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Author: Ana

  • Top Ten Disney Songs

    Before starting this blog, I’d just like to say happy birthday to my mom. It was her birthday yesterday, and I love her very much. Happy Birthday Mom!

    Now on with this week’s post. Disney has a pretty good reputation with making good soundtracks for their movies. Each Disney song is unique, catchy, and wonderful in its own way. Here are the top ten Disney songs in my opinion. There’s no possible way I could rank these ten songs, so for this top ten list, these top ten Disney songs will be listed in no particular order.

    Let it Go from Frozen: This song made another top ten list of mine, and it’s now making this one. This song has a powerful message and the instrumentals as well as Idina Menzel’s voice are spectacular.

    When Will My Life Begin from Tangled: Tangled is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies and all of the songs are great to listen to. This one is really upbeat and makes me happy.

    I See the Light from Tangled: Also from Tangled, this song is beautiful and an adorable love song. The first

    You’ll Be in My Heart from Tarzan: This song is a very well known Disney piece. It’s a very special and beautiful song. Phil Collins did a wonderful job singing it.

    Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas: Pretty instrumentals, pretty vocals. This is another classic Disney song, and it sounds good on the piano too!

    Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid: I feel like this song has a lot of emotion and passion in it and that’s what helps it make my top ten list.

    Bet On It from High School Musical 2: When I was younger, High School Musical was big, and so was this song. Sung by Zac Efron, this song was upbeat, memorable, and just great.My sister and I used to dance full out to this song. It was intense. 🙂

    When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio: This song is sweet, inspirational, and a part of every Disney movie in the opening credits. It’s won many awards and has been recognized multiple times for being one of the greatest pieces of music ever.

    The Bells of Notre Dame from The Hunchback of Notre Dame: This movie is famous for its great music and actors. This song is a powerful song that opens up the movie in a good, dramatic way.

    Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King: The Lion King is another movie by Disney with many awards and achievements for the music as well as the actual movie. This song, Can You Feel the Love Tonight is a well-known, beautiful love song. It’s a song that makes me really happy and relaxed at the same time.

    And there you have it, the top ten Disney songs! All of the songs made through Disney are good songs, but these ten songs each have special meaning to me and are the best, in my opinion. Did any of your favorite Disney songs make the list?

    Have a good week!

  • Curious About Curiosity?

    Here’s trait #3 from 8 Ways to a Happier You by Beth Janes, curiosity. If you want to become a happier person, you need to be able to have curiosity and be willing to try new things. But what exactly is curiosity and how can you become a more curious person? Here’s how.

    Curiosity is the penchant for seeking out new and different experiences and adventures. It’s the ability to not fear trying new foods. activities, and experiences. People that are curious more likely to push themselves to learn new material and improve on what they already know. They’re better problem solvers too. Being curious allows a person to explore their options and ways of finding a solution to a problem. During this process they will be able to learn more about themselves and others as well as have fun with what they’re doing.

    To work on becoming a more curious person, think more creatively on how to solve problems and ask questions. Building off of the previous trait, grit, be willing to dig deep and try hard to accomplish your goals. You could work on this by not asking the typical, “How was your day?” question. The typical response is, “Good,” and then the conversation ends. You could build a stronger relationship, learn more about your family members and friends, as well as have a solid conversation. Ask more creative questions like, “What was something fun that you did today?” or “What interesting things happened today?”. Questions like that would probably generate a better conversation and improve one’s curiosity.

    Curiosity will help you become a happier person. It will help you become a better problem-solver, learn more about yourself and others, and become a more creative person. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be afraid to fail. You’ll only grow from whatever you are curious about.

    Have a good week!

    curiosity

    Janes, Beth. “8 Ways to a Happier You.” 2016. Print.

  • High School Rules of Love and Friendship

    Happy Valentine’s Day! Love is in the air today! High school students are very interesting when it comes to love and friendship. Sometimes it’s pretty funny to observe. Here are some rules, which are very sarcastic, on love and friendship in high school.

    High School Rules of Love

    1. Always display your affection for one another in public. It is crucial to let everyone around you know that you and your significant other are together and the easy way to do this is by kissing, hugging, holding hands, and sticking together at all times.

    2. If you text your partner and they do not respond, send them many messages to check on them. You want to make sure that your significant other is not cheating on you or in danger. By sending multiple messages, you can assure that your partner will respond at some point and tell you how they are doing.

