Icy Snow, Park City

It was cold. It wasn’t the type of cold where you could just throw on a jacket an be comfortable. This was the type of cold where you had to wear long underwear, thick, wooly socks, a warm sweater, and a sturdy jacket shell in order to keep the frigid wind and snow from turning your skin to cracked paper and your bones to brittle icicles. This was mountain weather.

The sun bathed the icy slopes of the mountain in a soft light, relfecting gently off the snow. I stepped into my skiis and prepared to start the day. My family had stuck me in Ski School, the boon of any young skiier. All the kids were disgruntled to be there; each preferred to either take a private lesson or do their own thing on the slopes.

We set off, the kids following the instructor like little ducklings following a mother duck. Even though I was in Ski School, I still loved being on the mountain, snow spewing out from behind my skiis, my poles crunching into the snow, propelling me forward faster and faster.

Zooming down the slopes, there was one girl in my group who continued to tick me off. We would be following the instructor, when all of a sudden she would cut me off. After about twenty minutes of her swerving in front of me, I had finally had enough. Sinking lower over my skiis and pushing hard, I quickly gained speed and caught up to the girl. As I neared her, I angled my skiis and proceeded to run over her skiis. She went tumbling as I tripped her and fell face-first into the snow. At the time I laughed until my sides hurt, but now I realize that what I did was dumb. And of course karma came right around and hit me back.

A few days later, my group went down a run with moghuls. The other kids had already been on moghul runs before; I never had. As I inched closer to the precipice, I peered over the edge and felt my stomach sink as I stared at the daunting slope before me. At the time, I had no clue how to ski over the enormous snow bumps, so I just winged it. I tried to go down slowly, working my way carefully down the run. I fell twice in two minutes; snow got into my jacket, my gloves, and my pants. Eventually, I made it to the bottom, completely covered in snow and very embarassed.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I had more coming. Next we went through a thin path through the trees; the ground was covered in slick ice and roots stuck up everywhere. Of course, the combination of these two factors made me fall. Again.

Oops.

I was in trouble. I slid and fell on my side. My left ski was caught in a twisted, gnarled root. My right ski had popped off and was lying about five feet above me. I was scrambling to get a handhold so I wouldn’t fall into the tree-filled gully below me. It took me about ten minutes and a plethora of expletives to extricate myself from my predicament. The rest of my group were all waiting for me when I finally came out of the woods, completely miserable, cold, and hungry.

Ampersands, Ellipses, and Tildes

The use of good grammar is imperative; for one not to harness the elements crucial to writing is disappointing. As Richard C. Trench said, “Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.” As the English language slowly dissolves back into its earliest patterns of grunts and brusque statements, the need to return to the elegance of Shakespearean prose and form becomes ever more apparent. One must know how to use a semi-colon; if they do not do so, their writing shall be ever lacking in a crucial punctuation mark. Commas, the little slashes that can change the whole meaning of a sentence, must also be mastered, for in not doing so a writer is greatly inhibited in his writing. Other such forms of punctuation such as the ellipsis (. . .), the tilde (~) and exclamation points (!) should also be found in a writer’s repertoire.

It is disappointing as to how far the English language has deteriorated.

DEBBIE: OMG, like, this super cute guy like totally checked me out today.

STEVE: No way! Thatiss like, crazy, LOL!

DEBBIE: I know! I was like, get outta here, when Janet told me. I totally thought she was jk-ing, but she was like no way it is true.

STEVE: Well, ob-v, Debs. You are one smokin’ hot babe.

If only things could return to how they used to be…

EDMUND: Salutations, Batilda.

BATILDA: Greetings, Edmund. How fare you on this fine day?

EDMUND: Quite well, my dear, and yourself?

BATILDA: Quite well, thank you.

EDMUND: I was pondering whether you would be interested in joining my family at our summer home in Westchester to go foxing.

BATILDA: Oh, how wonderful that proposition sounds to mine ears! Oh, blast it all, I already have made plans.

However, the over-use of punctuation can be detrimental. Sometimes. People. Do not know, exactly! How to use punctation~marks… which is a shame. Nobody likes, to be able unable () to use! proper punctation!

Alas…

Knowing when to use “quotation marks,” when to underline, or when to italicize is of the utmost importance as well. In order to learn more on each of these, reference the timeless Elements of Style, which includes such chapters as “Elementary Rules of Usage,” “Elementary Principles of Compostition,” and “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused.”

