I don't know if it's a real house that I want when I grow up. I think that it is an apartment or like a flat, in New York City. I have always loved the city. I feel at home in the city. I would also want a job in the city. So every morning I could wake up and go get coffee. Then I would walk to work around the crowd of people walking in Times Square. Most people want a yard and a white fence when they grow up. However, i do not. Most people want a garage and a car. I am perfectly fine taking the sub way. I would want to be on the top floor. That way so no one could stomp above me. I would also get a dog. Even though having a dog in the city would be hard. I would still do it because I love dogs. My parents are from New York. So we visit there often. Also one summer I spent two months living with my aunt in Brooklyn. It was so much fun. I love it there so much. That is why I want to live there.

My name is Latin. It means Lovable. In most European languages Amanda is pronounced the same. My dad wanted to name me Danielle. However my mom wanted to name me Amanda. Clearly my mom won. Danielle means God is my judge in Hebrew. My name is Amanda. MY grandpa calls me Mandy. My most of my family at home calls me Manda. However not when they are mad at me. My mom got the idea for my name from Amanda off of 91210. She thought she was pretty so she decided to name me that. However if you ask may dad he will disagree. He doesn't think I was named Amanda because of that. In school I have never really had a nickname. Everyone usually just calls me Amanda. My dad said if i was a boy I was going to be named Mario. So I am pretty happy that I'm a girl. My great grandpa's name was Mario. That is why I was named Amanda.

We all have our fair share of strange neighbors. For the most part I have perfectly normal neighbors. Yet, there is that one that has something weird about them. For example, my next door neighbor is really nice and sweet. However, the husband has a problem with his lawn. He can't stop messing with it. Every time it grows he doesn't like it. So he tears it up. Then he plants more grass. Then when that grows in he doesn't like it again. He thinks it is too dead and not green enough. He has been doing this for years. Just the same thing over and over. During the winter most grass dies and turns brown. However, he just can't accept that. Then his wife started to help. She started by adding flowers and some stones. Now they are older and don't do as much yard work. They sort of jut let their yard do what it does. Once in a while you will see him mow his lawn. Somehow even though they don't mess with it anymore it is still really green. I guess it is years of hard work.

We all have that one teacher. That one teacher that just hates joy. That also hates laughter too.They don't enjoy fun, joy, or happiness. Well I have a teacher like that too. He hates everything happy. To him school should just be about taking notes. What he doesn't understand is that students can't doing boring for long periods of time. So the class doesn't do what we are supposed to do. We joke around and laugh. However, he doesn't like joy. We laugh and he gets made. So he writes up names on the board as a warning. I almost have a my own spot on the board. Almost everyone's name ends up on the board, everyday. What he doesn't understand is that his method isn't working. He is clearly everyone's least favorite teacher. We all act out in that class. I would feel bad but i feel like he does this to himself. It is clear now that maybe he just doesn't like laughter.

I have a lot of different cousins. They are all different in there own ways. They are all different ages. I am they second to youngest cousin in my family. They youngest, Tara, was adopted when I was 8. She is now 9 and I am 15. We got her when she was just a baby. Tara and I are they only people in my family not over. Both my mother's and father's families started in New York. Now we are all spread out around the country. My family and I live in Virginia. My grandpa also lives in Virginia too. My aunt Linda lives in Texas. My aunt Mara lives in California. My aunt Joany and aunt Rita live New York. I only see all of my family once in a while. When we do see each other it is always loud and crazy. I have a lot of cousins. However, I only have two boy cousins. All the rest of my cousins and girls. We all vary in age from twenty eight to nine.

A couple of years ago, my sister and I used to babysit together. We watch this one family with a lot of kids. Their parents worked all day over the summer. It was a good way for us to earn money. They had five kids. That might not seem like a lot, but when they all are only a year apart and hyper on sugar it's crazy. They always had so much energy. It's like they never slept. It's like their parents always gave them coffee. They didn't accept the word no, so it was hard to take control of them at all. They were always jumping around and crazy. You couldn't ever take control of them. It was impossible. They second their parents come home though, they were perfect little angels. This went on all summer. When we complained to our parents they thought we were crazy for thinking that. However, we weren't crazy. My in the least bit. The children were the crazy ones. Maybe it was because their parents give them enough attention. Maybe we were the only ones giving them attention. However, kids will be kids. They just think it's funny.

