Tomorrow is November 11th, or Veterans Day. It is an American holiday which honors the armed forces that serve for our country.

Another term for this event is Armistice Day. Armistice references the treaty that ended World War 1.

Many people honor this holiday by celebrating the Veterans Day parade. Last year, I attended this event in Fullerton.

My family and I sat in Hillcrest park while the parade was going on. From here, we had an excellent view of the floats and the music.

Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the parade this year.

This is due to the fact that we have my parents’ friends visiting tonight. Instead, we will go eat dinner at a nice restaurant.

However, my parents’ friends have a dog, which might complicate matters. Many restaurants do not allow dogs inside.

Those that do may not be vegetarian, or have the best quality of food.

As of now, we are still debating what we are going to do with the dog. Another option for us is to leave it with our neighbors.

My parents don’t want to do this though, because they feel guilty for ruining the neighbor’s evening by having to care for a dog.

In conclusion, we will celebrate Veteran’s day differently this year.

Another sport I have decided to try out for this year is Track and Field.

Tryouts are scheduled to be sometime next week, and I have arranged to attend with a few friends of mine.

I am going to try out for the 50 meter dash, 100 meter, and mile.

When I was in 7th grade, I had a pretty fast mile, although I haven’t practiced it since. Back then, my mile was around 6:40. I hope I have at least maintained that speed, if not improved upon it.

My mother would also like me to try out for some of the field events, such as shot put or jumping.

Unfortunately, I have not tried any of the other field events, aside from running. Therefore it will be immensely difficult to determine where I am at before tryouts.

My best hopes for making it onto the team are the sprint running events and possibly the mile.

However, if I do not make it onto the track team for any reason, it will be alright, as I already have a spring commitment to swim.

Track, for me, will simply be good practice for running, and another extra-curricular to be a part of.

I look forward to track tryouts, and I hope that I make it onto the team for whatever event they deem fit.

Halloween is right around the corner, and there are a couple of other things happening in my life.

Yesterday, I had a swim meet. I performed very well in my 200 breaststroke, and now I qualify for higher level meets.

Unfortunately, my meet occupied most of my day yesterday, and I got home around 10 pm.

As a result, I was unable to get any homework finished, or make any headway on my Halloween costume. Today, I will try to get all that done.

In addition to Halloween preparations, today is Diwali, an Indian festival that equates to a New Year’s celebration. In this holiday, we put up lights, pray, and cook a lot of food.

In order to compensate for my lack of time home yesterday, my mother has ordered some takeout, but she will be sure to add some of her own personal cooking.

In addition to the food, festivities include dressing up in traditional attire, and painting the ground with chalk. Traditional attire includes a top, a scarf, and a skirt.

One great thing I have noticed about fall and winter seasons is that they are both super festive, and give off great energy.

I also like how one holiday seems to lead to another. First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years.

On unrelated terms, I have been using an app called Poshmark to sell my old clothing. Last week, I finally got my first sale. The buyer was from Kentucky, so the product took a few days to ship.

When it finally arrived at her house yesterday, she gave me an excellent review, and I was very happy. Currently I have two more offers pending for people who want to buy my used clothing.

Poshmark is an excellent website to use to get rid of things you don’t want or need anymore. It is great for the environment, in the sense that you are reusing old items instead of letting them go to waste.

For Halloween this year, I am dressing up as Thomas the Tank engine from the children’s show. I am going to make a DIY costume using some household materials and some materials bought from Michael’s craft store.

My costume will consist of a T-shirt that I will paint into Thomas’s face, a conductor hat, grey face paint, and blue pants.

The shirt will be from Hanes brand, the hat will be a DIY, and the face paint will be bought from Amazon. I already own the pants I am going to use, which are by Adidas.

For the DIY portion, I will paint a circle onto the shirt with black paint or sharpie. Then, I will paint the circle grey.

Afterwards, I will use white paint to make outlines of the eyes. After filling those in, I will make pupils and eyebrows. That will complete my shirt.

Perhaps I will also dye my shirt blue before hand, as Thomas is a blue train, but I will leave that decision to later.

