Ladybugs in the Mall of America(313)

As you may or may not know, I find spiders creepy and would rather not spend my time around them or share my house with them. This is the reason that I immediately kill them after finding one… but only if its in my house… or crawling on me outside. But the thing is, they eat annoying little flies and other little insects. Soooo I mean, I should probably not kill them. But that doesn’t change anything.

Ladybugs are kind of cute though and they’re not scary. They’re actually not too annoying either. And guess what, they eat harmful little bugs too. The Mall of America has many many many live plants all over the mall that act as natural air purifiers to conserve energy. But lately, little insects called aphids have been harming or overtaking the plants which in one way or another isn’t good. So, as we have the knowledge that ladybugs eat these creatures, managers of Mall of America are planning on releasing 72,000ladybugs into the main entertainment area in the mall.

Some people are worried that the little ladybugs will fly into their food or whatever else but ladybugs actually spend most of their time on plants, not in food.

I think that this is kind of cool. It’s a very green way to get rid of the aphids. And yeah, I can see the point that you don’t really want ladybugs around you when you’re eating inside and don’t want to be bothered but really, I bet if that happens, it will be rare. The Mall of America has tried to save energy and be greener in other ways too. In the winter, to heat the mall, it uses its solar panels that line part of the mall. The panels just soak up the sun and convert it to heat for the whole mall throughout the winter.

Debt Free In One Year (331)

With college coming up, ive started trying to figure out how to live off of less money and start saving. Ive been trying to get more hours at work too. Im not one to buy everything I see that I like or don’t necessarily need. Although, I used to be that way. Ive started thinking if I really will use the item, if I really think the price is worth it, if I need it, etc. I splurge sometimes, ill admit. Even for prom, one of the most memorable nights of my high school career, ive been thinking of how I can save.

I found an article on Yahoo about a newly wed couple who paid off their debt in one year. They had student loans of 15,000 each and a car loan of 20,000 dollars. The couple wanted luxuries like a new house or certain food from the store, to go out for dinner, etc. but instead, they moved in with their parents, set a budget of 100 dollars a week for gas, food, and other things, and they stuck to a grocery list of 40 dollars. The couple put their tax returns toward part of their debt along with the money from selling one of their cars and the man’s watch. It worked that they only used one car because she would go to work during the day and when she came home, shed hand the keys off to her husband who worked the night shift at his work. Being that the couple didn’t really have time together to go out, they didn’t feel the need to splurge on dinner and a movie.

I think this is a really good way to pay off debt. It would be very difficult and a year is a long time. In the long run though, I think the interest was probably so much lower than it would have been and now they are living debt free and know how to save.

Hold Up, Now. (408)

With prom coming up I found an article on the internet about how a school is banning strapless dresses at their 8^th grade dance. First of all, I got the feeling that this dance is supposed to be like prom for little kids. I know in 8^th grade we had a dance but it was just this stupid little thing with girls wearing some pretty little dress that probably cost next to nothing and we went out to eat and had fun and pretended it was some big deal. Well, maybe im just a senior whos forgotten what its like to be in 8^th grade or something but do 8^th graders really need a dance? Maybe a father daughter thing but we don’t need 8^th graders grinding on each other while us high schoolers will get kicked out of the most important dance of our lives if we were to do what we did in 8^th grade.

I also cant remember how mature 8^th graders tend to be but isn’t it a little ridiculous that a strapless dress isn’t allowed? I mean first of all, I don’t think these girls can really show off that much if that’s what the school’s problem is. And second of all, where do you go these days to find a dress with straps? Come on people, you try to go out and find a pretty dress in the right price range and the right size while actually feeling confidant in the dress. Its not as easy as you think, it takes some time and a big selection to pull off getting that perfect dress. Even if it isn’t perfect, girls wanna be close to that otherwise they’ll never feel confident enough to go out and wear it. do you want a bunch of insecure girls standing around the dance because they arnt confidant enough? No. and ik this is a rant that really needs a point so here it is; you go out and look at every dress made for girls and youll find that over 70 percent have sewn in straps. Maybe 60 have clip in or slide in straps so you can choose. And the rest are strapless, that’s the way it is right now. Deal with it. either let the girls in with strapless dresses, or don’t have a dance for them to get excited about. I mean, maybe that can be the privilege in high school-you get dances.

