Being a Strong and Confident Woman

For me being strong and confident are very important. I know that for some people, it is very challenging. It was very challenging for me too. I used to care a lot about what people think and I tried to make myself the person that other people wanted me too, Not the person that I really was. But being confident and strong changed a lot of things.

Today, I was reading this article about a woman named Gabrielle Giffords.  She is a strong, confident, and beautiful woman. She was a congresswoman from Arizona until today. She had to resign so she can concentrate on recovering. She was working at a shopping center, meeting the people from her district when she was shot in the head. Other people were killed. She is the kind of woman who always works so hard to serve others and her community. She is a good listener and the people in her community admire her. I hope she can recover and go back to work for Arizona. I admire her too. She has not given up. She has to work so hard just to learn to walk and talk again. Her colleagues in The House of Representatives were sad to see her go, even the ones who are not in her political party.

To learn more about Gabrielle Giffords, click on the link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqN1Qc3u7f4

My Future

            I have thought about my future a lot lately. I still don’t exactly know what I want to be when I’m older, but I want to be a person where everyone can look up to. When I was young, I wanted to be a designer, painter, doctor, lawyer, inventor, scientist, and more, and I thought I could be all of that. I still think if I try hard, than I could. But, now, I know how hard it is to be all those things. So, even though I do want to try to be all those, I feel like I have to set a goal first, to be really successful.

            My goal for the future is to be the person where everyone can look up to. To be someone’s role model is a very important thing to do, or at least that is what I think. Some people might say, “you can never be…” but I say don't listen to those people. I say set your goals and make a step-by-step plan to achieve your goal. It may seem to difficult to achieve as a whole, but in parts you will see that you can accomplish the parts. That way a difficult task can seem easier. That is what I will do in planning my future. 

For now, I think that the future I should plan for should include getting into high school (those steps I planned and completed- now I just wait), graduating from upper school (I think I'm on my way), and begin thinking about what college I want to go to. After I accomplish those goals I can plan for a career, the one where people can look up to me as a role model!

Middle School Transitioning to High School

I remember coming to Newtown Friends School for the first time. I was very nervous and excited at the same time but now I am in eighth grade and I have a totally new feeling.  I am nervous about high school but I am really thrilled to go to a new school and meeting new people. I am not sure where I will be going and that is a big part of the reason why I am a litter nervous. I have worked hard during the past few years so that I would become the kind of student that a high school would want. I am looking forward to the challenge, no matter where it is, but I really want to know.

            Sometimes I am a little shy meeting new people. I have been working hard to get better about that. I know it is important to make eye contact and to ask questions. Sometimes I say nothing even when I have so many things to say. I will have to continue to work on that before I get to this new school. Everyone here knows me so well so they know when to push me to do better. When I find out where I am going I will shout it from the rooftops and than I will worry about something else… like what should I wear the first day of school! J

Lacrosse

            I started playing lacrosse when I was in sixth grade and I had never heard of it before. At first, I didn’t know what the object of the game was, the rules, and what the positions were. My mom took me shopping (and you already know I like to shop) to buy the lacrosse stick, mouth guard, and goggles. Of course, I had to customize my stick. Can you guess what color my stick is?--- PINK! My brother and I just practiced handling the stick in the living room every night. Soon, the stick felt good in my hand. So it was time to try the sport. I really liked it right away and I was so glad that I tried out for the team. I am not usually kind of a girl who works really hard at a sport. I usually just like to have fun and get a little exercise. But lacrosse was different. I really liked it and I think I am pretty good at it. I played it again in seventh grade and got my first goal – not just in lacrosse but any of the sports that I played in the past. I usually play center or defense of wing. Both of the positions are midfielder position but the center gets to the faceoff. I love it when I have to do the faceoff, even if I am a little bit nervous since everyone always watches the faceoff.

            Since that first goal, I have scored again. I guessed that first one gave me a little bit of confidents. I didn’t know how to react when I scored my first goal, but I do know that it made me feel good and I enjoyed the recognition that I got from the coach and my teammates. I couldn’t believe that in assembly my name was called because I scored a goal. That made my day.

            Well… I am in eight grade now, and it’s my last year to play lacrosse at Newtown friends. I am planning on doing well by making sure that I start practicing before the season start and putting in as much effort as I can to be the best player that I can be. 

