Holiday Traditions

     In my family, the holidays have always been a time to come together. Since I was a child Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, because my family - immediate, extended and related-by-marriage alike - would all go camping together. For me and my relatives the holidays are about family traditions. Things like my dad and my uncle always grilling our turkey and everyone else bringing entrees for our Thanksgiving potluck. Since we are always away, Black Friday is not something I have ever done and I fairly certain I'm not missing out on anything. Waking up early and standing in the cold, only to be almost crushed when a mob of crazed shoppers storms the store? No thank you.

     After Thanksgiving, my household turns into Santa's workshop. My sister and I creating handcrafted gifts for family and friends, while my father works on my mother's present, which is usually fixing or remodeling something in the house. When my grandmother was still alive, she, my mother, my sister, my aunt and I would all gather at her house and have a huge baking-fest. Shortbread, gingerbread, snicker doodles, sugar cookies, we tried everything. Now that she is gone we bake cookies in her memory. In my family I have never found the holidays to be materialistic or gift-oriented, we have always used it as a time to bring our family together.

     When I read the two essay's on holiday materialism by Amel Saleh and Lauren Smith, I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with parts of each author's ideas. While Smith had a wonderfully idealized situation playing out in her essay, I was not impressed by her "always give and receive" attitude. On the other hand, I liked Saleh's frankness but I don't have a lot of personal experience with the situations she was suggesting. I suppose if I had to chose one that I like better, I would say Saleh. Because, despite my lack of personal experience with those issues, I could see how they could easily become a problem. Part of my mourns for the dismal turn the holiday season has taken, and I am so thankful for my families wonderful holiday traditions.

Now, for Later

     Freshman year of high school, I had a fairly steep learning curve when it came to time management. Even now it is not one of my strong suits. However, this semester it has seemed to come easier than past ones. So far, this has been one of my best semesters of high school. Things seemed to fall into place. My professors have been great, and my classes have been challenging, without overwhelming me.

     One of the things that has been new for me this semester, is meeting and working with new teachers. Being homeschooled, I had the same teachers all through junior high, and high school. I have found that I like teachers who are upfront, and don't leave any room for misunderstandings. A frustration I have had this semester is that one of my professors has a tendency towards ambiguity. While he knows the material and seems to really enjoy the subject, he is occasionally indecisive and vague his lectures. I am often told that I am direct, and that is a trait that I like in other people as well, so his mannerisms leave me... discontented.

     As I mentioned, I am very blunt, and one of my classes has really spoken to that side of me. I am taking Intro to Logic, and so far it has been my favorite. In class we do logic puzzles, which were new to me when I first started the course, but are now what I look forward to the most. When I work on this subject, I can practically feel my mental gears cranking, and I love it.

     In the past, I was often bored by my classes because things were not pushing me enough, but this semester has been the perfect balance of quick assignments and tasks that have made me sit down and consider all angles. Because this semester has been so balanced, I have not had too much trouble staying motivated. Whenever I am feeling stressed and worn out, I boost myself back up with reminders of where I want to be in the future. Studying now, is for my benefit later.

Reality TV

     As a child the television was a source of fascination and awe for me. I enjoyed anything from documentaries on exotic animals, to Looney Toons on the weekends. The one type of show I have never had an interest in though, is reality TV. Although the title implies that the contents are 'reality', I have always thought that there is too much of a scripted feel to the shows. While I can understand the interest people have in these shows, I have never found them to be appealing.

     One of the downfalls of reality shows, at least from my point of view, is that they promote behavior that is not beneficial to anyone. Series like, "Real Housewives" (from anywhere), display women who are superficial and attention-focused. There is no reason for grown women to act, speak and treat each other the way the women on these shows do. While people may argue that they only watch for the entertainment, and do not behave the same way, our subconscious is more susceptible to influence than most people think.

     Another negative affect I believe reality television has, is that it encourages people to gossip, and become overly-involved in other's affairs. Granted, the people on these shows has volunteered to put their lives on display, but I personally don't understand that. Why would you want the whole country to know exactly what your family fought about last night? I don't consider myself an exceedingly private person, but I am definitely uninterested in the activities of other's. This is certainly a factor in my dislike of these shows. I believe that your business is your business, and it should stay that way.

     I have found that I am simply not entertained by most reality shows. Of course, I have not seen all of them so there is a chance that one day I will find one that appeals to me, but so far, I am horrified more often than I am amused. When I watch television, I want to be captivated by a fantastic other world, or alternate universe, or learn new things, and see new places. I don't want to be dragged into the craziness of some family I have never met. My family has enough of it's own crazy. To me, television should be a suspension of the real world, or a celebration of it, not a dramatized, exploitation of humans innate nosiness.

     Although I don't mean to offend any fans of reality television, I can truthfully say that I consider reality TV to be a waste of time. The phony, over-characterization of the people, and the ridiculous scenarios seem laughable. Unfortunately, I do not mean that in a good way. Maybe one day I will change my tune, but for now I am going to continue avoiding reality shows.

An Altered Opinion

     Stereotypically, women have the reputation of being bossy, opinionated and indecisive. While I am not a supporter of stereotypes, I will admit they are there for a reason. I, personally, am all of the above, with a few other traits thrown in for good measure; one of them being stubbornness. When I form an opinion on something, I stick to it, which made this particular assignment difficult for me. Wracking my brain, I searched for a shift in my mindset that had been large enough to merit a noticeable affect in my life. As a fairly open-minded person, when I form an opinion on something, I do my best to consider it from all angles. This means that I try to create an informed opinion, so that I don't have to change it later on; hence my obstacle with this assignment.

     One of the few things I have had a drastic opinion change about, is my close friend, Alex. When we first met, I thought she was intimidating, unapproachable and all-around scary. The first time I tried to speak with her was in one of our shared classes at school, and her answers were short, brisk and lacking in eye-contact. Her every action affirmed my belief that she wanted nothing to do with me. For the rest of the year I kept a safe distance in school. Unfortunately, school was not the only place we both frequented. Alex's mother was my riding instructor, who I met with twice a week. She was determined that Alex and I become friends, and would shove us together at every possible occasion. Eventually we worked out an unspoken agreement: you don't bother me, I won't bother you.

     This mute relationship lasted for almost a year. Our trail rides were silent. Our car trips were silent. Our riding lessons were silent. There is something that few people know about silence. It creates a bond; a still, noiseless recognition of the other person's presence that requires no words. After months and months of our inarticulate alliance, we tentatively began a verbal communication, that came to us with almost no effort. We discovered that because of the time we had spent together, simply in each other's presence, we were at ease. I learned that her inaccessible attitude was a result of her almost incapacitating shyness. She shared with me that she had thought I was silly and spoiled, and we laughed at our gross misconceptions of each other.

     When Alex and I put aside our original opinions of each other, we learned that people are rarely what they seem at first glance. Now, I make a point to spend time with a person before I form am erroneous assessment of their character. Although I had regarded myself as a considerate person before, the shift in my view towards Alex taught me that I was not giving others a proper opportunity to make a good impression.