blog 20

I'm deciding to rewrite my last draft because I feel like there is more I can do with it. My focus will on making our own decisions and not letting a bond or friendship pull you in to dangerous situations. In draft 4 I tried to involve a good amount of action and descriptive language, but I still feel like I can go so much deeper. To begin, I need to describe what goes on around my friends that put them in their current situation. I feel that the readers need to know why my friends involve themselves in this type of danger. The action in the story was good, but I need to ivolve how the police knew where to find John. I like the draft version but the final revision will be so much better.

blog 19

Guilty by association

Here I am, sitting next to this person who I used to know very well. I’m infuriated with myself for letting my friends convince me to do what they do. This kind of behavior always gets me in trouble. This room is getting colder and colder as time goes by. I’ve obviously been in a room like this before but things are different when you don’t belong here. This time I can’t leave until someone shows up with some money or these badges have a change of heart. At this point, I don’t think john even cares about where we are and what we are here for. John might as well have his own apartment here. If you haven’t guessed, we are in jail. I don’t want to get into why we are here, but I will so you can understand why I feel the way I do.
I usually come home on weekends to spend time with my friends because I don’t live around them anymore. The sad part is, I’m the only one from my crew that made it out of the city for school. This makes things weird when I come home because in order to be with my friends, I need to be around some things that could be illegal. Even though I was raised to stay away from these types of situations, part of me still wants to take the risk. I already knew that some of my friends were involved in drugs and alcohol but I only made a big deal out of it when I saw the flashing lights. We got lucky more times than I can remember simply because we were dumb youngsters and they had bigger fish to fry, but I’m sure that they didn’t forget our faces.
One time in particular, I wasn’t as lucky as I was used to being. My boys and I were headed to a party when one of the guys started talking about what he did last night. The kid named john was telling us that he broke in to this old lady’s house and stole some money and jewelry. John said that someone might’ve seen him break in because he heard the infamous sirens as soon as he took his first step out the back door. As expected, he took off running into the woods. In some cases, the woods would be the first place that police look when there is a disturbance. While John was running, he said that he heard keys shaking from different areas of the woods. At this point he realized that the cops had him cornered. At this point he fell to the floor and covered himself up with leaves and dirt. It was so dark outside that police couldn’t see him with their flashlights. John had on all black clothing and ended up sliding to the nearest bushes. Eventually the cops left the woods and returned to the house to try and gather some clues. John decided to run as fast he could to our friend’s house that lived a few blocks away. The new fugitive realized about an hour before we left for the party that he was missing his wallet. A flashback of his run through the woods came to john immediately. Unfortunately John was careless and didn’t treat as seriously as the rest of us. We were now about ten minutes away from the party when we saw the flashes of red and blue on the houses around us. We all suddenly took off like a rocket in all directions. I don’t know why I ran but my instincts decided for me. This decision was very stupid because as soon as I ran, I became a criminal. The cops don’t care why I’m running and they are planning to throw me into the same jail as the real criminals. I guess I have extremely bad luck because as I ran I realized that John was right behind me and so were the cops. We ran into a dead end and realized where I was headed. I was too scared to think and the sound of keys made things worse.
The cell was small and cold. I had plenty of time to observe my surroundings in case someone asks me what it was like. I also had enough time to think about what got me into this dark lifeless corner of the world. I was associating myself with the wrong people. I felt like I had to be around them because they were my friends. I guess the title of this chapter of my life would be called guilty by association. I wasn’t a guilty person, I was as guilty as my friends were because I was with them. I guess this was yet another lesson learned.

Blog 18

The day I arrived was very surreal because I've never seen it rain when the sun was out. It was as if there were no cares. Every person around had this shine on them as if they weren't from this world. The water was so clear that I could see that I still needed to cut my nails. The people who actually lived there had this tan about them which makes them seem different, but they shared the same excitement. It is amazing that you could have this much fun without a passport. I was young and out of control and most likely missed out on alot of the things that were happening around me, but what I did see was unforgetable. This is a place where the dress code is very unique, these people want as many colors as possible. This is as close that you will get to a fairy tale place.