My artsy side

When I was younger, about seven years old, I took an art class in Korea with my brother and his friends. It was a fun class but it was a little bit scary. I had to go down this big staircase to the basement level and walk around to the back where there was small door. Upon opening the door, my classroom was brightly lit but I kept thinking why it was in the basement. Our teacher was a woman and the class was kind of fun. It had levels of different techniques you can learn, starting with free drawing. Later, teacher made suggestions of what we should draw. Sometimes, we even had quizzes on color identification. That might sound easy but each quiz had about 40 different paint colors to identify.  I was pretty good at that. Since our class was small, we often got to go outside to draw and sketch.  Maybe that was the start of my interest in drawing and painting.

Even though I didn’t take another art class until this past summer, my interest grew. So, this past summer, I had a chance to take another art class. It was a lot different from the class I took when I was seven. First, the teacher was a man; second my classroom was on the second floor, not a scary basement. Everyone in this class was so good. It was a humbling experience. There was one girl, my age in the class. And she was a fabulous artist. She did a painting of a puppy that was so good that it looked so real. And she was not happy with it. As a matter effect, the teacher told her she could do better. I had to push my mouth closed. I felt a little uncomfortable because she was so good.  But I worked hard in the class, I learned a lot and I was happy with some of the drawings I made. I decided to continue my work in painting and drawing and make it my summer project. I read some books about the artists, their lives and their techniques.

I would like to take another art class this summer or I can persuade my interest at the high school level. 

Sopa Act

            In a way, I understand why the bill was introduced. People want their work to be protected and if it were not than they would never be paid for the work they did. However, I still am against the Sopa Act.

            Although most people in my age or in my age group would be devastated if the government shut down all the websites (Google, Tumbler, Youtube, Wikipedia, Bing, Facebook, My space and more…) but I would be particularly devastated because as a student from another country, these websites help me develop many concepts needed to progress. When I first came to this country, I used the traditional encyclopedia and dictionaries to help me. But it was very time consuming, especially if I wanted to compare. Now I can do it instantly on my computer in help of various websites. Some of the websites have made it possible for me to connect with old friends back home in Korea. I never would have found me if it wasn’t for Facebook. Imagine you’re self-living somewhere else and needing some kind of social networking keep in touch with friends and family back home.  It has become my lifeline to Korea. And when I am there, I can keep in touch with my friends and teachers here in America. I can check the weather at home in Korea, and tease my father about weather being close to C degrees Fahrenheit. I can even see if it’s raining right on my street.

            Even though I do understand how the people feel about piracy and etc, I think this bill would send us back to the 1970s way of learning and going research. Talk to your parents about how that was.  

            I was very impressed that the protesting that was done around the world actually had an effect. Some legislators actually withdrew their support of the bill. Some people were even sponsors the bill and withdrew their support. 

Shopping

            Shopping, mall, online, in the city… you name it, I have done it. I come by this hobby quite naturally because my mother loves to shop but my dad is really good at shopping. Most dads hate shopping and would even stay home and do the dishes rather than going shopping with their wife and their children or at least that’s what I’ve heard. In my family, my dad is the one who says “ lets go shopping.” He loves to buy us things and he has a really good taste, which is an unusual trait for dads. He has a good eye for what goes together and what accessory match well. I enjoy going shopping with my dad.

            Like most girls, I love shoe shopping, accessory shopping, make up shopping and clothing shopping and especially dress. I happen to be shopping for a white dress for a special occasion. Stay tuned. I like to go to the book store and when I do go to the book store, I like to shop by the attractiveness of the covers of the books. The color is the first thing that attracts me to a book. If it has dark color or even black on the cover, I am not attracted to it because I think the story maybe dark and not something I would want to read. I know that people say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I cant help myself. I usually have good luck using this way to pick books.

            When it comes to gadget shopping, like computers, calculators, phones, ipads and ipods, I have certain things that I am looking for but I don’t mind if someone else picks it out, and buys it for me. What I do mind is if someone else wants to pick the covers or colors. That is my decision. Keep out.

            Finally, dress and clothing shopping is my favorite. First I go online to see what’s out there. I will pick a style and usually a color I like and I go from there. I like designer clothes but it doesn’t always have to be something expensive. I like things that are on sale too. I love shopping because it makes me feel very happy when I purchased something that I really love.