Christmas Traditions

Christmas in my family is done almost exactly the same way each year. On my mom’s side of the family, we do Christmas at Grandma’s house on Christmas Eve. Call time is usually about three thirty in the afternoon so we can socialize and catch up with family. My aunt endures the journey from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids, my uncle joins us, and a longtime family friend celebrates at Grandma’s house also. Grandma never has everything ready when people get to her house so we sit at the table and talk about how I’m doing in school, what Jake’s doing now, how’s Mom’s cancer, etc. Grandma yells across her kitchen to try and stay in the conversation while finishing the mashed potatoes and gravy or vegetables.

When all is said and done for the meal, we sit down together, say a prayer, and dig in. Grandma makes it blatantly clear that we are to eat enough food so our stomachs are filled within millimeters of exploding and then and ONLY then are we to stop eating the main course. I say the main course because we stop eating to let our stomach digest enough of the goods to make room for the betters. (Of course I mean cookies and dessert.) Grandma brews a pot of coffee in hopes that someone has acquired the taste but again, like last year, she’s the only one drinking it. I, the youngest at the gathering, encourage everyone to hurry up so we can mosey into the living room and open our presents.  

This is where some variation occurs. My brother and I sort out the presents to each family member and depending on the year, either I start or Grandma does. This year, Grandma started because I started last year.  It’s frowned upon to tear your wrapping paper and if you even think about throwing the bow away, you’ll hear about it from Grandma. Same goes for boxes. Anything that can be reused is reused often the next year. After Grandma goes, it’s Uncle Bennie’s turn; then my dad, then my mom, then Aunt Tammie, then my brother, and last, myself.  After presents we might enjoy more of Grandma’s homemade sweets or we might leave. It all depends on the year.

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I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry

I sincerely apologize for my lack of blogging. If I had an excuse, I would use it… but I don’t. In the time since I last blogged, I got the stomach flu twice, ended up in the hospital both times, celebrated Christmas with my family, rang in the New Year with my brother and his friends, entered into hell week for show choir which actually lasted about two weeks, and made way too many cupcakes. I started some new medicine as a preventative action against the stomach flu as well as influenza A which has made its way to my dad, brother, and brother’s girlfriend who all live in the same house as myself and luckily have not infected me… yet. (Knock on wood.)

Having diabetes is an added challenge when it comes to illness outbreaks, especially during the winter.  I become a slight “germaphobe” from November until mid to late March. Carrying hand sanitizer is a must, changing clothes when someone coughs or sneezes on me is almost instantaneous, and wiping down desks, railings, and doorknobs is a habit. Getting sick is extremely dangerous for diabetics and being a high school student makes it worse. Each missed day of school adds more pressure to get back on track. Unfortunately for me, I’m still trying to get caught up from earlier in second trimester.

Again, I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging regularly and I promise I’m as disappointed in me as you are. My grade has been affected and my parents have hopped on me about it. You have my word that starting on Monday, January 13, 2013; I will keep up with my blog.

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Let there be love

I’m a huge fan of the NBC singing competition The Voice. On a recent episode, Coach Christina Aguilera, along with her team, sang a new song from her album Lotus. Her team at this time consisted of Dez Duron, one of my
favorites, and Sylvia Yacoub, another very talented competitor. The first time I watched these 3 perform the song; I was very excited because Dez Duron is a very attractive young man and I love Christina Aguilera. I wasn’t paying attention to the words of the song at all. All I knew was the song was very catchy, it made me want to dance and I really liked it. The performance on the show was very extravagant; there were pyrotechnics, a ton of back up dancers, and the crowd was very excited, as was I. After seeing a tweet about how inappropriate the song was, I decided to go back and listen to the words.

"Awoooo, like that. Yeah it feels so good that I can’t hold back. Like that, Hit the right spot, making my eyes roll back. Let there be let there be love, here in the, here in the dark. Turning me, turning me on. Not gonna fight anymore cause I want your touch.”

