A Glimse at Freedom: Final Draft

Christian Davis

Sister Steadman

Writing 150

March 29, 2012

A Glimpse of Freedom

“Boom, Boom, Boom!”   

“I Got it Mom!” I exclaimed.  It could only be one thing.  I had been waiting for this moment for months.   I leapt to the navy blue oversized door, unlocked it, and swung it open.  

“Are you ready?” Greg exclaimed with excitement in his voice.

“Heck yes!” I yelled. “Let me grab my bags, I’ll be out in a moment.”  I could nearly feel it.  It was unbelievable.  It was impossible.  Yet, it was very real.   It was the one thing I had been longing for my entire life, and it was finally here: Freedom.  

“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” I screamed across the house as my voice echoed through the halls.  “I love you guys, I’ll see you in just a few day.”  This was it.  It didn’t need to be said.  It was just implied.  It was a test.  I stuffed my dark grey oddly-shaped bags in the trunk of silver mini van parked diagonally across the tan cobblestone driveway.  It was a beautiful bright summer day.  There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.  It smelt fresh; it felt new.

“Am I the last stop?” I asked.

“Yes Sir,” Greg exclaimed, “Let’s hit the road!”  We just weren’t excited, we were more than thrilled.  We had every detail planned to a tee, including the name of our trip.  We referred to it as Man-cation or Extrava-man-ganza.  All six of my very best friends were here.  It was our last hurrah before college split us up.  We were determined to have the time of our lives.  

Noticing that I hadn’t eaten all day I screamed at Greg over noise of the car, “What’s for dinner?”  

Immediately everybody answered, “Hula Burgers!”  This was my first test.  These just weren’t any ordinary burgers, they were legendary.  Each patty was carefully hand crafted and marinated in just the perfect amount of teriyaki sauce.  Each pineapple was precisely sliced in just the perfect shape.  Each bun was slowly grilled in just perfect amount of time.  And of course, it was my Dad’s secret recipe.  I was determined to make the best burgers I possibly could.  I didn’t need my Dad’s help.  This was finally my task.

  “Woot, woot, hurrah!”  we screamed as we pulled into the circular unloading zone directly in front of our hotel.  We had finally made it to Palm Spring.  We grabbed our bags and immediately headed for the hotel room.  

“Swoosh!”  

“Wow, this hotel room is incredible!” Greg exclaimed as he opened up the door.  I quickly scanned the room, but my attention was immediately drawn to the kitchen where I had the chance to prove myself.  It wasn’t a large kitchen, probably the size of a medium dinner table shoved into the lower right hand corner of the room.  The stainless steel sink was on the left and the stove was on the right.  It wasn’t the ideal place to make burgers, but it had to do.

“Where’s the supplies?” I asked.

“Underneath the table, in the blue cooler,” Greg responded.  Greg unpacked his Coleman grill and together we lit the flames and waited for the grill to heat up.  

“Here’s the first one!” he said as he handed me the patty. Twenty minutes past by and the patty was still completely raw, without a single sign of improvement.

“What do you think we should do, Christian?” Greg asked.

“I have no idea,” I responded.

“Let’s move inside,” Greg hesitated. “We’ll grab the grill top and throw them on the stove instead.  That should do it.”  I had failed the first time.  This was my last shot to prove myself.  I slowly started to cook the burgers with the utmost care, hoping make outstanding burgers.  

“Beep, Beep, Beep!” I turned around, looked past the table, and scanned the room for Greg, but but all I could see was a a thick layer of gray smoke.  

“Holy cow! Grab the towels, we need to shut off this smoke detector alarm before the fire department comes!” Greg yelled worriedly.  I quickly grabbed a yellow pool towel and began swinging it with all my might at the smoke detector.  

“Quick, call the hotel!” I yelled.  It didn’t need to be said.  It was just known.  I had failed.  I instantly began longing for my Father’s burgers and my Mother’s maternal care.  I was hungary and helpless.  I didn’t want to say it, but I needed my parents help.  This was a problem only they could solve.  

Practice Personal Narrative

"Hey, Buddy do you see it?" exclaimed My Brother.
"See what?" I said.
"Look out your widow!" My brother said with excitement in his voice.  I immediately turned around, looked out the taxi window, and saw a big brownish-black tower.
"Holy cow!  It's incredible; I can't believe we're here!" I said.  It took us nearly 11 hours on the dot to travel to Paris.
I turned to my Dad and asked, "so when do we get to go op it."
"In just a few minutes," my Dad answered.  Our entire trip built up to this moment.  The moment we finally got to go up the Eiffel tower.

