Paying It Forward

I'm a big believer of doing everything you can to help someone and putting good thoughts, feelings, and actions out into the world.

I grew up in lower middle class, at one point in my life, I remember living in a basement with cockroaches and mice, and it wasn't our first home with those problems. I know what it's like to want something, but not asking for it because my parent's cannot afford it, even though they would do their best to give me what I want.

When I moved to the town that I live in now, I remember feeling left out. Sure we lived in a house, but I felt like that girl who came from a poor neighborhood all the time. I never really had dolls, I got my first doll when I was about nine, or something, and it was a Bratz doll, and I wanted it because my neighbor had a ton.

Over the years, I've learned to appreciate what I have. I often travel to Downtown Chicago, and I used to get sad all the time from seeing homeless people. I still get sad, but now I've chosen to do something about it.

I always carry a lot of spare change in my bag, mostly because I hate using it and it just accumilates. Every time I go to Chicago, I just give it to homeless people.
I know some of you may say that, I don't know if these people are going to buy drugs for themselves, or what they're going to do with the money they get. That's true, but I have faith in people.
Also, I often eat out in Chicago, and sometimes I get food at the train station or on the way to the train station. I always buy extra, and I give out food to the homeless.
It's always rewarding to see how happy they get when I offer them food. That's one way to ensure they're not going to spend the money on something bad.

What inspired me to write this post today was this video

It represents how one action can influence another action, and it can just keep going and going. Paying it forward. It really doesn't matter how big or small this action is, it's just the fact that you do something to keep it going.
I hope this put a little light in your day. Enjoy your Tuesday.
-Rebeca x

My First Car Accident.

I've been driving with a license for almost a year. Not once had I ever gotten into an accident while driving, I am the most careful driver ever. I pull over if I need to call someone or text, or I wait until a red light to take a bite of my food. I am the driver that lets people pass and I follow the speed limit, and I never tailgate.
I often drop my sister off at school and today I decided to take the long way back since the parking lot was full with parents who were in a hurry, and weren't going to let me turn a certain direction because of the long line.
I live right next to the school, and I ended up right in front of the biggest parking lot, and they stop traffic there to allow cars to come in and out. The police handle the traffic there especially because a lot of kids walk to school.
I took my sausage mcmuffin out of the bag and I took two bites. I put it down on the seat and was getting ready to start going, the car in front of me was being a bit slow. When suddenly, I felt my car get hit, and my car moved forward along with my body.
It took me a second to realize that I'd just been hit from behind, and I wasn't sure if the person who hit me had been hit as well, and it had become a domino effect or what. I was so angry and I was afraid. I was getting ready to get out and yell at the person, but cars started to beep, so I turned into the school parking lot and had the guy follow me.
Once parked, I realized that it was a high school kid. A junior (he was wearing class colors, juniors are yellow). He looked mortified and I realized that he was just scared like I was. I calmed down and I got out of my car.
I looked at my car, terrified of what I would see, but thankfully it was only a scratch on the paint job, no dent or anything. I didn't even care about the scratch, my bumper paint has been coming off, so I could care less.
he asked me if I was fine, and I was just shaken up like he was. I got his information, and he asked me if I wanted to call the police. I thought, for what? It was a scratch and we're both fine. I told him it was okay, but I had to talk to my dad because I needed to know what he wanted me to do and I had his information in case I wanted to file a police report later.
My dad said as long as I got his information, and the car was fine and I was fine, there was no need to call the police.
So I let the kid go, but not before I asked him what happened, and why did he bump into my car? He seemed to get a bit nervous, and I had a feeling I knew why. He said he moved his foot off the brake, and didn't realize it because he was trying to find a way into the parking lot.
He got distracted.
We all get distracted. We're all human and we make mistakes I understand that. But distracted driving accounts for a lot of accidents nowadays. Check out these statistics I got from Distraction.gov

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. These types of distractions include:

• Texting
• Using a cell phone or smartphone
• Eating and drinking
• Talking to passengers
• Grooming
• Reading, including maps
• Using a navigation system
• Watching a video
• Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player

In 2012, An estimated 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted drive.
But, because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction.

Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road while texting. When traveling at 55mph, that's enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded.

That last statistic is the one that scares me the most. The fact that people text and drive, is just completely terrifying for me.
When I drive, I put my phone in my bag on the passenger seat. I know there are apps that stop you from texting and driving, and now the insurance companies have rules about it, and also it is very illegal (at least in Illinois) to be on your phone while driving.
There are also many organizations that bring awareness to what texting and driving can do. A text is not worth your life. The text can wait. Please think about it the next time you get a text while driving, don't look at your phone.
- Rebeca x

50 Facts About Me

Good afternoon readers!
It's Sunday and I've spent half my day just watching YouTube videos, and I was trying to think of an idea for a blog post. Finally, I managed to get to Katie Joslin's YouTube and I saw she recently posted a video listing 50 facts about herself, and I thought it would be a fun way to get to know me! Do subscribe to Katie, she is awesome and I really love her channel!
Enjoy!

