Wonders of the World

So I just got back from Rock the Universe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, and I had a ton of homework to do. So I will discuss that experience next week. But for now, here’s an old post I had meant to publish but I forgot about it.

So I was flipping through channels, and nothing good was on. Finally, I stumbled onto a show on the travel network called "The Top Ten Natural Wonders of the World. I can't remember the exact order, but the list went a little something like this:
10.Ngorongoro crater
9.Mount Everest
8.Ayers Rock
7.northern lights
6.Everglades
5.Angel Falls
4.The Sahara
3.The great barrier reef
2.Amazon River/Rainforest
1.Grand Canyon

Ok, so then I realized that a lot of these sound really boring to me. I would love to see Angel Falls, the northern lights, and possibly even Mount Everest but I really have no interest in deserts, large rock formations, or rivers with flesh-eating fish in them. So I made up MY list of top ten Wonders of Where I've Been So Far in My Life. And I'm also including man-made structures because I haven't seen many amazing feats of nature. Here’s my list:

10. Stone Mountain: located in Atlanta, Ga, this park is a family-oriented vacation hotspot that focuses on a huge carving of generals etched into the side of a mountain. Like Mount Rushmore, on a smaller scale.
9. Mont Saint-Michel: okay, so I've never actually been here, but it used to only be accessible by foot during low tide and there's a secret staircase!! Enough said
8. Florida Southern College: I grew up around this campus in Lakeland, Florida. My parents both attended FSC and my grandpa works there. It is the biggest collection of buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and it's famous for its unique, angular, contemporary construction.
7. Waters Creek: this is a waterfall located in north Georgia. Close-to-perfect circles have been carved out of the rock bottom of the waterfall by millions of years of erosion, and one part of the waterfall is slick and smooth. Which makes a perfect water slide.
6. Ringling Mansion: I went here on Saturday, and it was really interesting. Built by circus extraordinaire, John Ringling, and his wife, this mansion captures the perfect blend of Italian artifacts and high society life in the early 1900's. Everything is an explosion of colors, right down to the multicolored glass windowpanes.
5. Ruby Falls: This 145 foot waterfall is located 1120 feet beneath a mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
4. Masonic Lodge: Have you seen National Treasure? Well, the masons DO exist! This huge center is right across from the courthouse in Philly. There are seven halls for the different mason groups to meet in, and each one contains a different architectural style: oriental, gothic, ionic, Corinthian, Egyptian, Norman, renaissance
3. Scott Lake: Last year, two huge sinkholes ate up this lake and most of its wildlife in Lakeland. I mean, the thing swallowed whole gators and stuff. I thought it was really cool. And most of the people who live on the lake are super rich, and bought their property mainly for its lakeside appeal. Sucks for them.
2. Kimmel Center: This one is also located in Philadelphia. It’s an ultra-modern music hall. Giant balustrades come out from the side of the building and hold up an arched glass roof. Then, there are two separate buildings WITHIN the main building. One of them has a "rooftop" garden, but everything is still under the glass-and-steel sky. Everything in it is state of the art AND modern art
1. Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for! And the #1 spot goes to......BILTMORE!!!!! It’s the biggest house in the USA, containing 250 rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and its own bowling alley. Standing in front of it just takes your breath away.

Okay, so that’s it for my little countdown. If you ever have the opportunity to visit these places, you should!!!!!!!! Maybe I will be a travel agent......

Until next week (I can't wait to discuss Rock the Universe!!!!!),
-Caroline

My Top 5 Money Wasters

Hey guys. This is one very wet and tired power blogger with Saturday's post and I have to say to the people who were there with me... NEXT TIME, TALK UNDER THE TREES INSTEAD OF OUT IN THE OPEN. YEAH YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! *Ahem* Today I have something interesting I want to talk about about. Yes, today I want to talk about my top 5 money wasters. Yay! Without further ado, let's start the count down!

