Wilderness Survival

Have you ever gone extreme camping? Have you ever experienced sleeping under the stars with nothing but a sleeping bag and a make shift shelter? I have done such a thing three years ago at Ten Mile River, a campsite located in up state New York. For one week my friends and I went to this campsite to earn awards from the camp councilers there. On the day we got there it was a beautiful and sunny day that brought our spirits high. But then all of a sudden on the second day, it started to rain and it didn't stop raining until the day we left, which was one week later. It seemed our trip has been cursed by God's fury.
On our last night some of my friends and I went to accomplish our test to earn the wilderness survival award. Our task was to build a shelter out of the natural resources in the woods. Our shelter was an incredible success. We found fallen logs and used them as the exoskeleton of our shelter by leaning them on a thick tree and then placeing a buch of leaves, sticks and pine wood leaves over them. The pine leaves were very helpful because they were designed to keep the rain out. My dad told me later that deer stay out of the rain by going under pine trees. Our shelter ended up being huge and very stable, we were all surprised at how we managed to build such a magnificent shelter. Some other boys who couldn't build their shelters asked us if they could bunk with us. They were very big kids who looked like ax murderers in the dark, we were so scared of them that the only thing we said to them was "please don't steal our things".
Sleeping that night was anything but comfortable. The inside of the shelter contained rocks buried partially in the ground. We didn't want the rocks to distub our sleep so we took them out, however diging the rocks out left holes in the ground and while I slept my head crouched backward into that hole. To make things worse I was sleeping in between to boys. on my right was my brother who built a little make shift tent out of his poncho which directed all the rain leaking on him onto my side. On my left side was my friend who was rolling on top of me in his sleep and was crushing me. Then another one of my friends said that their is a chipmunk inside. The news angered me so I ran out of the shelter saying I can't stand this misery. My friends had to pull me back in the shelter to stay out of the rain. As soon as I went back to my spot I couldn't wait for morning. Yet despite all the hardships we went throught that day it was worth it because we got the awards we came for. Now when I look back at this wilderness survival experience I think of it as a good adventer that I will remember in years to come.

Speech Pathology

On October 18 from 12:00 to 1:30 St. Johns was hosting a fair to help students decide what to major in. The major that I was most interested in was speech pathology. When I first went to the speech pathology table I was surprised to hear that I was the second boy to come over and learn more about speech pathology. I discovered that girls mostly take speech pathology as a major and few boys take it. However that makes it better for me because speech pathology is a very demanding career. Many people need help with speaking so they hire speech pathologist to help them. Men are in higher demand than women since there are so few of them.
From my discussions with the teacher I learned that upon receiving the degree I will have a high paying job that is very demanding. However in order to receive this job I needed to earn a masters degree at graduate school. Unfortunately graduate programs are very hard to get into but I would still be able to take online courses to get my masters degree if I fail to get accepted into graduate school. Nonetheless I still hope to make it to a graduate program and I hope to grasp this career, since it promises alot for my future.

Majors Fair

The Majors Fair just occured today during common hour which takes place from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm. It is a fair in which we get to check out the majors available in St. Johns and to help us decide which one is best for us. The subjects I went to check out today was Speech Pathology and History. Speech Pathology is the subject that i want to major in because I wanted to do something that involves having patience with people and Speech Pathology requires alot of patience.
History is my favorite subject in the world. If I had a choice I would have chosen to take history as my major, however history would not garantee me a promising career. As a result I have decided to take history as a minor. The only problem I have with the majors fair is that I also have a Discover New York Lab to go to which is at the same time as the Majors Fair. Hopefully the lab would go by quick and I would make it to the majors fair.

