NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

1.      Pursue my happiness no matter what.

2.      Try new things, especially if I am afraid of them.

3.      Keep supporting the singers that have helped me this year.

4.      Open up more.

5.      Forgive and let go.

6.      Come clean.

7.      Stop lying so much.

8.      Enjoy every little minute and stop letting things for another day.

9.      Stop worrying about the what ifs.

10.  Be brave.

Xmas

     I have always had conflicted feelings towards Christmas, I hate it as much as I love it. I love spending time with my family, being on holidays, the Christmas spirit, the lights…it’s amazing going out at night and being surrounded by Christmas lights and children running and laughing. However, Christmas has this kind of sad aura for me, maybe it’s because it means another year is coming, in other words, it represents the passing of time. Perhaps, it’s that, even if I like the tradition of giving and receiving gifts, I have grown to dislike the greed and the fights because someone’s gift is better or bigger than someone else’s.

     I have reached the conclusion that I don’t care that much about gifts in Christmas, I love those ones that come from the heart. I mean, if someone gives me something because they want to see my face light up with a smile due to the fact that I’m holding in my hands a book that I’m dying to read or a CD that I can’t wait to listen, then I totally get it and support it; nevertheless, if someone gives me a present because it’s Christmas, so it’s mandatory, then they can keep their gift. I guess Christmas’ exchange of presents lost its magic the moment I discovered Santa Claus didn’t exist. When people ask me what I want for Christmas I answer with a bare nothing, because if I need something or I want something I’m going to buy it myself or ask my mom for it, I feel stupid asking for a flash drive or a memory card as presents. I don’t want to ask for something because I’m going to think about how much it costs, if it’s available here and other stuff that I don’t want to think about when I’m having a break from studying. If someone wants to give me something I’m gonna thank them, but hell, I don’t wanna thank anyone for buying me something that I thought of just to stop them from asking me again what I wanted, because then I feel like I’m thanking someone for their money. But of course I end up putting a smile on and pretending that I care, every year it’s the same, so I find it quite understandable me being sick of it. I love, conversely, giving presents, because I’m still not old enough to be expected to give them, so I can have fun and give my godparents something that I know they’re going to enjoy. That’s the difference I guess, having to give gifts or wanting to give them.

     Since I can remember, I’ve always been sad before Christmas Eve’s dinner or before NYE’s one and lately I didn’t even like when we were trying to sing some Christmas carols. I think my uncles and aunts have lost their Christmas spirit and think of our gatherings these days as any other family gathering. It breaks me to realize that I see part of my family more in Christmas than in the rest of the year, we live 20 minutes away, what on hell is preventing us from visiting each other more often?

     I thought this year was going to be the worst of them all, but for now, it has been the complete opposite. Maybe it’s due of my low expectative for it or that I am focus on other things, but I really am enjoying these days. I shouldn’t, but I have reached such a level of apathy that I don’t mind if my world is changing faster than a dog barks when you step on its tail so long as I can listen to music and get lost in my imagination. Weird, huh?

     But yes, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Opinion essay

     Nowadays, there are countries where citizens are arguing about death penalty. In some places, such as Spain, France and Australia, this penalty is illegal. However, there are others, for example the United States of America, Egypt or China, where it is a reality that many criminals suffer. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of the people, I believe that death penalty is a crime in itself.
 
     This punishment is said to be necessary or fair due to many reasons. It is agued that, since the inmate has killed somebody, the right thing to do is kill them too. Furthermore, rapers, kidnappers and murderers may attempt to repeat their crime, so the only way to ensure the safety of those who surround us is to get rid of the problem, in other words, to kill the criminals.

     As I see it, we are going back to the Hammurabi Code, which encourages us to "take an eye for an eye". When we put into practice death penalty, we are playing to be God. Who are we to take someone's life? We punish those who kill, and nevertheless, we become killers in the process. Life imprisonment is enough punishment for them, in this way, they are not able to commit a crime again and we avoid taking their lives.

     In short, when somebody is murdered as a punishment, we are deciding that person has no right to live, because of that one action. We have other options to punish criminals that are not lethal, so we should use them, instead of letting death penalty be legal.

