Wrestling

It is the time of year when winter activities really start to heat up. This includes wrestling. Around this time there are multiple meets and tournaments a week. That means a lot of time consumption. But for what?

At a typical meet you are facing one or two schools. You have a junior varsity as well as a varsity team. The way they decide who will compete in each match is by their weight. The wrestlers have to either cut or gain to make weight. This can be harder than you think. Hours of dieting and running to sweat just to get to a weight to even be eligible for wrestling is extremely tolling on your body. If you fail to do so then you can not compete and the opposing team will receive a forfeit which is worth points.

Believe it or not, forfeits really add up and can make or break the way a meet can go. If you do not receive a forfeit, then you get to wrestle. People may think that this sport is gay or not hard, but let me tell you, they are wrong. The amount of knowledge, strategy, and strength this sport takes is unbelievable! These wrestlers are constantly in the weight room and reviewing pressure points, weakness areas, even previous matches on video so they can see where they went wrong. As I said before, it is extremely time consuming.

Once you wrestle there are a few things you can do. There are reversals, take downs, and pins. However there are different kinds of these, all worth different points. If you get out of a hold, you can get one point. If you take down an opponent, you get two points. There is a one shoulder pin that makes you receive three points, and a full on pin that makes you win the match. You generally have about two to three two minute periods that give you enough time to determine a winner.

If you do not get a pin, then you determine the winner by the amount of points they have at the end of the match. This can either be extremely close, or a wrestler can win by a landslide. If you lose, you lose. However, if you win you receive the amount of points you earned in your match for your team, and that total is how the winner of the meet is determined.

There is then a tournament which tends to include four or more teams and they tend to be all day events. You never know how these can go because it all depends on the number of wins your wrestler gets. A loss can be extremely devastating or angering to a team mate. They can try their hardest and still lose which is angering due to how much time and work they put into this sport.

Even though you still may think that your sport is better, you should give credit to these wrestlers for the amount of dedication they have for this sport. It takes a lot out of you.

-Sittin' on the mat, Hangin' from a clothesline

Flappy Bird

Tap tap tap, fall. Tap tap, die. Yes, I'm going to reach my high score, run into a tube. You play and play again and again hoping you will get a little bit farther than you did the last time with endless disappointment. I am talking about Flappy Bird.

Flappy Bird is a game that people can download on their smart phones or any other electronic hand held device that runs through the Google play store. The game is basically the simplest of things. All it is is a bird that flies through the sky and you have to control how high it goes by tapping on the screen. If you do not time your taps right or tap enough, you either run into the tubes that the bird can not hit, or you fall and hit the ground. Both of those actions make you die.

There is also an option to play "online" with other people around the world. All you need is internet connection. While I have not tried this, I'm sure it only adds to the amount of times you play since now not only are you trying to beat your last high score, but you are also trying to beat some of the best players from all over.

Every time you die you feel like you have to play again to prove to yourself that you can do better. From what you planned on being just five minutes turns into an hour of playing this game that doesn't make you better at any aspect of life. The only thing this game does it make you sit on your butt for longer, and get mad for no apparent reason.

While this game can be fun, it really only ends up being a distraction and helps you procrastinate. I, myself have found that playing just one more time turns into playing twelve more times and then you realize you said you would start your homework assignment thirty minutes ago and now you are going to be late for work. I'm sure that if people spent half the amount of time that they do playing this endless game, that people could accomplish more. Instead of sitting at home they could be participating in the bettering of the economy, or maybe even be able to better themselves in the work or school place.

There is also the social aspect of playing. While you may bond with someone over the mutual addiction to this game, are you really bonding? In all reality, you sit there while you are with your peers and you play this game not socializing in the least bit until you yell over dying or rejoice over a victory.

Where will it end? Will we ever know? Flappy Bird will end up being like every other hot thing in society and will eventually fade away to the point where only a few people even know what it is.

-Playing from a blue sky, Hangin' on a clothesline

Beliebers Going Too Far?

