"David, let's get one thing straight here: your not my dad, your my mother's husband" Beth said, I was coming in from the back patio after finishing a delicous piece of coconut creme pie, "congrats.." I said but saw Beth shouting at my uncle David. Quite a scene to come into, of course let me backtrack to earlier that day. (que flashback music) My grammie has a summer cottage on a lake, my mom hates that place because she had to spend every summer there as a teenager and there was nothing to do. We go every other summer, and I look forward to driving up that dusty gravel road, and seeing a tiny cottage in the middle of the woods. I was expecting a normal trip, well it didn't go as planned. My mom told me that one the drive up there, that was my uncle was dating a nice woman named Anne, and that she had two kids- Beth and Peter. Beth was a year younger than me, and Peter was my age. Anne's husband had died from cancer years ago and my uncle and her had been dating for awhile. My mom explained that if her brother David married Anne, they would be my step-cousins. So, my uncle David would be my step-uncle? no I would have step-cousins. Beth and her mom decided to take a canoe trip around the lake. Grammie had just cut a watermelon, and I couldn't resist and got a slice. My mom told me that she wanted to tell me something, but I was really focused on my slice of watermelon. Peter and my uncle soon set up the tennis net and played bad minton against each other; Peter was no match for my uncle. We had a nice dinner and my mom pulled me aside, she wanted to tell me something, she didn't want the others to know so she whispered it in my ear. I scarfed down my pie, and went inside, to where you the reader come in. "Now Bethie, calm down" her mother said. Calm down, calm down? her mother was going to marry this guy, and they had finally gotten over her father's death. It was as if, her father did'net exist and she was marring someone else. I hugged her, which probabily didn't help. "Welcome to the family" I said. Beth crossed her arms, "Don't I have a say in this?" she said. And a year later, my uncle David married Anne. My mom attended the wedding, and that Beth had quite a sourpuss expression on her face when they took a picture of her and her brothers and the new bride. It took a while for Beth to warm up to my uncle, but now the two are close. I now have step-cousins, I would see them right now, but Beth is expecting her first child and Peter is studying to be a lawyer. I hope that when this is all over, I can see them.

Sneakers, purple, quiet, dark, playground, those specefic words remind me of a story. When I was a teenager, I went on an overnight camping trip. Our campsite was once a summer camp for kids way back when, the camp had become abadoned but the cabins were still there. Mrs. Cox told us how she was one of the campers, and there was no electricity or running water. My friend Willow, thought it would be really fun to play a game of hide and seek. I didn't think it was a good idea because, the sun was going to set soon, and it would be dark. She decided that it would be "it", I love hide and seek but I kind of stuck out with my florscent pink shirt and purple pants, and it would be really hard to blend in with the trees. I tried to be quiet, but I am the loudest person ever. I hid in a bush, but walking to it my sneakers squeaked. Earlier that day, we went hiking, and crossed a creek, I thought my sneakers were waterproof but they weren't. Yes, I squeaked really loudly, and Willow found me. After a long game, we decided to head to camp, we passed by an abadoned playground, it looked errie in the dark. Willow dared me to spend the night all alone in the abandoned playground, . Mrs. Cox told us that the camp closed, and that it was turned into camping site. Willow told me that a family was camping in one of the cabins and it caught fire and burned to the ground. The family was out hiking but the little girl stayed behind. I thought she was just trying to scare me. Mrs. Cox told us that a lot of strange things happened in the woods, when she was a camper, there were tales about a beast that prowled the woods. Also the one about the cabin was true, and that some claim to see a little girl skipping through the woods half burned looking. Also a little boy disapeared from the playground and was never found and seen running through the woods. Of course, that night I didn't sleep at all, and the next morning Mrs. Cox told us that she made it all up, well except for the half burned little girl, and she will still not go into the woods at night, I don't blame her.

My mom told me that there was a forest near where she grew up as a little girl. She told me that you are not allowed to go there, because the land is cursed. Mom told me that a local chief's daughter was in love with the woodcutter's son. The two loved each other but the wood cutter's father wouldn't let them marry. Since firewood was their main way of living, the cheif went to the shaman who cursed the land. It would rain a posionous rain that burned the ground and so corrosive it stripped the bark from the trees. You also couldn't drink it or it would kill you, and couldn't touch it unless you wanted a nastly burn. That was the exact way my mom tried to explain acid rain to me when I was little, and how it was a huge problem where she grew up.

How to describe myself? I would say that I am super energetic and talkative. I love going up to strangers and randomly introducing myself. I have a talent for singing and learning foreign languages. I am a wealth of random information- can't remember that Disney tune, I can whistle it. The best way to cut a mango, I could tell you. I am a huge nerd, I geek out over comic books, and manga I love watching werid 1990's shows. I love to write and tell stories.

I would say the book that has impacted me the most is Anne of Green Gables. For my ninth birthday my Grammie gave me Anne of Green Gables. I didn't want to read an old timey book. I would go to the local libary but I could out empty handed, all of the books were for girls or for my age were about gossipy boy-crazy girls or about gushy romance. ( I was a girly girl, but then became a tomboy) I then decided to read books targeted to boys, but all of them were either about fart jokes or too scary.

A few years passed by, and I read this and that. I was cleaning my bookshelf when Anne of Green Gables landed in my lap. I was a little older, and was a better reader so I thought I would give it a chance. I asked my mom about the book. She said that she read it as a girl and I thought I would like it. I read a page, it sounded interesting but wasen't for me. My mom told me that it took place on PEI (Prince Edward Island) way north from where she grew up, and that she spent a summer there with her cousins. Mom said that the island was breathtaking and beautiful. I decided to read it, and I fell in love with the story. Avonlea sounded like a magical place, and I finally found a character who was like me. Anne was like me, a red head and was a bit of a spitfire and freely spoke her mind. Finally, a character who boldly spoke her mind, and didn't care what others thought of her. Anne was always looking out for adventure or something new around the next corner. It taught me not only to be daring but also foster a love of learning and adventure. Anne of Green Gables started my reading addiction, after that book, I wanted to read more and more.

Reading transported me to distant worlds, or other dimensions; with each new venture I met a familar friend who taught me something new or made me look at something from another perspective. I would often choose books that were above my reading level, challenging myself and by the end of middle school I read at a college level, and had read (al)most all of Jane Austin's books.

I still am a voracious reader, and I love to read almost anything, most of the books nowadays feature more female protangists or heroines. I believe that reading is not only an escape from our mundane lives, but also transports us to a strange yet familar world with new lessons to learn and new people to meet.

Something usual about myself.. hmm. I consider myself a pretty normal person. I guess an unusal thing about myself. Actually, I am pretty unusal. I am double jointed, not just in my hands but also my feet. My dad jokes that I am a monkey, and yes I can pick up things with my feet. Oh, many people are double jointed, okay something really usual. (Thinks for a second) Oh well not many people know this, but my eyes change color. It is true, and makes it really hard to fill out basic paperwork. One day it will be this color, and then the next day that color. I am the only one in my family that has this. I was born with blue eyes. When I was about four years old, my mom was filling out one of those get to know you cards for preschool. "I thought her eyes were blue" she said, that day my eyes were greenish-blue. They like to go from greenish-blue, bluish-green, grey, blue. After a while, it can get annoying. Sometimes my eyes are like a mood ring, super intense emotions my eyes get darker, super hyper and happy lighter. When I started my first year of college, I guess my eyes had enough and decided to settle on one color. Yes, slate grey with gold in the center. Yep, perfectly normal eye color, and yes reacts to my emotions,