Alaskan Drama

Recently, I’ve been really interested in politics. But there is one in particular that I’ve drawn most of my attention to. Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin and her family have an outstanding story but one family member seems to have been through everything. Her daughter, Bristol, has had her ups and downs within the past three years that most people go through in a whole lifetime. Sure, some people don’t support the family and believe that they put themselves in the negative spotlight that they are in. But in Bristol Palin’s book Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far, she speaks of the family’s publicity and mostly her problems with her on and off again boyfriend Levi Johnston. Just before finding out of her mom’s being the republican vice president candidate for the 2008 election, Bristol found out she was pregnant. Like most teenage pregnancies, it was an accident, a result of a night that she lied to her parents so she could go on a camping trip with her boyfriend. After having a couple drinks, she was taken advantage of. On December 28, 2008, she gives birth to her son Tripp but the drama for her is far from over. She constantly has problems with Levi with cheating even after he engaged to her! There was even an issue that he had a baby with one of his sister’s friends. Bristol also appeared on Dancing With The Stars, in hopes of getting as far as possible to win the money to provide a better life for her son. Not expecting to get far, she made it to the final show! She was the second runner up, and was able to win money to help set her son up for college. Throughout the constant drama, the family has managed to avoid the publicity despite the constant talks of Sarah Palin running for the Republican presidential candidate.

Famous Family

A great story in my life would be meeting my real aunts and uncles. Now, before you get to thinking I’m adopted, I have to tell you that I’m not. My dad is, he was taken home by his adopted parents eight days after being born. Through out the years, he’s been trying to his real family with the little information he had about them. In April 2009, he talked to a genealogist who was able to get in contact with my dad’s youngest sister, Dawnna. Luckily, we could the chance to meet her and a couple other family members only a couple weeks later. From her, we got the names and numbers of other local siblings including a sister that lived minutes away from our house! My Aunt Michelle, who works on a family tree, shared pictures and information about my dad’s real parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles. The information she shared with us was very overwhelming. My dad went from being an only child to have fifteen siblings! There is even a street named after his family in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Musante Lane. Also in Virginia is a library named after one of his relatives, John Musante-Porter Library. There is also a celebrity connection to the family, Tony Musante, who is a famous actor whose most recent movie is We Own The Night. Even though my family is extremely overwhelmed, especially my father, we still try to learn about the family as much as we possibly can. My grandfather was in World War II and gassed in a gas chamber but was still able to survive it. It’s also a trait to be hard of hearing since a majority of his siblings are. Another sibling we met was my Uncle Bruce, who is my dad’s real brother but was also put up for adoption. Unfortunately, a year and a half about meeting him, he passed away due to cancer of the liver. Thanks to a genealogist, my dad was able to meet several of his fifteen siblings. No matter, we will continue to stay close to the new part of family.

As The Leaves Change..

My favorite season of the year is fall. More particularly, my favorite month of the year is October. The beautifully colored leaves falling from the trees is always a gorgeous picture. The numerous amount of activities to do in the month are also very exciting. In Western New York, we have so many haunted houses including Frightworld, House of Horrors, Final Fear and Darien Lake’s Frightfest. Another ‘haunting’ area in Buffalo that can be accessed year round, but goes with the excitement of Halloween is Delaware Road, located right in Clarence. The street is considered to be haunted, but it mostly depends on if you believe or not in paranormal activity. Autumn is my favorite because of the non frightening things to do too. I love going to corn mazes and on hay rides. The different types of food associated with the season also assist in making it my favorite. At The Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence, home made donuts are made, either pumpkin or apple flavored coated with sugar. Also, hot apple cider is great in the fall! As it gets closer to the end of October, pumpkin carving is a big activity. It’s a seasonal form of art. Going and seeing every one’s different creations carved into a small surface is fun, especially there are carvings for local sports teams. At the end of month, it’s fun to go out, dress up as something completely crazy and beg for candy. Costumes can be scary, like characters from horror movies. They can be cute, like little kids dressing up as pumpkins. Or the costumes be mimic people, like when people dress up as politic figures. By the end of the night, my favorite thing to do is sit on the living through (with my parents over my shoulders trying to steal what I got) sorting through the candy and trading it with who I went with. One of the factors is the fact that in mid season is my birthday!

Dinner, Shower, School. Really Facebook?

Unfortunately, I use Facebook. I guess the main reason of using it is to keep in touch with friends in a way other than texting. I’ve enjoyed the fact it can connect you with people who haven’t talking to in a long time. I have recently been connected with an old neighbor who moved away that I haven’t talked to in seven years! Honestly though, it’s starting to become old. It has the same old drama similar to that on Myspace. When you were little, you got bored with your toy after playing with it for so long. Well Facebook is very similar to that. I’ve had an account for over two years and it’s getting very boring. A positive aspect of Facebook is it is a GREAT way to get the word out about any subject. It’s recently been used to spread the word on our class float meeting. Negatively, it’s a huge place for cyberbullying. Horrifically, it has even caused people to end their lives due to comments on posts on the online social network. People also thing it’s a competition to add hundreds of people that you don’t know. Sorry, but I don’t want anyone but people I know the have any of my person information. Many people use Facebook for both the positives and negatives. Some people rely way too much on it though, constantly posting statuses about the little things that honestly, no body cares about. Everyone is gonna eat dinner, shower and go to bed. They might even go to school and work the next day. Sorry, but no one needs to know what you’re doing every minute of the day. It’s apparent that people are slowly but surely getting away from the Facebook and all it’s unapparent attractions. But if Facebook is going out of style similar to Myspace a couple years ago, what’s going to be the new fad?

