Category: Life

It’s Hard to Keep Up a Blog Sometimes

With summer vacation drawing closer and closer as well as the dreaded finals week approaching, I’d like to give a quick warning to everyone that I may not be posting on time like I usually do and I’d like to apologize for that. Tennis season is also coming to a close and with our big tournaments coming up, I’ll be missing a lot of school which means there’s going to be a lot of make-up work. AHHHH.

It’s hard to keep up a blog sometimes in that I have to make sure I get something posted every Sunday. For those of you who read this, it means a lot that you take time out of your day to scroll through my blog. For those of you who read this, I appreciate your patience when I suddenly disappear from the internet because I have a truckload of homework one week. For those of you who read this, I really and truly appreciate you. 🙂

It’s hard to keep up a blog sometimes because I feel like I run out of ideas. I scramble around my house and through my school-work seeing if there’s something good enough to post here. I want to keep my blog exciting and interesting and sometimes I worry that I lose my readers because I don’t write about interesting enough things. Hearing from a seventeen year old who thinks she’s got a grasp on life might not be that interesting to some people.

It’s hard to keep up a blog sometimes when I’m busy and super stressed. Sometimes I just feel like there’s not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want but I make the most of it. Some days I spend hours planning my blogs and making them perfect and making sure they fit the criteria to be posted. Sometimes, I don’t have the time to do that and you might find yourself reading something like this.

It’s hard to keep up a blog sometimes because I love it way too much. You might ask, “But Ana, wouldn’t it be easy then?” And I would respond with a strong no. Keeping this blog up has been one of the most enjoyable and amazing things I’ve had the opportunity to do. I enjoy writing and sharing what I love with all you readers. I just worry about making things perfect and entertaining to keep you all on board. This has been quite the ramble, haha. Thank you all for being here with me.

Until next week and also Happy Easter 🙂

April 16, 2017
Why I am a Self-Critic

Recently in AP Lang, we had a creative writing assignment inspired by a piece by Zitkala-Sa titled “Why I am a Pagan”. I chose to write about why I am so hard on myself and here is that piece. Enjoy.

Heavy breathing. Sweat dripping. Mind racing. There was no way I’m going to pull off this match. Two hours pass under the glaring sun and I’m still out on the battlefield. My back burns as the heat stabs into it. My feet burn as I dash madly from sideline to sideline in a frantic attempt to keep myself from raising that white flag. My heart burns as I watch the championship match against my nemesis go up in flames. No matter how many serves I sent penetrating the enemy’s walls or how many shots I fired evening the playing field it wasn’t enough. It never seems to be enough.

My last play haunts my mind as I walk up to the net. “You just had to miss it in the net didn’t you Ana? I can’t believe you just let that happen. It’s not like that doesn’t happen at least six or seven times in a match. You’ve been working on that! Get a grip!” My opponent and I may have ceased fire on the court but that ceasefire hasn’t reached the strident voice nagging me in my head. I hold back my frustration and overwhelming feeling of crying as we shake hands and head off the court to our families.

I knew my family would be proud of me. They always are. They’ll see that I worked hard out on the court. Or did I? Was I good enough out there?

As I fasten my seatbelt in the car, a single tear rolls down my cheek. And then a second. And then a third. And then a flash flood rumbles down the hill. It seems like no matter how hard I push myself out there, I’m trapped swimming just below the surface of the ocean. I’m left to wander and explore the vastness of the watery depths. I’m breathless. It seems like no matter hard I work on the court, I’m doomed to endure the harsh conditions of a summitless mountain. Progress may be made but sometimes it feels like I’m headed nowhere. I see the same old trees on that horrendous mountain and every time I have to cross that river or climb over that boulder, I might vomit out of disgust. “We’re here again?! I thought we were over this already?”

I look out the window from the backseat of the car and watch as the cars, trees, and houses go by. As my dad navigates through Colorado Springs, my mom turns to me.

