New Hobby - Photography

     I have decided to take up a new hobby......Photography! You probably knew that by the title, but I still felt it necessary to mention. I have had a camera for a while, but I recently thought about taking actual professional pictures. So, here they are....

    I hope you like them! I will be posting a Photography blogpost once a week of the pictures I have taken these are the pictures for this week.

Reasons to LOVE yourself

     I haven't been happy for a while now and I was talking to my mom today when we went to visit her at the hospital and she told me to make a list of all of the reasons I like myself. I asked her what if I can't find any and she told me, "You will always truly love yourself but society has covered you in this shell of mean words that you have to break through to find who you truly are and what truly defines you." If you don't love yourself make a list of every little thing you can think of that makes you smile about yourself. This is my list.

1.  I really like the way my eyes look. I don't know why but if I ever take a picture there is a 99.99% my eyes look nice.
 It looks like I have no nose, because of the filter I used. I do have a nose I am not Voldemort I swear.
2. I like being considered an introvert.  Less than 30% of the people in America are Introverted and it makes me feel special. Being introverted also means I need to time to be alone and recharge and that means I am comfortable being alone.
3. I like that I am considered a "smart kid" by my peers.      
   4. I genuinely think I have a good taste music. Music is an opinion and a personal taste that is why I like mine so much.
      5. How much I love Science. I genuinely love science. Astrophysics particularly I find space fascinating. Science has a place in my heart because it can always tell me why. Any question I ask there is always an answer for it. If I ever ask my dad a question and I ask why and he doesn't want to tell me he will tell me, "because I said so" and I absolutely hate it, but Science can always tell me why
.
This is a short list but I couldn't think of much but I will make more
of these in the future.

A quote by John Green

State Testing

    IT HAS BEEN OVER A WEEK SINCE I HAVE WRITTEN A BLOG POST.

               Just thought I should state the obvious, but now why have I not written one is the real mystery. *Thoughtfully strokes invisible beard*
               I haven't written a blogpost, because State Testing is coming up! Yay. -_- I dislike state testing very much because it is ridiculously easy. I take 2 advanced classes and 2 horizon classes which means I am classifies as a "smart kid". I do like to think of myself as relatively smart, but I guess to the state of Georgia I am a genius. State testing or Standardize testing has never been something I worry about. I have never had any problems with it I have always exceeded every subject every year that I have taken it so I have nothing to worry about..... right?
  Wrong.
      This year I am incredibly worried about the "Social Studies" section of the test. This year I was put into American Government which is a class a year above me so my teacher taught me all of the things I would need to know for next year first. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYONE? We are SEVEN LESSONS BEHIND SEVEN. The Social Studies test is in a week. I have been studying so much for that test. The rest of them I am not worried about Reading, Language Arts, Math, Science are all easy, but considering I haven't learned half of the material for Social Studies I am a bit anxious. Now the thing is it isn't like this is about the Civil war and Islamic Religions OH NO IT IS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA. If it was about the Civil War I could watch some Crash Course videos on it banda bing banda boom I'm good to go, but no of course it has to be strictly about Georgia. Hopefully the test will be ridiculously easy and I will pass with flying colors.
      Maybe I am worrying about it for nothing but I am definitely going to try my best on it. I NEED TO EXCEED.
      The only thing I don't like about State Testing is that you can't read after it. So, on each test there are two parts. When you get done with the first part you can't go on you have to wait until the timer goes off and then you can do the second section. The thing that sucks is you can't read after the first section. After you shut your book when you are done with the second section you may read but you can not open you booklet for the test again.
            Wish me good luck!! :D
 

My emotions this week summed up in one picture. 

Young Southern Writers Contest Winner

     In about January we had to write a fictional story that was for a UTC contest. It was called the Young Southern Writer's Contest. In my horizon ELT (extra learning time) class which is a creative writing class for students that my Lit. teacher chooses. So, what we did is everyone wrote a paper and then we would check each other for grammar, punctuation, spelling mistakes before my teacher sent them in. She wanted everyone to vote for the story they thought was best. I had read all of the other student's stories and I thought their stories were much better than mine. So, did the rest of the students as my story didn't get one vote. I guess they were wrong though, because MY STORY WAS ONE OF THE WINNERS IN THAT CATEGORY I AM SO EXCITED YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. 

           There will be an awards ceremony that I will not being attending due to other things scheduled for that day, but my teacher is going to be picking up my medal for me. I am so happy that I won this award. I love to write as shown through doing a blog and just writing for fun, but the fact that I won something for doing what I love means so much to me. I do wish I could attend. I just want to say thank you UTC for giving me an opportunity to be recognized for what I love. 

