Hipsters and Brits

I love tea. I almost always drink at least a cup a day. There are just so many flavors, there's a flavor for everyone. Currently I'm obsessed with Tazo Zen tea, which is a mint green tea. It's phenomenal.
I've gotten into the habit of judging teas based on their appearance. I'm the kind of person that usually likes things neat, simple, and clean, so Tazo tea is just more appealing to my eyes. It just looks so neat and hipster.

Maybe it's just the color green. I like that too. This has been my nail color this week (not my nails):

For some reason, people who drink tea regularly are usually put into one of two stereotypical groups: Hipsters or British people. I understand how tea is stereotypically a British thing (I mean, that's basically the base of the British stereotype), but why drinking tea is a hipster thing, I really just don't understand. Tumblr is just full of tea drinkers. Who knew.

The reason I decided to write about tea today is because I got this beauty for Christmas.

Yeah, that's right. Six different kinds of Tazo tea. I freaked a little bit. I'll probably have a mug full of one of these in my hand when I come to school on Tuesday. Oh, it's just gorgeous.

Risky Business

I was slightly afraid that my post about risk would be quite embarrassing, because I figured I'd be about the only one who isn't quite as risky as they could be. Then I looked through the posts that were already up, and basically I don't feel quite as embarrassed now.

That being said, as far as risks go, I don't take a lot. The biggest risk I've taken in the past few months is probably going on stage for Brigadoon performances. If someone would've told me 5 years ago that I would've been performing in fall musical at the high school, my face probably would've turned a shade of pink and I would've told you about how I could never do that. I would be too scared. My idea of risk in 6th grade was wearing my hair down (which I did maybe twice that year). So at least I've gained some amount of confidence in 5 or so years. I actually performed with the cast of Hello Dolly onstage at the Orpheum last year, in from of who knows how many people I didn't know. Basically that's what I consider a risk. I've never bungee-jumped or sky-dived (dove?) or anything cray like that. So that's my lack of experience with risk.

But Mrs. Cardona didn't ask about our risks in her blog she asked about more than that. So now I shall answer that.

I think it's good to risk something when the consequences if you don't "succeed" are something you can live with. If you are risking your life or multiple years in jail, I certainly would not take that risk. When you risk something, you can have a lot of different things at risk. It all depends on the situation. When I'm onstage, I risk forgetting my choreography, which could obviously lead to me looking like an idiot, but if someone saw me doing different choreography, it could also lead to them starting a cue at the wrong time, or if a spotlight judge was in the audience (depending on how badly I messed up, and how many people messed up because of me) it could be detrimental to our performance score (it probably wouldn't lead to the loss of an award or anything, but it wouldn't be helpful, that's for sure). Sometimes, though, risk feels great. Every performance, when I saw the fog start rolling onto the stage, and everyone began the first chorus of "Brigadoon", sure I got scared, but every single night, I couldn't help but let a smile creep across my face.

So yea, risk is scary, but if it's the right about of risk, it can be fun and enthralling, and absolutely worth it.

Pigfarts

Ok, well when Mrs. Cardona started describing "parody"today, two things popped into my head: SNL and AVPM.

Everyone's heard of SNL, but for those of you deprived children who haven't experienced A Very Potter Musical, it's basically a musical about the Harry Potter series, with many hilarious quirks thrown in. For example, Draco Malfoy, who is played by a girl, tends to roll on the ground when he talks and aspires to go to an intergalactic school for witchcraft and wizardry, Pigfarts. ( -1:45)

This musical doesn't seek to criticize society, as it's about a book series, but it does make some arguments about the books and movies. In one of their musical numbers, "Harry Freaking Potter", they mock the fame that Harry received once he found out he was a wizard and returned to the wizarding world.

(4:58)

p.s. Yes, I did have to find some way to work my Darren Criss obsession into at least one assignment in this class.

But in case this isn't a "suitable argument", there's also this comic that I found on theoatmeal.com comparing Thanksgiving as a child and adult. The argument is that there are very defined roles that ages play in holidays and that there are social expectations that go along with holidays. Boy, that's a great website. Here's part of it:

Online.

I honestly could not figure out what to write about for the longest time. I've been sitting at my computer for quite some time finding plenty of ways to amuse myself while trying to write this post. So I figured, why not just write about the internet? Thus, I will be writing about the internet.

I'm not implying that I spend a lot of time on the internet and am completely antisocial... that's only partly true. I kid.

Anyway, I spend the majority of my time online in 3 places: Facebook, blogs, and YouTube. 

