Age: 23
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I LOVE this card for all that it says, and all it doesn't.
This week...will you share a brief glimpse from your past involving the number 2?
Two tickets
Two cheeseburgers
Two friends
Two days
Two colors
Two trains
Two seconds
Two...?
Update
This prompt reminded me of a fable I wrote way back when I first started the project. I composed it in my head, bit by bit, mile by mile, as a way to keep myself awake as I was driving at night. It's the story of two boys. You'll recognize the theme.
There once was a boy who lived by the sea.
He was a happy boy—and why wouldn’t he be? He had nothing to do but play and explore. When he was hungry he ate the coconuts in the trees; when he was thirsty he drank the rain; when he was restless he walked up the shore, turning over shells that were ancient and colorful and so big he could nap inside them. He had everything he could ever want.
Or so he thought.
2
One day he got talking with a seagull. “Tell me something wise,” the seagull said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean: tell me something you know. I don’t like to talk to stupid people. I just want to make sure you’re not stupid before I keep talking to you.”
That’s fair, the boy thought. He remembered something his teacher had taught him.
“If you walk up the beach at just the right angle…just inside the water line…the weight of your foot presses the moisture from the sand… and it seems as if the earth is lighting up beneath your feet!”
“That’s not wise,” said the seagull.
“It’s not?”
“Why would I walk when I could just fly?”
3
The boy spent the rest of the day searching for wisdom. He searched between the waves, and in the sky. He searched in the trees, and behind the dunes. He searched the spaces between his fingers and his toes. He dug in the sand, thinking someone might’ve buried it, but found nothing there but more sand.
“Where can I find wisdom?” he asked his teacher.
“What would you do with it, anyway?”
The boy had never thought about what he would do with wisdom; he just knew he wanted it.
4
The teacher was very old—some guessed a thousand years. But the boy knew he was older than that. “If you really want wisdom, I can tell you exactly where to find it. But it’ll cost you.”
The boy lowered his head. He didn’t have any money.
The teacher groaned. “My back is killing me. I’ve been walking for years. Bring me something nice to lean against, and that will be your payment.”
The boy rushed back to his house. He brought him a pillow.
“Too soft.”
He brought him a chair.
“Too flimsy.”
He brought him a wall, but his mother came and took it back, she was so fond of her walls, and the boy had nothing left to give.
“You know what I could use?” the teacher said. “A mountain. There’s nothing like setting your back against a mountain. There’s one just down the end of this road, I think—or was it that road? Anyway, you can’t miss it. Bring me a mountain. When you get home, I’ll tell you where the wisdom is hidden.”
5
The boy was confused as he set off down the road. He’d never been away from the sea, and besides, how would he carry a mountain? His hope was that, like all wise people, when his teacher said one thing he really meant another.
“You look upset,” said a second boy.
“You would be too. This mountain is a thousand feet high, and I’m supposed to carry it home.”
“Where are you from?”
“By the sea.”
“Is it as beautiful as they say?”
“It’s not as beautiful as it is here.”
The first boy kicked the mountain. It cut his foot, but a large chunk broke loose. He tried to carry it, but he only got a few steps before he had to stop and rest his arms. “What’s so funny?” he said.
“Watching you carry it like that!”
The second boy lifted the large rock over his head and broke it in two. “Your legs are stronger than your arms. You have to make two trips. Carry it in one hand, like this, and when that arm gets tired, carry it with the other.”
“How’d you know that?”
The mountain boy shrugged. To him, it just seemed obvious.
6
When the boy smelled the rotting crabs, he knew he was nearly home. He set the first rock atop a dune and was about to turn back when he heard a familiar voice cursing.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s this ocean,” said his friend. “It’s a thousand miles deep. Every time I cup it in my hands it slips through my fingers.”
I don’t see why he’d want to move the ocean, the boy thought. But he remembered his friend’s kindness, and was eager to repay it.
“Carry it like this, so when it drips through one hand, you can catch it with the other. I’m tired, so I’m going to rest the night, but I’m headed back your direction, so I’ll carry a handful as well.”
7
Back and forth the two boys went, carrying handfuls of rock and handfuls of sea. There was always a day between them, but that was okay. It gave them something to look forward to while they were traveling.
One day, many years later, the first boy looked down and realized that there was only one piece of the mountain left. It was so small he could no longer break it. A gust of wind blew it from his palm, and he fell to his knees, searching.
“Can you tell me the way back to the sea?” he asked a little boy.
“What’re you blind?”
8
The boy looked up.
And he saw.
A few weeks ago near the start of the winter term, I had two tickets. These two tickets were to a rock concert. I bought the two tickets over winter term for my girlfriend and I, just after I had missed a chance to see my favorite band during the fall term. The tickets were to a Falling in Reverse concert. I had wanted to see them live since the bands creation because the lead singer Ronnie Radke was a member of my favorite band Escape the Fate. I was so excited to use these two tickets. Finally I would get to see my favorite singer and band live.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I was not disappointed by the event. My girlfriend, a couple of my friends, and myself all left about 2 hours early for the show. We walked to 30th street station, got food, and took a subway to 8th street. We then walked to South Street from there and arrived at the Theatre of Living Arts. After waiting outside for a while before people were allowed in, we were finally allowed to enter. The whole time so far I was barely holding in my excitement. When we entered I purchased a Falling in Reverse shirt just as a memory of the event and moved into the standing room. Again we were left waiting. I was so anxious for it, and there were still three opening bands to go on first. The first opening band was the best, the other two were not the greatest, but I would have waited through worse bands to see Falling in Reverse live.
