4 Ways To Be Cooler, By Someone Uncool

We all want to be cool. And no matter how much we try to not care what everybody else thinks, we still do. But what is cool, really? Cool in the dictionary, is described as fairly cold temperature or fashionably attractive. I am definitely not cool, but from my experience as a teenager and after learning about the basic steps to being cool, I think I may be able to help you become just a little cooler.

1. Be confident and be yourself (Blah Blah Blah)

Yeah, right. Because that's easy. This is such a dumb thing to tell someone who is trying to be cool. It's like, If I thought I was cool by myself I wouldn't be trying to find out how to be cool. The truth is being yourself, only works half the time. Of course your family loves when you're yourself. But will everyone else? The real trick is to find people that you can be yourself with, and have stuff in common with. If you find people that think your cool even if you aren't. (WARNING: This often isn't cool.)

Courtesy of hdwallnpics.com

2. Always look adorable, but not like you're trying

This one is just impossible. I don't understand why I try really hard to look good somedays and some people are able to just look amazing in sweatpants. Like, when did that become a thing. I must admit though, other days I just put on jeans and a hoodie. The other thing I don't understand is why we all dress up for school. I mean we don't want to be here anyway, why are we trying to look good for it? I wasted 20 mins this morning to just put on a tee shirt and a sweater. I say we all just stop with the super high expectations and make it easier on everyone. 

Courtesy of zlucaz.deviantart.com

3. Go to cool parties

As we see in movies, all the cool kids go to parties. At these so called parties, teens live it up and have the best nights of their lives. And we all learned from Footloose, that dancing and parties may have some consequences, but in the end us teens really do need to party. The first problem with parties is that you usually have to be invited to parties. Which normally doesn't happen if you are uncool, like me. I guess you could just walk in but isn't that kinda creepy. The second problem with parties, is that unless you are going to a birthday party, most parties are lame as expressed by Alessia Cara. Why would I waste my time on that when Netflix and a box of Oreos are waiting for me at home.

Courtesy of sabotagetimes.com

4.  Always be funny

Okay, this may be easy for some people. But, unless you're Robin Williams, this one is really difficult. It's not that our jokes might not be funny but most of the time everyone has a different sense of humor. You also cannot be funny all the time. If we were funny all the time we would end up cracking jokes at funerals. (This may not always be true if you are attending an Irish wake.)

Basic Conclusion: It is impossible to be cool by everyone's standards. So my advice to you, if you really want to be cool, stop trying so hard and find some friends who don't care if you are cool or not.

Ireland

Summer, what some know as travel time and others know as time spent doing practically nothing. I know that I am going to spend nearly all of my summer binge-watching and running. Unlike most people in Park City, I go almost no where. The only other country that I’ve ever been to has been Mexico. In Mexico, I went scuba diving, swam with turtles, and went fishing. And while I had a lot of fun, I want to go to more places than just Mexico. I want to travel the world and see as many cultures as I can. So finally, for the first time ever, I will be leaving North America.

Courtesy of www. shannonairport.ie

I get to go to Ireland. Yeah, I know, you’re probably thinking “Ireland? What’s even in Ireland?”. But it’s actually really cool. A few years ago, my mom went on the same trip on her own. It’s a trip that our old horseback riding barn does every other year. On the trip, everybody goes riding in a big group through open fields and jumping over stonewalls. They stay at small bed and breakfast places, and ride on the beaches. 

The best part of the trip is that we will get to pick which horse we will ride. Willy, the man who leads the trip, has a pasture full of horses. Horses as far as the eye can see. Out of more than fifty horses, you are able to choose any one of them you want. And then if you don’t like the one you chose, you can just pick another one.

For years, my mom has been waiting until I was the right age to go. This year is finally my chance. So in August, I will be flying to Ireland to ride for two weeks. Leading up to the trip, I will waste away my summer. And I’m alright with that. I’m fine with being lazy for most of the summer, because at one point I will be in Ireland. 

To conclude, I’m not going to feel bad this summer for not doing anything. I won’t feel bad for watching Grey’s Anatomy all day long. Instead, I’m going to enjoy the time I spend sitting on the sofa or hanging out with friends. I’m going to spend my days unaware of the time and happy about not doing anything. Because at the end of the summer I will be spending my days exploring the country, and the city of Ireland. I’ll make up for the lost time, by having an amazing trip in Ireland. 

