New Section and Example! :)

Bethany here! In our Creative Writing Club our teacher showed us this really cool thing and I thought, "Hmm, that would be a really neat thing to put on our blog!" We each took a line from one of our previous pieces, put them in a hat, drew one, and then wrote on it! Sometimes it wasn't exactly what it was supposed to be about, but we wrote what it meant to us. Like a response letter. Obviously for the blog it wouldn't work quite like that, but it will be similar. You guys can write your line or statement as a comment on one of the blog posts or you can email them! Take lines from a previous writing, make a statement about a topic, or heck, ask us about something! (Views, Advice, etc.) You can also specifically say which writer you want to write on your line but if not, I'm sure one of us will pick it up.

Example:
Dear: "Girl, I'm a teenager, I don't know what love is, but I want to find out with you."

Love. Does anyone even know what that is? I know I don't, but I guess that's the point isn't it? No one starts out knowing anything. You learn through your experiences. If you don't take a chance with anyone or anything then you would stay ignorant.

I respect that someone can be so honest about not knowing what love is. Whenever someone says they're in love and then a week later, they're in "love" with someone else, I just want to punch them in the face.

It's not that I don't believe in love, because I do, and I think that when you find it, you'll know, but I guess I'm still a little skeptical.
-Bethany.

Guys, I went to an opera!

For a field trip, mind you. I was forced to go! I mean, I sure as hell wouldn't want to go to one willingly! I’m a man! Men don’t go to operas!

Or, so I like to tell myself.

But yeah, I went to an opera today, and decided I was going to write about my experience. Some may say that is a review, but I don’t think this counts, as I am not an opera connoisseur, and don’t have much prior experience with the form of art.

Art? Art. Sure, why not.

I’ll start from the top. We saw Così fan tutte at the new Kauffman stadium, and man, that place is beautiful! We sat on one of the highest floors of the auditorium thing, and I almost threw up when I first looked down at the stage. It was pretty intense at first, grew accustomed to it. Which may have been unfortunate, because I would have had an excuse to not actually watch the thing.

I can honestly say checking out the new stadium was my favorite part of the trip. Everything was so white and clean! The seats were relatively comfortable, I had a nice view of the stage, and each seat had it’s own screen where you can read the subtitles of the opera on it! And let me tell you, when watching an opera that isn’t in English, you watch that screen almost as much as you watch the stage.              

My view of the action. And yes, my camera and photo-taking skills are quite amazing, thank you.

Which is going to bring me to my first complaint of the actual opera. It wasn’t in English. While I know that isn’t an actual valid complaint, it wouldn’t have been such a problem if the subtitles weren’t so inconsistent. Sometimes during a song or scene, the subtitles would just cut out and stop translating the action. It’s very frustrating trying to keep up with the story when every now and then you have literally no idea what is happening or what anyone is saying. This happened near the end for me, so I’m not even 100% sure of how it concluded.

Which is a shame, because I thought the overall story was interesting enough to keep my interest. It was very over-the-top, which I think suits the opera format quite well, as I find operas to be kind of ridiculous in a sense. There were actually parts where I laughed at the dialog and the hammy acting.

While I did find the story to be interesting, the actual pace of which it was told is monotonous. I have never seen such a story so drawn out in my life. Having a character talk to themselves for 10-15 minutes about how bad she feels for cheating on a loved one or something is insufferable. I’m not even exaggerating, I pulled my iPod out and started my stopwatch each time a character had a solo or a monologue.

But maybe that is par for the course with opera’s. Hey, I don’t know! But if it is, I can say that I would never want to attend another one ever again. While I’m not saying things shouldn’t have a very deliberate and slow pace, which can be very effective if executed well, I’m just saying I would like if the story kept moving, and had some momentum to it.

Do people go to an opera for the story, though? It’s for the singing and stuff, right? It seemed fine and inoffensive. Maybe one of the setbacks of being so far away from the stage was I sometimes had trouble hearing things, but from what I heard, it was fine.

I loved the live orchestra they had! The acoustics in the stadium were amazing, and how the sounds echoed around the auditorium was really cool. Playing some silly music to go along with the hammy acting was nice and funny too. If we went there for a live orchestra concert instead, I would have enjoyed myself quite a bit more.

But, I don’t know, I had fun. While if I had the choice, I wouldn’t go to another opera, but I don’t regret going to this one.

Power Outages! Fun! Fun!

Right now I am surrounded by darkness; the only light available is from the glow of my laptop screen. Have you tried to guess why yet? Yep, you are correct! Power outages!!

