Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Area of expertise


My area of expertise would have to be go-karts. I have race for about four years. I have always enjoyed it because of the speed and quick thinking necessary to race. The rush that racing gives you is like nothing else.  The first time that I ever drove a go-kart I fell in love with it.  Just driving is fun, but racing is what makes it amazing.
            Driving is just around the track trying to improve on time by just a hundredth of a second. My average time around a track was normally about a 105.3 second time with variations from 105.4 to 105.2 but normally I would run a 105.3 with some sort of variation in the hundredths of a second. This is when the really grueling task of just doing laps and laps of driving comes into play. I still love to do it though. Practice makes perfect and it is really the only way to get better.
            Racing is where the real fun is at. Right of the start the race to pass as many people before the first turn is the most exhilarating part of the race. Normally you will change four or five positions after every start. After the start the first corner is the most dangerous part of the race. The best way to get through is to stay out then hit apex early. By hitting the inside of the corner early it cuts everyone out of the front spot and allows you to take it. Then after that maintaining a consistent lap time is key.
            My biggest achievement in racing is getting sixth in the western hemisphere national for my age group. The feel of placing that high was amazing and I really impressed myself. I spun once in this race and that really slowed me down, however it was one of the best experiences of my life. Racing is amazing.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Stranger in a Strange Land

                I have never lived in a foreign country however i have been to many. I have been to Italy, France, England, and Costa Rica. I have never lived in a country other than the U.S. though. I think that going to a country, and living in one are completely different experiences. When i go to a country i always have the same things that i would have here. I buy what I want there and bring everything that I can't buy there from home, but if you live there you cant do that. When you live there you will run out of whatever you bring and of you can't buy it you must go without it. I think that living in another country would be an amazing experience, but I also think that it would be a slightly frightening. I think that I may eventually go and live in another country for a six months or a year just for the experience. One novel that really emphasizes on the fear of living in a new country is American Born Chinese. This novel shows the fear of Jin a chinese boy in a foreign land.
               Jin seems like he tried to cope but eventually could not and became Danny. That made him have less fear than he did before because he fit in. The hardest part about living in a foreign country is fitting in. By changing or slightly adapting to the foreign countries native culture. By doing this you could live in a foreign country and be much happier.