"I May Be a Sinner, but I Can Be a Hero Too"

The crescent moon shone through the abyss of blackness as little Tommy Ray ran through the narrow streets home. He had snuck out to go see the cat. The little, gray, worm eaten ball of fur, that he had named Tommy Ray Jr., had no home and was aching for some milk. Tommy's mom had warned him not to go out, as Crazy Sue was always lurking.

None of the adults would tell him why she was called Crazy Sue. All the children knew was that a woman of 40 shouldn't have skin so gray, eyes so yellow, and a yearning for compassion. Tommy had never met Crazy Sue, until tonight.

The woman had been beside Little Tommy Jr., rocking back and forth a to a tune Tommy had never heard before. With a muffled scream, he hurried into the streets, and just as the cars headlights turned on him, he heard Crazy Sue shout "sorry".

The car must not have been moving fast, he thought, as he awoke lying on the cool, damp grass where the cat lived. All he could remember was something pulling him. Trying to make sense of what had happened, he sat up slowly, and turned his head.

Frozen with fear, all he could do was stare into the ladies warm, yellow eyes. In a state of panic, he fled the scene, running as fast as his velcro sneakers would take him as the poor woman shrieked, "I may be a sinner, but I can be a hero too!"
as memories of her deceased son encumbered her mind, and rain flooded the streets.

Short Story: The Little Monster

The Little Monster

by Arden Rose

It was a warm day in may, they say, when the Little Monster first peered at the sun.

His big eyes reflected the warmth in which he felt and saw. His tiny green hands opened and closed as he felt himself and the world around him.

No bigger than a football, the Litter Monster was cute as could be. Although his face was speckled with black dots and he had tiny little horns sprouting from his head, he did not scare anything around him.

Where did he come from or how did he get there? No one knows.

But that is not the point.

He was one with nature as he stood up. Looking around him he had felt that he was no different from the grass or the sky. But as he touched the ground, the grass began to shrivel and die. He looked up at the sky, and as he breathed, it is said, the sky turned gray.

Being young, he thought nothing of it.

It is said that when he was born, the Little Monster didn't know that in his little hands he held all the power in the world.

He grew exponentially.

At one the world was huge to his Little eyes. He could feel it's beauty but knew nothing of the power he would soon hold.

At five he realized he had more responsibility. Not everything around him was kind. But his world was still simple. He had no knowledge of the power he had.

At fifteen the days grew dark for the Little Monster. He had more black dots than every, and he wasn't so little anymore. He began to see the sky turning gray. He started to understand his power.

But he did nothing.

As he grew older and older, the grass turned to dust and the sky got darker and darker. The poor Little Monster hadn't wished for this. He didn't want to destroy the world his big eyes had once marveled at.

But, it is said, it was too late when he realized he could use his power for good.

That for every plant he made wither, he could revive with a new one, and make sure to water it.

That if he breathed a little lighter, the sky could be more blue.

That if he didn't stop so hard on his birthplace, the ground would be whole.

But it was too late. The damage was done.

He was old now. His horns were great and ugly. The dots on his face huge and menacing. He scared the world around him.

The Little Monster looked at the world he had destroyed. He had wished, then and there, that he hadn't been given so much power.

The he lay down to die.

Leaving the world he once marveled at, in ruins.

What Happened in Israel

My friend, her sister, and I at the Dead Sea

Israel is described as the Holy Land. A place not to be missed by any Jew, Muslim, or Christian. Being a Jew, Israel is supposed to have a special place in my heart, but, because I'm not very religious, it honestly did not. I expected this trip to be life changing, not because I would finally see the place my ancestors came to after roaming the desert for forty years, but because it was my first opportunity to be independent. I was going only with the company of my friend Hannah, who's family and friends we would be staying with. Being two stubborn teenage girls, it wasn't easy having to stay together 24/7 for three weeks. By the end of our trip, we had managed to refrain from killing each other after a few fights and childish tears (so much for maturity and independence). On the last day of our trip, I was disappointed. Had I become a crazy, but independent, teen? Not really. This was supposed to be my “life-changing” trip, as I called it, and the irony of that name set in on the last day as I had had no “life-changing” moments. On the last day, we made our way back to Hannah's friend Hadar's house in Tel-Aviv, where she would take us to the airport. When we got to Hadar's house, everything seemed as it should be: Shir, her sister, was watching TV while her brother, Tomer, played on the computer, and her father Etan chatted me up about the World Cup. Her mother, Liat, was in the kitchen making dinner when I noticed the TV was showing images of rockets falling from the sky, narrowly being stopped by the iron dome before they hit the ground. Suddenly, the microwave dinged and beeped--so I thought. Hadar, her family, and Hannah stood up and rushed to the door. Hannah urged me in that direction as she tried to stay calm. Momentary confusion quickly gave way to the terrifying realization that it wasn't the microwave that had gone off, but a bomb alert. I hurried down the four flights of stairs, past the other apartments, willing my legs to move faster in order to get to the locked doors of the bomb shelter. That's right, LOCKED doors. The woman in front of me quietly mumbled, “Lo beseder” (no good in hebrew), and all I could think in a slightly frightened yet ironically proper tone was, “yes, very bad indeed”. There was a horrifying silence that I presumed to be fear, but as I stared at the faces around me , time seemed to freeze. I studied each of the Israeli's faces: their somewhat bemused looks with boredom in their eyes. I realized what they were experiencing wasn't fear for their lives, but a momentary adrenaline rush. They weren't worried, except for Shir who lacked shoes and didn't want to get her feet dirty. They were tired. America is not Israel. These people are used to this. No one can hide forever. No one can worry. There's no time for that. Life, even faced with fear, must go on I realized. Life must go on, sometimes oddly normally, in a war zone.

