Inertia Is A Property Of Matter

To Bill Nye,

My English teacher recently required that I complete this assignment, wherein I am supposed to write a blogpost in dedication to someone I admire. So I've chosen you, the man whose name all children praise: Bill Nye, The Science Guy.

Though Science was never my absolute favorite, I've chosen you for many reasons other than your amazing theme song. I grew up with my classmates howling giddily every time the teacher rolled in one of those old televisions, knowing that your face would soon flood our vision. Your show made me not hate science. You were able to entertain and educate children simultaneously, which is a very challenging task. You taught me how to tie creativity into my schoolwork, you taught me that it's possible to enjoy something I thought I disliked, and you taught me that science RULES. You're a huge part of the reason that I am curious about the world around me. I question things because of your influence, so I'm dedicating this blog post to you, Bill Nye.

You started your career by acting on a local sketch comedy TV show in Seattle, then managed to build your way up into writing a New York Times best selling book. After participating in an animated series, you began your career as Bill Nye the Science Guy, creating exactly 100 episodes of a beautiful devised show. You then went on to do amazing things, including making friends with Ellen Degeneres (read Elise's blogpost about Ellen here) and having a portion of the Walt Disneyland theme park honor your excellence.

Bill Nye on Dancing With the Stars
Source

You also participated as a contestant in Dancing With The Stars. I find this extremely awesome considering that I attend dance classes 5 hours every day after school. And for you, Bill Nye, to do something so spectacular at age 57…that's amazing.

William Nye, you have achieved more than I even dream to do in the future. And now that you're old and retired, you've written a legendary book about evolution, the first sentence of which is, "I think it started with the bees."

You are humorous and educated, and though I've never met you you are one of my favorite people. Because of you, I have written this blog.

So to you, one of my personal heroes: Thank you for everything you have taught me about the world, about science, and about myself.

– Abbi

My New Year's Resolution

Photo courtesy here

Today is the second day of year 2016, and I feel sort of grossly cliché for writing a blog post about this.

I spent New Year's Eve with a small group of my close friends, most of it laying on the carpet and making awful jokes about 2015's trends. When the clock struck midnight we set off those annoying popper things and made a mess that we later had to clean up. Emma and I shared a large blanket when we went outside to light sparkles in the snow. We played good music and drank effervescent champagne.

The second we entered 2016, social media was instantly blown up with posts and cheesy quotes like "New Year, New Me!!" This entire concept is sort of amusing. People use a measurement of time to excuse their lack of work ethic or accomplishments; they use this absurd holiday to make themselves feel better about not fulfilling their goals, because now they can create new resolutions that they will again fail to achieve.

I've decided only to develop one resolution this year, considering I believe them to be stupid.

My New Year's resolution is to never have New Year's resolutions again.

According to this website, only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. So I honestly don't see the point in my making them.

Plus, if you want to change something about yourself, you are perfectly capable of doing this at any moment throughout the year. You don't have to wait until January 1st in order to fix your life. People often grow oblivious to this, but as humans we are very capable of fixing things – especially things about ourselves. You may see yourself as indecisive or boisterous, but you can change your own traits. If you're sick of being too loud or too shy then stop. Your personality is not set in stone. If you don't want to act the way you do, don't. If you don't want to do the things you do, don't.

You're allowed to alter your own characteristics. Dye your hair orange. Take on a new sport. Learn how to cook Indian food. If you're not satisfied with the way your life is, change it. You don't have to keep waiting until a new year rolls around in order to get things done.

A/N: I'm aware that it's not the 2nd of January anymore, but that's when I started formulating this post. I originally wrote an entire blog post about my actual New Year's resolutions, but then I realized how pointless they were so I rewrote this. I hope this is still a valid topic to discuss even though we've been in 2016 for 5 days now.