Writing

I don’t know how to write a blog. It’s funny really; when I was younger I loved writing for fun with no pressure or expectations. It didn’t matter how my stories turned out, no one was going to read them anyway. As I got older and entered high school, a world filled with Honors and AP English classes, writing under pressure with high expectations became my life. Timed writings, literary analysis, and reflective essays became part of my daily routine. I have never been a very structured person, and was surprised by how quickly I fell in love with it this style of writing. The complex prompts never fazed me, nor did the assignments of multiple paged essays. If anything I always found myself going over the page limit. Even though there were rules, I never felt confined by a topic. I could still stretch my creativity inside of the box, all the way to the outside edges. The problem now, as I attempt this blog, is that I have forgotten how to think outside of it. I have forgotten how to write in a carefree manner that doesn’t involve analyzing everything and using the word “society” at least twenty times. It feels unnatural to sit here without furrowing my brow, trying to come up with the biggest words so that I don’t get counted off on word choice. Everything I write sounds like an essay and I don’t know how to go back to that place where I could just write for fun and with no expectations. My hope is that this blog will help me remember. I am writing this for no one but myself, to help me rediscover the passion I once had for meaningless writing.

Interior Design

 

Since I was in seventh grade I have wanted to be an interior designer. I can’t quite remember how I decided on this particular field; however even then I knew it was a good fit for me. When I used to play Sims computer games I would always spend hours building and designing extravagant houses for my Sims, and then play the actual game for 15 minutes before becoming bored and starting on a new house. I love projects, especially ones that involve being creative and finding innovative solutions to common problems. Even now, every Sunday my parents take me to an open house, something I used to beg them to do and has since become a tradition. I never cared if the houses were furnished because if they weren’t I would design it myself in my head. Pottery Barn is my most visited website, even more than Facebook and my TV is practically set to HGTV. I always wanted to do something artistic but practical, and a career where I can spend hours looking at fabrics and analyzing color schemes and designing doesn’t even sound like a job. To me, this isn’t a job, it’s a passion.

 

Religion

 

This past summer, one of my best friends looked at me and told me that I was going to Hell. I am Catholic and she is a staunch Southern Baptist. I am fairly open minded when it comes to religion and have gone to her church on multiple occasions. It was very different than mine. The Catholic faith is very much based on tradition and our masses reflect that, where as hers for the first half took on the feel of a rock concert. It wasn’t necessarily my tastes, but nevertheless I enjoyed trying something new. At the beginning of this summer, my same friend invited me to a beach camp with her church. I knew several other girls who were going so I enthusiastically signed up. I went to the masses with her and did the youth group assignments and really enjoyed myself. Even though some of the things they preached did not correspond to my own beliefs, it was interesting to consider a different point of view. About the middle of the week, this friend told me she wanted to speak with me in private. She went on for a bit about how glad she was that I was here and then said “You are one of my closest friends, but if you don’t change your views now, you are going to go to Hell.” I was stunned and hurt by this. I tried to explain my point of view to her but she refused to listen and quickly became upset and defensive. The rest of the week went by and we both pretended that nothing had happened but I was still in disbelief that someone could be so close minded and judgmental, especially towards a friend. I think that it is important to see all sides of an argument. Growing up in the Deep South, the majority of people that I know do not have the same viewpoint. Most people are devoutly Christians and are very closed minded to other religions. In class if we are discussing religion and a kid announces that they are agnostic or atheist, the room gets so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I have multiple friends who have said that they could never be friends with someone who is not Christian. I don’t understand why not. Being friends with this person doesn’t mean that you have to agree with their beliefs. You should be able to discuss religion with someone without becoming defensive. When I asked my friend that day why she thought I was going to Hell, she told me it was because I wasn’t Christian. I find that an interesting assumption considering that Catholicism was the first form of Christianity. I have no problem with people asking me questions about my religion. If they are not Catholic, how would they know that we do not worship the Virgin Mary or have to go to Confession to absolve our sins? However, I do think that knowing Catholicism is a branch of Christianity would be common knowledge. I think that in order to succeed as a society we need to be more accepting of each other’s beliefs. I don’t think it is fair to judge someone who was raised differently than you, and if we allow ourselves to hear the other side of an argument we just might learn something.

 

 

 

 

Why I Love to Run

 

Most people make fun of me when I tell them that I run Cross Country. They don’t understand why someone would choose to run multiple miles in 90 degree weather for fun. I will attempt to explain. First of all, no one cares about Cross Country. I don’t mean this in a negative way; I love my sport and so do all of the people who participate in it. But there very few people I know at my school that make plans to go watch a Cross Country race together like they would a football game. There is not much to watch, you go run in the woods for twenty minutes and then run out. It is fun for the people running it, but as a spectator there is not much to see. However, this is the beauty of the sport. For me personally, I don’t do well under pressure. I get stressed out and I choke. With Cross Country, no one I know except my family really comes to the races. It’s not like basketball, where you have an “off” game. Unless you get a cramp or are feeling sick, it is not as common to have a necessarily “bad” race. And even if you do, there is no one really there to see, and there are plenty of other races to redeem yourself in and your times will back up your talent. The actual running part of Cross Country is fun. It is such a stress reliever. When you’re running, it’s as if nothing can touch you. You leave all of your problems at the start and just keep running away from them. It’s like you’re existing in the bubble where nothing bad can touch you, and if you just keep pushing, you’re problems can’t catch up to you. It takes away all of the stress of AP classes and college and scholarship applications. With senior year being the busiest for me out of all four years, the only time I really have to myself is when I am running. The only time when I don’t have to think about anything at all except my pacing and hearing the sounds of my footsteps on the pavement. So for those of you who say that Cross Country isn’t a real sport, my sport is your sport’s punishment!

Why am I so disorganized?

I have been writing over the last two weeks and have stockpiled some posts and then decided to post everything today. Embarassingly enough I just now realized that it looks like I literally wrote everything today and then just posted it all. I promise I did not write all of these today. I am not that good of a writer! So I apologize for my disorganization and promise to my nonexistant viewers of the blog that has existed for all of three days, that in the future I will post maybe two to three times a week with more interesting topics.

My Pet Peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the computer moves at a pace slower than the overcrowded school hallways of my high school. Sometimes, I need to do my homework that I put off doing until the last minute, and then the computer takes about and hour just to bring up the homepage. I know my computer is not that old considering I bought it last year. There cannot possibly be that many people on the internet on a Wednesday afternoon. I love technology and how much easier it makes life, but sometimes I honestly think it would be faster to just use an old fashioned Encyclopedia.

Glee

For those of you who watch Glee, such as myself, I feel that I am not alone when I ask why in the world is Glee not coming back on until November 8? They just had a six month break. I only waited for ages for one of my favorite shows to finally come back. Then they barely begin the new season, and now they're having another month break. It irks me to no end. Of course I don't know much about producing a TV show and I assume that they are probably still filming and have to do some rewrites and add in new characters but still. It is still so unbelievably frusterating to me, as a devoted viewer to be expected to wait another month to find out what happens with Rachel and Nyada. I want to know if Kurt and Blaine are still going to be a couple and see what happens with the New Directions. I would say "this is ridiculous, I am not watching this show anymore," but it's too late. I'm already hooked and even if they made me wait another year, I would still be a devoted fan of Glee.