Looking back after four months of being home, the trip was really great. And I truly miss Israel

10:52 In the Afternoon

It was nine in the afternoon when I realized the irony of that sentence.
It was 10:52 in the afternoon when I realized the thing i hate most had become of me, and that my life was ironic. I had betrayed myself. I'm so scared of becoming nothing, of being talentless, of being bored, yet I let myself turn into the couch instead of the potato, wasting my days away merely existing whilst having anxiety dreams about a research paper I still have to write. Let me take it back to high school musical, the epitome of my fantasy life. Troy promises something or another to Gabriela and Gabriela replies with "promise is a big word Troy" then sings some sappy song about how her perfect love life is slightly less perfect in the face of small adversary. So basically, every dramatic teenage girl ever. In this case I play the role of both Troy and Gabriela. Pretty lonely to be both of them at once. And pretty lonely to be without a blog. I want to write. So I will..write my research paper. And then get back to this.

Independence in Israel during the Fourth of July

Well Blogger-sphere (if that's how you say it), I'm bacccckkkkkkkk. Let's call my month break from blogging a short hiatus from my boring life. I was on vacation, and frankly to tired to charge my computer after using up all the battery watching HSM and HSM 2. So here we have it, my very good excuse for not blogging. I traveled to a place that you should not be going to right now, Israel. There's alot going on in Israel right now, so I want to blog about that later.

My Israel trip wasn't the life changing, coming of age experience I'd hoped it would be. My whole life I've been at home. I mean I've traveled, but I've always been with my family. Up until the three weeks I spent in Israel, I had never been away for my twin brother for more than a day. Naturally, I wanted to get the hell out of my house and be ON MY OWN. I looked up educational and community service programs but all were too expensive. When my friend told me she was going to Israel (by herself), I expressed my jealousy, which resulted in an invitation to join along. The idea sounded fantastic, and by some miracle, my parents agreed to let me go.

So off we went. Before we even left, I had a bad feeling. As I've expressed in this post, I like to be alone. I was sixteen years old going to a foreign country with another sixteen year old. Needless to say, I didn't get any alone time at all. The friend I went with is very stubborn. Long story short, it was an awful trip that I would like to remove from my memory. I realize how terribly rude that is, considering I got to travel at all, but what can I say, it's the truth.

Dorothy spoke the truth when she said "There's no place like home". I had never wanted to return to my quiet abode in the boring San Fernando Valley until I actually left it. Being back feels great, especially for my back, as I had been sleeping on couches. It's still tough to come back though. After being without your parents for a while, you get a sense of what it's like to be truly independent. I absolutely loved it. If my trip had gone differently, or been with a different person, I probably wouldn't have wanted to come back at all, and would go into my rebellious teenage stage. I'm still waiting for that "phase" so I can finally write about something.

We missed Independence day here in America, but I still got my own taste of freedom, as well as a fireworks show, as I was still there when the first missiles were being fired.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post was, but I'm just trying to come back. Thanks for sticking with me!

Words of Wisdom: Life is short

Well guys, Friday the thirteenth has just come to end here in sunny California (I wrote this two days ago), so I thought I'd start the not so terrifying day after with some words of wisdom. You see at my school, every Wednesday, our dean does this thing called "Wednesday's Words of Wisdom". Yeah, no one listens to it. Well except me. Some of the things he says are actually kind of inspiring. So here's something I wrote today, and I'm sharing with all of you :)

Life is good when it's short. When you live life to the fullest, life is short. You'll love it so much you'll feel like the days are passing too quickly. When you're happy, days go by, and time runs out. You're afraid to die when you're young because life is good, but when you're older, you're ready to go because it was so. If you're not happy though, life is long. If you can't find happiness, the days will just drag on. Believe me when I say this. You want life to be short.

Book(s) Review: The Selection Series

Side Note: I'm horrible at summarizing books, but I'll try to keep this short.

Book #1- The Selection: When I read the back of this book, I was charmed by the idea of a futuristic romance, but, this book gradually became much much more than that. The setting is the future of America, now called Illea, and no longer a democracy, but a monarchy. The protagonist, ironically named America, is in love. She's  deeply in love with a boy who she shouldn't be in love with. Why? Enter the caste system. Illea is made up of 8 castes, all with different categorized jobs. One is the monarchy, 8 are the homeless and shunned people in society. America is in a lower caste, which are 4-8. She's a 5 and an excellent musician and singer. The boy she is in love with, Aspen, is six. It's traditional, well recommended in Illea for women to marry into a higher class in order to move up in the world. Yeah, even though this is a futuristic book, it kind of sets the world back like two centuries. So then there's this thing called the Selection. It's the bachelor, but with a prince instead of a fucked up dude like Juan Pablo (last season's bachelor). Obviously, or else there would be no series, America is chosen to be apart of the selection. America is the stereotypical woman. Very, very indecisive. At first only stays for the money, and seemingly foolishly tells Maxon (the Prince) that, and also kicks him in the balls. For some reason, this makes him very fond of her. And for some reason, I loved this book, and read the next two. Oh Also, there are rebel attacks and stuff. Some are deadly, some aren't. It's kind of like a regular thing at the palace.

