Goodbye... for now

Sadly, this will be my very last blog post for Heritage. It's so sad to think about how I'm leaving this school, the staff and all my friends. It's fun to look at all my different blog posts from this year and looking at my blog from the year before. Since I'm leaving I want to dedicate this blog to my past. It's been great here at Heritage and I will always cherish so many great memories here. I just want to say thank you to all the staff for helping me find myself and my friends for always being there for me and for making great memories.

This video is of my little sister chopping an orange. This was when I was in 3rd grade. You could sorta hear my voice. It's really sad to think that 5 years have already gone by and I've grown up so much. This video really means a lot to me because I remember that day like it was yesterday. It reminds me of when I was happy and carefree. :)
Click Here

I'm in love with this picture. I'm probably 4 or 5 in this picture. I'll never forget the times when me and my sister were both innocent little angels and when we got along with one another. It's really sad looking at this picture. I've grown up so much. I probably didn't even start kindergarden yet in this picture and here I am going into high school. I was such a loquacious little girl, as you can see in the picture. I was probably something really dumb like "here comes the airplane!" I miss these times.

I've had a really great year here at heritage and I'll never forget all the memories I made.

Music is my Religion

"Sometimes it's not the song that makes you emotional... it's the people and things that come to your mind when you hear it" -Anonymous

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I have no idea where I would be right now if it wasn't for music. Music is my religion. My painkiller. It's the medicine to the mind. I absolutely love it. The idea of music is amazing itself. Although I love music there are always these three songs that really get to me. The reason why is because they always bring back these special memories that I could never forget. It's like I'm reliving exactly what I would do when I would listen to the songs. It's nice to know that I have an escape from the real world and I can go back to when I was little happy Emily. 

The first song that really gets me in the feelings is Strawberry Swing by Coldplay 

I absolutely love this song! My dad used to play this song every morning when I was 7 years old. It was the summer going into third grade and I would go to summer camp from Monday to Friday. He'd drive me to summer camp every day and we would listen to the song every morning together. Listening to this song makes me think of how happy I was back then. I remember being so little, never had a worry in the world. When I think of this song it makes me want to go back in time and relive all my happy moments. It just gets me really emotional.

The second song that really gets to me is Show Me Love by Robin Schulz

I kid you not, I know every single word to this song. I will literally break out dancing if I hear this song. It doesn't matter where I am or who I'm with, I will dance. Back in elementary school I would wake up to this song every morning by my beloved mother. She just really likes her house music. It didn't matter if her kids were sleeping. If she needed to jam out, she'd jam out. This song just really reminds me of all the mornings I spent getting ready for school with my mom and sister. I also have memories of both my mom and sister being silly and all of us dancing together. I feel safe when I hear this song. I could always rely on it to make me happy again. I love it. It will always have an affect on me and it will always be a part of me.

The last song that makes me want to burst into tears is 1234 by Feist

I remember the first time I listened to this song. I was still living in my old apartment with both my mom and my dad. I heard my dad singing this song in the kitchen and I wanted to listen to it. May I remind you that this was before iPhones were out. My dad brought me his iPod touch and I watched and listened to the music video with him. I became absolutely obsessed with the song. I would always watch the video on his iPod and I'd always make him song it to me. I will be honest and say that I stopped listening to it and forogot all about it. Last weekend I was at my dads house and all of a sudden he started to play this song on his chrome cast. I am not lying when I say this but, I cried. I cried my eyes out because this song just made me so happy. It has such a positive impact of my life and it reminded me of all the times I was little and asked him to sing to me. I cried because it made me feel like I was a little girl again.

People that don't know how to shut up

I honestly cant tell you how much I hate stuff. I know that sounds stupid but I have so many pet peeves. So many I can't even count. Here are a few things that really bother me:

1. People who chew loud with their mouth open
This honestly grosses me out so much. It's like why? Why do that? It's so irritating, nobody wants to hear you eat! Sicko.

