Oxygen is Overrated

When most people talk about swimming, they instantly think of Michael Phelps. Or those people who always smell like chlorine. But to a swimmer, it is much, much more than that. It is a lifestyle, a family, a sport, and the greatest thing in the whole world. For me to go without swimming is like a fish without water-- unnatural and insane.
My older sister inspired me to swim, and I really haven’t stopped ever since. She swam for seven years, and I have been swimming for six. She taught me how to swim in a lake up north and I fell in love. Although we have never actually swum together on a team because of our age difference, it is a common interest, and it is nice to have someone to talk to about it who understands.
There is something about the water that is so calming and enjoyable that makes me jump in every day year-round. Swimming is not something you can do just on the side, it is a major commitment. Practice is six days a week for two hours. In high school swimming you have practice nine practices a week and five days of “dry-land”. Swimming is kind of like a hate-love relationship. You love it, but at the same time you hate the hard sets and morning practices. Meets are a three day event over the weekend. They can last from anywhere from three hours to five, depending on the size. High school swim meets are only an hour, but they are much more important and have faster competition. Swimming takes up a lot of your time and energy, so it becomes a sort of lifestyle. Eat, sleep, swim, that is basically how it is for most of us—especially during high school season.
Your team becomes like your unofficial second family. Even more so, the other people in your lane. You spend about all of your time with them, for morning and night practices, meets, team bonding trips, staying overnight for a meet, you name it—we are always together. Your lane mates know you when you are crabby, hyper, sad, frustrated, happy, and hurting. They go through those long painful sets with you, and make it so much better. It’s hard to say whether or not I could make it through those practices without my friends by my side. It’s what makes even the hardest practices, or the most disappointing races worth it and bearable.
Swimming has taught me some of the most important lessons in life, and given me the greatest experiences. I have learned discipline, getting up at quarter to five in the morning for practice before school, and then trudging it right back to the pool again for yet another practice—without complaining (too much). I have learned good sportsmanship, and how to be a winner and a loser. Not every race can be your best race and I have learned how to deal with that disappointment. I have learned what it is like to be on top, and modesty. I have made the best of friends through swimming. Not only on my own team, but from competing against other teams from all over. I have been able to travel all over the state, and see different places because of meets. I have been able to reach my fullest potential in something that I love and do something to be proud of myself. It is something that I love and will do for a long time.

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Big Fish!

Walking around the lake up north had always been a family tradition for my cousins and I. It was miles around and would take the whole day to go completely around. I was really young the first time my mom let me walk around with my cousins, maybe six or seven; I was crazy and naive. It was so hot that day, almost ninety degrees without a cloud in the sky to hide the blistering sun. We walked along the sandy shore, not expecting a single thing to go wrong.
We had barley gone past a couple cottages when we reached an old man pouring fresh, wet cement into a pit. His dog sat, panting beside him. The scruffy dog smelled a cat though, and took off running. The old man set down his cement supplies and ran after his dog, leaving the wet cement totally unattended. Being seven, and curious, I decided to stick my hands into the cement making a perfect outline. Only as soon as I tried to pull them out-- they were stuck. Just then, the old man came back with his dog, and saw me squatted next to his wet cement, with my hands stuck in them.
"You!" He yelled, and ran towards me, his dog on his heels. I pulled and I yanked, but the quick-dry cement was almost hardened. My cousins yanked me up, and the whole cement tablet came with it attached to my hands. Pulling me along, my cousins raced out of his yard and just kept running, not paying attention to where we were going. The heavy cement weighed down on my weak hands and arms, but I could still hear the man running after us, and the dog barking so I didn't dare stop.
When we finally lost him, and got a chance to look around at our surroundings, we realized that we had no idea where we were. The sandy beach had turned into a muddy swamp, and willow trees blocked out much of the sunlight. An old, withered, red cabin hid behind the shadows of the trees. The windows were boarded up, and no light shown through. The only noise was my small whimpering of pain from the heavy cement still glued to my hands.
"Oh Sarah, come here," my oldest cousin said, holding a big stick. He began hitting the edges of the cement to break it off, and the noise echoed throughout the swamp. Suddenly, we heard a faint, eerie call coming from the cabin. Our heads all snapped up to see the door to the cabin slowly opening. At first, it seemed as if just the wind blew it open, no one was there. But after a minute a short, wrinkly, old woman appeared on the porch.
"It's a witch! It's a witch, and this is her haunted house!" I whispered to my cousin.
"No I'm not," the woman on the porch crackled. I gasped, amazed that she heard me. She came down the steps, across the lawn, and right up to me. She tapped three times on the piece of cement and it instantly crumbled into dust. I gasped, and my eyes widened to the size of watermelons.
"If you're lost, go straight back behind my house, and continue walking until you reach the dirt road. Turn left, and just keep walking," she croaked. But none of us moved, we just continued to stare, wide eyed and wondering.
"Go on now, I can tell-- your parents are worried".
Too scared to move, but too scared to stay we slowly stood up and began to walk away. I could hear her crackle of a laugh as we walked on, still questioning if she was telling us the honest truth or not; but it was better than still sitting in front of her house.
Sure enough, the road led us back to our cabin, and our parents were worried. Of course they didn't believe that a real witch lived on the lake, but we would always believe.

