Week 8 - Emily Sandford

Fears- Being alone, cats, and rear view mirrors

Annoyances- Being rude, not cleaning up after yourself, not using the oxford comma, and not saying thank you when someone holds the door for you.

Accomplishments- When I don’t run into things, and getting my contacts in.

Confusions- YouTube commenters, my dog (she’s a strange one).

Sorrows- Not getting into 4-H earlier, being awkward, and being shy.

Dreams- Disney, Imagineering, Keeping up with my dog during agility.

Idiosyncrasies- Disnerd, referencing everything, being perceptive

Risks- not planning out a routine for Heel-to-Music or Freestyle, and procrastinating (lots of procrastinating).

Beloved Possessions,

Now- Disney Vera, Disney Bows, and anything someone’s given me.

Then- Blueberry, and Green Blankie

Problems- Spiders, communicating efficiently to people I don’t know, remembering the random details, and wanting to read all the books but not having time for reasons like school and life.

Risks

               I participate in the Fayette 4-H County Dog Club, and at the 4-H dog show at the State Fair there are these two competitions known as Freestyle-to-Music, and Heel-to-Music. Which is a fancy way of saying doggy dancing with lots of tricks. Fayette County takes this very seriously, everything is meticulously planned and executed, expect for my routines.

This was my first year doing them, and I’m a procrastinator, so naturally I waited until last minute. The week before rolled around, and I finally chose my music The London Pops Symphony’s version of “The Raiders of The Lost Ark” for H-t-M and “Fireworks” from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Freestyle. I had not routine planned and I didn’t know what my dog was capable of doing on dirt and cow poo covered ground. So I winged it. A huge risk considering this was the last time these two competitions would be held at state, and if I failed there would be no coming back from it.

State came, I went out there did both my choreographed routines, and didn’t fail. I got first for Freestyle and second for Heel-to-Music, both with a score of 98 out of 100. This shows that risks can be rewarded, and feed my serious problem of procrastinating. 

TV (assignment 5) Hannah Freibert

First off, I need to establish an operational definition for "television". Because god knows there are a million different streaming styles, so I'm going to go ahead and expand this over the entire entity that is television- Cable, Direct TV, Netflix, Hulu... the whole shabang. 

What role does television play in our lives? To begin, information. Don't get me wrong, sifting is required. Sifting through the Keeping Up with the Kardiashians of television. Sifting through the Toddlers and Tiaras. Sifting through the Top Ten Spring Break Destination Countdowns. Even so, its there. It. The information. One cannot argue that tv serves no purpose other than to erode our brains and drop our IQ's.

Assignment 8 Hannah Freibert

Fear- the dark, drowning, kidnapping

Annoyances- coughing in hands (as opposed to in arm), exaggerated sport injuries, slow walking

Accomplishments- survived into year 3 of high school with a 4.0, 20+ alive and happy succulents

Confusions- physics

Sorrows- lack of sleep, regret 

Dreams- success through college and beyond, surrounded by dogs in future

Idiosyncrasies- 

Risks- eating older brother's leftovers when explicitly told not to (very dangerous, but they can't expect me to starve)

Beloved Possessions- childhood dogs (then)

Problems- self control, procrastination

A girl I babysit frequently is terrified of the 10 foot unlighted path between her location on the bed and the bathroom. The extreme fear of the dark that plagues so many tots seems irrational to us now, but no one can say that they are completely and entirely comfortable with the dark, or if you can, I think you're lying. In my opinion, people aren't afraid of the dark, but rather what is in it. The majority of crimes take place during daylight, so what is it about the dark that is so daunting? To put it simply, we can't see. We cannot rely on our vision to know for sure what is rattling 30 ft out from us, even if its only the wind. It's just the uncertainty of what could be there. The same goes for the ocean. If the water was crystal clear, very few would still sheepishly wade in knee deep water.

Assignment 9 Tommy Gardner

Is there a time for war?

If there is a time, is it morally right and just or is is it the lesser of two evils?

If there isn't a time, why not?

Are there certain times when countries have a responsibility to go to war?

 Are there any alternatives? Could they be more effective or less effective?

