I don't know why I disagree with nearly every article I read. But here we go, this one claims that teen drivers who have their own car are more likely to crash. When teens have their own cars, 'experts' say that they feel less obligated to be cautious and attentive, because it's their car. I don't disagree with this statement. I think most people are more careful when they drive cars that are borrowed or belong to their parents. Personally, I'm a horrible driver. Whether I'm driving my own car named Benny, my mom's car, or even if my mom is sitting next to me while I'm driving. It's just not good. I do agree that I tend to focus more if I'm driving my mom's car, but that's only because I realize that I'm not as comfortable with that car as I am with my own.
So, so far I agree. But as the article progresses, the author begins to speak of teen drivers as if it's an epidemic. Fear the teen drivers! That's not fair. My sister is an adult, and she is a far worse driver than I am. The author then continues by saying that teens whose parents don't give them extremely strict rules/limitations on driving are far more likely to crash.
What makes me laugh is the part where another one of these 'experts' says that it's "alarming" that so many teenagers have their own cars. Alarming. I think that's hysterical. I don't have the option of riding a bus home from school, and my job is requires me to drive to the other side of town. I have no other option than to drive. How am I to do that if I don't have a car? My parents are both working all day, so I can't borrow theirs or get a ride from them. It's necessary in this day and age to own a car. What's alarming is that while teen drivers are getting a feel for the roads and may not be great at first, adult drivers are nearly ramming my car to cut me off so they can make the light, or running through stop signs and lights because they're on their cell phones. where are the restrictions for them?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Big Bad Facebook
The things people complain about really amaze me sometimes. Facebook isn't out to get you, dear people of America. It is a website. If you don't wish to know exactly what a person is eating right now or what they thought of 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs', then don't pursue this site. Stay away. Take a deep breath, and don't look back. To claim that your relationships are being ruined by a website is beyond ridiculous. Must have been a really rock-solid relationship to begin with. I realize that I'm being harsh, but I really get annoyed after reading articles and articles about how technology is corrupting America. Look around, we're already corrupted. And it took a lot more than a website to do that.
I admit that I spend entirely too much time on Facebook, but I think it's better than wasting time watching some dumb reality show on tv or doing nothing. I'm catching up with my sister in Tennessee, looking through pictures of that wedding I missed, and sharing funny memories with my friends. I don't see corruption in that. I'm not completely irrational, I see that the days of communicating in person are quickly fading, but it's not a tragedy. I spend a great amount of time, maybe even more than I would like, surrounded by people. I don't find the need to Facebook someone sitting next to me, because the ability to speak is not yet lost to the majority of the population. I think everyone needs to just take a deep breath and relax. If you like Facebook, use it. And if you don't, stay away.
I admit that I spend entirely too much time on Facebook, but I think it's better than wasting time watching some dumb reality show on tv or doing nothing. I'm catching up with my sister in Tennessee, looking through pictures of that wedding I missed, and sharing funny memories with my friends. I don't see corruption in that. I'm not completely irrational, I see that the days of communicating in person are quickly fading, but it's not a tragedy. I spend a great amount of time, maybe even more than I would like, surrounded by people. I don't find the need to Facebook someone sitting next to me, because the ability to speak is not yet lost to the majority of the population. I think everyone needs to just take a deep breath and relax. If you like Facebook, use it. And if you don't, stay away.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
College or Bust
College. Ugh. I realize it's supposed to be like the 'Greates Years of Your Life', but I still don't feel like dealing with the decisions. So many decisions. I don't know what I want to be, what I want to do. I know what college I want to go to, and what major sounds good, but I have no idea what I'll do when I get there. I'd rather just let someone else make all the decisions and make the best of it.
My friend asked me earlier today what college she should apply to. "Rutgers, or Temple?" she asked me.
"Temple," I replied lazilly, reading an article on the computer. After agreeing and fishing through her application papers, she began to laugh.
"It's like the rest of my life," she told me, "and I'm picking it like it's candy."
It just got me thinking, what's the point? No one wants to deal with these decisions, very few are really ready to make decisions, yet we have no choice. It's easier to just pick this or that, and never look back. But of course, that is not the realistic way of thinking. Right now I have two college choices. Two. My school guidance counselor looked like she was about to pass out when I told her I 'only have two choices'. The truth is, I don't want to think about college, because it makes me sad. I have no desire to grow up and leave all of my friends and family. I don't want that. It's not even like I'm growing up to anything that is worth having. Bills, mortgage, long work days, sleepy eyes.
