To Blog or Not to Blog

                “The time has come” the walrus said, “to talk of many things.”

It is time to talk about blogging. All my life I never really thought much about blogging. All I knew was that people who had too much time doing nothing liked to write about doing nothing on the internet so that all the other people doing nothing could read it. Then the movie “Julie and Julia” came out and I realized that sometimes people blog to talk of things that they like or that are important to them. Though it wasn’t exactly my idea to start a blog, it has been interesting thinking of things that I want to write about. The only problem is that there are things that I cannot write because I know people will be seeing them. A blog is not a personal thing, but some people put their deepest darkest secrets onto public internet sites. I need to remind myself that there are ways to conceal ones identity when writing, but personally I don’t want the world knowing my every thought.

I have been told by countless people to write every day. Some say that I don’t need to write about my day detail for detail but as long as I write at least a sentence I’ll be better off.  Blogging is different than keeping a journal or a diary. Some people can write every day, but I can’t. I probably could find time to write 200 word posts each day, but at the moment I am more concerned with sleep. Blogging to me is not an everyday thing. I will try and do it if there is something exciting going on, but even then it doesn’t work out so well. It seems like when something exciting does happen, I will be out there telling people about it in person, rather than to a computer screen. Nevertheless when I do get down to blogging, I can usually pull something together. I have tried countless times to start a journal, but none of them have more than a month worth of entries. Maybe for this reason blogs are a better solution.

One good thing about blogs is that you can never lose them.

One bad thing is that you can’t wright unless internet or a computer is present.

Good thing: Very easy to post.

Bad thing: Not easy to personalize too much.

Good thing: The blogs display can be whatever way I like it to be.

Bad thing: Typos.

Good thing: Spell check.

It seems that blogging has ups and down, but then again everything does. And I must admit that my blogging has turned out much more successful than my journal writing.

                                                                                                                                                                      

Little Brother

                I am an older sister. People say that older siblings have a lot of responsibility regarding younger siblings. This is usually true, except for the fact that I have an older sibling as well. My older sister is the one who looks out for me and my younger brother. Usually this is a good thing, but not always. I love my siblings dearly, but it’s not always a happy Brady Bunch family around here. When my sister and I were younger we used to fight all the time. My brother was just a baby and hardly able to talk, but we would fight over which one of us he liked more. It seems silly now, but at the time it was a big blow to me when I realized that he learned how to say my sisters name before mine. My two siblings would like to gang up on me at times. My sister was the older “responsible” one, and my brother was the baby, so he is pretty self-explanatory. They were an unbeatable team. My sister would do something bad and blame it on me; of course when she was blaming me she was holding our innocent younger brother. My parents usually gave into the “bread” of the sibling sandwich. But like all sandwiches it is the middle filling that matters most right? Or at least that’s what I like to tell myself.

                Now my sister and I hardly ever fight, but that just makes it so there is more time to pester my little brother. I am not the finest example of an older sibling. There are always times when I decide that there are no recorders playing rules that must be enforced. Occasionally I slip in a little nudge to him here and there, but I would never actually hurt him. Maybe it’s all little siblings (and if that’s the case I have a greater respect for my dad who has 11 younger ones) but is seems like every little thing that they do is the most annoying thing in the world. Every time he hums a song or makes race car sounds or plays that… *Shudder* …..recorder, I can’t seem to ignore it. He in return treats me like I’m younger than him and is always trying to find ways to prove me wrong. I have to hand it to him for being smarter than I was at his age; all I did to my sister was bite her and that didn’t help with anything. Even if we do have our down times, there are a lot of ups.

                Lately our parents have been going to banquets and dinners to honor my soon to be graduate sister and her classmates, which leaves the two youngest at home. We have fun not doing our homework and watching movies.  When the time comes for him to go to bed I will read him a story. Usually it is one of the classic Dr. Seuss books, they never get old.

Through good and bad he is still my brother, I didn’t get to pick him, but if I could I wouldn’t choose anyone else. 

http://cdn.babble.com/famecrawler/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/green-eggs-and-ham1.jpg

3 Weeks Left

                There are currently three weeks left of school. This means that all the teachers will start piling on everything that they can in order for us to learn all that they had attended by the end of the year. In my school the second to last week of school is “dead week”. During dead week teachers are not supposed to give any new assignments. All that the students are supposed to do is study for each and every one of their final exams. It may seem like a nice break, but it is not. We are supposed to have finals at the end of each semester. Last semester however there was a bit of a hold up.

                A couple weeks before we were all going to leave for Christmas break, it started raining. It rained so much that most of the local schools were cancelled in order to provide shelter for those who had lost their homes in the floods. Our school was cancelled as well. This cancellation meant that we had no dead week. Teacher and students were all kind of thrown off course, and it was difficult to get much of anything done. We were able to come back for final exams, but some teachers decided to cancel them, or make them less significant in our overall grading process.