Most people don’t like power outages and normally I would agree with them, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I decided that I like them. Obviously there are things about them that suck. You have to do everything in the dark! It’s harder to see things, everything in your fridge goes bad, finding entertainment is... considerably more difficult.

I know that there has been a time where every single one of us… have LOVED power outages, at least when we were kids right? It had a sense of adventure! Creeping around the house in the dark, a few candles spread out, everyone actually sitting around together… Thinking about it now, isn’t that potentially romantic? Come on, I know you guys were all thinking the same thing.

Maybe it’s just my inner child, but I can’t help but love when things like this happen! It’s almost like Halloween all over again but better! A scary movie that you actually get to be in yourself! For me, the best part is everyone else getting scared. When my sister can’t even go down to the basement without another person, I find it hilarious. But I think we all love the feeling of being scared and feeling like a kid again. Obviously, experiences like this are better WITH someone else. It’s like a roller coaster… who wants to do that kind of thing alone? I’m not sure how I’ll manage waking up in the morning without power for my alarm clock, but you won’t hear me complaining, because I’m having tons of fun.

All Hallows Eve!

People tell me that I am too old to Trick-Or-Treat and my only response is, “Yeah, tell that to my bulging sack of FREE candy!”

Seriously though, I LOVE the people that give out the chocolate candies and at the same time I love the people that give out fruity candy just as much. You have to level out the flavors. If you just sit there eating chocolate, you get sick of it. But eat a starburst and you’re all set for another snickers.

Even though people have forgotten what Halloween is, I think that it’s an important rite of passage. How can you say you’ve lived if you haven’t even dressed up and gone door-to-door yelling “TRICK OR TREAT!!” Sure it sounds like you’re threatening them, “Hey! If you don’t give me a treat then I’m going to give you a trick!” but if you haven’t done it at least once then I say that’s sad.

There are some things that people should just experience, at least once. I’m the type of person, you tell me you haven’t done something, and man, it’s ON! And come on! Who wouldn’t want an excuse to dress up and go get free candy? All in all, I have many Halloween memories and all of them are good. I can’t imagine my life without them and now I have another year to add on. It was a great year, and this time? It wasn’t even about the candy; it was just the cherry on top! Hell, you want it?

Oh, Halloween!

Guys, I don’t know if you know this, but Halloween is soon. And because of this, I feel the need to write something about Halloween.

I... don’t hate Halloween? It’s a fine holiday, and seeing all the dumb costumes and decorations can be fun. But other then that, I kind of don’t care. Never trick-or-treated in my youth, and never wanted to. Don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, so I’m not the biggest fan of candy. And that’s kind of what Halloween is all about, right? Getting candy? What a cynical view. Kind of like saying Christmas is all about getting presents.

It’s interesting how society has basically turned Halloween into that though. An excuse to dress up and look dumb while getting free candy. Is Halloween really about horror anymore? Crazy evil spirits? All Hallows Eve?

The horror aspect of Halloween is actually the part I like about it. Even if I’m a totally scaredy cat and wouldn’t be able to stand that stuff, but it’s fun! I wish Halloween was more about that. Maybe it is, though. Maybe I’m just out of touch with modern society.

Another thing I like about Halloween is that it means we are getting closer to a Holiday I actually really like, which is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is awesome! There is turkey, pumpkin pie, an-

You know what? I’ll tell you more about Thanksgiving when the time comes. Right now it’s Halloween. And while this fact doesn't tickle me pink, I’m not fuming with anger. Everyone, go have fun during Halloween! In the mean time, I will be fantasizing over the amazing turkey I will be having in a couple of weeks.

To Kindle, or not to Kindle?

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I really enjoy buying things I don’t actually need. One of the ways I’m quite feminine, actually. Along with constantly nagging at people and not being a very good driver. But the latter may just have to do with me being Asian, though.

Only a paragraph in, and I’m already grossly offending people. Awesome!

As I was saying, I like buying things. Brand new, shiny things. Technology, to be exact. Something about a brand new piece of technology that just makes me want to throw all my money at the computer screen and hope that will it magically appear right it in front of me. Maybe it’s the smell. Recently opened electronics tend to smell real good.

So, obviously when the new Kindle was released around two weeks ago, I was naturally interested. Not only because I’ve been meaning to get a Kindle for quite some time now, but it’s been awhile since I’ve wasted money on something, and I felt the need to change that.

Now, Jeremy, what the hell is a Kindle? Is that like a bad sex move you pull on a girlfriend or something?

