Killin It!: 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Bitter Sweet

My best friend this year is a senior and I am a junior. She has just turned 18 this week and it has really kicked in that she won’t be by my side next year. I don’t know what I am going to do without the person who helps me with all my problems next year.

Mac and I have a very interesting relationship. We can get in the most ridiculous arguments and not want to talk to each other every again and say things we know we don’t mean. But honestly it doesn’t matter, because an hour later, we are best friends again. It’s like we are siblings. I practically live at her house, I take care of her little brother, and I treat her parents like my parents. I always tell her parents that I will still be at their house next year even though Mac won’t be there. It just wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t over their at least once a week.

I have already promised Mac that I will take care of her little brother in high school when she’s gone and keep him out of trouble. I guess I just have to remember that she will be back for breaks and know she won’t be gone forever.

Although Mac and I act like kindergartners and argue about everything, she is still my best friend. I can still talk to her about anything no matter the situation. And she always has the best advice to help me through rough times of my life. I’m going to miss Mac to death, but I know there are a lot of more great memories to come with our friendship.

(285 words)

An Ability to Refurbish

As the Great Gatspy movie comes out, I have been interested in its sound track. The movie and book is set up in the roaring 20s, one of the most interesting time periods for me. While looking into the soundtrack that people like Jay z, Andree 3000, Beyoncé, and Florence are all contributing. This just shows the talent of some artist today to make their music fit into a movie set in the 1920s or maybe it shows how much music in the past has influenced music today.

I have grown up in a home that greatly appreciates music, and for the longest time I believed that the music style today was a disgrace to the wonderful role models they had throughout the 1900s. But lately I have had hope, especially after listening to the Great Gatspy soundtrack. The artist on the soundtrack have been able to remake songs and make them like modern 20s songs but still have that old school feel.

I have so much respect for artists who are able to remake songs to make them modern but then they are also putting a fresh feel to the old songs. I feel like they are more musically intelligent to understand what is needed to refurbish the music in order to introduce this fabulous old music to appeal to a new generation. I hope this tradition continues on in years to come. There is always something we can learn from the past and a lot of the past is based around music.

(260 words)

No Regrets

As I sit in the audience my eye lids begin to lower like an elevator heading to the first floor from a 10 story building becoming heavier and heavier while passing each floor. In a matter of second I am completely asleep and resting my head on my dates shoulder, then slowly falling to the floor pasted out. I had become hypnotized.

Soon I become abruptly awaken which upsets me. As the hypnotist brings me to the stage I seem to be extremely upset, with my smile turned completely upside down to a full frown. To others this was hilarious but to me I didn’t understand why people were laughing or why I was doing what was told of me to do, making me become even more upset. Although I was upset, that frown had turned around again when I was told that I was on a beach. I begin to relax and “lay out in the sun” even though it was prevalent we were inside in Iowa. But I begin to become upset again when I become overheated. I begin to fan myself with my shirt flashing my stomach to the whole audience and crying because I am so frustrated people are laughing at me. I am just thinking in my head, “Annie you aren’t really on a beach why are you so hot right now?” but it was because the hypnotist told me and I would do what he told me to.

The next event was receiving our birds. We didn’t actually have a bird on our finger, but it felt like we did. He told us to kiss our birds and love our birds. So of course I begin to kiss my bird uncontrollably and pet my bird like none other. As he goes down the line of hypnotized students he asks them what kind of bird they have and what their birds name is. As soon as he got to me I didn’t even have to think about what to say, it just came out. “Young lady, what kind of bird do you have?” Said the hypnotist I replied quickly with a quick “It’s a diva bird!” and again people begin to laugh. The hypnotist talks back to me “A what?” and again become angry “A DIVA BIRD!” I yell back to him. “Alright what is your diva bird’s name?” he asks me and I reply with a sassy “Beyoncé” and he laughs and continues down the line.

As the show goes on my memory of anything tends to deteriorate my friends had told me afterwards that at the end of the show all the hypnotized people were in an MTV dance contest and the winner got a cash prize. As soon as they told me I knew I would be embarrassed. I tend to get into my dancing, and to dance like that in front of an audience would be quiet embarrassing. I was told that I got “ghetto” with my dancing. I was apparently shaking my back side uncontrollably and doing a lot of Beyoncé body rolls. I expected nothing less than what I did that night.

Being hypnotized is a crazy experience, but there is nothing I regret. It’s funny to hear all the stories and think, yes I remember doing that, but why did I do that? If you ever have the opportunity to get hypnotized, grab that bull by the horns and do it, it’s a wonderful experience!

(580 words)

Thursday, May 2, 2013

All Men Make Mistakes

“Think: all men make mistakes

But a good man yeilds when he

Knows his course is wrong,

And repairs the evil: The only

Crime is pride."

I think this passage means that yes, we make mistakes, but if we take the time to think before we have the opportunity to make the mistake, we will be left with pride in the decision we made. While reading through this writing there are a couple of examples that come to mind, one big one is soccer. When you play soccer yes, you make lots of mistakes, but it’s how you recover from these mistakes that make you the player you are. “when he know his course is wrong, and repairs the evil” is like taking the time to think about the pass you are making or the tackle you are going into before you do it. By taking the time, you don’t make the mistake and your team keeps possession of the ball leaving you with pride of a well-played game.

The word choice in this quotation I feel has a lot of impact on the meaning. By using words like evil and crime, it makes it seem like it’s not just everyday mistakes like forgetting to turn off your car lights but something big like committing a crime. Also the word yield made me stop and think. By using yield it makes me think that this man is very apprehensive about this wrong he is thinking about doing. For me I thought about a yellow light which you are supposed to yield to, but does he yield or does he speed through before the light quickly changes to red? One thing I don’t really understand is why the quote ends with the only crime is pride, it makes it seem like you can’t go wrong when you choose to stay away from the mistake, but that completely wrong. There are hundreds of cases where a mistake came out to be fantastic. For example chocolate chips were a mistake, and where would life be today if we didn’t have chocolate chips?

