Self Image.

i think the biggest issue effecting teens today is self image. it is imbeded into the minds of teens, especially girls, that we have to live up to this certain image at all times. what is this image? to be skinny, to wear the nicest most expensive clothes, perfect hair etc etc.. teenage girls everywhere spend everyday trying to live up to this image, its a never ending cycle. they want to look like the celebrities and models in the magazines, little do they know that these pictures have been airbrushed multiple times. this stereotype of 'perfection' is what drives unbelievable amounts of teenage girls into having eating disorders and other health problems. how can this problem be fixed? i really dont believe that this problem can be fixed, it is just part of society now. there are some companies and organizations though that are trying to change this stereotype such as Dove's campaign for real beauty, that is teaching women and young girls that inner beauty is more important than outer beauty.

Isnt it ironic?

when i think of ironic moments in my life there are one or two situations that really stick out in my mind. the main one is the day me and my older brother tim got our wisdom teeth taken out, i was terrified and so i did everything that was asked of me by the doctor before i left for the surgery to make sure that all went well. tim being tim, didnt have a care in the world and just wanted to get it over with so he could go back to work! both of our surgerys went well but when the ansthtetic wore off and i woke up i vomited 3 times and had to get even more i.v's (i absolutely hate needles by the way) while tim sat bored in the waiting room. we finally got to go home and slept alot, me being a good patient woke up every 4 hours to salt-wash my mouth out, put new swabs in, take t3's etc etc...while tim slept through the whole thing. the next day tim was eating chicken wings and pizza and was more or less healed while i had to go to the hospital 3 times because my mouth became infected. i was on a liquid diet for the next two weeks and tim didnt refrain from rubbing it in my face...isnt it ironic?

The U.S election.

after the long and dragged out process of the american election i am quite happy with the outcome. I was in favour of Obama the whole way through because of the qualities he represented and the actions he promised to take if elected. He made promises of substantial change by removing the divide between American citizens no matter what race, religion or income they have. Such an influencial president could not have been elected at a more perfect time for this country because of the current economic crisis that it is dealing with. I think one of the main reasons that Obama got elected was because he related to the voters so well because he pushed the fact that he is a family man with good values. although i do think that he may have gained some votes in his favour because through out the election he almost become a celebrity in some people's eyes and not a presidential candidate, but then again this may have lost him votes also. I think the reason that he became so celebritized was because he was the possiblity of America having their first African American president. Over all this was a very significant election in U.S history right from the start with the democrats representing a female and an African American candidate, both of which would be a revolution for the country. The U.S is the most powerful country in the world so this is not only a huge change for just the citizens of America but the whole world.

If I had a million dollars...

obviously, just like many other average people i have thought about, at some point, what i would do if i had a million dollars, and what did i come up with? well, the typical answer for a farm kid would be to celebrate because my family wouldnt have to farm anymore. along with giving a hefty amount of the money to my parents and brothers i would put some of the money in savings for when i choose to go to school so that i would not have to get a student loan. One of the main things i would spend my money on would be travelling, there are various places around the world that i have always wanted to travel to such as Africa, Thailand and Switzerland to experience the way of life and culture there. I would probably go and visit my family in England for a while too. There are various charitys and organizations i would give money to also such as world vision, the canadian diabetic association and free the children. after using the money to do all these things i want to do i will save the rest for the future to help me buy a car and house when i need to. i would try and make the money stretch as far as possible so that i could benefit from it for the rest of my life. one thing i would really like to think though is that suddenly getting such a huge amount of money would not change me as a person, because i can see how that could happen very easily to people.

Spirit Week

At the start of the year when i found out that i was student council president i instantly started thinking about activities we could organize that everyone in the school would enjoy. obviously i could not make these decisions by myself so i surveyed all of the students and to my surprise spirit week was one of the favorites. this took me by surprise because i had thought that spirit week had really lost it's lust but i suppose not. so as requested, i went ahead and organized it for this present week because it worked well, being the week of halloween. so far i think it has gone fairly well, the majority of people have been dressing up everyday and getting into the spirit of things. of course, there is always some people that are just "too cool" to dress up but then again that is their own personal choice. as well as this week has turned out i do think that spirit week has lost the momentum that it used to have, when my older brothers were in high school everyone dressed up and did the activities. it was rare to find a person who had too big of an ego to dress up, which i think would of been great to have so many people involved. Over all i do think that spirit week is a great idea, it adds some fun to the sometimes extremely boring high school week days and serves as an ice-breaker for new students. Also, on a more serious note it serves as a median for all students because just for one week it puts all students on the same level, whether they are less fortunate or better off, i wish this could happen more often.

Before & After Graduation...

when i first started grade 12 at the beginning of September the one thing i was sure of was that i wanted to stay in school all year and take classes both semesters. my opinion has now changed completly and i have now decided to not take any classes next semester because i dont really need to and i want to get out there and start making money for the future. after graduation i plan to work for a year at a job that involves something that i am interested in doing in the future. after working for a year i want to go to school for either floral or fashion design and then continue working after that. i am currently enjoying my last year of high school but im really looking forward to being done and going off and doing new things, i think the most exciting part of this year will be going grad dress shopping in a couple of months and of course grad itself! my goal for this year is to retain good grades in all of my classes and have a great transcript at the end of the year.