6th

I would just like to quickly mention at how impressive my soccer team, VfB Stuttgart, has been since getting new coach Christian Gross. Since around December 9th the team has gone 9-1-1, and one of those games was a tie against Barcelona in the champions league. We should have won, but the refs blew the game.. what else is new, but a tie with the best team in the world is good. We play them again in 2 weeks away this time. It will not be an easy win, basically impossible, but I hope we can keep playing with our current intensity and passion and pull out a major upset.

The Olympics end today which is unfortunate since I enjoyed watching them. I love the Olympics because it is an event that brings the world together. People may try to find a winner or loser, but I feel that doing so goes against the spirit of the Olympics. Sure some countries get more medals than others, but the fact that some countries are even competing is astounding. The majority of the athletes that compete in the Olympics are not paid for their sport, but rather have to support themselves throughout the competition. This means that they are participating purely for the love of the sport and nation. They lose much more money than the gain for competing, but they still do. This isn't the case for all participants though, many of the major powers in the world support their athletes financially... perhaps that is why they do better, who knows.

However, I can return to my normal life now. I was basically dedicated to the Olympics for the past two and a half weeks. I let my work slip a little, but oh well, the Olympics doesn't happen every very often. On another note, we are almost half way done with this semester. I'm really looking forward to the end of this semester. I really don't like the classes I am taking right now and can't wait for them to end. I also finally get to move out of the dorms at the end of the semester which I am really looking forward to.

5th

audience: age 15-20, American

Character: woman with road rage
setting: walmart 3 am
item: illegal object stored in a purse

Time was passing slowly, and the woman was becoming restless. Her new obsession was causing a great feeling of unease to spread through her consciousness. She understood the risks, but with the rising level of contempt towards herself came a new found excitement that she had never known in her previous life. With her desires growing uncontrollably by the minute, she finally decided to act upon them; however, she had no method of doing so. The woman would need help, yet she couldn't just talk to anyone. Upon investigation, she slipped into the underground world leading her to contact the leader of an extremely shady and dangerous syndicate. Relief began to overcome her when the thought of her obsession being quenched reached her. This relief was capable of blinding her to the obvious dangers that come with contacting and underground syndicate, but she was finally able to rid herself of the melancholy of her everyday life.

She quickly hid the object of her desired in her purse and returned to her car. It was now 3 am, much later then she expected. With caution she began to drive, making sure not to get in trouble with the authorities when in the distance she saw a car. This was not just an ordinary car; it was a yellow car. The one thing she could not stand in this world was yellow cars. The thought of people driving yellow cars filled her with such rage that she went on a rampage crashing into everything in sight. After hitting everything that she could see, she found herself in a Walmart parking lot.

With her rage still growing uncontrollably, she decided to take her vengeance upon Walmart and
crash her car through the side. Excitement filled her as she crashed through the wall and began to destroy everything, but this excitement soon turned to fear when she realized that she had become surrounded by the syndicate. With merciless zeal, the syndicate took not only the object which she had desired, but everything in her possession.

It was at this time that she realized that the yellow car was set up by the syndicate, and they had never planned on letting her have the relief that she was seeking. Distraught she began to walk home, yet because of the massive damage caused on her road rage rampage she was arrested. Although she was never convicted of carrying this illegal object, or negotiating with the syndicate, the damage she had caused gave her a life sentence.

4th

I have always been amazed and flabbergasted by people that are capable of drawing well. I have never possessed a gift for art, so I am unable to comprehend how people are able to draw such beautiful pictures. I can see the pictures in my head, yet when my hand reaches the paper the result is unrecognizable. However, I am not to dwell on that fact, if everyone were as capable as Picasso or Rembrandt, then it would lessen the beauty of their work. I was simply remarking on the miraculous ability that artists have.

I have recently been going to this website called deviantart, where people are free to post any art they create. There is a wide range of pictures posted, but there are truly some amazing ones. There are these amazing pictures put up, by people who aren't even in college yet. Although there may be much talent involved, I have also begun to realize how much time is actually involved in creating objects such as these.

I was talking to my friend and she says that she spends about a week on quick paintings, but I suppose that varies depending on drawing style and technique. I know that Rembrandt would spend months on the exact same paintings, because he would paint in layers. He would outline anything and would just but colors where they should go, until enough colors coincided to create a masterpiece. Just the thought of what was going on through his head while he was doing something like this astounds me. He must have had the complete picture in his head the entire time, analyzing what colors what must go where to combine to create his desired results.

I think that our world is so much better because of art. Art has the capability of drawing beauty out of things that would never be considered beautiful. Art can inspire emotion, create or make one recall memories, or just be beautiful. Although I love art, I could personally never dedicate myself to it. I love what art means to people and the beauty, but creating art is not something I want to do for a living... which is why I didn't become an artist. I prefer to just appreciate it for what it is, even if it is under appreciated in modern times(my personal belief).

3rd

Today, I would like to talk about my complete love of Wikipedia. The mass amounts of information that is stored in the single entity that is Wikipedia makes learning anything or finding something out incredibly easy. I cannot count the times that I have gone to Wikipedia out of curiosity, only to learn countless more things than I had set out to. People may consider it a "unreliable source" or whatever, but I disagree. Sure, there may be moments when there is incorrect information, or if the object is ridiculously specific there may be some faults, but with the number of people checking and posting the information is basically all valid. Not to mention that there are always sources sited at the bottom of the page, and when information does not have a source, it says so. Those same people may not like the use of Wikipedia for research, but it is so much easier, and you can always just click on the sources at the bottom.

Not only is Wikipedia great for getting information, it is also a great way to pass time. Whenever I get extremely bored I go to Wikipedia and start reading an article, and then clicking on an interesting link in that article. I keep on repeating this process until I find something to do. This then brings me to the Wikipedia racing game.

I am not sure if you guys have heard of it, but it is when you and a group of people start at a certain page and then race to find another page only by clicking on the links. Me and a couple of friends would spend unimaginable time playing this during school, and the entertainment level never decreased as long as you know what topics are good to search for. People and places are never good target goals, since they are too easy to find. The best topics are obviously, the ridiculously specific articles that you would never expect to find on the website. My favorite one so far has been turtle soup, since it cannot be reached through turtle or soup. I wouldn't want to ruin how to get there, but it is a very round about way.