The Adolescent Search for Immortality

Hello everyone!

Today I want to talk about one of the largest pet peeves of a teenager:

accepting help or advice from another person.
(For the parents that are reading this from a 16 year-old’s point of view, I hope you enjoy reading about our daily toils…)

[Raises hand] Okay, I admit that I have rejected my parent’s assistance countless numbers of times. It’s just that I hate it when they nag about the same thing about 50 times within the past minute. One of the things that I consider an enemy that must be vanquished in the morning is the sound of my alarm clock ringing, waking me up to get ready for my 0 period class. My parents are like my alarm clock: constant and relentless. The 2 things that make them different from an alarm clock is 1. they are living beings (which is just terrible because it means they are a mobile alarm clock) and 2. they won’t turn off and if you try to turn them off, you are going to receive a lecture on attitude and ungratefulness.

[insert annoying alarm beep here]

The worst part of ignoring an alarm clock is that you are late to class and you have to walk to the office to get a “Late Pass” to give to the teachers as penance for being absent from the class for the first few minutes. Same goes for parents: once a teenager ignores their suggestions, we regret it immediately for not listening to them. Here’s what I mean:

Mother: Timmy, don’t forget to bring your jacket! It’s gonna be cold today.

Me: (Looks out the window) It’s only a little cloudy. This is California weather, it’s just gonna clear up and become sunny in the afternoon.

A typical cold and cloudy mo(u)rning.

And that was where I went wrong, not because I didn’t listen to my mom; well, that too, but more importantly,

Steps of Life

I apologize for being a terrible person filled with unkept promises when I said I would blog once a week. Sorry?

I’m a Junior in high school! The MOST stressful year because that’s when colleges really look at your grades, how well you manage outside forces, and stay alive in your tiny island called “social life.” So yeah, this is my (pathetic) excuse as to not blogging.

But speaking of Junior year, I just realized that a person’s life is similar to going up a staircase. I’ll show you what I mean:

[Funny story before we move on 😀 My house has a spiral staircase and whenever my friends go to my house. They first thing they do is go up and down the stairs because (and I quote) “it’s fun.” ….I don’t even understand….]

Discouraging Encouragments

This usually happens to younger siblings. I’m pretty sure everyone receives this type of encouragement: it happens when another person tries to encourage you, but it makes you feel even worse. If you don’t know what I mean, I’ll explain it within two major examples.

First, don’t you find it annoying when you’re compared with someone you know that’s better than you, but rationalize by saying that person does the same things you do? I’m always compared to my other school friends who are super smart, takes 5-6 AP’s, and have 6.2 GPA’s (pretty sure I riled up those try-hards reading my blog post on how to get a 6.2 GP, no, just stop). But then, I tell my parents that they do all the same disapproving things that I do, “they procrastinate, they don’t study for tests, and they don’t sleep until 3AM and still get A’s, since they can do that, I can do that too!” (My life is a mess 😥 ) Also, I’m eldest sibling so I wouldn’t know, but I feel like lots of younger siblings are compared to older siblings a lot by their parents. It becomes so constant that even the eldest get annoyed. So yea, basically, stop using comparisons as encouragements, it doesn’t help, it just makes things even more awkward and makes you feel even worse.

Second, “if you don’t do this, you won’t go to college, then you won’t get a good-high-pay job, then you’ll end up homeless and on the streets.” This always comes up at dinner table conversations, usually started by you talking about school, and then continued by parents talking about school (which are two exact opposite things). I feel like this happens every night and my parents always tell me to “work harder!” or “do you best” and then followed by an “or else.” (So…annoying.)

So overall, the thing to take away from this lesson is avoid conversations around dinner tables. That’s probably where most of the annoying conversations start. Just stuff your mouth with tons of food and drink a large glass of water so that way you won’t have to respond to parental rhetorical questions.

Thanks for reading!

Ok fine, a real life tip. Ummm, don’t let other people discourage you and continue doing what makes you happy. You’ll make decisions in your life that you’ll regret, but think of each failure and disappointment as steps that’ll bring you closer to the balcony of triumph.

Just….why?

Has anyone noticed that it’s the smallest things that seem to bother us the most? We tend to overreact to some of the tiniest things. Lucky for you guys, I listed 5 of the most annoying things that should just be nonexistent. From the tiniest pain to tape and laptops, prepare to go,
“I HATE THAT”
or
“I KNOW RIGHT!”

Let’s start!

1. Paper Cuts. This is the most classic type of pain that causes everyone to wince. Seeing the word makes me feel like there’s an annoying, imaginary pink slash on my finger. The worst part about these things is that THEY ALWAYS APPEAR WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT! When I tried to forcefully cut myself with a piece of paper (don’t try this at home kids), it never works (not that I cut myself or anything, just experimental purposes). Then, you forget about the pain until it strikes back when you write with a pencil or, the worst, wash your hands with soap or hand sanitizer…
2. Cutting your nails to close and they sting. Is it just me, or when ever I clip my nails, I always end up cutting too close and it stings. When this happens, you feel as if your hand can’t function because each time you use your hand, you end up pressing against that nail and it swells. I think this happens to piano players like me because every time this happens to us piano players, we cringe each time we have to use that finger.
3. Splinters. Funny story about this one. When I was younger, my family went to Knott’s Berry Farm, we were walking to one of the rides and my sister yelps in pain. Our heads snap back towards her to see what caused her to cry out. On her finger, there was a piece of wood stuck underneath her finger nail. She was sliding her hand against the wooden railing and this happens. Whaaat? So yea..splinters suck…especially when they’re on your feet. Oooh, I also hate it when there is a wood-chip in my sock.
4. To all my fellow perfectionist, O.C.D. diagnosed, try-hards: tape. There are many problems with this evil yet wonderful bandage of life. First of all, I HATE IT when you pull out the tape, rip it off, then THE BOTTOM OF THE TAPE STICKS WITH THE TOP OF THE TAPE. You have to go through the annoying process of pulling apart the two ends. Second, don’t you think its the worst when you place tape onto what ever you’re making, but the tape ends up getting AIR BUBBLES? Just…why? You then attempt to hide that horizontal air bubble by pressing on it, but then it just looks like a strange plastic tab hanging off your “finished” product. The third annoyance of tape probably comes to a few people (me), but whatever: it’s when the supposedly “invisible tape” appears on your project/poster and you can see the annoying rectangle on the wall across the entire class. This is the type of take that has a shade of grey/white that is see through, but has a slight tint of color. The amazing type of tape is when it’s perfectly clear and is smooth to touch.
5. This is the last one and probably the most…[insert cringing visual here]… you’ll understand my emotions once I tell you. You’re in the middle of writing an amazing essay or written piece of perfection, then, this disaster, no, this catastrophe to human kind occurs: your laptop decides to “run out of power” or “freeze.” Like…dah fuq? WHY? WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO MEEEE!? Then as you try to reboot your already dilapidated piece of junk, you sincerely pray that you’re essay was auto-saved. If this hasn’t happened to you, it will. Don’t even question it; it will, and you will finally experience what it’s like to be in a momentary, hyperventilating state between life and death.

I hope you enjoyed reliving each one of these terrible events. Maybe share this post with your friends; trust me you’ll both end up with tears of frustration.

Thanks for reading my blog!