(350 words)

Too Much

“I spent 300 dollars on my homecoming dress.” When I hear this my first reaction is WHAT!? Who has the kind of money to spend that much on a dress you will wear once? No scratch that, who has the desire to spend that much on a dress you will wear once? These days, the price of your dress means more than what it looks like. Some people are so insecure about themselves that they feel like they need to overcompensate with how much they spend on clothes.

Yes homecoming is a big deal but personally, I try to find the lowest price when it comes to dresses or regular street clothes. One of the greatest feelings is walking out of goodwill with good buys and spending a fourth of what you would spend at regular stores. I don’t think people understand that you can find cute clothes for a good price. Even if goodwill or thrifting isn’t your thing, you can still find reasonable that look better than name brand clothes anyways.

One of my pet peeves are miss me jeans http://www.missme.com/jeans/boot-cut/. If you look at them you would understand why I dislike them so much. Why would you want a disco ball on your back side, along with spending 100 dollars plus on a pair of jeans? Instead of have a disco ball butt and being broke after buying one pair of jeans, try target or forever21 . At these cheap stores you can find jeans that are actually fashionable.

Another no no in my book are uggs http://www.uggaustralia.com/classic-boots/women-boots-classic,default,sc.html. First off there is a reason they are called uggs, because they are ugly. And second, they are completely overpriced. Again, you can honestly go to a store like target and get a pair of cute boots for 20 dollars rather than going to get uggs that are over 8 times more expensive and, in my opinion, 100 times less attractive.

In order to become a successful shopper you need to:

1. Buy cute clothes, not expensive clothes. The price of your clothes does NOT reflect how “fashionable” they are.

2. Consider your dollar per wear. Before buying the item, consider if the price is worth it. For example let’s say a shirt is 20 dollars, will you wear that shirt at least 20 times in the next year? If so purchase it, it’s a great dollar per wear.

3. Get outside your comfort zone. Try thrifting. It’s fun, cheap, and cute.

4. Wear what you want to wear; don’t just wear something because it’s the “cool” thing to do.

5. Express yourself, be you.

I don’t mean to offend anyone by my pet peeves or my shopping tips. I just don’t think it’s very necessary to spend an insane amount of money on clothes. Girls especially, are too self-conscious about what they wear. Calm down ladies, you can look good, without going into debt. Just broaden your horizon and go outside of your box. You could be surprised on what you can find if you just let go of how much you are spending on your clothes. In an economy like ours, be smart and follow my tips. Youll look good and feel good about how much you’re spending.

(545 words)

Would We be The Same?

Would We Be the Same?

Do you ever feel like you wouldn’t be the same person if something hadn’t happened to you? I feel like certain things happen for a reason, either to teach you a lesson or to help you mature. I feel like if I had grown up in a super wealthy home I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. Things like that really transform a person.

The other day I was discussing this topic with my best friend, and she completely agrees with me. After her family had a house fire about 6 years ago, she had to quickly morph into a responsible young adult. They had lost a lot, but no fire could destroy how close knit that family is. The fire had just brought them closer. That’s why I wonder if that fire happened for a reason. Maybe her family was meant to get closer or maybe she was supposed to mature quickly and early.

What if the house fire never happened? Would she be the same person? Would I still have become best friends with her? Or would we have lived completely different lives? This is why I think things happen for a reason. I can’t imagine what life would be like without her being who she is.

Although the things that happen to us may be devastating, I think it’s important to remember some positive is going to come out of it. By growing up in a home wear money is tight, I have become liable and more down to earth. By experiencing a house fire, my friend had matured into a grateful, responsible, young lady.

So weather it’s something little like a rainy day, or something traumatic like a death in the family it all happens for a reason. Like they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Life isn’t going to always be cotton candy and rainbows, so turn those tough times into positives and let them help you grow into the person you’re meant to be in life. It all happens for a reason, so let it happen.

(350 words)

Simply Amazing

Every little kid has a dream about what they want to do when they grow up. Mine was to be on Broadway. I just knew I was born to star in the play Annie as the freckled red headed orphan. But these plans have drastically changed. I no longer sing, dance, or act. So I think Broadway may be a little out of the question.

Sense Broadway didn’t really work out, I have completely changed directions. I would like to major in Special Education while I am in college. My main goal is to become a middle school autism or special needs teacher.

Over the past few years I have gotten the opportunity to work with a few of these amazing kids. It’s so interesting to me how they learn and grow. I think they are underestimated on their abilities. These kids have special talents, that people who don’t have problems learning would struggle with tremendously. Some of these kids may have better memories, math skills, or even musical skills. You never know what they are really capable of doing till you observe them in their own environment.

This summer is when I had decided that this is what I really want to do. The turning point for me was watching my buddy Clayton. Clayton is almost completely nonverbal, so of course he is behind for his grade on learning. Although he cannot talk correctly, this kid would never fail to put you in a good mood. Just looking at him can put a smile on your face. Just image a 5’7” seventh grader with his tan skin and a nice slicked back comb over, manipulating his skin and bone body in ways you didn’t think were humanly possible. The way he can bend his body is like Gumby, I swear he has no bones, and then suddenly he’ll just burst into a big loud laughter for no apparent reason in order for you to smile. It’s like he knows the perfect timing on when you need a pick me up, to me there is nothing better than this kid.

It’s not just Clayton to be inspired by, it’s all of them. They have their own corks that can just make you giggle. It’s things like these that just persuade me more into this career. I honestly could not picture myself doing anything else. I have my heart set.

