GCI had our second Coffee House this year. In case anyone is not familiar with the term Coffee House, it's basically just a talent show where we sell coffee. They are pretty popular at our school because we have a lot of students with amazing talents.
This Coffee House was special. All of the money raised went to three girls from my school, whom are going to Kenya this summer. And those girls just happen to be three really good friends of mine. They are traveling all the way over to Africa for three weeks to build a school. I was a little.. very jealous when they first told my about their trip. I was all upset because I really wanted to go as well. But then I realized that I can either be a bad friend and just mope around or I could be a supportive friend and help out. I chose the supportive side. I've donated money, helped with fundraising activities and a few other things and it has actually been  a lot of fun. I know that I don't get to voyage across the world, but at least I can proudly have my friends go!

Coffee Houses are usually a popular occasion, mostly because they don't happen to often in a school year. But also because you get to see a bunch of amazing music abilities that students have. Almost all of the performers are singing with a guitar or piano. Except occasionally some people might do stand up comedy or simply embarrass themselves on purpose. I wish that I could participate in a Coffee House one day, except I have no talent. My singing sounds like a dying cat, the best instrument that I could play would probably by the recorder or maybe the triangle because it seems easiest. Also I turn bright red when I'm standing in front of an audience. Even though I know I'll probably never perform, it's still a lot of fun to go and support the brave ones that go up.

My friends ended up raising a good amount of money, partly because there was a huge bake sale. I know that they will have a great time on their trip. I hope that my school continues to support other students in the school to help them make a difference in the world!

Finally getting the courage to run into the ocean knowing that it’s going to be incredibly cold. The cool ocean breeze gives me goose bumps and chills my body before I even enter the water. My first steps into the water make me want to turn around from the pain of the icy water. I keep on walking deeper and deeper into the ocean trying to achieve my goal of swimming in the ocean. I’m standing on my tippy-toes and jumping over each wave trying to avoid submerging myself. My dad has already sprinted past me and dove beneath the water. Up ahead, a wave much bigger than all the other ones approaches me. I know it’s my time to be brave and dive under water. Just before the wave crashes against me a dive head first into the strong force of the wave. The water is brain numbingly cold and I quickly push back up to the surface. The saltiness from the ocean covers my lips and makes my taste buds tingle. The air is not chilly anymore and water isn’t so painfully cold. I jump in the waves a bit along feeling proud that I accomplished my goal. As soon as I stop moving, the water temperature feels like it plummeted 100 degrees below 0 and I race out of the water to wrap myself in a soft, warm towel.

- I took the picture from my hotel room in Myrtle Beach

This morning, as I let my dog inside, I watched as the first thing she did was run to her food bowl to see if we had put any food in it. I realised that she does this a lot. Every time Abbi walks past the kitchen she always runs and checks her bowl which is usually empty. When we do drop a treat into her bowl it always makes a little 'ting' noise, and from anywhere in the house Abbi can hear that faint noise. After watching her constantly do her routine with her dog bowl and instantly made me think of Facebook. I'm not a huge user of Facebook anymore, except when I was I would always randomly check my news-feed. I knew that most likely nothing interesting was on Facebook, but what if that one time I didn't check someone posts a hilarious video or status or something to amuse me. So I would constantly check my Facebook every time I walked past my computer. When I got the Facebook app on my iPod I was happy because then I could check Facebook on the go. Also the best part was every time I got a notification, my iPod would alert me with a 'ding'. I didn't get many notifications, but when I did I would rush to receive it. (I know this sounds like I'm one of those types of people who sit around waiting for something on Facebook, kind of was a couple of years ago, nowadays I don't use social media as much). With me always checking my Facebook and Abbi frequently checking her bowl, me waiting for the 'ding' of a notification and Abbi listening for the 'ding' of a treat, there are obvious similarities between dogbowls and Facebook.