(I will post my story tomorrow!) :)

New Eating Habits! :D

   I can admit I use to not eat healthy food and I could have taken better care of myself. I had a "life style change". I am not going on a diet, I am just going to eat better and exercise. This is how I changed my eating habits and started exercising.

• No more caffeine, I use to get headaches if I did not drink caffeine so I stopped drinking it and I have been feeling way better. 
• No more junk food. Every once and a while I can have a piece of chocolate or a handful of chips, but it isn't an everyday thing anymore. 
• More organic foods. Organic foods are grown with less pesticides. Pesticides can be harmful to human immune systems. (more info at  Help Guide- Organic foods) 
• Waking up earlier.
• Exercise!!!!! Exercise is extremely important. For information on the benefits of exercise - Physical Activity benefits. 
• Vitamins, to be sure I receive the proper amount Vitamins I take multi-vitamin gummies, Fish oils, fiber supplements. 
• Drink lots of water!\
• Sleep proper amount of time! Teens normally need more sleep for my age (14) it is recommended I get at least 9 hours of sleep.
  
  My exercise routine- I work out at around 7pm which lasts an hour, then I shower, then go to bed.
  ***If any time during your exercise if you feel tired PLEASE stop and take a break. DON'T over work yourself. 
• Walk for 2 minutes on treadmill
• Run for 6 minutes on treadmill
• Jog for 2 minutes on treadmill
• I then run from my garage door to the wall about 25 times. 
• Do 20 crunches 
• 15 sit-ups 
• 20 push-ups
• Then I take two 5 pound (2.3 kilograms) weights and lift them horizontally over my head about 15 times.
• 30 jumping jacks 
• Then I take this thing that looks like a jump rope but it is made of rubber and has two handles on the end. I put the rubber part under my foot and lift up with both my hands about 15 times on both arms.
  *******Each exercise and diet needs to be tailored to EACH PERSON. What works for one person will not always work for the other. ALSO, remember to eat properly don't try and starve yourself that will only cause harm to your body. Just because you are eating healthy food doesn't mean eat more, eat until you are full.
        Something I would like to say about losing weight. PLEASE LOSE WEIGHT FOR YOU!!!
  Don't lose weight, because you think you need to "fit-in". Society makes it seem like you need to be skinny to be accepted. Being healthy is more important than being skinny. Don't lose weight, because of society. Lose weight and be healthy to feel better mentally and physically. <3 Love you guys. 

Poem for Lit. Class - Fear

     In my literature class we have to do a poem about an emotion. I didn't really have anything to write about today so I thought I would just share it with guys. I hope you like it. :D

Fear Fear grabs you and shakes you losing you in paranoia.

Doing anything to get away from the feeling.
Sprinting away from the darkness, only to be in gulfed once more.

Falling through pit of lies.
Nothing is real; only figments of your imagination.
Merely things you have thought of.
Even with the knowledge of reality, you can’t shake the feeling.

Death and pain pour down upon you unable to escape their presence.
You are shaken by the fear, slowly losing your sanity.
Any sense of direction you had is gone. You are lost in the dark.

Stumbling through with every step you grow weaker.

Until you are on your knees begging for mercy.
Mercy from whom?
Yourself?  

You have locked yourself up in the depths of Haydes or is it your own mind?
No matter you are still unable to see the light.
The light is no longer tangible it is nonexistent.
Only a dream.

You live in a nightmare.
The pain is a constant, but you can’t feel it anymore.
Numbness fills you.
The things that once scared you are now knives being thrown at your chest.
Anxiety in your bones.

Happiness is gone painted over by fear. Not erased only covered.
The light is locked away for only the good to see.
Are you still good?
Have you only been tricked?

Tricked into this never ending maze of pain and demons.
The river of fire is the only source of light left. It is almost a liquid substance.
You tried to drown you demons in the fire, but they know how to swim.

They swim and laugh at your petty attempts.
They believe you are weak and can not break free they are the fear.
They are why you are still here in this awful place.
They are the thieves of the light, the bringers of death and darkness.

How will you be saved?
Will you give in and swim among the darkness?
Will you keep your heart of pure alive and battle against them?
Hoping for an answer that may never occur.

You ran into the darkness the glowing of the river of fire out of sight. You are in isolation.
Lost in your memories, you remember happiness and joy,
Things that no longer seem real anymore. They feel like a fairytale.

Stuck in the vortex of your madness forever.
Never to feel relief again.
Waiting and waiting.

It feels like days, weeks, months pass. You haven’t been found nor have you died.
The demons find you and now they know you are weak.
They try to invade you, but are repelled by your heart.
Your heart is pure unlike your mind.

