What If You Bumped Into God At Starbucks

I tend to take life literally, so this question is a bit too metaphysical for me. But on that plane:

Would he be the homeless man outside, begging?

Would he be standing in line, wondering if he should order a venti gingerbread latte?

Would he be a she?

Would I be too tired to notice?

There is the belief that God resides in every one of us, which would mean that I always bump into God at Starbucks.

That's a comforting thought.

I have to get to Starbucks more often.

[Literally: If I bumped into God at Starbucks, I wouldn't know unless he wearing the purple and white robes and had the long-flowing white beard that I remember from images in bible stories. And if that person bumped into me at Starbucks, I would most likely think that he's some kind of nut or homeless person, and I'd move away as quickly as possible. Not too impressive of me. I definitely need to learn to dig deeper and not take people at face value.]

What Jews Do Over Christmas

Most people think that Jews order Chinese food and go out to the movies on Christmas Day. This is certainly not true for my family, but for others it could be. Usually my family is in Palm Springs (another thing people think Jews do––go somewhere warm, which could be true) because my grandma has a house there and we have a big Christian dinner with most of the family living or visiting there.

Last year I wanted to be home during Winter Break to work at the stables. My family went to our cousins' house in Vancouver for Christian dinner, and we had fresh turkey stuffed with a quail. Or something like that, I can't remember. Otherwise my famjam didn't celebrate the holidays, except for making latkes during Hanukah.

This year I am crazy busy working at a lot of different barns and housesitting a few places, so I don't have time to go away. But I will be kind of on vacation because I will be sleeping at someone else's house for about three weeks. I will be making money for the horse I have not found yet. But have no fear! I am looking at a horse on the weekend and she looked really good. My trainer and I are super excited to go and see her.

According to my mom, we will be having Christian dinner, but on Shabbat. This is what we Jews will be doing over Christmas.

Storage Wars

I am addicted to Storage Wars. It is a TV show about old storage lockers that get auctioned off. If you're wondering who buys the lockers, it's mostly people who have a lot of money or people who own antique stores. They take what's in the lockers and sell it, or keep it in their stores. The way the show works, the auctioneer opens the locker, everybody is allowed to look inside, but they cannot touch anything. Once all the people have assessed the locker, they start bidding. Some lockers go for $50 and some go for $3,000. It just depends if the bidders see something valuable or not.

On the show there are five main bidders who are in all the episodes: Brandi and Jarrod (a husband/wife team), Dave, Barry and Darrell. Dan and Laura are the auctioneers. My favourite is Barry, because he has some really fancy-shmancy-looking cars but tends to buy the worst lockers. He always says he thinks something is valuable but it never ends up being worth anything. Sometimes he is lucky and makes a lot of money on one locker. All in all he buys crap lockers.

Every Saturday night when I sleep over at the barn there is a Storage Wars marathon on A&E and that is all I watch for about two hours amongst other things, such as eating and doing night check at the barn. I am really excited because there is a Storage Wars: Texas version that aired for the first time last Tuesday. My friend got me addicted to the show when we were on Vancouver Island horse shopping. (If you're wondering how the horse shopping is going, don't ask. Too many people have asked me and I am tired of explaining.)

To sum up, Storage Wars is my favourite reality TV show. But really, no show can compete with Castle.

Going To The Dentist

My dentist's office is pretty cool because the receptionist rides in Southlands so I see her there sometimes. It confirms she is sane.

The office also has a fake fireplace and a huge tank with lots of fish. Plus it's not a kids' dentist's office, it's for adults and teenagers, which means I get treated as if I'm a 15-year-old, not a 5-year-old. Yay! I find it less scary than the doctor's office.

At the dentist's you sit in a chair, and people use tools to clean your teeth and scold you for not flossing twice a day. It's not so bad, except for when the dentist wants to talk you, but you can't talk because his hands are in the way. The doctor's however, well that's a whole other blog post. In one word the doctor is: uncomfortable.

My dentist also tries to make me do yoga to relax my jaw. Jaw yoga, as if I would do yoga in the first place let alone for my jaw. Anyway, he is pretty funny, and he used to be my grandpa's dentist. He is mine, my mom's, dad's, brother's and uncle's dentist. Good family ties at the office. Also his office is at UBC, which is close to my house, and a short bus ride away from my school.

All in all, I don't mind going to the dentist.

My Life As A Grandma

I hope not to be a grandma because I am not planning to have kids. And if I don't have kids, then I can't have grandchildren. Which also makes this blog post kind of awkward because it's titled, "My life as a grandma."

But I do have a brother, and I know he wants kids. And he wants my grandma to have great-grandchildren, so he is definitely on a mission. That would make me a great aunt, which is almost the same as a grandma. If I went 50 years into the future and imagined my life as a great aunt, I think I would be a happy camper. I would have a husband, and obviously nieces and nephews. I'm not sure how many, but hopefully not too many (but that is out of my hands). I would have a career as a volcanologist. Or maybe not. It could be something totally different. Nonetheless, whatever it will be, it will be a successful career. And I would still have some involvement with horses on some level. My husband would have a successful career, too.

I would be one of the best great aunts you could ask for. I would take my nieces and nephews out for a day or two to give my brother and his wife a break. I would like my nickname to be Aunty Yes, because I will always say yes to them.

Seeing as I don't want kids, it would be good for me to have a good relationship with them, because if I get old and sick, I am going to need someone to take care of me.

In Praise of Isomers

For the past two weeks I have been working hard to finish Chemistry 11. With just one more unit to go, my mission is almost complete. En route, however, isomers have given me a bit of a bumpy ride.

To understand isomers, you have to know that a hydrocarbon is a molecule composed of only carbon and hydrogen atoms. You write it as CH4. The 4 after the H means that there are four hydrogens bonded to the carbon. Keep in mind there are many kinds of hydrocarbons other than CH4, such as C9H20. Fun stuff, huh?

Now you need to know a little bit about carbon and hydrogen:

• Carbon has four electrons in its outer shell. A full outer shell has eight electrons, meaning carbon has to bond with four other atoms to fill its shell and be happy.
• Hydrogen has one electron in its outer shell but needs two to be happy. (Don't we all?)
• Electrons float around atoms in a shell––two in the first shell, eight in the second and third shells and 18 in the fourth.
• So if one hydrogen bonds with one carbon, the hydrogen will be happy but the carbon will still have three spots to fill, which it usually fills with hydrogen.

This is why CH4 is the simplest hydrocarbon. There are not many ways you can restructure this molecule. But take C3H8. You can write out all the carbon atoms in one line, with the hydrogens surrounding the carbons. But you can also put one of the carbons below the other carbon atoms. This is a different molecule from all three carbons in a straight line. And it has a different name. Welcome to the mathematical world of isomers.

