Music Memories // 29

How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song): In 5th grade my teacher had a boombox in his room and every morning my friends and I would listen to our CDs.  Needless to say, there was a lot of Jonas Brothers and Radio Disney music played.  We could never take this song seriously, a couple of lines in we would always break down in laughter!

Light The Castle Up: Jingle Spells 3 was the first wrock album I got.  I remember in 2009 I spent the entire Christmas blasting, memorizing, and singing along to these songs.  Even my parents know the words!

Good Thing: My friends and I spent too much time singing along to this song in middle school.

Ocean Avenue: "We're looking up at the same night's sky" Anyone with internet friends can relate.

Goin' Back To Hogwarts: Starkid may have a bad rap, and most people only know Darren, but they are the reason for who I have become over the last 3 years.  This song marks the beginning of my path of acceptance of who I am.  I've realized that I'm definitely not nerdy or fangirly 'enough' to fit with these people anymore but I still have them to thank for me.

Goin' Back To Hogwarts

 

Pic // 28

 

Kinetic Sculpture Race!

Every year on Memorial Day Weekend my county is host to the Kinetic Sculpture Race!  This is a 3 day race of human powered vehicles (aka bikes) over street, dunes, bay, and slew to the finish line 42 miles away.  These races take place all over the world, but my city is home to the first and therefore it is called The Kinetic Grand Championship.  It's amazing how many people show up to see these works of art traverse every platform.  If you would like to learn more, here is the official website.

 

It's really easy to forget that these are just bikes.  I hope that everyone racing is having a great time! Remember it's all for the glory!

A Letter To You // 27

There are only a few
but I hope to entertain.

To those of you who

are insane,

please don't forget your shoe.

I do not have a clue
how to write chow mein.

Persue, push through,

and do not eat romaine

<3 Annie

 

Online Inspiration // 26

I have always wanted to be an archaeologist anthropologist so any article which explains how people view the world will catch my attention right away. So, when I stumbled upon an article on human behavior and culture, I read it thoroughly.

The one thing from this article which will stay with me forever is how different cultures view this optical illusion.

Now, most of us, myself included, will say that it looks like the arrow on the left is longer.  In actuality the lines are the same length.  It's commonly thought that if you show the above image to anyone they would agree that the line on the left seems larger, however this article claims that only people who live in a civilized community with walls and houses will view the lines as different lengths.  When this optical illusion was shown to indigenous people, they said the lines were the straight length!  This shows that the way our brains function, even on such a basic level such as sight, is very different dependent on our environment.  We really are just sophisticated animals.

 

I'll Never Forget // 25

Its seems like things you can't change about yourself are always the things that bother you the most. My best friend in middle school constantly ragged on my because I basically had no boobs and she had huge boobs.  I didn't get my period until 8th grade and my friends congratulated my on finally becoming female.  People tell me that I'm Hitler's perfect race all the time.  All these things are things I can't change.  Yet comments on them always stick and hurt.  We talk about appearance and the world around us because they're easier and less argumentative than expressing our ideas about Nietzsche and the Korean War, but someone saying your boobs are too small hurts just as much as someone saying your opinion is incorrect.


 

Top 3 Worst Traits // 24

I am super distant
I avoid getting close to people
I push issues away

I'm not gonna delve into much detail  with these.  Perhaps that's #3 making an appearance.

Sometimes, guys at my school wear dresses

 

Education Sans School // 23

The reason I consider myself a Gryffindor and not a Ravenclaw is because I don't go out of my way gain intelligence   I'm not the kid reading up on astrophysics in my free time, I'd rather be out on the beach.  Therefore, much of my random knowledge is from either stumbleupon or movies.  I'm sure most of you know what stumbleupon is, so I'm going to talk about gaining knowledge from movies.

As humans, we learn by observing other people correct?  From infancy to our deathbed, this never stops.  We constantly look to others and observe what to do and what not to do with our own lives.  With the addition of movies and books, there is so much more to observe.  The viewer gains knowledge on what works and what doesn't every time they watch a movie.  This helps one form their own life to their own wishes.

Also, stories present information in a way that is easier to retain.  For example, if someone had simply told me that a T-Rex cannot see prey if the prey doesn't move, I wouldn't have retained that.  However, because of the plot relevance of that fact in Jurassic Park, anyone who has seen that movie will retain that knowledge.    I have also gained a lot of knowledge about the rapture, demons, Lucifer, Gabriel and God because of Supernatural!

I don't understand it when people say that "TV will rot your brain".  Yes, don't get stuck behind someone and not do anything, but they have the power to be just as powerful as a novel.

Another note, I saw Star Trek yesterday, guys see that movie.


