What is Happiness?

            Happiness is an emotion. Happiness is the state of being happy. What is Happy? Happy is feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. Yeah. I really don’t know what to write about happiness. Happiness is something that you either have or you don’t. I guess when… yeah I have no idea how to explain happiness. But I have to try and make six hundred words out of this. So, happiness can mean many different things to a lot of different people. It depends on who you are, what you like and so many other factors. For example, some people might achieve happiness just from being able to eat a meal every day, but happiness to another person may be eating 3 gallons of ice cream at least once a week.

            Happiness is not just obtained by a specific one thing. Happiness is well as I said before is an emotion. Two people can have the exact same thing, or be doing the exact same thing; and doing that one thing can bring one person happiness and the other just be content. But its all just about the way you see things. The person who is happy with that thing has a positive outlook on it, the other person who is just content of not happy with it, simply is not looking at it with a positive outlook. Happiness is all about perspective.

For some strange reason, everyone seeks to find happiness. I guess it’s an instinct or something. I really don’t know. Happiness is easy to find, but being truly happy is nearly impossible to find. Everyone can be happy if they choose to be. I believe that being happy isn’t just simply what you have or what you get, or your attitude. Happiness is a way of life, I guess you could say.  Achieving happiness is just the way you look at things, and perceive them. I you look on life with a view of being happy, things will be happy and I guess eventually make you happy. But sometimes just being positive doesn’t achieve complete happiness. Well if everyone has an optimistic view on life then I assume that happiness would be a lot easier to achieve. But not everyone does have that kind of view on life. So even if you try to be happy always there will be some people who simply are not happy. You can have many reasons not to be happy. But even when I’m not happy for example I tell myself that soon it will be over. And not to feel bad for myself because there are people who have way worse lives. And that’s why I try to stay positive about things, because if you don’t you won’t just make yourself not happy, but others too.             

Which one book benefited you the most and how?

Which one book benefited you the most and how?

           The book that has benefited me the most in my life was “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer. 

What is it about? A harrowing, yet inspiring true story of a young boy's abusive childhood, from internationally bestselling author Dave Pelzer. Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dog's bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting an inspirational book of the horrors of child abuse and the steadfast determination of one child to survive. (Google Books)

I read this book in middle school and I still remember it perfectly. This book really impacted the way I look at abuse and so many other things. When I first looked at this book in middle school I thought it the title was quite interesting and different, but the cover looked soft of boring, so I asked my teacher if it was a good book. She said it was one of the best books she has ever read. Personally it was by far one of the best books I have read. This is the only book I have ever read in my entire life, which has made me cry. Or well tear up. It was such a touching book. I was so moved by this book. The author Dave Pelzer made the book so .. what’s the word.. not relatable but relatable at the same time. The author made this book so moving in a way where I never thought I could feel that way about a book. Now every time I look at a child, I hope they’re being loved. Not beaten and told to lie, then beaten some more. This book was gosh. It was absolutely terrifyingly horrible to read. But I couldn’t put it down. I remember I had the book with me when we had a party at a beach once, and while everyone was doing something, I just sat in a beach chair and read that book. The author did such a fantastic way of writing it. I hate to say it was an amazing book, because the events that happen in that book are just to me horrible. Undoable, this book has impacted my life. This book has made me realize how lucky I was and am to have such loving parents and friends. It taught me to try to reach out to people, try to help people. It is so horrible to think that things like that happen everyday around the world to people, kids, children. Its gut wrenching to me. I would never be able to hit a child, or anyone like that. Just for no purpose, just it’s so wrong. Even to do it with purpose. But I will never do this to my child. And I will absolutely make sure that no one does that to my child. If I ever see someone doing that, hitting their child, I would snap. I do not know how can one can simply inflict that type of pain on someone and not feel absolutely horrible. But to do it multiple times? I just don’t understand people who do that. There is no excuse to hit your child, or anyone else’s.

A person’s look or clothing is more important than having good ideas to succeed. Do you agree or disagree?

A person’s look or clothing is more important than having good ideas to succeed. Do you agree or disagree?

Personally I disagree with this statement. I do not agree that a person’s look can make you succeed more than good ideas. Yeah I suppose society is corrupt and that some people may pick looks over brains, but in the long run someone with brain instead of looks will succeed. Why? Because someone’s looks change quickly and if they become ugly then they are super not useful. So brains is more important because its lasts a lot longer than looks do.

            A good appearance is of course an essential thing if you want to be looked at highly, I guess it’s just the way society has always worked. If you’re good at what you do, you’ll make a lot of money or some money, then that’s I guess when you decide to spend money on useless fashion. But that simply means that you need brains before looks. I believe if you’re good looking then I guess you could actually get quite far in life. For example modeling, but if you want to be an engineer, or a scientist, or work at a law firm or something like that, looks don’t matter. And having good ideas always gets you father. If someone believed that their looks could get them farther in life than having good ideas, I don’t know… I think that’s ridiculous to believe something like that.

