This is Just the Beginning...

A lot of kids are going to tell you that this is their last blog post ever. Well stay tuned because that’s not the case for me!

At the beginning of the year, Mr. Parker told our class to write down what we thought a blog was. This is what I put: “I think a blog is a personal website with stories where the reader can express their feelings and the posts are published for anyone to read.” 

Little did I know that expressing my feelings would not only benefit myself.

The other day in English class a girl came up to me and said, “OMG I love reading your blog, Liza.” She completely changed the way I think of posting

You gotta love this place.

At the beginning of the year, I looked at blogging as a way to express MY feelings, I didn’t necessarily care who else it impacted. Actually, I guess you could argue that at that time I had zero followers so it really wasn’t impacting anyone else. However, now that I can proudly say I have eight followers, I realize that my blog made a bigger impact on others than I ever thought possible. That’s what blogging is really about. Uniting people through common experiences or beliefs. 

After first quarter, if someone had asked if I thought I would continue to blog once the year ends I would have probably said “no.” At that point blogging was difficult for me, all my ideas were there, I just didn’t know how to put them on paper. On the other hand, if someone asked me if I was going to continue writing my blog after its not a requirement for a grade, I would say “hopefully!” Blogging is no longer an assignment for me, it’s something I look forward to doing.

So, I just want to give a HUGE thank you to all of the people who have given me a reason to write this blog: My parents, sisters, friends, fellow classmates, my mom’s book club, Mr. Parker, and obviously the most important of all: My two fluffy donkeys. If I didn’t have you guys, I would simply have nothing to write about. So you definitely deserve some credit. 

It's so fluffy I'm gunna die!

But I would also like to give an even HUGER thank you to blogging itself. As much as I complain about writing blogs I know I will eventually learn to become thankful for it. 

Ever since I started writing a blog I look at experiences differently and always wondering: “Is that a good blog topic?” Luckily, our wonderful town of Park City, UT is always buzzing with material to write/gossip/complain about.

Every town is known for something:

Aspen, Colorado is known for great hiking trails.

Florence, Italy is known for having great food.

Los Angeles, California is known for being the home of celebrities. 

Dublin, Ireland is known to be filled with kind people.

Big Sky, Montana is known for having insane skiing.

And Park City, UT? We’re known to have them all!

Live in the Moment

I’m upset. You wanna know why I’m upset? Well as usual, I don’t really care if you want to know, because I am going to tell you anyway! So HA.

Anyway, I am upset because we only have 26 days, 17 hours, 32 minutes, and 44 seconds until school ends. UNTIL FRESHMEN YEAR ENDS. That means that we only have 1,124 days, 17 hours, 32 minutes, and 44 seconds until our high school years end. It may sound like a lot now, but before we know it we are going to be beginning senior year. Which if you really want to know is in 842 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes, and 11 seconds. And then we will wish we could add even more time onto our High School years. So yeah… That is why I am upset. Oh, and it is raining. 

Throwback to when I was living 1/7th of my life!

I remember one day when I was younger, I was telling my sister, Katy, how each year seems to go by faster than the previous one. At the time, I thought it was just my imagination, I mean that couldn’t have possibly been true. However, I guess the impossible is sometimes possible. I learned that day, that as you grow up, each year is actually shorter than previous one. Right now, I am fifteen years old. So this year is 1/15th of my lifetime. When I am in my senior year, I will be 18 years old. That is 1/18th of my life! 

So what does that tell us?

We need to cherish each day we have as we grow up because as we keep getting older, more and more days will seem to disappear. As much as we completely dread waking up in the morning at 6 am to go become educated at the dungeon, we will miss it someday. Yes, that’s right. Someday when you are thirty years old working in a cubicle on the fourth floor of some sky scraper in New York City, you might actually miss the crammed hallways of Treasure Mountain Junior High. I know I will. 

“Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again.”

9th grade is the year where we begin to regret the decisions we made in the past because we can’t take the classes we want, or we can’t make the team we want. But it is also the year where we become stressed about our future because grades begin to count. As I look back on my last year at Treasure Mountain I realize that I am a victim of both living in the past and living in the future. When I really wish I had lived in the present and just appreciate each moment as it comes. 

P.E. AKA Pathetic Exercise

I am a straight A student. 

Or I guess I should say I WAS a straight A student.

I know what your thinking: It was probably Honors English that broke the streak. Mr. Parker is known for being a teacher who even makes the Einsteins work for a grade. 

I should probably tell you now that I have a 95% in Mr. Parkers class.  

SO, WHAT CLASS COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE AN A- IN?

Two Letters: P and E. 

School ends in thirty days. Our State meet is in a few weeks. I only have a total of six vital vocabs. for this quarter. And the best of all, my sister comes home from college in less than two weeks! 

Playing Badminton in P.E.
(Photo Courtesy of The Cavitt Chronicle)

This all sounds pretty great right? So why is it that I still completely dread every other day of my life. 

Well, to begin with I don’t exactly appreciate being constantly told to spit out the gum that I am not even chewing. Mr. Torrey has the eyes of a hawk. He could spot gum chewing from a mile away. 

Speaking of miles, I run close to thirty of them every week. Mr. Torrey obviously does not realize this because I just received 10/15 on in class participation. THAT’S A D. Supposedly I need to put forth more effort. How am I supposed to break a sweat in P.E.? Not to mention, while playing badminton.

For the record, this is no grandiose and I am not being overdramatic. I have talked to plenty of other students who clearly express the same hate as me for P.E. 

I think this is mainly because we all have after school sports and we don’t need to waste our energy on 90 minutes of whacking a birdy across a three foot tall net. While, I might add, holding a germy and archaic racket that could easily cause me to come down with an incurable illness. 

So much better.
(Photo Courtesy of Mountain Home)

I have written this blog post three times. It is very difficult to bring out my inner kindness on a subject I feel so strongly about. I understand that P.E. is an imperative class in many cities because it requires kids to become active. However, we live in Park City, Utah. So why stay in a stinky gym for 90 minutes when you could embrace all the incredible things Park City has to offer in the great outdoors. 

I would much rather go smell the fresh air on a mountain biking trail than sit in the windowless gym of Treasure Mountain playing Badminton. 

For the record, that is coming from the girl who hates mountain biking with a passion. A strong passion.

P.S. I used three vital vocabulary words in this blog post. #proudmoment