Friday, May 29, 2015

Defensemen, A Goalie, Middies, and Attack

A game played by those before me
Generations back

A game that has never failed to bore me
Back to when I was two years old

The game that consists of stick and ball
Will and might
fight and fall

Defenders, a goalie, middles and attack
Depending on what you are you know when to “fall back”

The life I’ve spend in front of the goal
The life I’ve spent playing a game that never grows old
The life I’ve spent loving the game
The life I’ve spent hoping one day I’d rise to fame

Nothing will ever change the love for the game

Live. Love. Lax.

Lax on lax off.

Lacrosse.



Thursday, May 21, 2015

Quebec, Canada

Recently, about 139 seventh graders travelled to Quebec, Canada to experience the culture and a new country. Quebec is the closest city in North America to a European town, the trip was truly enjoyable. In this blog writing I am going to present my version of the adventures we went through, and the new knowledge we have gained. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!
I woke up on the morning of May 14th, 2015, thrilled for the journey I was about to embark on. Many traveling with me had travelled on this journey before. They had crossed the border, been asked the questions, shown their birth certificates. I had never done this, I had never been out of the country. Sure it was just Quebec, but from the moment I woke up I could feel the blood rushing through my body and the thoughts rushing through my head. I was leaving the USA for the first time, I was going to Canada.
Quebec City.
The first day was not very eventful. It mainly consisted of an eight hour bus ride, longer than usual because one of the busses broke down. When the busses arrived we boarded and departed. When buses 2 and 3 arrived in Quebec we went to the Chemin du Roy Sugar Shack where we ate dinner. It was a very good dinner. We then embarked on a walking ghost tour, afterwards it was off to bed. At 1:30 in the morning I woke up and was having an allergic reaction to soy. One of my roommates had slept through the whole reaction, but soy is soy, and I was alright.
Old Quebec. In Old Quebec,
you can purchase many souvenirs.
The second day was very enjoyable. The only non-enjoyable part was when my roommate, the same one that had slept through the allergic reaction, took a 25 minute shower. My other two roommates and I barely had any time to get ready, and one of them was screaming at the one in the shower so loudly that she could be heard on the floor above us. There were complaints. We then went to breakfast and loaded the bus. That morning we walked high in the sky above roaring rivers. I had to wear my rain jacket. While we were there, we did a scavenger hunt. We had to walk on bridges, they seemed unstable. However, that was a highlight of the day. After that we went to lunch and then toured a church. The church was very Medieval styled, it had a lot of artwork. Very Roman-Catholic. We then went to tour over a waterfall in cable cars. That was the end of the events for me. After that the day consisted of dinner and swimming.
A cable car over Parc de la 
Chute Montgomery.
The third day, last full day, was the best full day. We started the day off at the Citadelle, an active military base. While we were there we took a tour and watched a reenactment. After that, we went to the mall. My friend and I were on a search for berets, at the end of the trip we found them, but the cost of one was worth half of my money. While at the mall, my friends and I “lunched” at PFK, otherwise known as KFC. However, I did not know where we were eating until the near end of our lunch. After the mall, we took a tour around Quebec, self-guided. We got to go to the top of a tall building and look over the city. The Observatory. After that, we journeyed down to Old Quebec where we purchased souvenirs. After another military activity, the seventh grade headed to dinner where we feasted on Greek food. Soon after, we had another military activity, and then we went bowling. The bowling was probably one of the most humiliating things in my life. I had never been so bad at anything. My team consisted of six girls, I came in last. Three-quarters of the way through bowling I finally figured out how to hold the ball. Just as one of my teammates got two strikes in a row! After bowling we all “settled” into bed, when really my room and I were debating on whether or not to play poker with kit-kats.
The seal show at the Quebec Aquarium.

On the last day, we started off with an American breakfast at the hotel, we then checked out of our rooms and went to the aquarium. The aquarium was very enjoyable. While we were there, we got to check out many cool sea creatures. We also watched a seal-show! After the aquarium we boarded the bus for our seven-hour voyage to America. I slept for half of the bus ride. When we arrived back in Maine, I was sad that the trip was over. However, after I got off the bus and saw my dad waving at me I remembered that this is home.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Yellow Card


