Independent Writing
May 3, 2009
Exercise Is Good For You!
This past week was simply a long one. After coming home from church on Sunday I felt sick and had a sore throat, stuffy and runny nose, headache, and a fever. My parents figured I had the flu and gave me appropriate medications that didn’t seem to help. Nevertheless, I dragged myself to school the next day and sniffled my way through my classes. Tuesday unfolded the same way as Monday: Go to first period, sniffle, go to second period, sniffle, go to third period, sniffle, etc. But on Wednesday, I developed massive headaches that left me unable to keep my head up because of the pain. My parents shrugged and told me to man up when I told them I wanted to stay home, so I trudged to school on Thursday and Friday miserable and frustrated. The headaches left me unable to pay any attention at all in my classes, but I managed to get by. The weekend should have brought relief but I had signed up for the SAT to take on Saturday. Relief was nowhere to be found. The test was horrible; I developed a sinus headache that pulsed in my skull and spread to my right eye and teeth. It nearly drove me crazy. By then, I was wondering why taking medicine wasn’t helping at all but a doctor’s visit today solved the problem: I have a sinus infection rather than a flu.
After leaving the doctor’s office my dad began one of his many speeches about things in life. This one was about how my brother and haven’t done any serious exercising for the past six months. He expressed his frustration with our laziness and lack of self-motivation, which I’ve heard countless number of times. But he went on to say that if I had been in shape, I could have fought off the infection within a few days rather than having a weak body and not being able to fight it off. “Sweat and hard work make a strong body,” he said. He told us to get off our asses and motivate yourselves to go out and jog every day.
Not only will I help build my immune system, but I’ll gain endurance and lower my pulse. I usually feel worn out after coming home from school, but I know when I’m in shape this doesn’t happen. My pulse was also measured at 92 today, but it was at 68 when I was in shape, signifying the vast difference in health levels.
This time, I won’t ignore his words and shove them aside. It’s time to stop being lazy, get up and jog, and have a strong body.
March 22, 2009
Patience
I played a round of 9 holes at Broadlands Golf Course on Saturday with my dad. When we got to the pro shop and asked for the available tee times, we were informed that the times were booked up until an hour from then, which dampened my spirits since I had been eager to play. A bucket of balls on the range would have to suffice until our tee time. After hitting the balls on the range and practicing our short games, we headed off to the first tee. I could see two golf carts waiting at the tee as I walked up and immediately suspected we would have to wait at least 15 minutes before teeing off. My suspicion turned into reality as we saw a group up ahead in the fairway waiting for another group that was on the green. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. I proceeded to pull out my sand wedge (a club with a high degree of loft) and started to juggle a golf ball. After 20 minutes, it was finally our turn to tee off. I pulled out my tee and flipped in the air. It landed pointing towards me so I hit first. My swing was terrible, partly because of waiting around, but my ball ended up in the middle of the fairway with a short distance to the green. I hit a pitching wedge onto the green and two-putted for my par. After walking to the second tee, I saw the same scene as we did on the first tee. Again, I rolled my eyes in exasperation, but this time, I complained out loud to my dad. He told me to be quiet and stop complaining, which shut me up promptly. I played the round out without dissent.
Now that I think about it, my dad did not complain once during the round. He simply had a good time and stayed positive. I, on the other hand, immediately became agitated when we had to wait. Perhaps his patience is a product of age. After all, he is 32 years older than I am and has much more wisdom than I have. He knows that getting frustrated and angry about something won’t help the situation. That’s why patience is so important to develop. A person who has it is calm in situations, while others without it would turn to complaining. Patience not only helps the person who has it, but also prevents conflict. It can prevent someone from taking violent or aggressive action. Risky driving is an example of this. When someone cuts off another because he/she does not want to drive at the speed limit, it shows his/her lack of patience through dangerous action. Speeding doesn’t get you to your destination that much faster anyways; you only save around two minutes every 10 miles when driving at 75 mph compared to 55 mph. Patience on the highway is just one of the countless places where we can apply this lesson. Patience takes discipline and mental strength, but it can be easily learned if you put commit yourself to being patient rather than unwilling to wait.
March 8, 2009
Hudson, Massachusetts, a Community I Love.
The Irish and Portuguese held the majority of the population. Kids in my classes had last names of O’Reilly, Aldrich, Conner, Fitzgerald, Adams, Silva, De Souza, Fernandes, Cabral, and Correia. Throughout elementary school, I never noticed the differences between races. I did notice that white kids smelled differently than the Portuguese. White kids usually smelled like laundry detergent and Portuguese kids smelled like strong spices. My sense of smell is tuned a little more sensitive than most people’s. However, people were always just people, for they were nothing more and nothing less.
