Tick Tock...Tick Tock....*Alarm Sounds*

5:45 am:
*picks up, unlocks phone, hits snooze button.*
*curls back up into warm bed*

6:00 am:
*drag my heavy body to the edge of the bed, checks social media & texts*
*warm kitty joins me in bed, purring and cute, exit from bed is delayed
* finally struggles out from under the covers, slides on robe and slippers, walks like a zombie all the way down the hall and down a whole staircase*

6:15 am:
*sits down for breakfast, eats. Struggles to get back upstairs*

6:20 am:
*slowly picks out an outfit that is easy to slip on and somewhat stylish... just kidding not at all. Trudges into bathroom*
*washes face, brush teeth, applies makeup and does hair, etc.*

6:30 am:
*slowly gains enough energy to make a bed and organize my room a little, packs bag and checks for all homework*

6:40 am:
*Walks downstairs... packs bag for sports.... does all the last minute shizzz.*

6:50 am:
*Drags bags to the car, driven to school while sleeping the whole way there*

7:10 am:
*sighs. another long, long, long, long, boring school day. shuts car door, drags heels all the way to the front doors.*

So there is an extremely shortened version of how my mornings usually go down before school, as you can see I am usually the walking dead. In the morning, I don't engage in conversation or do last minute homework until about halfway through first period. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am not a morning person in any shape or form. In fact, the early mornings are my version of hell. If I go to bed early (9:30) then I'm still exhausted and if I go to bed late (the normal) then I am also tired. So indeed there is absolutely no happy medium, I am usually upset, stressed, half dead, or half sleeping around this time.

Daylight savings really is unnecessary and considering the fact it is too cold to farm in Utah, wouldn't it be easier if we just go without daylight savings. When you wake up that first morning of school and  daylight savings  has arrived (spring forward .... not a happy day for me) most people are about ready to protest and  return to bed, curl up in a small ball and  refuse to go this early.  Daylight savings was originally created so the famers could do work on their farm  and care for their animals during the daylight hours,  but now days this is not as relevant to our society.

Photo: Google

"Teens, diehard “night owls” and those with sleep disorders all struggle with waking up early and losing that extra hour of sleep. But sleep expert Kai-Florian Storch, a researcher with the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University, says there are a few things we can do to get better sleep, even with one less hour of it." Even though most people are on their own internal clock, this still has its ways of effecting the teens...

Countries and their daylight savings  

Why teenagers have a hard time with daylight savings   

Things that might surprise you by daylight savings

Why did I want to grow up?

When I watch my younger sisters run around smiling, laughing, being totally carefree. I wonder why the hell did I wish to grow up, to be honest being older sucks. I don't know about others but my parents aren't any less strict, I have homework 24/7, and not to mention countless drama within my social life. If anything I wish I was a little girl who could care less about how she looks, run around in little dresses and tutus screaming songs. Making dumb jokes and talking about how boys are gross and they have cuties. I would give anything to be 6 years old and only having to color and learn how to write my name and my age then eating snacks out on the playground or playing tag all recess. I remember never having any drama, and only crying when I was pushed down, but its easy to wipe away some dirt but not so easy to shake off a bad grade. At age six grades didn't even exist, songs, story books, rhymes, and fun was the only thing I knew.  If running around shirtless was still socially acceptable, then I'd be the first. Back when I was young every photo was a good photo, if I looked like sh*t then we laughed and if I looked great then I would smile and say thank you. Now every photo of me seems to be awful and sends this unnecessary chill down my spine. Meanwhile I'm wondering who's going to see this... or better yet what if someone makes fun of the photo. If everyone could age but still have the self confidence of a six year old the world would be a much better place, more girls with nicer hearts, more acceptance worldwide.