It was late on a Monday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the air temperature was seventy degrees. I felt the same enthusiasm and drive to win as I do before any lacrosse game. For multiple years this sport has been my life, I had learned the game from my former all-american father, and for generation after generation the sport has been in my blood. I had grown up playing the boys game. When I first started playing girls lacrosse, the rules and regulations seemed complex and unnecessary. After a while, my “boys shot” and I finally began to understand what was expected. This I thought, until for the first time in my life I achieved the not-so-impossible yellow card.
Image Link: http://media.nj.com/the-times/photo/2013/05/-80b9bc98e5d5f3c3.jpg
A yellow card might not seem like that big of deal, and it wouldn’t have been so horrific for me if the conditions of the yellow card were different. The ref of the game was normally a high school ref. She was tall with gray hair and glasses that reflected the sun. From the beginning of the game she had taken a disliking to me. When one of my defensive teammates was given a penalty shot (which I find kind of funny), I ran in front of the goal to block the goalie’s view. The goalie on the opposing team was skilled, I had blocked her view and my teammate had made the shot. The ref was not happy. When in the lineup again, me at attack, she started screaming at me as the draw went up.
“Was that you that walking in front of your teammate!? Bad girl!” She bickered at me.
“You’re my ref not my coach” I reply under my breath.
But a couple of word exchanges in the middle of the game isn’t something worth giving a yellow card for. When the other team and mine had switched sides, a mark of half-time being over, I was in possession of the ball. I can shoot very hard, and from a great distance. Right as I got inside the twelve meter line, I take my stick with the ball in it, and shoot the ball out. The goalie is stunned, and the ball goes in. It’s all happiness for me for a moment. But reality comes “creeping along” again, and the ref gets angry. She starts yelling out mistakenly at my teammate, who had not taken the shot, only to realize it was me who had shot the spectacular shot.
If I had taken the shot in boys lacrosse, it would have counted.
Image Link: http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/03/56/30/976402/9/628x471.jpg

“That was a dangerous shot! Your teammate was right in front of the goal!!”
“She moved there!”
The ref then takes me aside and lectures me more.
“You idiotic girl you could have hit your teammate!!”
After a couple minutes of being verbally abused by the ref, she tells me to get off the field.
“What do you mean get off the field?” I ask, confused.
“Yellow card. You’re off for two minutes. Go.”
She then hold up a yellow card as I frolic off of the field, shocked. In the bleachers, the crowd is more confused than I am, especially my father. The game starts again and Falmouth is one player down. Due to the ref’s hatred towards me, she keeps me off for much longer than two minutes. By the time I re-enter the game, we are losing 7-2.
At the end of the game we had lost 8-3, or something like that. It wasn’t our best day. However, from the game, I had learned one important lesson. If you’re playing girls lacrosse your teammate moves in front of a goal, don’t shoot.



Go Falmouth!!
Image Link: http://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/text_block/0158/7418/FalmouthLax2_medium.jpg

Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Battle of Hastings, 1066

Recently in social studies, our classes wrapped up the Medieval Europe unit. In this unit, one of my favorite events we learned about was The Battle of Hastings. Below is a poem revolving around the battle, enjoy!

When Edward died heirless, Harold claimed the throne.
The new King of England, William was disowned.
When William went back to Normandy, Harold sent a message.
William felt betrayed.

He chopped down the forest, all of the trees.
His men and him built boats, gathered horses and took them to sea.
They went on a boat ride, and arrived in England,
they stationed their attack.

On October 14th, 1066,
the Saxons and Normans battled it out.
The results were even, when their king fell down,
he had taken an arrow to the eye.

With Harold now dead, England lost hope,
the Normans were victorious, and William took the throne.
He established Feudalism in England,
in worries of rebellion.
He stayed King of England,
and won the title for which he would forever be known,
William the Conqueror.

The Bayeux Tapestry was created as a result of The Battle of Hastings. It is 70 meters of embroidered cloth that depicts the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings, and the battle itself.
Image link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Hobbit: The Magnificence of Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien, the mastermind
behind Middle Earth.
The original cover art of
The Hobbit.
Thorin's Map.

When Oxford graduate J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit he didn’t know what he was in for, nor what a phenomenon the book itself would become. Published on September 21, 1937, the enchanting prelude to the Lord of the Rings trilogy has been hooking readers for more than 75 years. Even now, 42 years after his death, Tolkien is still revered for his remarkable and inspiring works. Throughout the years, The Hobbit has been made into video games, cartoons, as well as a trilogy whose final chapter, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, was just released in December 2014. All remarkable disambiguations, the original story lies within the enthralling pages of Tolkien’s indigenous novel, The Hobbit.
Set in fictional Middle Earth, Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, has never been beyond the borders of The Shire. When the wizard Gandalf ultimately tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for a band of dwarves, all determined to reclaim their homeland, Erebor, from the dragon Smaug, he soon finds himself carried along on a mind-boggling quest, captivating many. Throughout his journey, Bilbo both learns and accomplishes what was believed to him to be impossible, along with a few surprises. So, join Bilbo as he encounters Gollum, a former hobbit, who has been possessed by the ring of power (the one ring Sauron needs to take full power, makes you invisible, explained more in The Lord of the Rings series) for more than 500 years. As he confronts the talking-dragon Smaug, who he then must steal the Arkenstone, a stone Thorin (the leader of the company) values above all, from. Watch this hobbit change from householder to warrior as he takes part in The Battle of the Five Armies, and witness the story that supports the quote “courage is found in unlikely places.” The Hobbit will have you on the edge of your seat every moment and will bring you to understand concepts that have been long forgotten.
Illustration of the dragon Smaug.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Illumination


