Annoying Red Lines

Do those red lines on the Microsoft Word bother you? I think they are one of the most annoying things ever, besides a car alarm. But they remind me of lines or obstacles that prevent you from reaching your goals. When I say I'm going to finish something and reach my goal, later I end up either forgetting about quitting (although I've only really quit once). And that's when you reach one of those red lines. They correct your spelling and make you feel like you can't spell. Well, the red lines in life are what make you doubt yourself, and make you feel like you can't reach the end. But don't let those red lines stop you, because the red lines are worth nothing (even though they help you with your spelling on essays). So reach your goals in life and never give up.

The Periodic Table of Elements

Lately, I've been thinking about the periodic table of elements. I don't know why, but I find it really fascinating. I know "Au" is silver, "Ag" is gold, "U" is uranium, and "Pt" is platinum, but that's all I know. I wish I knew more. In my family, it's a common dinner-time conversation. We test each other on the elements, and what's sorted where, and I'm like, "Huh? What the heck does "K" or "Yb" mean?"
I've very recently figured out that "Zn" is zinc, and "Yb" is ytterbium, and "Xe" is Xenon. But what the heck is ytterbium and what is it used for? I'm perplexed.
Anyway, I've just had this obsession with the table of elements. There was a poster hung of in my science classroom, and she took it down because they were fixing the wall or something. I was sad. When I was bored, I would look at it and try to think of stuff that the letters might stand for. Like "Uuh" (I'm not kidding, "Uuh" is actually an element. It stands for Ununhexium. I find that kind of funny. Like, if you were in Science, learning about the elements, you could answer a question with "Uuh" and the teacher might think you were going "Ummmmmm?"
Well, I just needed to ramble about that.

What a Death Sentence is for Middle Schoolers

When us teenagers have to do a big test, and we don't know half of the material we're supposed to, we freak out, and we're like, "I'm gonna die!". The truth is, you won't die. You might fail (although I seriously doubt that will happen), but you won't die because you have a big test coming up. I had my EOC (end of course) exam today, and before, my teacher acted like it was going to be really hard and we had to study, like, four hours a night. But I didn't though. I just did ten minutes of last minute studying the night before, and none of the material I studied was on the test. The test was surprisingly easy-ish.
Okay, getting a little off topic here. My point is, don't worry about tests or anything like that, because you'll only get more stressed about it. That will cause you to panic, which will lead to not being able to concentrate on the test, and more. It's just a cause and effect chain that goes on forever and ever. As long as you try your very hardest, nothing else matters.
So now I'm going to talk about what middle school students take as a death sentence. It's a short list, but it's true.

1) More than 25 problems of math, algebra, or geometry homework.
2) Two hours of the class they hate most.
3) Lots and lots and lots of detention

This is kind of a joke when I say they take it as a death sentence, but maybe some people, if they are in one of these three situations, maybe they do feel like they're going to die. I dread it very much when I have two hours of algebra on Tuesday's, and sometimes I do feel like I'm going to wither away with boredom. But don't worry about tests or anything, don't sweat it. It will all be fine as long as you try your hardest. ;)

Happiness

Ok. Another one of my corny descriptions of something that happened today. Hope you don't mind.
So anyway, have you ever felt so happy that nothing could ever go wrong again? Sure, there are problems in everybody's lives, but sometimes you get that warm, quick feeling of pure, intense happiness. You want it to stay forever, yet it only lasts a few precious seconds. That's the way I felt today at one point, when the sun was shining on my face, and I was with my family and friends. I just felt so... relieved. I know that's a weird description, but that's how I felt. I felt so lucky. And I can't really explain why. It was just one of those odd feelings or moments.
But have you ever felt this way? I'm sure everybody has at least once in their lifetime. Whether it was so long ago or very recently, I hope everybody has experienced it. Because that's what part of our lives should made up of, is happiness. I mean, not all happiness. If we didn't have problems in our lives and there wasn't anything wrong with this messed up world, then we wouldn't be human and the world wouldn't be... well, the world, I guess.
Happiness is something we all want, I'm sure. This may sound snotty, but don't deny you have problems in your life, because everybody does. Don't be afraid to admit it. Even if some people seem like they are having the time of their lives everyday, and it seems like they have a perfect life with a loving family, friends that care about them, a home they can go to every night... deep, deep down... there is something that's going on in that persons life, too. Whether it's despair, jealousy, something that they regret very much, et cetera. My point is, everybody has a problem. Nobody likes it, but problems are life. If we didn't have problems and faults, everything would be absolutely wonderful. But there are always those movies and books where a character wishes for everything to be perfect because they think they've got a horrible life, but when everything is perfect, they realize that they already had the best life ever. You don't want anything to be too perfect.
Okay, now I'm just rambling. But I needed to get that out. Because lately, some people act like their lives need to be perfect just to fit in. They wear skinny jeans and designer brands (I'm not saying you shouldn't wear those things), they gossip about pointless things, and much more. I just feel like everybody's doing that so they can be known around school. But the truth is, you shouldn't need to do anything to get people to notice you. Some people want to get out there so badly, and others hate drawing attention to themselves. Everybody is different in their own way. But people depend so much on the outside layer of the person to know who they really are. That is what needs to be fixed in a lot of schools. This is what a lot of people say and hear, but focus what is on the inside of the person, not how they appear. Looks can be very, very deceiving. I learned that the hard way.
Okay, back to where we started, to the feeling of happiness. I used to wish my life was all happiness when I was little, though I was a very happy person. But I learned that there is a wrong kind of happiness and the right kind of happiness. I would explain it, but that would be a few more expository paragraphs I'm sure you don't want to read. Whoever reads this, I hope that you're happy with your life. :)