Blog 17 "My Turn"

Harrison Cade
“My Turn”

There I was, staring down at the blood on my shirt and hands. I guess I shouldn’t have tried to fight back. Everybody knows that Tom is bigger and stronger than I am. Something inside of me snapped and for some reason I felt like I could take him. Honestly, I don’t understand what it is about me that made him want to exercise his ego and reputation of being the biggest asshole in the Milky Way. It doesn’t matter what it is, but all I know is that this will not go on forever. Eventually, I will have my shot, and I will be so successful that the sight of people like him will be funny to me.
This whole thing started when I consistently received A’s on every test and quiz in ninth grade. Tom was older than everyone in my class for one of two reasons. Tom told everyone that he spent some time in a juvenile detention center for beating people up who pissed him off. In actuality, Tom had the worst grades known to man. He wasn’t eligible for graduation until he passed eighth grade, which took him three years. Anyway, As soon as Tom noticed that I was one of the smartest kids in class, he decided to make deals. Instead of using a normal approach, Tom punched me in the face and told me to give him the answers to the quizzes and test. Tom wasn’t as dumb as I thought because he hit me when the crowd in the hallway was the largest. The teachers never saw what Tom used to do. At first, I still wasn’t going to do what I was told because it was wrong. I was horrified of this “school veteran”, but he would have to find a way to make me. This is exactly what he did.
Here I am, hiding in the janitor’s closet until the bell rings. My heart was beating like the sound of a drumline. I knew that he couldn’t hurt me if the halls were clear after the bell. I began to show up late to classes everyday, and my excuses made me look like I had the most dramatic life in the world. Either didn’t catch on to things or they didn’t care. All I know is, Tom kept failing and I kept shining. I began to look at myself like a time bomb. I never dealt with things right when it happened, I thought that it would all go away if I try not to think about it. This strategy was a horrible one.
Tom saw me getting my jacket out of my locker and sparked the climax of my life story. Tom grabbed my shoulder and I turned around along with a right hook. Tom fell on his back and for about twenty seconds I felt like I was twelve feet tall. Of course I then received the worst beating of my life. All I could offer was that one punch, but that one punch was all I needed to change my life. I don’t think Tom was ever hit before because he didn’t bother me anymore, he only when to the next weak kid that he could find.
There is no reason to feel bad about what happened to me because you can learn a valuable lesson even when you’re getting your ass kicked. The older I got, I looked at Tom as being any challenge that I may come across in my life. There will be times when things seem too difficult to deal with and it makes you want to quit. I didn’t plan on using my old approach on lettings things get so bad and then exploding, but I did have an approach. I decided to deal with things immediately and make sure that I didn’t bury myself with things that I couldn’t control. This idea helped lower the amount of stress in my life. I can see now that one of the worst points in my life molded me into being a man.
Now I am successful and can actually say that I am happy. It feels good to fight back against negativity. I wish Tom was hear to see where I ended up, but I’m sure he is too busy fighting off the general population in whatever jail he was thrown in. This is the point in my life where I said I’d be laughing. Fortunately, the only direction I can go is up. I haven’t gone as far as I can go yet. This is the point in my life that I would call “my turn”.

Blog 16

In this essay I am focusing on someone who was beating up and treated the worst. In this story the main character realizes that he will have the last laugh. He realizes this when he first stood up for himself against the enemy. This is how life can be sometimes. I want to involve this lesson and show how things can turn from the worst to the best.