Once you get to molecules such as C9H20 there are many different isomers. A Chemistry 11 requirement is that you have to be able to figure out all the isomers, draw them and name them. Which can be exhausting. I hope that if isomers make an appearance on the test, they will be easier molecules or we'll be told how many isomers there are.

This link explains isomers in a more detailed and clearer way than I can manage just now.

Bad Christmas Sweaters

Bad Christmas sweaters; I'm not sure what to think of them. They are pretty ugly. If a Christmas sweater is only white and navy blue or black you can maybe pull it off. But if it's red or more than two colours, nobody can pull it off. And I mean nobody, not even models. Those sweaters are just too ugly.

I also don't understand why someone would buy one. I understand if your grandma made it or it had family history. But why buy such an ugly sweater? You can't wear it any other time of year, and you shouldn't even wear it in winter. Bad Christmas sweaters can also be hilarious, because of the designs on them, like the ones with Santa Claus and all his elves. Or Santa's sleigh and the reindeer.

I would have to be bribed to wear a bad Christmas sweater. And it would have to be a good bribe. I wouldn't wear one for only five bucks. More like 500 bucks. Yes, that is how much I do not want to wear one. I would never heal from the horrid ugliness of it. I'm still healing from clothes I wore when I was like seven.

Clowns

I think clowns are hilarious. I don't understand why some people are scared of them. I guess I should watch a horror movie with clowns, then maybe I would understand that fear. But when I think of clowns, I think of Cirque du Soleil and the TV show Modern Family. Why the TV show? Because there is a gay couple and one of the guys, Cam, has this obsession with being a clown. When he was younger he used to be a clown at little kids' birthday parties. He is just hilarious. Seriously.

I also do not have the ability to take clowns seriously. If a clown came up to me and started talking about philosophy I would probably start laughing. Because who has ever heard of a philosophical clown? Not that people who are clowns cannot be philosophical, it's just they can't be philosophical dressed as a clown.

For the record, I did research philosophical clowns and there is no such thing. I found one video tof a clown asking people "deep" questions. Then the clown then started asking ridiculous questions.

Using YouTube as my guiding light, I can safely conclude that there is no such thing as a philosophical clown.

Shabbat Dinner

Every Friday night my family sits down to Shabbat dinner. It's to celebrate the start of Saturday, which is the day of rest for Jewish people (all Jewish holidays run sundown to sundown). On Friday, my uncle and grandma come to our house for dinner. My mom told me that when she was growing up, the Shabbat dinners rotated between their house and her aunt's house. But in our family, we are the keeper of the Shabbat dinners. We go to my uncle's house once or twice a year for a meal, but never on Shabbat.

My brother and I rarely miss Friday Night dinners––it's a family tradition that just feels right. We always recite blessings over the wine and challah (twisted egg bread) before dinner, but my mom is iffy when it comes to lighting the Shabbat candles and welcoming Shabbat in song. There are rules: if we have friends over for dinner, we light the candles; if we have guests who are not Jewish, then my dad gives them a run-down on Shabbat and what the blessings mean. My brother and I always grunt when he starts his speech, although I suppose when I grow up it's going to be one of the things I'll be glad he did. Once we had a non-Jewish family over, and when we started singing the blessing over the candles, they thought we were singing Happy Birthday and chimed in. It was memorable.

Dinner doesn't vary much, and it's always delicious. My favourite is Caesar salad with oven-baked fries, barbecued grass-fed steak and my old stand-by, challah. We've been having a lot of blueberry pie lately for dessert, because we have a lot of blueberries that we froze over the summer.

People sit around talking after dinner, although not me. I usually crash in front of the TV and then go to bed. I have to get up early to clean stalls in horse stables. I don't really get to rest on Shabbat, although that's the point of it.

Homelessness

I have recently learned that Vancouver has a lot of homeless people for its size. Apparently, we have one of the highest numbers of homeless people in Canada. Great job, Vancouver. Our civic reputation just keeps getting better and better. I would like to think that being a green city makes up for this, but it's better that people have a place to live than a city be known for being green.

I am not saying that Vancouver is to blame for all this homelessness. It's not Vancouver's fault that so many people are homeless. But it is the city's fault for not doing enough to help correct the problem.

I just feel the city puts a half-hearted effort into lots of things, instead of a full effort into a few things. This means that lots of problems kind of get fixed, but kind of don't. Something needs to change about that. Maybe Vancouver should only work on a two major problems at once, really fix them, then focus on another two.

I like living in Vancouver; I just wish we had a better reputation. We have not been having a great few years.

The reason I am writing about homelessness is because there is a homeless man who lives in the alley underneath where I go to school, and he is moving into an apartment today. So we are all really happy for him!

Daydreaming

I like daydreaming. It's relaxing and you can get some important thinking done without realizing it. I don't tend to daydream a lot but I zone out sometimes. When I zone out it's usually because I am bored or uninterested in what I am doing. I'm not dreaming but I think a lot about what's going on in my life and decisions I have to make. I zone out a lot when I get really stressed.

Some people think daydreaming is bad and that kids shouldn't daydream because they become unfocused. Other adults encourage kids to daydream. Daydreaming is kind of fun as well. You can sort of direct the dream to what you want to dream about. You can disappear into your own world and chill there for a while. Or until your teacher brings you back to reality.

I think it is healthy for people to daydream. It releases stress and worries. It' also fun, and we all know that work or school can be boring sometimes. One of my friend's teachers told her parents that she daydreams too much about horses. Well, duh, she spends almost all of her free time with horses and is obsessed with them. And that is a good thing.

What Would I Do If I Was Going Bald

If I was going bald, I would be freaking out because usually guys go bald, not girls. In my family, we get grey hair early, not bald heads. I'm pretty sure my dad had grey hair in his 20s. If I was going bald, I guess I would try a hair treatment, or wear a toque or some kind of cool hat. Wigs are just too uncomfortable and look bad.

Because I'm female, it would be strange for me to have to get new hair. Most women colour their hair, but that's different.

My dad's hair is grey/white now, but he still has more hair than the majority of his friends. And the hairline in my family is not so bad. My brother recently got a buzz cut and his hairline looks ok.

So if I was going bald (which I am not) I would freak out a bit, then try to do something to make my hair grow back. But I would never ever ever wear a wig. The only way I would wear a wig is if someone offered my a large chunk of money.

My Idea Of A Balanced Lifestyle

I don't believe in balanced lifestyles; they are too perfect. Something has to be wrong if someone claims to have the perfect life. I do not believe in perfection. And a balanced lifestyle is too easy to maintain––there are no challenges. It would be good for awhile but then I would get bored.

I think people strive too much for a balanced lifestyle. I like my life of worrying about getting good grades, horses and not having a big social life. I can't have a gigantic social life, get good grades in school and devote time to horseback riding in a balanced way. I would go crazy, or mess something up. Then I would stress more and I'm already pretty stressed. I'm not about to try to change my lifestyle to make it more balanced.

