Super mom!

With Mother’s Day around the corner I want to talk about the deeds moms do daily. Mothers — everybody has one. In the United States we have an entire day honoring them.

 

Some are great, some aren’t. I have an exceptional one.

My mother is someone I could talk about for pages and only scrape the surface of all the things she does. I will take you through her day. She wakes up at 6:15 in the morning so she can pack lunch for me and my brother, wake us up and make us breakfast all before 7:30 am. After dropping my brother and then me off at school, she goes grocery shopping. She then goes home, puts away the groceries, and loads the laundry into the washer.

As the laundry is running in the washer she cleans the kitchen, cleaning the mess from breakfast. She then gets a well-deserved break but even while she relaxes for those precious few minutes she is cutting coupons, doing taxes, paying bills, or folding laundry depending on the day.

Then it is time for lunch, after which she prepares food for my father who has many eating restrictions. She then cleans another room of our eternally messy home, reschedules doctor appointments to avoid’ extra-curriculars, puts dinner in the oven, and is right there waiting to meet me at carpool at 4:45. And that is only 10 ½ hours of her day.

I won’t even go into what happens after I get home.

All I have to say is that on Mother’s Day, do something express your gratitude towards your mom, your family superhero.

A last day of freedom, my baby brother, and an abdominal ache

Sunday, April 15, 2012 — today I guess since it is a little past midnight – is my last day of freedom before my final quarter in my first year of high school.

Over Pesach break I have been home spending quality time (otherwise known as too many hours in close quarters) with my family. During this short vacation I have completely wrecked my internal clock, gotten a stomach ache (actually a colon ache) from eating too much matzoh), and watched my baby brother put on Teffilin for the first time.

To be clear, he isn’t literally my baby brother – especially since he has been taller than me for longer than I’d care to admit – but he is the youngest in my family. I have tormented him and kidded with him for my entire life. We have been mistaken for twins more times than I can remember and I am the cause for many of his injuries (although not on purpose).

So as I say a tearful goodbye to my time off and my brother’s childhood, I am left with an abdominal ache and a thought: why are we celebrating? He won’t be able to drive for the next four years.

A small matter

I will start off by saying I am short. On second thought I will say I am tiny! I have been the shortest child in my class since pre-pre-first or kindergarten or whatever you want to call it. I am now the shortest person in my entire high-school, by at least three inches.

I have numerous stories I wouldn’t have otherwise if not for my height. For instance, when I was seven someone mistook me for a two-year-old. Even now as I meet people and I tell them my age and what grade I am in they either roll their eyes, scoff, or apologize for speaking to me in an exceedingly degrading way.

Also, until I was eight years old I couldn’t even fit on the teacups at Knotts Berry Farm.

Of course there are plus sides to being miniscule. For instance I used to always win at hide-and-go-seek. Also, the Guess Your Age games at amusement parks I still win 95 percent of the time.

I obviously don’t enjoy being looked down on (and I mean that quite literally), but I believe it is just a small matter, and one that can easily be used to my advantage.

Rina’s Freshman Blog: Boredom in the kingdom of vacation

Over the past three days, I have gotten progressively more, more and more bored to the point of me actually wanting to be in school. It is funny because I know that being bored is slightly irrational, since there is a plethora of things I could be doing right now.

I could for instance be practicing my Urdu: Aadab aap ka Rina naam hay. Or I could be going over some material I learned over the past semester to stay fresh.

Cleaning my bedroom is a viable option, considering it looks like hurricane KatRina hit it. I really am not joking about that because my windowsill is leaking water all over my room and it is slightly flooded. Right now I could even be writing my English essay.

But I have chosen not to do a single one of those things. I am not exactly sure why, but instead I am heartily enjoying venting to my invisible audience. So I thank you as I bid you adieu.

Break!

Finally it is break! I have been working double-time waiting for this time off. I am finished with the play. I now have one glorious week to spend doing nothing except homework, two projects, studying for three tests, and starting work for finals. But I will have some time to enjoy myself — plus the fact that we have another vacation in under a month. I know I am going in circles but I wanted to voice my thanks for the time I have.
So thank you, administration for these 691,200 minutes.

Hallway talk, or what do Shalhevet students really talk about?

