Everyone else was laughing...

It was a cold, December day. The breeze was as cold as ice. The sky was a dark as coal. It was storming all day. I jumped out of my bed, expecting to see a bright, sunny morning. Instead, it was a dark, rainy day. I got ready for school and looked out my window. The rain seemed to stop, so I decided to walk to school without an umbrella. That was a bad idea. I walked a few blocks down from my house and it began to pour with rain once again. I was getting a little bit frustrated because I always think that I’ll be right but I’m always wrong. I reached to school late because I was being splashed by rain puddles too many times, as cars past me near the pavement. I entered school looking like a mess. My hair was as wet as a mop, my clothes were hugging my skin, and my shoes were all wet and dirty. I walked into my class, and everyone was staring at me. I ignored them and sat at my seat in my desk. My teacher, Mrs. Morrison, who was as old as the hills, told me that I should go to the office and get clothes to wear from the donation boxes. I walked down the halls, with my shoes squeaking and slipping on the floor, leaving a long puddle of water from my drenched hair, clothes, and feet behind me. At the office, I received warm, dry clothes that were baggy and a bit too big. I thought that the clothes would fit me right. I was wrong again.

At break, I went on the monkey bars with my friends. We had a competition to see who can stay upside down the longest. I have a fear of heights, and I don’t know what came over me to encourage me to go upside down, but somehow I did it. By this time, I didn’t have my shoes on because I was in the sand and I didn’t want to get sand in my shoes. I was hanging upside down, and then the bell rang to go back inside. I was too scared to get down. Line by line, everyone was heading back to class. I was getting anxious about what my teacher would say to me. I tried to wiggle myself through but that ended up terribly. My class had a clear view of the playground from our windows, and they were watching everything that was going on with me outside. As I tried to wiggle myself through the bars, I slipped out of my trousers! I was so embarrassed. I watched my class laugh at me through the windows, I was devastated. My teacher got me a sheet to wrap myself in. I walked into school in the hall of shame. I was as mad as a hornet. I was really mad at myself for always thinking that I’m right, but I’m wrong. Luckily, that was the last day of the term and everyone got over the incident because they were too excited to go home for the holidays. 

The Things in Life that I am Grateful for...

I was blessed with many things in my life, more than I can count. I have an amazing family, who are loving and caring. I have a wonderful home. I have food on my table. I have an education, I have many things. Those things would've never came without prayer. I'm grateful for the life I have. I'm grateful for not living in poverty, or in a war zone. I'm grateful for the life that God has given me. Even though, I ask many times, why me? I realize that I have many things to be grateful for and I shouldn't be selfish because many people don't have what I have, and by being upset because I don't get what I want is very selfish and disrespectful. I commit sins everyday, I always think that God may be angry at me. But God provides so much for us, even though we do many sins. I came to realize that God hates sin, and not people. He does a lot for us, and we still disrespect him. I don't want to be that way anymore. I want to follow him and be a child of God. I'm grateful for God being in my life. I would've been going straight to hell if he wasn't in my life. I'm grateful for the friends I have. They have always been by my side, and supported me when times were rough. I'm grateful for my parents. They are best things in my life. They always provide for me, they are always there. When I get in arguments with them, they still love me. I regret being rude and disrespectful to them because I truly don't know what it's like to sacrifice so much for a person. They brought me in this world and protected me from all the perils and dangers, that this world has been corrupted with. I can't imagine my life without them. I love them so much, and I can't imagine losing them. I'm grateful for the powerful God that I have, and what he has in my life.

Never take things for granted because they can vanish in seconds.

The Change in the Music Industry

Have you ever wondered why people listen to music? Everyone listens to music everyday. People's thoughts on music are very different. Some think music is the best thing in life, others think music is a way to express their feelings through soulful lyrics. People use music for many reasons. They use it to calm themselves, concentrate, or to drain their emotions. Ever since the 70's, music from the past few decades have become very different from music today.

