"You don’t know what you have till it’s gone”

“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone” (Joni Mitchell).

     As you grow up you learn to take your parents for granted. You use them for rides, money, food, to get new clothes, have them take care of you, help you with homework, or even for them just to be around. I know it’s not as common anymore, but I grew up with two parents in a loving home. Then the day came when my father got a call. He was being called back into active duty for the Army Reserve. For several years my father was away in different parts of the world, places like Kuwait, Australia, Japan, and New York City. Growing up my father was always there for me. We had this thing where every night, I would read and he would make me chocolate milk before bed. He was like our personal chef; he always had great ideas for dinner like pizza pockets,  new things to try with noodles, and he always knew how I like my PB&J sandwiches. When he left, I  didn’t have that anymore. Granted I was in fourth grade, but not having my father there for me was harder than I thought. I never realized how much of a daddy’s girl I was until my father wasn’t there.

Musicals

This March and April is going to be a busy time. I am going to Seven, yes count them, seven high school musicals. My friends and I have always loved musicals and this year, because knowing many people from other schools, we are attending multiple musicals. I am actually really excited, I have seen a few of them before, but it will be interesting to see people I know preforming. I have no doubt in my mind that they will be fantastic, but I am not quite sure that they will top Broadways' Wicked. Last March I got to go to New York City and see it preformed. It was absolutely amazing, and if I had the chance, I would see it again. I have do doubt that in the future, I will be seeing many more musicals.

Technology

Technology means many things. Cell phones, cars, computers, ipads, medicine, machinery, etc. Computers in the home, cell phones, and Internet makes life easier, you could say. Computers in general make life much easier. We can type our papers faster than we could on a type writer or writing them by hand. It also make communication much easier. We can send an email with attachment like pictures, homework, or other important forms. Cell phones make getting a hold of someone much easier. We can just pick up the phone and call, instead of writing a letter or going to see them in person. We can also get the information we need in a much faster way. they also come in handy when driving and you get in an accident. If I crash and can't move, I possibly reach the cell phone and call for help. The Internet does wonders when it comes to getting information. We can search for papers, send emails, even look up the meaning for a word. It helps us find the information we need in a much faster way.

High School v. College

     They say that high school is preparing you for college. Wrong. I am currently still in high school but I am taking post secondary classes. I found that college is nothing like high school. I study at least 6 more hours a week, I always feel unprepared and behind, and if you don't take notes or have a good memory you are, for better words, screwed. At high school it was easy for me to get good grades. I did my work while in class, I knew my teachers so I could ask questions when needed, and I got constant reminders from teachers when things were due. College is nothing like that. I can't do my work in class because we don't get "free time" and I take tons of notes, I don't know my professors personally so it isn't as easy to just go talk to them, and many teachers give little warning when things are due. Yes, granted we have a syllabus but it is hard to adjust from getting verbal reminders. I like to call the teachers at high school babysitters. I come from a small school of only 400 high school students and the teachers there know you personally and have probably had you or a sibling in class before. The teachers give reminders, give extensions, hints on questions, make the work easier, and review the homework with you. Sounds pretty easy to pass right? It was.
     I always thought that college would be just like high school, but with less babysitting and more studying. How wrong I was. Don't get me wrong, I love doing post secondary, but when high school teachers say they are preparing you, I feel like they shouldn't baby so much and prepare us more.

The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome Response

            I believe that the essay "The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome” by Mike Adams has many good points. He uses factual information, gives us visuals,  has reasons to back up his statements, and shows us what his ideas are to solve the problems.
            In his essay he uses factual information he has collected from his studies and gives it in both text and in charts. The text helps us understand where he got his information and explains what it means. The charts give us a visual example and something to look at to give us an idea of what the numbers on the page mean. His ideas, granted they aren’t practical, but they add humor to the essay and lighten the essay up.

An Extreme Length

Today, while on MSN.com, I saw a very strange headline. "Accused killer: I preformed plastic surgery on myself." I thought to myself, that's just outrageous! The article goes on to say how a man in Tokyo, Japan had committed a murder of his British language school teacher and then ran away. He then preformed surgeries on his face and moved from area. What I don't understand is why you would commit the crime in the first place. And then secondly why would you run and preform plastic surgery on yourself? If you committed the crime, eventually you would be caught and be punished. Granted this is not always true as we know in our society, but to go through such lengths to cut up and change your face, I feel, is quite absurd.
"Accused Killer; I preformed plastic surgery on myself"

An Ideal of Service to our Fellow Man Response

Summary : Albert Einstein wrote an essay on what an idea service to a man should be. He states that we should be base our behavior off of compassion, nature, and social bonds.

Response : Einstein's essay shows that we need to help our fellow mankind in many ways. By being compassionate we show that we care about the people around us and that they do exist. We should all live and be in harmony of the people that live around us. We interact with people all day long. Whether it is sitting in class, an office, or on the streets there is interactions. Granted, we might not talk to every single person but we notice that they are there.