English 2 · Pahomov · C Band Public Feed
Benchmark project by Charles Langley
Benchmark Project-Jack Motter
Emulation handbook (everyday) Assirem Hosni
Cats are Family as well
Through my eyes, systems that are created and defined, are your choices and the karma that comes after it. Since every choice you will make or didn't, became a system of when you chose that choice, it created a system or a timeline. . But when you choose the option, you were given a karma with it, and if you did something you're giving karma, but if you did something , you were given karma.
In my own life, I saw this happen when I got my cat Whiskers, When I had gotten her, it was near December, on a freezing, winter day, I went over to a friends house with my mother. As we got to the porch, I noticed this kitten slowly, but quickly jump on the railing of the porch, and meow softly. I stayed outside and asked their family if they got a new cat. They said no, and explained that someone fed it, and it kept coming back for more. When the other 5 kids came out, it only stay near me, before it circled me, saying that I was her owner. I looked at my mother, and asked if I could keep it, and it took some begging to finally get her to say yes.
After a month of having Whiskers, I had to get her to stop biting and scratching me when I tried to feed her. was also difficult to get her to stop playing with my legos, as she kept flinging them around in the middle of the night.
However, after a few months, there was progress, as well as some exciting amazing things she learned. She learned how to play ¨catch¨, and she also learned how to roll a ping pong ball over to me. Over the summer, I go to this summer house in the catskills (funny since it's about a kitten) with me, my mother, my grandmother, and my cat. I sleep in the attic (not really an attic just a small room, not as big as most attics.) But back to the story. So when it was about 9:00 pm one day, I went on the ladder to go up, and my cat was crying, so I stayed and watched her , telling her it was going to be ok. However, a mere ladder wasn't going to stop Whiskers from not sleeping next to me. Then I heard my Grandmother say ¨Son of a B*tch” and when I looked to where she was staring, I see my cat climbing a metal, almost slanted ladder.
I quickly, but quietly woke my mother up and pointed. I could tell she was shocked and angry, since all the good things that happen with me or Whiskers, she doesn't have her camera ready, So I hug my cat who climbed up, and in the morning. She figured out how to climb down, by slowly jumping down a step, the repeat. Until she is 3 steps close to floor, then she jumped down.
So, karma are like cats, Sometimes, there's a great side of a cat and a terrible side of a cat, it's just how it behaves, like we do. Cats are just like life, punishing or rewarding because of our deeds.
A Single Game
Adrenalin pumped through my blood, the pounding of cannons, the roaring hail of gunfire, this is war. I rushed through the trenches, holding on to my rifle as if it were my own child. The ringing of mortar fire smashed into my ears as I realized what was coming, I had to get to cover. I dove into the nearest ditch I could find, I laid down as close to the ground as possible and hoped I would survive. The mortars slammed into the ground, causing the whole area to shake like hell. I lifted myself off of the damp ground and ran. I sprinted through the darkened trenches until I found a ladder leading up to the tops of the trenches. Up top I saw black smoke, flowing freely from the buildings out in the distance and then, I saw a man. He was rushing forward gun at the ready, I took aim and fired. As soon as the bullet left the barrel, his body dropped like a sack full of bricks; then a bright flash blinded me. I then saw , “Your team has won the match.”
I pulled myself up out of my old, rickety office chair , a cool wave runs down my sweat-soaked back. My chair was coated in a thick layer of glossy sweat, the early morning sunlight blazing off of it. I slip on a plain white undershirt, the soft fabric sticking to my back. I stare blankly at the pillar in between the only two windows in my room before I came to my senses and started my way to my room door, my legs wobbling like jelly the entire way. I firmly grip the handle of my room door and robotically push it down, the door reluctantly slid open and out I stepped into the pitch black hallway.
The games I play are my only relief to the dreary life I lead.whenever I play them my worries melt away into a far off land. The pain and utter boredom bestowed upon me by reality is washed away like water on dirt. The daily addiction I participate in runs me dry of responsibility. The freedom from reality is my only lifeline to this world.