Facebook is really not that interesting, so I really don't know why I check it as much as I do, let alone at all. I guess it's sometimes difficult to see your friends a lot during the school year, so if I want to know what they've been doing lately, I can just quickly look at their Facebook page. Of course I could (and do) text them, but then it takes a while for them to reply (I'm guilty of this) and you can't see their face when your texting them, and this is starting to sound creepy, but you know what I'm talking about, right? No? Then clearly you have a life and don't spend enough time on your computer.

Blogs. I love blogs. I don't read many blogspot blogs, unless I know the blogger personally, because I find that unless they are a big-shot-internet-famous phenomenon, then they write about things that are happening to them or that I just can't always relate to. But I do really enjoy reading my friend's blogs (and Mrs. Cardona's, of course)! Some people take on an entirely different voice on their blogs and write about things they're sometimes too afraid to say in person. That's one thing I find so interesting about the internet. It gives a lot of people a feeling of confidence.  I've seen plenty of blog posts (and Facebook and  Twitter posts, for that matter) that just really exposed people's feelings in a way I really doubt they would have done in person. I really respect people who do that, because I don't think I ever could. Even though no one really reads this blog, or my other blogspot, or my Tumblr, or probably my Facebook, I would just be so insanely afraid to put myself out there. Even if you just explore some of our class' blogs, you can find people doing this. Caroline C. had a really awesome post like that about a week ago that was really, REALLY well written, as well as open and brave. 

So blogs hold a lot of my attention. Tumblr holds most of mine, because I'm more of a visual person. If you have never been on Tumblr, A) you don't know what you're missing, and B) go look at it right now. If want a tumblog to start exploring through, oh look! Here's a convenient link to mine! Tumblr's so kewl.

Lastly, YouTube. I spend far too much time on YouTube. I don't actually have an account, so I'm not subscribed to any channels, but these are the channels I watch/check regularly: JennaMarbles, NigaHiga, Charlieissocoollike, EpicMealTime (I'm such a bro), Smosh (and their second channel, Ianh), Kingsley and plenty of others. I also listen to plenty of music on YouTube. I discovered my love for Florence and the Machine on YouTube, where I found two of my favorite songs. I also discovered my very favorite artist, Ellie Goulding, on YouTube, then went to see her in concert about a month after I heard her music for the first time. I watch my friend Alex's brilliant musical talent on YouTube as well (I think Max was in one of her videos). 

But most importantly, I watched Starkid's video's on YouTube. That is where I basically fell in love with Darren Criss. The theatre company he is a part of has four full-length, original musicals uploaded to YouTube in segments: A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel, MAMD, and Starship. When you find time, you should MUST watch them. If you don't you will never truly experience life to the fullest.

So sometimes, just sometimes, there's more than just cat videos on the internet. 

P.S. Who watched this week's episode of Glee? Can I just say Darren is a hobbit compared to Cory Monteith, as show in that scene where Blaine was all "menacing" and "tough". Also, the song they sang at the end? "We Are Young" by Fun.? I'm obsessed.

Through the Eyes of a Nervous Mother.

      I saw him the second he stepped into the road, his unkempt slacks sweeping the ground as he crossed slowly. It was easy to tell he didn’t fit in with the rest of the impatient individuals that huddled at the street corners of Manhattan, waiting to cross the road; even if it weren’t for his disheveled appearance—his shirt sleeve torn off, and hair hanging in ratted dreadlocks around is face—it was obvious by his leisurely jaunt that he was not rushed.  He advanced comfortably until he stopped, right by me. Right in front of my daughter’s stroller.  I don’t like to assume the worst, but having grown up in Manhattan, and having run into plenty of people who shared his look, I got nervous. I glanced at the light, hoping maybe it would change, and whatever would happen could be avoided. But color remained the same so I looked back, my hands nervously wringing the soft handle. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others standing with me looking anywhere but at the neglected man. One checked her phone, another played with his toe within his shining shoe. 

      The man remained stoic, and my nerves rose. I lifted my purse from my shoulder and jumbled through the mess until I found a neatly folded dollar. I extended it to the man, but there he rested, frozen, not even glancing at the pressed, green note. My daughter stirred in her stroller; she could feel the man’s gaze. It was unusual for someone like that to refuse money, so I moved forward, thrusting the bill closer to him, until finally, he reached very deliberately and lifted it from my hand.

P.S. This doesn't relate exactly to the story, but It relates to general compassion, so I figured maybe someone could find it interesting. I was bell-ringing for Y.E.S. with two friends at Byerly's yesterday, and about 45 minutes into it, we decided to go inside and buy something from Caribou to warm us up, so two of us went inside while the other stayed to ring the bell (there needs to be one person there at all times). So we were waiting at the counter, looking at the menu trying to decide what to drink, when a woman came up next to us. I told her she could go ahead because we were still deciding, but she said she was just waiting for her drink to be made. Then she asked us if we were the ones outside ringing the bell, and we told her yes, we just wanted a quick drink. She the said "Well, them I'm buying your drinks." We said it was okay, she didn't have to do that, but she insisted. She bought all three of us drinks, two hot chocolates and a latte. That is compassion. 

