Quote journal

      The quote I chose was by Mahatma Ghandi, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." I chose this quote because it motivates me to work hard to make a difference in the world. The quote represents me in a way where I do my best to do the right thing and help others so the world can be a better place. It represents my beliefs because I believe if everyone does what they're supposed to do then it will spread and everyone will work together to make the world a better place. If I lived exactly like this quote, everything I do and my actions will be affected where I always do the right thing (could be justified) even if my surroundings don't agree. It would be strict but would help my environment.

If I Stay Choice Book Project Review

Jooho Oh

If I Stay Book Review

If I Stay is a book about a 17-year old girl, Mia who lives in a small town with her family in Portland, Oregon. Mia is in a relationship with Adam, a guitarist and singer in a band called “Shooting Star” and she ends up to fall in love with him. Her dad is currently a teacher at a school and her mom works for a travel agency in town. She has a younger brother, Teddy and a best friend who’s name is Kim. Mia has a passion for playing the cello and is expecting to go to Juilliard after high school. One day, her and her family go to meet her parents old music friends on a winter day as school gets cancelled. In the blink of an eye, her life changes as they get in a car crash. Before all of this occurs, she develops a strong relationship with Adam as they fall in love. Mia is left to choose between life and death and goes through a journey that flashes back and forth from her real life to her “spirit”. Her parents die in an instant, and later on Teddy is reported dead too. So if Mia woke up, she would have to deal with grief and live with someone else. The theme of this book is sacrifice because Mia makes a hard decision in real life whether to sacrifice her relationship with Adam or give up her dreams of going to Juilliard. Another is when Mia is caught between life and death and has to chose either to stay/wake up and go back to her normal life, or remain and leave as a “spirit” forever. I believe Mia wanted to stay because of her future and Adam, but she was scared at the fact that she would have to live without her family and it would be hard for her. I would recommend this book to any teenage girl because it has a variety of moods from love, to heartbreak, to sad and back to happy. The book also has a lot of imagery that helps you imagine the situation in your head well. Also, it has an exciting chain of events that occurs in an organized way so the reader doesn’t get confused or bored. The author added a good amount of excitement and sadness to balance out feelings and emotions. A good quote that explains the theme well is on page 192, “Sometimes you make choices and sometimes choices make you". This is a good example of the theme because you have to make a choice and sacrifice some things in life and everything happens for a reason. The book is filled with many different moods and expressions that makes you want to keep reading and overall teaches you to do whatever you believe will be best for you. Everyone should read this book and find out Mia's final decision in whether to stay or leave forever.

Mrs. Belden Rough Draft short story

Jooho Oh Oh 1

Mrs. Belden

Honors English 1

4 October 2014

One Of A Kind

I was looking through the attic in Dad’s house during Fourth of July weekend with Lillian and the kids, and I found a journal called One Of A Kind, written by me from the end of high school to the beginning of college written March 24th, 2006. Weird I thought as I opened it slowly dusting off the pages as I read: There was a hard pounding on the door, and it was Dad. When I woke up, there were birds chirping really loud out the window. The bed was like a magnet and I couldn’t get up. As I looked out the window, it hit me that it was the middle of August, and the leaves were changing colors and falling. After I got ready, I jumped in the car and picked Dan up for school. It was still pretty hot and humid outside, we lived in Indiana. Dans been my friend for a while now and he’s the only one who had my back when my mom passed away. When we got to school, the bell yelled as I ran to class. After school, I left to go to therapy with Dr. Jenkins to talk about depression and my one and only problem. There was a note on his door: “Collin appt. at 3:15”. It was weird to admit it but after I had gotten depression, I found something that I really enjoyed and it was to dance and perform in theatre class. Only a couple of my friends knew, and they still called me gay for it, however I was straight and was currently in a relationship with Lillian Seline. I didn’t like telling people I was in theatre because they’d make fun of me. Lillian didn’t really know I did theatre. She was on the volleyball and basketball team and so I never really brought it up to her because all we would talk about is basketball. I

