Tonight I thought I would write a little bit about my best friends. I just read one of their blogs and I haven't really written anything of real substance lately. So I figured he was a good topic that I could write a little bit of meaningful words about... Hopefully.
On television it seems to me that a lot of the time (at least on shows aimed at teens/preteens) the main character always has two best friends. One guy and one girl to be specific. I'm a lot like that. My two best friends, Ian and Kara, are the people in my life who probably know the most about me, other than my mom. I've known them both for around four years. However, neither of them were my best friends until long after I met them.
Kara and I met through a mutual friend of ours in the beginning of 7th grade. Hillary introduced us at a Science Olympiad meeting, and, at the time, both of us were shy and did not really talk to each other much. This continued on through all of 7th grade and well into 8th. In fact, I think I can attribute our friendship to my mom's silliness when we were at the national Science Olympiad competition. We had developed a little bit of a friendship at team meetings over the past two years, but it was not until my mom gave us an inside joke (chicken) that we really became friends.
After we got back from Kansas, Kara and I started talking more, specifically in our U.S. History class with Mr. Carter (it is ironic that it was also in this class that I started to become friends with Ian (more on him later).) At first we mostly talked about silly things. Though I can't remember exactly the topics, many inside jokes came from these conversations. Over the past two years Kara and I have become more than the casual acquaintances we were when Hillary first introduced us.
Our conversations now consist of long pauses where neither of us know quite what to say. However, Kara is a great listener. Throughout the passed two years she has helped me get through so much. Earlier this year I might have said that she probably does not know how much, but I think she does now.
I could talk about what a great friend Kara is to me for hours. There are things she does that I can not stand sometimes and in my opinion that just makes our friendship better. No person is perfect, no one is without their flaws. When friends are able to see that their friends have problems and maybe even be annoyed by those problems it shows that they have a good friendship. Obviously, it takes more than that but that is one thing that is important to me. I think I will have to ask Kara if she thinks any of the things I do are obnoxious... Ha ha.
I think I will move on to Ian, now, because he is who is on my mind tonight. Ian and I also met through mutual friends. Though I do not think we were ever really introduced. It was more like 'oh, I know who you are, you hang out with so-and-so' than anything else.
As I mentioned earlier, Ian and I first started talking to each other in our 8th grade U.S. History class. There was a group of us who sat in a corner and would talk all the way through class (Kara was never part of this group... that I remember). In October of 9th grade Ian called me one night and asked if I would like to go to the haunted house with him and some other friends. (On a quick side note, it just struck me how long ago this feels and how not long ago it really was... Almost two years, but not quite. And yet it seems like four.) I agreed to meet him at the elementary school by my house and then we would see who else was able to come.
To our luck it turned up that no one could come with us. We still had a great time, though. I remember one part of the haunted house that is hilarious looking back on it. We got to this bedroom and noticed that we had to go through a closet full of coats and clothes. We were both so sure that there was going to be something in the closet and neither of us wanted to go first. We were squealing and shoving each other and basically just not moving forward. Eventually a creepy guy from the last room came in and scared us to go through what was just a closet full of clothing.
After we were done at the haunted house that night we went to Burger Stop and I refused his offer to get me something. Then he walked me back to the elementary school we met at. It was dark, it was late, and I knew I was in trouble. However, I still think that that night was awesome. I had so much fun and Ian and I were starting to become good friends.
However, that night he told me that he was done going to Fairfield. He was going to be home schooled from now on. I am not the kind of person who typically hangs out with friends outside of school (more so then) and so I knew I would not be seeing Ian very much anymore.
In fact, over the next year I saw him once, for his birthday, and only had a few very short 'hi, how are you' conversations. Then in March Ian got a Facebook. I am looking at his page right now and it is funny to see all of the messages he got from people who had not heard from him in ages. After that we started talking again and hung out a couple times.
Now we basically talk to each other everyday. Yesterday, he came over to my house and we did basically nothing for hours one end. We have spent days at Lagoon, bowling, walking all over Layton. Give us some free time and we will find something to do or talk about. He has helped me through more than one hard moment in the past few months, though I am not sure he knows it.
Anyway, it is late and this blog has taken me a long time to write... I do not even know if there is anything worth reading here... Oh well. I guess I will find my inspiration again eventually.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
...
My mind is such a mess lately. That is my excuse for not writing anything in two weeks. Another excuse could be that I have been busy... At least for one week. The last week has been a blur of procrastination for the most part. It's summer, I shouldn't have anything to procrastinate, right? Wrong. Summer reading, along with my duties as editor in chief for the school paper and reporter for FBLA are all things that I just can't get myself to actually work on. I need to, though.
The week before, however, was quite busy. Sunday the 19th found me at my grandparents house for a barbecue in celebration of my grandpa's birthday on the 20th. The next morning I was up early and packing for an overnight FBLA officer retreat. I had been really nervous about this since I heard about it, because I didn't really know any of the other officers and they all knew each other. I was still nervous about it for the first few hours that I was there.
What the retreat was really, was a way for us to get started on planning the year as well as getting to know each other. The work part of it was really successful, in my opinion. However, the fun part didn't come until after all of that. When we got done working we went back to our condo to have dinner and basically hang out for the rest of the night. It was really fun.
I was beat at air hockey and Foosball by people who were more experienced at those games. The losing didn't matter though, because I was finding that I was easily becoming friends with these people. I played pool with three other girls and we had a lot of fun (none of us were that good at it). After a while everyone got together to play catchphrase. That was interesting, for sure. We did a lot of other things too, but the best part of it to me was just talking. Of course, the two guys who were there didn't really take part in that, but it was great getting to know the girls.
We talked a ton that day, about everything: Harry Potter, our families, embarrassing things that happened to us, etc. The funnest part of it was after curfew, though. At midnight the boys had to go upstairs and the girls had to stay in the basement to "sleep". What actually ended up happening was most of us gathering in the one small bedroom and talking about boys. It was great. I know that may seem weird, because I don't talk about guys with my sisters and not with any of my friends other than Kara, but I honestly enjoyed it.
Anyway, I was back home at around 12 the next day. I had to get straight to work on getting ready for our 5 day camping trip to Flaming Gorge. Which was crazy and deserves a blog to itself, complete with pictures, to come at a later date.
So, that's why I haven't written in the past two weeks... And now I don't know what to write about...
I've been thinking about this blog for the last hour. So many topics have ran through my mind that it is ridiculous. I thought about writing about my best friend. I thought about writing about my family. I even was thinking about writing about how much things have changed lately. The conversations I've been having that all seem to feature the fact that it has been four years since I met whoever I was talking to (because the fact is, I met everyone who really matters (outside of my family) four years ago or less). Then there's the things that I could write about that wouldn't matter or that would be weird for certain people to read...
Anyway, something just happened... I might write on it later, but for now, I'm out.
The week before, however, was quite busy. Sunday the 19th found me at my grandparents house for a barbecue in celebration of my grandpa's birthday on the 20th. The next morning I was up early and packing for an overnight FBLA officer retreat. I had been really nervous about this since I heard about it, because I didn't really know any of the other officers and they all knew each other. I was still nervous about it for the first few hours that I was there.
What the retreat was really, was a way for us to get started on planning the year as well as getting to know each other. The work part of it was really successful, in my opinion. However, the fun part didn't come until after all of that. When we got done working we went back to our condo to have dinner and basically hang out for the rest of the night. It was really fun.
I was beat at air hockey and Foosball by people who were more experienced at those games. The losing didn't matter though, because I was finding that I was easily becoming friends with these people. I played pool with three other girls and we had a lot of fun (none of us were that good at it). After a while everyone got together to play catchphrase. That was interesting, for sure. We did a lot of other things too, but the best part of it to me was just talking. Of course, the two guys who were there didn't really take part in that, but it was great getting to know the girls.
We talked a ton that day, about everything: Harry Potter, our families, embarrassing things that happened to us, etc. The funnest part of it was after curfew, though. At midnight the boys had to go upstairs and the girls had to stay in the basement to "sleep". What actually ended up happening was most of us gathering in the one small bedroom and talking about boys. It was great. I know that may seem weird, because I don't talk about guys with my sisters and not with any of my friends other than Kara, but I honestly enjoyed it.
Anyway, I was back home at around 12 the next day. I had to get straight to work on getting ready for our 5 day camping trip to Flaming Gorge. Which was crazy and deserves a blog to itself, complete with pictures, to come at a later date.
So, that's why I haven't written in the past two weeks... And now I don't know what to write about...
I've been thinking about this blog for the last hour. So many topics have ran through my mind that it is ridiculous. I thought about writing about my best friend. I thought about writing about my family. I even was thinking about writing about how much things have changed lately. The conversations I've been having that all seem to feature the fact that it has been four years since I met whoever I was talking to (because the fact is, I met everyone who really matters (outside of my family) four years ago or less). Then there's the things that I could write about that wouldn't matter or that would be weird for certain people to read...
Anyway, something just happened... I might write on it later, but for now, I'm out.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
One Month Later, It Is Getting Better
Just over a month ago something happened to me that totally changed me. That morning I had gone to my Summer Biology class and once I got home from that I had a Newspaper Editor's meeting to go to. It was a good day because I did not have to ask my busy parents for rides to these things I had to do. I had gotten my driver license a week before and I had been using a car that was not really mine, I was just borrowing it until my Celica was finished - it was meant to be my little sister's car - for five days. It was great. My fabulous summer was about to pan out. I had a job, the freedom of a car, and a best friend who would be returning from Europe/Arizona in a couple of weeks. This was going to be the best summer of my life.
After the Newspaper meeting I headed to the bank to deposit my check and cash Emily's. We had agreed to split the cost on Sims 3 and I was going to go pick it up as soon as I had the money. I did all of that without a problem. Still happy, still loving life. Not aware that all of that was going to be shattered (though not as badly as it could have) within the hour. I was driving home from Target and it was rush hour. I got to the intersection at Main Street by Walmart and could not get over to turn left like I wanted to. I did not think this was a big deal; I knew the area well and could get home by continuing west.
I then thought that I might be able to turn into the gas station or any of the parking lots in that area and get myself onto King Street. But it was really busy and I got nervous about the cars behind me. So I kept heading west. Eventually I turned onto Sugar Street and when I got to the corner where I would turn left onto Gentile I realized that I would never get out of there (not in the sense that it could mean, though). I never did get out of there. I thought I was good to go. To my left I was clear, to my right I was clear. So I went. And a truck hit me. That may sound like it was the truck's fault. It was not. However, I have not yet figured out how to word it clearly.
I remember the car being pushed north-west and it shot forward. The driver's side window was broken. I slammed the break, though I do not remember having done so, and turned the key frantically. I tried to get it out of the ignition once the car was turned off but it would not come out. Later, my mom told me that she was able to get it out just fine. I looked around the car frantically for my cell phone. I felt like I could not breath. I was not crying yet. I somehow managed to call home and my mom picked up. Every time I had called her that day she had been worried. "Are you ok?" She would ask. "I'm fine mom" would be my reply, as if I would get into an accident. Jeez, mom have a little faith. That sounds stupid doesn't it? It was honestly what I thought though. When she answered this time she did not ask if I was ok. She just said hello. I did not say hello back. What I remember saying is this: "Mom, mom. Mom, I was in an accident. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And then there were a lot more 'I'm sorrys' as my mom tried to figure out where I was and told me that she was coming.
After a moment I got out of the car. Things are such a blur to me that I do not remember what I did while I was waiting for my mom and my step dad to get there. I did not start crying until she was there. Until, she parked across the street at the gas station and came running to me. She hugged me and held onto her. I don't really know what else happened. The police came. My mom and Bill talked with them and I was told to sit in my mom's car. So I did.
I was so lucky that the only injuries I got were a small scratch above my left elbow and a headache. Later we realized that it must have been my head that broke the window. The truck had hit further forward on the car. If it had not I probably would have been very seriously injured. I am lucky.
I am not really sure why I decided to finally write about this today. Whenever I think about it I feel this overpowering sense of guilt. Because as much as I talk about how it has affected my summer - how I lost that freedom, how I could not drive to Lagoon for work anymore and therefore have no money, how I will no longer get that Celica or how I basically spent my savings bond on that accident - I do realize that it has affected the rest of my family too. I do not have a job anymore (mostly because I realized that I did not want to work at Lagoon) and so my mom is paying insurance on a car that we no longer have and a driver who is not even driving anything. Emily does not get the Civic (instead she gets the Celica) which was her car in the first place, etc, etc.
For the past month my life has been crazy. I have been trying so hard to figure out how to make everything right again. I think I'm beginning to get there. I spent all day yesterday filling out job applications online and Carley helped me by driving me around to pick up applications as well. I have realized that I can not fix it entirely. Thirty seconds and one bad decision. Who would have thought?
Anyway, I am lucky. Lucky that I was not hurt worse. Lucky that my family is supportive. Lucky that I can get a new job and a car and still be able to drive. I am lucky that, contrary to what I thought just days afterward, I am loving my life. Lucky that I am happy. I am lucky that I have friends who were concerned as well as friends who, after they realized I was all right, were able to laugh about it and help me feel just a little bit better if only for a minute.
A month after the fact and it still hurts sometimes. When Bill and mom are talking about the car that was supposed to be mine or when I wonder who is going to hire me and when I will be able to afford to register my dad's old van that I will be using or when I think about all of the money that I cost myself and my parents, it hurts.
However, with the amount of applications I filled out yesterday, I should have new job soon, and after a while I will have the money I need to register and insure the van. My friends and I have ways of hanging out without spending money. I was able to ride the bus to and from my Summer Biology class. My summer hasn't been ruined after all. There was a rough patch that I am now making my way out of, but it is definitely going to be just fine. This last half of summer is still going to be great.
My mom wrote about the accident a lot sooner after it happened. She also has pictures of the car.
After the Newspaper meeting I headed to the bank to deposit my check and cash Emily's. We had agreed to split the cost on Sims 3 and I was going to go pick it up as soon as I had the money. I did all of that without a problem. Still happy, still loving life. Not aware that all of that was going to be shattered (though not as badly as it could have) within the hour. I was driving home from Target and it was rush hour. I got to the intersection at Main Street by Walmart and could not get over to turn left like I wanted to. I did not think this was a big deal; I knew the area well and could get home by continuing west.
I then thought that I might be able to turn into the gas station or any of the parking lots in that area and get myself onto King Street. But it was really busy and I got nervous about the cars behind me. So I kept heading west. Eventually I turned onto Sugar Street and when I got to the corner where I would turn left onto Gentile I realized that I would never get out of there (not in the sense that it could mean, though). I never did get out of there. I thought I was good to go. To my left I was clear, to my right I was clear. So I went. And a truck hit me. That may sound like it was the truck's fault. It was not. However, I have not yet figured out how to word it clearly.