For make up, I will follow a very similar procedure. First, I will apply a grey base that covers my entire face. Then, I will outline my eyes and fill them in with white. I can skip the pupil step, because my actual eyes are in the center.

Everything else will be store bought. Shoes will probably be either from my closet, or cheaply bought from Target or Walmart.

That will complete my Halloween costume. I will begin work on it today, and hopefully finish the DIY portion by tonight.

In my opinion, Halloween is a very fun event that lets kids dress up and express themselves. I look forward to this event each year.

Last night, I attended Diamond Bar High School’s annual homecoming dance event. This year, the dance was located at The Hangar in Costa Mesa.

This site was previously used as Orange County Fairgrounds. However, now that the fair is over, the fairgrounds are available to be used as a venue for events such as this

First, my mom dropped me off at my friend Tiffany’s house. There, we got ready for the dance. My friend brought me a dress to wear, since it didn’t fit her and she thought it would look good on me. Us four girls changed into our dresses there.

Then, we took turns curling our hair and doing our make up. As for me, I don’t wear make up so I just helped the other girls with their eyeliner, mascara, and eye shadow.

Tiffany’s mom was nice enough to prepare snacks for us, and we consumed those while getting ready. We also watched a couple of movies on Netflix while getting ready.

When we were all ready, we went to Summit Ridge Park to go take pictures. Tiffany and Eva’s moms were both there, and they took some really nice photos of us.

After pictures, we started the long drive towards Costa Mesa. We reached about an hour early, so we decided to grab dinner at the nearby Chic-Fil-A.

I ate a chicken sandwich with waffle fries and a lemonade frosty. In retrospect, I’m very glad we made the decision to go eat before the dance, as there was practically no food there.

Once we reached the dance there was a huge line, but we got in quite fast. Overall, they were just playing some music and leaving it to us to have a good time.

There were some snacks available, and lots of drinks, but no food. All snacks available there were sweet.

For the next few hours, my friends and I just danced and had a good time. Tiffany’s mom picked us up at 11 and dropped me home safely.

In conclusion, Homecoming is an excellent experience that I would recommend to all high school students. I know that last night was a night that I will remember for a very long time.

I am very excited for the upcoming homecoming dance. This year, it will be held in Costa Mesa.

My plans for homecoming begin with heading to my friend’s house afterschool. Our group will hang out and have a sleepover that night. In the morning we will get ready for the homecoming dance.

Then, we will carpool to the event. Once we reach we will get something to eat. So far, we have decided to get Mexican food, and then ice cream for dessert.

Afterwards, we will go into the event and just hang out for a few hours. We will just dance to the music and have fun.

When the party is over, we will go back to my friend’s house. The next morning, we will go home.

Overall, homecoming should be a fun experience. I look forward to next weekend.

Another activity I am planning on doing is visiting Knott’s Scary Farm. A friend of mine has offered to take my brother and I with their family. Of course, we graciously accepted.

We have planned to go the Saturday before Halloween, the 26th. Our reason for that is it might be too crowded on Halloween day, so we didn’t want to risk that. Also, there will be shorter lines that day.

Lastly, we are also going trick-or-treating on Halloween night. I haven’t gone trick-or-treating in almost 4 years, so this year my parents decided to take my brother and I.

According to plans, we will go to the Chino Hills area. First stop will be at the Chino Hills Shoppes. Next, we will go around the neighborhoods to ask for candy.

After we are done trick-or-treating, we will go eat at a restaurant. Usually, my family goes out to eat in Olive Garden, so that is probably where we will go on Halloween.

Overall, my plans for this October are very fun, and I am excited for them to play out.

Roblox is a game platform that supports millions of different user-generated games. In addition to being an excellent gaming platform, Roblox serves as a creative outlet for gamers and game producers alike.

My favorite game on Roblox is called Murder Mystery 2. In this mystery game, one player is assigned murderer, one player is assigned sheriff, and the rest are innocent.