            Looks I guess help you in high school and things where you strive to be popular amongst your peers, but in the “real world” where you go to work every morning, they don’t pay you because your pretty or good looking, they pay you for your ideas. Some slim balls hire the prettiest girl to help them, but most firms and other work places you get a promotion from giving your boss a really good idea, which is succeeding. And if you have no good ideas, but you have looks they might keep you around for a while but not very long.

            Having good clothing will probably get you far in the fashion industry, but to be completely honest, they look for good ideas about fashion to spread around the world, not to see if your pretty and can dress yourself. They want and pretty much every single place you will go in your life will prefer good ideas over someone’s looks or clothing. And if you are picked for your clothing or looks, you won’t last long. That is my opinion and experience on the subject.

What are the three qualities of true friends?

What are the three qualities of true friends?

We all have friends. Some that are simply just those friends you say hi to in the hallways. We also have those friends you use to be so close with, but then they either moved away or you lost contact with so now you barely talk to one another. There are also those kind of friends you always invite over for sleepovers, and you go out with all the time, and you tell all your secrets and things too. But not all of those friends are your actual friends, some may secretly hate you, spread rumors about you, and/ or share your secrets.

Personally I do not trust anyone. Why you might ask? Well you can never tell when someone is a true friend, or if they’re just pretending to be. In my opinion true friends must have these qualities: Honesty, Loyalty, and Trust. So far not many people have showed those qualities. Of course I have a few friends who do, but I won’t name them. Honestly I tell my friends some things, but I know that whatever I may tell them might be spread. Of course I trust them enough not to, but I am not dumb enough either to believe that one of my friends wont ever share a secret of mine. I have trouble trusting people. That is why I think that honesty, loyalty, and trustworthiness are the most valuable things in a friendship. I value each and every one of my friendships. But personally I don’t know if they value my friendship like I value theirs. Hopefully they do, but you never know. Some people are quite two-faced and will pretend to be your absolute best friend, but talk s… about you behind your back. I hate those kinds of people. That is why I try to be completely honest with each and every one of my friends. If I think something they’re doing is morally wrong I’ll tell them my opinion, but its their choice to do anything about it.

You might think I’m that depressing kid or teen or whatever that can’t trust anyone and blah blah. But who cares, if you can’t handle the truth that some friends are not completely true friends, then you need a reality check. If that sounds rude to you, stop reading my blog. There are people who you think are loyal to you and you have complete and utter trust in, but then you find out that they simply are not who you thought they were. And that’s reality people. I’m not being pessimistic about friends, I’m just sharing my own personal experience

Honesty is super important to me, I can’t handle people who lie. Honesty is the most important quality in a friend to me. I have absolutely no respect for people who lie to me. Even if they lie about the smallest thing, I will lose seriously all respect for you. No matter who you are, lie to me and I stop trusting you and stop respecting you. Loyalty is the second most important thing to me in a friendship. Loyalty is important to me because who wants a friend that is just going to be your best friend one day then the next day ditch you and your friends for some new people. If someone is not loyal to me that would mean that they completely ignore me and their actual friends who they usually hang out with daily and who have been there since the start, for some new friends and basically never speak to you again. Someone who is not a loyal friend is someone who stops hanging out with you, stops communicating with you, and basically cuts you off from their life for who knows what reason? A friend that is not loyal is one of those people who said they would be there for you until the end, the person that starts talking s… about you behind your back. A person who you use to think was your absolute best friend but just treats you like your nothing anymore. That you never were friends before. A not loyal friend is someone who leaves you, talks about you behind your back, lies to you, hopes you fail, and just is someone you thought they would never become. And Trust, trust is the third most important thing in a friendship. Without trust, how can a friendship even strive? A friend is someone who helps you get through life and if there even when you’re at your lowest. You must trust each other in order to be true friends. Yet you must always be careful who you trust because not everyone is a true friend. There are always those people who just wanna see you crash and burn. Remember that.

What is the greatest strength of a human?

What is the greatest strength of a human?

What is the greatest strength of a human…. Well to be completely honest I have no idea. I heard once that teeth were there strongest o.o but I really don’t know. So I asked my teacher Ingur Lee. And he changed my view on what this question is really asking. His answer was that the greatest strength of a human being is intelligence and adaptability. I think that’s probably the most insightful answer there is to this question, then again he is the teacher for this class and our AP English class. So I guess for him that’s probably a seriously easy answer. So the greatest strength of a human is their intelligence. Which is obviously a fantastic answer, and I really do agree with it. My teacher is so insightful… Then again that’s his job.

