sarahmo

So I logged onto my facebook today and I got a post from one of my friends that I went to middle school with. She now goes to college at Ohio State. Apparently she went to the library and checked out this interesting looking book and started reading it. After a few short stories, she realized that she knew some of the authors which happen to be Hannah and I. Haha This is the first time one of my friends have accidentally stumbled upon the RED.

This is a short, almost 200 word essay I wrote for a college scholarship. The question was, "What do you love, and how do (or will) your actions demonstrate this.

my response:

 I love people, experience, and adventure. New horizons and opportunies are out there in the world and simply staying in one place will not get me there. I wish to absorb everything life has to offer. I aspire to break the mold of the "American Dream," that pursues fame, fortune, and power. I would trade that in any day to pursue culture and understanding.
         I hope to spend my days traveling the world. There are people out there that have so much to offer me, but right now I can only dream of being able to give something back.
        With a backpack, camera, and journal, I hope to one day set off on a journey to gather experience. I'd mingle with the tribes of the amazon, stand in the harsh hurricanes of the caribbean, and wonder about every wonder of the world.
       To the people that live their lives so differently, I hope to be with them. While I can simply give them company and understanding, they can give me so much more. Language, life, culture, and experience they openly share with anyone willing to listen. I am here to listen.

I dream about tornados, a lot

     So this year, the Dearborn High Marching Band was invited to Washington D.C. to march in their national memorial day parade. We were the only band from Michigan to be invited. The first day was miserable because we had driven for 10 hours and by the time we got there it was noon on saturday, so we still had a whole day ahead of us. After sleepwalking from monument to monument, we finally got back to our hotel around 11 and just passed out. Sunday was a better day, because we were all well rested and fed. We toured some more monuments and then went to the National Orchestra Concert in front of the Capital Building. They were announcing the celebrities that were going to be there that night and Hannah and I were ready to scream our heads off. The announcer said "from the hit series, 'Smallville'" and naturally we expected Tom Welling to be there, which was enough for our hearts to skip a beat and to stop breathing. But it wasn't Tom, it was Jon Sneider who plays Jonathon Kent. We were still very excited and were shocked to find that Jon Sneider can sing really well. Overall, it was a very fun night. The band was hitting around a beach ball, which got very intense (if you could imagine beach balling getting intense ;)

Then that night, after we went back to the hotel, I forgot that I had Colton's wallet in my purse so I was going to go return it to him. But, the parents said we weren't allowed to leave our rooms after 11, so my roommate, Stephanie and I attempted to sneak past them and get to the 5th floor without them noticing. So we leave the room and head to the elevators, but as we turn the corner we hear band parents at the elevators saying "yes, the students are not allowed to be out of their rooms now.." so we sprinted down the hallway to avoid being caught. We get to a dead end and are terrified that we were going to be found soon. Then, we heard band parents coming down the hallway toward us, so we ducked around a little corner at the end and are literally holding our breaths, praying that the parents don't come around the corner. Luckily, their rooms were right before the corner. So the parents are chilling in the hallway, about 4 feet from us around the corner. But finally they go into their rooms and stephanie and I sprint back down the hallway to the elevators. We hopped in one, sprinted down to colton's room and back without getting caught. it was a very terrifying and sneaky night.

Then on Monday, we got dressed into our uniforms and went to the parade site on Constitution Ave. around 1:30 and just stood around untill 3:30 because our band was near the end. This parade was even more special for our band because our trumpet players were selected to play Taps for the entire parade. Hannah is a trumpet player and she was really nervous to go to her playing site at 14th street. She had to play in front of thousands of people all by herself. But, I was very proud of her because she played it so perfectly that my mom cried a little. Then the trumpets returned and we all got in our parade block. The route is only about a mile and a half long, but it was almost 80 degrees outside and we were wearing polliester uniforms. The parade went very well though. There were rumors that our band was the best band there, we looked and sounded like a military band...etc. We did have 2 students drop out of the parade because of dehydration. Then we went to visit the gravesite of John Phillip Sousa. We layed a wreath and performed The Washington Post March there. Our last stop was the Smithsonian Museum. My group toured around the Natural History Museum and saw the Hope Diamond. I bought growing crystals hehe. Then we headed home for another 10 hour drive. We arrived back in Dearborn around 3 a.m. Overall, it was a fun trip and great experience.

