Procrastination

Procrastination is never good, but it happens a lot. I am a regular procrastinator, as you can see by all of my blog postings. It’s ok to leave some things to the last minute, but I think writing seven blogs and a purpose essay is a signal that you might have a problem. Why do we do it so often? And why is it so easy to do?

Everyone likes to have fun. It is just a fact of life. But everyone knows that in order to have fun, you need to do a certain amount of work as well. Procrastination comes into play when you have the fun first and then do the work, rather than the other way around which is actually the smarter option. Waiting until the last minute to do something is pure stupidity, so why do we keep doing it? I do not know. I would also like to know how I can reverse this habit and become one of those overachievers who does all the required stuff first and then has plenty of time to have fun and maybe even do some extra credit work or something like that as well. I will address these questions in another blog later this year.

I think part of the reason I wait to do things is that I believe I work best under pressure. I don’t like to write papers in advance because I feel I won’t be doing my best work. This doesn’t quite make sense if you think about it. If you get it done earlier, then you have more time to edit and revise it rather than trying to make it close to perfect the first time you write it. I understand this, and yet I keep procrastinating. Also, I think I procrastinate because that was the example set for me. I was always told to get my homework done on time no matter what as a child. Because of this, I stay up late getting my homework done every night. I was never told though, to do it in a timely manner. As a child I always saw my mother working late on things. She was a perfectionist and whatever she was doing turned out perfect, but she would be up until three in the morning doing projects because she didn’t have the motivation to get it done in her afternoon free time. I believe this influenced me a lot, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. So remember, anything you do can influence someone else so get your work done and lead by example. (432 words)

Teenage Love...

There are many aspects of pop culture today that affect the teenage mind. Movies, fashion, television, books, and just normal peer pressure shape our everyday lives. I bet this has been going on for a while, but the major theme that I think is affecting most teens today is being in a relationship and more importantly, being “in love.” I think this is funny because when you’re a teenager, you aren’t mature enough to fully “love” someone and even if you think your “in love,” you don’t have enough life experiences to now for sure or not. In high school, everyone wants to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend. You want someone to care about you more than just family or friends do. It’s totally fine to want that and to be in a relationship, because it prepares you for the future, but just don’t get carried away.

Every school has at least one “it” couple and maybe a lot more depending on the size of your school. They’ve figured the whole relationship thing out, they’ve been together for a long time, and they sort of shove their relationship down your throat. This is the couple that is open about everything, say “I love you” ten times a day, and is inseparable. It’s a bit disgusting really and you get sick of them. Everyone knows who they are. They PDA all the time and don’t really care who sees. Everyone knows when they fight because their relationship is on display for the whole world to see. You see their tweets, and can just tell by the way they interact if something isn’t right. They seem like the perfect match in high school, but then fast forward ten or fifteen years and they are married to different people and are probably laughing at the way they thought they felt in high school.

Peer pressure is a big factor in all things love-related in high school. Everyone feels pressure to do stuff and be in love even if they really don’t want to or if its not important to them. Television and movies brainwash us into going on a mission to find true love. They also brainwash us into looking for certain signs that mean you’re in love, when everyone’s different. You shouldn’t have to face this kind of stupid pressure when you’re a teenager, and it shouldn’t affect you that much, but the truth is, it does. (406 words)

The Book of Faces

Facebook is a very popular social networking cite throughout our entire world. Everyone has a Facebook profile. If you don’t, then you are either seven years old, or have no life according to the rest of society. Facebook used to be this great new cite where you could get in tough with your friends faster, but it has slightly evolved in our changing society. Since the creation of Twitter, Facebook’s importance has declined.  Now, it is simply a place to keep your memories and stay up to date on events rather than your only lifeline to the rest of the community. 

I remember when I used to use Facebook applications like crazy. I was obsessed with “Picnik,” “Scrabble,” and “Farmville.” Now, I don’t even pay attention to that part of Facebook. Now, I simply use Facebook to keep my own and see other people’s pictures and get I touch with people who I do not see regularly anymore like graduated seniors. Many people I know don’t use Facebook a lot, but keep their profile because that is where all of their pictures and memories are stored. Since our generation is so technology based and we don’t take time to make photo albums or scrapbooks, the Internet is pretty much the only place we can store our important videos and pictures. Although, some people use Facebook as a way to show everybody everything they do. It has become known that your popularity depends on how many “red-cup” pictures you have on Facebook. So many people post pictures of themselves doing inappropriate and illegal stuff to brag to everyone else how rebellious and cool they are. This is just stupid. Anyone can see those pictures and you can get into a lot of trouble. If you lucky to not get in trouble, people are still going to talk about you, but not obsess over how cool you are. They will call you not-very-nice names and judge you harshly. Nobody wants to see how drunk you got at a party or how teeny tiny your little outfits are. We don’t care. The reason normal people post picture is to share things such as dances, trips, or fun school events. No one cares how immature you are in your free time. 

