Coming of Age: Draft

            Today, people now know me as the girl who’s outgoing and fun to be around. Where as in the past, I would always clutch tightly clutch onto my mother’s hand, trying to hide behind her.  This all changed when I was part of a soccer team. Soccer changed the way I associate with others today. It changed my life forever and showed that I grew more mature.

            I walked onto a soccer field for the first time in my life not knowing how to play or what to do.  Everyday for the first couple weeks of practice, I would always complain to my mom about how I hate the sport. She didn’t bother listening to my comments because for some reason, she absolutely knew that I would come to love this sport, and she was right. For that Saturday when we played our first game, some thing magical happened. The girl who had no idea how to play was starting to dribble past all the approaching defenders and score the first goal for the Pink Butterflies! That wasn’t the end, after I was dribbling up and down the line as if I were training for the Olympics. I could hear the roaring sounds of the parents cheering on the sidelines supporting our team through the whole game. Then suddenly I hear my soccer team running up to talk to me. I made a bunch of new friends and got along with all of them, something I wouldn’t expect. This glorious day will always be with me because it made me realize, soccer is the sport for me.

            By the time I was in fifth grade, my coach decided that it was time for me to join club soccer. At first, I was timid about it and thought of it as too competitive, but my parents and I exchanged some looks and realized, competition is exactly what I need. In that instant, soccer was what I did just about everyday. As my dad parked his truck on my first day practicing, I took one big leap out. Drastically gripping the handles of my bag, I start making my way to the practice field where I saw my coach and team. This first day of practice wasn’t the greatest. It’s a hundred times more intense then any A.Y.S.O. practice I’ve ever been to. We started off with simple warm ups which lead to scrimmaging. Just about everything I did on the field was criticized by the coach, whether I passed it, kicked it, or shot it.  With a few more weeks of training, I started getting a whole lot better. Making new friends was starting to get easier, and easier. Soon enough, I wasn’t known as the quietest girl on the team.

            Finally, high schools just around the corner. To best prepare me for high school season soccer, I joined summer league for Moanalua. Luckily I had my friends join with me. When we played our first game, I thought of as just another simple game, but I was wrong. When I saw how the upper classmen play, I knew I had to step up my game. Those girls were fearless as they passed the ball side to side around everyone like it was a game of pinball and knocked down whoever got in there way. This made me want to practice and train even harder. The day of soccer tryouts came and I put my whole heart into it. They announced that I made the junior varsity team, I was ecstatic! Seeing the girls who were on my team was a little intimidating, but it didn’t bother me. After getting used to my high school team, I wanted to show the coach that I had what it took to be one of the leaders. Shoving the other team as I got the ball, cutting the ball side to side, passing the ball with lightning pace, I knew I was making an impression. Then suddenly, my voice somehow found a way out of my body. I was actually communicating on the field. “Drop back! Man on”, I was starting to become a real soccer player. By doing this, my coaches’ saw that I had true potential. From that day on, I’ve been starting every game for High School and I train everyday with an even greater passion.

            True, when I was younger I was so shy that people didn’t even know my voice. Now, that’s the past. Soccer has leaded me to be the person I am today. Today, I can’t even remember my life without soccer. I may not be a complete social butterfly yet, but at least I’ve gotten better. That’s when I knew, soccer was my coming of age.

BLOG REVISIONS!!!

For my blog, I changed the title to "don't frown, write it down". Then I replaced my old background to a tie dye background. This made my page pop and it went well with my picture because it made the whole theme of this blog fun. I also changed the colors of the headers and links so it goes along with my colorful theme. Lastly, I organized my blog archive by month so it's easier to find.

Mini Essay: Position Statement

There has been a number of incidents dealing with the dangers of some of Hawaii's nature attractions. Although people are saying that it's the States fault for this, the real people to blame are the visitors. They're responsible for their own safety. First of all, people need to take the caution signs seriously. Even with these warnings, people are still taking the whole situation too lightly.Paula Ramirez and Elisabeth Brem died when walking off a cliff near Opaekaa Falls in kaui. The article states that "there was a sign on the left trail advising to keep out." This was to prevent people from going beyond that point, but they didn't listen. Furthermore, the tourists who visit this blowhole can't take this situation lightly, they need to always take precaution. For example, even though visitors heard about cases of others dying and disappearing at the blowhole, there were still a bunch of visitors who decided to gather closely around the blowhole area at Nakalele Point. Knowing about past deaths dealing with this site should be giving people a clearer idea of how they need to be more careful. Lastly, as you visit an unfamiliar place with deathly hazards, it should be common sense to look out for your safety. Unfortuately David Pott's didn't care at all about his own safety. He was seen carelessly dancing around the blowhole which later lead him towards his death as a large wave knocked him in the blowhole. Therefore, it's not our states fault for these deaths dealing with our natural attractions, it's the careless visitors to blame.

glo website

http://www.wix.com/ttakas808/hi


What did you learn about your child's achievements and experiences in MeneMAC this past year?

revision: coney island life

"Coney Island Life" by James Weil is about how life is a carnival. Like how he compares his situations in life to a roller coaster going up and down, or him being on a marry-go-round trying to grabbing the brass ring till his moments in life were ending and he needed to take some risks before he passed.