“Yo man, I Kindled my girlfriend last week, and she had trouble walking for days dude!” “Oh so sick dude! I Kindled a girl once, but I never saw her again after that night. Think it killed her.”

No, foolish reader, the Kindle is actually a device used to download and read ebooks, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other digital media. So, basically, you read stuff on it. You’re not playing Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja on it, you’re not listening to music on it, you’re not... somehow using it in a sexual fashion that would end up killing your girlfriend.

No, dude, you use it to read stuff. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, Jeremy! I have a question! I know what magazines, newspapers, and blogs are, but what’s an ebook?

An ebook is basically a book presented in digital format that you can read on your laptop or other electronic devices. Such as your Kindle. It’s not like a regular book, as it’s not on some janky ass paper. You get it now? Ebook? Electronic Book? Yeaaaaaah.

Oh, and the Kindle is 80$, not including tax and maybe even shipping, depending on the circumstances.

Now, you may be saying “What?! 80$ I could like... I don’t know, waste that money on something else! Like buying drugs! Yeaaaaaah!

Well, hopefully you aren't saying that, but to each his own.

But yes, 80$ is a fairly large sum of money for some broke ass teenagers. Thankfully though, I’m not like you guys! I have a grip of money man. I’m raking it in dawg. Stacking it high! Bitches trying to get some of what I got man, but hellllll naw man, aint going to take that shizz.

Yeah, don’t know why I decided to censure shit but not bitch. Best to not question it I guess.

That was dumb, and basically means I have 90$. So if I wanted a Kindle, I could blow all my money and get one.

Though, do I want to? Do I really want a Kindle? What use would I have for it?

Well, I would like to say if I had a Kindle I would read more, as I read about one book every two weeks, which isn't as much as I would like. Having a Kindle would eliminate one of the main reasons I don’t read as much as I would like which is the fact that I really just don’t want to get out of my bed, go to my book shelf that is like 10 feet away, pick out a damn book, and go back to bed. To much work.

See, with a Kindle, I can have like thousand books right next to me! And I don’t even have to get up from my comfy blanket! Oh yeah, did I tell you a Kindle can hold over a thousand ebooks on it? Well, yeah, a Kindle can hold over a thousand ebooks on it. Awesome!

But to not be dumb, having so many books on one little device instead of having to carry so much damn paper around would be very convenient. I don’t bring books to school because they take to much space in my backpack and making it even heavier then it already is. With a Kindle though, I can just take out this relatively small thing that weighs less then pound from my pocket and immediately start reading something. Sure, some teachers will be all “Gaaaaah you’re not reading on that! You’re checking your facebooks!” Or something stupid like that. However, that’s beside the point.

Having a Kindle would also eliminate the other reason why I don’t read as much as I would like, which is that I don’t really have a lot of books to read, and trying to find new ones can be dumb and tedious. With a Kindle, I can shop for books on an online store, never having to leave the comfort of my own home. Where as with regular books, I have to go to the library or something. Again, it’s that me being lazy thing. Even if I do get to read the book for free, even if I’m on a dead line, I’d still rather own the book and not have to get up.

But there is definitely something to be said for having a nice, well organized bookshelf that you can look at and reflect on all the books you’ve read. Be able to look at those nice covers and sleeves, which you really don’t get the privilege of that with a Kindle.

I can easily see why someone would make the argument that ebooks are dumb and regular books are better. There is a subtle nuance to actually having a book in your hands, and reading straight from the paper. However, in the age that we live in, physical media is slowly dying. Hell, look at newspapers. Who the hell reads newspapers anymore? Just get on your damn iPad or computer and check your RSS feed or something.

But that’s a topic for another article.

Also, reading straight from the paper doesn't destroy your eyes, like reading from a laptop would. But wait! This is where the brilliance of the Kindle comes in. It’s not like a computer display, as it not actually reflecting any light, so it won’t strain or destroy your eyes. The Kindle actually uses an E ink electronic paper display, that can show up to 16 shades of gray and stimulates actually reading on paper.

You still with me there? My technology nerd BS didn’t make me lose you, did it? Don’t worry, it’s over now.

So, I’ve been weighing out the pros and cons here of buying a Kindle. But oh wait Jeremy, I think you forgot the most important con, in that it’s 80$ dollars. Yeah, that’s kind of a lot of money to a teenager. Would it be worth it? Would I really read more? Do I really want to spend all of my money on this?