There is a new scandal out about a favorite celebrity of many young teenage girls. Justin Bieber, everyone. He is being charged with a DUI, property damage, a felony from egging a mansion, and drag racing. IN HIS LAMBO with his friend Kahil. I mean, I knew that some weird things were going on with his life at this point, but I honestly didn't think that I would see that in the headline of the latest news update.

What I would really like to talk about here is whether his fans are taking their support too far or not. According to thinkprogress.org , he has done things in his past that are worth regretting. With his stupidity, he has wrangled up $20,400 worth of fines and damage charges just for one offense. With these offenses and a federal felony of egging someone's house, Justin runs the risk of being DEPORTED due to being from Canada. If these Beliebers love their celebrity so much then why would they think it is okay for him to run the risk of deportation?

There is the other side of the argument. Everyone makes mistakes and that we should not judge people that are going through things many people have gone through at some point in their life. His blood alcohol level was not that high above the accepted rate, and he was just trying to have fun with one of his friends doing young adult activities. There's not that much damage that could possibly be caused by eggs hitting a mansion of all buildings! There's no way some of these fines are necessary! There is no cause for deportation over a harmless act.

Well, I can see both sides. However, never really being a Justin fan, I can lean more towards the harsh point of view. While yes, people do make mistakes, those mistakes don't tend to be so severe. I'm not so sure that deportation would be necessary, however I do believe that he should have to face the consequences just like anyone else would have to if they did the same thing. His actions weren't severe, yet they could have been a danger to people surrounding him. Not only do I believe that but I also believe that most of these things were completely avoidable. He did not have to get in his car after being under the influence, he did not have to drive irresponsibly, and he definitely did not have to egg his neighbor's mansion.

If it were anyone else not famous doing these things, I believe that people around the world would consider this situation differently. Not only would these crimes not be as famous, but the people would not be defending him as much as they are. Yes, people do make mistakes. No, I do not think it is serious enough of a crime to have Justin deported back to Canada. However, he should have to face what he did just like any other citizen of the United States has to.

-Hangin' from a clothesline

Pee Yew!

The other day I had to use the restroom like most people do on a daily basis. Within a second of walking in, I nearly choked on the air and threw up. Want to know why? No it wasn't because of the bodily functions people leave in there, but the overwhelming smell of smoke.

I have heard about smoking in a high school bathroom in plenty of movies, however I have never thought I would encounter this happening in my school. I can stand a lot of things. I tend to have a high tolerance. This stench was on a whole other level. It was so overwhelming that not a soul that walked in or by didn't say anything. There was talk all over the school about how bad it smelled.

There is a point where if you smoke you can smell afterwards. Never before have I walked into a room that had been smoked in before I was in there had I walked out smelling like a chain smoker. Now why would this have all of a sudden pop up out of the blue? Addiction. It has become a more common thing in teens because of the amount of people starting to smoke. I believe this is not only due to peer pressure, but stress as well as the monkey see monkey do saying.

Kids these days see their parents do things and they end up doing the same at some point in time. Once their parents start doing something kids start to think that it is okay for them to do. Some kids even end up going to the extent of taking their parent's objects and using them their self. Now comes the addiction. They become so used to using things that they think it is normal and needed on a daily basis for them to get through the day.

I do not think I have gone through a day where I have not seen a post about how much stress teens have nowadays let alone how many times I see that someone underage "needs" a smoke or a cigarette before they even get half way through the day. It may start with once a week or only every time they have a test, but then it turns into every day for the tiniest of things. At this point it has become unhealthy in more than one way. The addiction has become so strong that they end up having to skip their lunch for a mid day relief. OR even worse. Going to the bathroom to smoke and ruin everyone else's surroundings.

While I will not say that it is wrong to smoke, I will say that doing it in a public place, especially with poor ventilation is not a good idea.

-Hangin' from a smoke free clothesline

Wish

There's this application called Wish. Have you heard of it? If not, that's alright too! It is an application sort of like amazon for trending items. You start off by selecting your gender as well as things you would like to show up on your feed. The next step is to start liking! as you roll through your timeline, you can save some things that you like. The more things you like, the more defined your timeline will be. Wish filters the things you like into groups such as fashion, sweaters, women, jewelry, casual, men, bags, etc. There is just about anything you could ever want to wear there.

