The Story So Far

Well, here we are, May 12, closing in on the end of another year.

This happens every June though.  We're mostly excited, and a little sad when the year ends, but there's nothing we can do about it, so we make the most of it.  On the last day we all go celebrate because another chapter of our life is ending.

This year, for me, though was a little different.  I was a freshman in high school, so that was a new, and it was honestly a really good experience.  I got to be on the high school swim team and I got to take my first AP exam and all in all it was pretty memorable.

As you probably know, this blog was for my English class, and when I started it, I think I was a completely different person than I am now.

For one, this year I learned to study and do homework, which I had never really done.

I got a double ear infection right before a really big swim meet, and I learned (I guess) that sometimes you can't do everything.

I stayed up until 4 am for the first time, I wore a cow onesie, I determined what pair of my socks is the luckiest — these aren't things I necessarily learned, but they were definitely things that before this year, I couldn't say happened.

And as I've gone through most of these experiences, I've shared them with you.  I have a tendency to tell stories over and over again to my friends and family, and I see how that could be annoying.  By writing about the stories in this blog, I no longer felt like I wasn't being heard because I knew I was.

I realize that most of the people who read this blog are people I know and talk to everyday in real life, but I also realize that I have 1,540 reads, and at least some of them came from people who don't know who I am, and don't feel pressured to read my blog because we see each other everyday.  These people read it because they wanted to, and I want you select few to know how much that means to me.

Honestly, to know that my opinions matter, even in the slightest, is a pretty amazing feeling.

Today, I'm a different person from who I was in my first blog post in a million ways, but I'm also the same.  I still love Fritos, I'm still a sock enthusiast, and I still love to write in a way that can hopefully make people laugh.

We're all changing every day, and the amount we change throughout a whole school year is unmeasurable, but the point I'm trying to make is that this blog is kind of like a timeline of my freshman year of high school.

It doesn't include everything that happened, and there's no way that it could, but in a year or two, or even twenty, when I look back at this blog and read through the posts, I think I'll be able to visibly see a change in who I was.

This wasn't a year that I overcame any fears, or fell in love, but the little things that changed were just as important, and as readers of this blog you've all shared at least a few parts of that change with me.

I absolutely think I've changed this year, and a part of that change is due to this blog.

There's a very big chance that this is the last post I'll write on this blog, so before I go I
just want to again say how much I appreciate it.

A million thank you's for going on this journey with me, and I hope you enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here's a good picture of myself to remember me by.
From left: Siena, a boy named Nathan, and yours truly.

Thank you, and may we meet again.

Elise :)

A Theory About Who and What Matters

Courtesy of: Word Press

You can start fires with your ideas and jump start the human race with the things you say.

But can you though?  Can you, a singular person in this world of seven billion people, really make a difference?

Usually, no.  The majority of the people that are born aren't going to make a significant difference.  In certain lives, yes, you'll make a difference, but in the scheme of the whole world, not really.

I mean, Time magazine only recognizes a 100 influential people a year, so does that mean that every year only a hundred individuals make a difference?  But maybe those 100 people didn't make as much of a difference as we think.

What I'm wondering is who made this list.  Who has the right to decide what constitutes a person who matters versus a person who doesn't?

My opinion is this: different people matter a different amount to everyone.  Someone I've never met, as of right now, doesn't matter at all to me, while my mom & dad and friends matter a lot.  But this person I've never met could end up being my college roommate.

The thing is, you don't really know someone will be important in your life until they are.  People like to say, "Oh, when I met my husband for the first time I new right away that he was the one."  I'm fifteen and I've never been in love before, but to me it just doesn't seem like that's how it works.

But maybe it is, and that's beautiful.  To know the minute you lock eyes with someone that they're going to matter is an amazing thought, but from my experience that's not quite how the process goes. There are people in my life that are super important now, that I never would have thought I would even see on a daily basis.  The relationships I have now are not the relationships I thought I would have had three years ago.

Take for example Beyonce.  I love Beyonce and so does the rest of the world.  But that doesn't make her anymore important than someone who isn't a famous singer.

A lot of people may know Beyonce, but she hasn't mattered as much as say a brain surgeon, who has saved dozens of peoples lives.  People who were husbands, wives, mothers, father, daughters, sons.  The people that were saved by this brain surgeon and their families probably love him a lot more than they love Beyonce.