Well, apparently yes, I do! As I actually have it in my hand right now. I would be reading something from it, but then remembered I had to do this dumb thing instead. And first impressions: Man it’s slick! And I’m not being just all “I’m going to make myself like this thing because I spent my money on it.”

Hopefully I made the right choice in getting it, but only time will tell with that. Really want to read more, and if getting this thing leads to me reading more, then I have made the right decision!

But yeah, this was basically my thought process of whether or not I should get a Kindle. Hopefully along the way you learned a thing or two about a thing or do, regardless of how helpful or totally dumb it may be.

Why I Started Writing: Jeremy Quach

English. Such a boring and dull subject, is it not? I’m pretty sure the only reason English class exists is to bother me with everything I loath. Like books, for instance. Why would I ever want to read a boring, dumb book? I could be playing video games or watching TV or something. Writing is almost worst. Why would I need to learn how to write? It’s not like my tongue is going to fall off and I won’t be able to talk ever again, forcing me to write everything down.

Well, at least not yet. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Oh, and the teachers! They’re so terrible! Who cares if I put the comma in the wrong place? It’s not like it’s that big of a deal! Not like it makes a difference anyway. They’re all just picky jerks if you ask me.

Yeah, right.

I get a good chuckle when I think of my twelve year old self. While sure, I’m exaggerating quite a bit for dramatic effect, I felt that way about English class. I didn’t hate books, actually. I can enjoy a good story, regardless of the medium. It was just so time consuming. Why would I spend an entire day reading, when I can do something, you know, actually productive? I did hate everything surrounding grammar, though. Just seemed really nitpicky and pointless.

Yet, not ten minutes ago, I was looking through a very long google document contemplating which one these ideas I want to flesh out and turn into a short story, adding to my very long list of short stories I’ve written, all of which are probably bad and nobody has read. Which is fine, to be honest. I just want to keep writing, because it really developed my character and helped define who I was.

Or, instead of doing that, I could get a couple more chapters into “The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy.” Have a week to get through a 800 page book, better get to it! This back catalog of books I want to get to may literally kill me.

But then I remembered I had to write this essay, and decided to do that instead. So instead of writing this needlessly long introduction, I’m going to get to the point of this essay! And yeah, I know, acknowledging your mistakes doesn't make it any better. Tangent after tangent, yup, I’m terrible.

Anyway! Say Jeremy, how did you go from hating English, to loving books and reading them constantly, have tons of terrible short stories, and have writing drastically change who you were? Well, thank you, imaginary person I just made up, for asking! I will gladly tell the tale.

It all started three years ago...

“Old hag” were probably the first words that popped into my head when I first met my 7th grade English teacher Ms. Hodges. Old lady teaching a boring English class? Man, I’m to LOVE this class...

And oddly enough, I totally did. Didn’t expect that twist, did you?

As stated earlier, I didn’t really like English, and Ms. Hodges seemed to notice my lack of enthusiasm with the subject. She got a little more hands on with my learning. She began recommending books to read during our classes dedicated reading time. That’s when I read the first book I actually really enjoyed and couldn’t put down.

That book was Maxiumum Ride, the first book in the Maximum Ride series. When I finished the first one, I was heartbroken to find out she didn’t have the other books in the series, and I had to seek them out myself. About four days later, I was putting the latest entry of the series in my bookshelf, next to the other books in the series. I bought all of the ones that were out, even the one I already read at school, and was anxiously waiting for new ones to come out.

About a minute later, I was sitting on my couch, with my head in my hands. I had done nothing else besides reading books for the past week. No video games. No TV. Just books. And it’s not like there were small picture books either, they were 400 page novels.

What was I doing? I was spending my free time reading books. And... I was really enjoying them.

She kept recommending me books, and I kept reading them. I even began to seek out my own books. I talked with Ms. Hodges about the books I read. Debate on what I thought the authors did well, or what the book could have done better. I began to start thinking critically about what I was reading, and not just absorbing the content. I was able give intelligent and informed opinions about things. Give very detailed reasons why I dislike or liked something.

Which is something most teens can’t do. Oh, you thought the new Smurfs movie was pretty good? Yeah, shut up. You don’t know what the difference between good or bad is.

I started to think about everything with a critical mind. Began to think about the whys and hows of everything I was exposed to in terms of medium. I then began to review books, movies and games. I felt this need to figure out how I felt about the media I consumed. Did I like it? Why did I like it? What could have been better? And writing these thoughts on paper and organizing them helped me figure that out. It very much developed my taste and character.