Drama and the Messenger

Have you ever felt like you're the messenger between two of your friends, and you're stuck in the middle with no way of getting out? Something similar has been happening to me lately with some certain friends of mine. They had a really pointless fight and I guess they're not friends anymore. At first, I was like, "Pshh, this isn't my problem. They can work it out." But then I really felt involved when my friend whispered something to me about my other friend when she was right in front of us. Then later she asked me what my friend whispered to me. That's when I felt like the messenger. I felt like I was a backstabber and a liar, so I didn't tell her.
It's these things that every middle school teenager gets caught up in. Useless drama and gossip. I try not to get caught up with these things, but somehow I get caught up in it. Somehow. But I have myself to blame for that. Sometimes we get into drama just because there's nothing else to make a fuss about. We middle schoolers need to always be making a fuss about something. That's not meant to be an insult, but it's merely human nature. Sometimes we don't like all the drama in our lives, but sometimes we just have to deal.
I mean, there are ways to get rid of some drama in your life besides ignoring everything that goes on in your school completely. When a friend tells you about something that's happened to him/her, just say, "Oh, that's too bad. I hope you guys can work it out", instead of, "Oh my gosh, how can I help? Do you want me to say something?". Because just a few words can get you involved in a fight that you weren't even part of in the first place.
 I'm not saying you shouldn't help your best friends with their problems, just don't get so involved that you're eventually taking a side, because that's when it can get bad.
I really hope everyone's takes my advice into their thinking, because it might help you as it helped me get rid of drama in my life.

How Embarrassing!

 Today was very humiliating. In health we were acting out skits for this program called S.T.O.P. (it was for the CBA). It's kind of like the "just say no!" thing. I partnered up with my friend Lily (BTW it's her birthday today) and guess what topic we got?
She was going to say, "Hey Emma, let's go let off a stink bomb!"
Happy birthday, Lily.
Anyway, when it came time for our skit, we walked up to the front of the room and we started our skit. But during the middle of the skit, we both forgot our lines and burst out laughing. Then once we got hold of ourselves again, we finished our skit. At the end, we planned to link arms and walk back to our desks. But instead (this was probably really funny to watch), we linked arms but I went one way and she went the other way and tripped over the trash can. Only one person clapped and I was too embarrassed to pay attention to who it was. I was so embarrassed.
And to add to that, Ms. Ross (my orchestra teacher) made me play a few measures of a song in front of the whole class because the cello section was apparently "out of tune". I don't like playing in front of everybody. It just makes me feel weird.
But the truth is, you just have to get over these things. People will eventually get over the many humiliating moments that they witnessed and stop making fun of you. If you don't let these things pass, they will boil inside of you for a long time and at some point you won't even want to be around your friends anymore because you're so afraid something humiliating might happen. And it's okay to playfully make fun of something that happened to one of your friends as long as you don't make them feel bad. I've been thinking about embarrassing moments lately and I thought, What's the point of making somebody feel bad about something humiliating that happened?
I mean, it's not like they were involved in the situation. What benefit will they get from teasing the person to make them feel bad? People were laughing and pointing at me for the rest of the class. It made it harder to get over the situation. But try your very hardest to ignore the jerks who are making fun of you and proceed with your day's destination. Don't let those people who think they are better than you get you down. If they think you are immature, the truth is, they are being the immature person.
Well, it felt good to rant about my embarrassing day.

Rainy Days

Even though rainy days are horrible to most people, they do have their benefits. Since almost every day is a rainy day here in Washington, we should all be used to it.
You know how Seattle and the surrounding area is called the "Emerald City", and all that? They say that because the grass is so green bla bla bla bla. Why isn't my grass green? And no, it's not because we don't take care of it, because we do. We try everything to make it green, but nothing works. I guess time will tell (even though we've lived here for about three years).
Instead of being bored out of your mind on rainy days and watch the rain outside go down, down, down, and watching TV, get up and do something. Let's see... you could bake brownies or cookies (yum), clean out you fish's tank (if you have one), practice cartwheels if you have room, find bouncy balls and juggle, whatever. Here's a list of stuff you probably won't want to do, but if you're really desperate, then this list is for you:

-Clean your room
-Study for any upcoming tests
-Make dinner for your family
-Take out the garbage

You get the idea. There's lots of stuff to occupy yourself on rainy days.
When I used to live in Ohio in 3rd and 4th grade, I went to a school called Kensington Intermediate. Every Friday, we got to have an extra recess and got to go outside earlier so the recess would be longer. And usually, unlike in Washington, Friday's would always be sunny. Anyway, if you got in trouble that week or if you had to finish work, you had to stay in the cold and boring school hallways and serve time there. The school called this "study hall", and if you had to go to study hall, the students took the news like they were being sentenced to death. And I'm being serious. Having to go to study hall was the most unpopular thing to do.
Well, anyway, I got study hall once, and my friends were like, "Oh, I'm sorry. Too bad you'll get to miss it. It's really sunny."
I don't know why I had to go to study hall, for some stupid reason probably. My 3rd grade teacher wasn't very nice to me. I think I forgot to bring a pencil to school. Something like that.
I just grumbled an inaudible reply and as the bell rang, I grumbled some more and sat in the hallway. No one else joined me. I was alone. How depressing. I heard a weird tapping noise on the roof and windows on the school. I looked up from staring blankly at the wall a few minutes later, and guess what I saw?
Five words.
It. Was. Pouring. Down. Rain.
Haha! Best study hall ever.
See? Rainy days have their benefits. This may sound mean, but you get to watch other people get soaked to the bone while you're inside a warm (well, compared to outside) building.
I don't go to a school where they have study hall anymore, thank God.
Remember earlier I said a way to stifle your boredom is to make brownies?
I think I'll go do that.