Photos: Rebecca Owen

I look at my little sisters who will go to school without a worry, their hair is neatly tied back by my mother then they each get into their chosen outfit. No second guesses on how good they look, just put on all the necessities and get to school. No boys to comment on how fine they are looking or girls to turn around and gossip about how you wore that same outfit last week. They just happily skip off to school together laughing and smiling, as for me I spend at least 30 minutes debating on wether to change the outfit or keep it as is. Or the worst is when you wake up with a zit that makes you self conscious and to the point where you feel like everyone is just staring right at your zit thinking to themselves how ugly it is. Little girls can walk out the door smiling and thinking about how many new friends they can make that day. My younger sister always comes home telling us how great her day was and how nice her teacher was. Then when it comes to me I am barely able to keep my eyes open, and eventually I manage to complain about the amount of tests or a huge project coming up. If only I had never wished to grow up and date guys, because it only creates more drama and more work. If only having a best friend still existed, my younger sister has playdates, and they play barbies and makeup silly handshakes while laughing and smiling never regretting one moment. I used to think at that age I was too controlled but turns out as a freshman there is more control over me than ever between being onetime to sports and submitting quality work to the teachers. 

Video: My Camera

The little girl I babysit always is smiling until she realizes that she has to take a nap then she looses it, but she's always happy and wears the cutest outfits. When babysitting for her she marches around like a queen and throws out little sassy commands just for a little giggle. This. This is what I miss, being small, cute, funny, and an absolute delight to be around. She makes me smile on a bad day and doesn't even intend to. From her curly hair tied up in a little bow to there tiny toes she is 100% adorable and melts your heart.  Just knowing that one day she to will have bad days filled with homework and mean friends break my heart. How can something so petite and sweet turn into someone who gets called names or made to sit at another lunch table because there isn't enough room. Thats awful, and where it all begins. A little angel that is smiling almost all the time can turn into an angel who is frowning all the time. In my opinion life starts out so happy and full of life but as you slowly move along you loose the constant sparkle in the corner of your eye or you loose the silly laugh because someone thinks you sound dumb. If we could all stay 2 1/2 for ever there would never be a murder or calling another baby fat, but tons of giggling and smiles that create a happy earth.

Photos & videos: My Camera

If wearing cute little coordinated outfits were still in style, then I would be all over it. Remember dressing up for valentines day,  easter, halloween, ect. and everyone would having little skirts or dresses on. Those were the good old days when you could wear whatever you wanted and still rocked it.

Photos: My Camera

               

Do You See What Eye See

Eyes, "the window to our soul." I'm guessing that eyes must be pretty interesting considering the fact they have all these fancy quotes. When I look at a person, automatically my attention will be directed to their eyes. (Not just because it is the polite thing to do when speaking to another) People who have beautiful, intriguing eyes are usually in my opinion more physically attractive, eyes really do define a person to some extent. If someone has bad vision they will most likely be squinting, as someone who is sad might have a watery eyes, if you're tired your eyes might be bloodshot, if you're in love they might be focused on on person, ect. Someone's eyes are usually the first impression, whether you catch someones eye in public or lock eyes with an opponent, automatically you would be able to have an opinion about that person.

Eyes caked in makeup vs. all natural eyes?

It really depends on your opinion, but from my point of view an eye that is left alone to present its own beauty sparkles more then the 1 pound of glitter on another eye. Makeup is a way to hide your flaws which were given to you for a reason, nobody is perfect and by caking yourself with makeup you are correctly the flaws that make each individual special in their own way. If everyone was flawless then there would be hardly a variety of people, a flaw may be seen as a negative from ones perspective but to others it defines you as a person. When someone decides to wear no makeup they shouldn't be judged, they have the courage to display their flaws while others choose to hide them. Eyes that are left alone are pure beauty, eyes that are caked in makeup are beautiful too, just in a different way. 