After some more waiting for the stage to be set up correctly for the show, Falling in Reverse finally went on. It was the best concert I had ever been to yet. Unlike some other bands, Ronnie Radke, the lead singer, sounded just like his albums. The live performance was practically like listening to the CD. They played nearly every song on their debut album, and even played a few of the favorite songs off of the CD released when Ronnie Radke was still a part of Escape the Fate. I am so glad that I bought those two tickets. It was one of the best decisions I have made in my life, and I would buy two more tickets again to see them live again. The show was that good.
Well the first time I went to this icecream place back home I got two scoops of cake batter and it was probably the best thing ever!
ReplyDeleteBesides senior week, senior prom was the most anticipated event of my senior year. I really wanted to be prom queen. I planned the day out a whole year prior. I found my date in december. I started searching for the perfect gown in october. After three months of searching and not finding anything I talked to my coworkers and asked about dresses and their input. They told me about a guy named Glynn Jackson, he was a stylist and he was very close to my boss. My boss convinced him to help me out with my prom dress. A week or two later I drove to DC to meet him while he was having a model call. He brought a lot of his gowns for me to try on. After I tried all of them I was disappointed and didn't find anything I liked. My mother and I planned on just having a gown made for me since Glynn Jackson came up short. We found a seamstress, I designed my gown, and bought all the fabric for it.
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks before my dress was finished my boss invited Glynn Jackson to the office to bring her a gown for a charity event she was throwing. He came with four dresses, one of which was my dream prom gown. My boss made me try it on even though I told her I couldn't afford a five hundred dollar dress for prom. She bought it for me and called it my graduation gift. I was ecstatic until I realized I had another beautiful gown waiting for me. My mother was not happy at all, she hates taking things from people, or having any one help her with anything. She immediately told me no, I couldn't keep the dress. After talking to my boss and having me sulk around the house for two days, she allowed me to keep it. I still didn't know what dress I wanted to wear to prom, I didn't even know how the dress I got made turned out. I went to pick it up a week or so later, the dress was beautiful. I was now in the dilemma of having two beautiful prom gowns, and one prom to attend.
I didn't know If I wanted to wear this beautiful couture gown that I was gifted, or a dress that I designed and created myself. My friend's were no help, and my mom just wanted me to wear the couture dress because It was red and she wore red to her prom. Eventually I sided with my mom and wore the couture dress because of three reasons. One is was couture and to expensive to waste. Two it was a gift and it would have been rude to accept it and not wear it. Three it made me feel like a princess, and every girl should feel like a princess on her prom day.
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ReplyDeleteTwo dollars can go a long way especially when you get very lucky while rolling a pair of dice. When my friends were all betting on who would roll the highest combined numbers, I couldn’t resist but take part in the gambling. However, since I had no experience with any sort of betting prior to this experience, I decided to not waste any more than the “singles” that I had in my wallet. Unfortunately, I only had two single dollar bills which limited me to my initial bet. Therefore, I betted two dollars with my friend Connor and allowed him to roll first. He rolled a five and a three, which seemed to be a safe zone since he reacted with a smile. With barely, anything to lose I gave the dice a roll. The profanity coming from Connor’s mouth signaled that I just became two dollars richer by rolling two sixes. I thought to myself that that was pure luck.
ReplyDeleteConnor wanted his money back, so once again we betted another two dollars. This time I volunteered to roll first. After passing the dice around and allowing everyone to give them a “lucky blow” I gave them a roll. Connor’s grin confirmed that it must’ve been a bad roll: a three and a two. Without losing hope, I picked up the dice and handed them to Connor. Being very arrogant and cocky, he grabbed the dice out of my hands and threw them straight down the table. Once again, I have beaten him because his roll only added up to be four.
As I was getting warmed up and becoming very accustomed to the game, I just wanted to keep betting. I thought to myself, “Why work at WaWa, when I can make twenty dollars an hour just rolling dice?” My question was answered when I lost a ten dollar bet to my other friend Alves. Now I knew how Connor felt and I wanted to earn my money back. Therefore, I took a risky move and betted twenty dollars on the next roll. At first no one stepped up, however, Alves decided it was worth a try as long as I rolled first. After the first roll we both tied with a total of eight. Therefore, we rolled again. Once again I rolled two sixes. I acted very overconfident and grabbed the forty dollars off the table before Alves even had a chance to roll. Thankfully, he wasn’t as lucky as I was and I just became twenty dollars richer. In that thirty minute time span of rolling dice, with a group of friends, I was able to turn two single dollar bills into forty-seven dollars. Rolling dice became my new addiction, until I began to fall into the negatives. That’s when I realized that my new hobby was not going to be able to financially support me and making sandwiches at WaWa was the safe option. Two dollar bills and two dice made me learn an important lesson: Gambling is all fun and games, until you have spent a full paycheck in less than one night.