I dance a Fredericksburg ballet center. There are classes like creative movement for the little kids. It's a class for the younger children that can't understand ballet yet. I help teach dance to the little kids. In one of the younger classes there was a little girl named Abby. She was a very sweet little girl. She was always on time to class. She always did what she was told. However when you looked her in the eyes, she was lost. She had crystal clear bright blue eyes. When you looked her in the eyes there was nothing there. She was always in her own little world. Sometimes she wouldn't even respond. She wouldn't even respond to her own name. I always wondered what was going on in her head. Some of the time she wouldn't hear what you said. She would just stand there. She was very sweet. However, at times it is hard to have her in class. She just isn't like the other girls. She didn't always take instruction well.

Like I had said before, I go to Fredericksburg Ballet Center. I have been dancing for thirteen years now, since I was three. I do ballet, modern, jazz, and musical theater.

Every year around Christmas time was perform a ballet called The Nutcracker. I have been in it for very many years now. Last year I was a Snow Flurry. I was also a flower in the waltz of the flowers. I don't even remember my first year in The Nutcracker. I was six years old. I was a baby angel. I cannot wait for this coming year's show. As I get older I get better roles. That means more solos.

However, I am very sad because when I graduate next year I also graduate from dance too. I have danced all my life. I hopefully plan to continue dancing in college. That might not happen. This is because I really don't know what I want to do with my life. I just hope it involves dancing. Till I figure out that I will just keep dancing. Dancing is all I have ever known.

I have always wanted to work. I thought having a job wold be fun. I want so extra money. Money that I can spent on things I want. That would require me to get a job. However, I don't have a car. My parents can take my because they work. My sister is at school. I just want some extra money. Getting a job in high school just won't happen for me. I really want one. When I asked my mom about it she said no. I dance four days a week. That means no time for a job. At all. I know she means best for me. I just wish I could have one. That would be great. It would make me feel better. Like I was doing something in my life. My mother is right. If I got a job my grades would go down. I like having good grades. Grades are important for my future. Then I can go to college and get a better job. One that is better than one in high school.

Just this past Winter I lost my Grandma. She was my father's mother. I didn't really know her that well. Before I was born she got brain cancer. She got treated but kept getting sicker. She never really talked or moved much. She stayed in bed all day long. It has been this way for as long as I could remember. I never really got to know her. She was in and out of the hospital every once in a while.

She is originally from Latvia. She came to America. Then she got to meet my grandpa. My dad has four sisters. We all have big families. So this was very sad. We all got together to have a memorial service with all the family. It was nice to see the family though. I saw some the cousins I haven't seen in years. My grandpa took care of her every day and never complained. He did it out of love. That is why he is the person I most admire in the world.

When I was younger kid I always had my hands in my mouth. This happened in elementary mostly. So once a season I got sick. As in Winter, Fall, Summer, and Spring. In every grade I puked. I did this up to 5th grade and then I stopped. I remember in 3rd grade I puked on some kids backpack. Now the same kid sits behind me in History. I don't think he remembers though. That is a good thing. I would always have strep throat. It always made my throat hurt. It also made me throw up. I had it all the time. So I missed some school. Eventually I just stopped getting it. Which is a really good thing. That is pretty much the only sickness I used to get. Nothing too serious. I am really happy for that. Now all I get is the common cold.

I have lived here all my life. About eight years ago someone moved across the street. She had a husband named Chip. Her name was Rhonda. One day she came to our front door. She asked if we could watch her dogs when she went on vacation. She had a very southern accent. She was tall. She was tan and blond. We agreed. When went to feed her dogs, we went to her house. Her house always smelled so good. Her home looked like the front cover of an interior design magazine. It still looks like that to this day. She loves collecting pretty stuff. Or decorations for the holidays. On every holiday she always brings my sister and I presents. I guess it is because her kids are all grown up now. Now I let her dogs out all the time. It mostly happens when she is late coming home from work.