Blackfish

Courtesy of www.imbd.com

Recently, I watched the 2013 documentary called Blackfish. Blackfish is about Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, addresses problems within the sea-park industry, and man's relationship to nature. I’ve learned a lot about SeaWorld, and my opinion about them has grown even stronger. Tilikum, also known as Tilly, is a bull orca currently living at Sea-World in Orlando, Florida. He has killed three people. 

The first person he killed was a 21-year old girl named, Keltie Byrne. Keltie was a marine biology student and competitive swimmer. On February 20, 1991, Keltie slipped into a pool containing Tilikum and two other orcas, while working as a part-time trainer. The three orcas quickly took her under water and dragged her around the pool. With an audience watching in horror, she surfaced three times screaming before she drowned. 

Daniel P. Dukes, a 27 year-old man, was the second person to be killed by Tilikum. The day before he was killed, Daniel visited the park, stayed after, and evaded security. The next day he was found dead over Tilikum’s back. The autopsy found several wounds, contusions, and abrasions all over his body. They concluded that Daniel had been drowned. They found no drugs in his system, but he entered the tank anyway.

The third person killed, Dawn Brancheau, created the most controversy. Dawn was a 40 year-old trainer, who had known what she was she was doing. After a show, she was petting Tilikum  when the whale grabbed her by her left arm and pulled her into the water. The other trainers threw food and nets into the water to distract him, but nothing could stop him. Dawn was eventually released from Tilikum’s grasp, dead. Afterward, SeaWorld stated that the trainer was pulled into the water by her ponytail. However, witnesses stated that the trainer was pulled into the water by her arm. Seaworld lied and blamed it on Dawn. Saying that it was an accident, and that no SeaWorld trainer should have their hair in a long ponytail. The autopsy showed that she had died by drowning and blunt force trauma. Along with those injuries, her spine was severed and she had fractures in her jawbone, ribs, and a vertebra. Her scalp was completely torn off from her head and her left arm had been severed below the shoulder. 

Dawn and Tilikum. Courtesy of  www.cbsnews.com

Finally, after all of these terrible events, SeaWorld was sued 75,000 dollars. They use pressure hoses to calm the orcas down and the platforms have guardrails. But Tillikum is still allowed to perform. Even after his aggressive behaviors, Tilikum is still allowed to perform. Not to mention, that his sperm has been used to create more than half of the orcas at SeaWorld. Possibly, making their genes just as aggressive. 

I think that SeaWorld deserved worse than what they got. They keep orcas in concrete pools away from their real homes. And in the past they have kept them in twenty foot deep pools, two small for them to swim in, and too dark to see anything. Causing these whales to become aggressive. SeaWorld should have been shut down, what they have done, is devastating. They are holding these creatures hostage, and saying that they like what they do. But, there has never been any reported injuries to humans caused by killer whales, in the wild. They are generally gentle, friendly creatures until we take them out of their homes, so that we can have one hour of enjoyment. I believe that it wasn’t Tilikum’s fault, it was SeaWorld’s.

Hold It Together, People

Many say that the most difficult quarter is quarter four. Most likely because quarter four consists of testing and is the countdown to freedom. You are so tired that you are ready to just quit school right there. But no matter what, we pull through and finish off the school year. And somehow we finish with grades that we can be relatively proud of. 

Courtesy of www.youtube.com

I believe that the fourth quarter of the school year isn’t the hardest at all. Instead, the third quarter is the most difficult. During the third quarter, we start to slowly give up. We’ve made it through more than half of the school year,  and most of us cannot do it anymore. It seems that school is the only thing there is, a never-ending painful prison. The days seem to drag on much longer than they ever had before.

Our grades deteriorate and we grasp at what little we have left. It’s like a steep ski slope on which we cannot find anything to grab onto. We get closer to finals and the tests that are really going to determine our futures. And we get closer to next year which will be even more difficult. Somehow, no matter the pain we are in, we push through and we cross the finish line to the fourth quarter. 