General Conference: The Merciful Obtain Mercy Elder Uchtdorf

This past weekend, I had the wonderful privileged to attend three sessions of General Conference.  It was quite an amazing experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had and the lessons I learned.  One of the talks that stood out to me the most, and one that I would love to share with everybody, is Elder Uchtdorf's talk.  It really spoke to me because it talked about, the atonement, the central event our religion.  If you were watching, you probably remember one statement he made about judging.  He said, "This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon,” he said. “When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm—please apply the following: Stop it!"  He continues to further explain that when we judge others, we are condemning ourselves.  This statement reminded me of another conference talked a few years ago.  The central message of that talk was the difference between two types of judging.  But something that stuck out to me in that talk was that the way you judge others is the same way that you will be judged by Heavenly Father. Another statement that stuck out to me in Elder Uchtdor's talk was about forgiving others who had sinned, instead of judging them.  He said, “Refusing to forgive is a grievous sin—one the Savior warned against. … When the Lord requires that we forgive all men—that includes forgiving ourselves.”  I thought that his talk was very profound.  I think that it is very important to forgive each other and not judge.  At this age of our lives, we tend to judge each other a lot.  I am going to try to stop judging others because we are all going through some sort of trial and just because they did something we may think is wrong does not give you the authority to judge them.  We are going through a different try, that is essentially no different from theirs.  

Personal Narrative

Christian Davis

Sister Steadman

Writing 150

March 29, 2012

Extravamanganza

“Boom, Boom, Boom!”   

“I Got it Mom!” I exclaimed.  It could only be one thing.  I had been waiting for this moment for months.   I leaped to the navy blue oversized door, unlocked it, and swung it open.  

“Are you ready?” Greg exclaimed with excitement in his voice.

“Heck yes!” I yelled. “Let me grab my bags, I’ll be out in a moment.”  I could nearly feel it.  It was unbelievable.  It was impossible.  Yet, it was very real.   It was the one thing I had been longing for my entire life, and it was finally here: Freedom.  

“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” I screamed across the house as my voice echoed through the halls, “I love you guys, I’ll see you in just a few day.”  This was it.  It didn’t need to be said.  It was just implied.  It was a test.  I stuffed my dark grey oddly-shaped bags in the trunk of silver mini van parked diagonally across the tan cobblestone driveway.  It was a beautiful bright summer day.  There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.  It smelt fresh; it felt new.

“Am I the last stop?” I asked.

“Yes Sir,” Greg exclaimed, “Let’s hit the road!”  We just weren’t excited, we were more than ecstatic.  We had every detail last detailed planned to a tee, including the name.  We referred to it as Man-cation or Extrava-man-ganza.  All six of my very best friends were their.  It was our last hurrah before college split us up, so we were determined to have the time of our lives.  

Noticing that I hadn’t eaten all day, I screamed at Greg over noise of the music, “What’s for dinner?”  

Instantly everybody yelled, “Hula Burgers!”

Friends at BYU

One thing that I noticed about being at college is that you have the opportunity to be with your friends constantly.  It is such a neat experience and you build very strong relationships because of it.  I also think that because we are at BYU we tend to all have the same standards and therefore we immediately become very close friends.  I am so grateful for the friendships that I have built up at BYU.

Research Essay -- Physician's Assisted Suicide

I changed my topic yesterday as I was about ready to start my essay.  So I have been focusing more on research than starting the first 2.5 pages of my essay.  

Thesis:  Although the ability to end your life may benefit a patient experiencing extreme discomfort or inevitable death, it demeans the value of life, leads to eventually passing a euthanasia act, and prohibits the recovery or misdiagnosis of the patient.  

A patient that is experiencing extreme discomfort or is diagnosed to pass away within the next few months may benefit from having the ability to choose to take his or her own life, however the value of life is much more important.  In the past decade or so, there have been three states that have found physician's assisted suicide a reasonable right to every individual suffering from an critical illness.  The first of these three states to pass a bill was Oregon.  Under Oregon’s death with dignity act allows, “doctors can prescribe medication to hasten the death of terminally ill patients with six-month prognoses. Patients must be mentally competent and they must administer the medication to themselves.”    

Cupcake Recipe

A couple of days ago I decided that I really wanted cupcakes, so made this wonderful recipe.  I had a blast making it, and i got to enjoy some awesome cupcakes...alright so I have a confession.  They weren't that amazing but they were at least my cupcakes.  Oh and I really love Cream cheese frosting and chocolate so it was my favorite.  It was a fun experience that produced a tasty treat.  All in all, I consider it a win.  

Ingredients

• 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup sweet butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 egg whites

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
• 1 Tbs. corn syrup
• 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbs. grated orange zest
• Food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In top part of double boiler over boiling water heat chocolate, 1/2 cup milk, brown sugar and egg yolk. Stir continuously and remove from heat when smooth and thick. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together into medium bow.

In separate large bowl, beat together butter and sugar, add egg yolks, 3/4 cup milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Slowly add flour mixture and stir until smooth. Add chocolate mixture and combine. In separate bowl beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Bake in cupcake tins for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes in tins. Remove to cool completely. Combine frosting ingredients and frost cupcakes.