<p>Since the stanford prompts are a little weird, I'd appreciate it greatly if you could help me with one, two, or all of these.</p>
<p>Vitality
When I was young, my uncle often took me to museums near his Los Angeles residence whenever my family visited. I can recall one visit in particular that has had a profound impact on me. I was eight years old, and we were attending a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) open house, an annual event where JPL opens its normally inaccessible facilities to the public for one weekend. We attended several exhibits, but out of all of them, I recall one very distinctly. The exhibit was quite simpletwo JPL scientists had connected two styrofoam balls of different sizes by a long stick and then spun them on ice. To my eight year-old brain, it was a sight of wondertwo spheres spinning about a seemingly random point on a stick. I asked why the spheres were behaving in that manner, and the scientists replied that it was center of mass, and spent about twenty minutes teaching me the principles of center of mass and even how to estimate it based on appearance. Then I asked what it had to do with space, and they replied that it showed the law of orbits, and that the balls were proportional in mass to the Earth and Moon. I had previously believed the Earth to remain stationary to the Moon, and this revelation surprised and even upset me. But the debunking of this misconception inspired me to learn all I could about mechanics and has even helped me realize my academic aspirations.</p>
<p>Roommate
Dear Roommate,
I think that everyone has fears about the first day of college. Meeting a roommate for the first time, seeing a new place, leaving your hometown for what may be the first time--everything changes so drastically, so naturally, you want a good roommate. Unfortunately, I cannot promise what quality of roommate I will be, since so much depends on you. So below I include a list of warnings.
1. If you want a stereotypically manly roommate with whom you can chop firewood and eat raw steak, I'm afraid I'm going to be a bad roommate. But if you want a roommate who accidentally unplugs his headphones late at night and awkwardly reveals Taylor Swift music being played at maximum volume, we'll have a great year.
2. Do you like sleeping between the hours of 10 pm and 3 am? Then I might not be the roommate for you. Conversely, if you enjoy doing homework and/or wasting time until 3 am, then we should be good.
3. If you do not enjoy the sight or smell of an exhausted runner, you should probably stay away from our room between the hours of 3 and 6 pm. If you enjoy running, then you might be able to tolerate the period between returning home and entering the shower, but under no circumstances should you run with me unless you enjoy hearing breathing sounds akin to those of a slowly dying fish being stabbed repeatedly.
Sincerely, your (future) roommate.</p>
<p>Matters
Obviously, many things matter to me, such as family and friends. But one of the more unique phenomena that matters to me is music. My musical tastes are definitely unusual, as I do not enjoy the typical genres of an 18 year-old male, but instead I prefer artists like Adele, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran. But despite the negative attention I have received from those who grasp a glimpse at my iPod, it has been one of my life's most important aspects, especially recently. It was with me as I cried after overhearing alleged friends saying how much they hated me, as I rejoiced after receiving a letter of acceptance into the COSMOS program, as I feared before major surgery, and it is with me even as I write my college applications. Each song has a story behind it, and can induce different emotions in me. Taylor Swift's "Eyes Open" carries with it sadness, since it accompanied the aforementioned overhearing incident, while OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" has joy from acceptance to COSMOS. Without my music, my life would be incredibly different, since I use it for everything from concentrating for studying to pleasure. Each song has had its own place in my life, and each one matters deeply to me in its own way.</p>