Say you want to keep something and look for it in a store. You have your own profile you can refer back to! Your things are easy to find as well! You can make your own categories so you know exactly where you are saving things! What happens if you save something to the wrong folder!? No worries! your categories are editable! you can either unsave something or you can move it to wherever you please! This makes things very accessible to people who aren't even familiar with an application of sorts.

What else is this application good for other than seeing things you can't have unless you go out and look for them yourself? Well, you can buy things there as well! I, personally haven't tried it due to my distrust with online shopping, however, many other people do it! You can find a lot of these objects you save in a store, however, chances are these items are double to three times the amount they are on Wish. Wish also has sales nearly every day that you get notifications about so you don't miss them! Even though this sounds so great, there is a catch. I have looked into ordering something because I had a coupon through the application. The item I was looking at was around five dollars. I had a coupon for ten dollars. I left the rest to cover shipping. Once I got to the last few steps, I got to my total. It was over fifteen dollars! The tax and shipping is unbelievable!

There are other options you can rely on to get things like you do from Wish. There is an application called Wanelo which is essentially the same thing. There is also etsy for things more for utilization instead of wear. However, both of these things are probably more price efficient than going out to a store and shopping.

-Hangin' from a clothesline... literally.

Celebrity Downfalls

You never really know how many celebrities go downhill until someone that is extremely popular does a certain act that people don't agree with. For example, let's take Miley Cyrus. She started her career being a role model to many young girls. She was exemplary in all she did, started as a young adult who had a dream and went after it with her dad. She went through her life with multiple practices and scenes being shot a week. She still kept up on her school work and was always on track. You never read anything in the tabloids about her other than her style on the red carpet or her newest boyfriend. Until recently, many have thought of her as someone they want their daughters to be like, or their sons to date.

Now, she has changed dramatically. Recently, she not only has shaved her hair off, but she also completely changed her genre of music. She has become more risky in what she has put out to the public. Some of what she has put out has been thought inappropriate by the public. However, she has done things just like many other celebrities. People have complained about how Miley has appeared in music videos and VMA performances naked or nearly naked and doing things thought to be "naughty" or "dirty". However, people like Beyoncé and Rihanna have appeared naked in music videos and you have never heard anything about it because of the amount of respect people have for them. They also didn't start out as a teen role model for young ladies.

On the other hand you have celebrities like Hillary Duff. She also started out as a teenage role model in the show Lizzie McGuire. She dwindled in the music business while staying in the acting business. She grew up to stay out of the lime light keeping all positive thoughts. She was never in the news for negative things that didn't boil over almost automatically. Nowadays you see her in People magazine with her children. She is living her life right. She has stayed classy and has raised her children with nothing bad to say about it. There are other celebrities that have done the same thing and have just stayed out of the lime light to keep their life straight.

Plain and simple, people make mistakes, no matter who you are. So we all need to take a step back and let people, even celebrities, live their lives the way that they want.

-Hangin' from a clothesline

Knitting: New Savior of Teens?

                How many scarves do you have? Were they hand knitted? That seems to be the new “it thing” for teens nowadays other than partying.  Honestly, I am proud of the teens that have stepped out of the “norm” and took up a new hobby that is much safer than what most teens are doing lately. These kids are the ones on the right track. They spend their nights sitting by fires with all their friends drinking coffee and knitting.

                From knitting for their cats to knitting for their friends, they use their talent and spare time not embarrassing themselves or their generation and bonding with some of their best friends with common interest. So why has this former grandma hobby turned into a hit activity for mellow teens?

                Popularity like always. It started with one person finding knitting relaxing or fun and doing it around or showing their product to their friends. Their friends then catch on and end up liking the activity themselves. Those friends then become addicted to the activity with their other friends and it catches on to the hearts of even more people than before. It then ends up trending and you see it all over social media sites. It’s either that they made something for someone; they’re wearing something someone made for them, or even the act of doing it themselves.

                Whether this trend has caught you yet or not, you should give props to the people who are staying away from general teenage activities of the weekend and maybe even try it out yourself.

