A Gymnast

Sprinting down the runway, I can feel the blue carpet against my feet with every step.  Fifteen feet, ten feet, then five, now time for take off.  I hurtle into the air, punch off the springboard, and place my hands down with perfect form.  My body flips straight over beginning a front handspring.  While in the air I picture my landing.  My feet touch the big blue mat and I squat down to land, lowering my hands parallel to the ground.  People clap as I walk over to get high fives from my coach and then my team.

Family of black belts

"Ayea, Ayea I yelled as I kicked and punched the training dummies!" I was 6 years old living in sunny California with palm tress everywhere. I learnt martial arts. When we moved to Portland, Oregon later that year in February.
My mom wanted me to start learning martial arts or taekwondo so we found a dojo near out house. My mom used to sit and wait for my classes to get over and decided she would join too she dragged my dad into it. I was a year advanced of them but we could go to some classes together.  I went there three times a week. I was a very serious kid back then and wanted to be like the other black belts. I got my yellow belt, then my next belt and 2 years later I got my poom belt which is the belt before black belt. I worked very hard that year and was scared I would fail my black belt test.

I tested when I was ten years old and got my black belt. My parents got their's the following year. I was sitting watching them while testing and remembered me when I was 10 years old. Its really cool to have your whole family be black belts. In the summers I used to teach classes my dad would drop me off at three and pick me up at six and we would all do class together and go home. Doing that helped me learn responsibility and how to act around kids. I had to stop in 6th grade when the school became a little harder and sometimes regret that now. I am really glad that I am a black belt and my family are black belts too.

20%

The Importance Of 20%

     Some working environments such as google and our word cultures class offer a break from the everyday work to take a little time off call 20%. This means means out of working a 100% of the time 20% of the time you get to take a little break and pursue anything you want to learn. For example for my 20% I practice my guitar, read, draw and sometimes, I even watch TV.

Junior Olympics

This year Junior Olympics for fencing are in Richmond Virginia. Richmond is far away, but I have relatives there to visit. Junior Olympics are the national championships for Junior (19 and under) and Cadet (16 and under) and last year someone from our fencing club won JO's. This is my first year fencing at JO's, and I'm really excited to fence there. I only qualified for Cadet, but I'm also doing Junior Team, which is where you fence with two other people and you take turns fencing the three people on the opposing team. I hope that I do well, but there isn't a ton of pressure because I'm not expected to do very well against 16 year olds. Every night I stay up and envision JO's going perfectly.

Oskar

It was a warm sunny summer day. My whole family packed into my mom’s minivan to go buy something that we now think is priceless.

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have been playing the violin ever since I was three years old. After playing violin for a long time, it becomes almost a routine. I enjoy performing songs that I have worked very hard on, but there is one thing that I really hate about playing the violin: practicing! Every single day you have to practice, I usually practice my violin in the morning for about 45-60 minutes. Since I have been playing the violin since I was 3, I have practiced for around 2848 hours!

Ball Is Life

Basketball and Why I Love It

I love basketball because ever since I was three I have loved to play. I love the fast paced action on the court and off the court. I love the way the ball moves fast and swiftly gliding throughout the air when somebody shoots. I also love the style of shoes that are produced for basketball. Some of the shoe styles are so exotic that they excite me and I wish I had them. I love playing in the games and getting that satisfaction of getting the ball into the hoop. Basketball is more than a sport to me. It is a part of me. I started watching basketball when I was about 5 years old. I still remember when I saw Jason Kidd making a three pointer and yelling to my dad “OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO FAR!!!”. Basketball has created so many great memories in my life and has become a significant part of me. I have always wanted to be a pro even if I played in euro leagues I would be satisfied. I have always liked sports and watched everything that was on ESPN or CBS Sports Network but, basketball is definitely the sport that has had the biggest impact in my life. Early in my life I focused on the NBA but, I later found interest in NCAA Basketball and discovered the excitement of March Madness that featured so many upsets. Later in my life I started playing basketball for teams named Just Ice and All In One. So basketball is what I focus on a lot and it will continue to be won of my main focus’s. I think that I have improved majorly this year after I went to a basketball camp created by Damian Lillard. When the game is close  I actually hate getting the ball because there is so much pressure to score and I know that I not all the time can make it. When I shoot free throws I make a lot of them because I have good confidence that even if the ball doesn't look like it will go in it will get a lucky bounce.  I also like playing the point guard position because I get to control the pace of the game.

One Note at a Time

One Note at a Time

I started playing piano when I was six. I remember my mother asking me if I wanted to play an instrument, and back then piano was the only instrument I had heard of, so of course I chose it. When I had my first lesson I thought it was going to be easy, with my hands magically knowing the keys and I would play a whole song just like that, but no, that was not the case.

After a few weeks, I thought I had made a mistake choosing the piano. Instead of making music I had to learn notes, scales and chords which seemed unrelated to a song. This wasn’t how I imagined it to be, and it wasn’t any fun. This wasn’t music, this was something else. Where was the music? Where was the beautiful singing? Later I realized that these building blocks formed music.

