Today at school, I was informed that the coaches for my swim team were considering having morning and afternoon practices (both mandatory). This would mean that I would be swimming four hours a day, five days a week.

Honestly, I think high school sports should be more about promoting good health, opposed to wanting to win. Of course there are the true athletes out there who are going to make it professionally, but I’m not one of those people, and I honestly want a life outside of school and extracurricular activities.

If we had morning practices, they would be at 5:30 in the morning, meaning I would have to get up at 4:45 (at the latest). That’s insane! Not to mention, at 3:30 in the afternoon, I would be back at the pool, getting ready to swim for another two hours.

I have grades that I’m trying to keep consistent (and high) and I have friends that I intend on keeping, but if I have to start spending four hours out of the sixteen hours I’m awake every day on a sport, I’m going to go insane due to all the stress.

I really think staying in shape is important and sports can teach a lot to the people involved in them, but I also think there should be a deeper meaning to sports than winning. Health all around (physical and mental) should be promoted, but when coaches take sports out of proportion to what they really are, things get out of control.

-Suzanne Millward

Why is it that our news stations have turned into celebrity-focused trash? I mean, sometimes there is something good on the news, but I find it disgusting that paparazzi spend their time following around famous singers or actors, instead of focusing on important things in the world.

For instance, there is a genocide going on in Darfur, and yet I haven’t seen one thing on the news about it. No clips of the horrors going on over there, and no statistics or information on how we can help are available from our news stations.

So maybe we hear how many Americans died on any certain day fighting, but there are other things we aren’t being told. Why aren’t we told how many innocent civilians have died since the war in Iraq?

Why is it that people are more focused on Lindsay Lohan being in a rehabilitation center or Nicole Richie’s anorexia? There are more important things going on in the world (though those are unfortunate).

I don’t want to be informed about the lives of a few individuals who don’t know who I am, and don’t care. I want to know what is going on with the genocide in Darfur, how things are in Iraq (besides the American side of the story) and I want to be informed on other important things that effect millions of people daily.

It’s hard to find a news station that really satisfies the things I want to know, so I find myself now watching the news. People need to be informed of the devistation all over the world instead of focusing on the lives of a few people. Maybe it’s an escape from reality, but it’s time to stop being distracted. There are things in our world that we need to change, and educating people on them is the first step to a better world.

-Suzanne Millward

The other day in my religion class, my teacher informed us that about thirty percent of marriages have at least one partner being unfaithful. I’d be lying if I said the subject hasn’t been lurking in my thoughts since then.

I’ve never been the super romantic type (I don’t like lovey dovey nick names and don’t see myself having kids and a perfect family one day), but I have always thought of my husband and I being faithful to one another.

When I hear about humans being unfaithful, I am reminded that penguins (along with other animals) mate with one partner for life, and we can’t even do that. I don’t even believe we should only have one partner in our lifetimes, but I do believe that when a person takes the initiative to say they want to be loyal to someone forever, they should stick with it. I guess it’s just that the one thing that I really do want in the future is an honest, healthy relationship. I’ll know I’ve failed if I end up with a rich man who sleeps with all his assistants behind my back.

Sometimes I think I belong in a different era. I know cheating and lust have always been problems in our soceity, but I think we’re becoming more leisure when it comes to moral values (in all kinds of different areas).

What have we done to let things get so out of control?

-Suzanne Millward

So yesterday was my first day of swim practice. My team, though, had already been practicing for a week, but I had had play rehearsal, so I was unable to attend practice because they were at the same time.

The practice wasn’t unbearable (since we’re all getting in shape still), but I ended up leaving the pool a bit disappointed because my first day of practice got canceled early due to bad weather conditions.

There was lightning and hail. Of course we had to get out because of the lightining, but I learned that we must also discontinue practice if the lifeguards are unable to see to the bottom of the pool (hail fogs the water).

For my first day, it went pretty well, but I hope that the next time we have to leave early, it is during the hardest week of the season.
-Suzanne Millward

So, I’ll admit, I was rooting for the Colts, but at the beginning of the game, I was beginning to think that they didn’t deserve to win the Superbowl. The Bears scored a touchdown in the first 20 seconds of the game, and after that, the Colts appeared to be exasperated and psychologically ruined for the rest of the game.

A couple more bad plays came and went for the Colts, including missing their extra point after their touchdown in the first quarter and having quite a few fumbles. Although all this happened, the Colts came back. By the third quarter, I felt guilty for claiming they didn’t deserve to win, because they most definitely did.

-Suzanne Millward

I haven’t had cable TV since I was in the fifth grade, but it is days like today, when I am incredibly sick, that I wish I had more options of junk to watch. Yes, reading a book may be more productive, but if you have a throbbing headache, the best thing is just to relax your brain.

I was flipping through the TV Guide when I noticed that FX has a “That 70’s Show” marathon, and I felt my heart racing in the hope that I have the channel. And by the way, no, I don’t have FX.

What a bummer.

-Suzanne Millward

One process that has really bothered me about applying to college isn’t the application, it is sending the transcripts. You must send them before the first semester of your senior year is over, and then you must pay more money to send them again when the first semester transcripts are available.

Also, paying to send SAT scores is way overpriced. It is $10 for your scores to be sent within 4 to 6 weeks. And rush is $40!

All the expenses of applying to colleges add up to almost $100 per college, so in my case, I just hope it it ends up being worth all the trouble and money.
-Suzanne Millward

Honestly, I absolutely hate being cold.

Yesterday, my mom and I decided to go take a walk, and it was a disaster. We ended up only making a tiny loop around the park we walk in because it was so unbarably cold. My head was throbing the entire walk because cold are was blowing violently into my ears.

I wish it would hurry up and get warm so I can exercise and just be outside without being completely uncomfortable.

-Suzanne Millward

I went to see “Blood Diamond” recently, and it was definitly worth the $10 (yes, at the Pleasant Hill theatre, it is now $10 dollars exactly to watch a movie). I actually already knew most of the facts that were addressed in the movie, thanks to my social justice class last year, but I still found it very entertaining. The best part was that it left me thinking about our society. I would recommend seeing it.

-Suzanne Millward

Last semester, I had 6th period free. It was wonderful. I got to leave after 5th period, and I was home by 2 almost every day. The best part was missing the after school traffic in the parking lot. Parents always pick their kids up in the student lot, when they are supposed to wait in a traffic line in front of the school. This drives me, along with other students at my school, crazy because the parents park in front of our cars, blocking us in. The worst part is that the adults know we are trying to leave, and they stay parked there anyways. The only good side about having 5th period free instead of 6th is that I get more work done. Originally, I would go home and take a nap, but now I actually do homework and have more free time to myself at home.

Suzanne Millward