            Hey everyone! Guess where I am? If you cant already tell by the title, I´m in an internet cafe in Madrid, Spain! OH yea, that´s cool. We got on the plane, and it took about 8 hours to get there! It took forever. I was sitting there and bored out of my mind after thinking we might be close, so I asked how much longer we had to go and my teacher said we still had 5 more hours. haha But the plane had tv screens on every person´s chair so I watched Across the Universe and Mr. Magorium´s wonder Emporium. There was another small group on our plane going to Italy and the guys in the group were quite attractive, a bunch of people in my group made friends with them and they all partied. They were loud and all over the back of the plane, so I was kind of embarrased to be a teenager at that time because i´m sure they were annoying all the people around. The plane served some small mean, with bread and cheese.

We arrived in Germany where the time difference is like 6 hours so it was just turning morning while back at home it was night. We had a 4 hour delay and I was so tired by then because I hadn´t have sleep for about 14 hours.  The conection flight was 3 hours and i got some sleep. We got to Madrid where it was 1 p.m. so we had the whole day ahead of us. We had dinner where they served us bread and cheese. We went to a museum. Got to the hotel and it had been about 23 hours since i had last slept, i was out within seconds of lying down. Woke up and had a continental breakfast...more bread. We went to the royal palace and on the way to have lunch a girl in our group was pickpocketed, lost about 80 euro. um...I am running out of time here. We leave for Granada tomorrow, ill update in a few days!

So we just had finals week in school. I'm glad it's over and I'm surprised how relaxed I was through it all. The New semester starts tomorrow, we have a half day. I'm worried about that. We get our new schedules in 1st hour and first semester was a brilliant time for me. I had difficult classes (all honors and AP) but the combination of teachers and class times that I had was the best thing I could have ever asked for. I had such a schedule, where I did the least amount of homework possible, it was awesome. I had 4 out of 6 teachers that never gave homework (or difficult hw). THEN, the classes which I did have homework in and were more difficult, such as AP History, I had as my last class of the day. That allowed me to come into school the next day, and throughout the course of school, do the homework for that class. I also had all day to study for tests and life was good.

I'm worried now. I already know about getting a new teacher that gives homework. I am also worried that my history class will be moved to an earlier time in the day which will definately bring my grade down. I'm also worried about changing math teachers because my math teacher is great- she assigns homework, but never checks it to make sure it is done. In conclusion, I hope my teachers don't change and that history is my last hour still.

Secondly--->Hannah and I are doing our RED readings in like 3 days. I'm freaking out! I'm so nervous because I'm kind of embarrased by my essay at this point. Really, reading it in front of strangers is very different from strangers reading it themselves. Cause now you're face to face and you get to witness how they react to your story. And I'm just getting a over a cold and I don't want to sound all nasally. haha. I'll have friends there to support me. I'll just place my friend meredith right in front of me and I can pretend I'm reading it just to her. But I know I'll be very shaky and nervous.

I go to SPAIN in 11 days!!!!!!!!!!!! That makes me happy. :) there will definately be a long update and such with pictures and stories. yay

Yesterday Hannah and I were at home and we were hungry and the kitchen had no food in it. So we drove to the bank then went to breakfast. Hannah has been complaining that she hasn't bought a single christmas present for anyone, therefore I should drive her to Kmart. We attempted to navigate our way to Kmart and got lost on the highway, I was pretty sure we were headed for chicago or something. But I exited and made some crazy turning decisions and magically we ended up at the mall! Woohoo, yea we got lucky. But but went to target instead and She was going to get me a pretty seat cover for my car, it was only like $20. Then we continued browsing to find what my mom or dad would like. We first stopped at a dartboard and we were like "yea we should buy that for dad!" but then we kept walking and we came upon a Ping Pong table that was on sale for $110. We stood there for almost 20 minutes proclaiming to each other why we should buy it because our dad loves ping pong and it was actually his birthday that day too. So we pull out every dollar and gift card we had to see if it added up. It was hilarious because after all the money was accounted for we ended up being 2 freaking dollars short!