My life works. I am not depressed or suicidal. I'm active in sports and I go outside a lot. I also do well in school and have a good, small social life. So why change that to make it more balanced? If I were seriously depressed or something, then I would change it.

So my idea of a balanced lifestyle? Unbalanced.

Movember

It seems as if there are lots more guys doing Movember this year. If you don't know what Movember is, click here.

At my school there are a few tutors growing a moustache. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: they look kind of creepy. But it's for a good cause so I'm letting it slide.

That being said, how about those athletes and their moustaches? There's a scary sight. I was watching hockey the other day, and I saw a guy who was growing a moustache getting in a fight with another player who was cleanshaven. It got to the point where both the players' helmets came off, and the guy with the moustache was really mad, really sweaty and really icky with his thick moustache.

I mean Movember just doesn't work for some people.

But some men, like my uncle, can pull off a Movember moustache. It just takes the right clothing and personality. I'm just relieved that in a week they get to shave.

Irrational Fears

Some people are afraid of things that are worthy of being scared about, such as spiders, heights, snakes and small spaces. And some people are afraid of things that are just plain silly, like peanut butter (unless you're allergic), the number 666 and Friday the 13th.

People, there is nothing scary about peanut butter sticking the the roof of your mouth. 666 is just a number and Friday the 13th is a myth. These fears are irrational.

However, some types of spiders and snakes are poisonous and if they bite you, they will kill you if you cannot extract the venom. If you're up high, there is a chance of your falling and sustaining bad injuries or dying. Small spaces are just kind of nerve-wracking. I don't think its possible to die, unless you're trapped and don't have food or water and run out of oxygen.

Rational and irrational fears all have something in common: their formal names. They all end in phobia:

• Arachnaphobia: fear of spiders
• Claustrophobia: fear of small spaces
• Ophidiophobia:fear of snakes
• Acrophobia: fear of heights
• Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter
• Hexakosioihexekontahexphobia: fear of the number 666
• Paraskevidekatriaphobia: fear of Friday the 13th.

Looking at this list, I think we can assume that the more irrational the fear, the more absurdly long and hard-to-pronounce name. 

Improv Everywhere

"Improv Everywhere" is a New York City-based group. The group creates public events to brighten people's days and to give them a good story to tell later on.

It started when the founder of the group, Charlie Todd, moved to New York to become an actor/comedian, but didn't have a stage. So he created one out of the city. The first scene was a no- pants subway ride. Charlie and six other friends rode the subway in full winter gear, except for no pants, just boxers. It was a hit. They have been doing the no-pants subway ride for 10 years now, and people participate in over 50 cities.

Over the years they have pulled off some truly amazing stunts, such as the Best Buy uniform prank, when they had 80 people to walk into Best Buy wearing blue polo shirts and khaki pants (the Best Buy uniform). Customers, assuming these individuals were employees, were asking them all sorts of product questions. The Best Buy managers called the police, but the police to them that there was nothing illegal about wearing blue shirts and khaki pants.

Another stunt was called "The Human Mirror." On the subway, they had people dress up the same and do the exact same things. It was like looking at a mirror.

If you want to brighten up your day, click any of the links to Improv Everywhere.

Hair Products

Hair products are kind of ridiculous. I'm talking about shampoo and conditioner, because they are necessities in modern society. If you do not wash your hair at least once every two days, it starts to smell bad. People think you're weird. Unless you're a hippie, or you have been on a camping trip or mountain-climbing expedition and there is no indoor plumbing. Those are the only two (or three, I guess) exceptions for not washing your hair.

Most shampoos and conditioners are terrible for your hair and for the environment. But major hair product companies are smart. They advertise products to make your locks look glossy and gorgeous, then they try to sell you shampoo that strips hair of its natural oils, and conditioner that adds the moisture back. What's more most shampoos and conditioners have chemicals in them that are no good for your hair or your scalp. Read the label: if it says sodium laureth anything, put it back on the shelf.

We should all be buying for natural products for our hair that may cost a little bit more but are better for overall health. It's also a myth that you need to use lots of shampoo and conditioner. You only need an amount the size of a loonie to do the job.

I use natural shampoo and condition from Whole Foods and I wash my hair every two days. My mom has tried to convince me to use baking soda as shampoo and apple cider vinegar as conditioner, but so far is batting zero. 

The Man

"The Man" is a phrase or slang for someone who is in charge. It can be a guy or girl. People will usually refer to their bosses as "the man" for two reasons. First, they hate their boss and they are sick of being harassed by him or her. Second, the employees think their boss is really awesome, and they have a good time at work.

People use the phrase "stick it to the man" as a way to motivate co-workers and to stand up to their bosses. I am not sure how many people actually use this phrase in real life, but I know in movies they use it to the point of overuse.

When people say "you're the man," it means that you are really awesome. Usually, it is because you have solved a problem or fixed something, do it with ease and don't ask for anything in return. People will say this when building Ikea bookshelves but get stuck, ask a friend for help and the friend fixes the problem.

"The Man" is no one in particular, but a significant person in someone's life. Referring to someone as "The Man" is a big statement. This means you're "The Man," the person someone hates or loves. It happens to be a big deal. Especially in my tutor's life, who gave me this topic to write about. I think he refers to himself as "The Man." Oh, dear.

Celebrities in Jail

Lots of celebrities go to jail. Most of the time their stay is under 30 days, and they are sent to jail because they have violated parole––often from DUI or drug possession convictions. Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Shia Labeouf are excellent examples of this.

Lindsay Lohan was sent to jail for for violation of her parole. She was recently sentenced to another 30 days in jail but only had to serve four-and-a-half hours due to overcrowding. Paris Hilton violated parole after being caught driving drunk. She was sentenced to serve 45 days in jail. She started crying a lot in jail in hopes it would get her out quicker. Sadly, it worked. Shia Labeouf went to jail for two days because he walked into a Walgreens drugstore wasted and had to be escorted out by security.

Perhaps the most infamous celebrity to go jail has been OJ Simpson, but it wasn't for murdering his wife and her friend (he was found not guilty at what was the most publicized trial in American history). He robbed a hotel in Vegas and was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 33 years.

Celebrities may think that they're above the law. But they're not.

Hickstead

For those of you who do not know who Hickstead was, shame. Hickstead was one of the greatest show-jumping horses in the world. He almost never knocked a rail down. When watching Hickstead, you could see in his eyes that he wanted to win. He was the most awesome horse ever.

Hickstead and his rider, Eric Lamaze, took the show-jumping world by storm in 2007. Lamaze became the first Canadian rider to break into the top 10 world rankings. In 2008 Lamaze and Hickstead won the individual gold in the Beijing Olympics. The team only had one rail down during the entire show. Lamaze and Hickstead went on to win many more Grand Prix events around the world. They won the  $1 million International CN Cup and the  $200,000 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (four times!) at Spruce Meadows.