(400 words)

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Making the Best out of it

1. I really do not enjoy this assignment

2. It is about to put me in confinement

3. I’m getting worried I’ll run out of time

4. But like a snap of a finger, I’m just fine

5. My pencil paints on words with great ease

6. Only with the hope Ms. A will be pleased

7. The poor pencil slowly dies

8. And with that, of course Annie Cries

9. Because I still need three more rhetorical techniques

10. From my mind my thoughts leak

11. Why would Ms. A put me through so much misery

12. It’s like she has so much control over us, wizardry!

13. Although I have had many complaints

14. I know I have Ms. A to thank

Line 2: is an example of diction, I used the word confinement to over exaggerate my feeling about this assignment.

Line 4: “like a snap of a finger” is a simile to show how quickly I could turn the assignment around despite my hatred for it.

Line 5: “My pencil paints” is imagery to show how smoothly the assignment went after I found something to write about.

Line 7: I used personification by saying “the pencil dies”

Line 7: using this personification is also symbolism for my struggle in the middle of my poem to finish

Line 12: “It’s like she has so much control over us, wizardry!” is use of inversion, to put wizardry last is a different order than we would normally speak.

Line 13-14: is irony because I thought this assignment was pointless, I wanted to hate on it in my poem, but in the end I still got something out of it like Ms. A wanted me to.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Falling Slowly

As I sit in my desk my eyes lids tend to slowly droop down to cover my big brown eyes. I don’t know if it is because I decided it would be a good idea to block a ball with my face in my soccer game this weekend or that I am suffering from a tremendous lack of sleep.

Although my eye had gotten a little puffy after the weekends game, the truth is I don’t get enough sleep. They say a person my age should be getting around eight or nine hours of sleep but I truly do not understand how that is possible.

Here’s how my day goes; my alarm goes off at 6:30 each morning after pressing the snooze button an unhealthy amount of times, I am finally out of bed by 6:55. After getting ready I am out of the door by 7:15 and on my way to school. I am at school from 7:25 to 2:45 each day. After this long laborious day of school I rush home in order to take a nap before my day really begins. I nap from three to five, and then hell begins. I have to finish my homework and eat before 8 when I go to late night practice. Practice is 20 min away two nights of the week and 35 min away the third night of practice. Although I love soccer very much, it is tough when I get home at 11 each night. Not to mention some nights I have to work so I don’t get my nap or homework time in so I am up even later.

When joining the high school society they hound on you to be active in your school. I don’t think they really understand how hard it is to really be involved. Me personally, I’m not very involved and I still struggle to get the necessary hours of sleep. I don’t understand how the people who are actually involved in this school can literally survive.

It’s hard to stay involved and still stay healthy but overall I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth the extra cat naps to tell your grandkids what a wonderful time you had in high school.

(380 words)

Choclaholic

The thing that gets my through everything, no matter how I am feeling it can always make me feel better. It’s like it has magical powers and it controls my emotions at any time. What is this mystical thing? Well chocolate of course! There just isn’t anything better.

Do you ever feeling down and the dumps and find yourself sobbing to Adele? Need some positives in your life? Grab some chocolate! It doesn’t even matter what kind of chocolate it is, it can always make me feel better. You can’t tell me if someone offered you a nice Oreo ball you’d pass it up. You know secretly in your mind you are begging for someone to offer it to you while you are staring at it drooling. Chocolate is not only a healer but a controller. The best way to bribe a woman is with a chocolate reinforcement. I feel like chocolate is not only my weakness but a weakness to many woman.

With men knowing our weakness they definitely use it to their advantage. I mean, why do you think Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days for chocolate sales. Because men know that if they give chocolate to woman they will get something in return… and we all know where that is heading.

I don’t even think woman realize that men use chocolate to control them and I don’t think some woman realize that chocolate has control over their life. I have come to realize that chocolate is my weakness and I’m okay with it. There is nothing I can really do about it; I have already been hooked for so long.

Chocolate has its negatives such as being controlled, weight gain, and chocolate breathe. But all those negatives are overpowered by the stimulating taste. Chocolate is a magical thing that you have to use carefully; you wouldn’t want it ending up in the wrong persons hands, it could get dangerous.

(330 words)

The Man Behind the Sale

They Man Behind the Sale

As my wonderful prom date and I went on the adventure of finding a tux for this special occasion. On this wild adventure we met who may be the most persuasive inspiring person I have ever met in my life and I am depressed I did not get the opportunity to learn his name.

As we sit and look through the millions of books of tuxes this wonderful sales man, we will just call him Melvin because that is what I wish his name is. Melvin is a very feminine looking man who has a proud personality. He was not afraid to state his opinion which is good for the job he has currently. As we socialize with Melvin and talk to him about what we are thinking for prom for things such as color, you can tell his wheels are beginning to turn.

My date (Mo) and I were with another couple Hanna and David, so first Melvin helps them. Hanna has a beautiful golden dress. Although it’s beautiful, it’s a little difficult to match with. David isn’t one who is to do the original black tux either so Melvin had a challenge on his hands. He came up with this brilliant idea to put David into a dark chocolate brown tux with a gold vest, bow tie, and pocket square and boy does that look sharp.

Melvin had already impressed us with the chocolate tux so we could only imagine what he had up his sleeve for matching my bright orange dress. At first we were just thinking of a charcoal grey tux with orange accents with the tie and vest. But then, as we were flipping through the pages we came across an all-orange tux. I stop Melvin from flipping the pages and jokingly tell Mo that’s what he should wear! And to my surprise Melvin looks at us again with this wheels turning and says “that’s not a bad idea.” He began to carry on with persuading us, “I went to prom my junior year, and let me tell you I was pretty proud of the girl I got for my date, but I don’t have those pictures today.” I think what Melvin was trying to say to us was it doesn’t matter if you look a little goofy, it’s more of the memory that matters. So for what seemed like hours Mo highly considered the all-orange tux and finally called his Mother for confirmation. Although Mo’s parents vetoed this idea, Melvin still had a lasting impression on me.