Positive Energy

1. Process analysis
2. Classification/division
3. Narration
4. Description
5. Definition
6. Comparison/Contrast  

You guys are so smart...

(I can definitely see how #1 could be description. I was a little broad with that one...)

Energy (or lack thereof)

Hopefully most of this makes sense, I'm running on a lack of energy right now from having so much fun at the football game last night. I'm using more of the superficial definition of energy for these, like having a lot of energy and being energized, as opposed to cosmic energy or more of the supernatural type of energy.

1. When someone needs energy, and they don't have time to sleep, they usually resort to consuming a lot of sugar and energy drinks. This usually starts when someone begins to get tired and lack energy, but must stay awake because they need to get something done (i.e. they need to finish a project or do a performance of a show) so they get an energy drink or candy bar, eat it, and then, depending on the amount, go a certain amount of crazy until they crash when the artificial energy wears off.

2. I find that while there are many ways to get energy, people usually go about it in two main ways. I like to call these ways "naturally" and "artificially". Naturally gaining energy involves recharging your body by getting a good amount of sleep every night, and giving your body the nutrients it needs by eating healthy food. Artificial energy is gained when one can't or simply doesn't sleep. One must then rely on manufactured foods such as sugar and energy supplements.

3. At 4 in the morning, most normal people just want to sleep. However, when you have a dozen 13-year-old girls at a sleepover in the middle of August, in a house without air conditioning, sleep doesn't happen. I think we went through a stage of exhaustion that night, but when we just COULD NOT sleep, we just stopped trying and woke ourselves up more. We were all but bouncing off the walls, playing truth or dare, shoving ice cubes down each other's pajamas to cool each other off. That was the only night I've pulled an "all-nighter".

4. When you feel energized, you know it. Your eyes are open wide, you're alert, and you don't feel that need to put your head down on the nearest soft surface and sleep for all eternity. You can actually comprehend what your teacher is saying, unlike those days where you get two hours of sleep and you're physically in class, but your brain is back home tucked in under your favorite blanket. 

5. Most people know of Einsteins famous equation "e=mc^2" (sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush, and I can't figure out how to get the squared symbol) which means "energy equals mass times the speed of light, squared". That is how science calculates energy. They say energy is "the ability to do work", which is very true outside of the science community as well. No energy usually means no work done. 

6. Energy can sometimes be similar to spirit. If you want to think a little more "out-there" and paranormal, a spirit and energy can be very similar ideas. But pertaining more to the everyday definition of energy, spirit is much different. If a person seems to have spirit they usually seem very peppy, and excited, often towards a specific event or idea. Such as spirit days or week at Wayzata, when everyone is so excited for Homecoming that they dress up in different, ridiculous ways everyday (guilty...). Energy is more of an overall feeling, like you can feel energized in general, but not really towards a certain event, person, idea, etc. 

Snow.

I know if you've looked anywhere on social media sites in the last 36 hours, you've probably seen that word about a thousand times, but I'm going to go ahead and use it some more.

Snow and I have a complicated relationship. Of course, it's gorgeous and beautiful and radiant and a whole bunch of other overused adjectives. I really enjoy photography and looking at pictures (even though I suck at actually taking them) and about this time, the internet just explodes with hipster pictures of snow. Tumblr feeds essentially turn into this multiplied by 1000:

(all pictures found here)

Of course, these are all gorgeous pictures, which is why I like snow. It just makes everything seem more pristine.

Until it starts to get muddy.

So in terms of look, snow's great. Other than that, it sucks. It takes me a solid 5 minutes to take off or put on everything I have to wear to school everyday in the winter to protect my nose from falling off it's so cold. You might be thinking "Hey! Don't blame the snow for that. The cold is at fault for that!" Yes, it's true. I don't start looking like Rudolph from just the snow, but wherever there's snow, there's cold weather. That's just how nature works unfortunately. 

Snow also gets in your way. After a few snow falls, my family has to shovel our driveway if we don't want to make an accidental snow angel while walking to the car. (You know, because we would fall because the snow was too deep and when you fall in the snow you make an imprint. I'm ashamed that I had to explain that, but I just read through it again and realized that not a very smooth train of thought.) I'm a lazy person. I would far rather be sitting on my couch drinking tea and watching "The Santa Claus(e?)" than shoveling, but unfortunately snow prohibits me from doing that. Also, snow just causes way too many car crashes. 

Basically, you can't win or lose with snow.

Ok, you mostly lose. 

