Theme Week Two

When I think of major events that happened during my lifetime, a many things come to mind. The earliest and most devastating event was 9/11. I was very young in 2001 when the twin towers of the World Trade Center were attacked. I remember my teacher being called out of our classroom. She returned with tears in her eyes saying school would be let out early that day. Only when I got home did I find out what happened from my parents.
During the summer of 2009, “the king of pop” , Michael Jackson passed away. I remember how fast word spread throughout the internet and television. It was such a shock to the world especially when his death was ruled as a homicide. MJ had been right in the middle of rehearsing for a series of concerts. Shortly after his death, the footage from his rehearsals were put together in a movie called This Is It. My high school music teacher was such a big fan of Michael Jackson he made us watch the movie in remembrance of him when summer break was over.
Osama Bin Laden had been a wanted fugitive since 2001. It was believed that he was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. In 2011, Bin Laden was finally found and killed in Pakistan. Many Americans were thankful for what the U.S. Navy had done. However, it still didn’t change the great loss and devastation from 9/11.
In 2008 the United States was forever changed as Barack Obama became the first black president. Two months ago my best friend and I stayed up all night to watch the election between Obama and Mitt Romney. Less than a week ago millions of people watched President Obama’s inauguration for his second term. It was stated that it was the most popular inauguration day since Reagan in 1981.
The school shooting in Newtown, Massachusetts struck many Americans with grief. Sadly both adults and children were killed during the event with a death total of twenty-seven. The families of the killed victims had to deal with a heartbreaking loss so close to the holidays.  
It’s such a tragedy that those teachers and children were killed in that way.
Same-sex marriage has been a very popular and controversial topic for as long as I can remember. Each year it seemed the debate of gay marriage increased until this year when it came to a boil. As of January 2013, the nation was split as the supporters and non-supporters of same-sex marriage finally witnessed its legalization.
The past couple of years the small item of bath salts was turned into such a deadly drug. To my surprise, the Bangor Police Department told my school that Bangor, was the “home” of bath salts. In 2011, that nation was shocked when a man on bath salts ate another man’s face off in Miami. To make it worse the video footage of the attack was released on the internet. Why anyone would want to watch that is beyond me.
Lately I’ve been wondering what this world has come to. From using bath salts as a drug to the shooting in Newtown, Massachusetts. I have witnessed so many world changing and shocking events occur during my short eighteen years of life. I am sure there will be many more to come as years go by.

Prompt #8

I don’t know if everyone is scared of starting high school but I know my friends and I were terrified. The summer before our freshman year, we begged our parents to home school us. Of course the answer was no. My parents insisted that everything would be okay and I would love high school. As always, my parents were right. My first year of high school wasn’t that bad. In fact, my freshman year was probably my favorite year. Despite the mean popular students, the rowdy seniors, and the inevitable high school drama. I had interesting classes, great teachers, and made lifelong friends. High school held many doors for new opportunities. For the first time ever I actually found myself involved with school. I joined an art club, the Key Club (an organization that helped the school), and S.E.E.D (Students Ending Environmental Destruction). High school was such a big adjustment from middle school. It was a whole new world to me. It was something I never thought I would miss. However, now that I am in college I find that I do miss high school, especially freshman year.

Prompt #7

For the past two years my best friend has made me photo albums for Christmas. This year my album was full of memories from my senior year. The first pages are filled with pictures of my friends and I; bowling at the bowling alley, celebrating birthdays, hanging out on New Years, and just random pictures at school. There is one picture from our Senior Banquet where a senior prank got out of hand. Some of the senior boys opened all of the unlocked lockers and threw everything in them on the floor. Our principal was not happy. It was his first year as principal of Bangor High School and I think he learned many lessons from my class. Three pages are reserved for Prom. My three best friends and I are posing with our dates at Cascade Park. When we all wanted to leave, our parents clung on to us asking for one more picture. One more picture turned into thirty more pictures. The last pages are from our graduation. Some pictures show my friends and I with big smiles as we show off our caps and gowns. Others show group hugs with tear filled eyes as we said goodbye to our high school lives. This photo album is so special to me. Flipping through the pages brings back so many memories of such a wonderful chapter in my life.

