Nostalgia

For my daily dose of nostalgia, I’ve dug up my journal from seventh grade and picked out some of my favorite entries. Looking back, I kind of wish I had shared these, but since I didn’t, they’re safe for the Wiki!

2/2/11 My, how times have changed. I may sound like an old lady talking about the good old days, but honestly, technology has changed a lot during my short lifetime. For example, when I was in preschool, it was a big deal when my family first got a DVD player. Now, with movies on Blu-Ray and iPods, DVDs have become a thing of the past. Also, the features of cars have all gone automatic. The push of the button can now open the doors to any minivan on earth, except mine. So whenever my friends try to get into my family’s car to get a ride somewhere, they say, “Uh…how do I open the door?” Finally, younger and younger kids are getting cell phones. I can’t understand who an eight year old would be texting, but it must be someone, since those kids are always on their phones. It seems our generation has already been spoiled with technology. Who knows what will happen by the time I’m actually an old lady…

3/11/11 The day is done, The sun will be gone, But we knew all along That this moment would come, It was a wonderful day Full of laughter and play, But its seems all good things Must end, Red, orange, yellow The colors paint the sky, A magnificent sunset To bid the day goodbye

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">4/7/11

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">My graduation cap flies through the air, along with the others of my graduating class. Five short years ago, I was a simple seventh grader who could only fantasize about this event. And now that it’s really happening, it’s exactly like I expected. The past few months have been filled with contemplating colleges, stressing over schoolwork, and coming to the realization that I’ll be out in the world soon and will need to say goodbye to my friends. I think I’m ready for it though. What I’m not ready for is the flood of caps that comes raining back down upon us. Several of them hit me in the head. They never show this part in the movies. I guess no matter what happens, I’ll still be my same klutzy self.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #808080; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">* This was my response to the prompt that inspired my poem __Dance__. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">5/9/11

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I NEED THAT! Impulse buying is something that affects us all from time to time. There’s always that one glorious item that is so perfect and simply begs to be purchased. Enticing commercials and packaging are one cause. They catch your attention and make the product seem irresistible. Sales and discounts also make the product more appealing because you feel like you’re saving money, when in reality, you are losing money on something you don’t really need. In addition, the ease of access of internet shopping can make it even easier to impulse buy. In the end, impulse buying doesn’t pay. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">5/20/11

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">There’s this feeling. It starts out small at first. But as the big day approaches, it grows inside you. And grows. And grows. Until you are completely consumed by the feeling. And you are excited and afraid and giddy and nervous all at the same time. Then, just when you feel like you’re going to explode with the immenseness of the feeling, the spotlight hits your face and it begins to trickle out of you. Slowly but surely. And by the end of the performance you feel exhausted and empty except for some stray happiness and relief. And just when you feel like you’re going to collapse from the emptiness, the audience applauds wildly. And the feeling reappears. Filling you up once more.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">5/27/11 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Stop.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Just stop. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I need a minute of peace to figure things out. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">What’s today’s date? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">May 27th, 2011. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">May 27th?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">2011?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Where has the time gone?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Could our seventh grade year really be almost over? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">That can’t be right. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We just started. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We were just in sixth grade. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We were just in elementary school. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Like five minutes ago. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I’m serious. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">It can’t be true. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Our childhoods are slipping away. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Far too quickly. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I don’t think I’m ready to grow up. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Why can’t things <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">just

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">stop?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">6/7/11 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Uh oh.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“What’s the matter?” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“That book report is due TOMMORROW! I completely forgot!” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Psh, that’s easy! Just buy one off the internet!”

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center;">* <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">What should our fretting student do? Cave into the peer pressure and enticing allure of taking the easy way out? I certainly hope not! Taking things that don’t belong to you and claiming them as yours is wrong, even if you pay for it. It’s called plagiarizing, which can get you in some serious trouble, because it is STEALING. Just like shoplifting or robbing a bank. The shady enterprises that make plagiarizing so easy should be shut down for teaching students unacceptable behaviors. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Moving back to our student’s dilemma. He knows the consequences of plagiarizing, so what should he tell his friend?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center;">* <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Uh, well, thanks for trying, but I can’t do that. It isn’t right. I’ll just get it done tonight.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Well, if you insist…I suppose you are right. I won’t do that anymore.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Anymore?”

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center;">* <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Oooh, busted!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: right;">6/8/11 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Oh please, more ancient history?” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Bleh, this is pointless!” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">“Honestly, what’s the difference? They’re all dead anyway…”

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Many students complain about having to learn about history. This is probably because they cannot see the purpose in it. And trust me, there is one. We need history for a variety of reasons. First, history tends to repeat itself. If we just forget about wars and outbreaks of disease and the falling of empires, they could happen again. And if we let that happen, we aren’t learning from our mistakes. Also, there are things in history that we may want to repeat. Artwork, literature, and culture from ancient times are still as meaningful as they were back then and deserve to be admired and recreated. So the next time you want to complain about having study history, stop and think of what history means to the present. And consider the future: someday YOU will be ancient history. Would you want people to care?