Ever Since I Was a Little Kid

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved to run. I still remember the days of my childhood, running around chasing friends and siblings. One of my favorite games was tag. I’m sure just about everyone remembers playing this never ending game when they were a child. I didn’t care what type of tag we played, freeze tag, t.v tag, lava tag, hide and go seek tag. I loved every minute of each game. Every time I played I loved the part where someone is chasing you, and they’re trying their absolute hardest to tag you. The feeling of out running that person to the point where they had to take a break made me feel like I was king of the playground. These childhood memories began my love for running track.
I started to run track in the seventh grade, my first year of middle school. I was very intimidated by all of the older, more experienced eighth graders. They were quick and strong compared to my long lanky legs and arms. However, this did not faze me. I would become an even stronger runner if I continued with track. Over that year I learned that I could go the distance of any race and win. I was asked to run anchor in the 4x400 meter relay with eighth graders. I was extremely nervous; I couldn’t possibly disappoint the coaches. The eighth graders were waiting at the finish line screaming with joy. I finished off my 400 meters with a 1:02, the fastest time in the relay. As a team we finished with 4:20, we placed first and broke the school record. I was one of the only seventh graders to ever break a record in Emerson Middle School history. This opened up doors for me in the next year of middle school track.
We lost all of our eighth graders as they went to high school and we, the new eighth graders had to pick up the slack from an undefeated season last year. I ran in four events almost every meet, and was expected to get first in every event, if we wanted to win. I learned that year that I could run the 800 meter race, very well. Every single 800 I ran that year I got first place, nothing less. My time dropped from about a 2:30 to a 2:17 over the track season. I ran my best time in the 2009 Livonia City Meet on June 1st. The second place runner is now one of my good buddies, Dan Macias, who finished four seconds behind me. I was originally going for the city meet record of 2:13.3 but came short and only got the broke the school record. That year I also helped the 4x100 meter relay to get the school record of 51.97. I had a passion for breaking records and I still do today.
This year coming into high school I heard that the best 800 runners could run it around two minutes flat. This scared me way more than the measly eighth graders in middle school. I would have new competition and my streak of winning would be snapped. I began running with the long distance runners before the track season and met the new coach, Chris Inch. He was a very beastly runner back in high school and earned a full ride scholarship to the University of Illinois. He was not only the new distance coach but also the new cross country coach. I was really impressed, and surprised to have such a good runner as a coach. I told him my 800 time from last year and he was determined to get me under 2:10. I thought he was nuts but now I thank him. After many rigorous workouts and runs I ran a 2:11.6 in the 2010 Freshman City Meet.
Every day since the first day of school I have stopped in front of the track records board and stared at the 800 meter record. K. Brown 75’ 1:52.8. This is the record I’m determined to beat by my senior year. I figure if I continue to drop at least six seconds from my time every year than I will have the record. To prepare for this I plan on running cross country next fall. With Coach Inch pushing me in both cross country and track next year, I believe I can accomplish this feat.

$!/\/\u/\/

SIMUN was a great experience; I learned how to speak professionally with my parliamentary procedure skills. Also, I think SIMUN was a great way for us students to learn more about conflicts in the world and how to solve them in a professional matter. I thought the scenarios could have added some more of the countries involvement, because sometimes it was hard for smaller countries to join in on the conversation. The seniors helping us out both as mentors and on the chair made it a smoother ride in the process of learning the scenarios.
Before going into SIMUN, I thought I was SOL. I figured that the juniors would dominate us freshman, and the sophomores would try to join in on the dominance. But that wasn't the case at all; I owned some of the older delegates with questions they couldn't even comprehend. There was a scenario where my country, Ukraine had an election this year and the pro- Russian candidate had won, he was in favor of not joining NATO, but half of the country disagreed. I had no clue what to do. In all of the other scenarios there was a flat out question telling you to resolve it in a certain way. But in this one you had to make peace between the civilians and the government. For that scenario I relied on the older kids to tell me what to do just a tiny bit too much. But I took control at the end and joined NATO. I made powerful allies and for all of the scenarios I was a part of the winning resolution.
I felt my preparation was better than most of the other freshman. I knew what my country would do in certain situations and what they were against. I prepped with writing six assigned papers on different conflicts going on in the world and background history on my country.
Like I said earlier, I have a 3-0 record and I don't plan on adding any losses because 3-0 sounds just so much nicer than 2-1. I will definitely learn more about my relations with other countries because that will help me greatly next year. I am going to learn as much as I can about my country next year so that I can add facts into my speeches and sound like I know my country like it's the back of my hand. Therefore, I can dominate because trying is for children.

Ukraine's Decision

If the United States decided to go into Pakistan to secure nuclear materials from the Taliban, the country of Ukraine would fully back the United States. My country is both allies with Pakistan and United States, so we don't see anything wrong with what the U.S is trying to do. If the U.S needs troops to help patrol the area, Ukraine would be more then willing to spare some soldiers to Pakistan. Pakistan is very important to my country, they were one of the first countries to recognize Ukraine as a independent nation from the Soviet Union in 1991. If Ukraine was in the trouble Pakistan is, I'm sure they would do the same for my country.
My country knows what is like to suffer from nuclear radiation. We would in no way allow the Taliban to get a hold of Pakistan's nuclear material and potentially misuse it for terrorist actions. If the Taliban some how obtained control of the nukes, then we could only hope that there isn't a malfunction in the plant. Again, my country has had a bad experience with nuclear materials in 1986 at Chernobyl. Many people around that area are affected by the radiation everyday and we could not imagine that happening to another country. Nuclear materials are not for playing with, so if the United States decides to go in to Pakistan, Ukraine will be right behind them every step of the way.

