Dear Classmates,

Dear fellow classmates,

      Can you believe it? We are reaching the end of our freshman year. It seems like just yesterday that we all walked into that classroom for the first time. We have all learned so much from the class, English 1 in general and our class as a whole. On the academic side, we learned many new techniques and other things that will benefit all of us in the future. We learned new vocabulary, grew as writers, and also read some books that were very interesting. But we did not only learn things related to acedemics, we also learned from each other. We learned proper class room behavior- which we are still working on- but we have certainly improved since the beginning of the year. There are many important things that I took away from this class.

      I think that we all have come a long way in this class. Sure, there are still days that we may not do the best, but I think as a whole we have improved and will hopefully carry that on to our english classes next year. It will be sad leaving this class because we have gotten used to each other and grown close, but I think that we all should have a positive mind going into next year. If we have a positive mind, and remember all of the things that we learned this year we should be successful next year. We have grown this year in many ways and I think that now we are ready to go to English 2 with pride.

Participation for the 4th Quarter

      General Procedures: I am well prepared for class everyday. I never forget to bring my notebook, reading material, or class reading. I never forgot to bring my free reading book when we had the chance to read in class. As for waiting to be dismissed, I don't remember being too anxious to leave class early. Going to use the restroom was never a top priority during class time, and I don't think that there was one time that I left class to do so. I don't like missing important announcements in class. I check my email daily, and communicate and respond as quickly as I can. I tried to make sure that I turned in all of my assignments in the beginning of class. And I consider my attitude to be cooperative and helpful. I try to have a good attitude in class all the time.

      Lecture, announcements, whole class discussion: I listen very closely to everything that you (Dr. D) says. I take helpful notes and try and ask relevant questions that will benefit my classmates. My comments are also relevant to the discussion and appropriate. I listen to my peers' questions and listen to the answer because it will benefit me. For the most part, I do not engage in side conversations. I do all I can to pay attention and listen in class.

      Individual and Group Work: I focus on the task at hand, and do the work that is put forth. The only trouble that I have is that my group members usually are not focused on the task and it is hard to keep them on the task. I do not distract others and I do the most that I can to have relevant conversations. I follow the instructions and do my absolute best.

      Growth: I think that our whole class has come a long way this year. We all had a rough start, but we got through it. I know that I (and the rest of the class) have done better in the second half of the year. I think that I have gotten more comfortable and therefore participated more and more as the year went on.

reading for this week:

45 minutes macbeth
100+ minutes of The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian

In Perspective of Macbeth

      I didn't want to do it. I really didn't. That was really a terrible thing to do considering how kind and good he was to me. He gave me the honorable title of Thane of Cawdor, and I give him a knife to the heart. I feel absolutely terrible and guilty. I honestly will never forgive myself for what I did. I want to blame my wife for convincing me to do such a deed, but then again, it was ultimately my decision. I just couldn't sit there and let her call me a coward. I wouldn't be stripped of my manhood. I shouldn't have let her get to me. I should have stood my ground and been a real man about it. In the end, I will have to deal with the awful decision I made, which will not be a fun. Not fun at all. 

     My wife has been so strong through this whole thing. She has been stronger than I have. I should be the one who is calming HER down, not the other way around. She acts as if she has done this before, and knows exactly what should be done. I am the one who has killed someone before, but war is very different. In a war, you are killing your enemies, but in this case, it was a friend. I don't get it. I don't get how she stays so strong. How does she stay so cool when she has just committed a murder of a king? Every time I hear something, I jump, and everything startles me. I just sincerely hope that this all is over soon, and I can be a strong king. 

common errors list

1. Use a comma or the word and to separate 2 adjectives (it sounded like an amazing, inspiring story)
 2. Make sure to stay in one tense
 3. Use a semicolon when you link two independent clauses with no connecting words.

 Commonly misspelled words
 4. Anxiously
 5. Restaurant
 6. Absolutely
 7. Definitely
 8. Obviously
 9. Experience

Reflection of my writing over the past year..

      In the past year, I (as a writer) have grown. I have pushed myself to go beyond my comfort zone, and done things that I have never done before. Before this year, I had never had to come up with my own thesis and analyze pieces of information to support that thesis. I have learned new techniques in writing that will be extremely helpful for me in the years to come. I can now look back on my writing in the beginning of the year and just see the improvement in my writing. I love looking back on old essays and seeing what I thought to be a great paper, when compared to what I am writing now is nothing close to it. I think that this year especially I have learned very useful things. I learned how to write a correct paper with a thesis, and a research paper. I know that I will be writing a least one of these each year, so I am glad to have learned the proper ways and techniques. Also throughout this year, I have seen changes in my score sheets. I have noticed that in some areas I improved, and some I still need some practice. Now at I know what I can see what I can do next year to further improve. 

