Posted in Blog, Teenage Life

Panic Attacks

Tonight, children, as I mentally prepare myself for the ACT tomorrow morning, I want to talk briefly about panic attacks. Have any of you ever had panic attacks? I have. My first panic attack was freshman year, I believe. I was in PE and all of the sudden I got really freaked out for no reason. I felt like my entire family had just been killed in a fire that destroyed my entire home. (Copyright infringement? Sorry Lemony Snicket) But seriously, it was crazy. I had trouble breathing so I just sat down in the corner, wrapped my arms around my legs, pulled my legs to my chest, and freaked out. Why did this happen? To be honest, I don’t know. It could have been that my friends had attacked -yes, literally attacked- me to try and get to my journal, which I had clutched to my chest all lunch period. I was a weird kid, ok? Anyways. Four vicious females jumped me at the same time to try and tear the personalized companion I never let leave my side. I don’t remember, but I think they might have wrestled it away from me once, but I got it back.

Anyways. It might have been that, or it might have been that I’m known to be stressed. All the time. And I’m one of those crazy artist types. Or, as Chris Hardwick puts it, “smarty-pants-creative types,”. I love Chris Hardwick. Gah. Sorry. Keep on track. So after that little incident, I was ok for about two months, before I had another panic attack over Christmas break. I was sitting at the desktop computer at night, which was right next to a very large window with no shade, and I was suddenly afraid that someone could see me right that minute and was planning on murdering me, or, God forbid, startle me by slamming their face into the glass creepily. (Is there a way not to do that creepily?) That wasn’t fun. Then I was panic-attack free, for the most part, until this year. Not only have I been emotionally overwhelmed, but the stress of school and debate is really wearing on my sanity. I’ve had at least three panic attacks since school started. I have managed to keep them at bay since Christmas break, but I’m worried they will come back. And of course, worrying makes panic attacks come faster. And knowing that correlation makes me worry more, which gives me more panic attacks. Sheesh.

But my hero Chris Hardwick, who is not only attractive and amazing and hillarious but also super intelligent, wrote an extensive, entertaining, and informative blog about getting rid of panic attacks. Even if you aren’t crazy like me, you’ll like it. So go. Now. Go read Chris Hardwick’s blog. You’ll thank me for it later.

Posted in Teenage Life

Top Ten reasons to work in a nursing home

I know I lament about my job a lot, but it’s not ALL bad. However, I will be making another list soon…. ten reasons why NOT to work them. For now, I’ll leave my cynicism at home.

NOTE: All these reasons are reasons to be an activities assistant in a nursing home. I’m not sure how being a therapist or a nurse is.

1. Half the time, all you have to do is sit next to a resident and listen to them talk, and you get paid for it.
2. Lots of material for funny stories. I’ve seen old people get into fist fights. Now that’s a conversation starter.
3. Sometimes, there’s a resident that is difficult with everyone but you, and it makes you feel accomplished. I had a lady like that, who was pretty mean to everyone, but I got through to her and she actually liked me.
4. It’s less depressing than working in a children’s hospital. At least the residents here have already lived their lives.
5. There’s always at least one person at each of the activities who just loves whatever you’re doing. Whether it be the little old lady smiling and singing along to gospel music or the lady playing Yatzee, the effect is always gratifying.
6. You don’t have to look manicured all the time. When I go to work, I wear nice pants (dress code), a plain shirt, and comfy shoes. I don’t bother with contacts, makeup, or hair, because the old people aren’t going to complain, and I could care less about what the CNAs think of me.
7. Because I’m not a nurse or CNA, I don’t have to deal with puking, pooping, or anything related to that. If someone is throwing up or their oxygen is running out, I just go get a nurse, because I don’t have the training to do anything more. Ah, legitament excuses.
8. If you’re under the age of thirty, the old people are constantly complimenting you. Every day I go in there, no matter how crappy I look, at least one resident tells me how pretty and thin I am. It’s a definite confidence booster.
9. You can talk as loud as you want, and no one will tell you to shut up, because chances are, the residents still won’t be able to hear you.
10. If you get scheduled to work when they plan to play a movie, you can sit in the back, eat free popcorn, and do your homework.

Posted in Blog, Bri, Teenage Life

Incredible

18 people are online on Facebook, and not one of them is someone I want to talk to. Well, I could talk to a couple, but they aren’t the people I really want to talk to. Don’t ask, because I’m not going to explain.