Blog 15 revised essay

Focus
By: Harrison Cade


I used to believe that some things were impossible to do in real life. Certain things belong on television and our imagination. To be honest, I was so stubborn that I wouldn’t believe something was real until I saw it or could touch it. My mindset changed the day I decided to play football outside with my best friend. Football to me was just something to do instead of my homework. I wasn’t one of those kids who went above and beyond to get the good grades in school. I was young so my first plans were to go outside and play and then decide whether or not to do my homework.
I was sitting in my house wondering what my next moves were going to be when my friend came over gasping for air. It was hard to understand what he was saying at first because he had run full speed all the way to my house. He came over to tell me that our rivals from down the street challenged us to a game of football. Little did I know that this game would mark the beginning of my football career and the start of some strange behavior that I never thought was possible. Before we left to go down the street, we listened to some music from the Rocky soundtrack to get ourselves in the zone. It was now game time, time to take what was ours. It was time to take the one thing that many people never get a chance to gain. I wanted to end up coming home with respect. We arrived at the field on time and ready to go to war. We played two on two football, one quarterback and one receiver. My friend Mike had a good arm so he chose to be the quarterback. I wanted to be the receiver because I felt that these guys couldn’t stop me in a million years. I lined up to Mike’s right and had so many things running through my mind. In my mind, I was telling myself that this kid across from me can’t run as fast as I can and that he couldn’t cover me. Mike said “go” and I took off. I not only had to avoid one guy, but I had to deal with his team mate as well. I put a move on one of them and saw that the ball was in the air. When the ball was thrown, things started happen to my body. I felt like everything slowed down and got very quiet. This feeling was so strange that it almost felt like I was in a white room with nothing in it but myself, the ball, and a gut trying to stop me from catching it. For the few seconds that the ball was in the air, I felt like a lifetime was going by. The ball was slowly getting closer and closer. When the ball came within my arms length things got serious because now it was me against the defender and I was not losing. I jumped as high as I could and grabbed the ball out the sky. When the ball touched my hand I came back to reality and outran both of my defenders to the end zone. I never actually thought about what happened until recently, but now that I think about it maybe I should’ve mentioned this abnormal behavior to someone. The rest of the game had similar situations occur to the point where I became comfortable with it.
My next move was to play football in high school. I went from playing football instead of homework to actually being a part of a team. This meant that I had to trust others as much as they trust me. I was responsible for my level of play. I wasn’t on varsity for the first two years of high school because I wasn’t taking things too seriously. I was just playing junior varsity games just because it was fun and all of my friends were playing too. Something I didn’t notice until now was that I didn’t have the weird feeling when I wasn’t taking things serious. My junior varsity team went undefeated and nobody cared about it but us. Junior varsity didn’t tell me anything except work harder. I learned at a young age how to take everything into perspective. I realized that there were many things that I could change mentally and physically. I had an immature attitude and wasn’t taking things serious like I needed to. I decided to go with some of my teammates to Louisiana for “The Manning Passing Camp.” This camp was run by one of the more famous families in sports. Peyton Manning and his brother Eli held a camp that was mainly focused on discipline and focus. I played against some of the best high school players in the country and was coached by NFL coaches. I learned how to catch the ball properly and run routes the right way. I was surrounded by NFL players and coaches for about a week. I also got a chance to see how important it was to ply with certain level of focus and intensity. This was camp was the closest I’ve ever felt to being the best in football. I actually got a chance to catch a pass from Divisions 1 quarterbacks.
When I returned home from camp, a different kid with a different personality came home. I worked harder and harder every day because I realized that I am in control of my performance and how far it takes me. It was now time to find out what I can do on the varsity team. Once I began my senior season, my confidence level was off the charts. I went from being a decent athlete to a key player. My team made it all the way to the state championship. We lost the game, but I played the best game of my life at that point. During my senior year there was talk about me playing college football. I didn’t believe that I could make it that far until I went to that camp. I was beating kids that were getting scholarships to play at division 1 schools. My attitude was more mature because I took things seriously.
I chose to go to a school that didn’t have a history of being a powerhouse. I wanted to help bring a team from the bottom to the top so I could feel like I made difference. There was a school in north jersey that wasn’t my number one choice but it fit the qualities of the type of school I wanted. College was a big deal for me because I was now playing against grown men who were fighting for a championship. Everything was faster and everyone was bigger. I had to adjust to this style of play pretty fast in order to actually get on the field.
It was junior year now, we had a game against one of our rivals. I was in the zone as soon as I got off the bus. It was a night game and the lights were on with bleachers full of fans. The crowd was wild all night because they hated us. It was the second half when it happened. I was lined up with a defender in front of me and another defender about fifteen yards back. My body started feeling weird again. I looked into the defender’s eyes and saw curiosity. I could see that he had no idea what was about to happen, and in a sense neither did I. As soon as I heard “hut” I took off in a straight line. I ran right passed one of the defenders and then everything slowed down. I was younger the last time this situation happened, but now it was more important that I have the same result. I saw the ball at the last possible second. The ball landed perfectly into my hands without any adjustment. I took off for about fifty yards. The difference between now and then was that I actually chose to tell someone about this strange occurrence. My dad was amongst the many fans that were at the game and we had our routine post-game conversation. I told him what happened and he wasn’t even surprised. He told me it was a gift. This is when it all started to make sense to me. I learned something about myself and life that day. When you focus and believe in something so much, magical things can happen. It may seem weird at first but there is always a reason why things happen. As far as football is concerned, I was given the ability to slow things down and intensely focus on the ball. In life I can do the same and intensely focus on my goals and decisions.

