Hasta la Vista

The seasons are changing, the amount of fur on my cat is changing, and what I will soon be spending everyday of my life doing is changing.  Throughout each year, almost every single thing in my life evolves or changes in some way.  I know this to be true because when I look back at where I was in May of 2015, I am a completely different person now.  I have adopted new habits and hobbies, the clothes I wear have changed slightly, my close friends have changed, and I think I may have become a tad bit meaner and sassier, but I can't really help that.  All of these changes are facilitated in different ways.  For me, I change the most depending on who I interact with on a daily basis.  When I started cross country, I gained a whole new group of friends that had a new perspective and interests.  This of course altered my perceptions of certain things.  Sharing my thoughts and stories on this blog over the past eight months has also helped me to grow as a person.

Before I wrote on this blog, I didn't share a lot of my experiences because my friends would look at me and tell me how much my story sucked, but now I really don't care if I have a good story or not, I just enjoy sharing what I have to say.  Through sharing my thoughts on this blog and by reading other blogs I have learned that what makes something interesting to one person is completely different from what makes something interesting to another person.

Writing on my blog as made me more comfortable sharing my thoughts with others than I was at the beginning of the year.  I am now able to form my thoughts into a cohesive piece of writing that others can (hopefully) enjoy.  I have also become better at telling stories in person because I am aware of what makes certain details pertinent and others not.

Before this year, I did not consider myself to be a good writer, but now I believe that my writing has improved tremendously.  This is partly because of writing on this blog and being able to write in whatever style I desire and about whatever topic I want to.

Flashback to when I had fun running! (I was also much too cool to jump)  Photo Credits: Clarita

When my friends mention my blog it gives me a little boost of confidence because I feel like someone enjoys reading what I have to say.  Feeling like I matter is always a positive and in some ways, this blog has helped me to become more secure.  Although, looking back at old posts makes me cringe a little because, honestly, I do not know what I was thinking, I was still able to express myself in ways that I previously hadn't been able to.

School is coming to an end in the next three weeks, that means that I am no longer required to write blog posts every so often.  While I enjoy writing on here to share with the few people that read my blog, I don't know if I am going to continue to post.  If I'm being honest, I want to move as far away from ninth grade as possible (first year of high school was no bueno), but who knows, maybe there will be something posted on here every now and then, so stay tuned! hahaha, just kidding, I know none of you will ever type in my URL again, even if I do continue to post.

Ciao forevs

Camille

RFTH!!!

Unlike some people, I have zero problem admitting that I watch TV often and I absolutely love it.  In fact, I look forward to watching TV at night after I do all my homework.  These wonderful shows give me another world to escape to and something else to think about beside my life.  I don't care if the people are fictional and stuff like that "doesn't really happen it real life," I become attached to the characters and their story.  Sometimes I cry for them because I can relate to how much pain they're in or what happened to them that day, other times I catch myself smiling when something good happens.  And some TV shows are inspirational, too. What's not to love?

I respect that (is what I imagine Chris is thinking)
Original Footage Courtesy of: ABC (picture thanks to me)

There is this one show I watch though that none of the above really apply to (beside the fact I stop thinking about my life while watching it).  This show is called The Bachelor.  Honestly, I do not care if you like this show, or as my one friend tried to tell me as she shook her head, "That show demeans women."  They wanted to go on the show and no one is making them act a certain way, so how is it demeaning?

We don't just watch The Bachelor, we have a Bachelor Viewing Party.  It's an intense experience where we all react strongly and...this is the best part - we pause the TV and take pictures of the horrendous faces/expressions people make.

This may sound mean (or demeaning) to you guys, but no judgement!  Everyone does things to make them laugh, this is just what we do.

The Pokey Puppy

Put simply, life can be rough.  It's definitely not always fair and sometimes it seems just plain sucky.  The worst things seem to happen suddenly, you don't expect what is to come and hope that it never does (or at least not for awhile).  These times in life leave me contemplating why things happen.  People tell me frequently, "Everything happens for a reason."  But is there really a reason for the bad things in life?  Do these things really make me a better person?  Quite personally, I don't think they do.  I think I would be just fine if my life was sunshine and roses all the time, but that's just not how it goes.

