Frustrating Topics

This research paper is getting really frustrating for me, and I know that I'm not the only one. My research topic is a hard one to get sources for because it isn't something that is a common topic when it comes to research. Topics like the fashion world, photography, cooking, therapy, whether it's art or physical, they're much easier topics than one about the Meiji Era. It's really getting to me when I'm trying to find good sources on my topic and I have to pull a tooth out just to get a semi-decent one. So far, I have two good sources for my research topic, but the paper is due on Wednesday, and I don't have enough sources for my paper. The paper has to be six pages long with at least six sources, and I only have two. I just told my teacher, and he said that he would try to find me some, but I don't think it'll be that easy to get four more sources. I tried looking on Gale and EBSCO but I can't find anything really good. I'm still going to try and find stuff, like I'm going to the library today and do some more research, but I think it'll still be a piece of work. Ugh, after this paper is done and over with, I never want to do another research paper until I have to. I'll be soooo glad when Wednesday passes, but at least I don't have to read it out loud to the whole class.

Meeting My Sponsor For The First Time

So yesterday I finally went to go meet my new sponsor. At first it was kind of difficult because I had just found out that I had a scrimmage the same day, the day before at practice. And at this my priorities were torn because I had been anticipating with meeting my sponsor at last, but also I haven't played in a scrimmage yet and I was losing valuable playing time. So, I decided that I wasn't going to meet with my sponsor and go to the game when Mr. Abrams had told me that Senior Project was number one right now because of my grade in the class. And he was right, but I was still really upset about it because I really wanted to play but I couldn't because I had to leave. So when my mom came to get me around 4 o'clock, she drove me to Woodbury and we discussed how I'm going to get there every week. So I went in to meet my sponsor, Mr. Barna, who is friendly and approachable and I cannot wait to meet him again next week. When we talked, we discussed when we are to meet, which is every Tuesday at 1:30 pm, and he'll hand me off to someone in the office to work with to get the different hands-on experiences. And he told me that later on he'll even give me a story or two to write about! I'm really excited about doing this even though Journalism isn't the way I want to go, but I can give it a chance of course. And who knows, maybe I'll come to like being a Journalist and it'll become my chosen career path. But after the meeting, my mother and I continued our conversation and she said that she'll let me have the car every Tuesday so I can go see Mr. Barna, but I have to wake up early. :( But it's fine, and she said to remind her this weekend so she can show me a fast and easy way to get to Broad Street in Woodbury (and to get home). Again, I can't wait to go next week and finally get the Senior Project experience that I'm supposed to have.

I Finally Got A Sponsor!

Last Friday, March 20, 2009, I finally got myself a sponsor. Thanks to the ever helpful Sam Messner, one of my besties, found my new sponsor, Mr. John Barna, the editor of the Gloucester County Times. I emailed him earlier last week and when I didn't get an email back, I called him on Friday to see if he was in. He told me that he received my email and was just about to respond when I called him. He said that he's eager to meet me and hopes to meet me soon so that way I can meet everyone in the office. He gave me two possible days that we could meet, Tuesday or Wednesday, because on Thursdays he is busy with meetings and things like that. Today I emailed him saying that Wednesday is good and I hope to be able to see him soon. I'm really excited about getting a sponsor, especially after not having one for so long. Now when everyone else blogs about seeing their sponsors, I can blog about my experiences as well instead of feeling like I'm falling behind. I cannot wait until Wednesday when I go to meet Mr. Barna for the first time and having my very first sponsor meeting. I hope that everything will work out now, especially after waiting for this for a while now. Wish me luck!

The Prologue

Being the only child of a noble family is never fun. Especially if you're the daughter of a noble family. As a noble, and as a young woman, you're always expected to be polite, quiet, and act as a lady. When around men, you only speak when spoken to, nod your head to make it look like you're listening, and smile. It gets really tiring when you do it day after day. As the only child, and as a female, you're also expected to find a good husband. One who is rich, of a good family, and handsome.

Yes, all those attributes are fine and well, but none of those include kindness, compassion, or love. I have always dreamed to marry for love like my favorite, and only, aunt Tsukiyomi (sue-kee-om-ee), but only the lucky girls marry for love. My mother, however, was not so lucky. My grandparents married my mother off to the highest bidder because they were in debt and because she's the oldest. After that, they were more lenient on Tsukiyomi, which made my mother very angry.

My mother, Yue (you-ay), who is a very beautiful woman, was just sixteen when she got married. A young nobleman, my father, named Kyoshiro Kite (kee-yo-shear-ro kee-tay), was the son of a feudal lord in Edo. He had seen my mother when she was out in the supermarket with her mother shopping for fish. My father, just turned twenty, told me that he fell in love with my mother at first sight. He said that he "had to possess her [beauty]." I had always believed in love at first sight because of that statement. However, the reality of that love story was different than what was said. In reality, my mother was in love with a local boy in her small village, but her parents did not approve.

She had tried to elope with him, but they found out and had the boy executed. My mother was still grieving over her loss, when my father came along. She did not love my father, she didn't even like him, when he asked for her hand. My father, and like many others, only wanted her beauty, not her heart. My grandparents, however, did not care and accepted him as their future son-in-law. A week later, my parents were married and my mother was forever stuck in a loveless marriage.

My father, after he had finally possessed my mother's beauty, had treated her like dirt, only showing kindness when he was showing her off. My mother began to hate my father and her parents because of what they had done. She stopped believing in love and accepted her fate as an unloved wife. She grew cold, never showing her emotions and stopped feeling all together.

