Gluttony

I have thousands of memories dealing with food. From cooking with my mom – or dad, because he cooked a lot too – to absolutely loathing a specific type of food (I am a huge texture eater). Actually, I have gotten grounded over eating something. Basically, it went like this:

            “Beth, you didn’t eat more than two bites!”

            “Yes I did. I have five.”

            “No you didn’t. Don’t lie to me, I know the truth. And the truth is that you’re lying to me right now.”

            “No I’m not. I ate more than two bites, I swear.”

In the end, I got grounded to my room for the weekend. But, being the sneaky little kid I was (and am) I did not listen and went ahead and did whatever I wanted to do. No one punished me. My dad actually looked over at me once and asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be grounded?” Naturally I said no, or that I did not care, or something to that effect, and that was it of my ‘punishment’ for lying about eating.

But the most constant memory I have is simple: I like to eat. In all of my baby pictures I have something crammed into my mouth, or clutching it in my chubby baby hands. I would not stop eating. My weight was out of control, and I was honestly on the verge of obesity. A few more years of eating like I did, and I would be there by now.

Thankfully, I had a wakeup call and got myself together. Granted it was not a very nice call, but it worked nonetheless. While I still eat like crazy (because who does not like food?) I have figured out how to balance what I eat – for the most part – and keep a healthy weight. I still eat what I want when I want, but I definitely know when to stop.

Refusing to Read (Inspired by Billy Collins)

One little girl, not knowing how to read

Sitting in class with a book on her knee

Blinking and pointing and gazing at pictures

One chubby finger guiding over black printing

Not one effort to be made to read the pages

To know and to love and adventure with words

To fall in and out of love with characters lost in pages

No cares in the world as to what might happen

Wondering simply over toys and the next cartoon session

Not one single thought on the little black print

Thinking instead about the world moving around it.

Books for Kids

The Gingerbread Man, by Carol Jones.
No information was given about the author.
On the cover, the Little Old Woman and the Little Old Man are in their cluttered cottage, door wide open, and the Gingerbread Man is jumping from to oven.
In total, the story has 28 pages.
Characters are as followed:

• Little Old Man
• Little Old Woman
• the Gingerbread Man
• Humpty Dumpty
• Little Boy Blue
• the Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe
• the Grand Old Duke of York
• Little Miss Muffet
• Sly Fox

Firstly, the story is centered in a clustered cottage with nick nacks laying around, then a kingdom with fields and woods, cottages and farms, and lastly a river in the middle of the woods.
The Gingerbread Man is born in an oven and when he is finished baking he runs off. He runs into several characters whle running, each one trying to eat him. He finally meets the fox who offers to take him across the river, but when half way across, he eats him.

• This book does have animals as characters.
• There is no rhyme.
• It does teach a lesson (not to trust strangers).
• It does not have monsters or anny other creatures.
• There are no kids as characters.
• There is no humor.
• There are illustrations.
• There is color.
• There are no actual photos.
• It does not have a sentimental/lovey tone.
• There are a decent amount of words per page.
• There is a phrase repeated throughout.

My favorite sentence is: 'Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man.'
This book is appropriate for 8-10 year olds, do to the fact that in elementary school I read this story to help master my reading.
Honestly, I did not enjoy readying this. I always hated reading time, and as this was mixed with other books to read during this time, I hate it with a burning passion. Doesn't mean I won't read it, though.

