you're gonna miss this

Today I was listening to a country song on the radio called, "You're gonna miss this" by Trace Adkins and it got me thinking about the past 16 years of my life. It's funny how we, as kids, always say how we can't wait to turn 14 so we can get jobs, 16 so we can drive, 18 so we can be "adults," and 21 so we can legally drink and gamble. We always want to be older, so we can have more freedom, and we like to plan our future out and think about the fun times ahead. But the truth is, in a couple years from now, we really do look back and say, "I wish I would've enjoyed my life more.. I wish I would've spent more time doing ____ or spending time with ____." It's time to take a good look around at our lives and enjoy them for as they are now, and live life without any regrets, because you truly are going to miss this. Once you get older, you wish you were a little kid again. An example I can think of is kindergarten, when I hated nap-time.. I could never fall asleep and I thought it was stupid, I wanted to play! Not sleep, jeesh! But now, as a teen, I hardly ever get any sleep and it seems like every kid in high school would love to have a nap-time. I wish I was a child again so I wouldn't have to focus all my time on school work and get outside and run around and just have fun for once. I wish those days wouldn't have gone by so fast. After hearing this song, I've decided to look at my life in a more positive way because I know that I will regret getting older and miss those times when I was young.

the famous rubix cube

My younger brother owns a rubix cube, and he has a huge fascination with it. He is always messing (twisting and turning) with it and he can solve it pretty fast after he bought a stupid book on how to solve it. They say people who can solve it are super smart, which I believe because I can't seem to figure it out and my brother has a 4.2 gpa and he can solve it so I think there's a correlation there. My brother said it's just pure memorization of formulas and patterns that you look for. He can solve the cube in about a minute, I've seen him do it and the world record is about 20 seconds. My brother said that there are robots that can solve the rubix cube, which is pretty neat. The man who invented the rubix cube, Erno Rubic, says, "the Cube is an imitation of life itself --or even an improvement on life. The problems of puzzles are very near the problems of life, our whole life is solving puzzles. If you are hungry, you have to find something to eat. But everyday problems are very mixed--they're not clear. The Cube's problem depends just on you. You can solve it independently. But to find happiness in life, you're not independent. That's the only big difference." I like this quote because he relates the cube to real life and it's true that our whole world is about solving problems. I have not solved the rubix cube, I think fairly few people in the world have; but I look forward to (hopefully) learning one day. Maybe I'll ask my brother to teach me sometime soon.

the big deal about saint patty's day

Yesterday I went to Carlos O Kelly's with my friends and we ate dinner together. It was fun, especially when we met this leprechaun. Today is St. Patrick's day and I don't know much about the holiday so I decided to look up the history behind the big day and learn about leprechaun's, since they're such weird creatures.

I learned that the Leprechaun is an Irish fairy. He looks like a small, old man, dressed like a shoemaker, with a cocked hat and a leather apron. Legend says that leprechauns arevery unfriendly, they live alone, and pass the time by making shoes. They also have a hidden pot of gold. Tresure hunters are said to often track down a leprechaun by the sound of his shoemaker's hammer. If caught, he can be forced (by violence) to reveal his treasure, but the you must keep their eyes on the leprechaun every second. The leprechaun is tricky, he often tricks people into looking away and then he vanishes, and all hopes of finding the leprechaun's treasure is lost.

I also researched the holiday... I learned that St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and one of Christianity's most widely known figures. Even though he has his own holiday, his life remains a mystery; it's not uncommon that many people don't know that much about St. Patrick's day. Many of the stories associated with St. Patrick are just exaggerated storytelling. Another interesting thing I learned was that the Chicago river is dyed green every year for St. Patrick's day, I never knew that. My family and I dont have any special traditions for this holiday, just to wear green. I didn't wear green today though :-X I dont have that much green clothing. I'll just have to buy something for next year's March 17th.

my spring break

This year, for spring break, My family and I are going to Wisconsin Dells on that sunday through tuesday the last week of March. It should be really fun, I haven't been to Wisconsin Dells since like 7th grade, so 4 years ago. I bet there are a lot of new water slides and new stuff to do. Once my family and I get back from the Dells, we are going to visit colleges in Iowa for me to look around and experience what campus life is going to be like. We plan on visiting Iowa State (my preferred college choice,) University of Iowa, and UNI. I'm really excited. My cousin, Megan, is going o UNI right now so I might stay the night with her in her dorm. I want to go to Iowa State, even though it's really far away because they have a good art school and they have my major, Graphic Design. After all the college visiting over break, I will hopefully have a better idea of what campus life is like. My birthday is also over spring break, it's April 5th. I've never had my birthday over spring break before, which is kind-of exciting since I'm use to always having to go to school on my "big day." I will probably celebrate my birthday with my friends by going out to eat or something. It should be a good break :)

no last minute rush

I never procrastinate, okay "never" is a big word, but for the most part I really dont. I don't know how all my peers can pull it off at the last minute. I like to work ahead; get things done ahead of time so I don't have to deal with that nagging stress. I don't enjoy feeling rushed-- I always work ahead on projects and assignments just so I can get them done and over with. My brother, Nathan, who is a freshman has a 4.0 gpa and he always does his homework sunday night, at the last minute. It's not fair that he does his assignments at the last minute, rushed and still manages to get a better grade than me at everything. Almost all of my friends are like my brother, and manage to pull off projects at the last minute. In the morning, before school starts, I always find my friends at our locker sitting down doing their homework and they actually get it done! For writing notebook entries, or blog entries as we now have, I would always do my 5 entries on the weekends and then I wouldnt have to worry about them during the week, so I would always be 5 entries ahead. I hope I never lose my "working ahead ability" because I enjoy getting things done early so I dont have to worry about them!

the dentist = the old boogeyman

When I was little, I had a fear of the dentist... I'd cry and cry to my mom and dad that I didn't want to go. They always picked at my teeth and would put these big pieces of paper in my mouth that would make me gag so they could “take a picture” of my teeth, which I know now is x-rays. They’d also put this fluoride stuff in my mouth for a minute, which tasted terrible. I would just sit in the dentist chair and suffer while I tiredly held my mouth open for them. I couldn't wait till the appointment was over because then I got to pick out two prizes. I usually got a sticker and a bouncy ball. Nowadays, I'm too old for those prizes (at least that's what the dentist says.) I've grown up and got over the fear of going to see my dentist; she's just trying to take care of my mouth. I've suffered thought the pain of cavities, getting a root canal in middle school, and more.

I've also gotten over my fear of seeing the orthodontist. I use to hate it, probably because when I had my braces I would always have to come back in and they would tighten the brackets, which hurt really bad. I couldn't eat anything hard after they tightened them. I'd live off of jello, mashed potatoes, and chocolate ice cream :). My braces were on for a little over 2 years. I also had a head gear to get rid of my overbite. All the pain was worth it though, whether it be going to the dentist every 6 months or seeing my orthodonist every 3 months, which led to my beautiful straight smile. I may not have thought that all the pain was worth it at the time, but now I'm glad I suffered through it all. I'm happy I don’t get anxious or nervous anymore when I'm due to see the dentist or orthodontist.

research topic: tanning

I've decided that for my research paper
I am going to go into depth on the subject of.. TANNING
and the effects of it, pros and cons.

This article i found was about "smart tanning" and the author talks about how indoor tanning moderately will reduce your risk of getting sun burned, and how not all dermatologists are against tanning moderately. Where as, this article is about the "downsides of tanning" and how it can lead to cancer. For my paper, I plan to research both sides of the argument and I won't put my opinion on the subject in the paper.