While competing in the Rolex F.E.I. World Cup in Italy, Hickstead collapsed after finishing his round. He went into a spasm, and all Lamaze could do was call for medics and watch. The medics were too late, however, and Hickstead died within minutes of collapsing. An autopsy is being completed within the next few days, and the cause of death will be announced. Vets think it was most likely a heart attack.

It was a shock to the equestrian world when Hickstead died on Sunday, November 6. It is a great loss to show jumping, and Hickstead will never be replaced.

Public Transit

In Vancouver, we have an aggravating public transit system. Buses always run late. I repeat: always. Vancouver has a new subway system, the Canada Line, which runs from the airport in Richmond to the downtown waterfront, which has improved the system, but only enough to say that the public transit system is less aggravating.

The route from my house to school takes at least 30 minutes, but just 10 minutes by car. I also have to walk a lot compared to some people's transit routes. That annoys me, because the point of busing to school is so that I don't have to walk. (I usually get driven though, so I don't have much to complain about.)

The Lower Mainland would like to improve the public transit infrastructure. The proposed Evergreen light-rail line would link Coquitlam in the Fraser Valley to the University of British Columbia's Point Grey campus. This would have a huge, positive effect on public transit.

The problem is money. The problem is always money.

Recycling

Recycling is a enormous part of trying to become more eco-effienct. I'm going to assume you know what global warming is, and that you know we are slowly killing our planet. Recycling is a way to help prevent this, because garbage would not be sitting in a landfill or tossed into the ocean. Recycling is also a way to avoid releasing harsh chemicals into the atmosphere.

Recycling reuses materials. Paper is easily recyclable, which is why we see lots of coffee cups or paper that says "made from ___% recycled paper." Pop cans and aluminum are also a major source of recycling. Recycling pop cans saves 95% percent of the energy it takes to manufacture a brand-new one. While all Canadian provinces and territories have pop recycling programs, only a handful of states do. Tsk tsk, Americans.

I am big on recycling and being energy efficient. I will admit, though, that I leave my laptop and cell phone charger plugged into my wall all day. But I make sure to turn off all my lights and recycle as much as I can. I print out as little paper as possible so that I am not wasting it. I even knit little animals from leftover scraps of wool.

I try to do my part to help make global warming less harmful.

The Role of Pets In My life

Pets play a large role in my life. I have one dog named Freddy; he is a golden doodle. He is now eight years old and he has cancer. But he got it when he was five, and the vet said he would last up to nine months after he had surgery. It's been three years, so far. He has a mast-cell tumour on his face, just below his left eye. The vet could not get the whole tumour out, because it was too close to his eye and it would have blinded him.

Freddy is the happiest dog I know, and when people meet him they think he is just a puppy because he has so much playful energy. He makes it his duty to go up to every person he sees on his walk and say hi.

While it seems like Freddy has a lot of energy all the time, he basically sleeps all day at home, on the couch or under my mom's desk. Then at 3 or 4 pm when my dad gets home, he wakes up because he knows it's time for a walk. Then Freddy is pretty energetic until dinner. After dinner, he sleeps or cuddles with the family. Freddy also gives hugs and smiles. He has a half smile, though, because he lost the feeling on his left side of his face.

We had a dog before Freddy. She was a yellow lab named Goldie. We were very close. In all photos of me as a toddler I am lying on the floor against Goldie, rubbing one of her ears and sucking my thumb. She slept in my room and my parents told me that when I was upset, instead of going to them, I would crawl into Goldie's kennel to be with her for comfort. Goldie put up with it because I gave her so many treats and she was obsessed with food.

I am also big into horseback riding, so horses play a major role in my life. I ride every day and am currently leasing my trainer's horse. I am on the hunt for my very own horse, but it's a long process. There are many factors in finding a horse: age, height, ability, sound, confirmation, price and I have to like the horse. Each person has different ideas of her dream horse.

The hard part is trying to find your dream horse, but also accepting the horse's flaws.

Whiplash Is My Mortal Enemy

Recently, I have decided that whiplash is my new mortal enemy; previously, it was math. Math is a common mortal enemy, though, so I'm glad I had a reason to change it to whiplash. You may ask, why whiplash? Well, first time I got whiplash I was riding a small, white pony and he spooked at something that was totally unexpected. I fell one way and he went the other, so my neck whipped around. Therefore, whiplash. I went to the chiropractor three times in a week, because it was kind of severe.

Two weeks later I fell off another horse I got whiplash again. But this time it affected my lower back, so now my lower back starts to hurt every time I bend down to pick up something heavy (such as my horse's hooves). In fact, every time I fall off a horse I either hurt my tailbone or get whiplash. No big deal; I go to the chiropractor and I'm all fixed.

Then last Monday I fell off my bike and smacked my chin into the concrete. I didn't hurt myself anywhere else. Except, I got whiplash from my neck being snapped back so hard and so fast. I had to go to the chiropractor three times (I would like to add that my chiro is amazing) in one week. I also had to get stitches on my chin and a tetanus shot. Then to top it all off, I fell off my horse yesterday, just after I was all better from whiplash and my stitches were almost dissolved. So, whiplash again, and I can't explain what happened to my chin. It's kind of a jagged line now, instead of being straight.

Now you know why I am not fond of whiplash.

The Funniest Joke I Have Ever Heard

While I'm not good at telling jokes, I'm good at laughing at jokes. As for the funniest one I've ever heard, I'm ruling out:

• Dumb blonde jokes––they're sexist.
• Animal jokes––I've never hears a truly funny one.
• All puns.
• Classic and practical jokes––they're too popular.

This leave science jokes. The only reason I know some science jokes is because the school I go to is full of nerds who talk about science all the time. I think the funniest science joke I have ever heard was told to me by my brother, though. It goes:

Neutrino.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?.

If you don't know what a neutrino is, look it up. It takes a little bit of explaining that I don't have the energy for right now.

Here's a silly joke I used to laugh at:

What note does a piano play if it falls down a mineshaft?
A-flat Minor.

Halloween

Today is Halloween, which means that people are going to be in ridiculous costumes. Including me, sadly.

Over the weekend my brother was trying to think of an awesome costume and he somehow came to the conclusion that dressing up as me in all my riding clothes glory defined awesome. So I got him the largest pair of riding pants I had to try on. He somehow squeezed into them, but let me tell you, they were a little too tight around certain areas.

Because my brother is crazy, he said that I had to go to school dressed as him. So as I am writing this I am in his badminton shirt, his hat, his sunglasses and his headband. I look more like a retro hip-hop artist than my brother. I also have his badminton racket.

