Scooter

My family has six cats again. My mom found a kitten at work yesterday. I made a list of names; my dad and I liked Gandalf (since he is gray) but we eventually chose Scooter. He looks like his name would be Scooter, it suits him. Not for any other reason. In the past two days, I think we have said Scooter 20 million times and now he is comprehending his name. He is calm, curious, and a little hyper. He likes to bite, but what kitten doesn't? Years ago, I never would have thought my family would have had pets, besides fish but we got our first Hamster, her name was Oreo, and we loved her to death. Then we started saving cats from the street and slowly ended up with six. Cookie, our Japanese bobtail, passed away from old age and weakness since she was, what looked like, torchered from whoever raised her. It was terribly sad. And as I said before we have six cats again and I am very happy. I grew up liking dogs but now I do not know if I could stand living with a dog. Cats can take care of them selves, for the most part, while dogs cannot. I do have to say, it is annoying when we add new cats or take care of a friends cat because they take forever to get along with one another. However, our cat, Peaches, is getting along with Scooter faster than I ever thought Peaches would with any cat. He is very skittish and likes to stay up stairs. Now that Scooter came along he is around the house a lot. (I do not want to jinx it though, it is great). Maybe Peaches will make a friend?

-SourBurglar

Meaning

I didn't really have a big inspirational speech this week, so I've decided to copy down 3 of my favorite quotes and explain how I interpret them.

"Sometimes, you have to go with the crowd to go against it." 

        I see this more as a 'deceive people' comment. What I take from this is that if you try to go against a group out of no where, they will generally put they're guard up and oppose you. But, if you go with them, you can slowly interject your ideas and open them up to your point of view.

"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

         I hate it when people don't stand up for themselves and they let people push them around. This quote tells me that if I stand for something and i believe in myself, then people can't tell me what to do because I'm standing up for my cause. If I don't, then I can't stand up for myself and people will push me around because I don't believe in what I believe.

"You can't change the law without first changing human nature."

"You can't change human nature without first changing the law."

         Probably one of my favorite controversies! We have witnessed people refusing to change in the past. One side says that if we change the law, people will change to follow the law. On the other hand, we have someone that says we have to change the way people are first because they won't change the way they are for the law. It's a debatable topic, either side can bring strong arguments for a side, but it makes you think about peoples morals nowadays.

                                                                 <3 illya

Everyday I'm Shufflin'.

I need to step up on my posting. I am doing to great in college, all A's in my two classes haha. I have never been diagnosed by a doctor but since I basically started high school, I have began pulling out my eyelashes. Very weird, trust me I know. Having an obsession with hair pulling of any kind is an OCD disorder called Trichotillomania. Try saying that three times fast. No one ever notices my eyelashes unless I bring it up, but this past summer, I started pulling out my eyebrows and now it is very noticable. It has become embarrassing for me when people bring it up because I do not realize anyone notices. Of course if you know me and haven't seen me in a while, I suppose you would notice. I try to stop and then problem surfaces again. It is like biting your nails I guess. I do not have that problem, thank goodness ha. I really do want to stop but it is just not that simple.

-SourBurglar

Responsibility and Commitment

       I am a very determined person. When I put my mind to something, I carry it out to the best of my ability. Especially if I care about it. That being said, I am in marching band. Last year, out show "Cleopatra" brought us to 8th place in Kettering, Ohio BOA Regional Finals (amazing score for those of you who are wondering). No, we did not place first, but we became one of the only 12 high school marching bands in Georgia EVER to make it into finals. We then won overall grand champions when we competed at Fannin County High School. In Atlanta BOA, we didn't make finals, but we moved up many places from the previous year. A great season, very accomplished we felt. 

       This year, we have an amazing show. However, we don't have the commitment and responsibility from the members that we should. I, along with about 30 others, really care about marching band and give our all. It angers us when people don't try. For the first half of our season, we never had a good performance at football games. The week of our first performance, we had a terrible Tuesday practice. We got very little accomplished and our director stopped practice several times to yell at us. I left practice crying thinking, "This is it. We have no hope in making finals this year. It's done."

       That Thursday (our last practice before our competition), the realization finally set in. The fact that we were competing to keep our ranks and to be the best finally hit people. We had a wonderful practice, yet it seemed that it was still too late and we wouldn't do well on Saturday. Come the competition, people tried their best, and we had an amazing run. Sitting in the stands waiting to hear whether or not we made finals was agonizing. Sure enough, we made it. People jumped up and screamed, I even cried out of happiness. 

       After out finals performance, we waited to hear our placement. We stood there as they called out 10th place, then 9th, then 8th, and so on. When they were done, we jumped with joy (not literally). We had placed 7th place and 1st in our division class 4A. Looking at our scores, we moved up one place from last year, but we increased our score by 4 points (a HUGE jump in the band world).  As of October 8, 2011 we are 2 time grand national finalists and class 4A champions.

       My point is, when you sign up for something, please give it your all. Even if you don't like it, try. You don't have to like it, but do it because there ARE people who care. It seemed like no one cared, and some didn't, and they brought the band down. But when those people pulled together and tried for the sake of everyone else, we accomplished a lot. Everyone left that competition feeling amazing. It lit a fire under their butts and now they are more determined than ever. Take up your responsibility as a member of a group and give it your all.   

                                                  <3 illya