I checked the mail every day for my paper and finally on Saturday after getting Starbucks I biked home and like usual I checked the mail and there was a letter addressed to me. At first, I was confused but after reading who the sender was my body was filled with a sense of excitement and anxiousness and sentiment. As excited as I was it also felt sentimental in a way. I love driving with my parents, honestly, I probably talk to them more during drives than at home. That’s something I can get over but the anxiety I had about passing my test and having a good photo. I hate my passport photo and I wanted to have a good driver’s license photo. I took over 20 practice tests and as I was falling asleep on Sunday night all I could think about was my permit test. I woke up and got ready for school and the only thing I was thinking about was the test. I was so focused on the test that I forgot to study for my math test and definitely failed it. Back to the exciting stuff I headed down to the DMV and got registered. I had to take a vision test and I passed, feeling confident it was now time to take my photo and this is where things begin to go downhill. My photo genuinely looks like I am being held at gunpoint. I shook that off knowing I could retake it when I got my license and headed over to the testing area. As I pressed start my heart began to race. At first, I thought you could see your errors at the end but then I got one wrong and I realized I was doing pretty good. I was 25 for 26 I finished my test pretty quickly and only had 3 mistakes as soon as the words “congratulations you passed head over to the window” appeared on the screen I was filled with joy. I finished up the paper and headed over to Starbucks. My mom let me drive to pick up my brother from school and then drive home. Although I have countless missing homework assignments that was the first time in weeks that I felt productive. This brings me one step closer to my license.
Author: kittenqueen3
One step closer to freedom
For the past few months, I have been doing my driver’s ed and I finally finished last Monday. To take your permit test you need a physical paper that states you have completed your online driver’s ed. This slip takes 2 days to 2 weeks to arrive and I needed my paper to come before March 4 because that’s when I was planning on taking my test. I’ve always dreamed of having my license and being able to drive anywhere I want to. As lovely as Ojai may seem I’ve lived here my whole life and well there’s not much to do. The freedom of having a license has always been something I have been excited about and getting my permit was moving me one step closer. I have many friends in Ventura and often go. there to hang out with them so being able to drive would make hanging out so much easier. Anyways today is Friday and I still don’t have my. paper but I’m still studying hoping it will come tomorrow or Monday.
math
Growing up I used to enjoy math, sometimes I ask myself what happened. Now I dread math and it is definitely my least favorite subject. The answer to my earlier question is that it got harder just like most subjects. I currently am trying to get a math tutor and I want to improve my grade. Every time I do homework I want to cry I don’t get it. I miss when I used to be excited to go to math and learn but now I dread it. I’m planning on meeting with my teacher during my free block and hopefully, this helps. I think I have forever lost the joy I used to feel there are too many steps now and I just get frustrated. The one good thing is that I am most definitely not going to college for anything math-related. I’m trying to find a study group and hopefully, that will help.
Beauty Standards
In the time we are in now women’s beauty standards are a thing that deeply confuses me. Body image is a growing problem among teenagers with 35-57% of teen girls having an eating disorder. Many teens strive to have a perfect hourglass body in the hope of being more appealing to boys or more content with themselves. In the eyes of boys if girls are too skinny they are anorexic or they should go eat a burger. If they are slightly chubby there are pig and should eat a salad. Clothing is another very controversial thing if they show too much of their body they’re a s**t but if they dress conservatively then it’s assumed they don’t have a good body. Social media plays a huge role in this. Teens scroll on social media and often compare themselves to others who appear to have the perfect body and life. If there is one thing I have learned as a teen it is things usually aren’t as perfect as they are displayed on people’s socials. No one wants to post a picture where they believe they don’t look fit. Photoshop is a thing commonly used by teens and also contributes to eating and body issues. Girls will edit their bodies in the hope of fitting the impossible beauty standards. Then when they look in the mirror and compare it to their edited photo they want to look like the photo and often develop mental health issues such as body dysmorphia.
Clothes
Today I was shopping and I needed money so I decided to sell some of my old clothes. I sell my clothes through an app called Depop and I sold over 40 pieces this summer but I haven’t listed anything in a while. I have so many clothes my closet at my mom’s and dad’s is full but I always find something new and cute and buy it. I went through my closet today and got rid of so many things. Although a lot of them were cute I feel like I don’t wear them enough. I have so many clothes and I never get a chance to wear some. I took photos and captioned them and so far I have made $82 which doesn’t sound like much but for old clothes that were collecting dust it’s pretty good. I feel so productive after doing that and I can’t wait to spend the money on more clothes.