The more I read and learned about books, the more I wanted to write one. It looked like it could be fun. But the thing is, my writing skill was pretty terrible. These reviews I wrote were mostly me just throwing random thoughts on paper and trying my best to connect them. So, I turned to Ms. Hodges to teach me.

I learned about grammar, sentence structure, expanded my vocabulary and other stuff. You would think I would get bored out of my mind learning this stuff, but it was actually really fun. After some of that, I tried it. I had some ideas. Here was a blank piece of paper. So I tried to write something.

And gee whiz, it was pretty terrible. Even though what I wrote was junk, I realized that I really enjoyed writing. So I kept doing it. I wrote about anything and everything. Everyday. Sure, I still played video games and read books, but I always had a notebook where I was, writing in it whenever I felt like it, which was pretty often. I loved it.

I showed what I wrote to Ms. Hodges and recieved critical feedback. Tried to figure out what I do well with my writing and what I need to improve on. I began to focus on the style of writing I had, which I felt I did well. I was determined to write something I was proud of. Just keep practicing and practicing. Write about anything and everything.

About a couple of months later I showed a short story to my friends and family, and gained praise. Sure, they were probably just being nice, but I felt good. I felt like I accomplished something. All this work and constant practice was finally lead to something I could feel proud of. I was so proud of myself and was shocked by how much I’ve matured since I first started 7th grade a couple of years ago. How much I’ve changed, and what I’ve learned about myself.

Writing is now one of the main ways I express myself. I’m a really dumb and silly person, but not being the most socially comfortable person in the world, I don’t really get to express that side of me that often, and it totally sucks. Right next to hanging out with friends, writing is the safest place I feel like I can express myself. So I try to incorporate as much “me” as I can into my writing.

Like with this essay, for example. Not to break the fourth wall, well, it may be a little to late for that, but I write in a freehand and very informal style. I try to add as much personality into my writing as I can, because again, writing is how I express myself. I don’t want to write the very formal paper that sticks straight to the facts. My writing style thrives off of personality, not just raw writing skill like a very formal essay would require. While I’m confident enough in my writing skill to write a very formal paper, I just kind of don’t want to. It won’t feel like “I” wrote it, since I’m not expressing myself.

Yeah, I know, this style probably isn't the best for a school paper, and I’m fine with that.

Writing has now become an integral part of my life that I now want to do for a living. Take what you love and find a way to get paid for it, right?

But anyway, here I am. Because of Ms. Hodges guiding me through all my English endeavors, such as getting over my dislike of books, improving my writing skill, and many non english endeavours, such as developing my taste and character and even learning about myself, I would’nt be who I am today. While I’m not getting paid to write just yet, I’m getting there. Started to get into freelance journalism and writing bad fanfiction. May join the school paper if I’m feeling racy. Wait, do we have a school paper? I’m not even sure.

Still not entirely sure if I want to be a media connoisseur or become an author, but I’ll figure it out sooner or later though. Still have a lot to improve on, though. But as long as I’m writing and expressing myself in one way or another, I think I’ll be fine. Hopefully my needless tangents weren't to distracting, but I had fun writing this paper, and hopefully you could tell.

Why I Started Writing: Bethany Wonsmos

I have loved to write for a long time now. It all started in middle school when I had an amazing english teacher. He encouraged us to write, a lot, and it felt.. empowering. I didn't have to hide anymore! I could be myself, in my writing!! No one could tell me not to be a certain way, or not to have a certain view. If I wrote it, especially in pen, it was there on the paper, on record!

I have a few different writing styles, but my favorite, is the one I'm writing in now. I like writing like I'm personally addressing the writer. I like it when you can actually see my personality shine through the words. I'm not gonna be left behind in the future. I'll always be here, with my words. So in the future, be expecting to see my name. Whether it's on a newspaper after some fantastic article or it's on the cover of a fiction book, I'll see you there!

Read. About subscribing and past subscribers.

I am SO sorry guys!! When I talked to Jeremy about writing on this blog... he agreed!(Well, I'm happy anyways.) We decided to completely change it to OUR blog. So it is no longer just my blog. We added many changes though!

One of the changes that messed us up was the blog title, but it needed to be done. The other was the URL!! When I changed it, it messed up EVERYTHING!! But it is officially fixed!! The only problem is that anyone who subscribed through email (Which I STRONGLY suggest) will need to do that AGAIN. Because I guess this is considered a completely new blog or something.

If you guys subscribe through email then you will get a notice everyday (IF) we make a post!! No constantly having to check back. :)

We also added an "About the Writers" section that you guys should check out. Be expecting some new material!!