First person to count how many times I used the word "snow" in this post gets to shovel my driveway. Just kidding, don't do that. 

Totes McGoats

X2, pg. 133

Slang, to me, it simply intriguing. If you listen to any conversation I have with some of my really close friends, you'd be disgusted by the amount of abbrevs (an abbreviation for the words abbreviation, it's like Inception for words) we use. Most of these spawn from inside jokes, and we rarely use them seriously. One of my friends and I actually keep a list of stupid slang words we hear that we want to try to use more often, just because they sound funny. This is some of the "words" we had:

Totes
Maybs
Probs
Fo shiz
Bomb diggs
Cool beans
Awk sauce
Btdubs
True dat
Errbody
Laters
Super-mega-foxy-awesome-hot
Supes
Presh
Bombdotcom
Rofl waffle
Yuppers

Swoon sauce
Dece
Supes awk
Awktopus
Yayzies

I'm sure if you heard me say any of these words, any respect had for me would go out out the window. And that's kind of the point. When I'm talking with my friends, we say stupid stuff like that for the purpose of making each other laugh, because that's what we do when we're together. I understand that there's a time and place for these expressions, though, and that's why you'll never hear me say something like bombdotcom in class. I would try to look into the origins of these words, but I'm not going to for two reasons. One, most of them are fairly obscure and ridiculous, even for slang words, and two, I'm 99% sure they all came from some video or meme somewhere on the internet. 

I asked a few of my friends (not just the ones I use these ridiculous sayings with) what colloquial words they used and what they thought of slang in general. All of them said that slang doesn't really bother them, and they use it a fair amount. Some specific words they use are totes, gonna, wanna, deuces (hahahahahaha) and wtf. I am guilty of using all of these, so......

Moving right along to the second bullet point of this X2, there have been plenty of instances when I have said something and immediately recognized its stupidity and told the person I was talking to to never let me use that again. I mean, if you said anything from the list above, wouldn't you have the same reaction? 

One if the expressions I use the heck out of is "totes". I really don't have an explanation as to why I use it so much, I just do.

Words that are overused just become space-fillers to me. Like my overuse of totes has led it to become meaningless to me. For example, if someone says something in a conversation and I don't really know how to respond, sometimes (if I know them well enough that I find it ok to sound absolutely uneducated in front of them) I'll just say, "Totes McGoats." And I have absolutely no clue as to why I keep using it. I really don't.

On to the final bullet point. I already kind of said this earlier, but all of the teenagers I asked really didn't mind slang as long as it wasn't offensive to anyone. I didn't ask my parents in an attempt to avoid the half-hour lecture I would've promptly been given. 

I guess I don't really know what I'd tell people to allay their fears about their slang use. I mean other that telling them that if you actually have a fear of your "naughty habit of using slang", you need help. 

I know this whole post probably makes it seem like all I do is talk like a twitter-obsessed, uneducated teen girl. I promise you this is not the case. Psh, I don't even have a twitter. But seriously, when I use stupid expressions like that with my friends, it's in a mocking manner. We do have semi-intelligent conversations from time to time as well. SEMI-intelligent.

p.s. When I attempted to spell-check this (ohemgee, spellcheck?! yea, I know it's not going to solve all my problems, but it will catch things like the fact that I spelled "expressions" wrong...embarassing...) the amount of yellow highlighter nearly gave me a heartattack until I remembered half the words in this were not actual words.

Show Week, Ladies and Gentleman.

I feel like at least one of these open-topic blog posts that I write should be about something completely spontaneous and random. I shouldn't just write about things that are happening in my life, even though I'm obviously thinking about them because they're actually happening.

Yea, maybe I'll try that next time, because this week, I feel kind of obligated to talk about what's happening this week for me. Mostly because it's basically the only think that I will be spending time on other than school.

BRIGADOON (that's the fall musical for all of you who pay no attention to school events or the giant posters hung all around the school)

Basically everyone who I tell about the musical has never heard of it, which is understandable. I mean I'd never heard of it until Mr. Doering announced that it would be the show this fall. Mrs. Cardona knew though. Props to her.
Anyway, the story is about a small town called Brigadoon, in Scotland, that disappears every night, and then reappears 100 years later. But that 100 years is only a night for it's inhabitants. I know that's confusing, but stay with me. One day, two Americans who went on a hunting trip to Scotland, stumble upon the town on the one day that it is there for 100 years. They get acquainted with some of the townspeople (some more than others...) and...well... I don't know how much I want to give away, so I'm just going to leave it at that. But there's plenty of amazing singing, fun dancing, and phenomenal acting, so everyone should come see it :) (OH MY GOSH AN EMOTICON!?!@!%*(@%&#!!!)

