It's 6:25. You walk downstairs and into your kitchen. You go towards the cabinet with the cereal in it. You reach inside, get out your Honey Nut Cheerios, and sit down at the table with a spoon and bowl and the milk carton. 30 minutes later, you're on your way to school.
We probably have all seen this logo at least once or twice in our lives. If you haven't, or if you don't recognize it, I'll tell you what it is. It's the General Mills logo. And in 101 Things, # 52 is Read Your Cereal Box. So that's what I did. Turns out in the ingredients list, the only thing that doesn't sound like English is Tripotassium Phosphate, which isn't super scary to me, because I know how to write it in chemistry format.
In reading the nutrition facts, I got bored, so I decided to look on General Mills' website to find out a little more about the company that makes Cheerios, Chex, Bugles, Fiber One and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Turns out, one of the goals of the company is to "Be among the most socially responsible food companies in the world". Who knew? Gen. Mills also works to hire only the most qualified workers, making sure that they have a diverse workforce. When it comes to fraud, they have a very strict policy in an effort to increase the integrity and ethics of their company. Their cereals are for the most pretty healthy, too. Lots of fiber, no cholesterol (in Cheerios), and no trans fats.
After reading the nutrition facts of my cereal, I realized that I don't normally pay attention to what goes into my food. I did start checking the labels of the meat in my fridge after seeing Food, Inc. in Journalism, but even then I wasn't paying much attention. I think that it's important for us to be conscious of what we buy, who we buy it from, and what's in it, and though usually if something edible is put in front of me I eat it, it's important to know what we're eating, because it has an effect on more than just us. So when you wake up tomorrow and eat your Wheaties, be a bad CAP student and read the back of your cereal instead of the newspaper. You just might learn something really cool.
Recently in Media class, we were given an assignment in which we had to make a one minute long, ten-shot video about what the fall means to us. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Who knows what fall means to them?" Well, to me it means my birthday, jumping in leaves, and Halloween. So there. I answered your silly question. Now, you're probably also thinking "Well, harumph! Because this post has absolutely NOTHING to do with Samantha's book that she's blogging."
Excuse me, sir or madam, but you are in fact very wrong. For you see, Number 49 in 101 Things You Gotta Do Before You're 12! is Makea Movie. You see, I have been making movies since I was about 8 years old. Now, they weren't good movies. (Who wants to watch a 10 minute long video of 5th graders crying over their "Auntie Jolie"?) But they were movies. And THAT, my dear reader, is the important part.
For my Capture the Fall video, I used the YouTube Video Editor, because wevideo was being a poop and wasn't letting me put my clips where I wanted them to go. I used my crummy Cannon PowerShot, which would be why the quality is so bad. The other issue was that I managed to misplace my camera during SuperStorm Sandy, and didn't find it until Friday night. So I had to do almost all my filming in the past few days. A problem I ran into was that I picked out a song to use from ccmixter, but YouTube editor only allows its own audio clips to be used. I think. I'm still trying to figure out how to edit such things, so if someone knows of a way to put outside music into YouTube, TELL ME! Thanks.
Anyways, back to my actual blog post, which just happens to be on making film(s).
As I was saying, I have been making home movies with my friends for a while, but they've never been good. (I'm still working on that whole being able to edit and make a good video thing.) However, I think that even if you're making poopy murder mysteries in your basement, it's a good thing. Cinema, or film, or movies-whatever people actually call it-are an absolutely magnificent form of self-expression. Movies aren't just fun to make;sometimes they make you think a certain way. Or feel a certain way. Movies enable people to express their views with multiple forms of media, all rolled into a nice little bundle of sound and sight. And with 3D, sort of touch, too.
So maybe this fall video will make you cry, or spark your interest in cats, or teach you how to do the cup song. But no matter what, movies are one of the best ways for people to get their point across, to convey a message to the world. So to you, fabulous followers, I say "Enjoy the leaves before they fall off!"
