I don't know where you are, where you are from, or where you are going. But if I could give you one piece of advice, that would be this: don't go back to Iowa, get out of Iowa, or don't go to Iowa.
There are many reasons to go to Iowa. There are also many reasons to leave Iowa. Overall though, there is one huge reason to stay very far away from this glorious cornfield of a state. The weather.
"What are you talking about?" you ask. "Isn't Iowa weather perfect for growing corn or cows or potatoes or whatever it is you hicks do?"
Goodness gracious no. Weather in Iowa is about as unpredictable and unstable as a twelve girl sleepover. A typical November/Decemeber day goes as follows.
7:00 AM: Freezing. What is this even. I'm pretty sure I'm breathing in solid oxygen it's so cold.
10:00 AM: Wow, it's pretty nice out here. Maybe I'll take off that parka I had to wear this morning.
12:00 PM: Just kidding, where are my hat and mittens?
3:00 PM: Why did I even wear jeans today? I should be wearing shorts now. Anyone want to hit up the pool?
5:00 PM: Oh look at that snow. It's quite pretty.
8:00 PM: The news station just issued a report saying that you may freeze to death if you stay outside for more than three minutes.
Weather's pretty unpredictable in Iowa. Even from year to year, we never know what to expect for our seasons. Some years, winter starts in October. Others we don't get our first snowfall until January. Spring is pretty much just an extended winter, with a lot more slush and muck. Summer is a mix of rain and humidity. Fall is our really only constant season in that the leaves always eventually fall off.
Take this weekend for example. Yesterday, there was almost freezing temperatures, rain, and overcast clouds. Today, it was clear as your mother's disdain for everything you enjoy. Nice temps, not a drop of rain at all, and certainly no snow, despite being the second of December.
So if you love unpredictability, being surprised, and having to change how many layers you wear hourly, then Iowa is the place for you! Otherwise, I suggest you move to Arizona. Sure it's a bit hot, but at least you know it is always going to be hot.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Respect my authoritah
I always seem to get into deep, controversial, debate-like conversations with my father. It could be about anything; politics, the economy, school, you name it. It usually consists of me accidentally starting the conversation-turned-debate by asking my father a question or telling him a story, him giving an opinion, me commenting on it or asking a question, and then him lecturing. They can often be long and boring, but mostly, they're good insight.
Recently, my father and I began talking about authority. This was in response to a situation I was in at the time, involving a teacher, their opinion, and the actions they the proceeded take. My father said I had the right to question my teacher's opinion, but not their authority to take actions. While I feel he was right in a way, I also believe he was not.
His first misconception was his belief that students can question a teacher's opinion. While that would be the ideal classroom, in which a student and teacher can get into a friendly and class-widely beneficial debate, that is not the case. Most teachers would find an attempt to debate an opinion as a direct challenge to their authority, which in many cases it is not. That student would be promptly silenced, and potentially ordered out of the classroom or to the administration's office. So while in the ideal world, students and teachers would be able to debate, that is not the world we currently live in.
My father also stated that authority is not earned. It is something that is handed to down and thus cannot be challenged. I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point. Teachers have authority over students, simply due to their position as teachers. We cannot challenge their right to discipline (as it is given to them) and their authority to teach and instruct us as they see fit. You wouldn't challenge your boss on something, right? "No sir, I don't want to write that report, and I will reject your authority." Your boss would then reject your position and you would find yourself unemployed.
This is often confused with respect, however. While authority is handed to individuals, respect is earned. I believe that you should only show as much respect to someone as you feel they deserve. This takes a very mature and wise heart to correctly dole out the proper respect though. You can't confuse their use of their given authority as them disrespecting you. If they are polite and courteous to you, you should in return be polite and courteous to them. While you should generally give more respect to your elders, if they completely disrespect you, they have lost that privilege.
In conclusion remember this: opinions are meant to be politely questioned, authority is given, and respect is earned.
Recently, my father and I began talking about authority. This was in response to a situation I was in at the time, involving a teacher, their opinion, and the actions they the proceeded take. My father said I had the right to question my teacher's opinion, but not their authority to take actions. While I feel he was right in a way, I also believe he was not.
His first misconception was his belief that students can question a teacher's opinion. While that would be the ideal classroom, in which a student and teacher can get into a friendly and class-widely beneficial debate, that is not the case. Most teachers would find an attempt to debate an opinion as a direct challenge to their authority, which in many cases it is not. That student would be promptly silenced, and potentially ordered out of the classroom or to the administration's office. So while in the ideal world, students and teachers would be able to debate, that is not the world we currently live in.
