MY FINAL POST!!!!

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Hey guys, so as you know it is 3 weeks until the end of school! Yay! This also means that this is my final post on this blog. I know, I know, I'm sad about it too but "Nothing gold can stay". When I started this blog at the beginning of the year, I was just a nice, band person who liked Doctor Who and Harry Potter. I was really bad at writing and I could never get what was in my head down on paper. I didn't really know what I was supposed to blog about, since my whole life wasn't very interesting, and the interesting parts of my life I didn't want to talk about. It's been a rough year for me but I made it and so did you which means we only have three more years in this hell hole(Excuse my french). Now, at the end of my freshman year, I am a mean person who you don't want to cross, but still a band person who likes Doctor Who and Harry Potter but I am also a writer, and reader. Over this year this blog has helped me realize that I am not a nice person. It took me a while before it finally clicked, but now I know. I have also grown as a writer in ways that are hard to explain, it's like that writing urge clicked into place and now I'm writing two different books with my friends and can't stop when I actually need to be sleeping. I didn't have many people looking at my blog, but I feel like I learned more on how to talk to an audience even if I'm not really talking to you it feels like there is someone on the other side of the screen reading everything I'm typing. I feel like now it is easier to show people my stories and other artwork or literature without worrying if they're going to like it or not because let's face it, no one is actually reading this accept for Mr. Parker. Through the year I've had to keep telling myself that no one cares that it's bad and has some grammar errors as long as there is a point to the story, so that's what I have been trying to achieve through this year. I want to thank Mr. Parker for giving me this chance to blog about absolutely nothing important, and my friends for reading my absolutely unimportant posts. It means a lot to me that you would suffer just for our friendship. :) And with that I think it's time for me to call it a year and go sleep for like a day because it's midnight and I'm really tired. So I will leave with the last quote from the last book in The City Of Heavenly Fire from my favorite series The Mortal Instruments. 

"Freely we serve

Because we freely love, as in our will 

To love or not; in this we stand or fall."

- Emily S.

The story that I'm writing that doesn't have a title part 4

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        “I would rather you not.” I wasn’t a princess anymore, my kingdom had fallen. Maleficent had taken that from me, and I was going to get it back, no matter what the cost.

        “So, what do I call you? You didn’t give me a name.” Marc said, and he was right, If I didn’t tell him something about me he would get curious and that would get him killed.

        “Just call me Aura” I tell him. I know that Aura is really close to my real name, but I couldn’t part with it. Hopefully Marc will leave it at that. 

        “Ok Aura, lead the way.” He said.

Being me, I tried to figure out the logical way out of the maze. I remembered a saying once that if you kept your hand on the right wall of a maze you will eventually find your way out. I decided to take that plan of action and started walking along the right side of the path. Marc soon followed suit and we walked in silence.  After a while he started whistling. While marc was whistling, I was singing the song in my head, words and everything before I realized that I knew that song. How could someone who had been asleep for a hundred years recognize a song that a man who was like 20 know?

        “How do you know that song?” I asked

        “What song?” he asked “The one I was whistling? My great grandfather used to whistle it all the time when I was a kid. How do you know that song?”

        “No reason, I mean… I don’t” I had only came up with it while I was living with the fairies a hundred years ago. The only one who had heard me sing that was Philip. Well, and the fairies.

Marc gave me a look that said I don’t believe you and kept walking and whistling. I knew that it was very late now and we had been walking for what seemed like hours. The thorn wall was really starting to get to me, I knew Maleficent put it there because I had never met anyone that powerful other than her. That made me skittish, she could be watching us right now and we wouldn’t have any idea unless she wanted us to know. 

        “So tell me about yourself” I said, wanting to get my mind off of that disturbing thought.

        “Wouldn’t you like to know” Marc remarked. This was going to be a really long trip.

        “I’m being serious, who is the mystery man that saved me from my slumber?” I teased.

        “Well there isn’t much to tell,” he said “My mother died when I was very little, so I don’t remember her at all but my father loved her very much and I don’t think he has ever gotten over her completely.” I guess that was another thing we had in common, I had only met my mother and father once before I pricked my finger on that spinning wheel. I was raised by fairies so I didn’t even know what my parents were even like, and now I will never get a chance. 