      Since the beginning of the year, my essays have improved in word choice and voice. In the beginning of the year, I was receiving 8.5s or Bs, but by the end of the year they had gone up to A’s. My scores in the ideas category, sentence fluency, and conventions have been consistent throughout the year. I have a special case with my development of my organization. On the first few essays, it was very strong. Although when we did the two papers with a thesis involved, my organization grade dropped. I think that the reason for that is because those papers are not as straightforward and easy to write. You could tell that after the introduction you would flow into the beginning of the story, or the background information. But with a thesis paper, it is less obvious on what goes next. After writing more of these kinds of papers, I hope to become better with that. The reason I think that my grades on organization are lower just in the thesis papers is because of the grade I received on my WRAP. Organization was the highest score on my WRAP this year, which is good news, because it shows me that I am capable of doing well in this category, but I just have to learn how to do it on different styles of writing.

       I have been introduced to many new styles and techniques in writing in the past year. This is the first time that I have created a thesis and wrote a paper based on that thesis. I was a little intimidated at first by the thought, but after many steps on how to correctly write a thesis, it wasn’t as hard as I thought that it was. Then the second time around, it was a little easier. I also wrote a thesis paper in French. We analyzed a theme from a movie that we watched in class. I never thought that I could have done that in the beginning of this year. My ability to write a thesis has definitely improved, and I think that with every paper that I write it improves even more. I also learned many new useful techniques that will benefit me later on in my writing. One thing that I learned was that instead of using words like “is hanging,” I should use “hangs.” This was brought to my attention while writing the profile essay.

      The feedback that I received this year matches the understanding of my writing work this year. For example, like I said earlier, I had trouble organizing my literary analysis. I wasn’t sure which paragraphs should go where exactly, because it sounded right to me, but obviously it could have been arranged better. I respect that constructive criticism because I know that I as a writer can learn to do better with experience. I was also told that in my literary analysis, each paragraph should make a connection to the actual thesis. That was something that I was unaware of, but will be good to know for the future. I have noticed that over the coarse of this year, I have learned to be more accepting of corrections or suggestions to my papers. I know now that it doesn’t always mean that my paper is necessarily bad or wrong, but it can always improve. I think that it is easier for me to see my own mistakes now than it was before. This will benefit me in the future because I will be able to evaluate my own writing better.

     Next year, I intend to improve my writing even more. I always want to improve on writing, and every year I do just so. Next year specifically, one of my biggest goals is to improve my writing of a thesis paper and become more comfortable with them. I hope that by the end of next year, my organization of these kinds of papers will have improved. Another thing that I hope to do better on next year is the WRAP assignment. I feel like if I improve on that, then I can be sure that my writing has gotten better. And although my word choice has developed this year, I would like to develop it further. As a whole I want to make my writing better, because I know that there is always room for improvement.

     After analyzing all of my work throughout the year, I am happy to see the big picture of my development for this years writing. I am glad to see the improvement on individual categories, and in my overall writing. I also now know what I need to work on for next year, and what I have to pay more attention to. As I look back to the beginning of the year, I can tell how much I learned this year. I aspire to do the same next year by improving my technique, skills, and overall development. I known that with every paper I write

just reading for this week...

This week I read for 150 minutes: all 150 minutes I spent on finishing my book "It's not summer without you" That is all for this week:)

Reading...

I am almost finished with my outside reading book. I really want to see what the end is like, but then again at the same time I really don't want to finish it because I want it to go on forever. I went to the beach for a few days over spring break, and I thought of the little town as the town where my book is set. I imagined one of the houses as their summer house, and a little grocery store as the store that they visit. It is so amazing to see it almost come to life. The only thing that could have made it better is if I could have met the real life characters there. I am truly in love with this book. This is defineitly a different tone from the first book. I think that this book is a little more happy, because the main character is happier in this book. I really hope that the ending to this book is good and doesn't leave you hanging because I want a clear, happy ending so that I can imagine that they will be together forever.

Even though I am sad to be finishing this book, I know that there are many other good books that I can read next. Thanks to all of the wonderful reccomendations that my classmates have given to me I won't have a hard time choosing. I am in between "Pretty Boy Summer" and the Ellen Degeneres book that Isabella read. They both sound really good, but really different at the same time. I will probably end up making that decision shortly after I finish this book that I am reading now. I also recently finsihed reading my french book about the Titanic. Over the break I watched the movie Titanic because it has recently come back into the theaters for the 100th aniversary of the sinking. I thought that it was pretty cool that I had just read a book and watched a movie on it.

