Category: love

Tommy Reilly.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Tommy Reilly!

Tommy Reilly is a singer, songwriter from Scotland. In 2009 Channel 4 hosted the show Orange Unsigned Act, Tommy was one of many contestants competing to win a recording contract.

The viewers, of the show, took a strong liking to Tommy’s individuality along with the judges. The emotional connection he held with a song often reduced him and his viewers to tears. He was unique because he was true to his heart and sang for his pleasure rather than to impress. With much support Tommy ultimately won the show.

After his triumph his first single “Gimme a call” was instantly released into the U.K charts. The song reached 14 in the single charts but unfortunately for him, his success didn’t last long.
Read More »

Prom?

dmilesburtonLeave a comment

Well, next Thursday is prom. The girls are buying their dresses and picking hairstyles and the boys are realizing that they might need a tux. But OVS isn’t the only school with a prom. Among all the news of events in Libya and the Final Four, one article caught my eye.

Oliver Levin, a Boston native, wasn’t quite sure how to ask Sarah, a fellow student in his journalism class, to their prom.

“I knew I wanted to ask this girl. She was, you know, awesome. She’s really pretty. She’s really cool. She’s wicked chill, nice person to talk to, and I wanted to get to know her better,” he said, later adding that if she said yes, that would be, “totally clutch.”

Levin, an avid Boston sports fan, especially when it comes to the Bruins, had a stroke of genius the afternoon before he attended a game against the Montreal Canadiens.

As he walked into the stadium, he had with him his ticket, his Bruins’ jersey, and a flip cam.

He took several takes of his prom date appeal, and went through several ideas, from asking the whole section to yell “Hey, Sarah will you go to prom with me?” to its final takes, in which several fans lay out the idea and prepare Oliver for the actual thing.

When Sarah went into her journalism class the next day, the teacher announced that random student had submitted a video to be shown in class.

As the video played, the class’s confusion only grew. That is until one of the fans featured in the video said Sarah’s name.

When she turned around, she was met by Levin, who was holding roses.

Anyway, I thought this story was an interesting piece of news, mainly because it seems so trivial. But hey, it caught my eye, so I guess it’s got at least one reader.

Oh, and for the record: she said yes.

A Relay Lost

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

Next month, OVS will be participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at Buena High School in Ventura. I, for one, am very excited to see our school be so involved in something that could quite possibly change one in five of our lives in the future. I cannot wait to see people of all different worlds join together to fight one of the biggest killers today and have fun while doing it. To top it all off, this will be the first cancer-related cause I have attended, and I’m quite nervous. I’ve always avoided them because I have a problem confronting what has thoroughly turned my life upside down more than once and stolen the one person who, above all, meant the world to me.

My mom was a remarkable woman. Standing at 5’10 with tight curls the color of embers she wasn’t a woman you could easily forget. She fought for what she believed in and would seldom take no for an answer, which only made her all the more admirable to all that met her. We were all shocked when the news finally reached us. My mom had ovarian cancer and had up to two years to live.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
(My mom second from the right)

How could someone so strong let cancer take a hold of her?

For three months her body deteriorated from a combination of chemotherapy and the cancer itself to a frail shell of a woman with only one spot of her once fiery hair barely holding on. A woman who had once stood so tall and who was so outspoken was confined to a wheelchair and an oxygen mask at all times. It was at that time I was taken to go live with my dad after living practically my whole childhood with my mom.

No more than four months after her diagnosis I was called into the hospital to see my mom propped up onto a hospital bed unconscious and on a morphine drip. My heart must had fallen through the floor and my stack through the roof. This was my mother. A once divine and beautiful woman was spending the last few moments of life in a lifeless shell. How could something do this to her?

This disease, this cancer had taken everything from her. It had taken everything from me. A perfectly good woman was drained of everything and left to suffer, and left those around her to suffer. No one meant as much to me as my mom did. She was my only friend and the only person I could talk to, that I can still talk to. For ten years she served as my idol, now seven years later she serves as my inspiration.

