The thread color for my oboe reeds.

I refuse to use a certain color because I am positive that the reed won't turn out good...

I also am positive that white, blues, and dark purple will always give me decent or great reeds.

Every oboist has their "colors."

While I am a little young to be calling this my 'greatest' achievement, I do hope it will at least be a good starting point for the much anticipated ones of my future!

I would have to say....it is my success in setting myself apart from other people. I have made a conscious decision to be different...to never be like anyone else. Especially my parents and siblings. Instead of letting my downfalls and mistakes make who I am...I try to make the best of those experiences.

Sigh.
My junior year of high school I wrote a paper on capital punishment for my APUSH class...
And first semester of college I wrote a paper on juvenile punishment, minors being tried as adults, and also being put up for the death penalty.

Needless to say, I am a little burnt out on this discussion. I hold my views, and they won't change.

I believe the death penalty is wrong. To put it plain and simple.
There will always be those in our society who, for one reason or another, commit an atrocity and must be put in a cell to wither away and turn to dust. But at least in a prison, they can be studied. They can be watched. They can give us answers to what motivates a human being to kill another human being, or multiple people. Some of these killers/rapists/serial killers/or terrorists, if they are young, can at least do something in a cell to benefit society. Some of them can actually turn their lives around and become so much more than a lost soul.
They can take part in community service such as the many woman prisons in which the inmates train dogs for people with disabilities. That right there, keeping these people alive, while using our tax dollars, has a positive outcome.

There is also my personal belief that killing is wrong. If someone were to murder me, they would possibly be put up for the death penalty (especially because I live in Texas) but that is not what I would want. Killing them would not make it right.