I remember the car being pushed north-west and it shot forward. The driver's side window was broken. I slammed the break, though I do not remember having done so, and turned the key frantically. I tried to get it out of the ignition once the car was turned off but it would not come out. Later, my mom told me that she was able to get it out just fine. I looked around the car frantically for my cell phone. I felt like I could not breath. I was not crying yet. I somehow managed to call home and my mom picked up. Every time I had called her that day she had been worried. "Are you ok?" She would ask. "I'm fine mom" would be my reply, as if I would get into an accident. Jeez, mom have a little faith. That sounds stupid doesn't it? It was honestly what I thought though. When she answered this time she did not ask if I was ok. She just said hello. I did not say hello back. What I remember saying is this: "Mom, mom. Mom, I was in an accident. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And then there were a lot more 'I'm sorrys' as my mom tried to figure out where I was and told me that she was coming.
After a moment I got out of the car. Things are such a blur to me that I do not remember what I did while I was waiting for my mom and my step dad to get there. I did not start crying until she was there. Until, she parked across the street at the gas station and came running to me. She hugged me and held onto her. I don't really know what else happened. The police came. My mom and Bill talked with them and I was told to sit in my mom's car. So I did.
I was so lucky that the only injuries I got were a small scratch above my left elbow and a headache. Later we realized that it must have been my head that broke the window. The truck had hit further forward on the car. If it had not I probably would have been very seriously injured. I am lucky.
I am not really sure why I decided to finally write about this today. Whenever I think about it I feel this overpowering sense of guilt. Because as much as I talk about how it has affected my summer - how I lost that freedom, how I could not drive to Lagoon for work anymore and therefore have no money, how I will no longer get that Celica or how I basically spent my savings bond on that accident - I do realize that it has affected the rest of my family too. I do not have a job anymore (mostly because I realized that I did not want to work at Lagoon) and so my mom is paying insurance on a car that we no longer have and a driver who is not even driving anything. Emily does not get the Civic (instead she gets the Celica) which was her car in the first place, etc, etc.
For the past month my life has been crazy. I have been trying so hard to figure out how to make everything right again. I think I'm beginning to get there. I spent all day yesterday filling out job applications online and Carley helped me by driving me around to pick up applications as well. I have realized that I can not fix it entirely. Thirty seconds and one bad decision. Who would have thought?
Anyway, I am lucky. Lucky that I was not hurt worse. Lucky that my family is supportive. Lucky that I can get a new job and a car and still be able to drive. I am lucky that, contrary to what I thought just days afterward, I am loving my life. Lucky that I am happy. I am lucky that I have friends who were concerned as well as friends who, after they realized I was all right, were able to laugh about it and help me feel just a little bit better if only for a minute.
A month after the fact and it still hurts sometimes. When Bill and mom are talking about the car that was supposed to be mine or when I wonder who is going to hire me and when I will be able to afford to register my dad's old van that I will be using or when I think about all of the money that I cost myself and my parents, it hurts.
However, with the amount of applications I filled out yesterday, I should have new job soon, and after a while I will have the money I need to register and insure the van. My friends and I have ways of hanging out without spending money. I was able to ride the bus to and from my Summer Biology class. My summer hasn't been ruined after all. There was a rough patch that I am now making my way out of, but it is definitely going to be just fine. This last half of summer is still going to be great.
My mom wrote about the accident a lot sooner after it happened. She also has pictures of the car.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Summer and Father's Day
Today, June 21, is a good day. It is the first real day of summer, the longest day of the year, and Father's Day. School has been out for a couple weeks and life is moving forward. We have not gotten many chances to enjoy the sun yet, but as I look out my window I can see that today is not one full of clouds and rain... Completely.
I do not remember ever having this much rain in the summer. In fact, my mom told me a week or so ago that she does not even remember ever having this much rain. I guess it all is just coming together to create my summer that does not feel like summer. Now wait, I am not complaining. I know it probably sounds like I am... But I am not. I actually like that it is really rainy because if it were not then I would really feel like I am missing something while I am in class or at work. I am missing some things, but they do not seem as big as it would if I was stuck in class or at work when it was warm and sunny outside. I love warm and sunny weather.
However, I did not start this blog today to talk about the weather. I started it, for the first time in weeks (whoops!), because today is Father's Day and I just happen to be so lucky as to have two fathers to celebrate on this awesome day.
To tell you the truth, I am not really celebrating them both today. This is because my dad lives in California. We celebrated his birthday and Father's day with him in May, while we were at my sister's high school graduation in Ohio. However, I am thinking about them both. They are both awesome people and I love them and today I just thought that I would share a little bit of that.
The first of my "fathers", as I have already mentioned, is my dad. My dad is a computer programmer who does not like to stay in one place. He is incredibly talented and definitely incredib
ly smart, but he just does not like to be in one job for too long. That is how he ended up in California. He had been running his own company for a while, probably over a year or two or three or four (I do not really know, my time when it comes to my visits with him is really messed up), and I guess he just decided that he was ready to have a boss again. He started looking around. At first he talked a lot about Oregon and other places like that. He had been talking about moving for so many years that I did not really think that it would happen. You see, my dad does not always follow through with things he talks about. He just has too many ideas and too many plans. I think I got that from him. However, eventually he got this job out in California. He moved over a year ago.
My dad is a goofy guy. I have so many odd memories of us. A long time ago, probably more than four years back, my dad lived in my grandma's basement. I can not remember if this was when we still went to see him every weekend and not every other weekend, but that does not really matter. We spent a lot of our time in really simple ways and then really not all at the same time back then. A lot of Saturdays were just spent hanging around grandma's house, playing on the trampoline or watching tv with dad downstairs. One particular Saturday we were listening to music, watching tv, eating breakfast (or lunch or snacks or whatever), running through the house... Whatever, while dad was cleaning up the basement. There was this one particular song that he loved: The Country Death Song. It is a good song. In fact, I wish I had it on my laptop (fixing that as I type... Ha ha.) It is a crazy song. The lyrics are not something you would expect to find a dad dancing around the room singing to his daughters. I loved it, though. I love that song.
When you live more than half an hour away from your dad you find that you spend a lot of time in the car when you go to visit him. Or at least, that is how it was with us. We always were doing something, always going somewhere. So we all got very used to travel small talking/goofing off. We would listen to the radio while some of us talked or joked or played. You would not expect the driver of a vehicle to be participating that much in all of that, but he usually did. One thing that he always seemed to do... It would be quiet in the car or the person up front with him would be quiet or someone in the back would be quiet... Whoever it was, he would look at them (whether directly if they sat next to him or through the rearview mirror) and say/sing "On the first day of Christmas my Mackie gave to me..." and sometimes he would go on or sometimes he would stop there. Always using the nickname he preferred for each of us, because we each have a nickname. I have always been Mac or Mackie or some other form of it. Always.
He is also a tall guy. Practically a giant. None of us will ever reach his size. Which is cool. I love that he is so much taller than all of us. At least that will never change. He crazy red hair. It is really really long now. His hair is kind of a thing between me and him. Every time I see it it is so much longer and every time I tell him: "Dad, seriously, you really need a haircut." And we have been doing this for years. I love it. Some people do not always think I am joking. Sometimes the joke turns sour when someone will get mad at me, but it is never dad. He gets that I am just kidding. I really think is long hair is awesome. It is kind of who he is now. He did not used to be like that. The long hair would no have fit him during the days of our weekly visits.
Mmm. I can not get the image of my dad dancing and singing with his 5 daughters in my grandma's basement (or anywhere for that matter) out of my head. It is definitely one I cherish.
Anyway, dad. I do not know if you read my blog anymore... Whether because you are just too busy or whatever else... But if you are, know that I am thinking about you. That I miss you (I pretty much always miss you). That I think you are awesome. That I love you. Happy Father's Day.
The next "Father" that I am celebrating today is my step dad. At this point in my life he has been around longer than not. And though we may not seem like the best of friends sometimes, and though we did not neccessarily 'click' from the very beginning, I have no idea what any of us (me, my sisters, my mom) would ever do without him.
Bill is a goofy guy too. However, his is a different kind of goofy. I could never see him dancing or singing like my dad does. It is just not him. Which is good, because I think if I saw anyone other than my dad doing that I would find them plain strange... Well... My dad is actually pretty strange. Bill does a lot of impersinations. A lot of the time I do not get them, but they are funny anyway. They make me laugh.
My family is really close. We all do a lot of things together. We watch a lot of movies and play a lot of games. We go camping and boating and four wheeling. We hang out in the back yard or in the living room and just talk. Just last night we all stayed up playing Mario Kart. Laughing and screaming as Mario passed Yoshi (which is amazing because the person playing Mario sucks... he he.) or Baby Daisy got first place again. It was great. It was great that Bill stayed up and played with us even though he had to get up really early to go to work this morning.
When we watch movies, more often than not we will be watching something that Bill and my mom have seen and loved. It is always fun because I like a lot of the same things as my parents. A long time ago (back when we were all night owls) we would spend all night watching movies and Bill would be the last one up as we all lay asleep on the couch. Eventually the tv would get turned off and we would all go to bed after talking about the movie for a few minutes: what we slept through, what was good, when they saw it the first time... Anything.
Bill and I like a lot of the same foods. The only main exception that I know of is fish. I can not stand fish. However, basically anything else he cooks I eat. I love spicy things. He probably he things that are a lot more spicy than I would ever eat, but I like spicy food more than anyone else in my family beside him. I also eat the same kind of steak as him. When we go to a restauraunt that I've never been to before I ask him what I should get.
Bill always has projects going and often they sit there for a long time without being finished. However, a lot more gets done than not. He built the wall that turned our basement into the bedroom that I loved until I had to move upstairs because Abby and Linzie needed more space, he fixes the dryer, the washer, the dishwasher, toys, skateboards, boats, four wheelers, cars, name it and he has probably been asked to fix it.
I remember how things were before he and my mom got together... A little bit at least. We had a sock basket where all of our socks went and we would have to dig through it everyday to find socks that matched, we never went camping, we did not have movie nights or game nights. Our favorite dinner was cheesy spaghetti (and what is wrong with that? I love cheesy spaghetti....) However, I love grill nights a lot more.
I do not know. There is so much I could say about Bill. He is there for me. That is a really important one. He is there for all of us. He does so much for all of us girls. Of course there have been hard times. Everybody has them. The important thing is that we all stick together. We are there for him and he is there for us.
Happy Father's Day Bill. You are amazing. Thanks so much for all that you do for me. I love you. And I am sad that you had to work today and that we can not just all hang out. Waking up, making you breakfast, and watching cartoons with you at 5 this morning was fun though. You rock. :D
So yeah. There is my Father's Day blog. I just wanted to say a little something since it was been over two weeks since my last blog. Happy Father's Day. Happy first day of summer! Let us hope the sun decides to stick around!
I do not remember ever having this much rain in the summer. In fact, my mom told me a week or so ago that she does not even remember ever having this much rain. I guess it all is just coming together to create my summer that does not feel like summer. Now wait, I am not complaining. I know it probably sounds like I am... But I am not. I actually like that it is really rainy because if it were not then I would really feel like I am missing something while I am in class or at work. I am missing some things, but they do not seem as big as it would if I was stuck in class or at work when it was warm and sunny outside. I love warm and sunny weather.
However, I did not start this blog today to talk about the weather. I started it, for the first time in weeks (whoops!), because today is Father's Day and I just happen to be so lucky as to have two fathers to celebrate on this awesome day.
To tell you the truth, I am not really celebrating them both today. This is because my dad lives in California. We celebrated his birthday and Father's day with him in May, while we were at my sister's high school graduation in Ohio. However, I am thinking about them both. They are both awesome people and I love them and today I just thought that I would share a little bit of that.
The first of my "fathers", as I have already mentioned, is my dad. My dad is a computer programmer who does not like to stay in one place. He is incredibly talented and definitely incredib
ly smart, but he just does not like to be in one job for too long. That is how he ended up in California. He had been running his own company for a while, probably over a year or two or three or four (I do not really know, my time when it comes to my visits with him is really messed up), and I guess he just decided that he was ready to have a boss again. He started looking around. At first he talked a lot about Oregon and other places like that. He had been talking about moving for so many years that I did not really think that it would happen. You see, my dad does not always follow through with things he talks about. He just has too many ideas and too many plans. I think I got that from him. However, eventually he got this job out in California. He moved over a year ago.My dad is a goofy guy. I have so many odd memories of us. A long time ago, probably more than four years back, my dad lived in my grandma's basement. I can not remember if this was when we still went to see him every weekend and not every other weekend, but that does not really matter. We spent a lot of our time in really simple ways and then really not all at the same time back then. A lot of Saturdays were just spent hanging around grandma's house, playing on the trampoline or watching tv with dad downstairs. One particular Saturday we were listening to music, watching tv, eating breakfast (or lunch or snacks or whatever), running through the house... Whatever, while dad was cleaning up the basement. There was this one particular song that he loved: The Country Death Song. It is a good song. In fact, I wish I had it on my laptop (fixing that as I type... Ha ha.) It is a crazy song. The lyrics are not something you would expect to find a dad dancing around the room singing to his daughters. I loved it, though. I love that song.
When you live more than half an hour away from your dad you find that you spend a lot of time in the car when you go to visit him. Or at least, that is how it was with us. We always were doing something, always going somewhere. So we all got very used to travel small talking/goofing off. We would listen to the radio while some of us talked or joked or played. You would not expect the driver of a vehicle to be participating that much in all of that, but he usually did. One thing that he always seemed to do... It would be quiet in the car or the person up front with him would be quiet or someone in the back would be quiet... Whoever it was, he would look at them (whether directly if they sat next to him or through the rearview mirror) and say/sing "On the first day of Christmas my Mackie gave to me..." and sometimes he would go on or sometimes he would stop there. Always using the nickname he preferred for each of us, because we each have a nickname. I have always been Mac or Mackie or some other form of it. Always.
He is also a tall guy. Practically a giant. None of us will ever reach his size. Which is cool. I love that he is so much taller than all of us. At least that will never change. He crazy red hair. It is really really long now. His hair is kind of a thing between me and him. Every time I see it it is so much longer and every time I tell him: "Dad, seriously, you really need a haircut." And we have been doing this for years. I love it. Some people do not always think I am joking. Sometimes the joke turns sour when someone will get mad at me, but it is never dad. He gets that I am just kidding. I really think is long hair is awesome. It is kind of who he is now. He did not used to be like that. The long hair would no have fit him during the days of our weekly visits.
Mmm. I can not get the image of my dad dancing and singing with his 5 daughters in my grandma's basement (or anywhere for that matter) out of my head. It is definitely one I cherish.
Anyway, dad. I do not know if you read my blog anymore... Whether because you are just too busy or whatever else... But if you are, know that I am thinking about you. That I miss you (I pretty much always miss you). That I think you are awesome. That I love you. Happy Father's Day.
The next "Father" that I am celebrating today is my step dad. At this point in my life he has been around longer than not. And though we may not seem like the best of friends sometimes, and though we did not neccessarily 'click' from the very beginning, I have no idea what any of us (me, my sisters, my mom) would ever do without him.
