AndyLand: Watch Where You Walk

You hurt someone today. It's a sad fact. You said something without knowing how it would affect someone. You cut someone off in traffic. You stepped on someone's foot. You neglected to hold the door open for a teacher. You did something to put a damper on someone's day. The difficult thing about other people's feelings, is that you don't even realize when you've hurt them half the time. It's unavoidable, too. There's no way you can know every time you stepped on someone's foot, or confidence, or feelings.

I can't fix that. No one can. We hurt someone every day. We're human. It happens. But I do try to make up for the things that I've done. So, for me, I want to help ten people for every one person I stepped on. It's an easy task. Smile in the hallway. Open a door for someone. Wave at them. Pick up something they dropped. Ask them how their day was. The list is infinite. You never know when one harsh word could push someone, teetering on the edge, overboard. In the same situation, one nice word could throw them a rope of saftey.

The thing about being nice is that after a while of remembering to do it, it becomes routine. It's YOUR routine. It turns into YOUR actions. Which turn into YOUR reputation. For those of us still in middle or high school, this is the time when our feelings are going to be most vulnerable. But one thing most people don't realize is this: Our feelings don't just vanish the minute we enter the workforce. They're still there. So choose to be a kind boy or girl today, and become a kind man or woman tomorrow. Pick up your feet and watch where you walk. 

AndyLand: Forever

Forever is a commitment,
To never never end.
Forever is what's meant,
To be a loyal friend.

Forever is a gift,
From God up on high.
Forever doesn't shift,
Until the day we die.

Forever is an endeavor,
The juice that tests our will.
Forever is always sure,
The cup will never spill.

Forever is a road
That continues mile by mile.
Forever is a code,
Ingenuity finds very worth while.

Forever is an adventure
That always seems to say,
"If you can, make forever,
Last forever and a day.

AndyLand: The Spiral of My Notebook

A little something I wrote about three years go. How I've changed, I can't even begin to tell you.

Yesterday, I stared at the clock.
Hoping it would move faster.
I drifted to a sudden shock
While English class couldn't be longer.

What a look!?!
Could it really be?
The spiral of my notebook,
Was staring back at me!

The green eye was clear,
The blurred images, seemed to vie.
A bond would form here.
Between my notebook spiral and I.

We had an adventure,
Together we fought.
You see, the time had to move faster.
We had one clear thought.

Settle the anchors!
A sea battle it is.
Raise the flag, ye sailors!
We can't miss!

The warriors of seconds attacked.
They gave us a gain.
These seconds really did lack.
Any sense of game.

I climbed to take cover,
And held down fast.
This battle was not over
Until the time was the past.

The seconds were defeated,
But the minutes,
They had not yet retreated.
They worked against their pivots.

"The time must move on!"
the blurred images shout.
I glanced there upon,
And the minutes grew stout.

The minutes grew short,
I reached for the bell,
A ring with support,
And the minutes fell.

Class ended that day,
And I couldn't believe,
My imagination went astray,
To place I'd never before weaved.

AndyLand: Ten Things I Want To Tell Teenage Girls by Kate Elizabeth Conner

I am sharing this blogpost by Kate Elizabeth Conner because I believe in it to the greatest extent.
1. If you choose to wear shirts that show off your boobs, you will attract boys. To be more specific, you will attract the kind of boys that like to look down girls’ shirts. If you want to date a guy who likes to look at other girls’ boobs and chase skirts, then great job; keep it up. If you don’t want to date a guy who ogles at the breasts of other women, then maybe you should stop offering your own breasts up for the ogling. All attention is not equal. You think you want attention, but you don’t. You want respect. All attention is not equal.

2. Don’t go to the tanning bed. You’ll thank me when you go to your high school reunion and you look like you’ve been airbrushed and then photoshopped compared to the tanning bed train wrecks formerly known as classmates – well, at least next to the ones that haven’t died from skin cancer.

3. When you talk about your friends “anonymously” on Facebook, we know exactly who you’re talking about. People are smarter than you think they are. Stop posting passive-aggressive statuses about the myriad of ways your friends disappoint you.
4. Newsflash: the number of times you say “I hate drama” is a pretty good indicator of how much you love drama. Non-dramatic people don’t feel the need to discuss all the drama they didn’t start and aren’t involved in.
5. “Follow your heart” is probably the worst advice ever.
6. Never let a man make you feel weak or inferior because you are an emotional being. Emotion is good; it is nothing to be ashamed of. Emotion makes us better – so long as it remains in it’s proper place: subject to truth and reason.
7. Smoking is not cool.
8. Stop saying things like, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.” First of all, that’s not true. And second of all, if it is true, you need a perspective shift. Your reputation matters – greatly. You should care what people think of you.
9. Don’t play coy or stupid or helpless to get attention. Don’t pretend something is too heavy so that a boy will carry it for you. Don’t play dumb to stroke someone’s ego. Don’t bat your eyelashes in exchange for attention and expect to be taken seriously, ever. You can’t have it both ways. Either you show the world that you have a brain and passions and skills, or you don’t. There are no damsels in distress managing corporations, running countries, or managing households. The minute you start batting eyelashes, eyelashes is all you’ve got.
10. You are beautiful. You are enough. The world we live in is twisted and broken and for your entire life you will be subjected to all kinds of lies that tell you that you are not enough. You are not thin enough. You are not tan enough. You are not smooth, soft, shiny, firm, tight, fit, silky, blonde, hairless enough. Your teeth are not white enough. Your legs are not long enough. Your clothes are not stylish enough. You are not educated enough. You don’t have enough experience. You are not creative enough.
There is a beauty industry, a fashion industry, a television industry, (and most unfortunately) a pornography industry: and all of these have unique ways of communicating to bright young women: you are not beautiful, sexy, smart or valuable enough.
You must have the clarity and common sense to know that none of that is true. None of it.
You were created for a purpose, exactly so. You have innate value. You are loved more than you could ever comprehend; it is mind-boggling how much you are adored. There has never been, and there will never be another you. Therefore, you have unique thoughts to offer the world. They are only yours, and we all lose out if you are too fearful to share them.
You are beautiful. You are valuable. You are enough.

http://kateelizabethconner.com/ten-things-i-want-to-tell-teenage-girls/

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. -Maya Angelou

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass. -Maya Angelou

AndyLand: I'm a Cancer, Which Means:

I'm a #Cancer, which means: I was born to argue.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: All my favorite books are fictional, but about real life problems.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I can't pinpoint a favorite music band. There are way too many.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'm a sucker for nostalgia, antiques, and anything vintage.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'll never forget the little things that said the biggest things.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'll probably tune you out when I honestly don't care.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'll probably knock you off your feet with my mood swings.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I make plenty of mistakes, but I'm honest enough to acknowledge them.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'll pick you apart and judge you within the first fifteen seconds that we meet.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: It's a strong possibility that I'll make an extremely harsh first impression of you.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: a) I won't trust you right away b) I won't like you right away c) both a and b
I'm a #Cancer, which means: I'll probably knock you off your feet with my mood swings.
I'm a #Cancer, which means: Ultimately, YOU WON'T REGRET MEETING ME.

Find me on twitter, where I rant and remember: @andy_lion_roars  --Andy Sp- something