Manalapan Day is Coming!

Every year our town gets together and shows off our town spirit by having a carnival all for the people of Manalapan. There is something there for just about every age. Whether it is the music and dancing, the fun rides, or just the great food, you can find something to do at every moment. Unfortunately for our town, last year Manalapan Day was rained out so this year this has to be that much more excitement. Two of my best friends, Sabrina and Michelle both dance for opposing dancing schools that attend Manalapan Day every year. Along with all of our towns families there, I also get to spend time laughing with my friends as well as seeing my peers coming together. This year we even went further as to hanging up banners and popular ends of town with the date and time written on it which we have never done in the past! Hopefully it is as fun as it is expected to be!

Almost There!

As the first day of June has came rolling around people already started counting down the days till "freedom". The whole lifestyle of summer is just perfect for students, it's all about the fun times and relaxtion. Summer reading is put off till August and getting a tan at the beach is in. Our school year seems to end later then a lot of other school districts but oh well nothing you can do right? I can not wait to just wake up and have basically no responsibility. Also, the extra sleep is always a plus since I am someone who basically naps everyday. The summer is a perfect time for me to catch up on any extra sleep I may have missed through the year. 16 MORE SCHOOL DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURRY UP.

Going out to Eat

When I was a little kid going out to eat seemed like the most exciting thing to do with my family, I loved it. Besides for the fact that I got to be in a whole different atmosphere I also loved all the different little gifts you get when you were a child at a restaurant. Friday's used to give out cups to kids, that was my favorite part of the whole dinner! Or even the whole coloring book activity was a blast too while you anxiously awaited your food to come out. Now going out to eat with my family seems more towards a chore then anything else but still quite enjoyable.

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Today as I sat in my room flipping through the channels I came across a show I actually like to watch, Degrassi. The show is really for teenagers and is basically all drama of what lots of normal teens go through. Although some situations in Degrassi seem extremely farfetched, I feel that this show does well in showing a tough situation and different solutions for it. The episode I caught was about a girl's exboyfriend persuading her into letting him cheat off of her on a math final and then she feels very used after. This scenario is very realistic in today because people cheat all the time and feel different pressures from specific people. The show has the girl go through the whole problem and by the end of the episode she finds a mature way to deal with it. Although the show does show more serious issues as well like vandalism and bullying, there's a wide range of plots. I feel that whether a teenager realizes it or not, watching this show helps to open our eyes that not everything is really "the end of the world", as many teens go about saying. This shows even has solutions to simple problems most of us have gone through or are currently going through.

PrroOomM

Since I realize so many other blogs will be about prom I will try to make this as different as possible. First, getting my hair and make up done was so new to me and at first I wasn't sure how I really liked everything! It's so nerve racking until the final product when everything is put together. Once I put my dress on I was so happy with the way everything came out. Even at prom most girls and guys looked very well put together more then I had ever expected. It's kind of weird seeing some people so dressed up when I'm so used to them in sweats all the time. Prom went really well even though MS. SCOTT didn't come :( All in all it was a very successful/stressful day!

"QuoteQuote"

Today I came across a quote that really got me thinking and was a very deep but amazing quote that said, "As I grow to understand life less and less,
I learn to love it more and more." said by Jules Renard. This goes to show how no one ever truly understands why certain things happen to them and no one ever fully figures out life but everyone only learns to love it more and more. Appreciating all of the little positive things in a person's life is extremely important to myself and many others. Personally, I'm an optimist and I hate hearing negativity, I always look at the brighter side of things even when there seems to be no visible one. As people grow up more and more obstacles and big decisions are thrown their way and no matter what a person chooses or what the outcome is no one really gets why what happened happened. All a person can do is appreciate what they have now and realize life is a really precious gift and each day should not be taken for granted because everyday is a beautiful one. This quote really had me thinking about how everyone should stop trying to find a reason behind everything and just let everything be.