What I'm trying to say is it's all in perspective.  You may feel like you aren't that important in the big picture of things, but you are.

Just think, when you were born, you're mom was happy.  She smiled at the bus driver her first day back at work.  That smile made the bus drivers day.  He was going to go home tonight, and like every other night, watch tv while he fell asleep on the couch.  But since the women getting on the bus gave him the most genuine smile he'd seen in years, he decided to go visit his daughter.

And all because of you.  Because of you, a father and daughter reconciled.

Every second we're alive, our lives are being changed by people.  We may not realize it, but right now someone could be doing something that in ten years will come back to you and it will completely change your life.

We're all in this never ending cycle of affecting and being affected others, and to me that's amazing.  The fact that somehow we're all connected by the choices we make.

So just remember, that even though it may not always seem like it, you really do matter, and you really are important.

In hindsight, Time's list of influential people should be seven billion people long, because every person alive, has made a difference.

Elise :)

Here's Why Socks are an Underrated Birthday Present

Look at your feet right now.

Chances are, unless you're barefoot, or wearing flip-flops or sandals of some kind, you have socks on your feet.

There's a variety of types you could have on: fuzzy socks, knee socks, tube socks, black socks, white socks, polka dot socks, striped socks — the list could go on forever.

The point is that socks are something that every human being, at one point or another has most likely worn, and if you think about, that's pretty cool.  It brings a million different cultures and mind sets together simply because of the fact that we all put fabric on our feet.

Socks are the only universal truth we have.

Courtesy of: youne

Socks are also a pretty important indicator of who a person is.

For example, I own a lot of colorful socks with patterns, but I also own a lot of plain black and white ones too.  And if you ask someone what they're socks look like, there will probably some sort of relation to their personality.

This may sound really dumb, but I think socks mean a lot more than just being socks.

Just think, every morning you make a decision, no matter how conscious or subconscious, in what socks you decide to wear.

Now I know it's not quite the same as looking at ink blots, but its a pretty good indicator of how you're feeling.

If you're bummed out, you'll pick dark socks, but if you're excited, you'll pick bright ones.  Or you'll just grab them in a half-asleep haze and not really care one way or another.

In conclusion, I guess I just think that socks are a lot more than just socks.  Just like shirts are a lot more than just shirts, and pants are a lot more than just pants, and so on and so forth.

So there you have it.  The tale of two feet, that need two socks to keep them safe and warm.

Elise :)

I'm Boycotting The Cats

There's this app called Neko Atsume that a lot of people I know have.

Pretty much the whole point of it is that you have a bunch of virtual cats that "live" in your phone and you take care of them and collect rare ones and name them, etc.

I could see how this game could pertain to the lives of six-year old cat lovers, but how it relates to my teenage friends I can't figure out.

I have three friends in particular that constantly seem to be engulfed in this game.
Here are their blogs: Kenzie, Ashtyn, and Kira.

The thing is, I just don't get the point of it.

Staring at cats on your phone all day just doesn't seem rewarding or entertaining at all to me, and it seems like a waste of time.

Now I understand that there are a lot of things I, and everyone else in the world, do that are also a waste of time like watching TV, being on the computer etc., and these things are probably not the best use of of one's time either, but the cat game, in my mind, is just the epitome of an unproductive activity.

The cat game.  Credit: the verge.com

It's literally staring at cats.

I just don't get it!  It makes no sense to me, how could somebody want to just stare at cats!

And it's not just that. The people that have this app are completely consumed by it.  All they talk about with each other is the cat game, and every free moment during the day they whip out their phones to check the cat game.

Honestly it seems kind of stressful.  I know I couldn't live with that kind of anticipation always resting on my shoulders just to see if my lump of pixels that I named was doing ok.

I guess my whole point is that the cat game was probably not the best idea, but if you enjoy playing go right ahead, because who am I to tell you how to spend your time?

So thank you, for sticking with me through that whole rant.  It feels to good to get it off my chest that I HATE THE CAT GAME!!!

Anyway, have a good day and thanks for listening.
Elise :)

Cake and Candles

There's something you should know about me —  I'm not a big believer in birthdays.  In fact, if I had my way, we wouldn't celebrate them.  I just think people take them out of proportion.

