When I asked one of my friends to recommend me an amazing piece of music, she told me to listen to the A Capella group Pentatonix. At first I was hesitant because the assignment was to listen to an amazing piece of music and Pentatonix does covers of music written by other people. But as soon as I started to listen to their music I began to understand why they still fit the assignment. While Pentatonix sings other artists songs they re-work them and make the songs their own. Each piece is unique while still recognizable and every singer in the group gives the performance their all. The end result is truly fantastic music. After making this discovery I have come to the conclusion that how much a piece effects you and in what way a piece effects you is determined not necessarily by the lyrics or melody but by the soul that the performer puts in.
It is not necessarily about the song, it is how the piece is sung.

The piece of music that I chose to listen to every night before bed was Beyonce's version of Ave Maria. Listening to this song at night was very calming and improved my mood before I fell asleep. I really enjoyed doing this assignment and I was surprised at how greatly the music impacted me. I slept better at night after calming down and it was something to look forward to after doing homework. Ave Maria also has a personal connection for me to my grandmother who past away several years ago who I have been missing very much lately. Listening to this song at night helped me feel closer to her and while it made me sad, by the end of the song I didn't miss her as much. I believe that music impacts our lives greatly because it has an amazing ability to make us feel all kinds of emotions. These emotions then play a large role in how we act and respond to certain situations.

I chose to interview several of my friends and family about their opinions on male-female friendships. I interviewed my mother, my brother (Dan), and three of my friends (Lydia, Eric, and Madison). My interview with my mother was simple as she and I agreed on this topic. We both believed that male-female relationships are completely possible and are not always threatened by romantic feelings, even if some are. I got the same answers from my little brother. The majority of his friends are girls and though these relationships are young and he developed feelings for some of his female friends in the past, most of his friendships are still simply friendships. It is for this reason that he agreed with me, males and females can simply be friends. The last of the people I interviewed who shared my view was my friend Eric, who is just that, a friend. It was for this reason that he believed males and females can be friends without romantic pressure, because he and I share that relationship. My friends Lydia and Madison both said that they believed eventually male-female relationships fall apart or develop into something more due to romantic pressures. Madison explained that she feels this way because she and her best guy friend recently began a romantic relationship. I argued that I have been friends with Eric my whole life and we have never been more than friends. She said for all I know he has liked my as more than a friend, I said I would have known, and we continued to argue for almost half an hour. Lydia and I also spent a significant amount of time arguing our points without making any headway. In the end we had to agree to disagree on the subject.

5 Things I Have Always Wanted to do With my Friends
- sneak out of the house
- sing in the rain
- play in a sprinkler
- pull an all nighter
- sleep outside

The item from my list that my friends and I did was sneak out of the house at night. The night as a whole was spontaneous. A group of us planned a sleepover last minuet and spent several hours running between friends houses in the middle of the night. When we finally settled into someones living room 10 of us watched funny youtube videos until we cried. Once the majority of the group had gone home there were only three of us left huddled on a sofa for the night. It didn't take long for us to realize that despite the fact that it was almost 2:00 in the morning, we were far from ready to give in for the night. That was when my friend suggested we sneak out to meet one of our friends. Before any of us could second guess the decision we were wrapped in sweatshirts and half way down the street. We meet our friend and spent about an hour talking and walking around. When we got home, we watched Disney movies and ate pasta until we fell asleep. Even though we didn't do anything particularly exciting while we were out or at all during the night, we had fun. We bonded over our adventure, though you can hardly call it an adventure, and the risk of getting caught. My friends didn't think the night was nearly as exciting because they are a bit more practiced in the art of sneaking out, though they did agree it was fun. One of my friends even told me that half the fun was watching my reaction to sneaking out and getting away with it. I decided to take this as a complement and I can't wait until we are able to go on another adventure.