Listen closely

October is always the best time for scary movies, mostly because of Halloween. Also the time for scary movies because it is always dark and cold out. Scary movies are great, not easy for everyone to handle, but always great. One of the reasons movies can be so scary is that they usually don’t have sound effects. Usually when something is about to happen in a movie there is some music leading up to it or some weird sounds. When you have those you are ready and expecting something to happen making it less scary. When you don’t have those sounds to cue you in on what is about to happen, you tend to be quite startled and maybe even terrified. A lot of times scary movies even say that they are based off of a true story, making it even worse. Being something that actually happened makes you think, this is going to happen to me now isn’t it, making you on edge for the rest of the night usually. The thing I always enjoy about scary movies is that most of the time there is around 3 other movies with the same story line and it is great because you already know the story you just don’t know exactly what is going to happen exactly and it can make it even better. It is actually pretty terrifying especially with the CGI that they can do to make things look even worse than they really are. Now some people really don’t get effected much by scary movies and it is just so weird. Maybe they have experienced a lot in their life or maybe they really just don’t care, who knows really. The only problem with scary movies, at least for me, is that once you watch a movie you know where all the scary parts are and you will look for them and be prepared for everything that is going to happen. Or if you are really scared of these movies always the best thing in so watch the entire movie through a scarf. I have no clue why but when it is just a bit blurry and makes the entire movie a whole lot less scary. Next time you go and watch a scary movie pay attention to the fact that there is nothing at all going on. It all really does seem like a documentary so who knows, maybe it really all is based off of a true story.

Seasonal work

Tis the season for seasonal things, so many things, even flavors and smells have seasons. Honestly I do enjoy some of them a lot it just makes me sad how you can only have them at certain times of the year. Pumpkin spice, peppermint, and shamrock stuff, its all great. Sometimes though people get a little too obsessed with them and always getting the new thing. There’s cookies, coffee, shakes, ice cream, you name it and its probably made in that seasons flavor. I have to admit that pumpkin spice cookies are pretty great but when it comes to other seasonal flavors you can so easily get them any time of the year. Just when it has that name for the season or the holiday it just makes it more expensive. It is like how mothers and father’s day is just a Hallmark holiday, invented to keep people happy and businesses booming. The seasonal flavors are just another money making thing but I suppose that’s okay. At least they taste great and there is always an unlimited supply of amazing.

The younger generation is the rude one

We are always taught to use our manners as a child, or at least we should be. It drives me crazy when people don’t know better or their kids know more than them. Please, thank you, excuse me, maybe even being nice and cleaning up a ridiculous mess you made at a restaurant, at least most kids have a conscience to do so. Working at a restaurant you see a lot of things that you just say why, why. I have seen parents, in their 40s, walk BEHIND the counter, behind the counter, without asking. Who does that? They apparently don’t realize that only employees are allowed behind the counter. I have seen a man try to go into the employee bathroom that is behind the counter. ?? Why. What makes a person think that that is where you are supposed to go. I do not understand sometimes when these things happen I really don’t.

Another thing that I don’t understand is when parents are feeding their kids like crackers or something and they just leave them all on the table, all over the floor. Why can’t you pick them up? Perhaps at least just pick them up off the floor because when they are on the floor, people can step on them. Crush them. Make a waitresses job a whole lot harder because well, we have to clean, everything, no matter what it is. It’s also just incredibly annoying because we have to stop whatever we are doing to make sure that the dining room looks at least somewhat nice and not super dirty or anything. Why don’t adults understand that just because it is our job to clean, it doesn’t mean that you can make everything dirtier.

Along with the dirty thing about restaurants, why don’t you let waitresses take care of you? I am pretty sure that every restaurant I have ever been to, the waiters take your dishes away, pretty much always. So, if there isn’t a spot to return your dishes, why would you think you should take them all up and set them on the clean counter? I understand made you need them out of the way right away but if you see someone walking by you should try and get their attention and ask if they can take all of the dishes away. It is such a simple concept I just don’t get why people don’t understand it. If we don’t notice the dirty dishes on the counter then it makes the whole counter look bad and it is just ridiculous.