Bill is a goofy guy too. However, his is a different kind of goofy. I could never see him dancing or singing like my dad does. It is just not him. Which is good, because I think if I saw anyone other than my dad doing that I would find them plain strange... Well... My dad is actually pretty strange. Bill does a lot of impersinations. A lot of the time I do not get them, but they are funny anyway. They make me laugh.
My family is really close. We all do a lot of things together. We watch a lot of movies and play a lot of games. We go camping and boating and four wheeling. We hang out in the back yard or in the living room and just talk. Just last night we all stayed up playing Mario Kart. Laughing and screaming as Mario passed Yoshi (which is amazing because the person playing Mario sucks... he he.) or Baby Daisy got first place again. It was great. It was great that Bill stayed up and played with us even though he had to get up really early to go to work this morning.
When we watch movies, more often than not we will be watching something that Bill and my mom have seen and loved. It is always fun because I like a lot of the same things as my parents. A long time ago (back when we were all night owls) we would spend all night watching movies and Bill would be the last one up as we all lay asleep on the couch. Eventually the tv would get turned off and we would all go to bed after talking about the movie for a few minutes: what we slept through, what was good, when they saw it the first time... Anything.
Bill and I like a lot of the same foods. The only main exception that I know of is fish. I can not stand fish. However, basically anything else he cooks I eat. I love spicy things. He probably he things that are a lot more spicy than I would ever eat, but I like spicy food more than anyone else in my family beside him. I also eat the same kind of steak as him. When we go to a restauraunt that I've never been to before I ask him what I should get.
Bill always has projects going and often they sit there for a long time without being finished. However, a lot more gets done than not. He built the wall that turned our basement into the bedroom that I loved until I had to move upstairs because Abby and Linzie needed more space, he fixes the dryer, the washer, the dishwasher, toys, skateboards, boats, four wheelers, cars, name it and he has probably been asked to fix it.
I remember how things were before he and my mom got together... A little bit at least. We had a sock basket where all of our socks went and we would have to dig through it everyday to find socks that matched, we never went camping, we did not have movie nights or game nights. Our favorite dinner was cheesy spaghetti (and what is wrong with that? I love cheesy spaghetti....) However, I love grill nights a lot more.
I do not know. There is so much I could say about Bill. He is there for me. That is a really important one. He is there for all of us. He does so much for all of us girls. Of course there have been hard times. Everybody has them. The important thing is that we all stick together. We are there for him and he is there for us.
Happy Father's Day Bill. You are amazing. Thanks so much for all that you do for me. I love you. And I am sad that you had to work today and that we can not just all hang out. Waking up, making you breakfast, and watching cartoons with you at 5 this morning was fun though. You rock. :D
So yeah. There is my Father's Day blog. I just wanted to say a little something since it was been over two weeks since my last blog. Happy Father's Day. Happy first day of summer! Let us hope the sun decides to stick around!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Losing Friends, Gaining Memories
The last day of school is always one of mixed emotions. Students are so excited to see the year coming to an end and summer coming toward them at full speed. They are also sad to lose some friends (either by going to different schools or moving to new places). I do not think there is really any way to fix it other than by putting yourself in the right frame of mind. This is what I had to tell my little sister today (a girl she knew is moving to Germany and she is very sad about it) and what I am feeling that I need to be reminded of right now. Things happen. We're teenagers and, to be frank, we are never the most reliable friends. I know that. However, it still sucks to be left out or to have a friend promise they will stay in touch just to never hear from them again. I know that we have these problems and I know that we all just have to learn to deal with them, it is just life, but it still hurts. So I understand why my little sister was crying about her friend today, I understand why all of the ninth graders at Fairfield were having a hard time. I am having a hard time with a friend situation, myself.
mL is a great friend of mine and I believe I have mentioned her in this blog several times before. I met her in my 8th grade science class. Mrs. Nelson's sixth period, second semester. We spent a while sitting next to each other. I am not going to lie and say that we were best friends from the start. No, we were merely acquaintances for a while. Then, in 9th grade I pretty much just told myself that she was my friend and I started hanging out with her a lot more. We became really good friends. On her birthday that year I had a sleepover at her house. That sleepover ended up spanning the whole weekend. It was just way too much fun. Every time that I have spent a night at her house since it has turned into a weekend long adventure. We have done school projects together and we have had conversations about serious issues. I have helped her through bad times and she has (whether knowingly or not) helped me through a lot as well. We were really close all through 9th grade and we even did some things together last summer (which is major for me because I never do anything with anyone during the summer (with exception of the summer I spent with Morgan)) and it was great.
I bet anyone reading this can hear the 'but' at the end of that sentence.
High school was never something I was nervous about. mL and I had planned our schedules together, and with any luck we would have had the exact same schedule. If that had happened we probably would be a lot closer now than we are. However, I found things that I really wanted to do that mL did not. So we decided that a few differences in our schedules would not hurt.
There is another girl who fits into this tale that I am weaving. Her name, for now, is Fern. Fern is a girl that I have known since... 4th grade? I am not sure. The important thing, though, is that Fern and I never got along. We hung out with the same people but we had completely different personalities and very similar tempers. Needless to say, we got into a lot of arguements during elementary school. Neither of us liked each other. So when we got to junior high we were not around each other much. She found her niche and I found mine. I honestly never ran into her until 8th grade science. Then we pretended as if nothing had ever happened. We were friends and all that was between us was stupid elementary school arguements. Which was true. However, when two people clash like that there is not much room for friendship.
mL and Fern became good friends. I like to think that during 9th grade and the summer after I was closer to mL than Fern was, but I do not know. Anyway, Fern had first lunch while mL and I had second lunch. So never actually had to be around Fern and mL together during 9th grade. I never realized they were such good friends. Then, when we got to high school we all started hanging out together. There was only one lunch. I only had one class with mL and Fern had at least one that I know of. We kind of started to drift apart that first semester. And, though I tell mL that I do not know why that is, I know exactly why. It did not take very long to realize that Fern really did get on my nerves. Now that we all had only one lunch, Fern was always around. She was constantly talking to mL and they were becoming closer by the day. I was becoming farther and farther (Which I do not mind, I think it happened for a reason. I found my true best friend. I can honestly tell Kara anything and even if we disagree we will always still be friends. She is like another sister to me.) and I honestly hardly noticed it.
There was this big weight being held over all of us, though. All year long we knew that it was going to be our last year with mL. We knew that we would not have all summer with her and that in the blink of an eye she would be gone. Second semester came along and mL and I started talking again, but we had lost that bond that we had had before. She was still one of my closest friends and I still loved her (I always will) but we had gone four and a half months without talking to each other hardly at all. We found out when and where mL was moving. It was time to start planning for her big goodbye.
She and I have plans. Big ones that will hopefully follow through. We will have one more sleep over weekend. We will watch some of the movies on my list of "Movies mL Has Not Seen That I Love" and maybe we will go to Lagoon. However, there are people who would be mad at me for even considering taking a weekend of our now limited time with her.
Fern now considers mL her best friend. I do not care about that. However, the fact that Fern thinks that she owns all of mL's time before she moves makes me so mad. I am going to miss her to. More than she will ever know. mL was the first friend that I ever got really close to. She was the first girl who I let really know me. Her was family was the first (outside of my own) that I ever really became comfortable with (and still remains the only one).
What hurts even worse is that there all of these activites being planned, one that I even suggested, that I'm really not even being informed about. I do not know if it is just because I have been busy or what, but it sucks because I am going to miss mL too. I want memories of her last few weeks here also.
mL and I have all of these ideas for after she moves: I am going to go visit her, she is going to come visit me, and even though she will be living in a completely different state she will be forced to come on my senior trip with me. However, I know how hard it is for people to actually implement plans when they are living completely different lives in completely different places. I do not want to become the old friend who turns into simple emails here and there. It would suck to have another friend go away without some majorly good memories to look back on. I need proof. I need pictures. Just the memories are never enough. Memories fade, they turn into a fog that comes in every once in a while. I do not have pictures! I am not making memories because I can not come to things when I am given the details the minute it is happening. And it sucks that I am becoming an afterthought already.
So, I understand. I get why my little sister is upset that a friend she has not hung out with in a while moved to Germany today. I am also beginning to feel very hypocritical about telling her that she should not be upset. I am upset. I am really upset. I will be all right, though. I know that. I need to really grasp, though. It is one thing to know something and another to feel it. I need to feel that it will be fine. I need to feel that mL moving is not going to absolutely, totally, and completely suck for a long time. Right now I do not feel that. Right now I just can not picture mL not being around. It seems impossible to me. And it really, really, really sucks.
mL is a great friend of mine and I believe I have mentioned her in this blog several times before. I met her in my 8th grade science class. Mrs. Nelson's sixth period, second semester. We spent a while sitting next to each other. I am not going to lie and say that we were best friends from the start. No, we were merely acquaintances for a while. Then, in 9th grade I pretty much just told myself that she was my friend and I started hanging out with her a lot more. We became really good friends. On her birthday that year I had a sleepover at her house. That sleepover ended up spanning the whole weekend. It was just way too much fun. Every time that I have spent a night at her house since it has turned into a weekend long adventure. We have done school projects together and we have had conversations about serious issues. I have helped her through bad times and she has (whether knowingly or not) helped me through a lot as well. We were really close all through 9th grade and we even did some things together last summer (which is major for me because I never do anything with anyone during the summer (with exception of the summer I spent with Morgan)) and it was great.
I bet anyone reading this can hear the 'but' at the end of that sentence.
High school was never something I was nervous about. mL and I had planned our schedules together, and with any luck we would have had the exact same schedule. If that had happened we probably would be a lot closer now than we are. However, I found things that I really wanted to do that mL did not. So we decided that a few differences in our schedules would not hurt.
There is another girl who fits into this tale that I am weaving. Her name, for now, is Fern. Fern is a girl that I have known since... 4th grade? I am not sure. The important thing, though, is that Fern and I never got along. We hung out with the same people but we had completely different personalities and very similar tempers. Needless to say, we got into a lot of arguements during elementary school. Neither of us liked each other. So when we got to junior high we were not around each other much. She found her niche and I found mine. I honestly never ran into her until 8th grade science. Then we pretended as if nothing had ever happened. We were friends and all that was between us was stupid elementary school arguements. Which was true. However, when two people clash like that there is not much room for friendship.
mL and Fern became good friends. I like to think that during 9th grade and the summer after I was closer to mL than Fern was, but I do not know. Anyway, Fern had first lunch while mL and I had second lunch. So never actually had to be around Fern and mL together during 9th grade. I never realized they were such good friends. Then, when we got to high school we all started hanging out together. There was only one lunch. I only had one class with mL and Fern had at least one that I know of. We kind of started to drift apart that first semester. And, though I tell mL that I do not know why that is, I know exactly why. It did not take very long to realize that Fern really did get on my nerves. Now that we all had only one lunch, Fern was always around. She was constantly talking to mL and they were becoming closer by the day. I was becoming farther and farther (Which I do not mind, I think it happened for a reason. I found my true best friend. I can honestly tell Kara anything and even if we disagree we will always still be friends. She is like another sister to me.) and I honestly hardly noticed it.
There was this big weight being held over all of us, though. All year long we knew that it was going to be our last year with mL. We knew that we would not have all summer with her and that in the blink of an eye she would be gone. Second semester came along and mL and I started talking again, but we had lost that bond that we had had before. She was still one of my closest friends and I still loved her (I always will) but we had gone four and a half months without talking to each other hardly at all. We found out when and where mL was moving. It was time to start planning for her big goodbye.
She and I have plans. Big ones that will hopefully follow through. We will have one more sleep over weekend. We will watch some of the movies on my list of "Movies mL Has Not Seen That I Love" and maybe we will go to Lagoon. However, there are people who would be mad at me for even considering taking a weekend of our now limited time with her.
Fern now considers mL her best friend. I do not care about that. However, the fact that Fern thinks that she owns all of mL's time before she moves makes me so mad. I am going to miss her to. More than she will ever know. mL was the first friend that I ever got really close to. She was the first girl who I let really know me. Her was family was the first (outside of my own) that I ever really became comfortable with (and still remains the only one).
What hurts even worse is that there all of these activites being planned, one that I even suggested, that I'm really not even being informed about. I do not know if it is just because I have been busy or what, but it sucks because I am going to miss mL too. I want memories of her last few weeks here also.
mL and I have all of these ideas for after she moves: I am going to go visit her, she is going to come visit me, and even though she will be living in a completely different state she will be forced to come on my senior trip with me. However, I know how hard it is for people to actually implement plans when they are living completely different lives in completely different places. I do not want to become the old friend who turns into simple emails here and there. It would suck to have another friend go away without some majorly good memories to look back on. I need proof. I need pictures. Just the memories are never enough. Memories fade, they turn into a fog that comes in every once in a while. I do not have pictures! I am not making memories because I can not come to things when I am given the details the minute it is happening. And it sucks that I am becoming an afterthought already.
So, I understand. I get why my little sister is upset that a friend she has not hung out with in a while moved to Germany today. I am also beginning to feel very hypocritical about telling her that she should not be upset. I am upset. I am really upset. I will be all right, though. I know that. I need to really grasp, though. It is one thing to know something and another to feel it. I need to feel that it will be fine. I need to feel that mL moving is not going to absolutely, totally, and completely suck for a long time. Right now I do not feel that. Right now I just can not picture mL not being around. It seems impossible to me. And it really, really, really sucks.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Time and Again
It's about that time of year again. The time when everyone starts counting down the days like minutes. Plans for summer are beginning to come into place. Classes are pretty much done. Most students are wondering why they have to continue to come to school for these last few weeks (If we didn't have to come the last two weeks then the last two weeks of school would just be moved back and... Well, it's just a never ending circle.)
My sisters and I are flying to Ohio tomorrow. My oldest sister, who lives there, is graduating from high school on Sunday. I never thought that I would actually get to go to her graduation. But I am. And I never thought that the day I would get my driver license (my step dad is constantly telling me that it is "driver license" and not "driver's license") would come so fast. But it has. And again I'm left thinking about time. And change.
In the last year my environment, my life, and even my personality, have all changed a lot. Not completely. I still live at my house, but I definitely spend more time here. I don't go to Fairfield Junior High anymore. Instead, I go to Layton High School. I'm not involved in the school so much and a lot less people there know me. As for my personality... Well, go back to my first blogs. I think you can tell from my writing style alone that I have changed. Sure, I may still be talking about pretty much the same things, but I'm different. I don't form my sentences the same way. I don't have the same habits. However, I've changed so much more than that. I've matured.
My two littlest sisters start at Fairfield Junior High next year. They are twins, like me and Carley. However, they are identical. I wonder if they will have more friends than I did, if they will love the school as much as I did (To an extent I still do, but I believe that part of me maturing was realizing that as much as I loved Fairfield, it was the people there that really made it so great. I still spend time with the people. So I really never lost Fairfield. And if I really did suddenly miss it that much, then I could always just go over and sit on my favorite stairs for a while. I spent a lot of time doing that.), if they will be as involved... Basically, I wonder how different their experience there will be from mine.
