BP really needs to clean up their act, because the oil spilled in the ocean could fill up to 102 gymnasiums, a remarkable and utterly repulsive numbers. This leaking problem needs to be solved and BP needs to pay for its expenses, considering that it is their fault and this will completely ruin their image.. BP is destroying ecosystems for marine life, and careers for thousands of fisherman. The least they could do is spend some money to clean up the oil, and give money to those who will lose their lifetime jobs and most likely their children's jobs. Even worse the oil is flowing into the loop current which could take this crude destructive oil and destroy the ecosystems and careers of those on the east coast. Therefore, BP needs to take swift and critical action to clean up this mess, because not only will the marine life and fisherman suffer, so will BP.

On April 24 I discovered a video on YouTube that showed a girl singing. Her voice was not quite the best, but she tried her best. I looked at the comments and were shocked by what they said. There were horrific saying that she should never sing again, and worse that I refuse to blog about. Her confidence amazes me and she does not give up her dream of singing even when the world brings her down. Nicole337 is her name, and she is a role model to me. Her courage and confidence in the world shows me that when the world brings you down you are always able to get back up. I watched most of her videos and my favorites were I kissed a lobster and My wisdom teeth story. I kissed a lobster made me feel that you should never give up on what you love.
For me this is running. I always get discouraged when I have a terrible race or get injured during a run. Or when my teammates aren't always the most encouraging, I think of Nicole337 and realize that this is what I love and I cannot let others keep me down. I know that I must show others that they will not be the reason I lose the race.
Nicole337 also helps me to think that others opinions do not matter. She has received nasty comments that would crush me... but not her she keeps singing and telling others that she does not care what they think. She impresses me with her extreme courage and self-confidence, some personality traits that others need. Others should look at her and realize that if they believe that they are not cool or unpopular, just look at Nicole337 and be inspired by her wit and strength.

I discovered her by my sister who was looking up people singing. She told me to come in and watch her and I felt bad for her when I saw the comments posted. From then on I knew that I should not make fun of anyone who may be different, because you do not know the suffering they have been through. Nicole337 changed the way I look at life and look at people. She is a hero in her own way, and her confidence is unbridaled. Everyone should realize that they should not hurt others because it very well can destroy their hopes and dreams.

I really did enjoy my 2010 freshman SIMUN experience as Venezuela. I found that my country, Venezuela, did not have a major role in any of the scenarios. I had to adapt to this problem by giving speeches on how I agreed with other nations and how Venezuela would help. For example in the scenario of Ukraine joining NATO, Russia was going to cut off gas to Ukraine, so as Venezuela, I made a business deal with Ukraine and supplied them with oil for a profit. I had a blast asking questions to people and making them blank out and give no answer, because it gave me the satisfaction that I succeeded as a questioner. The newsflash annoyed me because whenever I had a speech ready, a newsflash would change my whole argument. As a freshman I must say that SIMUN was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Overall I believe that I did a mediocre job. This is because I did not give many speeches, because I did not know what to say. I do believe that I did outstanding in asking questions; because I could think of questions no one else would have been able to come up with. I contributed in coming up with resolutions, such as making the United Kingdom pay compensations to those who were attacked by pirates in the Falkland Island dispute. I also believe that I motioned for a lot of caucuses that allowed our groups to rethink what happened when a newsflash occurred. I did a fair job in contributing during SIMUN.
I prepared by reading over many different articles of the same topic to know I was getting the right information. I was able to be confident when I presented a speech about a topic. I also prepared by going over parliamentary style on how to make a motion or ask a question. I also researched my country to find out who my allies and enemies were which came in handy during SIMUN when it came to caucusing.
Next year as a sophomore I will definitely give more speeches. Hopefully my country will be in some of the situations so I can actually have an important role. If not I will do more of agreeing with other nations and promoting ideas that will help resolve the situation. I will also try to ask even more questions than I did this year. I had a great time doing SIMUN this year and I just cannot wait for next year to do it all over again.

What is love? Love is different to all of us. Those who try to trap love, end up trying to escape from a relationship. One who try to understand love, and control it end up sad, and looking for more, but those who accept love in any way will be happier and feel less stressed when there around those that they love (or think they love.)The Zahir or obsession is what controls us, and drives us to obtain it. The Zahir is something we wish we could have, but we know we cannot have it unless we try. Loves sometimes can become The Zahir, and when it does, it can ruin your life. That is what happens too many, and it can very well cause those that we truly love, to turn away and shun us.
Love cannot be an obsession, it must be free, and when you allow love to be free you will live a more peaceful life. This may sound confusing but it makes sense. Imagine that you are in a relationship that you once loved, but over time that love faded. You are trapped and feeling the need to escape, and once you do your life is full of relief. However, if later in time the love starts to re-blossom, them a problem has occurred. The love that was once believed to be gone was only hidden, by something else in life. Such as stress, temptation, and extramarital happenings. Once this has happened, it will take a strong effort to kindle the fire that you once had with someone that you truly loved.
Overall Love cannot become an obsession or contained, the Zahir, but it needs to be free and not restricted to what society believes is correct to love. Love is free and flowing, and when it is trapped unfortunate events can happen to one.