Academic comeback
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to have an Academic comeback. Last semester, I procrastinated a lot, and I had moments when I was extremely stressed because I had so much work to do. For example, pretty much nightly, we get AP world history notes, but our teacher only checks them before the end of the unit, and I would always skim through them and not do my notes till right before. Because of how many i hadn’t done I would be doing the till past midnight along with my other homework. I have been doing them the night they are assigned now, and it’s been so much less stressful. My brother is a junior, and he’s getting ready to look at colleges, and the idea of college is so stressful. What classes I’m taking next year is stressful I have no idea what I want to major in and collages look at junior year so I need to pick the right classes and do well in them. I had ok grades last semester, but I feel like I could push myself to get better grades this year.
My luck
My whole life, I’ve had generally bad luck, usually losing and breaking things. I think I have lost at least 8 pairs of AirPods in the last 3 years. My old AirPods are all over I left a pair in Bali, Texas, Big Bear and I don’t even know where else. I have also lost multiple credit cards and so many pieces of clothes. Sometimes, when I’m cleaning my room, I’ll find something I didn’t even know I lost. I also have bad luck with breaking thins I’ve broken my laptop twice and broken many iPads I’ve also broken my phone to many times to remember. Last week I accidentally dropped my phone in the hot tub and the next day dropped my AirPods in the toilet. Thank god both my phone and AirPods are waterproof so they survived. I am writing this off an iPad because my computer is broken.
PC:word press media
Big Bear
This break my best friend joined me and my mom on a trip to Big Bear. The trip was a mess from the start we planned it 2 days before we left. I had gotten a new snowboard and decided to put the bindings on myself which was one of my first mistakes. Mieke spent the night at my house the night before and we got food poisoning so going on such a long drive the next day with an upset stomach was definitely an experience. I had only seen a few photos of the house and was not sure what to expect. As we got their this house looked like something out of a trailer park. My mom nicknamed the house the “shameless shack” and it did live up to the name. Mieke and I explored the house to find old burnt bread on the porch. We walked through the backyard where the hot tub was supposed to be and it was a shed blocked by cinderblocks with a padlock. We went to our room and it literally smelled like feet. To turn on the heater you had take off thee panel of the heater and light a match. Luckily my mom is a d1 complainer and was not happy so we switched places. The second place was so much better and bigger. We still had a super fun time but personally I would not recommend booking.com
My issue with Spotify Wrapped
On November 29, I woke up and connected my phone to my speaker and noticed Spotify wrapped came out. I was excited at first, but I realized my disappointment at this same time last year. I personally believe Spotify wrapped is hacked for two reasons. First, on my top artists list, I had 21 Savage, who I never listen to unless he is featured on a Drake song. I personally listen to a lot of Zach Bryan and Lana Del Ray, and I believe they should have been there instead of 21 Savage. Secondly, I believe I listened to way more minutes because I always listen to music when doing homework, getting ready, showering, eating ,biking and often have aux in the car. The one thing I do like about Spotify Wrapped is everyone posts it and it gives sorta a insight in peoples lives. The music people listen to say a lot about them and Spotify Wrapped is a good way to learn a little about people you don’t know.
Making a Christmas and Hanukah List
Making a Christmas and Hanukah list gives me so much anxiety. My parents always want my list by a certain day, and I never know what to put on it. Sure, I want plenty of things. I am addicted to shopping, but I am almost guaranteed to get what’s on the list, and I don’t want to waste it on something I don’t absolutely adore. This leads me to a serious of questions to decide if the item is worth making my list.
Will it match with my other clothes?
How likely am I to wear this regularly. (will it just sit in my drawers and be worn a few times)
Do I own something similar already?
These questions narrow down the options and help me make my list. Last year, I forgot to turn in my list and just got money, which I was grateful for, but I love Christmas. My favorite part is opening gifts while listening to music. I celebrate both Hanukah and Christmas and although my family doesn’t light all the candles or eat a Christmas dinner altogether, I still love the holidays. I also love drinking pumpkin chai, wearing sweaters, and rewatching Gilmore Girls. Summer of course is still my favorite season because nothing can beat being tan and spending nights driving and blasting music.
OVS Journalism Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.