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Every year my family hosts an annual 'Tacky Party.' The invites? "Get out your fugliest Christmas attire and come rock hard at our Third Annual Tacky Christmas Party! This is sure to make for some phenomenal photos! Be warned... we have security at the door and our dress code will be STRICTLY enforced!" (That's the Mr. Dykstra friendly version. :]) We deck our house out in the tackiest, most "grandma-esque" Christmas accessories we can find; our house, currently, looks like it's decorated by a crazy Christmas fangirl. The party this year is themed after "Don't be Tardy for the Party" by Kim Zolciak. (The song speaks for itself.) My mom invites all the family and friends over; the best part, though, is the food. December is the month where my family members, on my mom's side, atleast, actually cook things they should more often-- my favorite being my mom's oreo truffles and my grandma's peanut butter balls-- and almost everything they bring to the party is worthy of five star status.
People are decked out in things from knee high striped socks, Santa suits, Christmas aprons, and the most common item, dubbed "Tacky Christmas Sweater From Mom's Closet."  Dont be tardy for the party!

 I fully believe that honor is to be earned by another individual and that love just can’t be given out like candy. I wouldn’t give honor and respect to a person that treated me unfairly and didn’t give me and didn’t have a mutual appreciation for me. As some teachers say, “I don’t give out respect, you earn it.”

 Iff you treated everyone with love, respect, and honor, it could be compared to rewarding bad behavior; when your dog eats your homework, you don’t pet him and say, “Good dog!”  You reward the dog that is obedient follows your orders, and loves you unconditionally. When you honor someone, you need to trust them;  and when you trust someone, you trust them in a specific way. With that trust, that love that accompanies it is also specific. For instance, you may have different types of love and trust for someone as a friend, a relative, or a lover; and for true, complete love, you need to respect them.

If you do not have high regard for a person’s behavior, intelligence, or morals, it’s hard to find honor in their lifestyle. Its human nature to not regard a person who is conceited, condescending, arrogant, envious, or negative. When you feel another person belittles, deceives, or takes advantage of the love you bestow on them and reciprocated, you will eventually become disenchanted and fall out of love and despise one another. Respect should be mutual. You respect a coach or a teacher that directs that guides you sternly yet fairly; a coach that rants and yells aimlessly, without direction, or a teacher that is a pushover will earn little or no respect from their students. I believe to fully achieve someone’s love that you must have a positive impact on one another’s lives. 

human nature: the shared psychological attributes of humankind that are assumed to be shared by all human beings; "a great observer of human nature"


What is human nature? Is it defined by the position of the planets, or fate pounded with God? No human is exactly the same-- nature vs. nurture, even fingerprints-- yet somehow, we are classified by what drives us... what makes us tick. Theorists announce that free will drives us, the ability to make decisions; yet, what of communism? There's so many traits that humans have around the world, and so many arguments; it seems impossible to classify us in one to several categories, especially with modern scenarios.


The theories revolving around morality are the most controversial, mainly because most of them don't have as much religious bias. There are many views on the subject-- moral realism, subjectivism, relativism, absolutism, universalism, nihilism, amoralism, and several other "-isms" that make your head hurt-- yet they all regard the origin and nature of human morality. The theories vary from amoralism, which notes that there is no concept of morals, so everything is not right and wrong; to moral realism, which is the theory that states that certain things are right or wrong regardless of human opinion on the topic. 


With religion, nature vs. nurture, and influences from other sources, theories range and tend to wander when it comes to human nature. It's easy to agree, but when you look closer, you can manage to disagree. Some of these theories almost suggest human kind to stop questioning judgements, that we should stop being curious. What would become of our society? Throughout history, people questioned the laws and judgments of their superiors to bring a better outcome to their people. Without these traits that these "rules" seem to look down upon, we'd be set back years in our progression.

CHEER STATE

For me, the hardest part of competing in cheerleading was not the nerves; it was the judges. Not only when we were all in hardcore cheer mode did the music stop, but none of our stunts fell. We were aiming for 100%. Our scorps were hyper-extended. Our heel stretches were almost up to our heads; and yet, in that one fatal moment, the music stopped. That could have been a devastating moment for any team; yet we held our composure and started counting. The routine would have been flawless if it weren't for the technical error, which in no way possible was our fault. We should have been rewarded for our composure and our technicality, but we were scored almost if we were deducted.