I worked from 8am to 5pm yesterday, which only happens about four or so times during the school year, and I hated it. I constantly looked at my watch and couldn't wait to just get out. I kept imagining what I could be doing. Cleaning my car, buying much needed winter clothes, studying my spanish terms, or even relaxing with my boyfriend. It's so rare lately that I get to sit and relax. When I complained to my mom, she handed out a very non-sympathetic statement: 'Get used to it.'
What if I don't want to get used to it? What if I want to sit and home and watch movies for a change, instead of studying or working, both of which are necessary for me to go to college, which is apparently necessary for life. I hate that. i hate that I can't amount to anything if I don't go to college. Don't get me wrong, I want to go to college. I do. But not yet. Everyone is always telling me oh, you're a writer, you want to be a journalist, right? Wrong. Yes, I will tell you I want to be a journalist because it sounds good and there's a major for it. But I don't want to spend every day at a desk writing about politics and the economy and other things that don't interest me.
I can't go so far away for nothing, when I'm leaving my friends and my family and every bit of my heart behind. So it's going to have to be something, this college experience. I guess the best thing to do is take the leap, and hope that there will be someone to catch you.
My friend asked me earlier today what college she should apply to. "Rutgers, or Temple?" she asked me.
"Temple," I replied lazilly, reading an article on the computer. After agreeing and fishing through her application papers, she began to laugh.
"It's like the rest of my life," she told me, "and I'm picking it like it's candy."
It just got me thinking, what's the point? No one wants to deal with these decisions, very few are really ready to make decisions, yet we have no choice. It's easier to just pick this or that, and never look back. But of course, that is not the realistic way of thinking. Right now I have two college choices. Two. My school guidance counselor looked like she was about to pass out when I told her I 'only have two choices'. The truth is, I don't want to think about college, because it makes me sad. I have no desire to grow up and leave all of my friends and family. I don't want that. It's not even like I'm growing up to anything that is worth having. Bills, mortgage, long work days, sleepy eyes.
I worked from 8am to 5pm yesterday, which only happens about four or so times during the school year, and I hated it. I constantly looked at my watch and couldn't wait to just get out. I kept imagining what I could be doing. Cleaning my car, buying much needed winter clothes, studying my spanish terms, or even relaxing with my boyfriend. It's so rare lately that I get to sit and relax. When I complained to my mom, she handed out a very non-sympathetic statement: 'Get used to it.'
What if I don't want to get used to it? What if I want to sit and home and watch movies for a change, instead of studying or working, both of which are necessary for me to go to college, which is apparently necessary for life. I hate that. i hate that I can't amount to anything if I don't go to college. Don't get me wrong, I want to go to college. I do. But not yet. Everyone is always telling me oh, you're a writer, you want to be a journalist, right? Wrong. Yes, I will tell you I want to be a journalist because it sounds good and there's a major for it. But I don't want to spend every day at a desk writing about politics and the economy and other things that don't interest me.
I can't go so far away for nothing, when I'm leaving my friends and my family and every bit of my heart behind. So it's going to have to be something, this college experience. I guess the best thing to do is take the leap, and hope that there will be someone to catch you.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Work it.
Having a job and being a high school student is madness. School, work, homework. Eat, sleep, repeat. Where's the fun in that? I'm supposed to be so many things: a great student, a hard worker, an independent daughter, and then a teenage girl with a social life. What?! What about what I want? I know I sound like a spoiled child, but I'm trying to enjoy my last year of high school, and I don't believe that it's outrageous to want to have fun.
I resent that I'm expected to be this busy while still 'enjoying life'. Seriously, tell me to get a job and be miserable, or tell me to enjoy my life. It cannot be both. I see that having a job at my age is necessary and realistic and such, but I still don't like it, and it still takes a toll on me when I wake up in the morning exhausted and craving social interaction. I live for friday.
