broadway- my childhood dream

It's important, in life, to have dreams and goals. They lead you in the right direction and drive you to accomplish more than you ever thought you could. Yes, dreams do change and yes, some dreams don't come true. But no matter what happens in your life, dreams and wants and desires are important.


When I was 5, I saw my first Broadway show, "Grease" and from that moment on, I was hooked. I wanted to be on that stage, singing and dancing and just having a great time. I wanted to live in New York, have my own apartment, and be an actress, performing three shows a day and loving every second of it.

I went on to see many other Broadway shows: "Cats", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Les Miserables", "Oklahoma", and "Rent." I knew that my Broadway would be incredibly difficult to accomplish but, I wanted to do it.

So, when I got to high school, I did every musical that I could and was in choir. Any chance I got to sing, I would. Finally, My senior year came, and seriously, I thought i was a shoe in for the lead of our show that year, "Little Shop of Horrors." Not to sound cocky, but the reason i thought I would get the lead role, Audrey, was because I was the only senior to be in the musical all four years of High School. I got very good parts in the past and I seriously thought that my senior year would be my chance to shine.

Well, needlesstosay, the part was given to one of my very good friends and I was bummed, but decided to stick with it anyway. I thought I would never become a Broadway actress if I didn't even get the lead role at my high school, but then I realized that maybe acting wasn't really my dream. I had a passion for singing, but not necessarily the whole acting part of it. So, now I'm in school to become a choir teacher.

It's funny how dreams can change in an instant, but my Broadway dream lead me to where I want to be now. I know that I will make a good choir teacher and go on to do great things. Now, Broadway is just somewhere I go to see a show and have a good time, not somewhere I want to live.

The christmas shoes

The Christmas Shoes

It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line
Tryin' to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing 'round like little boys do
And in his hands he held a pair of shoes

His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight

He counted pennies for what seemed like years
Then the cashier said, "Son, there's not enough here"
He searched his pockets frantically
Then he turned and he looked at me
He said Mama made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,
Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes

So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out
I'll never forget the look on his face when he said
Mama's gonna look so great

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight

I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about

-Newsong

I heard this song on the way to school on 95.5 PLJ. The lyrics to this song make me cry each time I hea it. So there I was, an eighteen-year-old in a silver car, balling her eyes out at this beautiful and sad song that was on the radio. I thought about watching this story actually take place, me in line at a store and theres a little boy with only a few pennies trying to buy a gift for his dying mother right in front of me. And watching the little boy's face light up as i hand him the money to buy his mother these beautiful pain of shoes.

I wasn't singing along, which is rather difficult for me. Instead I just listened to the story that was being told through the song, tears streaming down my face. My make up was streaming down my face and it looked like I was crying black tears because of my mascara and eyeliner. The guy in the car next to me kept looking over. He was probably thinking, "Wow, that girl is having a rough day!" but I wasn't at all. I was truly in awe of how hard the song hit me.

my best friend!

After reading one of my classmate's post on best friends, I decided to write this post about my best friend. Jessica and I have been friends for 16 years...yes, we've been friends since we were two years old. You see, our mom's became friends when they were both pregnant with us because they went to the same doctor. Jessica was born in March of 1990 and I was born in August, but, even though her mom was alot further along in the pregnancy as my mom was, they kept in touch and went to each other's baby showers and stuff like that. When we were old enough to, Jessica and I would have play dates and our mom's would sit and talk as we played around like two-year-olds do. In 1994, Jessica moved to my town and we started school together in 1995.

Because me and Jess are both incredibly stubborn, we would get into fights alot when we were younger. I would want to play with Barbies and she would want to play with baby dolls and an argument would arise. There was many times when i called my mom to pick me up from her house because we had gotten into an arguement, but then, by the time my mom got there, we had apologised to each other and were off playing another game.

As we got older, we matured and Jessica and I left the fighting stage and became so close. Even though she moved away in 8th grade, we kept in touch and saw each other at lease once a month.

Now, as you can see by the picture, Jessica is 100% Chinese and her parents were born in China. Her family owns the chinese restaurant that I work at and I am so close to her family. I go to Chinatown with them all the time and I go to Chinese New Year parties with them. Next summer, I'm actually going to China with her family and we're also visiting Japan and Tailand. They have introduced me to a whole new culture of which I am completely facinated by.

Just as I have been introduced to the Chinese culture, my family as introduced Jess to the American culture, as well. Last year, Jessica, her parents, her sister, and her brother came over for their first Thanksgiving. Jessica also is celebrating Christmas with my family this year.

Now, Jess goes to school at New York University and I visit her quite often. She is my best friend in the entire world, and I know that she will always be there for me no matter what. We tell each other everything and we stick by each other through thick and thin. I am so lucky to have such a close best friend. She is my shoulder to cry on, the person I run to if I'm having boy problems, and the person who my future children will call "Aunt Jess." She's not just my friend, she's my sister.

my crazy family

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."

~Erma Bombeck

My family is made up of many loud individuals who are all very much alike. We all look similar, with brown curly hair and light eyes, we have the same loud laugh, the same speaking voice, and we all have the amazing ability to talk so loud but be able to tune into another conversation going on at the same table. It's actually kind of creepy the way we are all so similar. Nearly every member of my family can play a musical instrument and sing. I sing and play the clarinet, my sister sings, my aunt plays the piano and sings, my grandfather plays the piano, accordion, and sings, two of my cousins play the flute, and my 8-year-old cousin has recently started taking violin, viola, and piano lessons. Seriously, you mine as well call us the Von Trapps and move us to Austria.