As the conversation grew, even though we had made our decisions Melvin had impressed me even more. He had begun to talk about relationship, I can’t even tell you how we got on this topic but I’m sure glad we did. His very psychological thought about how relationships really work was just mind blowing to me. I could literally apply everything he said into my life. Things like “girls, they never know what they want. You could ask them if they like you and all the say is; I don’t know I have to get to know you first. But I don’t want to get to know you first, I want to get to know you while we are trying things out. It doesn’t always have to go in order.” This to me was total genius, and got me to really rethink my past relationships. Why do us girls have to “get to know” a guy before we let them take us out to dinner. Why can’t we get to know them while we are out for dinner?

Plain in simple, girls are difficult I am a girl and I don’t even get girls. I just gave you a little taste of Melvin, but if you ever need fashion advice or relationship advice…. Be sure to visit Melvin!

(646 words)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

A Promise

As I sit in the audience my attention seems to perk up as I hear the bride begins her vows. She is promising her groom that she will follow his lead and go under his submission. My first reaction was to look at my sister to clarify that I hear the vows correctly. As a matter of fact I wasn’t mistaken.

I have many questions when it comes to these vows. Why on earth would any woman agree to be put under her man? That just doesn’t make sense to me. Knowing the bride, I was still in shock about these vows. I would never have expected her to choose something like this.

I believe that a marriage is a partnership, not a male dominant relationship. Like in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding the mother says “The man is the head (of the house), but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.” This quote explains that women do have a say in the relationship as the head and neck work together. There is no reason why they should be controlled by the man. What makes a woman vow to submission under her husband? In this case it was the religion they both practiced, but to me it still doesn’t really make sense. Now days we are trying to get young ladies to know that they can be independent, strong, confident women without the help of a man. What kind of example is this couple setting for their future daughters? Or even their future sons? But I suppose their future children will be taught that submission is okay and it’s just a part of life. Their daughters will be taught to fall into their place, while their sons will learn to be dominant.

This religious based wedding also relates to what we have been talking about in class about how media is shaping woman today. A lot of the time you see avid religious people avoiding the media because of the “bad” things their kids could see on television. But do they realize that they are shaping their own kids by their religious practices. I’m not saying it is a bad thing to be religious but I think a lot of people don’t see both sides to the situation. This is an extreme comparison on both sides, but it does really happen. Kids grow up, and a lot of how they develop depends on their environment. Because of this, religion can have the same sort of affect as the media can. There is not a lot we can do to avoid shaping our children; they will get some sort of influence one way or another.

(460 words)

Take the Hit

My whole life flashed before my eyes as a lay on the field screaming in pain. I didn’t know what had happened I just knew it wasn’t good. As I lay there aching in pain and hyperventilating with the overload of tears, I remember seeing four different faces over my head. The Muscatine trainer was holding my head and neck still, Coach Arp was repetitively telling me to breathe, Coach McKnight was saying god knows what in his Scottish accent, and Coach Hutch was looking at me with shock. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish the game.

It seemed like hours that I had been lying on the field and now I finally understood what Coach McKnight was saying to me he kept asking me if it was okay to bring my parents onto the field. If you have ever watched a soccer game before, parents do not go on the field, so this was the scariest point for me. I replied no, I don’t want them here. And we argued for a couple minutes, he told me it was the right thing to do. As my mom and dad walk to add another face above my head, panic had set in.

I began to shake uncontrollable and the tears became unbelievable. It was like something else had taken over my body. I hear my teammates in the huddle only 10 feet away from me asking Coach Hutch if I was paralyzed so I quickly wiggle my toes, with a sign of relief my heart rate slows and I begin to control my breathing.

I had now calmed down, but I am still lying on the field freezing, shaking, and crying when the ambulance drove onto the field. This set in another round of anxiety and panic and I could feel my heart rate increase as the strapped me into a neck brace and onto the stretcher. This is all very blurry to me now in my memory. I ended up spending about two hours in the hospital that night and my stay consisted of blood pressure tests, urine tests, shots of morphine, and a CT scan. All my tests came back negative for anything serious such as broken bones or any off set disks which was a sign of relief. It came out that I pulled just about every muscle in my neck and got a minor concussion and will be sitting out for about a week. Although this isn’t ideal, it’s a lot better than it could be.

My unfortunate accident just reminds me how dangerous soccer can really be, but it doesn’t matter to me. I have had many people this week ask me if I’m now scared to go into tackles. But i'm not, I know that you can get hurt in soccer I have been hurt before it’s just part of the game. In competitive contact sports people are going to get hurt it just happens. I think it’s hard for some people to understand that some athletes are okay getting hurt. But it’s a price you have to be willing to pay in order to be a competitor.

(540 words)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/783c7d23ad4a39f925f4ec7627f1d013dd6234b1_m.jpg

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Love or Hate?

As kids we could not stand each other we couldn’t even be in the same room for very long let alone live together without constant bickering. But as time has gone on my brother and I have become very close. While he was a senior and I was a sophomore was the year we really became close.

In this year he would walk with me to classes, he would say hi to me in the halls, and sometimes allow me to eat lunch with him. Because we were always together there have been many awkward comments towards us. Many times I would be walking through the hall and have a girl come up to me and ask if I was the girl who was dating Ben (my brother.) At first I wanted to puke that anyone would be jealous that someone was dating Ben because ew that’s my brother. And then I gaged again to think EW THAT’S MY BROTHER I’m not dating my brother!? After this had gone on for a while we had kind of gotten used to the comments that we were close.

Yes we are close but we still argue a lot, just not to the extent that we did years ago. This weekend when he came home for Easter we experienced both the love and the hate of our relationship. He surprised me by picking me up at my soccer practice so of course there is the love part when I run and jump on him with a big hug. But just hours later the hate came along, but its all out of fun. I know my brother doesn’t like to be bothered, so what do I do … Bother him. I’ll reach for his beard and pull on his little whiskers making him a little flustered. Enough to make him agitated to start to pick on me. We then begin to wrestle each other which always ends up with me sitting on top of him and him tickling me to get off.

