**Disclaimer: I love my friends. I've known a handful of them since kindy, a few from 5th grade-8th grade and a bunch I met last year-I wouldn't trade them for the world.**
I'm starting to get tired with my life's routine. Weekdays: School then track. Weekend: Possible movie with the same people. It's been the same since about 6th grade when I was really allowed to just hang out with my friends without a parent around, and I'm getting tired with it. If any of you have noticed, I'm kind of an impatient person and I get bored easily. So, I've been thinking of branching out to more people and things. But why do people put on a sour face when I mention it to them?
First, the more people you know, the more connections you can make. Both my parents know a lot of people-it takes 30 minutes to get out of church. Although that seems annoying, it could lead to a job connection, vacation, college advice...anything. Life is a lot easier when there are some more doors open for you.
Second, everyone needs some different life experiences. I shouldn't be thrust into the real world with only experiencing one type of life style. My future life will probably not resemble anything I'm doing right now and so I should learn to adapt and deal with other styles now.
Third, it is just high school. I'd like to say that I will keep talking to all of you after we graduate, but chances are I won't. We will all fall into new lives and probably only keep in touch with the ones we really have a deep connection with. So, whatever happens will really only hurt your friendship for about two years or so, and after that, chances are you wouldn't have kept that relationship anyway.
So, I've decided I should probably branch. I'm not going to scratch my morals and ethics, but just experience things in a different way. Metaphor time!! Branching out reminds me of a tree. You will always have the trunk and the major branches, but new branches and leaves grow all the time. So, I don't think of branching as a negative term anymore. In other words...Dear friends, I'm not replacing you, I'm just adding more to my life. Love, Mary.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
An Inconvenient Truth: Crying
Since I purposefully left this post until last minute (I'm sorry but it's my break), there were many things I could talk about. Also, I'm doing what Taylor did and the title is to grab you in. Crying is relatively what I'm going to talk about...but the good crying.
I had two parts to my break. Part 1 was in Georgia and part 2 was in St. Louis. Part 2 had a lot of crying. My papa is 94 years old and lives in St. Louis. In the past two weeks, my papa, aunt Patti, Aunt Ellen, my sister, my cousins Katie and Brenden and my cousin once removed-Molly had a birthday...and yes, it's all the same side of the family. We all decided to come to St. Louis, so my papa doesn't travel, to celebrate all the birthdays.
In my two days there, I probably gained 10 pounds, but lost a lot of tears. My family is very close and this was just another time for us all to catch up. The best part was when my Papa got to see his great-grandchild for the first time. Once my aunt started to cry, we all broke down. My Papa isn't a man of many words, but he spoke the the little one like there was no tomorrow.
That instance made me think about family in general. I know that my family is probably one of a kind. For we sit in the lobby of the hotel screaming at the basketball games and laughing at old stories, but that's just who we are. Every family has their own way of getting together and enjoying themselves. They'll be with you forever and you can't just forget about them. So I guess the real inconvenient truth is that although your family might have many layers and be real complex, you're all still a family. Cliche, I know, but most cliche things are true.
I had two parts to my break. Part 1 was in Georgia and part 2 was in St. Louis. Part 2 had a lot of crying. My papa is 94 years old and lives in St. Louis. In the past two weeks, my papa, aunt Patti, Aunt Ellen, my sister, my cousins Katie and Brenden and my cousin once removed-Molly had a birthday...and yes, it's all the same side of the family. We all decided to come to St. Louis, so my papa doesn't travel, to celebrate all the birthdays.
In my two days there, I probably gained 10 pounds, but lost a lot of tears. My family is very close and this was just another time for us all to catch up. The best part was when my Papa got to see his great-grandchild for the first time. Once my aunt started to cry, we all broke down. My Papa isn't a man of many words, but he spoke the the little one like there was no tomorrow.
That instance made me think about family in general. I know that my family is probably one of a kind. For we sit in the lobby of the hotel screaming at the basketball games and laughing at old stories, but that's just who we are. Every family has their own way of getting together and enjoying themselves. They'll be with you forever and you can't just forget about them. So I guess the real inconvenient truth is that although your family might have many layers and be real complex, you're all still a family. Cliche, I know, but most cliche things are true.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Dialectics: Tab and Males
Well, first I should probably explain to you what Tab is. Tab is a soda pop drink. It is almost like Coca-Cola, but it tastes worse. It's in a pink can and it supposedly was the "female" drink. My mother is also the only reason it is still around; she literally drinks 7 cans a day.
With what I said before, Tab is the "female" drink. It was made by Coca-Cola and it was actually meant for those who wanted to keep "tabs" on their weight. So yes, this is the perfect female drink! No calories and it was PINK! It is the "beautiful drink for beautiful people". But what does this have to do with the other gender? The people that probably wouldn't drink something from a pink can to save their life?
