My Name

I recently wrote this piece in AP English, and I really enjoyed writing it! I found that it revealed some great aspects of my life, and I would very much like to share it with you.

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My Name

In Israeli, Hebrew, French, and English my name means God is my judge. In the Urban Dictionary it means strong and loyal friend for life. It means hope. It means big dreams. It is the old movies on the shelf. A vibrant shade of red. It is the show tunes blaring from my car, human expression translated through song.

It is a French name. A name picked perfectly by two parents who must have known that she would someday become obsessed with everything French. Whose life ambition would revolve around how she could go to France someday. It was a heaven-sent blessing that they chose Danielle- a name perfect for me- instead of naming me Lindsey, as they had concretely decided.

Danielle, a name that either parent had not even toyed with naming me, somehow became the name they thought of when they first laid eyes on me. Choosing a unique name, for what would become a unique girl. A thorny rose in a garden of daisies. An uncommon name that she would grow to know, love, and cherish. Almost seemingly divine that they chose to have my middle name, not my first name be, Ashley. A name that would prove to be a very tender name to the family of who would become my greatest friend, for it was the name of their daughter who passed away.

With an anomalous name, came an abundance of nicknames. Names such as, Nelly, Danielly, Lelly, Lela-belle, Daniella Belle, Nelly-Belly, Danielly Belly, and Le-la. The nicknames, although many, prove to be special to me individually. For every nickname there is a family member who calls me by it. Just like my Grammy calls me Nelly-Belly, or my six-year-old cousin, Bentley, calls me Le-la. Each name holds a special meaning to me, and has a place in my heart. For they are what my loved ones call me, and that makes them all the more extraordinary to me.

My name is an old name. Which truly is choice, for I am an old soul. I adore everything classic and old. A trait that made me find someone in my family to fit in with. My family and I are all very different. That is all except my Grampy. Although he and I may differ much from the rest of our family, he and I are the same on countless levels. We share a love of the old movies, the old music (especially Tony Bennett), and the classic books- he, a Hemingway man, and I, a Steinbeck girl. In a world where we could have felt out of place, we found a similar soul to get us through the craziness that is called family.

I find that my name is unparalleled, and perfect for me. There is no name I would rather go by. Not Lindsey, and not Ashley. I am Danielle. Simply, classically, uniquely, always, and forever, Danielle.

Sing Me a Song, You're the Piano Man

Seven months ago from today, February 18th, was what I consider to be one of the best greatest nights of my entire life. After a postponement, and months of waiting, I was able to see my two favorite musicians in concert...TOGETHER! I went to Billy Joel and Elton John's Face2Face Concert! And I truly did hear "electric music and solid walls of sound."

For months I anxiously awaited this concert. I religiously listened to Billy Joel and Elton John music every day for months. I was so excited that I could barely even stand it. Although I was disappointed by the postponement that occurred in November, the longer waiting period just helped me to get even more excited. I geared myself up by watching music videos on youtube, and became more and more ecstatic day by day. Finally, after four months of waiting, the day came.

All day I could feel this ball of excitement festering inside of me, ready to explode at any moment. After waiting all day the night finally came, my friend Shandra and her parents, John and Jen, came and picked me up to go to the concert. We stopped and grabbed some food at the Gateway, and then we made our way to the Energy Solutions Arena.

We climbed up to our seats up in the very high part of the arena. Although seemingly far away from the stage, I did not care on bit. I was just so excited to be in the same building as my idol, Billy Joel. The man whose music filled my whole day from the moment I wake up to the moment I went to bed at night. The man whose music I could never get out of my head, and whose videos I couldn't stop watching. The man who had almost taken over my life for the past months with his musical genius.

After a trip to go get a t-shirt and program,

Shan and I went to our seats, where we (especially me) would most anxiously await for the show to begin. Suddenly music began, and then began the sold out concert "that took me from 'Scenes of an Italian Restaurant' to beyond the yellow brick road." With no opening act, my two favorite men began a show that became the best three and a half hours of my life.

Together they began to sing and play, a perfect team bringing my favorite songs to life. They opened with Elton John's song "Your Song." All I could do was sit there with my mouth open in complete awe. Hardly believing that my dream was finally coming true. It was only in the next song that the reality hit me when they sang my absolute favorite song, "Just the Way You Are" by none other than the marvelous Billy Joel. The two of them together, singing my favorite song of all time; tears began to well up in my eyes and I started to shed tears of complete joy and happiness.

After a few songs Billy left the stage, and Elton took over for his solo part of the show. He played all of my favorites, "Levon," "Tiny Dancer," "Daniel," and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." But of all the songs he sang and played that night, "Rocket Man" was truly the most sensational! His piano playing was remarkable! His fingers just danced across the keys, he played almost with a sort of aggression but it was graceful at the same time. When he played "Rocket Man" you could feel the music pulsating through the room. You could literally feel the music pulsing through you body. It was as if the music and I had become one. Throughout the entire song my body was covered with goosebumps.