There are endless numbers of things that come in pairs. One major part of everyone’s lives is their pair of legs. Most people take their legs for granted, but most runners do not. Runners rely on the strength, power, and health of their legs in order to run successfully. For runners, one strong and healthy leg is not good enough to be successful. Both legs need to be of equal ability. Cross country season my junior year I began running well until I started to take my legs for granted. I never stretched enough or iced my legs when they began to hurt. About midway through the season I pulled my groin muscle. I was now down to one good leg. I tried to run my next race through the pain, but I couldn’t do it, and I realized that my season was over. Even though I only had one minor injury in a small area of one leg, it was enough to put an end to my season. This experience made me realize how it is so imperative that two legs must work together in conjunction. There’s a reason that legs come in a pair of two, especially for runners.
ReplyDeleteLooking back and trying to find the significance of 2, I find that there are many important times, objects, and memories in my life in which the number 2 appears. I have gone to Germany twice, I have had 2 cats, I have lived in 2 houses, I earned a second chance to be with my boyfriend, I wear two bracelets and two rings every day, I broke my arm twice, and I was born during the second month of the calendar. After listing all of those above, I realized there is one more occurrence of the number that has come to define my life in some way. I graduated high school as the salutatorian. While I really don’t like mentioning it to people unless they ask or find out themselves, it did mean a lot to me during my years in high school and still to this day. When I started freshman year and first found out my GPA after half a year, I set a goal to graduate at the top of my class, preferable #1 or #2. I knew I wanted to get into a good college, try to get a full ride or at least several scholarships, and just prove to myself that I could do it. The only part that made me hesitant about my goal was knowing that the valedictorian and the salutatorian had to make a speech at graduation. I really dislike public speaking… But, that didn’t stop me. And four years later, I was walking across the stage to deliver the salutatorian speech for the class of 2011. The butterflies faded as I began my speech and I stared out into the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of my family. Besides the feeling I had in having the honor to deliver a speech and then surprisingly receiving a standing ovation after, that moment meant so much to me because I knew I had made my family so proud of my accomplishments. They had supported and encouraged me throughout my entire life and they were the reason I had gotten so far. I am so glad, for many reasons, that I did not let a speech stop me from my goal freshman year. That speech was my moment to shine and being #2 in my graduating class was an achievement I will never forget.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was twelve years old, I was chosen to be on my town’s all-star baseball team. The coaches of my town would pick one or two of the best players from each team, and put them on one team, the all-star team. The all-star team would start playing after the spring season ended, and would continue to play in the summer until the team was eliminated. I had made the eleven-year-old all-star team the previous year, but this year I was more excited to play because the team was really good, but the coaches of my town disagreed. The coaches believed that my age group team was going to lose before any other age group. After the coach of my all-star team heard about this, he made sure to prove the other coaches wrong.
ReplyDeleteMy coach was determined to make my teammates and I the best possible baseball team that we could be. He had my teammates and I practicing three nights a week for at least two to three hours, and on Saturday mornings we had to practice for three hours. I loved playing baseball when I was twelve, but because my coach was making us practice so much, I was starting to get sick of it. However, when the day came for our first game, my team demolished the opposing team by more than fifteen runs. During our first game, my team and I had committed not one single error. This showed that our hard work was paying off.
After the first game my team and I continued to eliminate opponents with ease. We were even able to beat the team that was favored to win the district title by more than ten runs. However, during the semi-final game of the district title, a parent of the opposing team accused my coach of not giving me enough playing time. One of the rules of little league baseball is that each player must play at least two innings, and have one at bat. I remember playing the two innings and getting to bat at least once, but apparently the other parents did not think so. Of course the parents did not mention this until after the game was over and we had won already. If my coach did not find any proof of me playing the two innings, then my team would have been eliminated from the tournament. Fortunately, one of the parents of my teammates caught me playing the two innings on video, so my team continued onto the finals of the district tournament.
In the finals of the tournament, my team was to play the team that has been to the district finals for the past five years, but has yet to win the title. Normally we would beat our opponents by ten runs or more, but this team was determined to win. The game was very exciting because my team and the opposing team had their best pitchers playing. Also, whenever a team would score a run, the other team would answer back with two runs. Finally it came down to the bottom of the final inning. My team was batting and we were down by one run; the score was six to five. One of my teammates struck out, but the rest got on base before it was my turn to bat. At the time we were down by one run, bases were loaded, and there was one out. Initially I was not so nervous because I did not think about this situation, but after three balls and two strikes I began to realize what was at stake. I was so nervous that before the third pitch I stepped out of the batters box to take a few practice swings. While doing this I took a few deeps breaths and calmed myself down. I stepped back into the batters box and waited for the pitch. Finally the ball was pitched and I made solid contact with the ball. I drove the ball between the third baseman and shortstop. My teammates on second and third were able to both score and we won the district title! My teammates immediately run from the dugout and tackled me in excitement. It was the first time my town had won the district title in over thirty years. I was put in the newspaper the next day, and our next game also happened to be the next day. Miraculously, the same situation occurred that game! It was the same score, same number of outs, ball, and strikes, and the same people on base. The only difference was that I hit a line drive into left-center field. Again, I was put in the paper! My team went on to the sectional tournament where it was double elimination. Unfortunately, my team lost in the sectional championship to the team we had lost to before earlier in the sectional tournament. I will remember those two back to back game winning hits for the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteDecember 18, 2011. Two anniversaries, really different anniversaries
ReplyDeleteMy parents got married on December 18, 2011. On that date, they reached 25 years in their marriage and it was something we had been talking about for a year. It was crazy to me when I thought about it: two strangers fell in love, went through a wedding, had two children, and are still together. My mom wanted to go on a family vacation since we had not been on one in years. She wanted to go to Greece. That trip might have been able to take place because I had a month long break and my dad was actually home for my winter break, too. The only thing that held us back was that my brother was in med school, which meant he only had around a week to ten days for winter break. All he wanted to do was relax and stay at home. His wish was granted. We tried planning them a surprise party, but we could not due to my mom's cousin brother's death. We stayed home and celebrated in a small way at home, though. Because my uncle passed away, my parents' anniversary was not as joyous as usual obviously, but what really made it unbearable was the second anniversary.
