Month: February 2012

Make A Change.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

Calcutta Kids

Everyone aspires to be something great, someone noble and someone admired; yet some people don’t have any of these ambitions and this is because they live in desolation and poverty.

Some people don’t have the chance to dream, the chance to have ambitions and many often don’t have the chance to think. Sometimes you may think your life is hard because you can’t go out with your friends or you can’t go on a trip, but think about how you would feel if you couldn’t say no.

Children all around the globe today are forced into slavery and prostitution by their families and friends and never have the chance to say no, let alone worry about material goods.

After watching the documentary Born Into Brothels I have realized it is up to us as a society to make a change. Donating a few dollars a month, visiting countries to work with those in poverty or just giving children something that they can learn from and cherish.

By giving children and families across the globe inspiration and aspirations we can achieve something great. We, the people have to help. We must give many their key out and aid them with the tools to gain freedom and the liberation to stand up to say no and fulfill a life that they choose.

My First Mock Trial

rangerthecatLeave a comment

On Thursday in my Law and Society class, my class had our first mock trial. We were introduced to the idea of it the week before, and were given a whole packet of information about the case and the testimonies of witnesses. We read over it all to get a better understanding of the case.

The basic outline of the case was playing off the story Hansel and Gretel.

In this incident, they walked into a Gingerbread House shop, owned by Ms. Crueller, with the hopes of finding a job. But then, they broke some gingerbread houses, and were was a misunderstanding where Ms. Crueller ended up in her hot oven with burns on her arms, and the children ran away. Ms. Crueller pressed charges on these children, including aggravated battery, criminal mischeif, and petit theft.

We were broken into teams of the defense and prosecution; I was on the side of the defense, and was acting as an attorney. I gave the opening statement, and also cross examined the prosecution’s witnesses. There were 2 other attorneys on my team, one of which did direct questions to our witnesses, and another that did more cross examination and the closing argument. There were also 3 people acting as the witnesses, Hansel and Gretel Schmidt, and also a local shop owner that knew Ms. Crueller and met Hansel and Gretel, and thought they were good kids.

I was so intimidated in the beginning – I absolutely hate public speaking. It made it much worse, also, after the opposing team’s attorney gave their opening statement. It was much longer than mine, and he was much more confident. But I did put in hard work and effort on my own statement, and I knew it wasn’t bad in the slightest. So, I gave my opening statement, and the the questioning began.

The part I really enjoyed was the cross examination. The fact that I could, in a sense, prove my points without any cooperation from the other side was very pleasing. Also, there were many points brought up in the prosecution’s direct questioning that sparked questions of my own, and ended up helping me in my questioning and proving my client’s innocence.

There was one HUGE problem that occurred, though. A witness on my team decided to lie, and made a false statement that, in the end, lead him to incriminate himself. Despite that one mishap, everyone preformed so well, and it was a really great first mock trial. To be honest, I was impressed with my own performance, and the performance of the others on my team.

In the end, the jury that we had came to the verdict of not guilty on the charges of aggravated assault and criminal mischief, but guilty of petit theft. Which, in my book, is nothing to complain about. We did a much better job of defending than I thought we would.

Never though I’d say it, but I am SO extremely excited for the next mock trial, and beyond that, our FINAL mock trial even more. Our first one was such a success, and I can only imagine what we are going to be like on at the end of the year, when we’ve had even more practice.

How bout’ some Mock Draft Madness?-Worst Person 17-Andrew Luck

backinphillyLeave a comment

I know it’s pretty early still before the NFL Draft. But, I wanna discuss the Andrew Luck issue.

C’mon guys. Do you all really think that Luck is going to be the next great quarterback? Ya, he’s a great football player but I don’t see it. Then again, I’m a fan of the ground threat quarterback.

However, the reason Mr. Luck is on our worst person in sports list is because of all the hype that has been garnered thanks to his presence. I hate these overhyped athletes. The Colts are going to draft him, and it should just be dropped.

Honestly, I’m more curious about where Robert Griffin is going to end up since that’s still up in the air. I’ve never been a huge fan of the draft. I’m not a fan of rookies. Veterans play the game the right way. I just hate hearing about the top draft pick.

Who knows? Maybe a torn ACL is in Mr. Luck’s future?

Lacrosse Lacrosse

venturatrekerLeave a comment


This week we started the first OVS Lacrosse practice.  We have not yet received pads or had a practice with sticks.  Instead we have ran, sweated, hyperventilated and worked ourselves ragged in preparation to receive pads.

We have alot of players who have never played lacrosse before and who are all itching to get into gear.

Tomorrow hopefully we will all get our pads and finally get to hit eachother!

We have a lot of players this year compared to last year when they only had 10 players.  Although it is to soon to say anything about our team, the enthusiasm of the players and the returning skill all look like the spuds lacrosse team will have a good chance this year!

It’s THAT Month Again….

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

February is here, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

The gushy, romantic day for women.

The irritating, stressful day for men.

What is Valentine’s Day?

Some call it  a day to express your true love and passion.

Others, more cynically, call it Singles’ Awareness Day.

I think I fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

I’m so not into the lovey dovey shout-my-personal-life-to-the-world thing.  But I’m not sulking around thinking, Oh my Ross Turner…I’m gonna be alone forever.  Although, I do enjoy the candy part.

I think the Day of Hearts is good for showing your friends and family how much you appreciate them!  I suggest dividing up your time, not just spending it all with your inamorato/inamorata.