This weekend started off pretty great.  I was babysitting for this family down the street on Saturday morning and was looking forward to earning some pocket money.  A few hours after I got to their house, I was reading the two little boys books.  My phone started ringing and I asked the little boy if it was okay if I answered it.  He of course said no, but I ignored him anyway.

Love you, Henry

I wondered why my mom was calling me - she knew where I was - but I didn't think much of it.  On the other end of the phone something in my mom's voice sounded off.  I could tell that she was trying not to sound sad and keep it together.  My mom tells me that she took our dog, Henry, to the vet and his wound (he was bitten a little while ago) had become really infected.  I thought maybe she was going to tell me that he had to get surgery or something, but then she tells me that it was decided that he was going to be put down.  In just a couple hours.  Henry had some previous health issues including a heart murmur, being blind in one eye, practically deaf, and he had been losing weight and having accidents almost daily.  For these reasons, operating on him was riskier and wasn't totally worth it.

I was trying to choke back my tears but couldn't stop them from falling down my face.  She asked if I wanted to see him before he was put down.  Of course I wanted to see him and say goodbye one last time. Unfortunately after hearing this depressing news I had to continue babysitting.

City of Roses

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite times of year are the times when I do not have to go to school.  It's fabulous and this past week was another one of those times.  My sister is a senior in high school so everything is about college currently.  We have toured several colleges in different states over the past few years.  However, this was the first tour that we were going on since she had applied and been accepted to college.  We traveled to Portland, Oregon - aka the City of Roses for those of you that didn't piece that together quite yet.

As the acceptances and scholarships came rolling in, she had seriously been considering where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life.  College costs the big-bucks and you want to go somewhere you'll like, so it was a big decision for her.

We went to Portland to visit one of her top contenders, the University of Portland. I had never been to Oregon before so I did not know what to expect.  I just knew that it rained a lot.

After we got off our plane, we drove over to UP to walk around.  It was one of the greenest campuses I've seen.  The campus overlooked the shipyard and the Willamette River below.  Claire's friend gave us a brief tour this day and on Monday we came back for the actual tour.

The Monday tour was LONG.  I believe we were there for six to seven hours!  It was presentation after presentation, but it was somewhat interesting.  The best part was that we got free food from their cafeteria for lunch.  They have some yummy options!  I also enjoyed seeing the dorms and different parts of the campus.  It was exciting for all of us, but my sister was pumped!

I was rudely cut out of this picture.  Photo Courtesy of: My Mom

That's Right, I'm Buff

It's over.  I don't mean life, I am not that dramatic of a person.  I mean the cross country season.  The State championship race was several weeks ago in October and we all took a week off after that race.  All of the team had become so close over the last three months, it'll be weird not seeing everybody every day.  Luckily for me, there are post-season meets!  Woo, let winter training begin...

When the Varsity girls were literally squad goals.  Photo Courtesy of: Me :)

Anyway, I made so many wonderful memories with the cross country team this season that I get all happy inside just thinking about them.  Sometimes I will be with the team and I'll think of something that someone did and I just start smiling.  Don't worry, not in a creepy way.

Woo Region

Well, I had my last race today.  The season went by extremely fast and I have made a lot of new friends, found something I am passionate about, and I have had a lot of fun.

Me and Haley before our last race. Photo Courtesy of: Claire Breiholz

Today we were back at Cottonwood.  This course I have mentioned multiple times if you've been paying attention.  I took the previous race off for reasons I have also previously mentioned, so this was my first race since Bob Firman.  The last race that the team went to was our very own Park City Invite.  All the girls rocked it at this race.  The people I run with in workouts and at practice ran two minutes faster than the previous race and some girls cut off even more time.  It was awesome...but I was scared because I did not know if I could run that fast and I didn't want to be behind that many people.