Appreciate the Now

Inspired by a book I’m reading called “The Spectacular Now”. Also inspired by how bored I am with school right now.

Ever since we’ve come back from winter break, I’ve been counting the days until April. Along with the rest of the school, I’m drained from all this work school is putting on me for finals. Honestly, lately I’ve been counting the days left until graduation (1 year, 147 days). High school is getting old fast.

However, with the daydreaming of graduation brings my post high school life into consideration. Although I do have some short term plans, I don’t know where I’m going to end up. This is pretty stressful to think about.

The point is, you’re not always going to be a highschooler. And no matter how much you hate it, all of you are going to miss it at some point. I think this is because, whether you like it or not, high school is normal to you. You are comfortable with your daily routine, and you’re probably more comfortable with things staying the same, especially after 4 years.

When we leave high school, our lives are going to be drastically changing. We’ll lose friends, lose memories, and lose normalcy. That’s not an easy thing to go through, much less be expected to make a life-altering decision such as your college major at 18 years old.

I think that’s what makes adults reminisce about it. It really is easy to stay the same. So, even if you hate high school, take a minute to think about how much you’ll miss it. Appreciate the time you have right now.





Nostalgia is defined as yearning for a past, and wishing to have what you once did. Personally, I experience nostalgia all the time, which is kind of unnerving, honestly. For me, looking at my past is like looking at the grave of my grandmother- I knew it briefly, but still greatly miss it. I look back to my childhood, at my years in which school wasn’t the root of my problems, and miss my lost friends. I try not to have regret, but who doesn’t?

The only cure for nostalgia is acknowledging you have a great future ahead of you and utilizing your full potential. Enjoy and appreciate the unknown amount of time you have left. Life is a gift, treasure it. I’m trying. clock

Religion’s Impact on Society

Does religion positively or negatively affect society?

Whether or not you are a religious person, you have acknowledged the fact that religion exists. You may view it negatively or positively, you may believe in a superior being or you may not. The reality is that many people are dedicated to their religions… and some are even willing to die for them.

“Cleave to no faith when faith brings blood.”

Many people could argue that religion does more harm than good. After all, it was one of the key factors causing the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. It causes many disagreements between countries, conflict of government, and personal quarrel with others. Studying basic history will lead you to conclude that it is a large contributor to many past and present conflicts. One essential argument is taking into consideration that some people misinterpret their religion and use it to justify their wrongdoings.

“From the beginning men have used God to justify the unjustifiable.” -Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

IMG_7412.JPGHowever, religion is not always a bad thing. Obviously, most religious people aren’t extremists who are willing to die or kill for their faith. It also brings strength and hope for those in times of need, it brings people together with fellowship, and it makes people have a sense of belonging on the earth. When you don’t need to worry about the intimidating topic of the afterlife, you have a lot of weight off of your shoulders. Many faiths also give people closure by guaranteeing forgiveness and acceptance.

Now that you’ve read the pros and cons, let’s reread the question: Does religion positively or negatively impact society? Although it could be a mixture of both, the answer to this question lies within your own opinion. You decide if religion is essential or not. Despite your opinion or religion, I do encourage you to practice tolerance and kindness towards others. With religious-rooted oppression and other worldly problems, it is important to be compassionate to strangers, friends, and family. Spreading happiness signifies one step closer we are to achieving happiness without dependency on religion.

What’s the difference between lonely and alone?

Everyone’s trying to find a balance between lonely and alone.

Nobody wants to be lonely. Some of us are comfortable being alone. You may think they’re the same thing, but they’re not. In my opinion, everyone should feel comfortable being alone and spending time with yourself. It’s healthy to do this every once in a while (at least), even if you’re an extrovert. It will help prepare you for times in the future in which you will undoubtedly be alone. You’re not always going to have a friend to tag along, and the sooner you accept this, the better.

Loneliness, however, is a crippling feeling that you’re probably familiar with. It is defined as “sadness because one has no friends or company.” It is a feeling of pure isolation from the rest of the world.

As you can see, they’re 2 completely different things.

“Loneliness is the isolation that comes with nursing a feeling unreturned — an expectation unmet.

Aloneness is different. Aloneness is finding freedom in this very same isolation; it’s the strange state of bliss that comes with being truly, honestly, unapologetically content in your own company.” -Samuel Leighton Dore, The Difference Between Loneliess and Being Alone


10 Blog Post Ideas

Inspired by myself and writer’s block, this blog post will be about blog posts. After 8 weeks of blogging, your writing ideas may have run dry, and I’m here to help. Behold, things to write about when you’re out of ideas:

1. Share an opinion. Write about something you have a strong opinion on. Just share your thoughts.

2. Do a tutorial. Teach your followers something handy. Recipes, DIYs, or even other blog post ideas you have.

3. Write about something that’s been bothering you. If you’ve been ticked off for the past week about racism, write about it. Or rant.

4. Write about a book. Summarize the book you’re reading right now. Recommend it, talk about it.

5. Explore a quote. Find a quote you like and elaborate on its meaning. Explain why you like it.

6. Prove someone wrong. Find another blog post, tweet, article, or whatever that you think is wrong and downright stupid. Write about how wrong they are.

