You know those "smart" high school students? The ones that are in classes meant for students one or two grades above? I am one of those students. I would like to clear up some common misconceptions:

1. Even though people outside my friend group think I am exceptionally smart, I do not. This is because all of my friends are smarter than me (trust me, I've compared our recent PSAT scores). Because of this, I often feel subpar in school.

2. You think I get all As. I do not. I've never gotten lower than a B average in a class but I have still gotten my fair share of Bs.

3. Doing very well in a class does not guarantee a teacher will like you at all. I have noticed that a lot of teachers care so much more about how you interact with them and how much of a personality you have rather than simply your grade.

4. I still stress a lot about friendships. Us "smart kids" still have issues with each other.

I hope this clears some things up :)

I really want to pray. It seems so holy. The one issue is that I don't believe in God and don't want to.

It really bothers me when blogs and websites like Upworthy and DoSomething post sweet videos often with captions saying something like "this video/story will restore your faith in humanity." Why is there an assumption that we have no faith in humanity? The point of faith is that it does not rely on knowledge but rather a trust. We either have faith in humanity or we do not. We trust our human race or we do not. No little video can "restore" that faith.

I am weirdly interested in the idea of Stepford wives. I have not watched either of the movies and all of my knowledge about them has come from the Stepford Wives Organization (http://www.stepfordwives.org/). Stepford wives believe in having the husband be the center of the family. The women clean the household and stay at home unless told by their husbands to get a job. The man makes all the decisions in the household and can pretty much regulate the wife's beliefs and life.

This is hilarious. I'm not sure why there's no need to question humor :)

If there is one hot topic that I am the most divided on, it is gun control. On one hand there are the people who say we must limit the access people have to guns. Think of the children! they say. On the other side there are those who never grow tired of referencing our amendments. It's our second amendment! It's unconstitutional to take away that right!

I see where both sides are coming from. We as a country do have the responsibility to protect the children. Are we really fulfilling our duty by allowing people to lug around assault weapons? Those are terrifying killing devices that cannot tell the difference a child and a criminal. And although the carrier can tell the difference, that has not always stopped them from shooting. Think of Sandy Hook Elementary. Recount the faces of the parents. From now on they will carry their child only in their memory. All of their hopes and dreams for their child are gone. Their child will never be able to grow, mature, or love. The children are gone. They are gone because a man was able to enter their school with a weapon and shoot them. In a country where this event is not just an idea but a recent reality, how can we even begin to defend our gun rights?

We don't just have the right to defend these rights, we have the responsibility to defend them. The right is in our Constitution. If we so willingly ignore that right, why can't we ignore the others? I mean, who actually values the freedom of speech or right to a fair trial? Yes, tragedies such as the Sandy Hook shooting happen. We must realize however that it was such a surprise because of how rarely such travesties occur.

Although I see reason behind both stances, I ultimately believe in some form of gun control. I could not look someone in the eye and tell them that we as United States citizens should have the right to whatever weapons we damn well like, especially after today's shooting. Today at least 13 people were killed in the Washington Navy Yard. Last year, 20 elementary school students and 6 teachers were killed in Newtown. Earlier that year in Colorado, 12 people were killed and 58 were injured at a showing of "Dark Night Rises". Enough is enough. People need the right to some arms but there must be limits. We must get over the fact that we are Americans. That title gives us citizens an ample amount of power but it should not give us the right to bear assault weapons.

Yes, it's intense but it's just so wonderful!

1. Twerk responsibly.

2. Foam fingers have more uses than I previously thought.

3. Don't do anything in public that you'd be embarrassed to tell your 3 year old kid about.