Risky Thinking

So guys, I have a thought. I guess I can give a little shout out to Gage and Ashley because this is an awkward thought in my head and a thought from the lost and found box of thoughts. This blog is all about taking chances.

                Lately I’ve been going through a phase much like a midlife crisis; you know the kind where the person gets sick of their job so they quit in the hope of just taking off to a deserted island somewhere in South America and drink margaritas all day by the beach. You know what I’m talking about. Well anyways, I have been thinking, ever since we were five years old we were obligated to go to school; every day, Monday through Friday until we get our diplomas, but what about after all this is done and over with? Sure society tells us to go to college, but no one is forcing us.  You may think that going to college is the only way you will be happy in life, but the reality about life is that it is unpredictable. Anything can happen to anyone at any time. Some of the most successful people in the world are successful because they didn’t conform to what society expected them to do with their lives.

                As I turned on my TV tonight the movie Water for Elephants was just starting. I have read the book and was eager to watch the film. I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed reading it. I even teared up a bit at the end. If you are unfamiliar about this story, it’s about a college boy about to take his final exams before graduating when he receives the awful news of his parent’s fatal car accident. He walks right out of the testing room without looking back. He walks and walks until he sees a train approaching him. Without time to think, he jumps this circus train where he experiences many things, including the life that was waiting for him. This movie really got to me because that’s where we are in our lives today. After graduation we are given to option of either sticking around or jumping into the unknown.  

                What if we were brave enough to take risks like that? It may be silly or foolish to even ponder major life changing decisions, but what if risky decisions shape our lives for the better? So I leave you to think about one of my favorite quotes:

“You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.”

 –Joseph Campbell

Time Capsule

My 4^th grade time capsule,

I still have it, yes I do.

I tried to forget what I had in it

But I still remember a few items.

Today I had to go through my awards box,

And as I searched for what I really needed,

Sitting on top was my 4^th grade time capsule.

My 4^th grade time capsule is more than a green box.

When shaken it rattles and shifts weight from side to side with some unknown items.

The mystery is killing me!

But on May 25^th I’ll be ready.

I’ll be ready to open my 4^th grade time capsule.

My 4^th grade time capsule is the future.

I know it has been coming,

At times I ignored it, forgot about it, or have thought about it immensely.

But on May 25^th I will be ready to open my future.

Some things will make me laugh.

Some things will make me cry.

I could choose to ignore it again,

Or forget about it,

But I will be happier opening it.

I’m ready to open my 4^th grade time capsule.

I’m ready to start my future.



New Perspectives

                This week is all about new perspectives. Yesterday I saw something in a new light. It wasn’t a big thing, rather something that to most people wouldn’t be significant at all. I traveled to White Cone on Saturday to watch a softball tournament. As you know I live in Greasewood which is relatively close to White Cone. When headed to White Cone you pass the turn that leads to Greasewood.  This was the first time in years that I had gone passed my usual turn and saw a road I have seen only a few times in my life. On my way back from White Cone to Greasewood I was out of my element. I wasn’t as familiar with where the turn would be.

                 I decided to snap this picture as my reminder of perspectives. Sometimes you think that everything is as it seems, but if you keep traveling and try to see more of it, you will. If you are stuck with a problem in math or can’t think of anything creative for art class, if you just looked at it in a different way it could help you immensely. It may be uncomfortable or hard, but I believe it makes for great results. This also applies to people around you. Two weeks ago we talked about the difference from round and flat characters. Each of us has a combination of the both in our lives. Don’t label people by what you see of them today, because tomorrow they have shaped into a different person just like us. If you try to get to know them better, they could become your friend, or even change your life.

                As a mentioned before, perspective is a good thing to have in art. Art is all about creativity and thinking outside the box. I know when I work on my photography projects, I have to be able to see something in a way no one has thought of yet. This is a good tip to know when we go out into the job market. Just like our economics worksheet, the richest people in the world were able to make things that people valued that hadn’t been created yet (examples: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg).