Each day, I think about spring break and summer. It feels as if spring break is just around the corner, and as if summer is only a few weeks away. But it’s not. We give ourselves false hope, attempting to distract ourselves from reality. Spring break isn’t for another two weeks, and summer not for another few months. All we have to do is pull ourselves together for one more quarter. Then we can be free. We can waste our days away watching Netflix, sleeping in, and disappointing our parents with our lack of activity. We will live stress-free. At least for the three months that we can. 

So as we are approaching the last week of the hardest quarter, I want to wish you all good luck. I hope that you all use what little strength you have left to finish this upcoming week. I hope your grades make you at least a little proud. And at the end, I hope the stress fades away and you can come to school with a clean slate. Then we can worry about the hour long tests we have to take, and how many days left we have until summer. Let the countdown begin.

Addicted

It is scientifically proven that caffeine is a real addiction. According to Joseph Stromberg from Smithsonian Magazine, caffeine is a chemical drug that has effects when you try to quit. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you can have light headaches, muscle pain, and lack of alertness.

No, I'm not addicted to caffeine. But Doug is. Doug enjoys the leftover coffee in anyone's cup every morning. It started when my Mom started to give it to him after she was done with hers. It's the very traditional story. One taste and he was hooked. He is very aware of what a mug is now and will jump onto the coffee table to get to any coffee he can. 

Courtesy of my phone

Courtesy of my phone

" I'm just so worried about him lately. He's been distant and really jumpy. I just want to get him help. You know? It's not healthy and he's going to end up ruining his life this way. One day he's going to overdose, and I just don't want it to get to that point. I really love him and I just want to get him the help he needs." -Kendall

(Just kidding. That was fake, I wrote it myself.) If you didn't know, caffeine is poisonous to dogs. When I researched it the effects on dogs were awful, one was death. How is death a side effect? It said that coffee is almost as poisonous as chocolate. Not that my family has ever worried about chocolate. Ed has eaten either Kendall or my Halloween candy each year, many batches of brownies, and even a five pound bag of M&Ms. So I'm not worried. My great grandmother fed her dog eggs and coffee every morning for breakfast, and that dog lived for almost twenty years. 

I'm not worried, but I do have some concerns. I don't know any dogs who like coffee as much as Doug. My Mother's boxer drank beer but that was a one time thing. Doug drinks coffee everday. One day he could overdose on coffee and fall over and die. Well, that actually couldn't happen. What would happen if we went on vacation? Who would give Doug his coffee?

While it's scary to think about what could possibly happen to Doug. I could never afford dog rehab, and I can use his addiction to my advantage. If you show Doug that there is coffee in your cup, he follows you around the house barking and jumping until you give him some. Perhaps, I could use this to get Doug to do anything I want. Coffee lovers don't even come close to Doug. He would go to the end of the earth for coffee. 

*Do not attempt to take Douglas to a coffee shop.

15 SUCKS

On Monday it was my birthday. In the morning I decided to sleep through first period, but as it turns out, I have really awesome friends. As I was enjoying the extra sleep I heard my phone ring in my bed. I sat up and shuffled through the pillows and multiple blankets on my bed (I love blankets!). Finally, I found my phone lit up with a name across the top. I answered the phone with a groggy, eyes-closed hello. Apparently, all my friends were waiting around my locker with gifts and cards for me. Feeling bad about not going, but feeling good about sleeping, I apologized many times. Then I went right back to sleep.

2014: courtesy of Mom

When I got up, my sister had made me cinnamon sugar ebelskivers for breakfast, which started my day off extremely well. If you haven't had ebleskivers, you haven't lived. Ebelskivers are danish pancake balls, that you fill with anything you want (yes, nutella). I ate those and slowly packed my school bag. Then I was dropped off at school, where I went straight to second period.

I received the gifts my friends brought me including a thermos that looks like a camera lens and a set of card that I got to open at each hour of the day. Each one had something nice written about me inside, which I know was probably not true, but it made my day anyway. After school I went riding and met my family for dinner at Sushi Blue.  To end the night we ate vegan vanilla cake, opened gifts, and took the traditional cat and cake photo that happens every year. (I only posted the previous years because I couldn't get this year's off facebook).

