Perfectionist ?? by Neha suryadevara

Perfectionist ?

Most people probably think that being a perfectionist is a great thing, but it is not all peaches and cream. In fact, it has often put me in tight, nail biting situations, kept me up late on Sunday nights and so much more. I guess it's as I'm generally a neat person, want to do my best and try to stay organized.

Firstly, Organization. Staying organized is an important thing in life and can help you in many tasks. For example, during exam time, I was putting together a handy study guide. Here every page contained mind maps, lists etc. and was what you could call neat. However, if the pages were shabbily and carelessly done then it would be hard to understand and in the long run hard to study from. This shows that sometimes perfection and attention to detail is necessary for staying organized.

Secondly, is me wanting to do my best. When I start something I want to finish it and don't want to do it half heartedly. Sometimes this can take time and a lot of patience is required but it is important to me and I don't mind spending time on it. I remember one time when I had to do a project on 'The Automobile Industry of the U.S.A.' For Geography. It took a very long time as I was trying to make it as best as I could and spent lots of time cutting straight edges. This shows that when you don't want to do something half done then you may just begin to get a little paranoid over it paying attention to every minor scratch.

Finally and probably most importantly is my general tendency to be neat. I've never liked rigid edges and even in kindergarten I tried to keep neat instead of getting my hands messy. This can be seen in my notebooks. If I made a mistake and have to cross it out, I have to grab a sharp pencil and ruler and do it the 'right' way.  That's how it's done, but to most people this wouldn't matter and they wouldn't even notice it. Well, for me, it would creep its way into my nerves and completely set me off.

In conclusion, I've realized that being a perfectionist has its pros and it's cons and it just depends on how you use it. I f you let it control you then you will face the consequences. I've also learnt that sometimes being imperfect and other imperfections are good for you. They bring color into life a and without them the world might just turn out to be like Jonas' community from 'The Giver.'

Home For A Moment by Nandika

Home For A Moment

Hello, fellow readers! I suppose you’re wondering what this is all about. Well, you’re about to find out. So what’s has the great, awesome Nandika has been writing about? It’s not a personal narrative, it is not a persuasive review, and it’s not a feature article. Ok, now you’re confused. Really confused. And if I don’t tell you what in blazes I am talking about, you will most likely set down the book and leave. So, I guess I will have to tell you if I don’t want to lose any readers. Sigh. The name of this article is…

 

A personal essay, and I quote Lavanya ma’am’s words, is where you have to “think of yourself and an opinion of strong feeling that you have about yourself in which you bring out your opinion and give reasons for your opinion.”

Normally this type of essay would be written about oneself, but I, like always, have chosen to reach out far beyond that. So today, in this personal essay, I’m going to talk about a close friend I left behind in USA. His name?

NILAY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generally, boys and girls are not too fond of each other, so a lot of people ask me why I would write about Nilay, a boy. Well, first of all, he was one of the first friends I made in the USA, and what I like about him is the fact that he can take everything in a good way, no matter what happens, and he can encourage me when I need a little bit of motivation to keep me going. Plus, he is fair to everybody.

The thing I like most about him, would probably be the fact that he can take everything in a good way, no matter what the situation is (just like me). One time that shows this was when he came over to my house once. We were drinking apple juice and Nilay left his on the dining table. But soon after, I heard a slurping noise coming from behind me. I turned around and I found out that…… (Drum roll please)

MY BROTHER NEEL WAS DRINKING NILAY’S APPLE JUICE!

 

I guess you can imagine how we were feeling right then. Shocked? A little. Surprised? A bit. But no, what we were mainly feeling was….

AMUSEMENT.

We burst into peals of laughter and after few moments of blankly staring at Neel happily slurping up that juice, Nilay’s apple juice, mind you. Luckily for Neel, Nilay was laughing too. Neel should be glad and relieved that Nilay wasn’t mad, because if I was Nilay, I sure would be! Nah, I’m just kidding. But now do you see what I mean when I say Nilay takes everything in a good way?

I also like the fact that he can cheer me up when I’m down, sad, whatever. Like when I found out I was moving to India, for example, out of all my friends, Nilay was the one who was able to comfort me most.

And the last thing that made us best friends was that he is fair and impartial to everybody, no matter what it is, (and those three reasons make us alike). What I mean by that is in any situation, Nilay can (just like me) divide things fairly, judge fairly and things like that. Especially back when my other friends used to get into a lot of fights, I or Nilay would judge fairly to break it up.