My father also stated that authority is not earned. It is something that is handed to down and thus cannot be challenged. I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point. Teachers have authority over students, simply due to their position as teachers. We cannot challenge their right to discipline (as it is given to them) and their authority to teach and instruct us as they see fit. You wouldn't challenge your boss on something, right? "No sir, I don't want to write that report, and I will reject your authority." Your boss would then reject your position and you would find yourself unemployed.
This is often confused with respect, however. While authority is handed to individuals, respect is earned. I believe that you should only show as much respect to someone as you feel they deserve. This takes a very mature and wise heart to correctly dole out the proper respect though. You can't confuse their use of their given authority as them disrespecting you. If they are polite and courteous to you, you should in return be polite and courteous to them. While you should generally give more respect to your elders, if they completely disrespect you, they have lost that privilege.
In conclusion remember this: opinions are meant to be politely questioned, authority is given, and respect is earned.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thanks for the memories
Recently, my
mother has been doing what she does best: nagging. She's been nagging about one
specific thing too. Almost every day, she'll ask me if I've sent out my thank
yous yet.
My birthday was a few weeks ago, and with that came gifts from family members. Then, due to common courtesy, I am expected to send out thank you notes or emails to those who sent me those gifts. I don't mind that, in theory. I am grateful that they thought of me (as some family members who won't be mentioned often forget) and that they spent the time, money, and effort to get me the gift.
However, this year, my mother has told me to do the thank yous electronically. Sure, it's easier for me. Sure, it costs less. But I have one major problem with that. It makes it too easy for them to respond. And with the responses could potentially come attempts to continue the conversation.
I love my family and all, but if I tell you what activities I'm involved in now and how school's going, what am I supposed to talk to you about around Christmastime? One of the reasons we gather for holiday events is to catch up on each other’s' lives. We can't disrupt that, now can we?
I also, in general, just hate writing thank yous because I'm legitimately bad at it. In real life, I'm not the most eloquent. But when it comes to saying thank you or expressing any sort of gratitude or feeling or anything toward anyone, I just sound artificial. I can't give compliments without sounding phony. I can't actually express my appreciation without sounding bogus. I'm just no good at that whole "communicating my feelings" thing. When I try to put it down on paper, it doesn't get any better. I still feel as though the words sound fake and forced.
So while I understand the necessity of thank you cards/emails. I still detest them. I want to express my thankfulness, but I don't want to do it in a way that the recipient might feel is actually devoid of those feelings and cause them to think that I'm just writing them because my mommy told me to.
Hopefully, I'll soon get too old for this stuff, and I'll only get gifts from my parents. Then I'll only need to write one thank you letter.
Life as a teenager is so hard.
My birthday was a few weeks ago, and with that came gifts from family members. Then, due to common courtesy, I am expected to send out thank you notes or emails to those who sent me those gifts. I don't mind that, in theory. I am grateful that they thought of me (as some family members who won't be mentioned often forget) and that they spent the time, money, and effort to get me the gift.
However, this year, my mother has told me to do the thank yous electronically. Sure, it's easier for me. Sure, it costs less. But I have one major problem with that. It makes it too easy for them to respond. And with the responses could potentially come attempts to continue the conversation.
I love my family and all, but if I tell you what activities I'm involved in now and how school's going, what am I supposed to talk to you about around Christmastime? One of the reasons we gather for holiday events is to catch up on each other’s' lives. We can't disrupt that, now can we?
I also, in general, just hate writing thank yous because I'm legitimately bad at it. In real life, I'm not the most eloquent. But when it comes to saying thank you or expressing any sort of gratitude or feeling or anything toward anyone, I just sound artificial. I can't give compliments without sounding phony. I can't actually express my appreciation without sounding bogus. I'm just no good at that whole "communicating my feelings" thing. When I try to put it down on paper, it doesn't get any better. I still feel as though the words sound fake and forced.
So while I understand the necessity of thank you cards/emails. I still detest them. I want to express my thankfulness, but I don't want to do it in a way that the recipient might feel is actually devoid of those feelings and cause them to think that I'm just writing them because my mommy told me to.
Hopefully, I'll soon get too old for this stuff, and I'll only get gifts from my parents. Then I'll only need to write one thank you letter.
Life as a teenager is so hard.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Can you please stop asking I just don't know
It's become the bane of my existence, and it's just going to get worse as I get closer to graduation. Every, and I mean every, social event I go to, I get asked the same set of questions. "Where are you going to college? What are you going to major in?"
I have one answer I want to give to all of those questions: I DON'T KNOW. I understand that I'm in my junior year of high school. But still. It's the first trimester. I don't have to have this stuff figured out yet. I'll get it figured out in good time.