In the past music used to be about being happy, having a good time, the ills of society, having a relaxing or dancing feeling to when you listen to it, etc. People were enjoying themselves through the tunes of music back then. If you listen to music from the 70's -90's, you'll probably get the same feeling too. The way people danced to music back then is COMPLETELY different to what it is today. For example, people in the 70's used to dance disco moves. Dance moves like the electric slide, shows that people are dancing and having fun. Music in the past is mainly known for people enjoying themselves through dancing to music. 

However, music today is totally different to what it was in the past. Pop music is all the same, rock music is mainly about expressing your sorrows. All these genres have changed in its own way. A type of music genre that has changed the music industry immensely, is rap music. Rap has a catchy tune, but it can be very offensive. Today, rap music has a lot of obscene language, urban meanings, inappropriate and sexual meanings,etc. It's not a good example for kids to be listening to, because they often repeat the lyrics in places they shouldn't.

Dancing has changed a lot from the past to today. In the past the dance moves used to be appropriate and giving the message of enjoying the music. Today, all you see on the internet and tv is wining, grinding, backpopping, twerking, and etc. It isn't appropriate for kids to do, neither teens. It shows no respect for themselves. If you watch music videos on rap music, all you see are ladies showing off themselves in obscene ways. It's disrespectful to be watching people dance inappropriately. Imagine yourself as a parent, someone sends you a video of a girl dancing. You click on the video, and you recognize your daughter dancing inappropriately in a public area. How would you feel? Wouldn't you feel embarrassed or disgraced?  A really bad example of a famous person who kids look up to is Miley Cyrus. She used to be Hannah Montana, but she desperately wanted to lose her imagine as her, and began to act inappropriately. Kids have been picking up things after all of this nonsense was introduced to them.

The bottom line is, music has changed a lot since the 70's. It's becoming really disgraceful. I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to the music or anything. It's your choice, and whatever you choose, you should be proud of it and use it wisely. I'm saying for my opinion, that music has changed drastically and it's not respectful to me at all. I was brought up in life, to be responsible, independent and respectful. Just by listening and watching those music videos made me really offended. My message isn't meant to be offensive. I'm sharing my thoughts on the way life is changing. I don't mean any harm to you or your opinions and I truly respect your thoughts.  

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate all your comments and thoughts. 

Bestfriends Forever or Bestfriends for Never?

Bestfriends are one of the best things in life. They can keep secrets, hangout at the movies or go shopping, and do other things to have a better and stronger relationship. It is a pleasant feeling to have someone who you can trust and express your feelings to. However, sometimes a bestfriend can be the worst friend. I have an experience with one of my "bestfriends". I thought that she was someone that I can trust, relate to, or be comfortable around. I was terribly wrong. I wish that I had never made that mistake, I wish that I would have seen her true colours the first time we met. I want to share my experience with you because it's a good example on how to pick friends. 

This is my story.

We had been friends for a few months, and we went to each other’s houses not very often, in that span of time. As a few weeks went by, she started to avoid me a lot. I didn’t know if I did something wrong, or if we weren't meant to be friends anymore. I desperately tried to at least talk to her, but every time we talked I’ll only get on one worded answers, such as, ok, whatever, and sometimes she'll say I don't know or I don't care. I think I got the clue that something wasn't right. I decided to talk to her, and make things clear with her, not in an aggressive way. I finally had talked to her and we had agreed to hangout more often because we wanted to catch up on things. She promised me that we would hangout more often. We planned to go watch a movie on a Saturday, but she cancelled on me; I thought that she was busy so, I let that go by. Weeks later, she had been cancelling on me all the time, and I was wondering why. Why couldn’t she plan some time with me before hand? Why couldn't she tried planning for once? I found out that the mean, obnoxious girls in my class had convinced her that I was a bad person, and that she shouldn't hang out with me. I wasn't really hurt, because I knew that those girls in my class only wanted me to suffer. I went to a few teachers and talked about the situation that was happening with my friend and I. They had talked to her about it, and she replied to me as if i betrayed her or something. 

