All I Could Ever Ask For

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.

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A New Happily Ever After

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.)

Subconscious Control

Subconscious Control

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 Bride Said What!?

The Bride Said What!?

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)

Confidence is Beauty

A Confident Woman is a Beautiful Woman

What is beauty? There are so many different views on what people think is beautiful. It has changed so much even since the 80s. In years past it had been beautiful to be curvy and full, but that has come to a drastic change. Girls have now become stick thin and develop eating disorders.

Media has had a lot to do with our views on beauty. Growing up as young girls I think we develop the thought that what we see on TV are the pretty people. The people with zero fat on them, the people with porcelain skin, the people with the large breast, the list goes on and on. Males also have a large role in what females think is beautiful. For example you look at a playboy bunny, she gets a lot of attention from boys and what do you know she has zero fat, porcelain skin, and large breasts. In all I think young girls what to feel beautiful and get the attention from guys and it seems like these two wants go hand in hand.

What young women don’t understand is that there are beautiful girls that don’t fit the “playboy bunny” body type. It’s not all about what you look like. Jennifer Hudson for example is a heavier woman with fantastic curves but what makes her truly beautiful is her intelligence and her over all self-confidence. When Miss Hudson speaks, she speaks with confidence making her sound intelligent. The way she demands attention on the stage is another thing that makes her beautiful. You can tell she loves herself and is confident in her appearance. A confident woman is a beautiful woman. Every woman is beautiful in their own way, but to have confidence in your appearance takes it to a whole other level.

But I don’t think this problem is just relevant for woman. Men also have the pressure of being “beautiful.” Although we don’t really use the word beautiful for men, I still feel like they feel pressured to be desired from woman. They have these gorgeous celebrities with eight packs and woman hanging on their tree trunks for arms. But again, it’s not about what you look like on the outside. Although an eight pack would be nice, it’s not needed to find a man attractive. In my opinion if he has confidence and has accepted himself as a person, he is attractive. Confidence is beauty.

(415 words)

 

Locked Down

Locked Down

Today in class our teachers informed us that we would do a practice lock down due to all the recent shootings. This got me thinking of what I would do if there was an actually shooting at our school.

Would I run and hide? Would I scream? Would I cry? Honestly I don’t know what I would do. I would most likely hide and cry I would be in so much shock I don’t think I’d be able to scream. But as we discuss this in class we begin to think of where we would hide. There are so many classrooms at my school with walls of windows, I feel like there is nowhere to be completely safe. It had been suggested to hide under tables, but what is that going to do for you? My newest idea was to jump up on a bookshelf and go into the ceiling tiles. To me this was a brilliant idea, till I came to the conclusion not every room has a book case to get up on and the ceiling tiles might now be able to hold my weight.

This topic really gets me thinking and I have had many debates about it. Lots of students bring up a good point that if there was to be a shooting, don’t you think it would be a student? And if they were a student here, don’t you think they would know where everyone is at? And if they know where everyone is at, we will all get shot anyways. I know this isn’t a very happy thing to think about but it’s completely true. Some people try to argue back with, “well what if it’s not a student?” In my opinion, if the shooter is set out to shoot, than they are crazy anyways and with that crazy mind going who knows the creative ways they can get into the building. If they are set out to shoot someone, they will. A lot of people don’t want to hear that but do you honestly think a shooter will walk up to the door, begin to jiggle the handle, then walk away just because it’s locked… I don’t think so.

In the end I think it’s good our school is practicing this procedure, but I don’t think it is very realistic. I don’t think there is any way we can really know how we would all react if something terrible like a shooting happened at our school.

(416 words)

Game Fit

Game Fit

There are only 67 days until the beginning of the spring high school soccer season. That means there are 67 days to get in shape, gain confidence, build team chemistry, and overall prepare for the season. Coach always says it is our responsibility to be game ready before season, whether it is preparing yourself mentally or physically everyone is expected to be “game fit.”

Getting physically fit means many things for a soccer player; it could be killers, lunges, Liverpool’s, pushups, squat hops, pull ups, crunches, and many other strenuous activities. I don’t think non-soccer players really understand how much work the sport is. I know a lot of people don’t comprehend why we need upper body strength. Soccer is a very physical sport; we need our upper body to be able to hold another person’s body weight off of us. We need our upper body to run correctly. We need our upper body to be a soccer player. Our lower body is also used in tremendous ways; it also holds other players off, strikes a perfect ball, and gives you the strength do go on a 30 yard sprint. Your whole body is used while playing soccer, you may not realize it, but it’s true.

One of the most important aspects of the game of soccer is to be mentally in the game. Whether that’s keeping your head when there was a bad call, focusing on every single pass you make, or giving every ounce of your being to stay in the game no matter how tired you are. These mental challenges come about in the preseason workouts.  You have to want to get in shape. You have to want to be sore the next morning. You have to give everything you got just to know you will be the slightest better player the next day.

I think it’s all sports that have these physical and mental challenges but how many sports do you know that you sprint for 90 min while getting clobbered on but the athlete still has to keep their cool… Not many. I’m not trying to bash on other sports as much as I am trying to highlight the pain soccer players go through. Each sport is difficult in their own way, and we all have to get Game Fit.

(387 words)

Time

Time

It has gotten to the time of year when I just don’t care about my appearance anymore. I am just starting to become too busy to have the energy to dress nice more than 2 times a week. For this reason, I adore the maker of yoga pants. They are quick and easy, but you still look like you put in a little effort.

I give myself 15 minutes to get ready for school. Getting ready includes; rolling out of bed, getting dressed, tossing my hair in a ponytail, and brushing my teeth.   There is no time for makeup and no time for breakfast in my book. I do not understand the people who get up hours before school to actually do their hair and makeup. For me you get what you get.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I do get the opportunity to wake up early and do something with my appearance is when people comment “Wow Annie you actually look like a girl.” I am pretty sure they knew I was a girl since the kindergarten but good to know they can actually tell now. I don’t think people understand that I don’t get home till at 8 on school nights, 7 on a good day and then I have piles of homework. I would much rather get an extra hour of sleep than put in the effort to look nice.

Personally I think teenage girls in generally care too much about what people think of them. It’s easy for me because I don’t have self-confidence issues, but how is it possible for you to think so poorly of yourself that you can’t even stand seeing your naked face in the mirror? It’s something I don’t understand and I wish I could so I could help those people.

(304 words)