whatever they want because they are the baby and that is just how things work most of the time. If they complain to mom about being picked on by an older brother, most of the time the older child will get in trouble because they are older and know better. The middle child is kind of just there. I feel bad for them because they get all the hammy downs of the first born and they aren’t the baby so they aren’t really spoiled and don’t always get there way. 

Being the oldest and having younger siblings can be a big pain sometimes. You have to watch them when your parents go out and adjust your plans accordingly. Your parents can’t wait until the day you turn 16, so then you can drive the little ones around and can use that as a threat to becoming grounded. But, on the other hand having little siblings can be a good thing. You can play games in the back yard when you are young and when you get older you can have someone to talk to and understand your situations easier than most parents would. Having a younger is especially good for older brothers to have because when your older brother likes a girl they will play with you and be really nice and include you in everything just to impress a girl he likes. The plus for the younger sister is you can black mail your older brother into taking you for ice cream, or else you will be bad in front of the girl he likes. (405)

Exercise


Exercise

What is exercise? Why is it important? The answer to these questions are really simple. Exercise can simply be walking around your neighborhood or more advanced running a few miles and doing things to make you sweat. Exercise is very important for your health, for your body and it is just a good thing to do. Everyone should exercise at least once a day. It doesn’t matter how old you are, from toddlers to grandparents exercising is good for you and easy to do.

For toddlers and elementary kids exercise is extremely important. Your body is growing and you need to be outside running around even if you are just playing tag around the playground at recess. During middle school is when kids begin to stop exercising because in middle school we no longer have recess. Unless a child plays a sport for their school they only have gym to get exercise or to exercise on their own at home. To be honest not many kids just go on a run when they get home from school as of I know, they want to hang out with friends and play video games. As we get older and enter high school the population of kids that go out for sports and stick it out for all four years is a small number. High school gym classes are a joke so the kids that have to take gym because they don’t do a sport don’t get near as much exercise that their bodies need to be getting.

Playing a sport in college is extremely rare and the kids that aren’t playing a sport are so overwhelmed with the tremendous amount of homework that they have that they don’t have time to exercise and not to mention that exercising is the last thing on their mind. This is one of the reasons for the “Freshman 15”. Former high school athletes that don’t continue to play a sport in high school are probably the ones that gain the most weight in college because there body is used to running and being at practice every day burning calories. Speaking from experience; I play 4 sports competitively all year round and when I broke my foot and was out for four months, I put on at least 15 pounds. When I came back and began playing my sports again I lost the weight I gained but every move I made was just that much harder because I hadn’t exercised in what seemed like a century. 

As an elder or being 55 or older is when your body really begins to slow down. To stay in shape and keep your health up you can exercise. It’s not a hard thing to do, just walk down the street and back to get your heartbeat up and burn some calories. It may not seem like much but it will pay off in the long run. (487)


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Blogging During Class


Blogging During Class

Is blogging during class beneficial? Can you focus? Is there enough time for you to accomplish anything by the time you log on?

The answer for me is absolutely! Even if you start with 30 minutes of class time left like I am doing right now gives me enough time to get started. I can get at least half of my paper done during a blogging day if I am focused and am in “thinking mode”. One thing about blogging during class is that people around you can distract you or when they begin to start talking I get really frustrated and lose my train of thought.

Just to prove that blogging during class time is beneficial, I have been typing for 6 minutes and I already have a little over 130 words.

Coming up with ideas can go either way with it being helpful or not while sitting in a computer lab. It can be helpful with coming up with an idea or two by just simply looking around the rooms at your peers. If you just look you can find many ideas even in such a bland room, for instance; I guarantee at least one person is sitting there chomping on gum, listening to music, painting their nails or even doing other homework because they don’t think it is beneficial for them to being blogging with 30 minutes left of class. Just these simple things can turn into a huge blogging idea where you can expand onto and come up with a great purpose to match it. A not so good thing about being in such a bland computer lab and being surrounded by 20 other students can be distractions. If you like to blog and normally blog at home in your silent room then blogging at school and getting something accomplished may be difficult. One thing I dislike about blogging during class is that I will be in the middle of a great idea and a sentence into a paragraph and BOOM the bell rings and I have to try and remember my train of thought until I get home to pick up where I left off, but I never do remember…

I personally am not a big fan about blogging during class because it takes me awhile to get started. But something about me and I’m sure a lot of you are like this also. Once I begin typing I just keep going and going and going.