We spent so much time on the routine for what we thought was a disappointing outcome. We placed fourth, which really isn't that bad, but in our practices, we were coaxed into thinking that we should at least place third or better; there was no "Well... This could happen..." involved, it was straight, inferred "Hey, we have a chance to beat Valley, but nothing is going to steer us from second place." I wish we were judged fairly.


We deserved to win; the past graduating classes expected us to be not as strong the team last year... Our main goal, besides to win, was to prove them wrong. I believe we succeeded. 

Mohawk Fire!!

HAI

Hanging out with friends can give you useless information that, in some ways, can be deemed useful. A lifetime of doodling on paint can help in projects, and if your oven suddenly blows up you can microwave pizza! On a slightly less useful note, in the future, (we figured this out while chilling in the man cave) if you have your appendix you can breathe underwater... If you're unlucky enough to get your gallbladder removed (like my uncle, hahaha), you will be experiencing a sex change. If you have your tonsils, you will spontaneously combust; if you have yours removed, then you will grow wings. Yup, I'm not a conspiracy theorist... I swear.

           

 One of my pet peeves at school is how you can now get kicked out of the lab for going on paint. Not only is paint my favorite way to waste time in class, paint is really the only productive thing I get done! The wolf-thingy pictured at the right I started in like 7^th grade. I started shading last year. I want it done. It’s obsessive. Asdfghjkl;. 

On another note, Angelica’s cat isn’t fat. It’s muscle. We have a long history with cats. Every time we step into a place with animals, we somehow take something home. One day, we were harmlessly looking for snakes to compare with Bubbles, my cousin’s pet boa constrictor. Kittens were on display… Our hearts instantly melted. One hour later, we had a very noisy kitty at home; currently, at Angelica’s, said kitty is now clawing up my leg. How does this work?

Halloween night, my brother ate the floor. I dragged him around till he grabbed some pants off of somewhere and threw them at me; I quickly tossed them in the other room and went back to Skype. Ten minutes later, as soon as I was going to send my essay to Dykstra, (this was one of the 192370912873429873 reasons/"distractions" why I didn’t turn my essay in on time) my brother starts screaming, “CHANEL, MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!!!1! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!” Before I could admire my blind toss on the chandelier, I realized that indeed, they were on fire.

One of the reasons I hate blogging is because I am always in a constant state of writer's block. Not only do I lack the ability to really think out an idea if not presented with it; I also have problems stretching out a topic to exceed over 300 words. Hmm. I hope that's about 30 right there.

Anyways, in search for a topic, I go to Google. You can type in the most innocent things and something "naughty" comes up... "I am (bored and can't find a topic)" can come up as "I am the walrus!" (Which is apparently a Beatles song... I wouldn't know.) Who actually is bored enough to actually Google some of these things?!? Like, "How do I get rid of earwigs?"

Google is a useful tool; it may be one of the most data-hungry sites out there, but it is still my favorite search engine. Hey, I even come to like the adds-- there's  probably not a single day that goes by that I don't use Google. The company, in itself, has planned things out so immaculately that they do open "stuff," useful "stuff," and just cool "stuff" in general.

I like to attempt and find my house on Google earth. It always just shows up as a big blur. Sadface. Besides the topless sunbather and the "swastika influenced design" of a US Navy building, among the images you can find air planes in flight and even a capsized cruise liner.

Bing may be the new up and coming search engine, but I know I can always go to google for giggles....

Note to self: if missing a blog, LOOK IN DRAFTS. lololol

LOL QUESTIONS

What's next?

"Is the El Camino a car or a truck?" case? 

Yeah guys, the modern media has no time for world disasters such as the L.R.A... Move aside, invisible children! People could now care less about the heart wrenching sob stories... It's go hard or go home in the entertainment category!

Because of our tragic and misguided media, I have decided to dedicate this blog to stupid questions that make you go "hmmm" in honor of our wonderful American news stations!