Agreed, the song is inappropriate, but it’s still very catchy. Christina is her usual self, adlibbing, reaching notes the normal person probably couldn’t, and being very passionate about what she’s singing. The song is very upbeat, like one you would hear in a club, and will be stuck in your head for a good length of time after you listen to it. I like that Christina performed this song with her team on The Voice because the song, which was fun to see performed on TV, is one that would be very fun to see live. Christina is using the song to promote her new album and I think it was a great choice.

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Getting Closer

A big part of being in show choir is bonding. By the end of the year, I can almost always say I feel like I’m part of a big, dysfunctional family with great memories. One memory that has already been made was a party held at a member’s house. We all bought matching shirts which we tie-dyed at her house, we played Just Dance in sort of a “tournament,” and we sat around listening to music getting more acquainted with the people we’ll spend more time with during the winter than our families. At about midnight, the boys left the party and the girls were allowed to stay the night if they wanted to.  I chose to stay the night because I felt like even more memories would be made and I could get even closer to some of the girls in the group. I was completely right. About half of the girls in the group stayed the night. There were girls I knew really well and some I knew just their name. We lay in a circle on the floor in the basement and went around telling everyone something other people didn’t know about us.  Some girls were very personal and told their life stories and tears were definitely shed. I gained a lot of respect for the girls in my group because I didn’t know what some of them had gone through.

Another thing our group has done that brought us closer was singing at Drew Wall’s funeral service. Drew Wall was a student at Kennedy High School for 2 years. He was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2008 after he had a constant pain in the lower part of his right leg. Drew made the life changing decision to amputate that part of his leg in hopes of stopping the cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer spread. Drew passed away on November 26, 2012 after being hospitalized in Iowa City and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The doctors performed a CT scan on Drew and found a cancerous tumor on his lung. Drew had also contracted pneumonia and a virus that couldn’t be stopped. After 12 days in the hospital, Drew informed his family he wanted to go home. Drew passed away that evening. The next day, Kennedy students came together and wore purple, the color for supporting cancer, in honor of Drew Wall. Happiness was asked by the family to perform a song at Drew’s service. Without question, we all agreed. We practiced a song 3 times before we had to sing it on Monday. I saw peers at that service bawling that I had never seen display any sort of emotion before. People I never talked to hugged me and we supported each other in such a tough time. I was proud to say I was a part of such a great group of people that cared so much about everyone else, even people they had never said a word to before.  This experience brought our group together more than a party or winning a grand championship at any competition.

The next opportunity we have to get closer is coming up on the 15^th of December. Luckily, we’re having our holiday party before the world is supposed to end. A different student has opened their home to us and we have all chosen someone for Secret Santa. Even Mr. Ziegler, our director, filled out the information and chose a student to buy for. I’m going to be honest, I don’t even know the person I chose but from what I can tell, something from Panchero’s is going to be my best bet. Maybe I’ll just get them a burrito.

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Snapchat

I love Snapchat. If you don’t know, Snapchat is a relatively new, free smartphone application. Using this app involves taking generally embarrassing or horrendous photos of you or your surroundings, selecting how long the receiver can see the photo, perhaps adding a caption or drawing on the photo, then sending it to another Snapchat user.  The viewer of the photo can see it for as short as one second and as long as ten seconds. After the selected amount of time, the picture is gone forever unless the person who received the photo takes a screenshot. If a screenshot is taken, the one who took the screenshot can do whatever they choose to with the picture. Luckily, if someone takes a screen shot of a picture you send, you get notified immediately.

Naturally the first thing many people thought of was the possibility of convenient sexting, or sending nude or provocative photos. Sexting is illegal and if you’re under 18, it is considered possessing and distributing child pornography. If charged with child pornography, you become a registered sex offender. I’m not 100% sure of what occurs after that, but it no doubt is any better than the rest of the situation.  I’m not sure why someone would “sext” using Snapchat. It’s illegal no matter how you do it.

I, personally, prefer to use the application to send the ugliest and funniest pictures of myself to my friends. If I know someone is having a better day, I cheer them up by sending a picture of me doing a funny face and suddenly they’re happier. Whether they’re happy for the entire day or just a short time, I don’t care. It’s nice to know I’m the reason they smile. On the flip side, I love getting pictures of people making the worst faces they can possibly make. It takes contortion and special control of face muscles to make the best faces for Snapchat.

