The Understudy: Prologue

     Senna glided through the water as if it were not even there. Breaststroke was her strongest. It made her feel powerful, important. Every time she came up for a breath, her heart beat a little steadier and she felt the air go to her lungs. Senna did not need the breaths though. She could have gone without a few of them if it were legal by the book, but swim practice was different tonight. Tonight her goggles filled up with tears that stung her eyes and rage clung to her soul, making her chest ache. Even her feet hit the wall with such a force that the vibrations tickled her toes. Every ounce of Senna’s being seemed to scream at her in an all-too-familiar voice, “Faster! Faster! You are not fast enough; not good enough.” Whispers filled her ears with the same phrase, as if the water was suddenly speaking to her. The power that flooded through Senna’s whole body was fighting these thoughts, beginning to fight the water itself, which began to pull her back; every stroke was fueled by anger. For the first time in a long time, her lungs felt as like going to burst; as if they were those crappy balloons handed out at birthday parties. Her throbbing heart got the best of her and Senna’s inner warrior grew weaker every kick in protest. A single wave-like force wrapped itself around her right leg, dragging her to where the water’s whispers hissed like a snake. And the world suddenly became a scary place to be- a cold place. A dark place.

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(Click here to read Chapter 1)
What I am currently reading: 1776 by David McCullough

In other news: Yup, here is the prologue to my novelette of a story like I promised in the last post. Feel free to love it or hate it because everyone's opinions matter! I plan to write as often as I can, which could mean once every 2 weeks or a chapter every other day. Who knows? Also, I have decided that instead of a Quote-of-the-Week or Quote-of-the-Month, I will do a new thing called "Think about it" where I will have a quote every post.

Think about it: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~Albert Einstein

Perfection is a Myth Pt. 2

     Who are we to judge someone based solely on their looks? Human beings, unfortunately. When we, as humans, look at our neighbor or a random person on the street, we are always judging. It is so sad to think about judging a book by its cover, but the truth is, it is human nature. We are always looking for perfections. Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the picture in our mind of what "beautiful" is precisely is our own interpretation of perfection. (Before you continue, click here if you have not read part 1.)

     The term "ugly" is the most abhorrent word in the dictionary. I believe it is that horrendous for this reason: in reality, it is what I call a "fake word". "Ugly" does not truly exist. Humanity uses it as a bullying word to describe someone that does not fit their mold of beautiful or perfect. Though some heartless people may disagree with my stance, I think that everyone is beautiful in their own way, no matter how corny that sounds. Since each individual person's uniqueness makes them beautiful, everyone fits the dictionary definition of perfection. Flawlessness is only reached by those who have the confidence to believe the voice in their head that is telling them they have reached it.

     When someone believes that another person is not perfect, that there is something off about them, there tends to be a lot of throwing around of fake words/phrases. Those fake words/phrases may include "ugly" and things like "you have a big nose". (Both are speaking from personal experience.) Well, the people who say rude things like that are most likely crazy. We have already gone over why "ugly" is nonexistent, and things starting with "you have" are not insulting at all. Why are they not insulting, you ask? These so-called insults are being hurled at you by someone who lacks the intelligence to think of any mean phrases to say so they just state the truth. It should not matter if they tell you that you have a big nose or that you are a "four-eyes" if you have glasses, because you already know that. You also already know that you are perfectly beautiful, and anything they say should not be hurtful since there is no such thing as a "flaw", only something that makes you unique.

I Wrote A Poem

"The Girl in the Yellow Bathing Suit"

by Sarah Harmon

Hello there, Princess

in the yellow bathing suit

in a pool as blue as the summer Sky

You are lucky, brown-eyed Girl

in the yellow bathing suit

your life is worry-free

Boys are only friends now

Girls are only Strangers

I wish I were you, happy Memory

in the yellow bathing suit

You do not yet understand

that little Girls grow into women

And someday everything must die

Sorry, youthful Innocent

in the yellow bathing suit

People change like the leaves in Autumn

Hate slips under one's door just like change

And you will learn the hard way

Goodbye, Darling  

in the yellow bathing suit

one day it will all make Sense

5 Things That Inspired Me Today

     I considered posting a quote of the week, but then my mind filled up with fantastic ideas for posts and beautiful thoughts with metaphors galore. That was when I sat back, organized all the thoughts in my head, and realized that each thought was based off of something that made me somewhat inspired. Here are some of those things:

1. The gorgeous, yellow daylilies in my backyard that reminded me that beauty is in every corner.
2. My House leader's speech (after we won Field Day) about the importance of sportsmanship towards the losing teams even though last year they were horrible to us when they won.
3. This video made by one of my favorite YouTubers, morganpaigeloves, about originality. 
4. Watching my teammate help up one of our opponents after she was knocked down by someone on her own team.  
5. When Gary from my post entitled "La Citation de la Semaine: Numéro Deux" was fully supportive of everyone on our team by cheering and bringing extra drinks for us when no one expected him of all people to do those very things.

