I am an avid reader, and quite proud of that fact.

As a consequence, for my sixteenth birthday I recieved the Amazon Kindle (2) as a gift. If anything, this new technology (e-books, e-reader) multiplied my reading time. Over the summer, I downloaded probably 20 or 30 books, not all of which I have read, but most of which I am planning to.

I started a new fantasy series (because mine are all dried up at the moment) and read all my summer reading. I reread some of my favorite few, which is a collection of probably more than 30, and I branched out in my interests, trying a few nonfictions and modern fictions as surfing through 2,000 fiction books, only nine of which I chose samples from.

When I read a book, I read it straight through: I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 10 hours after it was released. If I latch onto a series, I won't be able to stop reading until there is no more material to be scavenged, and I have been known to finish a set of four books in a weekend between school days. 

I have subscriptions to The Onion (because I like the subtitles) and The New York Times Book Review on my Kindle, and I read National Geographic before I cut up the pages for collages.

I am not a newsy reader, I mostly like the imaginary. It's more exciting than the actual, most of the time.

Writing used to be a major part of my life. I used to write poems and stories, most of which I have never shown anyone. These days, the only writing I do is for school or in my private journal.
    
I do not write in my journal everyday or even every week. I only write in it when upset or when I have big news. Whenever I start to write in it, I can hardly stop. Writing in my journal is the only time these days that I remember how much I love to write. I love being able to spell out my goals, my dreams, and my disappointments. I fell weight being lifted off my shoulds, as I am relieved of carrying the burden of a secret.
    
My journal entries are total stream-of-consciousness writings. I may start out writing about one thing and end on a completly different topic. I do not worry about grammar or spelling, and my entries are the most truthful words I have ever written because I do not have to worry about anyone else reading them.

It’s 2:50, the bell has tolled, and all of the students at Shores are headed home where they will be safe, have plenty of food to eat, and be nearly carefree about how the rest of their day will go or whom they will encounter.

Many truly do not have a care, and to me, that is probably the most irritating thing in the world.

In many parts of the world, people don’t have this privilege. They encounter corrupt governments or rebel forces, crime, poverty, AIDS, a lack of medical tools and care, starvation, death, and much more. These are real world issues, but for us who live in a country of privilege and luxury, these are not a reality.

Since these scenarios are not a reality for us, we often tend to forget about these problems. Many of us are too wrapped up in our own lives to give a care about someone who is suffering halfway across the world. And this is something that irritates me beyond measure.

Still, there are ways to help, but many of us simply overlook these.

For instance, Shores has a group called Amnesty International, which I am personally involved in. It is a great cause that is helping to build a school in Cambodia. Also, there is an organization called KICK, which stands for Kids Involved in Caring for Kids, and it is a great way to help both local and international kids who are underprivileged.

When you think about it, we, including me, complain about many pointless things in our lives. We complain about school, technology, homework, being flexible, etc. I am definitely not an exception to this by any means, but I do often think of the people across the world who have things a lot worse than I do, yet remain hopeful and optimistic.

So the next time the herds of kids stampede through the doors of Shores, I can only hope that more and more take a step to refrain from heading straight home to their comfy couches and after-school snacks, and take a step back and get involved with an organization to give just a little bit.

When I am in the middle of saying something or telling a story, what irritates me the most is when someone interrupts me and starts telling a story about themselves.

If you really want to tell a story about yourself that bad, you can wait two more minutes for me to finish my story. Or if you really want to tell it, go somewhere else and tell people that actually care.

I cannot stand when people interrupt other people as well.

If someone is telling me a story and then someone else just jumps into the conversation like they know what they are talking about, I just want to knock them out. I just want to punch that person.

It is an A B conversation so C your way out of it.

Hate might be a very strong word, but I hate when people interrupt me.

High school to me is drama.

I felt it would be a different world, but being here for the second year, I have realized nothing, meaning no one, has changed.

No.1 on my irritation list is the normal everyday high school drama.

           
It seems that whispers and rolling eyes are all teenagers hear and see when walking through the halls. Those “he said, she said” tidbits are what those gossipers share with anyone and everyone who is willing to be pulled in.

 
What bugs every ounce of my body is the fact that some girls just can’t get enough. They will talk about anyone. They end up in the ball of yarn they roll themselves into with every spitting word that comes out of their mouth.

After it is all done and the gossipers have been yelled at, ignored, and talked about, no difference and no lesson learned. Their mouth is a motor that will not shut off no matter how hard you yank the key.

But as Alfred Hitchcock put it, “What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.”

Whenever I read, I imagine I'm right there in the action.