Photos: Tumblr

Eyes can come in all different types of colors, shapes ect. Brown eyes are a dominant trait, blue and green eyes are a recessive trait. This can be defined as the brown overrules blue in a genetic showdown. In other words, every offspring has two alleles, one from each parent. So lets say that we use an A to represent our eye color, if one were to have two big A's (AA), it means the they have brown eyes because brown is the dominant trait, and if someone were to have two little a's (aa), it would mean they had blue/green eyes, this is because blue/green eyes are recessive. If someone were to have a big A and a little a (Aa), it would mean they would have brown eyes, because the big A is dominate to the little a, meaning brown takes over the blue/green due to the fact brown is the dominant trait. Lets say that your dad was "AA", and your mom was "aa", you would positively have brown eyes because your dad has two big A's. Now if your dad were to have "Aa", and your mom still had "aa", you could have a chance of receiving blue/green eyes. If both of your parents had "aa", you would definitely have blue or green eyes. It is possible that two brown eyed parents can have blue or green eyed kids, because if both parents have "Aa", it means they both have brown eyes because of the big A, but if their kids receive the little a from both sides they would have blue or green eyes. It is possible for two brown eyed parents to have blue or green eyed children, but it is impossible for two blue or green eyed parents to have a brown eyed kids. Eyes are very complicated, even with the newest technology we have, eyes are somewhat mysterious. So if the whole science lesson didn't confuse you enough why don't you go check out this article because I'm sure what they are saying makes a lot more sense then what I had blabbered on about for what seemed like ages.

Photo: Eye science

Since we are talking about eyes, how about we discuss why some people see black/blue and others see white/gold. Depending on the lighting, people may perceive different colors from the same dress. Our eyes are able to assign fixed colors to objects under widely different lighting conditions. This ability is called color constancy. But the photograph doesn’t give many clues about the ambient light in the room. Is the background bright and the dress in shadow? Or is the whole room bright and all the colors are washed out? Different people may pick up on different visual cues in the image, which can change how they interpret and name the colors. Articles have proven the dress to be blue/black but depending on the amount of dark lighting/ light people may interoperate the dresses' colors differently. Why did this cause such a big uproar? People were frustrated with not being ale to see the same color as someone else or the fact that everyone freaked out over the actual color. Who knew one crappy photo might turn into many science articles and people talking for ages on what the true color of the dress is.

Photo: New York Times

Honest Truth About High School

Is high school all that I expected? No, not in the least - besides the fact grades count. Well first off technically I'm still in junior high due to the over crowding at the actual high school. On the other hand, this is my freshman year, truth is the difference from 8th-9th felt like nothing besides the fact I can play high school sports and take harder classes that can end up wrecking havoc on your GPA. Want to know more? Read below...

1. In at least every one of my classes a kid falls sound asleep. Over the years kids have learned many tricks to make you look like you're paying attention, but really you are taking a nice nap. One of the ways is to put your backpack on the desk and hide from your eyes down behind it. Another way is to just simply lay you're head down or turned away from the teacher and take a quick snooze. If teachers actually wanted us to focus on learning they should consider starting school later. Seven am is just too early and creates a whole school full of the walking dead until around fourth period when we all start to get rowdy.  

2. Some teachers would rather talk about beauty products and fashion then continuing on with the lesson... I'm not exactly complaining because it is nice to have a break every once and a while, but they shouldn't expect us to score extremely well on times like this considering we didn't learn the material. Some teachers will teach  but only have us take around four pages of notes every class... and going back to #1, many of these classes I have literally had to hold my eyes open because there is only an endless powerpoint to stare at. Many people take a nice long nap during this class, and the teacher just laughs and continues to "teach"... a.k.a reading size 14 words off of a powerpoint. Again they expect us to learn this way... I guess some kids do but others, like me,  do not learn that way.

3. If you ever even considered that high school was anything like movies then you're most defiantly wrong!  We technically aren't allowed to go off campus,  who's enforcing the rules at PCHS because almost every student that can drive will leave during lunch. Maybe the fact our "healthy" school lunches taste like sh*t and are anything but healthy. The only thing about lunches that will ever change is the portion size. WARNING: if you are able to bounce the cheese like a rubber ball, then it is most likely fake or genetically modified to be cheap. Heres the disclaimer, I have only had experience in Park City schools but maybe the food is better in other schools around the world...

4. In one of my classes we learn by games and easy to take notes... but these aren't just any kind of games. We are talking "extreme" buzzer game, chair game, row game, and many more! Our teacher brings learning to a whole new level. You can't win if you don't know the material, so we all study and bring our A game the next day. If you haven't played the chair game, you're missing out. We are talking full on sprinting and shoving to get in the chair first and present the right word. (Don't worry the chair is heavily padded) When we play the "extreme" buzzer game, we do cartwheels and crawl so hit the plastic buzzer first. This class is what I call learning, we are challenged in an extreme way but  I end up learning a lot, perhaps this way of learning through games and fun works for me!