Prompt #6

  One thing many people don’t know about me is that I collect cards that I‘m given. I keep them all whether it’s a birthday card, Christmas card, or a thank you card. As my collection grows so does the container I keep them in. First I started out with a shelf, then a clear container, then a drawer, now they reside in a box. Every once in a great while I will flip through the cards and read the funny or heartfelt notes from friends and family; it brings back memories. I have the last card my grandfather ever sent me before he moved and ended all contact with his entire family. I have three of the same card because my grandmother has bought me the same birthday card for the past three years without realizing it. I have a card my best friend made me with quotes from our favorite television show. I even have a card where my aunt used origami to fold money into a small heart. I never unfolded it to see what the bill actually was. The bill is still neatly placed inside it’s card. Every card I receive is special to me because it shows that the people around me care.

Day 7

I couldn’t believe it when I automatically woke up at five this morning and it was the weekend. I was greeted with a smile by my grandmother in the computer room. I let her sign in to her email so she could learn how to do it on her own. It took ten minutes but she successfully signed in. This time her inbox said that she had a new message. I don’t think I have ever seen my grandmother so excited. She couldn’t even keep her hand steady as she clicked on her inbox. I knew I finished reading the email before she did because she was still smiling and it wasn’t good news. Slowly, as she finished reading her smile disappeared. The email said that they were willing to meet but they didn’t have anyone in Bangor to do a routine check up after the adoption. Therefore, they didn’t think it would work out and stated that they thought Sweetie should stay local anyways. Seeing that it was finally over, I saw no reason to stay and decided to keep myself busy the rest of the day with homework. It wasn’t until dinner that I found out my grandmother had sent one more email in a last attempt to persuade the dog rescue to reconsider letting her adopt Sweetie. Since I wasn’t with her when she typed the email, I have no idea what it actually said. My grandmother said she basically asked if she could get someone from the Humane Society to do the routine check up, would they be willing to work with her. I highly doubt that the email will change the dog rescue’s mind. However, that did not stop me from hoping that tomorrow morning there would be a new message in my grandmother’s inbox.

Writing Biography

I am always a little bit self-conscious with my writing. It all started in eighth grade when my teacher read my essay out loud to the class as an example of “what not to do”. My teacher turned my bad essay into a lesson. She went around and asked each student what they would have done differently on my essay. I was humiliated as classmates pointed and laughed at me. I’m not the greatest writer but I still didn’t think my essay was that bad. Also, I don’t think I deserved to have my teacher humiliate me the way she did. I had two other bad writing experiences in high school. In my first year of high school, there was this teacher whom a lot of students hoped they would not get  because it was rumored that she was mean. I was disappointed when I saw her name on my schedule and hoped I wouldn’t have too much trouble in her class. One of our assignments was to right a persuasive essay. I had done a couple before and felt that it would be an easy assignment. I was wrong. The first draft I passed in to her she didn’t like because I was too nice. The second draft I was too mean. She made me rewrite the essay over again four times. After she read my fourth draft she told me that she changed her mind and agreed the first draft was fine. The last bad writing experience I had was during my senior year. Every senior was required to type a research paper on any topic they chose. One of my favorite things at the time was marine life so I chose to write about the horrors of dolphin slaughters. I worked very hard every day during the two months we were given to complete the project. One of my friends who was in the same class kept putting the project off even after the due date. I watched as she typed up a random essay to turn in. She passed in her research paper sixty days late and still got three points higher than me. I couldn’t believe that my teacher accepted it sixty days late and not even take late points off from it. Later I found out my friend wasn’t the only one who escaped late points on their paper. When another student and I asked the teacher why she didn’t take late points off she said it was because the essays made her laugh. I’m not sure if I’m self-conscious about my writing because of these experiences but they definitely did not help matters any.