Not that I will ever really know the answer to that.
Almost a year ago I had my last day at Fairfield. I can tell you what I did that day. In AL I said goodbye to my class and had them all sign my pretend yearbook (I wouldn't get mine until I was on the bus to the airport the next day) and helped Mrs. Nelson with yellow mark day. Then in English I wrote my final journal for Mr. T (more on that in a bit) and we talked about my grade... I had to look that up on Mr. T's website. It must have been a really short talk because I don't remember it. I don't even know if we did anything else that day. I doubt it. In Orchestra, Mrs. Tuke talked to all of us 9th graders about how much she would miss us all who weren't going to Davis and I played my viola for the last time in a group setting like that (I think I almost cried when Mrs. Tuke was talking). In guitar I think we were allowed to pretty much do whatever we wanted. So I went out to the field and watched some of the science classes launch rockets. I am pretty sure that I just talked entirely through Algebra II that day. I know we weren't doing anything. After all, the entire class was 9th graders and it was our last day of classes (for some it was just our last day, others would have Lagoon Day and Yearbook Day to look forward to). I actually, don't remember what I did at luch that day. I was really really sad that it was my last day and I think I was probably thinking/talking about that. In science I went out and launched my own rocket. Which, as I remember, did pretty well. Then I hung out with Emma O. for a while. My last period of the day was spent talking to Mrs. Barney and some of the other yearbook people, plus I think I went out and watched the rockets again. After school I had my last ever AL meeting, my last ever time staying after school as a student there. I have a picture from that meeting. It isn't of me, but rather three of my closest friends. I also have a picture of me sitting on the stairs waiting for my ride after that meeting. I was crying.
That night was the 9th grade dance. I didn't go because I had a lot of studying and preparing to do for the National Science Olympiad competition in Washington DC that weekend. However, I've seen pictures and my friends tell me that it was a lot of fun.
It seems like that day was in another lifetime. I remember it, I remember how I felt, but I don't feel like it actually happened. It could very well have been a dream if I didn't have the pictures to show that it wasn't.
The other day I was cleaning my room and I found something. A red spiral notbook with purple lettering in my best friend's handwriting on the front cover. My journal from Mr. T's English class. And then I remembered what that last journal had been about. It was a response to a letter we had written to ourselves earlier in the year. I responded. Asked some questions for my future self. Then I made a promise to myself that every year I will make it my goal to write another letter on May 28th. I will fill up the last pages of that notebook, or at least that is what I told Mr. T.
I still plan on writing it. In fact, when I get back from Ohio I am going to post the old letter before I start writing this year's.
Anyway... I just lost my train of thought.
This was a really long blog. So I think it makes up for my lack of posting lately. :D Even though the contents were pretty much pointless.
My sisters and I are flying to Ohio tomorrow. My oldest sister, who lives there, is graduating from high school on Sunday. I never thought that I would actually get to go to her graduation. But I am. And I never thought that the day I would get my driver license (my step dad is constantly telling me that it is "driver license" and not "driver's license") would come so fast. But it has. And again I'm left thinking about time. And change.
In the last year my environment, my life, and even my personality, have all changed a lot. Not completely. I still live at my house, but I definitely spend more time here. I don't go to Fairfield Junior High anymore. Instead, I go to Layton High School. I'm not involved in the school so much and a lot less people there know me. As for my personality... Well, go back to my first blogs. I think you can tell from my writing style alone that I have changed. Sure, I may still be talking about pretty much the same things, but I'm different. I don't form my sentences the same way. I don't have the same habits. However, I've changed so much more than that. I've matured.
My two littlest sisters start at Fairfield Junior High next year. They are twins, like me and Carley. However, they are identical. I wonder if they will have more friends than I did, if they will love the school as much as I did (To an extent I still do, but I believe that part of me maturing was realizing that as much as I loved Fairfield, it was the people there that really made it so great. I still spend time with the people. So I really never lost Fairfield. And if I really did suddenly miss it that much, then I could always just go over and sit on my favorite stairs for a while. I spent a lot of time doing that.), if they will be as involved... Basically, I wonder how different their experience there will be from mine.
Not that I will ever really know the answer to that.
Almost a year ago I had my last day at Fairfield. I can tell you what I did that day. In AL I said goodbye to my class and had them all sign my pretend yearbook (I wouldn't get mine until I was on the bus to the airport the next day) and helped Mrs. Nelson with yellow mark day. Then in English I wrote my final journal for Mr. T (more on that in a bit) and we talked about my grade... I had to look that up on Mr. T's website. It must have been a really short talk because I don't remember it. I don't even know if we did anything else that day. I doubt it. In Orchestra, Mrs. Tuke talked to all of us 9th graders about how much she would miss us all who weren't going to Davis and I played my viola for the last time in a group setting like that (I think I almost cried when Mrs. Tuke was talking). In guitar I think we were allowed to pretty much do whatever we wanted. So I went out to the field and watched some of the science classes launch rockets. I am pretty sure that I just talked entirely through Algebra II that day. I know we weren't doing anything. After all, the entire class was 9th graders and it was our last day of classes (for some it was just our last day, others would have Lagoon Day and Yearbook Day to look forward to). I actually, don't remember what I did at luch that day. I was really really sad that it was my last day and I think I was probably thinking/talking about that. In science I went out and launched my own rocket. Which, as I remember, did pretty well. Then I hung out with Emma O. for a while. My last period of the day was spent talking to Mrs. Barney and some of the other yearbook people, plus I think I went out and watched the rockets again. After school I had my last ever AL meeting, my last ever time staying after school as a student there. I have a picture from that meeting. It isn't of me, but rather three of my closest friends. I also have a picture of me sitting on the stairs waiting for my ride after that meeting. I was crying.
That night was the 9th grade dance. I didn't go because I had a lot of studying and preparing to do for the National Science Olympiad competition in Washington DC that weekend. However, I've seen pictures and my friends tell me that it was a lot of fun.
It seems like that day was in another lifetime. I remember it, I remember how I felt, but I don't feel like it actually happened. It could very well have been a dream if I didn't have the pictures to show that it wasn't.
The other day I was cleaning my room and I found something. A red spiral notbook with purple lettering in my best friend's handwriting on the front cover. My journal from Mr. T's English class. And then I remembered what that last journal had been about. It was a response to a letter we had written to ourselves earlier in the year. I responded. Asked some questions for my future self. Then I made a promise to myself that every year I will make it my goal to write another letter on May 28th. I will fill up the last pages of that notebook, or at least that is what I told Mr. T.
I still plan on writing it. In fact, when I get back from Ohio I am going to post the old letter before I start writing this year's.
Anyway... I just lost my train of thought.
This was a really long blog. So I think it makes up for my lack of posting lately. :D Even though the contents were pretty much pointless.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
So, I realize that until last week I went a month without writing anything in this blog. That is... sad? Disappointing? Both, really. Here's the thing: high school is really freaking crazy. Especially now that we are into the last term of the school year. The last half term of the school year, really. I am working like crazy to put together things for next years newspaper. Along with trying to keep my grades up while fighting a really really bad case of spring fever.
I cannot wait until this year is over. I cannot wait until next year starts. Next year is going to be totally amazing!!! Absolutely, completely amazing. I am not sure why other than that my classes are going to be really really awesome.
Yeah... I don't know. There isn't really a whole lot to write about right now. Life is life and I'm trying to live it. I'm crazy busy and yet I'm still having fun with the stuff I am doing.
..............
I don't know.
I cannot wait until this year is over. I cannot wait until next year starts. Next year is going to be totally amazing!!! Absolutely, completely amazing. I am not sure why other than that my classes are going to be really really awesome.
Yeah... I don't know. There isn't really a whole lot to write about right now. Life is life and I'm trying to live it. I'm crazy busy and yet I'm still having fun with the stuff I am doing.
..............
I don't know.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Editor Update
I just wanted to update really quickly to inform anyone who doesn't know about the results of my editor application.
I don't have time to write much about it right now, I have been very busy lately, but I thought since I found out before spring break I ought to put it up here sometime soon.
So:
I am one of two Editors In Chief for Layton High School's Centurion next year. There are also two Layout Editors and a Managing Editor that I will be working with. It is really an awesome opportunity and I am very excited to see what happens with it next year.
I don't have time to write much about it right now, I have been very busy lately, but I thought since I found out before spring break I ought to put it up here sometime soon.
So:
I am one of two Editors In Chief for Layton High School's Centurion next year. There are also two Layout Editors and a Managing Editor that I will be working with. It is really an awesome opportunity and I am very excited to see what happens with it next year.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Becoming Editor of The Centurion
I applied to be editor for my school Newspaper for the 2009-2010 school year last week. In the application we had to answer a bunch of questions and then put together a page that introduced us. The page had to have all of the features of a newspaper and it had to answer four different questions:
1. What qualities do you have that would make you a good editor?
2. Why do you want to be an editor?
3. What are your intentions?
4. What would you keep and what would you change?
I was so determined to make editor that I worked on this almost non-stop for four days. I even spent a whole weekend on it. Everything you see in this picture was made by me (my mom did give me the idea for the title). I even took the picture of myself. It was actually really really fun and I think I came up with a really good product.
Now we are all just waiting to find out what we will be doing as editors for next year. There are four girls that originally tried out and I was the only sophomore amongst them. Today, however, we discovered that one of the people who had originally planned to try out, and then ended up not turning in the application, had decided that she wanted to try out. This is really frustrating.
I do not have anything against this other girl. She is a sophomore as well and she is really nice. She is a great writer. I think it will be really great to be an editor with her. The thing that bugs me is that she got to turn in her application more than a week after we did. That, and now that she is deciding to apply again we all have to wait until the end of the week to find out what is going on. We were supposed to know last Friday.
So, I do not know. It is a frustrating thing. I am way excited about it, though. I think the other three girls who tried out (besides me and the other sophomore) will be really great to work with next year. I think we will put out a great product together.
That is all I know for now. I will keep this updated as I know more. Hopefully we will all know our positions by Friday.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Looking Back, Answering Questions
I have not logged in to the Honors English board for a while now. There was a time last year when I was actively involved in some of the discussions going on and I was sure that I would continue to be (just like I was sure that I would continue to blog), but that has not been the case.
I have been going to Layton High for almost a year now and I am surprised to see how much things have changed in that time. I spent yesterday with a friend that I had not seen since October of 2007. I was surprised the second I saw him just to see how different he looked. We spent about six hours walking around, just talking about our lives. It was great. It made me think about how different thing are now.
So, this morning I found myself logging on to the Honors English board to read some old posts. I got to the log in screen and I had a second of memory loss. I could not even remember whether I had used Madie or Madison as my screen name. After that I logged in and went straight to the section titled "Honors English 2008". I read through my introduction and my answers to questions number one and number 2. Then I got to question number 3, which is going to be the main topic of this blog once I get around to it.
Question number 3, due on October 14, 2007 says this:
Write a discussion question you would like to see posted in this forum, and then write your response to the question.
My answer was very basic. It is pretty obvious that I had not actually spent very much time thinking about it at all and just ended up throwing something on there. However, at the very bottom of my post I said this:
Is there anyone other than me and Carley that just want to answer everyone's questions? Because I have the strongest urge to do so.
Now, about a year and a half later, I am going to try to answer these questions.
SB: I'd ask what people think of The Count of Monte Cristo. Do you enjoy it? Why? Is it interesting? What do you like and dislike about it? Also who is your favorite character and how can you relate to them or why are they your favorite character?
Oh, wow. And the first question stumps me. I know that I loved The Count of Monte Cristo. It took me a long time to get into it, but once I did I thought it was absolutely great. I remember thinking that the story line was so original and so interesting. I know, that since it was my first classic, I did not like how difficult it was to read at first, but eventually I did not mind that so much. The part of this question that I can not really answer is my favorite character. I do not honestly remember who I liked or why. Maybe I will have to read it again sometime soon.
NL: I would ask: Do you think spelling is important (all the time, including when you write notes to others, posting in blogs and discussion boards, or even writing notes to yourself, etc.) and why or why not?
As a writer, I think that spelling is very important. Even when I am instant messaging or texting my friends I use proper punctuation and spelling. I believe that if I let it slip too much I will start putting the 'text speak' into my writing and make myself look like an idiot (or a typical teenager who does nothing but text). I think that many people do not think that spelling and grammar are important in informal settings. I think that is both very sad and very bad for our society.
BS: Well, I think I would ask," What is your favorite genre of literature? Why is it your favorite? How much time would you spend reading it if you had time? How much time do you spend reading it?"
My favorite genre of literature is definitely fiction. However, fiction is so wide a genre that it is not a very specific answer. I can not give one more specific though. I love fantasy, mystery, romance, horror, and historical fiction all alike. I love getting into a good book with interesting characters and a good plot. If I had all the time in the world I would probably spend about half of it reading. As much as I love reading a good book, I would still want to spend time with my family and friends. However, I am not very social and so I can honestly say that I would not mind spending half of my time reading if I had new books to read. Sadly, I do not spend nearly that much time reading. Lately, I have not had very much time at all to read. That is something I do not like. The problem is that when I have a good book I am hooked on it. I can not concentrate in class or on my homework. So I do most of my reading in the summer. I always have. However, I do get some reading done during the school year.
BB: How far are you in the book? What part are you on? Do you get it? Who is your favorite charactor and Why? Are you reading the regular one or abridged?
The first part of this question is outdated. I finished the book at the very end of that term. I had put it off for so long because it was more difficult reading than I had encountered before. I understood it pretty well. I had my mom help me a bit when the reading got difficult because she had read it before. I read the abridged version. However, I had my dad buy me the unabriged and I am thinking that I might try to tackle that this summer.
JC: I would ask what their favorite book is? why is is your favorite? and what, in your opinion is a good book?
I have so many favorite books. This is one of the most difficult questions to answer (along with my favorite author, movie, song, band, etc.). For a long time my favorite book was The Talisman by Stephen King but, while that is still pretty high up on my list, now I have read so many other great books that I can not honestly say which is my favorite. In my opinion a good book can be so many things. It does not necessarily have to be well written. The Twilight saga would be my first example of this. I do not believe it is a well written book, but I enjoyed it. The series is far from being one of my favorites. But they are good books. I think a good book has to have an interesting plot. Otherwise, what would be the point in reading it? I think that a good book can not be too descriptive. The reader has to be able to imagine it themselves. I think I will leave it at that. Though, I will put this topic on my list of things to write a full blog post about... Eventually.
CR: Have you ever read a certain book/poem, or maybe even an essay that changed the way you think, feel or act? I bet if you really take the time to think about it then you'd come up with not only one occasion, but with possibly several.