One major theme of all V-Days is the unrequited love thing.

Oh yes, you ALL know what I’m talking about.

I bet some of you have even written cheesy love poems.

This week, I had to do that for school.  I wrote some pretty bad poems.  And I mean horrible poems.

I’m  no love poet.

But got some inspiration late Wednesday night and wrote my least awful poem yet.

I entered it in our school’s love poetry contest.

Stay tuned, all you lovers, my poem’s coming your way.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with a Side of kirbyfullyloaded.

yrreskrap2 Comments

So my wish came true!

I was able to go to the beach with an amazing friend of mine, Emmy (kirbyfullyloaded).

It was nice being able to be away from the dorms.It felt like the first time in a long time since I had been away from school related things.

Emmy’s mom is amazing. She made us breakfast everyday. In fact, this morning she made us chocolate chip pancakes and we ate them watching the high tide with the early sun.

Chocolate. Sun. Sand. Ocean. What else could a girl ask for??

Anyways, after breakfast, we both changed from our pajamas into our bathing suits (although it probably wasn’t the best idea considering my massive food baby) and ran to tan on the deck of her house. We listened to Maroon 5 together and made plans for our next weekend date! Hopefully we will be able to surf and bake a bunch of fattening goodies.

Weekends like this really let me value my friends and realize importance of spending time with good people.
Being able to stay up late with Emmy, snacking on random cookies, seaweed, and digestive wheat crackers (trust me, they taste absolutely amazing), just to keep us awake while we talked all night until the early hours of the morning was great.
Painting our nails for hours, singing along to music, critiquing singers for foibles in their voices, and not being able to wake up from staying up so late…priceless.

It lets me step back and realize how blessed I am with my friends.

Thank you Emmy for letting me stay at your house this weekend.

You are an amazing girl. Never change.

The Long Awaited Season

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

It’s almost Spring. That means it’s almost track season. In fact, it starts tomorrow! Gosh, you have no idea how excited I am. Winter seemed long and I felt like I was hibernating. I get fragile when I’m not running or when it’s not a running season. I don’t feel like I’m alive.

I still can’t believe the winter season is over. My old school back in New Hampshire didn’t have a track team so I haven’t ran track since my freshman year. I feel like this is all a dream and when I wake up, I’m afraid that it will still be a cold winter.

Yesterday, I had the weirdest dream. It was already track season. I was so excited, jumping around and went to talk to my coach (thebrownguy) to ask about what workout I would be doing that day. But he said, “You know, we’re not doing any workout so no practice this week. Because, I am so lazy and I have things to do, okay?” I was speechless and went back to my room crying.

I am that excited and nervous because I have been training all year long for this season with high altitude training, running in cross country season, and solitary training in the winter. I had been waiting for track for so long and I am willing to give this season my all.

My life of music

backinphilly1 Comment

I love hip hop. Lil Wayne, Drake, Kanye West, Eminem and Kid Cudi are some of my favorite performers. I love rap and the lyrics that go with it.

I love hearing the raw beats of the artists that preach what their lives have seen. But honestly, what annoys me is the lack of recognition by the Grammy committee.

Ya, that’s right. I’m about to bash the heck out of Adele. I’m tired of hearing Rolling in the Deep every time I turn on the freakin’ radio. I hate it. I don’t hate the song. I just hate the crazy repetition. It just bugs me that the same artists get the recognition and the other genres get nothing. You never see like Ludacris get nominated for best album or anything. It’s always Adele this or Katy Perry that or Taylor Swift that. I hate it.

What kinda music do you guys love?

Rap is always number 1 to me.

Quarters!

r3t5nomLeave a comment

To the average human a quarter is just another way of saying 25 cents, or is seen as just another coin in the pocket. In the boarding school life that is definitely not the case.

This is what a quarter looks like to the those in boarding school
At a boarding school a quarter has a higher value, a quarter is considered to be gold. Not the kind of gold that is worth hundreds of dollars, but more along the lines of it being the main currency for both the laundry rooms washer and dryer, as well as the soda machine. Both of which are to many seen as necessities.

On a nightly basis you can hear as the students seeking quarters rummage through hallways stopping room by room in search for those 25-cent coins. And the cries of happiness and satisfaction when they find a fellow student willing trade a dollar for quarters.


It’s funny to me how such a small thing could be such a bigger part of ones life when they have to do their own laundry and better yet pay for it. If there is anything I have learned from being at a boarding school it is that when I go off to college, quarters are going to be a dear friend.

what do you think?

Nikon 1 J1

r3t5nomLeave a comment

This weekend I was at Target and I was looking through the electronics section at all the different video games, game consoles, and eventually I crossed paths with my favorite electronic…CAMERAS!

I was looking at all the different point and shoot cameras and well they all looked pretty much the same, all but one. The Nikon 1 J1. This is the revolution of point and shoot cameras because it gives the person using it the option to interchange the lenses as if it was a DSLR which is a big camera except less than half the size.

The Nikon 1 J1 has the capability to take 10 megapixel pictures, which for a normal point and shoot camera wouldn’t be seen as a lot of mega pixels but when you have lenses to attach, those lenses increase the quality. And it can also take 1080p video, making it a great high quality camera to shoot those home videos or fun days at the beach with.

This camera was developed to give people an alternative to a big DSLR camera (which is what I have) this makes it so that one can feel like a professional photographer but not have to pay what a professional had to pay for his/her monster camera.

(this is my camera)