I sort of feel bad for Facebook because websites such as Twitter make the “status” and “wall” features unimportant. Many people tweet rather than update their Facebook status because it gets to people more directly so that everyone knows what they are doing the minute they do it. That also replaces a “wall” but also the growth of just texting in general eliminates that need. Instead of writing on a wall, you just text the person. Odds are you will get a response faster because everyone is glued to their phones. Facebook is a nice thing to have, but in reality, the necessity for it is decreasing. (484 words)

The 3 Television Catagories

Television has really evolved a lot since I Love Lucy. There are so many different channels and a variety of shows out there now. Sometimes it’s hard to weed out the good from all that other stuff.  Aside from sports and the news, I believe television is split into three sections: reality, educational, entertainment. I also like to call them stupid, boring, and interesting.

Reality shows are stupid. They are not even reality, they are make-believe worlds controlled by producers who tell the actors/participants what to do. The producers get ideas from what will make them the most money, which is drama, drama, drama. Reality TV shows are filled with high-strung people who pick fights with each other without having a good reason to. They also blow things way out of proportion to create even more drama so they can make money. On shows like The Jersey Shore and Teen Mom, people get paid to show their bad life decisions on national television. They get famous for doing absolutely nothing except being idiots. They got lucky and took the fast track to money through bad television, but when the show is don’t, what will they do with their lives?
Educational TV is ok, but it’s very boring. Some historical documentaries are interesting if they make it into some sort of narrative story, but most the other time it’s just facts. If there are multiple eyewitness testimonies or reenactments that makes it interesting. Things such as the history of the computer is not engaging at all unless you are some sort of computer technician. They use lots of jargon pertaining to the subject and only present facts. They don’t even try to make it interesting for ordinary people. Science is just as bad. There is no way to turn the discovery of DNA into a fun and engaging story that captures the attention of normal people. It’s just not possible.
Good quality entertainment television is the way to go when choosing what to watch. The show needs to be part of a series and you need to be able to learn something from it. It needs to leave you on a cliff hanger at the end of the episode and you need to feel like you just can’t wait until the next episode airs. The plotline has to be engaging and it can’t revolve around stupid stuff like exaggerated teenaged love or other related subjects. It needs to be appropriate for your age. If you’re twelve, you shouldn’t be watching South Park and if you’re twenty, you shouldn’t be watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. You need something that matches your level of maturity.  And above all, you need to enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, what’s the point of watching it? If you can’t find anything good on, then rather than being lazy, go out and have some fun with real people. (486 words)

Tweet Tweet

Twitter. It is one of the most widely used social networking websites in the world. People tweet about everything, anywhere, anytime. Twitter gives us a way to tell the world what we are doing, but is that absolutely necessary? I have a twitter account, but do I really need it? I don’t think so. My generation has become so focused on technology that out social skills are diminishing. People text instead of talking. Our photos are kept online rather than having a hard copy in a fun scrapbook or photo album. People talk about what they’re going to do on websites like Twitter and watch people do things on television, but don’t actually do them themselves. It’s actually quite sad what our society has turned in to.

Twitter is quite a pointless concept in reality. All it does is give people an outlet to complain about their lives and tell everyone personal details that were normally kept private in past decades. Twitter has become a contest to see whose life sucks more or is more stressful or complicated. It’s truly quite annoying.  I don’t care if you and your best friend are fighting or if you have so much homework that you think you will die before you get it all done. I also do not care if you and your high school boyfriend are in love or if he did something oh-so-cute and you just have to share it with everybody and post an adorable picture of the two of you. I don’t want to see PDA in the hallways so please don’t put it on the internet. Plus, why do you feel the need to tweet every time something funny or frustrating happens? If you document every memorable moment of your day, then you must really want the attention. If you tweet more than maybe five times in a day, you’re addicted, and even five is pushing it. Remember that you are allowed to keep things concealed in your life.

Also, it seems like there is a contest on who can use the most four-letter words in the small 140 character limit of each post. If there’s no reason to swear other than you can, then please don’t. I can understand if you are having a conversation and you just get so frustrated that you just have to use that word, but there are so many more adjectives that you can use in the English language. If you can only think of dropping the f-bomb every other word, then I’m sorry, but you need to pay more attention in language arts class, read some challenging books, and practice your speaking skills to broaden your vocabulary. (447 words)

Clueless Teachers

Every student learns differently. So why don't teachers accommodate to them? Teachers are supposed to know how to deal with these different types of learning, but I doubt many of them do. I doubt that many of them even pay attention to how their students are responding to their method of teaching.

