Who I Am

Full Name: Marni Maxwell Horton

Age: 18 years and 5 months

Birthday: August 31, 1992

Birth Place: Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York

Hometown: Sherburne, NY

Elementary/Middle/High Schools: Sherburne-Earlville Central School District

College: Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

About Me:

(PHYSICAL)

-I am a natural blonde with light blue eyes

-I have 7 piercings, all on my ears

-I have a tattoo of a black-eyed susan on my right ankle

-I am 5'5'' and weigh 136 lbs

-I don't have clear skin

-I have nice feet

-I have muscle, but I am not work-out obsessed

-I have scoliosis in my back, causing my right shoulder blade to stick up more than the left

-I had braces and am obsessed with tooth-health

-I have a circular scar on my right knee from a summer camp accident

-I still have light tan lines from the summer

(MENTAL)

-I have trouble spelling, telling my right from my left, and I used to (and sometimes still do) mix up 'b' and 'd'

-I am easily confused and will vocalize when I am confused. When I do so, I am generally, pretty confused.

-I have a little trouble focusing

-I am afraid of hights but I am okay with using the ski lift. I think that it is that I am afraid of small distances (like the size of a step) off the ground.

-I think I really have a fear of eating mushrooms

-I am genuinely afraid of snakes and can't stand to even look at them

(EMOTIONAL)

-I sometimes have a problem showing emotion

-I don't like hugging people I don't know well

-I recently became okay with cuddling with people

-I like to be around people, but my alone time is very important to me

-I put on lip balm when I am: bored, confused, sad, happy, and every other emotion

(LIKES)

-Flute and music

-Dancing

-Skiing

-Swimming

-Being a lifeguard

-Having a natural tan during the summer

-My blond hair

-Animal prints

-Getting flowers

-Shopping and clothes

-People that smell good

-Showering

-Working out

-Putting on lip balm

-Naps

-Cuddle puddles

-Movies

-Photography

(DISLIKES)

-People who treat my as if my hair color defines who I am

-Being confused

-Doing homework

-Not being myself or living up to MY expectations in life

-People who smack their gum or chew loudly

-People who just text back one-word answers

-Running out of bobby pins/hair ties

-People that smell nasty

-People who judge me on my outward appearance

On Christmas, Truth, Etc.

According to the movie "Love Actually," Christmas is a time of truth and the telling of the truth. When I first heard this I though, 'oh this means that people will go around telling truths instead of lies," but after thinking about it, I realize that it means something different. I think what it is trying to say is that Christmas should be a time when you are true to yourself and by being true to yourself, you can in turn be true to the ones that you love. As I continued to ponder this idea, I realized that I am not being true to myself. I need to change somethings about me and let go of some recent events that are not so pleasant. I need to think about what is important to me in life and not change for people to see the image they want to see. So, in light of this Christmas season, do not only shop for presents for people and eat too many cookies and drink too much eggnog, be true to yourself and follow your heart in everything that you do.

Ohio

A year ago today I left Barnesville, Ohio. After five years at a really wonderful music camp that changed my life forever, I was stepping into the unknown life away from camp. I'm not saying this year hasn't been amazing, it's just been a year of change and new. It started changing the Monday after I returned. Either my friends here had changed or I had. Sadly it wasn't for the better. They did different things and "there wasn't enough room in the car" for me. It was difficult to get back into the community of school and my group of friends and I can't say that this summer has helped much either. A few weeks before school started things got a little bit better. Swim season started, I re-connected with friends, and people started wanting to hang out more. Once I got into the swing of senior year things improved a little more. I started hanging out with some of the same people and some "new" faces. Still a friend from seventh grade didn't know how to be with me. She had moved on. I hate remembering that part of this year. Then I realized that it shouldn't matter. Our plans to be best friends wasn't working out. I started realizing things were more fun without her sometimes and that I could make other friends.
All the while it was SO difficult to forget the summer; my last at FMC. It was different not applying to music camp in January, instead I was killing myself with auditions for school and dealing with college stuff. It was even more heartbreaking when I didn't get accepted to my dream school, Ithaca. I haven't told anyone about that audition, and I don't even care to. It was terrible. I don't think that I have EVER seen such pomp ass people in my life. So the year carried on.
Soon it started getting warm and the month of May happened and prom, NYSSMA, and senior trip zoomed by. June brought marching band, graduation, and work. July was ALL WORK, but all the while Ohio and FMC were in the back of my brain. Everyday I would go over what the FMCers where up to and remember times when I was there. August finally got here. It's ending now, and I know that soon there will be photos from the great summer everyone in Ohio has had. Don't get me wrong, I've LOVED my work and had a good summer, it's just been different.
Saturday I will travel to Ohio. I won't be going to good, old Barnesville, but the fact that I am going to be within driving distance is really tough. It kills me that I'll be so close and I won't even get to make a pen mark towards that wonderful place. Parts of me wish that I had gone this summer, but there will always be that understanding that I am growing up and I needed to get away. Life does go on and I will be in college soon. This isn't to say that I won't do everything in my power to become a counselor next year, because I plan to. I have loved this summer where I am now, but it's time to go back. Back where music is cherished and the summer is hot, back to the girls dorm lounge for collection; morning and evening. Away from reality and stress of life. It's time.

