Celebrity Twitter Fights (187)

        Every week there's a new one. Celebrity twitter fights happen almost daily and really cause fights between others as well. In my opinion, it's just for the popularity and for attention because they all look stupid and don't make any sense. This past week Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa got into it because Wiz Khalifa tweeted "kk" and Kanye West thought he was talking about his wife, Kim Kardashian. Kanye West went on a rant that wasn't even needed and called Wiz Khalifa out in numorous ways that did not need to be on twitter. Then, Kanye's ex girlfriend got into it and it just went all down hill from there. In my opinion, it's super trashy and shows the whole audience of twitter that if people with higher popularity can do it and get tons of retweets and likes, that it is okay to do it themselves. It is showing the younger population that popularity comes from the wrong things. They don't see celebrity doing charity work and have them be their idols, but their idols are the one's starting dumb drama all over social media.

Fictional Characters death (298)

         Everyone knows the feeling. When you are watching a movie or TV series or reading a book and a character just dies. In the moment, it feels like you die a little too. You invested time in getting to know that person and the director or author just completely rips your heart out. In my opinion, I think it's genius to do something like that because it hooks the audience and makes them feel something and show emotion towards their work but I also think it is pure evil.
       Remember when John Green showed us that beautiful cancer love story in The Fault In our Stars? Everyone reading wanted so badly for a happily ever after and for both of them to get cured. He totally rejected our wishes. I remember exactly what I was doing when I read that Augustus had died. I was sitting out in gym due to a broken arm and i full on started bawling. Even through my anger against Green i bought another one of his books so it's pretty much free advertisement.
      Or what about when people sent death threats to Shonda Rimes for killing off the beloved Derek Shepard? We were all crying watching him bleed and Meredith cry, but yet didn't we tune in to watch the next episode to make sure she was okay? You bet. Rimes builds up our relationships with the characters and then rips them from our grip. Remember Izzie, Burke, Christina (:(), and many others that kinda just let unexpectedly?
      The art is all in the connection with the audience and the product. If there wasn't anybody ever leaving, why would we tune in? Why would we read books? The fun is all in the plot twist.

P.S. i still hate you Shonda Rimes

Do our grades REALLY matter? (486)

        As I'm sitting in my bedroom at my desk at 12:07 am on a Thursday night, only half done with the load of homework I have, I think to myself: What is this all for? Do grades really mean life or death like everyone in high school is shouting to us every five seconds. A lot of time I don't even bat an eye when I don't get the full 8  hours of sleep that high schoolers are supposed to have. Why? Because i'm lucky to even get 5 hours a night on a daily basis. I'm sure every highschooler with multiple AP classes can comply to that.
       What is all that for though? Why am i letting my health go down the drain every extra hour i stay up just to boost my GPA? Every teachers tells us to study and to get good grades but I don't think adults really understand what we are doing to our selves. I am not in an extra curricular activity so I can only imagine what it's like for people that are. I do understand that homework is a neccesity to learn the material taught to us by the school, but I think something needs to be done about the hours that students spend on their grades.
        We are not just numbers and statistics for the school. I feel like I am robbed of my high school experience every time i have to deny an invitation to a sporting event because I just have too much homework. There needs to be a compromise in some way so that students can enjoy life before college and stop focusing on what they think defines them: grades. I'm not saying to just stop trying but i would much rather enjoy myself in school now than when it gets even worse in college.
        That's another point. College. Do colleges even care about our GPA's? Actually some don't. I visited my dream school, Northwestern in Chicago and the first question that was asked by concerned parents was what GPA you needed to get into a top school. The answer? They don't care. The tour guides told us that every single school has a different grading system. Some are on a 10 point scale, some on 3 (like Kennedy), there's even a school in Colorado that goes by stars. Saying this, they explained that there is just no way that they could compare students all around the countries based on their GPA. What they do look at, though, is what you took advantage of in High school. Like did you challenge yourself and take that new AP course even though it mean you have to take an early bird class? Or did you not even try and only take 3 classes just to graduate? They look at your struggles and how you overcame them not just a silly little number that averages your grades.
     