Ahhh

Friday night I had the pleasure of spending it in the hospital! What started out as getting ice cream did not end that way, after getting these sharp, shooting pains in my lower abdomen I went to the hospital and did not leave till 8 in the morning! I rarely get sick or anything of that sort so when this came about I was so surprised. After drinking the most disgusting drink ever I was sent off to get a cat scan. I do not understand how someone made that drink, it is absolutely gross! All of the nurses were very nice and helpful. I really just wanted to sleep but there were so many weird things going on around me that I most definitely could not :( I'm still yet to know what this is but I'm just happy to be able to sleep in my own bed<3 number one thing I missed was my bed and my puppy :)

1,000 Ways

The other day as I flipped through my television channels I came across a show on Spike I usually skip right over because it creeps me out but this time I did not do that. Instead I decided to watch it for a little, the name of this show is, 1,000 Ways To Die. This show goes through actual freak accidents and other random scary ways people have died from doing simple things wrong. It scares me because things like going in a hot tub and other common activities I at some point do. One of the accidents on the episode I happen to catch was an old woman fighting with a man and she punched his windpipe so hard that it shattered and caused him to not be able to breathe and dying intern. After watching this show I found myself being unusually careful about simple things I do everyday, simply because the show opened to my eyes to how special each day is.

SOON SOON SOON!

This Friday is finally our last day of school before the start of spring break! This year has been flying by and now spring break is right around the corner. For the second week of spring break I and a few friends have the pleasure of going to FLORIDA! I have not been on an actual vacation since 5th grade so I am crazily excited for this. Going shopping, packing, planning is all adding to the anxiousness I have building up inside of me. To just be in the terminal waiting to hear my plane called next is something I most definitely cannot wait for! All of this beautiful weather is just a tease to what my spring break could be like. Hopefully I will have all the fun I hope too!

License :)

Today, I missed school to cross over onto a new path in my life, DRIVING! I have probably never been more nervous in my life than when I was waiting in line to go through the course. The nerves that race through you are seriously crazy, every minute feels like an hour. My hands were trembling at the wheel but in the end I managed to pull it together and pass! Taking the picture and signing my name was a task also. I could not imagine working at the DMV the work seems so tedious and repetitive. There is a row of windows each with a tired employee who usually seem like they have been there for a while. Waiting to hear your number called next in line seems like it is never going to happen but in fact it does! A crazy feeling of relief overwhelms people as they leave the DMV with all their proper paper work completed.

Flooded Birthday :(

Yesterday was my birthday and I had the pleasure of spending it in my house due to the creek overflooding into my backyard! My shed seemed as if it was about to float away the water was rushing so high! All of my friends still came over after they finished SAT testing and we were stranded from there because the rain was so heavy. At the end of the night I was happy we did not go out but relaxed and laughed instead. Even some of my best friends mom's came over to celebrate with me which was fun to have them around. Besides the crazy storm that could have ruined my birthday, I did not let it and ended up having tons of fun just relaxing with everyone home! Next birthday better be sunny and 65 degrees!!!!!

Food Network and HGTV Scare

The crazy recession is starting to have so many noticeable effects, television companies like Cablevision are choosing to take some stations that do not have enough viewers off the air. A few weeks ago they decided to take HGTV and Food Network off our channels, I was soo upset! All of the cake shows are my favorite<3 and I know my parents enjoy watching Rachel Ray a lot as well. HGTV had many home gardening shows that I am sure so many people were devastated to lose. When I finally flipped through the channels and came across my favorites shows back on, I was so happy!

The HSPAs

This week was an important week among many that us juniors experience this year, we took the HSPAs. The only enjoyable part of HSPAs is that we have half days Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! On the HSPAs there is so much writing and seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours! I finished many sections early and since cell phones and iPods are not allowed, everyone must just sit there until time is up. After every section I would continually stare at the ticking second hand going around and around as entertainment. The last day of HSPAs was such a relief, everyone was so happy they were over! Sophomores took a practice HSPA and still have the pleasure of taking the real thing next year. I am happily finished :). Missing those half days.

Shoe Madness

A few months ago I went to the mall with my Mom and as we were passing every shoe store we noticed LINES of boys sitting outside the store. After seeing this at 3 stores we had to ask, apparently there was a new shoe called the Space Jam coming out and they were all camping out to ensure there purchase. It's funny seeing boys go that crazy over shoes because usually girls are the ones who get up bright and early for all of those Black Friday sales, or any other normal sales. Some faithful girlfriends stood with their boyfriends and waited as well, which i think is crazy! If it were me, i'd be home, comfortable, not on the mall floor! Well I guess some people, boy or girl, will do crazy things for the item they want.

Wanting Spring

People are developing cabin fever around here with all this snow! Today was actually an extremely nice day out. It was sunny and even warm you could say. I decided to go shopping with my friend, Amanda in Pier Village we took our time not thinking it'd be crowded, when we got there WELL WE WERE WRONG! The place PACKED there were literally no parking spots anywhere! After circling the parking lot we finally came across a spot and it felt good watching all those other cars waiting in line see US get the spot. The stores and restaurants were both packed, as well as the shore right across from all these stores. Many couples were roaming the shoreline and it was certainly a nice enough day to do this. By the looks of how many people were in that center on a SUNDAY you could tell how badly people want the snow to go away and jump on any nice day to take advantage of it. Birthday in 21 days, so hopefully it will be warm enough for me then!