The Battle for the Sea & the Islands

China should negotiate with other countries about the ownership of the Paracel Islands.
China will have a better relationship with the countries around them. In the New York Times article, "Vietnam Enlists Allies to Stave Off China's Reach" it says that five other countries are claiming parts of the islands, or the South China Sea: Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. That is a lot of countries. It is important for China to either continue, or build a strong relationship with these countries. They are neighbors and always be connected by these islands and waterways. It would be good to have a positive attitude towards each other. Also stated in the same New York Times article, that the Vietnamese and Chinese governments have labeled this year to be their "Year of Friendship". This is not a good way to start off. Being a super power to Vietnam will not help Chinese appearance, or the relationship with Vietnam.
China is being over controlling with Vietnam in the South China Sea. Having military presence in the area, and taking unneeded action are two completey different things. Chinese military has controlled the perimeter since 1974. It may be time that China steps back though, and looks at the force . "Detaining Vietnamese fishermen, warning foreign oil companies away from working with Vietnam ... seizing fishermen and vessels..." is all apart of the action China is taking against Vietnam. It is not right and not fair. Such abrupt actions needn't take place when Vietnam is continuously asking for negotiations and discussions between Vietnam and the other countries, as said in the New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/world/asia/05hanoi.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print).
China does not have the right to continue taking control of the area. Since there is no legit ownership, or country claims for the islands, why is it China's and not any one else's? Just because their military is there? If the islands and waterways are not any more closer to one country than another, who is it for China to decide it can be theirs? Negotiations should take place to help evenly decide the sovereignty issues there.

Hello 2010 :)

I had to babysit my little brother on New Years Eve, so I didn’t get to go out with friends or anything. I stayed home with him, and played games and watched movies. It was very uneventful. We did watch the ball drop in New York City on TV though, which was really cool. I like to watch it and see all the people there. I’ve always wanted to go to New York City for Christmas and New Years. My brother is eight years old, so he went to sleep pretty much right after the ball dropped.

In 2009 a lot happened. For one, I am officially done with grade school and moved on to high school! That was a really big change. It was like starting school all over again, being the youngest ones and trying to adjust. I made the 2009 girls swimming & diving state team also, which was one of my proudest moments of 2009. I was so excited to be one of the only two freshmen to make it to the state qualifying meet. I’m happy to be leaving behind physical therapy in 2009. I was in physical therapy twice that year, and I am glad to be done with it finally.

In 2010 I’m looking forward to the rest of the school year. Just 6 more months until we are out of school now! I am looking forward to the USS swimming state qualifying meet, which happens in March. I’m also excited to start drivers ed. I am now legally allowed to take the class, and I can’t wait.

A New Years resolution would be to not wait until the last minute to start my cultural event projects, because it is very stressful. For these last three, I’m going to try and start right away so I’m not stressing the week before.

Christmas Time :)

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love spending time with my extended family. On Christmas Eve we have a party with my dad’s side of the family. We’re very Italian, so there is tons of pasta and delicious treats. My favorite food is the lasagna my aunt makes. It is so cheesy and has lots of garlic—yum! Every year my grandma wears this sparkly Santa pin; and every year, she tells us the “Santa Pin Story”. This pin is my grandma’s absolute favorite. It shines, sparkles and glimmers. She pinned it onto a sweater, and wore it a party once. When she came home she flipped the sweater inside out and put it on a hook behind her door. The next morning, she realized her pin was gone! She searched everywhere and called the hosts of the party and told them to search too. She was so depressed she lost her pin, she wrote into the newspaper, asking them to write a column about her missing pin. By the end of the week, her pin was still missing. While doing laundry, she flipped her sweater right-side-in again, and there, still shining on the right shoulder—was her Santa pin. She tells the story with such dramatic effect every year, sometimes I forget the ending even though I’ve heard the story a thousand times.
Christmas day we stay home all day in our pajamas, and watch 24 hours of A Christmas Story. It gets kind of annoying by late evening though, so we end up watching a movie we got from Santa.
On my mom’s side of the family we get together usually two days after Christmas at my grandma’s house. I also have a very large family on that side too. Every year we do Secret-Santa. Each cousin draws a name and they buy a present for them. One of my uncle’s always dresses up as Santa—even though we all know who it is—and passes out gifts. It’s funny because my grandma even makes the adults sit on his lap to get their present. The most prominent tradition though, is the annual card game of Spoons. Everyone sits at this long table and we play a giant game. It gets pretty intense, and sometimes people fall off chairs, or walk away bleeding. It’s all in good fun though—no one seriously gets hurt.