                This semester we have all been high and dry, so it seems as if school will continue as planned. There is only one more week of learning left. But the density of what teacher will give us will amount up to much more than one week. At least there will be more structure at the end of semester exams this time, but for now I have to go continue doing the mountain loads of homework which I have been assigned. 

Awaiting Vacation

                Spring break only comes once a year. I know that there are many other school vacations, such as Christmas Break, Thanksgiving weekend and of course, summer. Spring break is different from all the others. There is no holiday (except sometimes Easter) that is during this time, and it happens to fall right before the end, and hardest part, of the school year. Spring break is exactly the “break” that students need in order for them to have the proper motivation to finish the end of the year. This spring break I will be going back home.

                I have two homes. One of them is Salt Lake, and the other is Los Angeles. I only lived in LA when I was little, but my family and I visit frequently. I grew up in Utah, all my friends and the majority of my family live there as well. Luckily on this vacation, I will be able to go to both places.

The plan is to leave Friday morning at 4:30am to go to the airport. This means that I will miss out on a day of very precious school, but it seems that no teachers will actually be assigning anything the last day anyway. My flight heads to LA via Atlanta. Just as it turns out one of my friends will be on this flight as well, what are the odds? After arriving in LA, we head to my family’s best friend’s house in Beverly Hills. It has been a few years since we last saw them, so we are all very excited. Saturday my sister will most likely go and visit some of the colleges that she was accepted to, and that means I am free to wander LA and do as I please. Sunday my best friend of 13 years is flying from Salt Lake to come stay with my family, while her parents leave at the same time, but are going to be heading to California in their car. Monday and Tuesday will probably pass similar to Saturday, but Wednesday night my parents and siblings get on a plane and head for New York. On the east coast my sister will be looking at more schools, while I get to stay and have fun on the west coast. My friend’s parents will arrive in their car around that time my parents leave, and I will stay with them for a night or two in LA, until we head on a road trip back to Utah. Her parents will be spending a long time in the car, but they love road trips, and driving in their suave new Subaru. In Utah the only plan that I have is to visit my sick Grandmother, and everything else will just have to be spontaneous.

 I am so excited for this spring break! 

Sisters' Surprise

                              My sister is currently a senior in high school. As is the custom the seniors apply for college and hope to get accepted. I have lived through the stress of my sister interviewing, applying and writing essays for multiple different colleges. Due to the fact that we do not live in the states and all the schools where she applied are, indeed, in the states, some of the application process is a little more difficult.

                Colleges are advancing every year with technology. Through the computer my sister was able to find out almost everything that she needed for each of her choice colleges. The applications are 100% online so that makes thing easier. One of the hardest things about living away from the US was the interviews (so she says). If we were still living in the states and she was asked to interview with a college advisor, my sister would probably go to lunch with a real persona and discuss things about her and the school there. Here it is not the case. Only a few alumni from the schools live where we do. So in order to solve this problem she had her interviews over the phone. Time differences interfered and made some things difficult for her, but after a few months all she could do was wait for the results.

                It took months before she heard anything. The first schools to make their decisions were the UC schools in California. Of course she got into all of those that she applied to, not such a big surprise considering that she is a good student and all. She was really happy.

                Around a week or so later the Ivy League college decisions came out.  I came home from school as always with my sister, and then I went into my room.  A few minutes later I was just sitting in my room when I heard a scream come from the living room. I thought maybe there was a big bug or something so I decided not to let it bother me. Then there was a louder scream, it sounded like my mom’s this time.  In order to find out what all the fuss was about I decided to go out and see what the matter was. The first thing that I saw was my sister crying…that wasn’t a good sign. The second thing I saw was my mom (still screaming) jumping up and down with a huge smile on her face. As you can imagine I was really confused at this point. I kept asking what was going on, but they were both too preoccupied to reply. Finally my sister blubbered that she had heard from Harvard University and had been accepted!! Way to go sis.

                She was crying tears of surprise and joy. 

Sick

This morning I woke up feeling terrible. My throat feels like tiny elves are inside hammering away in search of jewels or something that they will never find. My ears feel like a balloon has been expanded inside my head and is pushing them out. My head hurts, my nose won’t stop running and don’t get me started on how much my entire body aches. Seems like the flu season is coming around again.

                I remember when I was little and I told someone about flu season, but they just laughed at me and said that there were only four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.  But the truth is, whenever the flu comes around, it is usually around the beginning of fall or spring, so this virus does come in “seasons”. Another thing about the flu is that it can take over everyone. Slowly, every year I watch as seats empty around flu season, one day only 2 people will be gone, but by the end of the week half the school is missing. The difference this year is that I was one of the first victims.