That's why I like to read action stories with really detailed descriptions because there's nothing like getting lost in the action of a good story.

I also love reading tales of surivival, especially the works of Gary Paulson. To me, reading the struggles of a man and the wild is fascinating.

I can also get lost in the works of a good inspirational sports story or a good magazine.

But I find myself reading the pictures more than the words in a magazine. 

All Facebookers have seen it. People updating their status every two seconds, updating about their mushy relationships, and updating about whom they hate.
 
Facebook was invented to find friends and stay in touch with them. Most of your friends don’t care to see on Facebook what you are doing every second of the day.
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If your updates don’t receive a like or a comment, obviously none of your friends care to read what you are typing.
 
If someone wanted to hear your entire day schedule, they would ask you. It’s okay if you state something exciting that you are going to do for the day, but don’t update all of your friends continuously about it.
 
Also, it’s quite irritating when people gushing about their boyfriends or girlfriends show up on my news feed. Your relationship is something that should stay between you and your significant other.
 
If you have to tell the entire Internet world about it, then you obviously have too much time on your hands for one. Secondly, you are way to involved in a relationship for being in high school.

Let’s be honest here, your relationship in high school probably won’t last past high school unless you are one of the few exceptions.
 
That relationship-obsessed person will just end up feeling stupid when they have to go on Facebook and change their relationship status from single to in a relationship.

Aside from these annoying Facebook activities, there is one other that beats them all.
It is difficult to understand why a person would type on the Internet about a person they hate.

There have been so many statuses that have been violent toward other people. If you have a problem with someone, they need to be an adult about it and talk to that person face-to-face.

It is just juvenile and shows the type of person you are, and it’s not a good reflection.
So, next time Facebook seems like a good place to keep everyone updated about your every move or to tell everyone about your date tonight or your problem with someone who started a rumor about you, save it.

None of us facebookers care to read it.
  

Even though I love English and writing, I’ll be the first to admit that my reading habits are picky.

I typically enjoy the books that we are required to read for school, particularly the ones we get to pick ourselves. In fact, my top two favorite books were ones that I got to pick for school related assignments, and they are Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

When I read for pleasure, I usually pick non-fiction books just because I like to read books that I can really get a lot out of, and for me, that is usually books about personal experiences.

However, I also like to read magazines and news online just for fun. I don’t necessarily read often, but if I am at a point in the school year that isn’t very busy or when I have time in the summer, I will find a book to take my time and read on my own.

Some people just make me mad. And they know who they are too.

 
I absolutely cannot stand the person who sits there and talk about how bad Shores football is when he is sitting on his lazy butt and the kid is 6’ 4’’ 250 pounds.

 
If he thinks the team is so awful, why doesn’t he get up and do something about it? Half of them aren’t even involved in sports. They think that for some reason, even though they have never done it, they know everything there is to know about football and that they could fix it.

 
Why don’t you then!

 
We aren’t going to turn you away if you’re willing to work for us. It’s almost impossible to build a good program when there are only 15 boys consistently showing up and putting a good days work in.

 
If I hear one more idiot go off on how bad we are I will explode. We have the potential.

Our JV team just beat Caledonia recently, and they aren’t a bad program. They are playoff contenders every year and our 20-man squad beat them. We have the skills we just need some depth and more players to work with.

There’s nothing that makes me more mad then annoying teenage girls. They come in all shapes, sizes, cliques, and personalities.

There’s the girl who always stands in front of your locker and laughs incredibly loud and, for some reason, just does not want to move.

 
There’s the group of girls who stand in a big circle right in the middle of the hallway.

There’s the girls who are incredibly loud and have the most annoying, ear piercing, glass- shattering voice.

Finally, there’s the girl who likes to be dramatic on Facebook, saying things like “It takes two to make a heart but only one to break it.” Or they try to put music quotes in their status like “I’m feeling like a star; you can’t stop my shine.”

And I swear to the Lord above if one more girl puts “I’m riding solo” as their status, I’m going to explode.

But none, absolutely NONE, of them compare to the girls who think you’re their best friend and feel like they can talk to you about anything, and by that, I mean talk to you about their boy problems.

One day they will be talking about how great their boyfriend is and how much they like him. Then the next day, they want to gut him like a fish.

 
One night, I received a four-page message about how much she likes this boy and she’s afraid that she scared him off. Guess what? She did.

Then the next day, she sent me yet another four-page text message about how she called him and he didn’t answer. I didn’t even know it was possible to write four pages about calling someone.

Needless to say, I didn’t reply.

If you or someone you know has a girl who doesn’t stop texting you about her problems, reply these three words: “I DON’T CARE.”