"Future Literate Me"

I'm kinda upset that our last blog entry "will be entitled 'Future Literate Me'" THAT'S NOT UNIQUE, IT'S BORING. WAH 

When it comes down to literacy, no one can really determine how literate you think you're going to be as you get older. However, I can envision myself now, let's say 10 years...

I'm sitting in my office, air-conditioned of course because i'm either down south or out west, so it's a tad bit hot in there. I'm reading this contract that I had just written for my biggest client yet, he/she is the biggest and best young athlete to come into my office, or well part of the country. I am a sports lawyer. I make contracts, talk as an agent. It's a combination of sports management and law. How did I get there? College. I went to school and kind of designed a program especially for me through a Pre -Law program at the college of my dreams. (Don't know where that is yet.) While designing, I took into account what I wanted to do. I love sports and I want to be a lawyer. What better way then to combine the two! VOILA! So there I was, reading and writing night after night at college. Working away on research papers and mock-contracts and anything that could help me be a better lawyer. I read countless books about law, and studied rules and rules of possible sports that athletes could come to me for, whether it was football or pickle ball (New Paltz breeds champion pickle ball players.)

That flashback was just a glimpse of the role of reading and writing I see for my future. As a junior looking to go to college for pre-law/ sports management I've realized that it's going to entail a lot of reading and writing, especially after I graduate and move on to law school. Reading is a part of every day life, and as I get older the things that i'm reading should get more difficult so when it comes down to a time in my life when I need to understand something, i'll have the basic knowledge of that. Speaking of which.... I was gonna try and make my way into a new topic but it's late and I can't think. NO FUN. I'm gonna do it anyway. Just a casual switch of topics, cause well that's me (:

I'm actually upset that this is our last blog post. I'm a big fan of them, primarily because it's pretty much based on what you want to talk about, and while the topics are there, they don't really exist. Or at least in my mind they don't. Each one says "Talk about what's on your mind" which I'm actually really good about. 

I think that future literate me is going to have a great time reading and writing for college, and law school and then lastly as i'm a big time lawyer for big time players. Then because of my amazing reading and writing skills, I retire at the age of 32 where I turn into a stay at home mom and teach my kids the way of life. The way of life you ask? Yes, reading and writing. BAM that's how you end a year off with blogs. 

Madison is a Cheater

I don't want to talk about school and cheating because no matter how much I say for cheating, there is never going to be a time when I'm allowed. I'd rather talk about something that is much more meaningful, actually it's not but I'd rather post about this.

MADISON CARROLL CHEATS DURING QUIZ BOARD! YES SHE CHEATS. Actually she doesn't, but I personally think she did during our game but in reality she just used strategy. Which is actually how someone can cheat in school too! (GASP!) This was the situation; last leg of the game, like a quarter of the board was still left and I was only behind like 100 points. I could totally catch up the next round, I just needed to answer all 5 questions right. I was feeling really good about this game and was super excited to finally beat Madison(a rare occasion I like taking advantage of), and all of a sudden I get the notification that it is my turn to play. I press the notification and then my heart drops. Madison went right to the end of the game and left me with one box left for a question. She had just finished her turn, getting four questions out of five right and was up by a lot. She had CHEATED(but not really) and went right to the end and the last question of the game was for me. If you're not familiar with the game, the first question you get right is only worth 100 points. There was no way I could come back to win this now with one question only worth 100 points. Madison has won. I immediately went to text her, and she called what she did "strategy." Meanwhile, I wanted to punch her in the face. 

Strategy. This weird word she used...strategy. Every day people use strategy to cheat during school. (Yeah, I lied. I'm going to talk about school and cheating now.) One strategy people have is..HA Diana, you really thought I was going to give away a strategy. That isn't a smart idea. Now without giving away secrets of the trade, even though they are probably already known by everyone, let's discuss this. Personally I believe that people do more work to cheat then they would if they just did the actual work. Think about that for a moment, you're copying a free response question from someone, you have to reword it to make it your own so the teacher doesn't see and thus, you've just done your own work. How hard would it have been to just do that in the first place? Some people believe that's actually really hard and refuse to do it but in reality it isn't that much harder. Now in some circumstances, cheating is a must, or "getting help" as I like to call it. The night before a big test, you just finished a novel and you forget a character or two. You go on to sparknotes and read up and refresh your mind. Is that cheating? No. That's using your references wisely. Some teachers believe using anything other than the book to refresh your mind is cheating and I strongly disagree. 

