College Essay # 232

232. Ten things you do when you procrastinate.

1. Clean up my room. Sometimes I sit on my bed ready to work and then I look around me and see the mess that I'm surrounded by. I look around and see that my roommate's side of the room is equally, if not worse off, dirty as my side of the room. I quickly get off my bed, finding an excuse to not study, and start cleaning up my room. The first thing I do, is clear my desk off. That way, I don't have to have my books waiting to be written in. Then take everything out of my cupboard and reorganize, fold, and re-stack the clothes that call this cupboard a home. Even a couple of outfits are out of order, I take everything out and clean it all over again. Why not, I have time right?

2. Lay down and promise myself to take a 10 minute power nap. This power nap meant to be 10 minutes usually lasts at least an hour. Before deciding to lay down, I tell myself that this nap is going to be different than my other ones during the week. Hard work throughout the school day should allow one to have a well deserved "brain rest." But I know that this 10 minute nap is not going to be any different, in fact it may last longer than all the other ones. But pushing this thought aside, I lay in my bed, head sinking in the pillow, and close my eyes, only to realize that I opened then one and a half hour later.

3. Eat. Usually while sitting and taking pages of notes and pages of notes in Psychology, I suddenly feel hungry. Taking the opportunity to get away from millions of letters, I get my bowl and take out my box of cereal. Pouring milk into my bowl, I feel like I've achieved something. I sit back down on my table, stare at my open book for a while, and then close it shut. To hell with notes. Let's enjoy the small things in life instead ... like a bowl of cereal! I take in the sweetness of the cereal, take in the freshness of the cold milk, and tell myself that eating cereal is so much better than taking notes on so many levels.

4. Talk to someone else so that they're distracted along with me. Usually when I don't want to work, I look over at my roommate who is usually on Facebook and turn back around to my book disappoint. If I talked to her, she would probably give me a couple word answer and then go back to doing whatever she was doing. After thinking of a couple of seconds. I smile to myself, jump off my bed, put my slippers on, and enter my best friend's room. Sure enough, she has a bored look on her face, and has her English blog open, and is filing her nails (just kidding Mr. Plonka). I know is the perfect opportunity to entertain myself and get rid of that "I'm-so-bored-I-could-kill-myself" look on her face. I sit opposite her and tell her I'm bored. Instantly, her face lights up and we start talking about endless things. Something that usually lasts a couple of hours. And then it's too late to do any work, because bedtime means bedtime. If I didn't sleep well enough that night, I would be cranky in school. Now you tell me, who wants a cranky teenage student in their class. My guess is, no one.

5. Start writing my name all over the pages of my notebooks. When I don't want to do anything, the best way I can think of things is when I write my name all over the books. But instead of thinking about school and about homework, and essays, and math problems, I usually think about how rich and famous I could potentially be. I try out different signatures, write my name in different ways, and try to predict the future while doing this. Will I become a doctor who wins a noble peace prize, will I have a gigantic house while wooden floors and fireplaces in every room, will I have a chain of hospitals that will make me a millionaire? This usually ends with someone asking me why I have such a stupid smile on my face. I say nothing and continue on my way to working through these unnecessary homework assignments, only to return to the same stupid smile on my face the next day. 

College Essay # 186

186. Jogging has become extremely popular. Explain why you jog or why you don't.

The wind blowing in your hair and on your face, the beautiful hills all around you, and the slight drizzle during inter house cross-country reminds me more and more of why I don't jog. Interhouse cross-country comes once a year, but it is one event I dread the most. Even after cross-country is over for the year, I dread the upcoming one. 

While standing on the starting line I look past the crowd to see the path that awaits me, and I just feel stuck. Mr. Mark bangs the two clappers together, and I can feel my heart starting to race before I even start running. I run; run past the crowd, past the teachers sitting and gleefully watching the students work their asses off running cross-country while they sit and eat wai-wai, and run past the gates of Rokeby. By then all I want to do is stop and walk the whole way. But my friends are determined for me to not come last, even if I don't care. So we jog the whole way till we start seeing people. We jog, and jog, and jog, and jog like there's no tomorrow. That journey seems never ending. 

