Driving

Sorry I haven't written in like a week. It's been April vacation and I do have somewhat of a life. Well, kinda. Anyways, I got my permit on Wednesday, April 11 (which is also my birthday). I didn't officially start driving until Sunday, April 15. It was a night quite like tonight - dark and rainy.

I would like to consider myself a pretty good driver. I used to like driving. Until Friday, April 20th, happened. Friday was an awful day to begin with. On Friday I was going out to lunch with my grandparents. I stupidly offered to drive. Okay, it was me, my parents, my sister, and my grandparents all going out to lunch. I had to drive my mother's Honda Odyssey, which is a van. Until that day, I haven't driven anything but my car - a 1990 Ford Tempo. For those of you who don't know what that looks like, its a somewhat small car.

I wasn't nervous when I started driving. Getting onto the main roads though, is a whole different story. I was going through the main intersection in town, when my mother, sister, and grandmother started yelling at each other about my driving. WHILE I AM DRIVING. Doesn't help much. At this point in my driving career, I haven't driven with large groups of people, who are yelling at each other, in a van, while I'm driving.

Now, I'm signaling to turn into the Olive Garden parking lot. I start turning and almost get into a head-on collision. This was in no way my fault. When this happens, my mother gasps, and expresses "MY van!" Her daughter could have gotten into a head-on collision but she was worried about her van. Okay. By this point, I am flustered and frustrated. I park the car in the Olive Garden parking lot and start to cry. Yes, cry. I refused to drive home.

I did not give up though! I offered to drive my dad to the bowling alley (in my car) later that night. On the way over to the bowling alley, a golf cart decides to come out of nowhere and swerve in and out of the road. Okay guy, cool. At this point in my day, I am ready to just crawl under a rock and stay there for the rest of my life. I get to the bowling alley, go to the bar to see my mom, and I start crying again. It has been that kind of day. I planned on drowning my sorrows away with Shirley Temples.

I have not driven since Friday. It's not that I'm afraid to, it's that no one wants to let me or drive with me. So now, I'm not a huge fan of driving.

~Hayley

The Triple O

The Triple O: Overly Obnoxious Observers. When I use the word "observers," I mean sports observers. No matter where you go, there is almost always at least one family member that is overly obnoxious. You can almost always tell which family member the kid belongs to in one of two ways. Either 1) the kid has that look of sheer horror on their face whenever their family member opens their mouth; or 2) they are just as loud as the family member they belong to.  In the past two days, I have come into contact with two of these Triple Os.

On Friday I had a volleyball game at a location I am not at liberty to disclose. During the JV game, this parent didn't have a child playing, so she was quiet. During the varsity game, she let loose. She started screaming during the warm-ups. If her kid was practicing hits, you'd hear "NICE HIT JONNY!" (This is not the kid's name). If he was practicing serves, "NICE SERVE JONNY! WOOOOOO!" During the actual game, the yelling was intensified. No other parent's were cheering, just her. Even if her kid didn't even touch the ball during the play, you'd hear "JONNNNNNNY! NICE JOB KID!" It was ridiculous. In this case, you could tell which kid she belonged to because "Jonny" was just as loud as she was. Just. As. Loud. If someone from our team was serving, just as they were going to hit the ball, you'd hear "FLOOOOOOOOAT" or "JUUUUUUUUUUMP!" It was quite unnecessary and really, really annoying.

On Saturday, I had a banquet. Banquets = awards. Whenever "Amy" would get an award, her family would be like "WOOOOOOOO AMMMMMAAAAAAYYYYYY! During an award ceremony or a banquet, practically nobody cheers. People clap. But every time "Amy" would go accept a trophy, plaque, medal, whatever, her family would obnoxiously yell for her. Unlike the previous story, "Amy" had a look of sheer horror on her face whenever they'd open their mouths and yell for her. Poor "Amy."

The only way a Triple O can be handled is if you beat their team. That'll shut them right up. Personally, that's the way I like to handle it too.

~Hayley

Liars

I hate when people lie. Specifically, I hate when people lie to me. If you lie to someone they are bound to find out sooner or later. Either they are going to find out, or they already know. If they already know, you just dug yourself a deeper hole. There will be consequences for lying too! Whether it's your parents, friends, significant other, or teacher, there will be consequences to lying.

If it's your parents : you could be grounded and/or have something taken away for a sufficient amount of time (depending on how big your screw up was).

If it's your friends : They'll be mad at you. Maybe they'll never trust you again. There is also the possibility that you could lose a friend, again, depending on how big your screw up was.

If it's your significant other : That lie could be the end of your relationship. No one likes a liar.

If it's your teacher : You could get detention, a zero, etc.

No lie is worth the risk o what you can lose. Just be honest. It really isn't that hard people!