These questions include:

• Do vampires get AIDS? 
• Does that screwdriver belong to Phillip? 
• Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?"  
• Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?  
• Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?  
• Why doesn't the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie? (That would be epic)

Too sum this up fast... Why post this? Because I can see some of our media stations pondering these questions... That's why. Maybe I'm being over dramatic, but in CGI (Contemporary Global Issues) I feel so pathetic! I read some articles online, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of what we're learning. Before CGI, I knew some background knowledge about sub-Saharan Africa, but the amount you can learn in one day is amazing! I've come to the conclusion that I have a lot of respect for BBC news and that we're not up to par... at all. Looking at this issue a little deeper, I've realized that I really don't care if Bobby is dating Sarah. Entertaining, yes, but leave that to MTV and VH1. I'd actually like to hear about what's really happening in the world.

PS: Want some real entertainment?

Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

Funny how I think about my blog topic as soon as I finish this one... Hmm.
"Signs carried by the fans made reference to pop-culture including a Bender costume worn by a fan holding up the sign "Kill All Humans". Other signs included: "Superman died for you sins", "Odin is God", and "God loves Gay Robin".^"
"WBC burns the Quran and the doomed american flag." Oh, yes, he went there.

Concrete Jungle

With more and more technology, people are trying to invent nature instead of embracing what nature itself gave us. It will never work the way we want it to. We've tried replacing rivers with fountains, rocks with walls, and grass from carpet. Carpet does not stand up. Nothing created or invented by man can replace that given to us by God. Grass is not hurt by us walking on it. It does not hurt us when walked on. It does not need to be replaced every ten years. It does not have a warantee; it grows back. It's the natural solution for our soles... and souls.

"Humanity might be 'sitting on a ticking time bomb,' but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property." Persuasive speaking gets you far, but backing up the actions gets you further. Not only is he entitled to his royalties, he also has the luxuries... a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Virgina... and yet he uses no carbon-neutral/green energy. Who knew someone who "talks so incoherently cedes so little"! Having a hybrid car, recycling, and using fluorescent is only part of the battle. In this case, we challenge the opponent with credibility. If we can't trust a well-known American icon for the cataclysmic events that is global warming, (reminds me of a bad scary movie) who says that trusting that insane theorist on 2012 is so wrong? (No, I'm pretty sure we're not going to die. We survived 2000, 6/6/06, and 7/7/07) Even the Bush Administration is on some kind of green energy!!



How ironic the world can be.



Lorax from Dr. Seuss and Carbon Man!



Sports Bashing is for Kidz

Hey guys, lemme point a few things out...
When horseback riding, you do not:
a) Sit there and the horse does whatever for you.
b) Yell "Yee-haw!!" and somehow the horse rears and you hold on.
c) If you decided to try out your rodeo "skillz" out you will crash and burn.
d) You don't just demand to turn and shout "Whoa!" and your horse does it... Sorry. 

I think we can call these rules "common sense," but still, people have the audacity to say that horseback riding Isn't a sport. "Sport- an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." To get things straight, if you actually decided to ride a horse [correctly] and do more then a slow walk, you will realize your muscles are working depending on what you do. If you don't feel anything, you're probably doing something terribly wrong, or you're following the "common sense" list intensely; therefore, I have the right to assume you are on the ground. You learn to ride in stride with your horse and use almost every muscle to utilize every opportunity to help your horse or improve your turnout. Horseback riding in itself is considered a cardiovascular exercise.The total calories used per hour by a 150 pound person during horse riding were like those used during jogging (6mph) and cycling (9mph) (315-480 calories per hour). Yeah, you're definitely just sitting there on that horse, right? If the horse movies, you move, even unintentionally.

-I'm kinda feeling sick after typing the first paragraph. Most of my activities aren't considered a sport in the ignorant minds that are my classmates. I'm sick of proving my point time and time again. Contacts sports aren't the only sports; people need to realize this. Sorry America, football, basketball, and baseball aren't the only sports out there. (HEY GUYS... SWIMMING ISN'T A SPORT CUZ IT'S IN THE WATER. LOL.)

