Autobiographies
By: Logan O'Donnell
My name
My name is the 17th most common guys name in the USA. It's also the 425th most common girls name in the USA. It is the most uncommon first name in my school saying that there is only one girl in our grade with my name and that's me. This is exactly why I almost always assumed to be a boy on the first day. School arrives and I know I will never mixed up with another person, like the three Alex's, there's only me.
There I am, first day of school, and like usual everyone can already tell my ethnicity just by seeing my face and reading the name on my paper card on my desk. While others get to share crazy stories about how their name is from a far away country where their family is from. Everyone already knows my story. My whole name sounds like I might as well have red hair and an Irish accent. The only reason people know I'm German is because my looks, the iconic blue eyes and blonde hair.
The first time I even became aware that I had something different about name was a casual day as my kindergarten self. I was always good at making new friends, so playing with the other kindergartners on the playground was not unusual. When we finally settled and introduced each other I was surprised that the blue eyed, blonde haired boy shared not only my looks but my name. All of the other kids obviously knew his name and found it normal like another Sam or Alex, but when I shared mine it seemed as if that it is not even possible that we could share the same name and be different genders. It was the first time in my life that another person and I both looked around reacting to the same name being called. How embarrassing it was for me when I was asked why I have a boys name when I'm a girl. I felt as if the question wouldn't bounce away from my thoughts. Why was I named the same name as a boy?
That day obviously never left my mind and probably never will. It was the first real time that I realized I had a boys name. How gross! As a kindergartner, having a boys name was the last thing I wanted. Making sure I was never confused for a guy was my main priority. For all of kindergarten I either wore a dress or a skirt to school to show off my femininity.
As I grew older, I learned to love my name. This started exactly when a girl on my lacrosse team,one of the Haileys, commented on how she wish she had a name that could also be a boys name. She said she wished she wasn't just another Hailey. From there on my confidence skyrocketed, and I loved having a name being summed up in one word. Unique.
I learned I didn't need a key chain with my name on it in pink, instead of the blue that I always found. I just needed to be myself. Not another Anna or Samantha, I needed to be the only person that turned around when my name was yelled. I needed to be the Irish, German, active girl I was meant to be. I was meant to be Logan O'Donnell.When was I born?
Find your age in days (from June 9th 2015)
- 5145 days
- Weather Station at: Philadelphia Area, PA
- Highest Temperature: 85 °F. Rain/Precip: 0.67"
- Average Temperature:77.5 °F Snowfall:0.0"
- Lowest Temperature: 70 °F Snow on Ground:0"
-Even though I was born in Paoli hospital this was the weather around my home.
What movies came out?
- Aimée & Jaguar, Autumn in New York, Bless the Child, Cecil B. Demented,Dhadkan,Gimme Shelter, Intern, Lea,MVP: Most Valuable Primate, The Opportunists, The Replacements, & Sunset Strip.
Who were the biggest movie stars?
- Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Renée Zellweger, Kate Hudson, and Benicio del Toro.
Most popular TV shows?
- Gilmore Girls, CSI, Malcolm in the Middle, Survivor, Queer as Folk, Dark Angel, Big Brother, Coupling, Black Boots, Dora the Explorer, and The Walking Dead.
Music?
- Who Let The Dogs Out - Baha Men, All The Small Things - Blink 182, Amazed - Lonestar, I Did It Again - Britney Spears, Graduation - Vitamin C, Bye Bye Bye - N*Sync, Say My Name - Destiny's Child, Let's Make Love - Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400, I Turn To You - Christina Aguilera
Sports?
- Tiger Woods wins three of the four Majors and earns just under $10million in prize money.
- The Yankees win the 4th World Series in 5 years over cross-town rivals, the New York Mets. It's the first subway series in over 40 years.
- Bobby Knight gets fired as head basketball coach at Indiana University after 29 years.His run-in with student Kent Harvey violated the zero tolerance policy handed down by school president Miles Brand.
- The St. Louis Rams, led by former grocery store bagger, Kurt Warner, win the SuperBowl over the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in the greatest ending in Super Bowl history.
- Alex Rodriguez, formerly known as A-Rod (now known as Pay-Rod) signs the richest contract (10-yrs, $252 million) in professional sports history with the Texas Rangers.
- The Los Angeles Lakers led by the Zen-Master, Phil Jackson and MVP ShaquilleO'Neal, win the first NBA title in Tinseltown since 1988.
- Redneck, hate-monger John Rocker of the Atlanta Braves rips diversity of New York City to Sports Illustrated writer, Jeff Pearlman. Those words follow him throughout the season.