Right now my brother is wearing my riding pants, a polo shirt, my sweatshirt, my socks and his Uggs, plus he is carrying a whip and helmet around. We are both wearing Uggs because I wear them to the barn a lot and Sam wears them around the house and to go to badminton sometimes.

I'm not enjoying this very much. The hat and sweatband combo on my head is not comfortable. And I'm pretty sure my brother and his friend had to spray paint this hat black because it was actually pink at one time, so it smells weird. 

My Favourite Super Power

I do have a favourite super power: invisibility. If I could turn invisible whenever I wanted,  that would be awesome. I could be the proverbial fly on the wall. I could disappear from awkward situations. I  could slip under the radar. I could solemnly swear that "I am up to no good." (If you've read your Harry Potter, you'll understand that last one.)

I've done a mini survey at Brainboost, and most people would choose super-human strength (side track: my brother just told me richness was a super power) or speed, or the ability to shoot lasers from their eyes. But that's lame because there are machines to lift super-heavy things, so we don't need to be strong. There are cars, trains, planes, boats and such to get us places quickly enough. And there are lasers from machines that shoot targets, which is already cool.

My second-favourite super power would be the ability to read people's minds. It would make life so much easier if I could tell what people were thinking. There would be no assuming, only knowing. I would also know when someone is lying to me. It would be a shortcut to learning the body language of lying.

Under no circumstances would I tell someone that I have a super power.

Being Sick

I don't like being sick if I have a fever or something really terrible. But if it's a 24- or 48-hour cold, then that's fine. They are much easier to cure than a fever, which saps my energy and makes me feel tired and useless.

When I have a fever, all I want to do is sleep and drink milky tea with honey. But I don't like to miss school because the only thing worse than a fever is having to catch up on all the lesson I missed. I'm presuming the same goes for work if you are an adult. It's kind of like a bus stop: if you miss the bus you can run to try and catch it, and sometimes you do. However, if you miss the bus, you have to take the one, which means you're going to be late.

All this talk about being sick makes me wonder: why are we always getting colds? Maybe we don't wash our hands enough? Is it that the virus is always slightly mutating?

The common cold doesn't make me sick so much as annoyed.

Bike Thieves

I understand why someone would steal a bike. They need transportation and can't afford to buy a bike or a bus pass and no one taught them that stealing is bad. I wonder, do they feel bad when they steal the bike?

Usually bikes are locked to a pole or bike rack to deter thieves. Breaking a bike lock is tim-consuming and takes quite a bit of effort. If you have the tools to break into bike locks, why not wait a little longer, save up some money and buy a used bike?

If you steal bikes because you think it’s fun or funny, it isn't for the bike owner. Find something else move your funny bone,  such as watching cat videos on YouTube.

To all you bike thieves: You are stupid, selfish people. Straighten up.

To all you people who have had your bike stolen: I am sorry for your loss. If you didn't lock up your bike, well you had that coming. Here are some tips for your replacement bike:

• Use two different types of locks, a U-shaped lock and a flexible one.
• Always lock up your bike, no matter what the occasion.
• Take off the bike seat because it will make for an uncomfortable and slow getaway if someone is going to steal it.
• Finally, write down the serial number of your bike and take a picture of it. If it gets stolen and you report it to the police, it will be easier for the police track down.

The Role of Food in My Life

Food does not play a big role in my life. Actually, let me correct that. Farm-to-table seasonal food does not play as big a role in my life as it does in my family's, who describe themselves as meat-eating, gluten-free vegans (don't ask).

I eat, but if I could take a pill or two every day to get all the nutrition I need, that would be awesome. It's not that I don't like eating or that I'm afraid I'm going to become fat if I eat too much. I just don't have the passion gene for food. And I don’t understand why some people are obsessed with making wilted kale salad.

That being said, this could be because I was recently diagnosed as gluten-intolerant. I get anemic if I eat too much gluten. And my face breaks out horribly. You have no idea how aggravating it is that everyone knows when I've cheated and eaten gluten by the pimples on my face. 

Since my second word was "bread" (my first word was "no"), you can imagine how hard it has been to give up cinnamon toast. We've found one brand of gluten-free bread that is tolerable (okay, beyond tolerable), but it's still not the same as a crusty chunk of warm sourdough bread from Rise Bakery slathered with lightly salted butter and a dash of my brother's strawberry jam. I'm salivating as I write this.

But I make do. I can still have potatoes and my great indulgence has become maple bacon chips. And oven-baked fries. Although my mom is on a purple potato kick these days (seriously) and I only have one word to describe purple oven-baked fries: travesty.

National Football League

First, some statistics: 

• The National Football League or NFL is an American football league made up of 32 teams around the US.
• There are two conferences, four divisions per conference and 16 teams per conference. It can be extremely confusing to someone who does not follow the NFL. But if you are a huge fan, then the conferences and divisions make it easier to keep track of your favourite teams and how they are doing in the league.
• Football is an intense game and even though there are technically four quarters of 15 minutes each, a game takes about three hours to play.
• There are 17 weeks of games in the regular season and each team plays once a week, except for one week, when each team has a rest. It is too intense to play more than once a week.
• The pace of football makes a hockey game seem like speed skating, which is good in my house because hockey is on every night now.
• NFL games are played on Sunday during the day, and most sports channels air a game. There is one game played on Sunday night, one game on Monday night, and another game on Thursday night. 
• My favourite teams are the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers.

Now, some history:

I started off hating football because I didn't understand it and thought it was a useless game. I didn't enjoy watching sports at all, in fact. Then this past year on Sundays I had time to chill on the couch and watch TV. Unfortunately, my dad was chilling with and always had clicker privileges, which meant we were watching football.

About a month in I found that I was looking forward to Sunday afternoon football, which was a major shock to my family. But people change. Although not my mom. She still hates football. 

The Occupy Movement

The Occupy Movement is a world-wide protest (kind of) that started in New York City when the Canadian activist group, Adbusters, promoted a protest against Wall Street.

The idea originally sprang from the Arab Spring movement. The protests are about social and financial inequality, corporate greed and corporate influence. The slogan for the Occupy Movement is "We are the 99%," which refers to the difference between the 1% of wealthy Americans and the rest of the US population.

The Occupy Movement started in New York in September but has gone international. There are over 900 cities involved in the Occupy Movement and and the 99% now represents people around the world who struggle with social and financial inequality.

I am not 100% certain I agree with the protesters because I only researched the Occupy Movement 20 minutes ago. That being said, I do agree with what I have read so far about social and financial inequality and corporate greed. I think that the world we are living in is highly influenced by corporations that want our money. The advertising business has gotten sophisticated enough to trick us into thinking we want things we do not need, and so we spend our money. And guess where the money goes? To the 1% of people who do not need it.

Until I know more about the Occupy Movement I cannot say that I believe in it 100%. I am at about 80% right now. 