The land transforms to life after the purity bursts from your soul.
Bringing light to your home and fear has been destroyed,
but how long until it returns?

P.S.- It is 100% my work. I may be flattering myself here, but please don't steal this. Thanks again for reading it!

Social Anxiety

      Today was a very good day! I had so much fun in all my classes and the weather outside was beautiful. The sky was a beautiful baby blue with small pure white cotton balls floating throw it. The Japanese Cherry Trees are beginning to bloom in my neighbor hood so there is a beautiful pink blanket covering my yard. The wind was light and the temperature felt perfect. My day was going amazingly until I went to 6th block. I appreciate school and that I have the ability to learn don't get me wrong, I know how lucky I am to have education available to me. I just don't like the public speaking that is involved in it. I do not enjoy sharing my thought or much of anything to people face to face. When I say that I don't mean I talk behind people's backs like, "0mG Did you see what Carrie was wearin' today? It was so gross like gurl no." *smacks gum obnoxiously*. I don't do that. What I mean is I am afraid I will be criticize by anything that I say. My 6th block class is Family and Consumer Science in layman's terms that means Home Ec. In Home Ec. we have assigned seat there are four people to each table and the tables are two rectangular white tables pushed together to meet int the middle. The assignment was to turn to the person you sat next to and talk to them. She told us to turn and talk to each other. There were two rounds. The first round I was the talker which meant I got to be the first person to talk for however long she made us talk. She ended up making us talk for one minute. I told my partner things like, "I like blue, I like to read, I have bad Social Anxiety, I feel awkward doing this..." just really pointless stuff about myself. Then here is the fun part. The teacher asked the listener to tell the whole class all of these things about you. I didn't want to talk about myself to one person let alone the whole class. It isn't that I don't "know" myself. The problem was that I was talking to someone popular. I knew her it elementary school and we were friends. The problem was is we had both changed so much over time so it became weird to talk to her again. I have no problem talking about myself to people I know. If I am comfortable with someone I will talk about anything in dept. Strangers not so much. She shared it with the class I don't know what I was expecting to happen I felt like the whole world was going to laugh at me. I just make things worse in my head than they actually are. No one said anything, because the things that said about myself other people had said. Things such as, favorite colors, hobbies, family members, etc. were what everyone else had mentioned, but I still felt scared. Round two of this fun game wasn't as bad. She told me things about herself and I shared them with the class and that went well but I was still a little worried from the last round and I talked really fast.
      I wish I didn't have such a fear of people. I know no one is going to actually confront me and be rude to me I know that is true, but that doesn't stop me from worrying. My mom wants me to come out of my shell more, but to be honest with I like my shell. It is nice and quiet and safe. I do wish that being trapped in my shell didn't cause so many problems with me socially.

Spring Break is over D:

        Yesterday, Monday I went back to school after being on spring vacation. It was probably the worst setting for a day. First of all the fact that it was on a Monday after being on a week long vacation meant everyone was tired and that everyone probably reluctantly got out of bed that morning. What made the feel for this day worse was the weather. I live in one of the southern states so went it rains in the warmer months not only does it rain, it also feels like a sauna outside. The air outside was so thick, and it was humid. Also, there is a bridge to the school across from mine which was flooded from the river underneath it because of all the rain from the previous night. This caused tons of traffic for both my school and the other school. The cherry on top of the mood for this day was we were in soft lock down until about 1:30 P.M. A man had broken out of a prison a few counties away from mine and he was on the run and there was and I quote, "A Man Hunt". This gave the students all something to talk about and for all of us to worry about on our wet, humid, Monday morning. The classes yesterday were not bad though. In my Lit. class which is my first class of the day I fell asleep while my teacher was trying to find the place for the monotone recorded voice to read us an excerpt from, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I do love John Steinbeck's writing we are currently reading The Pearl which I have read before and I absolutely love. The rest of my classes went smoothly, the only problem I had in any of my classes was in my America Government class. We had to fill out a chart for homework about the Civil War, which I can not tell you how many times I have learned about. Doing a chart for homework about the causes of the Civil War is not a problem honestly it is quiet easy the problem here was I had a migraine. This is also the reason I didn't write this yesterday. I didn't tweet much yesterday I tried to get on the computer a few times, but each time I ended up regretting it and lying back down. My mom was also sick yesterday she had went to the doctor and wasn't feeling well so we watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. She had never seen it before so it was nice for us to watch it together. I was asleep through some parts of it and someone would die or Katniss would scream and that would jerk me back into reality. Monday was not a very fun day for me. I just wish I could have slept through it.

