Family

Joining
One must be born, married or be extremely well-known to the family.

Friends
Joining
One must earn their friendship and pass a friendship test madfe the group.

Rules
There is no disrespecting the adults and absolutely no talking back. Every child must help out at family gatherings, either with setting the table or drinks.

Rules
Everyone invites everyone to places, all of us put effort into this frienship, and we all have to suck it up when we get insulted in a joke.

Conversations
Family gatherings, holidays, vacations, family's health and well being.

Coversations
Going out on weekends, our family plans, catching up on missed events.

Topics
Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Camping and each of the families.

Topics
Parties, jokes, school, upcoming events, and tv shows/movies.

Andrea Lopez
Swimming
Joining
One must sign up to be in the team and learn how to swim all four strokes.

Band
Joining
One must learn how to play and instrument and test off to be placed in a level.

Rules
Each person is allowed to miss only 3 practices, each person is responsible to keep their grades up, no pass no swim, for every flip turn missed 50 sit ups are due at the end of practice.

Rules
There is no chewing gum or eating food while playing an instrument, there is no eating or drinking (with the exception of eater) in the band room, no one else besides you may play your instrument

Conversations
Swim meets, school, parties, morning practices and of course, swimming!

Conversations
Concerts, contests, friday night games, lock ins, jokes, late night rehearsals, water and band life.

Topics
Border invitationals, district meet, regional meet, the coach, jokes, and how to improve the strokes and technique.

Topics
Football games, marching, area contest, state contest, bands of america, music and water break jokes.

Isnt it crazy how we all have our little cliques and groups that we belong to? We can belong to a gothic group and also to a Mexican tribal dance group, yeah, its just like having a squirrel poop goat cheese, yuck. People always have their ways of expressing themselves and how they fit in. I more than likely fit into completely different categories that make me who I am, that represent me. My family consists of my father, mother, sister and brother, then my exterior family like uncles, aunts and cousins. My family has a very unique way communicating and saying hello. All of my aunts and uncles whistle in different tones and pitches to be able to recognize each other and what they are needed for. Not only do they whistle but they also make this weird noise that sounds like an owl, crazy right? Each of my family members has their own way to talk, like me, I always make weird sounds to respond to them, my father talks loud, my mother speaks nonsense, my brother talks with precise words and my sister likes to make jokes out of things she says. My mother and my aunts all communicate by phone call and sometimes by text (its rare when they text though). My father communicates by phone call only. My sister and brother communicate by phone call, text and e-mail. The way my family considers people in the family is those who are born into our family, married into our family and/or if you are a very close friend to the family. Once you join our family, there no backing out, they stick with us to the very end! There are some specific rules that more than likely other families have. One is that every member in the family (not including the babies or kids under 8) are to help in family gatherings, with setting the table, pouring the drink, handing out napkins and/or helping pick up after. Another rule is that there shall not be any talking back to the adults or any negative attitudes when the family is

together. Of course, these are rules that many families have within themselves as well. Sometimes, my family likes to speak in, Im guessing the way that they would speak when they were younger, because I dont understand what they are speaking of, and sometimes I think its a different language, ha. My friends consist of my best friends, the ones that I call my adoptive brothers and sisters. We have our own ways of expressing ourselves. When we talk to each other, we simply use small words that have a great meaning. When we go out, and one of use gets left behind or lost, theres this noise we make that is very high pitched that allows us to hear and be able to locate each other. When we communicate, its usually by either text or snap chat. The main reason we text is because we all live far from each other, so we can all meet up and catch up on our lives and whats been new here and there. Our vocabulary consists of weird words that we use or that we came up with, for example, the word bababababanana is just a word that we extended, it simply means banana. We know each other by special names as well, shaky, nala, simba, whitey, choko and maam. The only rules in this friendship is that we all have to commit to this friendship, its our little relationship circle. When we have people join us, they have to earn our friendship and trust; we arent that easy to pick friends. Also, our friends also have to respect the relationships of others, since some in the group are lesbian and gay. People who do not respect gay, lesbian and bisexual relationships, we absolutely do not tolerate them, knowing that they will be teasing, making fun of, and talking bad behind our backs. It is rare for us to put our trust into someones hands, knowing that they might tear it. The wa y we see trust in us is by having a person stand behind us, holding the end of one string while the other end is tied

to a knife above our neck, holding a pair of scissors on the other hand, not knowing if they will cut it or not. Swimming is my main sport and Ive got another close group there. Theyre my swim buds, my swim family, and my mains. Communication within us is very special and important. With us, we communicate any way we can, by text, phone call, Facebook, Twitter, Snap chat, video chat, if we are able to, we would even do the whole smoke signals too! We are united at all times. We all share Peace Love Unity and Respect (PLUR). Our communication consists of swimming mainly or about other swimmers. On Friday nights, at the swim meets, our vocabulary completely changes. We speak of kicks, pulls, dives, times, starts and finishes. Our loud voices fill up the building, making it echo. We talk about how we swam, how we finished, how our breathing was. Our rules declare who we are and what we are capable of. Breaking the rules makes us stronger, literally. Missing flip turns results in 50 sit ups for every turn missed. For every break taken on the wall during set results in 50 pushups for every set missed. Some broken rules can cause sadness. Missing 3 practices, whether theyre morning, afternoon or dry land practices, result on a good chance of being expelled from the team. Grades are also a big rule. Keeping up with our classwork and keeping our grades up allows us to participate in the races. We fail, we dont participate, its a no pass no swim deal. Being on the swim team takes great participation, to join, you must conquer all 4 strokes, the butterfly, the backstroke, the breaststroke and the freestyle. Being able to swim all these is a big thing to be able to join. To join, one must also pass a test. A test based on the events at a swim meet.

When it comes to band, we speak music. Its as if our minds change and go with the flow. When we communicate, we speak of music, what we play, what we feel. We tend to make many jokes about music and how we play our music. The vocabulary we have is unique! No one will understand us band geeks. To join band, one must be able to play an instrument, and play it well. After, there is a placement test, where the director has you play a scale or a part of a song or piece to help him understand in what position of music and rhythm you are, then he places you in a band, either the top band, middle band or bottom band. Rules always are implied when it comes to band. Chewing gum while playing an instrument is a big no. Eating or drinking (with an exception of water) is absolutely not allowed in the band room because of hazards. Having good grades is also a rule. Keeping your grades up is the key to have you on the field or on stage. No pass no play.