AND THAT, my friends was your first impression of a PERSONAL ESSAY. Unless, of course, you read someone else’s before mine, but that doesn’t matter. And I guess we’re just about done here, so I guess this is

GOODBYE (for now…)

 

 

 

Hard work and I by Aditi Raju

Life is not easy; there are so many ups and downs. To have a smooth sail, we need to work hard to calm the waves. In other words, I feel that hard work is a one-way ticket to a successful life. The determination to work hard sets me apart from other people. I like to say I am a hardworking person; I want to shape my future, into the perfect shape.

The important thing about this is that I don’t want to dwell on a bad future. Who does? All I know is that my future will be a bright one as a result of my hard work. Another way to put it is that ignorance is not going to take us far in life. For instance, if I have an exam coming up I will not sit back and lay eggs! J

I connect this to another reason that I set goals for myself, everyone does, I hope. If you don’t you should start because, in my opinion, goals are the perfect way to know exactly what you want or need to do. They give me a path to follow, a direction to go towards.  .  . Anyways, as I said goals are one of the things that help me achieve things, on saying this I’m realizing that goals boost my determination to work hard.

Who doesn’t want money? Who doesn’t want glory? Who doesn’t want fame? Every person in this world wants it all. However, I feel that it would be selfish to keep the result of my hard work to myself. I want my family to benefit from my profit because without them I wouldn’t be here right now. My priority is to help all those who have helped me.

Other people should care about this because being hard working is important, your hard work determines your future.  We should all realize how big of a role hard work plays in life. Hard work is the only way to have a bright life. This makes me think that children should start trying to be successful because success is not going to fall from the sky and land in our hands! Having read this I hope you are realizing many things about yourself. Are you?

A Place called Home by Ananya Vepa

A Place called Home

By Ananya Vepa

 

Tracy, California was where I first felt like I was home. All my earliest memories are rooted deep in the loam that grows wheat. I lived there for 5 years, and when I left, I felt like my heart was breaking into pieces. So what if I was just 7 years old when I moved? I remember almost everything about Tracy like it was just yesterday. However, I am fast losing them, so I think that sharing my memories will help me hold on to them for longer.

            When I was 5, I started Kindergarten in George Kelly elementary school. Since I was in the afternoon class, I had to go at 11:30 and come back at 3:00. Then I would go outside and romp about in the hot, hot sun until my mother dragged me back into the house. As I’m writing this, I realize that I was sooo innocent. I didn’t have a care in the world, I was as free as a dove and as light as a feather, and I wasn’t hung down with problems. I was happy, and took pleasure in the smallest of things. How I wish that I could be like that now, guileless and completely carefree!

            Tracy was spread out in the most chaotic way that is organized. You could have a huge mall right next to a wheat field (incidentally, West Valley Mall was next to a field) or a cow pasture next to a restaurant (that was there too). Even though I was very small, I could still find my way around. Whenever we went to Safeway (our local supermarket) I would always get lost, without fail. Against all odds, however, I would always find my way back to my mother. It was impossible to get lost in Tracy.

            People might argue that I was too young to remember everything about Tracy, but I do! I remember that it was just off the highway (3 highways to be exact) and nobody came unless they lived there or something. I remember that it was calm and peaceful like a herd of cows. There was no hurry or haste, no rude busmen or loud honkers, just shanti. However, in that air of calm, there was a lot of hard work. There were cows to feed, wheat to plant, kids to teach. It was always busy, but nobody noticed because they were too engaged in the work they were doing. This affected me, and I learnt to be compassionate and to appreciate hard labor.

            I believe it is important to remember the places that you have lived in because the effect they have had on you can never be taken back. Like a plastic mold that shapes metal into filigree, you can never change back into what you used to be. Living in Tracy made me understand that hard work is important in order to have a good life. Looking back, I realize that I was very innocent and carefree, and to be happy in life, I must be like that. What changes has your old home had on you?

 

“How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you-you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences- like rags and shreds of your very life.”

                                                -Katherine Mansfield

 

“When the uniqueness of a place sings to us like a melody, then we will know, at last, what it means to be home.”

                                                -Paul Gruchow

MY DOG CHANGED MY LIFE by Arundhati Chandrasekhar

MY DOG CHANGED MY LIFE

By Arundhati Chandrasekhar, 7C

 

Sometimes people say, “What’s the point of getting a dog? They cost so much money, but what do they give you in return?