 

 

There is a time for war, but only if it is completely necessary. We should only go to war if we are attacked first, or if a country is in need of assistance to beat another country. When we do go to war it sometimes is morally right, and other times it is just the lesser of two evils. For example: World War 2 was morally right when we declared war on Germany because of what they were doing to the Jews. To a lesser extent, the declaration of war on Japan was morally right, as Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor without any provocation from the USA. There are times when it is a countries responsibility to go to war. The previous example of the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor works here as well. The Japanese had killed thousands of American sailors, sunk 15+ ships, and wounded thousands of people. This attack would not have allowed for the USA to simply go on as if nothing happened. This attack required the USA to go to war. As for alternatives, some people might say to just push the big red button, and get on with it. But that won't work these days, because in modern war the enemy is no longer a specific country. Most of the time our enemy is a faction or group of people. Diplomacy doesn't always work because of political divides in countries. Alternatives rarely work, and are rarely more effective.

A necessary evil- Rachel Roberts

I believe that war is one of those necessary evils that has to happen in order for the world to work. Like taxes or traffic, there is no other option sometimes.

Now I don't think we should go around trying to start wars or getting involved in conflicts that we don't have a place in. War should be used as a defensive measure. Like if we were attacked (example: 9/11 and Pearl Harbor), it is then imperative to go to war. If we don't, it makes us look cowardly, like a dog rolling over to show its belly in submission. This just opens the door to more horrific attacks since the enemy knows they can get away with it, leading to more innocent civilian deaths.

Some conflicts can't be solved with just words. Force is necessary when dealing with vicious people who wish to kill a whole nation. We can't always just hold hands, drink tea, and sing Kumbaya with people who want us dead. Its just not possible. The world just doesn't work like that. Sorry. Actions speak louder than words, and this case words aren't loud enough. Many nations go back on diplomatic measures or violate treaty terms, so why try and put something in place that isn't going to work. But then again, in some situations, with more agreeable nations, diplomatic measures will work and in that case war isn't necessary.

Clara McKinley 10

Ask a person what scares them most and you most likely get a mix of answers with "death" "failure" and "dying alone" being overly popular. Although all of those are things I fear, my biggest fear is breaking my phone in anyway. Stupid fear? Very much so. Relevant fear? Even more so. My phone is everything-connection to friends, connection to family, connection to the people who pay me to babysit, distraction when I'm worried or bored, directions to anywhere I go-everything. So when it breaks, along breaks my entire life. I have been through, with much embarrassment, 11 phones, and am very thankful for phone insurance, because even with a gun to their heads, my parents would never dare to buy me that many phones.
I have an issue with dropping things, and trust me, I wish I could tell you why. Walking down the hall somehow my phone just flies out of my hand or even better I manage to drop it while opening the door to my car and with that 3 iPhones have ended up shattered in the trash and I have been left searching for when my next update is and attempting to find a friend with an old one.  And in the process of the search, there I am, missing communication and directions and jobs. So although death and what not are scary thoughts-in the current time period without a working phone I would feel dead.

on mayonnaise and terrible people: rachael gilbert

fears: the dark, death, ants

annoyances: slow walking people, mayonnaise, ketchup, small dogs

accomplishments: all 5s on my ap exams, running a half marathon

confusions: math, people who take advantage of other’s kindness

sorrows: relationship with my sister, grade on last biology test

dreams: writing for a living, learning to swim, moving to a city

idiosyncrasies: (slight) harry potter obsession, dislike of capitalization, active conspiracy theory analyst

risks: crossing the road without looking (i’m so badass), scuba diving license (want)

beloved possessions (then and now): beanie babies (then…i’m so sorry. i’m actually a 85 year old grandmother), copy of the little prince and dog (lupin (now))

problems: lying, basic human interaction

 

i hate a lot of things (including that word). slow walking people, people who try to check out with more than ten items in the express lane (you are the spawn of lucifer himself), small dogs, toothpastes that aren’t mint flavored, all of the condiments except mustard. i also feel like i rant about them quite a lot, but #YOLO (the term “yolo” is also horrifying) i’m going to rant some more.

mayonnaise?

die.

you are literally the sweaty nasty lovechild of butter and sour cream and everyone hates you. you’re weird and uncomfortable and you smell funny. also, you don’t go with anything. what do you make better with your presence? has anyone ever been like;

“hey. this sandwich totally needs to be even more disgusting. let’s add some literal swamp poison on top.”

no they haven’t. only canadians and brits like you. the canadians are too nice to say that they hate you and the brits have no taste (reference beans on toast).

moving on.

people who try to check out with more than ten items in the express lane:

did something happen to you when you were small? were you dropped on your head as a child? is that why you want to watch the world burn? hmmm? because all i want to do is buy some fruit snacks and some chocolate milk. and you just have to come in here with the entire store strapped to your cart like you are the mayor of the universe. get out. 

