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)

Never Let Go of What You Love

Never Let Go of What You Love

My mom and I have a special relationship. At one moment we could be arguing to the point of tears and on another occasion we could be laughing to the point of tears. For the people close to us they wonder way our relationship can go from one extreme to another. My only explanation is that we are too much alike to not butt heads.

This mother daughter relationship is like non I have seen. We have the same exact personality it’s understandable we get in arguments. We are both full of energy, passionate, and neither of us is ever and I mean EVER wrong. All of these factors cause our disagreements to become more dangerous than needed. We tend to take things way farther then they need to go, saying things we don’t mean and ripping each other apart verbally. It gets pretty rough. As bad as this may sound it gets one hundred times better when we look to the positive side of things.

It can be all but five minutes after a fight and we will both apologize and end of doing something ridiculous. Whether it is standing up on our kitchen chairs dancing and singing to Beyonce, saying “lets giggle” in a British accent then laughing our heads off, or trying to sing a song alternating word by word who gets to sing; whatever we do it always ends up with tears of joy and laughter. The lady always knows how to make me smile.

Although there is a negative side to our relationship, it doesn’t overpower the amount of good times I have had with my mom. For this reason I have made a promise to myself to never let anyone I love leave the house with them being mad at me or me being mad at them. There have been too many accidents lately that have taken away some wonderful people. I would be ruined if I let my mom leave after a fight and we were still angry with each other and she just so happened to get in a car accident. I would feel like it was my fault. I think it’s important for everybody to hug the ones they love often, and never let them leave you unhappy. It’s a scary thought to know that something can happen that quickly but the people you love can be gone in a second.

My relationship with my mom has really taught me to appreciate what I love. If you truly love something there is no way you would let them go without telling them you love them. So for all of you reading this right now, go and hug your family. You never know when you might lose them so you have to embrace every breath, every tear, every smile, every sound of laughter you share with them.

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