     I know that some of those "little inspirations" were off-topic, and 3/5 of them were about Field Day, but I hope you found them a bit inspiring as well. If not, think of your own 5 things that inspired you today. You will be surprised that the tiniest things may have had the most meaning. 

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What I am currently reading: 1776 by David McCullough (Yes, I am taking my time!)
In other news: My House, Phoenix, won Field Day for the first time in 3 years! If you did not know, my school is split into 3 houses similar to in the Harry Potter Series but minus one house. I am hoping that we win the House Cup this year as well! Follow me on Instagram: iluvunicorns11 Follow me on YouTube: MsHamster15

Perfection is a Myth Pt. 1

     It comes to me tonight that the things I said about teenage girls in my post entitled "The Somewhat Ostensible Bikini Dilemma", were sort of mean. I guess it is because deep down inside, I am angry with myself for one reason or another, or maybe something entirely different. If you are one of those girls, most of which are on my swim team, I am sincerely sorry if I offended you. The quote "The pen is mightier than the sword" is entirely relevant in this instance. It is time to think happy thoughts about everyone! Anyway, I would like to change the subject a bit from partially nude teenagers to something I find more intriguingly brilliant. (Oops! The last thing I wrote in this paragraph was probably just as offensive as my "Bikini Dilemma" post but I will leave it in anyways for the sake of a pretty well-written transitional sentence.)
     If you have read some of my other posts, you have probably read this: "(almost) perfect". Yes, the "almost" is parentheses is not a mistake. I, Sarah, do not believe in perfection. Think about it: what is perfect, anyway? Each individual human being has their own idea of what "perfect" is. There is no possible way to even reach perfection since everyone thinks of perfection in different ways. A kid named Billy could think his friend Joe is the best baseball player ever- that he is perfect. Billy could try all he wants to reach Joe's skill level because practice makes perfect, right? Nope. Billy can not physically become Joe, so Billy can not be considered perfect in his own eyes. If Joe pales in comparison to say, Alex Rodriguez on the New York Yankees, Billy will definitely never be perfect. I hope that example made at least a glimpse of sense. What I am trying to say is that there is no way to grasp perfection, hence perfection is nonexistent, a myth at best. Practice does not make perfect, it makes "better". In conclusion, I write "(almost) perfect" for a valid reason. Perfection can never be obtained when generally speaking, but hey there readers, you are perfect in my eyes always. :)

The Somewhat Ostensible Bikini Dilemma

     Though rain is falling today as if the sky is crying, yesterday was the first day of a summer filled with sunshine. The pool club opened yesterday, which was our official beginning of summer and the swim season. It was not surprising that the majority of the girls I recognized from my swim team were wearing bikinis, and a few of them lost a lot of weight. It came to me that I was probably one of only two girls of my age or older still wearing a sporty one-piece, and I was no doubt the heaviest. I am not one to complain about my weight or that I'm "fat" because I am actually pretty normal sized compared to a large chunk of America right now. It just made me a little mad that these girls could just go around wearing skimpy bathing suits that hardly look comfortable, and my body was not made that way. Please don't assume that I'm jealous of them though, because I am just the opposite. Of course, I envy their flat stomachs and their obvious, (sometimes obnoxious,) confidence, but I hardly feel any jealousy towards the annoying ridiculousness that is their conformity to modern day society. (I hope those were the right words for it.)

     There is this one girl who I was once kinda-friends with, and last year she started wearing these tankinis, inspiring me to get the confidence to wear the same style, which would have made me feel awkward a year before since they made it possible to show a bit of stomach. I cannot tell you how much I looked up to her. Now this summer, she lost weight and now continues to be a follower in that I saw her wearing a bikini just like all of her pretty, (almost) perfect friends. I felt happy for her that she finally had the body she always wanted, but it made me furious that now I would once again be alone in one way or another. If you could not tell already, I have a one-third jealous, one-third dislike, one-third respect feeling towards that huge group of girls who all seem to look the same. I say they all look the same because they are all gorgeous, good-at-everything-especially-swim, popular, and all wear the same type of clothing. Once upon a time, I wanted to be one of them, but as of today, I am happy being pretty damn unique in comparrison. On the other hand, some of them are people I look up to academically or for something courageous they have done, so I hope you understand that this post was not written to express complete jealousy towards everyone. But for the girls I definitely do not look up to, I know that one day, I will do something great and when that day comes, they might finally have a one-third jealous, one-third dislike, one-third respect feeling towards me. 

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What I am currently reading: 1776 by David McCullough

In other news: Happy Memorial Day Weekend! It's bikini season.... 

Additional comment: (made 6/11/12) I really want to take this post off because I know that it shows a bad side of me, yet I am fascinated with my mother's description of my blog after she read this post. She described it as "well-written teenage angst". I hate that I find that hilarious!