Photo Hunt

My youngest sister and I are ten years apart. Even though we argue like no other, we get along about eighty percent of the time and she manages to crack me up. #sistersforlife



When I first moved here, I thought that school would be horrible. But I had this teacher that made things so much easier, and has taught me about both education and life. #c'sgetdegrees



One of my favorite teachers at KHS. At the age she is now, she has a family and a steady career, exactly what I want by the time I reach that point in time. #gettinit

Twilight had managed to capture thousands of peoples' hearts, and I am not that ashamed to admit that I was one of those people, too. #sparkles

As a cute little red box, this love picture caught for eye to stand in for something square, and because it is just adorable. #homedecor

Sometime in my life I want to go and travel the world. Plus, it was pretty revolutionary when we discovered that the planet is actually round, not flat as first thought. #whoknew

This picture was actually taken on accident. I was supposed to be posing for another photo, and taking one of a friend in return. But while lying on the floor, I noticed the ceiling and could not resist the urge to take this. #spontaneous

My birthday just so happens to be July seventh of ninteen-ninety-seven. Seven also happens to be my favorite number (tied with three), so when I saw this I just had to take the picture. #luckiestpersonintheworld

This picture is pretty self-explainatory. Plants come directly from nature, and nature is really cool and beautiful. Also, the school is apparently turning into a rainforest. #savetheearth

In order to make this face, a little effort had to be made. Just like in real life, sometimes a little effort needs to be put forward in order to be happy. So, smile. #happytimes

Little kids typically love animals. So when I saw these tiny little paper elephants, my mind automatically thought about little kids and a few Disney movies. #dumbo

This right here, is my baby. His name is Houdidi, and he is a little turtle my dad gave me. Whenever I think about him, I remember how old I was when I got him, and how fast time flew by to reach today. In the future when I look over at him (because he will never die), I will be able to remember my teenage years, and my little baby. #fivestagesofdeath



The restrooms at this school are down right terrible. They have absolutely no water pressure, for one. How in the world am I supposed to wash my hands? Then there are those kids - the ones that shove paper towles into the sink. Um, gross. #talkaboutnasty



Most of the time when someone thinks about something beatiful, they think of  flowers or something just as pretty. Normally, I would be one of those people; this time, however, I am adding a picture of myself as beautiful. Not because I think I am above anything else - but because someone should be able to see beauty in almost everything, and everyone should think that they are beautiful. #confidence



In the future, whenever I think about my time spent at KHS, I will remember the lanyards and ID badges. Simply because they are just horribly annoying. #feellikeanofficeworker





Blackout

Everything started off just like a normal, average, everyday sort of day. The Sun was shining, birds chirping, and little cotton balls of clouds were dancing across the sky. The tall buildings that were always admired stood tall and proud, exposing themselves to everyone to gaze at.

Below the tops of the buildings, down on the streets, traffic was flowing regularly. Cars cutting each other off, pedestrians darting here and there. It was mass chaos, honestly, and those who lived there hated it. They would not, however, change it for anything. This was their city, and they secretly loved everything about it.

Slowly the bright morning turned to late afternoon. Offices were left, homes attended to, and restaurants over run. It was the perfectly average day.

It was getting rather late, but not late enough that the Sun’s rays were completely gone; they were hiding, lighting the sky an offset purple-and-blue color. People were – as usual – running around, busy doing this or that, too caught up in their selves to notice much of anything else.

It happened suddenly, and was over within five minutes. It was as if the world had stopped, and nothing was ever going to be the same again. All at once, it seemed, the lights shut off. The air conditioning stopped, the televisions no longer lit up. There was almost no noise, excluding the honks of cars and the shocked and scared screams of the residents. It seemed that the city that never sleeps, was, actually, asleep.

At some point, everything turned back on. It was a relief to everyone – the world was not in fact ending. Life went on.

But they were still out there, watching, observing the reactions. Just watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Photo from 2012

This is a girl, aged to fifteen,

Wrapped warm in a green-and-gray sweater.

with glasses perched on her nose,

Thick red circles topped with google-eyed Christmas trees,

not so much for use than to laugh about.

A man, more than double her age,

posing with her like he is ‘too cool’;

Wearing sun glasses indoors, a gray hat, her new Beats, and a scruff that – if grown out – would resemble a homeless man’s.

This is two-fifths of a family.

A teenager and her stepfather, happy.

This is before the drugs, before the mood swings and the lies.

This is before a family broke,

when they were a decent-sized family in a decent-sized house near the beach.