7. Tell a story. Share your personal experiences or learned lessons with your followers.

8. Copy. Steal an idea from someone else! Give credit where credit is due.

9. Talk about the latest and greatest. Write about the news or something trending right now.

10. Answer a question. Find a question you think deserves to be answered, and answer it.

Another tip is to have a place to keep ideas. On my phone I have a note that I write down blog ideas on whenever one pops into my head, which is very helpful when I’m out of ideas. Or you could just start a post with some thoughts or a summary of what you’d like to write and save it as a draft.

The most important thing to blogging is writing about something that interests you. If you don’t, your writing will be tedious and probably not very good or convicting.

Happy blogging.


Recently, twitter has been trending with #Menimist tweets from guys who are insisting that they have the rough end of the stick on the topic of gender inequality. Now let’s get some things straight:


menimism: to believe in and support the feminist principles of women’s political, social and economic equality.

Besides the fact that the Menimism tweets have no idea what they’re calling themselves, they’re approaching this problem the wrong way. Rather than supporting gender equality and feminism, they’re having a contest with women to see who has it worse with gender inequality. Some of them are posting things that make good arguments, but most are ridiculous and just fighting fire with fire. What all of us, men and women, should be doing is supporting equality of both genders.

Feminists do not claim they are better than men. Feminists do not claim that women are the only victimized gender. Feminists do not only want equality for women! (Real feminists, anyway.)

Next time you see a tweet that has to do with meninism, I urge you to call it out. Instead of fighting each other, feminists and “meninists” should realize what they’re doing: adding fuel to the fire. If they take a step back maybe they’ll realize they’re after the same thing.

Good vs. Evil

The Crucible is a book based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692- 1693. They occurred in colonial Massachusetts and resulted in 20 deaths of mostly women. One of the outstanding themes of the book is the trial of Good vs. Evil. It brought me to wonder if the accusers of witchcraft truly cared about the young girls performing witchcraft or if they think it is such abomination and are so repulsed by it because of their pride. The people in Salem seem so consumed by detection of evil that they leave no room for good and obviously do not realize that the devil is not the only thing causing evil. They are seemingly so obsessed with the trials of the girls that they push for answers rather than the truth (There’s a difference). This leads to many pointed fingers, omission, and lies to save oneself. By the end of the book, I’m predicting the entire town will be drowning in hypocrisy and corruption.

HALE: Tituba. You must have no fear to tell us who they are, do you understand? We will protect you. The Devil can never overcome a minister. You know that, do you not?
TITUBA: Aye, sir, oh, I do.
Hale: You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to Heaven’s side. And we will bless you, Tituba.
TITUBA: Oh, God bless you, Mr. Hale!
HALE: You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. So speak utterly, Tituba, and God will protect you.
TITUBA: Oh, God, protect Tituba! (I.456-469)

This quote shows a slave who was forced to confess to witchcraft after being threatened to be killed. It also shows how the accuser wants an answer so badly that he is willing to overlook the truth to get one. This is another example of how the people of the town are so eager to find evil that they do not realize their own evil.

Making Fun

My high school is currently going through “Bell Week”, a school week with pep rallies and dress-up days to excite and prepare us for the Bell Game. The Bell Game is our most popular annual football game opposing our rival school. It’s a pretty big deal. We also put up posters that are often rude and derogatory towards our opponents and have an entire dress-up day dedicated to making fun of our rival school. Sometimes at the football game our and their school take the teasing too far and fights break out between students. This goes to show that the tension between our schools is often taken too far. We should learn to coexist in a more amiable manner.

Today, one of my teachers gave us a different perspective on the way we were dressed. Most of us thought it was fun to dress as nerds of from our opposing school. He told us that Nerd Day was the day with the most participation out of the entire school year and had us reflect on that. Why does everyone love to dress up as nerds? As a class we agreed on this: People like to make fun of others, especially in large groups where we feel less guilt about doing so. By mocking the way “nerds” dress, we are inevitably offending someone who dresses like that. He told us to keep this in mind while dressing to mimic the typical “nerd”. I think it was the first time many of us had even imagined that side of the story.
In my opinion, there will almost always be someone offended by your demeanor. Be careful what you present yourself as, and always keep other’s feelings in mind. Sympathy can be a life-changing quality.


repWhy do people care about reputation?

Humans are social creatures. You may have learned the basic needs hierarchy when you were in middle or elementary school. (It’s like a food pyramid, but for life.) Anyways, as socialites, people need to feel like they belong. Even the most introverted people who are 100% comfortable with themselves still need some social interaction to thrive as a human being.

Reputation is the belief or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. Too often, your reputation will define you. Unfortunately, everyone is instinctively judging you. All the time. They can’t help it, and you do it too. You’re judged on your appearance, your demeanor, your online persona, your friends, your everything. Many people will say that they don’t care about their reputation, but if it impacted their life greatly enough, they would care. If everyone had a misconceived idea of who you were, wouldn’t you be frustrated and feel judged for no reason? So, yes, you do care about your reputation, even if you say you don’t. And you want control over it.

The simple reason is that most people feel like they need to belong. With that comes security and happiness overall.