Book #2- The Elite: This book is beautifully written, and has an excellent cliff hanger that left me screaming into a pillow at 3 am with the notion of starting a 24 hour bookstore for situations like the one I was in. The Selection, which started off with 26 girls I think, is now down to six. One, of course otherwise no book 2 or 3, is America. Along with her is her new best friend Marlee, the snobby rich kid Celeste, the ever princess like Kris, and a bunch of other kind of irrelevant ones. Here's the gist of things. America shows off how bad ass she is. Oh and Aspen comes to the palace so that kind of ruins everything. You see, little naive America thought she was in love with Aspen, but, after a month or two at the palace, and being Maxon's favorite, begins to have feelings, very real feelings, for Maxon (holy that was a lot of commas). Aspen comes, and she questions the WHOLE THING ALL OVER AGAIN. Honestly it's exhausting but it keeps you on your toes. I honestly have a love/hate relationship with America. Just like America, her friend Marlee, is in love with one of the guards. She gets caught and is brutally assaulted on live television and sent to become an eight. America tries to stop it. Most hate her, but some love her for it. For being "real". Maxon, being a good guy....you know what I'm ruining the book. Basically the book ends and she's almost pretty sure she's in love with Maxon but, then again, obviously fears being a lone and leads poor little Aspen on.

Book #3- The One: I've ruined the first two books for you now if you're reading this. I don't think I'm going to review the third. I might have made you hate these books, but if they sound at all interesting to you. You should read them. I truly did love reading them. And I hear they're making this series into a tv show! Yay?

Don't Spend Summer Alone

So I've done it. I've made it halfway through high school. I'm done with half of what is supposed to be some of the best and worst years of my life, and I can't help but be confused. High school is NOTHING like what is portrayed as on television. I've already expressed my sadness over the lack of random dancing happening in the hallways. Sophomore year, the year that currently just ended, was probably the most stressful year of my life. With the title of "Sophomore" came random panic attacks, mental breakdowns, and sleep deprivation. I cried over missing pens at two in the morning, and slept in until nine, missing my first period.  I had teachers who changed my life and teachers who who I considered idiots. But regardless, sophomore year was, without a doubt, the best year of my life. It was like this year high school actually started. The workload multiplied by ten, but so did the memories. I made more friends than I ever thought I could. My classmates, for the most part, stopped being classmates and transformed into family members. That's what's so great about school. When you suffer, you suffer together. I learned absolutely nothing from my math and chemistry classes, but learned more than I could ever hope to from my English teacher. As we read Dickens, Orwell, and Huxley, we learned not only about the French Revolution and Dystopia, but also about ourselves and our society. It's the most important class I've ever taken in my life, and I will never forget it. As hard as this year was, I'm sad to see it come to an end. What sucks the most about school ending is that you lose contact with the "family members" who are your classmates. The whole year you know you're going to see these people for five day every week, that you don't stop to think what will happen when it's over. Every year this happens. I stop talking to people, and that's why summer is kind of depressing at first, until the fun starts kicking in. I know everyone deals with this, so I've come up with a few ways to stay in contact.

#1: SOCIAL MEDIA: It's become so much easier nowadays to stay in contact with your friends. Get a twitter account. Tons of my friends love to tweet about what they're thinking/doing/saying every single moment of their day. I'm sure your friends do, so there's no reason to miss anything they're doing with their lives and you can always comment on what they're doing.

#2: DON'T STOP BOTHERING THEM: Let me explain. Don't go overboard. Most people can tell when someone doesn't want to hang out with them, so don't be that guy who keeps pestering your "friend" after you've already received the message. What I mean is don't be afraid to be the one to ask to hang out one day. Chances are your friend wants to see you too, but is just to shy.

#3: MAKE PLANS BEFORE SCHOOL IS OUT: I'm sure there's some study somewhere that says if you say you're going to do something, you will. At the end of the year, everyone always says "We're definitely hanging out during summer". But most of the time, that never happens, as everyone retreats into their rooms to binge watch tv shows on netflix for the whole summer. So how about this. Try setting a date, activity, and time, before you leave school. Actually make plans instead of making a plan to make a plan. If that makes sense haha.

Well guys my Sophomore year is over and Summer is upon us, which means.....
I SHOULD BE POSTING MORE! I've recently read a lot of books and movies so stay tuned for that :) 

Heartbreak and Awkwardness

This week has been such an emotional week for me that I can barely remember Monday. Let's start from the beginning.
****THIS MIGHT GET PERSONAL AND DEPRESSING****
I'm so sorry this is so long