Although this is a fun type of hate, it also gets ugly. Like today we got in an argument about god knows what. We should not be allowed to argue with each other because we are both way to head strong to give up on our own opinions. We are both also very good arguers so we both bring to the table very interesting points that are pretty valid.

I love my brother to death, but boy, sometimes I can’t stand him. I believe our love hate relationship makes us closer creating a stronger bond between us.

Unnecessary Stress

Our first soccer game of the season is tomorrow. We have six freshman on the team, who haven’t played for Kennedy High School, meaning they don’t have the important parts of our jerseys such as shorts and socks. This is just one example of how annoying it is when things are late.

I understand when small things are late and there isn’t an important deadline. But something like this causes stress on the whole team. All of the returning players now have to scavenge through our soccer drawers to find spare shorts. This leaves us all flustered trying to help out the younger players.

I don’t know the whole story on why we don’t have our gear before our first game. It could be that the order was put in too late. But it also could be that the printing company made a mistake. I understand that people make mistakes but we should have had a backup plan incase this did happen instead of rushing to find shorts and socks for our freshman the day before the game. I feel like this just adds to the first game stress that we already have. But could also be an advantage for our freshman to get used to the nerves and stress playing on a Varsity High School soccer team causes. It may be a good warm up of what is to come.

Throughout the season we come across stress at many times. At the beginning of the season at our first game because you want to kick of the season with a good start, at in town games because you don’t want your rival team to have bragging rights, then at the end of the season when state rolls around because you want that state championship, overall high school sports create stress.

(303 words)

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Dangerous Act of Catfishing

Claim: Social Media has evolved the dangerous act of catfishing

The term catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romance according to urban dictionary. By being able to disguise who you really are, has become quite dangerous when you go to meet your “lover” in person and they aren’t who they said they were.

MTV has come out with a new show called Catfish exposing those who do create fake identities. This show is very interesting to me because there are so many twists and turns. Sometimes they are really the person they say are, and other times they are psychos that have made up elaborate lies in order for self-entertainment. When the relationship is true with no lies, and the do finally meet each other most of the time its love at first sight. On the other hand, there are some big lies that happen. These people go to an extreme of making up sometimes over 10 fake Facebook people in order to keep their story going and realistic. This show just shows how dangerous online relationships can be. You truly don’t know who is on the other end of the conversation. Although some of these relationships do work, I still don’t think it’s a very good idea to search for your soul mate online. But if that’s your thing, just be cautious. For me if I’m on Facebook and a random person chats me, I always keep in the back of my mind… “This could be a 60 year old pedophile I’m talking to.”

With the help of MTV people are able to safely meet who is on the other end of the computer screen. So when they go to meet them if it does turn out to be sketchy they have someone to back them up. There have been so many stories of people getting taken or worse killed because they went to meet their “soul mate.” There are many things that can go wrong when meeting someone for the first time after establishing a relationship online.

Social network has brought along this dangerous act of catfishing. Before things like facebook and other social networks were established there was no meeting strangers online. But now that social networks have been established there is a strong need for people to be cautious about what they say and who they talk to online.

Parents can be a big part of keeping kids safe from catfishing. If they regulate what age they can have things like facebook I feel like there will be less problems. There isn’t a magic number for the age you can be on facebook, it’s more a maturity level. If it’s obvious that the kid is immature and maybe has low self-esteem they may be pinned for the type a catfish could take advantage of.

(487words)

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Handy Man

Here I am again sitting on my coach thinking about what to blog about like every other Sunday. Somehow I have to come up with 394 more words in this last blog. What could I blog about? Soccer? I did that twice I should probably get a new topic. Hmm.. what’s going on in life. March Madness? I don’t think I know enough about it to come up with 394 words. So no on March Madness. What else is happening in life? Oh I know, my dad has decided he is capable of remodeling our bathroom.

My dad has decided he is going to remodel the bathroom. Not redecorating, remodeling. I have woken up to drills and hammers almost every day this week from his ambitious project. We only had this one bathroom in this house so, its been a struggle for the whole family. The mirror is gone, the counters are gone, the toilet was out for a day, and there are no floors. Sounds pleasant doesn’t it?

Although it hasn’t been the most convenient my dad is doing a good job. Its taking a lot longer than expected but I think it will be worth it in the long run. We are getting new tiles placed, making the floor look sharp. We are getting a new vanity making the cupboards more modern. We are pretty much just replacing everything, adding a new fresh look for our house.

Because my dad has proven that he is capable of many tasks around the house. This is when my mom begins to make lists.

Now the list includes:

1. Fixing wiring in the house for lights

2. Building a deck

3. Building a hot tub area

4. Anything my mom can think of

My dad has a lot on his plate and he act like he doesn’t enjoy it, but to tell you the truth, I think he loves it. For example when he was making a patio in our back yard he would win about how much work it was, but then he would take pictures of his progress every day and show them off to his buddies how well he did.

We ask a lot of my dad and he seems to deliver pretty nicely. Although he may not like a the work, I feel like he is satisfied with his work after making a happy family. Moms happy it’s done and my dad’s happy with his work.

(410 words)

The Pressure is On

The season has started and the pressure is on. As defending state champions, we have a lot to live up to. And to just add onto the pressure who do we have to play the first week of the season? Ankeny, the team we beat in the finals.

The pressure comes from the final last year. We were ranked 7 and they were ranked number 1. We were obviously not supposed to win this game. Even in the first half and into the second half we were getting completely dominated by Ankeny we were down by one and it looked like it was over. But no, it was a legit Cinderella story we came back with 20 minutes left in the game to finish it 2 to 1 winning the championship game.