If you guys want to more about the movie version, click here. There was also an article about it in the school newspaper on Friday. You can get tickets and more info on the school website here. 

This week the cast has rehearsal until sometime after 6:00 tomorrow (I feel like it's like 7, but that's probably way off. I should probably check after I post this),  rehearsal until 9 Tuesday, the senior citizens performance Wednesday, and then shows Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It's going to be a long week, to say the least, but totally worth it. I wish I could tell you about all of the fun traditions we have and what goes on backstage, but I think it's best if what happens behind the scenes, stays there.
I really some of you decide to go, and that I see you in the audience!

P.S. I've been keeping up with the blog I chose to follow at the beginning of the term, and WOW! The photos on the blog have such a spread and are just really amazing. You should look at them here!

I'm Just Like Every Other Teenager.

Focus is essentially nonexistent for me. Always.

It's not just homework, I just can't concentrate on anything. Even if I'm procrastinating on homework on, say, Facebook, after a little while, I get bored of it, and go on Tumblr. Then that gets boring and I check my e-mail. And there's rarely anything exciting there, because lets be honest here, what teenager uses e-mail to connect with their friends anymore? None. So, naturally I get bored of that and go back to Facebook. And the cycle continues.

I'm basically just like every other teenager when it comes to focus.

So on a normal school night when I'm writing a paper, this is how it typically goes. I get home from musical rehearsal at 6. I eat couple (ok, a lot of) snacks, then go on the computer for around half an hour to check all of the social media sites. Then my family eats dinner. After dinner, it's around 7:30. So I go up to my room to do my homework.

Now, going up to my room is really a terrible idea if I'm trying to accomplish homework, because my room is so messy, that the only clear spot to do homework is on the bed, which makes it a heck of a lot easier to fall asleep on my homework. But staying downstairs really wouldn't be the best idea either, because, as anyone who knows my family understands, my family is quite loud. And, sound carries quite a lot in our house. So really, I'm screwed no matter where I go in my house.

After I've got out my homework, found a sharp pencil, and sat down on my bed to start working, my phone usually goes off or I have a sudden urge to go online via my i-pod. So if I'm trying really hard to focus, I'll turn my phone on silent and throw it across my room so I don't get distracted. Also, I'll turn off my i-pod. So I work for a while, trying my hardest not to let my mind wander. If it's 2 in the morning and I'm still buried up to my eyeballs in unfinished homework, I'll take a shower, and if that's already been done, I'll turn on my radio or use my i-pod, and (prepare to judge) dance around my room like a crazy person. This is a daily occurrence for me, and while it wakes me up, it leaves me quite unfocused, because it exposes me to my biggest focusing weakness: music.

I could write an entire blog post (or book, for that matter) about how music distracts me, but I'll leave it at this: IT IS TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO FOCUS WHEN THERE IS MUSIC PLAYING. Any kind of music, whether I've heard it or not. It just doesn't work.

So that's my usual process. However when I was writing this paper in particular, it was quite a different situation because, as anyone who read my last blog post knows, I was in Orlando with the marching band. So most of my paper-writing process happened in an airplane or at 1 in the morning after a full day at Epcot.

On the way to Orlando, I tried (I'm using the word tried loosely here) to start writing my paper, but realized fairly quickly that it was simply not going to happen. So instead, I went insane with highlighters on the original article, and tried my best to make it so writing my paper later would be easier. And it certainly helped, but writing a paper is writing a paper, and when it came time to actually do it, I just had to write. Nothing else, just focus and write like mad.

And that was how my rhetorical analysis paper was made.

Band Zombies

Since the weekend topic is open, I may as well write about literally the only thing that happened for me this weekend. That's right, marching band trip to Orlando, Florida.

And it was sufficiently bomb.

Let me back up and start off by saying I love marching band. I was about two seconds from dropping it after freshman year, and my life would absolutely suck if that had happened. The term "band geek" is totally applicable, but really, it's a compliment. I'm actually a terrible musician, and I don't care too terribly much about concert band, but marching band is indescribably fun. 

To understand what band is like for me, you have to know that I'm a percussionist. This means I am in drum line. Anyone who is actually in marching band and reading this probably just screamed "CULT!" because that's what the rest of the band essentially thinks of us as. We even have matching sunglasses.  We certainly lived up to the "cult" title on the trip, because every moment of my trip was spent with almost all of the drum line members who went. I really don't care what the rest of the band thinks, because I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. They are all hilarious. 

Moral of the story: it you're not on drum line, you're missing out. 