2015: Courtesy of Dad

Fifteen years old means that you get to legally drive a car, you are three years away from being an adult, and that there is a whole lot more pressure on you. Fifteen seems great until you are actually there. The morning of my first day as a fifteen year-old I put on my Mom's light blue sweater, and ran out the door with a bowl of strawberry oatmeal.

At school, it was put to my attention by Aysia that I had oatmeal all over the elbow of my sweater and my sweater was see-through. Luckily, I had a tank top. We went to the bathroom, scrubbed it off the oatmeal and I put on the tank top. By this time the bell rang and I headed to Mrs. Payne's room for math.

I sat down next to Alex and pulled out my homework. As we were working, she asked me to taste her hot chocolate to see how hot it was. I took a cautious sip and told her that from a scale of one to ten, the hot chocolate was an eight. Cool enough to drink, but also slightly scalding. As we worked on our class work, I studied her flash cards for the English test we had the next day. Suddenly, I was jumping out of my chair, yelping and waving my arms. The hot chocolate was spilled all over me, in front of the entire class. (Don't worry Alex I forgive you!) I then spent the rest of the day with a hot chocolate stained sweater.

During PE, we went snowshoeing. We hiked up a torturous and steep hill. At the top, we were allowed to choose if we wanted to go trail blazing or if we wanted to go down the same trail. I convinced my friends to go trail blazing with me. As it turns out, Alex and Elise are extremely good at trail blazing, while I am not. I slid most of the way down on my butt and I fell multiple times. I didn't realize that the tail of my sweater had been dragging in the snow the entire time. So all throughout Biology I shivered in my soaked sweater.

Now, I am nearly a week into fifteen. Which hasn't been too bad. Yet.

Anthropomorphize/Naked Cats

The word anthropomorphize may sound like it means-to transform into another animal, but it's actually the opposite. We don't realize it but everyday we anthropomorphize, whether you have a pet or not. The easter bunny is a notorious example. The word anthropomorphize is a verb that means to ascribe human features to something. When you talk about a thing or animal as if it were human, you're anthropomorphizing it. 

So why do we do it? According to Rick Nauert from Pysch Central News, An entity is more likely to be anthropomorphized if it appears to have many traits similar to those of humans (for example, through humanlike movements or physical features such as a face). Which is why we tend to anthropomorphize our pets. By giving animals emotions and personalities we make sense of emotions and relationships in our lives, without even realizing we are doing it. Some people do it out of loneliness. They cannot or will not connect with other people, so they end up creating relationships with their pets, like imaginary friends. Thus, the crazy cat lady is formed.

Winston and Ferguson Courtesy of Hollywood.com

It's not that your dog doesn't have emotions, he does, just not in the way you think. Pets feel excited, jealous, lonely, depressed. But they are not actually beyoncé's sister who loves pancakes. Their emotions are much simpler than we make them out to be. But this post isn't supposed to get you to stop anthropomorphizing your pet, it's actually supposed to inspire you to continue giving pet human emotions. I believe that anthropomorphizing is like therapy. It creates a stronger relationship with your pet, helps you understand different emotions, and combats loneliness. I'm not crazy but on days that I'm alone in the house, I bring my fish Joey to the coffee table and Doug onto the sofa, then as I watch television I make comments to them. 

In conclusion, anthropomorphizing is a good thing. It's fun and we should never stop doing it. Without it we wouldn't have pet instagram accounts and pet blogs. I hope that fifty years from now we still we continue to be closer friends with our pets, then some people that we know.

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Since these topics are both topics that I don't want to write a ton about, I decided to split the blog post in half to give me the opportunity to write about two short topics. The second topic I want to touch on is naked cats. 

I have always thought that hairless cats were the ugliest creatures ever. They were all wrinkly and looked like little ferocious people. Until last year. When I was scrolling the web like any normal teenager. When I came across one of the well-known hairless cats. 

My first thought was "ew", but then I looked more deeply into the eyes of the cat. I realized at that moment, that the hairless cats were most likely miss-judged. They suddenly didn't appear ugly or out of the place in the world, because I understood. They looked different from other cats, but maybe they were funny and sweet. So I looked more deeply into them. 

