Big Fat Long Essay Thing

Okay, so in my language arts class, we were given an assignment a month ago that I finally go around to doing in the past two days.  Yeah, procrastination.  It was easy though, so it didn't matter.  I had to type five essays, and my mom had to type one.  They were all about my favorite subject.....me!  Haha.  Anyways, I thought I would put mine on my blog in case any of you out there are bored enough to read it....so enjoy!

Myself, the Writer

I love to write. Whether it's an essay, a story, or a report, I love to do it. Sometimes others are more fun or interesting than others, but for the most part I enjoy all forms of writing. I have loved writing for as long as I can remember. I have been taught proper punctuation and formatting of writing, and, personally, I think I have it down pretty well.

One thing that I find hard in writing is the point of view that the story is told. Past, present, or future. I am currently working on writing a story that is written in the present. I have always written things in the past, so this change of view is difficult for me to write in.

One thing that I find that I do very well in writing is the way the piece of writing sounds. I am able to combine words and sentences to provide a rhythmic sound when spoken aloud, often sounding like myself. I have found that in the past few years my vocabulary has become quite larger, and I am able to use more advanced words when writing. Something else that I find myself doing well on is punctuation. In the past years, my teachers have taught me proper places to put periods, semicolons, commas, hyphens, quotations marks, and several other symbols. I rarely have to stop and think about exactly where I need to place a symbol as such.

The most difficult writing assignment that I have ever completed was done last year. The assignment was very confusing, and the teacher made it very hard to understand exactly what she wanted in the typed final. Nevertheless, I did a lot of research and put in a lot of hard work and was able to get a good grade on it.

I have several favorite authors who have, in a way, inspired me to become a good writer. One of them is R.L. Stine. He is well known for his “Goosebumps” and “Fear Street” series of books. I love how he puts lots of tension in his stories and how he makes all of the characters seem like real people. Another author I admire is Jack Weyland. He writes young adult L.D.S. novels. I like him for the same reason I like R.L. Stine. His books make the characters seem real, and sometimes I am able to relate to them.

All in all, I love writing and think of myself as a pretty good writer. I enjoy all different types of writing. Often times, if I'm bored I will sit down and write something, weather it's an idea, a story, or even a series of random words. I think that if I really wanted to, I could become a well-known author. My friends, family, and teachers tell me my writing is great, and that is just another reason in why I have made writing such a big part of my life.

 

Myself, the Reader

I love to read even more than I love to write. I have always enjoyed reading, and there is rarely a night that goes past in which I do not sit down to read for at least a little while. I have been known to, on occasion, read for several hours at a time. Once in a while, I will even spend the whole day reading. If I were to describe myself in simple words, one of them would be “bookworm.”

I have always like Fantasy and Horror books. Lately, I have taken a like to Realism and other genres I have never really been interested in before. Some of my favorite series of books are the “Fear Street” series for teenagers by R.L. Stine and the Young Adult L.D.S. books by Jack Weyland. The reason I like the ones written by R.L. Stine is because they're horror. I have always loved Horror stories and after discovering R.L. Stine, I was hooked. I love the books by Jack Weyland because I can relate to almost all of them. Sometimes I can understand what the people are going through and what trials they are facing. His books have also taught me critical life lessons.

One thing I really hate is when a teacher assigns a certain genre to his or her students. I prefer to read books that I have chosen myself. One of my teachers last year was particularly picky about this and would only let us read certain books for certain genres if she fully approved of them. Personally, I didn't like her much.

One thing that is a little frustrating for me is my lack of concentration for certain types of books. If the book is boring or hard to make sense of, I will often find my mind wandering to other random things. At these times I have to force myself to go back and reread what I missed and then concentrate on the rest of the book. Another thing I should probably work on, although it isn't exactly bad, is reading the last page of the book or chapter before I finish it. Yeah, I do that sometimes. Most common for me is when I am on the last page of a chapter, and I can see that it ends, I will look down at the last line of the page, often revealing a big surprise.

This year I don't really have any specific goals pertaining to my reading. I enjoy reading and feel that I am maintaining a good selection of different types of books that help me obtain a greater vocabulary range. To sum it up, I love reading, and it is one of my most favorite things to do at school and at home.

Piano and Me

I love playing the piano. It is one of the greatest parts of my life. I have been playing for about four years, but am far more advanced than normal for someone who has only been taking for that long. I love the wonderful feeling of being able to sit down at the piano and play beautiful and complicated pieces that lots of people could only think about playing. The music flows throughout me and brings me a sense of peace and security.

I have had two piano teachers. The first one's name is Kathy Heniger. She used to be my mom's piano teachers when she was a kid. She gave me lessons for about three years. She was (and still is) a wonderful pianist. She is one of the few people who have put years and years and years into practicing and perfecting piano and has the ability to simply sit down and play any type of piano music. Finally, after coming a very long way with her, I decided to quit. I didn't like her as much anymore and was ready to be done. For a few months I was perfectly content without a piano teacher and being able to explore different songs on my own. Finally, about four months after I quit taking lessons from Kathy, we (my mom and I) heard of a piano teacher named Annette College. We decided to try her. After a couple of lessons I realized that she was a fabulous teacher. I really like her. In the seven months I have been taking from her, I have come such a long ways. She teaches dozens of students and all of them, including me, are progressing to extremely advanced levels.