Hypocrites

Asdfghjkl this is something that bothers me so much. So much that it could possibly ruin my day. This happened to me today. It absolutely ruined my day.

Today in my Honors Algebra 2 class, my friend found something out about his relationship. He found out that someone was getting "in the middle of it." He got all bent out of shape and was all mad at this girl getting in the middle of his relationship. This got me thinking.

He got in the middle of my relationship around the beginning of October. He got right in the middle of it. As of now, I am no longer with the my former boyfriend. I believe that if it wasn't for my "friend" that I would still be in my relationship. Honestly. AND I'm not the only one he's done this too.

It really bothers me when people have double standards and are hypocrites. Like honestly, go by your own standards. Don't get mad at someone else for what you do.

This was kind of a short post today. Short but ranting. It felt good to get that off my chest. Goodnight!

~Hayley

Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I just want to take a moment to shout out to my sister Chelsea because today is her 17th birthday! We were talking about her birthday yesterday and the conversation went like this:
Chelsea: "My birthday is my favorite day of the year. It only comes once a year."
Me: "Really Chelsea?! It only comes once a year?! And so do Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc."
Chelsea: "But Christmas is for everyone. My birthday is just for me."
Me: "Well that's selfish."
Chelsea: "Eh. I don't really like it being on Easter this year though."
Me: "Why? Cause you have to share it with God and it isn't 'just for you'?"
Chelsea: "No......"

Anyways, another Easter moment in the Johnson household. My dad was talking about Tim Tebow. My mom comments in saying "Over 30,000 people were going to his service today." Now, when people say 'service' in that context, it usually means that person has died. So thinking that, I said, "TIM TEBOW DIED?!" My whole family looks at me and my mom was like, "No, his church service." NOBODY CALLS IT A CHURCH SERVICE. IT IS REFERRED TO AS MASS NOW. Common mistake, but now everyone thinks I am stupid, including Chelsea's friend Disha.

Chelsea and Disha are huuuuge football fans. Huge. They are in love with the Patriots. Although in love with the Patriots, they are more in love with two of the football players. Specifically Wes Welker (Chelsea's pick) and Aaron Hernandez (Disha's pick). Disha tweets to Hernandez every day. That's dedication. Today, being Chelsea's birthday and all, Disha decided to be nice and tweet to Wes Welker saying how much Chelsea loves him and how today is her birthday, yadda yadda yadda. Chelsea thinks it will be absolutely hilarious if Wes Welker retweets that before Aaron Hernandez retweets for Disha. Personally, I think they're both going to get restraining orders from the two football players before they get anything else. But, knowing Chelsea and Disha, they would cherish the restraining orders because they'd be from Welker and Hernandez.

Anyways, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and my sister a happy birthday!

~Hayley

Grammar

People need to learn grammar. Everyone who doesn't know the difference between two, to, and too need to learn it; there, their, and they're need to learn it; your and you're need to learn it. If you don't use any of those 3 in the right context, it makes you look like an idiot. I had a run in with this today.

I was on Twitter today and this girl (I don't even know) tweeted Beau Mirchoff from MTV's Awkward. She used the wrong kind of your/you're. I replied on it letting her know that instead of "your," it was "you're**". This girl got all bent out of shape because I corrected her. She tweeted to me and was like "omg stop tweeting You're... your like the 50th one. clever." Notice she used the wrong kind of your/you're yet again. You would have thought she would have learned by now. I did what anyone else would do and replied back to her. I said, "oh good, I'm not the only one who knows good grammar :) oh and you're* welcome." So this girl replies "you're like 12 shut up love" and she puts some girls twitter account in there to mention her. Calling for back up? First of all, I'm almost 16. Second of all, my picture on twitter doesn't even make me look 12. Thirdly, love? I don't love you, you don't love me. We don't love each other. Don't call me love. So in addition to having bad grammar, this girl is visually impaired. I'm kind of starting to feel bad for her. LOL just kidding. So I reply back to her saying "nice job with the you're this time. And I'm actually 16 in 4 days." Okay, now this is just ridiculous. So she replies back (being bitchy) saying "OMG COOOOL NOBODY CARES." At this point, I was mostly done talking to her. My final reply to this was, "lol, nice talking to you :)" Nice and sweet.

If you're* going to use bad grammar, don't get all upset when someone corrects you on it. I am definitely not perfect but if someone corrects me on my grammar or spelling, I appreciate it because now I won't do it again. You learn something new everyday. She should have considered that a learning experience. Hopefully she won't make this mistake again. Or if she does (because she probably will) maybe this time it won't be on the internet.

       ~Hayley

Girlfriends

So a lot of my guy friends have girlfriends. Some of them I know, some of them I don't. When one of my guy friends tells me that they want me to meet their girlfriend, I'm a little apprehensive.