Once Elton was done, it was time for Billy's portion of the show. My hero came out on the stage to his piano. he then attacked the piano keys with a reckless abandon, playing "Angry Young Man." Never in my life have I seen someone play the piano as fast as he did when playing this song. He then preceded to play two of my favorites, "Movin' Out," and "Scenes from and Italian Restaurant." After this his piano sank down into the stage and then came one of the best parts of the concert, He strapped on a guitar and played "We Didn't Start the Fire," and whirled the microphone in the air while singing "It's Still Rock an Roll to Me." It was an AMAZING performance!!! The rest of the set included "River of Dreams," "Don't Ask Me Why," "Zanzibar," and "Only the Good Die Young."

Then Billy and Sir Elton teamed together once again for a fantastic encore. The whole time playing off each other while playing "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues," (one of my very favorites!) "Uptown Girl," and "Bennie and the Jets" (which I actually know the words to, believe it or not, thats how avid a fan I am!)

Then came the ending of the concert, the two men's bands left the stage and they finished by playing two last songs. They played a beautiful rendition of "Candle in the Wind," which gave me chills and honestly choked me up a bit. But it was the last song that really got to me. Last but most definitely not least, they played "Piano Man." The two most talented musicians of the century playing one of the most beloved songs of all time, together. It was here that I began to get very emotional. The tears flowed from my eyes as my two musical idols played together for the last song. The entire stadium was singing along, and I tearfully sang along, "Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. We're all in the mood for a melody and you got us feeling alright."

And oh boy I was feeling much more than alright. I was overwhelmed with complete joy. I know that it may seem kind of silly that I get so excited and emotional over a concert, but the music of Billy Joel and Elton John is timeless and their talent is extraordinary and legendary. The two of them have taken piano to the next level, they revolutionized music, and formed an unequaled combination of pure talent. Their songs will live on forever and I was lucky enough to be able to spend a moment in time listening to them, together, meshing their talents and creating a show that celebrates the best of music. "Billy Joel captains you through his musical river of dreams, Elton John expertly guides you down his melodic yellow brick road, and together, Elton, Billy, and you, will celebrate their songs. Your Songs. Our songs."

After they finished I sat there clapping incessantly, still trying to comprehend the truly amazing show I had just witnessed. Now, seven months later I am still in complete awe of that show. Their talent never ceases to amaze me, and I do not believe that I will ever grow tired of listening to them.

Sensationally Swiss Days/ Playfully Park City

For the past four years my family and our friends the Gordons go and spend our entire Labor Day weekend in Park City and Midway. Sometimes we stay at the Homestead, and sometimes we stay at my mom's friend Connie's condo in Park City. This year we stayed in the condo. The condo is literally right next to the outlets, which is quite nice and convenient! It is fun to stay in the condo, because that way both of our families get to stay under the same roof.

Now let me tell you about the Gordons. They are my family's closest friends. So close that they might as well be family. When we are together it seems like we are just one big family. So it really seems like I have two sets of parents, Missy and Drew, and Heidi and Gordy. Our families seem to mesh perfectly. Gavin has his little buddy Kadence (or K.G.), I have Kazley, Mom has her Heidi, and Dad has Gordy. We are all the best of friends and always have a ball!!

This trip started on a Thursday when my parents and Gavbo left, and I unfortunately had to stay home so I could take an AP Art History test. But of course it was almost like a mini vacation being the only person home. I had complete silence to study, and I could stay up late and watch one of the best movies ever, Dirty Dancing! And make all the noise I

wanted about how amazing Patrick Swayze's body was!

After school was over the next day, I headed over to hitch a ride with Heidi and Kaz. So we made it up at about 4:00 on Friday afternoon. Once we got settled in, we headed up to Midway to go to SWISS DAYS!! The whole reason we do this trip!

Amazingly, we started buying stuff before we even made it to the actual Swiss Days. we found this great booth across the street, where we found some of the cutest head bands for killer prices. I just happened to get two- one had a yellow band with a red and white floral print fabric flower, the other had a turquoise and a white twisted flower on a black band.

That night we got through about half of the booths. We are all pretty crafty girls, so Swiss Days has almost just become a place were we get ideas to do things ourselves. But every so often something will surprise us and we will just absolutely have to have it. That happened to all of us with the soda pop can flower hair clips. All of us girls got one. And of course that night we had to eat dinner at Swiss Days, because the food is the best. I personally love the swiss chicken sandwiches.