MONDAY: I finally woke up early, and knew I would be getting to school, no not on time, but actually early. There's something nice about waking up early. Well after, and if,  you're able to drag yourself away from the warmth of you messy bed. I strolled in to school, glad it was somewhat empty. As I've said, I like being a lone, and my first period class happens to be in the most secluded part of the school. Naturally, I went there. Now for the background info. I've only had one boyfriend. Said boyfriend and I had a meaningless relationship but an extremely meaningful friendship. Before we got together, we talked every night for a year and half. I liked him for the longest time. I liked him for so long, that by the time he actually asked me out, the idea of dating was simply that, an idea. It actually happening wasn't some fairytale romance. It was scary as shit, and I freaked out. Our relationship was awkward, and didn't last long. When we broke up, I wasn't that sad. Unfortunately, it somewhat terminated our friendship. That's what I was sad about. We still talked, but not like we used to.  So, as I happily and calmly strolled to the excluded part of the school, you can imagine my surprise as I saw him sitting there with his arm on another girl's leg. This girl, is actually a friend of mine. Like the awkward idiot I am, I went to sit down next to them. BUT IT WAS BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE I NORMALLY WAIT FOR FIRST PERIOD TO START. My ex boyfriend is a really nice guy. He's really caring and really shy. Even though he knew I saw, he tried to play it off. They eventually left, and I was shocked. I was shocked they were together. I was shocked I cared. But I was also shocked at how little I was jealous. I didn't get mad at my friend or him, as I'm not the type of girl who is like that. I was just kind of surprised. Like every romance movie and book we've all ever seen or read, the part that hurt was remembering all the things he had said to me. Suddenly it hit me. Those things didn't mean anything anymore. At this point in the drama, the girl is normally running and screaming at the guy, asking how he could betray her like that. But let me make this clear: I'm not that type of girl. It wasn't his fault and I knew this. I had moved on, and so should he. So I thought all these things to myself, still too shocked for it to really set in. Halfway through first period, it started too, and I was crushed. I fought back tears, because I don't cry in front of people. Or atleast that's what I thought. Second period rolled around, and I had my first breakdown in class ever. The tears were starting to come, but I controlled them. That was until my twin brother walked up to me, worry in his eyes, and asked me what was wrong. And I broke. I broke like I never had before. I wasn't crying because I was jealous. I was crying because that was the real break up for me. Now I knew things were really done. My friends were great, and helped me pull myself together. I heard the little I knew about my ex and my friend's relationship. It was the same flirty friendship we had had. He liked her, but was too shy, and was leading her on. She was confused. It was the SAME DAMN THING it was with me, and I knew how awful it felt to be her. I care about both of them a lot, so I told my ex not to do what he did with me. Drag out that horrible flirty friendship for a year and half. Otherwise, I knew he would lose her. He found out I cried in second period, and was worried. He's nice, but denied his relationship with my friend. Now that worried me. My friend and I had a great talk and cleared everything up. There's a lot more to this story, but I really don't think I can go on. This was my first heartbreak.

TUESDAY: So Monday came to a bittersweet end. I had cleared up everything, cried my eyes out, and felt a lot better. What  I didn't realize when I woke up Tuesday morning, was that it was Tuesday morning. I only have a week of school left, so my reasoning behind this is that it's that time of the year when I'm fucking done with school. I woke up at 7:30, thought it was Saturday morning, felt relieved, and went back to sleep. That's right kids. I conveniently forgot about the other 5 days I had until Saturday. I woke up again at 9:00, thought about my chemistry homework, and realized, with what you can imagine was great disappointment, that it was in fact Tuesday. I was not starting my weekend. No, I was beginning my week. Honestly, that's all I remember about Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday I had a field trip to the Will Gear Theatricum Botanicum. That place is beautiful, and if you live in LA, you should really go there. Walking in, I saw this red head. Not only did he have red hair, but he was wearing a maroon sweater. The only thing I could think was RON WEASLEY, and after my first heartbreak, I feel in love. Apparently I wasn't the only one. By the end of the field trip, almost every girl in 10 Honors English was swooning over this guy. They stole my second love. I hope you guys realize this whole love thing with the red head is a joke. Honestly, the trip was boring and stressful.

THURSDAY: This was yesterday, yet I remember nothing. I'm pretty sure we watched Freaks and Geeks in AP World. The APWH test is over so there is nothing more to do. All I remember was when I got home I tried to my homework, but was distracted by my book I was reading. Instead of doing my homework, I sat down and read my 353 page book all in one night. It was so worth it. The book I was reading was The One by Kiera Cass. It's part of the Selection series, which I will be doing a review on soon  (SO COME BACK FOR THAT ;) ).

FRIDAY: Finally the day has come. I kind of just wasted this day away. Spending lunch, and every free time I had, doing the homework I should've done last night. Nothing significant happened until lunch. I was lying down on the grass, trying to do my homework, butt in the air, when my friend Nick walked up to me. I now hate Nick. Nick was with some friend of his. Some friend he has to be cool as they often do. His friend, who said I was cute, asked me for my number. There are so many things that are wrong with this. Number one being, his friend never saw my face. I was lying face down on the grass, my butt in the air. This means, he only liked me for my buttocks. Cool man. Being the awkward person I am, I panicked and gave him my number. I'm such an idiot. All his friends, who happen to be in my sixth period class, aren't letting me live it down. I'm slightly flattered but extremely disgusted at all this. And now here I am. Writing. It truly is a relaxing exercise.

Dealing With Stress

Well I haven't posted for the past few days, and I have a valid excuse. I've been under boatloads of stress. If stress was a physical thing, you could literally fill up a boat with it and place it on top of me. That was this week for me. I had an AP test I barely studied for (good job Arden), a chemistry project worth half of my grade due after that (which I probably failed), and was slapped in the face with English homework. I could go on and on about how hard my week has been, but no one wants to hear that. The sad truth is we all deal with stress, and sometimes, well most times, stress can be a bitch. But, once again, have no fear! I have several tips that I've found very useful for dealing with stress.

1. As much as we'd all love to think so, PROCRASTINATION just adds to the stress. I procrastinate more than anyone I know, and I've probably lost three years of my life because of it. As soon as you can, start the assignment that's causing the stress. The sooner you start it, the sooner you finish it, the sooner your life is stress free.

