Good Book

My social justice class has, over the past few weeks, been reading books in book groups. We had five books to choose from, but no group could read the same book. My group of three ended up with The Freedom Writers Diary, which inspired the recent movie called Freedom Writers. None of us were really eager to read the book, as it wasn't our first choice, but we were soon to be surprised. The Freedom Writers Diary was a really great, moving book about troubled teenagers in Long Beach, California, and one teacher who turned their lives around. Over the course of 4 years at Wilson High School, Erin Gruwell turned 150 "unteachable, at-risk" students into young adults with hopes for a future. The book is comprised of exerpts from the journals that each student kept during their four years in her class. I felt as though, through the pages, they had connected with me - they told me their story. The obstacles and the fears they've had to face touched me. I was forced to evaluate the society in which we live, but it also allowed me to see that changing the world can begin with one small step. The book not only made me feel thankful for the life that I am able to live, but it also gave me hope that the world is still a good place. The Freedom Writers Diary was an eye-opening but heartwarming book that I strongly recommend! My book group may have lost out on our initial first choice, but we ultimately won by getting to read The Freedom Writers Diary.

The Road

The road is long.

It winds,

Goes up, goes down.

Twists, turns.

It will never be easy.

You might not always be able to see where it goes next,

Or what you might find along the way.

But the road will always continue on.

No matter the twists and turns

Or ups and downs.

As it stretches out before you -

Embrace it.

And move forward.

*Picture taken by me in the beautiful hills of Maryland.

Orange Juice

"When life gives you lemons, make orange juice...

... and then watch the world try to figure out how the heck you did it."

Do the unexpected. Life might not always go the way you want it, but it's still your life. No matter what the situation is, you can still do something with it. I find this quote to be inspiring. It teaches me that I can't let small obstacles ruin my life.

Things will always work out - maybe a change in plans is what you really needed. Life will always go on. Show the world that you are strong.

My Attempts at Art... Maybe

Here are two pictures that I took this summer on vacation. The first is one of the ropes on our boat, along with the sunset in background. The second is an off center ish picture of a bouy that I took on a moving boat. It actually turned out pretty well, I think.

I enjoy photography a whole lot - it's one of those things that I've recently discovered. I love the thought of being able to capture life's moments and the things we see. It gives me an opportunity to view the world in a new light. I've never really been confident that I have an artistic eye for anything, but occasionally, I'll manage to capture a few good ones - like these.

Power

This past Saturday/Sunday, I realized an important thing about our modern world. As remnants of hurricane/tropical storm Hanna made its way through Pennsylvania, we saw lots of wind and several fallen trees. And, unfortunately, one of those fallen trees happened to crush one of the power lines on my street - destroying our transformer, and leaving us without power for 22 hours.

The first few hours were okay - it was still dayish. I settled down to do my homework, figuring that I could get it out of the way without procrastinating. Plus, we had no idea when we would get power back, but we guessed that it would be soon. Obviously, we were wrong... As the night progressed and we ate cold pizza by candlelight, I began to realize just how much we rely on power for everything. The hours passed along and I was feeling more and more desparate for some good ol' technology. Some TV, some computer, some light... it was painful - but also pathetic. Less than a day with only a few flash lights, candles and a bit of family bonding, and I was going crazy! I really wanted to plug in my cell phone, turn on the computer, and watch some tv, but I couldn't. How shallow is that? We rely so much on electricity; it's scary. I am quite guilty of becoming attached to technology, and I really don't like the thought of it. It makes me wonder what this world is coming to. It was quite an experience.

Thoughts

"We're so busy watching out for what's
just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are" - Calvin (Calvin
and Hobbes)

I love quotes. I can always seem to find great quotes to help me cope with the situations that I am dealing with. It's always heartwarming to know that there are people in this world who have great ideas about this life and how it is (or should be). Today, that person is Bill Waterson, through the voice of my favorite comic strip character, Calvin.

It seems that nowadays, we, as human beings, are always in a rush. We're always thinking about what we have to do, where we need to be... constantly worrying about our futures. In all of this frenzy, we fail to notice the present! It's as though we have blinders on - we can only look straight ahead. As a junior in high school, this is becoming more and more apparent. The courses you take are "essential" to your career, your life, and your happiness! We are so preoccupied with what seems to be important, that what is around us becomes simply a blur.

For once in our lives, we should stop to take a look around us - absorb the true beauty of what we usually ignore. We should enjoy ourselves more in the present, because it is truly a gift.