2. People who scuff their feet while walking
I hate these people. It's so annoying that I can hear them before I even see them. It seriously physically hurts me because I just can't. I don't know it's just annoying.

3. The feeling of chalk
Touching chalk makes me cringe. I don't like it.

4. People who don't cover their mouth when they cough.
This is disgusting. Don't you ever cough without covering. You are spreading your disgusting germs all over the place and it's gross. I swear when someone's coughs in MY direction without covering it takes all of me not to punch them in the face. It's gross. Just cover your mouth.

5. Slow Walkers
I can't stand the people who walk slow. They make me want to push them out of my way. I know that's pretty violent but they get me so aggravated.

6. Slow Cashiers
I sort of feel bad for these people. I don't know anyone who would want to be a cashier. I understand you're having a bad day and hate your job but I have places to be. Right?

7. People who talk over you
This gets me very mad. It's like one minute you're talking then the next you're not. This is vey annoying and makes me upset. Most of my friends do this to me to get me mad and I don't like it.

8. People who seal the ziplock bag without removing the air
This is so irritating. I just want to go and take the bag and pop it. You never seal a ziplock bag with air in it, that's just the rule. You must be some monster if you do.

9. Adults who say "Yummy"
I cringe every time I hear that word. I've never really used it. Only when I was like 3 years old but that's it. Now when I hear an adult, a grown person, say the word "yummy" it's weird. It's like why? Why would you do that to yourself?

10. People who never shut up
This gets me very aggravated. Like sometimes you need a break from all the talking and you'd like some peace and quiet but no. That one person who doesn't know how to shut up is ruining everything for you. It's also really annoying because not only do they talk a lot, but hey say such stupid things. It's like why do you want to say that? Do you understand how you sound right now?

11. People who don't know what personal space is
Not only does this gross me out but it creeps me out. It's like ok, thank you for breathing your gross
germs in my face. Not only that but these people are so close to you that you can barely even breath. It's just weird why someone would want to be that up close and personal. Like I'm fine standing three feet away from you. I can still hear you so what's the problem?

12. People who sag their pants
I'd honestly be mortified if someone saw my underwear. Why do people do it on purpose. It's just disgusting. Like no one cares about your new Calvin Klein underwear so pull up your pants and buy a belt. Like I really hope they trip or something. That's an equal punishment right? Like nobody wants to see your butt. Nasty.

13. Too many commercials
There's literally a time when this gets so bad that I don't even remember what I'm watching anymore. It feels as though the commercial breaks are every 5 minutes for 10 minutes long. It's not fair. I don't care about the new product that can help you lose weight, or fix your hair, or teach you how to tame a lion. I DON'T CARE! All I want to do is just watch my t.v. show :'(

14. People acting like they're hurt or sad just to get attention
I cannot tell you how much I can't stand this. I've had many people do this to me and it's not cool. They're manipulating you. They're having their own little pity party and is hoping you'll rescue them when honestly they need to get over themselves. As you can see I get very upset about this topic and I don't understand why people do this. They take advantage of you and it's not okay.

15. Unnecessarily loud breathing
This is just weird. It's like you're in a quiet room, and then you hear that one person just wheezing in the corner. I honestly am scared for their physical health. I don't know if they're doing it on purpose or if they really have breathing problems. Like, are you okay? Do you need some help?

16. Wrong carry-out order
This makes me very mad. Not only did they give me the wrong food but I'm super hungry and you just got yourself in a very tough situation. I cannot stress enough how much I love food. It's just always there for me and I appreciate that. So, when someone gets my order wrong, when someone messes up my food, I go crazy! It's really annoying because I'm taking my time and giving you my money and you mess up my order! Is it really that hard, or are you just stupid?