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didn’t know how to deal with the problem and was thinking of quitting dancing. I don’t think dad would’ve liked me performing, because he only likes football and he would consider dancing or acting childish. Before mom died, when I was five I used to dance with her in the living room all the time, but now that she’s gone and I’m seventeen, I act and dance at a studio by myself. I’m also on the varsity soccer team and dad doesn’t know I dance and do theatre. At therapy, Dr. Jenkins said it was good that I was doing soccer and dancing and it wouldn’t be bad if I was open about it, but I didn’t want to be thought of as gay. Since college was coming up and I still didn’t know where I wanted to go, I kinda forgot about applying, but i’ve started to think about going to an art school for theatre. I know dad wouldn’t be pleased with my choice and I couldn’t stay in close touch with Lillian. We were both planning to go to Purdue University to pursue our dreams of going to medical school. When I got home, I decided to call Lillian and get dinner and I left to pick her up.

The sunset was light pink, blue, purple and orange with flat clouds and water droplets formed on the windows as rain started to pour down. When I thought of telling Lillian about plans for college, I got kinda nervous because we’ve both had thoughts of going to Purdue, but I thought it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to go to The College of Arts and Sciences in Washington D.C. When I picked Lillian up, I flat out told her I wanted to go to an art school. She looked at me confused, but since I had to choose quickly, I was up and open about it. She never knew I danced or acted but she didn’t seem to mind because she couldn’t do anything about it anyways. After dinner, I got home and dad was waiting in the living room watching TV.

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I walked up to my room and shut the door carefully. I fell asleep to Two Door Cinema Club playing in one ear through headphones as I grew more nervous.

The next day, I sat at my desk and decided to email the school for auditions. It was two weeks away in D.C. and I couldn’t be more excited to join the arts program. I shut my laptop and went to talk to dad about it. When I had first told him, he was laughing as if I was telling a joke, but then he got quiet and confused. After an hour long discussion of college, he was furious and stormed off. He disagreed to letting me go to an art school and said it wouldn’t get me anywhere in the future. I also called Lillian and since we didn’t have school on Monday, we decided to drive to Purdue and check out campus, and I could tell Lillian more about the school I wanted to go to. I’d gone to a dance studio after school for a while to practice, but I felt guilty to see dad mad. On the car ride, I had told Lillian I was auditioning soon she seemed disappointed that we wouldn’t be going to college together anymore, but put in a lot of support. After the long weekend, we drove back home. and it hit me that auditions were a week away. Nothing else was really on my mind then.

When school started, it was a long week before I headed down to Washington D.C. to do my audition on Saturday for the arts school. I walked in a large room with bright lights and three judges and I saw a big X marked in the middle of the stage as they welcomed me. When I was done, it would take a month to see if I had got into the school and so I headed back home. When I called Lillian, I had found out she got into Purdue University with a scholarship for basketball. I was cheerful, but we didn’t want to think about our relationship if we went to different schools. At school, I told Dan and others that I auditioned for an art school and they started laughing, and called me gay, but I guess it was okay because I knew I wasn’t and I was doing what I liked. Dad

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accepted the fact that I wanted to act and dance at a performing arts school and Lillian forgot about it. As soon as I had forgot all about the auditions, I came home to find an envelope sitting on the kitchen table and I ripped it open. It was from the Art school and I had gotten in. When I told Lillian the news, she was thrilled. The school year was almost over, and we met up to discuss plans for college and I waited so long to graduate and to start a new beginning.

On August 26th, 2005, I started college and moved in a dorm with a couple of people and I called Lillian frequently. Our relationship was still going okay and I agreed to meet up with her soon, dad was okay and doing well. Dan went to Notre Dame, and I walked to class with Andrea, a friend I made. I got to perform, learn lots and I figured this was what I wanted to do and was glad I didn’t let anyone get in the way of it. Life was starting to change in a good way and I was excited to see what would happen in the future.

I closed the book, went down stairs and showed Lillian and our kids what i’d written in a journal for a project in college nine years ago. To see Lillian and I got married and had kids was wonderful because we doubted it when we were young. Looking back, nothing really changed a whole lot, I performed a lot as I wanted, got a good job, married Lillian and dad was still doing okay. Reading the journal made me realize that I didn’t let others get in the way of what I wanted to do.