This is a really really good question. I have read so many books that have shaped the way I think now. The first that comes to mind is The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank. I read this book in seventh grade. I remember how hard it was for me to get through it because it was real. Anne Frank really existed and really went through the hardships that her diary describes. Her father really was the only one from the family to survive. It really happened. It was a hard thing to realize as a 13 year old. I had studied World War II before and I had known of the horrific things that had happened during that time, but I had never really imagined them really happening to a girl who, at the beginning of it all, was my age. There also fictional books that have changed the way I thought. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King is one of them. It was the first real novel that I read (not including the Harry Potter books). In the book, nine year old Trisha gets lost in the woods. It was a story of fear and survival. I was about ten or eleven when I read it. There are many other books along with these. I believe that the way that I think about the world, the universe, has been shaped by the books I have read even more than my own experiences. I have not experienced much. I have read a lot.
MM: "When reading examples of "classic" literature, do you notice any similarities between "classic" writings and the writing of today? If so, what are they? Give some examples."
The main similarity that I have noticed between classic literature and modern literature is the emotion. The basics of the human characters. I guess that is simple. It is not very hard to guess that human nature is going to be the same in literature... But to me that is the basis of all literature. Plus, I think that the basics of almost any plot can be found in more than just one novel. I do not know. I guess I am probably not explaining it right... I do not really know how to explain it.
HH: I would probably ask what genere of book is their favorite, and why is it their favorite.
I have already said that fiction books are my favorite, but I did not really explain why. I guess the main reason is that I can start reading a fiction book and get totally pulled into it. I forget whatever else I should be doing (because I am a procrastinator) or anything that is worrying me and just get lost in the story and the characters. It is absolutely one of my favorite things in life. Without good books I would probably be way more stressed than I am most of the time.
MLH: What do you think the most important part about writing a short story is? Why do you think that it is so important? Is that the most important part in a book as well?
I think the most important part in the actual writing of a short story is not worrying about whether or not it will be liked. I think it is important that before worrying about how much it will be read and liked by other people you have to first get your story out. You have to put it on paper and create the plot and the characters before you can worry about all of that. Then once the story is written the writer can edit it and make sure that it is readable and likeable. I definitely think that this is important in a novel as well. I read a book by Stephen King titled On Writing. He said that it is always important to write first with the door shut. Then when the first draft is done you can let people see it and worry about whether or not they like it.
IH: What would you do if you had to escape from some horried prision like Edmound Dantes? What would you do in your spare time?
I honestly do not think I read this question last year. Ha ha. Uhm.. If I had to escape from prison like Edmound Dantes... I would most likely get my ideas from a book that I had read because that is where I get my ideas anyway. In my spare time... I would contemplate escaping most likely... Uhm... I do not really know. It has been sooo long since I have read that book.
MM: I would probably ask "Where is your favorite place to read and do homework; in the house, in the yard, in a tree, and so forth? Why is this your favorite place to read or do homework? Does it stimulate your brain cells? Or does it remind you of good times? (It doesn't have to be the same answer!)
My favorite place to read is outside anywhere that is sunny. My favorite place to do homework is in my room, usually at night when I know that there is nothing else going on in the house that I could be missing out on. Ha ha. The reason I like to read outside is that I like the air. I think that the air outside is just... Good for reading? Ha ha. It is something that I really love. I can not really explain it though. The reason I like doing homework in my bedroom is that I can not concentrate when I think there are fun conversations or anything going on in my house. I have so much fun with my family that merely thinking about it distracts me.
EO: What do you think about this whole honors english thing?
Well, looking back on it now I am so glad that I stuck with it for the entire year. I really enjoyed the board discussions and the ready and the blogs. I also enjoyed the two parties we had... The one that was really successful and the one that really... was not. Ha ha. I loved reading other people's blogs even though I hardly ever commented on them. I also liked having a reason to read those classics. I probably never would have read The Count of Monte Cristo, Dandelion Wine, or Great Expectations had it not been for that class. I loved all of those books. The whole year was just so great. It also helps that Mr. T was the greatest teacher I have ever had.
AW: What is your favorite part about Honors English. Is is the blogs, the discussion board, or the reading assignments? Why?
My favorite part of Honors English was a combination of the people and the reading. I loved reading the books and then talking about them to other people in the class or Mr. T. I thought it was great that at the end of a lot of the conversations Mr. T and I had he would say "Blog that." and sometimes I would and sometimes I wouldn't. I loved so many parts of that class that it is hard to choose one specific favorite.
JW: O.K., here's the question; Do you have any pets?
Uhm... Kind of a random question. Yes, I have four pets. I have two dogs, both Shib Inus. One girl and one boy. And I have two leopard geckos. One girl and one boy. The dogs names are Koda and Breezy and the lizards names are Starsky and Hutch (we named them before we knew that one of them was a girl).
TB: Hmmm....my question would be what do you think of grammar punk?
I actually did not mind grammar punk. I thought it was fun to write the sentences and what was even more fun than that was brainstorming the words for the sentences. It was really a lot of fun because all year I was lucky to have some really funny people in my class.
MR (me): My question is: What is your biggest problem with writing and completing stories, novels, and just writing in general?
(And I'm just going to post my answer from before)
My biggest problem with writing stories is that I have way to many ideas coming to me. I'll think of an idea, and then I'll start writing. I'll have a good couple of pages written in my notebook, and then I put it down for the night and go to sleep. Going to sleep is what kills the story. I tell myself that I have to keep writing, and then a month or even a year later I'll find the notebook I started writing the story in. The first few pages of the notebook are written on, and then the rest is empty. I write a little bit more of the story if the idea was good enough to still be interesting, and then I put the notebook down again. It would take hundreds of years to finish a book this way. It makes me sad, because Carley has written and completed several stories, and she always tells me that I need to finish one so I know what it feels like to finish a story, and I will. Hopefully one day I will find a plot line that will keep me interested until the very last punctuation, but until then I think I'll keep to short stories. I've got one posted on my blog, and I'm going to try to continue it, but I would love it if some people would read it and tell me what they thought so I could have enough reason to continue.
HS: Why do you think reading is important?
There are so many things that make reading important. To me one of the more important ones is knowledge. I think that without reading a person puts a very real limit on the knowledge. They hold themselves back from being as smart as they can be, from being the person they can be.
MP: Think of a good book that you've read recentley. Did you feel that it was one that you could really enjoy? Did it paint a vivid picture in your mind as to what the character is doing, acting, and feeling? Could you imagine yourself standing along side this character, fighting their battles?
I just finished reading a book called Nightworld. Nightworld itself is the name of the series, but the books come in threes. So Nightworld 1 contains three different books in it. It was a really good book. I think it was another one, though, that I liked more for the story than for the writing. It was not terrific writing and it did not really paint a picture in my head. Mostly I just thought that L.J. Smith's ideas were really good and really interesting.
SZ: If you could go anywhere in the world for one week where would you go? Why would you go there? And what would you plan to do?
If I could go anywhere in the world for a week then I would go to the United Kingdom. I would start out in Scotland and make my way down into England and maybe Wales. I have wanted to go there for so many years now. It is my dream to visit England and Scotland because I think that it would be amazing to see how people live there and even just to explore. I do not really know what I would plan. Probably just a lot of sight seeing. I would definitely see Stone Henge because I have always wanted to see that.
AT: Who is your favorite author and why? Why do the books this author writes appeal to you more than the books of other authors? Name some characteristics of the author's writing style that keep the reader entertained, help make the book interesting, and why they make that person a good author.
It is really hard to pick a favorite author, but for now I think I will go with Stephen King. I love his writing because he creates real characters. Often when reading his books I like to think about what I would do if I were to meet him. I would probably ask him if he actually has to try to make his characters sound so real or if it just comes naturally to him. His plots are definitely interesting, and they always hold my attention. He has an incredible imagination and I admire his writing style.
BW: Which University is better, U of U, or BYU? State why? Is it a strong opinion?
Uhm... Well I do not really care. Personally if it were which I would rather go to then I would choose U of U. I am not LDS and so I just would not go there mostly because it is more expensive. Other than that... Go George Washington University! Ha ha. Or even Southern Utah University.
AB: Who is your favorite author and what kind of books do they write? Why do you like reading those books.
I think we will go with James Patterson this time. He writes fiction. Some mystery/action and some fantasy/action. He has even written a couple of romances that I really like. I like reading his books because they are interesting. They have good plots and good characters and I even like how he writes short chapters. It makes it easier to put them down when I absolutely have to. I do not have to stop in the middle of a chapter when reading his books.
SO: Have you ever had a life changing experience? What was it? In what way did it change your life? Have you benefited from this change or not?
I think everyone has had a life changing experience. Several of them I am sure. They are part of life. Uhm... Well the experience that comes to my mind first is something that happened during last year... I think it was the beginning of ninth grade. My cousin has cancer. She is... four years old. One weekend in November of 2007 we planned a benefit concert for her. The singer was Brenn Hill. There was also a silent auction before hand. My sisters and I brought suckers and hot chocolate and helped set up and clean up. It changed me because I had never seen so many people come together to help one person. And to see that happen, to be part of that, was the best feeling.
LS: What is your favorite instrument and why?
Hmm... I play the viola and the guitar so I love both of those instruments. But my absolute favorite instrument ever is the Cello. I love that it can create amazingly beautiful sounds both in a group and alone. I think it is a gorgeous instrument (is that weird?) and I think that it would be the best instrument to play and I regret not learning to play it.
CH: What is your favorite movie(s)?
I have soooo many. My sisters are currently talking about movies so I think I will just mention a couple of movies that they are talking about that I love: 10 Things I Hate About You, Dark Knight, Miss Potter, Little Women, City of Angels, Practical Magic, Titanic, Because I Said So, and like... a million more.
RW: What is your favorite kind of music, band, andwhy are this your favorite.
Wow. Ok. ^^ Grammar. I am just copying these questions exactly as they were on the board.
I love all kinds of music. My favorite band right now is Paramore. I do not really know why. I just like their music. I have loved them for a very long while now.
DA: When you enter a book store, lets say Barnes and Noble, what section do you go to first? Why?
I go straight to the young adult section that is like... One aisle right in front of the kid section. I check out books there first before going to the shelves of my favorite authors. I do this because I just think that the books there are books that can be really good but not for adults... I do not really know how to explain it...
PB: What do you take for granted? life? house? money? clothes?
I definitely take my family for granted. They are so amazing and I know I do not appreciate them enough or what they do for me. I try, but sometimes I just do not do so well with it. I know that is something I should work on. I am a very very lucky person to have what I do.
ZH: I would ask what books do you want to read? Are they long? Do you have time to read all of them? Are you required to read other books?
There are so many... I think I want to make a list sometime and post it up here. They are very different. Some short, some long. Some immature, some more mature. I will read most of them eventually. I wish there was enough time in life to read everything. I am not really required to read anything for school this year... Which is weird.
CR: What do you think is your hardest subject this year?Why is it your hardest? What is your easiest? Why is it you easiest?
My hardest subject this year is AP European History. It is my hardest because it takes a lot of work. A lot of studying and a lot of reading and a lot of memorizing. My easiest subject, sadly, is Honors English. The reason for this is that we have hardly read anything, we have only written three essays, and she says that for the rest of the year we will be focusing on poetry. I just wish we had been able to read more. It was supposed to be world literature but we have only covered Africa, Greece, and now Asia.
AS: Where do people who write books get their ideas from to put in the story and come up with the story?
I think this question is very basic. Any writer gets there ideas from their heads along with the people and things around them. I know I get my ideas from everywhere. Anything can get my imagination moving. I think most writers are that way. I think they have to be.
LH: What do you think is the most important part of life? What makes it so important...so special?
I think that the most important part of life is going for your goals. Knowing what you want to do and doing it. I can not think of the words to explain why this is important. It just... It just is. Ha ha.
IU: If you could have any series of books on your shelf what would it be and why?
There is this series of my mom's that I have read recently. It is by Diana Gabaldon and I absolutely love them. They are the reason that I really really want to go to Scotland. I own the second book but the rest are my mom's. One day I hope to own them all. If I could have my mom's book collection I would be so happy.
Alright, so toward the end I skipped a lot of questions because they got very repetitive. But here they are. A lot of these answers would have been very different if I had answered them the week of this discussion. Time has changed a lot. It is good, but it is strange.
I have been going to Layton High for almost a year now and I am surprised to see how much things have changed in that time. I spent yesterday with a friend that I had not seen since October of 2007. I was surprised the second I saw him just to see how different he looked. We spent about six hours walking around, just talking about our lives. It was great. It made me think about how different thing are now.
So, this morning I found myself logging on to the Honors English board to read some old posts. I got to the log in screen and I had a second of memory loss. I could not even remember whether I had used Madie or Madison as my screen name. After that I logged in and went straight to the section titled "Honors English 2008". I read through my introduction and my answers to questions number one and number 2. Then I got to question number 3, which is going to be the main topic of this blog once I get around to it.
Question number 3, due on October 14, 2007 says this:
Write a discussion question you would like to see posted in this forum, and then write your response to the question.
My answer was very basic. It is pretty obvious that I had not actually spent very much time thinking about it at all and just ended up throwing something on there. However, at the very bottom of my post I said this:
Is there anyone other than me and Carley that just want to answer everyone's questions? Because I have the strongest urge to do so.
Now, about a year and a half later, I am going to try to answer these questions.
SB: I'd ask what people think of The Count of Monte Cristo. Do you enjoy it? Why? Is it interesting? What do you like and dislike about it? Also who is your favorite character and how can you relate to them or why are they your favorite character?
Oh, wow. And the first question stumps me. I know that I loved The Count of Monte Cristo. It took me a long time to get into it, but once I did I thought it was absolutely great. I remember thinking that the story line was so original and so interesting. I know, that since it was my first classic, I did not like how difficult it was to read at first, but eventually I did not mind that so much. The part of this question that I can not really answer is my favorite character. I do not honestly remember who I liked or why. Maybe I will have to read it again sometime soon.
NL: I would ask: Do you think spelling is important (all the time, including when you write notes to others, posting in blogs and discussion boards, or even writing notes to yourself, etc.) and why or why not?
As a writer, I think that spelling is very important. Even when I am instant messaging or texting my friends I use proper punctuation and spelling. I believe that if I let it slip too much I will start putting the 'text speak' into my writing and make myself look like an idiot (or a typical teenager who does nothing but text). I think that many people do not think that spelling and grammar are important in informal settings. I think that is both very sad and very bad for our society.
BS: Well, I think I would ask," What is your favorite genre of literature? Why is it your favorite? How much time would you spend reading it if you had time? How much time do you spend reading it?"