Some of our posts are going to be off of our school blog(One's that WE have written), but I think it would be nice to have them on here also for our other, personal, followers.

New Blog Writer?

Hey guys, I was wondering, what would you think if I got another writer to write for the blog? It would still be editorial writings, that's mostly what this is about. But we all know that I can't keep up on it. I don't post things often enough and they're not very interesting.

I know this amazing editorial writer, a new friend, you know who you are, who MIGHT, if he's not to busy, agree to write on here every once in a while. He will have full power and choice of when or if he posts and won't have to check with me before hand. Guys, he is HILARIOUS. So it might add a little more flavor to this blog. He is a fellow student at my school.

So maybe, and yet maybe not. Don't forget to check back on my blog every once in a while and comment, you losers! I mean.. LOYAL readers. And tell all your friends! Please and thank you!!

The Life and Lies of Bethany C. Wonsmos

Well hello readers, we meet again. You may be wondering "Why would Bethany title her blog post the same as her blog title?!" And if you are that is quite the question to be asking, don't you think? Why.. why.. why?! Isn't that just an amazingly inconceivable question? I am in love with the question "why?"

Heck, as you're reading this, I bet you're even wondering... "why?" That is the beauty of this question!! It can literally be asked about ANYTHING.
"Oh hello, my name is Bethany."
"Why?"
"Because my parents named me that."
"Why?"
"They got married at a church named Bethany."
"Why?"
"I don't know..."
"Why?"
"They never told me."
"Why?"
Etc!!!! A lot of people find this annoying, and honestly I do too, but at the same time I find it... amazing. Anyways, I seem to have gotten off topic again.

I have recently had a writers block. I couldn't really write anything. :/ I have come to find that maybe, just maybe, I was going about it the wrong way. I got some inspiration(Oh what a word!!! <3) today and it made me realize that when I PLAN out what I want to talk about, I will never get it done. If I talk about what is currently on my mind, or an issue that I WANT to talk about, then It will get done. Fast.

Well I realized that I never properly introduced myself to my wondrous readers. I am Bethany. C. Wonsmos. (The periods are there for effect) To most, I am an average teenage girl, to some I am an amazing and outgoing friend, to others I am garbage left out on the side of the street, to the few I am dearly loved, and to me I do the best I can at, well, being me.

One of the most important things for me, is to be myself. That means being as quirky, outrageous, and unsuspecting as I can get. That means sticking up for everything that I believe in. That means staying up all night reading.

For the most part, my blog is going to be about problems. Little things in life that comes up. Stuff I want to inform you guys on. Maybe just something that I am currently pondering that I want to get off my chest. That is the "Life" part of my title.

When I first started writing, way back when, it was all fiction. I read a lot and like most book worms, I am and always will be, a fiction junkie. I've always been able to escape into a book when I'm down. Whenever I needed a friend.. I found it in a book or story. I want to be that friend. That escape for the scared. That adventure for the boring. That romance for the lonely. Hence the "Lies" part of my title. It doesn't mean that I'm going to be writing promiscuous things or little white lies on my blog. It's purely a creative way for me to say, that some of my posts will be fiction.

Love is love!

People need to stop focusing on what love means and focus on the actual feeling. There are many, many, many controversies and problems now a-days with love. Three of the biggest one's are sexual preference, race, and age. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that I have a problem with these things but lots of people do.

Age: I think age depends on the circumstance. If there's a 40 year old guy saying that he's in love with a 2nd grader, I call bullshit. To me, age shouldn't matter all that much, but really, it does. If you are older, like about 18, then it doesn't as much. You could date or marry someone a lot older than you, but people will always look down on you. The reason why I don't quite understand this is because we are all just people. Love is love; it's a feeling that you can't help but have sometimes. So if it's something you can't control, why do you have to look specifically for someone your age? One thing that I feel very strongly about is double standards. A girl could date someone older than them. Heck, I could find somebody 5 years older than me and most people wouldn't say a thing. A female freshman dating a male senior is NOTHING. How come a girl can't date a younger guy without getting laughed or scoffed at? A female senior dating a male freshman would be CRAZY. Even though I could easily date a guy 5 years older, if I tried dating a guy even ONE year younger people say things like "OMG you're older?" or "Duuude, why are you dating someone younger?" When I asked someone about this, they had a pretty logical explanation. "Girls mature faster, so if you want a mature guy then you have to look for someone older than you." That makes sense in a way right? I mean women supposedly DO mature faster, so if we mature two years faster, we should look for somebody two years older, right?? Wrong. Love know's no boundaries.