Instead of blogging during class because you know you physically can’t focus. Try blogging outdoors when you get home! That cool breeze and bird chirps make it easy and peaceful to write and you will be done before you know it. If you’re not going to blog during class still make you class time useful by reading other blogs or writing down topic ideas. (478)

The Importance of Keys


The Importance of Keys

Keys are very important and useful in many, but different ways. Keys that are used to lock/unlock and start a car are extremely important! Well if you don’t have a key to start your car then you can’t get anywhere, but if you unlock/lock key is different from the key that goes into the ignition and you lost it then you won’t be able to get into your car. A good way to avoid locking your car keys in your car is to; every time you got to get out, shut you door and then use your clicker to lock the door. So then you know for sure that your keys are in your hand and not on your seat while you are locked outside your car. 
I think it is very important for every family member living in your house to have a house key. That way your door can be locked everyday all day long. There are too many bad things going on in this world for people not to be locking their doors at night and leaving them unlocked during the day while they are at school or work. Think about it, how much safer would you feel if you were home alone and in the shower knowing that your front and back doors are locked? I would feel a whole lot safer if I was in that situation. Even if you know people are going to be coming and going all day, just lock your door to be on the safe side because you never know, that one time you go to walk in your house and there is someone standing there that you have never even seen before. What do you do now? Exactly, be safe and lock your doors!

Schools or my school at least is going crazy on lock downs. They I would say are little too concerned about locking their doors during the school day and during after hours. I mean come on when all 1900 of us students are rushing through the front doors trying to make it to 1st hour on time, we are all trying to pile in 2 doors because they are the only two open!!! It’s crazy, during passing time the outside doors are open but as soon as the bell rings to begin class the door locks and you can no longer get inside. If you had to go somewhere in the main section of the school and you were on a wing you can go out the doors that are locked but you can’t get back in. Instead you have to go all the way around the halls of the school and it takes twice as long!

Personally I think my school needs to lay back the rules on the security system but hey, it’s the world we live in and this is what it has come to. (487)

Phones


Phones

Phones have changed tremendously over the years. Before phones there were people that were sent to deliver messages and then there were letters and now there are phones. The first phone to be made was, it was about three times the size of you face and really weird looking. The latest phone that has come out is the IPhone five, it is really technical.  The phone has internet, Skype, face chat and basically anything that you can think of. Honestly I think the phone is a little over the top and the company should have stopped at the IPhone four.

Now a day’s phones are just getting kids in trouble. Whether it’s with teachers or their friends causing drama or their parents. In school just about every student texts during class and miss things the teachers are teaching over some stupid conversation. Teachers act like they are strict and say they will take your phone away but what I don’t get is that kids are so addicted to their phone that they risk the chance of losing it for a whole school day.

When it comes to drama, phones are the main participant. All it takes for one stupid rumor that someone made up about another person is one button, send. Once the message gets sent, it is out there and people can forward it to others and before you know it the whole school believes this rumor before the end of the week. 

Parents are the main concern of high school students. The kids don’t let anyone especially their parents touch their phone. We get super protective whether there is anything bad on it or not. Our phones I would say are our life lines and can’t go more than a few hours without, which if you think about it, is really pathetic. (305)

Friday, October 12, 2012

Glass


Glass

            Glass is made to be millions of different things and used for millions of different reasons. Glass is very breakable as my grandma would say and she still makes me use plastic cups and plates when I am at her house. Glass is also very pretty; especially those glass paintings in the museums.

Glass is used for many things. One thing glass is used for is car windows.  Car window glass is made out of glass that shatters into small pieces so it doesn’t cut you if you get into an accident. House windows keep out the weather, the cold, the rain and the snow; you have to have glass windows in your house for your protection.  You can open and close your house windows whenever you want according to the weather. Windows keep burglars out because you open them from the inside. You would have no protection in your homes or your cars without glass. 