I feel as though sometimes, the kids just are getting told to do so much and be so much kinder and more helpful than what their parents actually do, its kind of ridiculous. Maybe someday the “kids are the most rude and impolite” thing will go away because honestly its not true. Just the other day I was taking some dishes to the back and I dropped a napkin and when I came back a little girl handed it to me and just said “I thought you might need this it fell”. What adult would do that? Most would give me a dirty look as if I don’t know how to do my job, when really its just the fact that they are making it a lot harder.

No reason to care

I’ve talked about transgender before and that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the LGBT community. There are so many different sexualities out there that people are unaware of, or they just don’t care. The L stands for lesbian which is sexual attraction from female to female. G is for gay, man to man. B is bisexual which sexual attraction to both genders and it can be with a preference towards one or the other. Then the T stands for transgender that I already talked about. Now the community isn’t even just for those sexualities because there is a lot more than that. Mostly though the media is focused more just on the LGBT part of it all, especially when it comes to marriage. It’s been in the news a lot recently about ‘gay marriage’ and whether or not it should be legal. Now I personally believe that anyone should be able to be with whom they want to be and it is ridiculous to deny that of anyone for no reason whatsoever. Love is love no matter what, who it is really doesn’t matter all too much. Quite a few states have legalized ‘gay marriage’, well they legalized same sex marriage, so they really shouldn’t just say gay, but it is good enough I suppose. Not only does this allow people to get to be in a marriage that they want but it also allows for some benefits too. When you are married you can be on your spouse’s insurance, take their name, and all sorts of other legal benefits. Why rob someone of these benefits just because their sexual life isn’t to your liking? It really makes no sense, if you want to get married you should be able to, no ifs ands or buts about it. I really don’t see the point in robbing people of happiness with insults and such but I suppose there really are a lot of assholes in the world. How would you feel if you had went to introduce your girlfriend to your family and the instant they saw you guys together they hated her, told you that this choice was the worst one you could have made. Now, loving who you love isn’t a choice right? So why should it matter who marries who? It would be so awful to hear that everyone hates what you have decided to do, even though it isn’t a choice, it just happened, and all you can do is be crushed by it or stand your ground. Love is love no matter what no matter was color, shape, size, or kind, it’s always the same so it really shouldn’t be questioned. No need to question if it should be legal for same sex marriage, it just should be, no question about it, yet it’s not the case yet, not for everyone at least. Hopefully within the next few years same sex marriage will be legal in all the states for everyone. Maybe in the next decade or so anyone in the LGBT community will be accepted for who they are not for who they love. We are all just a personality in a skin so what does it matter what skin it is? Who cares? Apparently a lot, I do not really understand why. For some reason though, that might always be the case.

Its all about the roar

Sound all around. Echoing through the stadium. On the field all in uniform, working so hard. No it’s really not the football players because we only let them borrow the field for their games but other than that, it belongs to the band. Honestly marching band is the least credited activity, if you have ever been to a show or competition and saw all the bands from around you would be amazed at what people can do. It’s so weird to me that people think that it’s so boring but really it took so much time for that band to perfect their show how could you even say it’s boring.

Marching band starts either before school ends or long before the school year starts, which I’m not really sure if people know that. You spend hours on end learning music and where your spot is, not that persons over there but yours. You add in little details, maybe a horn flash here, a horns to the box there, and you learn all of it, every single little bit. By the time everything is said and ready marching season is already half over, and the competitions start. Saturday after Saturday you travel to competitions to see all different bands. If anyone asks if you are busy on a Saturday from August to October just say yes, there is always a competition somewhere that you will be.

You compete, you win some awards, you might not be happy with the score, but it’s still an experience. People say oh it’s not hard to be in band, it’s really not that time consuming, you definitely have time for things BESIDES band, no not really.  Once the season is over you hang up your uniform, tie your shoes together, and clean out all the gross socks in your locker. You spent so many hard hours, so much hard work, so many push-ups, and in the end it was all worth it because you played a great show.

