nicole3

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1. I can vividly remember when my birthday became the anniversary of the Thurston shooting. It was May 21, 1998. My brother, who was a freshman that year, came in to wake me up. He made sure that I was getting ready, and quickly left for school, since he was running late. I was going to the kindergarten later that morning for my 6th birthday party, so my mom was busy getting ready; collecting decorations and making desserts. I can remember me sitting, looking out the window, waiting to leave for school, and seeing my brother run back towards our house. I had never seen him run that fast in my life. He had a look of horror on his face. He rushed through the door to our mom and told her that there was a shooting going on at the school. It was then a matter of panic. My mom was calling all of the mothers to inform them of what was happening. My brother’s two best friends, and their families, came to the house to be questioned by the police, since the boys had been friends with Kip. It was such a scary day that I will remember forever. I was just happy that my brother wasn’t hurt. It was a miracle that he wasn’t. Every morning, he would go to the cafeteria to eat and hang with his friends before class. But he was running late on the day of the shooting, so he didn’t make it there. It was the only day that year that he had been late. The day my birthday became the anniversary was life changing. It won’t soon be forgotten.

2. The word prejudice means to look at someone and pre judge them. I see people pre judge others every day as I walk through the halls of Thurston. Its almost like the people think that they are better than the other person is, which is wrong. I believe that judging someone by their race, ethnicity, religion, or sex is wrong. I would stand up for anyone being harrassed by someone because of their race and such. That person being harrassed is just like everyone else. Everyone is different, but that is why everyone is unique. Your unique qualtities are what keep you from fitting into a mold, from becoming a clone, if you will. I can’t stand people who think that they can judge others. Maybe they should spend more time judging themselves.

3. My neighborhood is very quiet. We live in a housing development, so all of the houses basically look the same. My part of the neighborhood is filled with young couples who wanted to buy their first home, although there are a few grumpy old couples. Lets just say that my neighbors aren’t the nicest of people. In fact, they are pretty mean. But despite the mean neighbors, I like my neighborhood. You can’t hear the rucus of town from where I live. You just hear the chirping of birds and criqueting of frogs.

4. Empathy is when you understand what someone is going through and you sympathize with them. I last empathized with one of my friends whose parents just got a divorce. I totally knew what she was going through, so it was easy for me to help her through it. It is good to empathize with people, because it helps them realize that they are not alone. It is so much better to go through something with someone by your side, than by yourself. I definately think that you can empathize with someone that you highly dislike or are angry at. It really depends on your character. If you have good character, then you can empathize with anyone. If no one had empathy for one another, the world would be a very sad place. People would always feel alone and like no one there knows what they are going through.

5. Justice is when someone gets what they rightfully deserve. The most unjust thing I have heard of was the trial of Emmit Till’s murder. I cannot believe that his murderers got away with brutally attacking him as they did. Even when they admitted to doing the crime, they still got away with it. They definately didn’t get what they deserved.

6. My freshman year there was a lot of friction between me and my friends. They had different moral values than I did, and I kind of suffered for it. Because the fact that I was different than them and didn’t get into the stuff they did, they basically shunned me. I am not intolerant with anyone’s personal differences. I think that every one is different, and can have their own thoughts and opinions. I would most definately stand up for a friend whose personal differences were being found intolerable. I really believe in letting people think and believe in what they want to believe in.

7. People make fun of others just because they look or believe in something different than them. I do believe that racism is the beginnings of destruction for people. People feel like they have to be a certain way to be accepted; that they have to act, believe, or even look a certain way. If people would just take a step back and realize that no one person is better than the other, and that every body is unique in their own way, they would start to find that the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Therw was months and months of preparation. February 28th was coming faster and faster each day. I was practicing with the mind set of never being able to win. I knew that opera wasn’t my thing, but I was going to go at it and and try to succeed at singing my songs as well as I could.

Everyday, the competition got that much closer. I performed my songs to my choir teacher so I could get the go ahead to compete. The day after I performed for my teacher, I got sick. My voice was non-existant. I was petrified, as the competition was only three days away. As each day came and went, I saw slight improvement, but not enough to perform.

The day of the competition finally arrived, and I was more nervous than I had ever been before. The ride to LCC was absolutely dreadful. My voice was still gone, and my throat was on fire. I ws drinking tea and taking honey shots to see if it would help. It seemed to be working slightly, but not enough for me to sing. When we finally arrived at LCC, I found my vocal coach, and warmed up.