-Hangin’ from a clothesline with needles and yarn;)

Gossip Girl

                Muahahah, gossip. Gossip Girl, in fact! What a lovely thing we have access to lately. Gossip Girl is a television show that many teenage girls, even young women are becoming addicted to! Nowadays it seems as if everyone is talking about it! Girls even bond over it believe it or not! Why? It is a drama packed show about rich upper east siders. What better way to live vicariously than through rich people and drama?

                While many teenagers say they hat drama and never want to be in it or start it, it is completely false. Everyone likes it in some shape way or form, whether they want to admit it or not. They just don’t like it when it happens to them or people they like. Well, by watching this show you get all the gossip and drama without anyone, including yourself getting hurt! Well, unless you connect to the characters a little too deeply. It is a perfect way to get your fill without feeling bad about it!

                Earlier I talked about how some people bond over it. I myself, (yes I do watch Gossip Girl) have talked to people and built relationships I never thought I would have due to television shows. You can watch a new episode and go to school or work the next day and find yourself talking about what happened in that last episode as well as what you thought about so and so lying about their feelings to their best friend. Oh the juiciness. You can gossip all you want about the television show and never even feel bad about saying a word about anything!

                There are also the friends that have such a great connection that they can sit in the same room and not say a word to each other as they re-watch seasons together and eat their feelings away with things that obviously aren’t healthy for them. But what better to create or strengthen a bond between friends than chilling in sweats and doing other teenage girl like habits?

                So what makes this bonding turn into a label called being a white girl? Well, pretty much everything that has to do with the show in general. Like I said, the show is about the gossip of rich teens which happens to be juicier than the gossip we experience in our lives. This stereotype was brought up by guys of all else. Little do they know, that most of the gossip is about them or started by them and by making a stereotypical name they just add to the gossip and flames already lit.

-Hangin’ from a clothesline

'Tis the Show Choir Season

                Makeup, hairspray, sweat, and sparkles! What else is a key giveaway to the show choir season? While yes, it is a long season, it only really starts up in January! There are all sorts of choirs that end up competing. Varsity, prep, and a ninth grade division with all sizes and genders. Generally, there are 3A and 4A categories. There are also all girl or both gender choirs.

                So why has show choir become all the more popular? Glee, perhaps? Well wouldn’t that make sense! Glee was a very popular show that ended up catching the hearts of people all over the world of all ages and types. It has made people think that anyone can be in show choir if they really want to. Even if they are popular.

                After Glee aired, many more people started trying out for show choir. Why? Because who doesn’t want to follow their heart while at the same time following after one of your favorite television shows? Once “popular” people started making it into the world of show choir, they got their friends and even more people to want to try out.

                With every sport or activity, there is always a fan base. Unlike most sports, you can see the big shots for a low price, LIVE! What better than the thrill of watching the biggest and best? The suspense of the results? Oh yes. There can be even more of an adrenaline rush not knowing how the results are going to go until the very end, than knowing the score as the game or event goes on. After all, the element of surprise is a favorite of many.

                Speaking of fans, what better to do on a Saturday before you hang out with friends and go to parties later that night? Go to support one of your friends or loved ones! Generally, at in town competitions, almost every performer has at least one supporter in the crowd. That means around fifty fans per choir. What a full house! Then you have to consider the fact that some choirs get points from their directors if they support the other choirs from their schools. Therefore, that adds a whole other choir to the mix of the crowd.

                If your school is not fortunate enough to have a large auditorium or gym to perform in, then you have to deal with the crowd over flow. Many schools decide to use televisions in cafeterias and homerooms so that choir members and school members/ parents can watch without taking up the room of paying audience members. Due to fire marshal rules, schools are not allowed to block aisles or steps due to fire exits. This means that some cannot accept more people in the room than the accepted room capacity, or number of seats.

                Due to the number of audience members allowed, most people get to competitions early and then go straight to stand in line. If you do not have a balcony such as some other schools, then audience members need to stand in line sooner to get a good seat. You can only imagine the traffic flow around the performance room and the amount of heat in there! You definitely have to have a high tolerance for bodily odors as well as having your personal bubble popped. But let’s be honest, what is show choir without getting closer to someone, right?

-Hangin’ from a clothesline