Sagar passed away on October 18, 2011. Two months later, was December 18, 2011. On that date, I was at home and I was still dealing with losing a friend, a brother, a person I knew since I was a baby. On that date, all I could think about was how he passed away. I was still trying to process through my head how he committed suicide and why. On his two-month death anniversary, I wanted to be able to talk to his brother as I used to, but I could not. I was not allowed to, which made that day even worse. Even though I tried to smile for my parents that day, I could not. There was not a real smile on my face that day.
Those two anniversaries on one day was something I can never describe. I had to be happy because my parents were together for so long: it was exciting; nevertheless, the loss of someone so close to me, to my loved ones, was overwhelming. It was, in a way, more important than anything to me. Grief, regret, negative feelings take over positive feelings and happiness all the time, especially that day.
December 18, 2011: two very different anniversaries, two very different feelings
This past New Years a bunch of friends and I decided to take a road trip to Tennessee to see one of our favorite artists Bassnectar. We were all ecstatic about the journey ever since we found out tickets were being sold in late October. Trying to be smart and think ahead I decided to buy 5 tickets for the show because I knew the show would sell out and I had to make sure that all of my friends would still be going. Everyone seemed more than on board for the plan and everything seemed as if it were working out nicely. When the concert was approaching people started to back out of our original plans which I never would have expected. Even though the show was sold out for about 2 months I had tickets for everyone it ended up that only my one friend Bella was able to come with me. It wasn’t hard for me to get rid of my tickets and I actually made a few bucks off them, but it wasn’t as good as having my friends there. Although a huge crazy road trip with a packed car did not happen we still enjoyed ourselves. We had a much more quiet and enjoyable time without all of our friends plus we weren’t crammed at all and had a perfect time. Even though a lot of plans changed it ended up being an amazing time with just the two of us.
ReplyDeleteThe day I turned eighteen I did what any eighteen year old does. That’s right, I bought scratch off lottery tickets, awesome I known. I decided that I would buy two one dollar games and that I would stop after I won a few bucks or after I lost the original two dollar bet. I played and I won back my two dollars, so I went to the cashier and handed in the cards and got two more dollars. So I went back to the machine and bought two more tickets. This time I won four dollars. I repeated handing in the cards and getting my money and reinvesting it. Every once in a while I went for a two or three dollar game. Some games a one a few dollars and sometimes a lost a few but I never went below my original amount or gained more than five or six dollars. The more I played the more the cashier and people in the convince store got into it, the people in the store kept telling me which to buy and the cashier kept trying to find ‘lucky dollars’ to give me. This process continued for around thirty minutes, by the time I had lost track of how many cards I went through but it was a good amount. At this point I was back down to two dollars and I decide that it was no longer worth it to play, I had my fun and I was starting to get hungry. So I used those two dollars buy some candy bars. Funny how fast two dollars can grow, shrink and change hands.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in seventh grade and it was the first time I had done a sports team that you had to try out for. I tried out for my schools track and field team and I made it. For my first race, I was really nervous. I had never performed in front of a crowd and against other students like that before. My stomach was turning while I was doing stretches and waiting to go up for my race. I had to run the 100m race and even though that was a short distance, I did not want everyone to be disappointed if I lost. I got up to the line and went into position. Then the gunshot went off starting the race. I kept my head down and ran as fast I could until I saw the white line at the end. I had no idea what place I had gotten in and was shocked when they said 2nd place. I did not pay attention to the other runners while on the track and just tried to do my best to get to the end. I was so proud that I managed 2nd place in my first race!
ReplyDeleteBack in my childhood years I was at the beach. I can't remember exactly how old I was but I was relatively young. I was in Ocean City New Jersey on the board walk with my older sisters. We were walking the board walk going on rides going in the shops and playing all the games. My parents had given me some money to spend on the board walk so I made good use of it. I played all the games that ten dollars would get me. I spent all of it except for 50 cents, 2 quarters. I didn't think i would be able to play any more games with only 50 cents left but right as my sisters and I were about to get off the board walk we found a game for 50 cents. It was a game where you had to throw a football through a moving hoop. You got three tries to do it and I happened to miss the first 2. The third throw was my best throw by far and it went straight through the hoop. I won one of those giant stuffed gorillas that were at the time bigger than me. Those last 2 quarters won me a great prize.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer, I had a job working for a vending company at Six Flags Great Adventure. My job was usually pushing a cart of lemonade, popcorn and other snacks and drinks. I was constantly outside moving from one side of the park to the other in the hot, beating sun. It was a Wednesday in the middle of August. I had been working for eight hours carrying boards of cotton candy around a concert arena and I was still a day away from getting paid. Nobody had ever given me a tip at my job before and I had no cash all day. On my way back from my last walk around selling cotton candy, I got tipped 2 dollars by 2 people, and also sold out my cotton candy board. At the point, those 2 tips were the highlight of my way and those 2 people were my favorite people in the world. I had just enough money to get a cool, refreshing, rasberry iced tea and a bag of chips at wawa after work. Life was so good because that day was over and I got to end it chilling at wawa thanks to those 2 generous souls (and the only generous souls in that park).
