Taylor Swift Dedication

This post is the first of a series of posts in which I will dedicate a post to the stars in which I admire and have changed my life in some way. This “change my life” phrase might sound all dramatic at first but that is how it is. Although the frequency of this “change” would vary from person to person, Taylor Swift comes first because she has affected me the longest.

First off, I can safely say that in my early years of admiring Taylor Swift, I was obsessed. I discovered her in 8^th grade, and immediately I was in love. I could sing along to each and every one of her songs and I still can if I feel like it. I mean, she was pretty and she had these songs that actually said something that teenage girls care about. She was the thing to me. It was like, she was speaking directly to me in some of her songs. It was a most mysterious experience.

Even now, three years from the initial exposure to Ms. Swift, I still admire her and call myself her number 1 fan. Truth be told, I have never remained dedicated to any one artist for so long. Before I found Taylor Swift, it was mainly come and go with artist. Never have I remained so admiring of any artist for so long. It would be a dream to meet Taylor Swift and talk to her for even five minutes. To meet her would make one of my ultimate life experiences.

How has Taylor Swift made such a big contribution to me that I would dedicate a blog post to her? Well, I guess the first reason is that she had a lot of good popular songs that I really enjoy listening to. I know that singers like Beyonce and Rihanna are really amazing singers, but I still like Taylor Swift the best because she deals with songs that I can actually relate to. I guess that this trait in her songs are most attractive to me. I have practiced each and every song on my violin until I got them all. Although I can't play any of those songs as well as I used to, that was my dedication to my idol. Another thing is that Taylor Swift is a good conservative role model to follow. She has never sworn in public, nor has she had any nasty rumors floating around her head. Ms. Swift is one of those people who isn't bloated out like some other stars.

An example of a way that one of her songs has influenced me is “Speak Now”. This song has taught me that if I don't say what I need to, a big chance in my life might just slip away before my eyes. This song really taught me to stand up for what I believe in. Although this trait may give me some trouble later on in life, I want to keep this trait because without it, I will not look at myself in the same esteem that I used to. Saying directly what is on my mind has become sort of a habit that I intend to keep.

Another thing that I admire about Ms. Swift is that when she was in high school, she managed to pull off straight A's even when she started recording music. I know for a fact that getting A's in high school is very hard, especially when someone has all those extracurricular things going along with them. Being intelligent is a must have for me to admire them. There are a lot of stars (female) that I look up to because they manage to not lose control in public.

My admiration has been great the last couple of years. She is the type of girl that my parents want and who I hope that I can be. She's only 21 (as of today) and she is already so successful in the career that she has chosen. Although being a popular singer has its own downsides, people still admire her for who she is, not who she pretends to be. The way that I choose stars are simple: they have to be who they are, they can't pretend to be some glamorous star that they are not.

I hoped that you liked reading this post!

-Gina

NOTE:In later posts I will cover male stars, but for the moment, I'm doing female.      

Why Some Students Cheat

Today, I decided to cover this topic because I recently found that my seat partner cheated on a math quiz. Cheating, in my eyes, is one of the most despicable things that someone can do right next to stealing. Why is this so? Both of these actions go strongly against my morals. Cheating is a form of greed: someone wants something so badly that they will do whatever it takes to get it. Although I am ambitious, I do not lie to myself so much that I end up cheating. It's just wrong.

Now, why do some students cheat? I can immediately tell you a reason: to get better grades. Usually cheating is defined when a student cheats on a test or quiz. This is the main reason why students cheat. Most of these students have grades that are below average in the particular class that they are enrolled in. Cheating, they believe, will give them reprieve in the class and help bump their grade up a couple of points. Sadly, many students get away with cheating and are usually never caught. They get the grade that they never earned. This, I feel, is particularly unfair to those that actually studied and worked to get they grade that they got.

Another reason why I think students cheat is that after they get the grade they cheated on, and its really high, they feel really good about themselves. In other words, they get an ego boost from this grade. This is the only other reason why I would think a student would cheat. Those who cheat usually have nothing to lose other than their honor. Seriously, this is what I think. No joke. Many cheaters just don't get the fact that their very names are on the line. They don't think about how disappointed their parents would be when they find out that the students have cheated.

