I'm Sorry, Do I Know You?

Last week, one of my good friends brought his girlfriend to church with him for the first time. We were sitting downstairs in our MYF room after the service, and she was wearing an cute pair of purple shoes so I decided I would compliment her on them. I leaned across two of my other friends and said, "Elizabeth! I love your shoes!" .... Silence greeted my statement. Then another friend (who goes to school with her) asked, "What did you just call her?" "Elizabeth," I responded, "right?" I began to have this feeling of dread in my stomach. "Uh, Sarah, her name is Julia..." "Oh, crap, SORRY!"

The problem was laughed off for the moment, but I continued to be embarrassed and horrified for the rest of the hour. I couldn't believe I slipped up like that! My best friend goes to school with my friend and his girlfriend and had previously shown me her facebook picture. I saw her name on her facebook, and of course, it was her middle name that for some reason stuck in my memory... caught with the facebook stalk.

Presumably, most teenagers (at least those that have Facebooks) have gotten themselves stuck in some situation or another where Facebook has been part of the problem, so here is a list of situations to avoid if you don't want things to become extremely awkward extremely quickly.


Facebook is AWKWARD List

1. You've seen a friend of a friend's Facebook, and therefore know their name, but have never actually met them before (so they probably don't know yours). You walk up with a smile and a,"Hello, Blank." It's received with silence and a who-are-you-exactly? look... AWKWARD.

2. Some kind-of friends are laughing about a funny video... that just happened to be posted on one of their Walls... that you just happened to see... that you just happened to think was hilarious. You start to laugh and comment on one of their comments. Hmm. Turns out you weren't actually in that conversation, and they have no idea how you know about the video... AWKWARD.

3. Someone is throwing a party and it seems like everyone is invited. You've heard about it at school and people have been posting info about it all over Facebook, but you haven't been invited yet. You ask the person throwing the party if they forgot to invite you... AWKWARD.

4. Don't make stupid comments on people's pictures in order to look cool. It's not smart, because you look dumb to begin with, and then if the other person is smart, they'll delete their comments which makes you look even more dumb... AWKWARD.

5. Make sure you log off of your Facebook account when you personally are not the person sitting in front of your computer. Your friends will post something as your status, and your parents will most likely see it and ask you about it, because it will most likely be inappropriate... AWKWARD.

:) Avoid the awkwardness.

Peace to all and stay safe.

Life As I Know It (Pt. 3 Things I Really Could Care Less About)

"Sarah, your socks don't match!" my teacher comments.
"Yeah, I know, I just grabbed some out of the drawer this morning. It was dark," I reply.

The Things I Really Could Care Less About List

1. Matching Clothes; Especially Socks - Believe it or not, adults members of this world, teenagers really could care less whether their socks match or not. I know shocking (or maybe I should say "socking...") right? Here's the thing. Socks, especially during the cold months of the year, are not visible. They go under pants and under shoes. You can't see them, so why is it a big deal if they don't match? Maybe it's our little way of showing our uniqueness - see who can have the most vibrant and colorful socks.

2. Organization - Parents often think that every aspect of a teenagers life needs to be organized, and frankly, we as teenagers could care less. Sometimes my room becomes an absolute pig sty and one of two things happens: One, I don't do anything about it because I don't have the time and I know exactly where in the mess the thing I'm looking for is. Or two, I clean it up because it's gotten too much for even me to handle. But that point doesn't come very often and I survive just fine until then. The same goes for lockers, cars, backpacks, etc. etc. Oh and don't even get me started on the organization needed for college applications.

3. Laundry - Especially putting laundry away. Oftentimes, clean laundry will sit on my floor next to my dresser for a good couple weeks before I end up putting it away or hanging it up. I mean, it serves the same function sitting on the floor as it does hanging up. I can still find it and wear it when I want to, in fact it can be easier to find because it's right there!

4. Having Their Parents Around - If parents didn't think that their kids didn't want them around, and therefore didn't act purposefully embarrassing I don't think many kids would object to having their parents around... sometimes. I mean obviously if my parents were around constantly when I was hanging out with friends I would mind, but I don't mind having them around occasionally because as odd as they can be sometimes, they are my parents and they can be pretty awesome too.


5. Baseball - One of my friends suggested this to me as a half joke. He said ask any teenager except for a select few and most of them will say they really could care less about baseball. I have to agree. I really don't care. Fewer and fewer teenagers are becoming interested in baseball and more and more are focusing on soccer instead. It makes sense. Soccer is much more fast paced (relatively). Neither has scoring as rapidly as it basketball or volleyball, but at least you are watching the players at least attempt to score in soccer. In baseball you watch them swing practice swings, or throw one pitch ( then wait 5 minutes), throw another pitch (then wait another 5), throw a third pitch (and oh look, they didn't even hit that one!) and then go on a commercial break for 6 minutes until they do it again!.

So parents, you may think we enjoy talking about college and folding laundry while sitting with you in front of a tv watching baseball while wearing colorful unmatching socks...

.... but, (*gasp*) we really could care less. :)

Peace to all and stay safe in the snow!