!50 minutes of reading:

60 minutes: poems
40 minutes: French book
50 minutes: outside reading book

analysis of "Umbrella"

In Rihanna's song "Umbrella," she uses lots of poetic techniques to convey certain meanings and feelings. For example, she repeats the word Umbrella many, many times in the song. In the song she goes on about how she will always be there for him, and that she will be there forever. The image of the umbrella serves as a symbol of protection that she gives him. In the song it says:

Now that it is raining more than ever
know that we'll always have each other
you can stand under my umbrella
you can stand under my umbrella

This shows that she uses symbols to show how she will never leave him alone, and he can always trust her. She uses rain and an umbrella because rain a lot of times sybolizes a bad day, or hard times. She says here, Now that it is raining more than ever, implying that they are going through a rough time, meaning that this may be the worst fight that they have gotten in. She still says that they will have each other, and she will protect and be there for him. I can visualize her standing there holding an umbrella with him under it and her comforting him. She also uses a lot of rhyme to make the song flow and give it good rythm.

In the song, there is a repetition of the words- together, share, friend- gives the song a sense of helping people out. The tone of this song may not be like other Rihanna songs, because this one seems sweet, concerning, and giving. Not only does she repeat the word umbrella, but she repeats the sylobols also. I think all of this repeating of the umbrella shows the level of concern and care that she gives for this guy she is talking to. So throughout this poem, Rihanna uses many different levels and styles of repetition, rhyme, and symbolism to convey her message.

Outside reading

This week I continued to read my french book, a poem called "hanging fire", and I also continued "It's Not Summer Without You." I finished reading my french book, and I have a new one. Reading these books improve my French speaking my broadening my vocabulary, teaching me new things, and also by being exposed to a book that is meant for French kids! A family that is pretty close to us is moving to Paris in a few weeks. They have a little boy who is in first grade. I think that it is pretty cool that I would be reading the same books that he would probably start to read next year. Maybe I can lend him some of the books that I finish reading, haha. I am excited that I can say that this year in French I began to read chapter books; that is not something I could have done last year, or even earlier this year. I am proud of my accomplisment. There isn't much to analyze in a 2nd grade level book, so I just figured I would write about the effect that the books that I have been reading has had on my life.

My other book, "It's Not Summer Without You," just keeps getting better. I really like how this book is written. It is first person, and you get to hear a lot of her thoughts. I almost think of it as a Diary, but maybe that is just me. It is hard to put this book down, because it is just so engaging. The scenery and images of the beach remind me of my beach house in Water Color. It is a little town that sounds a lot like that area. The only thing is I am not sure that they have crazy parties in Water Color, but you never know... I am really hoping that she gets her happy ending, because if she doesn't I am sure that a lot of people will be upset. Anyways, I can't wait to see how this turns out:)

150 minutes of reading:

"It's Not Summer Without You"- 85
French book-50 minutes
"hanging fire"- 15 minutes

"hanging fire" by Audre Lorde

I read the poem called "Hanging Fire." An overall summary of the poem would about an insecure girl who has lots of worries on her mind. The author ends each stanza with "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed." The author is trying to show us that the girl in the story feels like she is being ignored by her mother through all of her problems, and she keeps repeating it to make sure we make notice of it. Also in each stanza is her saying "what if I die", or "will I live long enough?" I think that this girl has very negative thoughts has a very low self confidence. She doesn't think that she gets enough attention, and she may be somewhat depressed. There is not one line in this poem where she says something positive. Another thing that she repeats a lot is the future. She talks about a lot about, what will she do for the next party, or what will she wear tomorrow. This indicates that she worries about the future a lot. So she pretty much worries about everything, or at least it sounds like it from this poem.

The word choice that the author chooses to use makes the reader feel bad for the girl in the poem. She uses I a lot, which means that she is mostly worrying about herself. In the second stanza- starting at line 19 and ending at line 21- she says that she has nothing that she wants to do but has too much to do. I think that here, she used a good choice of words to help you feel bad for her. She could have said here that she was always busy. When she says that she has nothing that she wants to do, she makes it seem like that she never has any plans, which makes you pity her. I also noticed a kind of opposite pattern. In the first stanza- in the second and third line- she first says that her skin has betrayed her, but then in the next line says that there is a boy that she cannot live without. She quickly jumps from her skin (which she has personafied here) leaving her in bad conditions, to talk about a boy who she can't live without. Then in the second stanza- in the 19th and 20th line- she fist goes on to say that there is nothing she wants to do, and then goes on to say that she has too much to do. So she switches from nothing to do, to having too much to do. So I think that this girl has a lot of worrying and bad thoughts in her mind, and this is made clear in the word choice, and layout of this poem.