Other than the fact that men probably created this drink, nothing. Tab is not for men, plus my mom has it all, so they couldn't try it if they wanted to. Most men won't drink diet coke...they'll be men and drink all the real Coca-cola. Most men have gotten over the "real men wear pink" phase, and most men don't know what it is. But the fact that this drink has nothing to do with men, has everything to do with men.
For light years now, men have had millions of things that have nothing to do with women. Power drinks, the protein powder stuff, race car driving, football and tuxedos. I, myself, am totally ok with that. Every person needs something of their own. If everyone shared, the world would go mad. When you have something that someone else doesn't, you can start a discussion, have bets, and more. I'm not trying to be anti-feminist, but if men started playing tea party because they wanted something that only we had, I'd probably question what they had to eat for breakfast...so why must women always try to have everything men have? Having things seperate from one another may actually benifit us. I could have my own things, and I could also try to learn about something new later on.
Tab is like football...you just let it stay where it's at. Tab is like males...they have their own things, too. I, in particular, just don't want Tab for the female thing. It really does taste really bad.
With what I said before, Tab is the "female" drink. It was made by Coca-Cola and it was actually meant for those who wanted to keep "tabs" on their weight. So yes, this is the perfect female drink! No calories and it was PINK! It is the "beautiful drink for beautiful people". But what does this have to do with the other gender? The people that probably wouldn't drink something from a pink can to save their life?
Other than the fact that men probably created this drink, nothing. Tab is not for men, plus my mom has it all, so they couldn't try it if they wanted to. Most men won't drink diet coke...they'll be men and drink all the real Coca-cola. Most men have gotten over the "real men wear pink" phase, and most men don't know what it is. But the fact that this drink has nothing to do with men, has everything to do with men.
For light years now, men have had millions of things that have nothing to do with women. Power drinks, the protein powder stuff, race car driving, football and tuxedos. I, myself, am totally ok with that. Every person needs something of their own. If everyone shared, the world would go mad. When you have something that someone else doesn't, you can start a discussion, have bets, and more. I'm not trying to be anti-feminist, but if men started playing tea party because they wanted something that only we had, I'd probably question what they had to eat for breakfast...so why must women always try to have everything men have? Having things seperate from one another may actually benifit us. I could have my own things, and I could also try to learn about something new later on.
Tab is like football...you just let it stay where it's at. Tab is like males...they have their own things, too. I, in particular, just don't want Tab for the female thing. It really does taste really bad.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Blogging around numero tray-ss (3)
Katie Blog.
Hers is about being excited for the short story unit, whether it be reading or writing them.
"Katie, I'm with ya on short stories. I'm excited for this unit as well because I've always liked seeing someone go through different mind-sets. In poems you only get to see one little part of their thoughts or just one little scene. Also, short stories are a little bit easier to read than novels just because they are short, but can still have the same lasting affect like a novel. Well overall, I'm probably just as excited as you."
Anna's Blog.
Anna's was about the "aha" moments we get in life and how they might not always be like what we see on TV.
"I love seeing those mind-blowing moments on TV, but you're right. The world isn't anything like TV. You're also right in the sense that most aha moments affect you long term rather than short term. This made me think about most things in our lives, not just our aha moments. Most things in our lives build up to make us who we are today. I don't know of many things that only affect our short term lives, except for maybe food choices or something. Now though, I'm going to put my thoughts in better categories to help build up my long term life rather than my short term."
Hers is about being excited for the short story unit, whether it be reading or writing them.
"Katie, I'm with ya on short stories. I'm excited for this unit as well because I've always liked seeing someone go through different mind-sets. In poems you only get to see one little part of their thoughts or just one little scene. Also, short stories are a little bit easier to read than novels just because they are short, but can still have the same lasting affect like a novel. Well overall, I'm probably just as excited as you."
Anna's Blog.
Anna's was about the "aha" moments we get in life and how they might not always be like what we see on TV.
"I love seeing those mind-blowing moments on TV, but you're right. The world isn't anything like TV. You're also right in the sense that most aha moments affect you long term rather than short term. This made me think about most things in our lives, not just our aha moments. Most things in our lives build up to make us who we are today. I don't know of many things that only affect our short term lives, except for maybe food choices or something. Now though, I'm going to put my thoughts in better categories to help build up my long term life rather than my short term."
Monday, March 1, 2010
Best of the Week: Side Conversations
First off..Happy March! Can anyone, at all, believe that it is March? This year has gone by so fast!
My blog is about side conversations. I know that they aren't polite and I'm really not a fan of them when I'm the teacher for my CCD class on Saturdays, but I have to hand it to this class when I say, we are not shallow-side conversation people...we're, for lack of a better word, nerds.