Spiders and Circles Hye Jee Kim

Fears: spiders (super unique I know), clusters of circles

Annoyances: people who stop in the middle of the hallway, any high pitched noise, people who ask the same question more than 2 times, whoever sits at our table in second lunch have you ever heard of not eating like a drunk orangoutang how are you so messy I don't understand, people who brag about stupid things

Accomplishments: very few in number, getting into GSA, 4.0 GPA, getting a 5 on the comparative test without knowing what austerity is (I know now), wining APUSH jeopardy

Confusions:  why does life even happen, why is John Green so popular, Texas, Jim Webb, the trolley problem

Sorrows: what even am I doing with my life, netflix doesn't work on school wifi, I'm already almost out of data, CKYO

Dreams: go to college on the East Coast, travel a lot, learn Arabic, actually make some sort of difference in the world, see Ramin Karimloo play Phantom, meet Matt Damon, meet 90's Leo.

Idiosyncrasies: love of 90's and early 2000's rom coms, unbelievable knowledge about LOST (seriously ask me anything I know the answer) INK PENS, weekly existential crises

Risks: not going to MSTC and that's actually it. Jumping out of a plane (want)

Beloved Possessions: Then- Mr. Brown Heart, Wii, Copper Now- Each Little Bird That Sings, my dog butt hook, friends, parents (the last two aren't quite possessions but I belove them anyway)

Problems: life, root canal, buffering



Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She was sound asleep in the top bunk, when she felt someone shake her awake. "It's Saturday," she thought, "Why is someone trying to wake me up?" She opened her eyes and saw her older cousin Anna, who was at the ripe old age of 9. "Hey," Anna whispered, "Look up."

(side note: the young girl was in first grade, and had just finished the science unit where they learned about poisonous spiders, including  the Black Widow)

So the young girl looked up. And she saw THIS GIANT SPIDER DANGLING LIKE TWO INCHES AWAY FROM HER FACE AND IT WAS BLACK AND HAD THE RED HOURGLASS AND WAS LIKE THE SIZE OF A SMALL PLANET. And then she died.

The death part might have been just slightly exaggerated, but the rest of the story is 100% real and it happened to me when I was in first grade. After screaming and crying a lot a bit, my cousin dragged me to the couch. Her logic was that a spider couldn't climb the couch because the couch was "bumpy". Ever since then I've been deathly afraid of spiders.

My fear got worse two years later when a brown recluse bit one of my friends on the foot. He needed to get surgery, and a sizable chunk of his right foot was straight up removed. I was less okay with it than he was.

I think it's fair to say that I have a reasonable reason to be scared of spiders. My other fear is pretty irrational. I'm scared of clusters of circles.

But it's only some clusters of circles. Sometimes polka dots will freak me out (Liz has a dress in the 8th grade that I'm scared of), and other times they won't affect me at all. But things like egg sacs, honeycombs, and that one skittles commercial where the guy is covered in the little round candies make me really uncomfortable.

I have goosebumps just writing about them.

My friends, namely one smaller than average curly haired girl, likes to use this to my disadvantage. Every now and then they'll draw clusters of circles on either my stuff or me. If it's something that I can afford to immediately destroy, I will. If it's my hand, then I just suffer until I can scrub it off. It's all in good fun, but actually it's terrible.

If the Earth was filled with spiders that had clusters of circles on them, I would become an astronaut botanist, go to a mission on Mars, get hit by debris during a storm, and then just live up there farming in feces for the rest of my life. Sorry.

Post 7 Clara

On September 24th, 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to enforce racial integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. This was a very important event in history. Racial integration was a very controversial subject and as the government forced it into action, it showed they were determined to make it happened. In all means this was a good event. By forcing the schools to integrate, the government showed their stance on the issue. It is bad in the means the schools could not decide to integrate on their own, but their stance was overrun by the federal government. This was very influential on the Nation, the city of Little Rock, and our very existence. This movement showed the governments stance on no longer allowing segregation making our nation more inclusive of people. The city of little rock was greatly effected in the time as all of their schools became interracial. In the terms of our existence, we are able to live in a nation where race means very little in comparison to the past. It was this event and many more like it that lead to this. I greatly appreciate this event. By the government forcing the integration of schools they were stepping towards a country of no segregation. Although we still face issues defined to be racial discrimination, with the force of school integration helped to make it not as bad.