                Another thing that seems strange now is that kids used to fake having the flu, or try to get it in order to miss school. I know that I would always complain to my parents when I was in 1^st and 2^nd grade that everything was too hard, and it was making me “sick” so that I had to stay home and watch cartoons. Boy do times change. Now I dread getting sick. Being sick in high school means more work, not less. For the next week I will probably be seeing all the teachers whose classes I missed and trying to find a time during, before, or after school to make up any tests.  I have to figure out what the teachers did during the classes that I can only find out through other peers…work work work…no play when someone is sick.

                Being sick sucks! I can’t see my friends, I’m loaded with making up work, and all I actually feel like doing is going to bed and sleeping for 3 weeks straight. 

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/tissubox.gif

International Fair

At my school, the families and teachers make up the community. Due to the limited activity provided by the place we live in, the school tries to compensate by incorporating fun activities and get togethers. The biggest get together of the year is International Day. This year I was lucky enough to be the daughter of the woman in charge…then again, come to think of it, I don’t think lucky is exactly the right term to use. For moths I have been hearing the planning and organizing that is put forth in the effort to make the fair run smoothly. At the dinner table we hear the latest updates and catastrophes involved as well. I watched as my house filled up with shipments of American food that were to be sold at the event. So many people contributed so much to the fair, and I believe that it was completely worth it.

                I will try to summarize what the fair is like. Since I go to an international school, there are many different citizens from all over the world. At the fair the country groups join together to honor their country. Booths are set up that are decorated accordingly and filled with food and goodies that are native to those places. Most everyone comes from my school to eat and socialize. The food is one of the biggest attractions, but also there are the games and sports that are played as well. Some of the teachers are sadly the victims of some adolescent fun with the pie throwing.  Teachers are either forced or volunteered (not sure which) to be targets for pies. This year it seemed as if the “pie” was just flower and water, and instead of throwing the whole tin, the kids would throw the mush with their hands. Along with pie, there were balloons too; the one problem was that the balloons were not fully inflated. I watched as one teacher god slapped in the face with a water balloon that didn’t pop, but left a nasty looking smack mark on their cheek…ouch teachers, sorry about that.

                The international fair lets people see aspects of other countries that they normally wouldn’t be able to see. People can praise their country and feel at home, even while living thousands of miles away from where they are from. Walking amongst the different booths made it feel like walking through different parts of the world. It makes living abroad better, and lets everyone have some fun. 

127 Hours

Growing up in Utah there are some experiences that most people don’t have, one of which is hiking in southern Utah. Unless you have actually been hiking down in the Zion slot canyons, or walking along the great red rocks hunting for Moeraki Marbles, you have no idea what it’s like. Let me try to explain what it is to be a southern Utah hiker.

                For one, there is hardly anyone living near the slot canyons. Sure there are hikers going in and out frequently, but it would be a killer place to actually live. The heat is intense. It’s not a humid heat like in most Caribbean places, but heat from the sun heats the red rocks and can overcome the hiker in heat waves and sweat. There is a reason the slot canyons are named as they are, and that is because they actually look like cuts or slots in the middle of a great big rock. If one was looking at the slot canyon from a bird’s eye view, it would look something like a waterless river flowing through a huge empty rock. My dad (a frequent hiker) always told me the two most important things about hiking in southern Utah were: First, NEVER go off by yourself.  Most trails aren’t marked and it is easy to get lost. Second, ALWAYS have enough water. If someone is caught in the middle of the red rock desert without water, they would most likely die of dehydration in about a day, and if you’re lucky, two.

(Me rock climbing in Zion)

                Keeping all this in mind, imagine what it would be like to be hiking alone, with one water bottle, in the off hiking season, in the southern Utah slot canyons….Most people would never take the risk, but one man did. Aron Ralston went hiking by himself and found himself “stuck between a rock and a hard place” literally.

                Everyone in Utah grew up hearing about this man. He was, as I previously said, hiking alone when he got into a narrow gap in the canyon. What basically happened is that it was a tight squeeze; there was a rock, and a man.  While the man was trying to get over the rock and through the gap, the boulder moved and rolled onto his arm, trapping him. Running low on water, and his arm dying under the weight of a huge boulder, there was nothing that Aron Ralston could do. He waited for other hikers to pass, so they could go get help, but no one came. At this point in someone’s life, most people would just give up, and say that they were done, but not him. He had with him a Swiss-Army-knife, and with that he cut off the dying trapped arm. Someone has to have a lot of motivation to live in order to cut off their own arm. But now, he lives on. He managed to hike the rest of the way out of the canyon with only one arm. His story is legend, and now a movie.

http://www.empiremovies.com/_word_press/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/127-Hours-Poster.jpg

                127 Hours is the story based on this event in Aron Ralstons’ life. James Franco plays Ralston, and does a fantastic job. This film moves everyone, but especially those that know this story, and have been to the same place where Aron Ralston was stuck.

