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I'm going on vacation in Chicago in a couple weeks with my parents. What are some good places to vist, shop, etc? I'm only 15, so no bars or anything like that, haha. I don't just want a Googled list, though. From personal experience, what was best? Like if you visited, or live there.
thank you in advance! =]
I have to disagree with clouded_blue (sorry!). Chicago is an AWESOME city and there is tons to do! I used to live there and I miss it so much! Let's see...
Walk down Michigan Avenue and SHOP all the great stores
Go up in the Sears Tower
Boat Tour on the Chicago River - a great way to see the city
Navy Pier - Shopping, big ferris wheel
Go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
If you like museums, Chicago has some of the best in the country. Even people who don't like museums like these:
* Field Museum
* Museum of Science & Industry
* Shedd Aquarium
* Alder Planetarium
* Art Institute
Take a drive up Lake Shore Drive to Kennilworth and look at all the goregous mansions up there - it's a beautiful drive along the lake and you can see the whole city on the lakefront... awesome!
Places to eat:
Ed Debevics (fun diner)
Unos Pizza (or Ginos)
Al's Italian Beef
Lowry's or Mortons (steak)
Go to Greektown and try some greek food (yummy!)
There's also a Chinatown if you like Chinese
Have fun!!
would it be a bad idea to have a bday party at six flags? b/c people might get hurt and itll be my parents fault?
I've had parties at six flags before, and it was really fun! Just keep it to a few friends (6-8 maybe - make sure you have an even number for rides & stuff). And don't invite anyone who you know will be rowdy and give your parents a hard time. If your friends' parents know where they're going, and have given them permission, then they can't blame your parents if their kid gets hurt.
i'm so bored!! I have NOTHING to do! seriously!
I'm home with my grandma all day and we have nothing to do. My grandma doesn't have time to play around with me. (she always cooks, cleans the house, in the garden etc.)
It's really nice outside (85 degrees and sunny) but I'm on my period now, so I can't go swimming (don't tell me to use a tampon because I can't) My friends are gone away. I'm sooo bored.
Oh and also since i'm on my period, I have a lot of fatigue, so when my grandma gives me something to do... i'll be like "no, I don't want to do that"
all I do is watch TV and sit in front of the computer all day.
What else is there to do that I can do with my period?
Oh and I just got done with sports camps so I'm really sore too... so I don't want to go biking, camping etc.
HELP! Sorry for all the trouble. I'm just super super duper bored
Well, since you're spending so much time with your grandma, here are a few things you could do with her. Even though she's busy, I bet she'd be willing to do these things if you asked her. They may not be the most exciting things you've ever done, but someday you might be very glad you did them. And it's better than doing nothing! =]
1. Pictures: Sit down with your grandma and go through all her old family pictures. Ask her to tell you about the people, especially if she has pictures of her parents, grandparents, etc. And make sure their names are written on the back of each picture. Most people don't label pictures, which is sad. Because one day your grandma will be gone, and she might be the only person who knew who those people are. Then those pictures might end up in the trash or a garage sale, which would really be a shame.
2. Interview: Ask your grandma to tell you what things were like when she was growing up... and write it all down. It might be pretty interesting, and it will be a neat thing for you to pass down to your own kids some day. Here's a website with some questions you can ask her:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/a/interview.htm
3. Family Tree: Ask your grandma to tell you about her parents, grandparents, etc. Make a family tree and see how far you can go back, and find out where your family came from. It's really a pretty fun hobby!
Even though your grandma is busy, I bet she'll be willing to spend some time helping you with these kinds of things!
ok so you know how people get made fun of and other stuff and then they get low self esteem and what not well how do you get a better self esteem ????like be happier with your self
Self esteem is all about what YOU think of yourself... not what others think. Focus on the things you like about yourself, and remind yourself daily of the traits you have that you're proud of.
Of course, we all have some things we don't like about ourselves. And those things fall into two catagories: things we can change, and things we can't change.
If there's something you CAN change, make an effort to change it. Ask for help if you need it. And remember that changes sometimes take time, so be proud of yourself for any steps you make toward your goal. For the things you CAN'T change... forget about them! Don't dwell on it. Laugh about it if you can. If there's nothing you can do about it, there's no need to waste your time worrying about it. Just put it out of your mind and keep focusing on the positive things about yourself.