Besides drum line being a cult, normal, tourist-y things happened too. We went to Harry Potter world (yes, I had a butterbeer). I went on the Dueling Dragons ride. Twice. But apparently it's been renamed to something more lame. I took lots of pictures, which, if you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll probably be able to see this weekend. And it was loads and loads of fun. Only bad thing (that is kind of good too): Everyone who went on the trip is basically a zombie, they're so tired. This could be a good thing, because (and I can say this based of personal experiences) band kids get weird when they're tired. Meredith was loopy, the center snare was an awkward kind of grumpy, and rehearsal was basically an inside-joke fest.

Well, I'm going to go attempt to get some sleep, so I don't look like I just crawled out of a grave tomorrow morning. Brainsss....

Welcome to my weekend. 

I can see both sides.

As I'm watching Two Million Minutes, and reading the articles-- mostly "For Once Blame the Students"-- the instinctive part of me want to be like "WELL, SCREW YOU TOO!"

But, of course, that would be a little irrational.

While I want to get mad, and think "That's just a generalization. It doesn't apply to me," I  realize it actually does. I mean, I'm terrible at focusing. I always promise myself I'll work really hard on homework during the weekend and spend a lot of time understanding it, but every time I make that promise to myself, it ends up being a complete and utter failure. For example:

Things I've already done this weekend:
- Catch up on the most recent episodes of Castle and Glee. Ok, and Modern Family.
- Spend too much time on Facebook and Tumblr.
- Go to a hip-hop class.
- Volunteer at/ watch part of the girls varsity soccer game.

Things I have planned to still do this weekend:
- Hang out with my friend/go to a haunted house
- Possibly go to a bonfire
- Reherse for 7 hours for the Marching Band Orlando trip (This was not a choice, may I just say)
- Pack for Orlando

And of course, I'll try to fit as much homework into there as possible. That's how it usually goes for me. Plan all of the fun stuff I'm going to do, and assume my homework will magically get done inbetween it all.

It's not a very good system.

And I wish I could say that I'm the only one who's doing this, but I know I'm not. Most of my friends have the exact same strategy. Some of them do the same thing, but still manage to get all their homework done, study, and get A's on everything. I call these people freaks of nature, because it doesn't seem humanly possible to do everything they do. (I suppose I should really call them "Super People" in accordance with my rhetorical analysis article.) Aside from these people, most of us are just procrastinating like pros, and finding average ways to scramble along, but not really giving it our all.

So, in regards to studying and focus, yea, India and China beat us any day. But, based on the documentary, they didn't seem to do a whole lot aside from that. I know the video couldn't show us what they did every day, so maybe we didn't get to see some of the other fun activities they did (or maybe that was purposeful), but they were so focused on studying and maybe singing, ballet, soccer and violin, that they didn't have any time to just LIVE. I'm sure if you ask any kid in our school what they did over the weekend, probably 90% of them went out and did something, whether it was going to a sporting event with friends (I heard Wayzata won the football game!), taking a dance class (Brigadoon hip-hop, maybe?) or just relaxing with their friends or family.

So as important as studying is, sometimes I just want to live and enjoy life. I know their is a time to focus, and screwing around can only happen in moderation, but just look outside right now. Would a stroll be worth the 15 minutes of time you take away from homework?

Not-So-Obscure Music

I an efforts to make a post that people won't mind reading, I decided to focus on the most generic, overused topic that EVERYONE can relate to:

MUSIC.


For the most part, my taste in music includes your generic pop music (Lets see how many times I can use the word generic in a single post! Just kidding, lets not). But talking about just that type of music for an entire would post be pretty much be the most boring thing to read ever, because it's all so similar. So, instead I'm going to talk about some of the music I like that hasn't been on the iTunes top 100 (mostly). 


Of course anyone who knows me outside of class knows that I'm going to start by talking about Ellie Goulding. I'm not saying that her music isn't popular, because she certainly has a huge following, but you certainly wouldn't hear her music on KDWB of 96.3 NOW or whatever. Her album was actually in the top 5 on iTunes for a short while (I know, I know. "You just said you WEREN'T going to talk about music that was in the top 100 on iTunes!" Yea, well, I lied.). Debatably her most popular song thus far has been "Lights", which I love, of course, but my favorite song off of her U.S. album is probably "Starry Eyed". Her voice just has a sound so different from most of the top artists today. 

If you knew I was going to talk about Ellie Goulding, then you also know that I went to her live concert this summer at the Fine Line Music Cafe. I've only been to one other concert in the last 5 years (Glee Live tour. Yep, make your judgements now. It was mostly for Darren Criss) and the Glee concert was almost all lip-syncing. Sad, isn't it? But Ellie Goulding's concert was completely live. And the venue was a lot more intimate (Target Center vs. a music cafe) and it was just an altogether more personal experience. I was like 30 feet from Ellie Goulding. It was great. Here's a picture I took at her concert.  Right down below these words.