Remember Zoey 101? You know how Zoey and Chase were the best friends ever? Remember that episode when Chase has a girlfriend and introduces her to Zoey? Well if you don't, it goes something like this. Chase introduces his girlfriend to Zoey. When Chase is there, the girlfriend is all "Hi! Nice to meet you!" and stuff like that. BUUUUUT when Chase leaves, the girlfriend is all like "Never talk to my boyfriend again." And Zoey doesn't talk to Chase cause she doesn't want to wreck anything.

I'm afraid that is going to happen. I'm afraid a girlfriend will pull a Zoey 101. I'm afraid that I'm going to lose a friend. In Zoey 101, Chase breaks up with his girlfriend because of what she did, but what if the ending is different in reality? That is something I don't want to happen. So when someone is like "I want you to meet __________," out loud I'm like "Yeah sure!" but in my head, I'm like praying it's not Zoey 101 all over again.

I don't know why I remember this episode of Zoey 101, but for some reason it stuck with me. Is it predicting something?

Girls - Dos and Don'ts

Okay ladies! It's your turn. :)

Dos:
- be classy : No one likes a trashy girl.
- be mysterious : Give a guy some mystery. Keep a guy guessing. Don't put everything out in the open too soon.
- something nice : For anyone. Make someone's day! If you are nice to someone, karma will be nice to you. It's as simple as that.
- have a positive attitude : Life will look 10x better if you have a positive attitude than if you have a negative attitude!

Don'ts:
- be a whore : One guy, one guy only. There is no need for more than that really.
- be a home-wrecker : A guy with a girlfriend is off limits. Don't get in between a good thing.
- act stupid to get a guy's attention: You look like an idiot if you do this. Impress him with your brain. If you just giggle and twirl your hair, the guy is going to thing a sack of potatoes is smarter than you are.
- play too hard to get : If you play too hard to get, the guys is going to think you aren't interested.
- be clingy : Wanting to talk to him is different than wanting to see him every spare second you have. Don't cross that line. You'll suffocate him and that's never good.

***If anyone has any suggestions of something for me to write about, please leave a comment and let me know! :) ***

Guys - Dos and Don'ts

Hopefully many guys read this and change whatever they're doing wrong or keep doing what they're doing right!

Do:
- be chivalrous : Hold doors, pull out a chair, the whole shebang. It's just polite.
- treat a girl right and with respect : Self explanatory guys.
- introduce her to your friends : If you don't, she may think you're ashamed to be with her and/or you don't want to be seen with her.
- PDA sometimes : Sometimes being the key word. Hold hands, maybe a kiss once in a while. Do not practically have sex in public. No one wants to see that. Trust me.
- call a girl pretty, beautiful, lovely, etc. : It means so much more to be called that than it does to be called hot or sexy.

Don't:
- give a girl mixed signals : Don't be afraid to tell her how you feel.
- flirt with other girls if you have a girlfriend : Your girlfriend might think you are cheating on her and you may lose her trust.
- act differently in front of your friends : Heads up, girls don't like that. It gives her the impression that you're two-faced or fake.
- call a girl fat and/or ugly : This is a big don't. Never make fun of a girls' appearance, even if you're joking. She won't think it's funny and she will remember what you said for a long time.
- call a girl "bangable" : Never. Under any circumstances. It isn't really a compliment. It just makes things weird.

Sports

A sport, by definition, is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment." There are many people who disagree with this. Many people don't believe that swimming and/or cheerleading are sports. These are the most popular assumptions. Although today, I was told that softball wasn't a sport. By a baseball player. Irony?

I am a strong supporter of the swimming/cheerleading side of the sports debate. I am a swimmer currently, and I was a cheerleader.

Swimming: Being a swimmer, I take offense when people say swimming isn't a sport. Swimmers work so hard at every practice they have. We swim miles and miles each practice too. Football players, soccer players, baseball players, etc. have a whole game (roughly an hour or more) to prove themselves. We have under 3 minutes, unless you're swimming the 500. I can guarantee you that if you had to swim one of our practices, on the same time intervals, same amount of laps and yardage, that we do on a daily basis, you would have a newfound respect for swimmers.

Cheerleading: I used to be a cheerleader. I also have a good friend who is a cheerleader. The stereotype of a cheerleader is a ditzy, snobby, stuck up person. My friend isn't like that at all. My friend is one of the sweetest people I know, smart too. Sure there are some of those kinds of cheerleaders, but you are more likely to find kind cheerleaders than not. I also stick up for the cheerleaders. I know how hard they work and how many hours they practice to get their routines just right. Most people throw balls to each other, they throw people. They throw people, lift people, and do many dangerous stunts to get points and win competitions. They leave practice with bruises, cuts, and mat burns all over their bodies. I have a great respect for cheerleaders.