Restriction
Azirah Bowman
English
Restriction
This is why I have restriction on my phone. LISTEN! I snuck to an event with a person I wasn't allowed to go with, and yes I felt bad after I got caught , and yet I still think it wasn’t worth it. But I did it and I am still getting punished for it. I haven't had social media on my phone for a whole summer and now during school. I think it's going too far. The restriction is a mode on your phone that takes away your app store and you can't get into it unless you know the password. So now I have to redeem myself to get a social media at this point in time. Therefore, I am upset that I have to keep asking for it.
It all started when I was going to the Penn Relays, I had gotten permission to go. Once I got there, I saw someone I was not allowed to hangout with , but the next thing I knew I was hanging out with him. He even encouraged me into going back the next day . So I got home and, I tried to convince my mom on letting me go. When she said yes, I was excited. However, when I walked out of the house I felt ashamed,and discourteous. I also knew the consequences. The consequence would be to take all of my apps away. I would have to wait about a month and a couple of days, until I would be allowed to ask my parents for an app on my phone. I'm only allowed to get one app at a time, and if I mess up, they make it two weeks until I can get another app. But, I have to show that I deserve it or I won't get it . But I wasn't thinking, I think it was that I didn't care or all the excitement got to me, that made me forget about the consequences. I kept walking to the event.
Once I got to the relays, I was about to go back home but as soon as I turned to head back , I saw him and I no longer felt guilty, and we had fun that day. I felt as though I got away with going behind my parents back. However, when I got home, , my mom began to ask me questions, such as ¨who did you go with?¨, ¨how did you get back home,¨, and ¨how did you enter the event without a ticket? I was so scared that I just let everything out and told her. When she sent me to my room, I went to sleep.When she woke me up from my nap, I felt so sorry for doing this to her. I made her lose trust in me, and knew and still know that it's going to take awhile to redeem it. Also, I knew my mom felt heartbroken just because i went behind her back. She was so scared and I was so wrong. Mr.Terrance is my step dad who lives with my mom and takes care of us. He came in the room and took my advice, he added restriction. As soon as he did that, I knew it was wrong for me to go behind my parents backs and I know I won't do it again, but the thing is, I still regret it to this day.
I learned that negativity always comes back to you, no matter what you do, there will always be a time where it comes back. It's like the cycle of life, what goes around comes right back around. So to this day I know, that I need to do what I need to do and fix my mistakes.I am always positive and I know that once I feel guilty of something, I need to turn the other way and do the right thing.Sheltered Me
“Do you like Marilyn Manson?”
“Yeah I love her.”
If you don’t understand why that’s funny, I should explain that Marilyn Manson is a man, but christian sheltered me didn’t know that. I grew up very religion centered. I never listened to any music except christian music, I also went to private school. I prayed before I went to bed, I was a good christian girl, and I was very good at making friends. So when I transferred from private to public school, I was a deer in headlights. I had no clue how to be cool in this new environment. The first few years of adjusting were tough, but, I got the hang of faking it when it came to pop culture. That's why the first album I bought on iTunes was Taylor Swift’s Fearless. I was a master at blending in even when I had no clue what I was doing.
When I first transferred in 2nd grade there was a lot of crying involved. All the kids were faster than me and they all seemed to be smarter than me. Once I was caught starting my test early because I was tired of always being the last one who finished. At my old school, I was one of the smartest kids but here I was a little slower. A fact I refused to accept. I got caught with the test and the student teacher grabbed me and brought me up to my sister’s class. I was balling my eyes out. I wasn’t cheating I just wanted to finish with the other kids. I only did the section with vocabulary in it. They were all things I knew I just couldn’t keep up because the other kids would finish so fast. I already didn’t have any friends yet the least I could have was being smart.
By 4th grade, I had regained my title as one of the smartest kids in school and caught up with the other kids but then came the factor of friends. Everyone would talk about music I didn’t know and people I’d never heard of. By this time, my family had stopped going to church all together, so I didn’t have my church friends and I didn’t have any friends at school either. I started just flat out lying when it came to pop culture.
“Jade, you read Harry Potter, right?”
To which my answer would be yes. Even though at church they would say Harry Potter was evil. A fact I would learn was not true at all. It was exhausting trying to keep up but when I finally did make a friend all they cared about was school, which I could get behind since it was one thing I truly did know about.