Maybe I don't know yet ok

                 When it comes to the point in life when you actually have to figure out what the heck to do its actually super stressful, unlike what most adults believe. You keep getting told that its really not that hard to decide but by now your junior year you should be 99% sure on what you want to be when you grow up. Now really this is a ridiculous thing to believe you should all have figured out. I know people in their 40's that say they wish they knew what they wanted to be when they grow up. So why on earth do we keep getting told that we have to know now?? I understand that you should know sooner than later because you should go to college for something not just go to college for college but still.
                  Speaking of college, whenever you do decide on what you want to be, you have to pick the best one. Now for me I've decided I want to major in Elementary Education to become an elementary teacher. A teacher will end up being a lot of work but its what I decided will be great. With that in mind I have been looking at different colleges to see which one would be best for going to when it comes to the major I've chosen. I think that I have finally decided on University of Northern Iowa. Since I decided this one of the best things you can always do is go check out the college. Going on a visit day to UNI I got to go all around the campus, learn more about the programs, learn everything the campus has to offer. I highly suggest going on a visit day to a college because it really does help you decide on where you want to end up going. You actually get to learn a lot more about it and maybe you will decide that you actually don't want to go there. It all depends on the atmosphere and all of the things the campus has to offer.
                   Maybe you don't know what you want to be when you grow up, but when you do you should always take advantage of visit days at colleges. You can finally figure where to go and meet some people that you might end up knowing forever.

Privileges maybe?

When it comes to grades, some of us don’t do too well at all. Maybe we just really struggle in a class or maybe we just don’t care. Either way I really don’t believe you shouldn’t be able to leave for lunch, especially for having a C-. A C- can keep you from leaving the school. But if you have .5 percent above a C- you can leave for lunch? I don’t think people realize how easy it is for someone with a C to drop down below that and it’s really not fair to let them continue leaving if they do. Then there is times that it is the teacher’s fault that your grade is low because they either put in a zero because they lost it or they just take forever to put your grades in. Now I personally have one very bad grade so this really doesn’t apply to me right now, but I feel like if you get your grade up from a C- you should get your privileges back for lunch and be able to leave because what’s the point of fixing it if they aren’t going to give you something back in return. People can easily drop down below a C- from any grade and to continue letting them leave for lunch really isn’t fair, they should have a sort of punishment as well until they fix it rather letting them continue on with their life not caring at all. We are now able to tell the principal as to why we deserve to leave for lunch but you really shouldn’t have to work that hard to have the privilege back. Hopefully they will fix this system at school because it’s really not a great way to get people to fix all of their mistakes.

Aren't you a regular?

As we get older we try and find some consistency in our lives because well everything we used to do or everyone we once had is slowly going away. Working at a restaurant I’ve seen people come in the same day every week, with the same people, and get the exact same thing. Every week. It’s usually older people who tend to do this but the way I see it is that it’s actually a great thing to do.  They always get to be around their favorite people eating some pizza or something and they get to know all of us that work there as well, and hopefully we all stay working there so they don’t have to deal with new people that don’t know how they like things. The only thing I absolutely hate about the regulars is that you have to watch them get older. Some days the group is missing a person and I tend to worry because usually when that happens they always look super sad. Maybe he died? Hopefully he’s just sick? Then there is the weeks that they don’t show up at all and you really do hope everything is okay. There is a woman and her parents that come in every Monday night and get a large pizza with sausage and mushrooms, every Monday night. The mother was always walking fine until one week she had a cane, the next a walker, and now she has been in a wheelchair since. It’s really sad because you just hope she doesn’t get worse, but yet they still come in for their regular Monday night dinner despite anything that is going bad. Now I feel like eventually all of us will try and find some place to go ALL the time to the point where you can just say oh I’ll have my usual and they all know EXACTLY what that is. Not only do us waitresses enjoy getting to see the same people every week but all the regulars enjoy how much we try to remember all they ask for. Some people go to the extent to even thank you and just tell you how much they appreciate what we do. Just last night a guy called asking for me and he just wanted to thank me for making sure his pizza was exactly how he wanted it with no bubbles popped. Bubbles on his pizza, that’s what he was so excited about and glad I remembered. Just the little things like that, just thanking someone can really make someone’s night. Just the regulars and the regular things always and forever hopefully.