But I quickly drove home and got my last gift card for target and came back. It was an amazing deal because all the gift cards we had added up to a wopping $71 dollars which knocked the price down to only $45 that we had to pay out of our own money! which is a crazy deal for a regulation ping pong table. The only car we had at the time was my little blue two seater cabrio. BUT, it is convertible so we took the top down and the guys that loaded it into the car for us laughed because it was about 35 degrees outside and we were going to drive with the top open. haha. On the way to the christmas party at the golf course we gave many other drivers a good laugh I like to believe. Well we got there and brought our dad outside to show him and he freaked!  He loved it and was amazed that we bought him such an extravagant gift. We bascially have nowhere to put it expept in the garage and since it is the dead of winter we won't get to play it much haha.But when spring and summer come it will be a blast. Hannah and I definately get the Best Daughters award. It was the most spontaneous thing we've done in a while. Instead of a lame card we dropped the big bucks for a ping pong table. we rule ;)

This was the longest week I've had in a while. I had to worry all week about making up my math test because there are so many steps involved with it. You basically have to do about 4 items of practice over the stuff you missed untill it is drilled into your brain and you end up having nightmares about it. Oh yea, math dreams? Been there, done that. 

Then yesterday (friday), I had a physics test and Another Math test. And they may not seem like a big deal, but tests in math and physics are very rare. We've been in school for 3 or 4 months and have only had 2 physics test and 3 math tests. And I had both of them in the 1st and 2nd hours of school, so I felt like crying after because I was stressed out and I know I didn't do very well on math which will lead me into having to kill myself over retaking it. hehe

But after school my friend came over and we chilled and watched movies. Her boyfriend came over then and we all chilled some more and then went to his house. I called Colton and he came over a bit later. He's cute, we all sat on the floor of Jon's house and talked, joked, and conforted each other. It was getting late and jon kicked us out around 11, so colton drove Hannah and I home and he came in and we hung out on the couch till Midnight. I'm glad he and I got back together. We first dated in 9th grade but it was weird because neither of us could drive so we couldn't actually "go out". We stayed friends for sophmore year and once junior year started we began liking each other again. And now we're very happy together, and we have a lot of fun. We see movies, have dinner, be with friends, he went up to Ann Arbor with Han, Mere, and I. Hannah doesn't like him though. It's weird but we've been friends since 7th grade and now that I'm dating him again Hannah is constantly putting him down and telling me he isn't good enough for me. I honestly do not understand, he is such a great boyfriend, he's nice, funny, charming, and handsome. I ask her why she doesn't like him and she doesn't ever have a good reason. I know what you're thinking, "She's probably jealous" but I know her and that isn;t it. I did date a guy before Colton during the summer and he was really a bad boyfriend but hannah never put him down. Now I find a guy I'm truly happy to be with and Hannah doesn't understand that. She's pretty mean to him, she tells him how horrible she thinks he is to his face! Poor colton, thanks for putting up with her.

I love my friends. I love that feeling when you're out there with a big group of them, and just having fun. I also love when I'm with just that one friend and we seem to be having an amazing time. I've decided that when it comes to "best friends" I had narrowed it down to two, that are real, true, best friends. Hannah, of course, and Meredith. I've already described how hannah and I don't have many tensions between us and we really go together. Meredith is also a great friend because we loosen up when we're together. She is pretty quiet and a little shy alone but together she and I are crazy and spastic, and have raw fun, unforced. We sit next to each other in physics class and since it is basically a free period we joke around about crazy fantasy lives. One of my favorites was imagined last week on wednesday. We've decided that in the off season, Santa Clause turns into Fabio and he breeds unicorns and harvests their tears to deliver to children with cancer.