Ever since I've been taking lessons from Annette, I've realized that I love and appreciate piano so much. I plan on playing forever because it's almost like it's a part of me. I have performed in front of audiences and thoroughly enjoy the thrill of playing in front of people and then seeing the astonished and proud looks on their faces. It never gets old. I never tire of hearing the compliments and seeing the smiles that people give me after I have performed a piece perfectly. Sometimes I will play piano pieces for my friends. After I finish playing, they will stare at me and then only be able to say, “Wow,” with the most amazed expressions on their faces.

Jon Schmidt is a famous piano player. I have learned, and am learning, some of his many songs. His songs are the hardest I've ever done, but the most pleasing and satisfactory. Kathy Heniger, my old piano teacher, is actually friends with him. I have been to two of his concerts, and his music is what inspired me to become a great piano player. When I am an adult, I would like to perform in front of huge audiences, like he does, playing all different types of piano pieces.

I think that the piano is the best type of instrument there is although lots of people disagree. I don't mind though. That's just my opinion. I love playing and don't plan on stopping any time soon.

Me Back When

Several years ago, something happened that would change my life forever. It wasn't a good thing, and I still don't appreciate the fact that it happened. I suppose, though, that I should start by explaining what exactly it is that I am talking about....

November 26, 2003 was the day that I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I was four years old. There were lots of series of events leading up to that day. Here are some of them.

I was constantly drinking water and going to the bathroom. There were times when I had absolutely no energy and couldn't hardly make myself exhort any physical effort. There were other times when I was sick or had headaches or just couldn't concentrate on anything. My mom, being a nurse at the time, knew that these were symptoms of diabetes, but for a while simply passed it off as a phase that most young children go through. Finally, however, she took me to the doctor.

At the doctor's they did some tests and told us that we needed to go to the hospital. Yeah, that's kind of when one would start to seriously freak. Anyways, my mom took me to the hospital and it was there that I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That's not exactly the dream of a four year old.

I remember, as though it wasn't too long ago, my mom and dad sitting at a table in some room in the hospital. A doctor was explaining to my parents what was expected to happen and how we could work through everything. I remember the worried look on my dad's face and the tears streaming down my mom's cheeks, her chin resting on her hand. I remember when some adult (I don't remember who) tried to give me a shot, I sat there and screamed bloody murder. What else can you expect from a four year old? You can't expect a little kid to quietly sit there while people she has been taught to trust and love are coming at her with scary objects. These people are supposed to protect her, not hurt her.

That day had a major impact on my life. I am able to manage my diabetes well now. I have been giving myself my own shots since I was seven. I have been pretty much managing myself since I was about 10. I wish I didn't have diabetes. It kind of stinks.... a lot. Not only for me, but for my younger siblings. They have a much higher risk of getting diabetes than other children. So will my kids in the future. That's something that worries me a lot; I don't want any child to have to go through what I had to and still do go through. Yes, they would get used to it, but always there would be the one question in the back of their mind. Why me?

The Future and Me

Before I begin explaining what my plans for the future are, I need to point out one thing. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and, yeah, I'm proud of it.

I plan on getting married in the temple to a worthy priesthood holder and return missionary. Of course, I don't know exactly when that will be, but it's definitely going to happen. That's the biggest thing I want to happen in my life, my number one goal, my top priority.

In my religion, young men go on missions at age 19 and young women go, if they want to, at age 21. All of my life I haven't had the desire to serve a mission. I would rather get married and raise a family. That is perfectly acceptable for young women. However, lately I have been thinking that maybe, when the time comes, I may want to serve one. I have plenty of time to think about it though. Eight years, to be exact.

When I am older, I want to have several kids, at least four. I know from watching my parents that raising children is not an easy task. It requires a lot of time a patience, but in the end it's all worth it. I want to be able to teach my children about the gospel and encourage them to live the right way. I have always dreamed of having children of my own, and I am far more than willing to go through struggles and trials for them.

In my family, my mom makes all of the major decisions for the girls, such as when they get to wear makeup, what types of jewelry and clothes they are allowed to wear, if they are allowed to color their hair, etc. I am the oldest, and I have found that as I get older, I get a lot more leeway with that type of stuff. I want to be a mom like that to my children, especially the girls.

The thing I want most for my future family is for all of us to be happy. I want to be able to teach my children the value of family and memories. I will encourage them to read the scriptures and have daily family prayer and scripture study like we do in my home now. They will hear stories of how their dad and I met and what temple we got married in and several others of the like. My wildest dream for my future isn't really that wild. I want my own a family as my future.

Okay, so now you're probably thinking she actually writes like that for school?  The anwer is yes.  Teachers like to read essays that are written the way the student talks, and I talk like that....I think.  I don't really know.  Anyways, enjoy it, love it, blah blah.\

Oh, and by the way, here's a link to my mom's blog for her part of the essay: CLICK