One day, I received a email from her, with the title, "I'm Sorry...". I was a little bit concerned by this email, so I read it. She started off the email with a few sentences with concerning words.

" I don't have the guts to tell you this in person so I will tell you on email. The reason I haven't been talking to you anymore is because we're both very different. You don't really fit in with my family or me. By the stories you have told me I have realized what you have been through. I know you're trying to change but I think its best if we are just classmates. I don't want to hurt your feelings. I don't want you to tell anybody, or else the whole world will think I'm the meanest person on earth. I don't wanna be mean to anybody. I dont want you to cry about this."

I was really worried just by the first few sentences of her email to me. I thought I did something wrong, I felt as if she was really angry at me. I wasn't sure if something has happened in her family and she needed to let out her anger. I thought she needed some confrontation.

She continued "I've tried but I feel that our families are very different. You were raised differently than me, too. I know that you would want to talk to me after this but there's nothing to talk about. You treat people very differently than I do. We have different personalities. My family don't like you. No one likes you. We were only pretending to be nice. We know you have no friends."

By this time, I was feeling heartbroken. I wanted to know why she would do anything like this. I knew that she wasn't the type of person to say mean things like this to anyone. 

She ended the letter " I've been meaning to tell you this for a long while. I have talked to a few classmates and my mother and they have all agreed that I should tell you this in person. Everyone thinks that you were born differently so we're going to continue to pray for you. I don't care what you think about me after, it doesn't matter anymore."

I was devastated. I felt really stupid for believing in her. I had no desire in making friends anymore. I wanted to hide somewhere and never be found. I wanted to be alone. 

That was my experience and I want to give you a few tips on how to detect real friends and fake friends. 

How to know who real friends are?

1. Try a trust test.
Talk to your friend and tell him/her a made up secret, for example, when I was younger I used to steal things from the teacher's desk, or something like that. This test will prove if your friend can keep a secret. If they share the secret to someone else, then it's obvious that your friend isn't trustworthy.

2. Watch how comfortable your friend is around you.
While you are hanging out with your friend, make sure that you pay attention to her body language. Ask yourself questions such as, is she pretending to be happy? Is there something she/he isn't comfortable with? True friendships are hard to develop, if she/he is comfortable with you, then you should feel comfortable with them.

3.  Determine his/her loyalty.
If you get in a argument with your friend, test her and watch if she would blurt out on of your secrets. If she/he blurts it out then, she/he isn't loyal. You can also test to see if she would stand up for you. For example, you're in a heated argument with a group of girls/boys and your friend stands up for you by saying "leave him/her alone." and you walk off together. That's an example of loyalty, it shows that your friend is by your side. 

How to know who fake friends are?

1. People who don't remember your birthday!
If you hangout with someone very often, one of the first things they should know from the very start, is your birthday. Imagine how you would feel if someone forgot your birthday for something not important. For example, let's say it's your birthday and you said to your friend "Do you know what day it is?" and your friend replies "Oh right, I'm going to the mall with some of my friends." Wouldn't you feel unimportant?

2. People who aren't interested on how your life is going.
If your friend can't bother to ask how your day went, or what have you been up to, then obviously your friend doesn't have the slightest bit of care for you. Don't waste your time on people who don't matter.

3. People who always cancel on you.
It's really upsetting when your friends constantly cancel on you. It makes you feel like they don't want to hangout with you for some unknown reason. It makes you so concerned for someone who doesn't have the nerve to tell you that they don't want to hangout with you. It's better to say the truth at one time, rather than keeping it for a while, lies build up easily, and it will make it hard for you to clear it up.

In conclusion, these are my tips to you on how to ensure that you have a true friend and not a fake friend. You don't want to go through my situation because it takes a long while to recover from having a lot of self-hatred. From this experience, I learned to never trust people unless you are sure that they are trust-worthy. Even though, I moved to a new school, they still gossip about me behind my back, but at least i've moved on and they are still behind. I hope this helped you in a way that has touched you specially. I wish the best to my readers. Thank you for reading!