Taylor Swift Concert

           Last summer I when to a Taylor Swift concert. I woke up the Saturday of the concert not knowing that in just a few hours I would be in the same building as Taylor Swift. It was just a normal day for me I woke up, took a shower, and eat breakfast. Around twelve o’clock I got a call from my old daycare provider who is now pretty good friends with my family. The first thing she asked me was if I liked Taylor Swift, and I said of course I do. Then she told me that her friend’s daughter was trying to sell two tickets for Taylor Swift’s concert that night at a really good price. I almost peed my pant I was so excited. She told me all the details and gave me the number to contact the person selling them. The last thing she said was not to get my hopes up to high because she could have already sold them to someone else, but by then my hopes were already up extremely high.

            I called the number and the mother of the girl selling the tickets answered. I asked her about the tickets, and immediately I knew from the tone of her voice that it wasn’t good news. My heart sunk, I was so disappointed. She said that the tickets had already been purchased, but that she would go check with her daughter to make sure. In the background I could hear her ask “You sold the tickets, right?” But the reply was not at all what I was expecting. To my amazement the daughter said no the tickets hadn’t been sold. Apparently the previous buyer had backed out at the last minute. I was elated. I could not believe my luck. I told her I would buy them and she and my dad worked out a place to meet to pick up he tickets. I immediately called one of my best friends Jaclyn, who is a huge Taylor Swift fan, and asked her if she wanted to go with me. I had totally forgotten that she was in North Carolina for a wedding. I felt awful that I had invited her and she couldn’t come. Next I called one of my other friends Maddie. The minute I asked her if she wanted to come she started screaming she was so excited.

            My day had started out as a normal Saturday and quickly turned into one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was standing in Gillette stadium just minutes away from seeing Taylor Swift. The final opening act was just getting off the stage. We were mere seconds away. The whole stage fogged up and when the fog cleared Taylor Swift was standing in the middle of the stage. I almost passed out. I couldn’t believe she was actually standing there, in the same arena as I was.

            Half way through the concert it started to sprinkle rain. At first I was really disappointed. I thought it was going to ruin the rest of the concert, but then it began poring rain. It actually made the concert so much more fun. We sang and danced our heads off in the poring rain and it was a blast. By the end we were completely soaked through and our hands and feet were extremely wrinkly, but it had been so much fun that I didn’t even care.

WORD COUNT: 574

Death of an Innocent Open Response

What are the most important factors in Chris's death?

             Chris's death was caused by any factors. Firstly, he didn't bring any means of communication with him on his journey. When he got sick and was unable to walk out, he could have called for help if he had brought some means of communication with him. He wouldn't have lost his life if he was able to call for help. Secondly, he did not bring enough food to survive on. Because of his lack of food he was forced to hunt and gather in order to survive. Doing this puts him at risk of eating something poisonous and getting sick, which is exactly what happened. Many factors contributed to the death of Chris McCandless.

New Hampshire

         Every summer my family and I rent a house on Lake Winnepesaukee with my cousins. Sometimes my grandpa comes with us too, but he doesn't like the long drive so he probably won't come with us much longer. It is a tradition in my family to go to Lake Winnepesaukee every summer. My great uncle even owns a house on the lake. For the past five years we have rented the same house. It is a huge log cabin style house. It has two bedrooms with king beds, one bedroom with a full bed, and one bedroom with two bunk beds. My mom and dad sleep in one of the king beds, and my aunt and uncle, Mary and Mike, sleep in the other one. If my grandpa comes, he usually sleeps on the full bed.  My two cousins, Matt and Erin, and my brother, Tim, and I usually sleep on the floor in the basement. Originally the plan was for the four of us to sleep on the two bunk beds but it was right next to our grandpa's room so we couldn't be loud at night, so we decided to sleep in the basement where we could be as loud as we wanted. My cousins live in Pennsylvania, so first they drive to our house, then we drive up to New Hampshire together. The first night where there is one of the funnest. First we have hot dogs for dinner, then we go to Pirates cove to play mini golf and get ice cream. At mini golf there is always a special hole where if you get a hole in one on it you get a token for a free game of mini golf next time you come. We never actually end up using the tokens but it is still really exciting. We have accumulated quite a few tokens over the years.