Throughout my journey, the hardest part was probably when I was competing in my first piano festival. I practiced long and hard, and I got sick of the piece. When the day finally came, I was so nervous, my hands shook. Looking back, I realized I didn’t have to be so nervous. Playing piano was not for winning the competition, it was for having fun and expressing yourself.

Sometimes I hated the piano because of the hours of practicing, my fingers getting tired, my brain getting tired, and my whole body wanting to collapse. I wished I didn’t have to practice, but there are so many challenges in playing the piano: having the skill to have your hands play different things, memorizing pieces, articulation of notes, and playing without making a mistake. I know that practice does make perfect. Without practice you can’t get better, and you can’t finish. If you do practice, you can succeed, and you can achieve. All of these challenges have to be overcome to become a pianist. Though it is challenging, the truth is, life is hard, nothing is easy unless you practice.

Now that I’ve been playing for more than six years, I’ve realized my passion for piano. Though I do sometimes dislike practicing, piano is a part of my life and I can’t just give it up now. While I’m playing I can express my feelings, sad or happy. It gives me a way into another world. In everything I do, not just piano, I use this lesson I’ve learned, to not give up when something is hard, to keep going, and to keep practicing.

The Water Is My Second Home

My hands shoot forward through the water with a fast splash. I can see the wall just a mere 5 meters away. This is it, the final last strokes that will determine my fate for a race. As my hands touch the wall, I look up at the scoreboard where I can be satisfied or not. This is what it feels like to be a swimmer.

Harder Than It Looks

When you see a drummer playing a drum set, online or live, you may think, because of the relatively simple beat, "I can do that", but in fact, drumming is much harder than it looks.

I started drumming because I wanted to play an instrument,  and because drumming looked easy and very cool. When I had my first drumming lesson, I thought I could be able to play the music given to me the very first day, because it was a simple beat. However, I was mistaken. It took me the whole lesson to begin to grasp the piece, and I was humbled. After getting that first piece, I had moved on to much more complex things, but I will always remember my first drumming lesson, and the knowledge that no instrument is easy to play.  If you decide to play an instrument, be aware of the long road to proficiency that you will walk. That said, as a drummer right now I am having a great time, and doing a good job.

Right now, I am just finishing up a piece of music by Led Zeppelin, called "Good Times Bad Times" I think that the name of the piece is a good metaphor for what the piece has been like for me. There have been good parts, like the first two lines, where I just get the beat immediately, but also very hard parts, mainly the third and fourth lines, where I have to use the bass drum in very quick secession. Just for this piece, I had to do a lot of practice with footwork on this piece. In each piece, there is one  main thing I have to work on to conquer it.

After I became a drummer, about 3 or 3 1/2 years ago, I have discovered a few important things about my self as a learner. I discovered that I learn best when I hear/see someone do something, than try it myself a little bit each day for about a week. I also realized that I can relax by drumming, so I can be in a better mood.

My Goal as a drummer is simple. Keep playing, keep improving, and have fun!


-Focus on what your teacher has showed you: it has helped me a lot to hear and see the piece before I play it.

-If you start to get frustrated, take a break and come back later. I once stopped drumming for a whole summer because I was busy, and when I came back, the piece I had been having trouble with I could play perfectly.

- If a sequence of snare drum hits, try saying something while you play to help yourself concentrait. (3 hits=strawberry, 4 hits=watermelon)

-And, last but not least, have fun!!!

CC Or Caitriona?

Sometimes being one of the only people in the class who has an extremely hard to pronounce first name can get boring after a couple months. Try seven years of constant misspellings, mispronunciations, strange nicknames, and overall confusion about your first name. My name is Caitriona (ka-3-in-ah) Grainne Mulholland Cobb. When I was little, I went to a summer camp, and there was this really nice counselor. I don't really remember her name, so let's just call her Katie. Anyhow, Katie must have asked me, this tiny, slightly awkward, introverted five year old kid, about 15 times for my name. Back then, CC didn't exist so I would have to go by my first name. So for a week or two, I was called many different names, some close to my name, some so far off, I didn't even respond to them because I didn't know they were directed towards me. So, as you can tell, I have very bad name problems. When I grow up, and if I ever have a kid, that kid would be named something really normal, and easy to pronounce. Like Anna or Jake, or Kelly or something. I love my name, don't get me wrong, but I much prefer to be called CC, it takes out any possibility for confusion.

From Seattle to Portland

About four years ago, I was living in Seattle, and attending the third grade. Life was great, I had many friends, and school was fun! I loved everything there for it was just right. My friends and I all played on the same sports teams, lived super close to each other, and enjoyed having play-dates together. My whole life up to the end of third grade was like this.

Music

Music is a large part of my life, outside and inside of school. I play drums and piano, and I have been in bands for both. Every week, I have a 30 minute piano lesson on Mondays, a 45 minute drum lesson on Tuesdays, and a three hour band practice on Wednesdays. Playing music takes a lot of dedication if you want to get good at them.