Akash+Doshi

__Neighborhood Memory__ This is the grass field next to the gazebo. Many cherished memories lie here. When there were snow days, every kid in the neighborhood would gather there to frolic in the snow or to fight with snowballs. Feeling the snow landing on our heads, we would be exhilarated as we breathed in the snow-infested air. Aside from snow days, we would gather there on other beautiful sunny days. We would hear the wind blow through the trees and the birds chirping as we played soccer, tag, or just simply talk amongst ourselves. All of us would feel much freedom and happiness run through us as we played. One day not to long ago on a sunny afternoon, picking up a blank paper and pencil to start my P.E. project, I saw other smaller children playing football. To relive the memories, I put off my P.E. project and joined them, it was surprisingly much fun. Even today, as I drive by the field, I start having such reminiscing flashbacks that zone me out. The gazebo's adjacent field, a very green and relaxing place, is something that I will never forget.

__A Zoom Lens__ Down the road late at night, the blind man went. He made noise with his stick. He wore something shading his eyes and was bent over. He said he lost his eyes helping England and King George.



The blind man meandered on the road into the gloomy night, swinging, hitting, and creating noise with his stick to figure out where he took himself, for he could hear better than a bat. This man could fend for himself better than most men could, for he had no remorse or fear for anything at this point in his life. No support, encouragement, or help was given to this man, but he did not need it. As the lifeless night went on, he trudged bent over and shielding his eyes lost for the sake of helping England and King George. Reminiscing for hours about if he made the right choice of saving England and his King, he finally fell asleep and perished from starvation that ate him alive.

**//__Personal Essay #5__//** The best advice I have ever received is a cliche. When I was twelve years old and I came back from a math competition, my father told me "No one is ever finished when they lose, but they are finished when they quit." He had told me this many times before, but I had never understood it until that day when I placed very low in my age group at the competition. What it means is that life does not always come out the way you want it to even with hard work, but you must continue to never give up because that guarantees no success. I have never forgotten this saying even today.

Out of all the meaningful advice I have received, this one has stuck to me like an adhesive. The reason being is that it can be applied to almost any aspect of life. Some of those aspects include preparing for a band audition or aiming to become valedictorian of your high school. The result might be that you do not even get selected for alternate position or not even be in the top 15% of your high school. I have had situations where I have had to face unexpected results. One of those situations included not making All-State Band in my freshman year, and not making my school's mathcounts A-team. Those were two of many major setbacks that I had to get past to. Fortunately, I eventually learned how to overcome setbacks: it is to tell yourself that you will do better next time.

After I learned to use this advice, I had an audition for my school band. As I went in, I remembered all the mistakes I made, but I only focused on what was happening now. A month later, I saw the results, and I had been placed in the highest band as a freshman; there were about 6 freshmen in that band of 71 people. I did have more setbacks after that, but I overcame them again and again with ease. In my sophomore year band audition, I was able to move up to 4th chair in that highest band.

Right now, I am in the process of raising my GPA to an exceptional level from a satisfactory level. This will be very challenging, but it must be done. As of now I am standing at a 4.1 GPA and I got some B's in freshman year; with my standards this is unacceptable. I plan to get almost all A's throughout high school now and achieve a 4.4 GPA.

I will probably follow this advice for the rest of my life. In college and even in my career there will be problems bigger than the ones I face today. Preparing and attending an interview for a job is something that everyone must learn to do no matter how intelligent they are. The important thing is to keep going to interview after interview and exam after exam in order to have some chance of success.

Quitting may seem like it makes life easier, but it only does for a short time. Since quitting guarantees no success, life will be hard in the long run because in order to have a good life, you must succeed. It also may seem like the best thing to do at time of disappointment to guarantee no future disappointment. Humans must be able to control all their emotions, happiness, anger, sadness, and even disappointment.

There are people who have quit and been finished. Examples of those people include Kurt Cobain and Vincent Van Gogh who both commuted suicide even though they both had much potential. Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana, but he starting using drugs which led to his suicide. Van Gogh thought he did not feel that he deserved the beauty of the world and that is what drove him to commit suicide. He was an excellent painter, and should have made a wiser decision.

Some people who have lost but have not quit and yet became very successful include Michael Jordan, who was cut from his basketball team in his sophomore year. He still went on to play professionally and win the Chicago Bulls many championships. Another example is Oprah Winfrey, who grew up very poor and was raped by her uncle. She is now an American television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011.

Quitting will never get anyone anywhere. If at first you don't succeed, then simply try again. Throughout life, there will be people who encourage and people who discourage, so sometimes, following your heart is more reliable.

__SAT Essay__ Memories hinder people's ability to succeed. The reason is that many are not pleasing and they may invoke a sense of discouragement, sadness, or depression while on your way to success. There are people in this world who have had a horrendous past but have become successful afterward. An example would be Oprah Winfrey who grew up in a ghetto and was frequently abused. She is now a very successful talk show host who has put her past aside. Another example is my mother. Living in India, she grew up without a father and had to take care of her family of four and obtain an education simultaneously. Once she moved here, she finally decided to not reminisce about her life in India but to plan her success in the States. One more example I have seen would be Michael Jackson who was frequently abused by his merciless father. He tried as hard as he could to build a cognitive wall from his childhood and his father's mistreatment, and he later became a multimillionaire. Some people may think that the past can show people how to not make a mistake repeatedly, but people my end up doing the same wrongdoing again. An example of this would be an ex-convict. He/she may be released from prison and feel depressed about what they had done in the past and not be able to be employed despite their rehabilitation. This may cause them to commit another crime. Another reason that memories hinder success is that they may cause people to try and rebuild the past. Even though this is virtually impossible, people try this anyway due to fear or deprivation. Memories should be kept but only for a short time so that they do not destroy chances of success.

It is a common human urge to want or crave for something, but patience should be exercised with that. One reason is that it decreases the chance of a mistake. For example, animated movies' sequels can take as much as five years to be released. This is because drawing, moving, and recording the characters take time, and nothing should be erratic to guarantee maximum revenue. Also, patience makes it easier for the person who is giving someone else what they need or are expecting. If it is easier for the provider, then they could do more business without difficulty. An example would be an employee waiting for their bosses paycheck. If that employee repeatedly nags their boss about it, then that boss may become irritated. Acting rash can bring up unexpected results. In William Shakespeare's __Romeo and Juliet,__ both Romeo and Juliet become infatuated and marry instantly without the consent of most of their friends or family. In the end of the play, their marriage is the ultimate cause of their death. Our society may be used to Facebook Chat, text, and other forms of quick messaging, but that does not mean messages need to go back and forth so fast. Wanting to do that all the time just to please the other party can vex and exhaust. Patience is the most prudent option out of the two and it probably has been for many years; back then, people messaged by horse carriages, and that delivered news as much as one month old.
 * __SAT Prompt off__**