The goal of the murderer is to kill all the innocents and the sheriff, without getting killed by the sheriff. In the game, only the murderer and sheriff are given weapons. The murderer gets a knife,, and the sheriff gets a gun.

In the case that the sheriff dies, their gun is left behind, and one of the innocents can pick it up and become a hero. Once an innocent picks up a gun, they have the same capabilities as the sheriff. They are able to shoot the murderer and win the game.

While some people think being innocent is boring, it can be fun. You can collect coins and save up to buy mystery boxes. Mystery boxes contain either knives of guns in them. One thing many people do not like about this game, however, is that you cannot just buy a particular knife or gun that you want, but instead you must randomly get it in a mystery box.

I have been playing Murder Mystery 2 for around 2 months now, and I have collected several wonderful guns and knives.

My best knife is the seer. This is a godly, which means that their population makes up less than 5% of all knives in circulation. My second best knife is my rune, which has about a 7% rarity.

My best gun is the Predator, which has a 7% rarity. I also have the Midnight, with the same rarity. Therefore, I can alternate between these two guns, although they function very similarly.

Another game I thoroughly enjoy playing is Dungeon Quest. In this game, your character has to go through a maze and fight all the obstacles within the allotted time frame.

Although this sounds easy to say, this is actually a very difficult game to play, at least compared to Murder Mystery 2. The obstacles are usually very challenging to pass, at least by comparison to the level you are on.

Recently, I paid fifteen dollars to get the Sea Serpent wings through a third party. Although the price was very high for a game add-on, the product was definitely worth it.

These wings increase my XP by x100,000. It may be a waste of money in a sense, but my parents give me a little bit of money to do whatever with and just have fun, so it is also justified in a sense.

In conclusion, Roblox is an excellent platform with several amazing games, which can be improved further by paid add-ons.

I often wonder what colleges look for in an applicant. Some say grades are most important, while others stress the value of extracurriculars on a resume.

Elite colleges, such as Ivy League universities suggest that they look for a balance between the two; but this is a fine, undefined line.

Would these colleges prefer a student who is well-rounded, but not great at anything, or a student who is focused on one thing, but is very good at that.

One thing that is quite certain, however, is that excellent grades are a must for Ivy League colleges. The question is what else one has to do to get accepted into such a university.

I have heavily researched this topic in the past, and I have found that both rounded students, and students with one specialized skill have made it to these colleges.

The information I do not have is which happens more often, and how good is good enough to be acceptable for college applications.

Consider the following; an art student applies to Columbia University, for a major in economics. How talented would that artist have to be to get an acceptance letter simply for his or her art?

In addition, how is skill or talent measured in something as open-ended as art?

If the student had a 4.0 GPA, would they be accepted into Columbia University just for that? It’s not impossible, but highly unlikely. These days students have to prove themselves in other ways.

Lastly, if that student focused only on art during high school, will it hurt their chances of getting accepted into Columbia? Would it have been better if they tried many things, rather than limit themselves to only art?

Many high school students ask themselves these questions daily. I personally wonder if I should keep swimming, and focus on that for the next 4 years, or broaden my horizons.

Many people may be wondering, “Why can’t she do both?”

Typically, practice for any sport is 2 hours per day, plus competitions on the weekends. That in addition to school work makes it nearly impossible to take on several more activities.

At club rush this year, I joined 10 new clubs. If I can keep up, my schedule will be jam packed.

It is my hope that all this effort will be worth it, and 4 years later I won’t regret putting myself through so much stress so colleges will deem me “well-rounded.”

I am very excited for the upcoming water polo season. The DBHS girls team will begin practicing within the next couple of weeks. During these initial practices, the returning players will be getting back into shape for season, and the freshman/new players will be learning more about the game.

The game of water polo consists of two teams trying to score goals in 4 quarters of eight minutes. The major rules are:

• You cannot touch the bottom of the pool
• Each team may only have possession of the ball for 30 seconds.
• Only the goalie can use both hands
• There are 6 outfield players

Although I have never played water polo before, I am a swimmer, so I am experienced being in the water.