2. Listen to MUSIC. Music is a really wonderful outlet for relieving stress. Music can make you feel all the emotions, and can help you get them out. If you want to feel happy, listen to happy and upbeat music. If you're sad and want to deal with it, listen to music that will help you express your emotion.

3. Never be afraid to CRY or have a MENTAL BREAKDOWN. Both these things, viewed as negative, can actually be very beneficial. Sometimes the stress will build up inside you, and this is just it's way of getting out. I know no one particularly likes to cry or have a breakdown, but I personally feel refreshed afterwards.

4. Find  a GOOD FRIEND to talk to. Besides actually dealing with the thing causing you stress, there are very few ways to relieve it. Talking to a good friend who actually will listen to your most likely overdramatic woes, can really help. Talk isn't cheap. Talking about things will help you clear your head instead of forcing yourself just to think about it. Hopefully your friend will be able to calm you down!

5. EXERCISE. Exercising is a very good way to deal with stress and it's an excellent way to procrastinate! Not only it is healthy, but exercising can give you a feeling of accomplishment. This is actually proven to relieve stress. Going for a short run will clear your head, and give you the mindset to deal with stress.

HOW TO REMOVE WAX OFF SURFACES

So if you're reading this, it probably means you've done something stupid. Something like forget about the candles you're burning, leave your house, and come back to a sea of wax on your surface.

Well have no fear civilians, there are simple and quick steps you can take to remove this wax.

Step 1: Forgive yourself for being an idiot
Step 2: Thank the lord above that your house didn't burn down
(Now This Gets For Real)
Step 3: take a hairdryer, or something similar to a hair dryer and simply blow dry the wax.
Step 4: Once it starts to met a little (but don't let it liquidate), use a cloth to remove the wax. It may take a little force but it will come off pretty easily.

This only took me about 10 minutes and it worked really really well.

DO NOT USE THIS ON CARPET. It will only make things worse. If there is wax stuck to your carpet, try freezing it and then removing it. Again, THIS IS FOR HARD SURFACES ONLY!

TOP 5 YOUTUBERS

1. Joe Sugg (Thatcher Joe)

I absolutely love this guy. He's hilarious, charming, dedicated, and not to mention British and attractive. Whenever I'm procrastinating I go on YouTube, which is all the time (like right now!) He never fails to crack me up and make my day a little brighter. And when I say "crack me up" it's more along the lines of me flailing on the floor unable to breathe because my body can't handle my laughter. He's amazing at impressions, and he created the infamous "innuendo bingo". His video with Tyler Oakley really gets me laughing. You should definitely check him out!

2. Marcus Butler (MarcusButlerTV)

Dubbed "rear of the year" by several other youtubers, this guy has hips that don't lie. I'm not going to lie, his initial appeal was his charming good looks and adorable accent. After watching about 20 of his videos non stop, I fell in love. His skits are hilarious, his rants are on point, and his clumsiness is adorable. He doesn't have a bad female voice either. The only thing I don't like about the guy is that he's dating a very pretty girl who isn't me and I know, living in America and being only sixteen, that I will never be the apple to his pie or the straw to his berry. Oh well, at least I can stalk him through the internet.

3. Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlog) and Jim Chapman

 If you couldn't tell by now, I have a thing for British Boys. I know. What a shocker. These two are somewhat tied for me. Although I can't pinpoint anything specific that I love about either one of their videos. They both seem like the nicest "lads" as the British say. They're lovely to watch everyday, and they both have impeccable style. I highly recommend watching them.

4. Zoe Sugg (Zoella)

This girl is so kind and so beautiful. She's the epitome of perfection. Her beauty videos are very helpful and informative. I love watching all of her hauls even though I don't buy any of that stuff. She's just such a like able person and I love watching her vlogs. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like her, and it's not mystery why she has 4 million subscribers! Her collaborations at hilarious and quite frankly I just want to be her bestfriend. Well I want to be best friends with all the British youtubers.

5. Shay Carl (Shaytards)

This guy might not be that popular in the teenage world, but I really enjoy his vlogs. He's done daily vlogs for five years!!! Talk about dedication! His vlogs follow his family life with his wife Colette and his give kids : sontard, princesstard, babytard, rocktard, and brotard. They are all absolutely adorable and make me laugh everyday. I started watching his videos about a year ago and became instantly hooked. If you don't know who he is, check him out!!!

Other youtubers I LOVE are: Tyler Oakley, Sawyer Hartman, Caspar Lee, Sprinkle of Glitter, and Troye Sivan.

Living In My Own World

"Living in my own world, didn't understand". Troy nervously sang these words to Gabriela, in his embarrassment and fear of being thrown on to a stage without ever having sang before (so he says). These are the first lyrics that lead into the iconic (well that depends on how you view it) love song in which Troy and Gabriela discover their undying passion for each other. Well done Disney. However these lyrics hold a different meaning for me. As I've mentioned BEFORE, I rather enjoy being a lone. "Introvert" I believe is the term to describe this. I don't know, maybe I'm defining it wrong. But when I'm on my own, I'm "living in my own world" and I "[don't] understand" how others work. In ninth grade I learned daydreaming was a coping mechanism. Although effective, one should not daydream all the time, as that leads to schizophrenia. This is where my fear of having schizophrenia started, but we'll leave that story for another day. When I'm in my own world, nothing can hold me back. Nothing can stop me from dreaming or being or doing whatever. So when I tell other people I like to be a lone, and they give me that confused and slightly creeped out look, I can't help but be confused as well. In this sense, I just simply don't understand.

