It all happened on what I thought would be a fantastic day: the 1st Annual University Interscholastic League A+ competition. The very event I had trained for. The opportunity that would let me earn some academic recognition. I had prepared for months then, going to after-school practice and spending hours of my time memorizing and learning. Of course, I still broke the rules, and paid the price, but at the end of the day, I gained something out of all of it.
Personally, I never was the most confident person when it came to competing or facing up to a challenge. This was mainly because I never felt “good enough” against individuals who were “better than me.” Having this mindset never had a positive effect on me. One day, however, I decided to no longer let this get the best of me. I needed to prove to myself that trying my best is always the optimal choice.
Win or lose, I was going to take this experience as one that revealed to me a skill I thought I never possessed. The following day, the results were revealed and as I expected, I was defeated. In the eyes of the school, I may have been beat, but in my own vision, I had only bettered myself. However small it maybe, the discovery of my confidence was one
Everything was going well until I faced my first real incident my junior year. Our team was successful during the last couple years, however it was not without sacrifice. Practices were long and grueling and our bodies were pushed to their physical limit, but the cheer of the crowd and the glowing feeling of winning made it all worth it. It turns out however, that the aches and pains of practice were not the only sacrifice to be
"Sometimes we need someone to simply be there. Not to fix anything, or to do anything in particular, but just to let us feel that we are cared for and supported." I wish that I had that "someone." I'm always that person for someone else, but when it comes to me, where are those people that I need to show me that I am cared for and supported?
Prologue 1999 It started with a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, the sweet, beautiful woman he dumped when he got into UC Davis Veterinary School. " He’s drinking again," she told me. "I'm worried about him."
The fire that was light for the night is burning low in the old brick fireplace. The heat from the low light orange burning fire is upstairs in the open attic. The attic is filled with warm sleeping bodies. Then there is creaking slowly getting closer ,with a light,bright as the stars of the night showing the way. Behind that light is a man in his mid 40’s and with fiery red hair and pale,freckled covered skin,he looked like an Irishman.
It was a nice sunny day, birds chirping, warm breeze in the air with the fragrance of flowers mixed with fresh cut grass. Out in the county of England. A family of two, a father and a daughter. It was the first week of school for teenage Zoe Jackson. She just turned thirteen, and beginning a new year in a new school.
PERSUASION & PRESSURE It was not hard for him to recall how he met what he would later call the love of his life. Regardless of all of the times he had tried in vain to forget the amatory recollections, all of the nefarious glasses of wine he had imbibed in attempts to wash away the taste of her cherry lipstick, or all of the lines he had drawn to stay away from every inch of her. He could not abscond the sillage of her Chanel N°5 that always lingered after her departure, nor could he ever fail to remember the emanation of her Marlboro Red’s that stay stuck to her clothes like last night's affairs. Every word that tumbled from her deceitful lips was etched into his mind and written twice over. Every sigh that cascaded from her sunken mind
It was the darkest time of the night, right before dawn, when Nick quietly opened his front door and crept out into the street. He held a small lunchbox of personal items, such as pictures and small toys; and this lunchbox he vowed never to let out of his sight. He prepared for his two mile walk to the crossroad at the heart of his town. Playing the hopeful scenario of what could come from this fateful night, Nick became more and more anxious. After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at the crossroad of Gleason and 57th.
“Alright people, we are wrapped for the day! Everyone looked fabulous today, great work! A bottle of wine is waiting for me at home so whoever walks out of the door last better lock up,” Mark the photographer says as he storms out the door before anyone else. Our daily bell rings to let us know that the shoot was over and everyone there drops what they were doing to get home. I pass by every other model either scrambling to get their stuff together or flirting their way up the fashion social ladder.
“This isn't happening today, this doesn't happen. The chances are to thin for it to ever happen.” Words sank and echoed off the cliffs. The camera still stood there, hooked onto the tripod motionless. No one to pan over to the sunset between the hills, no one to strike the compound and start driving home.
One explicit, gorgeous Wednesday morning, I’m awakened by the sound of my phone. “Hello?” “Hey Bruce, sorry for the inconvenience of time but we have an emergency meeting at an abandoned warehouse in the middle of Tiger Mountain, Washington Forest.” “Alright, that’s fine. Hey, are you feeling okay?
I awakened in a cold sweat, breathing hard while clutching the blankets with white knuckles. I quickly glanced from left to right, my heart only beginning to slack after I realized I was awake. Carefully stepping out of bed, still reeling from the frightening movie my brain played while I slept, I looked toward the door and froze. Something seemed off about the room, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Pulling a blanket around my body, I attempted to block out the cold air and end my shivering.
The day was just after my brother’s birthday and we had just finished celebrating his birthday. My brother was more surprised, however, by the amount of snow that covered the yards outside. We both awoke to a sight much more impressive than that of December, a white landscape obscuring everything laying on the ground, including the cars. My brother and I changed faster than firemen getting ready for a rescue, as we ran outside to see the fascinating snow that surrounded our neighborhood.