    3. Never allow your significant other to spend time with anyone else. You would never want your partner to cheat or spend time with anyone else because they might leave you. To prevent this, keep your partner to yourself and forbid them from seeing anyone else.

    4. Spend every single holiday or attend every activity together. You really want to make it apparent that the two of you are a couple, so attend everything together. By doing this, you can spend quality time with your partner and learn more about them.

    5. Color coordinate outfits every day. Not only does this look extremely stylish and sophisticated, it looks adorable. Color coordinating outfits with your partner is a great way to show off your fabulous fashion sense and demonstrate your love for one another.

    High School Rules of Friendship

    1. When you disagree on something with your best friend always fight about it. While you might say some things you might regret later, fighting will help you come to terms. Fighting will also help make your friendship stronger, so fight often if you can.

    2. Spend all of your time with your best friend. Best friends are just like siblings and deserve all of your time and attention. Never be apart and do absolutely everything together.

    3. On social media, always make appreciation posts for your friends. You need the entire world to know how much you love your best friend. By posting selfies and appreciation posts with nice words about your best friend, the whole world will know that you can’t be separated and are very close to one another.

    4. Share all of your secrets. Best friends need to be totally open with one another and know everything about each other. Sharing secrets, even the deepest and darkest secrets, will be beneficial to your friendship and help you understand each other.

    5. Share everything. Food, Chapstick, clothes, boys or girls, and whatever else you feel like sharing with your best friend works. Sharing is caring and you’re helping your best friend out by giving them your things.

    Once again, I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. XOXO

    Valentine's Day

  • Losing is Good for You

    Winning feels great and makes a person happy, but there isn’t too much one can learn from winning all the time. A person can become arrogant and lazy and that’s why losing can sometimes be good for someone. It allows them to learn from their mistakes and do better next time. The article “Losing is Good for You” by Ashley Marryman contains many relatable points that can be applied to my life as well as the lives of others.

    Ever since I was little, I’ve been involved in sports. My coaches have always been supportive and pushed me towards excellence. When I was younger, I was praised for participating in events, performing well, or winning tournaments, and there would be certain rewards that I earned. As I became more experienced and older, the rewards for performing well or winning were trophies or plaques awarded by the tournament directors. When I was twelve, I was on a club volleyball team and I was one of the strongest players on the team. My coach was constantly praising me and it felt good at first but then it started to get old. According to Marryman, “Awards can be powerful motivators but nonstop recognition does not inspire children to succeed”. I didn’t feel as motivated to give 100% because the praise didn’t feel genuine, since my coach was always praising me. My parents worked hard to develop humility and help me understand that winning does feel good but it’s just as good to lose because you’ll learn from your mistakes and do even better the next time you go out and play. In tennis, I’ve always had a high ranking and been known for my good record. About two years ago, I went through a long losing spell and that was definitely not a fun time. My dad did his best to get me out of the losing streak and eventually I was able to succeed again and from that experience I learned that “you’re going to lose more often than you win even if you’re good at something. You’ve got to get used to that to keep going” (Marryman). It was so rewarding to win after so many loses and I was able to grow as a resilient athlete. I’m more motivated to work hard and succeed.

    I guess losing really can be good for you.

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  • Grit is Great

    In a previous blog, I discussed self-control and why it is an important trait to have. The second character trait from the article 8 Ways to  a Happier You, is grit. Grit is another important trait to have that will make you a tougher, stronger person and also a happier person.

    Grit is “the raw endurance, perseverance and passion that keeps you going despite obstacles” (Janes). Grit is the fight a person has inside them to push themselves to get going or keep up with what they want to accomplish. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Whatever you’re doing may not be easy or fun but whatever it is that you’re doing will get you closer and closer to your goals. For example, I’m in physical therapy strengthening my ankle and getting ready for my high school tennis season. I want to be ready to play in February and I want to be strong when I train and compete. I’ve been doing squats, lunges, core workouts, some running, and a whole bunch of other exercises that make me pretty sore some days. Yeah, it hurts, but I have to be gritty, toughen up, get through my exercises, and understand that all of the soreness only means that I’m getting stronger and doing good things for my body. I want to be able to play at the beginning of the season this year, since I missed the beginning of last season due to my previous foot injury and that drives me to work extra hard.