I'm a History Buff I am

History is the subject I love studying in school. I love history beecause it studying it draws meowy different from our's today. My favorite time periods go from ancient mesapotamia to the end of World War II. However I am not very interested in history after World War II because it is to similar to today.
When I was young I wasn't interested in history at all. In fact I actually dispised it whean ever I was learning it in school. Yet my interests changed dramatically when I watched this documentary on the discovery channel called the "Spartans at the Gates of Fire" wh ich was about the 300 spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. I was completely drawn in to tstinghat documentary which was both interesting and entertaining. That was the first time I developed an interest in history. From their my intrests in history expanded from the history of the Greeks to the history of the Romans and onward to the medeival and pre-modern times.
Today I constantly watch the history channel if there is a good documentary playing. I also love reading historical fiction as much as I love reading historical fact, such as "Gates of Fire" by Stephen Pressfield and "Brethren" by Robyn Young.

My Backyard

From the moment I moved into my house many years ago I realized that I had a huge backyard. From the moment I laid eyes on the yard I was very excited to play in it with my brothers. It was a big yard with a large amount of grass and a huge tree at the back corner. Yet as the years passed my backyard went through many changes. A year after we moved into our house my family and I built a fish pond the backyard. Four years later we built a tree house on the tree that was growing in my backyard.
Soon our pond and our tree house was gone because we needed to fix a wall in the back yard and the construction killed the fish. Also the treehouse restricted the growth of the tree it was built on. Therefore the tree was dying. Seeing all these things going on led us to get rid of all that and build an inground pool. I was sad to see the tree house go because I used to have alot og fun on it. However I was excited at the thought of getting a pool. The tranformation of the backyard was tremendous. The grass was cemented over, the pond was dug up, the tree was knock down and the gap in between my house and yard was filled up. My back yard was transformed from a meadow like area to a lushious paradise that people would see when they go to Florida or the Carribean.

CRAZY Weather

It is unbelievable how crazy the weather this year has been. All ready it is October and yet the weather is still warm. Had it not been for the calender we would propbably think it is still summer. It is so sunny outside that I still have a tan from walking around the school campus.
The other day I was going camping with my friends in up state New York. As soon as we stepped out of the cars the b;lazeing heat hit us hard. It hadn't rained in that area for over a month, thus the trees and the green grass turned brown and withered. The waterfall we always went to was flowing lesser water than usual.
But the worse part of it was that the camp grounds forbidded any use of campfires because the farests were so dry they didn't want to start a forest fire. The day was wasted so we pact up and left for home. I wonder to myself if this warm weather that we are having is a sign that Global Warming is taking it's toll.

Water Safety Instructing

Many people my age work part time to keep some extra cash in their pockets. Most of them work part time in resterants, shops, or for family businesses. All of that is good and honest work. Yet I like to think of my part time job as one of the special ones. I am a certified water safety instructor which is generally a person who teaches people (mostly children) how to swim and be safe in the water. Some might think of me as a lifeguard, however a life guard just sits on a high chair and watches for any causualties, which rarely happen.
Water Safety Instructing is wear all the action happens. When I work I am in the water with a group of kids and I teach them the right techniques of swimming. Teaching this involves more than just words. It requires demonstration as much as explanation. Children always tend to get things wrong while they practice, ergo it is important for me to correct them with positive reinforcement. If I don't give the children positive reinforcement then they will be demoralized and may even cry, which is something I nor any other instructor wants. I enjoy working as an instructor, it never gets boring, you get to socialize with the other instructors, and the pay check is also good. It is a great part time job.

I'm the Eagle

This past Sunday was an incredhicble day for me, my brother and my good friend. It was the day of our Eagle Scout cerimony, in which we received the highest rank in Scouting. During the cerimony many guest speakers came and made speeches congradulating at us on our job well done at achieveing this great rank of honor. They also gave us plaques and certificates, including one signed by our US President George Bush.
After the guests gave their speeches, gave gave my own speech to the audience, as I said it I was very nervous, but as soon as I was done my scout master asked, "Wow, are you a public speaker". This gave me pride in both myself and my abilities. After the cerimony ended I was congradulated by countless people, some of whome I barely knew. This moment is an event I will never forget, because to get it was a challenging process.