My friend Andrea wrote a similar blog, make sure you check it out Andrea's Blog

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

     I recently read the book Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about a boy named Tyler who's going into his senior year of high school. It talks about his past and how he was a short, scrawny, nobody that no one wanted to hang out with. It also shows you his family and how they all  interact with one another. He plans this big prank looking for some attention from his peers. Unfortunately, his prank backfires and he needs to do community service. He benefits from this experience: gains muscle, hangs out with the girl he always like, gets noticed at school. Is this what Tyler really wanted?
    I really liked this book. It was so different from other books. The book was so relatable and it included real teenage problems and real teenage scenarios. The characters were amazing too. I felt as if I really knew them and that we were actual friends. The book was very detailed and had lots of twists and turns that were so unexpected. It really kept me on my toes. It also got really intense close to the end and I got so emotional. I'd recommend this book to someone who likes a quick read. I'd recommend this book to people who like intense, emotional stories. I couldn't draw on whether or not the book would be considered mystery. It had some events when they didn't tell you who did this or what character did that. Either way, it's a really good book and I hope you read it!

#PrayforEmily

I know I've mentioned this many times before but I'm absolutely terrified of planes. I also mentioned how I'm going to La Jolla, California on June 2nd. I'm absolutely terrified. I've been thinking a lot about it lately because I'm so excited. But then I'm not excited. Last week I had this crazy dream. I went on the plane and we were taking off and all of a sudden someone threw like a bomb or something at the window and it cracked open. People started getting sucked through the window and out the plane and that's exactly what happened with my mom and sister. I remember just crying and I woke up and I cried again. That dream didn't help me at all. I'm always seeing planes in the sky but they're little dots. They're so high and I feel like I might have a panic attack on the plane or something. The days are going by quick now and I'm coming closer and closer to being on that dreaded plane. The only solution is to just suck it up and go. So please, keep me in your prayers at night. It'd be deeply appreciated.

Here are a few pictures of where I will be going. It looks

so beautiful and I'm hoping it will look even better

in person, up close.

Blast to the Past

We're going to have a small flashback to when Emily, me, was around 10 or 11 years old. I was in such great shape. I could run 5k's like they were nothing. I could do around 30 or 40 push ups. I was really strong and athletic. Then I grew up. As I grew up I got bigger and I got meatier. I can barely hold my own weight anymore. I'm very skinny, I know this for a fact. But the thing is, I want to be stronger. I need more muscle. So I've come to a solution. I'm doing a 30 day fitness challenge! It includes push ups, curl ups, lunges, and squats. I'm on day 7 right now. The longer you do it the more you have to do. So by the end, I have to be able to do 40 push ups, 130 squats, 100 curl ups, and 50 lunges. I'm hoping it turns out really well! After everything I'm really hoping that I can obtain the muscle I gained and the weight I lost.

This is another challenge that I really want to do.

I think that for this challenge I will start off slower 

The Neighbourhood

I absolutely love this band so much. I listen to them everyday and their music is just awesome! They have really deep meanings and nice beats to them and I just really like their music. I'm addicted to one of their albums called "Wiped Out!" And I will be sharing my top 5 favorite songs from that album.

5. Single


I really like this song, I don't know why. The lyrics make me want to cry.  and the whole song is nice and mellow. I love songs that are like nice and slow but still have a good  rhythm and beat to it. So, I just really like this song.


4. Cry Baby


This is literally the song I listen to everyday when I walk home from I school. It's more upbeat than most but it's such a great song. The lyrics really get to me and just his voice is absolutely amazing in this song. I also like this song because it has some acoustic parts too so it sounds really nice and I love it.


3. Greetings from Califournia

 
This song is different from most of them in the album. I'm currently listening to it as I type this out. It's very mellow and dark. The lyrics sort of confuse me. This song sounds a little creepy in my opinion but I absolutely love the beat. And his vocals are amazing. He sounds like a God. Anyways, it's a really cool song.


2. The Beach


The first time I ever listened to this song I swear I cried so ha. rd. The lyrics are just so beautiful and his voice makes me want to take singing lessons. I know every single word to this song and I'm absolutely obsessed with this song. I like to listen to it when I'm in the shower and its just great. You'll have to listen to understand.