“Ana, you know not to be so hard on yourself. This is silly behavior. You are stronger than this. You made it to the championship, for goodness sake! Be proud of yourself for that! And who cares about some Jessica-messica Do not let that get to you, okay?”

My mom may be right. I shouldn’t let someone with poor sportsmanship like that get to me. I shouldn’t be my own worst enemy. I shouldn’t hate myself so much for losing a match in the championship of a tournament, but I have to.

Hating on myself and kicking myself in the butt for making mistakes motivates me to be better. Losing sucks, I’ll admit it, but it allows me to learn from my mistakes. I may never reach the summit of that awful mountain and I may never get to breathe the fresh, salty air by sticking my head above the water, but I’ll be able to learn from my experiences. Being critical of myself allows me to give flight to the strong, beautiful butterflies that were once weak and struggling caterpillars in my life. To some, being hard on yourself is detrimental. It’s pointless. It’s silly behavior. I don’t see it that way. I see it as an opportunity to educate myself and improve who I am. There is no limit to improvement and I am endlessly willing to become better in all I do. If this is self-improvement and growth, then forevermore, at least, I am a self-critic.

Credit to artist. Not my piece 🙂

April 2, 2017
They’re Doing What to Club Penguin?!

Ok, this might be one of the weirder posts I’ve made, but I’m really passionate about this topic. Recently, I discovered that Disney will be discontinuing Club Penguin! WHAT?! Club Penguin was a huge part of my childhood and I’m sure many of you could say the same.

From my research, I learned that Disney intends to close down Club Penguin and open up Club Penguin Island which will only be accessible on mobile devices. According to the company, they think that more children are turning away from online computer games to mobile apps and games, and so to stay up-to-date with the kids, they have to become a strictly mobile app. 🙁 I’m really worried that this could be the end of the Club Penguin franchise overall. Based on the Club Penguin Island game trailer, it looks nothing like the online Club Penguin game and doesn’t appeal to many children looking for a fun, social game to play.

As mentioned earlier, my sister and I started on Club Penguin as it was still a young game. I’m not quite sure what year we started on it, but we were around when the Penguin Secret Agency (PSA) was around. Those missions were the absolute best! As a kid, they were easy enough to complete but still challenging enough to have to think through and were so enjoyable. And when the PSA was destroyed by Herbert’s popcorn explosion, my sister and I lost it. The PSA was over and the Elite Penguin Force (EPF) was launched. Oh man, those were the days. We were also around before the Dojo was a thing and when that came out, it was our mission to become black belts and beat Sensei. When the mermaid cove was introduced, we were there. When the University was introduced, we were there. When the puffle park was introduced, we were there. My sister and I were there for the big pool party after the glass cracked in the room below the plaza. We were there for a bunch of the music jams and dance parties and Frozen party and the Monsters’ University party and the medieval parties where Scorn the dragon was introduced and the superhero parties. The stage still existed when my sister and I played on Club Penguin. We went through so much and grew up with Club Penguin.

When I got my first CP membership, I was ecstatic. My first penguin was named Courtney98. She was the coolest penguin ever (in my opinion, haha). She had exactly twenty puffles which was the puffle limit when I got my membership and I remember her first one was a cute little blue puffle. She was a super rich penguin and definitely a big party penguin. My sister’s penguin, Seddny, was great friends with Courtney98 and went on so many great adventures together. We were mermaids, pookies (penguins that acted like babies and toddlers), superheroes, robbers, band members, explorers, surfers, fairies, and anything else we wanted them to be.

My sister and I even created a joined Club Penguin account. Her name was Lelani Fleur and she was definitely one spoiled penguin. She had almost 40 puffles which is the new limit, I believe. She was also a big party penguin and attended quite a few island wide parties herself. Allyson and I had a lot of fun sharing an account. We played together a lot on her account and would switch off who got to make music in the dance club and catching fish by the ski hill.

