football

the NFL preseason starts in mid august. I can't wait.

This a picture of my dog that my mom sent me. She said it looks really funny because the dog is smiling. I think it looks like she's about to attack the camera.

I found this one on postsecrets. I think your interpretation of this depends on your own experiences and situation. But it reminds me of something that a certain someone *cough cough* would say to me.

cross country

here's something I want to do sometime in the future. It's called cross country, it's english riding for adrenaline junkies who are tired of riding around in an arena. These people are amazing riders and are slightly insane. But it's one of the coolest things I've seen on horseback. I'm not the biggest fan of english riding because the atmosphere nothing like a laid back western barn. The thing I like about english is jumping and plus I just like going fast which you can't normally do in a confined arena.

oh camp

Yet again I've gotten myself stuck in the situation of being a camp counselor this year. I really don't know why I'm doing it for a 4th year even though every year I seem to hate it more than the next. Here's the situation-> St. louis gets into the upper 90's/100's in the summer with about 70% humidity (it feels like 100%) which brings the heat index into the 110-120 category. I work camp from 8-5 which all the times that the weather forecasters say to stay inside. Dilemma two is that it's no ordinary camp where there's nice air conditioned buildings to go to if it gets hot or a pool to jump into. This is a horse camp so we have dirt, small partially functioning fans, and limited shade. Being that it's a camp around horses we have to wear jeans and close toed shoes. So try to imaigne wearing jeans and tennis shoes in the 98 degree wheather while jogging next to 7 ponys because the little 8 year old on the pony can't steer. And the fun doesn't stop there, there's always that handful of kids who have never heard the word 'no' said to them in their entire lives. You don't know how frustrating it is not to be able to correctly discipline a kid who throws random objects at other kids and doesn't give a rip about what you say. Then there's the ones who ask the same question literally 30 times a day (that's not an exageration). it's always "What are we doing in after care?" and "Can I walk Candy?" (a pony at the barn). And our answer is the same every time....all 30 times. It's also fun when the same kid who asks the 30 questions steals your hat every chance she gets and than runs off with it. So camp is an absolute blast. Alright I'm going to stop ranting now.

mentors

I believe that everybody at one point has someone who makes a big impact on their lives. It comes in different forms: a peer, family member, teacher, etc. Either way these people make a lasting impact on others. My guess is that most people can name at least one person who has helped them at one point in their lives. I’m going to get kind of corny for a minute so bear with me. The dictionary.com definition of a mentor is: a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. My definition of a mentor is: someone who goes out of their way to care about the wellbeing of another person through the good, the bad, and the ugly. They know and want the best for a person even if that person doesn't. They’re willing to help and speak the truth even if they know the person won’t receive the information very well. They are there to witness the good times and they’re there to help with the bad. They change lives by just spending time and talking with others.

sharks

At the moment I'm reading a book called 'the secret life of sharks.' I'm not very far into it but I'm hoping it'll be good. It's about a shark biologist that studies shark behavior. His aim is to show what true shark behavior is like, basically to disprove everything that Jaws said. I have high hopes for this book because 1) I love sharks and want to learn more about them and 2) the book store didn't have it so I had to wait a really long time for it to mail to my house.

brought to you courtesy of despair.com

social media ven diagram

oh how true

M-I-Z-Z-O-U

I find this to be quite adorable

silence

Silence. It's something we're not very familiar with. Everybody, including myself, has become so use to having the tv on, listening to music, talking to friends on facebook, while texting another friend, all while doing some other form of work (homework, taxes etc.) We've become so use to having a million and one distractions that whenever things get quiet and we're just sitting there, we get increasingly uncomfortable. I know several people that can't go to sleep unless music is playing. Silence is a topic I've been told about several times and it's a subject I like talking about. I believe that many people, unconsciencly, are fearful of silence, because silence leaves us alone with our own thoughts. Maybe that's why everybody is so stressed and unhappy. We do not set time aside to just think about things. People run to the computer, tv, or ipod whenever they have nothing else to do. Because running to those things blocks out our capacity to think about the world around us and focus on the virtual world that is feeding us information in front of us. We do not need to think when infront of electronics. Maybe I'm a hypocrite because I'm always in front of the computer or tv. For the last year or so I've started firmly believing in the fact that we need to have an electronics/distraction free moment every once in a while. It ends up being uncomfortable for a lot of people but it offers a whole lot more than what the tv can give.
The people that know me know that I'm an insane morning person. I woke up at 7:30 am every morning on vacation this last week just because. I've always been a morning person, that's just the way I'm built. But I think the reason why I continue to get up early even in the summer is because I've always loved being able to enjoy an hour or two of stress free moments before everybody gets up and the day starts. Alright I've said what I need to say and I'm getting off my soap box now.

a vision of students today

community

While coming back from a week at Destin I was thinking about how powerful a community can be. It can either be extremely hurtful or extremely helpful. For now I'm going to focus on the helpful community. It's not often that a group of 65 people can spend a week together, and for the most part everybody feels comfortable hanging out with each other. Especially a group of teenagers. To make a long story short the last night (for a reason I have yet to figure out) a lot of people get kinda emotional. A select few feel comfortable enough to share personal issues that they deal with in daily life. The last thing most people naturally want to do is tell their personal secrets to a group of people, some of which they don't even know. Krew aims to be a place where kids can be themselves and can come to avoid being judged. I think that is why those people were comfortable sharing with the group, because they felt safe that everybody wouldn't judge them for their problems. By the end of the meeting that night when everybody was singing the last song, I did not see one person standing alone. Everybody had another person or a group of people they were hugging or hanging on to. There aren't many times and places where this kind of thing happens. The power of an encouraging community makes all the difference.

best car of all time

gotta love my steelers

destin 09

just one reason why I love the ocean

who's on first