My favorite genre of literature is definitely fiction. However, fiction is so wide a genre that it is not a very specific answer. I can not give one more specific though. I love fantasy, mystery, romance, horror, and historical fiction all alike. I love getting into a good book with interesting characters and a good plot. If I had all the time in the world I would probably spend about half of it reading. As much as I love reading a good book, I would still want to spend time with my family and friends. However, I am not very social and so I can honestly say that I would not mind spending half of my time reading if I had new books to read. Sadly, I do not spend nearly that much time reading. Lately, I have not had very much time at all to read. That is something I do not like. The problem is that when I have a good book I am hooked on it. I can not concentrate in class or on my homework. So I do most of my reading in the summer. I always have. However, I do get some reading done during the school year.
BB: How far are you in the book? What part are you on? Do you get it? Who is your favorite charactor and Why? Are you reading the regular one or abridged?
The first part of this question is outdated. I finished the book at the very end of that term. I had put it off for so long because it was more difficult reading than I had encountered before. I understood it pretty well. I had my mom help me a bit when the reading got difficult because she had read it before. I read the abridged version. However, I had my dad buy me the unabriged and I am thinking that I might try to tackle that this summer.
JC: I would ask what their favorite book is? why is is your favorite? and what, in your opinion is a good book?
I have so many favorite books. This is one of the most difficult questions to answer (along with my favorite author, movie, song, band, etc.). For a long time my favorite book was The Talisman by Stephen King but, while that is still pretty high up on my list, now I have read so many other great books that I can not honestly say which is my favorite. In my opinion a good book can be so many things. It does not necessarily have to be well written. The Twilight saga would be my first example of this. I do not believe it is a well written book, but I enjoyed it. The series is far from being one of my favorites. But they are good books. I think a good book has to have an interesting plot. Otherwise, what would be the point in reading it? I think that a good book can not be too descriptive. The reader has to be able to imagine it themselves. I think I will leave it at that. Though, I will put this topic on my list of things to write a full blog post about... Eventually.
CR: Have you ever read a certain book/poem, or maybe even an essay that changed the way you think, feel or act? I bet if you really take the time to think about it then you'd come up with not only one occasion, but with possibly several.
This is a really really good question. I have read so many books that have shaped the way I think now. The first that comes to mind is The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank. I read this book in seventh grade. I remember how hard it was for me to get through it because it was real. Anne Frank really existed and really went through the hardships that her diary describes. Her father really was the only one from the family to survive. It really happened. It was a hard thing to realize as a 13 year old. I had studied World War II before and I had known of the horrific things that had happened during that time, but I had never really imagined them really happening to a girl who, at the beginning of it all, was my age. There also fictional books that have changed the way I thought. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King is one of them. It was the first real novel that I read (not including the Harry Potter books). In the book, nine year old Trisha gets lost in the woods. It was a story of fear and survival. I was about ten or eleven when I read it. There are many other books along with these. I believe that the way that I think about the world, the universe, has been shaped by the books I have read even more than my own experiences. I have not experienced much. I have read a lot.
MM: "When reading examples of "classic" literature, do you notice any similarities between "classic" writings and the writing of today? If so, what are they? Give some examples."
The main similarity that I have noticed between classic literature and modern literature is the emotion. The basics of the human characters. I guess that is simple. It is not very hard to guess that human nature is going to be the same in literature... But to me that is the basis of all literature. Plus, I think that the basics of almost any plot can be found in more than just one novel. I do not know. I guess I am probably not explaining it right... I do not really know how to explain it.
HH: I would probably ask what genere of book is their favorite, and why is it their favorite.
I have already said that fiction books are my favorite, but I did not really explain why. I guess the main reason is that I can start reading a fiction book and get totally pulled into it. I forget whatever else I should be doing (because I am a procrastinator) or anything that is worrying me and just get lost in the story and the characters. It is absolutely one of my favorite things in life. Without good books I would probably be way more stressed than I am most of the time.
MLH: What do you think the most important part about writing a short story is? Why do you think that it is so important? Is that the most important part in a book as well?
I think the most important part in the actual writing of a short story is not worrying about whether or not it will be liked. I think it is important that before worrying about how much it will be read and liked by other people you have to first get your story out. You have to put it on paper and create the plot and the characters before you can worry about all of that. Then once the story is written the writer can edit it and make sure that it is readable and likeable. I definitely think that this is important in a novel as well. I read a book by Stephen King titled On Writing. He said that it is always important to write first with the door shut. Then when the first draft is done you can let people see it and worry about whether or not they like it.
IH: What would you do if you had to escape from some horried prision like Edmound Dantes? What would you do in your spare time?
I honestly do not think I read this question last year. Ha ha. Uhm.. If I had to escape from prison like Edmound Dantes... I would most likely get my ideas from a book that I had read because that is where I get my ideas anyway. In my spare time... I would contemplate escaping most likely... Uhm... I do not really know. It has been sooo long since I have read that book.
MM: I would probably ask "Where is your favorite place to read and do homework; in the house, in the yard, in a tree, and so forth? Why is this your favorite place to read or do homework? Does it stimulate your brain cells? Or does it remind you of good times? (It doesn't have to be the same answer!)
My favorite place to read is outside anywhere that is sunny. My favorite place to do homework is in my room, usually at night when I know that there is nothing else going on in the house that I could be missing out on. Ha ha. The reason I like to read outside is that I like the air. I think that the air outside is just... Good for reading? Ha ha. It is something that I really love. I can not really explain it though. The reason I like doing homework in my bedroom is that I can not concentrate when I think there are fun conversations or anything going on in my house. I have so much fun with my family that merely thinking about it distracts me.
EO: What do you think about this whole honors english thing?
Well, looking back on it now I am so glad that I stuck with it for the entire year. I really enjoyed the board discussions and the ready and the blogs. I also enjoyed the two parties we had... The one that was really successful and the one that really... was not. Ha ha. I loved reading other people's blogs even though I hardly ever commented on them. I also liked having a reason to read those classics. I probably never would have read The Count of Monte Cristo, Dandelion Wine, or Great Expectations had it not been for that class. I loved all of those books. The whole year was just so great. It also helps that Mr. T was the greatest teacher I have ever had.
AW: What is your favorite part about Honors English. Is is the blogs, the discussion board, or the reading assignments? Why?
My favorite part of Honors English was a combination of the people and the reading. I loved reading the books and then talking about them to other people in the class or Mr. T. I thought it was great that at the end of a lot of the conversations Mr. T and I had he would say "Blog that." and sometimes I would and sometimes I wouldn't. I loved so many parts of that class that it is hard to choose one specific favorite.
JW: O.K., here's the question; Do you have any pets?
Uhm... Kind of a random question. Yes, I have four pets. I have two dogs, both Shib Inus. One girl and one boy. And I have two leopard geckos. One girl and one boy. The dogs names are Koda and Breezy and the lizards names are Starsky and Hutch (we named them before we knew that one of them was a girl).
TB: Hmmm....my question would be what do you think of grammar punk?
I actually did not mind grammar punk. I thought it was fun to write the sentences and what was even more fun than that was brainstorming the words for the sentences. It was really a lot of fun because all year I was lucky to have some really funny people in my class.
MR (me): My question is: What is your biggest problem with writing and completing stories, novels, and just writing in general?
(And I'm just going to post my answer from before)
My biggest problem with writing stories is that I have way to many ideas coming to me. I'll think of an idea, and then I'll start writing. I'll have a good couple of pages written in my notebook, and then I put it down for the night and go to sleep. Going to sleep is what kills the story. I tell myself that I have to keep writing, and then a month or even a year later I'll find the notebook I started writing the story in. The first few pages of the notebook are written on, and then the rest is empty. I write a little bit more of the story if the idea was good enough to still be interesting, and then I put the notebook down again. It would take hundreds of years to finish a book this way. It makes me sad, because Carley has written and completed several stories, and she always tells me that I need to finish one so I know what it feels like to finish a story, and I will. Hopefully one day I will find a plot line that will keep me interested until the very last punctuation, but until then I think I'll keep to short stories. I've got one posted on my blog, and I'm going to try to continue it, but I would love it if some people would read it and tell me what they thought so I could have enough reason to continue.
HS: Why do you think reading is important?
There are so many things that make reading important. To me one of the more important ones is knowledge. I think that without reading a person puts a very real limit on the knowledge. They hold themselves back from being as smart as they can be, from being the person they can be.
MP: Think of a good book that you've read recentley. Did you feel that it was one that you could really enjoy? Did it paint a vivid picture in your mind as to what the character is doing, acting, and feeling? Could you imagine yourself standing along side this character, fighting their battles?
I just finished reading a book called Nightworld. Nightworld itself is the name of the series, but the books come in threes. So Nightworld 1 contains three different books in it. It was a really good book. I think it was another one, though, that I liked more for the story than for the writing. It was not terrific writing and it did not really paint a picture in my head. Mostly I just thought that L.J. Smith's ideas were really good and really interesting.
SZ: If you could go anywhere in the world for one week where would you go? Why would you go there? And what would you plan to do?
If I could go anywhere in the world for a week then I would go to the United Kingdom. I would start out in Scotland and make my way down into England and maybe Wales. I have wanted to go there for so many years now. It is my dream to visit England and Scotland because I think that it would be amazing to see how people live there and even just to explore. I do not really know what I would plan. Probably just a lot of sight seeing. I would definitely see Stone Henge because I have always wanted to see that.
AT: Who is your favorite author and why? Why do the books this author writes appeal to you more than the books of other authors? Name some characteristics of the author's writing style that keep the reader entertained, help make the book interesting, and why they make that person a good author.
It is really hard to pick a favorite author, but for now I think I will go with Stephen King. I love his writing because he creates real characters. Often when reading his books I like to think about what I would do if I were to meet him. I would probably ask him if he actually has to try to make his characters sound so real or if it just comes naturally to him. His plots are definitely interesting, and they always hold my attention. He has an incredible imagination and I admire his writing style.
BW: Which University is better, U of U, or BYU? State why? Is it a strong opinion?
Uhm... Well I do not really care. Personally if it were which I would rather go to then I would choose U of U. I am not LDS and so I just would not go there mostly because it is more expensive. Other than that... Go George Washington University! Ha ha. Or even Southern Utah University.
AB: Who is your favorite author and what kind of books do they write? Why do you like reading those books.
I think we will go with James Patterson this time. He writes fiction. Some mystery/action and some fantasy/action. He has even written a couple of romances that I really like. I like reading his books because they are interesting. They have good plots and good characters and I even like how he writes short chapters. It makes it easier to put them down when I absolutely have to. I do not have to stop in the middle of a chapter when reading his books.
SO: Have you ever had a life changing experience? What was it? In what way did it change your life? Have you benefited from this change or not?
I think everyone has had a life changing experience. Several of them I am sure. They are part of life. Uhm... Well the experience that comes to my mind first is something that happened during last year... I think it was the beginning of ninth grade. My cousin has cancer. She is... four years old. One weekend in November of 2007 we planned a benefit concert for her. The singer was Brenn Hill. There was also a silent auction before hand. My sisters and I brought suckers and hot chocolate and helped set up and clean up. It changed me because I had never seen so many people come together to help one person. And to see that happen, to be part of that, was the best feeling.
LS: What is your favorite instrument and why?
Hmm... I play the viola and the guitar so I love both of those instruments. But my absolute favorite instrument ever is the Cello. I love that it can create amazingly beautiful sounds both in a group and alone. I think it is a gorgeous instrument (is that weird?) and I think that it would be the best instrument to play and I regret not learning to play it.
CH: What is your favorite movie(s)?
I have soooo many. My sisters are currently talking about movies so I think I will just mention a couple of movies that they are talking about that I love: 10 Things I Hate About You, Dark Knight, Miss Potter, Little Women, City of Angels, Practical Magic, Titanic, Because I Said So, and like... a million more.
RW: What is your favorite kind of music, band, andwhy are this your favorite.
Wow. Ok. ^^ Grammar. I am just copying these questions exactly as they were on the board.
I love all kinds of music. My favorite band right now is Paramore. I do not really know why. I just like their music. I have loved them for a very long while now.
DA: When you enter a book store, lets say Barnes and Noble, what section do you go to first? Why?
I go straight to the young adult section that is like... One aisle right in front of the kid section. I check out books there first before going to the shelves of my favorite authors. I do this because I just think that the books there are books that can be really good but not for adults... I do not really know how to explain it...
PB: What do you take for granted? life? house? money? clothes?
I definitely take my family for granted. They are so amazing and I know I do not appreciate them enough or what they do for me. I try, but sometimes I just do not do so well with it. I know that is something I should work on. I am a very very lucky person to have what I do.
ZH: I would ask what books do you want to read? Are they long? Do you have time to read all of them? Are you required to read other books?
There are so many... I think I want to make a list sometime and post it up here. They are very different. Some short, some long. Some immature, some more mature. I will read most of them eventually. I wish there was enough time in life to read everything. I am not really required to read anything for school this year... Which is weird.
CR: What do you think is your hardest subject this year?Why is it your hardest? What is your easiest? Why is it you easiest?
My hardest subject this year is AP European History. It is my hardest because it takes a lot of work. A lot of studying and a lot of reading and a lot of memorizing. My easiest subject, sadly, is Honors English. The reason for this is that we have hardly read anything, we have only written three essays, and she says that for the rest of the year we will be focusing on poetry. I just wish we had been able to read more. It was supposed to be world literature but we have only covered Africa, Greece, and now Asia.
AS: Where do people who write books get their ideas from to put in the story and come up with the story?
I think this question is very basic. Any writer gets there ideas from their heads along with the people and things around them. I know I get my ideas from everywhere. Anything can get my imagination moving. I think most writers are that way. I think they have to be.
LH: What do you think is the most important part of life? What makes it so important...so special?
I think that the most important part of life is going for your goals. Knowing what you want to do and doing it. I can not think of the words to explain why this is important. It just... It just is. Ha ha.
IU: If you could have any series of books on your shelf what would it be and why?
There is this series of my mom's that I have read recently. It is by Diana Gabaldon and I absolutely love them. They are the reason that I really really want to go to Scotland. I own the second book but the rest are my mom's. One day I hope to own them all. If I could have my mom's book collection I would be so happy.
Alright, so toward the end I skipped a lot of questions because they got very repetitive. But here they are. A lot of these answers would have been very different if I had answered them the week of this discussion. Time has changed a lot. It is good, but it is strange.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Moving On Too Fast (Current 9th Graders)
It is the end of third term, the high schools have come to the junior high, the 9th graders are excited about choosing their classes for the upcoming year, and the rivalry that is started in each student when they are just a little 7th grader is beginning to grow. Soon one of the more common question amongst them will be "Are you going to Layton or Davis?" For some people this will be no big deal. Most of these students friends will being going to the same school as a majority of their friends. They are not worried about the coming rivalry and they are not incredibly sad about leaving Fairfield. However, there are a lot of students who will not be like that. They are excited about going to high school and choosing classes for the upcoming year. They are worried about losing friends to the huge rivalry between the two high schools. I know that feeling. I dealt with it last year.