I truly hope that Club Penguin isn’t shut down, but if it is, that will be a surely bittersweet moment. That game was a wonderful part of my childhood and I hope to share my memories of that game for a long time. Maybe it will even be brought back! That would be a glorious day. For all of you Club Penguin lovers, don’t forget to say goodbye to your penguins before March 29th. I definitely will say goodbye to my penguins. Thanks for the memories Club Penguin. Waddle on!

February 19, 2017
Another Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is just two days away. It feels like it just comes and goes every year. Being in high school, it’s funny to see people on Valentine’s Day. There’s the couples that have been together for a while and go on cute dates and get each other something sweet. There’s also the couples that go wayyyyy overboard and get each other the big teddy bears for Costco and the most cheesy gifts possible. That just screams “EWW!” to me. There’s also the other people in school who become the saddest people you’ve ever met. They complain and whine about how lonely they are and how sad their life is. First off, you’re only in high school and second, you’ll get over it. You have friends and family for a reason. Valentine’s Day is only once a year and there’s 355 other days for you to do as you wish and find someone to fill that hole in your heart.

If I’m being honest here, Valentine’s Day is one of my least favorite holidays if not my least favorite. It’s just so commercialized and used as a way to draw people to buy chocolate, flowers, cheesy cards, and other heart-shaped and romantic goodies for loved ones. I won’t deny that showing loved ones your love is a wonderful thing. I think it’s great that people want to do something special for their significant others and family. But shouldn’t that be every day? You don’t have to go out and buy a big bouquet of red roses for your loved ones every day, but you should do something every day to show your love.

People make such a big deal out of Valentine’s Day and I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a boyfriend and have never been in that kind of relationship. I’ve always enjoyed picking out cute, heartfelt cards for my grandparents, aunt and uncle, sister, and parents and bringing a beautiful bunch of flowers to my mom but as the holiday has come and gone, I just don’t see the point of it anymore.

We don’t need a designated day to show our love to family, friends, and significant others, in my opinion. Every day should be Valentine’s Day in its own unique way.

Despite what I think, the holiday still goes on and the cheap chocolates are coming. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. 🙂

February 12, 2017
On Fam: A Word I Absolutely Hate

It’s lit, fam. You’re the best, fam. There’s no better fam than my fam. Oh, I’m sure there is and I’m also sure that there’s a better word to describe those we refer to as family. Fam is a word I despise and every time I hear it, I cringe. It’s like hearing styrofoam rub against a cardboard surface, ever, so, slowly, making me shudder and causing the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. Fam strips away the elegant characteristics and harmony of the beautiful painting created by the word family, and transforms them into a disarray of ugly browns and greens.

Being the artistic catastrophe it is, the word is quite a hideous one. It can be understood that in a world drowning in technology and shortcuts to an easier, simpler life, people would want to shorten their speech. But to shorten words that carry importance and value? I don’t think so. Family, as a word, dances with grace and poise over those who know the word well. It makes us feel loved, supported, at home. Fam, on the other hand, is a lump of mystery meat handed to us by the lunch lady at school. Disgusting.

People want to show love and acceptance by those they hold close to them, but calling them fam is throwing them the weak, brittle twig to grasp onto when they’re waist deep in a bottomless pit of quicksand. Calling them fam is being the querulous toddler tugging constantly on his mother’s jacket at the grocery store, whining for his favorite chocolate bar. Calling them fam is being the person that won’t stop asking, “Are we there yet?” on a never-ending road trip. Calling them fam is finishing the bowl of popcorn while watching the big Sunday night football game and not having the “energy” to get up and go get more. Using this word makes a person sound uneducated and lazy because the word itself sounds lackadaisical, aggravating, and straight up ridiculous.