The students that cheat should not get a “warning” and then go around doing their business. A so called “warning” is just like a slap on the wrist when the student goes “I'm not going to do this again!” and then gets away without another word. I have seen too many instances where the teacher gives a clear warning to those who cheat, and then nothing happens after that. Cheating is a big issue, and if these people get away with what they're doing, then these students would feel that nothing is going to happen to them no matter what they do. There is something wrong with the school system of doing things. Cheaters should not be allowed to be on the school campus. In other words, they should be expelled due to their severity of infraction to the rules.

I have made cheating as a student sound really scary and serious in this post, and it is. Think about it, cheating can be extended from cheating on a test to cheating on relationships. No one likes that, and in some extreme cases, it can lead to big problems. No one likes or respects cheaters. In every case scenario, cheaters, when caught, should be dealt with severely. In real life, people who cheat ARE dealt with sharply. This causes some relief to me because I can't stand people who gain unfair advantages to others by unwanted ways.

I talked of this topic at length because its a real issue to teenagers who are feeling burdened by their pressures in school.

-Gina   

Pictures

OK, starting from this post, I'm going to tag my posts. This is going to make readers have an easier time going from post to post easier.

Apparently this is the traditional carriage that a bride rides in

Forgot what I was laughing about

Government tower of Jilin

These are my three photos of the day!

-Gina

Pictures Part 1

OK, so I thought I would divide sharing these pictures into several parts.

Me at the traditional water fountain. The gold arch represents power.

Entrance of the famed Buddha site

Same site, different places

These are the three photos that I have decided to upload today. Expect more in the next few posts!

-Gina

Some thoughts...

Hey, guys, haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd just kind of update my status on my blog a little bit. Thanks to Tom for all of those comments. You know what? I want to thank all of my followers for their encouraging comments. I don't know if I could have done all of this without you guys.

School has been pretty tough so far, but nothing unmanageable. I mean, school's school. The drama is sometimes unbearable, but life's life I guess. My grades are definitely looking up, as my last grade report evidently showed. This gave me a strong realization: if my grades picked up, everybody is obviously happier with just about everything. I know that this should be blindly obvious, but still. It's a realization.

In later posts, I will post some pictures of my visit to China that I should have posted long ago. I will divide up these pictures because there is a lot of them.

This is all for now. I will inform you guys of what I will do later.

-Gina

What I Wish I Could Be

The title sounds stupid. Most people want something in this world that they don't have. Nevertheless, I have always wanted something that I have not received. I am not ashamed to say this because everyone commits this sin whether they want to admit it or not. Well, I shouldn't say “sin” because that's a bit strong.

OK, so here's my first thing. I have always wished that I had different parents and a different family. I know this sounds really ungrateful but my parents have always pulled the chain really tight around my neck. I am basically not allowed to do anything without their permission. Especially my mom, who needs to put her foot in basically every business that concerns me. Believe you me, this gets extremely annoying after a while. If I have other NORMAL parents, I would be happy. How would I define normal? Parents that don't meddle with teenage affairs. Parents that buy their kids their own computers and all that. I need to use the house computer, and sometimes it gets irritatingly slow. This family thing leads me to my second point.

Secondly, I wish I could have grown up around different people. The people that I have grown up with aren't worth anything. I don't mean my best friend, who goes by “haha LOL” online. She's amazing. But the rest of the people that surround me are not worth anything. And the people that I met freshman year, I actually met people who were original and could think for themselves. And what do my parents do once they realized this? They take me away and put me in this South Pas place where everybody tries to live like they're in a movie or something. Seriously, I am sick and tired of living with people that feel like they're something once they enter high school. All these cliques are really driving me nuts. Not to mention all the drama that surrounds girls.

Lastly, I wish that the world would be less complicated. I mean, everyone thinks so much and reads so much into situations that it makes life hard to live. There should be less rules for people to live under, meaning that if people didn't have to think about how bad consequences would be if they made a bad decision, life would be much better for people to live in. If life had been easier on me, I would be a very happy person. But because my parents chose to make life harder for me, I am so unhappy with what I have right now. But I know that I cannot live with these circumstances all my life. That knowledge has gotten me over the fact that my parents have been less than fair to me. If I haven't accepted that fact and gotten used to living with it, I would be a very bad person to live with. I would literally be depressed every moment of my life.