Problem/Solution essay

     Nowadays, with the new technologies and social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, it is possible to offend people without facing the music. Hate is sent, not only anonimously, but openly. This is due to the fact that, while threatening people's lives and making fun of terrorism is punished, sending hate to others is not. Many people are victims of this, especially  celebreties, since they are judged by everybody around the world. This issue's outcome is that a lot of famous people stop interacting with fans through social media or delete their accounts in these social networks. Clearly, this is not something we should feel proud about.

     One of the many solutions that come to my mind is deleting the account of those people who offend others deliberately. Nevertheless, it is too easy to create another profile in these kind of webs, therefore, it would not be effective. Another possibility is to impose fines, for instance, if someone sends a tweet that is hateful or spiteful, they are fined with 25€; if they do it again, then they have to pay 75€; if they do not stop and carry on tweeting this type of messages, 200€ have to be paid; and so on.

    In a nutshell, it is a difficult task trying to stop the hate that can be found in these networks. However, with these solutions or similar ones, we can make it more difficult for people to send hate to normal people or well-known ones, because this is a pretty important problem that affects millions of citizens every hour, every day.

Outline

I.   Introduction: Fifth Harmony should have won the Artist on the Rise award in the EMAs last Sunday, because they deserved it, the group that won isn't on the rise and Harmonizers are the best fans ever.

II. Fifth Harmony deserved the award

      1. They're more and more famous every day

      2. They played a song in the pre-show

III. 5 Second of Summer is not an artist on the rise

      1. They're already famous

      2. They were nominated for other categories

IV. Harmonizers (Fifth Harmony's fans) are the best fans when it comes to voting

      1. They're really well organised

      2. They didn't sleep the night before the ceremony just to vote

V.  Conclusion: 5 Seconds of Summer didn't deserve to win, since Fifth Harmony is the definition of artist on the rise.

Introduction + conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, when we log in any social network, such as Twitter or Facebook, half of the comments we can read are spiteful and offending. A lot of people send hate, even anonymously to people they don’t even know. Day after day, tons of hateful messages are sent to well-known people regarding their personal choices or trivial aspects from their lives as their clothes. We shouldn’t let this go on, because celebrities, like any other of us, are affected by this kind of comments.

CONCLUSION

We should stop this current habit of putting down famous people through the Internet with our comment that are totally out of line.  The only thing we achieve with this is to provoke more hate among all the social networks’ users. I do not know about you, but I do not really see the appeal of being the cause of sadness, or even depression, of people just because they are public figures.

Outline

        I.            We shouldn’t send hate to famous people through social networks because of their life choices or because we don’t like them.

      II.            Forms of hate.

1)      Example of fans sending hate to their idol because of their new partner.

2)      Example of people slurring someone for dressing in a specific way.

    III.            Impact on the celebrity

1)      It affects them like any other human being.

2)      Sadness and low self-esteem.

    IV.            Outcome of sending hate.

1)      Fights between fans or fandoms.

2)      Celebrities quitting their jobs.

      V.             Sending hate only provoke more hate and sadness and we should stop this habit of putting down celebrities because we think they’re immune to what we tell them.

Thesis

      Children that grow up surrounded by guns will be violent because they won't understand the danger of weapons and they won't be afraid of them either.

Comparing / contrasting paragraphs (advantages and disadvantages)

Action films and romantic films are two of the most popular kinds of films. Action films attract a lot of public because they set the public on edge for two hours, we are totally awake, focused on who is going to strike next. Moreover, with the amazing special effects, the films have become more real and they blow your mind, even if you aren't into action films that much or if you don't like the storyline. Their downside is that the storyline is usually the same, since the director focuses more on the action. Besides, aside from in some films, we don't get to know the characters in depth, so it's not easy to relate to them.

On the other hand, romantic films are pretty popular due to the (mostly female) public desire to watch another love story about a lady in distress and her prince charming. Although it's true that a film being romantic implies that they're going to end together, it's good to forget about our life for a couple of hours and fall in love with the idea of true love and fate again. Furthermore, sometimes we don't know who the main character is going to choose or if in the process of realising what they feel, they make some ridiculous mistakes that leave us in a fit of laughter.