But do you know what I love? When people ignore you. No, really. I just love that feeling of absolute worthlessness. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, eh? If that were true, I could be a gold medal weight lifter.

There is more than one way to ignore someone. One of which is just that, avoiding or excluding someone. Another, though, is refusing to write someone back, return a comment, reply to a message or email. The first one, admittedly less subtle, actually is better than the second. Know why? Because the second one is harder to detect. Let me take you through an example.

Lets say you email or call someone, someone you’d kind of like to reply. Maybe they’re a crush. Anyways. After a day, or maybe even less time, you get a bit restless. No one else is talking to you, so there’s nothing to distract you. You just kind of sit there, in front of the phone, or the computer. Well, ok. Maybe they’re hanging with the family, or friends. Maybe they just didn’t see it yet. So you get over it, go eat or whatever.

After two days, you know that they have HAD to either have gotten on the internet or checked their messages. After staring at the communication device of choice for a while, you rationalize. Maybe they checked it as they were leaving, and didn’t get a chance to reply. Yeah, that must be it. You give yourself a couple more minutes to stare; maybe they’ll get online or call you back. No such luck, so repeating the rationalization like a mantra, you go back to your life.

After three days, you start freaking out. They’re had AMPLE time to check and reply to whatever you sent them. Why haven’t they replied?? What if you said something that made them mad? If it was an email, you read the sent message closely to identify any potentially offensive lines. You find none. If it was a phone call or text, you run over what you said in your mind. No, nothing too bad. Well, maybe they’ve just been really, really busy. It’s a stretch, but who knows. You spend way too much time by your phone or computer, but the time all blurs together until you have to go do something else. If not for the toilet, you may have never moved. There’s always an explanation, you tell yourself.

Five days later, there are three options:

1. They got it a while ago and forgot to reply

2. They have no intention of replying, whether they read or listened to it or not.

3. They’ve died in a tragic accident.

You rule out the last one, since you just asked someone and they assure you that whoever you’re trying to talk to is still, in fact, breathing. By now, this is getting ridiculous. So you write, call, or text them again, asking what the heck their problem is. Now, another one of three things will happen:

1. They write or call back and apologize. They’ve been busy.

2. They come to your house to apologize in person, with a dozen roses.

3. They ignore that as well.

If it’s option 3, the process I’ve just described repeats itself, only worse. I mean, if you don’t want to talk to me, just freaking tell me. It’s easier for everyone. All this alluding my calls and email crap is cowardly. ESPECIALLY when I know, for a fact, that you’ve had time and the ability to get back to me.

For the record, I’m not really talking about anyone specifically, I’m just giving my opinion on the subject.

My head hurts.

Posted in Blog

Let’s take what hurts and write it all down

I am really sorry I haven’t been updating lately. But I have good reasons! I’ve been super busy…

Ok, so the last time I posted was December 7. 13 days ago. Almost two weeks. I IS SORRY!!!

Since then…

I have been very unproductive, writing-wise. I wrote a poem for a Write A Book In A Year club project, but that’s really it. I want to write, though!

We got a new admin! Haley, AKA Flamingo!! Show her some lovin’!

I have found myself in a much better state of mind.

We had a Speech and Debate trip that ran long…. because we got snowed in!! We ended up staying in Red Cross cots in the high school gym (I can’t tell you where we wre, but it was about three hours from home). On the plus side…. BART AND I GOT FIRST PLACE!! WE ARE THE BEST FREAKING NOVICES EVAR!!

Then I stayed up until midnight on Sunday doing APUSH homework. Then the next day I went home at lunch, only to come back after school for speech and debate.

Tuesday I started my Spanish final and took the essay portion of my AP English test. I also read the last book in the Inkheart trilogy. IT WAS GOOD WOO. I also had a party in APUSH.

Wednesday I took the second half of the Spanish final, and the first vocab part of the AP English final. More review in APUSH. I also helped the school newspaper start a website, which I will be designing over break.

Thursday I wrote two essays in APUSH for the final, and the school newspaper December issue came in! I took the multiple choice part of the AP English final and the speaking part for the Spanish final. Then, since I vouched out of the Trig final, I retook a chapter test I missed Monday instead and chilled.