Where actually is frank ocean (156)

         Frank Ocean used to be one of my favorite artists with one of my favorite songs being, "Thinking Bout You". My best friend introduced me to him when we were in 8th grade and I have been a fan ever since. Lately, though, I have gotten a weird vibe from him. There have been so many album releases in the past couple months from big artists like Drake, Future, Justin Bieber, etc., but Frank Ocean is no where to be found. I have actually been starting to think he got kidnapped because he is literally MIA. I, like many of the people who like his music, wish that he would just drop another album or couple songs to keep our fandom alive. I guess when the tornado flew around his room, it took him with it.

Caribou Vs. Starbucks (488)

            Having relatives in Minnesota, I was excited every time I got to go up there. Not only because of the huge mall or Valley Fare but because of Caribou Coffee. So after years of the same old Starbucks, I was very excited when I heard that Cedar Rapids had gotten one located in the Oakland Road Hy-Vee. For years since Caribou blessed us with one of their coffee shops, I have been going back and forth about whether they or Starbucks is the better coffee shop. Of course Starbucks has the most popularity but is it really better in quality?
          I wanted to test this to see which one was really worth getting up an extra 15 minutes before I had to every morning just to go to one place or the other. One of my favorite types of drinks is a mocha. At Starbucks you have a variety to choose from. The peppermint mocha, white chocolate mocha, or just a plain mocha all have a special place in my heart. At Caribou, though you can also have the option of a dark chocolate mocha which is my all time favorite drink. To test which one was really worth it I first went to Starbucks to grab a normal mocha which is said to be the equivalent of a dark chocolate one from Caribou.
          It took it awhile to cool down which I didn't like. In my opinion, Starbucks makes it's drinks too hot so you can't even drink the coffee that you're craving for awhile. I also didn't even think it tasted like "dark chocolate" like the barista had told me. The taste was very smooth, though, and I really liked how much milk they put in it because it was just the right amount. A huge problem I have with Starbucks is it's prices. I paid almost six dollars just for a medium and I personally think that is ridiculous.
        At Caribou, it's a little more time consuming because you have to actually walk into Hy-Vee to get the coffee because they don't have a drive through. To my surprise, the prices were way lower than Starbucks which was a great benefit. I ordered a dark chocolate mocha and enjoyed it much more than the one I got at it's competitor. The chocolate taste was way more prominent and it actually tasted dark. One down side I do have is that when you get closer to the bottom of your drink, the bottom is usually filled with a grainy chocolaty substance.
      In conclusion, I think Caribou has the better bang for your buck. With the better tasting and less costing drink, it's a win-win for your wallet as well as your taste buds. From now on, I will be spending a little extra time on my morning commute to get the delicious mocha, but that doesn't matter to me as long as the drink is good.

New Year SAME you??? (396)

      Every year when the ball drops in New York City at 12am on New Year’s Day, the people of the world think that this is a clock that automatically starts over who they are as a person. They set resolutions of multiple things such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or just becoming a better person over all. There are multiple reasons why people set such resolutions but they don’t realize that if that thing was important to them, they would’ve changed something earlier. It is said that most resolutions fall through early on anyways so I figured I would challenge this.

              My challenge this year was to eat better and to overall just be happier. Throughout the holiday season I’m pretty sure everybody has that point where they don’t even want to look at anything sweet due to the sugar overload that is pushed upon us from our relatives. It is also winter so the thought of even moving sends a thought of a blizzard through our minds. With family in town it is really hard to let your stomach rest because there is just so much food and it’s hard to stay on even the smallest of diets. This year I made sure to work out once a day to ensure that I wouldn’t pack on the pounds from the extra food. This actually worked because I stayed the same size which proves a point that if someone actually matters to you, you won’t wait until the New Year to get it done.

              Another thing I tried was just to be happier. To do this I just surrounded myself with the best people-my friends. If you’re with people who constantly make you laugh you can’t really be sad and this winter break I definitely spent pretty much every waking moment with them. I began to see myself feel more uplifted and smile more which was my absolute intent of the whole thing. It’s easy to do the simple things to reach your goal if you really want it.

              So to all of the people running their hearts out and eating like a bird to get a bikini body before that amazing spring break beach trip, if it wasn’t important for you to start before the new year you won’t stick with it because you need the motivation for yourself not a date on the calendar.