Snapchat is the source of a lot of my entertainment, especially during school. I’m afraid that improper use of the application is going to result in Snapchat being removed from the application store permanently. 

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GAY FRIENDS BEFORE BOY FRIENDS

My ex-boyfriend was my boyfriend for 17 months. Boyfriend as in, spent every waking minute together, went on dinner dates, watched a ton of movies together and talked all the time. I thought he was "the one." Don't tell me I'm stupid, I already know. He was funny, sweet, cute, and always there for me. Unfortunately, not too long ago, I pushed away all of my friends for this boyfriend.

My best friend since the fourth grade is gay. Gay as in homosexual, not gay as in "stupid." I love Chet more than anyone I've ever been friends with and I'm proud to tell people he's my best friend.  He's feisty, sassy, gay, attractive, funny, sweet, and always there for me. Unfortunately, not too long ago, I lost Chet from my life completely and it was entirely my fault. 

When my ex-boyfriend broke up with me, I was hit with the harsh reality that I had lost all of my friends during my relationship. No one asked me to hang out. No one talked to me. No one ate lunch with me. Even Chet was ignoring me. He was the most hurt. No matter how much I apologized or tried talking to him, I got nothing in return. It was obvious I had crossed some sort of line and I felt horrible because of it.

I met a new boy. Boy as in someone I really like. He’s tall, funny, cute, and super-duper sweet to a level I’ve never been exposed to before. I told Chet about this boy and at first he was really happy for me because now I’m happy… then Chet got upset. I’m sure you can see why he would get upset given my past actions. I know I’m lucky to have Chet in my life after pushing him away and I learned my lesson. Boyfriends aren’t always going to be in my life but Chet has always been there for me so I’m sure he always will be and I will always be there for him. The moral of the story is gay friends before boyfriends.

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Breaks

The best feeling of my teenage life so far has always been the day before a break from school. Whether it is Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, Spring Break, or even Summer I never fail to feel fantastic when the bell rings, dismissing me from my last class before a much needed vacation from school. I was particularly excited this year when I finished my practice essay in AP Lang and I was anticipating the bell that signaled my freedom for the 9 days we called Thanksgiving break. I was so excited because I knew my family was leaving for Fort Collins, Colorado the next morning.

Each year, my family and I travel to Colorado, usually for a week, to visit two of my dad’s brothers. We stay with my uncle Mike, his wife, Rosanne, and their 2 kids Kate and Jack. Their other daughter, Maggie, goes to college at the University of Wyoming which is about an hour away from their house. Jack plays hockey and Kate is a cheerleader at her high school. I enjoy staying with them because my uncle and dad are so much alike and they are both really funny. Another bonus to staying with their family is Kate and I are really close. She’s a senior in high school so we deal with a lot of the same stuff in life. Mostly boys. It’s nice to have someone to talk with.

While we were in Colorado this time, we went to Estes Park which is where the wildfires occurred. There are still trees that are charred. The DNR makes “fire stoppers” which are really just big piles of wood, almost like a bonfire, that are there for the fire to burn instead of spreading more. Estes Park is also home to the Stanley Hotel, famous for the movie “The Shining”. It’s also a tradition for my family to go to Casa Bonita in Denver. Casa Bonita is a tourist attraction, restaurant, and place of entertainment all bundled into one huge, pink building.

At the end of the week, it’s sad to pack up my clothes and say goodbye to family I love so much. We loaded the car to leave Colorado at 7 in the morning, Colorado time, on Saturday. I slept most of the way home because we left early and the drive from Colorado to Iowa is boring. We pulled into my driveway at 8 PM, Iowa time. If you do the math, that makes the drive 12 hours including stopping for food and gas.

The worst feeling of my teenage life so far has always been the day before school starts again after a break. It’s Sunday night and you turn your alarm back on, pack your school bag, and pick what you’re going to wear the next day. I hate waking up to the obnoxious buzz of my alarm clock. The same obnoxious buzz signaling me to wake up and get ready to go back to prison until the next vacation or break.

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