I first realized this while I was sitting in class this week. This was the day I decided not to talk as much because I shouldn't be using my vocal chords. I'm always listening. I'm a gossiper, I eavesdrop, and when I'm not talking...I can listen a lot better. So that day I was listening intently for anything interesting. The class discussion was nice, but not everyone decides to say how they really feel outloud to the class. I realized that people were actually talking about the book.
This has nothing against the book or the class, but normally students talk about something other than class when they're having a side conversation. What happens in other classes is that people talk about their weekend, a different class, their clothes, a stupid SNL skit, but that is not the case with us. Our class is a bunch of people who talk about the actual assignment in a side conversation.
This might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but to me it is a very big deal. I live in a town where the best jeans and hair are what's on most people's minds. This thing that I noticed in class shows me that in a lot of black and white, there will always be a sliver of color. I also understand that what I just said is probably the most cheesy thing I will ever say in my life. If a bunch of teenagers are ok with actually talking about school, in school, then it gives me hope that maybe this whole world isn't just one big fake. There are people in the world that don't have big egos, that don't push you to be someone you aren't. That class period gave me hope that I won't mind growing up because if there are 28 kids like that in about 4,000 people...there has gotta be about 2 million in the United States.
We might be nerds, but one day there will be too many of us that you can't call us nerds, and maybe side conversations won't be frowned upon.
My blog is about side conversations. I know that they aren't polite and I'm really not a fan of them when I'm the teacher for my CCD class on Saturdays, but I have to hand it to this class when I say, we are not shallow-side conversation people...we're, for lack of a better word, nerds.
I first realized this while I was sitting in class this week. This was the day I decided not to talk as much because I shouldn't be using my vocal chords. I'm always listening. I'm a gossiper, I eavesdrop, and when I'm not talking...I can listen a lot better. So that day I was listening intently for anything interesting. The class discussion was nice, but not everyone decides to say how they really feel outloud to the class. I realized that people were actually talking about the book.
This has nothing against the book or the class, but normally students talk about something other than class when they're having a side conversation. What happens in other classes is that people talk about their weekend, a different class, their clothes, a stupid SNL skit, but that is not the case with us. Our class is a bunch of people who talk about the actual assignment in a side conversation.
This might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but to me it is a very big deal. I live in a town where the best jeans and hair are what's on most people's minds. This thing that I noticed in class shows me that in a lot of black and white, there will always be a sliver of color. I also understand that what I just said is probably the most cheesy thing I will ever say in my life. If a bunch of teenagers are ok with actually talking about school, in school, then it gives me hope that maybe this whole world isn't just one big fake. There are people in the world that don't have big egos, that don't push you to be someone you aren't. That class period gave me hope that I won't mind growing up because if there are 28 kids like that in about 4,000 people...there has gotta be about 2 million in the United States.
We might be nerds, but one day there will be too many of us that you can't call us nerds, and maybe side conversations won't be frowned upon.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Captured Thought: Extracurriculars
The thought that has been in my head for a while now has been about the future, but more specifically...extracurriculars. And especially homework during extracurriculars. Although I might seem biased because I'm doing this blog while sitting in the theory room during a V-show performance, I'm actually not. This blog or rant will probably benefit most people in our class.
For most things, teachers say that they won't take "I had volleyball" or "I had choir" as an excuse for undone work. If it is something that should have been done in class or was assigned a while ago, then I agree with the teachers, but things due the next day can be reconsidered. May I also assume that most teachers want their students to be successful in life? With that assumption, I will now go on the rant as to why teachers should allow the occasional missed or not done homework assignment.
For us to do well in life, in this era, we must keep every second of our day booked. It could have sports, V-show, dance, or stamp collecting, but whatever it is-our lives are full with it. So that means that on some occasions, we probably won't have time to take our 7 hour and 15 minute life back home with us because we are already trying to get far in life with something else. If my assumption is correct about teachers, then teachers should probably understand that sometimes we can't do your homework assignment because we already have our day filled. We are trying to be successful in our extra stuff as well as school, but to do really well in school, sometimes you have to take out extracurriculars and then colleges write you off as not being well rounded enough.
As well as putting us ahead in the collegiate world, it also could be better for our health. Most sports help relieve stress as well as keep you in shape. Most people I know are now comparing how long they stayed up at night doing homework after all their extra things after school. If sports help relieve stress, then what are we doing trying to put back all the stress by staying up late worrying about all our teachers being upset if we don't have something completed, or not the teachers, just the idea that bad grades lead to bad college then to a bad life so we might as well not be doing anything at all.
I'm pretty confident that most or even all would want us to do stuff during the school day. But when I say day, I actually mean the 7 hours and 15 minutes we're at school. Doesn't that seem like an extremely large amount of time to learn during the day anyway? So why then are we adding another 5 hours afterwards?
I guess what I'm really saying is that I realized that sometimes extracurriculars should come first before homework because maybe going to sleep earlier will help us learn more in class, in fact it probably will.