Venezuela will help the United States by supplying them with oil so that they can use their tanks, helicopters, and oil operated machinery. In exchange we will want 6 billion dollars to help our people out of the current economic slum. We may not agree with the United States most of the time, but when a there is a threat to not only India or the U.S., but when an unstable terrorist group has the most powerful weapon in the world, we would be more than glad to help out the U.S. We will increase our oil production and refining to trade with the U.S. and help to prevent the Taliban to use the nuclear weapns.
We disagree with the U.S., but they are not unstable like the Taliban. The Taliban could easily bomb any country in the world, and that very well could be us. Our country could not economically afford any type of bombing, and if we were bombed our oil wells could very well be destroyed, along with valuable citizens of the Boliarvian Republic of Venezuela. If our oil wells and workers were destroyed our country would very well be gone, thus affecting the whole world considering that we are the 5th ranking oil supplier in the world. The reason why we are asking for 6 billion is that our economy is in a poor state, and we need money to help improve the living conditions of our people. The Taliban will not use these nuclear weapons, if the U.S. has something to say about it, and Venezuela will gladly help them in their quest.
We can not, and will not allow the world to suffer from the terror of the Taliban. So we will supply the U.S. military with oil in exchange for 6 billion dollars.

First Meet

I am very nervous for my very first high school track meet, Tuesday April 13. Stevenson is facing Salem, and I do not know how well they run. I am running one of my least favorite events, the 2 mile, and one of my favorite events, the mile. I despise the 2 mile because it lasts way too long. Imagine running 8 laps around a never ending oval; this is something I wouldn’t call super fun. When I run the 2 mile, I tend to zone out and notice the most random things. Such as, the rhythm that my feet make hitting the ground, or the color of someone’s shoes, but these random notices actually help me runs better, because I don’t notice the pain as much. Heart pounding, lungs panting, I finish the race with a sense of accomplishment, but then realize that I have another meet where I will have to go through the same torture. On the other hand, the mile gives me a sense of control. I know that race inside and out. How to pace myself, what times to hit, how to control my breathing, in this race I control everything. At the beginning of the mile, I can feel the tingle of adrenaline rushing through my veins, and once that gun, loud and frightening, goes off, I am running like a rabbit. The mile is definitely my favorite race, and that is one thing that I can look forward to on Tuesday.
People probably do not realize how important cheering on the runners is, but let me say that when someone is running, and feels like they’re about to fall over from fatigue, when someone hears their name be called, it gets the adrenaline pumping and the runner gets this whole new burst of fresh energy. It is a feeling that is very hard to explain, but it feels so amazing. Another awesome feeling is when someone gets a kick at the end of a race. When the end of the race is near, the body just wants to fly through it and finish. When the body goes into a “kick” everything freezes, noises drown out, sometimes the control of the bladder is lost, but you don’t care. The speed you gain is such a crazy feeling that it almost feels like the world has stopped, and it’s just your mind and your body competing against each other. If the mind conquers over the body, you will run at impossible speeds that you never thought possible.

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, has fascinated me each and everyday. The first event that impressed me was the woman's downhill moguls. At first I never heard of "moguls", but it is pretty easy to figure out. The mogul race is when you ski down a hill and turn around mounds of snow, and perform tricks off ramps. The scoring is based on how well you turn, your time, and a trick score. Hannah Kearney won the gold from the USA, and I was glad because she was by far my favorite mogul skier. Another event I wanted to see was the speed skating with Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski. I have never seen or even heard of speed skating until this Olympics. The was was very thrilling. Apolo was in fourth during the final lap until a terrible pass by the Koreans which knocked them over, and out of the race. Korea took the gold, Ohno took the silver, and Celski got the Bronze. It was the craziest race I have ever seen in my life.
The next event I couldn't wait to see was Lindsey Jacobellis in The Woman's Downhill Snowboard Cross. The snowboard cross is just a race to the finish on a snowboard. I was excited to see Jacobellis, compete again in the downhill cross after the 2006 Olympics in Torino where she fell down on the last jump and lost the gold medal and received the silver. Jacobellis made it through the preliminary rounds, but during the medal she went off coarse after the first jump. I was devastated to see that Lindsey came in 5th but was excited that Canada's Maelle Ricker took home the gold.
Speaking of gold, in Men's Figure Skating United States, Evan Lysacek, took home the gold after spectacular performance. He beat the Russia's, Yevgeny Plyushchenko, who was expected to win after his short program. Plyushcenko was Torino's gold medalist destroying the competition with a 10 point lead! That is amazing considering he only lost by 1 point this time around.
Lastly, I saw the Women’s Downhill Skiing with Linsdey Vonn. I heard she was amazing, but I had to see it for myself. She was the last to go,and I knew she had a bruised shin going into the race, so I was very nervous for her sake. It was a wonderful run, and she dominated the competition and took the gold, and the silver medalist was also from USA, Julia Mancuso. In conclusion, I can’t wait for even more Olympic activity this week.