There are many other uses for glass; like dishes, drinking glasses, vase for flowers and some tables. The most important use is the windows in your home and vehicles. (186)

 

Electricity


Electricity

Without electricity now a day I think it would be extremely hard to survive. Where I live we have brutal winters and steamy summers. Without electricity I wouldn’t have heat in my house to keep me warm in the winter and air conditioning to cool me off in the summer.

It’s really hard to think of things you do or use that don’t involve electricity in some sort of way. Every time you go to type that homework assignment, turn your lamp on to write an essay, make a pizza in the oven, and use the refrigerator so your milk doesn’t spoil or even to set your alarm clock in the morning so you are on time for wherever you need to go, you are using electricity.

Everyone is constantly using electricity whether you realize it or not. When you are driving at night you are only capable of doing so because of street lights and your headlights, which run off electricity.

Back in the day, laundry was washed in a sink and dried on clothes lines in the back yard. It wasn’t the greatest technique and the most cleansing. I’m glad we have washers and driers now. It makes the whole washing and drying process a whole lot quicker and a lot more sanitary. Washing machines that use electricity are also a lot better at getting stains out of your clothes than wash boards are.

For emergency purposes it is great to have a cell phone, but you also have to make sure you charge it. A plus is that you can charge your phone at home in a wall outlet or for more convenience on the go in your car. Either way you are using electricity.

You have to use electricity to cook.  You use a microwave when you are in a hurry or an electric stove if you aren’t.  Electric mixers make it easier to bake. 

You couldn’t listen to music or watch TV without electricity.  Life is a lot more fun with electricity than without it.  When there is a storm and your electricity goes out you really miss it.

As you can see, everyday tasks use electricity. Try to cut back on how many loads of laundry you do or how many cords you have plugged in and unplug them to save electricity to help the environment. (393)

Sunlight


Sunlight

            Sunlight to teenagers is two different things. Sunlight means getting up in the morning, which none of us ever wants to do. Secondly it means getting a tan in the summer of course. Even though sunlight itself hasn’t changed, except for the number of hours that it is available throughout the year, the purpose of it changes.

Kids that would play outside from sunrise to sunset couldn’t get enough daylight. They would get so upset when it was time to come inside because all they wanted to do was play twenty four/seven. There are those few children that never want to go outside, sleep in until eleven am in the summer oly to get up and play video games or surf the net.  I don’t get that at all. As a kid sunlight is your summer and source of fun!

Every kid should be out playing in it because it is good for you; it is a source of vitamin D. Also, childhood is about having the most fun you can have because when you grow older you can’t just go outside whenever you want and play tag like when you were eight years old.

As you get to the age where you are in high school, you begin to see less and less daylight every year from freshman until senior year.  As a freshman you have that little bit of free time to ride your bike on week days or going to the park with your friends. Even sophomore year you can pretty easily make time to go outside and try to be a kid.  When during your junior and senior year you pretty much have no time at all to have “fun” out in the sunlight. As a student if you have a zero hour (early bird), school for you begins at 7:00 am. Along with that you most likely have a full schedule with multiple AP courses. So for those you are in school during most daylight hours and you also get an endless amount of homework to finish after you get out of school. Most high school students do after school sports or other school activities also out of school sports. A school sport is right after school from 3:00pm to 6:00pm so by the time you get home and showered and done with dinner it is around 7:30pm and you still have all of that AP homework and other assignments and study for that huge chapter test in your second hour. If you finish all of your homework for that night you most likely get to bed at 1:00am and you have missed all of the sunlight for that day.  This is bad for your health because then you lose sleep and become sleep deprived which increases your chances of getting sick.

Sunlight is very important for high school students because it is peaceful to even just sit outside in a lawn chair to relieve some of your stress from all of your homework. High school girls lay out in the sun to get tan for a dance.