Opinions

Now we are supposed to be writing more opinionated blogs apparently which I was quite unaware of and I would just like to say that even though this post may be opinionated I HATE sharing my opinion. It makes me feel like I am either calling someone out on something they did completely wrong or I am afraid that if I give my opinion someone will call me out on how wrong or awful I am. Usually when people try to get me to share my opinion so I can be on their side I just end up agreeing with both sides and giving my reasons as to why both are right. The only reason I ever just share my actual opinion is if I’m super pissed off because I can’t take all the shit people just talk about. I get tired of hearing the same things over and over and over. I just snap at people and tell them everything they do wrong and just freak out because it ends up being my one chance to tell them EVERYTHING that they do that is awful. I may even do the same things as them and I make sure to tell them that but I also make sure they know that they can’t be judging people on it because yeah they end up doing the same thing. Now that’s one example as to why I share my opinion, another is when it is about school because the whole school system is a mess even though they don’t believe so. There’s my opinion on opinions. Yeah you should have the right to your own opinion but please don’t share them. Most opinions are shitty and I am tired of people getting crap every day because others feel like their opinion is better than the person themselves. We just need to keep opinions to ourselves mostly because it will always end up hurting someone somewhere and its super annoying when you really know that happens too but you continue to do it. So as i come to an end i will try, try with all my might to be opinionated but sorry if it doesn't happen, its just my personal opinion not to share opinions.

{End Opinionated Rant}

Caffeine

A lot of us wake up in the morning and need a nice cup of coffee. Some of us feel like we can’t even function without it. Then as the day goes on we drink soda and energy drinks because we either enjoy them or because we can’t stay awake without them. Caffeine is one of the most abused drugs and people don’t even realize that it is one. It is a stimulant that wakes you up, gives you a spirt of energy, but if you have too much you can have a caffeine overdose. It is found in coffee beans, tea, some nuts, chocolate, and a few other things that come from natural sources. We think we need to have that coffee or that pop but really the reason we think that is because you are addicted, addicted to the energy that it gives you. Sometimes people end up with awful migraines for no reason, but really it’s the withdraw. Suddenly you stop drinking as much caffeine and your body feels like you have let it down, you start to hurt really badly, usually it’s just awful headaches. Caffeine withdraw usually lasts only a few days.

Caffeine takes about 5-30 minutes to circulate through the body and get into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream it usually remains for about 12 hours and during this time its effects will continue. Caffeine stimulates your brain, you become more alert, heart rate increases, and your body temperature can rise. Although these effects often happen, they can actually vary from person to person depending on how their body reacts. Even though caffeine helps keep you awake it can have effects after it is out of your system such as anxiety, headaches, dehydration, increased breathing and heart rate, irritability, and restlessness. Even though caffeine seems harmless, it can actually do a lot of damage.

You would never think that you can overdose from caffeine but you actually can. When someone takes too much caffeine they can have an irregular heartbeat, vomiting, panic attacks, and tremors, sometimes even seizures. If you don’t overdose but do have large amounts every day you can have some long term risks. Caffeine can make you depressed, anxious, infertility, heartburn, ulcers, severe insomnia, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and even heart disease. We may think that we aren’t doing much to our everyday normal lives but sometimes we are. Caffeine does affect the body and the risks can really take a toll on your overall health. 

Addiction

Addiction. It is all around us, everywhere we go. Most people think drugs or alcohol but that’s not always the case. You find that one thing, that one thing in life that you just can’t seem to live without. Day after day you need more and more of it and it really never occurs to you how much you do something or take something, anything really. One day you wake up and realize, wow I’ve had pizza for every meal of the day for about a week now. Addicted you are indeed, and you never even realized it. Hoarding, basically being addicted to junk or so called “valuable items” that you have in your home, you need it. You need a lot of things in your life, we even are addicted to things that we see as a necessity, but really it’s just something we are used to and without it most of us couldn’t even imagine how we would live. Try imagining yourself without electricity for a week, now we are used to a few hours when power lines are down but a week? You would go crazy, how would you live? Well if you weren't addicted you would be fine. Drug addicts end up going through this when they try to get off of drugs. This is withdraw and its crazy trying to stay away from the drugs, you just want them back. What will they do without them? What will we do without our everyday lives? We would go crazy for a while but mostly because of our addiction run society.