The Power of One

I really liked the move, The Power of One. It was really moving to watch. I have to admit I knew absolutely nothing about South Africa, the apartheid, Afrikaners, or any of that. I was shocked watching PK live in the Afrikaner school, absolutely appalled. I had no idea that children could be so mean to other kids. I studied World War II a lot when I was in the fourth grade. It was a topic I had really enjoyed learning about. But I hadn’t ever known that the war traveled down to the tip of Africa. That, I never knew. It was interesting to see Hitler’s work in a different perspective, being portrayed through a young teenager. Just a young kid preaching Hitler’s words to littler children; and then that preaching taken into action. Even though I knew PK couldn’t die—he was the main character and it was the beginning of the movie--I still gripped Ally’s arm and closed my eyes, thinking he would.

I was sort of inspired, at how he still tried. He still woke up every day and “fought off the lonely birds” as he said. After losing his dad, his mom, and then his chicken (which was really cool how that helped him, I really didn’t know anything about African traditions either. I really found that scene interesting. I really didn’t like when the chicken died though…that was sad.) I expected him to be on his own, a mess. But he wasn’t—he had Doc. Doc was one of my favorite characters. He cared so much about PK and cared about him, and even though he had lost everything too, he was still a happy and cheery man. He loved PK like he was his own son. I really liked how he was in tune with nature. That he told PK, “every question you have will can be answered in nature.” He taught PK out of the classroom, not just things like chemistry, and math—which he did—but about the life, about Africa. He taught PK things that he would need later on.

I thought it was cool that PK learned to box by Giel Piet because later on in the city when Morrie took PK to a boxing center and he asked, “Where did you learn to box?” PK answered, “In prison”. I thought that was pretty funny and sarcastic of PK.

I had learned almost nothing ever before this about apartheid and I was amazed to see Alexander, where the blacks lived. I was amazed when he said there was one toilet for two hundred people. I can barley share the bathroom with my sister; I couldn’t imagine having to wait in line all day just to use a toilet! Their homes were nothing but shacks. It reminds me of when I went to the Holocaust Memorial Center, and learned about the Poland ghettos. It was much like this.

I was a little depressed by the time Marie died because then it was like, jeese! Does everyone die in this movie? PK’s mom, his dad, his chicken, Giel Piet, Doc leaves, Marie dies too… I kind of wondered if anyone was going to live! It was so sad. I love though that the very last scene was him walking into the sunset with his friend Duma and said something like, “Even though the one’s I loved died, I still have their voices to guide me”. I think that was a good way to end the movie.

I Am Thankful For...

1. I am thankful for the community I was born in. Many other cities in this country are not as nice as ours. I can walk down the streets with my friends, and not worry about being robbed or shot. Other communities aren't like that. I feel safe living here and I'm very lucky for that.
2. I am thankful that my dad has a job. So many people are without jobs, and I am thankful my family is not one of them. Although everyone is struggling in this economy, I am happy that my family is still okay. Many people are without this Thanksgiving because of a job loss, and I feel blessed that my family will not be one of them.
3. I am thankful for my parents. They love me, and take care of me always. They listen if I need to talk, or nurse me if I am sick. My mom drives me almost everywhere I need to go, and I am very fortunate. Some kids' parents are divorced, or deceased, or just aren't in their lives. I love my parents and I'm glad I have them.
4. I am thankful for my house. Even though it seems like just another typical thing to be thankful for, its true. Michigan gets freezing during these months. Most people really take for granted their warm bed, and a roof when it snows. I am so thankful I have somewhere to go at night.
5. I am thankful for my older sister. She is my best friend, and I don't know what I would do without her. She gives me advices, consoles me, and is always there to listen. As a child I always had a play-mate and now that we are older, we hang out and I know she is always there.
6. I am thankful for my little brother. Although I complain about stepping on his toys, and wining about babysitting him, I love him. He always makes me feel better if I'm sad, and can always make me laugh. He is such a cutie and I don't know what I would do without him either.
7. I am thankful for my cell phone. That thing is attached to my hip always. I would go crazy without it. I'm always in touch with my friends, texting or calling. So many people don't have one, and it is a special luxury that I do, and I am very thankful for it.
8. I am thankful for sweat pants. There is nothing I like more, then coming home after a long day of school and a long swim practice, then to put on my warm, fuzzy sweat pants. They are so comfortable and just nice "lazy-clothes".
9. I am thankful for my swim team. It has made me a better, and faster swimmer throughout this season. The training has helped me achieve so many of my goals and beyond them. I have also learned some self-discipline waking up at quarter to five in the morning. I have made some of my very best friends on the team, and made the very best memories. We are all one big family and I love being with the team. It is something that not everyone has, and I am truly thankful for it.
10. I have serious medical problems with my hips. It has been very difficult to swim, and at one point-- to walk. This problem is with me for life. Although I go to physical therapy, and pain can be eased, and the problem lessen-- it will never fully go away. I am so lucky to be able to walk. I am so lucky I don't need surgery over this. I am so thankful everyday, that I am blessed with the continuous well-being of my hips. It is a struggle, but I know it could be worse, and I am thankful it isn't.