P2.) Reflecting Back on this Year

In September, one of the first blogs that I ever wrote for Online Publishing was about my accomplishments for this school year.  I think that overall, I have succeeded in what I wanted to do this year, even though we have a little over one month left.  One of my main goals is to get at least a four on my Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition exam, which is on May tenth.  I have been preparing for the exam to ensure that this is possible.  I also wanted to succeed in Physics and Precalculus, two courses that I am taking right now that I believe to be the most difficult for me.  I have been able to keep my grades up in these courses the whole year, and think that I have really grasped a good understanding of the material.  If I keep studying and doing my work, I should be able to do well on the exams.  Even though I have been taking Spanish, I have been able to hold on to a lot of my knowledge of the French language, which is another skill that I wanted to maintain this year.  At school, I also wanted to become more active than I was last year in the Peer Wellness Pillar of Student Government.    Currently, I am Vice President of the Pillar, and have been able to organize and participate in many different activities involved with that.  Currently, we are working on a new Wellness Day to replace the one that was cancelled earlier in the year.  If we are able to pull it off, it'll be great!

One goal that I am really happy about accomplishing is picking a college for next year.  The application process was long, but I was able to get all of my applications in well before the deadline.  In the Fall, I will be attending The George Washington University in Washington D.C.  It took me a long time to decide, but now that I have, I am really excited about it.  I cannot wait until next year! 

P1. The Television

There is no doubt that television impacts everyone that has ever seen it in some way.  It is how that person chooses to allow it to affect them that makes the difference.  I, myself, do not watch much television on a day to day basis.  Sometimes I even go weeks without turning it on.  I often feel as though my time isn't well spent after watching television for a long time.  The commercials tend to bother me, and eventually, I get too impatient while waiting for the program to come back on.  However, there are some things that I do enjoy watching from time to time.  I am a big hockey fan, and love to watch a Sabres or a Penguins game after dinner if I have nothing else important to do.  I also like to watch a few other shows, but usually I watch them on Netflix.  I like The Office, Sherlock, and The Big Bang Theory.  I also love watching the shows Chopped, Cupcake Wars, Apartment Hunters, and other stuff on the Travel Channel.  I am not a big fan of a lot of the major reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, and rarely if not never watch them.  I do watch some TV, but I try to limit my time in front of it and never let it come before more important things, such as schoolwork.  My family is very similar to me in that regard.  My dad watches no TV unless there is a sports game on, my mom only watches the news, and my brother watches Netflix for the most part.  We have televisions in our rooms as well as a few downstairs, but they are not overused.  During dinner or a big family event, they are always turned off.  Television is not necessarily a bad thing when exposure time is limited.  It can even be educational if watching a documentary or something in that respect.  However, a lot of what is on isn't very good.  The advertisements draw people in, and it can send the wrong message to a large group of people at once.  People need to be able to look at what they are watching objectively instead of buying into everything they see or hear. 

O3.) Gone Fishing

Over this past Spring break, I took a vacation down to Georgia with my family.  We stayed on St. Simons Island off the coast of Southern Georgia and had a great time.  The house was beautiful, the town was great, and the weather was fantastic.  Overall, it was a really great time.  We spent most days at the beach, but on Thursday, my dad decided that he wanted to take my brother and I deep sea fishing.  None of us have any experience whatsoever in this, but we thought we would give it a try.  My dad hired a captain to take us out for the morning and help us learn what to do.  I was a little nervous and skeptical of my skills, but thought being out on the water would be fun.  Eventually I figured out what I was supposed to do and it was actually really fun!  The first fish I caught was a seven inch whiting.  I became very attached to it and was really sad when the captain decided to use him as bait.  I don't know why I thought that I would be able to just let him go back in the water and continue to swim on his way, but I did.  After I caught this fish, we didn't catch anything for the next half hour.  Then, my brother got a bite on his line.  We could tell that it was really big because of how difficult it was to reel it in.  As it turns out, it was a bull shark, one of the most aggressive species of sharks in the world.  It was kind of terrifying, but my dad made me stand next to it to get a picture before we threw it back.  It is the most awkward picture of my brother and I ever taken.  Before we finished for the day, I managed to catch a Dogfish, another species of shark, and a Hammerhead shark.  I thought it was really weird that we weren't able to catch anything but sharks, but overall, it was a fun day.

O4.) My Mother is...

My Mother is definitely my role model.  She is incredibly smart, level-headed, and a real problem solver.  She is very strong and can accomplish anything that she puts her mind to.  I have always looked up to her, and she has always acted as a guide to me.  Sometimes we fight, but it’s never anything major.  We're always able to move past that and resolve any issues that we have with each other.  She always works hard, no matter what it is that she is doing.  Whether it is her job or a different project, she completes it to the best of her ability.  She's able to manage her busy schedule very well, and sometimes, I don't know how she does it.  She's the one who keeps our family running efficiently, and makes sure that my brother and I are always on time to whatever we are involved in.  My mom also has a great sense of humor, and always makes me laugh.  She has a great taste in literature, and she is the one who really jump-started my love of reading and writing.  I strive to possess the wonderful qualities that she exhibits on an everyday basis.  If I have a problem, I know that I can come to her for help.  She has always been very supportive of what I want to do with my life, and I couldn't thank her enough for that.  I think that I have a great relationship with my mom, and I couldn't ask for anything more.  Many people my age and younger don't really like to hang out with their parents a lot, but I actually don't mind it.  I love to sit down at the end of my day and talk to her about what I am doing in my classes, as well as ask her about her day.  A lot of the time during the week we sit down and eat dinner together, and it's a nice way to relax and take a break from my school work.  I'm going to miss her a lot next year when I'm away at college. 

O2.) The Price of an Education

This article on the costs and benefits of college shows that College is a wonderful investment to make as a young member of society.  Education is priceless, and it can continue to benefit a person for the rest of their lives.  In these studies, people with a college degree made eighty percent more than those who did not graduate high school.  Their higher education also allowed them to prosper in ways that they wouldn't have otherwise.  Their studies have shown that investing money into a college degree has one of the highest rates of return.  I definitely agree with most of what their studies have to show.  I think that education is very important to a person, and that without an education and pushing yourself to the limit, you won't be able to succeed fully in life.  College may be expensive, but it is money well spent.  A lot of the youth around the world don't even have the opportunity to attend a college or university to further their education.  When I think of that, I truly believe that I'm lucky to be able to have this experience and chance to learn more about the world in general.  I wouldn't let that chance pass by me, and I plan on attending college next year for exactly this reason.  I want to have a general understanding of many basic topics so that I am able to apply what I learned to several different things.  I want to learn a lot about language because I think that is very important in today's increasingly global society.  I'm not exactly sure what subject I would like to focus most of my time and effort into yet, but I have some ideas.  Overall, I believe that the importance of an education is great, and that you can't put a price on a great education.