Yes, it's cool, it was the day that you were born, but no one really did anything to deserve the massive celebration that takes place, they were just simply born.  If anyone should be celebrating, it's your mom, because she went through a lot more on that day than you did.

To me, birthdays just seem like an excuse for people to think the world revolves around them.

Now I'm not saying everyone does this.  That's definitely not the case.  All I'm saying is that certain people seem to get this overwhelming sense of superiority when the time of their birth comes around.

They think they deserve everything.  They think that on this day, or week even, that they should be treated like royalty.

From Pixabay

And for what?  They did nothing to deserve this celebration.  It's not like it's the anniversary of some amazing feat they performed, it's simply the anniversary of the day that the circle of life came around and they were born.

Yes, I think on your birthday you should eat a piece of cake and and wear your favorite shirt, but besides that, the celebrations that company every birthday across the world seems ridiculous.  You don't need to have a party, or receive presents from all of your friends.

But of course, that's what happens, because that's what people want.  You buy presents for your friend on their birthday in hopes you'll get one in return, right?

The thing is, it's not that I don't believe in birthdays, it's that I don't believe in the narcissistic mind sets everyones in when its their birthday.

My opinion on birthdays doesn't really affect my life though.  I still buy presents, and people still buy me presents, but I do wish that things would change.  I wish that birthdays meant more to society than getting older and taking a day off your diet.

But birthdays mean a lot more than that, don't they?  When you turn sixteen, you can drive.  When you turn eighteen, you're an adult.  When you turn twenty-one you can drink.  There's a lot of birthdays that determine things in your life and are more meaningful than just a simple day.

So I guess thats it.  My mixed opinions on birthdays and everything that comes with them.

But don't take my word for it.  It's your birthday —  do with it what you want.

Elise :)

I Almost Died...But Not Really

This past Friday night, Siena and I went out and got dinner.

I would tell you about all the things that happened that night, but really they're not relevant to this story, because the most memorable thing that happened on Friday night was that I almost died.

I guess that's being a little dramatic.  It wasn't truly a near death experience, but in theory it could have been.

The thing is I'm allergic to peanuts.  It's one of those allergies that they're not really sure what would happen to me if I ate them.  I could be completely fine or my throat could swell up and I could stop breathing.

I have an epi-pen incase the latter does happen, but luckily I've never had to use it before.

Of course though, I didn't have my epi-pen, or any Benadryl (the allergy medicine I take when I eat peanuts but I'm not quite at the point of anaphylactic shock) with me, because I thought I would be fine.

Except I wasn't.  I went to have a bite of Siena's ice cream and when I put the spoon in my mouth, I tasted the peanuts.  Then literally right after I ate it, the person who gave us the ice cream (who ironically happened to be in Siena's PE class) told us it had Butterfinger in it.

Siena and I both kind of just looked at each other with panicked looks on our faces.  I didn't know what to do.  I drank some water and called my mom.  She told me to run over to Smith's and buy some Benadryl.

So we did.  And all I can say is that I've never felt as alive as I did when I was sprinting through the Smith's parking lot with at nine o'clock on a Friday night, not sure if I was going to stop breathing or not.

Our bathroom selfie because we just think we're the coolest.

Everything ended up working out ok.  We bought Benadryl, I took one, and I didn't even break out or anything.  All in all, it was a pretty good night too.  We met some new people and had a lot of fun.

So I guess that's it.  Here's just another story of a time when my life took a sharp turn for the worst, but in the end everything worked out ok.

Be careful out there.
Elise :)

Live While We're Young

A whole lot of Thursdays ago, I went to my first away high school swim meet.

I was way excited for it — I mean, I had been waiting for years for this moment and it was finally happening.

Truth is, it didn't go that great.  I mean, I swam fine, but I had definitely done better in the past and I was kind of disappointed.

But not for a second was I sad.  No, I didn't even have the chance to be sad because I was having so much fun.

That whole night, I didn't stop laughing.  During the bus ride, at the pool, in the locker room, I was having fun from the minute I left school to the minute the bus pulled up to the high school.

That Thursday, I went to my first away high school swim meet, and it made me realize something — there are things a lot more important than what we seem to think is important.

For the longest time, I thought only two things mattered in my life: school and swimming, and that those were the only two things I had time for.