Welcome to the world of well rounded people that will die 30 years early because we're having more heart attacks on Monday from stress and dying from sleep deprivation.
For most things, teachers say that they won't take "I had volleyball" or "I had choir" as an excuse for undone work. If it is something that should have been done in class or was assigned a while ago, then I agree with the teachers, but things due the next day can be reconsidered. May I also assume that most teachers want their students to be successful in life? With that assumption, I will now go on the rant as to why teachers should allow the occasional missed or not done homework assignment.
For us to do well in life, in this era, we must keep every second of our day booked. It could have sports, V-show, dance, or stamp collecting, but whatever it is-our lives are full with it. So that means that on some occasions, we probably won't have time to take our 7 hour and 15 minute life back home with us because we are already trying to get far in life with something else. If my assumption is correct about teachers, then teachers should probably understand that sometimes we can't do your homework assignment because we already have our day filled. We are trying to be successful in our extra stuff as well as school, but to do really well in school, sometimes you have to take out extracurriculars and then colleges write you off as not being well rounded enough.
As well as putting us ahead in the collegiate world, it also could be better for our health. Most sports help relieve stress as well as keep you in shape. Most people I know are now comparing how long they stayed up at night doing homework after all their extra things after school. If sports help relieve stress, then what are we doing trying to put back all the stress by staying up late worrying about all our teachers being upset if we don't have something completed, or not the teachers, just the idea that bad grades lead to bad college then to a bad life so we might as well not be doing anything at all.
I'm pretty confident that most or even all would want us to do stuff during the school day. But when I say day, I actually mean the 7 hours and 15 minutes we're at school. Doesn't that seem like an extremely large amount of time to learn during the day anyway? So why then are we adding another 5 hours afterwards?
I guess what I'm really saying is that I realized that sometimes extracurriculars should come first before homework because maybe going to sleep earlier will help us learn more in class, in fact it probably will.
Welcome to the world of well rounded people that will die 30 years early because we're having more heart attacks on Monday from stress and dying from sleep deprivation.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Connection: Postmodernism and Olympic Phone commercials
I'm not sure if you've seen the phone commercials where they say that you can watch the olympics live off your phone, but I have. I couldn't find a video online, but here's the overveiw of what most of those commercials look like. You hear someone talking while you see their hand and a phone in their hand. On the phone there is video of a figure skater or a skiir doing what they do best. While we're hearing the person and seeing the phone, we are also seeing the surroundings move. The surroundings also move with what the athlete is doing if you pay close enough attention. I found this commercial post-modern in two ways.
The first way is the distant to close feeling. Now, with our phones we can watch something that's thousands of miles away. Sure, we're used to the idea that we can watch the Olympics at home when it's thousands of miles away, but now we can do that while moving around in all sorts of directions. No matter where we are, or what we're doing, we can watch the only Bermuda athlete compete against one of the many American athletes. We no longer have to be couch potatoes to see the olympics, we can be at work or in the halls of school. Just think about it. The world just got a little bit smaller.
The second thing I noticed was the multiple views. We weren't just seeing the olympics through one screen. We were seeing it through 2, and some can argue 3. It can be two screens because we are looking through our TVs and then the phone, but the three views are the TV, the person holding the phone's eyes, and then the phone itself. If that doesn't give you some sort of multiple viewpoint, then what does? Also, when I talked about the surroundings, I was being serious. The way that the surroundings move is very subjective to the way the athlete moves. It's not so obvious that you can tell what sport is being shown by just looking at the surroundings, but it does help give you a more inclusive feel to watching the olympics while on your phone.
I personally feel that although we're living in a postmodern world, some things are just more post modern than others; this being one of them. We can't stop this train now, though.
The first way is the distant to close feeling. Now, with our phones we can watch something that's thousands of miles away. Sure, we're used to the idea that we can watch the Olympics at home when it's thousands of miles away, but now we can do that while moving around in all sorts of directions. No matter where we are, or what we're doing, we can watch the only Bermuda athlete compete against one of the many American athletes. We no longer have to be couch potatoes to see the olympics, we can be at work or in the halls of school. Just think about it. The world just got a little bit smaller.
The second thing I noticed was the multiple views. We weren't just seeing the olympics through one screen. We were seeing it through 2, and some can argue 3. It can be two screens because we are looking through our TVs and then the phone, but the three views are the TV, the person holding the phone's eyes, and then the phone itself. If that doesn't give you some sort of multiple viewpoint, then what does? Also, when I talked about the surroundings, I was being serious. The way that the surroundings move is very subjective to the way the athlete moves. It's not so obvious that you can tell what sport is being shown by just looking at the surroundings, but it does help give you a more inclusive feel to watching the olympics while on your phone.
I personally feel that although we're living in a postmodern world, some things are just more post modern than others; this being one of them. We can't stop this train now, though.
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