         Every year we go to Wolfeboro and take a ride on the Mollie B, an antique wooden boat. Every year its the same person driving it and he always remembers us. The ride is basically a tour of the lake. The driver points out all of the big houses, and the ones that important people own. One year the President of France was vacationing at one of the houses, and there were security boats everywhere. After the boat ride we go to a restaurant with a deck that overlooks the water. I always look forward to eating there because they make the best grilled cheese i have ever tasted. The cheese is just gooey enough, and the bread is toasted to perfection. After we eat lunch we go down to the dock and look at all the boats. Every year my dad says how munch he wants to get a boat, but we never actually end up getting one.

          For the past few years we have rented a boat for a day. The first year we had a driver take us out because no one in my family has a boating license, but the next year my dad decided that he was going to get a license. We usually spend the first half of the day tubing and water skiing. That is easily my favorite part of the day. Tubing is a lot of fun, especially with my dad driving. He's the kind of person who's goal is to see how high he can fling you. My oldest cousin, Matt, and I usually get pretty competitive and try to outlast each other on the two person tube. It usually ends up with us trying to push each other off while hanging on for dear life as my dad zips us back and forth in and out of the wake. We also have a lot of fun water skiing. My mom and I are the only people who are actually able to water ski, so it is hilarious watching everybody fall on their faces repeatedly. By the afternoon we are all exhausted, so we drive to boat over to my great uncle's house and spend the rest of our time visiting with what ever relatives happen to be staying in the house that week.

         After the week is over we always stop to go go cart racing on the way home. Its really fun unless your the unlucky one with the slow cart. There is always one cart that is slower than all the rest and whoever ends up with that cart usually isn't very happy. One year it was just my two cousins and my brother and I racing. I was in the lead but my cousin, Matt, tried to beat me around the corner, and we both wound up with our faces in the pavement. It was not a fun experience, and we had to spend the whole rest car ride home with ice packs on our faces. In addition to go carting we always stop at the same restaurant to get lunch. We eat on a deck that is suspended over the water. There is also a gazebo out in the middle of the water and there is often  and band playing music on it. I look forward to going to New Hampshire every summer, and some of my best memories were made there.  

 WORD COUNT: 880
           

By the Waters of Babylon open response

Why has Johns tribe revert back to a more primitiva way of life?

 John's tribe, the Hill People, reverted to a more primitive way of life because of an apocalyptic event. When John is in a Dead House in the city, he has a vision of the city being destroyed by fire and poison. The fire is most likley due to a large scale war. Because everything was destroyed the people who survived didn't have things like cars or T.V.s so their kids never saw them and they started to live a more primitive lifestyle. Also, most people don't know how to read or write. After the destruction people were probably more focused on staying alive than learning knew things, therefore they would not teach there kids anything and eventually everybody would forget how to read and write. Also, alot of books were probably lost because of the fire, so people didn't have anything to teach there kids how to read out of. Because of the apocalyptic events the Hill People reverted to a more primitive lifestyle.