Being an introvert means I don't always want to be around other people. I love the saying "INTROVERTS UNITE...a lone", because that pretty much sums up my life. I've always had an issue talking to people, but never to my imaginary friends. I can observe and analyze human behavior down to the point, but when it comes to actually conversing, count me out. Sometimes I just can't relate, and quite frankly, it becomes exhausting.

Being an introvert, and living in my own world, as kind of held me back. Im not quick to join in activities, because I would much rather play them out in my head. It's hard for me to put myself in social situations, because I instantly feel like I can't breathe. But as the quote above says, this is apart of who I am, it's how I act and what makes me strong.

But this doesn't mean I don't love talking to people, because I do. I just can't talk to them at parties. And because of that, I feel like a fail of a teenager.

Please remember guys, being an introvert isn't a bad thing. Never let anyone tell you it is. However, there's no harm in putting yourself out there once in a while, just make sure it's with people you're comfortable around and make sure it's something that's not too far out of your comfort zone.

Ahh, if only high school could be like High School Musical. I'd be the first to dance down the halls (mainly because I already do this when no one is watching).  How many of you feel this way? More importantly...how many of you wish high school could be like High School Musical?

BIRTHDAY!!!

 WELL IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! Im the big 1 6. I still can't drive, or do anything so YAY TODAY REALLY DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING FOR ME! But that's okay, because I was celebrated. There's no better feeling than acceptance or being remembered. Today a lot of my friends wrote me heartwarming cards and gave me gifts, mainly of the food kind. I will cherish this day forever. It was truly a grand day, and it felt as if nothing could shake my mood. And so far nothing has. Not me forgetting to do my homework or probably failing my english test. NOTHING! And that's what's great about Birthdays! I love all my friends and everything they did for me today and every day. Unfortunately my twin brother was not showered with love and gifts, as I find that is more of a girl thing. So he's a bit down but I LOVE YOU ROSS AND MY LOVE IS ALL  YOU NEED!! So all I really want for my birthday is for you lovely people to be happy, and also to you know follow, read, and comment on my blog. Just a thought. Well have a great day, as you should, because it's my birthday. Now I have to do homework, or should I call it unpaid overtime. 

I'm the one in the dress :)

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Books we've read

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TFIOS BOOK REVIEW

The Fault In Our Stars. The emotional tale of love ridden cancer patients that is gripping the nation and consuming the minds of teenage girls (and boys) everywhere. Although I enjoyed the story and the characters, the book jut didn't do it for me. That's not to say it wasn't a good book. It really introduced a different perspective about terminal illness as opposed to the normal sickly tragedy of it. Although this book is very, very sad. The issue for me wasn't really the story, it was more the way it was written. Watching John Green's youtube videos, it's easy to tell this man is extremely intelligent. In all of his books that I've read (TFIOS, Looking For Alaska, and Paper Towns), he tends to do this thing where he uses very big words that don't really fit with the sentence and mess up the syntax. While it's obviously good to use intricate words, it's not good to have them in almost every single sentence. I like to think I have a good vocabulary, but reading this book I realized I had loads more to learn. Instead of focusing on the story, I was focusing on trying to decipher what the words he was using meant. Because of this, I just couldn't connect with the characters or the book itself. At the end, although I was sad, I just didn't cry. I just couldn't connect with it on a personal level. But like I said, it is a very good story, and since the movie is coming out and everyone is talking about it, I encourage you to read it. As far as the other books I've read by him go, I really loved Looking For Alaska. Looking For Alaska and Paper Towns have very similar plots though, as they both follow an awkward teen obsessing over the mysterious and hot intelligent girl. But seriously, Looking For Alaska is a good read. Especially if you're a teen who feels lost or a lone. What are some of your favorite John Green books? Should I read an Abundance of Katherines? John Green is one of my favorite youtubers; I love his quirkiness!!
Not sure about the book? Watch the trailer for the movie! It's truly beautiful and might just inspire you to read the book.

Grab My Button

Why Culture is Important

So guys. Today I went on a field trip to UCLA and learned all about African Culture. Needless to say it was an incredible experience, and opened my eyes, letting me in on things I had no idea about. I think by living in a first world country, we often forget about the people who aren't as well off as we are. This needs to stop. We have to remember those less fortunate, and acknowledge that other people feel that they can exploit others and exploit the homes of millions. But we also need to immerse ourselves in culture. Few would ask "Why is culture so great" but hell I'm going to tell you anyway. Humans, at least the humans I've met, are really quite weird and confusing. We all have this need to fit in, but at the same time a yearn to be different. These wants contradict each other on almost every level, yet it somehow seems to work. One way it works, is that everyone has some type of ethnicity or culture, and since everyone has different cultures, it's easy to be unique and stand out. At the same time, there are many people who share your ethnic background, therefore creating a community in which you "fit in". Another reason culture is so awesome? This should be easy. THE FOOD!! Think about this, if different cultures didn't exist, would we have: Chinese food, Mexican food, Italian food, Persian food, Ecuadorian food in all parts of the world... A lot of different types of food are derived from cultures. Not just derived from, a part of. Although I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food, but i don't think I would be as happy without my pasta primavera or my pizza (with extra cheese!). Learning about different cultures makes you a well rounded individual. Not to mention you'll sound super smart in front of your friends.  Culture is very, very important. And if I'm being honestly, I don't know that much about other cultures. I plan to though, and I hope you all will join me for the ride!
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Solidarity: Friend or Foe?