        “What about you?” Marc inquired, “The mystery girl in the tower should have a pretty good story, considering.”

        “Well, I never really knew my parents. I knew who they were, but I was raised by my aunts in a cottage in the woods.”

        “And who were your parents?”

        “They were great people, but you wouldn’t know them” Another lie, of course he would know them, they were monarchs.

        “You kind of remind me of a bedtime story my father would read to me when I was little called Sleeping Beauty. This princess got cursed by a wicked fairy and fell asleep when she was 16.” Crap, he did know the story, but I’m sure everyone did.

        “Oh really,” I said “well I can definitely tell you that I am no princess.”

        “I don’t know, I think you could pull it off.”

        “Well thanks” with that we kept walking.

We stuck to the right wall and finally, I saw a bright light that could only have been the sun. 

        “Look!” I said. I turned around with a big smile on my face and found Marc smiling the same way. We ran to the exit and out into the daylight and open space. We really had walked all night and Marc and I basically collapsed with exhaustion.

        “We made it out.” He said.

Well that's as far as I have gotten, thanks for sticking with me through all of that, if you just got here, then here is the link to part 1. Until next time, Emily out.

The story I'm writing that doesn't have a title part 3

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Hey guys if you're still with me than you must be either really good friends or are just reading my story to judge me later. I hope it's the latter, but hey, it's your mind do whatever you want with it. Enough ranting, it's story time.

We left a little while after that, I luckily found a pair of pants and a blouse in the tower bathroom and Marc went back outside to check out around the tower. When I was done changing, I walked down the many flights of stairs to the ground. When I walked out of the door, I saw the outside for the first time in in apparently 100 years. It was mid day and autumn, the leaves on the trees were brilliant shades of red, yellow, and orange. The sky was grey with the smell of rain in the air, but I couldn’t tell if the storm was coming or going because there was an enormous thorn bush surrounding the tower on all sides. Marc was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he changed his mind and left me? I started circling around the tower when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I grabbed it before it could pull away and twisted it to the point that if the owner of the hand moved, their arm would break.

        “Will you cut that out!” Mark cries. I let go of his arm.

        “Seriously, you need to work on not injuring people so much” He says.

        “And you need to work on not sneaking up on people, this is the second time I’ve injured you.” 

        “Yea well who’s fault is that?”

        “Now you’re blaming me for defending myself? I didn’t know it was you, It could have been a random psychopath trying to kill me.”

        “You’re very paranoid for a person who was sleeping in a tower with an unlocked door.”

        “What are you talking about? Merryweather would have locked the door. Unless…”

Crap I slipped. Let’s hope he didn’t know who that was.

        “Who’s Merryweather?”

        “No one important right now.”

What was important, was making sure that my identity stayed a secret, I had already had too many slip ups and this was to a farmers boy, though to keep him safe I couldn’t tell him who I was either. 

        “How did you even get in here?,” I ask “ I don’t see a path in this prickly overgrown shrub.”

        “It’s not really a path, but if we’re careful, we should be able to get through over there.” 

He pointed to the other side of the clearing where I could see a small hole in the thorns. We walked over to the hole, which was only as tall as me. Marc had to duck his head, but lead the way into the barb filled forest. The farther we walked, the darker it got. At the point where we couldn’t see two feet in front of us, Marc pulled out a torch but that was the only time we stopped to rest.

        “Haven’t we been here before?” I ask

        “How can you tell if we’ve been here before, it all looks the same to me.” he replied

        “So you don’t know where you’re going?”

        “Well not exactly, to be honest I kind of just stumbled into the clearing on accident.”

        “So what you’re saying is that I have been following a blind idiot for the past hour and a half?”

        “Hey! I was pretty sure I could get us out of here.”

        “Yea and now it’s getting dark, we have no idea who or what’s out here, and we’re completely lost.”

        “Well when you put it that way…”

        “Ugh, just let me lead the way, I can probably get us out of here.”

        “And how are you going to do that?” I could feel my anger rising towards the surface, but I couldn't let myself slip.

