Friday Five! (of videos)

Hey everyone...

Happy Friday!

Here are the videos for this Friday:

1.) So I got this video in a email forward about a year and a half ago. And it wasn't until now that I remembered the video. It's a serious video, and it makes me happy and sad at the same time. I watched it again and decided I should share it, because I think everyone should watch it and pass it on!

"The Power of Words"

Now that you've watched it... pass it on or tell someone else about it!

It's truly heart-touching.

2.) My sister Alex showed me this video... you have to watch VERY carefully... It actually turns out to be pretty funny.

"Color Changing Card Trick"

What did I tell you??

3.) I found this video on a website. I think these kinds of things are cool. It's something similar to a flash mob... but different...

Watch it!

"Frozen Grand Central"

4.) All I can say to this one is WOW. SO cool!

"Best Basketball Shot Ever"

5.) Touching story... very touching...

"A Father's Amazing Love"


That wraps up our Friday Five of videos! TGIF!

It's not ALWAYS greasy...

I've had multiple classmates say to me, "Eww... you like McDonald's?! Do you know what they put in their nuggets?!" So yes, I do like McDonald's. In fact, I LOVE McDonald's. How can you not enjoy their delicious, salty french fries? And I agree that not all of the McDonald's food is good for you. Okay, never mind, almost ALL of their food is bad for you. But, notice my almost. Not all McDonald's food is terrible for you. I mean, obviously if you go to McDonald's you can't plan on getting the healthiest meal on Earth. But  if your careful, you can go to McDonald's and have an average-healthy meal. Take a look at some of these websites and THEN judge the majestic fry house:

LiveStrong.com

FitSugar.com (Click the orange "Next" button to see the foods.)

 DrGourmet.com

This is proof that not everything on the McDonald's menu is trash. Obviously, as I said before, it's not as healthy and other restaurants, but it's something!

Where Are YOU Living??

YOLO. Do you know what that means? It means, "You Only Live Once." And it's true, but I don't think people realize it that often. I know that I, for example, don't really consider life...well... LIFE! This is our only chance. I'm only turning 13 once. Once the moment is gone, it's gone forever. Once it happened, it's never undone. It's kind of scary to think about it like that...

I know that I do not "live in the moment" like some people do. That's why I'm wondering "where you're living". In the moment, or in your mind?

If you live in the moment, you take risks. You don't think about what happened yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow, you're just thankful for what you have NOW. You go for opportunities that are given to you and you try your best because it's your only chance to show what you've got. I looked on Yahoo! Answers to see what they said, and cj_justme said, "It means to enjoy where you are right NOW, rather than brooding about the past, worrying about what might happen in the future, or wishing for something we may want to happen 'someday'. The past can't be changed, and the future is unknown. All we can control is what happens right now." And I couldn't have said it better myself! If you live in the moment, you make the best of the things in you life, even if your struggling with things. Recognize the good things you have. And of course, this is easier to say than to do, but it's something to think about.

If you live in your mind, you usually think about yesterday and how you could have made it "such a better day." Or you think about the future and wish for things you want constantly. If you live in your mind, your worried about how things might turn out, even though there's nothing to do to change it, so why worry about it? And it's okay to do this a little bit, but personally, I think living in the moment is a lot better. Of course changing to living in the moment would be hard, but if you're interested in taking on the challenge, here are some links to some websites that tell you how:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200810/the-art-now-six-steps-living-in-the-moment

http://www.wikihow.com/Live-in-the-Moment

http://stopandbreathe.com/2011/07/08/how-to-live-in-the-moment/

This will be a challenge, but it could change your life forever...

Good luck!

The Meaning Of Words

When the waiter brings you your food at a restaurant, you say thank you. When you receive gifts on Christmas, you say thank you. When someone says thank you, you say your welcome. When someone says I love you, you say I love you too. But do you ever think about what your saying and really, truly mean it? Or do you just say it automatically and not think about it at all? Is it possible that we say these words so often that they completely lose their meaning? I think yes. To be completely honest, when I say thank you to someone giving me my food I'm trying to be polite. I'm not thinking about what I'm saying at all. If it's something big, like someone gives me a present I wasn't expecting and I really like for Christmas, then I mean it and I really honestly appreciate it. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate anything else, though. I do. But I know that everyone (including me), at some point in their lives, says thank you, or please, or I love you, like it's nothing. Like it has no meaning, it's just something we all say. It doesn't mean you should feel terrible about it and cry about it, because everyone does it- it's just something I know we all can improve on. The point is- we should try to mean these words when we say them. Thank about what that person is doing for you, how they're somehow making your life easier, and thank them sincerely and mean it. When someone says I love you, look at them and truly love them and give them your heart, and then say it back. You don't have to do it every single time because that's obviously very difficult. And you don't need to spend 5 minutes thinking about all of this, just really mean it. And if you don't think about it at the second it happens (because yes, it would definitely very difficult), think about it when your trying to fall asleep at night. Recognize the people you said thank you to, or who you said you loved, and then mean it. Think about the meaning of those words.