I get that it's just a conversation starter. But it's simply annoying. Ask me how school's going or how work is going. I can answer questions about the past. However, as a teenager, I simply do not think about the future. I can do that tomorrow, right?
Colleges don't seem to get this either. Starting in my sophomore year of high school, I began receiving letters and emails from colleges, proclaiming the wonderful programs that their facilities have to offer. Do you know how many of those I've opened and read? None of them. I'll probably just end up using the letters as kindling for fires or something. How many of these letters or emails actually affect peoples' decisions on what college to go to? Thanks University of *insert state name here,* I appreciate you putting my name into your system for your computers to print on those shiny postcards with the prettiest pictures of your campus on them. It really means a lot to me. But I most likely will not end up going to your college. Anyway, at this point in my life, I already have my choices narrowed down to a select few.
Now, I'm being told I need to start looking into the ACT and college visits. Wait, what? I'm a junior. A sixteen year old. I can hardly decide what I want to eat for breakfast. Now you want me deciding what I'm going to do with my future? Holy cow. It just kind of hits you in the face. Man, the rest of my life is coming, eh? It's kind of scary.
But at least for a little while longer, I can ignore it. I'll let those college letters pile up, pretending I'm just really popular or something. I'll store those college emails away in a folder, pretending the number isn't quickly approaching the five hundreds. I'll still be a little girl, plenty of time left in high school to enjoy whatever she has left of her childhood. Summers can still be about having fun, and the school year is just a brief interruption of that. I'll have time to worry about the future once it gets a little closer. After all, procrastination is what I'm best at.
I have one answer I want to give to all of those questions: I DON'T KNOW. I understand that I'm in my junior year of high school. But still. It's the first trimester. I don't have to have this stuff figured out yet. I'll get it figured out in good time.
I get that it's just a conversation starter. But it's simply annoying. Ask me how school's going or how work is going. I can answer questions about the past. However, as a teenager, I simply do not think about the future. I can do that tomorrow, right?
Colleges don't seem to get this either. Starting in my sophomore year of high school, I began receiving letters and emails from colleges, proclaiming the wonderful programs that their facilities have to offer. Do you know how many of those I've opened and read? None of them. I'll probably just end up using the letters as kindling for fires or something. How many of these letters or emails actually affect peoples' decisions on what college to go to? Thanks University of *insert state name here,* I appreciate you putting my name into your system for your computers to print on those shiny postcards with the prettiest pictures of your campus on them. It really means a lot to me. But I most likely will not end up going to your college. Anyway, at this point in my life, I already have my choices narrowed down to a select few.
Now, I'm being told I need to start looking into the ACT and college visits. Wait, what? I'm a junior. A sixteen year old. I can hardly decide what I want to eat for breakfast. Now you want me deciding what I'm going to do with my future? Holy cow. It just kind of hits you in the face. Man, the rest of my life is coming, eh? It's kind of scary.
But at least for a little while longer, I can ignore it. I'll let those college letters pile up, pretending I'm just really popular or something. I'll store those college emails away in a folder, pretending the number isn't quickly approaching the five hundreds. I'll still be a little girl, plenty of time left in high school to enjoy whatever she has left of her childhood. Summers can still be about having fun, and the school year is just a brief interruption of that. I'll have time to worry about the future once it gets a little closer. After all, procrastination is what I'm best at.
Who let the dawgs out
Dogs are a man's best friend. Right? Right.
I have a dog, named Zeke. He is one of those fancy designer dogs, half pug, half beagle, cleverly dubbed a puggle. He's got the cute curled pug tail, the pug coloring, and the sleeping habits of the pug. From the beagle, he got his wonderfully ear-piercing bark, the floppy ears, and hyperactive personality. Zeke has a mix of the pug's smushed, "I just ran into a glass window" snout and the beagle's normal snout.
As cute and adorable as he is now, he was even more adorable as a puppy. And a lot less annoying. When he weighed only five pounds and was only a foot tall, he could do a lot less destruction. Now, he is a little punk. He gets into the trash can, eating whatever will fit in his mouth. He'll roll all over beds, shedding everywhere. He'll destroy clothing that actually gets left lying around.
Recently, my grandmother's dog has been staying with us. She's a teenager in human years, meaning she's an old, old lady in dog years. An adorable little shih tzu dog, with a big fluffy white coat and short little dumpling legs. Compared to my brat of a dog, she's an angel. She's half blind and deaf as a rock. But she's the sweetest thing ever. She lies around, looks the happiest ever when her "mommy" shows up, and never eats any type of trash.