Mistakes

Sometimes when you talk about drugs or other addictive things you actually can relate to them and it is hard to realize how they can change a life drastically. When you think about your friends you either know exactly everything that is going on or you don’t know anything at all. Like how I said in my other posts younger people are getting addicted to things that they shouldn’t and it always end up going horribly wrong, and one of my friends is an example. Now it didn’t just start off with him, it started with his parents. His mother was a drug addict and of course you don’t want your son around that so his father divorced her in order to get him, let’s call him John, away from her. John was actually pretty happy about this change because he never had wanted to end up like her because it just wasn’t a good life and you never knew what would happen. His mother had a different idea, he felt her life was perfectly fine even though she was on drugs, she felt it was fine. She fought for custody over John and won, well not really. John was staying with his dad when his mom came to the door with fake papers saying that he had to go with her because she won the trial. He was so upset he didn’t know what to do except run away, which is where everything got much worse. He ended up with the wrong crowd of people while he was on his own and they talked him into all sorts of things. One night they all went and robbed a liquor store, they needed alcohol for the party they were going to go to afterwards. Not only was that illegal but the fact that John was 14 when this all happened made it so much worse. They got to the party later that night and everyone was drinking, another thing not for 14 year olds. At some point during the party while everyone was drunk John was handed a gun, why no one will ever know. Next, he was bumped into, the gun went off, and his life was changed.

This all started because his drug addicted mother fought for him, and from the alcohol they all had that night. The bullet ended up through someone’s head, they died. The 19 and 20 year old that helped John rob the liquor store, they got only 20 years in jail for the robbery. John was unfairly tried as an adult, he got 25 years for the robbery, 50 years for the murder. He was 14. He didn’t get to finish his childhood, instead he has been sitting in jail for the past 7 years, just because they felt the need to get drunk. Just recently the case was brought back up to have a new trial since he was only 14 years old and trying him as an adult isn’t right. I’m not quite sure how things are going so far, but the last I heard the soonest he could get out is when he is 62. 62 years old, 48 years rotting away, for one dumb mistake. 

Perscribe

Often when people are diagnosed with ADHD they are prescribed amphetamines which are stimulants that quicken vital parts of the body, and since people with ADHD already have hyper activity in their brain it often counters it and equal it out. ADHD often becomes noticeable in young child and most of the time the symptoms start to improve as they get older but yet there are times that the disorder continues to make a person unable to focus very well. In order to control these focusing issues patients take amphetamines in order to stimulate their brain. This stimulant can come in different forms and are for a daily use to keep the patient more calm than normal. Many who take these stimulants go through psychotherapy incase the drug has any other effects on them, they talk about their self-esteem, focus on their social interactions, and their thinking ability. While some use amphetamines for their health others end up abusing these prescription stimulants.

An increasing number of people in the world are starting to abuse prescription drugs in order to do what they believe will improve their earning and it is called cognitive enhancement. The belief is that it will help people to improve their grades in school but it really doesn’t do much. Stimulants do make you more aware of what is going on but when it comes to improving your grades it has been found to do the opposite. Often students who take stimulants have lower grades than those who don’t, making it not worth your while to take them to begin with.

Most people who end up abusing stimulants end up not being able to sleep, not have an appetite, and for the benefit of being able to focus, but often when these are abused it is for purposes such as weight loss and performance enhancement. In order for someone to get the result they want while abusing these drugs they either take a higher dosage than they were prescribed or they take them without a prescription. Some take these stimulants to enhance their life but others do it for the euphoria, the pills are crushed, snorted, or even put in water to inject. The stimulants effect the brain by increasing the levels of dopamine to increase pleasure, movement, and attention. Doctors prescribe the stimulant low at first then increases the dosage slowly to make the process seem more natural. When abused though these stimulants can be taken at a high dosage and can even lead to addiction. An addiction to these prescription drugs can be an issue especially if you don’t know the other side effects of the stimulants. These can increase your heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and can decrease your ability to sleep and your appetite. The risks of it can be even worse with having heart problems, strokes, hostility, and paranoia. To avoid these risks and other effects its best to use the stimulants as they were prescribed because if you don’t it will lead to addiction which can be hard to ease yourself off of.