Day 6

This morning I woke up to my alarm clock. I was surprised that my grandmother didn’t wake me up to help her sign in to her email. I headed to the computer room but found her in the kitchen crying. I swear my heart stopped for a few seconds. I immediately thought something terrible must have happened. When I asked what happened she replied that she couldn’t get on to her email. For a second I was taken aback. By the way she was crying, I was expecting her to say that there was a death in the family. Instead she was upset because she locked herself out of her email. I assured her that everything was fine and I would fix it. I had no school so I had the whole day to figure out what the issue was. I thought it would take me a little bit to figure out what was wrong but it only took a minute. The problem turned out to be that she put a period after com in her email. Such a small thing made such a big issue. My grandmother was relieved that I got back into her email but upset because there were still no new messages. Since she didn’t have to work today she was able to check her email on her own, and check she did. Every hour she went on email to see if she had any messages about Sweetie. Her efforts were for nothing; another day passed with no updates on the situation of adopting Sweetie.    

Prompt #3

Alone in a quiet classroom. I’m too tired to focus on any work so instead I look around the room. Tables with computers on them surround the room. Not a single chair is left empty. Students sit in their chairs staring at their computer screens. Fingers type quickly across the keyboards. A projector projects the  teacher’s computer screen on the front wall. The teacher’s computer background changes every minute. One minute it’s a lighthouse with seagulls and the next it’s a group of cartooned creatures. The walls are bare just showing the off white paint. The teacher’s background is now a pile of leaves. The back wall is covered with windows. My seat is facing the windows so I can see outside. I find myself staring at a parking lot. Conveniently, it’s the parking lot where my car is. However, I’m not able to see my car from where I am sitting. Still, it makes me want class to end quicker so I can go home.

Day 5

Woken up two hours early again I was not too happy. I could tell that checking my grandmother’s email at five in the morning was going to be a routine. Might as well get used to it. When I logged in there were no new messages. My grandmother asked if I would check again before I left for classes. I did as she asked but yet again there was no reply. I left for school confused and my grandmother left for work discouraged. It was very long day full of classes and errands to run. When my grandmother and I finally got home we were both tired. My grandmother wanted to go to bed but I still had hours of homework ahead of me. Still, when I walked into the door I headed to the computer to check the email without having to be asked to do so. Standing behind me, my grandmother watched over my shoulder as I signed on. Again the screen showed no new messages.    

Prompt #2

Alone in my living room. It’s quiet as I do my homework. Is it actually quiet? What can I hear? When I close my eyes, noises I don’t usually pay attention to fill my ears. In front of me my laptop hums as it is left on. Beside me my cat purrs happily in his sleep on the couch. Across the room, a wall clock ticks as time passes by. A family heirloom that will most likely be mine one day. Melting snow drips periodically on the closest window. It sounds as if a faucet was left on at a drip. A movie spins continuously in the DVD player. A reminder that I forgot to turn the player off. Both of the vents in the room rattle as the heat flows out of them. Overhead a light bulb slightly buzzes. A sign that I will need to change it soon. It surprises me the amount of noise that I block out when I’m focused. However, that is probably a good thing because then I would never be able to focus on anything. I would constantly be thinking about things. I hate winter because of the cold weather and snow. I need to turn off the DVD player. That movie “Pitch Perfect” was pretty funny. I wonder how high the heat is up? It’s nice and warm in here which is a lot better than outside. I really hate winter. That light bulb is going to have to be changed as soon as possible. Now that I’ve noticed the buzzing sound it’s driving me crazy. Now that I’ve tuned in these sounds I can’t focus on my homework.  