- Comedian Dennis Miller is hired as one of the announcers on Monday Night Football.After flirtations with Rush Limbaugh, ABC hires the sardonic comedian and then sends dictionaries to all of their viewers.
- a postage stamp- 33¢
- a luxury car- $53,000
- an economy car- $12,500
- a four bedroom house in Media- $400,000
- a gallon of milk-$2.80
- going to the movies- $5.50
What historical events occurred on this day?
- 3114 BC - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.
- 1929 - Babe Ruth becomes 1st to hit 500 homers (off Willis Hudlin of Cleve)
- 1933 - Temp reaches 136°F (57.8°C) at San Luis Potosi, Mex (world record)
- 1945 - Allies refuse Japan's surrender offer to retain Emperor Hirohito
- 2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
- 1928 - Georges Ronsse becomes world champion cyclists
- 1962 - Andrian G Nikolayev, becomes 3rd Russian in space aboard Vostok 3
- 1962 - Beach Boys release "Surfin' Safari"
- 1978 - Funeral of Pope Paul VI
- 1978 - Legionnaire's disease bacteria isolated in Atlanta
- Chris Wemsworth- movie actor, starred in Star Trek and won a CinemaCon Award in 2010 for the Male Star of Tomorrow for his portrayal of Thor. His other movie credits include Red Dawn, The Cabin in the Woods, and In the Heart of the Sea.
- Hulk Hogan- wrestler, he became the second-longest combined reigning WWF Champion of all time.
- Alyson Stoner- TV actress, starred on the series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as Max and portrayed Caitlyn Gellar in Camp Rock.
- Pablo Sandoval- was third base player for the Giants
- Enid Blython- author, exclusively a children's author, her books sold more than 600 million copies worldwide. She is best known for such book series as The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.
Who was the president?
What was the must have toy?
What did the moon look like?
Storage trunk
You never would think that out of all the things in the world, your family’s history would be part of the unknowns. Everyone thinks they know most of their history, things like where their family is from, who speaks what languages, and how you are related to distant relatives. You don't actually realize what you don't know until you get questioned. The curiosity inside you takes over then and you end up unlocking doors of the past that were never known to you before. I think this perfectly describes how I felt when I learned about the person who lived a full life, my grandad.
My grandad, like many others, was in the Navy during World War II and The Korean War. He seemed like a tough man with all his war experience, but I learned he was a sweetheart inside. My grandad wrote to my grandmom almost everyday he could, and she kept every letter under lock and key. She cherished every word she got from him. Between the humor and the passion, they seemed as if they were Romeo and Juliet, two star crossed lovers.
Each letter contained a beginning that started with either “my dearest honey,” “my darling,” or “my honey.” They all were written in my grandad’s barely readable cursive and included at least one picture of where something happened at base or where they would be meeting when he returned home that week. Every single letter was written with the feeling of uncontrollable love locked inside it. You end up being sucked into their real life love story with only one letter. What seemed as if it was written by Shakespeare himself, was written by one man with little time to waste and a lot of emotions.
One of my favorite letters was written right before my grandad was sent to Florida while in the Navy. The letter is front and back of an old thin piece of writing paper. The letter captures my grandad’s humor and warm heartedness. In the letter, he imparts how he knows how much my grandmom would love to go to Florida and relays how he happens to be going to Florida. My grandad describes how my grandmom should sneak away and go to Florida with him. He explains to her how she should pack winter and light clothes for him and just light clothing for herself. He plans out how she could get the clothing down to the boat without it being noticed and without it being a hassle for her to carry. He almost sounds like he had been planning this out for months and now is her time to visit him.Then, the letter ends like all good ones do, with many I miss and love yous, and a silly message of how proud he was that he got his initials engraved on a lighter.
A box of the most hidden away things, ended up being able to capture my grandad’s loving and humorous personality. All the letters and stamps from my grandad that were locked away ended up being the greatest treasure. Although I may not know exactly how atoms bond and why certain chemicals react, I'm content that the one thing I do know more about is my family’s past. Hopefully, I will continue to make even more great memories to add to the previous collection.
What is my personal alphabet?
A is for abulia. I am the worst person to make decisions, even though I don't have a mental illness this controls this.
B is for balefire. I enjoy being around bonfires with my friends during the fall, to make s'mores. Also, I love the smell of fire.
C is for clumsy. I was a dancer, up until this year, and you would think I would have at least some balance or gracefulness, but you would be dead wrong.
D is for distrait. I am distracted in every class by small things going on around me, and seem to never to stay on the same topic for 20 minutes without getting bored.