It's weird to think, but this is just an example of how even dogs have personalities. My dog, the stupid punk, is like a toddler, never growing up, never learning from his mistakes. My grandmother's dog is like a wise little old grandmother, observing all that goes on, but never involving herself. It sometimes seems strange that our dogs are their own little "people" too, with different habits and mannerisms. But they are, and that's why we love them.
Despite my little Zeke's childishness, I still love him; that moment when he snuggles up to me before going to sleep, his overly excited tail wagging whenever I walk through the front door, even after just taking out the trash. We can all learn from dogs. We learn what exactly unconditional love is and we in turn, learn how to love unconditionally. Even after that SoB peed on the carpet and threw up, after cleaning it up, that punk will run up to you all happy-like, without a care in the world, and you'll just give up. That pooch is just too adorable, and you'll love it no matter if it even killed the Muppets.
I have a dog, named Zeke. He is one of those fancy designer dogs, half pug, half beagle, cleverly dubbed a puggle. He's got the cute curled pug tail, the pug coloring, and the sleeping habits of the pug. From the beagle, he got his wonderfully ear-piercing bark, the floppy ears, and hyperactive personality. Zeke has a mix of the pug's smushed, "I just ran into a glass window" snout and the beagle's normal snout.
As cute and adorable as he is now, he was even more adorable as a puppy. And a lot less annoying. When he weighed only five pounds and was only a foot tall, he could do a lot less destruction. Now, he is a little punk. He gets into the trash can, eating whatever will fit in his mouth. He'll roll all over beds, shedding everywhere. He'll destroy clothing that actually gets left lying around.
Recently, my grandmother's dog has been staying with us. She's a teenager in human years, meaning she's an old, old lady in dog years. An adorable little shih tzu dog, with a big fluffy white coat and short little dumpling legs. Compared to my brat of a dog, she's an angel. She's half blind and deaf as a rock. But she's the sweetest thing ever. She lies around, looks the happiest ever when her "mommy" shows up, and never eats any type of trash.
It's weird to think, but this is just an example of how even dogs have personalities. My dog, the stupid punk, is like a toddler, never growing up, never learning from his mistakes. My grandmother's dog is like a wise little old grandmother, observing all that goes on, but never involving herself. It sometimes seems strange that our dogs are their own little "people" too, with different habits and mannerisms. But they are, and that's why we love them.
Despite my little Zeke's childishness, I still love him; that moment when he snuggles up to me before going to sleep, his overly excited tail wagging whenever I walk through the front door, even after just taking out the trash. We can all learn from dogs. We learn what exactly unconditional love is and we in turn, learn how to love unconditionally. Even after that SoB peed on the carpet and threw up, after cleaning it up, that punk will run up to you all happy-like, without a care in the world, and you'll just give up. That pooch is just too adorable, and you'll love it no matter if it even killed the Muppets.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
What are you afraid of?
Just the other day, I participated in a common Halloween ritual. The "haunted house."
I've been to very few haunted houses/mazes/otherthingsthatgethaunted in my life. But they have pretty much all been the same. Obviously the actual style of the haunted locations were different, with different paths and different looking monsters, but the techniques used were the same.
The way most haunted places are "scary" isn't through actual scary things. Sure, the monsters and clowns and creepy nurses and old people and murderers look pretty gross and icky, but they aren't actually that scary. They just kind of stand around or walk by or near you.
The real way that haunted houses are scary is through two main ways. The first is suspense. They play scary music while you're waiting, already riling your nerves. Then as you're walking through, you're just waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to pop out. Or you'll see someone, standing motionless and immediately start worrying when they're going to move and lunge toward you.
The second way haunted houses are scary by the noises they use. They play loud, scary music while you're waiting to enter. Then once inside, they'll assault you with noises and silence. You'll enter and it'll be quiet. But then the sound effects begin. Actors will bang on anything and everything to startle you. They'll play sound tracks of creepy voices and noises. You'll hear other people scream and that alone will scare you, once again adding suspense with you wondering why they're screaming.
These aspects that make us feel fear then amplify our other lesser fears. Before entering the haunted house, the man manning the entrance asked me, "Are you afraid of the dark? Are you claustrophobic? Are you afraid of clowns?" I answered no to all of those. I mean, I'm a sixteen-year-old. Who is afraid of the dark at that age? And small spaces and clowns have never bothered me. But with the suspense and the noise, I found myself fearing those exact things.
So we wonder, why do we even do this to ourselves? It's a weird Halloween event. Why would we purposely try to scare ourselves? I suppose it's entertaining. It's like why we slow down to look at accidents. We all have a little bit of morbid curiosity. We also like the elevated heart rate and rush of adrenaline we get from the anticipation and the scare.
