The Year In Review

This year has gone by so quickly! My favourite part of English 20-1 was by far the film presentations.  Although presenting in front of my peers was extremely nerve wracking, I got to watch one of my favourite movies and share it with everyone.  The types of movies someone likes can tell you a lot about them.  Movies are really a gateway to a person's soul.  Getting to learn about my friends and classmates favourite movies was really an eye opener.  There was a very wide range of genres, from comedy to drama to animated.  Movies are pretty essential to our culture and being able to share that with one another was lots of fun.  A bonus was also getting to see a large part of our grade all dressed up and fancy.  We clean up pretty good!  The one thing I did not like during this year was the entire study of The Road.  The book was boring, both of the characters annoyed me to no end and the movie was even worse than the book.  I really did not like that part of the year.  I really wish we didn't study that novel; the boy was probably the most annoying and frustrating part of the book.  He wouldn't stop whining and crying about everything, and he was pretty much born into that world and should be desensitized to everything.  I just simply did not like that novel or movie whatsoever.  Therefore, the only thing I would change about English class this school year is not having input into what books or movies we studied.  I would have much preferred it if we were given a choice and voted on what sources we studied.  I know that I probably wouldn't have loved everything we did, but at least there would be more than 1 or 2 sources that I actually liked throughout the year.  Even though there are a few things I didn't like this year, overall it was pretty great.

Spring Break

This spring break I traveled to China.  It was truly a brand new experience.  Even though the entire two weeks were phenomenal, the best part by far was seeing and walking on the Great Wall of China.  The entire trip leading up to the Great Wall was extremely surreal. Once we got there however, I couldn't help but say "Wow.  We're actually in China!"  After we had walked up the first set of extremely steep, rickety and worn down stairs I couldn't help but stop and stare.  Even though we hadn't climbed very far, all I could think was "this is a once in a lifetime experience".  Despite what many people believe, the wall isn't 10+ feet tall.  Honestly it is only about 3-5 feet tall.  The ingenious thing about the wall was that all of it was built on a hill.  If the Mongols, whom the Chinese were attempting to keep out, had won the battles in the valleys, they would have to walk up an immense hill to defeat the men on the wall.  It was incredible to think of all the amazing ideas, all the hard work and dedication that this wall took, that combined with the breathtaking view brought an overwhelming sense of awe.  Up there the air was clean and crisp, which was rare in such a polluted city.  There were blooming cherry blossom trees bordering one side of the wall.  It was phenomenal; I would without a doubt take another 14 hour trip specifically to see the Great Wall again.  Another interesting part of Beijing was the snack street we visited.  It was one of the grossest things I have ever seen.  There were large black scorpions on a stick, as well as smaller brown/grey ones, there were centipedes, starfish, squid, and many other unidentified "foods" on sticks.  Many vendors were also selling giant, black, and vile spiders on a stick.  I saw a couple of people eating one of the spiders and a starfish, apparently spider tastes like charcoal and starfish is just crunchy.  Beijing and all of China for that matter was an entirely new experience for me.  Through all the disgusting, weird and beautiful moments, I loved it, all of it.  

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions are so stupid.  Many people believe that a new year is like being reborn.  It's just another year that has passed.  Often people don't think of a New Years resolution until New Years eve.  Their resolutions are a rash decision and haven't been planned.  New Year's resolutions are just used by people who have no determination to actually start improving their lives and have to wait until a special day to start.  New Years resolutions are pointless because first of all you start off procrastinating, you HAVE to wait until the New Year to start whatever your resolution is.  Second of all why do these resolutions HAVE to start on New Years day?  If you are really committed to improving a part of your life why can't you start right away? The gyms are packed but once February hits they will all be as empty as they were before the New Year.  There are very few people who maintain the drive to complete their goal, after January everyone "gets too busy" or it "gets too hard", and they just give up on their resolution. New Year's resolutions are pointless, people only make them to feel better about themselves in the New Year.  If someone is actually committed to improving their life they should just start, they shouldn't wait until the New Year.  Start going to the gym because you want to become more healthy now, imagine the difference you'll see if you started right away rather then waiting until January 1st.  "New Year, New Me" is a phrase commonly thrown around on January 1st but are you really going to change?  I think New Year's resolutions are doomed to fail, everyone talks about improving their lives but all give up after about a month.  Rather than waiting until the New Year to begin improving your life, make your New Year's resolution to stop making New Year's resolutions.  If you want to change your life do it now, you don't have to wait for another year to pass. 

Christmastime

I begin thinking about Christmas way earlier than any sane person should.  I mean, I start listening to Christmas music in late July.  I just love Christmas, I have so many fond memories.  Helping my dad put up the Christmas lights, then running inside to make some hot chocolate because I am absolutely freezing even though I am wrapped up in almost every item of clothing I own.  Then a few weeks later my family and I are blasting Christmas music and drinking Egg Nog while decorating the inside of the house from top to bottom. Then after a lot of begging, I finally convince my dad to go ice skating with me in -20° weather.  It's not only the pre-Christmas activities that I love, I love Christmas day too.  Waking up to frosty windows and silent, snow covered streets then running down the hall in my pajamas to wake up my parents (usually by jumping on the bed).  Tearing down the stairs to take the presents from underneath the perfectly decorated tree in the office and organizing them in the living room.  One of my favourite parts of Christmas morning is the moment right after we've all opened our presents.  When everyone is just admiring their gifts with bright eyes and a giant, goofy smile and the wrapping paper massacre is still spread across the room.  Christmas dinner is pretty amazing too with the giant turkey and everyone gathering in my dining room.  Our table set with the perfect stuffing with cranberries (my mum's secret ingredient), and vibrant orange, mashed sweet-potatoes and obviously the turkey that is mouth-watering enough to be in a magazine.  Although the dinner is amazing without a doubt the best part is dessert.  Pecan pie is the reason I wake up on Christmas.  My grandmother makes the best pecan pie; I haven't found one to rival it to this day.  All these Christmas activities still happen but it just used to be a much larger affair before my grandparents bought a home in Arizona and became "snowbirds".  On the bright side my aunts and my uncles still visit a few weeks before they fly down to see my grandparents and I still get to see my other grandpa.  Christmas will forever bring me that warm, fuzzy feeling and I will continue to get ridiculously excited for it no matter my age.  

