My Weekend

 My family rarely spends time together. We go to Foxwoods on weekends, but now-a-days the thrill factor has faded. We usually stay in The Great Cedar, and sometimes if my brother and I take friends we take the shuttle from building to building. My favorite thing to do there is play elevator tag, but that's a whole different story. Now my dad is a pretty generous guy, we get along well, and I look up to him, but I dread when he makes us go to Foxwoods, up until now.
 This weekend was one of my top weekends by far. On Friday I unfortunately had to attend school, and then a doctor’s appointment, but then my mom, brother, and I left for Connecticut. The drive takes about two hours, and my brother, Ethan, is younger than me, so if you have a younger brother you feel my pain… Luckily, I beat him to the front seat so I got to play “DJ”. My favorite genre of music is rap, which couldn’t be more opposite of my mom and Ethan’s preferences, but hey you win some you lose some, right?
 We stayed at The Mystic Marriott, because Foxwoods didn’t have any rooms available for this particular weekend, but to be honest, I liked staying at The Marriott a lot better. It was really nice there; the service was good, their restaurant, The Octagon, was delicious, and the pool was ridiculously warm! Normally I don’t swim because I get cold relatively easy, but I swam a good amount of time this weekend. After we arrived we didn’t have much time to eat, but we drove over to Foxwoods after check-in and watched The Counting Crows perform live. They aren’t as popular as they used to be, and I don’t regularly listen to their music, but it was a fun thing to experience.
 Saturday came quick; we woke up and drove over to The Mystic Aquarium. My brother and I weren’t too excited, and we tried getting out of it, but at the end of the day, I had a good time. When we first got there, they had a huge tub where you could go touch sting rays, and when I touched one it felt like actually jello, they’re bodies, I guess you could say, are so smooth. Next we watched the sea lion show, their biggest sea lion weighed in at eight hundred pounds, he was the male dominant, and his name was Cocoa. There was also a baby sea lion, her name was Skinner, and she was three years old. Most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. We saw many other animals, but my absolute favorite sea creatures for some reason are starfish. I got to hold a giant star fish. I just think they look and feel so cool. They remind me of SpongeBob.
 We got back to the hotel around three, and just as we were walking in my dad was walking out, so instead of leaving he stayed and treated us to a wonderful lunch. I got a Panini with turkey, my favorite. The rest of our little vacation was relaxing, which is just what I needed. My mom and I went to get pedicures at the spa, and the lady who did my toes was a little on the crazy side so she did my nails for free, but I’m sure it was just because she was really nice
 All and all, I love my family, and it was extremely nice and generous of my dad to treat my family like he did. I had a great weekend and had a few new experiences!
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Conclusion

Every year multiple students drop out of school. Students might not love school, but when they show zero enthusiasm and say they hate school, nine out of ten times, they’ll look back and appreciate the education they’ve received. A lot of kids drop out of school, most of the time it’s due to poverty, repetition of they’re parents, and influences of others. If I were to ever drop out of school, I’d know I wasn’t going to fully reach my potential, or life goals. I value the education my town, parents, and society is able to provide me with, so dropping out is only stabbing yourself in the foot.

Vacation

            In the days building up to summer, the weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer. This April vacation was a reminder of just how excited I am for summer. How nice the days will be, how much freedom we’ll have, and school will be out! April vacation was like a preview of the long months ahead. June, July, and August… my favorite words to hear.

            The things I did for my April vacation were basically the same things I do over the summer. Over the weekend I spent most of my time with my dad, it’s rare if he’s home on the weekend, so I took advantage of the fact he was. I woke up Monday morning and went outside to feed Jenny; a big brown horse. She’s beautiful. Her favorite thing to eat is bananas. It made me laugh when I first discovered this, because what horse likes bananas? I guess Jenny does. I spent relatively an hour a day with her. Then, I would go home and check my phone. If a friend texted me then we’d make plans to hangout, if not I’d make them myself. I kept myself extremely busy, from soccer practice to getting ice cream; this was hands down the best vacation ever.

