hockey

The clock ticks down from one minute
I skate the puck down the ice,
The only thing that I wish I did but I didn't,
Was to slice up the defender just like mice.

The fans in the arena cheer,
For that i get a break away,
To score and hear,
My teammates surround me with no dismay.

As i was in the air,
I wish that nobody hit me,
And everyone just stairs,
As the puck hit's the bar and rings like a bee.

My coach jumps up and screams,
As the ice finally looks like steam.

Significant Struggles

Chris Menard
B.G
English 9
3/26/09

Life has many obstacles and problems that people face. They need to find solutions or ways to get around them and accomplish whatever that needs to be done. Many people tend to quit their goals and try to reach something else, but for some people like Santiago he never gives up. He goes through many difficult times some life risking and some original not so affective problems. When the old man is on the sea his young friend abandons him and doesn’t have a friend to lean on and help him. His parents took him away from Santiago because he couldn’t catch a fish for 84 days if his life depended on it. So Manolin left and went to journey with a different boat.

In the beginning of the novel when Manolin left him and he first went out upon the sea, everyone on the other boats laughed at him and being very judgmental that he will never catch anything. They were catching multiple fish every day and Santiago wasn’t catching anything. He ignored them all and just moved on. The other fisherman used a different style of fishing and Santiago used a style that he liked which eventually worked for him in the long run. Santiago was a very strong passionate person. Ha had a dark tan, with some very harsh marks on his back from being out on the ocean so much.

“I’m being towed by a fish and I am the towing bit. I could make the line fast. But then he could break it. I must hold him all I can and give him line when he must need it. Thank god he’s traveling and not going down” (45). Santiago’s willingness to catch the 10 foot, two ton marlin never gave up as he had his mind set on capturing it to sell for him to live another day. He needs all the help and luck that he can get because he has to get some money for food. It took Santiago twenty four full hours on dealing with the toughness of this fish. He was existed the whole entire time when he was trying to reel the marlin in. It was a matter of life or death up to this point. Santiago stayed optimistic the whole time.

“With so much flying fish there should be dolphin” (71). Santiago was grazing the outskirts of the ocean and he realized what was going on and wondered. Where are all of the dolphins? He thought that dolphins were so lovely and gave a great soothing feeling. Nobody could answer that question but all around with the peaceful waves and the tense clash of when they collide. It was an indescribable feeling for him that he couldn’t share with anyone. With the hot sun beating on his bare back making him anxious to catch a fish. The birds were chirping. You could hear the hot sizzle as if hit was hitting solid concrete. Out of random a airplane flew by as he questioned who was in it and where they were going. That’s a whole an other mystery that needs to be figured another time.

A wise man, Santiago once said, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (103). Santiago first felt really depressed when the shark took the marlin and ate it right from his boat. But that didn’t bring Santiago down, the matter of fact that he actually caught that giant marlin, probably the biggest ever was a huge accomplishment. He felt proud and confident. Santiago really wanted to have it to bring the marlin back to the shops to sell, to get money but he didn’t just do it for that. He did it for the respect and that he hadn’t caught a single fish in 84 long dreadful days. All that Santiago brought back to the town was the bones of the marlin and him. Santiago is one of those people who never give up. They set a goal and don’t make another one until that one has been accomplished.

Life can be very challenging to most people but with Santiago, even knowing that he only has very little he can get by good. He is able to live and be healthy. He can adjust to whatever is thrown out at him. By struggling Santiago beat his objective of catching the giant marlin. It was difficult and very critical of getting it but as being a very strong, cautious, zealot he had done it. This book is exceptionally great and I was very anxious to read the next page.

The Unknown Beast

"Holy SHIT” , someone help me, oh my god ,” I screamed, as I was blasphemous.

I sprinted out of the cave and up to the summit of the mountain as the helicopter was flying away and I intensively jumped on and climbed into my seat. Andrew was already in there waiting, helping me up. The goblin was right behind me yelling in a shrill voice, almost tearing my head off but he didn’t reach and I was already far away in the helicopter, with good relief.