Poetry

We are beginning a new unit in out classroom, and it is poetry. I am not sure about how I feel about it. The last time we really did poetry was in 6th grade with mrs. Guarisco. I really enjoyed it then. We got to make our own poetry book, and have a poetry cafe. I really thought that my poems were great back then, but as I look at them now I can see how much my writing has improved since then. The thing about poetry is that there is so much freedom in what you can do. There are many styles, topics, and there are different rules for different kinds of poems. I am kind of skeptical about doing poetry now, but hopefully I will enjoy it as much as I did last time. There is something about such a broad thing that frightens me, because I like all of my stuff to be exact. I know that there is no right or wrong really in poetry, you can be pretty creative and expressive with it. I like some things about about that and I don't like some things about that. Of course, it is easier to write, because it is so leniant, but also, I am always so worried about how it is because the guidelines are also very leniant as well.

The few poems that we have read so far are pretty good. I like hearing what all of my class mates and my english teacher have to say about certain things. I may not always catch these things so talking about poetry in a group I think really helps. I personally like when a poem has some kind of rhyme and rythm to it. It makes me want to keep on reading and it makes it easier for me to read. I remember loving the Shell Silverstein poetry books. He would mix up the first letters of words (Runny Babbit was the title of one of his books) But anyways I am looking forward to starting this unit, and I hope that I can enjoy the things we do with poetry.

Reading this week:

20 minutes: The Fish poem
100 minutes: Magic Tree House (French book)
30 minutes: It's not summer without you

The Hunger Games

This Saturday I went to see the Hunger Games movie. I have been excited to see this movie for a long time, ever since I have known that it was coming out. I read the books when I was in 7th grade. I fell in love with them when I read the first chapter of the first book. I was surprised that I liked the book because I had never really liked that genre before. I think that it was the combination of suspense, romance, action, and the actual story line (which was so different than anything else) that made EVERYONE who read it absolutly love this book. I introduced it to lots of my friends, and they all loved it as well. I find it interesting that a whole array of audiences liked the book- boys and girls, and adults and children. I really believe that this is one of the best books that I have ever read, and the movie was great too.

The movie was great, it was almost exactly like the story in the book. I don't know if i have ever seen a movie be so close to the book. I mean of course there were some things left out, because otherwise the movie would be over 3 hours long. It was 2 and a half hours long, and I think that one of the only things that they missed was the fact that she was always hungry and thirsty. They did a great job with the scenery, characters, and story line. I loved the costumes! The people from the capital had amazing costumes, and cool technology. Overall, I just want to see the movie again, because it was just so great!

Free reading this week

So this week, I read many different things. I finished my Junnie B. Jones book, and in the end, (even after he totally ignored her) Warren ended up being friends with Junnie B. I enjoyed it very much, and I really think that my French is improving. I had to read two other little books for French for two days because I was waiting for my new book to come in the mail. Finally, on saturday it came in, and I could start reading. The new book that I have is a Magic Tree House book, but in French! The title is translated into the last hours of the Titanic. It is funny because one of my brother's friend (who is in first grade) is reading that book in english with his dad. That makes me feel pretty good, that I am reading at this level. (1st or 2nd grade).

I also started reading the sequal of the book I just finished; it is called its not summer without you. So far it is really good, there isn't much to say about it yet, but I can tell that I will like it. When I finish this book, I want to start reading one of two books. I either want to read the Ellen book that Isabella requested. It sounds very funny and I think that I would really enjoy it! Another one that I want to read is Pretty Boy Summer. Two girls in our class recommended it to me, and it sounds great. So I will be reading some great books for the rest of the year.

Reading:
40 mins- Junnie B.
40 mins- other french book called Frisson
20 mins- Magic Tree house
50 mins- It's not summer without you

My dog Heidi

Well I have pretty much ran out of ideas to blog about so today I will tell you about my dog Heidi. She is a 5 year old weimaraner who is full of personality. She is probably the most proper dog that I know. She sits on the chair with her paws crossed and her chin up. This makes sense because these dogs were originally breeded strictly for nobility. We always say that her top priorities for her are love, care, and comfort. She is a loving and loyal dog who will always want to cuddle with people. She loves to sleep, and relax on the couch. She has her favorite chair that she loves to sit on because she can protect the house very well from it. She can see the through the front door, the kitchen window, the side window, and if she turns her head she can see the backdoor. It is also in the middle of where everyone usually is, which is another reason why she likes it so much.