Substance (Wow, I need better titles)

Substance is something we lack.
I figured with all these movies we'd be pretty well off in case of some kind of apocalypse.
Not like that's bad or anything.

Today we went and saw "Resident Evil: Afterlife" (Which was awesome!) but according to my dad, lacked substance. From my viewpoint, I can understand that. It was a bunch of guns and violence paired with 3-d effects, amazing camera angles, and the antagonist with a pretentious voice. When you go to a movie like that, you obviously don't go for a life lesson... So why judge?

You cannot begin to appreciate the stunning 3-d effects and the top notch CGI when you're so hung up on why that zombie had a sack on his head and how he managed to perfectly swing his over-sized axe with such precision. The movie had no plot other then scenarios that we hope we never get in because we don't have the courage, nor the insane reflexes, to do so. Isn't that why we like those movies, because we want to feed our brains in ways that so-called "substance" movies cannot?

Call me crazy, but somehow I don't get inspired off of movies like "Dreamer." My solution to all you picky people? Watch a movie with "substance" and "action." It's rocket science, right? Like "Slumdog Millionaire." That movie gave me nightmares for a week, because I thought some guy was going to grab me in my sleep and pour acid on my eyes or something. But hey... SUBSTANCE.

I'm starting to really hate that word.

Burgers (for lack of orginal title)

Today we decided to grill out.
My dad is a chef. My mom is a mom with good taste.
We like burgers.
I've had buffalo burgers, sea food burgers, even (dry) turkey burgers.
Nothing compares to the awesomeness that is the Greek burger.

After eating a Greek burger, I realized hey, maybe a burger with flavor actually tastes better! It's a shocking revelation, really. To be honest, the only reason I like Big Macs is because of the thousand island sauce... Otherwise I'd pass on the grease filled burger for something else. Like McDonalds fries. It's a better way to spend my calories, anyway. How could anyone refuse a delicious burger mixed in with sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, and oregano? It even has an effin' crispy crust. And to think my favorite burger came from like... Wendy's?

The simple difference between a good burger and a bad burger (in my humble opinion) is flavoring and cooking style. My uncle prefers to marinate his burgers and smoke them to a juicy goodness, but my dad takes the grill approach. Both are unsurprisingly amazing. I can only hope to reach their level of culinary expertise by the time I get to their age. They haven't doubted me yet.

All sarcasm and oogling aside, it’s incredible what one ingredient can do to a burger. Add oregano to a plain cheeseburger and the taste alters completely. Marinate a burger in a soy/teriyaki sauce mixture with sesame seeds and you get an Asian-inspired burger. Switch up the meats completely and you got a whole new playing field ahead of you. And to the kids who like grease burgers better than real quality food: get some taste buds.

...Cheerleading.

At high school level, the sport (See that? “Sport?” I’m talking to you, administration) that more people get hurt in then any other is cheerleading. Ignorant people say that it is not a sport, it’s “too easy,” or they base us on the slutty cheerleading stereotypes in movies. The fact of the matter is we lift girls that are around 120 pounds above our heads, hold it there, and then proceed to do another stunt routine, jump, or motion technique. We lift, we run, we practice, and we exercise.

Cheerleading increased my flexibility ten-fold. With the methods I learned, I advanced in other skills such as dance. Cheerleading, in general, helped me become more limber, improved my communication skills, and along the way I made a few good friends. A problem I’ve come across, though, is that people can pre-judge you. “Oh? She’s in tumbling? She must be awesome!” “Yeahhh, that chick’s in my gym class. She’s going to be bad.” In my case, since my Mom is pretty well known, I feel like I’m always expected to be as good as her or better. (Better? Who am I kidding?) I feel like I can say in any school cheerleaders are made fun of. It might be unavoidable, but it really doesn’t inhibit your experience as long as you look to the positives and try hard.

You can tell the difference between the people who put their heart into it at home and at practice or the girls who half it even at the practices. The reality of getting hurt is very real. Recently, one of my teammates flew a stunt and sprained her ankle. Another one flew and almost gave her base a concussion. The most important lesson to take home is that you should shake off every injury and get back in the game. As a cheerleader, you get wacked in the face, you get bloody and bruised. It is what it is: a sport.