Man with(out) a plan- Henry Walther

Fears- Loneliness, heights, expectations  

Annoyances- Unevenness, using you're incorrectly, school

Accomplishments- Debate, friendships, knowledge

Confusions- Math, relationships, chicken or the egg

Sorrows- Loss, laziness

Dreams- Making an impact

Idiosyncrasies- Freestyle rapping when excited

Risks- Abusing my very high metabolism for too long, overestimating myself 

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then- Now- Globe from Haiti, Then- Pokemon card collection

Problems- Migraines, lying

I had a plan. Oh a glorious, well thought out plan. Rarely do I ever segment my time efficiently but tonight, tonight would be different. APUSH from 3 to 5, family dinner from 5 to 8:30, walking dead from 9 to 10, blog post from 10 to 10:30. Alas, October 18th, a day that shall live in infamy (no not because of the Japanese). The day on which a migraine struck my brain and incapacitated me for nearly 20 hours. No Rick Grimes, no (hopefully) witty blog post, just hours upon hours of unrelenting pain. Nothing grinds my gears more than hearing people say "oh no I have a migraine! let me put my head down." LIAR. Okay, so that may be a little harsh but it doesn't take away from it being true. No real migraine can be recovered from due to simply putting your head down. After taking enough medication to knock out a rhinoceros and sleeping for 15 hours I still feel like a needle has been thrust into my temple and a group of nefarious kids are jumping on the needle like a trampoline. I currently struggle to see the screen of my laptop because of the auras constantly darting around the edge of my vision. So now I have a late grade for my blog post and I don't even know what caused the noise that drew the walkers off the road. Eh, anyway here's a TED talk I watched over the weekend that is my new favorite, it's pretty cool
 https://www.ted.com/talks/david_eagleman_can_we_create_new_senses_for_humans?language=en   

Assignment 9: What is it good for?

Genocide in Sudan

North Korea testing nuclear weapons

Iran creating nuclear weapons
Egypt
Syria

Terrorism

Injustices and threats surround so many lives in this world. When injustices or threats progress to dangerous and harmful levels though, it seems logical for war to come into play as a way to combat the situation. . .or is it?  The conservative Christian group known as the Mennonites believes that war (violence) is never appropriate.

Is there a time for war?

If there is a time, is it morally right and just or is is it the lesser of two evils?

If there isn't a time, why not?

Are there certain times when countries have a responsibility to go to war?

Are there any alternatives? Could they be more effective or less effective?

Due Sunday, October 25th at 11:59 pm

Assignment 8- Meriwether Carling

Fears: not being good enough, losing someone I care about

Annoyances: people who blame their misfortunes on others, being ungrateful

Accomplishments: being of varsity soccer freshman year

Confusions: life.

Sorrows: drifting apart from one of my best friends since forever

Dreams: graduating veterinary school

Idiosyncrasies: moon walker

Risks: getting into a car with clara driving (sorry clara)

Possessions: my dogs (then and now)

Problems: Procrastination

The fear that everyone has, losing someone they care about. This thought crosses my mind way more than it should. Whenever someone leaves the house, they aren't guaranteed to come back to you safely. We all just hope they do. Freak accidents occur all the time. How do you know that you won't be involved in that "once in a lifetime" event. If not you, someone you know? Your mom? Your dad? Your friend? Fears like this can consume you and every thought that crosses your mind. The trick to living is to not let them. How can one do that though when nothing that happens is in their control? This idea of not having control over a situation terrifies me. I hate not being able to fix a problem or to not have some type of say in it.

Saying all of this, I know I have no control of losing someone I love, I just have to trust that they will be okay and nothing bad will happen to them. Wow, this got deep, soooo I'm just gonna end my spiel here. 

Will Shapiro Assignment 8

Fears: Spiders, being alone

Annoyances: my crap fantasy football team, my dog that pees on the floor while staring me in the eye even though I have told her no 1,000,000 times and even put a shock collar on her to stop this behavior. Acne.