                So my challenge to you this week is to view your world a new perspective. It is a way to learn and grow. As Elizabeth would say, the world from my window sill changed yesterday, what about yours?

Oh, Procrastination

Don't you just hate that feeling when you know you have to do something but you keep putting it off and putting it off until you can't any longer?! I definitely know how that feels, and I'm pretty sure it gets worse with age. I wanted to share a little list I came up with that are my danger thoughts going through my head when I know I'm procrastinating...

1. I deserve to sleep in, I will get my work done later.
2. I am sooo hungry, how about I eat first then do my work later.
3. I can't eat without watching T.V. so I'll just see what's on right now then do my work later.
4. I really have been wanting to watch the movie that is on next, I suppose I can always do my work later.
5. A nice little nap sounds amazing right now, I guess it's not really due tomorrow so I can always work on it later.
6. I wonder what's on facebook, at least I'm getting on my computer which is close to doing my work.
7. I will lay back down and "think" about my work while I make plans to see my friends for just a little while tonight.
8. Now that it is 11:00 and I still haven't gotten my work done, I guess I better buckle down and pull an all nighter.
9. An hour later I fall asleep thinking that it's better to get rest so that tomorrow I will have the energy to get my work done.
10. Hmm, I will get back to you on #10 later...


If you are suffering from the same symptoms as I do, you may want to break your work into pieces so it's not as overwhelming. Another good way to avoid the awful feeling of procratination is to think of what it means to you if you don't get it done. Is reading posts on Facebook about how bored people are and to like their status for a 'truth is' really worth a bad grade on an assignment? You have to be motivated to do your work. Even if you wait until Sunday to do your homework, wake up a little bit earlier than usual to finish up on your work so the rest of the day you do not have to stress about it anymore. I hope I provided you with some good tips, and signs to be aware of. Don't let procrastination get the best of you!

Dear Ashley

April 8, 2012

Dear Ashley:

                Here we go. For 3 years we have taken these pictures together at our friends’ graduations. Now it’s our turn. I know that you’re not ready, and that’s ok. It’s ok to be nervous about the future. I may act all tough and seem like it’s not getting to me that we only have eight weeks of high school left, but it is. But one thing I refuse for us to feel is sadness. This is a time of celebration! If there is going to be tears, let them be tears of happiness, not sadness! We have made enough memories to be joyful about it. Life isn’t ending; a new chapter is beginning. Who knows, the next one to come could end up being your favorite and best of times! Don’t start it off with regrets, or mistakes. Any faults or challenges you have faced in the past has shaped you into the woman you are today. You are stronger than you think.

                On a less serious note I also have a lot to say. First of all a big thanks for always being my wing-man. If you ever need one in college in totally here for you! Second, we still have to try our “look-a-like” trick on Victor and Ryan. Third, I will totally party with you on 4^th Ave. when Payton is being grumpy. This list could go on and on. Bottom line, I am happy to have met you in 3^rd grade and become best friends with you ever since.

                 My advice to you, don’t worry so much about the future. You and your family will remain very close. I know things will all work out in the end. We will stay in touch, I promise. Now let’s make the last 8 weeks count and get ready for our last and best picture together on May 25^th!         

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                          Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                    Bethany

Cougar Sweatpants

Once upon a time there was a young freshman girl. She was a cheerleader at the time and loved cheering on the freshman boys’ basketball team. One night at a basketball game the Holbrook Roadrunners were battling the Show Low Cougars. It was half time and the cheerleaders’ time to shine. All went well and they went back to cheering the last 2 quarters. At the end of the game, the girl found a surprise in her duffel bag…

                A pair of large gray warm ups with COUGARS written on them were folded in her bag. She looked around trying to figure out who had done this, but the Show Low boys had already left. She laughed because of this strange occurrence and took the sweats home with her. Her friends joked about how the owner of the sweatpants was probably her soul mate…

                Years went by and she still has those sweats. She isn’t waiting for her prince charming, or supporting Show Low, but she sure does think they are comfy, and the story behind them makes her giggle every now and then.

