What I Did This Weekend

"What happened to you?", Ashley asked unwrapping her blueberry muffin. "My neighbor happened", I said groaning. "I'm just going to choose not to ask about that. Anyway, what did you do this weekend?", Ashley asked, finishing up her (mini) muffin and reaching for another one . "My neighbor destroyed the universe", I replied. Ashley looked outside the window sky was still there, the grass was still on the ground, and the sun was still shining.'If I had hired her neighbor to destroy the universe for me, I would demand my money back because that neighbor clearly didn't do a good job of it.', Ashley thought. "Alright, fine, I'll ask - What did your neighbor do? Oh, and I only asked because of that face you were making at me earlier that said 'talk to me or else'", said Ashley. I began my story.
       "Britney was at my house on Friday night for a sleepover and suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was 1:00 in the morning so I was pretty curious about who it would be at that time of day. I suspected that the person who lived underneath us came to complain about how loud we were. I was trying so hard to be quiet because I had never lived in an apartment before and wanted to keep all my neighbors happy. But, it turned out that my suspicion was wrong. I looked through the peephole and saw a lady standing there. I was then really confused because, A: The person who lived under me did not look like that and B: It was one a.m and no sane person would be visiting others at this time. For some reason, I open the door and see the lady. I vividly remember how she looked, and this was because of her awkward night look. Her brown hair was spiked and she was wearing a white dress with blue shorts. The lady introduced herself as Michelle. And I told her my name. She apparently was there to welcome me to the building and gave me a bottle of wine to welcome me. I said Thank You for the kind gesture. Just as I am about to close the door, she asks me if she could come in. Again, I make a mistake of letting her in but felt more comfortable because Britney was there. She compliments my apartment. And at this point, I am really confused. She again mentions that she wanted to welcome me to the building and then randomly brings up the price of the wine ($50). I say that I was sorry if I and Britney were being too loud. 'No, I came up here to get your phone number just in case you ARE being too loud '. At one point, she apologizes for the time that she came at. I choose to forgive her thinking that maybe she's bad at keeping track of time. When she left the house, Britney and I were completely dumbfounded because she seemed like a nice lady but her time management was really bad. After a few minutes, she texts me and appologizes for the timing issue. Britney
       

Meet October 24th

Today, I went for a meet at Stevenson High School. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about waking up at 6:40 or even going there but I guess I had no choice. This morning, I trudged out of bed and started my daily routine of brushing my teeth and washing my face. For breakfast I had milk, which was quite surprising, considering the fact that last time I had a meet I ate brunch. 

When I got there with my sister the coach rushed us to the warm-ups because we were late. I was disappointed that I got to swim only two laps because of my late arrival. What really surprised me was the number of people in the lane I was swimming in. The line was about twelve yards long. After the warm-ups, we had to wait for a long time before the actual races began. At that time, my sister realized that her swimming was in the afternoon and that there was no point being there at seven o’clock in the morning. 

My first event was 50m freestyle, which is the stroke I’m most proud of. I was really hoping that my time would be 40 seconds or below, but unfortunately I got 3 seconds beyond my goal was (second place). After that event, I had to wait for another half an hour until my next race. My next race was 50m backstroke, another stroke that I am comfortable with. Although this was one of my best strokes, I had a stomach ache and my head felt as it were about to explode because of the tight swim cap that I was wearing. Because I was nervous, I kept on asking the coach about flip-turns and what not. When I went to the designated waiting area for my heat/event, I realized that I didn’t have my goggles on. I rushed back to where my stuff was kept, grabbed my goggles and ran back to my lane. When it was my turn, I jumped in the water. Beep!, went the horn and I took off. When I finished, I looked at the scoreboard. I got second place again! I returned to where I was sitting and got news from the coach that I could practice. I was glad because I was doing something I had never done before at a meet. So, I practiced for about ten minutes, and after that I felt ready. I raced against 4 girls of my age and got third place. Overall I think that this was one of my best meets! ;)

Paw Paw VS Ma and Pa

A person in my life that I have vivid memory of is my grandpa. When I was small, I couldn't say 'Grandpa', so 11 years ago, Albert Latronya became Paw Paw. To all of my siblings grandpa was full of fun - In fact, he was entirely made of fun. We all remembered all of his favorite expressions, which would make our day. Paw Paw would yell,"No way, Cleo!", Grandpa would yell, and in response we would shout back, "Yes way, Cleo!". My younger siblings would tell him about parts of their day such as school, ballet, and their pets, and at random times during the story, Grandpa would roar out, "No kidding!". Times like these reminded me to remember that life should be fun and anything but dull. I, the oldest of my siblings remembered the most about Grandpa but we all remember how very predictable his clothing was. For one, he was always wearing a short sleeved shirt with a pattern of either stripes or plaid. The loose shirt would cover his big round belly. When Paw Paw wasn't relaxing, he'd be in the garden pulling weeds and planting flowers and vegetables. I remember how his hands felt after the gardening, like paper. I knew Paw Paw was very proud of us nine, although he had never said it. Alas, he had died 1 winter ago from a heart attack. I remember Paw Paw when I look at the pictures on the walls. One of them is me with Paw Paw and we're reading a comic book upside down. He did this so that we could laugh together. I will remember that marvelous event and how much he loved me - unlike Ma and Pa would ever. Ma and Pa were very nice and friendly people if you had met them, and they would've told you everything that happened in their household except for the reality. The reality, which they had never shared with anyone, was that they were completely insane. Once I had gotten an - A on my test and they beat me until I cried. They did the exact same with my nine siblings. Paw Paw was the only member of our family that treated us like actual human beings. My parents only cared for our good grades. Dear reader, you must now be wondering how Paw Paw would tolerate his own daughter treating us so poorly - and the answer to that is that he couldn't control her. They absolutely despised and treated us like slaves. Over the years of misfortune, I have observed a pattern in their behavior. Cleo, my nine year old brother is one sharp kid. He get A+'s on every test, and gets treated better. He started to win awards for his amazing brain, such as the Spelling Bees, etc. These awards led to cash prizes, and that's when things started to get out of hand (not that they were in hand but....). Ma and Pa went completely insane - and this time I mean it - they went crazy about all of the money that Cleo was getting from his cash prizes. They began spending time counting their (Cleo's) money and forgot to feed us. That's when at night, we started to go to Paw Paw's house and eat a hearty dinner there, while watching TV. The funny thing is that Ma and Pa hardly noticed that we were gone. And so, that is the BIG difference between Paw Paw and Ma and Pa.