I get to the finish line and everyone is cheering for everyone else. Even though I haven't come first and I didn't come last, I feel I have achieved nothing. In a place where we're meant to be running, we jog. I know I would have walked if it weren't for my friends, but jogging. There's nothing great about it. The rain, the wind in your face; the only thing is does is makes you feel cold. The scenery around you isn't even seen because you're concentrating on keeping your feet moving, you're concentrating on not getting cramps.

Jogging has been an extremely popular sport for people who don't want to put in the extra effort to run. I think running gives you the same feeling that jogging does. Isn't it the whole concept of wind blowing in your hair and you feeling good about it? I don't understand why people jog and I never will.

College Essay # 241

241. If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do.

When I tell people I want to become a doctor, I explain I want to help people. I know that many people say that but I do want to help people. There's nothing more to it. I know that colleges look for a more detailed and heartfelt answer, but I don't have one. I just plainly and simply want to help people.

If I could do anything without failing, I would open a hospital for orphaned children. Being a teenager ready to go to college, it seems like a really big ambition. I know that it is not easy and takes a lot of work. But I've thought it over, and when given a chance, I would do this. Many children around the world have lost their parents or have been abandoned by them. These are the children who need the most support, both emotionally and physically. They say that a child needs to touch and feel and sense the presence of their parents. The experiment done on the Harlow monkeys have shown this. What better way to conduct a guaranteed sense of homely environment than have a hospital opened for orphaned children.

I would ensure that every child get checked up once a month and have them educated. In this part of the world, there isn't a great care for orphaned children in different homes. Usually they work on minimal amount of money and need as much help as possible. So every weekend, our hospital would have children from different orphanages come and have a sleep over at the wards. In the morning, they would be educated about heath, hygiene, and benefits of nutritious foods. This shows them that they're cared about and shows them the right way to live life.

College Essay # 224

224. A book that changed your life.

I just finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue, which is about a little 5 year old boy who is stuck with his mother in Room. Now many of you must be wondering what Room is. For Jack, the five year old boy, Room is a place he was born in and has been living in his whole life. For his Ma, it is a place where she was put into after being kidnapped 7 years ago. A man named Old Nick, captured her while she was on her way to college and put her into a "modern dungeon." Room is a 11 foot by 11 foot confined space which has a stove, a bathtub, and bed, and a wardrobe. Old Nick comes into Room every night at 9 pm and "creaks the bed" while Jack is asleep in Wardrobe. Though he doesn't know what happens out on his Bed, but when he is awake, Jack counts how many times the bed creaks.

For a daily routine, Jack and his Ma do a series of exercises. Ma has drawn a semi-circle around Bed where Jack does "there-and-backs." We know it has running. They then stand on the bed and do a "screaming exercise." We know this as shouting for help trying to tell someone that they are captured and stuck in a "dungeon." Jack always needs to "have some" and goes to his mother for it. We know this as breast-feeding. We might find it odd that a five-year-old is still being breastfed, but what else could his Ma do? She had to give him enough things to keep him alive.

The biggest thing about Jack is that he doesn't know what is outside Room. He thinks that everything on TV is just made up. He doesn't know anything about the world outside. The only world he knows is the 11 foot by 11 foot Room. Yeah, I know, shocking. But his Ma was trying to protect him.

But his Ma has had enough, and all she thinks about is escaping from Room. She executes a plan and asks Jack to follow through. But he doesn't want to get out of room. His Ma eventually convinces him that it's the best thing to do. In a desperate attempt to free themselves, Jack pretends to be dead, and jumps off of the truck which he is placed in. He runs to the first person he sees. They are saved and have become heroes of the modern world. But it takes time for them to adjust to the real world, and Jack's Ma tries to take her life. But things get better after her recovery and they're on their way to becoming strong, independent, individuals of society.