What a found was surprising. Hairless cats are actually a rare breed called the Sphynx. They don't actually get too cold and they have very low amounts of health problems. They are also sweet and friendly. For something so ugly, they are great cats. And they shed no hair, which works for anyone who is allergic to cats. Someday I plan to get a Sphynx and name it Voldemort or Smeagol, and we will live happily ever after. 

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

I introduce to you the mom of Doug, the devil, and one of the funniest people I know. If you ask any one of my friends what they think about Kirsten's sister,  you could get a variety of answers. From "she hates me with a burning passion" to "Kendall and I are closer than anything".  This year she convinced my parents into getting her a puppy. Because Kendall is just the most responsible person in the world.

Courtesy of my phone

Kendall and I visiting Park City: Courtesy of Colleen Keblish

Here's a brief history of some of the ridiculous things Kendall has done to me:

When Kendall was around six years old and I was eight, we went to the neighbors house to pick peppers with our best friend Adam. Trying so hard to be cool, I said that I loved peppers. I then picked up what I thought was a bell pepper and took a nice big bite out of it. It was not a bell pepper. I screamed and rolled on the ground and covered my eye. Kendall and Adam laughed their heads off. I yelled at them to stop and Kendall told me I had anger management problems and as a red head constantly being told that I had anger problems, I threw the pepper at her. To my surprise, it hit Kendall directly in the eyeball. She cried and cried her whole way home, where she had to rinse her eye in the shower and I got in trouble for being so mean. 

When Kendall was seven years old and I was nine, I stole something from her room. I can't remember exactly what it was but I it was probably some sort of toy. I was soon caught by seven year old Kendall, who then screamed and cried saying that I had to give it back. And as a nine year old girl, I refused to give it back. Instead of logically, telling on me she threatened to pee on my floor. Thinking that Kendall was bluffing I folded my arms and refused again. But she wasn't bluffing. She squatted down and peed right there on my bedroom floor. I stood speechless. And then without even asking for her possession back she left the room and said "next time it will be poo". 

When I was twelve and Kendall was ten, we sat doing homework in the kitchen. We got in an argument and I began to give her the silent treatment. A few minutes later, she asked me how to spell February. And as an annoyed older sister, I obviously continued to give her the silent treatment. She whined and screamed for me to tell her. Then she picked up an orange from the counter top and threw it at me. 

A couple months after the "orange incident" we went outside to practice lacrosse together. As a very unorganized family we had lost every last lacrosse ball. But instead of giving up and going inside, we tried to find something to use instead like a tennis ball. Kendall called it improvising. First, while I was actually looking for a ball she picked a light-bulb sized rock in her stick and threw it at me. Luckily, she missed and I scolded her. But as usual, it didn't get through to her. I told her I didn't want to play anymore so she picked up another orange, this time rotten from the back of our pick up truck, and threw it at me. 

Recently, we were playing legos. I know, right a fourteen year-old playing legos, but it does happen. Not really caring very much I didn't jump to pick pieces out of the lego box. Unlike Kendall and her friend. When I did sit down to play, I picked up a bunch of random legos put them together in the shape of a square and told them that I had made my house already. Then laughing they took a lego plane and crashed it into my house. I have to admit it was pretty funny, so I was laughing, too. But Kendall kept bragging about all the pieces she was finding. So jokingly, I tried to grab her stuff. But she fought me back and dug a lego into my wrist. When I told her she cut me and that I was bleeding, she said "good". She then said that I "sucked at playing legos and that I was annoying" I then called her a mean word and left the room. Listening in on her and her friend's conversation, she said that I started it. Great, because I totally wrecked my own lego house.

Usually, Kendall and I get along really well. We have nicknames for each other, chill out together, and she admits that she'll miss me when I go off to college. But based on this information, would you let Kendall own a dog. Neither would I. And I wonder why Doug is so weird. 

Park City Is Not Vail

Courtesy of Travel Agent Central

“Did you go skiing yesterday?” was a question I was asked way too many times this weekend. No, I didn’t go skiing on Saturday, mainly because my boots weren’t in yet, but I wasn’t planning on skiing anyway. No matter how many times my mother tried to convince me that it was tradition to ski on the first day, I still was not going to ski. Don’t get me wrong, like most PC locals I love to ski and I’m on the Park City United Team. But I knew that skiing on opening day wasn’t going to get me anywhere. 