Alright, beyond Ellie Goulding, I don't have a ton, but at least a couple other songs I've really enjoyed lately. There's one called "Skin and Bones" by Romance on a Rocketship (Their acronym is ROAR. Awesome.). I don't know how much I like the lead singer's voice, because it sounds kind of auto-tuned, but I just really like the song. Its cute in an instantly-gets-stuck-in-your-head kind of way. The last song is "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford and Sons. I have to give my friend Ally credit for making me like this song, because at first I thought it was terribly boring when she played it for me, but then I heard it again and loved it. I know Mumford and Sons is actually really popular, but, like Ellie Goulding, you won't hear them on KDWB or 96.3 NOW. You will, however, hear them multiple times a day on Cities 97. I'm starting to like that radio station more and more every day. 

Well that's about all for my mildly-obscure music (and my mildly, I mean barely). I know the layout kind of (really) suck, but I'm working on figuring it out. Hopefully you learned about a new song, or at least recognized a good one. Thanks!

p.s. Sorry for stupid technical difficulties!

Internet frustration

Caroline is unable to post now due to internet outage.  This is her Dad posting from her Grandpa's home.  Will advise when service is available at home.

(Wow, my Dad is so formal. Sorry about that. long explanation of why my post wasn't up by 4: I started working on most post earlier today (like 12ish) and as soon as I tried to embed a video, my websites stopped loading and nothing connected to the internet worked. So my Dad (who knows how to fix things like this) was at my Grandpa's house visiting him. So I called him and asked if he could tell me how to fix it, and I did what he said, but nothing happened. So I waited for him to come home to fix it (I didn't want to ask him to come home right away, because my Grandma passed away this week, so I figured my Dad should probably stay with my Grandpa for as long as he could) and then  he did as soon as he got home and now it's up. Sorry! p.s. I'm editing this after the internet started working at my house, not magically from my Grandpas. Thanks for understanding!)

Audience, Audience, Audience

First, I suppose I'll address Obama's appearance during his "Back to School" speech. I looked up what the colors of ties have to do with mood, and while I couldn't find what stripes meant (granted I didn't look that hard), I did find what gray (or silver) and white meant separately, because it looks like those are the colors of his tie.

"White ties:

White ties are said to be the Queen of all neckties. White is the traditional color of ties when ties made it into the fashion world in France during the 17th century. White is a color of purity and neutrality. Judges in Germany for example are required to wear white ties to court. When matched with a solid black dress shirt and black suit, the white tie has more of a “gangster” image on the other hand.

Gray neckties:

Gray is men’s favorite suit color. Gray is said to be solid, conservative, and timeless. For neckties, gray is most common in the winter. Silver ties popular ties for formal events during warm weather or during the day."       (source)

So I suppose the gray/silver mixed with the white might mean that he was going for a neutral look (as he wasn't focusing on sided politics, but rather the success of children) and possibly also because he wanted to appear solid, as a role model or something like that.

Alright, now on to the actual presentation and content of the speech. The thing I noticed most about the whole speech was that the language he used was so fitting to younger people. The very first word he said was "hey". Not "hello", not "welcome" or anything like that. Simply "hey". "Omigosh, I say "hey" to my friends too! That's so cool! The president is JUST LIKE me!" might be (and over-exaggerated version of) the reaction that he was hoping to get. He also used phrases like "Now , if you promise not to tell anybody, I'll let you in on a little secret," which shows how he is trying to be more personal and less formal as well. These both show how he really focuses on who is audience is.

He also expresses his purpose well. It is very obvious that his main goal is to motivate students to do their best and work hard both in and out of school. He uses the word "future" a lot (maybe as a scare tactic if you're someone like me) probably to emphasize how much our actions now impact what will happen to not only us, but our nation, later in our lives.

In terms of signposts, I noticed one of the first when he said "...so I want to talk to you about meeting that responsibility. It starts with... " which clearly denotes that he is about to expand upon previous ideas. I didn't notice too terribly much repetition (certainly not as much as MLK at least) but I noticed a little bit of figurative language, such as "sometimes you have to color outside of the lines" (which, but the way, I laughed out loud when he said that). He wasn't necessarily too dramatic in his speech, but I suppose that's because the issue wasn't quite as dramatic as an issue that's killing people right and left (though school certainly seems like it's attempting to kill my social life).

I guess what's left now is delivery. With his delivery of the speech, he was very good about not being monotone and changing his facial expression a lot. Especially at the beginning, he was very smiley as he was greeting everyone, and then as his topic got more serious, so did his face. I did notice, however, that he said a lot of "uhs".

And I think that's about it, EXCEPT,  I have to acknowledge the fact that he talked specifically about musicals and marching band coming together :)

I don't get it.