Now that we have to play them again the first week of the season, they are going to want revenge. They know they should have won that game and they know that they can beat us. On the other hand we might have them rattled. Who knows how it’s going to turn out.

Not only do the two teams have pressure from each other, but there is a lot of outside pressure as well. For example, there are going to be multiple college coaches there watching. Because the top two teams in the state are playing each other there’s going to be a lot of talent on the field so it’s a fantastic opportunity for coaches to see multiple future college athletes at the same time.

So there is pressure from your team mates to play well, your coach to play well, your parents to play well, and yourself to play well. Your team wants you to play well to get a result, along with your coach. And your parents want you to show well for the college coaches along getting a good result. And you just want to make everyone happy and proud of you, along with the self-satisfaction of playing well and beating the number one team in the state.

Why Not Us

Why Not Us?

As I sit on my couch and look out my window, I begin to cry… it is the end of March and the weather had begun to heat up and the soccer fields began to become green. But all hell broke loose when soccer try outs began. Walking out to practice with the temperature at 20 degrees, 30 mph winds, and the last thing a soccer player would want on those fresh green fields… SNOW!

As this awful Iowa weather rolled in, we had to change our try out plans. Now that our luscious green fields were now covered in an arctic tundra, we were not able to play outside and we were now forced into the gym.

Sweat pours down our faces, our bodies seem to stick together, and there is no sign of fresh air. That’s what happens when you put soccer into a gym. Although we had the odds against us, all 35 girls who were in the varsity pool showed very well, Making Coaches decision to only pick 20 very difficult. As players, it is our job to make coaches decisions difficult it just shows how much talent we have a Kennedy High School.

Every day at tryouts coach reminded us how much talent we actually have “Any of you girls could be starting at Jefferson or Washington, but you may be in Jv. Why? You go to Kennedy High School defending 3a state champions.” As a returning player coach’s quote made me feel so proud to be a cougar and to have had an impact on this team is amazing. I think it also put a realization in the incoming freshman’s mind that it’s not going to come easy. You could be starting on your club team and be an amazing player, but because we go to Kennedy High School you may not even make varsity.

Because Kennedy is so deep and there is so much competition inside the program, there are no guarantees for the returning varsity players. Although you may have started last year, there may be a freshman who can do your job better. And because everyone is fighting for a starting spot it just pushes everyone to work harder.

Overall Kennedy High School Women’s soccer is going to be a force to be recon with. We believe in ourselves, we have a fantastic coaching staff who believes in us, and like coach always said last year “Why not us? Why can’t we win state? What’s stopping us?” It’s going to be hard work, but I think we have the talent and belief that we can do it again.

(440 words)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Anything Can Happen

(350 words)

Take Off the Mask

Waking up at 5am in order to be at school by eight? I don’t think so. The majority of high school girls these days care way too much about what they look like. They are spending hours at a time caking on makeup and making their hair perfect for the school day. Relax; wear a pair of sweat pants for once. Put your hair up, take off the mask.

It is a difficult process for me to understand why girls spend so much time on their appearance. Of course I think it’s important to look presentable, but is it really necessary to put on a mask of make up or curl your hair every single day of the week. First of all it’s not at all healthy for your skin and hair. Second you are spending an excessive amount of money on makeup and product. And third you look ridiculous!

A lot of girls do it to “impress” the boys, but honestly it probably scares them off. At first a guy may be intoxicated by the Barbie beauty, but it could all come crashing down. He could be very naive and fall for that cake face, but eventually he will see what’s under that mask and possibly be disappointed to find it was all just a cover up.

Ladies, why would you want a guy who would be disappointed when you shed off all of the makeup? You want a guy who will like you whether you are all dolled up or not. And for the fellas, find a girl like the rapper Drake found in his song youda best, “Sweat pants, hair tie, chillin with no makeup on that’s when you’re the prettiest I hope you don’t take it wrong.”

There is such thing as natural beauty, so embrace it. We are all beautiful in our own way; we shouldn’t be covering up what we have inherited naturally.

(300 words)

Can't Hold It In

Sitting in class bored out of our minds when suddenly, you have that overwhelming sensation that you have to pee. You get up quietly to ask the teacher if you can use the restroom. They always reply, “Is it an emergency?” All I can think in my head is; Yes it’s an emergency, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t ask to leave!

This situation can get you into some big trouble in many occasions for example:

1. If people always ask to go

2. If you have to go in that class every day

3. If the class is particularly boring that day

These teachers tend to not understand that 1. It’s not your fault other people have to go at the same time as you. 2. Your body is put on a schedule, and it likes to stay that way. And 3. I don’t care how boring the class is, I just really have to go pee. I think kids are really misunderstood. If I had to bet, I bet teachers just think we are doing hood rat activities in the hallways instead of going to the bathroom which in some cases is true. But if they did think we had other intentions other than using the facilities, why don’t they do something about it. And when I say do something about it, I do not mean take away the privilege of going to the bathroom. Instead, they could follow the student if they care so much. This tactic could get a little bit creepy, but hey, they would get what they wanted to know wouldn’t they?

Another thing I don’t understand is why some teachers make you leave your cell phone before using the restroom. To me this is just helping the ticking time bomb of my bladder speed up. It’s not like I’m going to sit on the toilet and text my friends while peeing, that’s disgusting. Plus wouldn’t the teachers rather their students use their phone in the hallways/bathroom instead of disrupting their class and ignoring their teaching? These things just don’t make sense to me.

For all of you teachers out there; just know that when a student is asking to use the restroom, in most cases, it really is an emergency there’s no need to ask. And for the students reading along, don’t take the bathroom experience to your advantage, you never know when you’re really going to need it. Oh, and look out for the crazy teacher who follow you through the hall to the bathroom, its borderline creepy.

