Looking Back

Image courtesy of Quotes Valley

This being my second to last post, I'm going to look back on how this blog has changed over time, and how I've changed throughout this school year. First though, a little side note to anyone reading this. I just wanted to say that having this blog has been amazing! What started out justas a graded assignment for an Honors English class has become a place for me to share my feelings with others. I have really loved posting on this blog and watching as people actually read what I had written. Every time I got a new page view, I felt so proud. Just being a tiny part of your guys' day is an honor for me. Thank you for everything, it’s been amazing.

Looking back now to my very first post...this was a welcome post as the enraptured new freshman (me) began to set up her blog. New to high school, she was excited at the prospect of having somewhere to share the "crazy new memories" she was sure to have. Setting up the background, font, and color scheme was super fun. I kept thinking about, the year before. This was when I had been an avid reader of my friend Grace's blog. Since she is a year older than me, I got to watch her blog unfold and was thrilled to be starting my own. Reading what she posted about what she did and where she went was really fun.

Next, developing my blog... when I started this blog I had no idea what I was going to post about. I hadn’t really given a lot of thought to the prospect of a theme, or even if I wanted to have a certain theme. I put up a poll to ask for input on a theme, but after a little while I realized that, if I was going to have a theme, it needed to be my idea. After all, it was going to be my name on the blog’s front page. One day, I thought about and decided on a kind of theme. I made the decision that I would begin to post about my life and the different aspects of it. It seemed like a good idea because I would surely be well informed on the subject (tee hee). I started to post about events, sports, obstacles, and different parts of my life that I felt would be worth sharing.

Looking back on how I’ve changed… we all change over time. I’m very lucky because keeping something like a blog is a great way to look back at my past self. It’s really cool to have the ability to do this. Since we have kept blogs over the entire school year, I’m able to look at how I’ve developed as a writer and a person. Over the year, my posts have not only gotten longer, but have been more in depth and personal. I stopped just talking about things I had done and started talking more about the mental features and obstacles of life.

To my beloved readers, thank you.

Me with our school colors.

Family: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

Christmas pictures with my little brother (C.J.) and little sister (Rachael).

Since the dawn of time, there have been families. How long you stay with your family depends on your species. There are animals who never know their parents and have to strike out on their own, to others who stay with their families for life. Humans seem to have variations of these times. Some of us never get to know our parents, some of us stay with them for only a little while, some of us stay with them until adulthood, some of us stay past adulthood, and some of us stay even longer than that. Although we are able to live without our biological families, for at least the starting period of our life we need that  close group of people. Like with people who are adopted. They don't have their biological family, but they have a group of people showing them the world and helping them to learn about and explore it.

Can't live without 'em:
Families help us grow up and explore the world. They create a safe, educational, and compassionate environment in which we can grow up. They help us develop physically, mentally, and socially. Physically by showing us how to do things like eat, walk, go up stairs, run, etc. Mentally, they teach us how to speak and think. They read us stories and give us puzzles to strengthen our quickly developing minds. They also teach us how to function in the social world. By telling us what to do in certain situations and reprimanding us if we don't act well in others, they show us how to act in our society. They prepare us to have lives of our own with our own friends and relationships.

Can't live with 'em:
FAMILY CAN GET REALLY ANNOYING. When you have to live with a group of people, you see it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And the really ugly. You get to know the little things about them, like disgusting habits, weird rituals, and all around odd behavior. There are also the fights. Long road trips, sharing, or just being in the same room for too long can start an argument. You might not even know what you were arguing about the next day!

It is said that you always have to love your family, but you don't always have to like them. This is so true! Yet, it is all worth it. This is because these people will help and care for you throughout life (and if they don't they look bad). But seriously, be glad to have a family and you will realize that, in the end, they do more good than harm.

Image courtesy of My Repurposed Life

Thank You

Dear readers,

I have just reached 1,642 pageviews. My goal at the very start of this blog was to get at least 500 pageviews, and, apparently, I've surpassed that. Having to change my goal was a great feeling, because I have achieved way more than I thought I could. But I couldn't have done this alone, well maybe I could have, just reloading and reloading my blog, but that's not the point. The point is that you, my readers, make an effort to check out what I do. Some of the best things you do are:

Image courtesy of The Chinese Quest

Voting on my polls. If I need inspiration, one of my tactics is to make a poll. Having a question and seeing what the majority thinks can inspire me to write. Whether I agree with it or not, I like finding out what my peers either want to see, are seeing, or believe. Polls are also just great to see what's up in the world. An example is my holiday poll. Around Christmas time (for me) I put up a poll to see what holidays others were celebrating. It was really cool to see the diversity in culture and religion we had right here. So, thank you.

Image courtesy of Spiritual Badass

Commenting. Getting feedback on how I'm doing and what I'm doing is really beneficial to me. I always like to know if I'm doing something wrong, just as much as it's nice to know if I'm doing something well. This makes me better for myself, and for you. Constructive criticism is always welcome because I want to be the best possible for you, my readers.

Image courtesy of Clipart Panda

Just reading my blog. Taking time out of your day to check out my blog makes me feel extraordinary. It doesn't matter if you give me two, five, or ten minutes. Just the thought of someone wanting to spend some of their precious time on me is superb. Whenever I check my stats and see that I've had a couple pageviews that day, I'm filled with a feeling of pride. Knowing that I'm even a small part of someone's day makes me feel valued.

Image courtesy of Kerigan

Once again, thank you. Thank you for voting. Thank you for commenting. Thank you for reading. Thank you for everything. I could never have done this without my amazing, incredible, magical, crazy, hilarious, and devoted readers.