Friday I did a dance, got an awesome score on the multiple choice part of my APUSH final, got hugs from lots of people, watched a movie in newspaper, gave Bart a gangsta hat for Christmas, which he wore with a suit and aviators to “intimidate the finals”, game Tommy Pants random stuff, took a vocab test in Ap English, went to the lirary to chill during Spanish, and watched NUMB3RS in Trig. Then I went to the movies with my family to see Slumdog Millionaire (EXCELLENT MOVIE) and then came home to watch WALL-E with them (cute movie).

Today I woke up at nine and I have a giant zit that is driving me car-azy.

 

I’ll be posting a new YouTube video soon. Bye byes

Posted in Teenage Life

Intro

Because I am new here, our esteemed webmistriss suggests I post a little intro describing myself.

I’m a cynical realist and a hopeless romantic. Qualities I appreciate in some I loathe in others. I seek originality but am charmed by cliches. I simultaneously want people to notice and ignore me. I don’t believe in perfection but constantly find myself wanting it. The more I get to know people the more I tend to dislike them. I ask numerous questions about other people but hate having them fired at me. I don’t believe in love or happily ever afters but find myself dreaming of my own.

Politics: Libertarian
Religion: Hakuna Matata
Colours: black, green, blue
Favourite new song: We’re Not Gonna Take It ~ twisted sister
Favourite group: Bowling for Soup
Favourite Book: Prisoner of Azkaban
Favourite slash pairing: Crowley/Aziraphale
Favourite brand of peanut butter: Peter Pan
Favourite movie: Silence of the Lambs

and, of course, my namesake:

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/Jonnieette/6-witches-flamingos-350.jpg

Posted in Teenage Life

Your lack of intelligence astounds me

It’s 7:49 pm and I realized that I haven’t posted a blog yet. I posted a video blog, though, on YouTube, so check it out!

So I was gonna do a music review as planned, but I’m about to start jumping up and down and screaming profanities. PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID SOMETIMES. OH MY GOODNESS.

No, I’m not going to elaborate, so don’t ask me to.

But just let me say something…

You deleted ALL THREE YouTube subscriber notifications? Are you serious? You don’t delete Nano upgrades, but you delete the messages telling you that I SUBSCRIBED TO YOUR FEAKING YOUTUBE CHANNEL? Seriously??? Dang, I must have done something REALLY wrong.

Ok, I got a bit of that out. I’m going to go write now.

Oh, before I go, I want to let everyone know that I’m now in the middle of writing three novels. Yeah, three. I’m crazy.

Posted in Teenage Life

Like Death

There are few things in life I find cowardly, because I realize that most anything takes at least an ounce of strength, but with today’s technology, humans are getting weaker and weaker.

And there is one thing that makes me angry above all else.

Let’s explore the lesser offenses. Number one, asking someone out over instant messaging, text messaging, or phone call. This is just weak. If you can’t ask them out face to face, how do you expect to date them??

But there is one thing that is even worse, even more cowardly. It is something that gets you first place in the competition for biggest jerk. Breaking up with someone over text messaging.

Not only is this cowardly, but it is demeaning to the person you are talking to, it sucks a thousand times worse, it’s more unexpected, and it’s all around the most awful way to do it. Getting dumped sucks enough without your refusal to step up and say it to their face. This is just wrong. This is just inhumane. No one deserves that, no one. At least be a man about it and say it to their face.

To those of you who know me very well, I must seem like a dirty hypocrite. Yes, I once broke up with someone over instant messaging. In my feeble defense, I didn’t set out to break up with him over it, and I wasn’t trying to avoid the pain (I’d broken up to him face to face before- long story), but the fact remains. Getting dumped over lifeless words on a screen S-U-C-K-S. No emotion, not attachment, no nothing. You take the last of their dignity away because you don’t even give them the chance to respond.

Let this be a lesson to everyone out there. Don’t do this. Being a teenager sucks enough without having to deal with the insufferable jerks that inhabit the high schools. 

Posted in Blog

MY BRACES ARE OFF!!!!

THEY'RE OFF!!! THEY'RE OFF!!!! You know, my first thought was "I look like a horse"

Before:

After:

 

For the record, this isn't my real eye color, I was just messing around and made them only blue. In actuality, they're blue-grey-green-hazel.