When I wouldn't do well at a swim meet, or on a test, I would get sad about it.  I would think it was the end of the world.  But as it turns out, getting an A- in second quarter of sixth grade choir isn't the worst thing that could happen.

I think people being extremely dedicated to school is a great thing.  Never doing anything else because you're always studying isn't such a good thing.

Applying yourself fiercely to something like school or a sport is an amazing thing, but it's not worth forgetting every other aspect of your life that's just as amazing.

Friends, family, and making memories is what I think really matters.  Sure, having a 4.0 in high school is a phenomenal accomplishment, but if it stopped you from going to a concert with your best friend that would have been the funnest night of your life, is it really that important?

I know it's been said before but it's true: life is short.  I'm pretty young still, but already I can't believe how much of my life has gone, flying before my eyes, and this is my fault.  Every Monday I wait for the weekend, every first day of school I wait for Summer, nearly every aspect of my life I'm just waiting for something seemingly "better" to come along.

When we're young, we have our whole lives ahead of us, and we can dream about it all we want.  I'm a freshman in high school now, and its starting to hit me that the rest of my life is starting now.  I've been waiting my whole life to be in high school, and now that I'm in it, I'm really not that impressed.  Turns out, high school isn't all that it's made out to be.

When we're young we have no idea what's coming.  We can daydream about the rest of our lives all we want, and have a five year plan, but we can't account for what's actually going to happen.  Unexpected things happen everyday, so it's we're being unfair to ourselves to try to plan for what's going to happen.

I mean look at these kids:

Photo Credits

They're just chilling out on some rock pillows, dreaming about dreams without a care in the world.  I think we (by we I mean anyone anywhere that has any stress) should try to live a little more like that. After all, you only get one chance at life, and I know, at least for me, when I'm eighty and on my death bed, I don't want to have any regrets.

When the time comes, I don't want anything that I wish I had done.  I don't want to have left a stone unturned, a sight unseen, a long way home untaken.

I guess the root of what I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of things that are important.  I mean, I guess I believe that every aspect of your life is important to some extent.

So I guess this is me trying to tel you to make the most of your life.  Life is just too short to not be enjoying yourself every minute that you possibly can.

Elise :)

An Ode to Ellen

Dear Ellen DeGeneres,

I know you don't know that I exist, I'm just your average teenager trying to graduate high school by writing in a blog.  But here's the thing Ellen — you are probably the greatest human person alive.

You were the voice of Dory, who in my mind, is one of the greatest literary heroes of our time, and you did it so well.  I was pretty young when Finding Nemo came out, and before I saw it, I had walked out of every movie I had ever gone to see.  Your movie was the first movie I didn't walk out of, Ellen.

You played never have I ever with One Direction.  First of all, just being in the same room as them would be the coolest experience of my life, but you asked them embarrassing questions on live television, and you did it with the class and calmness, which is something I definitely wouldn't have done.

You had Justin Bieber on your show, and you high-fived him.  You high-fived Justin Bieber.

I mean just look at that smile.
Courtesy of: Boston.com

Ellen you've had a lot of great moments with celebrities and have made a lot of funny memories for me and the rest of the world, but most importantly, you're a really good person.  You may not know it Ellen, but the things you've done to try to just make the world a better place have had an amazing impact.

You started the #BeKindToOneAnother campaign, which encourages people to do simple, everyday, random acts of kindness.  It may not seem important.  No, holding the door open for someone isn't going to change their life, but it may just put a smile on their face, and that smile on their face may put a smile on someone else's face, and that smile might just encourage that person to change the world.

You've done amazing things for the LGBT community.

You've donated money to kids suffering from cancer, and given them a chance to be on your show and tell their story.

You have hand-picked people to be on your show because they've done kind things for other people, and Ellen, let me tell you, they aren't doing that on the Today Show.

Ellen, you're great, and don't let anybody tell you differently.

You're on from three to four on weekdays, so I really don't get a chance to watch your show live that often, but if you were to go through my Youtube history, 90% of it would be clips from your show.

I think you're awesome, Ellen, and I wouldn't want you to change a thing.

So keep doing what you're doing, and remember that when a teenage girl was assigned to write who their ideal blog reader would be, I chose you.

Keep it real, and try to commit a random act of kindness today.  You'de be surprised how far it could go.