The Kite Runner

I am currently reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, it is about a young boy, Amir, growing up in Afghanistan during the 1960's. I noticed while reading that there is a social class in Afghanistan and its divided between the Sunni and Shi'a muslims. The Sunni muslims also called Pashtuns are the richer, more well known people and the Shi'a muslims are called Harazas. Both groups of muslims are very similar including their religion, they both believe in the Koran.The Harazas are usually servants and are mogul descendants. They are often treated poorly and they have nothing they can do about it.
Amir grew up having a playmate, Hassan. They were both the same age and Hassan was one of Amir's servants. Hassan was a Haraza and that didn't affect his relationship with Amir at all. Until, Amir's neighbors began to bully Amir and Hassan frequently. The bullies would tell Hassan that Amir didn't like him, that he wasn't friends with him, that he was only his servant, nothing more. And the thing that bothered me while reading it was that, the bullies were right. Amir only thought of Hassan as someone he grew up knowing. He thought this until he got older and Hassan moved away. This is one of the major cultural differences and it bothers me on a high level.

The Day I Almost Didnt Write A Blog

It was 10:00 on a Sunday night, I was getting ready for bed when i remembered that Mr. Fielder had assigned a blog due the next day. Hopping and dashing, i raced to my computer to only find my brother to be logged on to Facebook.
"I need to use the computer, now." I told him.
"Well I'm not going to be off for another, oh fifteen minutes or so. So your going to have to wait." He replied with his sinister voice.
I took a seat on the couch and turned on the television. There was nothing, absolutely nothing on. So i turned it off, and went to my room to grab my Ipod. I turned on one of my favorite songs, Over by Drake. It calmed me down a bit, and I thought about what I was going to write for the blog. The blog that was due the next day had these three requirements, 300 words, it has to be a story, and you have to use your new writing skills. I figured I would just write a really amazing story about how I almost forgot to write a blog; it was the perfect topic, not too complex and easy enough to understand for anyone eight years old and above.
My brother got out of chair and walked to his room. Hurriedly, I jumped up and ran to the computer chair. My computer, slim and tall, was the only thing that could save me from a failing grade. I logged on to Blogger, and started typing away. Fingers shaking, feet jumping, I finished my blog in a grand total of two minutes, fourteen seconds. Just kidding, thats my half mile time. But seriously, two minutes, fourteen seconds.

March Madness

NCAA March Madness tournament is a time of the year when college basketball fans of all ages get together and watch their college go up against some of the best teams in the nation. In March you are more likely to see a college basketball game on television than your favorite show. Some of the people watching don't even like basketball. They are only watching because they are betting on the games by filling out a bracket. A bracket has all the 64 teams playing and you have to predict the outcome of all the games to see who wins the championship. There are 6 rounds of the tournament, it starts off with 64 teams and whoever wins their game stays. So the remaining 32 teams then play and 16 teams are left. This is called the Sweet 16. The next rounds are the Elite Eight, Final Four, and the National Championship game. For each round a certain amount of points are given for each correct team you predicted to win that game. Whoever has the most points at the end of the tournament wins all the money that was betted.
Since March is right around the corner i have began predicting my final four teams. First, I have the Syracuse Orange. They have a candidate for National Player of the Year, Wesley Johnson who averages 15.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds. Also they have a good shooter from the perimeter, Andy Rautins, who averages 11.8 points per game and 4.8 assists. Lets not forget they are ranked number four in the nation as we speak.
Second, I picked the Kentucky Wildcats. They are currently ranked number 2 and 2 candidates for National Player of the Year, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. Together these two powerhouse players average 33 points per game, 14.5 rebounds, and 7.2 assists. These two players have almost half of their teams points every game they play. Also, if one of these players aren't doing too hot, their team is stacked deep with players to come off the bench and light it up.
Third, I have the Duke Blue Devils from Durham, North Carolina. Their coach Mike Kryzyzewsk, has had three national championships and ten final four appearances. With his experience I feel he can led his team to the finals. Another reason I think there going far is because of the big three players on that team. Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, and Kyle Singler which combine for an average of 53.6 points per game, 13.3 rebounds, and 10.6 assists.

My last pick is going to be the Tennessee Vols. Even though they are only ranked 19, I have a feeling that they are going to make some big upsets. The Vols have proved that they can roll with the big dogs earlier in the season with wins against two number one ranked teams Kansas and Kentucky. With Wayne Chism dominating the paint I feel this team can do some damage.

Iran and Their Uranium

Enriching Iran’s uranium by twenty percent will only lead to making nuclear weapons.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he thinks Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. Letting them increase their nuclear power will help them build the nuclear energy they need to attack Israel. If Iran were to get the nuclear weapons and attack Israel then the U.S, one of Israel’s allies would have to get involved and get in yet another war in the Middle East. A way that would stop Iran from getting this nuclear energy would to put harder sanctions on Iran. Iran will not stop enrichment unless everyone steps up to the plate and works together to knock Iran out of the park.

Iran claims that there enriching their uranium so they can supply the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes. Even if that is true Iran could secretly use some of the power to create weapons and attack Israel. With those kinds of weapons they don’t even have to attack Israel, they could use them on any country. Not to mention that the announcement of the twenty percent enrichment uranium, was right before the thirty-first anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Therefore, the West can’t help but suspect Iran of using a cover up to make nuclear weapons.