Is it weird to want to be alone sometimes. Being in high school can sometimes feel like being in a prison cell. A prison cell that keeps getting smaller and smaller as the day drags on. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I generally enjoy being a lone. I get to think, and sometimes it's just nice to get to know myself without the pressure of having to converse with other people. As I'm sure you can tell from this my social skills are questionable. I don't know how other people feel (obviously as I love being a lone), but sitting in silence with no pressure to talk is very therapeutic. Almost like doing Chi Ti (that's definitely not how you spell it) or talking to animals. Wait, I've never done any of those things. Well I'm assuming. Off topic question: do you think conversing with animals would be the same as conversing with humans? I don't think so. Honestly I feel like animals all have different cultures, and that talking to an animal would be the equivalent of entering a different universe which would be FRICKIN AWESOME!!! But back to the solidarity thing. Maybe I'm just obsessed with myself, or maybe I think too much, but I  have to be a lone for at least half the day or I begin to go mad. That's a bit backward isn't it, as it's known that no human contact could make a person go mad. Hmmm...maybe I should go on that new reality tv show :naked and alone. Just kidding guys I'm far to obsessed with food, the internet, and well um being clothed. Not to mention I have a very real, although some call it irrational, fear of things that crawl (especially spiders). Although I do talk to people more than I feel I've expressed in this post, it always seems like somewhat of a chore for me. Obviously I enjoy having conversations, but other times I'd just rather think. But I don't want to be rude, so I keep prolonging the conversation with my friends so we're not sitting there in awkward silence. Along with this fear of spiders, I also fear boredom, or more importantly, boring somebody. I think this is a main factor in my love of solitude. When I'm alone all I can only bore myself, and the pressure is off. Except with all the thoughts running through my head, I'm never bored when I'm a lone. Well I guess I'm never truly alone as Im always talking to others and myself even in my head, but we'll leave my schizophrenia for another day. Thank you to all who are reading my blog. Please continue reading, if you'd like! Don't be afraid to comment! I know I just said I don't always enjoy talking, and as sad as this is, I absolutely love talking over the internet, so don't be afraid! xoxo Gossip Gir-----------um no shit poop haha Im not ha gossip girl. Okay adios internet
  Arden (aka Ardenia, aka Farden, aka artichoke, aka ardenini)
Want to Know more about me and the weird things i like? Well you can find out HERE

I've lost my shoes. I hate losing things

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Failure

The hardest thing to do in life, is find what makes life worth living. My biggest fear was that I wasn't special enough; that I would never find what I was meant to do. Of course I had family members telling me how amazing I was, and friends telling me they loved me, but all of that doesn't matter. Because I didn't feel that way. Recently I've started putting myself out there. I got a job, an internship, and I started this blog. The future doesn't seem so scary anymore. I have this weird sense of peace. I still have no idea what the future holds, but I'm not so worried about it, and it feels AMAZING. As i said in MY NEW START, my life has been about starting things without ending them. I used to be so scared of failing that I would quite before I could. There's nothing I regret more than quitting gymnastics, because I could've been good, but I hated the way I felt when I fell. I hated the feeling of failure. Now, I yearn for that feeling. Because when you've failed, It mean's you've tried. And from my experience, that feeling is way better than not knowing what would've happened at all. As J.K. Rowling (the best author ever) said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.” As weird as it sounds, I'm proud of myself for giving myself the opportunity to fail. To me, the feeling of failure just means I've finally succeeded.

And of course while looking for this pic  I found a ton of gross photoshop fails :)))))

like wtf is this

The Future? That shit be cray

Just want some quotes that will make you feel better about the future? READ THE END

So today a guest speaker came into my chemistry class and he talked to a group of very anxious tenth and eleventh graders about...THE FUTURE. Yay. At first I was nervous about the conversation, as I'm scared for the future, but it turned out to be a very inspiring talk. This man works for beats headphone company. You know that small company that now generates A BILLION DOLLARS. Yeah, I wouldn't mind making a billion dollars. At first he started talking about his job at the company. He's a data person, so basically he puts all the data and stuff together for them. After that he basically just talked about our generation and the age we are currently living in. With technology, he said, things are advancing and changing more than ever, and that we are going to have to keep up. When he was our age, computers weren't even a thought, and now look at today. A time without computers? Yeah, no thank you. How would I be doing this blog? How would I procrastinate on my homework? How would I do my homework? Computers have changed unbelievably since their start. Everything that he was saying about change in technology started to make sense to me. When I was in fifth grade the popular phone everyone wanted was the hot pink motorola pink phone. Now third graders have iPhones. There's a book this man told us to read called The Third Wave. 

He gave us some background info on the book. Most people who have taken a history class know about the two ages :Stone and Industrial. Now, quite obviously, we are in an age of technology. Read about my thoughts on TECHNOLOGY here.He predicts in the future technology will be used for everything. There will probably be genetic engineering for EVERYTHING. That means clones guys. Anyone remember the movie WALLE? We everyone is fat, isolated, and dumb? Well basically were on an express train to that society. I don't know about you, but the idea scares the shit out of me. Technology will be used, even more, in medicine. Like someone in the USA can operate on a person in India through a robot. That sounds a bit dangerous to me. The book teaches you must LEARN, UNLEARN, and RELEARN. I mean, in college, most of the stuff you learn is outdated by the time you graduate. The speaker emphasized the importance of learning things on our own, and that good jobs are when opportunities meet hard work. This man did the impossible. HE MADE THE FUTURE LESS SCARY! Some quotes I found inspirational and calming were"
"Life is a marathon, not a sprint"
"It's OK to fail. Fail forward"
"Find a NICHE. Be GREAT at something"
"The world is changing, change with it"
What do you want to do? Tell me in the comments!!!

