Teens have never been thought of as the best drivers on the road. Always burning rubber in an effort to accelerate through a red light, or skidding to avoid a collision in a 15 mph multi-level parking lot, teens are always tapping the gas and the brake just a little too hard.
And now, what with the emergence of global warming as a suitable topic of conversation, teens may be blamed for the drastic increase of greenhouse gas emissions, among other things.
Now, I don’t mean to preach, or sound like an old-geezer sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, but kids nowadays are traveling too fast, always speeding from one event to another, nearly breaking the sound barrier. We, and I mean the entire teenage populous, need to cut down on gas expenditures dramatically, and in the process change our way of life.
For instance, if students were required to ride public transportation or bicycles to school, our entire culture would be drastically more healthy, and childhood obesity would cease to be a growing pandemic.
I for one, would be happy to ride my bicycle to school daily, as well as to anywhere else I needed to go. Just slow down, enjoy the moment… quit pushing the limit. Think about it.
–McVal Osborne

Soooo… the finals study weekend has arrived, and I find myself bending under the weight of distraction every time I try to get any studying done. Every time I crack open the text of my physics book to practice some centripetal motion problems, I face the lure of my computer screen, the inbox filled with new emails, the television, the bright sunny day, the messages on my cell phone. It may sound like I have ADD, but I assure you I do have the ability to stay focused. The question is, do I want to stay focused? While I feel studying is completely pointless right now, I’ll be happy I did it later. Still, that won’t keep me from complaining about distraction right now.

Well, I know I have them, the Finals Blues… So far, I’ve organized my three-day-weekend for a complete studying marathon, and I have it organized to every half hour. Kinda scary eh? Yeah, I’m a little stressed, and I’m really worried about getting good enough grades to get into the “perfect college.”

So, to end the stress of the Finals Blues… I’ve decided to follow the philosophy of my friend Sydney Koliha: “Think Sunshine and Rainbows…”

It may seem corny or cliche, but thinking of everything in a new light can often do a lot of good…

Well, just a little while ago I went for a bike ride into Lafayette… You know, crank out some rpms, get the heart rate up… get away from my schoolwork for a while. Anyway, I was riding up this really steep hill, and I started to slow down. Now, normally, most people would just step off of their bike if it was moving too slowly, the problem was that my feet were secured firmly to my pedals with locking shoes…

Soooo, as I continued to climb up the hill, I continued to slow down… After I came to a complete stop, I unsuccessfully tried to remove my shoes, then I started rolling backward. I fell down, and it hurt.

So, the moral of the story is: never ever use locking bycycle shoes.

Well, hello everyone out there in the blogosphere. We are your newest member, the Contra Costa Times Life In Perspective Board, or LIP. We’re here to share teen insights into the modern world, our trials and tribulations, our victories and successes. So read on, and delve into the minds of Bay Area’s youth… plus find some really cool websites and such.

It is finally kicking in. The towering piles of homework surrounding me have already begun to collapse. I doubt I will make it out of my junior year alive.

Tonight is a big night for me. I have to finish up an Era Project on Naturalist Literature for my Honors English III class, interview an actress, write this blog entry, and finish all the other homework assigned to me today, not to mention studying for finals wich will undoubtedly cause me to prematurely sprout grey hairs. I’m a little stressed, to say the least. Now, I haven’t even brought up the mention of friends. Don’t be mistaken, I do have them. The decision to put friends before schoolwork, or vice versa, is a tricky one. I just have to say, that in one’s high school years, no person should be forced to choose between them.

I wonder if I’ll have any friends after finals

Accept this, my humble blog entry…

McVal Osborne