Cancer isn’t just a disease that affects one person, it affects everyone around that person. It’s ruthless and merciless and won’t stop at anything once it grabs a strong enough hold of you. If there’s any way to help those who suffer from it, or have been closely affected by someone who suffers from it, it’s to get the word out. Cancer kills. Help others, help yourself.

RELAY FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

yrreskrap3 Comments

As you can tell by my all caps, exclamation marked title, I am a very happy, excited girl!

Last Friday, I organized a meeting for those interested in Relay for Life. An amazing 25 people showed up, almost a quarter of our small school‘s population. Yesterday, I announced that our school’s team has been made a Relay for Life website. A goal had been set for $500 to be raised by May 15. However, an overwhelming wave of happiness blanketed me this morning when I checked on our team’s site.

In just a span of two days, we raised $520 and trumped our goal with only a few people who had donated! $520 in TWO DAYS. Crazy. Tomorrow, I will announce our new goal of $1,000.

Words can’t describe how proud I am of my friends. Giving to the community is one of the greatest, most rewarding feelings and to know that my small community on the hill is giving back to another is fantastic. I can’t wait till May 14th comes to see my friends walk around the track in the name of fighting cancer. Until that day comes, I will try my best to keep our school inspired.

Family’s Fallen Soldier

sennymcfly1 Comment

Dear Aunt Lela,

We didn’t know each other for very long. It was only recently that I got to experience the joy of being in your company. Every time we met you greeted me with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. You were always so loving. It didn’t matter who I was or who anybody was for that matter, you loved them and welcomed them into your home. Your humor made everyone smile. Your children loved you dearly. Spending time with you and Uncle Nick showed me what having a big family was like and I loved it.

And who can forget your cooking? Soul food! Talk about your typical black family, getting together after months and sometimes years of not seeing each other and enjoying yummy food and family time. Delicious collard greens, mouthwatering macaroni, Dominoes and cigars in the back yard, Al Green playing on the stereo. Even after such a long period of being apart it was like we had never left. You brought the family together. You raised the family. It’s true I wasn’t there for most the family’s relationship, but since the few times that we have met, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are most definitely very important to me. I didn’t realize how much losing you would make me cry. We didn’t see it coming, or at least I didn’t. So, I guess my point is, if you are in Heaven or Paradise or wherever else we go when we die, know that I am sending you my love and prayers every day. If only we could have just one more day to spend together. The last family gathering. But, you are supposed to be there aren’t you? Love you Aunt Lela.

Your Great Niece,

Madisen

❤

Aunt Lela

R.I.P. Lela Norris

Boys Don’t Cry

yourgingerkid1 Comment

According to studies, men are turned off by women who are crying.

I’m pretty sure that this information was common knowledge before this research but it’s still something to be reminded of.

The article directly states “Women’s Tears Reduce Sex Drive in Men.” How more direct can they be? I just find it fascinating that there is now scientific proof to back that statement up.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve cried in front of a lot of guys lately for multiple reasons, but does that mean that their “turned off” by that? I think that guys are attracted to tears sometimes because they pretty much signify a weak girl and therefore they can make an epic entrance into their lives and maybe win them over.

The study also stated that tears actually have a pheromone that can lower testosterone which would then decrease their sex drive although men could not tell the difference between simple saline drops and actual tears. Who would’ve thought!

1907-2011

theycallmedameLeave a comment

It seemed like it was going to be a good day on Monday, 3/14/11. But when I went to my dorm room for lunch, everything kind of went down the drain.

Glancing at my phone, I saw I had a voice mail from my dad. Checking said message, a frown creased onto my face.

“Hey, Aria, it’s Dad, just, call me later today, okay?”

He sounded worried and maybe even a bit sad on the phone. Briefly I thought I might be in trouble, but I laughed to myself, what could I have done?

But after calling my dad, I wished I had been in trouble.

The phone rang five times before I hear my dad pick up on the other line.

