My Life

Hi! My name is Rachel X. Xxxxxxxxx, but you can call me Rachel. I am going to tell you a bit about myself. I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, 10 weeks premature. This caused me to have a mild form of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia, but more on that later. As soon as I could fly (in an airplane), my mom and I moved back to Glenview where my grandparents lived. I then attended kindergarten and first grade at OLPH (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), a Catholic school that my mom had also attended. In first grade, I had surgery on my Achilles’ Tendons because of my cerebral palsy. Then, in the summer between first and second grade, I moved here to the loverly town of Aspen. That is a brief history of me. Now, let’s talk a little bit about my lineage. On my mom’s side I am German, Polish, Swedish and a little bit of English and Irish. My dad is African American and my lineage from this side is a little different. On my dad’s side, I am African American, Cherokee Indian and French. I live in Aspen with my mom, Bridget, and step-dad, Steve. My mom’s parents live in Glenview, a suburb of Chicago and my Uncle Tim and his wife and two kids live about an hour from them. My Uncle Brian lives in Chelsea, London, England with his girlfriend, Miriam. My Uncle Bob lives in Houston, TX with his girlfriend, Lisa. My dad, Keith, lives in Gambrills, MD about 45 minutes from BWI with my step-mom and younger half-sister. My dad’s parents are still married, but my grandfather lives in Georgia with another woman and 2 more of my uncles and my grandmother lives in Severn, MD near Fort Meade. My Uncle Kevin lives in Hanover, MD with his wife and child. Don’t you love my family.

Ooooh, fun! We get to talk about my interests and favorite things now. I love to read, watch movies, take pictures, act, dance (with my friends just for fun), and travel. My favorite subject is English and my least favorite is Math. I also enjoy hanging out with my family and playing with my dog. Another thing I enjoy is blogging which is like a journal on the internet. I do not play sports. I like to rock climb, but only on climbing walls. The reason I don’t like sports is because they are really hard for me because of my cerebral palsy. I have bad balance, hand-eye coordination and foot-eye coordination. I have gotten better, but sports still hold that fear for me. My favorite books are Twilight By Stephenie Meyer; The Charlie Bone Series By Jenny Nimmo; I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter; and the Regarding the..... series by Kate Klise. My favorite movies are Step Up (2006); Superman the Movie (1978); 9 to 5 (1980); Practical Magic (1998); How to Make an American Quilt (1995); The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and many more. Keep in mind that both the Harry Potter books and movies are givens. My favorite foods are frozen peas, Atomic Shrimp, Dove ice cream, baked sweet potatoes, ramen noodle soup, Giordano’s pizza, and beef and macaroni. And last but not least, here are my favorite TV shows, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Touched By an Angel, Early Edition, West Wing, Desperate Housewives, and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Those are my favorite things.

Travel is one of my favorite things to do. I have been to Maryland, Utah, the Grand Canyon, England, Isle Royale, France, Washington D.C., Chicago, and many other places. I am pretty sure that next summer, I’m going to France, Italy and Greece. I want to go to Hawaii, Africa, Japan, China, and tons of other places. I want to go to all these places so that I can observe and take pictures (with permission of course) of other cultures and hopefully grow as a person. I want to be educated about other cultures and the best way to do that is to visit them.

I am a very introverted person so people tend to think they know me and then be completely surprised. Something you wouldn’t know by looking at me is my father is black. Something most people don’t know is I am obsessed with Superman and Charmed (well, they know the Charmed part). Something else most people don’t know is I am a woman’s history buff. My biggest accomplishment in my life so far is taking and doing well on the SATs in 8th grade. The most important things in my life are my family, my best friend, and Charmed; they keep me sane, each performing its own special task. See, I told you, you didn’t know me.

I plan to have a future jam-packed with luxuries. In ten years, I want to be done with college, just beginning to write my second novel, and in the second year of my master’s degree. I want to be a librarian, a well-known author, and an famous actress. My biggest dream is to have a ton of successful books and make a ton of money. Then, with that money, I want to acquire the largest collection of books and Superman comic books in the world. I also want to use the money to rebuild the houses from all my favorite TV shows and movies and build a library that looks just like the Reading Room in the British Museum. And last, but most important, I want to take care of my mom. What inspires me is reading good books and loving books and hearing about child authors. I am also inspired by other people’s stories of travel, because I want to travel.

That is me and my life in three pages.

This is a paper I wrote for World Geography.

Aspen High School

School is back in session. I can't believe it summer went by so fast. That to the left is a picture of my high school. It was the only one I could find. I am thinking about taking my camera to school on Monday so that I can take some pictures and post them. School started on Thursday and it was a perfect day. I barely talked at all and got to go to the library during lunch. It was really hard to find my classes, but are only four a day so that wasn't bad. Here are the classes I have in order, Health, Lit. And Comp. Math, World Geography, Writing Workshop, MS Office, Biology, French and Heroes. But the weirdest thing so far of the school year happened Thursday evening. My old friend, Karla Hernandez who moved away in 6th Grade, showed up at my door completely unannounced and then even had the nerve to call me chubby. Rude much. There is one funny thing however, Karla was the first of our group of friends to get a chest and she was always bragging about it. Now though all of our chests are bigger than hers. It's like she stopped growing as soon as she left, I mean I'm pretty sure she is the same height as she was then. It was so weird talking to her because she was talking to the weak person I was when she left, the person who never said no to anything and I was talking the the current me the one who had her own opinions and didn't let people push her around. I have to go finish my evil World Geography essay. TTFN

Camp, Conference, What's The Difference??!!?