5.  Another exciting way of learning is being able to scream insults at each other in Shakespearean language. Not only calling each other nasty names, but creating cheers and doing 360's off desks. If you have ever been allowed to do that in a class room let me know...? Also I pretty sure you didn't know how to flip someone off back in Shakespeare's time. HINT: you bite your thumb at the person you despise. Secretly we are being taught to understand Shakespeare's way of speaking, but  no one really knows that part.

6. When a teacher has taught your dad and all of his siblings and is currently your teacher you know this may turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing. Well, it turns out my dad caused her grey hair and now she holds a grudge.   mean after 20-30 years don't you think your  teacher would forget about an annoying student? Nope, apparently the worst and the best students remain in a teachers brain, in this case it was a bad thing.   Thanks SO MUCH dad!  The teacher  could tell me every single detail about my father, who happened to be one of the most challenging students she had ever taught.  This teacher sounds like one of the people on a smoking commercial... she is short and scary. When we are assigned to a recipe in the kitchens, she makes it so stressful that a kid could break into tears at any moment. I'm almost 100% sure that cooking should be stress free and fun. Wow. I am really good at being wrong. Foods #1 with Mac can be one of  my most stressful classes of the day, and I am taking honors classes with sh*tloads of homework every other day.

7. In the movie "Mean Girls" it shows many different cliques that in one way or another get bullied by the three or to be four "Mean Girls". Turns out that doesn't happen so much in high school, The cliques sort of disappear to an extent and there aren't names for social groups... As a kid I was convinced that in high school there would be cliques of girls that ruled the school and everyone bowed down to them. Hey look, I am wrong again. The only borders between social groups is basically sporty girls/guys and non sporty or "nerdy" kids. I mean,  the variety of different students and all the different ways of doing things is huge.

8. HOMEWORK OVERLOAD! I'm not exactly sure if it is just because I take honors classes or the fact I complain to much but I'm pretty sure when you have to spend over 3 hours doing homework each night there is too much. I wouldn't consider myself a winer, but along with many others I highly disagree with the amount of studying and homework I am stuck with each night. When you play sports and don't get home till late (11-12ish) and you still have a mountain  of homework due the next day, your life sucks. I'll admit to being a bit of a procrastinator, but it's not like I'm going to devote my whole life to homework.... isn't high school supposed to be fun and filled with friends? So far I have had to stress almost every night on what is due the next day or even worse finals. I wouldn't say I am a bad student, but more on the keeping an even keel and balancing social life//homework//test//sports etc.

9. The absolute worst feeling in the world is staying up till 2-3am and then hearing your alarm go off while its still dark outside. In my opinion, the schools need to realize the average teenager will not go to sleep before 11pm and dreads the idea of getting up at 5:45-6am. You want us all to stay in school right? SHORTEN THE PERIODS AND GIVE US ANOTHER HOUR OF SLEEP. Many of the people I talk to have tons of tardys and first period absences. We need sleep, desperately and the weekends if not spent getting up early for 7am games, sleeping in till 11am at least. I get Park Cities theory of letting kids start early and get out early but it takes a toll on the  kids, by fourth quarter I know for a fact we are all the walking dead.

10. I guess this is the last one so I better make it count. High School encourages the lower classmen to socialize with upper classman. Personally, this is my favorite part about high school, the fact we get to meet so many new people with all this experience. If you haven't had the chance to yet, become friends with some of the older grades, they can help you a lot with homework and social situations considering the fact they have already gone through what you are. Many freshman are nervous to talk to upper classman, but to be honest they are 1000x better then half the people in your grade. It could be the fact hey have had more time to mature, or they could just be nicer people in general. I know for a fact that some of my best friends are upper classmen and I can trust more of them then people in my own grade, which kind of sucks considering that you will be stuck with your grade during senior year. By then you will have time to create inseparable friendships with some lower classman.

Here's my advice:
Survive high school... you can do anything.