            On the really warm days, I would wake up around eleven and tan in my driveway. One morning my brother and his friends were already in the driveway playing basketball, so I played horse with them and won! Unfortunately I got a little burn on my back; it reached about eighty two degrees that day. I pretty much begged my mom to go to the beach everyday of the week, but she had no choice… she had to work. My cousin Jason and I walked to the Ashland Reservoir. We swam to the island together, I took about thirty minutes, but we both had to stop half way there because it was exhausting. Next time I might just need some floaties, maybe those Elmo ones for each arm.

The most entertaining thing I did over vacation was hangout with three of my close friends. We had a huge pasta dinner, then walked to the high school and played with a bow and arrow. Where I got a bow and arrow, I couldn’t tell you, but lucky the arrow was just wood and didn’t have a tip. I suggest not playing with any kind of weapon… I got a splinter, but luckily I got it out!  

Finally, as vacation came to a close I realized how tired I was! I had a soccer game on Sunday and my club team beat the number one team in Massachusetts! The Stars, my guess is they’ll be running laps at their next practice. After my game I came home, had some Brie cheese and French bread then took I nice hot shower. Then I threw my comfy pajamas on and took a nice long nap. A great ending to a phenomenal vacation!

(500 word count)

Summer '10 Lesson Learned

In the summer of 2010 I was about 13. As a 13 year old I was curious. I’m normally a curious person, about pretty much anything and everything. On this particular August night I made the choice to drink, not the smartest of choices, but looking back it was less of a choice and more of a decision. The night is a complete fog; all I remember is waking up with a huge bandage on my leg. I felt dizzy, so I tumbled into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. I felt a sharp pain where the bandage was. I truly did not know what was under that white gauze pad. I slowly peeled it to the point as to where I could see the purpose of its presence. There was a cut about 3 inches deep and a good amount of skin missing. I was terrified. It looked as if I had been mauled by a pit-bull.  I noticed there was blood on my shorts, so being as compulsive as I am, I bleached them and put them into the washing machine. I walked downstairs; my dad was sitting on the couch. I asked him what happened, he told me in my own attempt to walk down the porch stairs I fell on an already cracked milk bottle. A little later, I found myself thinking back to the night before; I had a horrible head ache and felt as if I was going to vomit. Disgusting? I know. My brother helped me all through the night. He told me he slept on the flow next to me because he didn’t want me to get hurt. I will never forget what he said, nor will I forget that night. I have a scar on my leg shaped like a heart to remind me every day. I don’t think of this as unlucky, I don’t think of it as a mistake, and I don’t think of it as misfortune. I think of this time period as a life lesson. I learned a couple different things. The legal age limit for drinking is set as 21 for a good reason. Some people, especially kids do not understand the power or addiction to liquor, but they don’t need to understand, because it’s not made for us. It doesn’t make you cool, you don’t have a better time from alcohol, you don’t become invisible either, and it makes you stupid. Stupid in the sense that, it affects your proper decision making. You don’t think of the repercussions of your actions, you don’t think of the consequences, and you certainly don’t think of what it does to your body, or the toll it takes on specifically your under developed liver. I made a mistake, but I learned that no matter whose party I go to, or how many of my friends are drinking, alcohol is simply something I don’t need or want. I can still have fun without it, and you know I’m glad I learned that rather than getting behind a wheel or doing something even more stupid.  (517 words)

What is an Essay?

"An essay is a piece of writing that gives your thoughts (commentary) about a subject."
My opinion of an essay is a piece of writing that you can write about a directed subject, and event, something personal, anything you want. You can just keep writing and writing about your chosen topic. Writing is supposed to be all about something you call your own. Something you write and something original. A piece of writing that can be used as an article, report, or documentation even of something significant that has happened in your lifetime. relatively important...