Today Meredith, Hannah, Colton, and I are going to UofM Ann Arbor today (where Lisa Chau goes to school). It is the most amazing college campus I've ever been to because it is like a metropolitan area. Not big city or anything but it is a connection of like 5 main streets that has endless restaurants, shopping stores, bookstores, coffee shops, yoga parlors, thrift stores, etc. I've walked down every street but it is such a lively campus that there is always something to do. Last time I just went up with Meredith and on the way back we talked about this Secret Newspaper that we want to publish at our school. Last year we took Ap Government and politics and it has opened our eyes to what is going on in the world and government and we have strong opinions on many issues. We're both liberal and all for human rights and things. We joke that we should become hippies, because we love the environment...and the 50's was a sweet time. But the paper will have stories about what is in the news and it will have contact information for kids that want to volunteer for economic or human aid. It will also have silly comics featuring "Thigh Man" which Meredith created in Physics and I contributed the name. We are just tired of kids our age taking so much and not giving any back. Don't think of us as hippocrits though because we aren't much involved either, but that is one thing fueling our newspaper. We feel helpless that there is so much we want to do but are held back because volunteering isn't readily available. There are groups in our school such as Interact and Key club that handle volunteer work but it just takes too long. They hold meetings every thursday or so and talk about upcoming volunteer opportunities but then we don't actually do the work untill weeks later and then we wonder what could have been done in those two weeks since there wasn't anything "planned" in the school itinerary. The paper will have numerous direct links to projects that kids can donate food, money, and clothing to. It will be secret, distributed to the students, not through the school. It will be a private club connecting the students to eachother and to the world. It will hopefully inspire the students to get involved. Unfortunately, Mere and I haven't started it yet, we've just had intense discussions about what would be in it.

Ok, that was kind of a side track to the whole friend thing...yea. So last night I went to see Dane Cook, it was awesome!! My dreams are just coming true, I got to see Olivia Benson from law and order:svu in New York and now I got to see Dane cook. Now I only have to sky dive and experience zero gravity. I ws invited by a friend who had an extra ticket, I had to pay $90 for it but was so worth it. It was for another friend's birthday, (I know, a HECK of a birthday present) and he didn't know we were going. So on the way there we put a ski mask over his head so he wouldn't see, and we handcuffed him. lol The traffic was crazy to get there but luckily we had perfect timing because as soon as we sat down Dane Cook came out. He did his thing and I noticed that the isle way to get to the stage was completely open so I decided to walk down there and get a closer picture of Dane. I had seen about 10 other people do it so I didn't think there was a problem. But as I'm in the process of walking down the security garud decides to start patroling. So I ask him if I could take one picture and he told me no! I mean I was still about 30 feet from the stage and this guy wouldn't let me stand right next to him and take a picture, it was bullshit. What I didn't PAY enough to take that picture? psh, so I just walked about 10 steps behind him and took a picture, he didn't need to be so stiff. The show was amazing, It still hasn;t hit me that I got to see him. After, my friends and I all went to IHOP. It must have been a slow night because at one point the entire wait staff plus the manager was all crowding around our table talking and taking pictures with us. Weird, haha.

So overall, Hannah and I have just been having a lot of fun and this is just a great time for us. Juniors in high school, and we get to go out with friends about every other day, except for the weekends where we are always out. I couldn't have imagined before now that my life would have so much laughter and fun in it. I remember in middle school where we would never go out on the weekdays or even weekends. And summers then too be didn't get out much. Now our parents can't keep us at home because we always have plans. It's amazing how our lives have changed. Plus, we have real fun. Not the kind where a bunch of losers go to someone's house and get high or drunk. Hannah and I will never smoke, and we dont plan on drinking untill we're 21. It simply doesn't have an sort of influence over us and that makes us such great people. We're able to get together with friends that enjoy our company and personalities, that we don't have to hide behind drungs or alcohol to have a good time. This is what life should be like.

Last night I went out with my boyfriend and two other couples. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Colton spilled his pop, then we went to see August Rush at 9. I loved it soo much. It was so inspiring and beautiful. At the end, I cried. It was the first movie (or anything in that matter) that has ever made me cry out of happiness. Before last night I wondered how people could cry at weddings and I have always made fun of my mom because she cries at everything. But now I understand, and it took music to do that for me.