Being on Hold

Don't you just hate it when something goes wrong with one of your devices and you need to call some customer service to help you and it's not even a real person most of the phone call? The automated voice probably asks you to repeat yourself about ten times till it understands you. Then, if your talking and so much as a pin drops in the background you have to repeat everything all over because they "couldn't understand". If you watch that video, it's actually pretty funny but yet accurate. The video goes through different necessary crazy amounts of buttons you have to click to get to what department you wish to talk to. Even at one point it says "enter the phone number and birthday of the person you wish to contact." Being put on hold with the elevator type music is always an annoyance but in the end everyone has to do it.

Changes to Sesame Street!

Growing up in the 90s, I was able to be around for some of the greatest kid shows, Sesame Street being one of them. The cast was so catchy and it wasn't a cartoon which was even cooler! Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Bert&Ernie, Elmo, Ms. Piggy & all of the Muppets were just some of the cast that had kids going crazy over. The theme song, which is the one i was familiar with always had me and probably thousands of other kids singing along. Recently, I heard Sesame Street was thinking of changing Cookie Monster to Veggie Monster!!!! Although, i understand the thought behind this, to promote healthy eating choices to little kids. These little kids are going to have to learn to decide what food is healthy for them or not at some point. Hopefully one of many peoples favorite childhood shows will keep the same cast and let Cookie Monster stay as Cookie Monster!

WaWa or Quickchek?

Considering i live within the same distance of both, WaWa and QuickChek, this actually is something i have to come to make a decision between. They both pretty much carry all the same foods and have the same machines. Wawa has the touch screen computers where you pick what's on your sandwich and QuickChek has the same thing as well. Both convenient stores are open 24 hours and sell their own brand of food and drinks. One of my favorite WaWa brand foods, Swiss Trail Mix, is only sold at WaWa which makes me chose WaWa over QC. I've come to notice that QuickChek seems to always have bathrooms while most WaWa's around here do not. In the end the two stores are CRAZY similar it just depends on your preference or location i assume?

Ups and Downs of Naps

Usually I wake up bright and early and go to school then track and by the time i get home i'm in desperate need of a nap! Even during the summer i find time to take a nap! Although i'm a huge supporter of them, they do have their downfalls. Have you ever woke up from a nap and been extremely confused for a reason that's beyond you? Naps also have been known to cause a person difficulty getting to sleep that night and this ends up throwing off someones whole sleep routine. On the otherhand i completely understand why someone would ignore that fact, because when a persons tired they are usually not thinking how this nap will affect that later, just that they need sleep NOW! Someone told me once that a teenager needs as much sleep as a baby does, and in my opinion i believe that!

Snow Day after Snow Day!

Last week our school was lucky enough to get TWO snow days in a row and a delay on Friday! I was lucky enough to get the pleasure of staying at my friend Amanda's house for TWO nights in a row. After watching 6 movies I know we both never felt more lazy in our lives. Snows days are actually pretty boring, unless you love the snow that is. I wish that we could just go to school and save the days so we could just get off random days in the spring and I could go to the beach! This plan would make a lot of kids at our school happy! It's weird to think other parts of our country don't get to experience all the seasons like our part does! Although i hate the snow, it'd be weird to think of life without it. Hopefully summer or even spring will come extremely fast!

Stealing?

Tonight my family received a phone call from my sister at college notfying us that her wallet with her credit cards, license, social security card, had allll been stolen at Target! Not only did the person steal her credit card, they went on a shopping spree at a near by mall! Obviously the recession is making people crazy but to come to stealing is absurd! And from a struggling college student is even worse. What makes one person think stealing is right and another realize how wrong it is? Stealing someones credit card is even worse because that is someones hard earned money that you are just taking right from them. Let alone the hassle to get a new license and new credit cards, there's the unneccesary added element of stress! So remember the five-finger discount is never a classy move.

Animals Crazy Senses

After the earthquake in Haiti I saw a video pop up on Aol.com that seemed really interesting so i clicked on it. The video shows the dog suddenly look extremely alert and dart out of the office but nothing has even happened yet? Then all of the sudden about 3 seconds later the earthquake comes! I find this to be amazing that animals have such crazy senses. That's why when i'm homealone i still feel somewhat safe knowing that if danger was near my dog would be able to sense it and go crazy. After seeing this video i completely understood the reason for a guard dog at certain places because this displays animals crazy, amazing senses.