I have never been great in English class. I have always wondered what it would be like to be an author. It would be fun to make up stories and get paid for it. It could be all in your head. However I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have never really had luck in middle school. It was mostly with my English teachers. In 8th grade my English teacher hated me. I don't know why. She did though. I think it was because she didn't like my sister. She had her too. She always acted like I was stupid. And I'm not. At least I don't think of myself as stupid. She always picked on me to do thing. Even if I didn't rise my hand. I didn't for a reason. At the end of the year she refused to let me go to advanced English in high school. That is why we didn't like each other much.

One day I will graduate college. I will start a life of my own. I would like to either own a house. Or I want to have an apartment in a city. Like a major city. Like New York or Chicago. I would have my own rule. I wouldn't have to follow my parent's rules. i think that my parents have very stable rules. There are just a few I would change. I hate when they things like, "You live under my roof,". Yes clearly I do. However I would like to make some of my own choices. I would have more of a schedule. Everything would be organized. I would have systems. I still think my parents are doing a good job. I just wouldn't do the exact same. My own rules.

I was born here. Fredericksburg, VA. I have never lived anywhere else but here. Always on the east coast. I have never been to the west coast. Both of my parents are from New York.They lived there first. The they moved to Florida. The moved because of my dad's job. My sister was born in Florida. After she was born they move to Virginia. Before I was born. Then I was born. I travel all the time. However I have never lived anywhere else. The only time I came close to living somewhere else was two years ago. My parents went to Italy. They left my sister and I at my aunt's. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. We stayed there for two months. I had a really good time. I missed home though.

I think it started with my dad. He always told us the stories. From a young child he was scared of clowns. I guess he passed the fear to me. At Kings Dominion during Halloween, I can handle it. I can handle everything but the clown section. I always try to find a way around it. Two years ago I was at a New Jersey carnival. My sister and I mostly rode rides. Once and a while we would pass a clown. I lost my sister in the clown section. I was scared to death. I turned out alright though. I just don't see why people like them. Why was they paid to be at children's birthday parties. If I had one I would freak out. You can't get my dad to go to anything carnival like. I don't even know how it started. I don't see why anyone would like them. They are scary.

My ninth birthday was the best birthday I have ever had. By far. It started off like no other birthday. I remember my dad was out of town. That made me sad. It wasn't going to stop me from having a good birthday though. We were playing a card game in the living room when it happened. It started thunder storming. It was like June so they were common. It was like 7pm. It was still day light. My mom and I went out side and danced in the rain. It was thundering and lighting. We didn't care. I had the time of my life. Our neighbors though we were crazy. We got soaked with water. I was bare foot. So I stepped on a couple rocks in the drive way. It was the best birthday ever.

I was always the youngest of my age group. So everyone got their permits. I still didn't. The I finally did. Everyone will be able to drive to school on the first day and I won't. However I'm not the youngest. So it could be worse. My sister was always begging my parents to let her drive when she was younger. I also wanted to drive. I just didn't nag them all the time. I get most of my hours driving to the lake. We go there every week end. The drive is like forty minutes. The roads are really windy and narrow. I am getting a lot of practice from it. I am really lucky to drive. I just can't wait till next year. I won't have to ask my parents for rides. I will get to go places by myself. Getting my own parking space at school is exciting.

Ever since middle school I would beg my parents to take me to Paris. It all started when I started taking French. Over the summer there was a class trip. My parents wouldn't let me go out of the country without them. Then it happened again freshman year. All the sudden I got obsessed with London. So then I wanted to go there too. I begged and begged. They finally agreed. For my 18th birthday and my graduation present we would go. Then my parents went to Italy again. The loved it. Mostly Venice. So now they want to add that to the trip. I can't wait. Now we are going to all three. I hope this is just the start for me. I would like to see the world. Next on my list is Ireland. They have cool castles.

We got my dog when I was five. We got him when he was a puppy. His parents were my preschool teacher's dogs. His original name was caramel. We didn't like that so much. So we named him Bear. He was just a puppy when we got him. The first night he cried and cried and cried. So my dad went downstairs to get him. He brought him up stairs. Then he brought Bear to my parents bed. And from that day on he is so attached to us. Every day when I get home from school he is waiting for me. When I walk in the door he gets so excited. he wags his tail. The he rolls over. So I can scratch his stomach. He has white fur with brown spots. he has a brown nose. He fits in perfectly in the Santucci family.