Opinion paragraph

      Whereas some people prefer films to books, I prefer reading the book than watching the movie. It usually takes longer to read the book, so I get more time to enjoy it. Reading makes my imagination works, since I have to build a lot of scenarios in my mind when the authour doesn't describe everything or just implies something. The best thing about reading is that you can fall in love with the characters and live their stories as if they were yours, I remember that when I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I sobbed like a baby with Sirius' death, I even was sad for the rest of the day. Fortunately, I had also laughed a lot with the twins and Umbridge, something that I couldn't do when I saw the movie because they didn't filmed that scene. What I mean is that I love being able to relate to the characters from a book and live their stories for a while instead of mine.

Taylor Swift - Blank Space

In this new video Taylor Swift gives us another great sample of acting. She really looks insane (as the lyrics say) and mad at him. We know that this video is so like her because of her signature smirks and her slip in the tree scene. She brings into scene a lot of animals such as two beautiful white horses (which she rides and stands up on), a pretty doe, some dogs and at the beginning, her cute little cat: Olivia Benson. This is my favorite song in her entire new album (1989) due to the awesome and meaningful lyrics and to the rythm of the song. I love how she jokes about every relationship in her life being a mistake she has made, while at the same time admits she can be also difficult to handle. She warns her fans about guys that "only want love if it's torture", nevertheless, she keeps an open mind about the future since she says at the end of the chorus that she has a blank space and she'll write his name. I'm totally in love with this video because she wears a wide range of different outfits, some which are like what she usually wears, some which aren't, and because the scene where her make up is ruined, as a result of her crying, reminds me to her video of White Horse (which I also love). She released this video without any announcement, just like her first single one (Shake it off), and this is driving the Swifties (her fans) nuts. She's supposed to release at least two more videos for this album (if she does the same amount of videos as she did for Red) and I can't wait to see which songs she chooses (I'm sure Style is one of them).
P.S. I hope Meredith and Olivia  are in those as well!!!

Comparing / contrasting paragraph

             1989 is the best album Taylor Swift has ever written. While her others albums are about her life, especially her love life, this one is about everything, you can find songs that are about her, songs about a city, songs about other people and songs that are basically for us, the fans. This album is mainly about love, like the others, however, in this one she doesn’t tell off any of her exes. Moreover, whereas her other studio albums are considered country albums, this one is completely pop. It sounds like nothing she has done before, and at the same time, it sounds so like her. All of her albums have hit the top of the charts really quickly, nevertheless, 1989 is breaking all the records with more than 600,000 copies in its first 24 hours for sale.

             One of my favourite groups is Fifth Harmony, although not a lot of people know about them, they’re wonderful. It’s one of the few girl groups now, these five girls, Lauren Jauregui, Normani Kordei, Camila Cabello, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane Hansen, are between 17 and 21 years old, so I find it pretty easy to relate to them. I love their music due to the fact that they sing about girl power and teen problems. Furthermore, they interact a lot with their fans through Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Some of the things that make me enjoy being their fan are how they’re down to earth and how they’re willing to do anything in the world to see one of their fans smile. I really appreciate that just listening to one song makes my day, and I love them for making that possible.

Random thoughts

             There's nothing such as that moment when you're listening to one of your favourite music singer or group, to those songs you totally love, and you are about to fall asleep. It's not like you want to fall asleep listening to music, it's just that you are so exhausted and that music makes you relax, feel safe, so you forget about the rest of the world and just let all your muscles settle back. I love this feeling, because I don't usually have time to listen to music and omit what's happening around me, I listen to music when I'm going to somewhere alone or when I'm doing homework. Due to this, finding some time to just chill with my music, without feeling like singing along or dancing around my room as if I were crazy, is something that I worship. It feels so good to notice how I'm drifting off and how a small part of my mind clings to consciousness just to think "God, I truly love this flawless song".