Accomplishments: the academy, grades, and hiking Mt, Whitney.

Confusions: AP Physics.

Sorrows: MY AP Physics grade.

Dreams: Live in NY again, travel the world

Idiosyncrasies. computer builder, indie rock fan, hiker/rock climber.

Risks: leave KY for college (want) rafted the Selway (did).

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: My computers/ friends (Now) Old friends (Then)

Problems: No job. No money because of prior issue. Don't do enough hiking/climbing.

Alllllllrighty then. I'm gonna go ahead and talk about my love for the outdoors. Even though it may span a couple topics (Accomplishments, Dreams, and Problems) we are just gonna have to deal with it. My love for the outdoors probably started when I went to a sleep away camp when I was around 10. It was just a month in New Hampshire with the strict rule of no electronics (except a camera). While that rule may have seemed harsh at first, and would probably make many people in my grade cringe at the thought of giving up their devices for a whole month, I took it as an opportunity to explore new things. It was  during this time that I discovered my love for the wilderness, specifically hiking and rock climbing. Because the camp lasted for a month, they allowed long trips off campus to nearby mountains or rock climbing sights. The one that stuck with me the most would have to be a week-long trip that I went on that involved long hikes up to the near tops of small mountains, and then climbing up the rest. Now as a ten year old I was probably pretty trash at climbing, but I loved it despite its difficulty. The instructors became sort of role models for me. They inspired me to go out on my own outside of camp and become invested in the outdoors. Even though I can no longer go to the camp due to timing issues between the end of camp and the start of school, My father and I like to take one trip a year to do something fun as well as getting out to the gorge whenever I can.  Over the last couple years I have hiked/climbed Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the contiguous United States), and rafted the Selway (50 miles of white water rafting in the middle of a national park). These trips are easily the highlight of every year and weigh more heavily in my mind than Christmas (which is also my birthday). In the years to come I only hope that I can continue to satiate my want for the wilderness as I choose where to go to college and eventually, what I end up wanting to do with my life.

NUMERO 8 mason saunders

Fears- hair in the bottom of the shower
Annoyances- people who chew loudly
Accomplishments- 7th Prestige on MW3
Confusions- females
Sorrows- being grounded
Dreams- graduate med school
Idiosyncrasies- fishing
Risks- speeding
Beloved possessions- my dog
Problems- my dog is getting old

My dream is to be a M.D. After high school I would like to go to attend a four year institution and major in a chemistry or biochemistry as well as minor in some type of premedical study. After completing this I hope to attend medical school and specialize in some sort of emergency medicine. I hope to be accepted into a military program that would finance my medical school and guarantee me a job straight out of medical school that promises excellent experience. Such a program would pay for med school in exchange for 3 or 4 years of service at a military hospital that either serves veterans or serves us soldiers and locals abroad in foreign nations experiencing conflict. This would provide me with a solid career and the ability to pay off any debts from college as well as put me far ahead of most other emergency/trauma doctors when I retire from the military and start working in a hospital/trauma center.

Assignment 8 Tommy Gardner

Fears: Losing control of a car on steep icy hill.

Annoyances: Bad drivers.

Accomplishments: Best driver in defensive driving class.

Confusions: Why do we continue to vote people into office that after their time in office have not done anything?

Sorrows: Pretty short.

Dreams: Work for a company that deals with demolition.

Idiosyncrasies: Quiet, until around friends. Not sure if that works,

Risks: Pilots license which pretty much have.

Beloved Possessions: This is nerdy, but my Lego Star Wars Republic Gunship which I got several years ago.

Problems: Organization

On the way home from Richmond yesterday, I saw an accident and two more almost happen. Two of them were because of bad driving, and the third was because one of the wheels came off the car. The first one was because a black Lexus cut off a pickup truck, when there was not really enough room for the Lexus to change lanes. We came up on the Lexus later and it had a scrape in the paint on the front bumper. The second near accident was with a semi truck that nearly side-swiped the same Lexus from earlier. The Lexus had been weaving in his lane, and the semi truck decided to move into the lane next to him. The truck was one of those that had two trailers attached. So the second trailer swung really close to the Lexus, who had to swerve to avoid it. In conclusion, a lot of drivers just plain suck.