  1. Daddy Issues


This was the first song I ever listened to by The Neighbourhood. As you can tell, I fell in love instantly. I watched the music video and it just made me feel so empowered. The lyrics get me so emotional, his voice doesn't help either. It's like when I'm listening to this song I suddenly forget how to function. I know the entire song and I recommend it to everyone. It is just such a great song.

A Slice of Life: Summer Bucket List

     I'm gonna be honest and say that I've never really liked school. I've never liked the idea of getting up way too early in the morning to go this place called school and then learn all this information that I would probably never use in my future. But, when it comes to eighth grade and leaving to go to high school, I feel like crying like a little baby. I'm trying to most of this last year with all my really good friends. Not only that, but I'm trying to make the most of this summer. This summer is the very last before I go to high school and it's really scaring me. What I've decided to do is make myself a Summer Bucket List. I'm going to try my very hardest to do everything I put on my list and hopefully I will have a really great summer.

1. Ride A Roller Coaster

 I've never been the biggest fan of roller coasters. I've always felt that there was no need to go on one. But then I grew up and everyone was going to Great America together and I never wanted to go. I've always felt that I'd
1) Cry
2) Pass out
3) Throw up
4) Pee my pants
5) Die
So I've never wanted to go on a roller coaster. But, this year our eighth grade class is getting the chance to go to Great America for one of our field trips. A part of me wants to conquer my fear but then another part of me wants to stay a chicken and never go on a roller coaster. I just don't know what to do but hopefully I'll know.

2. Go On A Plane

As you can probably tell, I don't enjoy being high up in the air going who knows how fast. Ever since I was like 5 I've always wanted to go and get away. I've always wanted to go to California or New York, somewhere far away. But the thing is, I am absolutely terrified of flying on a plane. I'm very stupid and naive so when I watch the news and someone crashed a plane I get anxiety and think, "I'm never going on a plane." But you see, I'm even more stupid because I want to be able to take picture of the clouds and sit in the airplane seats and eat the cheap airplane food. I'm a very indecisive person. I'm not sure whether or not I want to go on one but my family and I are taking a trip to California over the summer. Whether or not I'm going to have to suck it up.

3. Take A Picture Every Day

It might sound lame but I really like photography. I've been asking for one of those Nikon cameras for the longest and I'm really hoping that this summer I will be able to get one. Either way I want to challenge myself and take a different picture every day all summer long. I've always loved taking pictures and capturing the moment. I actually want film and photography to be one of my majors in college. I feel that if I practice now I'd be great later on and I'll be able to succeed in a career of taking pictures. Also, summer is the perfect time because I feel that everything looks so much more alive and colorful which helps me take different, cool pictures.

4. Hanging Out With Friends

I know what you're thinking, Emily why? Well the answer is that I want to make the most of my summer with my friends because this might be the last year I get to be with them. I'm going to a different school than most of my friends and we're all going our separate ways and starting new chapters of our lives. I want to be able to have great memories with my friends before we all leave each other and meet new people. It really sucks to just think about leaving half the people I know. I'm going to be leaving friends that I've known since kindergarten. I want to just have one final goodbye before we all leave.

5. Go Camping... Kinda

I've only been camping once and I don't really count it as camping. One year for the Fourth of July, my whole family went to Yogi Bear. We rented out this huge cabin and stayed for a couple of days. This summer I want to go camping again, sort of. The thing is, is that I want to go camping in my backyard. My backyard is also pretty big so I don't think it would be such a hassle. It's a really good idea to because, you're having fun and saving money! Win, win! I'm also really big on décor so it won't be so much camping but more glamping (glamorous camping) I want to decorate my backyard with cool fairy lights and have our tents stocked with food, blankets, pillows, etc. This was like every kids dream. My childhood consisted of me constantly asking to sleep in the backyard but getting rejected every time. I think it would be great!