Some people believe once the sun comes up you should get up and once it goes down you should be going to bed, that way you are sure to get plenty of sleep. I on the other hand disagree. When the sun comes up during the school year then yeah you should probably get up otherwise you will be late for your 1st class. During the summer the sun is up really early because there are more daylight hours during this time of the year. I believe you should get up as early as possible to take advantage of the sun in the summer because you don’t have that opportunity during the school year.  You can go for a run or take your dog for a walk, just enjoy the daylight. Most of the athletic events in the summer begin later in the evening so you don’t have to work about missing your day in the sun. You can go to the beach or the pool in the summer with your friends. Just get out and have fun, take advantage of every moment you can because of having to spend all day inside during the school year. When you get older and are out of school you have to get a job and then the only time you get outside in the sunlight is on the weekends.  Enjoy the sun while you can because you never know when you won’t see another sunrise again …… (759)

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Trees


Trees

Trees, they are; tall, short, fat and skinny. When you look at a tree you don’t really think of all the things it does for us and the earth and what we use them for and what we would do without them.
Trees look like all they do is take up space and in some circumstances cause problems, trees are much more than that. We use trees everyday whether you know it or not.  In school every time you use a piece of paper, there goes a tree limb. All of those bonfires you had in the summer with your friends, where do you think the wood came from, trees. To add to that for all those families that start fires in their homes to stay warm in the winter, they go through a lot of trees.

A very important d thing that trees do is, they take in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, which is the opposite of us (people).

It is very important to recycle so we aren’t knocking down trees 24/7 365 days a year. It is very important to understand that we can’t just stop cutting down trees because it would be really hard to survive in the world today without the supplies trees provide.  We can limit ourselves to the amount of trees we cut down and the reason or doing so.

Trees are very important to our environment and it is a good idea to take care of them properly and if a tree is over gown and old in your yard. For your safety you need to call professionals to cut it down so you aren’t in danger. Trees are helping us stay alive by providing us oxygen so take care of your environment and cut down the use of “tree sources” and pollution. (302)

The Difference between a Good and Bad Date


The Difference between a Good and Bad Date

The difference between a good date and a bad date can mean two different things.  It can be referring to “the date” as in the person or it can be the date itself and how it went. For starters let’s begin with “the date” as in the person.

A good date is someone who sets up a date, place and time. They don’t bail at the last minute and stick to their word. They dress appropriate for the occasion and act and look like they actually want to be there with you. When he comes to pick you up he doesn’t text you saying “I’m here, come out”. He comes up to the door and walks you out and opens and closes your door for you. When you have reached your destination to wherever you are going he gets out and helps you out of the car. While the two of you are eating dinner and he sees friends of his and they start making rude comments and saying stuff that doesn’t need to be said he shrugs it off and doesn’t get embarrassed.  He keeps his eyes on you.  A good date is just a very thoughtful person who makes sure if you need anything he gets it for you.  He will be proper and not look at other girls and check them out while you’re together and act like you are invisible.

A good date is where you feel comfortable and you both have a blast. Not all dates are good.  Some dates don’t always go like you plan and those are the ones you don’t want to go on more than once.  If you are on a date and don’t feel comfortable you need to just ask to be taken home.  Good dates are so much fun you want to keep going on them. And that’s what makes a good couple. (322)

Home


Home

Home, what is home? Yes, it’s where you live or lived but it is so much more than that.
Home is you, as a person as a friend or neighbor.  Home is something that has impacted your life forever and made you who you are today. Home can be the time when you and the neighbor boy scared the old lady from across the street on Halloween and practically gave her a heart attack. Home is about all the memories you have or will make.  It is that place you feel safe no matter what condition you are in. You can go there and feel invisible. It’s where you can have parties for your years of aging or just for having friends and family over for a good time. It’s also a place where you get grounded for breaking the house rules, but hey that’s life. No one’s perfect.

Feel no shame and be proud of where you were born and raised in what you call home. Home is what you make it. One thing you need to know, no matter where you go, keep your heart and soul in your hometown. It’s where you learn about living, it’s where you learn about love, it’s where you learn about working hard.  Home is where you learn about Jesus it’s where you learn the values of life that you keep for the rest of your life.

Home comes in all different sizes.  Some have mansions and have pools to lay out at in the summer time and have a personal maid to clean up after them and make them food.  Others are used to not having much. They come from a different side of town and to them home is their family and everyone in the neighborhood giving a hand to help one another out.  It’s the trust between neighbors and the help of lending and borrowing.  These two life styles are very different and opposite but in another way there outcome is the same.