If you can learn to focus on the good in yourself, and like yourself for who you are, your attitude will shine through and affect how others see and treat you. The bullies who make fun of people pick victims that are "easy targets"... people who they know they can hurt. Someone who is confident and happy and comfortable with themself is not going to be hurt by bullying, so the bullies will leave them alone.
ok so some friends of my family know a girl my age and she just moved to my town and she doesn't know anyone but she'd like a friend so my mother volunteered me to be her rent-a-friend i guess or just friend.lol. anyway im getting her email address and i'm going to write her and sort of say hey welcome to "(my town)" but i don't think she knows that our family friend called us asking me to be her friend so i don't want to be like, hey so and so said you're lonely and now we're gonna be friend's ok?...yeah i have a feeling that would be an akward conversation so...what should i say to her? i know absolutely nothing about her except why she moved her and that she's here and doesn't have friends, oh i do know her name.lol but nothing else, what do i do?
Just start by saying something like: "Hi, my name is _____. My friend told me that you just moved here, so I just wanted to say Hi and welcome to (your town)." And then ask her some questions, like where did she move from? What did she do in her old town? Does she do any sports, dance, etc? And just take it from there, like you would with anyone you've just met.
So. Why do people sterotype people again?
All Preps aren't obsessed with the color pink
All Jocks aren't stupid
and
All Homosexual guys don't dress nice, act like a girl, and write poetry.
What is up with sterotypes?
Jeez.
It's just part of human nature to stereotype. Our brains are designed to organize and catagorize information, to help us make sense of the world. If it has four legs and barks, it must be a dog. If it has four legs and meows, it must be a cat.
It's also sort of a primitive survival instinct. The caveman sees a snake; he knows some snakes are poisonous, so he stays away from this one, just in case. Or he eats some red berries that make him sick, so from then on he avoids all red berries.
We apply this to people, as well. Some "xyz" people have hurt us in the past, so all "xyz" people must be mean or dangerous. The sports teams from "abc-land" always win, so all "abc" people must be great athletes.
Of course, just because our brains work this way, doesn't mean we're always right! Some "xyz" people are really nice, and some "abc" people are probably total klutzes. But that primitive part of our brains makes us put people in catagories, based on our past experience or things that we've been told.
When somebody is growing up they always say their parents tell them the story of the birds and the bees. My parents dont even know this story, and I hit puberty early. I wuz a little girl and I had just had my first family life class and all the girls came out talking about "the talk of the birds and the bees" so asked my parents to tell it to me *funny i know* and they had no clue.
Could somebody please tell me the story?
I don't think there's an actual "story" behind it; it's just a term people use for talking about sex. When parents first talk to their kids about sex and reproduction, they often start out by explaining how plants and animals reproduce. You know, how the bees help pollenate the flowers, and how birds find a mate and build a nest and lay eggs. Back in the old days, people didn't talk about sex as openly as we do now. So instead of saying, "I told my daughter about sex today", they would just say, "I told her about the birds and the bees." And the term has just sort of stuck.
Okay. So I cheated on my boyfriend 2 months ago with one of my ex's, which i have not talked to since. And I told my boyfriend the next day. And I feel horrible about what I did, every time I think about it or he brings it up I end up crying and hating myself more and more. For about 2 weeks after it happend I cried myself to sleep every night and seriously could hardly live with what I had done. And now, 2 months later, he still has not forgoten it, well i dont expect him to forget it, but he still always brings it up and I want to hang out with one of my guy friends.... and my boyfriend got all mad that I wanted too and was like fine go be with him then and he is just worryed i will cheat on him again.... but I would never do that again, i can not risk loosing him one more time. So I guess my question is,
Is it wrong of me to want to hang out with my guy friends and expect him to let me after what I did?
Or is he being to uptight about it and is it wrong of him to tell me not to hang out with other guys and get all pissed when i even think about hanging out with another guy?
One thig I do know is, If I want to hang out with a guy, I am going to. And I AM GOING to PROOVE to him that someday he can trust me again with another guy.
SO yeah... any advise would help.
When you have a boyfriend, hanging out with other guys is sort of a "privilege"... it's something the boyfriend doesn't mind because he knows he can trust you. But once you've lost that trust, you also lose that privilege. And it may take a long, long time to regain that trust and that privilege again.
Yes, you said you were sorry. You ARE really sorry. And lucky for you, your boyfriend has chosen to forgive you and stay with you. But that doesn't erase what happened. He may have forgiven you, but he's not going to forget about it... even though he might wish he could.
What you did hurt him badly. And now, whenever you're around another guy, he's going to wonder if you're being faithful. And he's going to be miserable thinking about it. So he has a very good reason to ask you to not hang around your guy friends. It's not that he's trying to "punish" you. He's just trying to keep himself from being hurt.