Race: Has anyone out there felt like someone wouldn't date them because they're a different race? No matter, white, black, mexican, asian, etc. you should not be discriminated against because of your race. I know TONS of people who say things like "I would never date a black person." Or "Eww, you're dating a mexican?" Love is not shallow, so if you're dating someone because of how they look, or don't look, don't expect it to work out.

Sexual Preference: Everyone has a different sexual preference, although some people don't have any. There are gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, etc. So many different labels!! Like I said, for me, love know's no boundaries. I don't look at what is in a person's pants or what they look like on the outside; I look at a person's personality. Even if you do, you may have different beliefs. That's fine, because everyone does. The thing that bothers me though, is that just because you have a different belief, you feel like you have to push that on other people; or you are very intolerant to other beliefs. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that ALL of you are like that. I have no clue about what people are reading my blog right now, but I think that the world needs to be a little more open-minded when it comes to love. Just because I believe something, or I'm doing something, does NOT mean that I want you to believe it or do it, I just want you to let me go my way, and you go your way. We are all people and we all deserve all the same rights. There are some heterosexuals that are under the assumption that they are in love, and homosexuals just have sex; but everyone just wants to be loved.

Quote: "You have your way, I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." Friedrich Nietzsche"

Age is but a number!

Bet you didn't expect me to say that, did you? Now let me explain... This isn't really a blog post about how I think age doesn't matter in relationships. YES, I may get into that, but my main point is how people are treated because of their age. As I have said in almost every single one of my blogs... EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. Sick of hearing it yet?

Everyone matures at a different age. Age is literally, just a number. It's the number of years that you've been alive and most people look at it as your experience or maturity level. Let me give you a few reasons why this is wrong.

1. Women mature faster then men, so if you had a male and a female at the same age, wouldn't the female be more mature? Well you might think that, and usually that's the case (;D Sorry guys.) but not necessarily. My three year old cousin is already more mature than me and he's male! (Also when you think about this one, you have to take into consideration gender problems.)
2. Not everybody gets out much. So you could be 15 and go out and do tons of stuff, experience life, and get wiser. You could also be 40 and sit around at home, like you have all your life, and know nothing of the real world.

Okay, okay, so granted, older people have lived longer.. but what does that mean really? I don't think it's fair that just because other kids my age are immature and stupid I'm treated like I'm immature and stupid. Just because I'm a teenager.. that's everyone's favorite excuse for anything I do. I'm having leg pains "Oh, it's just because you're a teenager." I get mad at my sister, "Oh, it's just because you're a teenager." I FRACKIN TAKE OUT THE TRASH OR SOMETHING, "Oh, it's just because you're a teenager." (This is not my personal outlook, it's for anyone who has felt this way at some point or another.) Haha, does that even make sense? :) Stereotypes... Now that's for a whole 'nother blog.

Has anyone else noticed that all my blogs are connected in some messed up, tangled way? I try to put them in different categories but I kind of trail off.. Just bare with me people. Please? Oh, and I decided to talk about the age in relationships in my next blog, so Adios! Until next time! :)

Don't think they don't notice.

The title... well it means EXACTLY what it says. When you body check someone who is overweight or you stare at someone's lazy eye... they NOTICE. One of my favorite songs made me really think about this.

"I'm the cripple on the corner
You've passed me on the street
And I wouldn't be out here beggin'
If I had enough to eat
And don't think I don't notice
That our eyes never meet."

Everyone want's to be treated the same. I've learned this through experience. No matter what it is about you, you're a person and you want to be treated that way, right? One of my biggest topics that I want to talk about today is mentally handicapped people. Using the word "retarded" is just like saying "that's so gay." When you call THEM retarded, as if it's a correct term, and then call you're friend retarded when you really mean stupid, it's like calling them stupid! When you say "That's so gay" and you mean it like stupid, you're calling homosexuals stupid. Just like if I thought something was stupid and instead of saying stupid, I say your name. All that they want, is for people to treat them the same. When you give them special treatment, or ignore them, pretend that they're not even there, they notice. At my school, J.C. Harmon, a lot of the students do this. Whenever I pass the Special Ed class in the hallway, I smile and wave, but most people just walk past and ignore them.