Despite whatever other meanings Halloween has for others, be it the scary experiences or the horror aspect, it'll always only have one main meaning for me. The candy.
I've been to very few haunted houses/mazes/otherthingsthatgethaunted in my life. But they have pretty much all been the same. Obviously the actual style of the haunted locations were different, with different paths and different looking monsters, but the techniques used were the same.
The way most haunted places are "scary" isn't through actual scary things. Sure, the monsters and clowns and creepy nurses and old people and murderers look pretty gross and icky, but they aren't actually that scary. They just kind of stand around or walk by or near you.
The real way that haunted houses are scary is through two main ways. The first is suspense. They play scary music while you're waiting, already riling your nerves. Then as you're walking through, you're just waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to pop out. Or you'll see someone, standing motionless and immediately start worrying when they're going to move and lunge toward you.
The second way haunted houses are scary by the noises they use. They play loud, scary music while you're waiting to enter. Then once inside, they'll assault you with noises and silence. You'll enter and it'll be quiet. But then the sound effects begin. Actors will bang on anything and everything to startle you. They'll play sound tracks of creepy voices and noises. You'll hear other people scream and that alone will scare you, once again adding suspense with you wondering why they're screaming.
These aspects that make us feel fear then amplify our other lesser fears. Before entering the haunted house, the man manning the entrance asked me, "Are you afraid of the dark? Are you claustrophobic? Are you afraid of clowns?" I answered no to all of those. I mean, I'm a sixteen-year-old. Who is afraid of the dark at that age? And small spaces and clowns have never bothered me. But with the suspense and the noise, I found myself fearing those exact things.
So we wonder, why do we even do this to ourselves? It's a weird Halloween event. Why would we purposely try to scare ourselves? I suppose it's entertaining. It's like why we slow down to look at accidents. We all have a little bit of morbid curiosity. We also like the elevated heart rate and rush of adrenaline we get from the anticipation and the scare.
Despite whatever other meanings Halloween has for others, be it the scary experiences or the horror aspect, it'll always only have one main meaning for me. The candy.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Seven places I want to go/live before I die
We all have places where we wish we could go or live.
Where to go
1. Wales- As in the part of Great Britain. Right next to England. I'm not quite sure why, but I'd really like to visit there. It might be their amazing castles or sloping pastures. I think the first time I heard about Wales was in a book I read, titled Saffy's Angel. I don't hardly remember what the book was about but at some point in the storyline, the characters went to Wales. Since then, I've wanted to go to there.
2. Sweden- Despite never being able to spell it right (Sweeden?) I want to go there before I die. I don't know much about the country besides that they have delicious fish, but I feel as if it would be an enriching experience.
3. India- One of my good friends recently visited India. Seeing her pictures of the people, the culture, and the places, I decided India was a country I wanted to travel to. There would be so many new adventures, smells, tastes, and people to meet. Unlike the previous places mentioned, India would be a different experience, as Europe tends to be closer culturally to the United States. I feel this foreign land would be exciting to visit.
4. Russia- Despite the cold weather and the raging alcohol/drug problems (though I understand that is a wide generalization) in Russia, I still feel it would be a beneficial place to visit. With its amazing architecture and culture, I believe there would be new experiences around every corner.
Places to live
1. Canada- Not just anywhere in Canada though. It would have to be northern Canada, where not many people live and where the woods would be all around me. The goal to moving there would be for isolation, a time of solitude. To have a small cabin in the woods with a fireplace and plenty of books to read would just be perfect.
2. Netherlands- Let's be honest. Who wouldn't want to live in such a beautiful country? With their long history of growing tulips, there is sure to be a scenic view within a few minutes' drive. And the windmills. Those are amazing. The whole experience would be wonderful.
3. Australia- Another beautiful place to live would be Australia. This country has pretty much everything. Wildlife, coral reefs, expanse deserts, all on one convenient land mass, just for your enjoyment! Living here would allow me to expose myself to so many opportunities. The only thing I would not enjoy would be the fact that pretty much every animal living there can kill you. Especially the spiders. I hate spiders.
Where to go
2. Sweden- Despite never being able to spell it right (Sweeden?) I want to go there before I die. I don't know much about the country besides that they have delicious fish, but I feel as if it would be an enriching experience.
3. India- One of my good friends recently visited India. Seeing her pictures of the people, the culture, and the places, I decided India was a country I wanted to travel to. There would be so many new adventures, smells, tastes, and people to meet. Unlike the previous places mentioned, India would be a different experience, as Europe tends to be closer culturally to the United States. I feel this foreign land would be exciting to visit.
Places to live
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