Things are different now. The fact is, you made a mistake, and you're going to have to pay the price for your actions. That is, if you want to stay with your boyfriend. It all depends on what's more important to you... hanging out with your guy friends, or your boyfriend's feelings and your relationship.
hi,
silly question about birth control
(i'm not on it so i wouldn't know)
just curious..
i know that its supposed to help with periods, and preventing pregnancies.
but how does it do it.
does it like stop the sperm from entering or something like that?
Birth control pills work by stopping ovulation. Normally, an egg is released from your ovaries each month. If a sperm fertilizes it, you become pregnant. Birth control pills prevent your ovaries from releasing eggs, so there is no egg to get fertilized and a pregnancy can't occur.
whats the point of letting someone in your life if they just gonna walk out of your life eventually? why do people always have to leave?
Here's a little thing that goes around on email a lot. It's kind of nice, and sort of answers your question:
-------
People come into you life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, or to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. They may seem like a Godsend to you, and they are. They are there for a reason, you need them to be.
Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die, Sometimes they just walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.
When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season. And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall, the season eventually ends.
Lifetime relationships teach you a lifetime of lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a slid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway); and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
I'm a very avid jogger because I've deduced in my head that it's the only proper way to burn all the calories I eat.
But I'm having trouble accepting my calves, which are quite muscular now.
I don't like it. And I want them to shrink.
Is there anyway to minimize calf-muscle?
I know how you feel! My calf muscles are really big, too, and it's really embarrassing when people comment about it. They usually think it's because I'm a gymnast and cheerleader, but actually it's just the way I was made... my parents both have big calf muscles, too. I've finally realized that there's really nothing I can do about it. You just have to accept it. And besides, some people think it looks good. Girls sometimes tell me they wish their calves looked like mine. And some guys say its sexy! So even though I'd like them to be smaller, I try to remind myself that it's just one part of my body, and focus on the parts that I like. =]
this story might be a little long sorry....
anyway alright so this guy named steve. wow amazing..hott..perfect. you know the routine. anyway i have been in love with him. it was last year. for about a year and a half. so i know how to deal with love now. me and him have been through it all. we've always had a spark. we have even made out 6 times when we WEREN'T going out. don't think i'm a slut though. we like eachother. but he also likes this perfect girl cheerleader named brooklyn. he always has liked her since the 6th grade. he's always liked her more then me. it sucks but yea i've learned to deal.
well recently we got in this huge fight about nothing and he blocked me online. and i thought he would just like brooklyn now. (even though she hates steve and would never ever go out with him). and i have been so mean with him and to him because im disgusted with him and i just couldn't deal with it anymore. so then i find out he likes me. and it freaks me out because i have been the meanest person in the world to him. and i wasn't even supposed to find out. he sent me this thing that's like a trick where it's supposed to tell you whats you future with a girl and you have to type in all the girls names that you like and then it actualy sends to the person..which was me and he typed my name first then brooklyns. so wow who's confused now. me. and i have always loved him but i just didnt want to show it. i do though but he always thinks he can do things with me and i dont want it to be that way. but this may also be my only chance with him should i play hard to get or just go after him like i have for the past 2 and a half years?
and if i should play hard to get..any tips?
thankss sooo much
Tell him how you feel. If it's too hard to say it in person, write him a note or message or IM. Start off by apologizing for being a jerk. Tell him that you've had feelings for him for a while now, and you want to know if he feels the same way. Tell him that if he doesn't feel the same way, you still want to be friends... but that you can't make out or "do things" with him anymore if you're only going to be friends.
And then see what he says!
If he does like you, he'll let you know. If he just wants to be friends, well, you'll have to accept that. But you never know, his feelings could change in the future. If he still can't decide between you and the cheerleader chick, well, you'll have to just give him time to make up his mind. But don't be tempted to "do things" with him... make sure he knows that if he wants you, it has to be all or nothing.
What makes you happy the most?
Puppies! haha! I'm serious... puppies can make me happy no matter what!
Is going to sleep at 3:00 am to 3:00 pm unhealty?
I have been sleeping in that late for the whole summer,my sisters think its veeeerrrrry unhealty to do that, but they dont give me any reasons why it is unhealty.
THANKS!
I can relate... I've always been a night owl! Some people just feel at their best during the later hours.