The next day we spent a little more time at Swiss Days, and then just chilled at the condo. Once it got to be around dinner time we all knew where we wanted to go. It was where we went every year, and it was our favorite. Main Street Pizza and Noodle. We all love to go up to Main Street in Park City. Gordy loves the Harley shop, Kaz and Gavin love the cow store, and I love the poster store (more to come on the poster store in my next post, to be continued.) Then after the shopping in done we go get pizza. Main Street Pizza has the best BBQ chicken pizza and I have to get it every time, it is just that good.

After dinner, came one of my favorite parts of the trip. We went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I got, as I do every time, the frozen, chocolate dipped cheesecake (on a stick!) Consequently we all got a treat that came on a stick, and then came the joke of our "steeeeks" (or sticks). I wish I could explain more but it really was one of those "You have to be there" types of moments. But nonetheless we were all laughing very hard.

While we were eating our treats a loud blaring horn started to blast. It wasn't like a car horn, it was seriously like those noises you hear in old war movies when they're about to get bombed or something. We all started freaking out, I seriously thought we were going to get blown up. It was only afterwards that we found out that it was some miner's horn.

The next day we went to the Park City ski jumps, were there also happens to be a fun little resort. There are two zip lines, and a second Alpine slide, as well as many other things. (Now before I go one you need to know that I am absolutely terrified of heights. Its so bad that I even get queazy and a bit scared when I walk too close to the railing at school and make my friend's switch me spots walking down the hall.) My mom got us passes to down the Alpine Slide, and both of the zip lines. The slide was really fun, I just expected it to be a nice leisurely ride down slide, admiring the pretty mountainside. But about half way down, I could hear my mom coming in behind me, "Danielle go faster!!!" And of course what could I do but go as fast as I possibly do but go as fast as I could so she wouldn't run into me!

Next, my parents went down the smaller zip line. Gavin and I chickened out at first, me because the height factor, and Gavin because he wasn't feeling good. But once my parents came down, and we could see how much fun it was, Gavin and I knew that we had to go. Although I was absolutely mortified of the height, I actually went down. I just had to keep thinking about the movie Medicine Man, and pretend I was the girl in the movie, going down the zip line in the rain forest with Sean Connery. The whole experience was truly remarkable, and I had a blast! I sort of got over some of my height issues and prepared myself for the X-treme Zip line that I would ride the next day. I also learned that I can do most anything if I just pretend that Sean Connery is with me haha.

That night we had our annual game night. We started out with a game of Pictionary Man, girls against boys. The boys winning unfortunately. Next we played a game of Celebrity Taboo. Me, Mom, and Kazley on a team, and Dad, Gordy, and Heidi on the other team. By this time the boys had gotten bored and started to play their on game. We had so much fun, and my vast knowledge of Hollywood finally paid off.

The next day my Mom, Dad, Kazley, and I went to do the X-treme zip line. Poor Gavbo got so sick that he wasn't well enough to do much of anything, let alone a 1200 foot zip line! So we all rode up the lift to the top of the zip line. The four of us sat in line for about an hour. I was of course freaking out the entire time. It finally came time for me and Kaz to get harnessed up. So I reluctantly walked over to my spot, trying my best not to see how high up I was. We got harnessed in and I then held onto the straps for dear life, and shut my eyes. The doors opened and the line was let go. Once out the door, I opened my eyes, and Kaz and I simultaneously started to scream, although neither of us were scared in the least bit. The scene in front of us was truly beautiful, and the air suspension and speed made us feel as if we were flying. I even had to put my arms out just to act like I was flying. It was such a fun experience and the we all had an adrenaline rush that seemed to last hours afterwards.

Before we drove home we stopped for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Baja Cantina. I got a pina colada, and steak fajitas. This really was the best place to go for dinner, because it was Heidi's birthday, and Baja Cantina makes you wear a sombrero and sing to you if it is your birthday. So even though our lives were threatened by Heidi, we made sure to tell our waitress that it was Heidi's birthday. At the end of our meal an ensemble of employees came to our table and placed the hat on her head and sang. She surprisingly was not mad, but who would get mad if you get a free hot fudge sundae?

After dinner we packed up our cars, and made our way home. Leaving behind another year of tradition and laughter, bringing with us new traditions and treasure memories that will not be forgotten.

Suprisingly Soccer Supervisor

After a weekend away, it was time for me to go pick up my work schedule for my Parks and Rec job. I have worked for Farmington Parks and Rec for three years, and I absolutely love it. It truly is the best job. I have been training to be a soccer referee, so when I got my schedule I expected to be scheduled for ref-ing. But to my surprise, I was scheduled to be a site supervisor. At first I just thought it was a mistake, but after talking to my boss, I found out that it was right.

Usually you have to be at least eighteen to be a site supervisor, but I got to do it at seventeen. Which for me is really neat. So essentially what a site supervisor does is set up the games for the preschool games, and I get to supervise the games and represent the city. Which I think is pretty cool.