I look forward to working with a team of people who are all focused on the same goal, winning the match. In competitive swim, swimmers are often pitted against each other, as they each have their own interests in mind. Water polo should not have this issue.

In addition, water polo players have an easier time getting scholarships and such, as the sport is much less common than swim.

Since my dream school is Harvard, competition is cut throat, both in academics and sports. The record for Harvard girls 100 breaststroke is 1:01.65. In order to meet that standard, I must drop ten seconds in that event within the next four years.

However, water polo players are not judged by their times specifically, so much as their whole set of skills as a player.

The only constraint I see about water polo is my height, or rather lack thereof. Most players on the Harvard roster are in the 5’10-6’0 range. I am only 5’7, which is very short in comparison.

I can overcome that very easily though, by making sure I’m well-versed in strategy. In conclusion, I have high hopes for this new sport.

My journey with swimming has been a long one, with lots of twists and turns. It all started when I was 4. Over the summer, my mom signed me up for swim lessons at the YMCA. For the next couple years, I kept doing summer lessons until I finished all the levels.

I am very grateful that my mom signed me up when she did, as this became the foundation of my skills. When I was 10 years old, I decided it was time to take my swimming to the next level. My mom signed me up for a tryout at a club swimming team.

I distinctly remember that tryout, as it was my first. After swimming all four strokes, and showcasing my turns, the coach talked to my mom. I was so nervous as I dried off, not knowing what they were talking about. When they finally finished their conversation, the coach walked up to me.

She introduced herself, saying, “Hi, my name is Coach Beth! Congratulations, you made the team!”

I was overjoyed, and began practice with Coach Beth two weeks later. At the time, I was placed in the lowest group due to my age and experience level. However, less than a month after joining, Beth pulled me aside after practice one day and told me she was going to promote me to the higher group.

At the end of summer, there were formal move-ups. I got moved up again. This time, I got placed in Silver, the intermediate group for age group swimming. I was very pleased with myself, having moved up 2 groups over the course of 3 months.

As the year goes by, I find myself progressing well. However, at the time I did not particularly like my coach. She was a very blunt woman who did not mince words, and my 11 year old self did not like that. Back then, I thought she was just being mean to me.

During my time in the Silver group, I did very well, and broke several 11-12 girls team records. At the end of the season, I got moved up to Age Group Select, which was the highest group for my age on the team. It was composed of the fastest 10-13 year olds in the entire team of over 400 swimmers.

I felt very proud and accomplished of myself for making it to this group. At first, it was a difficult adjustment, as the swimming was much more difficult than what I had ever done before. But it was worth it, as progress showed immediately. One month in, I had already gotten seven new Junior Olympic times.

Particularly, I was doing well in backstroke. I had broken the team record 4x, and was place one in my age group across many Southern California swim teams.

I felt very motivated, and was doing my best to keep my momentum going. Unfortunately, things took a bad turn.

Around February, I noticed that my arm began acting up. Sometimes it would just hurt, and other times it wouldn’t bend properly. It affected my stroke work, and I noticed that my backstoke was not as good as usual. However, I made a bad choice and just ignored it, assuming that everything was fine.

This was a terrible mistake in the long run. Things got to the point where I couldn’t even raise my left arm, much less swim backstroke. At that point, I had to wait for my arm to heal, so I was not allowed to swim anymore. At practice, Coach made me do kicking only. While my legs became somewhat stronger, I definitely regressed, and not just in backstroke.

I felt really bad about myself at this time, and didn’t know what to do to make things better. Swimming was my only passion, and without it I had no special talents.

At the end of the season, I did not move up that year. Both my parents and I were disappointed, so they decided to switch teams. They thought a change of scenery and exposure to new coaches would help me improve.

In some aspects, my new team has helped me lots. I’ve dropped 5 seconds in my 100 breaststroke, over a year, which is very good progress. However, I have not improved at all in freestyle, and my backstroke is much worse.

For now, my main focus is high school swimming. I want to be able to say that I broke records at my school. In addition, I want to try and fix my backstroke, as it was my favorite stroke, and it makes me sad that I can’t swim it properly anymore.