Now the SAT has had problems with cheating, and people taking exams for others. This is a prime example of how cheating is bad, and can hurt. DO NOT CHEAT ON THE SAT! There's no need for it, the SAT doesn't test on knowledge, it tests on how well you can take a test. So why pay someone to take a test for you that's primarily graded on just taking it. You get 200 points for writing your name. Now the SAT board and college board use special things like having multiple forms of photo id's to prove who you are before you take the exam and that's just dumb. There's always a consequence to actions, and because a few decided to be dumb and not take the test on their own, others suffer. 

"Board games are meant to be cheated on, otherwise they're boring" Ms. Diana. Yeah Diana? She's right though, most board games are no fun if you don't cheat and that brings up the moral question of cheating. Is it good? Is it bad? Board games, just like electronic games like me and Madison were playing have no effect on reality unless you're playing for money which you shouldn't do anyway so cheating has no impact on anything else outside of that game. So next time you're playing monopoly, go ahead be the banker and cheat because nothing is going to happen after that.

What about cheating in a relationship? That's another form of cheating, and yes has a negative connotation as well. You're in a steady relationship and then you find out your partner cheated on you with someone else. If you don't know what that means, I'm sorry. Not explaining here. But what do you do? Is cheating okay? Is it not? It's a moral issue that each has their own opinions on. If you've ever been the one to cheat you feel different than those that have been cheated on. Think about it, you're happy. Why mess that up? Some people have no morals or values and that's what cheating comes down to. Any kind, during games, tests, school, relationships. Cheating is completely based on morals, and if someone doesn't feel that it's a bad thing you get bet yourself they will cheat at things. Does all cheating fall inside one category? Of course not. You can cheat in a board game but be the most faithful person in a relationship. Cheating depends on the person and the severity of the issue at hand when it comes to cheating. To end with, just don't do it unless it's for a board game against Ms. Diana because she's going to already be cheating against you! :)

Just cause :)

Crying at the Doctors

      Chapter 25   From the autobiography My Mom gave birth to a Princess.


Sitting there, blank expression on my face. Doctor walks in, I'm texting someone and I look up and she says "You can't play softball for awhile." My jaw drops. Tears form in my eyes and soon enough I'm sitting in the doctors office crying hysterically.

 It was a normal day, a sunny weekday morning in early spring of my freshman year. I was all excited to start softball, as any athlete would be around the time that their sport was getting all geared up to start going full force and I was having more and more issues with my elbow. I wasn't going to go to the doctor because I was dedicated, just made the JV team, was the starting 3rd basemen and a pitcher on my travel team and was all ready to play. My mom said that I really had to go, it was getting hard for me to do anything with my elbow. We went to my normal doctor who diagnosed me with "Tennis elbow" and I thought to myself wow she's actually freaking crazy! I play softball, not tennis! Later I learned that tendentious of the elbow is also called that sometimes, and that's exactly what I had. My doctor took me out of softball, FOR 8 WEEKS! I was out the entire school season, and when I was able to go back to travel, they found a new 3rd basemen because of the fear that I wouldn't be able to come back and play. 

Just great, now I don't have anywhere to play. The best part about this whole experience: If I was to continue pitching, i'd have to stop playing all together or get surgery on my elbow. I gave up pitching. The next few months were filled with trips back and forth to my sports medicine doctor in New Windsor and physical therapy 3 times a week. Imagine the amount of money wasted there, it did absolutely nothing. 

As with anything in my life, I really learned don't take things for granted. I took my elbow for granted, and thought I was invincible, and learned at the young age of 15 that I was not and unless I decided to take better care of myself. 

Ice, I have to ice this before I go to bed. No, ice is more important than anything right now. Those words run through my head every night now as I'm sitting in my room doing nothing. While not doing it happens often because I'm very forgetful as seen in chapters 8 and 13, I really try and ice it all the time. 

Read on for the next phase of my softball life in chapter 28, Why I hate New Paltz Varsity Softball and then again in chapter 34 Mid-Hudson Tigers. 

What'd you Say?

Remember that 20 question game you would play back in freshman year when you were getting to know someone? What's your favorite color? How old are you? Favorite food? and then as you guys started talking later at night, and started getting comfortable the questions changed.. how far have you gone? Send me a pic?(Usually that question left you ignoring every text after, and was an immediate red flag) Depending on the type of person you are, those silly question games back in freshman year either gave you someone great to be with or left you saying "BYE!" 