Tradition: noun, 1. the handing down of statements, beliefs. legends, customs, etc., from generation to generation by word of mouth or by practice 2. that which is so handed down 3. an unwritten body of laws and doctrines, orally handed down generation by generation
(The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Edition)
Okay, so we all know what tradition means. Something your do with your family (i.e. celebrate a holiday), or with your friends (i.e. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), that you do either on a regular basis, or on a special occasion. Most of the time, traditions were started long before us teenagers were born. Do you know why you pick names out of a hat at Thanksgiving to pick which cousin you give a present to during the holidays? Me neither. But all the same, traditions are something that everyone has, or does. (I'm not quite sure which verb to use there. Any suggestions?)
Number 50 in 101 Things You Gotta Do Before You're 12! is Start a New Family Tradition.
"So," you may ask, "what is YOUR new family tradition, Samantha?" And I might say, "Well, good question. I don't know."
Now, I'm going to use a recent personal experience here, so get ready to get a peek into my secret life!(Don't worry, I'm not pregnant.)
I went Trick-or-Treating this year. Again. Now, some of you lovely readers might have gone as well. But probably not all of you. As a matter of fact, I know some people whose parents told them they were too old! WHAT????????? Well, no one knows who started this tradition. Well, maybe someone does, but not me.
I have always done this on Halloween, and can't imagine not going out into my neighborhood to get yelled at by angry teenagers who think they clever by saying sarcastic things like "Are you blind?". Yes, once this happened to me. And that conversation went on for 5 minutes before I realized the bowl of candy had been sitting on his front stoop.
But starting a new tradition or ending an old is hard. Getting people to want to do something together over and over is hard to get started, and stopping is just depressing. As we probably all know, change is hard, and sometimes stressful. And though not going Trick-or-Treating is probably not that stress-inducing, it's a change from the normal flow of Halloween.
Traditions are a way for people to come together, but also a form of comfort. People die, people are born. People move away, new neighbors move in. Someone graduates, a kid starts kindergarten. Change is almost constant, and stress is rawther common in the life of a tenth-grade CAP kid. Tradition is a way for us to feel like life is still happening, that we still have something to hold on to, even if everything else in our life is going downhill. (Like my grades). Though I don't think I'll be starting a new tradition this fall, I will be keeping up with old ones. These rituals, celebrations, parties, etc., are all ways for us as humans and teenagers to find comfort in our crazy lives. Tradition might the passing down of something, but it's also just the idea of a reoccurring event that provides comfort for us throughout our hectic daily lives.
So if you still don't uderstand the importance of tradition, here's a video of Russian Jews singing about it in 1905.
Samantha was not able to post on her blog today, she had too much to do. Her feline friend Ramona will be filling in for her.
We are busy. All of us. Yes, even me. I eat breakfast at 7, and dinner at 6:30. I havea midnight snack at 10:30. Between those wonderful feeding hours, I have to sleep, poop, cuddle, meow, nap, purr, sleep, and pee. You tenth graders think you're stressed, but it's not easy being furry. Also, how do you think I maintain my rawther un-slim figure? I KEEP MYSELF BUSY!!!!!
It seems, however, that you CAP sophomores need to learn some time management skills. If you manage your time, you get to check off #15 on your 101 Things you gotts do before you're 12! list.
So go and have yourselves a lazy Saturday !
Hey everybody! Sorry about my cat. She's a bit insane. Very insane, actually. And fat, too. But she does have a point. We need lazy time!In the book I'm blogging, number 15, which is, if you didn't read the nice, bold, light blue font a few lines up, "Have a lazy Saturday". But for a 15 year-old in CAP, honors chem and Pre-Calc, as well as a bunch of after school activites, not doing anything productive for a whole 24 hours is pretty difficult. Well, okay, it's doable. Just not without getting that guilty feeling that you were supposed to write those news briefs for Journalism or do that worksheet for math or clean your room and water the cats and feed the plants. (By the way, don't feed the plants. EVER! Even if they beg for blood. Especially if they're called Audrey II.) Get my reference? Well, who cares? Bottom line, I probably won't have a lazy Saturday until winter break. Things need to get done. Sort of.