ReplyDeleteWorking two jobs can be very difficult at times, but deffinetly pays off in the long run. Making double the income every summer of what I normally make during the rest of the year is a necessity so that I can afford to pay for school. Working twice as much as most people is often a challenge, but after a while it is easy to get used to. I'd rather work one job than two, but two times the income is better than one!
ReplyDeleteWe first had tea for two,
ReplyDeleteAnd it took two to tango,
So we danced away.
That’s when I fell for you.
We were two peas in a pod,
I always believed that
Two heads are better than one.
But
I learned you told two truths and a lie:
Two and a half men? Oh my!
Twos a company, but three’s a crowd.
Are you proud?
Two-faced
Disgraced.
I know there are two sides to every story,
But I saw it with my own two eyes.
Two people can play at that game, right?
But two wrongs don’t make a right.
There’s no two ways about it:
I will stand on my own two feet.
NOTE:
This creation has no relevance to my life personally, but there were TWO ideas I had for this assignment, and this one was more fun.
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ReplyDeleteDownhill skis come in pairs: one for each leg. And for good reason. As you probably know, balancing on one leg is difficult enough on flat ground. When you factor in a downward angle, forward velocity, and slippery patches of ice, it’s nearly impossible to stay upright on one ski (unless you’re a pretty skilled skier, which unfortunately I am not). As I looked down the mountain at the large ramp, the thought of skiing with one ski didn’t even cross my mind. I hardly ever fell while going off jumps. And I wasn’t about to make myself nervous by thinking about the consequences of such a fall. As I gathered speed while moving down the slope, I noticed that I wasn’t picking up speed fast enough. It was a bit warm, so it was a slow day on the mountain. Even though I was moving relatively slowly, I decided to commit to the jump. My skis left the ground and I immediately realized that I had made a grave mistake. It was so clear that I wasn’t going to clear the gap between the ramp and the next downslope. I braced myself for the imminent collision with the ground. I came down from with a big thud just before the downslope (if you land on the downslope, the landing is very soft and easy, whereas landing on flat ground feels like you freefell from the height you were at). My skis slapped the ground, and the left one popped off. Though the impact was strong, I managed to keep balanced. I continued down the mountain for roughly 20 feet. At this point, I began to wobble uncontrollably and attempted a one-ski stop. As soon as I turned sideways, my ski slip out from under me and I slammed into the ground. The one ski that was still attached to me until this point was thrown off. I swiftly slid down the icy slope until I hit a snowier patch. “This wasn’t so bad,” I thought. And that’s when the rolling began. I violently tumbled down until I finally came to rest far below where I had lost my skis. When all was said and done, I had lost all of my equipment and looked like a total fool.
ReplyDeleteIt was last October and I had two choices. My son-12 years old-had the chance to go to Rome,but I had to decide quickly whether or not to commit to the trip which would take place in March.His father was not in favor of the trip,but I desperately wanted him to go. It was the final day to submit his deposit,and supposedly his father and I had come to an agreement not to send him. I dropped him off at school that morning,and driving home, I was so sad. When I got home,I frantically searched for the papers needed,grabbed my checkbook and headed back down to the school.My son was going on this trip no matter what! This was such an amazing opportunity that I couldn't possibly pass up. When I told my son,he was so incredibly excited and for the past several months,he has thanked me pretty much every day.The trip is now a week away, and now I have two choices-should I tell his father or not....Well,truth be told,I did tell him a while ago,but wouldn't it have been better to have the story end the other way?
ReplyDeleteTwos described my junior year in high school. There were only two things that mattered to me then: 1) My writing sites 2) College, namely, maintaining my GPA and my resume in high school. You could argue that my second thing was two things, and that these ‘only two things that mattered to me in my junior high school’ are actually three things, but I would tell you to be quiet and listen to the story and stop interrupting. And then I would stare at you angrily.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a lot in high school, and I owned two sites whose purposes were for collaborative storytelling and collaborative storytelling alone. One is now dead and the other is still kickin’, but that’s a tale for another time. Two of us, a girl named Terri and I, would write for hours and hours and hours, back and forth until chapters poured out in buckets. It had two parts, one taking place in the present and one in the future. Our two main characters moved through drama and drama and more drama, escaped danger, enticed danger, narrowly dodged assassinations, cheated death, cheated on each other, plotted, hated, loved, and had major daddy issues all in the span of about two years. When it ended, I was mad at Terri for two months for losing interest, and we made up in about two days. And then we started another site, for a total of – get it, TWO writing sites. Writing was what I did when I wasn’t focused on college bleh that I had to do – and trust me; it was major not-fun-ness.