When walking through the halls of Shalhevet whether between classes or during lunch you will hear the students and teachers talking to one another. The normal topics of discussion are homework, tests, food, quizzes, crushes, clothes, music, nuclear proliferation, friends, and teachers.
Wait — nuclear proliferation?
Yes, you read right. Last week the Model Congress and Model United Nations teams were having tryouts. The topic up for debate was nuclear proliferation, an interesting subject to be hearing while eating.
We discussed whether or not all countries should be allowed to have nuclear power. Some said yes, everyone should have the chance to have this outstanding power source. Others believed that countries should not be allowed this potentially world-devastating weapon.
Even one week later you can still hear the remnants of this topic in the halls. For instance, today in Mr. Frankel’s class we were learning about the epic nuclear accident right here in Simi Valley in 1959 and its effect on the population in the present day.
All in all, tryouts were a huge success. I was one of 53 students to try out for these extraordinary teams. Unfortunately I didn’t make the cut but I hope to try again next year.
So the next time you are walking through the halls, listen in. You might learn something, whether it be the principal’s favorite color or why Israel is not part of the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

Procrasination

Procrastination, why do today what you can do tomorrow?

 

I’m considerably more than slightly stressed. I unfortunately have three tests this week. Now would be an excellent time to talk about an important problem, procrastination.

This is a problem of many students and adults alike. The problem is everyone who has this problem, myself included, tries to put off working on it.   Hence the definition of procrastination. That is also why I was late turning in this blog.

Actually I don’t think I am turning it in late, just at the latest possible moment. That’s me, the pusher-offer. I wait to the last possible time, then – BAM get it done just in time!

I honestly believe that procrastination is a problem, yet the people who have it put off because that is their problem. It is a paradox. This curse is an unsolvable conundrum.

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. I know it sounds like something out of a fortune cookie. I tried to take the first step to break this never-ending circle. Over Sukkot I studied for a test that was coming up that week.

I felt like a load was taken off my back, although I probably did one hour of other homework throughout the entire break.  Still, when break was over, I felt renewed – even though I’d done some work. Maybe because I took a tiny step to solve the unsolvable.

Don’t bug me!

Today outside my Tanach class was a stick bug / praying mantis thing. I thought it was cool. I wanted to take a picture of it and use it as my cellphone screen saver.

Unfortunately, to put it mildly, my classmates did not feel the same way. There was screaming, mayhem, chaos, and absolute pandemonium. The screeches were so loud that as I write this, six hours later, my head is still vibrating.

This insect was awesome! Its body was like a leaf with little (okay really big) sticks jutting out. And it was kind of like the shape of a praying mantis.

It was so cool! I think my classmates overreacted. When a bug can smash me underneath its thumb, I will start being afraid of them. Uuntil then though, I’ll think they’re cool.

A social or bullying network?

A social or bullying network?

Nearly the entire student body has a Facebook account. Do they know about the cyber bullying constantly happening on that site?

Sure, they’ve probably had a class on reasons not to, and been told that if they know anyone who is bullying to try to persuade them not to, or tell an adult. Honestly though, what kid wants to rat out their friend? Of course they know it wasn’t a nice thing to do but didn’t they write JKJK anyway? They probably even wrote LOL or posted an embarrassing photo of the person being teased.

I’m not saying that everyone on Facebook is a cyber-bully; I know that it’s fun to post silly pictures and talk about your day with your friends. Just make sure that along the way you don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.

ME

Me

I know. Who wants to hear about someone else? I figured that if you were going to be reading my blog you would want to know about me. I am 14 years old. I was born and raised within 45 minutes from where I live now (an hour if there is traffic). I’m a Libra which I know tells some people a lot (yeah right). All it tells me though is that my mom and I like reading the horoscopes on the couch on Shabbat morning in our pajamas. My birthday is September 24^th and as a side note I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease when I was eight. Yeah it sucks but honestly I try to not let it be the ruler of my life.

My disease is taking me for a ride but I’m the one in the driver’s seat. Yeah I take weekly shots, 10 pills a day, and yes even though I get at least eight hours of sleep a night I still fall asleep in class every day. But honestly those are just speed bumps on the road of my life (it sounds tacky, right).

Even though I’m going through this I’m still maintaining a 3.0 gradepoint average and five co-curriculars. Plus I’m starting a group at Shalhevet for students with IBD and Ulcerative Colitis. School is hard, yet every day that I’m not feeling well but still push to go to school I feel proud. I know that no matter what comes at me I’m ready.

Like the Nike advertisement says: “Just do it.”