A little change can be good for anyone

Does anyone else just absolutely love it when your parents go on vacation and you go a few days or maybe even a week if you’re lucky without parental supervision to watch you’re every move? When my parents go on vacation most of the time I stay at my grandmas but everyone and a while I just stay at home. I actually prefer staying at my grandparents because they are like a whole different species than my parents. I’m pretty sure the word “no” is not in there vocabulary. Living in a different place for a week is so fun, I am the kind of person that doesn’t really get home sick so it is so fun for me to stay somewhere else than I am used to for a week or so because it’s just a fun change things up. I like experiencing new things and I love change in most ways. While my parents were somewhere else experiencing new things I was too! Of course it was smaller things like seeing how much ice cream I could eat within in an hours’ time. I guess my point is, to me life shouldn’t be falling into a normal routines.  Normal routines are boring. If you eat a sandwich every day for lunch aren’t you going to get bored, try something new for god’s sake! Little changes can make your life just a little more exiting. Try small things like changing up your clothes or your hair. Try eating some new things, playing some new games. It’s awesome to keep the things that work well for you like your best friends or your favorite toothpaste, but don’t be afraid to keep these good things and add new things on top. Meet some new people, try something new. (279)

"Follow me"

        Do you have something that when you eat it, or see it, or feel it then it remind you of times when you were younger? Well for me when I hear the song “follow me” by Uncle Kracker I think of so many good times from when I was young.

This song was constantly playing when I was younger. My neighbors and I used to know every word of the song by heart. To this day someone can sing a phrase and the rest of us will join in. It automatically gives the feeling of joy and being young and free again.

You don't know how you met me
You don't know why
You can't turn around and say goodbye
All you know is when I'm with you
I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea
I'm singin'

These lyrics bonded all of us together. These words gave us all away to say what we couldn’t to each other. I think it’s important to have something like a song to bond together a group of people because if anyone starts to lose touch you can play the song and it will almost “replay” all of the great memories they had together in their head as the music goes on. And they will realize how much they would be missing if they left these people. I guess that could be taken as a weird way of bonding a group together but I think music really has the power of holding those memories and reconnecting people. To some people the song may not be anything special but because we conditioned it to mean something important it is special to us. (285)

Netflix faves

I know there are a lot of Netflix lovers out there and I am dedicating this blog to telling you a few of my favorite shows that you can find on Netflix, along with a summary of these awesome shows.

1.      Malcolm in the middle

This show is perfect for any age range and any gender. This is because it is about a family, (a mom, dad, and 4 kids) so anyone can relate, weather you relate with the kids or the parents. The main reason I love this show is because of the creativity that is involved in it. Each show makes me laugh so hard.

        This show is pretty much all about the ups and downs of growing up and raising kids. The parents end up having 4 boys and they get in mounds of trouble and each episode there is something new for them to blow up, or burn, or jump off of. (They get very creative). The relationship between the mom, Lois, and the dad, Hal, is just absolutely hilarious because even through all of their struggles they love each other through it all. Out of all of the shows I am going to talk about I really think this show will make anybody laugh or at least crack a smile because it is very unique from the normal “kids growing up” kind of shows like modern family or the middle. I looked forward to watching this show because I could never wait to see what trouble the boys were going to get into each time.

 

2.      Ugly betty

I think this show is mainly aimed for teenage girls because it is about a young woman that is trying to work at a fashion magazine and she doesn’t really fit in, but each episode she gets closer and closer to meeting her dreams of owning a magazine about what she believes are more important things than fashion. This show is also very funny at parts.

               This show is just an easy show to watch because it’s about a woman just trying to get through life. As I watched it I was just always routing for her (Betty) because she was the underdog and she seemed to change everyone for the better. This show is very inspiring. It makes you want to get out in the world and do something you love. Betty has to make a lot of big decisions in her life and she usually does the best with what she has. She really portrays that you don’t have to have the “looks” and money to change the world; you just have to have confidence, patients, and be a good soul to get where you want in life.

 

3.      How I met your mother

This show has many good characters and they all bounce off of each other super well. You have a few goofballs, a player, some love birds, a more reserved type, and then you have Ted who just can’t seem to find his way. Each episode is narrated by ted telling the story to his kids about how he met their mother. I also really enjoy this show because it is hilarious and you never know what misfortune is going to happen next. I think many people can relate to this show too, but I think its mostly older people that can relate. I think older people can relate better because it is a lot about the ups and downs or relationships and people who are already married can say “yup I can honestly say something like that has happened to me when I met your father/ mother”. Who knows maybe this will lead to your parents telling you how they met each other.

Give these shows a try; they are all very entertaining and funny! If you have other shows that you love watching on Netflix please comment on this post saying which ones they are! Thanks and happy Netflixing! (659)

Road trips

Road trips can either be really fun, or one of the most boring things you have every gone through. To make the trips more fun here are 10 things that make the 3 hours seem like 30 minutes.

1. Have plenty of food and water. Being really thirsty and hungry can make a few minutes seem like a few hours.

2. Bring a notepad and take turns drawing a combined picture with the person next to you.

3. Have an iPod and headphones so you can listen to music. When in doubt jam it out!

4. Play 20 questions with a person in the car

5. Ask someone to name 5 random things, then draw a scene including all of the things that were said into the picture.

6. Write a song, short story, or poem.

7. Do homework, (you will be glad to have it done once you get to your destination)

8. Sing, if you have multiple people in the car that can sing try forming melodies to well-known songs

9. Create “car dance moves” with the people around you. Try to come up with the dorkiest looking dance

10. Ask questions that you have always been wondering about. This is a good time to catch up with your friends or family, or whoever is in the car with you. Share your life stories and your darkest secrets. (230)

Media's role in the strive for perfection.