hockey game

It is most likely the last game of the season. We are about to play the number two team in the state. We are all expecting to get crushed, but we still have the slightest amount of hope that maybe we can pull something off. We are one point away from making it to the tournament. All we have to do is tie. Coach comes into the locker room and tells us the game plan. It is entirely different from anything we have ever done before. The plan is to get it over the red line and dump it. Our only goal is to waste time. It could actually work, but only if everybody sticks to the plan. If just one person is out of position at the wrong time it could cost us the game, and our season. We know we can do it; it is just a matter of discipline. Skating out onto the ice, we are completely focused. Not even the blaring music can distract us. The other team lazily skates around. They think they have this game in the bag. The buzzer sounds and we line up for the face off. My heart is practically beating out of my chest. I want this so bad. The referee drops the puck and our center pulls it back to my defensive partner, who skates just past the red line and dumps it deep into the other teams zone. By the time the other team gets the puck out of their zone 20 seconds have already burned off the clock. This could actually work! We do it over and over again. Get the puck and dump it, get the puck and dump it. Its like were on a constant penalty kill. By the time I know it the first period is over, and the score is still 0-0. When we get back into the locker room everybody is ecstatic, one period down, two to go. The buzzer sounds for the second period and we walk back out onto the ice. The other team is still in their locker room. I’m sure their coach is pretty mad and they will probably come out a lot stronger than they did in the first period, but were ready. They finally emerge from their locker room, and they look a lot more pumped up than they did before. Our coach tells us not to worry about it and to just do what we did in he first period. We execute the plan perfectly. I can tell they are getting very frustrated. They start getting stupid penalties. This is what we have been waiting for. Were a man up, this is our chance to score. It’s a two on one; our right wing slides it over to our left wing who has a wide-open shot. Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it she is going to score! The pass misses her stick by a centimeter. We were so close. Though it would have been nice to score, its okay because all we need to do is tie it. We continue to stick to the plan, and the longer they go without scoring the more frustrated they get. The clock has now run down to two minutes. I am starting to get very nervous; if they score now there is no way that we can come back. It is crucial that everybody is in perfect position at all times. Somehow they catch one of us out of position and get a good shot on net, but our goalie makes an amazing save and keeps us in the game. They keep the puck in our zone for the next minute and a half, we are exhausted, but we manage to dump it one last time. They skate as fast as they can in order to get one last shot, but it’s to late. Five, four, three, two, one, BUZZZZ! We did it! We are going to the tournament! The other team is devastated and as bad as it sounds, it just makes me that much happier. They are in shock, they expected to crush us. This just shows what determination can do. WORD COUNT: 696

open response

Corry's punishment is an example of cruel and unusual punishment. Corry is left on a hot, dusty asteroid in solitary confinement for multiple years. The solitary confinement for that amount of time makes him start to loose his sanity, which is like mental torture. He is also being physically tortured in a way because it is not the most comfortable environment to be living in. The solitary confinement is bad enough, the least they could do is make it comfortable for him. Corry also ponders suicide because he is so miserable. Even though this punishment isn't directly capital punishment it can very easily turn into it. if someone is put in a situation where they loose there life, it is just as bad as the death penalty. The people who gave Corry this punishment might not have thought that it was cruel and unusual punishment, but in reality it was.

Camp Wiyaka

Every summer since I was ten years old one of my best friends, Maddie, and I would got to a sleep away camp together in New Hampshire for one week out of every summer. Every year I count down the days from the begging of school until the day that we leave for camp. My countdown is finally down to zero. Tomorrow morning we will be making the three hour-long car ride the Camp Wiyaka in New Hampshire. I’m trying to sleep because I don’t want to be exhausted for my first day of camp, but no matter how hard I try I just can’t. I’m up for most of the night looking through old camp photos and remembering all the amazing friends and memories I have made there. I am eventually able to fall asleep, but I wake up again to my mom yelling at me to get up and ready to go because were leaving in an hour. Usually I like to lounge around in bed for a little while after I wake up, but this is a completely different situation. I jump out of bed and sprint down the stairs. There is a bagel and cranberry juice waiting for me; I inhale it in about two minutes. I go back up stairs, take a shower, and add the last final things to my trunk. Then I double check to make sure I have everything. My trunk is packed completely full, and ways about a hundred pounds. My dad struggles to get it down the stairs and into the car. Finally were ready to go, I can barley keep my excitement in and keep squealing with joy. On the way we stop to pick up Maddie, who is just as excited as I am. The ride to camp is one of the most fun parts about going. We sing and go crazy and just act like total weirdo’s. It’s a blast! We get there right when they open the gates. We go sign in and get our t-shirts. Then we have to go to the nurse to get our heads checked for lice, which is my least favorite part. Finally we get to go and claim our bunks in our tent. We sprint up the hill to tent number eleven. We are the first ones there! We both get bottom bunks, which has never happened. At camp everybody wants the bottom bunk because they are a lot more comfortable, there is more space, and if your lucky they have a little shelf where you can put things like a clock. After claiming our bunks we go back down to our cars to get our trunks. Our parents always make us carry them up the hill by ourselves. I personally don’t see the point of this; it just makes the whole process move slower. After taking two trips up the hill with our trunks we are sweating profusely. We throw on our bathing suit and go down to the waterfront, our parent’s leave, and we get ready for an amazing week. By final campfire we have made so many new friends and would do anything not to have to. When we start to sing final song everybody starts crying, and there isn’t much singing going on. When it ends we say goodbye, and I cry for the majority of the car ride home. WORD COUNT: 564