I have some advice for these students:
1) Do not get so excited for next year that you forget to enjoy the rest of 9th grade. Especially if you have been at Fairfield since 7th grade, this is an end to something that has been part of your life for a while. High school is exciting, yes. The counselors and students and teachers at the high school you are going to are trying to get you excited. It can be a good thing. Just do not let it take over. Let yourself have fun with the rest of junior high and do not think too much about how exciting, frustrating, or even sad high school is going to be. Worrying takes away the fun of it and that is definitely not something you want to regret later on.
2) The rivalry between Davis and Layton is not big enough to ruin friendships. Yes, people from the two schools talk crap about each other. They talk to other people in their school about how the other school is terrible. But when it comes to your friends, a stupid little thing like going to different schools does not matter if they are good friends. You will still talk to them. You will still see them. You may even tease each other about how your school is so much better than theirs, but you will not lose them. You will not never see them again. You can even sit with each other at the Davis vs Layton football game. It happens.
I regret some of how I spent the last term of ninth grade. I was so worried about missing the last day of school (for the National Science Olympiad competition) that in effect I missed a lot more than that. Lunch periods that I could have spent having fun but instead spent trying to figure out a solution to a minor problem, class periods spent worrying about how I only had so many days left when I could have been enjoying thosse final days. Just so many little things that added up to time wasted. It is ok. My 9th grade was not bad. Not remotely. I loved it. I just wish I would have spent a little more time loving it.
3) (And finally) Do not, do not, let drama put dark spots on otherwise awesome memories. Junior high was full of drama for me. Completely full of it. I had friends that were constantly fighting (this was only in 7th and 8th grade) and I made the mistake of making my best friend my boyfriend. So not a good idea. Anyway, back to my point. Drama ruins memories. Do not do it. Tell your friends to knock it off and enjoy the rest of this year.
After 9th grade, everything happens at warp speed. It feels like just a week ago that I had my last day at Fairfield. I remember Mr. T told my english class that this would happen toward the end of last year and I could tell that there were many people who did not believe him. I believed him. He was right. That is one thing that you 9th graders ought to remember. I don't know why, maybe it is only because I expected time to go by so much faster.
High school is great. The beginning of your Sophomore year is as exciting as the rest of it. Just do not live for the future right now. Enjoy your last term of 9th grade. Have fun with it. High school will come whether you are waiting for it impatiently or not.
I have some advice for these students:
1) Do not get so excited for next year that you forget to enjoy the rest of 9th grade. Especially if you have been at Fairfield since 7th grade, this is an end to something that has been part of your life for a while. High school is exciting, yes. The counselors and students and teachers at the high school you are going to are trying to get you excited. It can be a good thing. Just do not let it take over. Let yourself have fun with the rest of junior high and do not think too much about how exciting, frustrating, or even sad high school is going to be. Worrying takes away the fun of it and that is definitely not something you want to regret later on.
2) The rivalry between Davis and Layton is not big enough to ruin friendships. Yes, people from the two schools talk crap about each other. They talk to other people in their school about how the other school is terrible. But when it comes to your friends, a stupid little thing like going to different schools does not matter if they are good friends. You will still talk to them. You will still see them. You may even tease each other about how your school is so much better than theirs, but you will not lose them. You will not never see them again. You can even sit with each other at the Davis vs Layton football game. It happens.
I regret some of how I spent the last term of ninth grade. I was so worried about missing the last day of school (for the National Science Olympiad competition) that in effect I missed a lot more than that. Lunch periods that I could have spent having fun but instead spent trying to figure out a solution to a minor problem, class periods spent worrying about how I only had so many days left when I could have been enjoying thosse final days. Just so many little things that added up to time wasted. It is ok. My 9th grade was not bad. Not remotely. I loved it. I just wish I would have spent a little more time loving it.
3) (And finally) Do not, do not, let drama put dark spots on otherwise awesome memories. Junior high was full of drama for me. Completely full of it. I had friends that were constantly fighting (this was only in 7th and 8th grade) and I made the mistake of making my best friend my boyfriend. So not a good idea. Anyway, back to my point. Drama ruins memories. Do not do it. Tell your friends to knock it off and enjoy the rest of this year.
After 9th grade, everything happens at warp speed. It feels like just a week ago that I had my last day at Fairfield. I remember Mr. T told my english class that this would happen toward the end of last year and I could tell that there were many people who did not believe him. I believed him. He was right. That is one thing that you 9th graders ought to remember. I don't know why, maybe it is only because I expected time to go by so much faster.
High school is great. The beginning of your Sophomore year is as exciting as the rest of it. Just do not live for the future right now. Enjoy your last term of 9th grade. Have fun with it. High school will come whether you are waiting for it impatiently or not.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
So, this is the fourth draft of my article for the March issue of the Centurion. I am really really proud of this article. I don't know why really, but I think this is the best piece I have written all year. Maybe second to my opinion piece on Censorship. Anyway, I just thought I would post it and maybe get some opinions.
Humans, by nature, are talkative. People like having someone to talk to and the phrase ‘awkward silence’
exists because of the necessity of communication. This need to communicate is no different (it may even be
greater) in teenagers.
Humans, by nature, are talkative. People like having someone to talk to and the phrase ‘awkward silence’
exists because of the necessity of communication. This need to communicate is no different (it may even be
greater) in teenagers.
People talk in the hallways everyday. Such conversations range in topic from the normal to the strange. There is the boring stuff: who has what grade in which class, the recent break ups and hook ups, or the basics of the latest parties. Contrary to popular belief, that is not all that students talk about as they go about their days.
While some students are talking about their everyday lives, there are those that decide to make their conversations more interesting, either for themselves or for those around them. “I always seem to hear the most odd parts of conversations!” said junior Caitlin Larsen.
“I think [the conversations] allow people to express just how insane in the membrane other people are,” said junior Amjad Vongsengxay. In between classes or at lunch is a convenient time for students to express themselves. It may be crazy, serious, or melancholy, but the most interesting conversations are the silly ones.
Walking down the hall, students often hear groups of people laughing. “I have lots of inside jokes with my friends,” said sophomore Kara Huber. “Random subjects like fish or Fuze; things that makes sense to us, but no one else.”
Junior Rachel Benson said that any conversation could sound weird if a person came in at the wrong time. However, some conversations really are just weird. Senior Deanna MauchleyMatt Layton once heard someone talking about a polar bear that ate someone’s finger off. remembers having a conversation about dogs with three eyelids. Junior
Senior Nick Adamson said he once had a conversation about how beans will one day “rise up,” and after that bears would be in congress. Vongsengxay said he remembers hearing this in the halls: “You did what? With who? For how many jelly beans?”
It does not matter whether a person is leading the conversation, listening to it or hearing a piece of it as they walk by. A random and strange conversation is sometimes just what students need.
These seemingly nonsensical conversations often have the ability to brighten a person’s day or simply put a smile on the face of a student walking the halls alone. Mauchley said that she thinks the silly things heard in the halls are a good way to start a conversation.
Communication is a vital part of human life. Who cares if conversations are a little strange sometimes? In the words of senior Lacey Cotrell, “Without weird conversations, our lives would be as boring as dry oatmeal!”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Liberty and Napoleon
You know, I've had a lot of really good, thoughtful ideas for blog posts lately. Most of these ideas come to me while I am sitting in my AP European History class because we talk about really thought inspiring things in there. The problem with it all is that I always forget what I want to write about by the time I get home. That's what I get for having the class right before lunch. Often I even write down the ideas in a notebook. Sometime I even look at these ideas when I am trying to come up with something to blog about. The inspiration never comes back though.
Today we were talking about Napoleon. He did not believe in liberty. What we were discussing was whether that was acceptable or not and if we thought what Napoleon did while ruling France was acceptable. Now, before I go on to discuss my thoughts on this matter I have to say something, I firmly believe that every person should have the right to say and create what they want. I believe that people try too hard to censor things out of society. I am firmly against book banning and even movie banning for the sake of not offending anyone.
However, I believe that when talking about whether or not Napoleon was right to keep that freedom of speech and expression from the French people there is more that needs to be considered. The French people had been living under really bad conditions for quite some time before Napoleon came in and took over. They were not in a good place economically and their government was failing them time and time again. What Napoleon was giving them was safety. A government for the people, if not by the people. For the first time in years the French economy was allowing most people to live well. France was quickly becoming a strong nation in Europe and it was due to the changes that Napoleon had enforced.
If he had allowed people to talk about whatever they wanted (maybe about how wrong the things he was doing was in the eyes of the people) then there was a chance that the people would start another revolution. Be happy, was what Napoleon was saying. Be happy that you have money. That the reign of terror is over and that you can live in peace.
Is it really that bad that the French people did not have the freedom to say whatever they wanted? I do not believe that it was. They were not able to talk about how horrible Napoleon was or how wrong the things he was doing were, but they had money, homes, and food. This was a major improvement from before.
I wrote an article on censoring for the Centurion (Layton High's newspaper) and I am planning on posting it soon. However, after talking about Napoleon today I really think I could write a better article. It is hard to express ones thoughts on such a big topic in a page and a half.
Today we were talking about Napoleon. He did not believe in liberty. What we were discussing was whether that was acceptable or not and if we thought what Napoleon did while ruling France was acceptable. Now, before I go on to discuss my thoughts on this matter I have to say something, I firmly believe that every person should have the right to say and create what they want. I believe that people try too hard to censor things out of society. I am firmly against book banning and even movie banning for the sake of not offending anyone.
However, I believe that when talking about whether or not Napoleon was right to keep that freedom of speech and expression from the French people there is more that needs to be considered. The French people had been living under really bad conditions for quite some time before Napoleon came in and took over. They were not in a good place economically and their government was failing them time and time again. What Napoleon was giving them was safety. A government for the people, if not by the people. For the first time in years the French economy was allowing most people to live well. France was quickly becoming a strong nation in Europe and it was due to the changes that Napoleon had enforced.
If he had allowed people to talk about whatever they wanted (maybe about how wrong the things he was doing was in the eyes of the people) then there was a chance that the people would start another revolution. Be happy, was what Napoleon was saying. Be happy that you have money. That the reign of terror is over and that you can live in peace.
Is it really that bad that the French people did not have the freedom to say whatever they wanted? I do not believe that it was. They were not able to talk about how horrible Napoleon was or how wrong the things he was doing were, but they had money, homes, and food. This was a major improvement from before.
I wrote an article on censoring for the Centurion (Layton High's newspaper) and I am planning on posting it soon. However, after talking about Napoleon today I really think I could write a better article. It is hard to express ones thoughts on such a big topic in a page and a half.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Life
There are so many things that have gone through my mind in the last hour or so. And since it has been a while since I've actually blogged something substantial I figured that I would write something today.
About an hour ago I was sitting on my bed, watching TV, and browsing the internet on my laptop and I had a thought. 'I wonder if anyone else has blogged lately'. After following that thought I saw that Mr. T had written a blog a couple of days ago. It made me happy to see it. I love reading other people's blogs. Especially when the blog belongs to someone I haven't spoken to in a while. On top of that Mr. T's blog was on something that I've actually wondered about before. It was great to read it (along with the links to other blog entries that worked with it); it got me really thinking about a lot of things (things that did not necessarily correspond with the topic of the blog).
One of these things came from an assignment that I am starting in one of my classes. The assignment is to research a college you might want to go to. Find the majors that you might consider, look at admission requirements. That kind of thing. I was thinking about it and then I saw Mr. T's blog and it just kind of emphasized what I've already been thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. Right now I have two ideas about what I might want to do. These ideas are completely different from what they were a year ago. It was about this time last year that I was beginning to change my mind on what I did and didn't want to do with the rest of my life. A year ago I wanted to be an Aerospace engineer. A big shot smarty pants who would design all kinds of fancy mechanics for NASA and such. It was a big dream of mine since an astronaut came to my elementary school in sixth grade. I realized then that I really wanted to know more about the universe. I wanted to see the universe. However, I am not the kind of person who would be into the whole shooting a rocket up into space and so astronaut was out (this also how I came to rule out firefighter in second grade, I hate heights and that cherry picker thing would scare the crap out of me). The next logical conclusion I came to was to work with the astronauts in some way that would allow me to be close while staying away at the same time.
I have mentioned previously that 2008 was a big year for me. There were a lot of inspirations that came with the events (good and bad) that came with it. One of these was that, while science has always been interesting to me, I can't see it being a career. It might be fun, but I can easily see that fun wearing off eventually. So I started thinking (because of course I need to know my life plan in 9th grade) about what talents and interests I had that I didn't think I could ever get bored with. My conclusion? Writing. Reading. Discussing language and ideas. All of these things led me to several career ideas. First there was writing. I know that the percentage of writers who actually manage to live off of their writing alone is very small and, even if I think I am an decent writer, the chance of me making it would be slim. The next thing that came to me was teaching, English specifically. I thought, "If I could learn to teach and inspire kids half as well as Mr. T did for me then I might find that I would really like it". The third inspiration is actually more recent. Journalism. This year I am on Layton High's newspaper staff. I love it. I love the environment and I love the work. I'm actually going to apply to be an editor next year. I could see myself going far with journalism. I could inform people about world issues all the while informing myself. It is very very appealing to me right now. I love it! That isn't the only thing Mr. T's blog made me think about today, though.
Another thought inspiring thing came along when I came to the part of Mr. T's blog that mentioned his inspiration to become a teacher and the teachers he had. He said that in high school he had a really great English teacher one year and then a not so great one the next year. It made me think about my current (and sad) English situation. I had Mr. T last year and I loved his class. He was THE funnest and THE coolest teacher I've had and, if that were not already enough to make me love 9th grade English, I learned a lot from him and his class. This year however, we've gone through one and a half books (both under three hundred pages), I've written one serious essay (which has been the only real assignment we've done), I find the class and the teacher ridiculous, and yet I have learned. It may not be the kind (or the quality) of learning that I got in Mr. T's class last year, but they are lessons that I value all the same. These lessons have a lot to do with how to deal with things you don't like. I have also learned that a drama teacher does not make a good English teacher (ha ha). Sure, I would absolutely love to have another teacher like Mr. T, or, better yet, just to have him again, but it is beneficial for me (even though I'm not actually learning anything that goes with the curriculum) to experience different types of teacher even (some could consider it especially) ones that I don't like.
I have spent so much time on this blog that I don't necessarily know where the rest of them went. However, this is more substantial than almost anything I've written in a while. So there you go. If anyone still reads this please let me know. I haven't seen any comments in a while.
About an hour ago I was sitting on my bed, watching TV, and browsing the internet on my laptop and I had a thought. 'I wonder if anyone else has blogged lately'. After following that thought I saw that Mr. T had written a blog a couple of days ago. It made me happy to see it. I love reading other people's blogs. Especially when the blog belongs to someone I haven't spoken to in a while. On top of that Mr. T's blog was on something that I've actually wondered about before. It was great to read it (along with the links to other blog entries that worked with it); it got me really thinking about a lot of things (things that did not necessarily correspond with the topic of the blog).