The documentary “miss representation” states that 53% of 13 year olds are unhappy with their bodies and by age 17 that number increases to 78%. My question is: is media making these numbers so high?

 

In a survey of nine to 10 year old girls 40% said that they have tried to lose weight before. (Funded by the national heart, lung, and blood institute). Has media been a big part of these kids believing they should lose weight? Well in a study on fifth graders, 10 year old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show "Friends". This shows how media does affect children’s view of themselves, by watching these things they learn that that is the desirable way to look. These guys and girls are reaching for perfection, which is impossible. The only way that the music videos, along with the pictures in the magazines look so perfect is because of a little thing called computer touch ups. Media is such a big part of many teens’ lives and some are taking extreme measures to lose weight to look as “good” as those seen on TV by smoking, or skipping meals. Read more about this issue here.

 

58% of female characters in movies had comments made about their appearance. This is significantly more than males were which only 24% was. These days the appearance of the people in the movies and commercials is so much more important than what the movie or commercial has to say. Women are judges so harshly about their looks in the media, even the tallest, skinniest, sexiest girls are pounded to the ground because they don’t look stunning every minute of every day. These awful words that are said about some of  the prettiest, most well-known actresses makes just the everyday girl feel bad because “If  Katy Perry can’t even look good enough for the medias eyes then I won’t ever be good enough.”- Is repeatedly thought in many young girls’ eyes. Celebs are always striving for perfection; this is what makes girls strive for it as well. “If Taylor Swift got breast implants, then I need to as well”. When is personality and talent going to be enough? Why is there a constant need to change yourself for perfection?

           

Ask yourself if there has ever been a time when you wanted to look like someone in a movie, commercial, or magazine. The answer most likely will be yes. And if it is no then you are lying to yourself. If there was no media we would only have the “normal” person to strive to be. Therefore we would want to be more successful rather than prettier because there would be no magazine that we can compare ourselves to, it would be only the natural beauty that is not photo shopped. If there was no media we could reach to a certain extent of beauty and be proud of whom we are, but because of the fake pictures of women we are always trying to get what we literally cannot have. Next time you strive to look like someone in the media remember, even they don’t look that good. Read more about how photo shopping has taken over the media here. (556)

The perfect present. Every time.

The best birthday presents to me, are the ones that are the funniest, yet things I can use. Recently I got a huge blow up donut tube for the pool. This present had all of the wonderful qualities that a present should have, it made me exited to use it, laugh, and donuts are something that I enjoy very much……very, very much!

When looking for a gift for a best friend first of all try thinking of something they mentioned they wanted from a long time ago, when they open the gift they will realize how you really do listen to everything they say.  (If they mention something that they think looks cool then write it down so when their birthday rolls around you can look back to the picture to see what they really wanted)

Secondly, try finding the perfect gift online. The internet is full of interesting websites you can buy from with way more unique gifts than any stores would ever be selling. Selling online also takes less time because you don’t have to go out and drive around in search of a gift, the perfect gift can be only a click away.

                Thirdly, don’t spend too much. If a lot is spent on someone than they think that when your birthday rolls around they have to spend as much on you, and they may not be able to afford as grand of a present.

 Fourth, when in doubt go with the picture collage approach, it works every time and it is always very thoughtful. To make this gift even more personalized make sure the colors that you decorate it with match their bed room so they can hang it up and it fits the space perfectly.

Fifth, if you’re still searching for the perfect thing try making a basket with all of their favorite things in it. For example, their favorite food, candy, hair product, makeup, movie, songs, clothes, jewelry, color etc. There is no way you can go wrong with this because they will know that you know all about them, inside and out!

Lastly, if you are worried the present will not show enough thanks to them for being a great friend then add a card. Having a card with the gift will show how you took the time to write to them and that they are worth the effort.

Finding a present for your best friend can be really hard sometimes. Another trick I use is just going with the first gift idea that pops into your head for them. Usually your instinct will drive you in the right direction. (437)

Should we ever be equal?

               As we grow up we learn about how unequal gender was in the past, along with this we learn that we are equal now. But are we really? Life has taught girls that as they grow up they only way to get a guy is to be skinny, have the perfect hair, and perfect….well, everything. As guys grow up they have been taught that all women should look exactly like the ones they see in the movies and magazines, and there is no more to a girl than her looks. Yes, I understand this is a harsh way of wording this issue. But I do believe that that is what we grow up knowing, maybe not to a conscious extent, but it is always in the back of our minds how each gender should act and look, no matter how far we push it away.

               I think gender would be more equal if there wasn’t as much media blowing everything out of proportion. Especial in this generation media is everything. And I mean everything. You go to a restaurant and the TVs show the perfect image of women. You see everyone always on their phones, weather it is twitter, instagram or who knows what else, there are pictures and words about how people should be. Even if you don’t realize it, your mind takes in all of these pictures and words that you see on those screens and tells you what you should think about the other gender.

               In some ways women and men should be treated differently. For example it’s perfectly fine that men don’t wear skirts (at least in America) and that woman carry purses. Style can be different because it is just the way people express themselves. It’s just when a women or man is not able to do something just they are not the right gender is what doesn’t seem right. Women should be able to get any job they want and be paid the same as men, to me that just seem like common sense. But in today’s society it still happens, luckily a lot less than in history.

               I don’t believe that gender will ever be perfectly equal because obviously we are different, we are different in looks and we are even different in the way we think in some cases. It’s just how life is, women are different than men. But just because we will never be treated exactly the same does not mean that women should be denied the right to be who she truly is. (424)