... what I now know to be not-so-good papers, but received good grades for them. Then, I thought they were good because of the grades I got. Now, I find myself working over twice as hard for half the grade. This isn't a completely bad thing, though. It teaches me that my writing really wasn't very good. What I used to think deserved an "A" I now realize only does deserve a "C." Now I have to take my writing more seriously, and try much harder at producing good output. Also, my goal isn't to write a paper that will get a good grade. Now, my goal is to write better papers. I write to become a better writer. T ...

... he was the Captain. "I'm not sure any more, sir." came the hesitant reply of the ensign. "I know I heard something just an hour ago, but during the past sixty minutes, I've heard nothing but fish gossip." The ensign was only trying to ease the pressure with his antics, but the humour in his voice was clearly forced. The Captain grunted, and several petty officers chuckled. Yet, none could deny that Fear lived among them. The spectre was clearly an unwanted and certainly uninvited guest, but not even the many fathoms of jet black water could keep him from his prey. He fed on fear, and the greatest feast of ...

... and the leaves rustling over the ground. I sat and watched leaves and sticks getting blown off the top of the trees. Most of the trees looked dead with no leaves on the branches. While sitting there watching the leaves I saw two squirrels running up and down a tree chasing one another. I looked deeper into the woods and saw a squirrel burying his nuts in the ground, so it will have food for over the winter. A few feet in front of me were red ants clawing all over a dead log. There were tons of them clawing all around carrying little pieces of food. All the animals where getting ready for the cold winter that is ...

... to our pit area. My hopes were crushed as I went over the fact that my day of racing was already over. Drag racing is a big part of my life. All of my spare time is spent working on my 1996 Honda Accord. With a big import drag racing approaching quickly, I spent most of my waking hours for a week tuning my car. Sweat and hours of hard work finally prepared my car for racing. The interior was stripped down to the sheet metal and contained only the driver's seat to reduce weight. The whole exhaust system was removed to gain that little edge of power, which is essential for racing. My car was finally race rea ...

... it were made of clay and someone poked a finger into it leaving creases where the orange is overlapping. On top of the indentation lies a green star shaped object, which looks as though someone just glued it into the small void. On the opposite side of the green star another oddity sticks out. It looks as if somebody could have cut a pea sized hole into the end, inside of which several lumps overlap each other. The closest thing I can think of that resembles it is a thin person’s belly button. The way the outside of the orange feels is also interesting. When I first pick up the orange it is cool to the touc ...

... follow at my heel to lap up my leavings-- but not too closely-- the Children of The Night. I am the nightmare that all men fear-- the one who prowls the night in wanton lust and desire for hot human flesh. I feast first on dainty tidbits such as freshly plucked eyeballs, colored with fear and aversion. I lick the sauce from the sockets, before beginning upon cocktail fingers and toes. Then pulling off a meaty drumstick, I feed the genitals and the guts to my Children of the Night, giving the young first choice. There is plenty to go around. Often mortals have asked why the wolves follow me and why I allow them t ...

... Travels of Marco Polo" which later became the first accurate guideline of Asia in Europe. The second reason is that he improved the relationship between Asia and Europe. The business owned by Polo's families made the distance between Italy and China closer by making more trade between these two countries. The last reason is because he helped the development of the economic in Asia grew faster. For example, he discovered a faster and safer way to go to Asia from Europe. This way made more business people invest their money to Asia. As the results of these facts, Marco Polo became the first person I wish to meet. ...

... the jungle just minutes before I arrived. The fallen branches make a crunch when they come into contact with my black combat boots. When there wasn't any leaves on the ground my black boots sank into the rich black soil like your foot into the mud on a beach. The air smells so luscious and full of moisture, it was as if I could drink the air. As the tangle of bushes and vines grew thicker I had to withdraw my sword and cut my way through. The sword caught what little light that had somehow found its way through the trees and it danced on the nearby trees. It made a swish as it flew through the air. When it hi ...

... He owned a fireworks stand which was named after me, Amanda’s Fireworks. I caught the flu when I was 18 months old which left me very sick. When I was two years old my parents got a divorce. This began a long series of moves for me. Mom and I moved to Knoxville to live with my maternal grandmother, and I often stayed with my aunts while Mom and Grandmother worked. When I was four, Mom got remarried, and we moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina. We lived in a duplex for six months, just long enough for the three of us to find a house. Then we moved only five miles away to a place I could finally call ...

... learning how to drive, my dad often told me that safety and precaution are more important than anything when driving. He advised me to ask my mom to take me to school when the weather was bad, since my driving skills were not very sharp. As usual, when listening to this I thought that he was trying to take away some of my freedom. I didn’t understand that he was trying to protect me from the many dangers of driving in bad weather. Then one day there came an especially bad morning. It had been very foggy the previous night, and by the morning the fog had greatly thickened. Before leaving for work my dad reminded me ...