Ummm... what?

^^My reaction in a nutshell to the Jim Crow Laws.

I was actually surprised as I read over the list of Jim Crow Laws that Mrs. Cardona provided us with. Maybe it's because I tend to zone out in history class, but I thought these laws would have outlined much worse treatment for African-American people. With the exception of about four, all of the laws set basically just separated white people from black people. I realize, of course, that this separation is really called segregation, and led to terrible treatment of black people because of this stupid thing called "racism", but they didn't explicitly state that black people were to be treated in a worse manner.

The laws were all appalling, nonetheless. There must have been seven or eight laws about inter-racial marriage in that list alone! I really can't imagine what it would have been like to live through that time period, black or white. I especially can't understand what was going on in the heads of the white people who just sat there and watched it happened. It's so frustrating to me that people could watch other people, just like them only with the skin a different color, suffer, and not have just the basic freedoms that they did. It's disgusting. It really pains me to sit here and think about the fact that this really happened. It's just so preposterous.

How could they be so HEARTLESS?

"Yes, saucers!"

     As usual, I procrastinated on my homework. So when everyone got the packet with short stories in class on Friday, I listened to then read through them and marvel at the fact that they were actually enjoyable to read. Annie actually laughed out loud multiple times while sitting next to me. So when I started reading the packet today, I had high expectations. So I started with the first story (obviously,  my seemingly-OCD personality wouldn't let it happen any other way) and, while it was amusing, I was far from laughing out loud or physically showing any emotion, even though I was alone in my room and could've toppled off of my bed laughing so hard for all I cared. The following stories were good as well (I use good as an understatement to help with the drama I'm attempting to build  here. They were definitely more interesting than 99% of our required readings for school.). Then I got to the last one.
     I loved it. Throughout the whole story I could picture a four-year old simply excited by these words. I have a younger brother who's 10 years old now, but I remember how goofy he was when he was younger. So I was really picturing my brother getting all worked up over the words. For some reason, though, as I was reading, I kept thinking that when the author found out that these words weren't what they were "supposed" to be, he would be angry, but I just loved that it made happy instead. Debatably my favorite line was probably "And so my eyes became saucers. Yes, saucers!" The fact that he oh-so-casually states the level of enthusiasm he had, and then gets excited about his reaction is just so great. I think the reason that I'm so drawn to this piece is that I can really feel the author's personality. I love stories like that where you can really tell that what they're saying is more than just black text on dull white paper.

So adorable!

p.s. I know in your latest post, Mrs. Cardona, you said something about people screwing with the times, and that's what is happening to me, but totally on accident. Right now it says I'm posting this at almost 3:00, when it's actually almost 5:00. I didn't do this on purpose (obviously, or else I probably wouldn't be writing this to tell you) but I'm trying to switch it to our time zone right now (and failing miserably, but trying my best!!)

Why I Write

I kind of covered a bit of this in my essay about reading (of course, only Mrs. Cardona would know that), but my reasons for writing aren't exactly exciting. When I started reading when I was little, I fell in love with the concept of stories. My life has always been quite mundane, so stories kind of allowed me to experience something unusual and exhilarating for a bit of a change. My fourth and fifth grade teacher was a puppateer along with being a teacher so she told stories nearly nonstop in her class, and I couldn't get enough of it. The only reason I've been able to stand history classes is because I like hearing the stories of what happened to all of these important people.

It makes sense, then, that when I write, I tend to write more of a story. Most of my teachers say I have no problem adding "voice" to my papers. The whole concept of a story really became a passion for me almost on accident. I didn't start writing short stories or keeping a journal or anything (though I maybe should have) but I got involved in theater (which I would consider involved with stories) and I started blogging. 

So a lot of the why I write is because, well I have to. It's graded. And A's don't look bad on a college application. But blogging and any other writing I do usually happens for one of three reasons: I'm trying to be at least a bit entertaining, I'm bored, or I just need to get my thoughts out. For a while I was thinking that writing would be something I really wanted to do as a profession, and while I've broadened my horizons a bit, I don't think I'll every stop enjoying writing.

First Post

I really don't know what to write here.

I have another blog that's a tumblr and really casual, more photo-oriented (in my opinion) and altogether different from this website, so I feel like I should write using less abbreviations. I'm thinking things like "too kewl" and "fur shur"  probably wouldn't be a good idea on a blog that's getting graded in some sense.

I would link to my tumblr, but like I said, that's a completely different story, and pretty boring.

Well, essentially, this is my new blog. If you want to know a bit more about me, there is an "About Me" tab conveniently. Thanks for reading? 

Ugh, this is so different.

Also, no judgement on the title. I'm not exactly what you would call a "really creative person".