I went to a LeadAmerica conference this summer. It started on the 28th of July and ended on the 6th of August. Now what is the difference between a camp and a conference? Well for starters this conference was way more expensive than any camp I've aver gone to. Second it had this ridiculous dress code, especially with the D.C. heat. Third, it had an actual subject and we were supposed to be learning very specific stuff. Fourth, we had lectures every day and were expected to stay awake. I know that's what college will be like, but I'm not even in high school yet so give me a break. Fifth, you had to be recommended or invited, this conference was only for the best and brightest students (I feel special). Sixth, we had a crime scene simulation and did labs in like fingerprinting and such. Seventh and final, we were staying, (all four hundred of us) at Georgetown U., in actual college dorms. I had fun I guess, but it was definitely less fun than I expected. I was not expectng the amount of lectures we had and I was not expecting the lectures to be that boring. I not advise people to do this program, insted I would recommend one of the student ambassador programs where you get to go to different countries and most importantly don't have to sit in half as many lectures!!! The fact that my experience was not as good as it could have been was also due to some pretty nasty people in my Leadership Team. We though get 3rd place in the crime scene simulation inquest. Yay us!! While there we also went to the National Institutes of Health, the Museum of Natural History, theFDR memorial, Jefferson memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. I will post pictures later!!

Tattoo!!

The symbol to the left is the triquetra. If I were to get a tattoo right now, it would be a dark purple triquetra. The original reason I wanted it was because of, surprise, surprise, ... Charmed. In the show, it stands for the Power of Three, the three sisters fighting evil together, as one. Below is an explanation of what else it means. (I got this from The Unicorn Shoppe website.)

The Triquetra & The Three Stages Of A Woman's Life

by Sorer X

A few months back, a mother and daughter were shopping at our store when the daughter, a precocious nine year old, happened to notice the Triquetra necklace which we keep on display in our necklace case. "Do you know what that means?" she asked.

"Yes, I do," I replied, and began to tell her everything I knew about this symbol, which was sacred to the ancient Celts. I didn't get very far into my spiel, however, before the girl interrupted me rather impatiently. "No!" she exclaimed. "It's 'the power of three!'"

Her mother and I had a little chuckle over this. Obviously, the little girl was a fan of the Charmed television series and, in her mind, "the power of three" was all she needed to know. The historic details and facts, so important to my adult mind, were boring and mystifying to her. As far as she was concerned, pop culture had summed it up nicely when it boiled the meaning of the Triquetra down to "the power of three."

Actually, the writers at the popular WB series have hit the nail squarely on the head with their simple definition of this symbol. The Triquetra, indeed, represents "the power of three."

To the ancient Celts, as well as to other pre-Christian Europeans, the number three was associated with the Goddess, and with femininity in general. This was due to their observation that one of the main things that women have in common is what they called "the three stages of a woman's life." These stages are unique to women, as they revolve around the menses.

The first stage is childhood, pre-menarche, before a girl has her first period. This stage is called "Virgin" or "Maiden." This is a carefree time, filled with fantasy and play – a time when consciousness is turned mainly on the self.

The second stage, the childbearing years, begins with the onset of menstruation. These are the "Mother" years, when consciousness turns outward, to the home and family.

The final stage, which begins at menopause, is called the "Crone" or "Wise Woman" stage. In this stage, consciousness is often turned both within and without. Traditionally, this is the time when women take leadership roles within their communities and are honored for the wisdom they have accumulated through the years.

"Virgin, mother, crone" or "maiden, mother, wise woman;" just as the three points of the Triquetra represent this concept, the association of this "power of three" is seen in other Pagan symbols as well. The Triple Moon, for example, illustrates these three stages nicely with the waxing, full and waning moons, with the increasing moon being the maiden, the full moon being the mother, and the decreasing moon being the wise old crone.

Unlike the Triple Moon, the Triquetra is not a pictorial representation drawn from what the ancients could see in the world around them. The Triquetra is a function of geometry and is created entirely with a compass. This creation of symbols using geometry is called "Sacred Geometry," a practice that dates all the way back to the ancient Egyptians. The pentagram, hexagram (Star of David), and the various Celtic crosses are all derived from Sacred Geometry.

Like most Sacred Geometry symbols, the Triquetra hides secrets within its structure. For example, the creation of the Triquetra also creates, integrated into its structure, three incidences of the "vesica pisces," another sacred geometrical symbol that contains within it "The Golden Mean" or "Golden Ratio." The Golden Mean is encoded within the DNA spiral and the vesica pisces is considered by some to be the most feminine of symbols.

©Copyright 2005 by AlternativeApproaches.com

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