Castle (The TV Show)

If you have not seen this TV show or heard about it, stop reading this. I mean it. Right now.

If you haven't guessed already, Castle is my favourite show on TV, and is currently on its fourth season. The show is about an author who writes mystery novels. His name is Richard Castle, and he is ably played by Nathan Fillion.

The storyline: Castle is writing a series of novels about a NYC detective and he wants the books to be based on a real detective, namely the comely Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic. Castle is assigned to Beckett's team of detectives to get ideas for his novels. At first, the cops don't like Castle because he is annoying and doesn't know the routine. But after Castle settles in, the team realizes that his out-of-the-box thinking helps them solve murder cases.

As the show grows, so do the characters and their relationships. Castle takes a liking to Beckett, although it's not till the fourth season that she realizes how much she likes him back. My friend and I are are obsessed with this show and the fourth season has gotten intense. We both want Castle and Beckett to get together, but Beckett is hesitant. This makes for very annoyed teenage girls every Tuesday morning.

I love the show because the characters and actors are more dynamic than other police shows such as CSI NY or Miami. I watch almost all of them. Most of my weekends are filled with watching reruns of Castle, Bones or The Mentalist.

But Castle is my true love. To conclude, I recommend you watch Castle, which is on Monday nights at 10 pm. 

Being Trapped on a Island

If I were trapped on an island, I have no idea what would happen or what I would do. I also don't know what resources I would have, so let's pretend this is more of a Gilligan's Island type of entrapment (i.e., silly) and I have a satellite telephone, the geographical location of the island I am on, a gigantic cooler of food, pots, plus fresh source of drinking water.

The first thing I would do is call someone. Probably 911, because I want to be rescued and even though 911 is only for urban area, it's the only rescue number I know. Then hopefully after reaching someone to rescue me,  I would call my parents because I'm pretty sure they would be worried about where I am. (I mean, considering I have no clue how I got on the island, or where the island is, I think they would be pretty forgiving.)

So, I would be waiting rescue, but with food and water supplies, I wouldn't be worried. I’m going to imagine it's cloudy weather but warm and humid, meaning I could be near Hawaii somewhere. Or on the other side of the world. Whichever works. I don't have sunscreen either, so after I eat, if it were to get sunny I would have to find shade so I don't burn and risk skin cancer.

At least this is all pretend.

It's a sorry state of my imagination that I've been given this topic and all I can think about is sunscreen. This is why my mother calls me a literalist.

10 Things You May Not Know About Harry Potter

I am a fan of Harry Potter. Having read and listened to all the books in the series, I thought I knew everything there was to know about The Boy Who Lived, but evidently not. In my search today for some unusual things about Harry Potter, I discovered the following 10 gems:

• Voldemort is supposed to be pronounced with the "t". A French word, it means flight of death.
• Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling share the same birthday.
• There have been six actors who have played Voldemort over the series.
• Dumbledore is a Old English world for bumblebee.
• The least successful Harry Potter movie made $90 million more than the most successful Twilight movie.
• The actor who played Moaning Myrtle, Shirley Henderson, is 37 years old. She was also amazing as Kate in the BBC version of The Taming of the Shrew.
• The Weasley twins in real life are not redheads!
• J.K. Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire from writing a book.
• The Hogwarts motto translated from Latin means never tickle a sleeping dragon.
• There is a sign at King's Cross Station in London that says Platform 9 and 3/4 because there are so many fans who come to the station looking for the platform.

There are many more unusual facts that you can research online. I laughed a lot while researching this blog topic. There is also an online Harry Potter game you can play. It's called Pottermore. It looks totally confusing, but probably not for extreme Harry Potter fans.


I'd like to thank J.K. Rowling. She made me want to learn to read.

All About Blogs

Blogs are like diaries, except open to the public. There are blogs on every topic imaginable, and if you like what a blogger writes about, then you can follow that blogger. The best bloggers write on topics that people want to read about, and they write, as one blogger who blogs about how to be a good blogger, "epic shit."

There are people out there who believe that everybody should be blogging, based on the thought that writing regularly is a path to self-discovery. And a blog is a great way to build a network of people who come to respect you for your ideas, so is the ideal tool to help realize goals and dreams, even if you don't have a clue what they are when you start out blogging.

Blogging is a great way to establish yourself as a world-class expert on a topic. If I stuck with this blog, I could become an expert on "teenage blogging as a path to career enlightenment." And I can't state enough how important it is to write compelling content. It's more important than correcting typos.

As with everything worth doing, blogging is worth doing well. (Note: I don't think this blog counts and I am doing it for school credit and in order to become more comfortable writing.) And don't get hung up on a topic. Sometimes when you start writing, the topic just appears to organize itself.

Converse Shoes

I am excited to be writing about my favourite pair of runners.

I have two pairs of Converse running shoes, turquoise and orange. To this day I have never seen anyone else wearing orange Converse runners. I like my blue turquoise runners, too, but more clothes match my orange ones (really).

Converse work with or without socks. They are probably the comfiest shoes I own. I have walked for hours in them and even hiked up a mountain in France in extreme heat with them.

A reason Converse are so popular is because of the wide variety of colours and styles. On the official Converse website you can even design your own running shoes, choosing from a variety of patterns, colours and styles.

The truth is, Converse make my feet feel good.

The Two Worst Inventions Of All Time

There are many bad inventions out there. But since I have only had 20 minutes to research this topic, I'm going to go with the baby cage and hula chair.

The baby cage was used by parents in the 1920s who had limited space in their apartments for their baby to sit and play. You installed the cage to a wall outside a window and put your baby in it. As you may have guessed, it proved extremely dangerous, as the cage was supported only on one side and  usually attached to a window more than one storey above the ground. The baby cage was mostly used in London, where crowded housing was an issue. It must have been traumatic for the babies; I am disturbed just by using baby and cage in the same sentence. Needless to say, the baby cage is no longer in production.

The hula chair is supposed to give you an abdominal workout while you sit in your office chair and work. It supposedly does all the work while you get all the benefits. In other words, a rip-off. It has a swivelly kind of seat that replicates a hula hoop, and in theory is supposed to give you the same type of exercise that you would get swivelling your hips with a hula hoop. Obviously, it's a gimmick. And for anyone gullible enough to consider buying one –– it doesn't work, people. But Ellen Degeneres did use it on her show as an example of a bad infomercial and the company got great PR, so it probably made buckets of money just from people buying it as a gag gift.

Steve Jobs

If you asked me what my favourite piece of technology was today, I would say my Macbook. I would also mention that I love my iPod, and my mom's iPad. Who do I have to thank for that? Steve Jobs.