TLC Shows

   If you didn't see yesterday on Twitter I live tweeted Extreme Cheapskates and Extreme Couponing. I watched six episodes of Extreme Couponing and the episodes are 30 mins long so you can do the math and see how much time I wasted yesterday. The worst part about watching these shows is I don't know how to react to them. These people are so smart though. They plan out everything, they a map of the store, know what is in each aisle, add up costs. I mean it is easy to say these people are crazy, but if you think how much time goes into this they are dedicated. They can be crazy and dedicated. WHO NEEDS HUNDREDS OF DIAPERS AND DOESN'T HAVE A CHILD? Why why why. They have stock piles of cereal, chips, soap, paper towels if there was ever an apocalypse these people would survive for years. The only TLC shows that really freak me out is Horders and My Strange Addiction. They both just gross me out. The people from Extreme Couponing and Horders are similar, but the people in Extreme Couponing are actually going to use those things and they are organized. In Horders they are just keeping things that are old and broken that they will never ever use. My Strange Addicition is something that probably grosses everyone out honestly. Who would be discussed by someone who drinks their own urine or eats couch cushions. Least favorite TLC show by far is Here comes Honey Boo Boo. I am sorry if that is one of your favorite shows, but I just don't like it. It is kind of like Duck Dynasty. It is hard to believe that some of these shows are real. You can't blame people for being skeptical of these shows. Literally who eats dry wall or chalk? These shows may be fake, but they are entertaining.

Kid's Television Shows

    I have been on Spring Break this week which means I have to watch daytime television. Daytime television consisits of bad sitcoms and children's shows. I always keep my television on Nickelodeon because at night I watch Full House and Friends so I never have a reason to change the channel, because those are the literally the only shows I watch on television. Everything else I watch is on Netflix or on live streams and such. Every morning when I wake up Dora the Explorer is on and I did not realize how terrible it was when I watched it as a child. I liked the original opening to Dora better than the new one. Watch them in comparison here: Old Intro  and New Intro (both will open in a new tab). SERIOUSLY LIKE WHAT IS THIS NEW CRAP. COULD YOU NOT. I am not saying the old intro was fantastic by any means, but it is better than this stupid thing. Another show I strongly dislike is Wallykazam. IT IS A SHOW ABOUT A MONSTER WITH A MAGIC WAND. It is probably the worst "magic" wand in the world. It can only create things with words that start with certain letters. The letters are different each day, but it is so stupid. Do kids actually enjoy this? Wallykazam.  My favorite television shows as a child were Blue's Clues and CatDog. I only like the Blue's Clues episodes with Steve like Joe is just bad. NO ONE WILL EVER BE AS GOOD AS STEVE. I use to tell my parents that Steve went off to college, but I wished he would come back so Joe would leave. I hated Joe from the start, I was the first one who hated Joe. 0MG HIPSTER ALERT. Seriously though, I dislike him, strongly. I don't understand why people were so surprised when they found out Blue was a girl. In the theme song the kids say, "There she is!" when Steve asked if they have seen his puppy. Did they not listen to the theme song? GEEZ PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION. Blue's Clues Theme Song. Something I don't like about new Blue's Clues episodes is that Blue talks now. She is a puppy she never talk before and now she goes into a magical book and has a talking chalk board and a talking puppy friend. Why do children's shows get changed and messed up. I don't see a problem with keeping children shows how they were originally. Kids are kids they will all like the same thing. They wonder why kids are so messed up it is because of the crap television shows. I am not a #TrUe90sKiD because I am not I was born in 2000 so I don't have any recollection of the 90's and I am okay with that. I feel like if I was born in a different time period I would be different from how I am now. I do like myself and how I am now. The people of my generation aren't too.... fantastic, but it makes me more swaggy B| These are just my thoughts on children's television shows. If you have any shows you would like to complain about we an complain together. <3 Tweet me @AliciaRawks12 if you would like to chat.  Talk to you cool cats tomorrow.

