Best Moment- Sunset League Finals

Our cross country season didn’t end the way we had hoped it would. We still qualified and placed top 10 at state meet, yet we were expecting so much more. My most memorable moment during my senior year would be our Sunset League Finals race in October. It was probably my best race of the season and one of our team’s best performances.

We were all eagerly anticipating league finals. It was our chance to get back at Esperanza High School whom had taken victory from us at League Prelims. The race was postponed a week due to the fires, but we still trained hard giving it our all indoors at gyms. On the starting line we stood nervously waiting the gun. We were three peat defending champs looking for our fourth victory. It would be close but we all wanted to do it. The gun went off and we and Esperanza were constantly butting heads. It was a battle but we knew this course to well here at Central Park. We had by far the most in the crow their supporting us. Alumni from past years even came during the week after their school day to cheer us on. Striving to give it our all, we finished the race on a 6th man tiebreaker, and won the meet.

After as a team, we showed our unity chanting our Left Side Strong Side cheer for all to hear. We left all other teams in awe. They watched and knew we had won again, for the fourth time. Nothing can ever crush this team’s pride and unity; it’s what separates us from everyone else.

The First Dollar

Everyone always remembers that first something that you save up for yourself, as a kid. It’s the first time that you actually buy it with your own money that you saved for. Well for me, it was a green Pocket Gameboy with a Gameboy Camera.

When I was back in second grade, the “cool” toy that everyone was playing with was the Pocket Gameboy, the mini device that was selling out in toy stores and was portable to fit in your backpack to show off at school. Not too mention all the commercials of the newest Gameboy product, the Gameboy Camera made it look fun to take pictures and play around with them, expanding faces and adding different objects on pictures to make them look humorous. Since I never even owned a camera, it seemed like the first game to get with my hopeful soon to be Gameboy.

My mom had said that she wouldn’t buy it for me, that I had to learn to work for things and not just have them given to me all the time. Luckily I already had a head start with money from my birthday. My grandmother helped, she offered me a few different jobs to earn some money such as: cleaning her front door, cleaning the house, and watering plants. There I sat everyday in my blue overalls after school, scrubbing away at her front door or helping her pick up the house. I realize grandmas always want to help give you things, they spoil us and that what they are best known for, but I know now that she did it more for the extra attention that I couple spend with her on afternoons. We talked about different things while we cleaned. My mom also gave me work, she just told me to dust all the shutters, and take care of the dog everyday. With those jobs it only took a couple weeks before I was running around at home taking pictures of people and expanding their faces or adding an extra eyeball on their forehead.

Recently, a couple months ago I found that Gameboy and the Gameboy Camera. I thought it was kind of funny that I still had it hidden away with my stuff and the fact that it’s so outdated. The fact is it’s just a reminder of the first time you worked for something you wanted. I mean working to buy a toy isn’t all that serious or exciting but there has to be a first time for everything. From there you learn to work for much harder things to reach like grades or other goals in life. You always start easy but from there you learn to progress.