College essay draft-Living "Unplugged"- UW essay topic

I feel like I'm in a bad reality show. You know, one of those ones where you have to play a game to get money, or do something totally stupid to get half a million dollars. The living room seems as if a big hole has been punched through it, now that the TV is gone. Dust bunnies, and cob webs finally see daylight after years of collecting behind a flat screen tv. In the family room, two walls once flanked by our mac and PC, are gone it's nothing but a empty space now. I feel like I'm living in a cave, cut off from the rest of society, unplugged from my outlet to a modern day life.
Living unplugged has been a challenge, especially in this technologically advanced world we live in. We've been so consumed by texting, myspace, youtube, and facebook. It is nearly impossible for me to go a day without watching TV or going on the computer. It's become a way of life. Giving up my lifestyle for a year has not been easy. The initial reaction from people was "Are you serious?!?", and you can tell I haven't been taken seriously on my commitment to being "unplugged" for a year. I don't blame them for thinking that about my situation, most teenagers can't do it for a year let a alone one week. Even I thought there was no hope for me in this situation. But life has become much simpler, I don't have to worry about missing Project Runway or Glee, or I don't have to think about getting back to people's texts and comments on facebook and youtube. I have been able to talk to my family without an interrupting phone call or text message. I've grown closer to them, now that we've had no other choice than to find entertainment in each other. There has been a lot of quiet time where I could just sit down and reflect on myself and figure out who I really am now that all of the distractions entering my life through my outlet to the modern day world have been cut off. I feel like the little kid I was in those old home movies again. Playing board games, and riding my bike with my little sister as if we were both 5 years old again.
I guess living a year unplugged has exposed me to myself. I've been able to complete my journey to self discovery after this one year of being unplugged. No distractions or anything to influence my train of thought, I was forced to listen to my own thoughts and no one else. It was scary but it was worth it. Worth it to become closer with my family, and worth it to bring out the true Angela Valdez. Sometimes simplicity is all it takes bring complexity to your life.
** Note: This was written in the perspective that I actually did live "unplugged" for a year. I wrote on how I'd assume thinks would be like.

Journal #9

What I liked about the novel "Ophelia Speaks" was that it was a very relatable and unsensored novel. What I mean by unsensored was that the stories were told directly from the view of different girls, showing their stories and struggles. Some stories made me cry while other stories made me open my eyes, and others made me feel squeemish. For example, one story talked about how a girl took for granted her mother and when she finally lost her battle with breast cancer, she realized how much her mother really meant to her. This story made me cry because she was losing her mother and she didn't really care. Also, all of the stories about eating disorders and self abuse made me feel really squeemish. They went into such detail on how they would starve themselves, or hurt themselves and I found myself thinking how could they do that to themselves. Then there were the stories of how some girls were sexually assaulted or molested. When I read these stories it was sort of eye opening to hear that girl's my age across this country are going through more pain in their teenage years than I would probably never go through in my life time. One, story in particular about how a girl described how her brother raped her made me feel disgusted. I thought to myself, how can a sibling do that to his own sister?
All in all, Ophelia speaks was a very raw unsensored book of the struggles of teenage girls. It brought a sense of awareness to my life and the way I think about how tough being a teenager really is.

Journal #8

I have not exactly picked a specific college that I have a burning desire to attend. But I do know that I want to stay on the West Coast, in states like California and Washington, and possibly up north in Canada. Some colleges I've been looking at are UW (university of Washington) and Art Institute. I really enjoy both of these areas of the US and I love both of these campuses. At, UW I've been thinking about going into bussiness and getting a marketing degree, then going to arts school to study graphic design. Preparing for college means writing the infamous college essay. Looking at the college essays in class helped think about the college essay in a different way. Yes, in these essays you are suppose to state your achievements but also you have to stand out from the rest of the pack. For the Arts Institute I couldn't really find a specific essay topic for application. Just to state your achievements and to provide a portfolio of your work. As for UW the essay topics change every year. But one essay topic I've found is this: If you were required to "unplug" for one year, describe the influence this would have in your life, your anticipated reaction, reactions of others in your life, and how you might change after your "unplugged" experience. "Unplugged" means no computers or other technology such as cell phones. Making my college essay great makes all the difference for my college application. Also I have found another interesting topic for USC; Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force. Tell us about an external influence (a person, an event, etc.) that affected you and how it caused you to change direction.