B is for Babbling and Books

By Aziza

"This needs to stop!" my mom yells at me. I shrug and say I can't help it. It's a huge problem and all, but it's not like I can do anything, it's just my nature. 'What?' you say? Talking. I've got a serious problem with it. That, and zoning out. I just can't do anything about it, it just happens. My teachers are always telling me to shut up (maybe not like that) my sister is always doing it, and sometimes I even want myself to shut off my train of thought to get a little peace. How did I stop this? Well, easy. I occupied myself. Whenever I have a little time to myself, I read. Even when teachers stop for a second, I pull out a book and read. It's the only way I can keep myself from turning around and starting to talk to someone. If I'm reading, I'm captured in my own box of solitude, and I'm so occupied with my book I don't have the temptation to start talking. It might seem nerdy, but it works for me. Than, after I started using that strategy, I started noticing that I read so much I really didn't feel like actually talking to people, and that I only wanted to read, and became a lot less social. Even when I didn't have a book, I still wanted to stay in my bubble. So, either way, a problem arose. But I figured out a way to put a balance between when I wanted to talk to people and when I wanted to be solitary.

Life Lesson: A solution to one problem might be a gateway straight into another one.

F is for Feeling Really Stupid!!!!

By Gabby

Track. I wanted to do a sport, but I knew I wasn't good at anything. I tried out for basketball, didn't make it. I tried soccer, too lazy to go to try outs. I even tried out for an Arlington Lacrosse team and didn't make it. So finally track season started. I knew I wouldn't have to try out but I easily knew I was the slowest runner. So I decided to go easy and try long jumping. It turned out I was really good at it. I went to every practice and started getting really serious about the sport.

Then one very sunny Thursday there was practice. " Why aren't you wearing your gym uniform?" a girl on my track team asked me.

Well, I had totally forgotten there was practice again and I had already changed into my regular clothes. Dang! Now I would have to get back into my sweaty gym clothes! "Um.... I'm not going to practice today" I answered.

"You know if you have one unexcused missed practice, you can't compete in the next meet." Emory said. Ugh, I was really tired, and I just wanted to get home!

"I know.... I'm quitting track. Tell that to the coach" I said. There. I wouldn't have to go to track now.

The next day Emory came up to me. "Hey! You know you got picked to run in the track meet in the girls 11-12 long jump division!"

 

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! 

 

I had missed that track meet for nothing! I could have competed! I was so stupid. I didn't want to go to the coach and explain about how I wasn't really quitting. Now I have made a promise to myself to stay on track or whatever sport I choose.  

 

 Life Lesson: Never give up or there will be consequences!!!

S is for Sharing

By Alexis

  "Why do I have to share a room?"
   "Because there are 6 years between your sisters, and only 2 between you and Logan." (Logan is my younger sister)
   For my entire life (from what I remember) I've had to share a room with either my older or younger sister. I hate it. It's like adding a piece of burnt charcoal to your s'mores, instead of a golden- brown, fluffy marshmallow. On weekends, I never get to sleep in until about 9:00 AM when I would like to. Instead, I have to wake up at about 6:30 or 7:00 AM with my little sister. The reason is that she insists on making her bed before she leaves our bedroom, and she is as loud as can be when it comes to making beds. Another thing that she does to take away my sleeping time is when I go to bed early, just about every time, when she walks into our bedroom, she turns on the light. I think you know what happens next.
   Also don't you hate it when you get in trouble, and you didn't even do anything? Well, when our cleaning lady comes, if there is anything that is in her way (a.k.a out of it's place in her mind), then she will stuff it into my walk- in closet. Then, when my parents get home and go into my room, and look into my closet and see a mess (which is mainly my sisters stuff) I always get in trouble. Boy do I get mad then.
   Life Lesson: Sharing is hard, especially with family members (ones you share a room with mainly)

9 is for 9th Time's the Charm

By Jay

At the Long Branch fair today, I had one main goal in mind, to win the cake-walk! I was done doing my various walking and game playing when I meandered over to the cake-walk. I guess my luck was just off, because I tried seven times and just never walked on the right number. By then I had run out of tickets, and had to refuel. One last dollar would be put to the cause which got me two more times. I lost the first and started to doubt myself, but I persevered and was victorious in the next walk. I was overjoyed and might just have hugged a column.

