Descriptive Frustrations

  I am currently plodding through 8th grade descriptive essays becoming more and more irritated by the minute.  After spending weeks (quite literally) working on making bare statements vivid, focusing essays on a very short period of time (30 minutes preferably), and journeying through the writing process, here are some excerpts of the good, the bad, the ugly, and just plain funny:

•  Topic:  Connor the Cow
  "We had good days that were good and bad days that were bad."  "All of my cows were different; that is what I liked most about cows.  This year will definitely be different; each year is always different." 

•  Topic:  Barnes and Noble bookstore
  "I was trudging down the modern literature aisle until my mom and dad came and showed me the books I've craved since I was 10 years old."  Wait for it...  "...a biography on Albert Einstein and a book on the evolution of organisms.  It was like a kid in a candy store, so many choices, yet you only have 25 cents."  Real kicker:  "Later that night I just realized that all those years ago when I first started reading science books, my mind passed through a doorway which I like to call the gateway of knowledge."  (Also, cleverly, the title of essay)

•  Topic:  Getting Attacked by a Fat Cat
  "At last, the cat impaled my arm by using his near razor-sharp claws, and even though I tried to pull him off, he wouldn't let go.  I tried hitting him on the house, but when one of his paws fell off, he just dug his claws back into my appendage."

•  Topic:  Falling Asleep After Waking up from Surgery
  "I now know that my family knows I am all right.  I just wish that I could convince myself that as the pain starts to make everything foggy.  The world looks more like an old worn out comic book, but that slowly fades too.  I can't control myself any longer as I start to drift.  I want to stay but I'm suddenly tired.  So tired.  I guess the world can wait.  I just want a tiny nap, just a tiny nap.  That is all I think as an uncontrollable wall of sleep comes and covers me and pushes reality away and takes the pain with it."