E is for equitation. I use to ride horses when I was younger, I still love doing it if I can, especially with my cousins who own horses.
F is for flaught. Snowflakes tend to make me excited because they mean snow and get me in the wintery mood, which I love because that means skiing!
G is for German. Most of my family is German, and my great grandmother happened to speak fluent German.
H is for Heterochromia iridum. I was born with Heterochromia iridum, it is a mutation in my eyes that cause them to be yellowish/greenish right around my pupil but then change to blue by the edges of my iris.
I is for ignavia. When I am usually tired from sports, I become lazy dislike doing anything active until I regain my energy.
J is for jabberwocky. When I become tired from doing homework or anything, I usually just start talking in nonsense words, or I don't even know what I am talking about and am just saying random words.
K is for Kiser. My middle name is Kiser. It is German, and is often confused with a kaiser roll when I pronounce it.
L is for langlauf. I run distance for indoor track this year, and we go on many of the cross country routes for practice. I might end up dual sporting next year and do cross country.
M is for messy. Even though I love having everything in its place, and everything being tidy, everything I put away ends up becoming pulled out, and thrown somewhere random soon after I clean.
N is for naevous. Although, I don't have as many freckles as my brother, most of my freckles come out during the summer and receive a bunch on my face.
O is for onychophagist. When I get nervous or I am thinking, I have the bad habit of biting my nails.
P is for photography. I love looking at beautiful photos of landscapes or scenes. This also leads me to end up taking 1,000 pictures if I find something I like.
Q is for quarion. I love all the different scents that candles produce, the scents give me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I love.
R is for random. In the case that I am talking to them, if any word they say triggers a memory, I will randomly share that memory, whether or not they wanted to hear it.
S is for sporty. I have been told that I am athletic, since I do a sport every season, and play lacrosse year round.
T is for three. I am the third child in my family, behind my two older brothers that are in college and I look up to.
U is for ultramarine. I love the color blue, and every shade it comes in. I especially enjoy the deep shades of blue because it reminds me of the waves.
V is for vague. Indecisiveness is a weakness of mine, and if I am uncertain of a decision I would like to make, I usually answer unclearly.
W is for water. I love water, not drinking water but larger amounts of water like rain and oceans. They give me a sense of fearlessness, like nothing badly can happen to me.
X is for xanthous. I have blonde/"yellow" hair, and a light complexion, allowing me to get burnt very easily without sunscreen.
Y is for younker. When my grandad was alive he would refer to me as a youngster, when he asked what we do now and days.
Z is for zoomania. I love animals, in fact I own 5 pets. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was little so I could help every animal, but then I realized as I got older that includes putting animals down, which I couldn't do to save my life.
My experiences
Experiences, large and small, can affect our life greatly without us even realizing it. The great ones fill us with joy and allow us to be content with ourselves. Negative events compel us to be better, since no one wants to fail on purpose and everyone has a part of them that wants success. Memories lead us to the people we are now and the people we will become. Everyone has their proudest moments and their failures and sometimes, when times are tough, we need our happiest adventures to pull us through.
A few of my best moments usually have to do with an achievement in sports. One that I clearly recall was when I found out that I first made the Pennsylvania team for the Brine National Lacrosse Classic. I was only in 8th grade, which isn't that long ago but it feels like it has been forever. I tried out for the National team with one of my friends from my Rose Tree Optimist team, Vicky. We were both nervous as we quickly were split up during the tryout. Luckily, I knew a few of the other girls trying out so I didn’t feel so alone. The tryout went along like any other tryout and ended with one of my least favorite phrases, "you will find out if you made the team in a week or so."
I dreaded and feared so many scenarios in my head during those weeks; the time that passed seemed like months. I continued to practice with my school and club team, just hoping that during practice I would get the lucky e-mail. Finally that day came, with the results I long waited to hear. I casually checked my phone before practice to ask my father who was in charge of the daily routine of pick-ups after practice. Then bam! My phone had texts from my father and cousins saying congratulations. My heart started to race as I reached my e-mail. Then I burst out with excitement in the middle of the locker room. I had made the team.
This had been on my mind since the tryout ended and I finally had my answer. The whole event was extraordinary. I had the opportunity to play against girls from so many different states and represent my home state of Pennsylvania. I finally was able to carry the tradition of getting into the National Classic that my brothers had started. This obviously allowed me to be more confident out on the field and left me with a lasting impression that nothing else could fill. I was complete.What does friendship mean to me?