1. My name is Rebeca
2. I'm 19
3. I graduated high school in 2013
4. I used to be part of a social media street team called the A-Team (not named after Ed Sheeran's song). I would spend countless hours tweeting and spreading word of upcoming artists, and it's where I met some of my closest friends (TOMI)
5. When I was in 6th grade I won tickets to a Chris Brown concert and I went even though I did not know more than three songs of his.
6. In January, I won tickets to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore in concert, it was amazing cause it was like a birthday present since my birthday was the next day after the concert.
7. For two years I suffered with intense stomach pains, got constantly misdiagnosed, and turns out it was gallstones the size of golf balls. I am no longer a proud owner of a gall bladder.
8. I'm obsessed with music, I will spend countless hours on itunes searching for new music or new artists, or if I hear a song on a TV show, I will shazam it and learn everything I can about the song and the artist.
9. I suffer with Bipolar disorder type 1, and I have severe anxiety. It's really hard for me to keep friends because I get really irritated, and I will come up with reasons as to why I no longer want to be friends with them and I will cut off all contact.
10. I love Big Brother.
11. I've met Selena Gomez!
12. I once waiting twelve hours outside a venue for a 5SOS concert. Five words: Freezing cold and worth it.
13. I saw One Direction and 5SOS at Soldier Field in August!
14. I plan to be a writer.
15. I am currently a hundred pages into my novel... (:
16. I truly believe in doing something you love. I quit my job at a retail store because I was so depressed and it was an abusive environment. 
17. I am really good at doing hairstyles, I did my hair for prom along with my friends hair.
18. Braids are my specialty! I learned how to french braid in physics class, I sat all the way in the back with my friend, and I would just do her hair until it came out like I wanted it to.
19. My longest friendship has lasted about 11 years or so.
20. I became close friends with my bully in sixth grade, she would pick on me, but I would also get revenge. It was a love hate relationship.
21. I've never had a boyfriend.
22. I don't want kids, I've never seen myself as the mother type. But I love my little niece Sophie!
23. I'm an atheist.
24. If I have something to do like go somewhere to get something, I will spend days getting ready and planning everything out.
25. The worst feeling in the world for me is when my legs fall asleep.
26. I love concerts, but recently with my anxiety worsening, I have to be a bit far away from the crowd because I will start panicking.
27. My favorite show of all time would have to be How I Met Your Mother, but it's close with Grey's Anatomy.
28. I cry with emotional movies or shows or trailers or videos! But other than that, I'm usually a composed person.
29. I'm obsessed with serial killers, when I was going into my senior year, we got to talk to an ex police chief who helped catch John Wayne Gacy, the highlight of my summer.
30. I didn't learn to drive until August 20th, 2013. I was terrified of the road and honestly, I hate being in control.
31. I got my license October 1st. Couple of days later, I drove all the way to downtown Chicago to go meet YouTubers.
32. I've met O2L, Andrea Russett, Anna Russett, and Jennxpenn, Ryan Beatty, MKTO, The Summer Set, The Cab, Paradise Fears, Rocky Loves Emily, and Frankie Grande
33. In 2012, I think, I met my friend Jack, a drummer who I had subscribed to on YouTube, at a Ryan Beatty concert. Later, I convinced him to get on Twitter!
34. I thank @TheDylanHolland for introducing me to my best friend three years ago via twitter!
35. My favorite bands right now are Misterwives and TwentyOnePilots.
36. I will be seeing both those bands in October.
37. When I was home sick, Willow Shields, AKA PRIMROSE EVERDEEN, tweeted me to feel better.
38. In June I met one of my friends from the UK, and it was a surreal experience!
39. Also in June, I also made the transition from Samsung Galaxy to the iPhone. I love my phone.
40. My favorite movie is ALL OF THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES.
41. I love reading.
42. I have over 300 books in my kindle, um, no I have not read them all, most of them were free.I have an obsession.
43. First book that ever caught my attention was To Kill A Mockingbird
44. First book that I read outside of the classroom that caught my attention was Perfect Chemistry, the Wake Series, or The Hunger Games series, my teacher recommended them all to me.
45. In my Lit Seminar my senior year, I finished all my assignments in about three weeks, it was a reading class and I read fifteen books in that class. This was also around the time I got my Kindle.
46. I never really ate McDonalds until I was like eleven. My parents hated eating out, so it was a treat when we would go to any fast food restaurant.
47. I love Hot Cheetohs, I will never quit them.
48. I hate ketchup and mayo, and salad dressing. I'm the pickiest person ever.
49. I once forced myself to try and train myself to eat and like mayonnaise on my sandwiches. I threw up three days later.
50. Lastly, I'm allergic to seafood.

I hope you guys liked this! It was fun having to try to come up with things, there were a lot of things I forgot, haha.

Have a good day!

-Rebeca