When I was born, she began to feel again and I became the only thing in her life that mattered. She showed me love and affection, something she, herself, had never experienced. She named me Yuki (you-kee), because she felt that I was as pure as freshly fallen snow. As I grew up, I believed that my family was happy and that my parents were in a love match. I believed that I, too, would find love and live happily like my parents. But I was sadly mistaken and soon realized that I would share the same fate as my mother......

Softball Season

Softball season is here at last! I'm really excited about softball this year because, not only is it my last year as a softball player, but also because I feel like we're going to have a great season this year! I, of course, did not get ready for the season because for one, I'm lazy, and two, I'm lazy. I just didn't feel like going out and running and warming up for the season. I should have though because my whole body is sore! My arm, especially, is really killing me because I was throwing the ball really hard on Saturday, and now I can barely move my arm without it hurting like helllo! But it'll be okay, it's just going to be hard practicing today because I can't really lift my arm without being overwhelmed by pain. So...yeah. I don't know how it's going to work out for me today but I'll have to manage. But yeah, our first scrimmage is this Friday at Kingsway High School, and also this Friday I have the play. So I don't know exactly how that's going to work out, I just hope we'll get back before 5:30 because I have to get hair and make-up done and be ready to go on stage. We'll see how this goes. I can't wait!

Wicked

As you all know, on February 25, 2009, Mrs. Triplo and some of her drama students and teachers, traveled to New York City to go see the hit Broadway play, Wicked. The play was probably one of the best that I have seen, and the singing was better than some of the good singers that aren't in Broadway. The main character, Elphaba, or better known as The Wicked Witch of the West, was played by Nichole Parker, who has a very powerful voice for such a small woman. She did such a phenomenal job as Elphaba, she sang well, and her acting was really good. I absolutely fell in love with the play, so much that I wanted to read the actual book! So when I finally got the chance, which was last week, I talked my mother into buying it for me and I was so stoked to read it. However, when I started the first few pages of the book, I noticed that the play was extremely different from the book. In the play, the townspeople opened up the story and Glinda the Good had told the story of Elphaba's life, but in the book, it started out with Dorothy and the others sitting in a field talking about the witch. At first I was a little confused but I adjusted and kept reading, and the further I got into it, the more I noticed that this book was awesome! The mother who didn't have a name in the play, was Melena in the book, and she was a HOE! I mean, she was a really big hoe, seriously, it was pretty bad. She didn't know how Elphaba became green because she was always passed out from eating these leaves that drugs people. She didn't know if she had cheated on her husband, or if she was raped by elves or some passerby, she didn't even know if Frexspar, her husband and Elphaba's dad, was the father! And then, some stranger came by, a year after Elphaba was born, and his name was Turtle Heart from the Quadling Country, and he became the lover of Melena, even though he was living under her husband's roof! Frex, the husband, didn't even know that his wife was cheating on him, he thought that her "glowing face" was because she was happy. Which she was by-the-way, but for different reasons. Haha! But anyway, the book is really crazy and I can't wait to get back to it, because now I'm on the part where Galinda, before she became Glinda, was on her way to Shiz University. So, yeah, if you're planning on reading the book, after you see the play, you'll be entering a world of adultery, drugs, and the ever mature content..Sex.

My College Experience

Yesterday, I wasn't in school but I was up in Ewing, New Jersey at my first choice college, TCNJ. I was involved with an overnight experience where I stayed with a college student for the night and experienced how college students lived. I stayed with a History major, whose a third year, in her townhouse. Her name is Maurisa Thomas, and she is an Alpha Kappa Alpha, or better known as AKA. Her room, and her friends' rooms, were filled with AKA apparel and they were very pink, with a little green involved, which I liked because green is my favorite color. Since Maurisa and her friends had midterms the next day, and there was nothing going on at campus that night, we stayed in the library. Now I know it sounds really boring, but it surprisingly wasn't. I had a lot of fun with all of her friends, who are all upperclassmen, meaning juniors and seniors in college. They were really interesting people with a lot of personality. Her really funny friends that I met were Doris, a Zeta and a senior, Hazel, a senior who is not involved with sororities, Alana, a fellow AKA and a senior, and Kenyatta, another AKA and senior, she was the funniest. Kenyatta had asked me if I wanted to be in a sorority and when I told what sorority I wanted to be in, which is Delta Sigma Theta by the way, she kindly advised me to rethink my answer. It was pretty funny because after meeting her and getting to know all about AKAs, it kind of makes me want to be one now. Not only because my school doesn't have Delta Sigma Theta sorority, but also because those girls were really cool. I had always thought that AKAs were snobby, light-skinned girls, but after getting to know the AKAs, they're actually really cool and down-to-earth girls. But I bought a hoodie and a pennet with my schools name on it, and I met a lot more people the next day, I visited a college Sex 101 class, which was scary, and I learned all about my future college. That Sex 101 class was pretty interesting, I must say. The topic that day was about contraceptives, like birth control and nuvarings, which is a type of spermicide just non-liquidy. Then the teacher showed a clip of a man getting a vasectomy, and I wanted to puke. It was so nasty! There was so much...stretching and needles and cutting, really disgusting stuff to watch when you're half asleep. I made a bunch of great friends, and although I won't see some of them next year, I'll see Maurisa and the others I've met and I hope I'll have a bunch of fun.