The Science of Happiness :)

 Dear Poppy,

Even though you haven't been in my life for very long, you have made such a tremendous impact on it. My perspective on life has changed ever since you entered my life. In the past 3 years you've never missed any important events in my life. You've been to every cheer meet I've had, visited me in the hospital when I was sick, and helped me out when I've had the lowest points in my life. Even though we don't see each other very often, when I get the chance to visit you I get very excited. You're my best friend even though you're 63, you still chase me around the house whenever it's time for dinner. I wish I could have met you when 17 years ago so you could watch me grow up, or I could watch you get older. You have made such a great impact on my life, and everyone's around you. You can listen to me rant all day about god knows what, and you're the only person who would endure me talking for hours on end without complaining. I just want you to know how grateful I am for you in my life, and I never want you to leave. You mean the world to me.

     Lots of love,

           Jennie xo

Why Ban Thoughts and Opinions?

"If you don't want to read it, don't read it." I fully agree with Brain Garfield on this one, just because someone else's creativity doesn't fancy you doesn't mean that it should be shunned. In Banned Books Week: 13 Authors Speak Out, each one of the authors felt the same way about banning books. I feel as if, if you don't enjoy the content of the literature that you are reading then why are you reading it in the first place? Why go out of your way to put down the work of other authors just because YOU one individual human being does not enjoy what they are reading. I think that writing novels are just another way of expressing your creativity with a piece of paper and a pen; like art when drawing or painting that is another way of conveying your emotions. When banning books it sets a limit of where authors can write too, until it becomes offensive to the society. Walter Mosley said, "It sounds ridiculous to me, it's like banning thoughts, banning ideas, banning people anything that you ban I can see their validity in other situations, and so banning is a hard thing its never an absolute thing." When you censor out what people write down on paper you are practically banning their thoughts and what they believe in, not everyone may believe in the same thing but what makes it right to ban one thing but not the other?  

The Key to Success

Before watching the TED Talks video named "The Key to Success? Grit," I thought that it would be some dumb corny video on how some lady would talk about school and how we can achieve our goals if we stick with it. And that the word 'grit' was some acronym for the saying "great rules integrity tedious" something along those lines... But while watching the video it really opened up my mind, especially when Angela Lee Duckworth explained what 'Grit' was, "Grit is passion and perseverance for very long time goals, Grit is having stamina, Grit is sticking with your future day in and day out, not just for a week, not just for a month but for years and working really hard to make that future a reality." This TED talk created a spark for me by helping me chose a long term goal and sticking with it, no matter what it is and despite how hard it may be to achieve my goal knowing that their may be barriers that stop me from accomplishing my goal. Duckworth quoted, "Grit is living life like its a marathon not a sprint," this one quote really stuck out to me because deciding a life time goal can be hard but you just have to push through it knowing that one day you will be able to say "I did it!"

The Secret Life of Jennie Pham

Well to start off, I don't exactly have the most exciting life that would be world breaking news. My life isn't some big secret like the hit television series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," well in this case to be suitable to where we live "The Secret Life of the Canadian Teenager."

So who am I? My name is Jennifer Lilly Pham, but ever since I was little I picked up the name Jennie with and 'ie' at the end instead of a 'y', because I had four Jennifer's in my grade two class, and we all had short forms for our name for example one girl had Jen, and the other had Jenna. So I decided to be Jennie with an 'ie' at the end instead of a 'y' to be unique, but mind that I was only seven or eight at the time. I was born and raised here in Guelph, Ontario. I am the oldest of two, between me and my obnoxious twelve year old brother. You could say that we don't get along in the slightest bit, we fight constantly 24/7 like cat and dogs. My knees get weak when my parents say that we're going to go to the cottage because being at the cottage is just so relaxing and it helps you forget about all your problems for a period of time. I adore looking out of the window when I'm at the cottage and all I see are large bodies of water with the waves crashing on the shore, it just helps me unwind and loosen up. Looking out at the water it just takes me to a different place where I can think about my future and what I want to do with my life, because whenever I think about the future I tend to stress out and it puts a strain on me. When I am alone I'm a totally different person to who you may see at school, I am still wild but there is this little part of me who is more settled down and reserved. I've changed a lot throughout my four years of high school well actually three starting my fourth year but, I've realized and figured out who my real friends are and what I actually dig at school. I wouldn't personally say that I love going to school or the fact that I have to drag my lazy derrière out of bed but I do like the fact that once I'm at school, I feel that waking up at 7:30 was worth it since I get to see all of my friends. Unlike some of the other students of my graduating class, I know what I want to do with myself after high school, I want to attend George Brown to study Culinary Arts, then branch off after my two years in Culinary to study Pastry Arts. I am your typical sixteen almost seventeen year old girl with some exceptions!