Life Lesson: Persevere and don’t give up!

8 is for 800 Meter Race

By Lauren

I scrolled down the list of names wondering what I could possibly be doing. Not my name not my name, I know her, not my name, finally! I thought to myself. The list said Lauren M. 800 meter. How long is that again? Oh yeah, Ugh half a mile. All day the dread of having to run the half mile in the first track meet of the year was a lot of pressure.

I waited and waited for them to call up my race. Then those dreaded words came out of the coaches mouths "800 meter girls race, line up!" My heart was pounding already and I hadn't even started running yet. We all lined up and got ready to start. "On your marks, get set, GO!" the man shouted, and I was off. First lap of four, you can do this, it's not that hard, I thought to myself. Second lap, only two more, third lap only one more, you can do this. I could hear the kids cheering and the coaches repeating "Good job, Keep it up, your almost done!" Last lap come on you can do this just keep going. I tried to speed up, but I was really tired and already running really fast. Everybody else had run this race before and had actually practiced it, unlike me; I hadn't ever even practiced more than a 200 meter race. As people started passing me I tried to go faster, but I couldn't feel my legs.

Finally I passed the finish line, I had gone from second to fifth, but I didn't care. I had finished the race without collapsing and in only a little more than three minutes. My legs felt all tingly and it was hard to think straight, my head was pounding so hard. But I didn't care; all I cared about was getting some water. When I could think straight again I realized that it hadn't been all that bad, just a little hard for the first time.

Life Lesson: Don't be afraid to do things that you have never done before. Also it doesn't matter how well you place as long as you tried your best, especially if you have never done it before.

7 is for Getting Older

By Alice

So, every sixth grader is going to seventh grade next year (MAJOR DUH!!!), and I'm really excited, because seventh grade is one step closer to eighth grade and eighth grade is almost high school, and you drive in high school, and I turn sixteen in high school (like everyone else, right?), and you drive at sixteen, really want to drive. Like right now.

Back to 7 is for... I'm also just really excited to not be the youngest at our middle school, and also the seventh graders have better team names (trivial much?), and they have really cool field trips, like the Outdoor Lab again. And I just want to really seem older and more mature compared to my sister. Not hard to do, really. And I turn thirteen next January, so, I get to volunteer at this camp that I love, and art camp at the Community Center. I have been at that camp since I was eight years old. Plus thirteen is where you are not a kid anymore. I'm sick of being called a child!!!!!! -_*

Life Lesson: Getting older isn't that bad. Especially thirteen and sixteen. And driving is cool and so is being an official non-child.

6 is for...6 (and Counting) Year-Old-Dog.

By Silvia

On May 10th, two days after mother's day, a little beagle was born.
Who knows what will happen to this beagle. Maybe it will find a home. Maybe not. Maybe it will be nourished and get taken cared of in a shelter. Maybe not.
But all I know is that dog will be ours.

At June 2005, we have adopted the little dog and taken her home.
But the way she looked was very different from the way she acted.
It turns out that under the little bundle of soft fur was a little monster underneath.

No, not a monster. More like a hurricane mixed with a tornado.
This dog will turn our house upside down, as her stubborn attitude makes us do stuff we have never done before.

Once that dog came into our lives, we had no choice but to change our lifestyle.
She literately destroyed everything she saw.
The next minute, our living room is filled with pillow stuffing and unidentified pieces of clothing.

She is an escape master when we limit her into her cage.
Later we decided to throw it away since she broke the lock.
And yet, this puppy is no longer a puppy once she reaches a year old.
She turns into a destruction machine.

And her maximum destruction level was at high.
She was about to chew the whole house down until we have started to let her know that we are the parents. (Especially my older sister and I.)
And now she is enjoying her life now with us.

A few days ago, we celebrated her 6th birthday. (That is 42 dog years!)
And I then realized that even though she looked older, she still has that rambunctious, puppy-like energy in her.

LIFE LESSON: No matter how old something looks, it can still have the same spirit it had when it was young.