Writing Capabilities

I mostly feel comfortable writing about anything. I’m very into sports, especially local football and hockey. I could definitely be a writer for the Buffalo Sabres or Buffalo Bills. The Sabres are my favorite though since I’ve been brought up around hockey and have decided to stick around it. I’m also big on books, especially those about politics. Writing about Sarah Palin and her family is something I would love to do since she is my role model. I’d also feel comfortable writing and reporting on things occurring around the school such as spirit weeks during homecoming week and the weeks prior to Christmas and Easter vacations. Events such as the Battle of Classes would also be a topic I’d enjoy writing about. I’d really be interested in writing about anything related to prom, homecoming or snowball. Anything revolving around homecoming including the powder puff game, the parade, the floats and the football game would be in my interest of writing about. I would be interested in writing about anything such as local issues within Alden, Buffalo, or Western New York in general. I’m also very entertained in writing about new releases in music (preferably country!), movies (in theaters and DVD), some video games. I am capable of reporting on medical studies such as the effect of cell phones on different aspects of teenage lives. Technology, such as cell phones, ipods and laptops, Facebook and its typical drama and problems that circulate on the famous online networking site would be something I could easily be capable of writing about. I would love being able to writing about the different activities to be done with each holiday. I would love to write about corn mazes, apple cider, the leaves changing color, and of course, the excitement of getting to dress up as nearly anything on the last day of the month.

Senior Privileges

Looking back on the past eleven years of school, I honestly do not I have a most memorable year. All in all though, I have mostly enjoyed the high school experience. Starting with freshman year, I was lucky enough to have my sister in the school with me. With all the new activities like homecoming, battle of the classes and block scheduling, it was a thrilling change from middle school. I enjoyed having formal dances rather than casual dances that were generally just hangouts. The new challenges in cross country were exciting too. With longer distances and longer practices, it made for a great season. Going into sophomore year, it was hard losing my sister there for guidance. Throughout high school, sophomore year was my least favorite since everything was the same as the prior year; there wasn’t any added excitement and privileges to the year. Once junior year started, it was definitely excited to then be considered an ‘upperclassman.’ With that new title, we were able to go to prom! Limos, fancy dresses and tons of pictures; what’s not fun about that? Finally, senior year, where the privileges become greater than they were in the past.  It always seems to be that when you’re a senior, a lot of the general rules that all apply to the underclassmen seem to disappear for seniors. Plus, we have the privilege of getting to park in the senior parking lot which it seems that a lot of people look forward to. Another thing that makes senior year so great is the ability to have a late arrival or early release. Someone is eligible for this when they have enough credits. Also, I love that I am able to be exempt for a couple exams if I have high enough grades. It is great to be able to get a head start on classes that I’ll need in college. Lastly, and probably the one thing that I’ll be enjoying most about my last year in high school is graduation!

Graduation! [:

Well, this year should definitely be a very memorable year for me and I think I speak for the whole class of 2012 when I say that. Since I am a senior, I want to make sure it’s an outstanding year all around. My main priority to make sure I stay on track with my school work. With the new schedule change, it’s now impossible for seniors to fail a needed class then make it up the following semester. Not passing a class can keep us from graduating. With that said, it would definitely be a huge accomplishment for me to pass all my classes. By passing, I don’t want to ‘just be getting by’ with a 65. I am able to be exempt from a couple of exams so maintaining a grade of 91 or higher would be a huge accomplishment for those classes. Class rank is a big deal to me too. I’d like to move higher up within that. I would feel really good with myself if I was graduating with grades in the low to mid nineties. Also, I’m in numerous college courses so I’d like to make sure I have as high of grades as I can get so I have a good start for my college career. I would also like to get involved more with clubs and sports. I mentioned that this year should be memorable so I’ll hopefully be taking time away from working to get involved with basketball cheerleading and track. During track, I would be trying to achieve my fastest time in the mile. That would be huge for me to do since I set my personal record back in eighth grade! Obviously, it’s my senior year and like most seniors I have one thing that I am majorly trying to accomplish; graduating!

Summer Vacation

This summer wasn’t that great in the minds of any average sixteen year old. I guess what I did was a bit limited since I was working full time almost every week. I was constantly trying to squeeze in time for myself around my work schedule starting with my serious shopping addiction.  I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend in which I can share my addiction with! On Wednesday nights, I was always at the ice rink in Batavia which for the time being was transformed into a roller rink for pick-up hockey. Seeing as I was the only one willing to waste my time there, I made sure I had a book to bring along with me every time. Country concerts also had a big part of my summer. With Tim McGraw in the end of June and numerous others throughout the following weeks, I was at the Performing Arts Center quite often. The one event that most things I did revolved around was definitely the most memorable place I went to this summer. Every week I was out shopping and preparing for my best friend and practical sister’s wedding. I wasn’t in the wedding but was always relied on for picking out gifts, gluing center pieces and even picking out a dress her Nana. While the guys had their fun, the girls had a camping weekend at Sleepy Hallow. Sure, I was a nervous wreck being away from my boyfriend the whole weekend yet the time was spent with his sister and mom. All the decorating and camping finally wrapped up for an amazing night of celebrating at the end of August. It was my first wedding so it was a blast for me.  Even though my summer was filled with work and some entertainment, I definitely agree with everyone else when they say summer came to an end way too soon!