My science teacher is an example of a teacher set in his ways and unwilling to explore different possibilities of teaching. This is our homework: we read the chapter, he gives us an optional "reading guide," he lectures us with a really long PowerPoint and expects us to take notes even though he talks extremely fast. Personally, I cannot learn unless I participate in a discussion rather than a lecture or I fill out a worksheet and we go over it as a class. I am not very good at reading a large textbook and picking out what I need to know. I do the reading guides he gives us, but it does not help me much because he does not go over them. The way he teaches, the students pretty much have to teach themselves the material which does not turn out the best and does not bring good results on tests. We also do labs, but it only focuses on a part of the chapter so I do well with that material but I am clueless with the rest of it.

I believe there are many teachers like this in schools all across America which is sad.  Teachers should be adventurous in their teaching style and change things up. If their students are getting bad grades, you should take the hint and try something new. If it works, fantastic! If it doesn’t, the try something else until your students are succeeding. It doesn’t matter if you’re teaching the material if your students aren’t learning it. There are many resources out there for teachers to find new ideas. You could ask an experienced and successful teacher you know or go in the internet. You could even go to a teacher’s workshop.
My history teacher last year tried out many different styles of teaching. I remember older students telling me she was not a good teacher, but when I got there, she was great. Apparently, she and her husband went to a teacher’s workshop that summer and learned a lot. She used what she learned and tried it out on us and guess what? It worked! I bet if every teacher was exposed to and utilized all of the great teaching resources out there, the students of our country would be better educated and then maybe when they grow up, they could solve all of the problems our world is facing right now. (455 words)

The Evolution of Disney

Everybody knows and loves Disney. Disney is an important part of not only America, but the word. If you go to any country and mention Disney, people will know that name. Sadly, though, Disney’s standards are going downhill

Classic Disney was the best. Movies such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty were so magical they would brighten your life. All of the early Disney movies were full of wonder, were told beautifully, and everyone could enjoy them. The plot lines were very original, and even if they were old fairly tales, seeing them on the big screen brought that much more fresh perspective into them. Each movie became an instant classic, the characters were lovable, and the songs were so lovely and catchy. Every movie was family oriented and became so instantly quotable.

All of the old school movies were wonderful too. All of the animated films like the Lion King, Hercules, Pocahontas, Mulan etc. and some of the Pixar animation films of the nineties like Toy Story were fantastic. Each movie has its own original plot line and set of characters. Disney used a wide variety of themes for their movies. Each movie explores a different setting and you always learned something from the central topic, even if it wasn’t exactly the whole truth. They all were very appropriate for little kids, but were also funny enough that adults could enjoy the good-hearted humor too. If you were to quote something from any of these twentieth century Disney movies, they would be easily recognizable because they are all very original and were very memorable a witty. Also, the actors who portrayed the voices were fantastic. Also, Disney movies such as Marry Poppins were expertly casted with many extremely talented actors.  

Now, every Disney movie is the same and they aren’t entertaining to adults. They all are about an unlikely hero who overcomes a challenge even though no one believes in him. Disney doesn’t even explore different plot lines. They stick to the same tired ideas and don’t expand. All of the characters are similar in every movie. They all share the same characteristics and follow the same basic timeline of events. Plus, Disney doesn’t even cast entertaining actors anymore. They keep recycling the same old people which get old. Another thing is that the content is either funny only for little kids, or not appropriate for kids. They can’t find the happy medium they had back in the day. I may be biased, but I feel like Disney didn’t transition very well into the twenty-first century. Disney, you really need to step it up. (436 words)

From Modest Origins to the Jungle of Public School

For the first fourteen years of my life, I went to private catholic schools. I went to St. Elizabeth Anne Seaton Preschool, St. Pius X Elementary, and Regis Middle School. This is where I learned to read, write, share, and tell time. I also learned valuable life lessons such as treat everyone with respect and dress modestly etc. The typical Catholic drill. I had an absolute blast in elementary school. Everyone was friends and I loved to learn. Plus, I had a really good teacher every year. At Regis, there were multiple small cliques. Once you were in one, you couldn't get out. There were distinct lines between groups and the only reason you would talk to someone more popular than you was if you were partners for a project. The popular and sporty kids, on the other hand, had total freedom. If they wanted to pick on you, you took it. You were expected to get out of their way and be their little toys that they could play with. I have seen, multiple times, popular people pretending to be a nerd's friend then making fun of them in front of the entire class. It's heartbreaking. I have even been the butt of a few jokes too, and it’s not a good environment to be in. I'm not saying that all parochial schools are like this, and it really wasn't all bad, but these were just some of my not-so-nice experiences. Also, Regis is a very sheltered place. There is absolutely no talk at all of drugs, drinking, or serious relationship things. I'm sure that kind of stuff happened, but it was not a tolerated topic in the classrooms, hallways, or lunchroom. As you can probably assume, I was totally nervous when I decided to attend a public high school. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, which scared me. All I knew was that there were fights, and a bunch of people, and I wouldn't know anyone there. I was sure I'd be transferring back to catholic school by winter.
To my surprise, public school was wonderful. Of course, I was really nervous and felt kind of awkward my first few weeks, but people were really nice, which came as a surprise to me. I was expecting unfriendly, weird people, but I found out that public school is the exact same as parochial, minus the religious aspect. When I got involved in show choir, swimming, and dance team, I met a lot of people just like me. Some things did surprise me though. For the first time I saw PDA in the hallways (disgusting!) and heard about crazy parties that got busted by the cops (stupid teenagers), plus a bunch of stuff I'd never heard of before. But in all honesty, the pros of switching schools outweighed the cons immensely for me. It was the right choice. If you ever get faced with a tough decision, do what’s right for you and don't worry what other people will think. Don't let things you've heard scare you from doing what you want. Take a chance and it might turn out to be one of the best decisions you make. It certainly worked out that way for me. Now that I'm in public school, I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. (557 words)