Bombers (301)

As there was a tragedy about a week ago in Boston and it was obviously a huge deal. Three people were killed by deadly bombs that were placed on the race path. The bombs were supposedly made from slow cookers and stuffed with things like nails and bee bees and other metal to inflict maximum damage. The men who placed the bombs there were from Russia originally so it was considered a terrorist attack. They walked to the race area with a backpack on each of their shoulders. Each backpack contained a bomb. They slung it over one shoulder and when it came time; they placed the pack on the ground, and simply left it there to explode. This is why it took so long to find suspects. They had to sift through surveillance videos to find anybody who looked suspicious or out of place.

We all know these things happen sometimes and for reasons most of us cant even fathom. They’re horrible tragedies and we don’t know when they’re coming. Of the three that were killed, one was only eight years old, another 26 and I don’t even know who the other one was because the media didn’t really cover any ones death except the 8 year old’s.

I really don’t know the reason that these people decide to do things like that. I suppose they want to show loyalty to their country but I don’t know why they need to cause harm to anyone in doing so.

The 26 year old terrorist died while running from the police while his 19 year old brother was injured and hid for a while before the cops found him. He was treated at a Boston hospital after being found and now is recovering. Police and others are hoping he survives for questioning.

Reasons I Neeed my Sleep! (330)

 

I just thought that since im a senior and seniors should know alllll about sleep or lack there of it, that I should definitely write an amazing post about it. Also, I found an article to back up some of the reasonsus kids need our sleep.

 

I know im not in many activities, really, but color guard seems to consume my whole entire fall trimester during school, after school, and on weekends. Plus winter guard takes up my Saturday morning sleep in time. And not to mention those early mornings to travel to different cities for competitions and late nights getting back. And theres school there too. I mean, AP Econ isn’t my strongest point and the homework isn’t terrible… until 3rd tri when you have 50 tests to do corrections on and notes on top. Then theres prom. Oh my, what dress am I going to wear? And do I have everything planned? Have I turned in all those forms? And don’t forget planning that grad party. On top of that theres replacing the carpet in my house with hardwood, tearing up the kitchen and putting it back together-no hired help, just my family doing this. Lets no forget my job that’s starting up again because its time for senior pictures and then I need to hang out with friends too, right? Its my senior year! Well, now that im done boring you with my life, here are the facts that im gonna need to remember for college:

 

Women are more at risk for heart problems if they don’t get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is lack of knowlage. You need that sleep to help your brain keep all that info in. and sleep helps your health. Also, make sure you get enough sleep before your flu vaccine or youll have a difficult time fighting it off.

Not that there arnt more reasons, but these are an important few I thought the article had a good point about.

 

Suspended for a Hair Cut?(452)

So I know our school is super lax about dress codes and all.. and im really glad about that. I recently visited a school in Ireland and we met some students who had to wear uniforms every day. And im sure they couldn’t wear hats, sport a cool backpack, or color their hair un-naturally-though, I didn’t ask. But from the responses my friends and I got from our answers about or school compared to theirs, I would assume that in so many ways, dress code is very different.

So, as we all know, there are a variety of public schools like Kennedy and private schools like Xavier throughout the U.S. who have different dress codes and different definitions of those rules. At Kennedy, we couldn’t wear hats for the longest time until this year when it became a decision for the teacher of the class room youre in to make. What I don’t understand about hats is.. how is it disrespectful to wear a hat while in school or church or while saying the pledge of allegiance? Why does the top of your head being exposed or not have anything to do with any of these things? I get why a hat would be bad at times in school. if its covering the student’s eyes or super tall so the student behind them cant see.. something along those lines-I get it. otherwise, whats the big deal?

A 5 year old in Ohio had been begging his mom forever to let him get a Mohawk haircut. So over spring break, she finally let him. His Mohawk was about an inch or two tall and fairly wide, not much gel-if any- and no color. His head wasn’t even totally shaved around the Mohawk. But when he came to school with it, it caused a little bit of a distraction in class and wait, the dress code doesn’t allow it anyway. But the code stated that hair must be cleanly cut and trimmed. His hair was fine and as the article states, so many people are sporting this doo in their everyday lives too.

I feel like the school was being ridiculous about this. Im not fond of mohawks or anything but his looks pretty good and so what his class mates thought it was cool and they wanted to touch it? kay, let them talk about it for a few seconds and they’ll be over it. yeah, they’ll still think its cool but while theyre sitting at their desks learning all day, are they going to be thinking about that kids Mohawk? No, they’ll be learning and onto new ideas and distractions. Its ridiculous that this child was suspended for a hairstyle he liked.