Superbowl Sunday!

Everyone has a different tradition they do on Superbowl Sunday, some families go all out and get really into it, but mine is way more of a baseball family so we just relax! This year my family got together with my neighbors and we watched the Superbowl of course and played Boggle<3 while enjoying each other's company. Superbowl Sunday does a lot of things, determines the best team in the NFL but also creates different little bonds that people may or may not even notice are happening. Whether it's the bond between and father and son or a brother and a sister, there's these little connections you get from putting everything aside like work and school and just focusing all your attention on this one game.

Dear John

As well as anticipating the snow all week I was also very excited to see Dear John because it was from Nicholas Sparks and i loved his book made into a movie, The Notebook. Everyone who read the book and then saw Dear John told me it wasn't good and i was so upset but still had to see it for myself! Since i haven't read the book i thought the movie was so good! This just goes to show how different books are from the movie they are made into. Another perfect example of this is the way people feel about Twilight. I also haven't read these books but my best friend, Chelsie, has and she absolutely hated the movie since it was so different from the book but i thought it was pretty good. Now before when i'm choosing to read a book i'm very careful about my selections because i don't want it to ruin the movie for me!

SNOW, SNOW GO AWAY

All week our county and state has heard about the crazy amount of snow we were supposed to receive on Friday! My track meet was even post poned due to all of this crazy weather talk! I hoped all day that it would snow so i wouldn't have to go into work, but of course that didn't happen. I went into work, waiting and waiting for all of this snow to come. After work when i went out it still had yet to snow, i was really losing faith in the weathermen at this point! Then just as I was heading home around midnight, the snow started! Waking up the next morning extremely early, I glanced outside and saw my snow-covered neighborhood. I new what was coming next, my Dad came in and gave me the look, the look of it's-time-to-get-up-and-get-a-shovel look. There me and my family were snow blowing and shoveling our whole driveway till it was fairly spotless. Because i hate winter and the snow, this whole process was so dreadful, I can't wait for spring!

Birthdays!

Birthdays are always a special time for everyone! Whether someone's turning 10, 20, or even 50.. it should always be a big deal. I love birthdays and this year I especially love my birthday because I'm turning seventeen and that means I'll be (hopefully) getting my license! Since January is coming to an end and February is about to start, that means my March birthday is that much closer. I cannot wait! My friend Sabrina and I are the last two to get our licenses out of our group of friends, guess we picked a lucky group. Hopefully I'll be writing on here in a month with how happy I am about getting my license but we'll see!

Midterm Madness!

Finally, they are here, what ever highschooler dreads, MIDTERMS! This week we have a full day of school on Monday and then half days the rest of the week! Sounds like a good week right? In turn, it's just the opposite, this is a week full of late nights and anxiety! After this week is over all of the relief of the SATS and midterms being over will set in, and the old routine of school will go back to normal. Atleast I know that after every school day I can grab some lunch and eat with my friends before I go back to a day filled with studying!

Wrong House?

This weekend me and my two best friends, Melissa and Michelle were going to our friends house, or so we thought! After ringing the doorbell and anxiously waiting to go inside and greet all of our friends, our friends "mom" answers the door and seems a bit confused. I instantly walked to the basement door and asked if everyone was downstairs and the mom, still confused, replied yes. I was the first one in line, we walked down the steps and all thought to ourselves how his basement looks very different? As we all step off of the last step and round the corner we see a group of kids sitting on the couch, but they WEREN'T our friends! I literally fell to the ground laughing so hard at the confusion. We embarassingly ran out of the house, laughing, and found our way to our actual friends house.

Stress, Sleep loss, and the SATS

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking the SATS! The whole idea of the SATS doesn't really make sense to me. Everyone spends about 12 hard working years in school, doing homework, taking test after test, and learning all about new topics. After doing all of this, the SAT intimidates you and makes it seem as if it all comes down to this one test when in fact, it doesn't. I didn't get to sleep the night before till around one! I planned on being asleep by ten, but that didn't happen! The test took about five hours and afterwards was the greatest feeling of relief. I was looking forward to going out to eat at my favorite breakfast place, Mom's, with all of my other college bound friends that just took the SATS as well. All in all I was so happy to be done and outta that classroom!