So on Saturday, I went on a trail ride, watched some tv, ate a pre-thanksgiving dinner with the neighbors, and saw the final Hunger Games movie (which was a pretty great conclusion to the series by the way). But I did no skiing whatsoever. And that worked pretty well for me. As the whole town was together skiing on six runs. 

I’m excited to be skiing this season at the new One, Park City. But I’m also a bit worried about Vail taking over. When Vail first bought Park City I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t think Vail would really change anything. Recently, though, I’ve been hearing about all the changes that Vail is making. As my Mother works for Park City, I have been told over and over again that Vail’s upgrades will be great for Park City. She said this before she was handed a bright red jacket with an ugly letter “i” on the back, and told that she was a volunteer rather than an employee, and couldn’t go ski on employee day. One of my best friends wasn’t hired by Vail because they don’t want as many young employees as before, even though they are extremely low on employees. The high school student that camped out from Thursday night to get first chair was kicked out, because they didn’t want the tent making the place look bad.

If I had one thing to say to Vail, it would be that Park City is not Vail. They are taking the family feel out of Park City. They keep trying to turn Park City into something that it’s not. And in the process making the locals of Park City angry. Sadly, they are forgetting that while Park City is a tourist town it is also for the locals. Park City needs to stay Park City, and while bringing us all together may make a lot of money, I see it as a mistake that it is going to be very problematic.

To Lose a Best Friend

To have a best friend means a lot. Helen Keller once said, "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light". Everyone talks about what it's like to have a best friend. That they will always be there for you. They say that best friends are the only people that really understand you. That a best friend would die for you. And they will. I have several best friends that I know that would, figuratively speaking, die for me. As I would for them.

Recently, I found that you actually don't realize what you have until it's gone. I could very well be talking about friends and moving on from a friend, as I have experienced this first hand. And while this hurts, I find that you usually move on from a friend for a reason. But losing a best friend is very different, losing a best friend is like losing a piece of yourself.

I knew that my horse Sarge was going to be put down for a long time. It was something that I knew would happen. I put off the fact that he would be gone, for months. I didn't cry, I didn't think about it. I didn't want to have to deal with that pain for longer that I had to. In the very end, he could barely walk or chew. At nine o'clock on Monday night, I was sitting in my bed reading a book when I realized that tomorrow was his last day. I realized that I had just spent his last sunset with him.

I walked to the kitchen and reached for some carrots, apples, honey, oatmeal, and some salt (Horses love salt). I then cut the carrots and the apples and mixed them with the honey and oatmeal in a big plastic bowl. With a wooden spoon I stirred it all together and added a sprinkle of salt. And then I sat and cried.

You can't change the past, I knew that. But at that moment, I wished that I could go back to when Sarge was still healthy and happy. I wish I could go back in time and spend a whole day with him. I wish I could've gone back and ridden him through the field and braid his mane. I wish I would've done better. Everyone does. I think everyone has a point in there life where they look back and they wish they would've have done things differently. And that can wreck a person but it can also make a person better.

So from then on I vowed to try to cherish everything and everyone. People need to start cherishing what they have while they still have it. Because one day everything will be gone and all that will be left, is memories. Cherish your friends, and try your best to keep them from slipping from your grasp. Hold everything you have close to you and don't let it go, because someday it might not be there anymore.

Many of you may have seen me at school on Tuesday. Many of you may have thought to yourself "Why does she look like that? What is she wearing?". And to those of you who judge anyone by what they look like then you should stop and ask yourself if you really know them. I didn't choose to go to school with watery red eyes, a stuffy nose and a big sweater. I needed to, because that morning I woke up extra early and I walked outside with my plastic bowl.

What hurt most about that morning, was that he looked the same as he always had. He licked as much as he could out of my bowl. And through the darkness I braided his mane and looked into his eyes for the last time. I kissed his face and whispered goodbye. And under the rising sun at 6:30 in the morning, I saw my best friend for the very last time. And walking away, was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

When I moved here five years ago, and I met you, I didn't know you would mean this much to me. Goodbye Sarge, I love you. And I hope there's carrots up there for you in heaven.

Rest in Peace, buddy