Journal #32 A Reporter Covering the War

I have a lot of respect for the reporters who cover the war, especially if they are in the trenches with the troops covering the War. A reporter would have to be so brave to risk their life for a story on the War for their job. Personally I feel as though War is a very serious matter where there are people killed every day, so I know I would be very nervous to be in a War. When you see coverage of the War in Iraq you see reporters who are all decked in armor to make sure they are safe and it reminds people just how dangerous it really is to be out there in the trenches covering the War. In modern times, war is so much different and I think more dangerous than it used to be. Do not get me wrong I know how dangerous war is every war that has been fought in the history of the World, cause all the blood that has been spilled but, now days with the modern technology there is so many ways that enemies can kill each other. With all the bombs and modern bombs, reporters must really prepare for anything when it comes to protecting themselves. I honestly do not know if I could be a reporter who is covering a war. There is so much bloodshed and pain, that it would be so hard to watch on a everyday basis. Also, I know how brave the soldiers are and it would be so hard to live in that threat of danger and death in your life twenty-four-seven. I have so much respect for people who can put themselves through that, but I do not know if I myself could do it because there is so much risk involved and blood everywhere, that I do not know if I have it in myself to be a reporter who is covering a modern day war.

Journal #31 Trying to Do Something I Really Wanted to Do

The people that I try to persuade to let me do something that I really want to do the most would have to be my parents. I know that sometimes I think that I know what is really best for me but, truly my parents really have the best idea of what is best for me not me. They have been through way more of life than I have and also way more situations, so they usually have a better idea of what I should do in the situation or what the best outcome should be. Although sometimes I do not agree with some of the decisions that they make about me, but I know deep down inside they only want the best for me. I know at the time when my parents tell me something that I really want to do is a bad idea I think they are totally wrong and the I am the one who is right but, when I look back at these situations I realize how wrong I was when I thought that and how right they truly are. Something I really wanted to do when I got into high school was to play high school football. That had always been one of my dreams was to play football just like my dad did when he was in high school. I heard all about the stories of him when he was young boy just like me playing the sport that he loved. The only problem with me playing high school football was that my mom really did not want me to play since he thought it was too dangerous and I could get badly hurt if I did play. I had to convince my mom for what seemed like a whole year until she finally conceited and said it was okay for me to play football. My dad was overly excited for me to play and my mom now loves to come to games to watch me play. I am so glad my mom let me because, it is my favorite sport to play and I look forward to playing it every year.

Journal #30 Finding Your True Self

In the world today, it is very hard to truly be yourself. So many people try to be something that they are not, and conform to try and be someone else. Teenagers feel such a huge pressure to fit in with everyone else, and to try and be popular at school. You can see this everywhere in our nation, including Pleasant Plains High School because, you can see kids everyday who just try to fit in to what is popular and not truly be themselves. Being a teenager, I know the pressure that people feel when it comes to trying to be accepted by your peers and to have people like you, but if you try to be someone else and act like them then you will never find out who you really are. One of the main things during adolescence to do is to make your own personality and identity. Everyone in the world is a unique individual, so that’s how someone should act. I myself have not truly found my true self though. There are many things that I do not know about myself that make up my true self. For example two huge parts of my life coming up are where I would like to go to college at and what I would like to do as my career. This is a huge part about me that I am still not sure about. There are so many colleges out there and it is so hard to pinpoint the one that I like best and also the one that would be best for me. Career is also a huge step because, I will hopefully be doing the same job from when I am around twenty-five to when I retire around sixty-five. That is forty years that I would be doing the same job. That is why finding the right job for me is so important to myself because, I want to be doing something that I truly like. I know I still have time to find out who I truly am, but I just hope sometime soon I can.

Journal #29 When I was Tested by Nature

Nature is a huge part of our daily life and something that we have to deal with everyday. Just take for instance last week when we had a huge so snowstorm that made the school miss two days. That snowstorm tested me greatly. Not only is the weather really cold, so in turn it makes me really cold, but, it also tests my driving skills to try and drive on the snow and the ice. I know some kids like the ice because they can “drift” but, I personally do not because, it is very dangerous and I crashed last year when there was ice on the road. Yesterday I went sledding with my friend’s girlfriend’s family, so I was tested greatly by the weather to try and stay warm in the dangerously low temperature. Luckily there was no wind chill or I do not know what I would have done. Another way that nature tests people is in sports. Nature plays a big factor in sports such as baseball, football, futbol, and competitive bass fishing. When I used to play baseball, I had a game where it started to lighting and we had to stop the game and reschedule it because, you can not play baseball in the lighting. This disappointed me greatly because, I really wanted to the game. Another sport that nature plays a big role in is football. Most football fans know of Lambeau Field’s “Frozen Tundra”. The field was so cold back in the 50's that it made the grass like ice. Football games have also tested me through nature. Last season we had about four games where the field we played on either was a muddy mess or it was raining while we played. This tested my team and I greatly because, it was hard to get traction and play in the mud. While I did find it fun to play in the rain and mud, it kind of sucked when the rain was cold and it froze me. Basically, nature tests us everyday of our life through many different ways.

Journal #28 My Winter Break

For winter break to finally come was a great relief to me. Not only did I get a lot of time to relax and spend time with my family but, the break was also great after a week of studying really hard and working really hard on my finals. Taking finals takes a lot out of you, so it was great to have two weeks to do whatever I wanted to do and not have to worry about school. My break basically consisted of me going to a friend’s house or seeing some of my family. I spend most of time at my friend Will’s house. Somehow I seemed to basically end up there about every night. I even went there after Christmas after I celebrated it with my family, so I could spend it with his family because every year they always have a huge get together with their family. Other than sleeping in and seeing friends, the other big part of my break was basketball. Overall, over the winter break I had four games of basketball. We had one regular season game, along with three games up at Macomb for the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament. We won our regular season game on the first Tuesday of break against Beardstown at Beardstown. Our next game was against Midwest Central at Macomb. We did not as well as we could have so, we lost to them by three. That put us in the loser’s bracket so we could not play for the Championship. The only thing we got to look forward to was the Consolation Championship. Our game was against Abingdon, and we beat them by about fifteen. We had a game the next day against West Hancock, which we lost. Even though we went one and two in the tournament, it was still a very fun and a great experience even though we did not play as well as we could have. I am so glad we had our winter break and I really needed it.