It was about three days after the game when I received an interesting phone call from my dad. My dad was at home watching the Monday night football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Cleveland Browns. The conversation was centered around something that Larry Fitzgerald said in an interview after the game. Larry Fitzgerald is by far one of the best wide receivers in the game today. Larry told reporters that something special happens to him when the ball is in the air. The reporters looked at him and asked him to explain. All that Larry could say was that everything around him slowed down and got quiet. The only thing that was in focus was the ball. Larry said that it felt like the world was in slow-motion. When my dad told me about what he heard that night, I felt a bit of relief. I felt good because now I know that what I can do is special and that other people are doing the same thing.
I turned a God-given gift into a tool that I use every day. I still play football at a high level and I still focus on my life and decisions. Each game provides a different set of circumstances that need to be adjusted to, but I deal with each one very well. I see now that each person has been blessed with gifts, but it is ultimately their decision whether they want to use them or not.

Blog 14

The picture that I keep around me is one from my kindergarten graduation. the photo is me and my mom with the best smiles in the land. this photo means so much to me because my mom is no longer with us. My mom has been gone for almost four years now and this photo is something I use to help me get through it. I think pictures are used to bring back memories that we don't normally think about. also, photos can be used to remember someone from a time when they were happy. I know my mom is proud of me, and I think about her all the time. For as long as I have this picture, i can look at her when she was proud.

Blog 13

I'm sure it wasn't too safe, but I decided to look in my closet for things that would grab my attention. I noticed that I always keep alot of floss around me. I like the disposable kind that you buy in bags. I also have alot of things that smell good like sprays and deoderants. I guess these things in my closet could help me write a story about how people value their appearances and sanitary issues. I didn't always have things like this in my closet, but for some reason I felt like I needed to get to them faster. I didn't want to go back and forth to the bathroom everytime. Its weird because its really nice at the top of my closet and hazardous at the bottom. Somehow, I know which clothes are clean even though they might mix with the dirty. A story can surely come from the condition of this closet.

Blog 12

After I looked at my two essays, I decided to re-write my first paper. I felt good about my first essay but I feel like there are more things that I can do to make it better. I plan to involve more detail when I write about the actual games that I played in. I want to provide enough detail in order to make the my readers feel like they were actually there. My second essay is going to be heartfelt and honest and I don't plan to leave any room for a rewrite. I want to write this paper so well that there will be no need to edit.