During holiday parties, we all will sing various songs and then pick out harmonies to try to make us sound like some barbershop quartet or something. It's fun for us, but I realized that for an outsider, we could all be very intimidating....or just plain crazy.

This thanksgiving, my mom had my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins over, which happens every year. We all ate dinner around three, and the volume of all of us combined caused my dog to leave his food and go upstairs to escape us all. In fact, I don't think he came back down until everyone left.

After dinner we all got out our instruments and began to fiddle around with some Christmas music that I had upstairs. We were having a ball and, when my friend came over for dessert, I was playing my clarinet while my grandpa was on our keyboard. We had my cousin plucking his violin strings and my sister and aunt singing the songs we were playing. The look on his face when he walked in was absolutely priceless. He actually looked scared, like he had just seen a horror movie or a ghost or something.

I guess my family is just one of a kind, but I'm sure all of your families have unique things about them, too. My friend wound up having a ton of fun this Thanksgiving as we all did. I guess sometimes a crazy family is the best kind of family.

just a little poem i wrote

A Winter's Snow

I look at you and i just know

Right here, right now out in the snow,

My heart is warm and safe with you.

Our feelings real, our love so true.

When you're not near, I am so cold

And a quilt I must unfold.

But still, so cold I do lay there,

With you this quilt I long to share.

But you're here now and here you'll stay

At least just for another day.

And hand-in-hand we'll take a walk,

Leave prints in snow as white as chalk.

My hear just melts when our lips touch

And you hand and mine do clutch.

Your wrap your arms around my waste.

I smile as you kiss my face.

I'm writing this so I can say

I love you, dear, if that's okay.

So hold me now, and hole me tight.

And I will be so warm tonight.

-Amanda Sisco

I wrote this poem about a month ago for no particular reason. Writing poetry just helps me put my feelings down and express what i was to express. I hope you enjoyed it =)

Z-100 morning show

I was running late this morning for my 9 am child psychology class. I didn't wake up until 7:30, and in order to get to class on time, I have to leave by 8 am....oh the life of a commuter! So, I ran through my house trying to get ready and somehow managed to eat, get dressed, brush my teeth, do my hair, and make my face look half way decent all in 23 minutes.

I left by 8, as normal, and listened to Z-100 the entire way to school, just like every other morning. On the "Z-100 morning show", the normal morning crew talked about the usual things: male and female relationships, stupid news, crazy celebrities...you know, the things that make you laugh out loud to yourself in the car as you wonder how many people in the cars next to you are looking at you because your laughing to yourself.

Anyway, I laughed all the way until I reached Passaic ave. when another more serious topic started to evolve. The people on the radio talked about cheating on your spouse and how if you are happy with your life, there is no reason to cheat. Then that got into being thankful for what you have. The Elvis Duran introduced a women who called in to comment on this issue. Her name was Shelly and she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has been going through treatment and is recovering fast. She said that she never realized how lucky she is to have her family and friends and thanks them everyday now for being there.

I found this fascinating how it takes something traumatic to make us realize how good we have it. We all take too many things for granted and sometimes i think we all just need to take a step back and be thankful for the things that are right in front of us.

black friday

hey guys! I'm sorry i haven't kept up with my blog as well as i should have. I've been really busy lately and honestly have barely had time to catch a breath, but i did have time to watch the news on Friday to hear that a man was trampled by customers at a Walmart in Long Island. If anyone else caught that story, I'm sure you were as horrified as I was, but if you didn't hear it, I'll explain what happened.

Now, black Friday has always been a sort of holiday in America, a day to wake up at the crack of dawn and head to a mall or store to purchase sale items. I completely understand wanting to save a few dollars because of the way the economy the way it is and everything, but seriously, to trample over a man and ultimately kill him his a little out of hand.

On Friday morning at around 5, the doors of this New York Walmart opened to allow over 2,000 anxious customers to rush in. Through the chaos, 34 year old employee Jdimytai Damour was pushed to the ground by the crowd and was ran over by the stampede until he was dead. Fellow employees saw what was happening and tried to get to him, but with all the people they could barely break through the crowd. When the paramedics finally arrived, they tried to revive Damour but had no luck. He was pronounced dead at 6:03 am on Friday morning, just an hour after the store opened.

Employees say that some customers refused to leave the store after Damour was killed. Others fought against the police that were guarding the store because the store closed and they wanted to buy Christmas gifts.

This story almost made me sick to my stomach. Have we, as a society, completely lost the true meaning of Christmas and the holiday season. I mean, yes, I do like getting gifts on Christmas morning and I enjoy watching people reaction when they open up the gift I gave to them, but nothing, to me, is more important that the gift of life. Just to think that people stepped right over this man to save money on a television or "Guitar Hero World Tour" is just insane to me.

I think we all just need to remember what the holiday season is all about, our family and friends and the love we have for them. I hope everyone can understand that Christmas isn't about gift giving or how much money you can save, its about being thankful for what you have.