Us being "Supersized"

I was thinking about what I should write about on this weeks post and I getting this same thought in my head that I, in particular, have a strong opinion for.
Do we take a good look around the world we live in? In previous blogs I presented the topic of the scary world we live in and all the dangers that lurke around us in every day life. What can we do exactly? Really, there isn't much except for being seriously over protective of what you see and do each second and minute of the day. But the topic that kept popping into my noggin was the fact of the basic "size" of the United States. It's time we look at the way we "size things". What I am basically refering to is the food we eat and the amount of food we Americans take in every day. Or just the basic thought of how much is a "good" proportion for what we need to get into our system each day. Study's have shows that us Americans tend to run larger than the rest of our world. We never know when to stop eating. Something that I have learned in the past foods and health classes that I've been in is that most Americans dont actually eat the average proportion size that we're suposed to. I don't find this hard to believe. America has been called the "fat" country. If you think hard enough about it, you'll begin to realize that, in a way, we kind of are. But also, something that fascinates me is that we are also the number one country for eating disorders. Crazy huh? Obesity, Bulimia, Anorexia you name it, we've got it. In my life I have known many people with eating disorders and seen what it's done to them physically and mentally. And, let me tell ya, it's definately not a good sight to watch happen day to day.
In the other country's such as france, I always wondered how they weren't the fat people because they are the major wine drinkers and they come up with terrible foods that don't do any good to our bodies, but yet, they're still the healthy looking ones. My mom told me something that has stuck with me and will stick with me forever. One day I approached this question upon her and this was her reply: "People from other countries know what a single portion is, and they don't eat any more than what is necessary". If only we could take this in our daily lives and use it we wouldn't be know as the "fat" country, which makes us just sound like a bunch of huge moose that don't know how to control what goes in our mouth and that just sounds extremely sad for our part.
Considering that today is Halloween this whole entry is just being thrown off the roof! We send our kids out of their houses to get play fetch with the neighbors for candy. Is this helping our kids know proper health? I would think NOT! And then for Christmas we think we need to stuff our stockings full of candy. Are these things really necessary? I would just hope that someday us Americans will think about what is good and what is bad for our bodies and hopefully this will add a bit more knowledge to us about food.

For the last five weeks my dad has been out of town in Quantico Virginia for a work training. He works for the FBI and just got a new job in the FBI. Because of my dads job, he has taught us a lot about all the terrirfying things in this world. We have family night and a lot of his lessons are about safety. For instance, one monday night he talked about honoring the flag and why the American flag is so important and what the significance is that we honor our flag. With him being gone for a good long time, I was thinking one night about why he does the things he does. For instance, he gives me strange rules like for awhile I couldn't have and Facebook or Myspace. He ended up giving in. I would say "but literally everyone has one!". My dad taught me that sometimes "everybody having one" still doesn't always have to mean that you have to have one and that it is the best thing in the world. He would say that there are bad things out there and we don't know when they're coming our way. Foro the while that I've been thinking about this I came to realize that there is a very scary world out there and it's not getting better any time soon so I need to take advantage of the warning signs that are coming my way and those that are getting bown into my face. So I was taking some things into consideration.  First off, I need to realize that the wacko rules that are being put into my life are only for my benefit and for my safety. He would occasionally say to me: "imagine how bad you would feel if something happened that I had already warned you about and you didn't listen? Do you know how stupid you would feel for not listening to me, and all I would be able to say was 'I told you so'". I often refer to this comment when I have strong emotions for the rules that hold me back from doing the things my friends want to do. But there have been instances when I was commanded to avoid going somewhere with friends and a couple days later the friend that asked me to hang with him told me that people ended up doing bad tings and there was bad things involved and he actually told me that he wished that he would've stayed home because of what had happened at this certain place. Having this certain instance happen to me helped me understand the imprtance of my parents concern for my safety. I just have to learn to realize that it wont be the end of the world if I miss out on one party... or all of them.... I just need to remember that it is only for my benefit and my safety only so I need to be greatful for the rules that are put in my way to keep me safer and that it will only make me prouder in the long run so i won't have to face my dad while he says "I told you so". Live your life and love every second of it!! :)

What has become of this world!?!

For the past few years I have witnessed a lot happen in our crazy world. It is amazing to me how the world can change massively in such a small amount of time. When I think about these changes the first thing that pops into my head is movies.