I resent that I'm expected to be this busy while still 'enjoying life'. Seriously, tell me to get a job and be miserable, or tell me to enjoy my life. It cannot be both. I see that having a job at my age is necessary and realistic and such, but I still don't like it, and it still takes a toll on me when I wake up in the morning exhausted and craving social interaction. I live for friday.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
In Response to a New York Times Article on Texting
Okay, people, it's time to calm down. All of these articles featuring physicians and psychiatrists speaking out against texting has gone too far. I'd like to look up their phone records and see how many texts they send in a month. As teenagers, we are looked down upon for texting by adults. When in reality, they are being hypocritical. I don't know how many times I have been in class or a public place and an adult-owned phone rings loudly, interrupting whoever is speaking or working. Where are the articles about that? At least my phone is kept on silent, and I can respond silently, without interrupting those around me.
We are living in a technologically advanced time, and cell phone use is frequent in our culture. If these adults have such issues with texting, then they themselves should first stop, instead of pointing fingers and trying to make their children stop. We're in high school, we don't have time to talk on the phone! Would they (being the accusatory adults) rather teenagers spend all night talking on the phone and running up the phone bill, rather than sending a few short texts to get the message across? I don't think so. I don't know anyone who has an 'addiction' to texting, or anyone whose life is being seriously affected negatively because of texting, because it's only communicating. It's not an epidemic or a bad influence or whatever parents like to call it. Your children could be spending their nights in much worse ways.
And as for this freshman girl that complained about permanent thumb pain/cramping because of texting, i suggest to her a new hobby, because that's ridiculous.
We are living in a technologically advanced time, and cell phone use is frequent in our culture. If these adults have such issues with texting, then they themselves should first stop, instead of pointing fingers and trying to make their children stop. We're in high school, we don't have time to talk on the phone! Would they (being the accusatory adults) rather teenagers spend all night talking on the phone and running up the phone bill, rather than sending a few short texts to get the message across? I don't think so. I don't know anyone who has an 'addiction' to texting, or anyone whose life is being seriously affected negatively because of texting, because it's only communicating. It's not an epidemic or a bad influence or whatever parents like to call it. Your children could be spending their nights in much worse ways.
And as for this freshman girl that complained about permanent thumb pain/cramping because of texting, i suggest to her a new hobby, because that's ridiculous.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Autumn
I like the fall. It reminds me of when I was little, and I used to rake up the leaves and jump in them with my friends. I like the way the wind will bring smells of bon fires and cinnamon. I like dressing up in over-sized sweatshirts and scarves and sitting that much closer to the one you care about. But more than the clothes and the smells and the weather, I like the mood. Summer is wild and spirited and freeing, there's always rebellion. Once you get to autumn, the mood changes. It's more calm and loving and comfortable. Words obviously cannot justly describe the feelings that arise when the temperature drops. I just love it.
I remember being in fifth grade and sitting in the leaves with my friends, just smelling the cold air as it bit at my nose. I was completely care-free. The stress of life, though there wasn't much back then, wasn't a pressing matter. It was just me, sitting in the midst of beautiful oranges and reds, smelling my favorite smell, in my favorite sweatshirt, with my favorite people. It was bliss.
I think that I still try to take that feeling with me, to awaken it once September 22nd rolls around. I still believe that I can be that child, that content with life, once the leaves start to fall. It's been many years since that fifth-grade child, and many more stresses are prevelent in my life than were back then, but I know that the autumn holds some sort of magic that will melt away the stress and the conflicts of life, even if only for a while. I am anticipating wearing my oversized sweatshirts, smelling my favorite autumn smell in the frosty breeze, and sitting that much closer to the ones I care about in my great big leaf-pile.
I remember being in fifth grade and sitting in the leaves with my friends, just smelling the cold air as it bit at my nose. I was completely care-free. The stress of life, though there wasn't much back then, wasn't a pressing matter. It was just me, sitting in the midst of beautiful oranges and reds, smelling my favorite smell, in my favorite sweatshirt, with my favorite people. It was bliss.
I think that I still try to take that feeling with me, to awaken it once September 22nd rolls around. I still believe that I can be that child, that content with life, once the leaves start to fall. It's been many years since that fifth-grade child, and many more stresses are prevelent in my life than were back then, but I know that the autumn holds some sort of magic that will melt away the stress and the conflicts of life, even if only for a while. I am anticipating wearing my oversized sweatshirts, smelling my favorite autumn smell in the frosty breeze, and sitting that much closer to the ones I care about in my great big leaf-pile.
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