IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING

Before I started this whole blogging thing, my thoughts were "This is going to be easy.." But I was wrong. I never thought that writing about my life, my family, school, goals, and my thoughts about the books I've read, plans after high school, people that inspired me/my supporters would be so hard. But I've learned so much about myself and what I can do to succeed. Blogging, hmmm....it was more than just blogging. It was something for me to express myself. I never thought that I would become more confident in writing about myself, my family, and other things. At first I didn't know what I would write because the whole process of blogging was really new to me even though blogging is on myspace a lot. I had less confidence in myself because I wasn't sure of what I would write about. But as I got more and more deeper into reading and writing about things I've learned and just things in general.

After looking over the stories or posts I would say, I am so proud of myself because I've done so much work and it was worth it. I never thought that I had so much courage to put all my effort into this. I am thankful for what I've accomplished. I know now that there are many things that I can explore and hopefully when I find them I will look back into this and use it as a motivation. I finally found something that helped me to express and open my mind in many ways. Now that I am a senior, I finally realized that life is all about expressing who I am and making the right decisions. I know that life is short and I need to use my time wisely. After high school, honestly I don't know what I want to do. But hopefully going to a community college will help me find what my future has in store for me.

My family, friends, and teachers have had a huge impact on my life, and they have showed me many ways to become a very successful person. Writing essays/posts has improved my literature skills. With all the support my family, friends, and teachers have shown me I've learned that no matter how hard a problem is I know that I have such great supporters beside me. As time flies by and graduation is getting closer, I now realize that everything is going to be okay and I have nothing to worry about. It has been a wonderful and great experience and privilege to write about my future goals and everything that is important in my life. I thank God for everything because I know that without him nothing is possible. In the bible, John 3:16 it says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

CLUELESS

Being clueless always happened to me. I mean after three years of high school I thought I knew what I wanted to do after high school but no, I was wrong. Right now I am in the process of applying to colleges and still waiting to take my SAT's. And still clueless. But I'm hoping and praying that I find out soon what I want to do.

In this story clueless Amy Anderson starts off with saying that she had no clue what she wanted to do. She loved writing novels and culinary arts. Now choosing a college for her was hard but her teacher gave her advice to look up colleges that interested her with the two things she loved to do. Then a speaker came to her school and told them that there was a culinary camp that they could go to and for sure Amy went. After all of that she visited so many colleges and her parents were very supportive in everything. I guess after going through visiting colleges and experiencing all the different things at each one helped her in every way to figure out what's right for her.

"The campus tours, the culinary camp, and the Writer's Guild all influenced my thoughts about the future, and in the end, they helped me decide what to do with my life."

It explains everything of not being clueless.

REASSURING WORDS

"On the tour, we visited two to three schools every day, and every day I felt as though I had been smacked across the face. None of the schools I loved on paper, with their small class sizes and world renowned English programs, were places where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life."

Reading this part of the story made me think more and more about what I want to do for the next 3-6 years of my life. I remember as I was growing up I always wanted to be a pediatrician because I love working with kids. But now I don't know what I want. I still do love working with kids but I don't know if it's right for me. I applied to different community colleges instead of universities because I think that community colleges is a good start for me and Ill move on from there. Hopefully the colleges I applied to will accept me.

"No matter where you go, it's the right choice he said."

This quote made me feel so much better because I know now that where ever I go, it's the right choice and everything will turn out fine.

AUDITION

Now this made me laugh too:

"My three-year old daughter Carolyn picked an apple from the bowl on her Nana's table, took a bite, and murmured, "I feel strange." She fell to the floor, the apple rolling dramatically from her hand. My mom was horrified, and jumped up from her chair. I continued to drink my coffee. I had witnessed this a hundred of times. Carolyn was Snow White, and had reenacted the famous poisoned apple scene."

Reading about this story, I read more about how drama ran in Lauren Andreano's family but not always in a good way. After reading this story I learned that there are so many options I could choose from. And hopefully I choose one I love.

LIFE LESSONS FROM A DOG

This part of Erika Hoffman's story really made me laugh before I read more about it:

"After she clicked the mouse and sent the common application zooming the cyber air waves, she let me read her essay. Yikes! The title of her essay was "Life lessons from a Bitch!" I froze in my tracks. "What the blankety blank were you thinking?" I blaster at her! Then, I blamed myself for not being a "helicopter mom" and insisting on reading her essay before she curiously submitted it."

And then when she read more into her essay, her essay described what she had learned from raising her puppy. It was funny because she thought her daughter was talking about her. It made me crack up.

I WISH I TOOK MORE TIME TO DECIDE

"My advice to anyone thinking about attending college is to think about it very seriously and explore all of your options well ahead of time. Even though your senior year might be packed, squeeze in those college tours and take the time to make a good decision."

My senior year is so packed with my senior project, my classes, SAT's and college applications. I've never had so many things to do in my life. It felt like my freshman year was just yesterday. I can't believe it's really my senior year and it's finally going to be over. Honestly, I am not ready for all of this I am not ready to grow up. I wish I could go back and re-do all the mistakes. I wish I could of been college ready. But I guess I have to work with what I have and do my best right? This story of Kristin Abrams helped me think more about college and how to manage my time and make good decisions.