        “I grew up in a cottage in the woods” is all I said which technically wasn't a lie.

        “Okay, lead the way, princess” I stiffened. 

        “What? You don’t like being called princess?”

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The story I'm writing that doesn't have a title part 2.

Kinda looks like my room :)
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Hey guys, if you are reading this then it means you survived part 1 of my book, congratulations. Just wanted to let you know that I will be writing about my concert band regionals soon and I found this cool site called UMEA that tells you about Utah music education and stuff like that. Okay, enough chit-chat on to part 2.

As I looked at him, I found him to have a very fair face. He had dark brown hair that started to wave around his ears in the heat, and eyes the color of a clear summer sky bright with energy. He reminded me of someone, I just couldn't remember who.

        “Where is here exactly?” It looked like I was back in my cottage in the forrest and flora was about to walk in and tell me to get up and go pick berries before Merrywhether made breakfast. Maybe I was there and all of this was just a really bad dream.

        “You’re in a tower about half a mile from the main road leading into the Maleficent’s kingdom.”

Well crap, Maleficent didn’t have a kingdom when I fell asleep. It was going to be harder to hide myself from her than I thought. How did she get a kingdom? I had much to catch up on before I could make any big decisions. Maybe I could get some information out of this young man before I left.

        “How many kingdoms are left? There were dozens before I went to sleep.”

        “Dozens? There were dozens? All of the kingdoms have been conquered but one, so there are only two, Maleficent’s and the Charming kingdom. How long have you been asleep?”

        “What happened to my— I mean what happened to King Stephan and Queen Leah?” I ask ignoring his question.

        “Everyone knows this story. Why don’t you?”

        “Please, I must know” I plead. 

        “They were killed by Maleficent. When princess Aurora disappeared a hundred years ago, they lost hope, didn’t even put up a fight when Maleficent came knocking on their door.”

It felt like I had just been punched in the stomach. I had to sit back down on the bed to keep myself from falling. They were dead. My parents were dead, what was I supposed to do now? If Maleficent found out that I was awake she would hunt me down. I had to keep my identity a secret, no one could know who I was now.

        “You really didn’t know about this? Any of it?” Marc asked.

        “No I really didn’t.”

        “How does someone end up passed out in a tall tower in the middle of nowhere?”

        "That is a very long story that I don't care to tell a stranger" I retorted.

        “Sorry, I was just curious.”

For the second time I took him in. He was wearing commoner clothes ragged and dirty, they had been used more that they should have been with the condition they were in. I was surprised that they hadn't completely fallen off of his body yet, and I hoped I wouldn't be there when they did. He had a satchel across his back that looked full of something heavy. He looked like a farmer’s son to me. So I shouldn’t have been worried about him recognizing me.  

        “Well it’s a very long story, and I doubt you want to hear it.” I hope he didn’t want to hear it, I don’t like lying.

        “It’s a long walk back to my farm from here, you could tell it to me as we walk, unless you would rather stay here.” So I was right, he was a farmer’s son.

        “No, it’s okay, I don’t want to be a burden.”

        “No, really, you’re welcome to stay with me and my family.”

        “Really, I could just catch a ride in the morning.” I say.

        “You are coming back with me and that’s final.” He said.

        “Fine, bossy, I’ll come.”

That is it for Part 2, here is the link to part 3

The story I'm writing that doesn't have a title yet part 1

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Hey guys It has been a really long time since I last posted and I'm sorry for that, but you guys have better things to do with your time than listen to me talk about my boring life. Anyways, this post and the next couple of posts I have decided to let you guys read the first part of by book. As a kid I always loved the princess sleeping beauty because we both had long blonde hair and loved to sleep. So with this book, I am pulling all of my childhood fantasies of what would have happened if I were Aurora and making a novel based on Sleeping Beauty. I haven't come up with a really cool title yet so that is still TBD(to be determined if someone isn't caught up on the latest cool stuff). Now I know I am not a good writer but I love it and I would love your feedback on it. :)

Prologue:

The dragon woman is here. They call her Maleficent. She stares at me, then turns back to my parents.

        “You’re not offended?” Asks my mother.

        “Why, no. And to show I bear no ill will, I, too, shall bestow a gift on the child.” Maleficent says.