                I would like to remind you all to be safe hikers and explorers. I would also like to recommend to everyone to check out the movie 127 hours. 

Enjoy 

Soccer

                This past weekend there was a small soccer tournament between my school and a few other schools in nearby districts. It was a tournament for girls’ soccer and boys’ basketball. The tournament consisted of high school and middle school students. There were only four girls’ soccer teams in the high school division, but it was only 6 a side when normally soccer is 11 a side.

My schools girls soccer team was split up into an A and B team.  The first game that we played happened to be against the other half of our normal team (A vs. B). I was playing for the A team, and after a while and many goals our coach told us to stop scoring and take it easy on the B team. For the rest of that game we tried just passing the ball around to the other players on our team, but the B team did put up a good fight. The second game for the A team was against the team hosting the tournament. That team was very feisty, and since I was playing defense I got some hard blows. One of the opposing teams’ giant forwards came running at me at full speed and then knocked me to the ground. I felt sort of like one of those movies where a person waking up looks above them and sees people standing around them swirl and fog up and then eventually clear up. I never got knocked out, but things definitely were spinning for a while.

On the second day of the tournament there were 2 or 3 players who didn’t show up. My coach came up to me 2 minutes before the B teams game started and informed me that I would be playing for the B team as well as the A team. All the games I played with the B team we lost, and all the games with the A team we won. So it all seemed to work out pretty well. In the end our two teams got 1st place and 4^th, the boys basketball team got 1^st as well, and the two middle school teams received 2^nd in their divisions. Overall it was a successful tournament, and I have the bruises and turf burns to prove it. 

PIRATE-ed

I have lived all but 3 years of my life in the U.S.  A fraction of that time was spent living in the biggest movie producing city in the world, Los Angeles. I was raised being told that copyright laws were serious and strict. Anyone who makes a pirated movie is stealing. Every time I think about someone copying a movie a flash of a commercial comes into my head saying that movie plagiarism is illegal. The ad states that “you wouldn’t steal a car” and “you wouldn’t steal a handbag” then “you wouldn’t steal a movie.”  This all adds up to the fact that buying or making a pirated movie is stealing and “Stealing is against the law!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZm8vNHBSU

                My dad worked in the movie business for a few years and many of our family friends are still very successful writers/directors and such. The way that these people make their money is through other people going to the theater and or purchasing the movie which they have created. It seems unfair that all the hundreds of people who spend their whole life creating movies will not be compensated for their works just because some people won’t bother to pay $5 at the theater or $10 at a movie store. It’s not just the actors, writers and directors who are affected, but anyone who has a job relating to movies. All the janitors and custodians at the theaters, the camera crew, the costume and makeup artists and basically everyone on the never-ending credit role at the end of a movie want to be paid for their job.  

Until moving overseas I never saw a stand selling pirated movies.  In many countries, it’s almost impossible to find a movie that is NOT pirated. I remember being in the Cook Islands the day that a law was passed banning all pirated movies.  It’s just harder for places far bigger to make laws that will raise such protest. The Internet is another way to watch movies illegally. Sometimes there are legitimate sites that aren’t seen as illegal to watch movies or T.V. shows, but then there’s the 3 million other sites that will play a movie online that came out in theaters the day before.

                I have gone to a few movie premieres, and during all of them I was asked to have my bag checked before entering the theater; now I know why. People will film the movies with video cameras and post them online.  Occasionally there is an audience member who stands up and is able to be seen walking towards the aisle (kind of ruins the movie experience).

Some people say piracy isn’t bad when its legal in the country, however,  it is Illegal everywhere, but some places aren’t as strict on the rules. No percent of pirated movies goes to those that made the movie. Do the movie makers a favor by going to the theater or purchasing their movie, and do yourself a favor by watching a high quality picture. 

City of Bones

                There are so many teen fiction novels that are being read nowadays. I have tried to stay away from the addiction of all the vampire and dead zombie cheerleader princesses that all books seem to be about. Yes, I did read all the Twilight books, but I didn’t become obsessed with them, and as for whether I’m team Edward or team Jacob, I could care less…there both secretly vicious killing-capable beasts right? After all the Twilight drama I decided that I didn’t really like those types of books; I started reading classic novels like Catcher in the Rye and Jane Eyre, until I ran out.

