Before I start this post, I just want to say this is my imagination based on the real story of Jurassic Park.

The girl slowly creeped through the forest alone. She did not want to be there, but she knew it was the only way to solve the mystery of the raptor. The deeper she went the darker it was. The branches sighed and heaved in the creepy wind. Soon, the trees got thicker and thicker. Black clouds rolled ominously in. A sense of dread and absolute terror washed over her like an icy shower.

She was near, she knew it. Enormous rain drops fell, but it was all in slow motion… At first it was distant, then soon it sounded like a starting truck right in her ear. – No, it can’t be… No I thought… No… – as she started started to go numb with realization and fear, the “thing” got closer and closer. Every particle in her body was telling her to run, but she wanted so badly to discover the Raptor mystery. – Three seconds more… Two just two… 2…1… –
1…

A second to long. The sound was now like a jet plane landing right by her ear. Against her will of discovering the amazing mystery, she turned and sprinted. – All that for nothing – she scolded herself – so close, I was so close -. As she ran her lungs felt like popping balloons and her legs like Jell-O. She knew this was a fast, merciless, repulsive, greedy and especially hungry monster. She knew it would have no trouble devouring her if she slowed down by even the fraction of a second.

Thump, thump, thump. The ground was vibrating. Slowly, out of sheer curiosity she took a peek. She stopped cold. She knew this was it when she stared into the sinister, cold-hearted, blood-red eye…

Failure: a word that is commonly used for shame. Yet it is a tool for success. No matter how odd this seems to you: failure is important. Here is why failure is important….

To the average person, life wants to be full of adventure and it wants to be successful. For instance, most do not want to spend their life knowing and living in failure. So what does failure have to do with success? Well, it is quite simple. A mistake leads to failure, a failure leads to not doing the same thing ever again… it also may lead to giving up, but that is in extreme cases, I mean EXTREME CASES!!!! This has probably or might have happened to most people: failing on a test or quiz. Simple failure, but great example. It is also NOT a “giving up” failure. Only when you actually, truly experience failure you then and only then understand why it is so important and that you will not do the same again. So it is crucial for shaping up as a better person and understanding that life may have mistakes, but you always know that you will NEVER do the same again because you want to be successful.

Failure is also a part of a person’s life, I mean perfection….please!! Whoever thinks they are perfect needs a serious reality check. Sometimes we may think that we do things better than others and sometimes we do! Although we may have a higher level of knowledge on a particular thing, we are NOT perfect. Once I was nonchalantly doing my homework and then my little brother walks up to me and asks me if I could help him on his homework. I did help him and I thought it was the easiest thing in my life and I even thought… even thought…. that I was perfect, I know, I know, it was a solemn mistake. Perfection, a word that should never have been made. Perfection is a lie.

Humans are imperfect, it is the mostly unspoken truth. Humans also want to be successful, I mean who doesn’t? Failure helps us in ways that is hard to even imagine. Failure is truly a part of every human that lives on this earth (that is, as long as they are humans…). It is the key, the ingredient to a recipe of success!

Photo Credit: Drriss & Marrionn via Compfight

Hello everybody! I am officially back from Costa Rica. We did many things in Costa Rica, like surfing and swimming and A LOT of driving but, if I told you all the stories and experiences in Costa Rica well… you would be reading for ages. So let me get on with the short story.

On New Year’s Eve we woke up at 6:15 in the morning to go to a rafting tour (sounds awesome right? Well it was). At around 7:10 a tour bus arrived to take us to breakfast. We had a short breakfast and went back on the road for one hour and twenty minutes, sooner or later we got to the river. Later we put all our gear on and went to get a short explanation of how to do rafting, even though I listened it felt like he was all distant, I just could not help being extremely excited!! I was wondering how far we would go, how much fun we would have and who would fall off (secretly I was hoping my brother would).

After that long explanation I literally jumped on the raft and the guide looked at me like I was crazy (which I sort of was…). Once the guide pushed us out, we were off. The rapids started right when we got on the water and boy was that a thrilling ride! At first I thought it was going to be one rapid but, I was wrong because we had at least twenty big rapids. We went through many rapids while our guide told us to do this or that. One rapid was called el Boca del diablo and it went down really fast. While we went down our guide help us do something called “surfing“. It’s where we go on the part of the rapid that is going down and as you get on part of it the raft stays there and we had lots of fun.

Many rapids later we stopped on the side but, not on the side we were supposed to be on. Then, our guide got out of the raft just as I saw something move in the water. I sat upright as still as a statue. Later, something stranger happened and our guide jumped into the water and did what looked like wrestling the water (and at that time I thought he was crazier than me and that is a big thing to say). Then, he stood up triumphantly with an iguana on his shoulder (ok I thought wrestling water was weird but, this is above all the weirdest things I have seen). Soon after all the pictures were taken we went back on the rapids and had a great time.