In 5th grade I was back to my old habits. When the friend that only cared about school, Hannah, introduced me to her friend Leviana. Leviana was funny and cool, so I just followed her lead. If Leviana liked something, I liked that thing.
“Do you like Marilyn Manson?”
“Yeah I love her,” I’d say
I just wanted to fit in. Being exceptional wasn’t the goal anymore. If I could just blend in that would be perfect. I started stealing personality traits so I was just a carbon copy of everyone else.
By 8th grade I had friends and I’d given up on being anyone but Jade. It wasn’t worth the effort, but since I’d been trying to be someone else for so long I didn’t even understand who I was anymore. I wasn’t the little christian girl that cried when things didn’t go her way. I wasn’t someone that was just part of the crowd. I just stopped caring all together. My grades suffered because I was scared of moving forward. I suffered because my grades suffered. My parents were angry. I finally started looking out for myself again by the end of the year . By then it was too late for my grades, but not too late for me.
I still don’t go to church, I don’t pray before I go to bed, and it's been 10 years since I set foot in a private school. I don’t listen to the music other people listen to the music I want to listen to. I don’t lie when people ask me about thing I don’t know. If someone asks me if I like Marylin Manson I’ll tell the truth.
The Life I Chose
Sometimes, I have conversations with myself. “My life is really a mess. I’m just a puddle on the sidewalk on a rainy day, constantly stepped on by strangers. I’m just waiting for the sun to finally dry me up so it can all go away.” I’ve also thought, “I am nothing without faith,” a phrase repeated in my head from time to time. I slowly try to fix my mindset, persuading myself that what I believe in will carry me on in the long run. Finally, I’m convinced that my faith, my religion, and beliefs are what hold me together to pursue on to the next day. I’m a christian.
It’s sunday morning, the day of worship for our family. “Wake up your sisters and tell them to eat breakfast, we’re leaving in 45 minutes.”
My biggest struggle every morning was walking up those fifteen steps, taking a right and pushing my sisters door open. “Time to get up,” I scream.
“Huh wha… Okay okay.” She responded.
my sibling are all waiting downstairs for me. Whenever I asked my dad, “Why do we leave for church at 8 am every Sunday?” He’d always answer with the same response.
“Because God wants you to.” I failed to realize that if I were serious about practicing Christianity, I have to commit my entire life.
Once we reached the church, my family stepped out of the big, white van, and walked inside the building. The doors were wide open. As I walked in, I could hear the laughter and songs. Such a pleasant entrance so early in the morning, or so I thought. This church wasn’t even my original church. We were just visitors trying to explore different options. We finally found a seat in the pews and the service had started. I felt lost and alone in the midst of the worship songs. While it seemed to be like everybody was happy, the energy around me was odd. I looked around and noticed I was the only one without a smile on my face. I had questioned myself for the second time that day. What do I really gain out of coming here everyday? This was the life I chose so I had to live with it.
There was an instance, at my church outreach that I was confused to how my Pastor expected me to approach people and bring them to church. “So you’re just gonna give them a cookie then some lemonade and that will give you a chance to talk to them,” I said out of curiosity and confusion.
“Well yeah, the cookies and lemonade are to show how grateful we are to have new people in our church, but if I can get the chance to shake their hand and just tell them about the bible, that’s all that really needs to be down. Now I can’t force them in here yaknow (laughter) but I can encourage them to learn about the word.”
“Can I help?” I said.
“Yeah, you can pass these flyers out and hand out cookies and lemonade to whoever passes by.” He responded with joy. He handed me the flyers gave me a smile then continued handing out cookies and lemonade.
“Why are we giving these out for free,” I said.
“Because that’s what God tells us to do, he doesn’t necessarily say physical objects but he wants us to give and to spread his word. This is how we believe we can do that.” I didn’t really understand. I still thought that a Christian would have to provide gifts to honor God. This was where I realized that this system meant also being a prophet as well. As I got older, the more I realized how complicated this system was. However. growing up being forced to practice this religion made me realize that I wanted to pursue it and commit myself. The scriptures tell me that no matter how complicated it may get, when it’s time, I’ll be just fine.