Then again, after a long day at school, when I’m feeling drained, I might turn to the more slothful side of me. When I trudge in through the front door I’ll greet my fam, tell my fam how lit my day was, and then head upstairs to make a dent in my pile of homework. Sounds like a plan? Absolutely not! The people I call family and the people I call friends deserve a more beautiful word, and a beautiful word like family deserves to be used for the people I cherish in life. Our friends and our families mean much more to us than an atrocious three-letter word, so we should use a more righteous word to demonstrate that.

January 29, 2017
The Memory Jar
Happy New Year everyone! 2016 was quite a year and there were plenty of ups and downs. Hopefully 2017 will be a better year. Something cool my family did last year was create a memory jar. My sister and I found just a regular, old jar lying around our house and then decorated it, and as the year progressed, we put all kinds of memories in it.

If you want to create your own memory jar, as mentioned above, all you need is:
- A jar (a larger one will work better)
- A bunch of small pieces of paper or sticky notes
- Half of a piece of 8×11 piece of paper cut hotdog style (this is for the outside of your jar)
- Markers or sharpies to decorate your jar
- A pen or special marker or even pencil for writing on the slips of paper
Here’s a few tips for your memory jar:
- Follow through! Actually keep the memory jar going the entire year. My sister did a really good job of keeping our memory jar in order and made sure that memorable events made it into the memory jar.
- Persuade everyone in your family to add to the jar. It’s more fun when it’s more than one person adding to the jar.
- Write the month or even day the memory occurred so when you go back and look at all of them, you remember when they happened.
- Be detailed with your writing so when you go back, you can actually recall them.
- Add pictures, movie tickets, maps, and other little memorabilias.
- Don’t open the jar to look at memories until the end of the year!
- On New Year’s Eve open your memory jar with your family and share everything that happened over the year.
My family did a memory jar for the first time this past year and I could definitely say it’s going to be a New Year’s tradition from now on. I hope you all had a safe, fun night and cheers to 2017! 🙂
January 1, 2017
My Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!

There goes another year! This one’s been a good one, now that I’m not wearing that silly boot anymore! (We all know how much I enjoyed wearing that stupid thing.)

School has been hard this year but I think you already knew that based on the piles of homework I come home with and the lack of sleep I get. Yeesh! Despite that, school has been awesome and I’ve loved all of my teachers and classes this year. If you could though, I’d really appreciate if you found a way to get my teachers to give out less homework. Thanks in advance!

Tennis has been a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed spending all of the time I have on the court with my dad and sister. This past summer and winter have been a lot of fun. Can’t wait for more! 🙂

I’m really excited to go to D.C. in January and I also can’t wait for New York this summer. I hope I learn a lot and have fun. Please wish me luck there!

And for the record, two homecomings is a lot of work. I didn’t know that if you attend two separate homecomings, you have to buy TWO different dresses. There’s good stuff other than finding the area under a parabola and SAT prep vocab that you learn in high school.

Thanks for all of the amazing things you’ve done for my sister and I over the years and for being the amazing, magical person you are. Safe travels!

Love,
Ana Horvath

December 25, 2016
Simple Gift Ideas
Christmas is officially a week away! When getting a gift, remember that it isn’t always about the price, but the thought. As long as it’s something that you feel can be useful and meaningful, it will be a good gift. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what to get for someone special in your life, here’s a few simple gift ideas.
- A handmade fleece blanket. All you need for these are two large pieces of fleece, some open space, some scissors, and people to help you tie the blanket. These are always really fun to make and useful to the person you’re making them for! Finding fleece with something that the person enjoys or likes can help make the blanket a little more special.
- A drawing or photo. For this semester of school, my sister and I took a photography class and some the pictures could make great Christmas gifts! A pretty drawing that you did or a nice picture framed can also be special and easy gifts to wrap up and gift to someone.
- A book or movie they might like. Depending on the book or movie, the price can range, but these are always easy to find and can be used over and over again.
- Candle or lotion. Once again, depending on where you get these items, the price can range. A good-smelling candle or some nice lotion can be a great gift for a girl or woman in your life. You can never have too much of this stuff!
- Giftcards or money. Sometimes, a giftcard or money can seem impersonal. Sometimes though, they aren’t bad ideas for gifts because people can choose what they buy with the giftcard or given money. For someone preparing to do some traveling or a college student in need of some money, these two are never bad ideas.
You’re definitely not limited to this very short list of gifts to get someone for Christmas. Get creative and have fun with it! When shopping for gifts, don’t get to caught up in whether or not someone will like it. That can be important but people should learn to be grateful for all that they get, even if they don’t exactly like it. Happy Holidays to everyone and have a great winter break and Merry Christmas and New Year!
December 18, 2016
Carpe Futurum

