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 :)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Last Wednesday was Park City High School Swimming's annual Battle of the Sexes.

This is a swim meet where instead of teams competing against each other, it girls against boys, and it's really a lot of fun.

Though the meet was a lot of fun, there were a series of events that occurred that were quite unfortunate for me, but hilariously entertaining for others.

Though we may look calm and happy,
we were all most definitely still thinking about
that relay that went wrong.

It all started with the first relay.

We were doing mixed relays, which means two boys and two girls on each relay, and the relay I was in was the medley, which means that each person swims a different stroke (4 strokes, 4 people in a relay, it makes sense).  Anyway, the order for a medley relay is backstroke, then breaststroke, then butterfly, then freestyle.  I was scheduled to be doing breaststroke, meaning I should of gone second.

And in a perfect world I would have.  But I didn't.  The person doing butterfly stepped up on the blocks before anyone could tell him that he was swimming in the wrong order, and started doing butterfly when I was supposed to be doing breaststroke.

The other two members of the relay and I were standing on the deck, watching him do butterfly while every other lane was doing breaststroke.  We were kind of worried, I mean we were absolutely going to get the relay disqualified, but mostly we were just laughing.  Actually, we were completely cracking up.

We swam the rest of our relay, and went and apologized to our coach.  She was being pretty passive aggressive about it, so we could't tell if she was mad or not, but she quickly forgot about.  It was after all supposed to be a fun, no-stress meet and she really couldn't get angry because we are just humans and humans make mistakes.

After that whole debacle, my first event was the 100 butterfly.  In a typical high school, there's a fifteen minute right after the 50 freestyles, and right before the 100 butterfly.  The thing is, is that at this meet there wasn't a break.

So there I was, standing behind lane eight (I was swimming my 100 fly in lane 1), cheering for someone in the last heat of 50 free, thinking I had fifteen before I swam.

That's when I heard the whistle and saw the other people in my 100 fly standing behind the blocks.  Then it dawned on me — there wasn't going to be a break.  So I took off running to get to my block.

And that's when it happened.  That's when my foot slipped  and I completely fell onto the deck.  I landed smack dab on my left hip in front of everyone.

But I didn't have time to recover from hitting the deck.  I had to swim my 100 fly.  I guess my adrenalin must of still been running because I hopped right back, ignoring all the people asking if I was ok, and ran to lane one.  

I made it there before the event started, but my cap and googles weren't on.  I frantically pulled them over my head while looking at the starter (who controls when the events are swam).  He gave me a sympathetic look and announced that they would wait for me.  I breathed out a sigh of relief and finished putting my cap and goggles on.

The event, surprisingly, went ok, though I was still shaking my fall when I got out of the water.

I walked over to the coach, laughing, because I couldn't believe what my night had become.  I told what had happened, and she too laughed at me.

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful.  I went and talked to my mom, and upon seeing my hip completely black and blue and bleeding, she made me go get an ice pack.

I swam the 100 breaststroke, and I added a significant amount of time because I could only swim with one leg.  Usually, a person would get disqualified from an event using only one leg, but the officials must of not been paying attention or they just gave me the benefit of the doubt.  

My hip remained swollen for days after the incident, and I still have scratches from where it was bleeding, but it's all in the past now, and I can laugh about it.

So there you have it — when everything goes wrong, you just have to laugh about it, because I assure you, everyone else is already laughing.

Up and out,
Elise :)