                That girl was me, and I wore those sweats today. It was a funny and odd experience I felt like sharing about. Do you have any strange objects with history behind them??? If so, I would love to hear about them in your blogs. J

               

10 Pros & 10 Cons of a New Car (From Experience)

Pros:

1.       Feeling your ride is the best, most awesome ride out there once you drive it off the dealers lot for first time

2.       A full tank of gas and four free oil changes when you buy it

3.       Getting compliments on your new ride from people you know

4.       Decorating the interior the way you want (2012 tassel, yeah seniors!)

5.       Listening to the types of music you want to without anyone telling you otherwise

6.       The freedom of going where you want when you want

7.       No longer having to ask for rides

8.       Jamming out to your favorite song on max volume with the windows down because you think everyone loves that song just as much as you

9.       Finding cool new things about your ride you didn’t notice when you first got it (a secret compartment for my shades, and an electrical outlet!)

10.   Of course that new car smell

Cons:

1.       Realizing there are better rides out there than yours

2.       The full tank of gas doesn’t last forever

3.       Your ride becomes “old news”

4.       It doesn’t stay clean forever

5.       Some people don’t appreciate your music when riding in your car

6.       Still having curfews and restrictions on going where you what when you want

7.       People now asking you for rides

8.       Singing to yourself and freezing because the windows are down when you are trying to stay awake on long drives

9.       Finding out your car doesn’t have some cool things you now wish it had (temperature, 6 disk CD player, tinted windows)

10.   New car smell vanishing because you transported Little Caesars in your ride and now you have to buy air fresheners to get that cheesy bread scent out!

Appreciation for Small Towns

Photography taken by YoungQuick at Photobucket.com



Just like everyone from Holbrook I went down to the valley because we were released from school to support our boys’ basketball team. I was bursting with excitement to watch them play, go shopping, and of course enjoy the desert heat. As we made our way down the mountains I could see the cactus and I knew we were getting close. My grandpa told me I would see a lot of cars on the opposite side of the road, leaving the city. I thought to myself, that’s crazy, why would they be leaving? They have everything they could ever need right here. Not too long later we witnessed a huge traffic jam of vehicles going north out of Phoenix. It went on for miles and miles. Where would they all be going to?

                I arrived at the Jobing.Com Arena later that night, parking was a difficult challenge but I knew tons of people would be at the game that night. It was comforting to see members of our small community supporting our athletics.

                 The next morning was solely devoted to exploring the city. We drove from Glendale to Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. During the duration of the trip we went to 2 malls, and also the Tempe Marketplace. Every mall we went to was packed. Some malls are within a few miles of each other, so how do any of them make business? Not to forget hotels, and gas stations. They can be found on almost every block; are there really that many people down there? Where do all of these people come from?!

                The city is all about rushing, and going places, and doing things. I felt like I never had a minute to just relax within the chaos of traffic, long lines, and people everywhere you turn. I felt irritated and hurried most of the time.

                The city is a great place to spend a day or two at, but living in the valley is something I don’t think I would want anytime soon. I suddenly realized why all of those people stuck in the traffic jam Friday afternoon wanted to leave for the weekend. I was actually very happy to come back to the small 3 stoplight town of Holbrook tonight. Some people talk and talk about moving on to bigger and better things than our small town. As for me, no matter where I go or what I do, I know I will always have my hometowns, Greasewood and Holbrook, to come back to for relaxation, and comfort. 

Acting Childish

When did we make that change from not caring about what people think, to becoming embarrassed by doing something out of the ordinary? When we were little kids the sky was the limit. We had no boundaries, no worries, or concerns. We could break out dancing if we wanted to. I blame society. Apparently they want us to behave “appropriately” at some point in our lives.