From a strictly "health" standpoint, if you're getting 12 straight hours of sleep, it doesn't really matter what time the sleep is happening. From what I've read, the important thing is to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Switching around your schedule (for example, staying up late and sleeping in only on the weekends) can throw off your body's clock and make the sleep you do get less restful.
Your sisters may be more concerned about you "wasting away" the whole day. If they're busy working or doing chores around the house while you're peacefully snoozing away, they may be a little resentful about it. Or they may be concerned about your social life... that you're missing out on things you could be doing during the day.
If your sleep schedule is interferring with things you should be doing, or would like to do, it might be a good idea to go to bed and wake up a little earlier. But either way, you should probably start to gradually move up your bedtime as it gets closer to school starting, to give your body time to adjust.
I believe it's possible for me to get a right & left leg split by the end of summer (note my exlusion of the straddle split..hahaha) So..um..how should I go about it? I know I have to practice..but like..how often should I do it/do I hold or bounce/etcetc..
(ps gymnastics tryouts are on august 31!)ty in advance
If you can set aside 15 minutes a day to work on your splits, you should definitely get them by the end of the summer! Try to do it at the same time each day -- first thing in the morning, right before bedtime, or while you're watching your favorite TV show. Doing it at the same time every day will make it easier to keep up the habit.
Start each split with some stretches. From a kneeling position, stick one leg out in front, then lean forward and try to touch your chin to your knee. You should feel a stretch on the bottom of your front leg. (If not, slide your foot out farther). Hold the stretch for 15 seconds.
Next, bend your front leg and lunge forward, pushing your hip toward the floor. You should feel a stretch in your hip and back thigh. (Again, if you don't feel a stretch, slide your front leg out farther). Hold for 15 seconds.
Now you're ready to slide down into your split. Go as far as you can and hold for 10 minutes. After a minute, take a deep breath, then let it out slowly while pushing yourself down a little farther. Do that every couple minutes.
Then do it all again on your other leg.
It can also help to have a friend or parent stretch you. Lie on your back, and have your helper lift your leg up and push it toward your shoulder. Be sure to keep your botton leg straight and try to keep your hips square (don't twist or turn your bottom leg out).
Throughout the day, if you're walking around with nothing to do (and no one around to make fun of you!), do some high kicks. Just whip your leg up and try to kick yourself in the face. That will help your flexibility in between split-sessions.
Keep it up, and you'll have your splits in no time!
How would I practice to do that? (bend backwards into a bridge)
First, make sure you have a good strong bridge on the floor. In a good bridge, your elbows should be straight, and there should be a straight line from your shoulders to your wrists. If your shoulders aren't flexible enough to do this yet, try this:
Lie on the floor with your head touching a wall. Push up into a bridge, with your wrists touching the wall, and try to push your chest and armpits back so they're touching the wall.
Once you have a good bridge... stand with your back against a wall, and slowly walk your hands down the wall to the floor. Be sure you're pushing your hips forward.
When you're ready to try it on the floor, get someone to spot you by supporting your back. Stretch your shoulders back as far as you can while pushing your hips forward. Be sure your spotter is strong enough to keep you from falling back too quickly... if you land hard, or in the wrong position, you could break a wrist.
Good luck!
hey i'm the gymnast that had the ? about conditioning. some skills that i want are: an aeriel on the beam ( i want to be able to like step into it).. i want to do a front handspring front layout front tuck on floor.. oh a big thing for me is endurance i get pretty tired by the end of my floor routine.. um bars i want to get my free hip to handstand consistently so anything would help thanks so much!!
Okay, cool. Let's see...
For the aerial on beam:
Can you do an aerial from just stepping into it on the floor? If so, try doing it up onto a panel mat. Start with the mat unfolded, and keep folding it up one layer at at time until you can do it up onto the mat with it folded up like 3 or 4 layers. This helps a lot, and it's good for other stuff like flip flops, back tucks, etc.
Some conditioning exercises to get your legs stronger for the aerial:
Lunge hops: step forward and land in a deep lunge so your back knee touches the floor. Then stand up fast, pushing off as hard as you can with your front leg, so your foot hops off the floor... while at the same time kicking your back leg up really high. Do that across the floor a few times times.
Kneeling cartwheels: from a kneeling lunge, do a cartwheel as fast as you can, pushing off hard with your front leg and kicking your back leg over as fast as you can.
If you have stairs in your house... go up the stairs skipping 2 or 3 steps, always leading with your aerial-push-off leg.
