Are Social Networking Sites Helping or Hurting Us?

I think in a lot of ways Social Networking sites are causing us to be less social.  People are becoming more comfortable talking and chatting to people online than talking to them face to face.  There are some people that I’ll chat to online but rarely talk to in person, and it actually really sucks because it’s not even a real friendship if people are too uncomfortable to talk to you person.   If Social Networking sites didn’t exist, we would all be forced to communicate face to face.  We wouldn’t have the option of ‘friending’ someone online or liking their status.  I can’t say I’m completely anti-social networking because even I use Facebook to communicate with people and read statuses.  I think it can actually be a helpful tool to communicate with people that live far away from you or to schedule plans to hang out with people that do live near you.  We can also easily see photos and hear about things that are happening in other’s lives quickly.    But I think a lot of the time, Facebook is overused, a waste of time, and causes people to avoid talking to people face to face, which is not a good thing.

Review of Taylor Swift's New Single

Taylor Swift’s new single “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is REALLY catchy, at least in my opinion. I think it’s a bit different from her usual style of music, but I really like it. The one typical thing about this Taylor Swift song is that it is another break-up song, and that’s not unusual for Taylor Swift.  “White Horse”, “Dear John”, “The Story of Us”, “Last Kiss” and many more are all songs about relationships that ended in ‘tragedy’.  But, most all of these songs are well written and have a lot of emotion put into them, making them really good songs. “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” DEFINITELY has emotion.  You can hear the disappointment (towards the guy) and the frustration in her voice, but she says it in a this-isn’t-working-out-and-I’m-tired-of-it sort of way.  She doesn’t seem sad or filled with regret about how this relationship is falling apart like she is in some of her past songs.  Instead she just says that “We are never ever, ever, ever getting back together.  Like ever…” She demonstrates how she isn’t going to miss the relationship because there’s nothing to miss saying sarcastically, “I’m really gonna miss you picking fights, and me falling for it screaming that I’m right, and you, hide away and find your piece of mind, with some Indie record that’s MUCH cooler than mine.”  I mostly like the song for the catchy beat and nice tune, but you can decide for yourself. J

How to do an Ollie

Hey guys….. for my how-to post I'm doing ‘How to do an Ollie’. Just so you know, an ollie is a skateboard trick where you basically ‘jump’ the board into the air and land back on the board, on the ground.  I’m not really the person to teach this trick because I’ve only just learnt it myself, and I still mess it up too.  But, I’ll give it my best shot. 

Step 1.  Stand on the skateboard with your front foot directly behind or on top of the screws on the deck and your back foot on the tail.

Step 2. Bend your knees. Make sure you bend your knees a lot and not just in a slight bend.

Step 3. Push down in a quick and hard motion with your back foot so that the tail hits the ground, popping the board into the air.  At the same time, push down on your front foot.  So it’s like, back foot push down, front foot push down, all in one quick motion.

Step 4. (After the above photo) Land on the ground, on the skateboard without falling off.  :)

So, there you go, that's how to do an ollie. One word of advice: practice.  It took me a long time to get the hang of it but after you do, it's super fun.  The more you practice, the higher you'll get.  Good luck!

Here's a video to help you out as well:

Sorry for the delay...

Hey guys,
Sorry about my How-to post.  I have it typed but I need to get one more picture and maybe a video which is really important to the post.  I can't post it without the last picture, so hopefully I'll have it soon.  I'll try to post it as soon as possible.  Thanks.....

Where will I be in five years?

In 5 years from now, I’ll be 19 ½ . I don’t know for sure what I want to do when I’m older or what I’ll be doing in 5 years.  I do know that I definitely want a hands-on job (a.k.a. not a desk job!!) and something that involves working with people.  After I finish high school, I would like to take a year off of ‘school’- maybe go to Europe, take a trip somewhere, get a temporary job, or just ‘chill’.   After that, I’ll probably go to university, unless I decide not to or decide to wait. I don’t know what career I want when I’m older right now for sure.  I think working as a teacher or somewhere in the law firm might be interesting but I’m not sure if that’s really where my heart is or not.  I guess I’m sort of ‘living in the moment’ right now.  I enjoy sports and anything outside and fun.  I also like music a lot.   I know I definitely want a job doing something that I enjoy, but also doing something that helps other people, not just myself.  When I’m older I want have the right job and study the right thing at university.   I also would eventually like to get married and have kids, if that works out.  So, to sum it all up, in 5 years, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to be doing or where I’ll be, but I’m excited to find out.  :) 

One of my favorite athletes: Bethany Hamilton

One of my favorite athletes is Bethany Hamilton.  She is a professional woman surfer sponsored by Ripcurl.  But, that’s not that main reason I admire her.  In 2003, she was attacked by a tiger shark while she was out for a morning surf with her friend Alana Blanchard (also a professional surfer) and Alana’s dad and brother.  She had lost nearly 60% of her blood by the time she got to the hospital.  She miraculously survived, and less than a month later got back into the water and started surfing again.  It wasn’t easy at first but she didn’t give up, and she’s still surfing to this day, with one arm.  She was recently in Bali, and I got to meet her and get a poster signed.  It was really cool to meet her, and she is a really nice person, surfer or not.   She has an autobiography which was released in 2004 called Soul Surfer: a True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to get back on the Board.  In 2011 her movie Soul Surfer, based on the book, came out.  I have seen the movie, and it’s really well done and very inspiring.  It’s definitely a movie worth watching.  

Bethany at the 2004 Teen Choice awards (age 13 or 14):

                                                       Bethany Hamilton now (age 22):

                                                    

 Bethany Surfing:

Who motivated me to be the person I am today?

I can think of a lot people that have inspired or motivated me in some way.  It’s too hard to pick just one person.  Different people have motivated me in different ways.  One of the people that made me who I am today is my mom.  She always helps me, and she’s easy to talk to.  She’s motivated me to do a lot of important things, including schoolwork.   My dad has also inspired me to be myself and not give up.   I think my personality is more like his, and I see a lot of the same characteristics in myself as in my dad.   So, my parents are two of the people that have inspired me and probably the main people that have made me who I am today.

    Some of my friends are also the people that have made me who I am today.   I have some really awesome friends who encourage me and love me for who I am.  They give me advice and encourage me to do stuff, even when I don’t want to.  On the other hand, I know some people who don’t like me for who I am, and they motivate me even more to be myself.   They make me realize how stupid it is to be somebody you’re not just to please other people.  

  My grandma (on my dad’s side) is also someone who inspires me.  Even though she’s 70 her personality is like someone who is 20.   She has a fun, go-getter personality, and she doesn’t care what people think about her.  I wish I could be more like her.

   There are probably more people I should list but those are some of the main people that inspire me.  So I just want to say thank you to everyone who has inspired or motivated me in any way and made me the person I am today.