8) Alec Dupont

Fears: exclusion, living an unfulfilled life, heights
Annoyances:tardiness, terrible drivers
Accomplishments: survived middle school, 4.0 gpa (till now)
Confusions: Violence in the world, crickets scoring system(seriously how does that work?)
Sorrows: Poverty, restaurants that don't sell breakfast past 10:30 AM
Dreams: College, working a job I like
Idiosyncrasies: I don't take gifts well
Risks: never taking any risks
Beloved possessions: guitar, phone
Problems: procrastination

Okay, this is going to be a rant about Lexington traffic. Are you ready?

I have to drive thirty minutes to and from school every day, and have been doing so for the last three years. I have especially noticed some of the problems since I started driving myself. There are areas that are consistently bogged down to near undrivability.

Lexington was set up to have New Circle road serve as the main route around the city, allowing for a quick way to get around town. Its a decent concept, if you have city designers who aren't complete bumbling idiots on the job. But apparently Lexington hired a bunch of monkeys to design new circle, and these monkeys decided that half of the road would have stop lights. And we're now left with a road that half of the time, flows fluidly through town; the other half bulges under the slightest rush of people. Half the stop lights on new circle are about as pointless as an ejection seat on a helicopter, leading to pointless side streets. The stoplights as well must have been programmed by a two toed sloth. tell me why half the time I spend waiting at intersections no one is crossing them. It just irritates the $@#% out of me.

Don't even get me started on the drivers themselves. Half the people in this town don't know how to use a turn signal. In my short six months of driving two people have nearly smashed into my car just because they weren't looking before turning. Not to mention that half the people in this city must be colorblind, because everyone runs red lights. This is just a result of the stop lights being so terribly programmed,

Well that ends my rant. tomorrow I'll return to the impossible streets of this town.

Assignment 8- Jessica Sunnenberg

Fears: Clowns, spiders, getting injured
Annoyances: constant clicking, ticking, tapping, mouth noises, sudden loud noises, really bright lights, stupid drivers, moist
Accomplishments: growing closer with my sister, staying healthy
Confusions: why people feel the need to put gluten in EVERYTHING
Sorrows: Broadstone
Dreams: travel the world, success, STATE, college volleyball scholarship
Idiosyncrasies: Sensitivity to light (I have to wear sunglasses outside at all times), I hate ketchup and socks, I won't use a bar of soap that somebody else has used, I peel bananas from the wrong end
Risks: eating Chick-fil-A before games (forbidden by HCVB), never wearing sunscreen
Beloved Possessions: Now- the boys, my car, anything from Broadstone, sunglasses collection, phone, my beloved headband Then- bunny blanket, carebear (a.k.a. herpes bear), many many webkinz, kitty cat sippy cup, snap circuit board
Problems: short attention span, inability to ride a bike without hurting myself, asking for help, waking up in the morning, over scheduling

Beloved Possessions Then

The infamous bunny blanket. You know that commercial where the child spills red stuff on her lamby and the parents have to occupy her with back up lamby to avoid a huge temper tamtrum while frantically working to get the red stuff out of the original lamby? Well that was me with my bunny. It was basically a bunny head with a mini pink silky blanket attached to it. My mom told me that I would sit in front of the washer until she got out and always worry that she was getting dizzy. I treasured this thing. It's still a touchy subject, but bunny got lost at the ripe old age of 4. I replaced bunny with my purple carebear which my parents ever so kindly nicknamed herpes bear. This was followed by my webkinz stage in which I insisted on getting almost every single one, big and small, for about 3 years.

Enough about stuffed animals. Let's get on to the real MVP of my childhood: THE kitty cat sippy cup. Unfortunately, for my mom, it also happened to be my sister's most beloved possession. When I say we fought over this thing, I mean war. It was a battle to determine who got to use it each day. Constant fighting and bickering. I threw a telephone book at her once to delay her just long enough to get to the cup first. And God forbid if my mother forgot to wash it. So what became of the kitty cat sippy cup? Well, my sister ended up breaking it and I still hold that against her to this day.