For your front tumbling pass:
Building up your back strength will help a lot. Here's some stuff I have my gymnasts do:
Supergirls series:
laying on your stomach, arch up and hold a "supergirl" position for 10 seconds; then do 10 "supergirls" (arching up and down); then rock back and forth in the supergirl position 10 times; repeat the whole thing 3-5 times.
Arch-ups: lying on your bed, have someone sit on your legs and let your body (from the waist up) hang off the side. Arch up and down, going as high and as low as you can each time. Do like 30-60 of them.
Endurance for floor routines:
I know, a lot of gymnasts have trouble with this! What gymnasts do in a floor routine is a lot harder than what distance runners do, because you have to go hard, then slow down for the dancey stuff, then go hard again, etc. It's a different kind of endurance than just plain running, where you're always going at the same pace.
To build that kind of endurance, I have my gymnasts sprint across the floor, then stop and do some kind of anaerobic exercise for like 10-20 seconds, then sprint again... like this:
Sprint
do 15 pushups
Sprint
do 30 crunches
Sprint
hold a 10 second handstand
Sprint
hold a hollow for 10 seconds
Sprint
do a standing back (or standing flip flop)
Sprint
etc, etc, etc... we'll do this for about 15-30 minutes every workout.
Free Hip to Handstand:
For this skill, you really don't need a whole lot of stength! It's mainly technique and timing... hitting the right positions at the right time. A lot of gymnasts try to muscle through it, or subconciously slow themselves down and kill their swing (cuz its kinda scary!). But if you can teach yourself to kind of relax and just let your body go for a ride, gravity and physics will do most of the work for you!
But yes, you do need to be able to hold a good hollow position throughout the skill. So any kind of hollow-hold type things will really help. Here's a couple:
Hollow series (same as the supergirl series, but the opposite direction): hold a hollow for 10 seconds; do 10 hollow rocks; do 10 hollow-ups; repeat.
Chin Hollows: start in a pull-up position on the bar (arms bent, chin above the bar, body in a hollow); keeping in a hollow and trying not to pike, pull yourself up into an upside-down hollow position so your thighs are touching the bar (your arms will straighten as you're coming up); then go back to the original position.
Levers: hanging with straight arms on the high bar, try to lift your body to a horizontal position, keeping as straight as you can. Let yourself back down as slowly as possible.
A good freehip drill:
on an incline mat, lay in a hollow postion with your feet at the top, and your arms in front (so your hands are by your thighs). Do 3 hollow rocks, and on the 3rd one, snap your arms back and do a straight arm back extention to handstand.
I hope this helps some! Good luck! Just keep working and don't give up! You'll get it!! =]
Ok i have went through alot of stuff lately in my family..divorce..affairs and a drug addict sister. I am going to be a senior this year and i have survived my vball team for the past 3 years. I hate volleyball..dont like practices..games..nothign..but i do it because its a sport and my parents want me too. Well this year..i dont want to go through another season..my mom says i should go through with it..im not sure what do..what do you think?
Wow, that's a tough one! It does seem a shame to give it up after all this time. It's only one more year... and having something to keep you busy can keep your mind off of other less pleasant things. Is there *anything* you like about it? The friends you've made on the team? The recognition you get from being on the school team? Having your picture in the yearbook? The exercise you get from practices? If you can think of anything good about volleyball, and focus on that, then maybe it won't be that bad. But if you really, absolutely HATE it, there's no sense in forcing yourself to do it. But I would recommend finding some other sport or activity to take its place. It's hard to go from being busy to having nothing to do!
for anyone who is an intense gymnast do you have a diet/exercise plan you go by? i'm a gymnast i have been one for 14 years and i want to get stronger & leaner. so if anyone wants to share what they do i'd appreciate it.. thanks!
*oh and what are some things you do for conditioning thats hard? thankss
Hi! I'm a gymnastics coach, and I know of a bazillion different conditioning exercises you can do. If you want to tell me what skills you're working on, or what you'd like to learn, I can give you some specific exercises to help with those skills. =]
so i just got a relatively large purse. its super cute and i LOVE it! but.. its really big, and has a lot of pockets and compartments. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO PUT IN IT! it looks dumb to leave it unfilled because then it just looks empty! so far i put my sunglasses, camera, ipod, cell phone, and wallet in there. it still doesn't fill it up! what else can i put in? what do you put in yours? thank you!
Gum/tic-tacs/breath mints
pad of paper & pencil/pen
calendar or date book
makeup bag
hair brush
mirror
perfume
small umbrella
"emergency kit" with bandaids, safety pins, aspirin, etc.