“Hey Dad, what’s up? Are you okay?”
“No, no, I’m fine, Aria.”
“What’s up?”
“Aria, your… Great-grandma DeeDee died last night.
“Wha…What?
“I’m so sorry, Aria, she just, she stopped eating and they took her to the hospital to replenish her fluids and she just, she just died. I’m here for you whenever you need me, you know that, right?”
“Yeah Daddy, yeah I know.”
“Call me later, honey.”
“Okay Daddy, I will.”

The rest of the day was kind of ruined. I spent the majority of it crying in my room, and the minority coming to terms with it.

I finally reasoned that, hey, Great-Grandma DeeDee was 104-years-old, and she far surpassed her life’s expectations.

Read More »

Religion again?

smackyjackjack1 Comment

If History has taught us one thing, it’s that people do not like difference in their lives. The best examples come from religion. Christians and Muslims have had a shaky couple moments,  Jews have had it tough where ever they go, Tibetans and Chinese, Animists and Muslims, etc.

Why is it that people hate difference? If you ask anyone why they hate something, they will reply, more or less, “because it’s different.” Religion is just another excuse for people to hate other people. Religion, in my opinion, is completely unnecessary.

Humans have proven time and time again that they cannot live peacefully with religion. They have proved it through wars, murder and other terrible things. They have proved it through the stupidity of the Westboro Baptist Church, through the issuing of Fatwas, through Waco, through the Children’s Crusade, through 9/11, through Jonestown, and through the holocaust.

“But Jack, look at all of the good things religion has done for people!” Sure, religion can be good. Religion can feed the homeless, give people a reason to live, and have the occasional bake sale. But why can’t humans just do those things out of the goodness of their hearts? Do you really need to live in fear of judgement by a old man who resembles Charlton Heston to do good things? Can’t you just do them because they are good things to do?

Religion is also completely unnecessary.  Humans should, if they feel they have to, worship their form of God(s) in their own way. If humans are good at one thing it’s creating unnecessary rivalries between each other and ending up killing each other. If this wasn’t the case, then I would say, “Go ahead! have organized religion!” But it’s not. And being told to believe in things that are not true and that are prejudice is not only completely ridiculous, but also very scary.

Driving.

Yourcupatea3 Comments

Pothole

So fortunately for my Dad I have now successfully began to drive like a legal driver. Yes you did hear me correctly I can drive and  I have even passed the stalling stage.

Don’t get me wrong I still have my problems and I lack a bit of control, but otherwise it is going good. I have days when I do brilliantly but there are others when I just have to ruin the clean record and do something wrong.

On Saturday I had an early start for my SAT. I woke up got changed quickly and thought it may have been a good idea to drive to school, half asleep. The consequences of this bad decision were that I nearly reversed into a tree, I pulled off the road into some pot holes and I drove a bit too fast around some sharp corners. The main thing is I survived and so did my car. But for my pride’s sake lets just blame all these mistakes on the early morning and my lack of knowledge on how to demist my car. This experience may sound slightly dreadful but we have to look at the positives in the situation, I stalled once.

Those who have read my driving blogs in the past probably will not be assured that I can now drive but i’m sure you can all say that I have progressed significantly. Ok, granted I have only been practicing in the back roads of Ojai but still I haven’t crashed nor stalled nearly as many times as before. So it’s out to the main roads of Ojai this week. All I can say is watch out Ojai Avenue.

Spring.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

Daffodils
I am happy to say it is nearly Spring. The flowers are getting ready to bloom, Shrove Tuesday has passed and lambs are in abundance. It is a season for new life, new starts and ultimately a preparation for the summer months to follow.

To me Spring also means a new iPod playlist. I am on a mission to find new artists and songs to take me through the coming months and gradually take me into the Summer.

Although I cannot drive I do like to listen to music in the passenger seat.  To me a ride in the morning with the windows rolled down and idyllic acoustic music is perfect for these months.  In the past albums by The Kooks and Razorlight have been great but I feel I need some more theme tunes for 2011.

I feel it is time to get exploring for some new anthems.

Here’s a song from last year that I enjoyed over the Spring months.