Things to come

I'm going to be posting a lot of DIY stuff I find on pinterest and challenges, quotes, and cool things I find elsewhere so stay tuned! I promise you won't be disappointed. I also be posting normal journal-like entries and a segment called "Memories from my life" where I'll tell all my embarrassing funny stories. Trust me there's a lot. You wouldn't want to miss that now would you. I didn't think so.

Sun Dresses are in..let me tell you why

Recently I've seen a fad at my school. The +Brandy Melville sundress. Being a girl who wouldn't be seen without jeans on, I was somewhat confused. It started like this. Everyone was wearing this same boring black dress that exposed some of the back. I saw at least three girls wearing that every day (IN MY GRADE ONLY). Well I guess these semi-casual, semi-sexual, black dresses went out of style, because a new kind of dress took it's place. The floral sundress. I guess stores like Brandy Melville decided to get creative. It started with form fitting dresses with some kind of generic flower print. Slowly it evolved to being of a hipster dress, as the flowers suggested. The skirt of these dresses was let out, becoming more comfortable, and the floral sundress was born. Still with these same generic flowers, I haven't seen a sundress for teenage girls since that doesn't have this pattern. So why does everyone want to where a sundress. Many arguments can be made, and it mainly just depend on your point of view. Living in SoCal, it tends to get hot this time of year. The flowy dress is a nice way to keep your body cool, instead of trying to force your holiday weight into a pair of too tight, too short, borderline bathing suit, jean shorts. For others, like many styles are, it is a way to express themselves. To show their feminine side if you will. Then there's people like me, yes even me, the girl who used to swear dresses were the devil, are wearing sundresses. By "people like me", I mean lazy people who normally don't care about appearance but still feel the need to look good every once in a while. Wearing a dress, to me, means not having to spend the extra ten minutes in the morning looking for a shirt that can barely fit over my boobs. Wearing a dress means no pants for the day!!! As many girls can a test to, pants can be a drag to wear. Sometimes it's nice to show some skin, instead of facing the uncomfortable sweat village that forms on my skin the hot days I wear skinny jeans. Mainly it just means, I can be comfortable. For those of you who don't like dresses, that's perfectly fine. Like I said, I used to hate them. The first day I wore one, I was extremely uncomfortable. But after a few times of wearing one, I grew to love them. So girls, don't be afraid to show those legs! Shaved or not, go buy yourself a sundress. +
 Hanger 221 and +Forever 21 have great options.

Hey Guys...

So I know I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but so far I'm really loving it. I love to write, but I'm blogging for more. More than anything else, I really want to connect and talk to people, about ANYTHING. I truly will be posting about almost everything. From food, to current events, to movies, to everything british, to harry potter, to disney,  to life. Please, Please, PLEASE stick along for the ride. Comments, tips, anything at all is greatly encouraged and appreciated.

Check out my about me page HERE :)

Earth Day

Man Earth Day Video

Earth Day was just the other day. I recently found this video and it really made me think. How much harm are we doing to the earth? Is the earth really like that man, helpless, as we just pollute it? The earth provides us with what we need. And I think it's time to start cleaning it up, even if that means just picking up trash every once in a while

Food...and secrets to life too I guess

These 10 seconds always seem like the longest seconds of my life. Waiting for food is like waiting for the grass to grow or for paint to dry. Call it my food addiction, but maybe it's just that we always have to wait the longest for the things we desire the most. But just remember, the outcome is always delicious!! This doesn't even have to do with life. The ziti was just really good. 

Look at that beauty

Technology-Great and Powerful

As much as I love the benefits of technology, I also love to hate it. It's a common stereotype that the older generation doesn't know how to work technology. So call me middle aged too because I am just as confused. There is rarely a day where my computer doesn't freeze, my iTunes fails, and word is not impossible to understand. Does this make me dumb? No. All I have to do, somewhat ironically, is look up how to fix all the problems on my computer! Great! Right? Technology, it helps me, is also a hiding place. No longer do I have to deal with awkwardness. I simply just pretend I got a text. No longer do I have to talk to pretend to be asleep when I don't want to talk to people. I can just be on my phone. There's nothing wrong with technology, but as a people, I think we are all getting too attached. People my age don't even put phones in their pockets anymore. There's not one time I'm with my friends when we are not on our phones. Children have started to play on iPads more than playing hand games like slide. Frankly I think technology makes life boring and dull.

What will the future be like? Find out HERE

My New Start

A movie enthusiast, book lover, writer, bad dancer, horrible singer, twin, cluttered mind, and Harry Potter fanatic. All words to describe me. My life so far, has been an endless road of starting and no ending. I'm just looking for a place to put my thoughts on EVERYTHING from fashion to books to life. I plan to post a lot, well once AP tests are over. For the most part, this will be like a journal. A journal I get to customize, the most exciting part for me. I want to finish this. Hopefully this will be a start to something great. "A start of something new" as Troy and Gabriela say in High School Musical. Another one of my passions as a sixteen year old girl. I say that with absolutely no regret. This year will be a year a of new beginnings. I'm promising myself that. Welcome to THE ROSE 
Check out the ABOUT ME page under Home for more info on me