Secret

To my most reliable friend, I am writing you this letter because I have a very juicy secret to tell you as soon as I see you this weekend. I am in a rather difficult situation that has me soaked with anxiety and I am not sure if I will be able to come out of this situation without a helpful friend like you. (Hint: Helping me requires lying, but we all know you are dripping with lies and that is part of the reason I chose you.) It all started yesterday when I was helping my mom go shopping for our cookout at the store. I was happy with the trip and so would my mom if I had not spilled coffee on her before our departure, everyone knows I am not the most coordinated person. However being the helpful daughter I am, I went off on my own to help my mom tackle a portion of the list in the refreshment aisle. When I got there, the floor was bring mopped by a weird janitor in wretched work overalls and I was forced to stare, this did not benefit me because I was already clumsy, and the floor was slippery, and now an added distraction was thrown in. When i got the jug of juice I managed to keep them secure for a few minutes until...they fell. Obviously I could not wait until this weekend to tell you my sappy secret, but now you know what a mess I can be. Your dear friend, Leiyana

Supernatural

I believe that supernatural is the most effective element when writing a gothic story. The supernatural is a key feature in writing a novel that has to do with horror because it evokes the most emotion out of the reader and gets them into the story. For example Frankenstein would not be as effective without the monster created by the mad scientist Victor, because it is truly the main focus of the story. If the monster was just a regular guy, then the novel would lose its sense of gruel horror, which really draws the reader to the story. The supernatural element  is a very important factor  because it is the base or the root of the story and it is the one thing that is remembered by the readers. Even before I started reading Frankenstein I knew about the monster in the book.

Ghost Story

Instead of beginning my ghost story with a frame story like Mary Shelley did with the letters in Frankenstein, I would begin my story with a less confusing approach. However, my opening would be similar to Mary Shelley's because I would take a more mysterious approach, so that the storyline would unfold as the reader goes on. I believe the letters in Frankenstein will begin to make more sense as the story starts to unravel. For example the popular horror movie Insidious seems confusing at first, but as the story goes on the audience has what some would call an "a-ha!" moment and put all of the pieces together. I find that doing this adds more suspense and it intrigues the readers, so my story will not be boring. It would also get the readers more involved with the storyline, which I believe will help evoke emotions from them to spice up the story and make it interesting.

If all electronic devices ceased to work...

If all electronic devices ceased to work, I would spend my free time doing things I already do on a regular basis. The first thing I would turn to would be drawing. I do not make enough time for this much enjoyed hobby of mine, so I would really love taking the time to increase my skills. Another thing I would do is play my piano. I often chose my phone over learning new songs or chords on the piano. However, since not only my phone would be shut off, but so would all of my friends', I could make the time to play the piano. I could also make time for a lot of other things such as walking to a friends house, to the park, or to the store. There are many possibilities since my town is not very big.

Invisibility

If I had the decision to be able to fly or turn invisible, I would chose being invisible. I would chose this because it seems way more exciting than flying. There are also a lot of beneficial aspects to being invisible, that I think I am intrigued by. For example, if someone that I strongly dislike is having a get together, I can go and spoil their time without taking any blame. This would also save me a lot of embarrassment, and it would make the plan go a lot more smoothly. Or, if I wanted to leave school early and did not have the correct papers to do so, I would be able to just walk out without anyone knowing. Another great thing I can do is scare my siblings while acting like a ghost, it would be really fun and amusing to plan out an elaborate scare, and watch them cry in fear afterwards. Overall, there are a lot of benefits to being able to become invisible, and my reasonings prove enough to me that it is better than flying.

If my new cell phone was just stolen...

If my new cell phone was just stolen, the first thing I would do is have an anxiety attack. This would probably last for a good part of the day, and would begin to die down through your the course of my day. After I gained my composure, I would open my iCloud account from my laptop, and track my phone. If this work and I do find out the location of my cellular device, I would call my uncle and ask him to go with me to get the cell phone. If he is unavailable, I would then ask one of my older cousins, or a friend of the family that is also big, and intimidating. This is just in case the theif tries to pull one over on me, because people do not fear me that often no matter how hard I try, and I tend to laugh in uncomfortable situations. If this situation arose, I would definitely be uncomfortable.

Desperate Measures

About a year ago, my family and I took our annual trip to Cedar Point. After a day of adventure we all went to the car to have a snack and talk about our day as usual. Everything was going good, the snacks tasted just right, and the pictures of me actually came out well which was also a nice surprise. My cousins and I even started to play a game of freeze tag to pass the time as the adults were getting the babies ready. After about forty five minutes of this, we were ready to go home, hit the showers, and sleep well. However, we were all in for an unexpected detour. This particular bump in the road, caused many to be nauseous, and one of the babies even burst out in tears. My cousin, I will leave him un-named, had to go to the bathroom. Not only did he have to go to the bathroom, he had to drop a few children off at the Browns game. So, his mother or my aunt gave him a bag and some baby wipes, and told him to go out of sight with it, and he did. When he got back to the car, my mother asked how he disposed of the bag, since we were in the middle of no where. He responed calmly, and told her that he had left it on the side of the road. We all thought this was the best decision because no one wanted to smell anything. The burning question of the day remained, "How did he pull off going to the bathroom in a ziplock bag?"

Trust Me

In middle school, we had a weekly debate day. It was in the style of a typical debate, we went up against one of our classmates and tried to persuade the class and the teacher. Most of my peers did this for the points, so that they would not fail the class. Therefore, they slacked off when it came to researching the topic for their arguments. Being the driven person that I am however, I was the only one in my class period to take the debate seriously. I might have actually taken it a little too seriously, but once again that is the kind of person I am. I researched my topic for days, and I even did practice runs with my family. When I got into class that day, I had the eye of the tiger. I was fully prepared and ready to present my argument to a class that was most likely not even paying attention. However, when I took the stand I got their attention right away. I went second because I lost the coin toss, but I was not worried, I wanted to see the points my opponent made so I could counter them. In the end, I ended up winning the debate, and my class brought it up very often for the rest of the year, especially my teacher.

Accomplishments

 My accomplishments are what give mt the push to keep going. A big accomplishment that I have obtained this year would be becoming more self-confident. Since school is getting harder, I believe having faith I what I do plays a big role in my success inside and out of the school environment. This mindset has helped me accomplish many things, including turning in assignments on time and asking the teacher for help if I do not understand something. These smaller accomplishments have helped me maintain a GPA above a 3.0 not only my sophomore year, but in my entire high school experience. I hope to achieve many more of my goals as the year progresses, and I become more mature and develop a better work ethic.

OGT

The OGT test that I feel least prepared for is the math OGT. This is because math is my weakest subject, and I often struggle with the new material we learn,  and keeping up with all of the formulas. However, I am not going to let this hinder my grade on the OGT, so I plan to study a little more for this test than the rest of them. Even though I find it hard to study in general, I will try my best to put more effort into it for the sake of my results on the OGT. I usually do not get enough sleep at night, especially around test times. But, in order to get more focus and in tune with my brain for the test, I will make sure to get a beautiful sleep the night before. Also, when I wake in the morning, I will have breakfast, because I hear this is good for the body as well. All in all, I will make sure to make this test a great one, and I hope my methods of preparations pay off.