All the best.
Elise :)

So It Happened Again

In one of my recent posts, titled A Series of Unfortunate Events, I explained the details of how I embarrassed myself at a swim meet.

Well here we are, and it has happened again.

Last night, at our last home meet where we honored the seniors, I yet again did something embarrassing.

When swimming an event, you step up onto the blocks, the starter says "swimmers, take your mark", then a buzzer sounds and you dive off.

On my 100 free, I did everything as I normally do.  Stepped up, got ready, and bent down when instructed.

The only thing I didn't quite get the hang of is the diving off part.

I'm still not really sure what happened — it was all kind of a blur, but all I remember is not hearing the buzzer go off.  The rest of the people in my heat were half way down the pool and I honestly thought the buzzer still hadn't gone off.


I looked up, and realized that the buzzer had in fact gone off.  I don't know what went through my mind at that moment, but I guess I thought the most logical solution was to just fall off the block.
So I did.  I fell off the block and hopped out of the water.  I didn't swim the event.

Here's a picture of the thing I fell off of.
Courtesy of: http://www.neptune.k12.nj.us/Page/835 

At first, I was pretty gosh darn embarrassed.  I was laughing really loudly and aggressively, but that was just to cover up my complete and utter embarrassment at what I had just done.

Everyone was really supportive, and it helped.  The coach said, this is a direct quote, "I'm not that mad", and that made me feel much better.  The aftermath was not as bad as I thought it would have been, and after talking to my mom, I was no longer physically shaking from distress.

But by the time my next event came around, it was like it was happening all over again.

The event was a relay, so the three other girls in my relay told me that they would scream 'go' when the buzzer went off so I wouldn't mess up again.  I was laughing, because it was funny and by that time I was over it, but honestly I was nervous it was actually going to happen again, and I wasn't only going to screw it up for myself, I was going to screw it up for everybody.

I didn't though.  I dove off the block when the buzzer went off and everything was fine.  Well not really fine, but I was relieved I didn't embarrass myself for the second time that night.

Overall it was a good night and I had a lot of fun sending off the seniors (we all made two parallel lines and the seniors walked through the lines with their parents and there were balloons and I was an emotional mess).  I guess it must be something about high school meets, because never before this year have I done so many embarrassing things in such a short period of time.

There's a meet next week, and we can all only hope I won't fall off the block again.

Have a good life, and clean out your ears, because you never know what you'll need to hear.

Elise :)

One Small Step For Man

Courtesy of: embodiedastrology.com

There are people that believe that the moon landing is a hoax.  They believe that the whole thing was an elaborate scheme by the government.

I believe in freedom of belief, and there's nothing wrong with thinking that.  I get it, the government can be frustrating.

Personally, I believe that it happened.  I can't think of a reason why the government would make up walking on the moon, but if they did in fact make the whole thing up then there was probably a good reason.

The moon landing may have been a hoax — but I like to think it wasn't.

We're (at least those of you living in America) Americans.  We believe in hot dogs and baseball and pick-up trucks and most importantly, we believe in dreaming big.  We work hard and don't take no for an answer and we're a country built on the mentality that anything is possible.

We've made iPhones and Google.  Elvis and Michael Jackson.  Sloppy Joes and Mac n' Cheese.  There may be a lot of things wrong with America, but the state of dreaming we live isn't one of them.

So maybe we didn't land on the moon.  Maybe it was in fact shot in a hollywood film lot and maybe Neil Armstrong's famous line "One small step for man, one giant leap for man kind" was written by an intern in a stuffy conference room.  Maybe none of this was true, but what's wrong with believing it?

When man landed on the moon it showed the world that anything truly can happen.  We left the planet — and that's pretty amazing.

Most people would have looked up at the night sky and saw the moon and thought, "I wonder what it's like up there?"  We looked up at the moon and thought, "I'm going to find out what's up there."

Even if the whole thing was a hoax, I don't think I'll ever stop believing that it wasn't.  The day that a person walked on something we thought was so untouchable was a day that we all remember because it showed us that we can do anything.

So let the conspiracy theorists think what they want.

All I know is that I'm going to continue believing, because it's nice to think that if you reach for the stars, there's a chance that you can actually get there.

Aim high.  You may just make it even higher.
Elise :)