                Last night we watched some home videos my grandpa and I made when I was younger. All we had to work with was a little pink and blue Barbie cam I had received for my birthday. We taped the most random things around the house. I remember I would hide the camera behind flowers or picture frames to see if I could get any funny footage. One day I took out my Barbie cam and CD player. I dressed up in the most ridiculous outfits I could find in my closet and taped a fashion show! The funniest part about it was strutting my stuff to the song, I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred.

                Watching the video of me making a fool out of myself didn’t make me embarrassed, but the opposite. I was happy to see a side of myself I thought I lost long ago. I can’t remember the last time I did something goofy without caring about people’s opinions. Can you?

This week I challenge you to go out and do something fun! Screw what society thinks of you! I know there is a child spirit within all of us, let yourself go and find it again!

Entrance Fee into Adulthood

Money has been on my mind lately. Is it true that life revolves around money? Or that the only way we can be happy is by having a lot of it? Or that money can’t buy us happiness? I don’t know what is true about money, but my mind can’t escape it.

This week was a week of money  for me. On Friday I opened my very first, all-mine college account at the bank. I paid my phone bill and soon it will be put in my own name. I made my enrollment deposit to my future college. And went car shopping.

There is so many things involving money lately I feel overwhelmed by it. I don’t know a thing about finances, interest rates, or PayPal, how will I know if I’m doing everything the right way? Not only do seniors have to worry about managing money properly, but also trying to receive money by little things called scholarships.

Scholarships are one of the most stressful things about senior year. So many applications and so little time. Deadline approach in a snap of a finger it seems like! Receiving scholarships or not can either make or break your next 4 years if you plan to go to college.

As you can see, I am a bit of a worrywart. A good friend of mine always tells me, why stress it? He is absolutely right. When my friends stress and worry I tell them that things are going to happen whether you worry or not so you should just relax. When I stress I have to purposely remind myself to let it go and listen to my own advice.

When looking at the most successful and richest people in the world, they had to confidently take chances with their investments knowing that it would all work out, and for most of them, it did. If they had that attitude as rookies, we should also follow it their footsteps:

Take risks

Have confidence

Dream Big

With this advice anything is possible.  

Senior Night

Senior: (in American schools, colleges, and universities) of or pertaining to students in their final year.

Friday was my last senior night. It was for drama. You may think, it’s not a sport, it’s just a club. But to me it was just as meaningful as my volleyball senior night. I have been involved in the club since my freshmen year. I was the only one in my class to be in drama all four years. I have been backstage, to Navajo Taco sales, and Thespian Festivals the most. I was thrilled to have more and more of my friends join. And I hoped they have enjoyed their time in the program as much as I have.

Senior night always make me sad. I try to look at them in a positive way, in an accomplished way, but my heart still becomes heavy. Am I ready to leave the drama program? Ready or not, I have made my last appearance on the stage. All I have left is the memories.

Maybe this is why I love photography as much as I do. A photograph retells a story. It gives us the ability to relive a special moment in time. It is simply a precise reminder.

I was very touched after our closing play when a fellow cast member approached me with a poster filled with pictures and clippings of all 8 plays I have been a part of. I cannot thank them enough for the work they put into my poster. To know the underclassmen cared about us enough to do something like that was getting to me. I could feel my eyes starting to water. Buckwalter was honoring me of all my hard work and dedication I have put in. For a second I zoned out and felt complete happiness.  

I was also presented with 8 yellow roses, which happen to be my favorite flower! Yellow roses symbolize friendship. And that is what I will take from by being in drama. Friends. I have created lifelong friends because of drama. Some of them had withered away through the years, but some, some will remain throughout my life. And whenever I come across this picture of my blossoming yellow senior night roses, I will look back on my experience with the HHS drama program, and remember how I have blossomed because of it.  

My moral behind these flowers is to make the best out of your experiences in high school. Have fun! Try something new, and don’t be afraid to make as many friends as you can. If you do, you might find yourself feeling full of accomplishment and happiness on your senior night, just as I had, with a smile on your face, and tears of joy in your eyes.

The Idea of Love

What is LOVE?