(430 words

Life Choice

(400 words)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Silver Les Lincoln

This weekend is the Oscars and I have gotten the opportunity to see some of the pictures that are up for best picture. I have seen Silver Linings Playbook, Les Mis, and Lincoln. All of these movies were so fantastic; I just don’t understand how people can choose which one was the best.

Although these movies were all very good, they were all completely different. In Silver Linings Playbook, after you watched it you felt emotionally drained. During the movie, I had gotten extremely to the characters and felt like I was in the movie alongside them dealing with their problems. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper were able to portray characters with very intense mental problems, which to me I see as impossible. Even though it was probably a challenge for them, you believed the performance and felt like you were watching a home video it felt so real.

Les Mis was completely different from Silver Linings Playbook, but still had the same affect by leaving me emotionally drained. I think because it was a musical there was so much going on, your eyes couldn’t leave the screen. In Les Mis Anne Hathaway had a fantastic performance, not only did she act wonderfully but she was able to sing decently as well. It was very impressive to see actors being able to sing without lip syncing. Overall, there were many overwhelming performances making it a breathtaking movie.

Again Lincoln was still very different from Silver Linings Playbook and Les Mis. Although it did not affect me as much as the other movies did, it was still a great movie with exciting performance. Daniel Day Lewis was able to portray President Lincoln with ease. While watching, you felt like you were actually watching Lincoln going through the struggles of his last couple months. I was intrigued by this movie, because Lincoln is an interesting topic for me. But, if you weren’t interested in Lincoln and didn’t know some of the history it probably wouldn’t have tripped your trigger.

Movies this year have been extremely impressive and I don’t know how people can choose which one wins best picture. If I had to choose I would have to pick Silver Linings Playbook out of the movies I got the opportunity to see. There are many things that put Silver Linings Playbook one step of the other movies I got to see. One reason is it’s so relatable, there are people who get divorced, there are people who lose their spouse, and there are people who have issues. This movie just shows that nobody is perfect, but we still cope with life. Even if your world is going wrong, you can still find a silver lining.

(500 Words)

Sunday, February 3, 2013

That's Nasty

That’s Nasty

The Super Bowl… What does that mean? Junky food. This year we have come to all time nasty unhealthy food. Normally we stick with nachos which taste amazing but are still not to healthy for you. But this year I don’t even know what to think. My dad has decided to take little weenies, rap them in bacon and sock them in brown sugar. Sounds nasty right?

He had gotten the idea from a lady at work. My question is what was that lady thinking? Does she want to have a heart attack? I can only imagine how unhealthy this is for a person. I suppose it instantly blocks your arteries and gives you a heart attack the second you take a bite. I’m actually frightened to try one. I don’t think I have ever been scared to eat something.

How does one think of such a snack? I would never picture putting bacon and little weenies together or let alone putting brown sugar on either bacon or little weenies. I can’t image the taste. My dad said it tastes like caramel. How in the world do bacon and little weenies turn into caramel… THAT’S NASTY!

At the moment I am mentally preparing myself to try these little critters. I just don’t know if I can handle. Wish me luck, I hope I see you all tomorrow at school and I don’t have a heart attack.

(290 words)

The Struggle

Homework, what’s the point? Homework is just an opportunity for kids to copy each other’s work sheets and get out of things. You walk into school at about 7:30 and you just see a bunch of kids running around trying to find someone in their class who has finished the worksheet that due that morning.

I think it would be more beneficial for us to go to school a bit longer, and not have any homework. Or instead of homework things like projects, which actually require us to do our own work would teach us more than having a worksheet due.

If we went to school a bit longer, I think it would fix many things in high schools everywhere. For one I think it would create fewer absences. Kids like to avoid school because they didn’t finish their homework for a certain class. By not giving out homework, there would be no absences because of homework completion.

Another thing that could be fixed would be how much we actually learn. There have been so many times I come home and have no idea how to do my homework. With the help of peers and teacher at school I wouldn’t have that problem. By having resources with me at school, I am able to finish my work, and feel confident I am doing it correctly.

People don’t like school because it’s hard. It’s even harder when you don’t have the motivation for it. There are so many distractions when you come home to do your homework. While at school, you can’t be distracted by facebook, twitter, instagram, the TV, or the computer. School is just a better environment for work rather than at home.

Some say homework is necessary to survive in the real world. But honestly, I don’t know many people who have to come home after work and have to do a worksheet. I guess it matters your occupation but I don’t know of any jobs that require homework. So I guess my question is what’s the point? Do teachers enjoy seeing kids struggle and get confused? I just don’t get it.

(400 words)

Why?

It is a question to me how why so many people watch the super bowl. Yes, I understand it is entertaining. But, on the other hand so many people say they are very committed to “their” NFL team why do they bother watching somebody else’s team.

There are only 2 teams who make it to the super bowl out of 32. Chances are it’s not your team. How can you say you are loyal to a certain team, while supporting a different team? How do you think your team feels when you say “well my team didn’t make it so might as well cheer for so in so.”

Some say they watch because of the commercials, there are commercials on TV every day. I don’t understand why advertisers wait till the super bowl to pull out the good commercials. In all advertisers are probably helping the super bowl more than vice versa. In my opinion people pay more attention to the commercials than the game.

It may be because I am a girl, and football is not the most interesting to me. But, really is it that big of a deal? I have been watching the super bowl every sense I can remember, but I still don’t understand why. All the buildup probably just makes the players more nervous than they are naturally playing in a championship game. I know from experience any type of championship game is nerve racking but I cannot imagine the emotion happening in these players heads right now while warming up for a game that so many people are going to watch, it’s crazy. But, these are professional athletes, they have felt this kind of pressure before, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.

(300 words)

Sasha Fierce

The anticipation is building. There is only about 3 hours till my idol performs. That’s right, Beyonce is performing at the Super Bowl half time. I cannot wait to see her perform, I have been preparing all week. Although Beyonce has gotten a lot of criticism this past two weeks after lip syncing at the presidents inauguration, after redeeming herself at the Super Bowl press conference by singing a cappella B is back and I can only imagine how well she is going to perform.