Week One at Camp Fiver

So, it's been a while since I last posted, but I did find a really nice summer job and a summer camp called Camp Fiver. It is a 2 week long camp (in four sessions) for kids from New York City. I found out in late May that they were looking to hire life guards for the summer and I was the last one hired. So my team (consisting of 11 guards) had training on Thursday June 24th. I learned that day that I would enjoy my summer much more than I thought I would. Everyone I met was friendly and we had a great time re-certifying and learning the ropes of the camp. The camp has both a lake in and a pool.
So this week I got to work Monday (6/28.) I started my guarding the morning free swim. This was pretty easy. Then on to some swim lessons. This first group was relatively well behaved, but the second group was rather disrespectful. In the afternoon, we had some thunder and had to close the pool down for the last hour. The rest of the week was pretty much the same. I started learning the kids names and getting used to my responsibilities. All in all it was a great week. Not only did I teach the kids some new tricks in the water, but I learned many myself.
The most difficult part of this week was Friday afternoon. After swimming across the lake, and when I say this, I mean pond, I assisted with tip over day at the lake. The kids barely knew how to paddle a canoe and were expected to be able to tip the canoe so they could go on a 14-mile canoe trip by the Monday after. This was incredibly difficult and I ended up having to get in the freezing lake water several times. The first time was to help a group of three girls flip the canoe back over. They were extremely disrespectful and I ended up in the lake, sans life jacket or guard buoy, and lifting a canoe filled with water in water that was well over my head. Not smart. This left me exhausted and while getting back in the guard boat, I received like 7 bruises. The second time I got in the water, I ended up having to console some girls who were afraid of the water and tipping. Why they are sending these kids on a trip, I don't know, but it was a rough afternoon at the lake.
Well there is the run down of my first week! Everyday, every way.

How I learned that she doesn't matter

There is this girl that I go to school with and she greatly dislikes me, if not hates me. How do I know this? She is openly mean to me. I try my very best to be kind to her and not let her get to me, but it is really difficult when she is so hurtful. Yesterday I cracked. I realized that letting her be controlling and mean to me was not what someone like me, a leader, should allow to happen. After her telling me what to do, I blatantly said "YOU AREN'T GOING TO BOSS ME AROUND. LEAVE ME ALONE." I didn't think that she would, but it worked. I know that there was another way to deal with this, but I really needed to stand up for myself and now I feel so much better. Hours after this happened I talked about how I stood up for my self to one of my friends and she told me that I was right, this girl did hate me. At first this made me a little mad, but then I realized something...
Dr. Seuss ones said "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind." After thinking about what this meant I realized that this girl didn't like who I was. And obviously there is no way that I can change that. So therefore, she doesn't matter to me. Seeing as I am leaving for college in 3 months and I will never have to see this girl again, I seriously don't give a shit what she thinks of me.
I feel like this is an epic break through for me. After attending a leadership conference last year I didn't think I was a leader. This tells me that I totally am. It shows that I can speak up for myself and then realize that I am who I am, and I will always be that person and nothing anyone can say or do will change that.

May...

May was a fantastic month for me. The first weekend was my drama club show and of course it was fantastic. We didn't draw such a big crowd, but it was still good. The weekend of the 8th was my choir concert and that was also amazing.
The real fun happened the weekend after that. Sen10rs hit Boston! Yay for the time of my life with my favorite class mates. We shopped in Provicetown, played on the sand dunes, enjoyed the sunshine, and partied it up. A wonderful time was had by all.
Then came prom 2.0, which was a much better time than last year. We toasted to life with pepsi and mtn. dew in a strech limo, danced our hearts out, and then crashed on a living room floor. It was as kick ass as it gets. People looked at us like we were famous. We even visited our favorite teacher's house. I couldn't have asked for anything more.
Prom followed in to SE's Spirit Week activites. Naturally the best class took first in many of the events. That class was the juniors, yeah. the juniors. Although the juniors were obviously dominat some how the Sen10rs won... It was a good time and a really nice week.
This past weekend I secured a job for the summer, marched in a parade, and wrote an essay. This was obviously less exciting, but then I realized that it is June 1st. And it's getting closer to school ending, graduation, and summer vacation! Life is going to cary on. Things are changing and life is improving everyday.

SU!!!

(AND NOT SYRACUSE!!!)

I've finally decided where I'm going to college! I will be part of the Susquehanna University class of 2014! For those of you who don't know, SU is a small school with a big community and lovely people. Every time that I have visited I have been treated so nicely and everyone is so friendly. So just a quick update on this!!!