These are the three things that make me really mad about what's happening in my life. Seriously, my parents, the people around me, and the complicated world that we all live in cannot be changed by me alone. I can't change who my parents are or anything like that. This is the part where everything sucks, where you know that you are stuck in a situation that you can't change. That is why I am so unhappy with what I have in my life.

These are the things that I want in life. Seriously, I don't think that these are any great demands that can't be achieved. Well, I take that back, many of these things can't just be deleted from my memory. These are kind of like what my “Three Wishes” post was about, but it is still different in many ways.

-Gina

Birthday!!!

That's right, you read it! This blogger has officially turned 16 years old!! I cannot say how happy I have reached this age. Finally my parents can boss me around less. Finally I can have a say in what I want and where I can go. This is a really good time for me.

This weekend, my best friend and I are going to the movies. We have not officially decide what time we are meeting or what movie we are watching but I believe that the both of us are going to have a good time.

-Gina

Daily Schedule in a Nutshell

This is a post about my schedule every day schedule.

4:30 AM: Get up and ready to go.

4:45 AM Go outside and walk around.

5:30-7:30 AM Back home. Eat. Study.

7:30 Go to school

8:00-2:00 School

2:30-4:00 Blogging!!!

4:00-7:00 Homework time

7:00-8:00 Work out

8:00-9:00 Studying for tests?

9:00-10:00 T.V.

10:00-11:00 Free time

OK, let's get this straight. You are staring at the getting up at 4:45 in the morning, walk around and then study. It might seem crazy to most people at first, but that is just my habit. Like, I can't sleep past 4:30 in the morning. That's just my thing, you know?

Obviously, school takes most of the time in the day. What's more, the six-hour school day does not seem to be enough for our teachers. We need to study so hard for so long that in some days my brain feels like its going to release methane or something from working so hard. This is not the way for teenagers to go around, people. Kids are supposed to have fun. Unfortunately, as soon as kids reach the age of 13 parents start worrying about grades and college and school. Plain retarded, that's what I call it.

Also, now that I'm on the subject of entering the teenage years, I am sick and tired of the drama that surrounds this age. As soon as I stepped into this new high school, meaning South Pasadena, drama was quite literally everywhere. Some situations are just so cliché that I don't know whether to laugh or to be serious. Like, quite literally, these “Tiger Moms” are everywhere. Each stereotype lives out its legacy. We have nerdy Asians who study and are headed for these Ivy League colleges. We have blond cheerleaders. But now I'm on the cheerleader topic, last year there were a couple of fat girls on the squad. I don't know how that happened or what the coach was thinking when those girls tried out, but last year that stereotype was broken. This year the squad has more diversity in it, and the team in general looks more attractive. One more thing that I don't like about this school is the many cliques that have developed in the school. I had so much trouble adjusting my first year.

Anyway, my thing with my schedule is that school takes up too much time. I know for a fact that high school is an important bridge to college and all that but teenagers still have lives. Teens are not bred to stay at either school or home doing school work. I know that although I'm Asian, I am not cut out for the “I work all day” thing. I don't do anything fun or exciting. Everyone else has some type of extracurricular to amuse themselves with. I have nothing to do usually. I like to have some fun now and then, like, you know break the rules. That's one of the reasons why I started this blog. My mom doesn't want me to put anything online, fearing that I will post “inflammatory ideas or thoughts” on the web. I mean, seriously? Think about the age in which we live in. No sniper is going to choose me and kill me because of the ideas that I put on the web. You know moms, always overreacting. It can be a big pain in the ass sometimes. Like seriously, if my mom discovered my blog, I would literally die. She would make me cancel this blog and monitor my web activities from then on. She would be afraid of all the “predators” that are awaiting behind their computers and looking for their chance to kidnap me. I know how to take care of myself. Sometimes I really can't wait to go to college. East coast of course.

Anyway, I just felt as if I wanted to talk about my everyday life a little bit.

-Gina