Number 5:
Most of us at one point played an arcade game and probably thought,"Wow. That's one dollar I'm not getting back." Well if you play a good arcade game with a good plot, it's pretty hard to stop (remember this is MY top 5). But the game in the video I'm showing, that's just plain unfair. This game is so ridiculous, there is NO WAY to finish this game without spending at least $100 dollars in continues.
Number 5: Ridiculously Unfair Arcade Game.


Number 4:
This is mostly pointed at girls (sorry). This could be for guys too but number 4 is clothes. I'm talking about Abercrombie, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, and all that other good stuff. I really don't see the point in buying such expensive clothes. I've seen girls in the malls with bags up to their necks and they keep buying!!!! Again, I see no point in buying so many clothes at name brand stores when you can get those same shirts at Goodwill for 1/10 of the normal prices. Tied for fourth is Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Anyone who had an obsession with Yu-Gi-Oh knows the curse of buying pack after pack of cards. You just NEED those holographic cards or the Dark Magician, Blue Eyes, whatever. Now when I look back I think,"I could of saved up to get 5 iPods with that money."
Number 4: Clothes and Yu-Gi-Oh cards


Number 3:
This is my own opinion but the number 3 money waster is the current tennis lesson session. They tripled the price and cut the session length in half. What the heck? Now this is supposedly because we have better coaches and better players playing with us. But there is no need to cut the length of the session like that. It's $360 per month. If you did this program for a year, that would amount to $4320. Now here is a list of things you can get with all that money:
A car, 2 MacBook Airs, tennis lessons for 3 years at a different clinic, a personal chef for a few days, 10 wardrobes full of clothes, an Xbox 360 with a PS3 and a supply of games to last 2 years of gameplay, 10 closets full of shoes, 20 Blackberries, a library of DVD's, a library's worth of books, 1.75 years worth of gas, 2 king sized beds, 4 Fender Stratocasters, 17280 gum balls, a lavish wedding, 2 vintage violins, etc. I can go on but I'm done. No more.
Number 3: Current Rip-Off Tennis Lessons

Number 2:
For this one, I'm talking gas. Gas prices are rising and they don't show any signs of dropping or even settling for one price. However, I have to feel sorry for the particular people who bought Hummers. At 12.5 miles per gallon, the hummer will seriously drain your wallet. After paying $75,000 for the Hummer itself, you would have to pay over $100 dollars every time you go to the pump. I don't really need to say much more. I think we can all agree that:
Number 2: Gas

Number 1:
The top money waster of all time. What do you think it is? I put a lot of time into the number one money waster of all time and I couldn't think of anything . I originally had food as number one but no... There is somthing much much much worse. Did you guess yet? It's us! Yes, us as in kids/high schoolers. Think about it. We get so many things from our parents such as schooling, food, electricity and water, technology, paying for the clubs we're in, internet and tons of other things. Even when we get ready to leave for college, they have to pay a ton of money for us to get to college in the first place. I'm sure that if we didn't drain so much of their money, they would be living in 3 story houses with 3 car garages and 3 cars in those garages. 18 years of commitment (maybe more) is a heavy burden so go up to your mom or dad, give him/her a big hug and say,"The green power blogger told me to say,'I'm glad that you are so supportive of me and I promise to be a good son/daughter from now on. I love you!' " or something along those lines.

Well that's all I have today. So join us tomorrow for the extra terrific super post of the blue power blogger!
(I'm too tired to proof read so if you see errors or a lot of repetition....sorry...)
-June

I'm so so sorry.