Well, here I am to answer this question. There are many examples from my own life for this. Sometimes when I look back onto my life before I got my dog Juno, it was shockingly different from what it is now.

For one thing, I was a very indoorsy person. I never used to go outside. I had to be forced to do PE and swimming, and I mostly sat inside, reading my books. However after we got Juno, I began taking her for walks in the park and playing fetch and chase in the garden with her. I spent less time playing on my iPad and reading. I began taking 5-kilometre bike rides with my dad and Juno running along. I still did read and play video games, but overall, Juno had made my lifestyle much better.

Sometimes when I’m bored or lonely or sad, I turn to Juno for someone to play with or talk to. And no, I’m not mad! Dogs are great companions, and Juno is a constant source of entertainment, games and cuddles. You can tell dogs anything, and they can’t exactly break your confidence or judge you!

Dogs have been amazing companions to millions of people around the globe. They can make a huge difference in anyone’s life – but especially those who are blind, deaf or even depressed. Blind or deaf children are able to have lives similar to their peers due to their faithful guide dogs. Dogs are proven to help alleviate depression and sadness, and whenever I’m feeling blue, Juno can cheer me up simply by being in the same room!

Another way Juno changed me is by increasing my responsibility. You can’t slack off while caring for a dog – there are no “I’ll walk her later"s or “I’ll feed her later”s! Since I got Juno, I’ve been more responsible about everything, be it caring for Juno or submitting my homework on time.

So I hope my essay has convinced you that dogs are awesome. They can change your life so much, in so many different ways. That much I can tell you from my own personal experience. I’ve been altered so much since October 22^nd, 2011 – the day Juno came into our lives. From my viewpoint, dogs are the best road to perfection!

Why Me?? by Aishwarya Hirve

Why Me??

There is one thing about me that many people don't know- that I'm constantly getting into trouble. Not the kind of trouble where kids get grounded for two weeks or get detention. That way I barely get into trouble. In fact I've never even had detention before. The kind of trouble I'm talking about is when I make small, silly mistakes and end up regretting whatever I did. Some of the possible reasons why are that I sometimes I procrastinate too much, I'm unorganized and sometimes I just get unlucky.

 

I'm always procrastinating way too much, doing things at the eleventh hour and postponing every single thing that I'm supposed to do. This happened once when my teacher gave us three weeks to make a collage on different kinds of beaches and coastlines. I thought that I have more than enough time and that I don't need to start straight away. So I decided to start tomorrow. But the next day I decided I'd do it the day after, and the day after the same thing happened. This happened for the next few days.

Suddenly, one day before the deadline I jerked back into reality and realised that this major project was due TOMMOROW. I began to panic but then I realised that panicking  would get me nowhere. After a few seconds I calmed down and started cutting out the pictures. I stayed up half the night and my collage was actually really pretty, even though I realised that it would have been a hundred times better if  I started earlier.

The second reason is that I'm pretty unorganized, at least enough to lose something really important, and then there comes a time when I suddenly need that important thing, and even after turning my whole house upside down I can't find it. Like how my torch was EVERYWHERE in sight and then when there was a sudden blackout the other day (a few days after I lost complete track of my torch) and I had to survive the whole three-hour-long blackout with just a few candles and the little bit of light from my iPad's screen. And then in the next few days I found it again on my desk. I really wished I could have been more organized and I probably wouldn't have been in such a mess.

My third and final reason is probably just bad luck. Well, it's not the typical "bad luck" people would assume, in fact most of the time I think I'm the luckiest person ever. But sometimes my luck just seems to run out, like once, early in second grade, all of us were in class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Two girls got up and went outside because apparently there was something funny going on in the class next door. A few more people got up to see. Soon the whole class was there except for me. I thought that if everybody was out there it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek and come back. For some reason all the kids darted back into class as soon as I got there and I just stood there wondering why, until I realised that the teacher had come back.

She saw that I was the only child outside, and yeah, like you guessed, the rest of the class had smug expressions on their faces when I was getting screamed at, and I thought, "Why me!?"

 While writing this I'm realising that that situation had absolutely nothing to do with luck. It's just that I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well, now you know exactly how I feel and the next time you say "Why me?" you should think again because you are DEFINITELY not the only one. Time and again I've tried so hard not to procrastinate or to be a tiny bit more organized or try to be in the right place at the right time, but I guess that trouble is my middle name and I can never get rid of it no matter what. I knows this sounds really cliché and cheesy but its true for everyone...

THE END!