You may be asking how one prepares for a performance like this and I will tell you how.

1. Watch Beyonce videos every day, at least 5 a day.

2. Sing Beyonce songs in the shower, there is nothing wrong with not sounding as good as her… it’s impossible to sound like her anyways.

3. Learn the single ladies dance.

4. Create your own hot Beyonce outfit.

5. Practice dancing in heals.

These are just some ways you can prepare for what is going to be a jaw dropping performance. Feel free to go above and beyond these expectations. You know B will be proud of any type of fan commitment as long as you stay Sasha Fierce.

(210 words)

Sunday, January 27, 2013

All I Could Ever Ask For

Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Annie, Happy birthday to you. In two days this song will be ringing through my house. And personally…. I CAN’T WAIT! To me my birthday is like another holiday, there have been so many great memories when it comes to my birthday.

Only two more days till I turn 17, but I can still remember my 4^th birthday. It was probably the best thing a four year old could ask for. What made this birthday so great? Well the outfits of course. Every member of the party was dressed in a swimming suit top and a garbage bag duct taped to look like a tail. As I look back on picture, maybe it wasn’t the most fashionable choice, but hey it was a fun twist.

At a birthday party, what more important than the cake? Obviously my mom didn’t get that memo. Love my mom to death but having blue Jello with Swedish fish inside, not the best choice on her part. But, I have to give her some credit. It was a pretty good idea for an “under the sea” themed party.

As I reminisce about this under the sea party, all my other birthday parties come to mind as well. I seriously had the coolest birthday parties back in the day. This really makes me appreciate my parents and the things they do for me. My parties ranged from bowling, 80’s, lady bug, angels, and many other themes. All of these themes were accompanied by a matching cake, homemade and decorated to a tee by my dad, and of course decked out party favors put together by my mom. They have both given me so much in the past 17 years.

All the things my parents have done for me is really coming into my view as I start to grow and mature. The past two weeks my parents have been asking and asking what I want for my birthday this year, and I honestly can’t tell them anything that I want. Yes, I would want a puppy or maybe some Beyonce tickets. But do I really need that? No. My parents, in my opinion have given me too much. I don’t think I need anything; they have already given me all I could ever ask for and more by being the most fantastic parents anyone could ask for. It’s important for people to understand there is more to life than the material things.

(425 words)

I'm Not Ready

I’m Not Ready

As I a seventeen year old girl walk into the baby blue painted bedroom and lean my head over the crib I see something so precious. He is beyond words. It’s Silas a seventeen week old baby boy. He lies there all snug in his blankets with his right thumb in his mouth, when suddenly his eyes pop opens and his face turns rosy and he lets out a little baby sneeze then goes back fast asleep.

This little baby sneeze is what made me fall in love with this baby, I don’t know what it was about it, it was just too cute to handle. But my feeling about this baby had changed all but 10 minutes later when heavier cries come waling out of this small child. My first reaction what to rub his belly to try to calm him down; when that failed I got flustered. I pick up this ornery baby out of his crib and start bouncing him around the house again to just stop the crying. When finally what seemed like hours later though thought popped into my head DUH!!!! He’s hungry.

So the next task was to feed this little munchkin. After heating the bottle and getting Silas in the position to feed, he won’t latch onto the bottle. Only thought in my head was what else could go wrong while I’m babysitting this baby for new parents who have never had a babysitter before. He finally finishes his bottle and is still unhappy. So what’s next? Burping of course. He gets his burp out right away, and guess what … Still unhappy.

My next direction from the parents was to rock him back to sleep. Rocking was a little more successful. Silas is a happy baby and he never stopped smiling at me. But I guess he was just too restless to actually fall asleep. This whole situation just made me feel like I failed at my babysitting duties because I couldn’t get him back to sleep. This made me cherish the fact that I don’t have a baby as a teenager. It also made me really appreciate this whole babysitting experience to get more familiar with young babies.

I think it is very important for a future mom to really think about if they will be able to handle the stress of a baby, or even try babysitting a baby before they make the decision to get pregnant. I have always known that I love kids, and that I would be a mom someday. But really figuring how difficult it is too properly care for a baby is overwhelming to me. I really don’t understand how the people on Teen Mom or 16 and Pregnant survive. It’s a huge responsibility and I know that I couldn’t handle it, so I have so much more respect for mothers after this experience.

(485 words)

A New Happily Ever After

Stated in Miss Representation “Between 1937 and 2005 there were only 13 female protagonists in animated movie. All of them, except one, had the aspiration of finding romance” (Davis.) This came to me as a shock when I hear this statistic. It got me to wonder how many animated films in general have been based around love or romance since then.

Sure movies base their stories around relationships, but not every relationship in a movie has to turn into love. While looking through a Disney movie list from 2005 to 2012 it was my job to determine what was “finding romance.” I decided that if in the description of the movie they mentioned love or romance, it would count. As I continued my research I came to find that only 6 out of 126 Disney movies even mention love in their description. That is only 4.7% of movies that are dealing with love.

It wasn’t a surprise to me that the number of Disney “romance” movies has decreased since 2005. To me I feel like we have developed more independent characters for young girls to look up to. Brave is a fantastic example of this. Merida, the main character, has a spicy young girl who likes to make her own decisions. Although it is a “princess” movies it’s not your normal princess movies. Yes she lives happily ever after. But there is more than living happily ever after than finding the man of your dreams.

Disney’s movement to more independent woman characters could be a huge argument to the documentary Miss Representations. I think these statistics are arguing the ones in the documentary, but I still think that there is no way that media influence will be diminished completely. There is just no way that we can stop outside influences affect how children grow up.

(310 words.)