***Please note that I wasn't trying to offend anyone in any way! This is just my opinion that I wanted to share.

Counting Sheep Works!

Sometimes I lay awake at night, trying to fall asleep, but I never can. It frustrates me, so I try silly things that people tell me that might help. Sometimes I'll try a muscle relaxation thing to try and relax me. That only works some of the time. Then one time I decided to experiment and tried counting sheep- only to find that it actually works! That is- if you do it correctly. It takes a lot of concentration and focus. You have to picture in your mind a field with a fence, and have multiple sheep jump over it. Then you have to count each and every one of the sheep and you cannot stop or let your mind wander, or it won't work. If you completely focus, you should be able to fall asleep. I think what happens is your using your brain and concentrating really hard, so when you finally stop you become more tired. Research shows that counting sheep can make a person focus, but relax at the same time. So next time you can't sleep but need to sleep, try counting sheep!

Directions are a Necessity!

I hate it when my teachers at school tell the class to do a project, give us 5 or less rules to follow, and then tell us to go do it. They say that it's at our advantage because we can be as creative as we want, and we only have to follow those few rules. But the thing is... it's not at my advantage! I'm terrible with things like that. My art teacher from last quarter told us to find a landscape picture and then create a replica of it, using anything we want. She told us we could even make it on the computer- if we knew how. The only directions were that it had to fit on the certain size paper she gave us. I was in awe. I've never been good at that kind of stuff. It's like I need very specific directions to do a project well. When teachers tell me to come up with something, I end up having a very boring project and it does not meet my standards. I'm honestly not very creative... until it comes to writing. When I write, it's not too hard to come up with topics to write about. But most art projects don't have anything to do with writing, so that leaves me hanging. So next time you get assigned a project like that and get a good grade on it for being creative- consider yourself lucky! Because some of us- like me- cannot do that easily! Directions are a necessity for me!





My Landscape I picked out....





My drawings... boring!

When I Create Novels...

Every once in a while I'll come across pages in the back of a book that's sort of a Question & Answer for the author. Sometimes I see the question, "How did you think of the idea for this book?" and they'll answer, "It took a lot of thinking, walks, showers, and food eating." Or people might say that they just sit there and think and think and try to come up with ideas. They brainstorm for a while and put together a few ideas and then WALA! They have a perfect idea for a story that becomes a bestseller. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little, but still... I've always wondered how authors could do that. I create my story ideas subconsciously. I don't really try to think of them, I just do. I recently wrote a book called My Sister Abigail. It's the longest book that I've ever actually finished. It currently has 565 pages and I'm still editing it. To think of the main idea, I didn't sit there in front of a blank word document, waiting for an idea to come to me- I was in the car, close to home, looking out the window. Then I had it- a story of two sisters, one of which becomes a vampire and then continues on as they try to conquer many conflicts. I even thought of the name of the story when I thought of the idea. So right when we got home, I got out of the car, grabbed a computer, and began typing. But that's only one book. In the past year, I've thought of 8 more story ideas. Most stories have at least one page, and I know that's not a lot compared to 565, but it's something. And for all other 8 ideas, I never sat there and tried to think of something- the ideas came to me.  The Rebels, for example, is based off of a dream I had. Then it formed into a longer story from there. It currently has 8 pages. Time for Me to Fly was also based off of a dream. The Ranch is a story I thought of when I wanted to write about horses and thought of the idea while playing a video game one day. I accidentally added some romance, but what's a good book without some of that? I thought of these 9 ideas, original or not, without trying to, and then just have to write them down. I can't just sit there and brainstorm for hours and hours. I've tried, and then longest I can go is 5 minutes. And even if I think of something, it'll be lousy. I admire these authors that can just sit there and think of amazing novel ideas. And I think that was my point here, even though I've only said a few sentences about it. Those writers are truly grand since they can just sit there and think of what to write. It probably isn't completely random and is probably influenced by other feelings and experiences, but I think they should still get some credit. Because I know that is something I cannot do.

My First Blog!

Okay people out in the world... this is my first blog ever, so I'm not exactly sure how to do this whole thing- so bear with me! I'm going to write about random things that cross my mind... so if you're interested, check in every once in a while!