Pushing Your Luck

This is a journal response that I did earlier this year in ELA. It was about how and why people push their luck. Why does it seem that human nature encourages us to always push for just a little bit more?

Pushing Your Luck
By Tess Nesca 9-7


Some people more then others like to “push the envelope.” They like to bend the rules and get just a little more. But why, for the thrill, because they believe its right, or maybe, because they just can’t handle authority! I know a lot of people who think, “That’s stupid!” and just don’t bother, as well as people who know it’s not stupid but get a kick out of doing it anyways. There is yet another category of “Luck Pushers” though. The ones that just don’t care. They think, what have I got to loose? Or, what can you do about it? And what’s more is, if asked why they push their luck most of them would say they don’t. It’s like some people come to a dead halt at the line of limits and others just step over as if it wasn’t there.
Example: No cell phones in school. One kid always sits at the back texting. The weary teacher finally gives up and ignores him. Then the other kids start to notice. Now they want to know why they can’t text.
What’s the problem here? Yes, together the kids are pushing the line until it finally disappears but are they, as the Luck Pushers the real problem? Perhaps, our problem rests in the hands of those around the Luck Pushers who either joined them or failed to stand up to them and just watched the line get pushed.
Some other people push their luck because they believe their being treated unfairly. If you don’t want people challenging the rules then don’t make stupid rules. It’s as easy as that. If you say no without a good explanation people, kids especially, will want to do it just to disobey you. Lay your foot down and that will just make them more determined to not listen. If we learn how to make a “friendlier line of limits” then perhaps people won’t feel as inclined to push their luck. We cannot stop people from pushing their luck but instead, just maybe, we can encourage them to see reality and not push so far, therefore, hopefully limiting their recruits.

Exert from My Novel

This is an exert from an unnamed novel I've been writing at home. It's a love story about three girls that accidentally wake up, not in the 21st century, but in a strange land were king, queens, magicians, and pirates struggle to right their falling democracy. Between twisted political games, sword fights, and mismatched magic the three girls must find their way through bad weather, stormy seas, broken hearts, and forgotten history. One girl will find her way, one girl will open her eyes, and one girl will make the ultimate sacrifice, all in the name of love.

It was while she was still standing there admiring the wonders outside the window, that the perfect young man to finish off the scene stepped gracefully through one of the doors. He was a prince out of your favorite novel. In fact, the only flaw Teresa saw was in his soul. It was ice, sharp cold ice. There wasn’t anything wrong with his appearance, he just looked cold. Not a thing about him was warm and welcoming. He had a pale complexion, and his skin was so flawless he could have been carved of stone. He was tall and formal looking, though seductive and mysterious from his soft downy black hair to his large dark eyes and full red lips. His eyes interested Teresa, they were like open wounds filled with unmentionable pain, intensity, and an anger that would make most people back away from its blaze.
Teresa was not most people though. She was never one to back away from a challenge or run away from pain. She was fire and he was ice. Subconsciously, she took a step towards him.

Bad Day

This was a poem that I wrote earlier on this year. It's one of my personal favorites because it makes me smile every time I read it and reminds me things aren't that bad. I got the inspiration from the song Bad Day by Daniel Powter.

Bad Day

Today was a bad day
My rainbow dripped to rain
And blue sky’s faded to gray
Dew scattered
And my smile slipped away
Yes indeed, today was a bad day

But for every bad day a good one must follow
So I worked up a smile and went but a mile
There the rain stilled for just but a moment
Gray lightened to blue
And suns rays colored the dew
And my rainbow in which had first dripped to rain
Finished the picture on that not so bad day

Short Story to Music Video

I wrote this story based on a music video by Nickelback.

THE MAN THAT CAME BACK
By Tess Nesca 9-7

Life in the country has its ups and downs like everything. It’s beautiful and allows you to see life’s deeper shades, the shades that aren’t always visible. The only downside to this vibrant world is that sometimes those deeper shade are darker then the rest. Often, like many vivid things that come with the land, if you fall upon a dark shade it will hover and follow you forever. Like one years bad crop, that shadow will leave an imprint on your land, your heart, and your life. The people knew that and understood it, although not all accepted it. Perhaps it was for these reasons he left.
No one knows for sure why he left. Some say it was the letter of foreclosure, others say it was his pride. It happened in a time when many left. They packed up their lives, stuffed their souls in old bags and fled. He did not flee though, he was different. He rather slithered away, with his head down in shame and his eyes holding the look of a broken man. Yes, his eyes that had once shined clear blue from the pool of life had then looked like a shattered surface broken by a stone. That stone, with a single throw, had broken his soul in a million pieces. He did not leave with hope of a better tomorrow, no, he just left.
What of his family though? What of his son left without a fathers guidance and his wife without a husbands support. Of course, they made it through. Everyone can make it through, just grit their teeth and pass. But how were they to live? I mean really live. How were they to live with sustenance and happiness, to live whole? His broken family couldn’t. They weren’t capable of just picking up the pieces and moving on. They had too many memories, too many photos on the wall.
His wife worked night and day to be everything he wasn’t and his son faded away. His son sat and watched the children playing from a very different world and he heard the fathers laugh from his strange fatherless world. Together his family tried, they really did, but they couldn’t move forwards through the tatters of an empty past. They just couldn’t reach the present for they lived with a ghost among them. The presence they conjured up to fill the spot left empty. They had everything but him.
The problem with the past is that it never stays the same. It wanders and it twists, memories blur and fade around the edges, and emotion goes up in smoke. With these changes as all to guide him, his son grew from a sad boy to an angry man. Angry people in turn grow blind and so did his son. Without a backward glance he fled away from time, away from memories, and away from home and hurt. He ran hand in hand with his runaway father and with nothing but thoughts of him he crashed.
For every negative there is a positive and that I tell you honestly. So, as tragedy struck it did what it often does, and pulled them all together.
Now, no one knows for certain why he’d left. Some say it was the letter of foreclosure, others say it was his pride. In the end though, we all knew why he’d come back, for he came back a regretful man and a loving father. He came back to the family that needed him.

Famous Canadians

Welcome to a recorded showing of the AT Late Night Talk Show! That nights topic was the Famous Five.

French Skit

This is the french skit Afra and I recorded in October. We had lots of fun with the props. Jouir de!

Audio Short Story

This is my audio short story that I just did in LA class. The story itself isn't one of my favorites but making it into a slid show was alot of fun. Hope you enjoy!