We can all thank Steve Jobs for changing the way we use technology. When he and his partner Steve Wozniak started Apple, they had no idea that it would become such a huge success. Apple made personal computers popular. They were––and are––the tech company with the newest technologies, sleekest design and easiest-to-use operating systems. They are always coming out with new technology that is massively better than the old technology. Every piece of technology that Apple has produced has exceeded our expectations.

What if there was no Steve Jobs. Or he didn't start Apple. There would be no MacBooks, iPods, iPhones, iPads, iPods, iTunes and iTV. Can you imagine how sad this would be? PCs would rule the world. And PCs are just so... ugly.

We have so much to thank Steve Jobs for. It's tragic that he had cancer and you could say it's unfair that he died so young at 56. But when you think about all that he accomplished in his life before he died, well, it's impressive. And inspiring.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for making the world so full of possibilities. 

I Just Won the Lottery! Now...

OMG, I just won the lottery! Woo-hoo! So first I want to... umm, I don't know what I want to do. Oh, who am I kidding. I am buying a horse and building a barn.

I would also definitely give my parents a chunk of my winnings to pay back what they spent on my horseback riding and education. And I'd send my dad on a whiskey trip around the world, my mom wherever she wanted to go, and my brother on his badminton dream trip. And of course I would start a foundation to help to make the world a better place. I'm just not sure what my focus would be yet. Probably something to do with climate change. After that, I guess I'd do the prurient thing and invest it.

I would not want to let the winnings go to my head. I would still go to university to get an education then have a career. As a volcanologist. As a horseback riding volcanologist, preferably. How swashbuckling is that?

If I won the lottery I would be overwhelmed and shocked but really happy. I just wouldn't want that happiness to die out as the money runs out. I would be very unhappy if my happiness depended only on money.

Steaming on Spinach

I don't know much about spinach. It's never been a green vegetable that's appealed to my taste buds. I realize it's healthy to eat, but I did some research, and it's not as healthy for you as people like to think, so I don't feel too guilty about this.

• Spinach is not packed as full of iron as once thought, thanks to wrongly placed decimal by a research scientist that was only corrected 67 years later. 
• This vegetable is also hard to digest; it contains oxalate which can cause kidney stones, which is why my dad never eats the leaves.
• The longer spinach is in your fridge the more nutritional value it loses. So if you're going to buy it fresh, use it right away. And if you like the idea of spinach, but are lazy when it comes round to cooking, buy it frozen.

Spinach is originally from Persia (modern-day Iran) and was introduced to China in the seventh century. It was introduced to North America in 1806. Spinach is from the goosefoot family of vegetables, which means it is closely related to chard and beets. Medieval artists extracted the green pigment from spinach to use as ink or paint.

A Doggone Rejection

Our dog, Freddy, is a loveable golden doodle. And my brother, Sam, is a loveable old hooch, too.

But the two together are like oil and water. Freddy has made it clear that he doesn't like Sam's room or his car. Every morning when our mom comes into our rooms to wake us up, Freddy trots along to mine, hops up on the bed and cuddles with me. He's even been known to go into my room during the day while I'm at school, where he curls up on the bed and snoozes.

But when Freddy goes into my brother's room, it's a different story. He rushes up to Sam's bed, wags his tail, then rushes away as fast as his paws will take him––he's in and out in about three seconds. We are not exactly sure why. My guess is because Sam's room smells like a 17-year-old teenage boy's room (i.e., bad) and because he does not feed or walk Freddy very often.

My brother also recently inherited my uncle's old car. Last night when Sam came home, my mom came out to the driveway to greet him. Freddy padded out, too, and my mom opened the passenger's door hoping he would jump in and sit with my brother for a second. But Freddy just looked inside, saw my brother, sniffed and left.

I don't think my brother really cares because he likes his privacy. But we are never sure.

Who do I Consider the Most Powerful Person in the World?

Larry Page and Sergey Brin have become the  most powerful people in the world because they control Google.

Everybody uses Google. While its dominating presence has always been as a search engine, Google has invaded our business and personal lives in every way you think of: Google Maps, Google Streetview, Google Earth, Google+ (social media), Gmail (email), Google Docs (collaborative document sharing and editing), Google AdWords (online advertising), Google Chrome (browser), Android smartphone (operating system), Google Calendar and on and on and on.

Google is the dominating presence in technology, and at this point in time, technology appears to rule the world.

Let's face it: Google has changed the world.

Larry and Sergey created Google in dorm room at Stanford University. Google's motto is Do No Evil. Is it possible to do no evil when you are that powerful?

Boy Bands

I was given this topic because my tutors know what I think of boy bands. Not much.

So, thanks a lot. What famous boy band should I talk about? Justin Bieber? He isn't a band. How about the Backstreet Boys? They're back, aren't they? Alrighty, then, the Backstreet Boys it is.

Some history first: The Backstreet Boys originally formed in Florida in 1993 with five members. Their debut album, "Backstreet Boys," was released in 1996. By the release of their fourth album in 2000 they had become one of the most famous boy bands of all time. In 2000 they took a break for two years, then regrouped and released three more albums. In 2006 the lead singer left the group to pursue a solo career. The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million albums, making them the bestselling boy band of all time (take that, Justin Timberlake and 'NSync).

Now that you know the history, I get to share what I think about them. To sum up the Backstreet Boys in one word: blah. All their songs sound the same and their voices are too similar. Where's the diversity? All the songs are simple, and go like this: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, smaller verse, chorus. One of the reasons they have had so much success is because teenage girls think they are cute. Do you think a guy with tons of makeup on and a personal hair and clothing stylist who is singing on stage with a bunch of other guys in makeup is cute? Personally, not really, but everyone is entitled to his or her opinion

I'm more of a fan of indie rock artists and bands.

Why We Learn Useless Facts

Some people learn useless facts because they want to appear smarter. The more you know about "stuff," the smarter you are considered in modern society.

Some people learn useless facts because they make good conversation starters. Which actually makes them useful. Say there is an awkward silence between you and someone else; you can take out your smartphone and search for a useless fact. In fact, I just did this and found uselessfacts.net, which had these useless doozies:

• If a frog’s mouth is held open for too long the frog will suffocate.
• A duck has three eyelids.
• Antarctica is the only continent that does not have land mass below sea level.

I guess these facts have to be useful to someone. They're just useless to me. But interesting. So maybe we learn useless facts because they feed something in us that craves information without the pressure of having to do something with it.

Did you know that if you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee?

Didn't think so. But go ahead––feel free to share this useless fact.

Does It Really Take 30 Days to Break a Bad Habit?