Have you ever tried to look at the bigger picture. I mean, not just the life-size cardboard cut-out of Obama standing in your living room, but the bigger picture of life? We put so much stress on homework, grades, school. We're constantly worried about the future, be it the next five minutes, hours or years. Even me. If you're in my math class, you've experienced my (rawther obnoxious) reaction to stress considerably often. We feel like we have no time, and though Ms. Cullen might disagree, we really don't. Not necessarily for doing school assignments, but actually doing things we enjoy. This might be a cliche (sorry again, Ms.Cullen), but we have only what, 80 more years to live. Well, be lazy once in a while. Not ignoring homework, but just letting the day take you along. It might be nice to take a nap, or play a board game you haven't taken out of the box for 8 years. Just find something to do, but don't plan ahead. Just sit and think for a bit, and maybe it'll end with you attempting to fly a 4 foot by 4 foot kite. Just maybe.
So I know in my last post I said I would talk about number two in my glorious, wonderful 101 Things You Gotta Do Before You're 12, but I already have joined a club/ team. I'm in Marching Band. I think that counts, doesn't it?
Anyway, I decided that I'll be skipping around in the book, so today I'm blogging number 25: Start a Journal or Diary
Now, I know what you're thinking. (Well, I actually don't know because I'm not telepathic, but you get my gist.) Diaries are for small girls who cry about boys. Or for highly intelligent people who make deep, psychologically profound statements. Or for crazy teenage/ five year- olds who have nothing better to do with their lives. I would fit into this last category.
It turns out that over the years of my existence, so many family members have given me little notebokes/ journals/stationery that I am actually using one of them as my notepad for Media class, and am planning to use a little baby one for my Reporter's Notebook for Journalism, when I need to.
I guess one could also say that a blog is like a diary. Well, this is true to. It's a way of writing and letting out your feelings, except the whole world can see it, so don't write your secrets on it.
I have to go do my homework now...just joking, because I like to procrastinate. But really, I'm going to stop writing now so all you faithful readers -you better not be cheating on me with Aidan's Glasses Crew!- can go out and explore the Big Wide World, just like Peep.
Your Humble Narrator,
Samantha
When trying to figure what to write on my blog, I usually read other students' and then get ideas from there. I figured I should read a book and then analyze it with great feeling, but figured it would take way too much effort. So I looked around my living room, trying to find something to write about, and my gaze then dramatically fell on a book entitled 101 things you gotta do before you're 12! Obviously, I'm no longer 12, but I figured I'd give the book a try. Turns out it's perfect for someone my age!
Well, it's perfect for moi. For those of you who have never seen the Muppets, that means me in French.
I have yet to try out any of the ideas listed in the book, but realized I've already done about a third of them. I've decided to blog about one thing each week, and I'm going in order. Because there are some that I have already done, I'm going to skip those and move on. Get it? Got it? Good.
I'm now going to talk about my experience while doing the first thing in the book. 1-Celebrate a holiday you usually don't celebrate.
Okay, easy enough, go to your friend's house and chill with them during Lent. Well, I don't have many friends who celebrate holidays other than Christmas, Easter or your usual array of Jewish holidays. I figured it would be kinda hard to find a holiday, but it turns out the kid I babysit is pretty serious about celebrating Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that I never observe. I was invited to stay and eat dinner in the Sukkah with the kid's family, and it was really fun. We sang songs, and ate some pretty darn good food. I realized that while I'm familiar with the idea of Sukkot, I've never celebrated it, and for no good reason. It's fun, and I celebrated a holiday that I should have but never even thought about experiencing.
Check in withmy wonderful blog next week for itemnumber two on my list: Join (or start) a club or team.
Have a funtabulous week, and don't bog yourselves down with too much homework. (Like that won't happen no matter what I say.)
Hi! I'm a CAP 10th grader at Blair, and this is my blog. It's not super great or interesting, so if you get bored you can leave if you want. I won't be offended. Really, I won't. SO have fun reading my posts about life in Maryland, a rawther boring state if you don't like crabs.