    Grit requires passion and a person has to be motivated and fired up to accomplish their goals and be successful in whatever they do.

    Grit is a character trait that is great to have, just like self-control. Grit motivates you to keep working hard and doing whatever you’re doing despite opposition and obstacles. Challenge yourself to try new things and push yourself to work hard and follow through on the difficult challenges and events in your life whether it’s in sports, school, or work. Grit really is great.

    grit

    Janes, Beth. “8 Ways to a Happier You.” 2016. Print.

  • The Importance of Self-Control

    Currently in my language arts class, we are reading an article titled 8 Ways to a Happier You. The article summarily describes, explains, and gives tips on how to exhibit eight character traits that will help a person reach their potential and become a happier person. The first trait was self-control which is a crucial character trait to have as a person.

    Self-control is the ability to control your own ideas, attitude, and actions in order to reach goals, despite distractions and temptations to stray.

    This character trait is important to have because it allows a person to stay on task in work, school, or sports, follow rules or certain guidelines, complete assignments and study for school in a timely manner, get up in the morning and go to bed at a reasonable time (I struggle with this), have discipline, go to the gym, accomplish goals, and so many other things.

    Unless you were born a genius or super fit, and strong person, it will probably be impossible to get good grades in school or lose weight and become stronger if you don’t study and work hard or push yourself to run and get to the gym, as an example. Having the self-control to take time out of your day to complete homework, read your textbooks, or run a few miles and maybe work out at the gym will help you accomplish your goals of being a successful student or a stronger, fit person.

    Self-control is an important trait to have because it “pushes you to make the difficult choice over the immediately appealing option for a result that will eventually pay off” (Janes). Self-control forces you to work hard, challenge yourself, and make tough decisions. Once you’ve decided to challenge yourself and have self-control in one area of your life, you can move onto another aspect of your lifestyle and challenge yourself there. You’ll already know what it feels like to have self-control in a particular area of your life, so you should have the confidence and mindset that you can actually accomplish your goals and whatever you’re doing will get easier with time.

    So if you don’t already have self-control, work towards developing it! Talk about your goals and ideas and follow through with them. You’ll become a happier person in the long run because you were able to set goals for yourself and actually accomplish them.

    self-control

    Janes, Beth. “8 Ways to a Happier You.” 2016. Print.

  • Thinking Positive

    Whether it’s in sports, school, work, body image, or life, it becomes very easy for people to focus on what they are doing wrong and all of the negativity. People want to succeed at what they’re doing and feel good about themselves and their accomplishments. However, it can be challenging, when one is constantly telling themselves, “This is terrible,”, “I’ll never be good enough,” or “I don’t think I can do this,”. Thinking positive is a way to turn those thoughts into something positive that will help you achieve your goals and feel better about yourself and whatever you do.

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    In sports, all athletes struggle with the pressure of wanting to win, not let down their coach, teammates, and parents, and perform with perfection. They also struggle with the ups and downs in their performance and when they are going through a rough period, they tend to think negatively which will only make things worse. Two words that are heard often are “can’t” and “don’t”. There are a lot of coaches out there who will tell their athletes, “Don’t hit the ball out,” or “Don’t lose,” and that causes the athletes to think about what they should not do versus what they should do. Then when athletes have talked themselves into doing the wrong thing, they start to believe that they can’t shoot a free throw, or land their back flip, or hit a float serve. Everything can go downhill if this negativity isn’t stopped in its tracks.

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    For example, in tennis, I can be very hard on myself. Now that I’ve been cleared to start running and playing a little bit of tennis again, my dad and I have been playing quite a bit so that I can get back into shape for the high school season. I haven’t played in about six months and getting back on the court for the first time was great, but there was frustration that came with it too. My groundstrokes were definitely not what I remembered them being and I struggled to get the ball in the actual court. My dad would ask me how my groundstrokes felt and I told him, “I’m not getting the ball in the court” and “I can’t seem to hit forehands”. After I told him that my dad told to focus on what I can do right for the next shot. I’m much more successful when I focus on the positive and what I can do to improve versus how bad my last backhand was.

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    The idea of thinking positive has been something I’ve been working on for a long time in tennis and life in general but it can be hard. It’s very easy to slip into a negative mindset but when you focus on what you can do to get better, you’re probably going to improve and feel better about yourself.