Dos And Don'ts of Homecoming

I have been to our Homecoming dance for the past two years at this school. I have also been to WPA. I've experienced just about everything from hearing a girl puke in the stall next to me, to being ditched, to having a blast with my best friend. So here is a list of things to do and avoid during Homecoming.

DO:

Accessorize. You may have the perfect dress, but it can look so boring without the right accessories. Make sure to wear a fun necklace that accentuates the neck line of your dress and has a bit of color to match your dress. Big earrings are a must, especially if your hair is in an up-do. Bracelets are good too, but if you have a wrist corsage then they're not very necessary and putting a fun clip in your hair is an elegant touch. Lastly, cute shoes are key. Finding the perfect pair is just as important as important as the dress.

Hang with your friends. Make sure that at the dance you are with the people you enjoy. I've gone in a group that I wasn't very familiar with before and it wasn't very much fun. With your friends, you're free to be goofy and you don't have to worry about them thinking your weird. At dinner, you will be able to talk and participate in the fun the entire time without awkward pauses or just sitting back and listening that can happen with other people. Plus, when you're dancing with someone you don't know very well, your thinking about impressing them rather than having a good time. Also, go with a group that isn't crawling with drama. And if you aren't already dating, don't  expect that your date will automatically become your boyfriend/girlfriend. Every year there are always girls in the bathroom crying because their date is dancing with someone else, they're in the middle of a cat fight with another girl, or they're having boyfriend problems. The easiest way to avoid this is to not put yourself in that situation. Just stay with your true friends.

Don't:

Ditch your date. You may have been invited to go to a party or want to hang out with some other friends at the dance, but don't ditch your date. That's just rude and most of the time leads to an awkward encounter the following Monday. No matter what the reason is, just don't do it. You said you'd go with your date so you should keep your word. Don't be a jerk.


Set too high of expectations. It's great to be excited, but don't dream up a magical night filled with nothing but giddy bliss. Things happen that you cant control. Friend get in fights, the waiter messes up your check, your date doesn't want to dance, ect. If you let all of these little things get you down, then your night will turn out terrible. There's no such thing as a perfect night. As long as you focus on the positive, you will have a fun, memorable night. You'll even be able to laugh at all of those stupid things that went wrong. Even though it may seem like the end of the world, when you put things in perspective, it's only a high school dance and its not the end of the world. It's just one night of your life and you have so many more things to look forward to.
(576 words)

Do You See What I See?

The term "abstract" means apart from concrete realities; difficult to understand. Abstract art is supposed to be all about trying something new, gaining insight, and expressing yourself in unconventional ways. The part that confuses me is this: how do you tell the difference between abstract art and just plain lack of talent?

I'm sure we've all seen that typical movie scene when a guy paints a terrible stick figure and the teacher swoops over to rave about how spectacular it is and how he guy is finally thinking outside the "box". It's a fumy scene, but does that actually happen? And what if it did? What if all of the famous artists known for their expression were actually just mad or lazy or blind? Drawing a bunch of jumbled-up faces just seems odd to me. How can putting the eye in the middle of the chin represent suffering or anguish or whatever it stands for? It just seems wrong when an artist contorts an object past recognition. It makes me think that they just didn't know how to draw it the right way so they made it look intentionally crazy. And why do artists feel the need to color certain things random colors? Is the color in nature not good enough for them? Or were they just colorblind and confused?

I don't get how you decide between abstract and doodles. Is there a special technique? Because each artist seems to go about things in a different way. If I ever take an art class, my opinion might change, but as of now, the entire world of art just poses so many unanswered questions for me. Maybe I'll never understand. (279 words)