The light as bright as the sun
The color as white as the moon
The ocean’s glimmering 
Beneath it’s shimmering
Setting the complexion 
For a perfect Summer day…

The sea crashes against the rocky ground
The headlight spins
Illuminating
The tourists below
That turn around
To gaze at the worldwide attraction

The flagpole waves in the distance
The clouds above fly over in an instance
The green grass glows
Among the toes
Of those that stand in its presence

The seagulls chirp a crickets song
And chirp they do for oh so long
They send a serenade among the bay
And bring the end to another day




Thursday, March 5, 2015

From Sand to Glass

Nothing looks familiar, the sky is a glass ball with lights from the inside reflecting on it. The last thing I remember was sitting in the grainy, dry sand, the sun hitting my face and the ocean splashing against my blue flip-flops. Suddenly, there’s a BOOM and here I am, trapped. The closest thing to sand is the glass that surrounds me, and the closest thing to the ocean is the snow in which my feet are planted.
“Hello lad! You look lost!” says a deep voice that makes me shiver more than I already am.
“Yes I am. Can you tell me to get out of here?”
“Get out of where? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are those flip-flops you’re wearing?” I look down shamefully.
“Yes they are, and you don’t get anything! I am trapped here, so are you, we need to get out!”
“You’re crazy. Why don’t you come in for a nice cup of tea.”
Saying to myself: “What else is there to do?” I follow the man into his home. The temperature on the inside reminds me of the world I have just left. Sitting down on the warm couch I fling my flip-flops offs and station my bathing suit cover up on my shoulders.
“Hot peppermint bark tea, the best in Globeland!” says the man.
“Globeland? Of course you don’t get what I’m saying! We are trapped inside of a snow globe! Have you always lived here?”
“Well, when I was a little kid I lived in another world. I saw palm trees, dolphins, and a sky that had stars. Then, POOF, here I am.”
“Trapped?”
“Trapped. I’m starting to get what you’re saying. I haven’t seen anything other than white for the past twenty years, that’s abnormal.
“You need to help me break free! I need to see my friends and family again, to walk the beaches I’ve always walked on, your help is the only thing that can save me.” The man gazes at me, and then he smiles.
“If this means that much to you, then I’ll help you. You don’t deserve to be stuck here forever like so many have been.”
After a nice tea and a stern talk, many ideas have been planted. The first one, is to send sparks up into the sky. The second, is to break the glass and fly up. The third, is to somehow slide the snow globe onto ground breaking it. Deciding to go with the third idea the man and I discuss ways to do so:
“What about a spaceship?” I suggest.
‘What’s that?”
“Okay, what about…”
“Hold on a minute! I’ll be right back!” The man leaves the room coming back moments later with explosive fireworks. “The owner of the globe will see these and will be so stunned, they’ll pick up the globe and drop it!”
“Good idea! Let’s put this plan into action. Half the things that are happening I don’t know of, but I especially don’t know if there’s a time limit on my escape. If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now!”
“I agree, let’s bust some glass.”
The man leads me into an area that meant to be the town. Looking around before the firework is lit I see glass, scattered among the snow, barred up windows, and unwelcomeness in every direction. The man takes a match and lights the firework. The firework flies up into the sky and explodes in a rainbow spiral. Nothing happens. The man repeats over and over again. Nothing happens.
“I don’t get it. Why isn’t working?” Suddenly, behind the man of whose name is a mystery to all, a fiery explosion bursts forcing both the man and I to hide behind the only protection we can find; each other. While we pull each other in front of one another trying to make a shield, outside of the globe a young woman is stunned and she does just as expected, she drops it. In a spiral of glass and water and a feeling of cutting and drowning, the globe breaks. Suddenly I see a light, I see the surroundings of a room, but not my room…
“MOM!! There’s another one up here!!” says a girl, the owner of the snow globe.
“This isn’t the beach?” The girl picks up the pieces of glass and starts to chuck them at me. I narrowly escape. As I walk out the front door millions of questions swarm in my head. However, out of this whole experience I have learnt one very important lesson… don’t get stuck in a snow globe in flip flops and a bathing suit.