Reading a simple quote has really opened my eyes to what I (and the rest of the world) am missing.

Mind Blank

Hmm... a lot of times when I sit down to write an entry, I can't think of anything to say. So... on days like these when my mind is blank, I will provide you with a picture of some sorts. Here goes:

... I took this one myself at Wildwood Crest, NJ... it was before the sunrise and I thought it looked cool! Hope you do too.

Long Time

Hey, it's been a long time since I last wrote, huh? Well, I've been pretty busy this past week with lotsa cool stuff. Well, not really. Mostly, I've been suffering from the terrible decisions that I made at the begining of the summer: to procrastinate. That was a very very bad thing to do. As August rolled around, a pit of dread began to form, deep in my stomach. I pretty much had not started on anything... and realizing that I had work for three AP classes and only a few weeks to do it was quite a shock. "Where did all of the summer go? It felt like I had plenty of time not too long ago..." I thought. Silly me.

Since then, I've completed a calculus packet consisting of 115 problems (there are 8 that I'm not sure how to do), read 2 books, and written 2 essays. With approximately 4 days left before school starts, I still have 2 books and 2 documents to read, plus 2 essays to write. Sounds like fun... wish me luck?

Old Poetry

Here's a poem that I recently dug up from last year. It was a class assignment - one of many poems that had to follow specific rhyme schemes and formats... but still with enough creative liberty to come up with some good stuff. I wrote this one in December, only a few weeks after my dad suffered a stroke - it was a very minor one, but still with its consequences. Throughout this summer, many things have happened that have brought new meaning to this poem. Enjoy!

We Should Be Glad For What We Have

Why do we always wish for more?
A life is such a precious thing,
We never know what is in store,
But joy and happiness it brings,
We should be glad for what we have,
For, once it’s gone, it can’t come back.

Why do we always wish for more?
Because a life is so divine –
The heart will fly, the spirit, soar,
And overhead, the sun will shine,
Be careful with the life you have,
For, once it’s gone, it can’t come back.

Oh, Never shall we wish for more!
For we’ve been blessed to live our lives
Go ahead, through the open door;
Life’s music plays, it sings and sighs,
Appreciate life’s warm embrace,
No thing can ever take its place.

Crayons!

"We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are dull, some are pretty, some have weird names,
and all are different colors... but they all exist nicely in the same box."

- Anonymous

I found this quote in one of my calendars once. I think it's a really great quote that symbolizes an ideal world - a world of cooperation and peace. If only life were that simple...

Calvin and Hobbes

Even though I know for a fact that a maximum of 1 person is reading this, I've decided to post a Calvin and Hobbes comic that I just found. I absolutely LOVE Calvin and Hobbes, and this one helped me relate to my experiences as a teenage lifeguard trying to give swim lessons to terrified little kids. :P


Oh, Calvin...

Talk about amazing!

Probably one of the most exciting things about this summer (for me, at least) is the international athletic event now taking place in Beijing, China. The Olympics is such a great sporting event because every athlete that is competing there has toiled and struggled to become the best, searching for glory and gold. The stories of triumph are endless, but one in particular from this olympics is still exciting and thrilling when I think about it. All of you swimmers (like me) were probably watching intently last night as the men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay stepped up to the block. Their rival, France, had previously made statements that the reason why they were there was to "smash" the USA - an obvious challenge. Michael Phelps led off the USA very strongly, breaking the American 100 freestyle record. However, France quickly took over the lead during the 2nd and 3rd legs. With Phelps's eight gold medal quest on the line, Jason Lezak stepped up to the block. Posting the fastest relay split in history, Lezak overtook Alain Bernard of France in the last 10 meters of the race, outtouching him by just hundreths of a second.

As Phelps and his team rejoiced over their miraculous victory, I'm sure that the rest of the United States was celebrating too. I don't know about anybody else, but I'd rank this as one of the greatest races I've ever seen. Ever. Talk about amazing!

Pics: Men's relay celebrates in their awesome LZR Racers, Phelps rejoices.

Welcome!

Hello, Readers!

I've recently been inspired to create a blog here on blogspot more out of curiosity than anything else. This blog will probably be able to serve many purposes for me: to share the story of my typical teenage life, to talk about music and sports and books, and much more, I'm sure. This is, I guess you could say, an experiment. I have no idea how this will turn out... I basically just want to have a place where I can release my thoughts and ideas - maybe share a piece of me with the world. So, here we go!