Friendship is what can keep a person together through the rough times. Friends and trust is the reason that our houses don't have the probable chance of getting bombed every day. Without relationships that we build throughout the years with people, we wouldn't be anywhere far in our evolution in society. Friendship seems to be then glue that holds our whole worlds together, and can never be forgotten.
Being generally honest, I seem to have a lot of friendships with people just due to interacting with so many different things. For example, I have school friends(from my grade), friends from all of my teams, friends that I have kept outside of school, and simply family friends. Each friendship was a new bond that I made with someone, that has affected my life in some shape or form. Most for a good experience, and some for hard ones, but that is just part of life.
One particular experience that seems to be the clearest, since I have recently wrote about it in a birthday card, is the one I share with Anna Bonhage. It all started when we met in the second grade, when I was moved to Rose Tree Elementary from Media. I had just moved into this new school and she was in my class with Mrs. Micheals. I didn't know many people then, but somehow Anna and I's friendship blossomed.
Across are many years of friendship, we have been known to do many different things during our hangouts. Those years have been filled with silly nights in Anna's basement, various YouTube videos of trampoline incidents, late night sleepovers, adventures in the snow, and best of all our creative experiments and projects. I think the hardest question you ask us is why our whole friendship started in the beginning. I'm not sure many people know why their friendship started with a person. In my case, I was only around 7 and just wanted a friend in the brand new school.
In conclusion, friendships are not something that you can buy but something that you can make. A link between to people that affects them for the better. Filled with memories and occasions that could never be replaced or reproduced. Just a simple hello in 2nd grade can make all the difference in the world, and lead you to have the most unbeatable moments in the long run.Why is my room so special?
Certain places in the world need more recognition than they get. Everybody loves visiting the exotic places like the Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace, but after every trip most people say, "I've missed my own bed so much!" Our home is an important essential. It determines how we act and establishes our ideals. Many might debate that the most important room in the house is the kitchen or the living room because those are the rooms where families are the most social and where memories are made together. The fact is, however, how would you feel if you didn't have your bedroom?
For me, my bedroom is like my sanctuary. It is a place where I feel protected and where I feel like the outside world disappears once I enter. Everybody has moments when they feel they can't deal with one more word from somebody else, and they storm away into their room to get away from it all. I won't lie I've had moments like that, but when I go into my room I relax. I rethink a better way to handle things and my mind seems clearer. My room acts almost like a therapist, where I get all of my thoughts off my chest and then solutions appear.
My room isn't that elaborate, but that might explain my sense of style. Just like my room, my wardrobe mainly contains blues and athletic apparel. There are a few things hanging on my walls, like quotes, art, and old pictures of me and my friends. My room gives me a feeling of comfort when I enter. It isn't too bright or dark and it has a light airy feel. Your room is a piece of you, just like your personality. I know if I didn't have mine just the way it is, it would completely change my personality.Regrets
Everyone has at least one regret during only a weeks time. Whether it's a shot missed or a chance not taken on someone or something, everyone wishes they could have a do-over at least once in their life. I think the one moment that I regret would be not taking a chance on certain people, and not listening to my parents when I was younger. They sound like the corniest selections, but they could make the biggest impact on my life.
Regret is such a simple word but you realize that one decision or “regret” could have changed your entire life. I seem to have learned this once I grew up, but its already too late now. If I hadn’t been as shy as I was when I first arrived at my new elementary school, Rose Tree Elementary, I wouldn’t be exactly the same person I am. Elementary school has seemed to make me the more timid person when big opportunities come around. I have always regretted that I cared so much about how others thought about me. I can still remember times when I was in 5th grade and I use to have the feeling that I needed to know everything about everyone at all times. I didn’t trust a lot of people and I had to motivation to find out what every piece of information that was being said about me in the background. I was never satisfied with just living my life and not worrying about everyone else’s. I believe that this habit let to my small insecurity with being ok with who am I and my experiences with things.
Another scene I distinctly regret is not listening to my parents when it came to sports. I can still recall the moments where I would throw tantrums to try and get out of going to a small sided soccer game. If I had only listened to my parents and actually been as determined to play lacrosse and soccer as I am now I would certainly be a better athlete. This non-listening routine has lead me some downfall in athletic career but I seem to have caught that career just in time because I have positives in my playing only as a freshman.
In conclusion, there's many things people would love a second chance at in life but sometimes you just have to work with what you're given. Since the one thing regret truly teaches us is that you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find that you get what you need. This last words of advice for all people that have regrets that they can remember is; “live your life like it is your last week of living”, because a week gives you time to make some chances but not insane ones that will end your days on earth sooner.