She turns towards me, those green eyes cutting into my heart like a dagger. She won’t stop staring at me. I start to squirm and she laughs. The most vile and cruel laugh I have ever heard. She turns to the crowd of people.

        “Listen well, all of you. The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who meet her. But… before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and DIE!"

That’s when the pain started, searing pain like I was being punctured by a million different needles at once. I watched Maleficent go up in green flames and disappear but I was still in pain. I couldn’t breath, she was suffocating me, the flames burning my skin as I heard her laugh echo through the ball room. 

         "Sweet princess, through this wicked witch's trick, a spindle should your finger prick... a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break." The blue fairy waved her wand and I fell into a deep slumber.

Chapter 1:

        “Hey, girl in the pink dress, wake up.” 

My eyes flash open and I sit up fast. I clash heads with the boy leaning over me.

        “Ow!” he shouted. My first thought was that I had to get back to the palace, my parents would be worried about me. After all that had happened with Maleficent and the spinning wheel, we had a lot to talk about. I looked around the small bedroom. There wasn’t much to see in the circular room. You could tell there used to be paint on the walls, based on the weird pinkish brown color of the them, but the paint had peeled off of the walls a long time ago. “That’s weird,” I thought to myself, “I don’t remember this room at all, someone must have carried me up here.” 

“Who are you?, and how did you break my spell?” I asked.

“Geez give me a second. It's not every day you find a girl laying in a tower in the middle of nowhere that ends up giving you a concussion.” He replied. He looked to be about my age but I couldn’t quite tell just from looking at him. And I didn’t actually know how old I was now, was I still sixteen? Was I 30? Who knew.

        “Answer my questions!” I demand.

        “Marc, my name is Marc. I found you up here while I was coming back from an errand for my father.”

Sorry guys but thats all the room I have, check out The story I'm writing that doesn't have a title yet part 2 if you want to keep reading.

The Naturals: All In

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Hey guys so to give you a little of what is happening with me at this point in my life, I am now on presidents week break. Yes, I get a whole week off for presidents day, but I think it's mostly so people can go skiing. We are getting ready for Bandapalooza in band, and we are working on our songs in Percussion. In a couple of weeks, I am going to have to choose between band and percussion if I can't find away around the rule. I finished the third book in the naturals series called All In. If you haven't guessed already, this book is set in Las vegas(Hence the gambling title). 

Here is the summary:

Three days. Three Casinos. Three bodies.

When there is a string of brutal murders in Las Vegas, Cassie and her friends are brought in to help solve it. They are quick to notice that this serial killer isn't like anyone else, this serial killer used a different method to kill each victim, and all of the victims have four different numbers on their wrists. Soon the naturals figure out that the numbers are a code, but to what? Meanwhile, Cassie has to deal with new information in her mother's case. In this book, the naturals will face impossible odds, and impossible choices.

I rate this book a 5/5.

This is the third book in the Naturals series. I have done the other two reviews on this blog so make sure to check those out as well. This book is 376 pages long, and like the second book, I couldn't find the lexile level, but I assume it's the same as the first book. There wasn't any cursing and the only thing sexual is kissing, and Michael took his shirt off at one point in the book, but nothing too bad. The only thing concerning is the topic, It is about serial killers and how they think so it's going to be dark, and there are the victim's bodies that are described but not in very much detail, only enough detail to give the characters something to work with. Part of the book(like 15 pages) is in the serial killers point of view, so you get a sneak peak of what it's like in a serial killers mind. It's suspenseful which is a good thing in these mystery books.

I love this series and the author and there are lots of twists and turns that you won't see coming. I pride myself in being able to know the end of the book before I get there and with these books, I was completely wrong. Again, I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone under 12 just because of the topic and how dark it is.

The fourth book in the series hasn't come out yet, but I can't wait until it does. I just finished another book called Red Queen that I will do a book review on right after I finish this blog post. Until next time, au revoir and carpe diem.