 

A Rant // 22

Why does no one take nuclear weapons seriously?  We have the power to destroy our world more than once yet no political talks about it.  Yes, there is a peace treaty, but that hasn't lowered the number of weapons in the United States so why do we think it will limit the rest of the world! The US and Russia both sill have thousands of weapons ready to be deployed at any time.  It's amazing how little we have progressed since the 70s.

Scientists agree that a nuclear war would not just destroy the cities directly attacked by the bombs, but the entirety of the world.  There exist enough nuclear weapons to place the world into what is called a nuclear winter.  Basically the all the carbon produced by the massive fires after a detonation would infest the atmosphere and cut off the sun leaving the world to slowly starve.  Unfortunately, this slight problem (note the sarcasm) has not been addressed in any scientific way since the 70s.  There have been very few new tests and experiments to find the effects of a nuclear war so this terrifying possibility has left the minds of the public and that scares the shit out of me.   As soon as we stop worrying, that's when bad things can happen.

Finally and ironically, this video always makes me laugh.

 

Favorite Posts // 21

Oh, look at the fancy thing I made.  If you want to see one of my favorite posts, just click on a picture! French is over! Now for a day at the beach and some hot tubing.  Who needs school?

 

A Struggle // 20

What a fitting prompt for today.  If you are reading this between 8:30am and about 1pm PST, I am taking my French IB exam.  I am fairly good at school.  I can usually float by with good grades.  However, there are a few things that I have to work at.  One of those things is french.  I was always told that I needed to learn french to be an archaeologist, so when I had to choose between Spanish and French, I took french.  It quickly became my least favorite class.

Naturally, I want to leave this class as soon as possible so I decided to test out of it in my junior year.  However, because I am not very good at french, I've had to cram so much work into this year.  I can truly say that I have learned a lot of french over the past year but my vocabulary is not nearly up to scratch.  I've spent the weekend cramming every french word into my head!  I'm about to explode.  Hopefully I won't receive the test and have my mind go blank! Bon chance à moi!


 

5 Favorite Blogs // 19

1. The Londoner

Rosie runs an amazing lifestyle blog out of London.  Within a day of discovering this blog, I had read every single post.  Some of the blogs I follow, I skim through new posts, but I read ever word of a Londoner post.  The food is delicious with plenty of recipes to explore plus wonderful trips that you can't wait to plan for yourself.  It doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous and a total nerd.

2. Skunkboy

Like Rosie, I devoured all of Katie's posts and read the backlog within a day.  Without fail, Katie always makes me want a cute little family like hers...and her wardrobe.  All those cute little summer dresses, yes please.

3. To the Sea

I only recently found this blog, but I quickly fell in love.  The mix of baby pictures, fitness tips, and adventures is perfect.  Erica, an US ex-pat is living in Tanzania.  The pictures from hikes, safaris, and the beach are inspiring.

4. Cider with Rosie

This girl makes me appreciate the wonder in day to day life.  Posts about 10 things that make her happy each week and weekly goals help me see the beauty around us instead of waiting for big.  I really thank her for that.

5. That Seems Lovely

Beka is gorgeous and her posts about what inspires her fashion, inspire me to find my own.  Knowing that another girl my age is following her dreams and diving into them headfirst makes me want to follow her lead.


 

Childhood Story // 18

I'm not very good with memories.  Most of them I forget.  I may loath the idea of forgetting but it's one of the easiest things for me to do.  I cannot hold a grudge because I forget what the person did!  I do have a few memories of my earlier years though. I'll share two of them with you since they both involve the same people.

During 2nd and 3rd grade I was really good friends with a girl named Courtney.  This might have been because she had a pool, but I like to believe that I liked her as well.   Anyhow, one day, my mother and her father were working on a project in the yard while I was playing with Courtney in her room.  We were lost in our world, like kids are, playing with the stuffed animals and creating stories when my mom just comes in and announces that Courtney's father had basically cut his finger off and we had to go to the hospital.  Now, my mom jokes about things like death and cancer quite a bit so I remember Courtney and I looking at each other and deciding to believe that it wasn't true.  There was no way something serious and dangerous had happened on such a nice sunny day.  We reverted back to playing until Jerome actually walked in with a bloody napkin wrapped around his finger and told us to get in the car.  The rest of the day still feels like a dream.  Even after being yelled at, rushed into a car, and saw the blood soaking the napkin around the finger, I couldn't understand that it had happened.  I remember sitting in the hospital with a couple stuffed animals just staring around me.  I remember seeing the stitches and I think then I understood.  However, I no longer cared cause he was then fine!  I think this was the first time I experienced someone getting hurt and just fell into a weak place of shock.  I wonder how Courtney remembers this day?  How did you handle your first experience with people getting hurt?