But now, as juniors in high school thinking about looking towards the future, think of questions that will change your life;

What's your name? Are you single? How old are you? Will you marry me? Are you pregnant? Did you get your period? Did you use a condom? How much does that cost? Did I get the job? What college are you going to? Do you want kids? Do I have cancer? When is your due date? Did I pass my road test? Have you been drinking? Did you win? Do you love me? Did I lock the door? Did I put the candle out? WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?


Questions have answers. Sometimes the answer isn't always clear, but it's there and sometimes, going through the process to get the answer is the biggest issue. Questions in life pose threats to your happiness, and everything that is normal for you at that moment can come to a halt and completely turn around. Imagine you're in college, you get drunk have sex and don't remember it. You're gonna think of two questions most often "Did I use a condom? What if I'm pregnant?" Imagine the answer to the first question is no, and the second answer is yes. You're now in college, and pregnant. What are you going to do? Life changing questions like that can alter plans for the future and mess up your entire life.

Then again, think of the question "Will you marry me"; your entire life just changed. The rest of your life depends on your answer to this very question. A "yes" means you're committing yourself to one person for the rest of your life(or well that's how it starts out) and a "no" means that person isn't right for you, and you just picked a bad freaking time to tell them that. What if you don't want to and say yes? That question just screwed up not one, but two lives because now you have to deal with the situation you just put yourself in. How do you deal with that? Questions. The basis of life itself. Every answer, every question has another question along with it. What is the temperature going to be today? *70 degrees* what do I wear then? *Picks a pink shirt* does this shirt make me look okay? Society is based upon questioning, everything has a question. Who came first, the chicken or the egg? Life doesn't have just 20 important questions that could affect you, life is full of questions and the best ones really don't have answers. If one day you find yourself questioning everything, go with it! That's what makes life interesting. If everything you did had an answer, what would be the point. Weed through answers, question and re-question yourself, and yet don't think you found the right answer when you pick one, question yourself again.(Just not on tests! Go with your first instinct)

Most importantly, those questions you'll either hear or ask yourself will define who you are later on, so don't rush into making decisions but most importantly, some of those questions you really don't want to have to ask yourself, so be careful and respect yourself (:

Listen to Is Your Mama a Llama here!

Tyke Reading

Ever since I can remember there has been some kind of reading material around me. While growing up I remember my mom reading, as she still does all of the time; I also remember my dad used to take books into the bathroom and I thought he was crazy. I can clearly remember however this one book called Is Your Mama a Llama written by Deborah Guarino. I remember that my mom would read it to me before I would go to bed and I loved it and can recite so many lines from the book(it's not a hard one but still :P). This year for public speaking we had to bring in one of our favorite childhood books to read and I was so excited because I got to bring in this one to read to the class. This book is also really special because the author signed it and even wrote me a little note which I think is actually pretty cool. The first time I remember really being interested in a book was this book in the Duzine library about a little boy, except I don't remember the name which is really bad because of how many times I took it out of the library. Then again, it was like 10 years ago so I guess it's understandable that I don't remember it. I just remember that it had a hard red cover and every time that I took it out the librarian would be like "again!?" As I got older, the books I started reading got a lot harder and I really think that happened because of how much my parents read to me as a child and how much I read on my own when I was younger. I think it's really important to read to young children and have them start their literacy track early because it allows you to get ahead. Every time I babysit, I always make sure to read to them and they get to choose the book. As I got older, but still pretty young I remember reading the Junie B. Jones series by Barbra Park because I was able to relate to them and everything that Junie was going through, I was too. Then I grew out of those books, and in 6th grade I remember reading one of the best books I ever had, and none of my teachers thought I could handle it because of how mature it was but I read Dreamland by Sarah Dessin and it was extremely mature and I didn't understand it when I first read it but I got through it and then re-read it more as I got older and more mature and was able to fully understand what it was about. My first experience with a favorite author was Sarah Dessin after reading Dreamland and after that book I read all of the other books she had written and my collection of her books has grown so much. Every time she writes a new book I make sure to get it. I'm a big fan of reading now, and I think that because I was read to a lot as a child and have always been around books that's what really sparked my love for reading.