Selfies

 DISCLAIMER: THESE ARE MY PERSONAL OPINIONS THAT DO NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE. DO NOT BE OFFENDED BY MY OPINIONS. 
      I like any other person of the internet take selfies. I do not mirror selfies, because they just don't look right for some reason. My face doesn't look right or the mirror is dirty something is just wrong so I go with using a camera or something else. I don't actually have an iphone. I am one of those people, you know the one who doesn't want to spend $300 dollars on a phone. I take selfies on my normal camera or laptop. Now what I want to talk about it the selfies taken by both guys and girls.
      Girls take selfies more frequently than guys do, they also are worse with them. They will show like half of their face which is something I never understood. They will make it to where they only have one eye. I am don't apply liquid eyeliner well either, but geez it can't be that bad. Something else about girl's selfies is the filters. I like to do edits on them like black and white and such, but some filters just make you look dirty. Literally like someone just threw dirt on you it is so weird to me. Do they think it looks nice to have a bad spray tan? Also, the faces and poses like no. Don't stick your lips out like that or your ass out. It is not attractive. No just stop. Please don't make me beg. When girls wear really low cut shirts or bend over to make their boobs hang out and are like, "0MG Look at my new haircut!!!!" and they are wearing their hairup like wtf. The worst part about the whole boobs/ass hanging out thing is when guys say something about it and girls are all like, "0MG YoU PeRvS. SOOOO BLOCKING YOU." Now this doesn't apply to all girls, but some girls are like this. I don't do those poses, because I don't like the way the look... obviously. If I did I wouldn't be complaining about them. I don't understand what happened to smiling or making a funny face like a monkey. If you do make poses like these it isn't bad, but don't complain when guys comment on your pictures hitting on you.
        Girls aren't the only ones who are guilt, guys are too. The jock guys who take pictures in the mirror of them flexing is just weird to me. I don't understand why people are compelled to expose their flesh all over the internet. That is one of the only things I can really think of with guys. Something I hate that they do is when they insult girls for doing poses like that and then they do them. It is a complete double standard and frankly it is quite annoying.
      These are just my opinions. Do what you want. You are all fabulous in your won ways. Hey I have no degree that gives me the right to tell you what to do. Do what ever makes you happy and feel confident.      

But first let me take a selfie. :)

April Fools' Day

      I think everyone is aware that today, April 1st, is April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day and personally I love it. I feel like April Fools' Day is that one time you can be a complete jerk and get away with it by saying "April Fools" it just works out so well. My dad use to pull pranks on us, my brothers and I, all the time, but this year his prank was terrible. He decided the prank would be on me and it was terrible. If there is one thing my dad could have remembered about me it had to be that I liked Selena Gomez 4 years ago when she was on Wizards of Waverly (is that how you spell it) Place.
            He comes into my room and says, "Alicia, did you hear about Selena Gomez?"
        "No, what about her?" I say enthusiastically, while scrolling through Twitter with one headphone in listening to music.
      "Some one broke into her house and choked her to death." There is just something I want to say about the "practical joke", it is so unrealistic. I bet if someone was able to get anywhere near Selena Gomez's house they would be interrogated. Do you really think they are going to let a pop star be unprotected? She probably has more security on her house than Fort Knox. Also, I can't remember the last time I even talked about Selena Gomez (excluding this time right now). I don't know why he picked Selena Gomez of all people and why would it be her being killed? Doesn't he realize that would be all over the internet if it was true. Why didn't he pick something like a car accident or someone else like a senator or governor I mean really dad? Come on you can do better than that. Here is reward dad this is all you get.

    I think the best prank he ever pulled on my brothers and I was when I was like eight year old. My brothers and I were playing Ocarina of Time (well one of them was playing it the other two were watching) and my dad walked in and he said, "Since you guys are on Spring Break why don't we do something fun?"
       My eldest brother Gage said, "Like what?"
    "How about we all go to Six Flags?" The cruelest part about what he is saying is none of us have ever been there so it was an exciting and new. We all agreed and he told us to get ready and that he was going to go buy some sunscreen, because we all burn easily and he would be waiting for us outside in his truck.
     We all get dressed and are ready to go and my second eldest brother, Caleb said, "Dad we are ready to go!"
   At this point my mom has walked in and says, "Where are you all going?" So we explain to her that we are going to Six Flags with Dad and she says, "He left to go to work."
        Literally the realization that we weren't going to Six Flags was heart breaking. I don't think you understand. We all just got really upset and so we wanted to pull a prank on him back, our mom helped us. We decided that we were going to go outside and hide and my mom was going to ask him where we were. Then, when he said that he left us here she was going to tell him that she thought they were going outside to get into his truck. Now before I continue this, we didn't leave anything behind. We had taken hats, bags, shoes outside with us so he would think we were gone. It is also good he didn't questioned why we didn't realize it wasn't his truck and he wasn't the one driving the truck he just freaked out. Everything went according to plan and he was going to call 911 and my mom opened the back door and said, "You guys can come in now." We all walked in and he was just in the biggest state of wtf he had ever been in.
     We all said in unison, "April Fools."
  It was the sweetest revenge I had ever tasted.
         Happy April Fools' Day to you and I hope you weren't too gullible or aren't too gullible today!