A BLACK MARK

I liked this part of this story:

"All I regret is allowing something so small to corrode my insides for so long, when the future is determined not by mistakes that we all make at some time, but how we move on after they've been made."

It is so true. There are things in life that are so smallest problem but yet the biggest problem to us. I have been in situations where I thought the biggest situations was going to tear me apart but it was the smallest problem ever after realizing how it wouldn't mess me up at all. But it's funny how sometimes problems start so small and turn out to be big and then big problems become the smallest problems. I don't know why it is like that but I guess it helps us learn from being scared of things. Like this story, Joan Hyun Lee tells his story of how he got a C for AP Biology and it scared him so much he thought that he wouldn't get into college because of that one grade. It's funny how people worry about the smallest things, including me. Reading about his story made me realize that a small problem couldn't mess up my life. I'll always remember that change begins with me.

PRODUCT DESIGN

This part of the story relates to me because I've taken a class in 8th grade where I didn't know anything about it. Okay so product design is not about designing logos or pop cans or cereal boxes. It was about using things like drills and lathes and welders. It's kind of funny how the subject name doesn't have anything to do with it. I don't know, that's what I think. I don't remember what the class was called but I remember that we had to make things like a pencil holder, a mouse car or other things but I don't remember. But anyways, I passed the class and didn't have to worry about staying back for another year.

This part was very different from all the other stories I've read:

"Honey, you're a freshman in high school. Why are you worrying about college now? I didn't even think about college until I was a junior."

It was different because the first story I read was about Nacie was worried about college as a freshman and how they were nervous and afraid but when I read this part of the story connected to me because I didn't think about college at all my freshman year. Reading about different people on how nervous or prepared they were for college made me think more and more about college and how important it is because it is the key to success.

A WORTHY GOAL

"When I was a baby I was abandoned in an orphanage." to "Education is the key to my success. Without it, I will be an ordinary girl blending into the crowded halls of my high school. I am lucky I know what I need to do. My life may have started out poorly but I have found a way to ensure the rest of my days will be positive. Going to school may be boring to some, for me it's the only way,"

When I was reading the first paragraph of this chapter, my first thoughts were "How could this relate to getting into college?" But as I read more into it I actually enjoyed how one person started out so badly and ended up so good as to where they knew their purpose to their life. It's amazing how they started out with nothing and ended up with more than something. But I guess life is full of surprises right? I guess when it all comes down, I know that God is in the middle of our lives. I don't know but I thank God for everything that I have. I don't know what I would do if I started out with nothing, being abandoned by my parents. I don't know the feeling but I think wait no scratch that, I know that God helped each and everyone of us to get through our times of trouble. I know there are some who don't believe but I believe. And I hope some of you will believe. Reading this story made me realize how important we are to God and how we need to be thankful for everything we've got. It's interesting how this person had nothing and in the end they got everything.

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART

Reading the chapter "THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART" is very true. I thought that this part interested me the most:

"I've been waiting since the fifth grade. At the age of ten, I decided that Yale was the college for me, and anyone who disagreed wasn't even worth talking to. When someone asked me what I was going to do when I grew up, I would smile and reply that I was going to Yale. "Oh! They'd exclaim, that's a very good school. What do you want to study?" That question always stumped me. "I don't know," I wouldn't reply," but I was going to Yale anyway."

This interested me the most because it explained how ready and confident a ten year old was. I don't remember saying I was going to college when I was ten. Its very funny and cute in a way how young kids have their minds set on what they want to do and yet some people I know including me don't have a clue about what we want to do. I can use this a motivation because if a ten year old can know what they want in life I know that I can do it too.

GETTING INTO COLLEGE

Chicken Soup for the Soul Teens talk, Getting into college book is very interesting. This book helps me get over my fear of applying for college and scholarships and just because school is almost done, for me. Reading the story of Nacie Carson of how her fears of college started at her first year of high school really surprised me because when I was a freshman, I never thought about college, at all. Thinking back to my freshman year, I've never thought about college because after failing my classes, getting my grades up was the only thing I focused on and college never popped up. Nacie Carson talks about how she could of been doing other things besides worrying about college because it was her freshman year but no, she worried about preparing for college, and getting over the fears of not being accepted anywhere. She felt so much pressure because maybe her family worked so hard to get her into a private high school and expected her to go to a great college and live a fabulous life. From reading about Nacie Carson it makes me think more and more about college and how prepared I need to be because time goes by fast and I need to think about what I want to do. Her life story is so different because I've never really had the motivation about getting into college until my senior year this year. Of course my parents would tell me, "be good and pass all your classes, graduate and get into college". Yes they tell me but they've never really pushed me to where I could have been prepared to apply to colleges and scholarships. But regardless of what they haven't done to help me they try their best for me to succeed. So reading about Nacie Carson and the obstacles she went through in her high school years and now that she is in college, she truly believes that college is wonderful and a life changing experience. I think that this book is very helpful for students in high school who are scared getting into college or others out of high school who are thinking about getting into college. Hopefully, the fears that I have right now about college, I will overcome them. I will use this book as a motivation to get over my fears and help me to figure out what my plan is for my life. This book is not boring at all, it helps me a lot and teaches me how to be more confident and prepared.