First-Time Buyer

The first day of seventh grade: three towns coming together as one to form the King Philip community. Stepping off that bus my heart was beating a million times a minute. I thought to myself, "What if I get lost? or what if I don't make any friends?" Remembering my locker combination was a daunting task to me. That three number combination felt like trying to remember the first fifteen perfect squares. A few bells ring, and finally it was lunch time. Now usually every kid was happy and excited to go eat some food and meet new people; this wasn't the case with me. I was scared; I had never bought my lunch before. My mom would always make my lunch for me in elementary school. The cafeteria was this large, white rectangular room with large glass windows on the right side. Blue rectangular and circle tables flooded the floor of the cafeteria. Then, there it was, the lunch line. Winding its way out through the door like a snake, and here I was about to face this monstrous snake. The people I walked by were all dressed up in their first day outfits: button-downs, polos, dresses, and skirts seemed to be the main fashion fad of that day. As I get closer and closer to the door that would lead me to what seemed to be my worst nightmare my heart began to beat again. I even thought of pretending to go to the bathroom to avoid it, but it was too late. I reached the archway of the door, and it was too late to turn back now. As I walked in the lunch trays were to my left in stacks, the registers were in the middle, and the food was all the way in the back. The room’s aroma was amazing; the fresh smell of chicken, pasta, and fruit filled the air. The lunch ladies weren’t like the lunch ladies that were featured in the movies. The lunch ladies were kind and always smiling. Once I saw them smiling I began to be at ease. I picked out my lunch: a chicken burger, french fries, milk, and an apple, and then I made my way to the registers. I had never really purchased anything on my own before so I was timid about the process. I carefully examined the kids in front of me and around me as they preceded me in buying their lunches. I put my tray on the shelf, pulled out my wallet and got the two dollars needed to buy my lunch. As I did this, George Washington stared me in the eyes and then were gone and into the register. I walked out feeling like I had just climbed Mount Everest. The cafeteria was a sea of heads, but I found my friends and enjoyed my lunch, the first school lunch I had ever bought. The bell rang and it was back off to class, but I felt like I was on top of the world.

Penn Stater

     I've always thoroughly enjoyed writing. For me it's a way of being able to express feelings, emotions, ideas, opinions, etc. and share them with other people. My strengthes as a writer are definitely coming up with good ideas to write about and having a strong ending to solidify my argument. Like I said before, I like writing so ideas just come to me; and I'm easily able to transfer those thoughts and ideas into words and put them on paper. Ending an argument or your side of a debate with a strong ending is definitely affective in swaying the audience. The last sentence or two of my papers always make very strong points supporting my side and negating the other argument. One of my weaknesses as a writer are transitioning between paragraphs. I feel like I can improve at this by better ordering my paragraphs to create the best fluidity. I think that this class will improve my writing skills in many ways. Not only will it improve the areas that I'm weak in, but it'll also improve the areas that I'm strong in. Taking a college English class will definitely present more learning opportunities for me to become a better writer than a high school English class.
     Other than writing papers for school, I also write my own songs for the guitar. My inspiration for songs come from the everyday world around me. Singer/songwriter John Reznik of the Goo Goo Dolls has been one of my idols for a long time. The song "Iris" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYWuo9OFAw&ob=av3e is my favorite song by them and has given me many ideas for songs. The song "Heaven (Little by Little)" by Theory of a Deadman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpPSRoNGGxM gave me the inspiration for my first song. Two of my best friends had recently passed away due to Cystic Fibrosis, and I heard this song on my ipod when I was playing the guitar. The idea came to me to write a song for them, and I kept writing songs from there on.