When I was younger it was playing tag in the playground. Then I realized I was way too mature for that so then it formed into secreting holding hands and folding notes behind the teacher’s back. Now I am seeing love in a whole new light.

When I got to high school I became obsessed with the words of Stephenie Meyer and Nicholas Sparks. I spent hours immersed into the idea of perfect love. Who doesn’t fall for the charming personality of Edward Cullen in Twilight? Or the passionate Noah Calhoun from the famous love story, The Notebook.

Every girl wants to be swept off their feet by that one novel perfect man. We want to be young forever. We want to dance in the street. We want a man that sparkles! (This point varies; some of us might want a buff, tattooed werewolf).

A wise teacher of mine said “Love is not easy.” For most of the romantic novels I have read, Love was easy. The idea of love was ideal. But what I found out was that no matter how hard you look, those men can only be found in the pages. Sure, I was disappointed when I realized most guys don’t have super speed or private islands in South America.

I let the fantasies go. And what I found was a new and refined idea of love. Something that was real. It wasn’t all romance. Even perfect men have flaws. There will be bad times; times when you get sick of love. But all of it is real. REAL LOVE. 

I still am addicted to reading romance novels, but I no longer wish I was printed inside them. My idea of love has changed. I believe when you find love, you find someone you want to be with regardless of their imperfections.

So any girl out there still waiting for your prince charming to come, let yourself go into the idea of real love. It’s worth finding. Who knows, you might end up falling for someone better than any vampire out there! ;)

Arms for Bethany

What ended with a caring bunch of my fellow thespians raising their left arms all started Friday morning in a series of unfortunate events. It was a morning just like the rest: wake up, get ready for school, and try to survive the last day of the week without falling asleep in any of my classes. 8:55a.m., I had made it through economics and now I was off to face conditioning in the gym. We started with jogging and for some reason I looked down at my arm. It first I thought ok, it's not that bad, but after a double take my heart started to beat a little faster. My left arm was badly swollen with a bit of swelling in my right arm as well, though it was not painful. What was wrong with me? I tried laughing about it but after seeing my coach, three nurses and a doctor that had no ideas as to what it was, the joke wore off. All of my worries started to fade as I drifted into a deep sleep from the Benadryl the doctor gave me thinking it had to do with my strawberry smoothie. When I woke up my arm was a little better but still unpleasing to the eye. I went over and over in my mind what I had done in the past few days trying to figure it out. And just then a flashing light went off in my head. Bicep Curls in weights yesterday! I searched ‘elbow forearm swollen from weight lifting’ in Google and got more than stumped looks from the nurses and doctor. If only doctors used Google every once in a while! I found out that I’m not a freak! Apparently other people had faced the same exact thing I was from hitting the weight room a little too hard. Tony from Yahoo Answers said his arm was back to normal within a few days and recommended elevation. While all of my friends were cheering Holbrook on at the basketball game on Friday night, I was sitting at home on the couch with several pillows on each side of myself elevating my arms. Now that’s a party! If only I had someone fanning me with palm leaves and feeding me grapes.
            Saturday came and I had a Navajo Taco sale to get to. I worked hard making posters, prepping the order forms, and delivering meals. I wore my jacket most of the day trying to ignore what was underneath. When the sale was almost over I took off my sweatshirt figuring I had to check for any progress. I realized working actually made it worse. The swelling had almost reached my hand. Panic struck me once again and I threw my hand in the air like a little kindergartener who wants to answer a question in class. Yes I looked silly but luckily this was a drama club event. Erin was sitting next to me at the time and gave me a questioning look. Once I told her I was trying to elevate my arm she threw her left arm into the arm for moral support. This trend caught fire and eventually everyone in the kitchen had stopped what they were doing with raised their arms for me. It was such a little gesture that only lasted long enough for me to snap this picture, but the meaning of it touched my heart. Every time I look at this picture I will be reminded of how blessed I am to have people in my life who care and will support me through any obstacle I face.