                I was looking for a book to read when a friend recommended reading a new series called “The Mortal Instruments”. The  first book is called City of Bones.  When reading the beginning of the book I realized that it seemed like a little clichéd teen love story with the magical characters thrown in.  I kept reading but I tried not to become attached to it; that didn’t last long.

                The Mortal Instruments ended up being NOTHING like what I was expecting it to be, and I’m glad that I kept reading. It may have vampires, werewolves, and demons, but it’s not really centered on that sort of thing. This book, along with being very descriptive (sometimes overly descriptive) incorporates a greater meaning of humanity. Whether or not what we all know is real, or whether we humans are just weak animals that need protection.

                Clarissa Fray is the main character in the book. She lives in a small apartment in New York with her mother and has been told that her father died before she was born. She’s a normal person (or at least as normal as people seem to start out in books) until she’s at a party and she witnesses a murder that nobody else can see. No one would believe her if she went to the police, because she was the only person who could see the murderer.  The only person she can convey her trust to is her friend Simon.  Clarissa is sucked into a world of shadowhunters and demons, and now that she’s in, there’s no way to get back out….dun dun duuun.

                It does sound kind of lame, and that’s what I thought when my friend explained the plot line to me before I read it, but books can grow on you. This one isn’t part of the “teen madness program,”  Maybe that’s why I hadn’t heard of it before, but so far it’s a good start to a new series. 

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve all members of my dad’s family (that are able) come together at my grandparents’ house.  My dad is the oldest of 12 kids. As you can imagine, my family is rather large. I have 44 cousins on my dad’s side. Usually around Christmas most everyone tries to come, but I can’t remember the last time everyone was together; there’s always someone who can’t make it.

My grandparents house 

                My grandparents live on a farm in a small town far away from any big cities. They have a huge area of land, and some of my aunts and uncles have built their own houses on the property, so there are always lots of kids running in and out of the doors. Sometimes during the winter it’s harder to go in and out of doors due to the snow. There are times when the snow is deeper than a person is tall (a short person). Outside it’s freezing, but inside there’s no place warmer.         

                During the day, as all the kids are having snowball fights and building forts in the snow my grandmother along with help from many other members of my family start to cook. There is always A LOT of food. I guess there needs to be a lot in order to feed my family. Throughout the day the house fills itself with different Christmassy smells. When certain kids become tired or cold they run inside and “help” my grandma cook, which usually consists of telling her whether or not things taste good or not (takes a couple taste tests to tell). When it starts getting dark everyone starts to gather inside. Outside is wonderful at night where they live, no light pollution at all so it looks like there are millions upon millions of stars everywhere, but it does get cold. Inside everyone lines up to eat. Multiple tables are rounded up and put together, and buffet lines are formed. Usually the order in which you can get your food is determined by the order the children (my aunts and uncles) were born in, and my dad being the oldest usually gets to go first, which means I get to go first also. There’s an unwritten rule with my extended family, which is to get as much food as you can the first time around, because it probably will not be there if you want it again.

                After eating we once again migrate to the living room. The older aunts and uncles get first priority on the couch, followed by the older cousins, and then the dozens of babies seem to fit in all the cracks and spaces. We all sing Christmas carols and the ones who can play accompaniment to the songs on the instruments that they play. Then we do the Christmas plays. My grandfather wrote several different Christmas related plays, and every year we perform them.  He picks who the actors are, and hands the scripts out, then the performances start.  My great grandmother, now dead, was a famous playwright, and my grandfather takes after her.  Some plays are comedies, about the donkey that carries Mary and joseph to Bethlehem, and there are also serious ones, sad ones and traditional nativity ones.

                As we’re all sitting in the living room, the fire keeps us warm. It’s a really long fireplace, but I guess it needs to be long in order to be home to the 12 different stockings that hang from the mantel. Towards the end of the night my grandparents hang out the stockings as we all thank them for the candy and gifts that they have inside. You can tell when it’s getting late, because suddenly all the giggly 3 year olds are passed out on the floor. We all say good night, and Merry Christmas, then we gather our coats and head out into the snow. I think my favorite part about Christmas is Christmas Eve. 

Let it Snow

In many places this white Christmas idea is actually true. People wake up on Christmas morning and see a beautiful blanket of fresh white snow in their yard. Seeing snow fall for the first time tells people that the holidays are near, and that “It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. Some people claim to hate snow; they say it’s cold, wet and miserable. To me, snow is so much fun. The holidays are the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and it’s so much fun to walk around at night when it’s snowing and all the Christmas lights are up. The colors of the lights reflect in the snow. While it’s snowing, everything is so quiet like a “Silent Night”.