I'm not lying when I say that I have a list of 34 things that I want to do this summer. But these five are probably my top five that I just really want to do over the summer. I hope you enjoyed this lovely blog post and I hopefully influenced you to also have a great summer!

The Impact of the Holocaust

In the movie Life Is Beautiful it tells the story of a father and his son that were taken away to a concentration camp during World War II. Throughout the movie it shows their DVD tire on staying alive and pushing through. During our Holocaust unit we read poetry that was written by children while they were in death camps during World War II. Between both the poems and Life Is Beautiful they had many similarities that involved the overall message of the poems and movie. They both gave such a powerful influence on the audience and left you thinking. Not only that but it showed how real the situation was and how both kids and adults were severely affected.

The overall moods of both the poems and the movie I would say would have to be sad, something along the lines of the feeling of loneliness and loss. Both pieces showed the situations as something that was so horrific but beautiful at the same time. When you read the pieces of poems by the children you think to yourself how it was such a tradegy for these kids to have to live through this. But, in Life Is Beautiful the two main characters, father and son, both show different points of view on the situation. The father understands everything that's happening and is welorking to keep himself and his son alive. On the other hand his son thinks everything is a game and hiding will give him the most points so that he will eventually end up "winning" Both point of views really have an emotional meaning and leave you in tears.

Throughout the film you could really feel the love that the father had on his son and vise versa. Life can really be shown as beautiful throughout this film even though the plot was in a tims of tradegy and horror. An example of life being beautiful is when the father had explained to his son that them being at a concentration camp was all a game. I interpreted this as being beautiful because it really shows the love a father can hold for his child. Also, the consequences that could've gone with what he said didn't stop him from keeping his little boy happy and safe. He risked his life to make sure his son would be alright. Another example is when both the son and father are being loaded on the train to the concentration camps and the wife had demanded to go with them. The father and son are Jewish when the wife isn't. She risked her life to be with her family. That really shows how even in the worst situations life can be beautiful.

This is the scene of the wife demanding to I'm 

be on the train with her family.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

     The book Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is considered both a memoir and an autobiography. Also, the book was written in poem format; each chapter was a new poem. The book mainly talks about Jacqueline's childhood, mainly on how it was growing up black in the 1960's. Throughout her childhood she goes back in forth between South Carolina and New York. She explains how she never really knew where home was. She never felt completely at home in either place, it was always 50/50 with her. Jacqueline grew up in the same years of the Civil Right Movement. She writes about the struggles of growing up black and how big of an impact it had on her childhood. Although the book talks about the negativity in her childhood it also talks about her beautiful memories she shared with both sides of her family. She explicitly talks of both her mother and fathers side. She speaks of New York and South Carolina and the sacred memories she has there.
     I absolutely love this book! I'm usually not into nonfiction, biographies, memoir etc. but this book was absolutely beautiful! You didn't feel like you were reading a biography, you felt as if you were Jacqueline herself reliving all of her old memories. I can't even express how much I liked it. I read it twice because I liked it so much! She gives so much detail with her writing that you can easily imagine as if you were there with her. She talks of helping her grandfather garden, she uses such strong emotion with this one poem that it leaves my heart swelling. What I'm basically trying to say is that she literally put all my thoughts into words and made an amazing book. I'd recommend this book who likes to take their time reading. Since the book is in poem format, it might take you a while to digest the meaning of her words and poems. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but sometimes her poem get confusing if you don't take the time to analyze them and find out their meaning. I overall give this book a 10/10