When you start to live in a Christian way, you automatically take on the weight of spreading the scripture. You need to change your posture, your language, your body language, and your knowledge to determine how many people’s attention you can attract to your topic. Convincing people to change their entire life style is no easy task. The system is different for everyone. Some people follow the scripture in the system to the fullest, some not at all, and some in the middle. For me I believe that this system can be complicated but once you grow up and start to understand you really know how to work you way in it and for me it’s easier to believe. In conclusion, people need to understand that some things don’t just happen. They take time, communication, and dedication to pursue.
Small in Size but Big in Spirit
“All right, All Right!! It’s game time boys you ready!!?” said the captain.
“YEEEAAAH!!!!” The team screamed back.
“ That’s what I want to here! Arlight Cosmos let’s get this dub. Cosmos on 3 Cosmos on 3. 1! 2! 3!”
“COSMOS!”
It’s a cloudy day, a little chilly but not too cold. Perfect weather for soccer. Today we were playing a team called Lighthouse. I play for the Cheltenham Cosmos. As a new player I didn’t get a lot of play time so when I got in I played my best. Aside from personal skills I have a serious height disadvantage. I am only 4’9 so I am really short compared to other kids my age. Despite all this I get up and work hard to earn my spot on the team.
“Jayden! Get ya ass over here!” The coach said.
“Yes coach” I replied anxiously.
“I’m putting you on left mid Will needs a break. Can you play that today?”
“Yes coach”
“That’s what I like to hear. Keep ya head in the game, now go warm up.”
I got excited, finally a chance to play. I got subbed in and the second I went in I was running back and forth to the ball. And back and forth and back then back then forth. In 7 minutes of me on the field I only touched the ball twice and when I got it I had to pass it right away.after 10 minutes coach subs me out and tells me I did good. This made me feel good cause now I have served my purpose, now I am worth something to this team. When I got back the team that was on bench all congratulated me and said I did. I was happy but I was thinking to myself, what did I do on the field to deserve so much praise? All I did was pass the ball. Halftime came and we were up,5 to 2. Coach says the score doesn’t matter that it’s always 0 to 0 during the entire game. We gotta play like it's Golden Goal. First Goal wins.
“We’re doing good boys keep up the intensity. Same line up but Jayden I want you up top. Your speed will creep on them and by the time they realize you’re there you gonna be gone. Put balls on net got it?” said the Coach
“Yes coach!” I said nervously
I usually play mid or defensive back but forward? That’s a whole other level, but I can’t let coach down so I gotta play my hardest. The half starts from the grip I’m already touching the ball way more. In 5 minutes I already had two shots on net. The goalie saved both of them but still, I’m doing good. Now here’s where I shine the other team has subbed out 3 kids on their defense. All of them are strong but not faster or more physical than me. I made a few good runs but I haven’t really done anything significant. During this one play, there was this one player who wasn’t paying me any attention.
“Ayo Brad watch 35 he’s on ya back.” said a player from the sideline.
“Yo don't worry about short stuff over there, focus on 13!" the player responded.
So you know this where the player from the other team messed up because I now am motivated to score because he thinks I’m not gonna do anything so now I gotta prove him wrong. The other team shoots the ball at our net and our goalie saved it.The ball gets punted up field and since the guy was so far away from me I just darted for it. One thing the player didn't know was that even though I'm short, i’m very fast and the player couldn't catch me. I ran so fast that I got the ball and put it the top right corner.
"Yeah don't focus on short stuff worry about the other boul" I said to the player as walked back to my position.The player had the funniest look on his face. Coach was so proud of me and I was happy. I finally proved myself.
All this happened four years ago. Today I am 16 and still playing soccer along with the new sport called Ultimate Frisbee. Soccer taught me that size should never matter. Every sport is strictly intellectual, it’s all in ya head. It’s not enough just to have skills and athletic abilities, you must have a drive and the will to keep pushing and fight for what you want.
Since that day I’ve carried that and always told myself to never give up. By the I’m still short, I’m only 5’3 now. So I know that I can do anything you put your mind to.