                There are those other places, where either the climate is too hot or it happens that the seasons are backwards, making it so there is no snow on Christmas, places such as “Christmas Island”. I have lived in these places. Sometimes it is nice to be able to go to the beach on Christmas, and not have to worry about bundling up before walking outside.  Though summer time is nice, it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s nearly 100 degrees outside. It may be different for the people who have always grown up with summer Christmases, but for me, I like the cold.

(http://goo.gl/mErro)

                “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”. There are books and songs and movies that portray the idea that when there is Christmas, there is snow. Huddled up in front of the fire in a big sweater while there’s apple cider and eggnog passed around, these are the times when it seems snow is essential to the Christmas atmosphere. I hope that “I’ll be Home for Christmas” so that I can see the sugar coated houses and the frosted trees. Until then “let it snow”. 

Thanksgiving

There are many holidays which are celebrated around the world such as: Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and Halloween. There are also other holidays which are specific to certain countries, like Chinese New Year and the 4^th of July. One holiday which is especially centered around American culture is Thanksgiving. There are different forms of thanksgiving in different places, but the main thanksgiving takes place in the good ol’ U.S of A.

                The fourth Thursday of November is the time to loosen your belts and prepare for some serious consumption. Depending on how you were raised, food which is set out on the table may vary, but I’m pretty sure that most families eat the same traditional foods.

First, there is the turkey. Freshly roasted and covered in broth and gravy. The hot white meat is perfect for the (usually) cold fall weather.

Then there’s the stuffing. Personally I am not a huge fan of bread and assorted greens that have been shoved inside a bird and cooked, but it is a necessity when it comes to this meal.

Then, of course, there are the potatoes, my favorite part. I love the creamy mashed-ness of a potato and butter. The gravy from the turkey broth mixed in with the mashed potatoes is the perfect combination.

Cranberry sauce is another one of the traditional foods. It is usually the only noticeably sweet type of food on the plate, but the cool berry and the hot turkey are two opposite that really do attract.

Thanksgiving is a holiday where nobody gives presents, people just give thanks, and eat food….mostly just eat food.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

SAMUN

Every year hundreds of young teens get all dressed up and ready, not for a party, but for a fake UN conference. Some people might ask why in the world anyone would ever want to be in a Model United Nations (MUN) group, the answer is simple, it’s fun.

                There is indeed a work load. Each delegate (student) has to write a position paper familiarizing them with their issue. There are different committees such as: Alternative Energy, Good Governance and World Health and Food. Each committee has its own set of issues that pertain to the committee’s relevance. As I know from experience, position paper writing is not the funnest thing in the world. It involves loads of research and reading to figure out a certain countries opinion on, say, hydro technology. Once this is done, all delegates must write a resolution paper. Resolution papers say facts about the issue, and then ways in which your delegation will solve the issue while encouraging others to help with the issue as well.

                Resolutions are the main part of MUN.  At SAMUN (South American MUN) there are two whole days spent talking to other students (representing countries) in your committee, the whole purpose is to try and get all the countries and delegations in your committee to agree with the ways in which your own delegation hopes to resolve the crisis. This is all actually a bit boring, sometimes it is fun defending your own ideas, but it’s once you get into the actual big mock General Assemble (GA) where the fun starts happening.

In the GA all the resolutions are presented, and delegates are able to agree and disagree with the resolutions the same way people debate about other topics. During this time there are other students (Admin) who pass notes back and forth between delegates. The purpose of the notes is to discuss with other countries about the topic at hand, but what fun is that? Most students use the note passing system as a way to meet other delegates or just to chat with their friends.

                Though most people would say that they would never dream of joining MUN because of how boring it sounds, it was an experience. MUN is an Opportunity to meet other people, and practice yelling and debating in an intellectual way.

SAMUN and MUN are so different once you are in, than what they seem like as spectators on the outside.  Don’t judge them because they sound boring and sophisticated, they are so much more than that. 

Angel Falls

How many people have seen the movie Up?  In the movie the old man flies his balloon house to Paradise Falls with his new little boy scout friend. The man and boy find a talking dog and an elephant sized bird. Most people don’t know that the actual water fall which Paradise falls was based on is called Angel falls. Angel Falls is in Canaima Venezuela and sadly is not home to any talking dogs or ginormous peacock-like birds.

                Angel Falls is named such because Jimmy Angel was a pilot who discovered this super tall water fall while flying through eastern Venezuela. I don’t know why the movie Up decided to change the name to “Paradise” falls, but the movie industries seem to do whatever they want nowadays.

                In order to get to the base of angel falls one must sit in a small canoe for 4 really long hours while the driver steers through the winding river. If you happen to go during the rainy season you will find that there are dozens of smaller waterfalls that have temporarily formed from all the water that has accumulated at the top of the plateaus. After getting to the base of the falls there is about an hour long climb to the viewing point. Once at the main viewing point there is a clear view from bottom to top of the 3212 foot waterfall, and it’s super-gorgeous.