Jacqueline and her family 

Love, Lucas by Chantelle Sedgwick

      The book I read was Love, Lucas by Chantelle Sedgwick. This book was about a girl named Oakley Nelson who loses her brother to cancer. Oakley is in a bad place with her brother dying, her parents constantly fighting, and the feeling of emptiness. Oakleys mom suggests staying in California with her Aunt Jo for a while to get her mind off everything. Oakley loves it by her Aunts house but her mom gives her a notebook with letters from her brother inside. Oakley tries healing from her brothers death by the help of a boy named Carson and her brothers advice in the notebook. It becomes very hard for Oakley to admit her true feelings for Carson knowing that her brother would never be able to have the same experience. She has this incredible journey about finding her true feelings for Carson and coping with her brothers death.
     I absolutely love this book with all of my heart! I read it into literally two days and then I bought it for myself so I could reread it. It was written so well and gave so much detail that I felt that I was in the story too! I would be lying if I didn't say that I cried, because I cried. A lot. The story was so heartwarming and it made me think so much. What if something like this happened to my little sister? Would I have my own Carson? I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction and a tad bit of romance. It's one of those books that you can never put down. I'd rate it a 10/10 because it was just that good!

Butterfly

On a purple, sun-shot evening
Under wide-flowering chestnut trees
Upon the the threshold full of dust
Yesterday, today, the days are all like these.

Trees flower forth in beauty,
Lovely too their very wood all gnarled and old
That I am half afraid to peer
Into their crowns of green and gold.

The sun has made a veil of gold
So lovely that my body aches.
Above, the heavens shriek with blue
Convinced I've smiled by some mistake.
The world's abloom and seems to smile.
I want to fly but where, how high?
If in barbed wire, things can bloom
Why couldn't I? I will not die!

Regret

I regret many things in my life but, I'd say that what I regret the most is opening myself up to people who didn't take the time to do the same. I've always had the worst trust issues, and once you lose my trust you've basically lost me. Without trust what is the base of a relationship, a friendship? So when people toss my trust away, when they carelessly say things I've always kept secret about myself, it hurts to know that I was so stupid enough to not see the their true personality. I was too blind to understand that this person couldn't be trusted, that something was off. It huts me to think that the one person who I relied on the most, betrayed me. I regret being so blind to the point where I didn't even truly know who my best friend was. 

WWII Propaganda

What I think the poster, "Keep your 'trap' shut! Don't give the rats any information!" means is that if bystanders during WW2 said anything along the lines of their goverment's war plans they would be hurting their nation. As you can see in the poster there is a mouse trap and a piece of newspaper caught in it. They usually referred the enemies as rats. The newspaper was a part of an article that was about a ship sinking due to being attacked. What the image implies is that if you carelessly talk about your governments war plans you could potentially cause an attack. This tries to scare its citizens by showing that they're the causes of other countries attacking them because they don't keep their "traps" shut. I feel that this propaganda piece is just trying their citizens to fear them and potentially obey their laws.

Lunch with Robin Williams

If I were to have one day with one famous person, I would hang out Robin Williams. You may be asking, but Emily why? Well I've always loved him so much. I literally cried when I found out he past away and I literally just watched all his movies for a good two days. So, if I were to have a day with him I would probably ask him a bunch of questions. First we'd go and have a huge lunch at some fancy restaurant that I probably wouldn't belong in. After lunch I'd probably ask for him to give me a tour of his house o something weird. But I'd definitely ask him questions like:

• Out of all the films you've been in, which one was your favorite?
• What is your favorite Chinese dish?
• Do you have any hidden talents?
• Would you ever go bungee jumping?

And many more. I've always loved him and his work so much. I remember a few weeks after my grandma died I watched one of his movies, "What Dreams May Come" and I cried so hard because I felt like I could relate so much. It was such a phenomenal movie and it helped me get through a lot. And I don't know but it's just something about him that reminds me of my grandpa which makes me love him even more! But I really do love Robin Williams so much and I would hang out with him for a day if I had to choose.

This is the scene that literally made me cry so hard!!