One time when I was in the breakfast line, there was a mentally handicapped kid in front of me. The teachers that were with him were helping the other students, and I dunno, they might have forgotten that he was behind them. He just kept pointing at the tray but didn't pick one up so I grabbed one for him and moved on because all I wanted was a juice. When I got out of the line I looked back and saw that he was standing by the milk.. just pointing at them, obviously wanting somebody to help grab one. EVERY single kid in the line just went around him and pretended like he wasn't there. So I went back and helped him. It really saddens me when people act like that. Like they're better just because his problems are a little more obvious than our problems, because we ALL have problems.

I have a friend, (will not name names :D) who is actually quite smart. He is a MAJOR Harry Potter fan, and to me that is AWESOME. Everyone is always making fun of him for that. A lot of people love Harry Potter, including me, but we're not as open about it. So other people take advantage of that and try to make his life hell. Now this friend, is one of the SWEETEST people I know. He is constantly saying hi and complimenting everybody. He has complimented my eyes on MANY occasions. So why does everyone else have to be so rude? Is it because he's different? It makes no sense to me.. because we're all different. (As I've said on MANY occasions.) I don't know about you guys, but I take pride in my differences. If we were all the same the world would be a very boring place.

Intolerance will not be tolerated.

For starters, what is tolerance? "The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with." In GSA (Gay straight alliance) we push this concept a lot. Our first objective is to create a safe place where EVERYONE can be themselves.  We don't judge and we give everyone a chance to speak about their week. Our second objective is to spread tolerance. When I say that we spread tolerance, I don't JUST mean for homosexuals. Everyone has a tolerance problem, and there are many different things that you can be intolerant about.

Everyone has pet peeves or things that they don't like about people and things that they do. You may not like something about someone but you still tolerate. If you hate it when people smack their gum but you don't judge them for it, and you don't yell at them or something, you're tolerating it! :) You may not like someone at all, but they're your best friends friend so you tolerate them.

All of this ties in closely with what you believe. There are things that everyone will NOT tolerate. For me, I will not tolerate closed-mindedness and homophobia. Of course there are other things, like most people, including me, will not allow anyone to harass their friends. Basically, you do not tolerate harassment. Everyone can state their opinion, of course! I'm all for listening to other people's side of things; if you continually say it though, or keep on bugging someone about it, it's harassment.

So basically, I'm just asking that everyone try their best to be open-minded about other peoples opinions and that you help spread tolerance, not just for GSA's sake, or homosexuals sake, but for everyones sake because NO one likes being discriminated against.

I've gotta be me.

I understand that everyone is different but I hate that people get hurt because of it. The thing that upsets me the most though, is when people get shunned or discriminated against because of race, sexual preference, appearance, disability, etc. Yesterday I had somebody make fun of one of my friends because of her teeth and another one of my friends because of her weight. What is the point of attacking others insecurities?! Because everyone has insecurities and everyone is different in EVERY way.

I understand that this is how the world works, but can't I be upset about it? It's only gotten worse, and it keeps going farther down hill as time goes on. No one respects anyone else and it's sad. People thrive to hurt others; it's a vicious cycle. Why can't everyone just accept that we are all who we ARE. You're not me, and you never will be. You are YOU. So take care of yourself and don't worry about what I'm doing.

Nothing you do will stop me from being myself. You have to push on and ignore the yells of others. People are going to laugh and people are going to make fun but you can't let them win. If you stop doing certain things just to make others happy then most likely YOU won't be happy and isn't that the most important thing? I suppose it all depends on what you think the point of life is. I think the point is to live life to the fullest and have fun. If all you care about is what other people think, then you aren't living life for yourself; you're living life for them. There is no way that anyone can change my mind or views.; in this sense, I've gotta be me.

To do or not to do.

There are so many choices in life; so many things that you could do. How do we make that decision? I, personally, like to weigh the pros and cons. Lately I've been thinking about my future and college. Do I really want a huge debt just so that I can be a pharmacist? Isn't there something more? I've always wanted to help people, isn't that why I wanted to go into the a health career? I don't know how I know that this is the right decision for me, but I feel compelled to join the marines. Maybe there is something else out there that would be better but at the moment I can't think of any. We all have those things that we feel like we must do and this is mine. I might not seem, or look like the type and I know that it will be intense. Actually, I'm looking forward to that. I think that people should expect the unexpected. I LIKE making people think in wonder, or go "Really? You don't look like the type." People should learn not to judge a book by it's cover. Haven't we been preaching this for years and years? Women have been fighting for rights a long time. We fought for the right to wear pants, to drive, even to wear our hair short. If we can do all the things a guy can do then why can't guys do all the things that we get to do? Who are we to judge a guy for wearing makeup? Or a girl for joining the armed forces? Think about that next time you laugh at someone for being different.