Hold up, let me tell you where it all started. It was in the spring and a few buddies and I were wanting to explore something new and discover it. Later I found something that said that there was a new mountain in Antarctica and nobody else has ever set foot on it before. It is suppose to be spectacular.

We decided to go on May 22, 1936 and the plane left at 10:30 am. When we got to the top of the mountain there is suppose to be a helicopter waiting for us to be there. So our group is going to be, my friend Andrew, he was quiet wry and wise. Alex, he was the leader of the group who is taking us up there, he has prowess. Veronica, who is Andrew's’ fiance and she carries all of the food and water, and was feeble and lastly, I Chris which is the strongest of all of them. Each person has there own M4 Carbine which is a gun incase if there is anything vague.

We arrived at 4:00 PM at the base of the mountain. This mountain looked like it was one of the most gargantuan mountains in the world. It was cold out, approximately -6 degrees out and we all had big warm coats on. there was a zephyr in the air. The mountain was placid. Alex stated,” lets start this expedition and began to climb up.

Every few hours we would stop and take a little break and have some food and water, that we would get out of Veronica backpack. Everyone tented up at 11:30 and get some rest for the next day. We slept till 6:30 am, barely burning daylight and starting up the day again.
We started to climb again and we were all just conversing on how amazing that this is and how much fun this trip is. All of a sudden we realized that there was a cave up ahead.Alex shouted to everyone,” lets check this thing out.”
“I don’t think that this is such a good Idea,” Andrew stated quietly to me.

“Whatever this is an adventure, live with it,” I said to him.

So we kept on climbing and it got pretty steep right before the cave. There was a little ledge that you could grab onto to bring yourself up and that’s what Alex did. He reached to pull himself up and all of a sudden he was brought up quickly by his arm and it appeared to be some sort of mystical creature that did it. The beast chopped off Alex’s arm and he fell all the way down and died on a hard sheet of ice. It looked like his body was tattered and indigent. The beast ran back into the cave.We pulled out our M4 Carbines and ran up and into the cave.

We realized that It was dark and musty and had some gewy slime on the sides of the walls.it had a effluvia. It was pitch black and nothing was around it seemed and Veronica came out of nowhere saying,” I have a flashlight that we can use."

She pulled out the flashlight and there was a bunch TNT dynamites everywhere. We explored the rest of the place and there was nothing to be found and then Andrew screamed at the top of his lungs,” booby trap!! Watch out.” Veronica didn’t respond quick enough and got snapped into a net and was brought up a huge dark vent hole.

Andrew and I took a little while to find place where it might lead to someplace else and finally I found something. There was and opening that led to a bigger room, it was right behind a rock. We slowly walked in, with the tips of our guns showing and we couldn’t believe what we had seen.

“There was probably about 20 of those beasts which looked like goblins from what I have read,” Andrew said. They had blue eyes, green skin, hunched over, looking letharc and all they had for defense was a knife. they made shrill sounds from there mouths.

We hid behind a large rock, a bulwark or you can say a rampart and we happen to see Veronica dead hanging by her neck on a thick rope. “They have hung her,” Andrew said sadly. We made a plan that we will both attack the gremlins at the same time and when were half way done with killing them Andrew will run back to the helicopter and wait until I kill all them and I get back to the helicopter.

Attack on 3. 1.……,2.………..,3 go and then open fire just started to happen and they just started going down 1 by 1and as in 5 min we were almost done.

“Andrew go I will meet you in the helicopter,” I said.

He ran and I was almost done and there was only one goblin left and I ran out of bullets and I sprinted out of the cave and up to the summit of the mountain as the helicopter was flying away and I intensively jumped on and climbed into my seat. Andrew was already in there waiting, he abetted me up. The goblin was right behind me, looking extreamly inept, almost tearing my head off, he had great malefactor inside him, but he didn’t reach and I was already far away in the helicopter. With good relief.

Andrew and I were just talking on the way home, what should we name this mountain since we have discovered it? “how about Mount Hindu Kush, I said. “sounds good,” Andrew responded.

We got home the next day and we had a proper burial ground for Alex and Veronica and we were all sad especially Andrew because Veronica fiance. So that day Andrew and I felt mixed emotions, sad that we lost people we love and we discovered a new mountain.