                

                The cartoon movie does not show the full incredible-ness of Angel Falls. In order to see how amazing it is, they you should get on a plane, fly to Canaima Venezuela and hire one of the nice locals to steer you towards the base of the tallest waterfall in the world. 

Rain and Rocks

There are so many forms of outdoor recreation. One of the many that I love is rock climbing. There’s the thrill of elevation along with the joy of carrying your own weight on a rocky mountain slope. I recently went on a rock climbing excursion and I and the five other people with me had quite an adventure.

                It started out with my dad waking me up at 7:30 on a Sunday. As you can imagine it’s not the funnest thing to be woken on the days you’re supposed to sleep in till noon. Then getting ready and loading in the car with my older sister and my dad. We were going with a group from my school so we had to drive to the campus first to meet up with the rest of the people. Pretty much all the students at my school decided they were too cool to go rock climbing and so there was only one other student there besides me and my sister. The three of us were accompanied by two teachers and a parent (my dad). We loaded in the car and headed out for a short drive to the rocks.

                We got there and the teachers unloaded all the equipment and lead the way along a small path leading to the place where they were to set up the ropes. Once we got there the three girls sat and watched while one teacher belayed the other who needed to lead the rope. I don’t know how much you know about rock climbing but lead roping means that one person climbs the rock and takes a rope up and hooks themselves onto different consecutive hooks that were previously drilled into the rock. After climbing to the top of the hooks there is a more permanent attachment that the rope is thread through in order for the next climber to use that rope as an anchor (like apulley system) and then they can top rope climb (regular rock climbing with a rope at the top). My sister the other student and I all did a couple climbs and for the most part stayed injure-free. But after about an hour or so it was time to relocate ourselves to another location.

            Taking down the ropes and packing up our little temporary camp site we began to climb further into the jungle. We found a small cliff about 20 minute walk away and decided to practice our repelling skills on it. The ropes were once again set up, but this time using a tree as an anchor. We all took turns repelling down the small ledge, this time however there were a few scrapes and bruised. When we were in the middle of our repelling rotation it began to rain. Within a few minutes everyone was soaking wet and miniature rivers had begun forming on the trail that lead back to the cars. After making sure that all cameras/phones and other electronic devices were as much water-proof as we could get them we thought it would be best to get back to the car before the water rose anymore. The hike was wet and slippery. The 6 of us were freezing cold and shivering with every carefully placed step that we took in order not to fall. Finally after what seemed like a long cold trek we were back to the cars.

            Once we were all showered, cleaned and bundled up we realized that the whole trip was actually really fun and totally worth it. Now all that’s left to do is wash our shoes. 

The Hunger Games Trilogy

There are few series which capture the minds of male AND female readers along with adults AND children. Some of the few writers who have succeeded in creating such book series are J.K. Rowling with her mezmerizing Harry Potter tales and Phillip Pullman with his Dark Materials trilogy. Now a new writer has recently broken the ribbon with her rapidly rising trilogy The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins is the writer of the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and now the last book of this short series, Mockingjay.

                This past year all the Hunger Games books have risen on the list of “Must Reads.” Throughout the U.S. in particular people of all ages have been eagerly absorbing the tale of Katniss Everdeen.

                All the books are set in the future. They take place in what used to be the United States but what is now a mixture of 13 districts and the infamous Capitol. Katniss lives in district 12. All districts have certain manufacturing or agricultural duties that help supply the rest of the districts. Katniss’s district is head of coal production. The Capitol is angry at all the districts for choosing to defy them in previous years, so in order to show the people of the districts how much power the capitol has over them they arrange the Hunger Games.

                The Hunger Games take place every year.  One girl and one boy are chosen by lottery from each district and they are all put into a giant arena. The 24 children, “tributes,” between ages 12-18 are meant to fight one another until there is only one survivor. While all the tributes are hiding in forests and plotting against one another the capitol and people of the districts watch them on television as a form of entertainment. The Hunger Games are meant to punish the districts because it is taking away the lives of their children.

                Mockingjay continues the tale of Katniss. She has many struggles with her life being a former player of the Hunger Games, and now she is being forced to lead the districts in a rebellion against the capitol.

                Will the districts succeed in overruling the capitol, or will the Hunger Games continue to take the lives of district children? Who will win over Katniss Everdeens heart, her best friend Gale or her co-victor Peeta?

Read to find out…the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and the last tale Mockingjay.