College bleh was really bleh. GPA was something built up over what seemed like a billion years, but resumes are a pain in the butt. My parents were burnt out after my sister’s college visits, so we only visited two colleges: Yale and Boston University. Yale was two (u c wat I did thur!?)… well, I didn’t like it, but I ended up applying anyway. Boston University was wondrous! I adored the school. I already knew two people who went to that school, and they also loved it there.
After begging two recommendations out of teachers, writing what seemed like two hundred twenty two so-called ‘supplementary essays’ and filling out two applications for each school for their special programs. I ended up applying for 6 schools, which is three times two (heey, I’m trying to relate this to two, okay?!). I got waitlisted at two, rejected at two, and accepted to two. It took me two months, two parents, twenty-two pro/con charts, and countless cups of coffee to make a decision.
And there it is. Two tales of twos: one, two writing sites, and two, college. As one songwriter mournfully said, one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do, and two can be as bad as one; it’s the loneliest number since the number one. Though that wasn’t exactly my experience, two was plenty enough company in my writing, but waaay too much stress for my pre-college experiences.
Many great things come in pairs, but what many people do not notice is that we have a set of two things many people do not take advantage of. What I am talking about is our eyes, our two eyes unveil what the world is to us, how to interpret current situations happening. Individuals all around do no notice the benefits of things we already have, and dont utilize to the highest extent. We have two eyes that connect to a central running system (our brain) to make us think or see something one way or another. People take pairs od two as material objects, what pairs of things they can buy with their own money to bring themselves happiness. A pair of shoes, earrings, gloves, headphones, anything you can imagine associated with pairs can be directly associated with money. What we see doesn't cost us money, and money should not be the source of a human beings happiness. What they see should bring you happiness, seeing the good in the world, and what you can make of this world only requires on glimpse. One glimpse could change everything, ideas that you have thought of your entire life can be changed with a different perspective. We should take advantage of the pairs that we have naturally, our arms, legs, eyes, ears, we can utilize these things to bring us happiness. The greatest thing you can have is your vision, it shows you what is good and what is bad, and teaches you what you need to know along the way. Take advantage of your two eyes and show the world a problem or solution you see, and what great changes you can bring. A person is only happy by what they see, not by what they own.
ReplyDeleteIt was a Saturday evening just a few weeks ago. I had just found out about a music festival that was going on that weekend: it was called Two Piece Fest. It took place on Saturday and Sunday, so I assumed the name meant that it was a festival in two pieces.
ReplyDeleteGoing to Two Piece Fest only serves as a frame for the more significant part of this story. I asked my friend if he wanted to go with me that night, but he said he was eating dinner and he would call me when he was done. So about 8 o clock, my friend calls and we head off to the fest.
My friend and I, two of us, were walking down 34th street as two other people were walking in our direction. We passed each other, but out of the corner of my eye, I recognized someone. I turned around, and she did too. It was someone I knew from high school. Not just anyone, though. This particular person, out of anyone in the world, was the girl I asked to senior prom. That night on 34th street, the person she was walking with was the guy she went with instead of me. We exchange brief hellos and went back on our intended courses.
We got to Two Piece Fest and I let the music blast away my sorrows. Oh yeah, and the name of the music festival meant that there were two people in each band. 222222222222222222222222222222ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It was late, I knew that but the day was hardly over. I had at the very least three hours left go. This paper wasn’t going to write itself; at this point it was quickly becoming a question of if my eyes could stay open for the duration. I was fading fast, but the collegiate secret weapon had yet to be employed, no I wasn’t popping Ritalin it hadn’t gotten that bad yet. But the slimy glow in the dark liquid that is the monster that would be giving me heartburn for the two of the next three hours. At the vending machine downstairs they ran for two dollars a pop a high price to pay for revitalization and intestinal damage, but I had cleaned out my families coin jar and brought it to school for situations like these. Unfortunately two years of coin collecting doesn’t translate to too many Honey Buns and Dorito bags, expecting at least six dollars in coinage left all I had was two pennies in my coin jar. Just a minor set back, I had to have some dollar bills around her somewhere? After tearing the place apart all I had was two pennies, a Lays potato chip bag, at least a week old, some lint and fifteen bobby pins, this would not translate into an energy drink. The paper and I were doomed; the idea of staying awake for another minute let alone the next three hours was quickly becoming more and more unfathomable. I learned a very important lesson that day, always make sure you have extra money for the vending machine, so that you can surpass and suppress basic human needs like sleep, which society has subsequently deemed unnecessary or at the very least, secondary. That and pennies have become completely obsolete, what a sham it is that vending machines don’t take pennies!
ReplyDeleteOnce, when I lived at my old house, my parents took my two younger sisters to my grandparents house and left my sister Veronica and I home alone. We were about eight or nine, probably too young to be left alone, but we were nonetheless. It was about three in the afternoon on a nice sunny spring day, so we went outside for an adventure. We walked down to the water front and knowing we couldn't go swimming we went as far as our shorts would let us. When we walked back in to the beach we started throwing rocks in the water, which turned into throwing rocks at eachother. I hit her in the face and a long snotty bloody worm started to ooze out of her nose. I was laughing so hard she pulled it out, looked at it, threw it and ran back to the house. I felt kind of bad, and lonely, so I followed her and found her moping on the stoop. The door was locked and the stairs to the back door on the roof had not been built yet. No one was up but us. BUT almost all the bungalows were open, so we walked over to our aunt's bungalow and sure enough for the hundredth her carelessness benefited us. Luckily for my sister, our aunt is a nurse so she had all sorts of medical supplies around to hold Veronica's nose. Once the bleeding stopped we went back out and it had started to get dark, we knew our parents would not be gone all night so there was no need to set up camp at Aunt Kathy's. We walked back over to the house and played in the sandbox until everyone returned.
