Goodbye MUN conferences, hello cheer season.
Goodbye SATs, hello college applications.
Goodbye slacking off, hello getting back on track.
Goodbye all-nighters, hello weird 10pm-4am sleep schedule.
Goodbye high school (okay, not yet…)

In Mauritania, the bigger, the better. Teenage girls are sent to eating “camps” to gain weight in preparation for marriage. Force-feeders make food for those girls, making sure their daily intake is between 14,000 and 16,000 calories (wow..)

It’s great to know that some women out there don’t think beauty comes with thinness, but this is another extreme. The opposite extreme. And it’s not healthy.

Article here.

Got this off of Facebook. I guess you can say these are the words that define what my life’s been all about for the past.. little while? Interesting.

1. Let homework and studying replace sleep. I did this way too much last year. So much that many times, I would end up pulling all-nighters. So much that if I got to sleep 4-5 hours, I would consider myself EXTREMELY FORTUNATE. But no, I’m not letting that happen this year. I’m a senior. I’m getting old. I need at least five hours of sleep every night. AT LEAST. Which means I need more.

2. Freak out about getting into college. Okay. It’s a stressful time right now, I know. But really, what’s freaking out going to do for us now? Just about a month ago, I was worried that I wasn’t worrying enough. Now I’m GLAD that this whole process isn’t killing me. We’re obviously all going to get into SOME college. Whether it’s our first choice or our last choice .. I believe .. is ultimately up to luck at this point. Nothing we can do. Just have to get this college application process overwith and relax.

3. Diet. I envy those girls who can live off of three bowls of salad a day for weeks at a time. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do that. I know that if I don’t, I’ll never be one of those S-line models, but I just can’t. I love food too much.

4. Start watching the new seasons of those 32483039284 different TV shows out there. Because I know that once I start, I won’t be able to stop. And.. I really can’t afford to spend five hours a day staring at the screen right now. Maybe second semester though

5. Go to hagwon. Never have, never will. I don’t care if my grades reflect the fact that I don’t go to any hagwons – at least those grades reflect ME. Plus, I really don’t want any extra work on my hands. KIS already gives me enough as it is.

I’ll add more as they come up

The world’s youngest professor, Alia Sabur, is teaching here in Korea. She’s a genius. A prodigy. She left high school and went to a university at the age of ten. She graduated from the University of New York at Stony Brook and went to grad school at the age of fourteen. Fourteen? I was in 9th grade when I was that age. She was appointed professor when she was just nineteen years old. Oh, and here’s a little side note: not only was Alia a machine-brained genius, but she also became a black-belt Tae Kwon Do fighter at the age of nine and was named a music prodigy at the age of eleven. How much more amazing can a girl get?

Photo from Google Images.

I came across an interesting, totally eye-opening blog entry today. Someone named Diane Iris recently deactivated her Facebook account and found that temporarily putting a stop to her addiction helped her appreciate real-life things a lot more. She mentioned the ways Facebook used to distract her when she had more important things to do (I seriously think this part was directed towards me..) And she concluded by saying she doesn’t miss Facebook. At all.

I’ve thought about deactivating my account many times, but I could never get myself to actually do it. I’m addicted. It’s something I need. No, I’m not one of those people who write 2385023923589 wall posts a day and change their status every time they take another breath. But I need Facebook. I need it to be one of my bookmarked tabs up at the top of this window. And I need to click on that tab every so often just for the heck of it.

It’s a problem.

Oh how I wish I could be more like Diane..
Maybe I’ll try it one day – deactivating my account.
And maybe it won’t be so bad.

Photo from Google.

I love photo blogs.

They make me want to travel. They make me want to learn how to be a better photographer. And how to really shoot the perfect scene.

They’re inspiring. Being able to capture an entire cityscape in one camera lens. Being able to catch someone in their brightest moments. That’s power.

Cheer pre-season; it has begun.

Nonstop round-offs. Handstands. Keep your arms locked, girls!
We have to nail these exercises in order for you to get your back handsprings!
10 herkies. 10 hurdlers. 10 toe-touches! Don’t stop, or we’re starting over!
Planks. Push-ups. V-ups. Step-ups. Squats. Now do them all again. Go go go!

Six weeks of hardcore conditioning & tumbling.
Hopefully by the end of this military camp, we’ll be super fit and ready for a great season!

Recently, I’ve come to realize that I’m not very comfortable with change.
Sure, I like to try new things and usually end up enjoying everything I do.
And I find myself asking all of these what if questions all the time, wondering what would happen if this changed, what would happen if that changed – almost as if I am waiting, wanting for something to happen differently.

But the truth is, change scares me.
Maybe that’s why I don’t change very easily.
That’s why I’m naturally stubborn and like to stay within my comfort zone.
And why I get thrown off if things suddenly aren’t they way they were before.

When family issues come up and daily routines are changed, I feel weird.

When priorities must be shifted, I feel insecure.

Even tiny, unimportant changes like a website or an instant messaging window changing its layout – they bother me. I’d much rather stick with what always was.

But I hope this fear of change… will change.

Photo from Flickr.