My new blog

I copied some of the popular posts here and posted it on my new blog: mayazhanblog.blogspot.com

Check out my most recent writings there.

--Maya Zhan

A Family-Saving Parrot

This is the story of a parrot, a tiny, colorful but clever parrot. I really don't know its name or how it looks, but I will make it up.

I am assuming the parrot was wonderful imitators like any other parrot. It maybe has neon green, not pink, and aqua blue feathers, has a positive attitude, and loves its owner. I am naming the parrot Coco. Coco loved squawking "Good morning" to his owner everyday. Every afternoon this cheerful parrot flies free to "see the world" and keeps his family warm and smiling everyday. Coco lived a normal parrot day until a life-saving night.

On that night, everybody was sound asleep. Coco was in its cage sleeping too. However, that night wasn't any night. The family (not Coco) should've known their smoke alarm wasn't working. Unfortunately, that was a fire near their house, almost spreading to their house. Luckily, their clever parrot Coco sensed the fire, and just in time, started imitating the smoke alarm loudly until the rest of the family noticed the fire was a few feet away from their house.

Because of Coco, the family is now surviving and overjoyed to have such a smart parrot living with them. "You are welcome!" Coco squawks.

Piano Competition

           It was(is) the day for the USOMC piano competition, and I was not looking forward to it.  The day before my competition, I was really anxious, and I played a billion times to make my Bach perfect. I walked to the warm-up room to practice five times, and 'to my luck' there was a boy playing the same thing as me. I was chattering indoors for a little while, but felt better with my parents.

When I was at the room for the competition, I was shaky all over. The boy I met at the room played, and that boy played the same piece as me. He played fast and furious, and that was not my type. Almost every contestant made a mistake of some sort. When the girl before me played, I shivered with anticipation. I pretend-played the music one more time and was as nervous(change a word) as ever. I took a breath as I walked to the judges. I forced a smile at them. At the start of the piece I was really, really tense and my legs were shaking a little. As the music progressed, I felt less self-aware,I let the notes flow by themselves.  and that worked out well. However, I played my piece smoothly except the beginning. I made a pretty obvious mistake (see video), but it wasn't so enormous. I thought I wouldn't win.

Big surprise! I did win, but only fourth place. Yay, I guess...?
The judges said my piece was beautiful,  my expressions were wonderful. Next year, if the competition happens to fall on the weekends, or particularly in the afternoon, I'll think about competing again . I love Baroque and Bach!