The Naturals: Killer Instinct Book Review

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Hey guys I finished the second Naturals book which is called Killer Instinct a couple days ago and I am just getting around to reviewing it. It's been a hectic week for me including two basketball games(I was in the pep band not actually playing) back to back and I had steel drum band today as well. That might not seem like much to you guys, but I haven't been getting that much sleep and it's been a lot of standing.

Ok, now for the summary: 

After the events of the last book, Cassie is back to solving mysteries. The director's daughter, Veronica Sterling shows up to the house and tells Cassie and her gang that she took the position that was left open when Lacey Locke was killed. She was also sent to review and evaluate the Naturals program. Soon, victims of a new serial killer come to light and the Naturals program is sucked into another active case that turns personal.

I rate this book a 5/5.

This book is a sequel to the first book called The Naturals which I did another review about earlier this month, so make sure to check that out if you haven't seen it yet. This book is 384 pages, so a little bit longer than the last book but still a pretty quick read. I couldn't find the lexile level, but it says for readers from 7th to 12th grade. I don't remember any cursing, and nothing went past kissing, so if that's the reason you're not reading the book then you can go ahead. There was a chapter in the beginning that they were playing strip poker but nothing went far. Like I said on the first review, the only thing I would think of that's concerning is the topic. It is about serial killers so if you don't like reading about people killing other people, even if it's a small part in the entire book, then I wouldn't recommend this book to you. I was scared in a few parts of the book, but I am paranoid so I wouldn't take my word for it, it's more suspenseful than anything and like I said I get scared easily. 

Again, part of the book is the serial killer's point of view which is where the people killing other people comes in. It is a disturbing subject that you could relate to the present day since there are serial killers in our world. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone under the age of 12 as well as the other book, and I would have had nightmares as a 12 year old reading this book. The people that are killed, are tortured before they die and their corpses are mutilated so if that is too much for you don't read this book.

I have the third book in the series sitting next to me right now so I will try to start that tonight and give you guys that review in a couple of days. Though don't get your hopes up because I need more sleep so it might have to wait until the weekend. So for now, I say live long and prosper and I bid you adue.

To: Cassandra Clare

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Dear Cassandra Clare, 

I know your not actually reading my blog, but if you were I would say something like this. I am not really good with words, but I am really stoked that you are reading my blog. You have been my biggest inspiration for a couple of years now and I have read almost every book you have published, some even twice. I fell in love with the Mortal Instruments series the minute I started reading them and I am actually in the middle of reading that series again for the third time. Sometimes in my life I get to the point where my escape is being swallowed into Clary's world and you wrote it so that I feel like I'm in the book fighting Valentine with her.You were the person who inspired me to start writing. I feel that if Clary and Jace can make it as a couple, then I can write a book by myself. 

Since my blog is only really on two things(books and band), I could have written this to many people, but as soon as my english teacher told us we had to write a blog post on the inspiration for this blog, I knew I would write about you. But first, let me introduce myself. I name is Emily, I live in Park City, UT(yes that's where Sundance takes place). It's a small town but we are growing in size. I love to read whenever I can and love playing with my band/marching band. My favorite sport related things to do are kick a soccer ball, swim for fun, and watch football. I can't get through a day without listening to music, and I hate algebra. I am a very disorganized person, and I don't take crap from anyone. I am also a very big geek, if you haven't ever seen either Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, or Supernatural then I will drag you to the nearest available T.V. and make you sit and watch every last minute of them, and if you haven't read my other posts, then you should know that I'm not a very good writer, but I try and hopefully I am getting better. 

There really isn't a reason why you would read this blog, you probably have something better to do with your time than read about a high schoolers life and what books she's reading. The only reason I can think of that you would read this is because you're interested in music or something like that. Well anyways, I should probably sum this post up soon, and I'm basically just trying to get to the 500 word limit at this point. In conclusion, It would be amazing if you were actually reading my blog, and I just want to say one more time that you are my biggest inspiration and that I would love to learn how to write like you can.

Sincerely,

Emily

P.S. I think that Clary and Jace make an excellent couple but they definitely have their problems.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes review

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Hello fellow readers, I know I completely bombed my first book review but I am here to try and redeem myself. I picked this book up because I had to stay in the library instead of going to band this week because the high school's schedule isn't the same as ours this week because we have stupid Galileo testing everyday.