Assignment #8 - Daniel Kolpek

Fears: failure, being alone, the unknown
Annoyances: the sound when someone scratches a chalkboard
Accomplishments: 4.0 GPA, hiking ~120 miles in ten days
Confusions: the magnitude of our universe
Sorrows: shy, not expressing my opinion most of the time, holding grudges
Dream: accomplishing greater things in my life, going to Italy
Idiosyncrasies: loyalty, keeping my head in bad situations, organization
Risks: jumping off a cliff into water, skydiving (want), swimming with sharks
Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: stuffed animals (then), family and friends (now)
Problems: procrastination, acting before thinking about it

Fears:

 All my life I have wondered about what I can do to make the world better. I've thought about different careers I could go into, things I could invent, diseases I could try to find a cure for. Just something that will leave a mark after I am gone from this world. I don't want my life to be a waste. Failure is something I can't stomach. Whenever I don't do well on something, I get upset. So when I think about my life and the thought of failing to fulfill the purpose for it, I am terrified. You only have one chance at life, and if you fall short its over. It's not like a test or quiz for a grade that barely matters in the bigger picture. If you fail, then there is no turning back and its over. Personally, this is probably one of my greatest fear, my life being in vain. I know this is really deep stuff but I figured I might as well write about it.

Assignmnet 8- Noah Tapp

Fears: Not worthy of living, having no friends, succeeding at nothing, not knowing what I want to do in life.
Annoyances: People trying to be someone that they are not.
Confusions: What choices I want to make and what values to abide by.
Dreams: weird things about the people I associate with (even random people).
Risks: Living in the Chevy Chase neighborhood where trees can randomly fall and destroy houses.
Possessions: my friends, family, and my loyalty to the best sports teams: all University of Kentucky Sports, Cincinnati Bengals, and  Cincinnati Reds.
Difficulties. Controlling time.

 A topic I would like to expand on is making choices. Making choices goes with my confusion and difficulties. Every decision we make from what do to do on Saturday night to what colleges we apply to affect us . With so many things to choose to do its often difficult for me to decide how to spend my time. It is not that I have a difficult knowing how to make make choices, but I have a difficult time knowing what to choose. I don't have a problem telling my friends I can't hangout  or waking myself up to play tennis at 6 AM. But I do have a problem with actually deciding what to do. There are so many things that I have to do and want to do. Its challenging balancing it all and I often find myself spending more time thinking about what I should do rather than actually doing.

Assignment #8: Liz Graves

Fears: heights, public embarrassment, spiders

Annoyances: pencil clicking/tapping/squeaking, chewing with your mouth open

Accomplishments: potty-training my dog, illegally streaming shows without getting computer viruses (knock on wood)

Confusions: AP Physics, driving stick-shift

Sorrows: envy, Graeter's Coffee ice-cream (they discontinued it...)

Dreams: Travel to at least 10 different countries, go to bed before 12 a.m. on a school night

Idiosyncrasies: bookstore junkie, love the smell of kids' plastic sandals 

Risks: watched Insidious Chapter 2 (didn't sleep the entire month of January), flip off the high-dive (maybe someday)

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: Beauty and the Beast VCR Tape (then), baby-blue nail polish (now)

Problems: procrastination

I’ve grown up in the country, where if you get a little dirt in your mouth “it’s good protein.” I shouldn’t be afraid of spiders, and I wasn’t, until one fateful incident in the summer before 5th grade. 

I’m the first of four kids, so my mother feels a little more strongly about all of my child-hood firsts than my youngest sister’s. Consequently, she put off my first haircut a little too long. By the time I was in 4th grade, the single braid down the middle of my back, which had been my uniform for so many years, reached down to my hips. But what does this have to do with my fear of spiders? Well, as anyone with long hair knows, a singly loose strand of hair is not uncommon. Unfortunately, it feels exactly like a bug tickling the nerve endings on your skin. At the age of 9, I’d had my fair share of the hair-that-cried-wolf-stories, where I was positive one of the little beasts was crawling on my arm, shoulder, or leg, but upon further investigation it was only a rouge strand of hair. One hot summer day, however, I was playing in the grass outside and I felt the tell-tale tickle on my neck. It was my stupid hair again, I thought, quite literally pushing the thought aside. Still, the sensation wouldn’t go away, so I ventured a glance over my shoulder to see if a leaf or blade of grass had blown onto my back. Staring back at me were the eight jet-black legs and eyes of a gigantic Daddy-Long-Leg. I shrieked and swiped my hand across my shoulder, and watched the devil sail through the air. The image still haunts me. Even as I write this, I keep scratching my arms and shoulders. I actually have to step away from this. It still can’t talk about it. Moral of the story: spiders are horrible, god-forsaken, space-violating creatures birthed in the depths of hell.