I have no clue if it's possible to break a bad habit in 30 days, but I'd like to experiment because I bite my nails ALL the time. I have tried to break this habit through a trigger (snapping an elastic band on my wrist) and bribery (my mom said if I didn't bite my nails for one week she would give me $100). Neither of these worked. So I've checked around the internet, and I'm going to try to break my habit in 30 days, but first, there are some steps I need to take:

1. Admit that I have a problem: "I, F. Dunner, solemnly swear that I have a bad habit of biting my nails.
2. Change your environment. Since I bite my nails when I sit on the orange couch and watch TV in the family room, I am going to switch to sitting on the blue beanbag (I could give up watching TV but if I'm being realistic, that's not gonna happen).
3. Create barriers to that habit. I am going to give my family permission to charge me 25¢ each time they catch me biting my nails ("catch" being the operative word here––no hearsay). 
4. Find something to replace that bad habit. I am going to knit when I watch TV so that my hands will be full. At the very least, I'll get a sweater out of this.
5. Be patient––this could take longer than 30 days and more than one try. 

Wish me luck, everyone!

What Are Three Technologies That Will Be Obsolete in 10 Years?

Many of the technologies I am growing up with are going to be obsolete in 10 years. But my three picks are the landline telephone, fax machine and personal camera.

Regarding the landline phone: yes, we have one. But we hardly ever use it. My mom says it's there for "earthquake protection." Many families have already given up these types of phones because it's just one extra utility bill each month. I'll bet most people under the age of 30 don't even have a landline. We all just use our mobile phones, and since we have them with us at all times, we can be easily reached. Maybe too easily reached, but that's another story.

As for fax machines, the only reason companies still use them instead of email is when signatures are required on documents. But more and more businesses now accept electronic signatures and even better, there apps for smartphones that allow you to sign a PDF document on a touchscreen.

The dedicated personal camera is also going to go the way of the dodo. It's more convenient to use the camera on a smartphone, which people are always carrying with them. And let's face it, even the camera on my smartphone is probably better than anything my parents ever used 20 years ago.

Most of the technologies we use today may not become obsolete, but they will look different. Everything will be newer, faster, smaller––and even more personal. I just hope I don't become obsolete en route.

Annoying Alarm Clocks

Some people have a natural circadian rhythm that sends them to bed at a reasonable hour and wakes them up naturally between seven and eight hours later.

I can safely say that I am not one of those people. I don't go to bed all that late, but I need an alarm clock to buzz me awake in the morning. And since I maybe dropped my smartphone in the toilet and it maybe not be working, I need to buy an alarm clock. After an internet search, I believe I found the three most annoying alarm clocks in the Western Hemisphere.

Clockly physically makes you get out of bed to wake up. If you hit the snooze button when the alarm goes off, it roles off your bedside table and crashes into things in your room. The alarm won't stop until you capture the clock and turn it off. I'm thinking of getting this for my brother just to annoy him.

The Laser Target Gun Alarm Clock requires you to hit a target with the provided plastic gun to turn off the ear-splitting racket, the idea being that if you can do this while barely awake, you're up to facing the challenges of the day.

The Puzzle Alarm Clock makes an annoying sound at the prescribed hour. It also fires three puzzle pieces in the air, which you are required to find and return to their matching holes before you can shut off the alarm. With my luck, the pieces would probably roll under my bed.

I'm drawn to the laser alarm clock. It seems like the most fun way to wake up, although it would probably get really annoying after a month. It would also be aggravating for my family, because I don't have the greatest aim and it would take a while for the alarm to stop.

Rise and shine, everyone!

Hippopotamuses are better than rhinoceroses because...?

I don't know if hippopotamuses are better than rhinoceroses or vice versa. They both call Sub-Saharan Africa home (as well as regions of India and Sumatra for rhinos), they both have huge bodies and short legs, they're both mostly herbivorous, they both can run about 35 km/hr on land. But somehow, rhinoceroses have gotten a bad rap in history. Their two horns, broad snout, assorted humps and scaly body have made them the bad guy in countless children's stories over the past few hundred years. Meantime, hippopotamuses have always come across as more cute and less dangerous than the rhino. "Hungry, hungry hippo," anyone?

Let's not kid ourselves. Hippos are one of the most aggressive animals in the world and often the most ferocious in Africa. They travel in large herds of up to 40, with one bull, many cows and assorted offspring. They spend up to 16 hours is the water a day to keep cool and come out of the water at night to graze on up to 80 pounds of grass. They're huge eaters!

Rhinos, on the other hand, are much less aggressive and more sociable. White rhinos travel in groups of up to 15; black male rhinos travel alone. Land mammals that live in the same areas as hippos, rhinos roll around in mud to coat their skin; the mud acts as a sun block and insect repellent. Females only reproduce every 36 months to five years.

Hippos are lucky––they have no natural predators. Rhinos, unfortunately for them, are valued by humans for their horns, which are used for medical purposes in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as for ornamental dagger handles in North Africa and the Middle East.  This means that there are between 125,000 to 150,000 hippos throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and less than 20,000 rhinos in the world.

I wouldn't say that hippopotamuses are better than rhinoceroses––they're just luckier.

What Are The Top Two Inventions Of All Time?

As a millennial, you probably expect me to write that the top two inventions of all time are the computer and instant messaging. They did cross my mind. But while these are two things I would be unhappy not to have in my life, there were inventions before the computer and instant messaging that made them possible. I briefly considered the wheel, but really, without the wheel we could still get around by our own two feet.

My first vote goes to the telephone. It was accidentally invented by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson when they started building on the idea that sound could travel through telegraph wires. For this first time in the history of the world, anyone could talk to anyone anywhere at any given moment without physically seeing the person. It also made it possible for people to respond to emergencies––which saved lives. The telephone is the forerunner to the digital revolution of my generation as well: without the phone, there wouldn't be phone lines, or modems or fibre optics or wireless technologies... you get where I'm going on this.

My second vote was going to be for the airplane, but I decided to go with the washing machine after watching Hans Rosling on TED. Washing has always been hard work for women, and don't kid yourself––it's mostly the women who do the washing in both the developed and developing worlds. Before washing machines, women had to wash by hand. It was hard, time-consuming labour, which, unless you had servants, you had to do for hours every week. But the washing machine changed women's lives forever. Women got to load the laundry in a machine and the machine did all the work. This gave women a valuable commodity: time. For the first time in history, women could imagine a life without the hours and hours of drudgery of doing the weekly laundry. So even though people might criticize the washing machine as something that is not environmentally friendly or all that energy efficient, you won't hear that from me. Because thanks to the washing machine, one day I am going to have the time to go to university, to have a career and if I'm lucky, to have a family––and be consumed by things and people who matter to me, and not their laundry.

The Blah Blah Blog

This blog is for a school project called an IDS (independent directed study). I will be writing posts two to three times a week for one term on a prompt that one of my tutors gives me. I have to write 250-300 words on this prompt. The reason for this blog is to improve my writing skills, and work through writer's block. I have to edit my work but each post will not be written as if I am handing it in to a teacher to be marked on my skills. This blog is purely to help me dislike writing less by writing more. I expect all kinds of prompts and it will be unpredictable!