There were three elementary schools: Forest Avenue, Mulready, and Farley. We only had one middle school, JFK, which we lovingly called “Jail For Kids” instead its proper name of John Fitzgerald Middle School. Kids that came from Mulready and Farley were foreign to me; I had never come in contact with any of them before entering JFK. They were like aliens to me. I had never heard of these foreign schools before, which made me wonder how they did things at school. For the first five years of my school career I had come to learn how to follow a routine, how to listen to teachers, how to follow your class to the lunchroom, and how to play with other kids. School was a magical place. I loved to read, to explore, and to learn. Each of my teachers created a completely different classroom each year.
My first grade year was a shy and tender one. I cried constantly for my mom and for my mistakes I made. I remember not writing in my daily journal one day because I didn’t know how to spell a word. I was so afraid of being wrong that I couldn’t write anything down in the journal. My teacher asked me why I didn’t write anything but I didn’t answer because I was too scared admit my mistake, yet I wanted to tell her. My fifth grade teacher was a rough-looking outdoors type of person. He immediately intimidated me as soon as I walked into class on the first day. We used calculators for math problems one day, and my friend showed me how “337″ spells “LEE” when looked at upside-down. Having recently seen the video on puberty I boldly typed in “58008″, which you can guess the word of. My teacher caught my friend and I laughing and asked us what the matter was. We didn’t answer at first so he took us out of the classroom. Again, in a much more menacing tone, he questioned us, “What were you laughing at that was so funny on your calculator?” Weakly, I replied, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” I knew immediately that was a dumb thing to say and my teacher’s face gave it all away. Fortunately, he let us go. We sat back down, cheeks ablaze with shame and humiliation.
All of this washed away eventually as middle school became my new reality. I learned about puberty and the changing body. I learned about girlfriends and boyfriends. I learned about sex. I learned about drugs and alcohol. I learned about parties. I learned about fights. In a short period of time I had lost my innocent view of the small world I knew. Along with my expanded knowledge of human activities, I developed a knack for studying hard. As I look back, I was a mix of everything: I was a nerd, a geek, a cool kid, a dork, and an athletic kid. I joined the Math League. I hung out with the cool kids. I was friends with the losers and outcasts. I was picked first for kickball teams. I wasn’t exactly popular but I had friends in every clique. This turned out to be a slight problem multiple times. At the beginning of my seventh grade year I sat with some of my friends that weren’t exactly popular but not rejected either. They started to throw food around during lunch, which I didn’t enjoy very much, so I looked around for other tables to sit at. I saw the jock table and wanted to sit there. For the next few days I was torn between staying with my friends and moving to a better table. I didn’t want to leave my friends behind for another group of friends, but I eventually sat at the jock table. That was the first time I made a serious decision that sacrificed one thing for another.
Hudson had a Deckhockey league, which was a popular sport in the town. Deckhockey is a form of street hockey where players run instead of skating. I played for almost 5 years and became a proficient scorer. That was the first organized sport I ever participated in. I learned about teamwork, cooperation, trust, and dedication. I soon developed a competitive nature and always wanted to win our games. Unfortunately, my passion led me to some trouble during one game. My team was losing terribly and I was pretty frustrated at the lack of production from my teammates. The hockey ball was shot into a corner and I chased it down along with a kid from the other team. He got to the ball first, and I saw an opportunity for releasing my anger. I launched my shoulder into his body in a crunching body check. The ref came running over with his whistle blaring and the other team’s kids were helping the recently crushed kid up. I was seething with anger and adrenaline at that point and rushed into the penalty box. For some reason, I started to tear up. I think it was because I had made another mistake and had to go to the penalty box for it. The penalty box had been foreign to me, as it was a place I thought I would never have to go to. It was a place of humiliation for me. Every spectator knew I was in the penalty box for doing something wrong, which I realized and created my shame out of. It was a public display of my fault. Today, I still have a small tendency to keep my mistakes to myself. I like figure out my problems on my own rather than seek others for help. I’ve never gone to a teacher for help on anything, whether it be math or English. However, I feel like I’m getting better at being humble and accepting my faults. I want to be a more humble person in everything I do, no matter how big or small the challenge.
February 22, 2009
Music’s Many Forms
I recently downloaded some lovely Korean RnB songs after exploring on Youtube. I listened to these songs a great deal of times last week because of how much they moved my soul. The singers’ voices absolutely swept me away and nearly brought me to tears. I couldn’t believe how emotional I became, but it’s alright with me. This is just one way music can be enjoyed. Music can relieve stress through its calmness and tranquility. Music can also invigorate energy and action, such as dance music. One of my favorite songs at the moment is “Poker Face” by Lady GaGa because of its fantastic and hilarious dance that goes with it. Every time I listen to it, I have to get up and do the little bits of the dance that I know. Even though I am a terrible dancer, I continue to dance to the song because I enjoy the song so much. I also do it because I become a part of the song instead of just listening to it. Sports teams may also use music to pump themselves up before games or matches. When the four of us on the golf team were on our way to regionals, we were blasting Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” to get pumped up for the day (not going to disclose any names). Music can mean many different things to people, but its never a bad thing. Almost everyone has their tastes in music; sometimes people conflict over differing tastes and others find common ground with people that have the same tastes. Music is a part of our sense of hearing that is unique. We hear thousands of different sounds each day, ranging from your bedsheets rustling to the opening of the fridge door. But when you hear music, an instant reaction occurs. You are either interested in the music or not; you can never have no opinion about music no matter what you say.