I have this kind of disagreement with my friend, she believes crying is wrong, I, on the other hand, believe it's a good thing. She finds it, I wouldn't say disgusting, but maybe unappealing. I don't see it like that, for me it's beautiful. Of course, I don't like seeing people suffering, but I find like a magic within the action of letting go and surrendering to our feelings, because that's not a piece of cake, feeling is not easy. We're used to bottle everything up until we have no more room and we break down, because we're more afraid of acknowledging our feelings than we're of not feeling anything at all. We are born, we eat, we reproduce and we die, that's our life, isn't it? We always forget the "we feel", isn't that the key to everything we do? The patriotism for which soldiers die in wars is a feeling, the love that is shown in a grandfather's smile when he sees his grandchildren is a feeling, the pride in a mother's eyes when her son achieves something on his own for the first time is a feeling, the lust in the dilated pupils of someone who has just seen a person they're attracted to is a feeling. We're surrounded by them, they're the reason we get up every morning, it's them who make us enjoy our hobbies. And still, we're afraid of them, we don't let ourselves feel because there's always someone who'll criticize us for what we're feeling. If we do things that make us happy, we're too selfish, if we're selfless and help others, we're fools, if we fight for something we want, we're too ambitious, if we settle for what we have, we're not ambitious enough, if we wear our hearts on our sleeves, we're too naive, if we're shy and we don't trust others easily, we're bound to spend the rest of our lives in a house full of cats, and so on. Why is that? I feel alive every time I get to feel something, when I'm happy, when I'm crying my heart out, and even when I'm thirsty. We may be breathing and our heart may be beating, but we're alive because we're able to enjoy the wind touching our skin on the top of a mountain, because we're able to empathize with the crying little boy who's just lost his balloon, because we're able to miss our friends and family when we're far away, because we're able to crave someone's presence, in other words, we're alive because we're able to feel.

         I love my friend Elena. We always have a great time together, we even have hilarious inside jokes. We're very alike, not only because we both have dark hair and wear glasses, but because we both love Disney movies and animals. She always bears with me ranting about music and series, despite the fact that she usually doesn't know anything about the singer or about the plot of the TV shows. She has always been there for me when I needed her the most, making me smile even if I were dying inside. For all this, she's one of my best friends.

          You need to read If I stay! It's a really good book and it's pretty short, so it's easily read. It's a down to earth sotry, because it doesn't have any Hollywood-like type of love and the life of the main character is very common. Besides, this book'll move you and make you think about life and death. And if you don't read it, you should at least watch the movie. ;)

MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN THE WORLD

          My favourite place in the world is where I feel safe even if I’m alone. It’s really small and cosy, it doesn’t have any special attraction, but for me is the best place to forget about the real world and find some peace. I feel relaxed when I’m there, but the most amazing thing is that being there I’m able to feel happy, sad, nostalgic or angry without worrying about anything else. I definitely love that secluded corner between shelves in libraries or bookstores where I can become immersed in another world.

Fear of...

Fear of not knowing
Fear of knowing too much
Fear of the night
Fear of waking up in the middle of the night
Fear of not living
Fear of disappointing others
Fear of disappointing myself
Fear of not achieving my dreams
Fear of living in my mind instead of the real world
Fear of missing out the best
Fear of ending up having regrets
Fear of not being missed
Fear of being missed
Fear of heights
Fear of becoming blind, deaf or mute
Fear of not forgiving
Fear of forgetting
Fear of remembering it all
Fear of not letting go
Fear of loving too much
Fear of not being loved
Fear of telling the truth
Fear of not finding myself
Fear of finding it
Fear of the answers to my questions
Fear of not being enough
Fear of people leaving
Fear of being alone
Fear od writing
Fear of feeling
Fear of letting people in
Fear of being understood
Fear of my dreams
Fear of waking up
Fear of caring 
Fear of hurting someone
Fear of being hurt 
Fear of pushing the ones I love away
Fear of the future
Fear of getting lost
Fear of growing up
Fear of getting older
Fear of life
Fear of darkness
Fear of becoming insane
Fear of illnesses 
Fear of drowning
Fear of changes
Fear of of not being heard
Fear of myself