The importance of effective communication skills

Communication is not just all about talking, and good communicators know this, but about listening. Active listening is an important skill to learn to be able to communicate effectively. With these skills, life should be easier and people will respond positively to your great listening skills.

Birthday adventures

The past sixteen birthdays of my life have been very unusual to say the least. In the early stages of my life, my mother devoted her life to making every one of my birthdays "unique." One year, my mom decided to invite all the orphans in our neighborhood to my party. We played musical chairs. It was pretty sweet. Another time, my mom threw me a "Pink and Purple" party. Half the guests wore green. And who can forget the year my mom told me she didn't have time to throw a party? I had a sneaky plan, and I wrote myself a Happy Birthday card woefully expressing my melancholy of having no party that year... Boo hoo. I put the card in plain sight next to my bed with an ulterior motive in mind. I woke up that morning to a pile of gifts and to my mom telling me that she read my card of depression and threw me a mini party! Yay for deception! It's all about the presents, really. Presents are everything.

Thoughts on the US government... This should be interesting.

I. Absolutely. Distrust. The. Government.
I irrevocably, undeniably, superlatively do not, and will never, put my all of my faith in the hands of the government, and never will I ever become a politician or become entangled in the world of politics.
If you're going to tell me, "Oh, you're such a horrible, unpatriotic person! The government provides us with this and that, and freedom and all this other amazing stuff!" then you might as well stop reading now.
I do not disagree that the government provides a lot of good things for people, but what kills me is that they are so disturbingly aware that the secrets they keep from people are slowly killing them. First off, the FDA is a load of BLEEP. They approve half the foods we eat because they are profitable, even when they're not necessarily safe to eat. For example, has anyone ever wondered what is in burger meat, or any kind of beef, for that matter? A lot of the beef we eat is "cured" meat, meaning that the animal the beef came from had a virus or disease that needed to be treated with a plethora of shots, vaccinations and other unpronounceable antibiotics. That is in our food. In every fast food chain in the country ever. Not to mention that "chicken" nuggets are actually discarded chicken parts and bones and such grounded up and treated with ammonia and other chemicals to make it edible!
Does the government even know about this? HECK YEAH, THEY DO. AND THEY DON'T CARE.
The government doesn't run us, big corporations like Coca Cola and McDonalds do! It's all about money!
And don't even get me started on corruption.
I won't. I sound too much like a hippie already. I WON'T GIVE IN TO THE MAN!

Me and my dang AP courses

I decided it would be a fantastic idea to take four AP classes next year, plus I think two PAP classes. Junior year will probably be the most back-breaking, heart-stopping, stress-inducing year of my life. I'm pretty freaking scared.

My biggest fear

I have a fear of growing old. Even now, as I'm thinking about it, it makes me very, very upset. I have no problem knowing I'm going to die one day. I know there's a place for me after I die. But just the concept of aging and becoming old... It seems like a such slow, lonely process. Freaks me out, quite frankly. I actually spazzed out on my sixteenth birthday back in November. Call me a freak, but I figured: hey, fourteen, I got time; fifteen, I can sing that Taylor Swift song now! Sixteen? HOLY CRAP I'M FRIGGIN ANCIENT PUT ME IN A CRYOGENIC FREEZER NOW, DANGIT!
I still feel that way.
Just wait 'til my mid-life crisis.

How should Texas regulate texting and driving laws?

I think that texting might be one of the biggest distractions for drivers today. On the road, I see a lot of people with a phone on one hand and the steering wheel in the other. If, like most people, you plan on not crashing into trees, then I suggest that texting while driving is not a good idea. Some of these people even have children in the backseat! That is not OK! Texas should enforce a strict law that bans using cellphones while driving. Cameras should be at every stoplight, and these should capture the plate numbers of drivers that are on their phones. Citizens should also be encouraged to report any cases of texting while driving to police. The punishment should be a hefty fine for those who text on the road and endanger those around them.

What are the benefits of advertising during the Super Bowl? What are potential drawbacks?

First of all, it seems to me like the Super Bowl is treated like a national holiday around here. Considering that, it is probably safe to assume that millions of people gather around the television to watch the Super Bowl every year. Ding ding ding, prime time for brainwashing- er, advertising. Advertisers and big companies likely spend millions of dollars to give their product some airtime during Super Bowl season. The benefits, for those corporations, are that they earn a ton of money from consumers exposed to their commercial. I think that even people who aren't fans of the game will enjoy this aspect, and that way it benefits the NFL also because they get more eager viewers and maybe some potential football fans. The benefit for football fanatics is entertainment watching the commercials. The first drawback I can think of is maybe offending someone in an advertisement. After all, it won't be hard to find someone watching the game with an opposing opinion. Another drawback for the company would be the cost of the advertisement. Those millions of dollars could have gone to saving the rainforest, just saying.

One thing I'm trying to improve in my life

I'm trying to improve my productiveness. My whole life, I've been nothing but an unorganized lump of mediocrity. I've never strived to be anything above and beyond than what I was capable of. BIG MISTAKE.
I've always depended on my quote smartness unquote to scrape by life. Yeah, didn't work out too well for me. I've DEFINITELY done better this year, and it shows because my GPA and class rank have gone up significantly. So, yeah, I'm pretty much going to keep not being a slacker and things will be OK.

One word says it all.

Merp.
Merp merp merp.
Merp is my new favorite word. It is the perfect expression, awkward silence filler and sentence enhancer.

Let me demonstrate...

Merp as an expression
Bob: I just found a five hundred dollar bill on the ground!
Bill: (sarcasm) WELL ISN'T THAT JUST FLIPPIN' MERPTASTIC.
Bob: ...merp you.

Merp as an awkward silence filler
Jack: ...
Grandpa Joe: ...
Jack: 0_____0
Grandpa Joe: .........MERP.
Jack: .___.

Merp as a sentence enhancer
George: THAT WAS THE BEST MERPING TOUCHDOWN I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!
Wendy: What the merp are you talking about, George?
George: THE GAME, WENDY! THE. MERPING. GAME.
Wendy: Well do the merping dishes for once. You can watch your merping game from the gosh merping kitchen.
George: ...
Merp that, I'm going to bed.


With the right techniques, the word merp can express anything your heart desires. Soon enough, you will be spitting out your own merp-isms faster than you can say "salsa verde."
NOW RUN FREE AND MERP YOUR LITTLE HEART OUT. MERP ON... MERP ON...

Why people have superstitions

In ancient times, people used natural and supernatural forces to explain common occurrences easily explained by modern science. I read somewhere that breaking a mirror is considered unlucky because people used to believe that mirrors kept part of your soul in them. There is another one that says walking under a ladder is unlucky, this comes from the belief that triangles are supposed to have some sort of significant, mystical meaning (I don't remember what), and a ladder against a wall creates a triangle shape. People were very in touch with their mystical side back then because technology didn't exist, and people only had their minds to entertain themselves with.