ReplyDeleteTwo minutes. That was all we had for our biomedical engineering presentation. We had written an eight page paper and put in hours of work and research. The difficult thing was not finding someone to confidently present, but fitting all of our information and research into a two-minute PowerPoint. There was a template provided; however, we had so much more we wanted to include. Eventually, we were able to pick and choose what we wanted to talk about and we input it onto the slides. We introduce ourselves and our project and then went into explaining the criteria and rationale and the actual design of the device we designed. Somehow we made it all fit attractively onto a 8-slide PowerPoint.
ReplyDeleteOur group had asked one boy to present for us and he agreed and was preparing for it. The night before he suddenly became nervous and decided that he did not feel comfortable presenting, this scared us. We flustered around for a little bit and then another girl stepped up and volunteered to present. She studied the slides and the notes involved in order to prepare herself. Then she began practice-presenting to me and our floor. It started out shakily, but eventually grew into an excessively fast-speaking rant. She must have practiced over twenty times in order to get the presentation under two minutes. She had it down to 1:50 and we decided that that was the shortest it could possibly be and we accepted that.
The following afternoon was the presentation. We were chosen to go second to last and we were nervous the entire waiting period. I was not that nervous as I was not presenting, but our speaker was freaking out inside. During the other presentations we were asked to throw our hands up if the presentation stretched over two minutes. When the other groups were commonly exceeding the time limit with their very little amount of information, we grew nervous because we were going to attempt to present triple the amount of information anyone else had.
Eventually, our time came. She walked up to the front of the room, set the timer, and went for it. She spoke a mile a minute, if not fifty. She talked and talked and talked. It was unbelievable. Even today, exactly a term later, people still remember her presentation. That was how fast she spoke. She blew the audience out of the water. I do not know how much information was actually consumed, let alone understood, but it was all given and explained to some degree.
She managed to finish the presentation even before the two minutes were up – she did not get hands thrown up at her! So proud. So impressed.
A memory I can recall of something that happened to me in a pair of two is extremely out of the ordinary. I'm not too sure how common the idea is that if you find a nickel and a dime together it symbolizes that a loved one who passed away is letting you know they are present, but I have heard it before and never in a million years would I think I would ever believe it was true or would happen to me. Four years a go my best friend, Jill's, father had passed away in a motor cycle crash, and then around a year after that she lost her mother to a car accident on Valentines Day. I was very close to her mother and she was like a mom to me too. A few months ago I was driving to work and started thinking about Jill. I decided to call her and see how she was doing since she goes to school in California. Right when I picked up my phone to call her out of nowhere a nickel and a dime fell into my lap. I have no idea where they came from and I was so shocked when I looked down to see them together. I know it was her mom saying thanks for checking on Jill. I never thought that would happen to me. That is an experience that happened to me that something occurred in pair.
ReplyDeleteMy friend Treyvion ended up with two tickets to the opening season game for the Baltimore Ravens. Of course he was going to take himself to the game but, that left him with one more extra ticket. In his choices to who was going to accompany him to the game consisted of two important individuals in his life, his best friend, which is me, or his girlfriend. I have known Treyvon for many years, way before he met his girlfriend Amber. Our friendship eventually turned into a brotherly companionship when I had to live with him for some time due to family issues. We also share the same love of football because we both played in high school and planned to play in college. So, because of our great bond and the fact that I chose to take him to an Orioles game over my girlfriend at the time, I thought that I was the clear choice for this event. However, he obviously thought otherwise. Two days before the game, in which I thought that I was attending, he dropped some big news on me. The news consisted of that he wanted to take his girlfriend Amber to the game because it was a present for their 16 months anniversary. Internally, I was hurt because I really wanted to go to the game but, externally I showed little emotions that displayed displeasure. Instead, I showed emotion that favored the idea. So, the day of the game comes and an hour before kickoff, I was over my uncle’s house watching NFL pregame show. I get a phone call, and it’s my friend stating that he chose to take me instead because he knew I would appreciate it more. That day, I went to my first professional football game and it all started with two tickets and two bestfriends/brothers.
ReplyDeleteI had just finished a beautiful slalom run. It wasn’t a race – I had given up on ski racing years before – but I still love a good, hard run through a course every now and then. But the run was now finished. At this point, I was at the bottom of the mountain: the portion where beginners and experts come together for a nearly flat run to the lift. I was panting for air through a smile and thought less of my two skis. After all, this sort of easy stretch hadn’t been hard since shortly after learning to walk. But as I lost focus on my skis, and what I was actually doing, I left my proper ski posture – still moving – and took a look up to the sky to stretch a bit. No sooner had I identified a cloud as such than my unattended skis apparently hit some small ball of ice. Although these glacial spheres are commonplace on the slopes, this one, hitting me when I wasn’t paying attention, stole my balance from me, and sent me off the trail, head-first. I slid on my chest between two trees, toward a rocky precipice when I regained my wits and quickly separated my two legs, now missing the two skis they had carried a moment before; hoping to catch myself on the two trees I had just slipped between. I missed. I continued sliding, until my helmet met with a rock.