                                                       Photo: PCHS halls at rush hour

I found Nemo! (And Dory)

You'll never guess who I ran into while snorkeling? Nemo!   Dory was there too... Nemo swam away in seconds while Dory casually swam below me without a care in the world. The sea life in Hawaii is absolutely amazing and filled with bright exuberant colors that catch your eye. There are so many varieties of fish, I couldn't even  begin to tell you all the different shapes and sizes we saw. I don't know if you recall  all the details in the classic movie  Finding Nemo  but, do you remember the huge school of fish that made fun of Nemo's dad by imitating him? Well I happened to find myself amongst them also,  and was surrounded by little silver fish swimming back and fourth trying to confuse me. They are very annoying fish that follow you and storm through the reef like they own it. Later on we saw a couple of the lifeguards take an afternoon break on their paddle boards, head  out with long spears to try and catch some fish.  They returned about an hour later with a fish speared through and lying on the paddle board.   Apparently on January 1st all fishing is banned off Waikiki for the year of 2015, they have alternate years of banning the fish in an effort to preserve the marine life in the area so that fish was caught on the 31st Dec 2014 - he would still be swimming around the reef had he survived the spear one more day!    Back on the reef  I found a puffer fish, he was very cool,  I had never seen an actual living puffer fish until I explored the coast of Hawaii! They come in all sizes, we saw a small black and white spotted one then a huge yellow one swimming casually. next  to us.   The fish were all over the reef, hiding in little overhangs or swimming right next to you,  they were all so beautiful.  I am so glad that the Government bans the fishing every other year, it gives the fish a break,  fair is fair. The fish have to have a chance to keep their numbers strong and  they already have all the natural predators in their ocean food chain. We also ran into fish that looked like little knives, they were very thin and long with a silver coloring. My overall favorite fish would have to be thee yellow ones with black lines above and below their eyes that made them look like they had eyelashes! My least favorite would have to have been the black and white spotted eels that slithered through the water, and were very aggressive.

Photo: Taken with Gopro Camera

Video: Finding Nemo

Hawaii's water temperature, unlike California,  is extremely warm,  it ranged from 75-85 degrees F the entire time I was there. The trade winds are the only reason Hawaii stays somewhat cool,  otherwise it would be a paradise inside of a heated oven. The waves in the south by the city are very small and have barely any currents but the north has the huge waves depending on the day and the  currents. The sound of the waves crashing is like a bedtime lullaby for me, I absolutely love the sound of waves and the wind rustling the branches of the palm trees.   If I could have anything it would be a house on the beach and summer year round!  The beach is always peaceful  especially when the sun is out,  there is a slight breeze and you have a fresh fruit smoothie in your hand,  life really couldn't get better.  To sum up I love the salt water flowing  through my hair and the sun beaming down, I really wouldn't mind living in Hawaii for a year ;).

Is It Possible To Be To Social?

Heres the latest status update: 

Top social media apps I use:

#1- Instagram, basically you post a picture/video then write a comment, then you wait to see how many likes you get.

#2- Snapchat, in my moms opinion it is very dumb to sent ugly pictures back and fourth to your friends. In my words it is a quick, fun, and easy way to get in contact with your friends directly.

#3- Tumblr- You can share or "repost" someone else photo onto your page, other kids may use tumblr as an adjective. Example "wow you're outfit is so tumblr!" This means that it is hipster and very stylish.

#4- Twitter- Word limit. Make it short. Shorter. You're most random thoughts. Stalk famous people. Tweet about your worst. Best day. Sick day. Make internet friends. This. Will. Annoy. My. English. Teacher. Sorry Mr. Parker. Theres a word limit on twitter.  -8/140

#5- VINE- Possibly the funniest app for dumb videos it is "very cool, very swag, I like it" ~ James White. Vine is an app where you make a six second video that is usually a "fail", remake, or just plain old out of the blue stuff! As I like to say "shit people think are funny"

#6- Facebook- So as you might know, Facebook is sort of heading down towards the "lame app" category and not many people use it now that Instagram does everything Facebook can. It is a place where you share photos and videos, just no time limit on the video.