When I first read the first page of this book, it was something that I didn't really enjoy. The way the book was written was a bit different to the books I normally read. But I decided that I should persevere through the book. Who knows I might have enjoyed it. And yes, I did enjoy it through and through. The book just captured my heart. Jack's story just took my breath away. The theme of willpower and truthfulness was so immense that when I finished the book, the only thing I wanted was for it to continue. I wanted to read more and I wanted the author to have written more. I wanted to see the things Jack would explore. When I read the book, I felt like little Jack himself. When we're in our daily routines we forget who immense and mesmerizing the world and the things in the world are. This book made me understand that things shouldn't be taken for granted and that we should cherish everything we have. This book showed me the power of knowledge. Though this sounds cheesy, it showed me that what we know could be life and death. 

College Essay # 197

197. Is it better for children to grow up in a countryside or in a city?

I came home this winter to find that one of the helpers at my house were missing. It didn't affect me but I was curious to know. My helper was doing all the work herself. It was difficult to watch her manage everything on her own. She cleaned the dishes with freezing cold water in the winter, tended to my grandmother's unnecessary needs, took her child to school, and tried to feed my sister and I everything knowing we didn't feed ourselves well in school. I tried to help as much as I could, cleaning the dining hall table, vacuuming my own room, and keeping the house as clean as we could. But that still didn't take away my curiosity.

I asked my mother where the other helper was. She told me that he was put into jail by my father. When I asked why, she told me that he had stolen a lot of money from my grandparents. I overheard my parents saying it was something close to one lakh. With my eyes wide, I wondered how he turned out to be such a thief. He looked innocent and did everything he was told, how did he become so corrupt. Later that evening, my mother told me the would sneak out of the house at night, skip school and go to the bar, and give the money to others. He was only 14, younger than me. I haven't even thought of drinking alcohol, and here he was, chugging down bottles of beer while skipping school. I guess he wasn't as innocent as I thought. But he only became like this after coming into the city. A village boy somewhere in Nepal, coming to a corrupt city like Kathmandu, he was bound to be destroyed. When he was new at home, my mother explained that he was a good kid, was obedient, and was not influenced by others around him. He was only corrupted after spending a lot of time with the bad group of boys in his school. The school he attended wasn't lavish, or extravagant, and didn't supply good education. He instantly fell into the wrong crowd, and this only went downhill.

With this story in my mind, I don't think children should grow up in a city because there is too much nonsense that leads a child to fall into temptations. There is too much in the city a child doesn't need, which only creates them to feel they need it. Soon the idea of needing it, turns into the idea of craving it, which soon turns into the idea of having it no matter what happens. This is called addiction to materials in my mind. Growing up in a countryside allows they to acknowledge all material things but doesn't give them direct access to them, which is what growing children should have. I'm not saying that everything in the city is bad, but if you look around, your eyes go to the negative things before the positive.

This 14-year-old rebel village child, is now transferred from a jail to a juvenile hall where he's put with the real "bad asses." We have no idea how he's going to survive in a hellhole like that. 

College Essay # 242

242. Describe a recurring dream.

The things you need to make sure that you wake up at night, sweating, and afraid.

1. A beach with white sand and clear blue water.
2. Me, myself, and I. (You're on a beach by yourself, with no one around for miles)
3. A surf board stuck right in the middle of the beach.
4. Your temptation to use that surf board and travel far away.
5. Your imagination.
5. A sky that is anticipating heavy clouds and rain.
6. Strong waves of ice cold water.
7. Your desire to swim deep in the ocean and cut through a school of fish.
8. Your surf board drifting away from you.
9. Your arms flailing trying to get the surfboard.
10. Failing and being eaten alive by a shark.