One of these things came from an assignment that I am starting in one of my classes. The assignment is to research a college you might want to go to. Find the majors that you might consider, look at admission requirements. That kind of thing. I was thinking about it and then I saw Mr. T's blog and it just kind of emphasized what I've already been thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. Right now I have two ideas about what I might want to do. These ideas are completely different from what they were a year ago. It was about this time last year that I was beginning to change my mind on what I did and didn't want to do with the rest of my life. A year ago I wanted to be an Aerospace engineer. A big shot smarty pants who would design all kinds of fancy mechanics for NASA and such. It was a big dream of mine since an astronaut came to my elementary school in sixth grade. I realized then that I really wanted to know more about the universe. I wanted to see the universe. However, I am not the kind of person who would be into the whole shooting a rocket up into space and so astronaut was out (this also how I came to rule out firefighter in second grade, I hate heights and that cherry picker thing would scare the crap out of me). The next logical conclusion I came to was to work with the astronauts in some way that would allow me to be close while staying away at the same time.
I have mentioned previously that 2008 was a big year for me. There were a lot of inspirations that came with the events (good and bad) that came with it. One of these was that, while science has always been interesting to me, I can't see it being a career. It might be fun, but I can easily see that fun wearing off eventually. So I started thinking (because of course I need to know my life plan in 9th grade) about what talents and interests I had that I didn't think I could ever get bored with. My conclusion? Writing. Reading. Discussing language and ideas. All of these things led me to several career ideas. First there was writing. I know that the percentage of writers who actually manage to live off of their writing alone is very small and, even if I think I am an decent writer, the chance of me making it would be slim. The next thing that came to me was teaching, English specifically. I thought, "If I could learn to teach and inspire kids half as well as Mr. T did for me then I might find that I would really like it". The third inspiration is actually more recent. Journalism. This year I am on Layton High's newspaper staff. I love it. I love the environment and I love the work. I'm actually going to apply to be an editor next year. I could see myself going far with journalism. I could inform people about world issues all the while informing myself. It is very very appealing to me right now. I love it! That isn't the only thing Mr. T's blog made me think about today, though.
Another thought inspiring thing came along when I came to the part of Mr. T's blog that mentioned his inspiration to become a teacher and the teachers he had. He said that in high school he had a really great English teacher one year and then a not so great one the next year. It made me think about my current (and sad) English situation. I had Mr. T last year and I loved his class. He was THE funnest and THE coolest teacher I've had and, if that were not already enough to make me love 9th grade English, I learned a lot from him and his class. This year however, we've gone through one and a half books (both under three hundred pages), I've written one serious essay (which has been the only real assignment we've done), I find the class and the teacher ridiculous, and yet I have learned. It may not be the kind (or the quality) of learning that I got in Mr. T's class last year, but they are lessons that I value all the same. These lessons have a lot to do with how to deal with things you don't like. I have also learned that a drama teacher does not make a good English teacher (ha ha). Sure, I would absolutely love to have another teacher like Mr. T, or, better yet, just to have him again, but it is beneficial for me (even though I'm not actually learning anything that goes with the curriculum) to experience different types of teacher even (some could consider it especially) ones that I don't like.
I have spent so much time on this blog that I don't necessarily know where the rest of them went. However, this is more substantial than almost anything I've written in a while. So there you go. If anyone still reads this please let me know. I haven't seen any comments in a while.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
THE SOOTHSAYER: ROUTINE JUSTICE
I am a soothsayer. It is not a difficult job. It is not even a full time job. However, it is a job that has the possibility of being quite interesting at times. I was the one who tried to warn Julius Caesar about the death that I saw in his future. Now, I feel that it is important to mention that what I do is not a science. It is not something I can control and it is almost never comes up as something specific. This is important to know because on the day that I foresaw what would happen to Julius Caesar I was not aware of the extreme consequences my failing would have.
Soothsayers are not popular people. They do not go around with packs of people following them about and they often live alone. I am a typical soothsayer. My home is a small place. There is only one room, but it is perfect and fits all of my needs. There is a desk in the corner where I write my reports on the things that I “see”, a bed against one wall, and a cooking area against the other. It was here that I saw what would turn out to be the death of Julius Caesar.
One thing that I am a stickler for is routine. I cannot stand chaos because I fear that if I let chaos into my life I will never get out of it. What I do is unpredictable and to let any other unknowns in is very risky. Anyway, that morning I got up and got my breakfast. As I was eating I sorted through the things I had been seeing lately and looked for connections. This is something that I do every couple of days. While I write everything down as I see them I do not actually try to figure out what it means until it has had time to set in my mind.
Julius Caesar had come up in one of my more recent “visions” ( I do not like to refer to them as such, but I have yet to find a word that fits them better).All I had seen was red. Red and then Caesar’s face. However, the things I see often come with thoughts that just come to me for reasons I often don’t understand. This time what I kept thinking was: “The ides of March. The ides of March”. Over and over again. This scene came to me the week before and I was still trying to figure out what it meant that morning.
It was while I was writing down something that had came to me while cooking that I made the connection between the ides of March, the color red, and Julius Caesar. I was almost positive that with his recent triumph over Pompey there would be some people concerned about how much power he had. This concerned me.
I was not a huge supporter of Caesar. I tend to stay out of public situations as much as possible because I fear that it will cloud my decisions. Here it was easy for me to say that if Julius Caesar was in danger then I would have to help him. I didn’t know whether what he was doing was good or bad and to me it didn’t matter. He was in danger and I had seen it so it was now my job to warn him.
I quickly turned to my notes on the Julius Caesar case and confirmed my suspicions with the evidence at hand. I needed a plan. First, I thought, I need to find out where Caesar is and how I can reach him. That is where my contacts come in. We soothsayers may be solitary, but we have our connections and our ways of gaining information. So that morning I left to town to see if I could discover Caesar’s location. I had to get to him. I see it as part of my “calling” to help those that I see. Why, after all, would I be given such information if I weren’t supposed to use in some way?
It did not take me long to find a man, his name was John, who could tell me what Julius Caesar was planning on doing that day. It was the day of the footrace, I was told, and Caesar wanted his wife to be touched by Mark Antony. I didn’t have much time to get there. I had to get going rather quickly. I inquired quickly about the best possible way to get close enough to Caesar for him to hear me, see me, if possible.
And with that I was off to warn Caesar to beware the ides of March.
I wrote this for my English class yesterday. The assignment was to write about what the soothsayer did before coming to Caesar in Act I Scene 2. I actually had a lot of fun doing it and I think it could make a really good short story. I don't know. I haven't really gotten into Julius Caesar but this assignment was fun. So it's all good. :P
Soothsayers are not popular people. They do not go around with packs of people following them about and they often live alone. I am a typical soothsayer. My home is a small place. There is only one room, but it is perfect and fits all of my needs. There is a desk in the corner where I write my reports on the things that I “see”, a bed against one wall, and a cooking area against the other. It was here that I saw what would turn out to be the death of Julius Caesar.
One thing that I am a stickler for is routine. I cannot stand chaos because I fear that if I let chaos into my life I will never get out of it. What I do is unpredictable and to let any other unknowns in is very risky. Anyway, that morning I got up and got my breakfast. As I was eating I sorted through the things I had been seeing lately and looked for connections. This is something that I do every couple of days. While I write everything down as I see them I do not actually try to figure out what it means until it has had time to set in my mind.
Julius Caesar had come up in one of my more recent “visions” ( I do not like to refer to them as such, but I have yet to find a word that fits them better).All I had seen was red. Red and then Caesar’s face. However, the things I see often come with thoughts that just come to me for reasons I often don’t understand. This time what I kept thinking was: “The ides of March. The ides of March”. Over and over again. This scene came to me the week before and I was still trying to figure out what it meant that morning.
It was while I was writing down something that had came to me while cooking that I made the connection between the ides of March, the color red, and Julius Caesar. I was almost positive that with his recent triumph over Pompey there would be some people concerned about how much power he had. This concerned me.
I was not a huge supporter of Caesar. I tend to stay out of public situations as much as possible because I fear that it will cloud my decisions. Here it was easy for me to say that if Julius Caesar was in danger then I would have to help him. I didn’t know whether what he was doing was good or bad and to me it didn’t matter. He was in danger and I had seen it so it was now my job to warn him.
I quickly turned to my notes on the Julius Caesar case and confirmed my suspicions with the evidence at hand. I needed a plan. First, I thought, I need to find out where Caesar is and how I can reach him. That is where my contacts come in. We soothsayers may be solitary, but we have our connections and our ways of gaining information. So that morning I left to town to see if I could discover Caesar’s location. I had to get to him. I see it as part of my “calling” to help those that I see. Why, after all, would I be given such information if I weren’t supposed to use in some way?
It did not take me long to find a man, his name was John, who could tell me what Julius Caesar was planning on doing that day. It was the day of the footrace, I was told, and Caesar wanted his wife to be touched by Mark Antony. I didn’t have much time to get there. I had to get going rather quickly. I inquired quickly about the best possible way to get close enough to Caesar for him to hear me, see me, if possible.
And with that I was off to warn Caesar to beware the ides of March.
I wrote this for my English class yesterday. The assignment was to write about what the soothsayer did before coming to Caesar in Act I Scene 2. I actually had a lot of fun doing it and I think it could make a really good short story. I don't know. I haven't really gotten into Julius Caesar but this assignment was fun. So it's all good. :P
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Censorship: Ineffective and Unnecessary (An essay for my English 10 Honors class.)
The United States of America is supposedly a free nation. However, nowhere does it officially mention how limited and censored that freedom is. Banning books, movies, music, ideas, etc. only creates curiosity in those who have been banned. Everyone believes in something different, therefore banning something because it goes against people’s beliefs is wrong. Most importantly, though, is that every person deserves the right to decide what is moral and what is not. Censoring is, in essence, taking away a person’s ability to think and choose on their own. Taking that ability away to any extent is wrong, ineffective, and unnecessary.
It has been argued that banning any kind of idea or material is right because humans are curious by nature. Those people believe that it is right to censor immoral material because if not banned people would be into it at the blink of an eye. This idea discredits the whole of the human race. Yes, if some material weren’t blocked there are people who would use it, see it, listen to it; there are also many people who use it anyway – they don’t care that it is blocked – it is still accessible. Telling people that something is bad and so it is forbidden is like saying “look, there’s a bowl of ice cream right in front of you, but you are not allowed to eat it”. There are some people that would walk away from the bowl of ice cream without a second thought, but there are others who would eat the ice cream even if they resisted for a while. Curiosity is part of human nature but so is endurance. If someone saw a bowl of ice cream and they had not been told not to eat it a good deal more would leave it alone because it wasn’t theirs or they had no interest in it. The people who will walk right by the ice cream need to be considered.
The United States of America is represented by many different religions. Freedom of religion is part of the constitution. This alone makes people think that they have every right to protect their beliefs and they do, but there comes a point where it is not only protecting one person’s beliefs but limiting or attacking another person’s. Some would say that it is not only their beliefs they are protecting but the traditions of the nation. Traditions need to change. Time passes and the world rotates and people need to adjust. Society now is much different than it was during the nineteenth century. Banning something because it is not Christian is like an atheist banning the bible. All people and all beliefs need to be recognized and when people are censoring things, banning books or movies or anything else because it goes against their beliefs, people of other beliefs are also being restricted. It takes away their choice and their right to choose.
Immanuel Kant was a European philosopher in the eighteenth century. He said that no action is right or moral if it takes away the reason of others. Basically, if someone does something the makes it so that someone else can not think or decide for themselves then that action is immoral and wrong. This concept shows that censoring things is wrong. The government creates lists of banned books, music, authors, and movies and takes away the right of people to decide for themselves whether or not that content is appropriate. This is the most important reason why censorship is bad. Every person needs to be able to think for themselves. Everyone needs to have the chance to make their own mistakes and to discover the world in their own way. To keep the bad things away from people is to shut them out from the bad things in the world. It creates false ideas in children and teens which end up hurting them in their futures.
For a free country, people of the United States of America are very restricted. Censorship in any form is wrong, ineffective, and unnecessary. While curiosity is part of human nature, restricting what a person can see, watch, listen to, and think only creates more curiosity and temptation. The idea that censoring things that go against a person’s beliefs is wrong as well. Last, but definitely not least, every person is born with the right to think for themselves and to censor things is to take that right away. People deal with censorship every day. Maybe if there wasn’t so much of it people would make better choices for themselves and learn about the world in a more truthful way.
It has been argued that banning any kind of idea or material is right because humans are curious by nature. Those people believe that it is right to censor immoral material because if not banned people would be into it at the blink of an eye. This idea discredits the whole of the human race. Yes, if some material weren’t blocked there are people who would use it, see it, listen to it; there are also many people who use it anyway – they don’t care that it is blocked – it is still accessible. Telling people that something is bad and so it is forbidden is like saying “look, there’s a bowl of ice cream right in front of you, but you are not allowed to eat it”. There are some people that would walk away from the bowl of ice cream without a second thought, but there are others who would eat the ice cream even if they resisted for a while. Curiosity is part of human nature but so is endurance. If someone saw a bowl of ice cream and they had not been told not to eat it a good deal more would leave it alone because it wasn’t theirs or they had no interest in it. The people who will walk right by the ice cream need to be considered.
The United States of America is represented by many different religions. Freedom of religion is part of the constitution. This alone makes people think that they have every right to protect their beliefs and they do, but there comes a point where it is not only protecting one person’s beliefs but limiting or attacking another person’s. Some would say that it is not only their beliefs they are protecting but the traditions of the nation. Traditions need to change. Time passes and the world rotates and people need to adjust. Society now is much different than it was during the nineteenth century. Banning something because it is not Christian is like an atheist banning the bible. All people and all beliefs need to be recognized and when people are censoring things, banning books or movies or anything else because it goes against their beliefs, people of other beliefs are also being restricted. It takes away their choice and their right to choose.
Immanuel Kant was a European philosopher in the eighteenth century. He said that no action is right or moral if it takes away the reason of others. Basically, if someone does something the makes it so that someone else can not think or decide for themselves then that action is immoral and wrong. This concept shows that censoring things is wrong. The government creates lists of banned books, music, authors, and movies and takes away the right of people to decide for themselves whether or not that content is appropriate. This is the most important reason why censorship is bad. Every person needs to be able to think for themselves. Everyone needs to have the chance to make their own mistakes and to discover the world in their own way. To keep the bad things away from people is to shut them out from the bad things in the world. It creates false ideas in children and teens which end up hurting them in their futures.
For a free country, people of the United States of America are very restricted. Censorship in any form is wrong, ineffective, and unnecessary. While curiosity is part of human nature, restricting what a person can see, watch, listen to, and think only creates more curiosity and temptation. The idea that censoring things that go against a person’s beliefs is wrong as well. Last, but definitely not least, every person is born with the right to think for themselves and to censor things is to take that right away. People deal with censorship every day. Maybe if there wasn’t so much of it people would make better choices for themselves and learn about the world in a more truthful way.
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