#7- Ask.fm- Basically, a site where anions can hate on you but you know "haters gonna hate." It is a site that allows people to ask you questions either on anon or with their name tag. The questions usually consist of Tbh, rates, or kiss/diss, in my opinion that is very dumb.

Okay, so there was my top seven social media apps. Why only seven mainly because I was to lazy to type up anymore of them but also all the other social media apps just aren't that popular. I chose these seven because I use them everyday to see whats going on around the world and look at pictures or videos of Zach Efron. The social media is becoming a dangerous place for teens, they are exposing themselves to the world before they are mature enough o understand that once an image is out there it never goes away. The hate that comes off of Ask.fm really catches my attention because it could be any one in our school that is a normal person that is able to disguise himself/herself behind computer screen.

I sit on my phone everyday for a good amount of time, I know I could have done homework in that time. Some teens are so focused on being the best they can be on the internet that they forget to come back to reality, where there are tests and grades that last a lifetime. Some people drop out of school to take online school, technically you aren't getting the same details a teacher would bring up in a lesson and go into details that the computer doesn't have planned. The classroom environment is good for you because it is very dynamic and kids learn from each other and are able to develop social skills at the same time. My mom always screams at me to get off my phone, I admit it. I spend more time than I should.

Video: Youtube.com

It wasn't all that long ago that people didn't have a computer in their own homes. A generation ago, computers were virtually unheard of and the internet didn't even exist for the average person. Now a days, computers are in almost every home, as well as many schools, giving kids access to technology they've never heard of before. This is a useful tool although it can lead to bullying and other issues that may have a negative impact on life. For this reason, it is necessary for parents to fully understand what their children are doing online to protect them from harm and can help them handle any issues that come their way.  You simply can't put all the blame on the computers because the computers aren't programed to make people feel awful. It's the person hiding behind the screen that intends for their victim to hurt, the I-Phone can't hurt you, the social media apps can't either, but the person who decides its funny to see you in pain or make you look stupid; they are the ones who hurt you the most.

Video: Youtube.com

Social media may play a part of the bullying, but it is the victim who should block or report them. Or you could just simply delete the app, the victims need to start playing their part in standing up to the bully. The bully has no fun if you don't care what they say or if you can stand up to their face and explain how awful they are and need to stop. It just takes one short talk to explain to the bully that they are taking it to far and will get reported if they continue. If they threaten you again, then just tell someone you trust that he/she threatened you. We blame social media. Phones. Computers. We simply have new technology that makes bullying more common. Or is it just more noticeable since we can send the messages of bullying worldwide.

Capturing moments with the Gopro

"Hey I see a huge fish!" -Maddie

"Film it with your Gopro Sam!" -Ash

In my opinion the Gopro was one of the most useful cameras made. It is small and compact, and it comes with so many different attachments so you can take it everywhere including underwater. In my case under the sea. As I swim also the reefs that are over flowing with fish of all different colors, shapes and sizes I am able to snap pictures and take videos. My favorite attachment to the Gopro is the "selfie stick" I use it to reach down into places that are hard for me to see, I also use it to take pictures of all my sisters and I underwater! The Gopro can connect to your phone very easily and you can view all your videos and photos on the phone. So far my experience with the photos has been great! They are all pretty good quality and unlike every other photo I have taken before. The fish I have been able to video and see are amazing! The Gopro is very small and can be transported anywhere, I really like the size it makes it much more manageable.

Video: Gopro People are awesome

 The GoPro is the ultimate American product, born of R&D in a guy’s garage, not in a multi-national’s lab. Started with only $10,000 dollars in bootstrapped cash. Started by a man, named Nick Woodman, who sold bead and shell belts out of his VW van in order to raise the cash to sell the product. Perhaps most importantly, the GoPro was created to solve a problem- that of capturing Action Sports like surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding, up close. While Nick Woodman is not typically considered to be the ‘product guru’ that Steve Jobs was, he was heavily involved in all aspects of his product’s design. Rather than race to market, Woodman actually delayed launch on several occasions when his suppliers in China switched to cheaper materials without him knowing. Woodman also wasn’t afraid to hustle himself.