February 8, 2009
A steak is a special meal. It signifies wealth, celebration, and good times. Steak is served at steakhouses, nice restaurants, weddings, get-togethers, neighborhood grill parties, and home. Rarely anyone who is eating a steak is unhappy while eating it. The taste is unique to itself. You cannot beat the flavors of a perfectly cooked medium-rare New York Strip (sirloins, T-bones, and porterhouses are no match for the New York Strip). The taste of the steak dipped in the meat’s juices is unreal. But where does this steak come from? It comes from the cow; the sacred animal in India. It’s the animal for the whole world. How could we exist without milk? Butter? Cheese? Beef? I’m sorry to those vegetarians out there but veggies and fruits cannot replace the sheer deliciousness of meat. Therefore, we must thank the cow for its sacrifice. Each and every cow that is killed to make our food must be thanked. It is our duty to the cows. They give their lives for us, and saying thanks is the least we can do. Respect is due to the animal that gives us such delicious meals. Without steak, our special occasions and nights out to restaurants would be marred forever. Rich and poor eat steak. It’s something that both rich and poor can relate to, which is an uncommon sight. Although the quality and cuts differ between rich and poor, a rich person gets excited when he knows that steak is available, as well as a poor person. Steak is like a magic word; both rich and poor begin to drool after hearing it. It serves to show a rare similarity between rich and poor in a society where the lifestyles of the two are completely differnt. We can find common ground with everyone in the world, and steak is just one example. All humans laugh, play, grow, smile, get sad, and thirst. The manner in which we do these things is different, but we all share the same genes.
January 11, 2009
Traditionally, a new year brings about change and new beginnings. President Obama’s inauguration is coming up soon, which will begin a new and historical Presidency to the relief of millions of Americans tired of President Bush’s poor job in the White House. New Year’s resolutions are being made and range from losing weight to quitting smoking. At school, students start the second semester with “clean slates”, much to the relief of those who didn’t work as hard as they should. Cynics call these resolutions pointless because the majority of resolutions fall flat. However, making a resolution is better than not thinking of one in the first place. Even if you break your resolution in the first week, at least you took a step in bettering yourself. Hopefully I can stick to my resolution this year. My resolution is to be committed to the things I do and give them more energy and attention to detail. In school, I want to give assignments and projects more time and effort. An essay deserves more time than the night before it’s due. Otherwise, the essay isn’t much more than a rough draft. I lead the praise team at church which requires a great deal of devotion. Right now, I know I’m not giving nearly as much effort and time as I should. Part of the position involves leading praise with a heart that seeks God, but I haven’t done much to get to that point. I want to become devoted to my religion and have a passion for it instead of a lukewarm Sunday and Friday cycle. I want to be a spiritual and moving prasie leader for my church, and I want to know that my passion in church encourages others to grow in faith. I want to change my lifestyle from being a “get-it-done-with” person to being a person who has passions and desires in life. This is probably the deepest resolution I’ve ever come up with, but I think it’s good to challenge yourself. You can test your limits and see how much you can change, hopefully for the better. January 25, 2009 Obama’s new stimulus plan for the economy amounts to a whopping $825 billion in government spending. Obama would triple the nation’s renewable energy sources, improve our schools, and help infrastructure that has been hurting due to decreased tax revenues. The first $600 billion would also go to public works projects to create jobs or give tax cuts. Proponents agree with Obama and compare the plan to the New Deal, which many people believe was effective. I also think that the New Deal saved America from crumbling further, although World War II did help tremendously. Unemployment today could get as high as 10 percent, but Obama’s plan would provide 3 to 4 million new jobs. There are no shortcuts in solving a problem as large as this, and I am glad that Obama has taken quick action to solve the problem. However, spending more money puts the government further into debt. It makes me wonder if they even care about the deficit, as the national debt is over $10 billion but nothing has been done to reduce it. It is like our country is not afraid of debt. Obama has come up with this $825 billion plan without worrying about spending more money. Hopefully Obama can bring our country back to its former prominence, but I also hope that he doesn’t get too involved. There’s a point where too much government intervention is not good. As I learned in Economics, business occurs in a cycle and we happen to be in the recession phase. Time will bring us back to the top of the cycle.