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day..." -Andy Rooney

Your Almost Name #438

During the holidays, mainly Christmas my family and I always end up sitting around and looking through the extremely embarrassing baby photo albums of my brother and I.  We always eventually start talking about my brother's and mine almost names. He was almost a Stephanie (if he was a girl of course) and, I was almost a Zoey or Sarah.  Which I find to be the one of the weirdest thoughts ever.  I couldn't picture my name being anything but Paige, and I certainly couldn't picture my older sibling being named anything but Christopher.  For my brother, the name Christopher was the only thing they considered, my parents were always so sure of his name.  Unless he was a girl, then he would be Stephanie.  My parents had his name figured out, it was simple.  For me they threw around several different names, until my now late grandmother suggested the name "Paige".  My parents instantly fell in love with it and it was set, I was going to be Paige.  I love my name and would never change it for anything. My name has a little more significance to me,  I think ever since my grandmother passed my name has meant more.  It helps me remember her everyday. Even though she's gone, she still appears every time this topic of conversation comes up.  The main feeling I have when my family and I discuss this is just a very strange feeling.  I hate thinking that my name could've been different, because I believe that I would have a completely different personality.  I guess that a person is who they are no matter what their name is, but I couldn't imagine going through life being called Zoey, or Sarah.  For me names are very important, they bring you back to your family and show the world who you are.  I am 100% a Paige, nothing else.  Not that I would ever want to be anything but a Paige.

Laughing Until We Cry

It was probably around 2am, both of us were all snuggled in bed, the big, blue, fluffy comforter warming us on a fairly cool, breezy summer night. We were attempting to watch Finding Carter on the laptop. But of course the website wouldn't load, so after plenty of frustration, agony and about 5 minutes of advertisements later we eventually got it to work.  At this point Kennedy and I were both extremely close to passing out from exhaustion.  It was a long day of suntanning, hot-tubbing and just general summertime things.  All of a sudden during one of the most serious scenes in that episode the actor playing the father messes up his line, he mispronounced the word "partners".  Now normally this wouldn't be funny at all but since no one editing this TV show caught his mistake, the fact that Kennedy and I were beyond tired and it was 2am, it instantly became hilarious.  Kennedy and I immediately started laughing hysterically, we obviously rewound back to that part at least seven times over and laughed until we cried.  I know we both had that aching feeling in our stomachs because after about the fifth time rewinding, we were both onto our stomachs saying "ow" in between long fits of laughter.  We were gasping for air, holding our stomachs, with tears welling up in our eyes.  I still don't understand why the actor stuttering over one word could throw us into fits of laughter but I bet if we watched that episode all over again the same laughing fit would occur all over again.  Without a doubt the feeling uncontrollable laughter brings is the best feeling in the world.  Sure your stomach aches for a while afterwards and you need tissues to wipe your eyes but you're laughing with a best bud until it causes you physical pain and that's pretty awesome if you ask me. 

CAMPING

My favourite memory of camping is when I was no older than 6 or 7 and my grandparents, brother and I had all settled in around a roaring campfire beside the ginormous motor home stuffed to the brim with marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate.  Before the perfect marshmallow was made the perfect golden brown, my grandmother began explaining how not to react if your marshmallow caught on fire.  As my grandma was explaining that gently blowing on the flame would cause it to stop burning and that the worst thing we could do was whip around the stick to douse the flame, my grandfather did just that.  He began flinging his burning marshmallow around and before my grandmother could get him to stop, the still burning marshmallow slid rapidly off the end of the stick and flew haphazardly through the air and "SMACK" plastered itself to the side of a motor home across the RV park.  While the half melted, yet still on fire marshmallow stay stuck on a stranger's motor home the four of us just stood in astonishment.  After we picked our jaws up off the floor, my brother and I could barely hold our childish giggles in.  My grandfather told us to keep quiet and stay beside our campfire, ignoring the marshmallow on the side of the RV.  My grandmother obviously scolded her husband but not to harshly, because she found this situation absolutely hilarious.  After the whole flaming marshmallow fiasco my brother and I made sure never to fling around the marshmallow stick.  At least my brother and I understood the lesson my grandmother was trying to teach and we never disobeyed that rule.  I know that every camping trip I have taken with my grandparents was memorable, with the crackling fireplace and riding my bike as fast as i could through the RV park but I can say without a doubt that my favourite camping experience was this one, seeing as I can still remember it around 10 years later!  I couldn't imagine my childhood without camping in the enormous motor home my grandparents used to own or spending late nights by the fire with them.  Having these memories brings a warm feeling to my heart and a smile to my lips because I can still picture the flaming marshmallow flying through the air and splatting onto an RV across the park.