I have to say that I love Ryan Pace. Not in the why-don't-I-be-unfaithful way. I mean as one of my best friends, ever.
He asked me what I did at 4:05pm last week. What I always do on Fridays that most other people don't do. I went to take off my contacts when I realized... Yeah... I hadn't posted yet. This is pretty awful because I never post really late into the day. I can say with absolute certainty that I have been emersed in school school school throughout my frontal lobe the entire time.
He was also the person to tell me to listen to Palin. Jack said he (Jack, not Ryan who loves Palin) laughed at her. Another kid in my Lang class said she sounded like she was speaking at a PTO conference. I have to agree; the impression I got wasn't good at all.
I'm really glad that other people are enjoying Skreemr, as I did as soon as Linda gave me the link on that lucky day, months ago.
I have three tests next Wednesday in my three most difficult classes. I really don't know how this is going to work out. It probably isn't.
Tennis really builds muscle. In only a month, there have been differences. Amazing. Well, not as amazing as Ryan, who saved the day. While I am on this subject, it would be nice to point out the tripling of Forrestmeadow's clinic costs that have caused Jack and June to actually stop wanting to take lessons there, which they have been doing for a quite a bit. It is ridiculous.
This is, not to scare you, one of the most important years of our lives. It's going to be tough, and we all know that. So any little thing we think of that we can do to make each other happier, more lighthearted, cheerful, and all those good things... well, let's make them happen. :)
-Kejing

The Identity Crisis

In today's faltering market of foreboding foreclosure, iniquitous identity theft, and futile fighting, it's hard to remember we're all just kids. However, it is in that loss of remembrance that we lose ourselves. We splay ourselves across FaceBook, MySpace, Blogger, Digg, or any other website. We lose touch with the innocence we once held dear. The internet is a powerful yet derisive tool. It is both a playgound and a cemetery for, in the virtual and sometimes literal sense, alter egos. Hate crimes published on the Internet's grounds are often published by the amicable schoolmate or quiet kid in the corner. Well, what has happened? In this alluring anonymity, did we lose touch with who we are? Then let me guide you back to home. We are quiet literally the future of the United States of America, and by extension, the World itself. That's a pretty big mantle to inherit. Are we up to it? Or when the time to serve our country comes about, will we be stuck sniggering at the latest picture of that celebrity and teasing each other on virtual wall boards? It's a sense of maturity that we lack now that develops over the next two years. At least I hope it does.

So back to this "Identity Crisis". We seem to be disconnecting from who we are as a person, and who we are as an Internet user. Quite often, I'll find myself saying things online to someone that I'd never consider saying to their face. It's desensitizing. It has gotten so bad that people are even forgoing the more traditional and once conventional approach to dating and instead chat it up with lol's, omg's, and my personal favorite, ily. How lazy are you that you can't type out one of life's most profound phrases that establishes most lifelong trust? We seek each other out over the Internet, form quick relationships, and then ask each other out in the crudest of fashions in a vulgar sub-English dialect called "ChatSpeak".


How will our generation be remembered? The 1950's youth are the high swinging kids with the handheld radios who went down to the Soda Shops for a little pop. The 1960's were characterized by their own drug problems, but also a lot of pacifist movements. The 1970's gave popularity to artists like Elton John, and saw Nixon rise in popularity and then decline QUICKLY. This led to bunch of sensationalists who lead the workforce today. Advances in technology and a crackdown on drug usage led the 1980's generation towards electronic music and gaming. Which brings us to the 1990's. Our generation. The popularly labeled Generation Y. We live in a world of instant gratification where FaceBook, YouTube, Texting, and IM reign supreme as our forms of entertainment. No wonder we're being diagnosed with ADD every five minutes. Look at our sources of entertainment! They change radically every time you refresh the page or turn around! We, as a generation, cannot seem to latch onto anything for more than a short while.


Never, in the history of generations, has a group of "individuals" lost its innocence so quickly. The worst realization is that this isn't new. Generations have been pushing the innocence out earlier and earlier, every decade. The trend is accelerating. The 2000 generation is reaping the benefits of having an omniscient tool at their fingertips far earlier than we ever did. Granted, we didn't have the tool in our early youth, so we can't be blamed, but that doesn't change the disturbing fact of the matter that our little siblings are quickly being corrupted.

[/rant]

- Jonathan

Limewire, I Met Someone Else

I’m drawing a blank as to what I should right about, now that the structure of theme week is gone. The only things I can think to talk about seem like they wouldn’t interest anyone else.

After staring at my screen for a few minuets, I’ve decided to hell with it, I’m going to write about whatever comes to mind. Who cares what you people think anyway? That is, except for Kejing, whom I love, because she was the one who introduced me to this life changing site anyway.