 In another circumstance home for an old person may just simply be sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair enjoying the fresh air on a warm day. They get to hear the joy coming from the neighborhood kids, 4-square game and it may just bring back memories for them.  For kids 13 and under home is where their guardians feed and cherish every minute of their life. To some home is that soccer field down the road that was so torn up but the kids had fun anyway because they were all together. The kids learn something new every day and when they grow old they will cherish those days.  When they are the old person in the rocking chair on a warm nice day listening to their neighborhood children they once were.

Home is also a place of wishing and dreaming. At night we dream we are the best at everything and wish we could do things that in reality we cannot.  It’s staring out into the night trying to hide the pain. Going to the place where love and feeling good don’t ever cost a thing. Going home back to the place where you belong.  Don’t regret the life god chose for you because the place where you call home will be within you forever and always.  All the faces that have ever given you a helping hand are aging and soon they will need yours.  Home is what you make it. (581)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Choosing Your Seat


Choosing Your Seat

Choosing your seat in class can impact you for the year. It may not seem like that big of deal but it actually is a pretty tough decision. It makes you wonder if the reason behind a teacher coming up with a seating chart isn’t to just make you mad that you can’t choose your seat and sit by your friends, but to put you where they think you will be most productive.

Let’s be honest, the first day of school you walk into class and sit by the first person you recognize because you don’t want to be that awkward person that sits all alone in a row by themselves and be left out. But at the same time, after you are seated or even when you open the classroom door you are thinking to yourself, “Should I sit in the front so I can see? Wait no, because then I will look like a nerd. Maybe I will sit in the back. But wait then I will look like I don’t care about the class and I will feel out of the loop. Should I sit by my friend that I know is in this class? Wait then I will get into trouble for talking too much and plus then I won’t learn everything that I’m supposed to know. But if I don’t sit by my friend he/she might get mad at me for not sitting in the seat next to them.” All of these decisions just make school and life way more difficult than it actually is. For those reasons are why teachers make up seating charts, so you don’t have to go through the risk of getting into a fight with your best friend or even getting embarrassed for sitting front and center on the first day of school all alone.  (308)

Weather


Weather

Weather is different everywhere depending on where you live. The weather in Iowa is extremely different than weather in Florida. For instance Iowa winters consist of a steady zero degree and below zero degree temperature with a ton of snow and ice. Where Florida winters are around 65 degrees at the coldest and they see snow maybe once every 10 years.

Weather can mean a lot of things. It can be used to describe the temperature outside or even inside. It can be used as a joke also. Like when a tall person says to the shorter person, “Hey, how’s the weather down there?”. Sometimes that “joke” can be taken the wrong way, but it can also actually be taken as a joke. Weather can also be used as a topic/headline like on the news, they say “and up next is so and so with the weather”.

 Weather is so weird. It changes all the time, actually every day. Not only does what falls from the sky (rain, snow, hail) change along with temperature, but so do the trees. In the fall the trees are full of beautiful colored leaves but once it hits winter all those leaves fall and the trees are now bare and in some areas covered in snow.

Weather determines a lot of things. It determines how you get to school, transportation wise. For instance if you normally ride your bike and it is raining then you will most likely drive. It also determines what you wear that day. If it is freezing you will wear a winter coat with gloves and a hat with a scarf and sweatpants or jeans to stay nice and cozy. If it is summer time and hot out then you will probably decide to wear a tank top with shorts and flip-flops. The weather basically runs your daily wardrobe. If you are going to play in a soccer tournament and the forecast says it’s supposed to be 40 degrees the whole weekend, you are going to want to make sure and pack your under armor to keep your torso and arms warm and leggings to keep your legs warm. It’s also very smart to double up on your soccer socks if it is really cold out because it will keep you that much warmer. Also if you have hand and feet warmers they last for a long time and stay hot. They are a life saver especially if you get cold really easy.

So always look at the forecast and be prepared to change your outfit accordingly. It may be frustrating at times because you may have your outfit picked out already but it’s ok. You don’t want to be that one person who is wearing short jean shorts and a cute short sleeve top in the middle of winter just because it looks cute, trust me. (478)