I remember about three years ago our neighborhood had a "movie in the park". In our neighborhood park people set up a sheet and a projector and we watched a movie. The movie was The Wild. And it was about animals escaping into the wild from a zoo, I think. I don't remember the whole movie but I do remember the plot. This movie was a rated G movie and was supposedly a good movie for kids and families. I do remember that it was very lame and boring but this was not what stuck out to me when I watched this movie. I can remember going to get popcorn from the candy stands and hearing a very alarming conversation between the giraffe and the hippo. THE GIRAFFE AND THE HIPPO!! Come on people! The conversation had to do with what the girl hippo was wearing. The giraffe was telling the girl hippo that she could run faster without her sea shells... but in a perverted kind of way. I just sat there in awe. Little things like this would happen periodically throughout the movie. And there was some swearing too. Remember, this movie was supposedly rated G. This was supposed to be a family show. Even though the little kids may not understand what any of the inappropriate parts mean, doesn't mean they still can't ask questions. And most likely the questions will be asked to their parents and their parents will wonder where they heard that from.. and so on and so on. It is just this big vicious cycle. Little by little movie critics are letting the little things and not so bad things slide. Soon, PG movies are going to be our PG-13 movies. Who wants their kids watching that?
Another thing that I've been told has changed very dramatically is the pressure teenage girls have on their appearances. My grandma told me that when she was my age there wasn't nearly this much to worry about. Every girl has at least something they don't like about the way they look. Some girls are more confident than others and have a higher self esteem while others don't. This has always been the case. But young adults have such a higher competition than ever. Looks are the "thing". The world protrays that looks mean everything. But they don't. Young actresses usually have the "perfect" body to some girls. But, believe it or not, there is something about the way they look that they personally don't like. So many bad things come from this problem. Girls develope eating disorders and can mentally screw up their minds. I have seen it happen with my own eyes.
I wish that I could say none of this affects me, but it does. I definately don't look at myself like I am the most adorable thing on this planet, but I do try to see the good more than the bad because eventually I could be mentally and physicallly ruined. My only advice would be to not pay attention to the world. Because, quite frankly, they are wrong and try to put things in your mind that do not need to be there. In the long run, it will only hurt you.

The Reality of The Pigman

In Mr. Thompsons english class, we finished a really good book called The Pigman. It is about two teeangers, John and Lorraine, who have some fun one day by goofing off and calling random people. One of these people just happens to be Mr. Pignati. He anwers the phone and John and Lorraine tell him  they are calling for the L and J fund. But they aren't. And Mr. Pignati asks them to go his house and, eventually, they end up going over there. Lorraine lives with a single mom who is very broad with her. Lorraine's mom tells her she isn't pretty and things like that but Lorraine still stays pretty strong and believes what she wants to all on her own. While John, on the other hand, is totally not afriad to be himself and really doesn't about what others may think. He's actually pretty stuck up. What I like about these characters is that they are so very similar to the real teenagers in this world. They deal with daily problems just like any other teenager would. The author made the charcters seem so lively and any teeanger, both girl and boy, could relate to John and Lorraine somehow. Another really cool thing that I loved about this book is the voice. You knew everything the character was talking about and you new exactly what kind of mood they were in by the voice of the book. The Pigman was an easy read because the voice was so crystal clear and you didn't have to decode everything they were saying and try and figure out what each thing meant. That, to me, is a really neat talent and it definately makes the book ten times better to read and you also can understand what you read so much easier.
In real life, the things that John and Lorraine were faced with are things that now a days teenagers are also facing. You would have never thought that this book was written in the sixties because of how real the problems are compared to right now. Things happen in the book that happen daily in real life for people all across the planent. For instance John does drugs. You go to any junior high or high school and try and find one person who isn't struggling with a drug problem. I promise you right now that you wont. And Lorraine has a hard time with her looks. Now you go to any girl in the universe and tell me she loves everything about herself. But you will be wrong. I think the lesson that could be taught about this is that it doesn't matter what you look like because Johna and Lorraine had that one intimate scene in the book and I'm sure that strengthened Lorraine's self esteem by a million. 
I absolutly loved The Pigman and I think every person should read it. Especially teeangers. There are so many great lessons that were taught throughout the book and there are little things that anyone could compare to their own life.

Drama... ugh

So today is Saturday, the day before this is due.. and once again I'm procrastinating. I wasn't sure what to write about this week. I did think about it, but all I could think of was how my crazy week went. So somehow we're going to make this my blog and have some kind of lesson learned by the end of this post.
On Sunday of last week I was texting a friend and my drama for the week already started happening! I thought I was going to go through the roof. I absolutly hate drama. Who doesn't.. But for some reason, everyone gets involved in some kind of drama throughout the year. And some people are magnents to drama and attract it like butter and TOAST! Those kind of people drive me nuts and I hate being around them because theres always something wrong because there always a drama situation in their lives! Luckily I try to stay out of it the best I can. Then throughout the week little things would happen with other people that I'd get stuck in the middle of and I'd find ways to get out of the stupid drama. If you haven't noticed girls are the one that cause the most drama. But sometimes I feel like guys like to drive people crazy and cause some intermediate drama as well. I would think that the guys would so much rather stay out of drama than be the center of it. I don't know. How would I know?  But whatever floats their boat I guess. So as the week went on I saw soo much drama unfurl right before my eyes! Girls were crying guys were being stupid to the girls.. blah blah. Sometimes I feel like people want drama just to show it off. But thats really stupid. On Thursday I went to frightmares with some really good friends, and aparently, I am completely under the radar. So many things have happened that I had no idea about. Drama is scary and people for some reason actually like it which is very bazaar! If you think about it, drama wouldn't be such a problem if people would think before they talk. We all have a filter from our head to our mouths, but its up to us whether or not we want to use it. Its really sad that when people think of teenagers or say something about teenagers that they first think how much drama we cause. It doesn't have to be that way but it's mostly those people who attarct drama and somewhat like it and the attention who have to start it and cause all the commotion. So it is up to the people who don't want to get into the drama to stop it or keep the drama low. My theory is that if you don't want drama then don't get in the middle of other people's problems. Life as a teenager would be ten times easier if people thought about what their actions would cause.