Even though iguana skin feels weird, sort of like a snake and I was almost grossed out because later on it started wiggling I still found that cool. It was an odd yet awesome experience, one of a lifetime and I hope you guys have crazy experiences like that too.

Most people spend Christmas in their homes, with warm pajamas and hot chocolate. Well, that WAS us, now we are going to different places, very different.

“PRESENTS!!!” All of us yell, “it is not even Christmas!”. Let me back up a little so you know what is going on. My brother wakes up and walks into my parents room. He says, hi and many other things, that probably bore my parents right back to sleep but, then my brother spots a green wrapping under my parents bed. So as my brother peeks under, my mother gives and exasperated sigh and gets out of bed to put the presents under the tree. He starts getting excited and jumps up and down while yelling. So, the elephant (a.k.a my brother) woke me up. I walk up the stairs grumpily and once I see the tree, I give an excited yelp and grin.

Later that day, my mom grabs the presents as we are about to eat dinner. She sets them on the table like nothing ever happened. We all look at each other wondering why we are opening presents so early but, judging by the looks on my mom and dad’s face they were not going to tell us. My mom told us that we should open the presents. I gave them a quizzical look then started unwrapping. We all got the same thing, a pair of Keen shoes. Ok, I thought, nice shoes but, why these shoes, I mean… Their cool but some explanation must come with this. Then my short problem was solved, my dad pulled out three pieces of paper. He passed them out and we opened them and I was still very confused. As we looked at the paper, four pictures were on it. A picture of a monkey, a surfer, a zip line and rafting. Well, I decided, more confusion. Then, my dad pulled out another set of three papers and finally it had the answers I was looking for. I opened it slowly knowing this was the 1000 dollar answer, the Yahtzee or whatever you want to call it. An image I had never seen before was on there, a arrow pointing from Austin to Costa Rica. I blinked like a hundred times just to make sure I was looking right. My brother, instead of being taken in to silent astonishment, screamed then fake passed out. We all laughed and then, even though it took a while my parents “rallied up the troops” and we ate dinner.

I still cannot believe this happened, even though I have to wake up at 5:00 A.M. When I come back I will try to write a blog post for you guys about it. Speaking of blog I really appreciate all of your comments, thank you. Merry Christmas and happy new year or (as they say in Costa Rica) Feliz Navidad!!!

WHAM!! That doesn’t sound good, I thought weakly to myself. Only to find out that horrifying noise came from me. This is the story of my favorite mistake and how I still have a weird looking scar on my chin. Spending the first playdate with my new friend in the ER is not exactly my kind of fun and this is how it goes.

SPLASH, SPLASH, that was completely exhausting, I thought. My friend, her name was Margaret, my sister and I had just gotten out of the Lost Creek Country Club swimming pool. Even though we were completely used up, we still had the energy to jump in and swim in the lukewarm top pool where all the kids that don’t do swim team went to enjoy themselves. My sister asked Margaret with great excitement to push her backwards into the pool. So, of course, she pushed her. My sister went back with an excited yelp and fell in the pool, hard. Seconds later she literally sprang up and yelled, AGAIN, AGAIN!! She never got her turn because I intervened, I asked maybe a little too loud for Margaret to push me because some people looked at me with rather annoyed faces, but I felt no guilt, I was extremely excited. I got to the edge of the pool and put my back to it. I got ready and silently counted 3…2…1…and that’s when all the problems began.

This is when the CRUNCH I mentioned earlier comes in. I looked around but it was all a little blurry, all I could really see was the shocked faces of parents and children. My mom and Margaret’s dad came into view and pulled me out of the pool. Surprisingly, no blood was in the pool but, when you looked at my face, well, it was the total opposite. I was freaking out so bad I did not even know when my tears ended and the blood began. Luckily enough, Margaret’s dad was a fireman and her mom was a doctor. Even though Margaret’s mom was not here, her dad was and he had a couple tricks up his sleeve. They bandaged up my chin and through the shock, I thought, I must have looked like a marshmallow was sprouting from my chin. But, those thoughts quickly fled because they were helping me up. Soon enough my weak body hobbled out of the club and into the car.