"On roller coaster ups and downs", meaning his life shows the negatives and positives just like roller coasters that go from it's lows to highs. 


The structure's pretty short and it emphasizes certain words towards the end. The length of the poem helped you understand the poem and also easier to make relationships towards it. The short, two worded phrases at the end, showed what showed what he was doing in life and emphasized it so it stood out. For example: "and ask" or " I have" shows how he interpreted his life and what makes him realize life is going past.


"I take my last ride on a planet carousel". This explains how the rides at his carnival might be his last. Then he asks himself, "how many more times around do I have". He's thinking of what has his life become and how he can live it to the fullest before he dies.


This poem talks about James Weil's hopes and dreams being compared to roller coasters and balloons because roller coasters has its ups and downs while balloons are like high hopes. So basically, this poem is relating to a carnival and life.

Two Sides Of Paradise Draft

    Hawaii's tourism attractions has been making a lot of money for our state, however, all attractions had been covering up a lot of the natural beauty of our islands and it's culture. I know I love going to the beach, and climbing up moutains to see the scenery. But sometimes I just see buildings. What's said to be some magical island get away, Hawaii isn't that different from the mainland. In fact, we're getting worse. So what we need to do now is  make sure we keep a limit to the attractions that hides our islands true self.
     Obviously, the most popular tourist attraction is the gorgeous beaches. Now days, it's getting over crowded where nobody can relax. For example, Waikiki beach is getting amazingly crowded. Ninety-Five percent of locals say that they prefer beaches that are peaceful, without the commotion. Also, with all these tourists on the beach, a bunch of trash is always left behind. Not everyone is responsible. Furthermore, with all these attractions on the beach, some tourists forget  about the true beauty of the beaches here. There are bunches of posters and stands advertisements, most people get distracted.
    Secondly, when attracting more and more people to Hawaii, it's going to be hard for us to make a living. When there's more and more people living in one area, there won't be that much space left and to find a property space will be expensive. Another thing is that prices of the simple things at the stores will rise. With all these new people, most items will be wanted more so stores need to import costing us a little more money. Even though it's only a little bit of extra money, the price will add up to great amounts.
    Lastly,  most tourist don't know whats traditional in Hawaii and what's not. Well, there's different hula interpretations. Some people see posters of people dancing in grass skirts and it they think its only hawaiian. Truth is, it can be most of the Polynesians who dance and dress similar. Each way is still different though. Also, our music has been expressed moderately and different. For example, hula is now using more upbeat music. Traditional hula will mainly use ipu's. The ukulele didn't even originate from Hawaii. Now days people think the ukulele is all Hawaiian when really its not. Locals sometimes get offended by this.
    In conclusion, all these tourist attractions are covering who Hawaii really is. We should try keep traditions going and limit all the attractions. Hawaii just isn't the same without the culture and scenery.

querencia draft

It was five in the morning and I stretched my arms and legs as far as it can go while making a huge yawning noise. As I struggled getting out of bed, I walked into the living room where my mom and dad were getting the fishing poles lined up, making spam musubi's, and packing all our close. Today was going to be the first day I went to portlock.
All our faces still appeared dead. But we all piled into the car and headed off. I remember when we were driving there, I was just about to sleep in the car when suddenly the car comes to a stop in a caldasack. I stepped out and all I saw was houses and a bunch of trees next to them. During this time, the sun came out but it was still dull. We had all our equpiment and gear ready to go. I remember asking my dad "where's the beach?" He just chuckled and said, "follow me."So we all followed him towards a path within the trees. I took every step with caution knowing that it was sort of steep and slippery. Finally we came out from within the trees and we saw beautiful waters where there was life all around the reef. But we weren't at the right spot just yet. I was carefully walking on the reef and holding onto my dad as tightly as I could because I was afraid of falling. As i was walking, I saw tiny fishes peeing out of holes but swiftly swimming away as we approached, the sea urchins where I didn't go near, and felt the waves slowly rising up as I got closer. Finally! We got there and I remember thinking to myself, "nothing much." But then we started fishing and casting out our poles. That's when I felt a sudden tug on my pole. I was reeling it and reeling it as long as I could! My arms felt like it was going to fall off already, I had no more energy. Then my dad helped me reel in the fish and there it was. I caught a big papio and it shined looking as it the fish were made of tin foil. Soon after we started to catch more and more fish! Everyone screamed out "HANAPA'A!" Eventually we all got tired and had a break. My sister and I were drenched in sweat and all we wanted to do is take a dip into the ocean. My mom had a perfect idea.  She took us on the bridge that was about twenty or thirty feet high. My dad took the first jump and boy it looked fun! I was so confident and ready to jump off but when I looked down, I was super nervous and felt the chicken skin on my arms. So my mom placed me on the ledge of the bridge, I closed my eyes and jumped. It was both refreshing and exciting! After I wanted to just keep going and going. Once I jumped in, I ran to the bridge and just kept jumping off again. The day seemed to go by pretty fast, when it was time to go, I didn't want to leave! From this day on, I knew that portlock was a special place. Everyone in my family bonded even more. We were so happy to come back with all those fishes and stories to tell. Every time my dad asks, "where should we go fishing?", I say portlock!