ReplyDeleteAfter a brief period, I opened my eyes to the same sky and clouds that had started the trouble. I was lying on my back, my head still against a rock, below the rest of my body. Feeling a throbbing in my head as the blood rushed to my brain, I began to climb out. The two trees still stood there, resolute almost, even their bark unscathed from my passing. Just above them, I found my skis, popped them on and nearly puked, suddenly realizing I had just sustained a concussion and coming to terms with the likely outcome had I not been wearing a helmet. Although the day was still quite young and I commonly ski for 12 or 14 hour days, I gently made my way back to the lift, and then home.
A couple of summers ago my father and the Philadelphia Orchestra we were up in New York in Lake Luzerne Saratoga Springs. And every year or so they have a celebrity come up and do something with the orchestra. Well the celebrity that summer happened to be Alec Baldwin doing the Lincoln Portrait which is simply a speech with music. And I got to meet him backstage and I asked if he could sign these autographs for my friends. He says to me, "Well I have to go to an interview upstairs do you want to come with us?" So I went into the elevator with him while my dad was in rehearsal. And the woman telling him where he needed to be at whatever time was rushing him saying we need to be up at that interview and he says, "Hold on this will just take two seconds." And he quickly signed the autographs for my friends and I. And he even took that moment to ask me how to spell my name to be sure it got it correctly. At the end when he came down he was in a rush to leave but I even got a picture with him. That was one of the most memorable days of my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was thirteen I saved up just enough to buy my first gaming system. My mom couldn't take me to Game stop to buy the Nintendo GameCube, I wanted it so bad. I walked to the corner store and changed a ten dollar bill into one dollar bills. I caught the bus at the price of 2 dollars, I was very exited because I was finally getting my own GameCube. The bus drove about forty-five minutes and I finally got to Game stop. I went in and asked the man at the register for the system, he gave me a price and I gave him the money. He told me I was 2 dollars short, my eyes got watery and remembered the bus ticket. Two guys waiting in line were generous enough to give me two dollars to complete my stack of cash. I was incredibly happy until, I couldn't catch the bus home, my mind was out of place that day the GameCube was making me forget things. I asked someone for their phone, my mom said she would send my uncle to pick me up. About two hours later he found me and I got home safely. This day had more downs than ups but that GameCube made me happy, although I couldn't use it for about two weeks because I didn't have enough money to buy a game.
ReplyDeleteAll my life, I had this one friend named Bindi. We were, as they say, attached by the hip. As kindergartener girls, we pretty much did what all the young girls did. This included having countless sleepovers, insisting on wearing the same outfit in public, sitting next to each other during class, and having the same eating habits. Trust me, there were many other factors. However, things started to change as we got older. Once we reached high school, so many things began to uncover. She was extremely involved in Basketball and I was desperately waiting to finish my high school career. As we reached high school I noticed a very detailed ingredient in our friendship. It was the fact that both of us were on opposite ends of a spectrum. We were so opposite that people began to ask us how we were friends. Bindi was into her sports while I enjoyed dancing and singing. She was very restless while I was known to be patient. Bindi was a fast driver while I chose to drive slowly and safely. Two personalities brought together to make one strong friendship. We didn't exactly pinpoint what our medium was- our humor, or our interest in music? Nevertheless, we had the most interesting friendship, something unique yet subtle. I cannot imagine a friendship with Bindi where both of us had the same personality. I think having two characteristics in one friendship makes things interesting and fun. I believe that's how every friendship is constructed. There will always be difference in opinions but to embrace these variations is the beauty of a friendship.
ReplyDeleteTakes two to tango, two to tango
ReplyDeleteTwo to really get the feeling of romance
Let’s do the tango, do the tango
Do the dance of love
Love is a game of two. It cannot be done with only one. Each person brings their true selves to the table, opening up their heart to let someone else in to see the vulnerable you. These two are separate, individual, who are each different in how they think, act and behave. By coming together these two learn about the good and the bad of each other. The act of being two together creates them into a couple. This couple becomes seen as one to others, a unit that shares with each other. Together they face happiness and sadness and however much they become two determines their “dance of love”.
When I was younger, I owned two turtles that I had gotten from a pet store. They weren't the first pets that I ever owned, but they unique and fascinating to watch. I bought them a tank that was pretty large in relation to the size of the turtles, and filled it up with all kinds of islands and play things for the turtles to have fun with. It took a good while to think of some decent names for them, but I finally stuck with the names of Felix and Oscar. I would sit by the tank and stare in awe at them for hours on end sometimes. They were a good pet to have as a kid because they were low maintenance and were fun to play with; the only danger was the bacteria on them, so I had to make sure I washed my hands after every encounter. The two were a great pair and played together all the time as best friends. One day when I was about 13, I decided to let them go instead of being trapped in a glass tank for the rest of their lives. I'm not too sure how they ended up, but I had let them out in a nearby fresh-water creek. Felix and Oscar were two great turtles that I will never forget.
ReplyDelete