Animals on My Wrist

Over the past years I have accumulated quite a large amount of bracelets and the like on my arm. Recently this new fad of Silly Bandz has erupted. In being a person who likes to wear things on my wrist I am a wearer of these rubbery outline figures. They are the “new big thing” as some people say. There have been some concerns from teachers in parts of the U.S. about these bracelets.  Only a few weeks ago an article came out saying that Silly Bandz have been banned in some schools. Teachers claim that they are a distraction to their students, and they pay more attention to the shapes on their wrists than what they, the teacher, are trying to convey to the students. In other schools kids have begun trading the Bandz like people used to trade cards. Apparently there have been fights started by some elementary kids about unfair trades. I guess some children don’t realize that the phoenix is worth two pieces of fruit not one musical instrument.

Some people have gone to the extreme of covering their entire arm with a sleeve of rubbery figures. Wouldn’t you think that an arm full of things squeezing your skin and bones together could affect the use of your hand?? Still it is not enough to stop people from creating rainbows and collages up and down their limbs.

I do not mean to say that silly bandz are bad, but there is a line that can be crossed with the amount that you wear at one time.  The people who wear one to around ten are absolutely alright. It is only once someone gets to the point of having measurements of inches up the arm in bracelets rather than measurement of Bandz themselves that it starts to get ridiculous.

As all fads are, they come and go. Silly Bandz are at their peak right now, but who knows how long they will last. Nevertheless I enjoy rubber cut shapes and how they are so simple, yet they are making some creative jeweler a billionaire. So here’s to Silly Bandz the bracelets that have succeeded in changing the spelling of bands. 

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

You’ve been tucked in bed; your parents came in and read you a story. All your homework is done, which consisted of coloring a page of dinosaurs. Today there was a new friend at school. As long as he shares his toys he is automatically your best friend forever. The pretty pink dress sits on the dresser waiting to be worn the next day. Eyes heavy and ready for preschool the next day, ready for sleep now. Then the thought comes. It’s watching you. It’s in the closet, or under the bed. Its waiting till you fall asleep and then it’s gonna come and eat you. There’s no way you’re getting back to sleep now, but you’re so tired. If you fall asleep the big, hairy four-armed beast will surely come and jump on you. Though the fear is overwhelming you, sleep takes charge. You drift off into a soft cozy sleep. Then you scream. You bolt upright in your bed; parents run into your room to make sure everything is okay. You try to explain to them that the monster was attacking you. Your parents tell you that it was only a dream…

What are dreams? Thoughts that occupy our mind when we have no control?  Often when there is something nagging at the back of your head while falling asleep, or something you saw briefly, your brain will recollect it while you are sleeping. No one can know for certain what happens when one is sleeping, but there are people who dedicate their lives to figuring out what goes on in the mind when dreams take place. Even these dream experts are uncertain as to what exactly happens to make dreams what they are. Most people will spend one third of their life sleeping, and 6 of those years dreaming. It’s weird to think that the same amount of time a 1^st grader has lived, a senior citizen has spent in a state that nobody fully understands. 

I have noticed that when I eat just before I go to bed, my dreams are more vivid and I am able to remember them far better than other nights. After discussing some forms of art that revolve around dreams, such as short stories in English class, and movies that have recently come out, I have been thinking a lot more about what happens when I sleep.

Some interesting facts that I found about dreaming:

1.       Blind people DO dream images.

The particular images in the dream can vary depending on whether the person was born blind, or whether they became blind after already knowing what colors were, and what the world looked like.

2.       Men dream most often about other men. Women dream about men and women equally.

3.       Babies are unable to dream about themselves.

Until the age of three or four, one cannot dream about oneself. One can only dream about other people or things.

4.       90% of dreams dreamt are forgotten within minutes of the dream ending.

5.       The majority of people experience reoccurring places in dream, or reoccurring dreams, otherwise known as “Deja Vu dreams.”

Have you ever been dreaming, and known that you’ve been down that hallway before, or been in the same situation years ago? I don’t think anyone can explain how our mind comes back to the same location that we only know when we are snoozing. In most cases one will not even remember that once they had a dream about, say, a beach with black water until once again while sleeping they come across the same charcoal waves.  Have you ever experienced that? I know for a fact that I have returned to a place in a dream that I have only ever visited in past dreams.

Sometimes in a dream I will be at my house, or somebody else’s. The thing about being at those locations is that it’s not actually the same location as in real life. The structure of the imagined building looks nothing like the one I see while awake. Yet somehow in our mind we know whose house it is. The idea and feeling of the setting is the same even when the place looks completely different.

Dreams are unexplainable. One night you could dream that you’re on top of the world (literally if you desire) and the next you could be trying to escape from some daunting fate. Everyone has experienced what it is like to dream. Even though we don’t always remember our dreams they are there.  They happened, but they didn’t really happen…

…It was only a dream.