Carpe Futurum- seize the future. For my leadership conference I will be attending during the presidential inauguration, we had the opportunity to post a video on YouTube answering a question given to us. I chose to answer the question of “What does carpe futurum mean to me?”.

To me, carpe futurum means to take advantage of the opportunities you are given and never be afraid to take chances.

In my video, I mentioned the opportunity I have this summer to attend IMTA with my modeling and talent agency. Of course I took the opportunity because I know that it’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Attending IMTA will boost my confidence, help me gain different leadership skills, as I will learn how to observe and listen to people in a different way. I will also better develop my communication skills in a professional, more business-like manner. The opportunity with this leadership summit I will be attending also applies to carpe futurum. I know that I want to be in charge of my own dental or medical practice some day and the skills I’ve learned throughout my years in school and in student council as well as what I learn in this summit will prepare me to be the person I see myself as in my future.

Have a good week everyone!

December 11, 2016
A Review of the Galaxy S7

Both Samsung and Apple came out with their 7th version of smartphones this year. Personally, I am more of an Apple person but my parents have a plan with Samsung smartphones and finally decided to upgrade their own phones and allow Allyson and I to join their plan. This is the first smartphone I’ve ever had and I’d like to say that I’m pretty impressed with it. Here’s my impression on the Samsung Galaxy S7 phone.

I really liked the color choices on for the phone, even if black and gold were the only choices. They’re simple and classy. The screen is big enough to see pictures or watch videos and also view and send texts without having to squint or struggle to view them.

One thing I really like about the Galaxy S7 is how fast it runs and how high-quality the camera is. It takes really nice pictures and also offers many cool options for panorama pictures and even food pictures! The “selfie” camera is not my favorite, however because it makes your subject appear somewhat distorting, giving a person a bigger forehead or bringing out certain features in a weird manner.

Unlike Apple’s iPhone 7, the Galaxy S7 still has a headphone jack, allowing people to still listen to music through headphones you have to plug into the phone. Honestly, I think airbuds look kind of funny, so I prefer to use earbuds or headphones that you have to plug in.

The battery lasts for a long time, not that I can tell you exactly how long, but it lasts me throughout the day and even two as long as it was fully-charged.

The Galaxy S7 is easy to navigate as the apps are easy to locate and settings and other information are easy to access. Another really great thing about the S7 is the security options. I know that Apple also uses fingerprint ID to lock smartphones, but the technology with that is really cool. On top of setting a fingerprint ID on the S7, you can set up a passcode to maximize protection on your phone.

In addition to these many features of the Galaxy S7, it is water-resistant, meaning it will not be damaged if you drop in water or spill a liquid on it. I would not recommend submerging your phone in water for a long time, just because that doesn’t sound like a good idea, even if the phone is water resistant. What you could do is purchase a life-proof case and then use your S7 underwater if you like. The idea of phones and water just don’t mix with me, but it’s so cool that the technology today allows people to do things like that!

If you’re looking for a new smartphone that has a good battery life, good storage, high quality camera, and many other good features, I would recommend the Galaxy S7. It’s a neat phone with a lot of great features to help make your life more simple!

November 6, 2016