The car felt like it was driving at 100 miles per hour because, what seemed like five minutes later I was almost across town and into a hospital. Margaret came along with us because she was supposed to have a playdate. My mom and I carefully walked out of the car and into the ER, while Margaret and my sister sat down and started watching tv in the waiting room. My mom explained hurriedly what had happened and soon enough I was out of sight of my friend and sister. After what seemed like hours later, my chin got glued up and I was extremely glad I did not have to get stitches. My mom and the doctor talked about it and with the sounds of it, it did not seem good. Later, I was walking weakly out of the ER and we went home. So much for my first playdate with Margaret, I thought laughing silently, as we got into the car and zoomed away.

I think I took the pushing backwards thing a little too far. I was a little too much of a daredevil then and now I realize that some things CAN be taken a little too far. It never even crossed my mind that something like this could have happened. Now, I know to think before I do something like that and go over the possible things that could happen to me if I do it. Though that does not stop me from wanting to bungee jump or even jump off a 50 foot building with only a harness and a metal rod sticking out of the building to hold you. Only know now that I have to be careful of what I do and now I know for later that I will never make the same or any similar mistakes again.

Where I am from

I am from a different country

Where the language is unknown to most

Where the biggest part of my family is from

Where snow falls by the meter

I am from a unique family

Green eyes is my specialty

Blond hair is a secret my brother and I share

I am from under a red roof

A stone house

Plain but beautiful in it’s own way

And an explosion of different shades of green around

I am from the need of chocolate

To being nervous to speak in front of a crowd

I am from getting angry at my brother with a snap of a finger

To doing things that are excruciatingly boring like homework

I am from sadness

The pain I felt when my poor, 18 year old uncle died

The agony I felt as when my forehead got cut open

I am from a favorite place

The comfy, snug living room

With the chocolate brown couch

And the hot, dry Texan sun shining big and bright

I have had homework, you have had homework, almost all of us has had homework and we can all agree it is not the best past-time. This is a little post on what goes on in my head during the time I do homework.

Whoosh, the crisp, new paper softly lands on my desk. Ugh, why? WHY!?! I think to myself. A giant wave of anger and bitterness washes over me, I jumbles all my thoughts. Screaming in my teacher’s face, all of a sudden, sounded like a great idea right about now. Paper after paper seemed to be invading all my free time. The fresh and amazing smell of outside seemed so tempting…NO! Just finish the homework already!! I thought angrily to myself. Tap, tap, tap, it’s like my poor, restless foot is telling me to do something that is not excruciatingly boring. Homework all the time is definitely NOT my idea of fun. Though, it seems this is the teacher’s idea of “fun”. My mind is literally turning to mush, HELP!!!

Among the rows of shoes along the the rack, I, even I, have my favorite pair of shoes. They have been put in place of my once new and clean sneakers but now; not so much.

These shoes have taken me to boring, old places like a freezing cold H.E.B or to thrilling takeoff’s on plane’s to see my relatives. Despite being my favorite shoes, it means they are surely going to get dirty, which means I have had to wash them several times already. Between long road trips in a car for hours of uncomfortableness to walks in the mud, there is no doubt that they will need to be scrubbed with great force in a small sink that only withstand so much water.

Without those shoes I would not be able to “twin” with my friend. Those were just a few reasons I love my wonderful, turquoise Vans. Now, how about you?

It’s a dark and stormy night…Halloween. Is Halloween just about the candy or the mystery behind it? You may say you don’t believe in ghosts and zombies or even vampires, and I respect your decision, but listen to this and it may change your mind.

I was in the car with my sister and my brother and my mom we were going to drop her off at a friends house. Finally, I thought, we arrived. As my sister bounced out of the car I walked out slowly, sulking and thinking, hey why does my sister get all the play dates! We got to the door and my sister rang the doorbell. The door swung open violently just to see a girl grinning from ear to ear. They both hugged for what seemed like hours and then we got invited in.

My mom and the other mom chit-chatted away, we sat down and of course it was near Halloween so we all had this urge to tell scary stories. My sister’s friend started and she told a story about two grandparents that lived in a house that was supposedly Haunted. She said that every day the grandparents would hear the sound of footsteps on the creaky old floor, a crying baby and the sound of a mother singing a sweet, soft lullaby but, every time they went up they saw nothing.

Silence… Then finally I asked her was if that story was true, thinking, why did I just ask her that, I don’t believe in ghosts. The only answer I got back was “true story”. I laughed so hard it hurt, and she looked at me funny. She asked why I was laughing and I said because she was messing around with me. She stared at me and I waited for her to burst out laughing but she just kept staring. From that point on I believed her…true story.

At home
In the kitchen
Among the pots and pans
Along the countertops
With sugar sprinkled everywhere
Upon us a bowl of eggs and flour waiting to be mixed
After much time passes
On the only clear spot, lies a beautiful Red Velvet cake
Ready to be eaten

Written by Izadora and Carmen