Next time you criticize a sport, think about all the hard work those players go through. Think about how you would do if you tried it.

~Hayley

Boy Probs

Boys: A main issue in a teenage girl's life. They're complicated, unclear, and to a girl, a necessity. There are a lot of guys in my life. Many of them friends, but there are some that give a little spark. I'm going to cover both of them.

Guy Friends: As great as guy friends can be, they can also be confusing. The definitely cause less drama than girls, but sometimes there are those times when they just don't get it. Like the other day, for example. I saw a sign, like a fate sign, and I told my guy friends in my Spanish class about my encounter with fate and they were just completely dismissive. That kind of stuff is a girl topic. But guy friends are useful for things like seeing how a guy thinks and tell tale signs that a guy likes you.

Now the part where they get confusing. When a guy friend develops feelings for you, or you develop feelings for him. If you both develop feelings for each other at the same time, things are great in your life! If one of you gets the Feeling Flu first, that's when you have a dilemma. It's also when symptoms of the Feeling Flu can be mistaken for kindness when things take a turn for the worst. When that happens, things just get awkward between you two. I have had a personal experience with this. It is not fun, trust me. It turns out that now, we really aren't good friends anymore. We had feelings for each other at different times, used to be best friends, talked all the time, and now we barely talk. Even in school. It sucks.

Boyfriends: A boyfriend has the potential of being a great thing. In many cases, a girl falls for the wrong guy and she gets hurt. It isn't always like that though. Sometimes the guy gets hurt. I don't really have anything important to say about this topic, but I do have some tips.
For girls: 1) Don't be that controlling girlfriend that doesn't let your boyfriend hang out with any other girls. 2) Trust him - If you don't trust him, don't be with him. 3) Offer to pay for dates sometimes - it's only polite. 4) Do NOT put out - we all know that guys think about sex a lot, but don't be that girl that falls for a guy, has sex with him, and gets her heart broken because that's all he wanted out of the relationship.
For guys: 1) Don't be a controlling boyfriend that doesn't let you girlfriend hang out with her guy friends - chances are she's talking about you anyways. 2) Trust her - If you don't trust her, don't date her. 3) Whenever she is upset, 9 times out of 10, she'll say "I'm fine" - It's not fine. Tell her you will always be there for her if she needs to talk or if she needs you for anything. 4) Don't ever joke about breaking up - it's probably one of her worst fears. 5) NEVER pressure her into doing something she doesn't want to do. EVER.

Ex-boyfriends: I figured I kinda had to cover this one since this subject is the whole reason I made this post. Feelings don't just go away overnight. If you truly cared for someone, they take a while to go away. Sometimes they never do. In my case, my ex-boyfriend and I are best friends now. Most cases are not like this. Most of the time the break ups are so messy that when you see your ex-significant other in public, you don't talk, make smile, or even make eye contact. It's sad.

Anyways, that's just about all I have to say on the topic. Feedback would be very much appreciated!

~Hayley

My Thoughts

First post! Super excited. I really need this as some sort of self therapy. Well not really therapy; that kind of makes me sounds crazy, which I'm not. Promise! Annnnnnywaaaaays, today was an okay day. School was okay, nothing spectacular. I came home and did homework. Then, I found out from one of my followers on Twitter that reruns of MTV's Awkward were on. I practically spent my whole day watching it.

While I was spending daylight watching such a great show, I kept reflecting on my life. I mean, Jenna Hamilton may have many awkward moments throughout her day, but she has a pretty great life. Two gorgeous guys are fighting for her attention, she has great friends, her parents are cool with like everything, and if I had a guidance counselor like she does, I would be in that office all the time. Now my life. Filled with awkward moments, similarity. I have guy friends, but none of them interested in me like that, difference. I have good friends, similarity. My parents aren't cool at all, difference. My guidance counselor suck, period. Difference.

During the Awkward Marathon, the episode of Jenna's birthday came on. I have to admit, the birthday was completely awful. But at the end, Matty came to her door and made everything all better. Now that got me thinking. I'm turning 16 in 9 (almost 8) days. For those of you reading this a tad late, I'm turning 16 on April 11. Anyways, it is a Wednesday. I don't want this Wednesday to be like any other Wednesday - school, volleyball, homework, dinner, bed. I don't want this to be like any other birthday either - just busy, busy, busy. I want something significant to happen. Something great.

I want something great. I want someone to show up at school with flowers for me. Or I want someone to surprise me with my favorite snack. I just want someone to do something out of the ordinary for me. Nothing big, just nice and unexpected.

I want something to make my sixteenth birthday memorable.

~Hayley