I finished my warm ups just in time for my appointment with the audjudicator. I had no idea waht was going to happen, or what I was going to do.My voice just wasn’t working. But, despite my non-existant voice, I stood before the audjudicator and said,
“Hi, my name is Nicole Knight. I am from Thurston High School. I am going to sing the Italian song, Sen Corre L’angaletta, and the French song, Beau Soir. My accompanist is Katherine Nance.” I nodded to my accompanist, who began playing the intro to my song. Then, with a sudden start, my voice rose befor the audjudicator. I could’t believe it. My was like a miracle. I finished my first song, and eased into the second. Every note, run, and trill came out exactly the way I wanted it to. I was amazing! Then, just as fast as it started, it ended.

I looked towards the audjudicator, who now had a huge smile spread across her face. She asked me,
“Are you a junior or a senior?”, to which I replied,
“Oh, neither. I am a sophomore.”
She was very, very suprised by this. Now, when you get done with your songs, the audjudicator always gives you things to work on. To me, all she said was,
“You sang so beautifully. You seem very well prepared. I don’t see how you could’ve done any better!” I was so happy with what she said, but I still didn’t think that I had a chance to win. A bunch of people compete for the title of “Best in the District” in their section, and for a chance to compete at State. So the thought of me actually winning never really crossed my mind.

I waited for about a week for my results. When they finally came, my choir teache came to tell me the verdict. He came to me, shook my hand, and said, “you did it!!”. I can’t even describe how I felt. I never thought that I had a chance of winning. The thought of me being the best saprano in the district flooded my brain. It was the greatest feeling.

This whole experience has taught me that, if I just put my mind to something, I can succeed!

Texting has definately made in impact in the communication world. To me, I find text messaging as being easier than calling someone. It is faster and easier to get ahold of someone. I use texting a lot to pass the time. For instance, when I am bored, I text people. On average, I send about 100 text messages daily. I normally end up texting only one or two people. Text messaging really doesn’t make a difference in my writing, because I don’t really use the texting lingo as others do. I text how I would write. So, in other words, texting doesn’t impact my writing. Although I do like texting, I don’t think it has a place at school. I think people who talk in the text lingo sound undereducated. Why talk in the lingo, when you can just talk like a normal person? Some people actually find it annoying, rather than cool. Another thing with text messaging is that people seem to have more confidence when they text. They say things in their text messages that they would never say to the person, in person. So instead of talking to people face to face, people are starting to find that texting is easier, and I partly agree.

In my book, Enchantment, by David Spoto, it showed Audrey as always being a really giving and compassionate person. What I have learned from her life is that working to help people who don’t have a voice, is even more of a blessing than being famous or rich. Its like giving someone the shirt off of your back. It ultimately makes you feel great. The feeling is better than wealth itself. When Audrey was asked to work with UNICEF, an organization for children suffering from hunger, disease, and homlessness, she stated, ” I have been given an enormous privelege…It’s to speak for those children who can’t speak for themselves. Its an easy task, because children have no enemies. To save a child would be such a blessing.” (pg.292)

To me, a blog is telling a story or stories about certain times in your life to people all over the world, by internet. I have seen and heard about blogs mostly from myspace. I have been using computers since i was about 5. I usually work as a secretary for my grandfather, where you work with computers a lot of the time. So you could say that i am very comfortable with computers. I am usually on the internet, like on myspace. But I sometimes balance checkbooks, and use Microsoft Excel to make checksheets for my grandpa. I also make dvd slideshows and movies for my family, and for birthday parties, on my computer.
Personally, I really like writing. Although, I don’t like forced writing, like having to write for a class. I usually write in a journal about my day and stuff like that, but I sometimes write poems. I find writing as a way to get your problems and feelings off your chest.
The internet is a feeding ground for predators. Everyone knows that. So parents really want to make sure that their kids are being as safe as possible while they are on the internet. I think the internet can be dangerous, but it isn’t really that dangerous. My friends normally use the internet to communicate. Like through myspace, or facebook. I think that using the blogs is a cool idea. I think it is better than having to speak infront of the class, even though we have to anyways.

I chose the book “Enchantment” by Donald Spoto, which is about the life of Audrey Hepburn. I chose this book because Audrey Hepburn is my favorite actress of all time. She had so much beauty and grace, it is remarkable. The author captured who Audrey really was. How some people thought she was all glamour, but in reality she preferred casual clothes above anything. I chose this book myself. I wanted to learn more about Audrey, because I am actually related to her and she has always been my hero. Also to learn about how she went about life and her compassionate views on charity.