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    These same ideas can be applied to how you see yourself as a person and your goals in life. Maybe you think that you aren’t pretty or you don’t fit in. Those same two thoughts could be turned into something positive. Even in something “ugly” or negative, you could find something “beautiful” and positive to think about. And with the whole “fitting in” thing, isn’t it better to be yourself and discover who you are than fake it and be in unhealthy relationships? If you think that you aren’t good enough to try out for something, too shy to ask a teacher about something in class, or you’ll never be able to go on that trip to Japan that you’ve been dreaming about forever, you’re probably right, if you aren’t doing anything about it but complaining and thinking negative thoughts. If you think positive, you might not reach your goals when you hope you will but you’ll get there eventually. And if you don’t give going for your goals a try, how will you know you could have accomplished them anyways?

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    So with those same thoughts up above, you could turn those into “I’m going to make the best of this situation” “I’ll work towards my goals and achieve them”, and “I can do this”. Turning your negative thoughts into something positive, will help you out in the long run. Set goals for yourself, stick to those goals, and think positive. The road to your goals might be rough, but in the end, all of your hard work will have been worth it. You can do this!

  • Reflecting on 2015

    This might be coming a little late but, Happy New Year! 2016 has arrived and it’s going to be another good year. 2015 was filled with ups and downs and there were all kinds of trends and things that occurred this past year. Here are some of the events and trends of 2015.

    In January of 2015, the Charlie Hebdou attack occurred in Paris. 12 people were killed and 11 were injured.

    In February, the Super Bowl took place and Katy Perry gave a stunning performance and Left Shark, who performed during Perry’s song, “California Gurls” became a worldwide sensation. And there was also the dress. People argued over whether or not it was black and blue or white and gold. The couple that took the picture confirmed that it was black and blue after the photo went viral. Team black and blue!

    In March, the Germanwings flight 9525 ended in tragedy when the co-pilot of the plane deliberately flew the plane into the French Alps, killing everyone on board. Dawn of Justice was released in theaters. It was the Batman vs. Superman movie, in case you didn’t know.

    Age of Ultron, the second movie of the Avengers series as well as Furious 7 were released in theaters in April. Both movies lived up to their expectations and were successful in the theaters.

    In May, the Mayweather vs. Pacquio fight went down in Las Vegas and resulted in another win for Floyd Mayweather Jr. How-old.net is a website where you allow the website to analyze a photo of yourself and it guesses how old you are. This website became well-known and sparked the question of “How is the website able to tell how old you are?” If you’d like to test out how-old.net click here to see if it guesses your age correctly. The biggest trend of May was Netflix and Chill. There were all kinds of variations and parodies of this interesting and well-known trend.

    “Just Do It” featuring Shia LeBouf went viral in June of 2015. The video was a motivational and overdramatized speech telling people to accomplish their goals and follow their dreams. In June, gay marriage was legalized in the U.S. Caitlyn Jenner also introduced herself to the world and later on ended up winning the “Woman of the Year” award.

    In July, Minions took the world by storm and did well in theaters. “Now watch me whip/nae nae” became a song and dance sensation. I don’t know a single person that doesn’t know how to whip and nae nae. From the flyby of New Horizons, everyone was able to see clear and exciting pictures of Pluto and its moons. The pictures will allow for astronomers to gather more information about Pluto and its moons. In July, the world lost Saturo Iwata, the president of Nintendo and the creator of video games like Kirby and Mario.

    In August, Donald Trump officially announced that he would be running for president in 2016 and began campaigning. AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA! You’ll understand this if you’ve seen the vine videos. John Cena also made it big this month in 2015. Hundreds of thousands of vines were created using his videos and announcement for the WWE. Some of them are funny and some of them are plain weird.

    The supermoon eclipse left everyone in awe in September. It was beautiful to watch and great to take pictures of. Continuing on the topic of space, water was found on Mars. This was a very exciting discovery and we’ll have to wait and see what comes next as far as findings and discoveries on Mars and in the space around us.

    In October of 2015, Drake’s hit song “Hotline Bling” made its’ debut. It was on the radio quite often and there were many parodies done of this song. ISIS crashed a Russian plane killing all 224 passengers on board near the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. A gunman killed ten including himself and injured seven at Umpqua Community College in Oregon as well.