You have to watch the whole movie to understand what's going on

but it was such a nice scene and I cried like a baby :)

Perseverance

One time I had to persevere was when I lost one of my really good friends. At first I was really upset and I didn't know what to do. At first I didn't know how to take it, it was as if I couldn't function without my other half. It hurt me to let go but I knew it was for the best. Throughout this rough time I had to stay strong and push my way through. I didn't let anything get to me and every time I saw that person I made sure to give them space and I thought happy thoughts. After a while I realized it was for the best and now I understand more.

Top 20 things that make me happy

1. Happiness is coming home to having a home cooked meal ready for you to eat.
2. Happiness is arriving at school and having all your friends be there waiting to tell you how they're doing.
3. Happiness is walking your dog down the block and him barking at anything that moves.
4. Happiness is screaming "I GOT IT!" while playing volleyball.
5. Happiness is driving down Lake Shore Dr. and feeling the wind blast in your face.
6. Happiness is watching your little sister play with her friends without a care in the world.
7. Happiness is the butterflies you get in your stomach when you jump high off the diving board.
8. Happiness is finding a seashell while you're making a sand castle at the beach.
9. Happiness is finally getting that one book that took you ages to find.
10. Happiness is taking that last climb before you're on top of that big tree in your favorite park.
11. Happiness is holding your little cousins hand while crossing the street. 
12. Happiness is waking up to have your family already at the kitchen table eating your favorite breakfast.
13. Happiness is spending 4 hours in a jam packed car to get to your favorite camping site.
14. Happiness is going to Costco with your friends just so you could get the free samples.
15. Happiness is singing the loudest you can because your home alone a nd no one will find out.
16. Happiness is playing over that one video of you and your cousins when you were little over and over again.
17. Happiness is when your favorite song comes on first while listening to your playlist.
18. Happiness is getting a 4 on a test that you studied so hard for.
19. Happiness is cleaning my room and end up making a bigger mess with what I found.
20. Happiness is hanging out with my family after a really long day.

We Accept

In this commercial it shows of many stereotypes of many people. It talks of no matter your religion, culture, sexuality, race, gender we are all equal. It gives the message that even though we're all different, we are all similar at the same time. It's harder for people to develop respect for others when they are against some things they do. This commercial was very inspirational because it shows how we are all people no matter how we choose to live ourselves lives and we should all treat each other with the same respect that we want as well. We should all accept each other and embrace our differences because we are all still a nation together.

Best Advice I've Ever Gotten

The best advice I've ever gotten was, to always keep smiling. My grandpa had told me this the last time I saw him. This past Christmas Eve he had died. I was very upset cause I had a very strong connection with him but I knew that he wouldn't wanted for me to be upset and that it's was better this way. So, when I went to his funeral I smiled and greeted everyone. He taught me to make myself stronger while I felt vulnerable.I tried my hardest to be happy from him that he was now in a better place. Ever since this happened I've tried my hardest to see the positive things in the bad situations.

This is a picture of my grandpa.

He's made me believe that no matter

your situation, there's always something

to smile about.

Worst Argument

The worst argument I've probably ever had was with my dad. My mom and dad separated when I was about 5 years old. It's hard for me to go back and forth between them and to constantly have them force me to pick a side. One day my dad came to my house unannounced and I had a hissy fit. I was screaming at everyone because I finally let my feelings out. My dad told me that day that he was thinking about moving to Michigan. I couldn't comprehend why he was even thinking about moving anywhere. I told him that he was selfish and was just running away from his responsibilities. We ended up forgiving each other after we talked more and understood each other's perspectives. This taught me that I shouldn't be keeping my feelings bottled up inside. I have to talk about them every once in a while, especially when I don't think something's right.

Fake It Until You Make It

What I'm very confident about us being myself around other people. I can be myself without caring about anyone else thinks and I'm very proud of myself for this. What I think I need a confidence boost in is probably my academics. I know that I can be better than how I am but, it scares me sometimes to find out if I'm afraid that if I'm wrong about myself being better than I'd totally give up on myself. So from now on, I'm going to fake it until I make it. I will constantly tell myself that I am better than what I think I am. I will tell myself that I can do better until I do.