Ok, here we go: Cassie Hobbs is this girl who can piece together the tiniest bit of information on how you walk or what you wear to the point where she can tell you what you are like without even having to talk to you. Of course she never took it seriously until it was needed. She meets special agent Briggs, and he tells her about a classified program inside the FBI. The program brings in gifted teenagers to help the FBI solve cold cases that no one else could figure out. When she and her team are caught in a game of "cat and mouse" with a serial killer they're going to have to use all that they have to stay alive...

I rate this book a 4/5. 

This book is a beehive award nominee(for you people who don't live in Utah, you probably don't know what this means and it's not completely relevant to what the summary is about) , and it's 308 pages. It only has a lexile level of HL690L so for me this was an easy read. I think one of the characters cursed like once and the only scandalous think in it is a kissing part. The only thing I can think of that would be concerning is it's topic. It's about trying to find a serial killer so it's going to be scary, there were a couple points in the book where I was scared(which isn't good for me because I am a very paranoid person) but it soon passed. Now dealing with a serial killer means that there is a lot of dead people in the book. Since part of the book is through the serial killers eyes, there is some disturbing parts that they are thinking or saying and the bodies are mutilated. I wouldn't recommend this to someone under the age of 12.

This is an intense book. It might look like it was made for just young adults, but I think that this book could fit the needs of a 30 year old as well as a 14 year old like myself. There is some romance in the book, so if you're looking for a mystery thriller with no romance go check out a Sherlock Holmes book.

I am going to try to get the second book in the series from my school library tomorrow, and I will do a review on that book as well. Since I don't seem to have a lot of homework right now(doesn't mean I need any Mr. Parker) I will be reading a lot more and hopefully reviewing them for you guys to see. Bon au revoir et ont une bonne vie :).

passports, PE, and feeling poorly

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OK, so you guys have probably noticed that I like really suck at this blog stuff and I apologize for that, I'm not used to actually having people read what I write and my life isn't interesting enough for me to have good writing because of it.

I have started my 4 day weekend with a cold, a pinched nerve in my lower back, and a giant headache that won't go away. I would have stayed home but I had finals all week and I didn't have a day off. Something must be going around because Danielle was here maybe Monday, and took the rest of the week off as a sick week (missing all of her finals), and Syscilia didn't come to school on Friday because on Thursday she was light headed and felt like she was going to pass out. Band wasn't very helpful with that either. But we did it guys, we survived our first semester in high school. Only 7 more semesters to go. If every semester of high school is like this, then I'm not going to make it to graduation alive.

I also had to get my passport renewed today. We had to drive over to Coalville and had to get our pictures retaken because the last picture of me was when I was nine years old. Being a part of my family means that I have small lop sided eyes, which is why a lot of people think i'm part asian(even though I have fair skin, strawberry blonde hair, and blue eyes). Well apparently if I smile my eyes are too small for the passport photo so I wasn't allowed to smile. In the end my picture looked like I was in a mug shot; That's going to be fun to walk around with for the next five years.

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Taking a turn in this one sided conversation, I'm going to talk about my next semester. I only have two classes that change when I go back to school, I change from Art Foundations II to Jewelry, and I change from computer tech. to PE. And who doesn't love PE. I have humiliated myself more times than I can count in physical education. If you know me you know that I have no coordination or endurance whatsoever. PE is like "try not to humiliate yourself more than three times today." and it's not like the PE teachers get it, they were the people who enjoyed PE because they did well in sports and physical activity, so they don't get what it's like to feel pathetic because you can't do a pull up, or you can't keep up with everyone else when running. If they were the people who did horrible at sports why would they come back to high school and teach it? If you think back to every PE teacher you have ever had, have any of them been uncoordinated or unable to run a mile in less than 10 minutes? Oh and the fact that they teach us the same things every year. Same sports: Cross country skiing, snowshoeing, tennis, football, soccer, track and field, baseball/softball. Over and Over again, every year the same stuff; they might put in like one different thing like archery or golf, but every year almost everything is the same.

Do you agree? Do you have any embarrassing or hilarious stories that you would like to tell? If so, comment below and I'll see you all next time I write(or not really).