    Sadly terrorist attacks were becoming quite the trend towards the end of the year and Paris was attacked in November. 130 people were killed and over 300 were injured. Also in November, Ronda Rousey lost her fight to Holly Holm and Fallout 4, the fourth game of the Fallout series was released. And who could forget the release of the final movie of the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay Part 2? Most people believed that Mockingjay Part 2 finished out the trilogy well, others believed that it could have been finished differently, but in my opinion the movie was amazing and the actors all did a wonderful job portraying their characters and the plot stuck pretty close to the books.

    Finally in December, the Star Wars saga continued with The Force Awakens I haven’t seen it yet but I’ve heard that the movie was very good and lived up to everyone’s expectations, so far. Not only was the new Star Wars movie big, but so was the Miss Universe pageant. The host, Steve Harvey made an honest mistake when he announced the final results, the wrong girl was crowned, and then he corrected himself as soon as he caught the mistake. After this happened, there was a lot of dispute over the actual results and Harvey’s actions and in the end Miss Philippines was crowned Miss Universe.

    I believe that 2015 was a pretty good year even with all of the attacks and losses of wonderful people. We were all able to learn new things about ourselves and the world, experience new activities and situations, and also grow as people. As far as what’s going to happen in 2016, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Do what you can to make it your own great year. Good luck getting used to writing 2016 on your papers and best wishes in the new year.

    Reflecting on 2015

  • To Eat or Not to Eat

    For the second half of my first semester this school year, my language arts class read Hamlet by Shakespeare. One of our assignments was to translate Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy into something relatable and understandable. I chose to translate mine into “To eat or not to eat” and here it is. Enjoy!

    To eat or not to eat -that is the question:
    Whether ’tis more delicious to eat pizza
    And have a happy stomach,
    Or stay away from all the food,
    And feel the pain of hunger.
    To wait, for your order to be ready-
    No more – and by waiting to say I face
    The wonderful sights and smells
    That each food holds-
    ‘Tis a situation
    I want my food.
    To be happy, to eat-
    To eat, perhaps too long. Ay, there’s the problem.
    For in overeating there comes suffering and stomach aches
    When we wait at the microwave for our food
    Must make us stop and think.
    That’s the idea
    That makes disaster of not eating or eating too much.
    For who really wants to be without breakfast,
    Those delicious Belgian waffles,
    The many options for a wonderful lunch,
    The disappointment in long lines and waits,
    The early dinner that leaves you hungry the rest of the night,
    The overly salted soft pretzel at the big game,
    And the desperate looks
    That starved people have been waiting for their meals,
    When they too may feast
    On days free from any worries?
    Who would heed the large menu,
    To decide and eat whatever they desire,
    But that the horror that their stomachs may growl and food be cold,
    The unknown foods that have yet to be eaten which
    Food critics discuss
    While we stand in a puzzled daze,
    Wishing we had eaten much less
    Instead of seeking the extra piece of cake?
    Thus the chance of missing out does make food-lovers of us all,
    And thus the enjoyment of food so precious
    Is tainted by eye-opening thoughts of lost news,
    And wonderful moments at Chipotle and Wendy’s
    With this regard their paths are cut short
    And those the sufferers of stomach aches favor of those who haven’t eaten.

  • Merry Christmas!

    I know it isn’t Sunday, but it definitely is Christmas. So, Merry Christmas!

    Christmas isn’t all about the presents under the tree, it’s about the birth of Christ and the quality time you get to spend with the people you love. It doesn’t matter how expensive or fancy a gift is, it’s the effort and thought into it that makes it special. Gifts are nice because they give you the opportunity to show your appreciation and care towards friends and family, but your attention and time are much more important and valuable.

    Today is a  great day to eat good food, make new traditions, play in the snow (if you have any), be silly, relax, play games, and have a good time. My family gets together in New Mexico every Christmas and we’ve been doing a fun gag gift game for the past few years. This year my aunt and uncle started a ping-pong tournament which was super fun, got everyone involved, and it is something we plan to continue doing every Christmas from here on out. Traditions like these are what make time with family and the holidays really special for everyone.

    Anyways, I just wanted to wish you all the best today. Stay warm, or cool (depending on where you are) and enjoy yourselves! I hope you and your families have a fun, memorable, and wonderful day. Merry Christmas and Happy upcoming New Year!

    Merry Christmas!