In summation using proper grammar and punctuation is imperative to the success of any good writer in doing so a writer can expand their usage of the English language after all who would want to read a piece of writing in which the author has paid no heed to basic sentence structure grammatical form or punctuation?

Blood on my Shirt

I can still feel the scars, even though you can't really see them. They've faded a lot, and they are barely noticeable. But I can still feel them.

I didn't even see it coming. One second I was petting the dog's back, the next it was latched onto my face. It was a pretty big dog; the canine's mouth enveloped my face, everything was dark and smelled like saliva. As I pulled away, the beast growled and I felt a ripping sensation.

I stood up in shock and stared at my friend. My face felt so weird. It didn't hurt really, it felt more like an odd pressure.

"What the--?" I managed to gasp.

I reached up to feel my nose. It felt like it had been smashed into my face. I gingerly touched my upper lip, right under my nose. When I pulled my hand down my fingers were covered in blood.

We rushed upstairs to get help. His dad rushed me back downstairs and into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. There I was, my face covered in blood and sweat, both dripping onto my white shirt. Red roses of blood bloomed across the front of my shirt, making it stick to my chest.
As soon as I saw this, a wave of nausea hit me, forcing me to sit down. I felt like I was going to throw up or pass out.

My face was sewn up at the hospital. I sat in the waiting area for the emergency room, holding wet paper towels to my face. I was called into a room. In order so that the doctors could stitch me up, they had to inject local anesthetics directly into each cut. One gash was in my cheek, the other next to my right eye, running down the side of my nose. The apex of the wound was five millimeters away from my eye. I had to get twelve stitches. Isn’t it strange that we remember these trivial things like the number of stitches we get? This happened to me five years ago, and yet I still remember how many sutures I got.

We had to throw the bloody shirt away. There was no way to wash the blood out.

For a while, I couldn’t be around dogs without being afraid. However, all these years later, my family might end up getting a dog. Now I can be around dogs without freaking out, as long as they are small and do not bite. My girlfriend’s dog and I have become best of friends.

Even though the dog bite was a traumatic experience, it helped me to grow. As they say, that which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

Food and my Ideal Meal

I love food. There is just something about it that makes me happy. I spend hours upon end, daydreaming about delicious feasts and delectable grub. Some people eat to live; I live to eat.

My ideal meal would consist of the normal three parts: appetizer, main course, and dessert.

For my appetizer, I would have Clams Positano, an Italian dish in which littleneck clams are steamed and then thrown into a hot broth with garlic, salt, and pepper. After that would be Clams Oreganata, or clams baked in breadcrumbs. Clams are easily my favorite food. Then would come fried calamari, an enormous plateful of small baby squid lightly fried to perfection and served with a garlic aioli for dipping sauce. To finish off my appetizers would be French Onion Soup, topped with melted Gruyere cheese and served with a side of toasted bread for dipping.

Steak and potatoes would start of my main course. The steak would be a prime filet mignon, cooked medium rare, and the potatoes would be prepared with an abundance of cream and butter so that they are light and fluffy. Following that would be a large thin crust cheese pizza, made with fresh mozzarella, so hot and melty that the greasy cheese falls off the pizza. Then I would have spaghetti carbonara, noodles tossed in a creamy alfredo sauce and covered in pieces of bacon. After that would come a crab sandwich, with the crab sautéed slowly in a lemon butter sauch, and the fresh bun lightly toasted.

For dessert, I would begin with something simple: a vat full of chocolate mousse. After I finished gorging myself on that, I would move on to a melting chocolate lava cake, with vanilla ice cream on the side. These two desserts tie for my favorite. Chocolate lava cake is incredible. A warm, moist chocolate cake, surrounding a pool of melting chocolate. When you add the vanilla ice cream, magic happens. I’m drooling just thinking about it. After the lava cake would come a chocolate-raspberry soufflé, with extra chocolate sauce on the side.

I have no idea how I manage to stay thin. It is a mystery.

However, I might not stay thin if I begin to eat some of the food shown on one of my favorite websites, www.thisiswhyyourefat.com. Some of the foods shown include a BBQ Pulled Pork Donut Sandwhich, a “BBQ pulled pork sandwich with two glazed donuts for the bun, peach guacamole, roasted tomato
salsa, and Chipotle Cheddar Cheese Wiz.” Maybe I would gain a few pounds after eating a plate of chocolate covered bacon with sprinkles. Despite the fact that these all sound rather unappealing, I am still tempted to try some.