Last Blog.

So Fiona, why do you want to major in Wildlife Biology?
Well, Mr. Interviewer, from the first moment I can remember, I was immersed in nature and the surrounding living environment. The main influence is without a doubt my father, he always used to take me on nature walks and teach how to identify a moosewood from its bark, or a sasafras from its three different shaped leaves. I grew a fascination in plants, trees, and of course animals. My friends were astonished and a bit disgusted when I would excitely catch a garder snake or a daddy long legs (back at the age when an interest in reptiles or insects was a "boy" thing.) Now, having taken Biology, AP Biology and Field Biology, my fascination has magnifyed and I commit myself to learning every tree and animal that I can't identify on my own. It seemed to just fit, I became the president of environmental club, a member of the Climate Change Coalition and the team captain for my envirothon team. I may not have the brain capacity of others on my team but I definitely have the enthusiam. I plan to continue my fascination for the wild and expand my knowledge of biology, hence my plan to major in wildlife biology.

Interesting!! Tell me, what do you do in your free time?
That's a great question Mr. Interviewer. When I'm not doing my homework, I mostly play music. My instruments of choice are the piano and the guitar. I'm self taught with the guitar for about 1 year, I've taken about 5 years of piano and am now teaching it to my 8 yr. old neighbor. I love to go hiking (as metioned before), biking, playing badminton and swimming in the beautiful walkill. Mostly, I turn to music and making art to kill/fill my time. In the summer, I raise monarch butterflies by collecting the eggs from my garden of milkweed plants (the only kind that monarchs eat). Of course, I spend a ton of free time and my friends and family, whether it be going to six flags for the day or sitting around watching Tyra or some other show that needs no mental capabillities. I tend to never be bored, when I find myself feeling bored I make sure to fill my free time with something either productive or interesting. The fact it: I'm full of energy and must be entertained.

Wow. I am just blown away, don't even apply, you are already accepted. Congratulations.

A Typical Person's Post

Reading is a frustrating thing for me. To be honest.
Sometimes though the most frustrating are the most rewarding.
I am either having an unlucky streak with books, yet how is that possible when reading "classics." Perhaps my attention span is slowly deteriorating, which is a growing fear of mine and quite the possibility. With all that I am expected to do, understand, write, read..how can I possibly spend a chunk of time with a book. For me, though I'm trying to work out it, reading is still the burden it used to be when my teacher would force books upon us. Yet, looking back on it, I really loved to read. And I know I still do, I couldn't get my face out of Running with Scissors or Of Mice and Men (YES I actually liked that book!). Lately, I've found myself skipping from one book to another. From Oliver Twist to On the Road to Feminine Mystique to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the past couple of weeks...
And there are SOO many books I am dying to read! I just wish I could get through them in order to move on to the next. I have a whole bookshelf in my room filled with unopened, unexplored novels as a motivation to pick one up and finish it. I want to read Totto-Chan, Life& Times of Michael K, The Elephant Vanishes, Fast Food Nation, Omnivores Dilemma, A Walk in the Woods..oh my god the list goes on.
Novels I pick up and just end up putting them down pages later go back onto the shelf, who knows, maybe sometime in the future, the book have transformed into a better one.
I think most big time readers jump into a book to escape the stress of their life, they find serenity in becoming a part of the book itself. I on the other hand, can absolutely not focus on a story when I am stress, as I have been for the past month or so. My mind is a wandering one. Even though my eyes are scanning the words, my mind is running, asking myself when that essay is due? how should upload those pictures for that project? Will I have time for lessons and for an art show? My minds goes crazy!! I find my eyes pages past what I actually processed. I turn back to that part, begin reading, and the cycle repeats itself.
Music is my stress reliever. All I need is a good song, my voice and my guitar. Figuring out how the song is played distracts me and I am able to get lost in the notes, lyrics and melody. I find a time everyday to breathe and sing, so far it's helped. Hopefully I can turn to reading classics for comfort but for now I'll rely on music. Actually I'm going to go right now and play my latest song interest.

Sorry, this blog had no real direction or point. It was more of a catharsis.

Generation ME

Since our sophomore English class when Ms. Diana managed to get a word in and discuss our thoughts on our generation based on the novel "Generation Me" by Jean M. Twenge. Hearing how narcissistic me and my peers are made me feel both ashamed for my generation and question the truth in it all.
The New York Times Article on our Why-Worry Generation felt more appropriate for the way I know my friends and peers. I'm not saying my friends don't worry, trust me they do..but I think as a whole it represents us better. And who's not to say that Generation Me and Generation Why-Worry are not correlated at all. Perhaps our narcissism has in turn led us to depend on our grandeur to protect us from all form of adversity. Or perhaps our low stress view of life has been confused with egocentricity. Either way, I think it is a positive attribute. A few years, I read an article about the happiest country on Earth..Denmark. Why Denmark? Because apparently they have extremely low expectations. With no expectation, success is inevitable. With success comes happiness. So our generation might very well be heading in the right direction.
ps. sorry if some of my grammar/spelling is horrendous. My brain in slightly fried.

My Stretch.

In Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings," she gives multiple examples of possible real life scenario, each one ending with a happy ending of stability and love. At the end it is revealed, but not to much surprise, that the only ending we can be certain of is death. The beginning and ending of a life are universal, it's what you do with the time in between that makes you a unique person with accomplishments and goals. I think without even knowing it, everyone has subconscious goals that seem so ingrained in their future that achieving them is unquestionable, that might be the difference between goals and dreams. Whether it be going to college, having children, taking care of parents, traveling to certain places; we all have them. I have both goals and dreams, like most people. The things that I will accomplish with out question are going to college (at this point for wildlife biology and voice), having children (so innate for me), and becoming a smarter, more mentally developed person. My list of dreams and hopes is almost endless, some more serious than others. For example, sky diving, becoming fluent in Japanese, French and maybe something like Russian or Farci, traveling/hitchhiking across the country and world, becoming a recognized jazz/alternative singer (very unlikely) and learning a crazy instrument. Among other things, I never want to lose my childlike affinity to nature. That is hopefully what my stretch in between will consist of. If you want to leave cool comments, tell me about some of your out of the ordinary goals/dreams.

Favorite Book EVER.

That's a tough one. I can say for a fact that my favorite authors are Roald Dahl and Mitch Albom (though I haven't read one of his books in a while.) But I think that my favorite novel that I always keep somewhere nearby is Luna by Julie Anne Peters. I read early junior high so it's an easy read now but it was one of those books that I have fallen in love with, and is one of those books that I could never force myself to throw away. It about a transsexual female, Luna who is trapped inside the body of an 18 year old male, Liam. Each night he very meticulously find the perfect accessories and clothing and transforms himself into Luna. The story is told from his sister's point of view, who shares a room with him, and fully knows his secret. The whole novel reveals Luna's troubles in the past being a transsexual and the adversity she must overcome as well as her slow coming out to the world of her true being.
It was one of the first books that made a lasting impression on me and my perspective on life.

In the Beginning...

It began on a cold windy night in Eastern Japan; Sendi; 1997. My mother opened up the story of the Cat that was afraid of everything, vacuum cleaners, cars, brooms until the end when it had to face it's fears to save it's owner's baby. That was the first book I remember looking at and recognizing words with the ability to sound them out. My literacy was difficult, because I was learning how to read and write Japanese at the same time that, developmentally, I should have been learning how to read and write English. My brain had to do both at once, subsequently I was a little behind when I moved to America in first grade. But both of my parents always read to me, in both languages. I think because I had to learn to read/write both languages I was constantly stimulating that section of my brain, in part, I became a stronger linguist.