When the fall of Limewire occurred about two years ago, I was devastated. I thought I’d never download music again. I was forced to fill my empty nights with substandard TV and actually doing my homework. They were
years devoid of discovery and excitement; it was crushing. But the night is darkest before the dawn (I don’t really think that’s true…) and oh what a dawn it was.

For those of you whom I haven’t already ranted about it to, my new favorite site is skreemr.com. It’s basically Google for music downloads. No software and the file download incredibly fast. You search for a song and/or artist, right click the title, hit save link as, and you’re done. You can even listen to the file before you download it to check the sound quality. I’ll even show you in a shameless attempt to make my post seem longer.

1. Yeah, you probably can't see it, but I've typed in 'Interpol Obstacle 1'
2. 
3. (The morally apprehensible part, IF you would perhaps want to download the song you’d go about it like this).

And it'll sound a little something like this:

	Interpol - Obstacle 1
	Found at skreemr.com

Well, that's pretty much it. And I will get back to that previous post, I promise.

-Viv

multiplying like bunnies

First of all, this post IS APPROPRIATE. In case some of you with dirty minds thought it wouldn't be because of the title.

Today, among with the random assortment of other topics I will be discussing, I would like to talk about something that is very important to me especially right now.

Someone who is very close to me has been extremely hurt recently because of stereotyping. We all do it so don't deny it. Sometimes these things can hurt other people. So I think everyone should just keep their mean comments to themselves. Just like Thumper's father told him, "If you can't say something nice. Don't say nothen at all." (I used to love Bambi. . . in case you were wondering.) What bothered me about this particular situation was that this person hadn't even done anything to deserve judgment. If someone can't even form a sentence, then you may classify them as dumb. (Liked your post Bri.) Personally I see nothing wrong with that. But if someone only visually looks dumb, thats where I begin to get angry. Please. Don't do it. This person had also done something very nice and wasn't ever thanked. Yeesh people.

Last week on the way to school I experienced a tragedy. I hit a rabbit with my car. Sure, the rabbit ran out in front of me but I still feel responsible. Blair and Annie tried to cheer me up saying "Rabbits reproduce like crazy, theres probably already 100 more." and "Maybe it was a mean rabbit." But I still feel like I killed a Thumper.

So I got a 77 on my first Chem test. Which is good because only 5 people got above an 80. . . YIKES. This year will be interesting

I got my SAT study book in the mail today. All 900 pages. I know what I'll be doing on Saturday nights. Procrastinating studying for the SAT of course.

My boyfriend got a job. People keep saying, "That's good because he will have a lot of money." I think NO. Because he will be working instead of spending time with me. [I love you Ross. Good luck on your first day tomorrow!]

Lacey Booth

You're Is Not Possessive!

I know I said I would write about my superhero alter-ego this week, but I don't feel like it. I will do it eventually though.

So the theme month is over (Happy September!). I hope you all enjoyed it. I sure did. We might do it again various weeks in the future.

I'm sorry if my posts don't seem very organized. Lots of times I have all these thoughts going on in my head, and it's a cluttered mess. So I have trouble organizing them, and end up just writing whatever.

So...yeah. We have a three day weekend, and so far I've mostly spent it reading. Because of this, I'll be spending a couple of hours on homework today. But it is so worth it. I love the English language. Not that I dislike other languages, but when used correctly the English language can be so beautiful. So I've been reading. Absorbing as much of it as I can. Because very few people actually speak English well.

Which gets me to the awful grammar problem we have today. I know that people in other areas may not have had the same schooling that I did, but when kids at our school speak with just terrible grammar they have no excuse. I went to the same elementary school as a lot of these kids. I know they taught us how to use grammar correctly. It annoys me because they don't even try. They're defiling the language.

And people think Americans are dumb. I mean if my one example was one of those ridiculous rednecks at our school, who can barely form sentences, well I'd think Americans were dumb too. It disgusts me to be associated with them.

Yeah...it just annoys me. Well, see your post tomorrow, Lacey.

-Brianna