Many of you may sit here reading these things and must be wondering what a stupid dream this might be. I thought it was stupid at first too, but it happened over and over and over again. I think I had this dream 3 or 4 times in a month. That seems little? Well not if the dream is repeating itself like a broken record.

I'm traveling far away to a beach which is hundreds of miles away from my home; and I'm traveling alone. I reach the beach thinking there are going to be a lot of people so that I could go surfing without having to worry about someone saving me if I was drowning. First off, I don't know how to surf, secondly, I don't like the deep blue seas. They seem to taunt me and all I want to do is prove to myself that I'm stronger and braver, than someone scared of the ocean. But I arrive at the beach to see it deserted with only me. I try to turn back but determination gets the best of me. I didn't know how I was going to go into the ocean, but all I knew was I wanted to go there. I look around to find some sort of equipment that will take me far away and deep into the ocean. All of a sudden, I spot a surfboard. I'm ecstatic. All I want to do is get into the water, but when I look over I see the strong waves pushing itself on the beach and I feel like breeze of the ice cold water. I look up to the sky to gain a bit of hope, but I'm disappointed. All I see are dark, heavy clouds rolling in. I know what that means: rain, rain, baby. But, my determination gets the best of me. I run to the surf board, take it into the ocean, and surf along the waves and travel as far as the waves take me. But my little knowledge of surfing, takes advantage of me. The surf board slips off my feet and drifts away. I try swimming to catch up with it, but the waves are creating a distance between us. I try and try, but I'm getting farther away from it. I look behind me and I can't even see the shore. Oh no. I'm stranded. Instead of seeing a school of fish, I see a shark encircling me. My heart starts beating faster and faster. I don't know what to do. It's getting closer. I see the jaws coming at me, and it's dark.

This is just a side note:
According to a website which interprets dreams, seeing a shark:
Indicates feelings of anger, hostility, and fierceness. You are undergoing a long and difficult emotional period and may be an emotional threat to yourself or to others. Perhaps, you are struggling with your independence, especially in some aspect of your relationship. Alternatively, a shark represents a person in your life who is greedy and unscrupulous. This person goes after what he or she wants with no regards to the well-being and sensitivity of others. The shark may also be an aspect of your own personality with these qualities.

http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/dreamdictionarysearch.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=sharks

I don't know how much of this is true, I doubt any of it, but it sounds a least bit interesting. :D

College Essay # 113

113. Talk about how a person can change his direction.

Physics states that a force acting on a moving body changes the speed of the body or changes the direction of the body. This clearly shows that physics is all around us. How can a person change his or her direction? It's the external and internal forces that drives on to change the path that they are taking.

Every single person alive today can tell you that they have made one or more mistakes in their lives. Humans weren't designed to be perfect creatures who could accomplish any task handed to them without making any mistakes. This such idea is impossible to accomplish. No person in their right mind can say that they haven't made any mistakes. Even Spiderman has made mistakes. For a person to change his or her direction, he or she has to take the first step of accepting that mistake. Living in denial will only make you blind, and being blind leads you nowhere but leaves you in the same rut you started out from.

Denials lead one to believe that everything one is doing is correct. Needing to change something can only happen when an individual is willing to change their mistake. Trying to make a change requires one to understand that a change is needed. That's why a drug addict can't get anywhere without understanding that something is wrong with them.

Wanting the change is one thing, but gaining the ability to make change is another. Though you may understand that a change is necessary, you need to act on it to make it possible. Let it be an inner force that drives you to change your life or let it be someone forcing you to make a change; a change can only be a change if an action is taken upon it.

And the only way change is possible is if the way to change your course is accepted.

Here are the simple steps to change:
1. Accepting the mistake.
2. Accepting a change is needed.
3. Accepting the ability to gain change from oneself or from someone else.
4. Accepting the change of course.

The only way of making a change in your life, let it be eating healthy or changing the way your life is headed, is by accepting everything as it comes no matter how difficult it is.