Okay so. The greatest strength of a human being is his or her intelligence and our ability to adapt to different climates ect. Also the greatest strength of a human is not only that they can use their intelligence, but also because they can share their intelligence with future generations and so on. Intelligence is a human’s greatest strength because without our intelligence nothing would get done, and nothing would matter. Intelligence has affected our society in every way. From being useful in the olden days where they had to use their intelligence to survive and strive amongst the world. They had to use their intelligence to figure what food is safe to eat, where it is safe to sleep, or live. They needed to use their intelligence in so many ways just to survive. Humans has used their strength of intelligence throughout time from way back then to now where they don’t necessarily need intelligence in order to survive, but well I mean some people do. But now a days people mostly use their intelligence to invent new things. For example inventing computers, telephones, cellphones, internet, ect. All just to make life easier. All of this has come from intelligence. Intelligence has developed so many ways over the years. It has made us realize all of different ways to create things and become innovator, and also to learn to ways to survive and adapt.

With out intelligence, we seriously would not be how we are today. Intelligence is the single most important strength a human can have. It have innovated our countries in different ways  to be accustomed to our different styles of living.  With out intelligence our human race wouldn’t have survived this long, and would’ve been extinct many years ago. With intelligence, we have thrived through droughts and floods, natural disasters, ect. So many things have occurred throughout the history of time and we have survived this long because of our intelligence.

Big School or Small School?

Big School or Small School?

Personally I have no idea. I mean I’ve only ever gone to small schools, so I have no idea how a big school would be. I like small schools because well I guess you basically know everyone, so you’re never really nervous. And plus you know everyone so there is no thinking like “Do they like me? Do they even know who I am? Ect” weird things like that. Everyone knows everyone at small schools. Plus at small schools its really easy to get extra help after school or during class because with a small school, there are less people in the school, which means less people per class. With less people per class, you can then have a better relationship with your professor or teacher. And most likely the professor or teacher will also call you by name, and hopefully know every student by name. Another benefit or good thing about being in a smaller school is that it’s a lot easier to navigate your way through the hall ways and ect. In big schools it can be very easy to get lost or not know where you are going. With a small school it is better for you if you are seriously bad at directions or knowing which place to go. Plus with small schools it’s not only easier to find classes but it’s a lot smaller campus so it’s a much shorter walk between classes and other things.

But big schools are also good because with bigger schools you have a lot more options in which things you would like to do. For example there would probably be electives, unlike how at Saipan International School you are assigned all of your classes and have no choice of what to take. At bigger schools you would have electives and you could choose which different types of classes’ interest you and you would be interested in taking. Also it’s not only with classes. But with bigger schools it not only has electives, but they have a lot more extra-curricular activities. At small schools they might not have all of the sports you would want to participate in, or all the clubs you want to participate in. For example a small school like Saipan International School does not have electives available for students to choose and they have sports, but they do not have all of the extra-curricular other larger schools have. For example Marianas High School has pretty much all the extra-curricular activities that Saipan International School has, plus even more like the Glee Club and ect. Therefore I’m not exactly sure which I would be able to pick because both have their ups and downs.

What are things that I would teach and not teach to my children? How would my children do differently?

What are things that I would teach and not teach to my children? How would my children do differently?

Well I am only sixteen so I haven’t really thought of how I would raise my children in the future. I mean I have like 20 years to think about that kind of stuff! I mean of course I have thought of having kids one day, but I haven’t really thought of it in much depth. If I was to have children and to choose what to teach them and what not to teach them. I’m pretty sure I know what I would be teaching them. Personally I like the way my parents… well parent. They have taught me to be the person I am today. And I really thank them for everything they have taught me throughout the years because given everything I think I’ve turned out pretty well. My parents have taught me to be the kind of person I am today. That kind of person is the kind of person, who is quite straight up with people, and doesn’t like lying. Plus they’ve taught me to stand up for myself, my friends, and what I believe in. My parents are my role models for the kind of parent I would like to be like.

If I was to have kids of my own someday, which I really hope I will. I’ll start teaching them all the small little things then as they get older, teach them more complex things. But for now I’ll start with the simple things. Well I will teach them well how to tie their shoes, how to braid their hair, how to throw a ball, how to ride a bike, how to have fun and enjoy life. When they get a little older I’ll teach them anything that they might want to know about life. Anything that might occur in their life.

The thing I would definitely do for my kids is push them do get out there and join different activities they might like and when they find a few or one they really enjoy. I’ll support them completely on achieving the goal of theirs no matter what it might be. I will push my kids to be all that they can be. To truly portray their talent or whatever it may be that they enjoy. I will push my kids into speaking in public or joining many activities, which is quite different from myself. I wish I had someone who pushed me a little bit farther in what they thought I could be successful in. That’s what I will do differently for my kids. I’ll try to push them to be all they can be. But not to the extreme where they’re tired all the time and do not enjoy that certain activity as much.

I will also strive for my kid to join academic clubs of their choice and hope and help my kid or kids to excel in school. If not in all subject then most. And I will always try to be there when ever my kid may need me. No matter how young or old they might be. I will always be there for them. That’s what a parent should be. A parent should be that one person you can always depend on no matter what. This is why I hope to teach my kids also that lying is not a good thing, and to be open with me about any matter or problem it might be. Because that’s what I’m there for. I’m there for them whenever they might need my help. But of course when they grow older and go to college then they will hopefully be independent adults, but independent, but still in touch and visits once in a while. Lol.