Day 4

This morning my grandmother woke me up two hours early to help her log in to her email. Since I’m not a morning person, being woken up that early at five was not a good start to my day. Tired and a little aggravated, I signed into my grandmother’s email for her. After my early wake up call, I had no patience what so ever to wait fifteen minutes for her to sign in. To her delight there was an email about Sweetie. The rescue place basically said that they were very grateful for her interest in Sweetie and hoped that they could make a meeting where she could meet the dog. They have a policy where they have to meet the people wanting to adopt a dog which is totally understandable. However, they forgot to mention in their ad that Sweetie was in Montreal. This was a problem because neither my grandmother or I had a passport in order to go get the dog. Not knowing what to do my grandmother sent another email asking for a compromise. She proposed that they meet at the Canadian boarder and she would pay for the dog rescue driver’s gas. On her way to bed she told me that tomorrow she was going to see how long it would take to get a passport and asked if I could start dinner. I was completely surprised at the lengths she was going to for just one dog but nodded in agreement anyways.

Prompt #1

Alone in a hot, college classroom. How did I get here? It seems just like yesterday that I was in high school. Things were so simple except for the inevitable high school drama. One thing that did confuse me in high school was the choice of my career path. When my guidance counselor asked where I wanted to go to college I had no ideas. I had no idea what I wanted to go to school for or do as a career. After weeks of thinking, my mind was still blank. I decided to just apply to colleges around my home; University of Orono, University of Augusta at Bangor, and Eastern Maine Community College. To my surprise I was accepted to all three schools. Based on price I thought it would be wise to get my liberal studies at EMCC then transfer once I found a major I was interested in. So here I am in my second semester of liberal studies at Eastern Maine Community College with still no major in mind.

Day 3

The minute I got home from school today my grandmother ushered me to the computer room. She was so excited to use the computer and search for a dog. To my surprise she remembered everything I had taught her the day before. She probably would have been fine searching for dog rescues by herself but she insisted that I sit near her in case she had a question. Bored out of my mind, I sat next to her, slightly on the verge of losing my patience. My grandmother started to get discouraged since every dog she liked had already been adopted. However, she repeatedly said that she would find the perfect dog for her. After two hours she found the dog she wanted on a site called “petfinder”. The dog was a female, fawn, seven year old pug named Sweetie. The only contact information the ad listed was an email address. It took another hour to help my grandmother set up an email account and send a message to the given email address. The message said “I am very interested in your little fawn pug Sweetie. The moment I saw her I knew she was the dog for me. When you receive this email, I would really appreciate it if you emailed me back or called me at 207-947-_ _ _ _. Thank you so much and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Bonnie Longstreet”.

Day 2

Today I had the challenge of teaching my grandmother how to use her computer and the internet. I always assumed teaching an elderly person how to use the internet would be hard. I just never knew how hard it actually would be. A computer, let alone the internet, is a whole new world to an elderly person. My grandmother was amazed and absolutely confused. It took me a half an hour just to teach her how to plug it in and turn it on. After three hours and a lot of patience, she finally knew how to get on Google and search for information. I was relieved and happy with what we had accomplished in those hours. Still, we were both tired from the lesson and agreed to continue tomorrow.

Day 1

My grandmother decided today, out of the blue, that she wanted a dog. I agreed to help her learn how to use the internet in order to find a dog to adopt. However, I couldn’t help her today because it was the first day of second semester at school and I had a lot of homework. My grandmother was understanding and said we could start tomorrow when I got home. I knew when I decided to help that it would be difficult. It took quite a while for my cousin and I to teach her how to use her cell phone. None of us lost our patience and now she text messages as well as I do. It shouldn’t be that hard to teach her how to use a computer and the internet. Although, this time I wouldn’t have help teaching her. My grandmother was so excited that I agreed to help her she would not stop smiling. She promised me over and over again that she would be the best student. I had to laugh to myself when she even got her pad of paper and pen out next to the computer. She was definitely excited and anxious to get started.