Heidi is a dog who makes you love her. Even my great-grandmother who really doesn't like dogs, has grown to love Heidi. She is a beautiful dog- everyone always stops to tell us how pretty she is. And she is nice to pretty much all people. But there is one person who she strongly dislikes, and that is the UPS man. Every time she sees the UPS truck pull up, she goes balistic! Overall, she is a caring, loving, cuddling, dog. She has loves to be right next to people, and squeeze in where she can.

The Final Quarter

We have finished 3 quarters of our Freshmen year, and have only 9 weeks left of school until our summer vacation. This year has flown by for me and I can't believe that it is almost over. It seems like just last month we were having our first day of school. I am ready for summer to come, and I know that if this quarter goes by as fast as the others have gone by, then it will be here very soon. I hope that in this last quarter I can do as well as I have for the other quarters, and I hope that I won't drop my grades or forget about the important things getting caught up waiting for summer. I think that if I just do what I have done all year, and stay on top of things, I will do just fine.

Everyone loves a clean slate, and that is exactly what we are getting right now; a clean slate of grades. So even if you didn't do very well in the third quarter, or if you want to do better, you have the chance to do so in this last quarter. My goal for now is to finish out the year strong, and have all A's so that I could finish the year with all A's. I have learned this year that hard work really does pay off. I think that how much effort you put into your work really shows a lot more in high school than it does in middle school. I am proud of the work I have done so far, and I am more than ready for this summer to unwind and relax a little more.

Outside reading

Last week, I started to read a book for my French class. We are expected to read 20 minutes a night in our French books. I am reading a Junnie B. Jones book called amourouse (which in french means in love. I think I remember reading this book when I was in first grade, but now I get to read it in French. I am actually surprised at how easily I am able to read this book. I mean of course there are some words that I don't really know, but through the context clues I can usually figure it out. Also there are some pictures in the book which help me too, because I can see what is going on too.

I also ordered some of the magic tree house books to read when I finish this one. I think that these books might be a little more challenging than Junnie B., but I think I can handle it. I think that in reading these books, I will increase my French vocabulary and be better in French in general. I am enjoying reading these children's books, because I once loved the same stories when I was little, but I get to read them in a new way- to where it is like I get to read them for the first time again. The new magic tree house books that I ordered were some that I had never read before so I am excited to see what happens in those. I also, for the last hour that I needed to finish up with my 150 minutes of reading, finished my book that I had started before Nervous Conditions. It was a great ending to a great book, and I can't wait to start the sequal! I absolutly loved The Summer I Turned Pretty!

Junnie B. Jones- 100 minutes
The Summer I Turned Pretty- 55 minutes

NC and French reading

I finished the Nervous Conditions book today and I was very surprised at the ending. It was pretty fast and there wasn't much solved or cleared in my opinion. I was confused to find that the end was this way. I will certainly want to discuss this in class, because I would like to know how my other class mates thought about this chapter. I feel like not much in this book was really accpmplished. I think that she kept going on and on, but never really concluded anything. Chapter after chapter, I told myself that it would come to some kind of end, but I was still telling myself this on the 3rd to last page. It wasn't the kind of end that I expected from this book, and I am left with many questions that will not be answered, due to the sudden end of the book.

In our French class, we are required to read 20 minutes a night in a French book. I choose Junnie B. Jones, because it is pretty much the perfect level for my French knowledge. It very different reading a book that I once loved as a child, but in a language that I am learning to understand very well. I am enjoying this new expirence, although it was a little tough this week reading both book each night. I know that this will help me with my French, and I am glad to see that I have come this far in my learning to do so.

Reading this week...

NC- 120 minutes
Junnie B. Jones (french version)- 100 minutes

LSU gymnastics meet

Tonight. I went to the LSU gymnastics meet in the Pete Maravich Center. I go to quite a few of these meets, because I am a gymnast and I enjoy watching the meets. I few of the girls on the team trained at my gym, and I look up to them and hope to be a college level gymnast one day too. Anyways, this meet was probably the biggest one of the season; it was the "pink" meet. At this meet, they raised money for the Brest Cancer. A former LSU football player named Brady James set up a foundation called the foundation 56 (which was his number in football). He set up this foundation because his mother died of breast cancer. This was the 5th annual Etta James gymnastics meet, and it was very successful. (it is in honor of his mother) They had the 4th largest crowd (for a gymnastics meet) in history tonight. The admission was only $1, but all of the t-shirt funds also went to the cause. They had a silent and live auction yesterday to raise money as well. In the end they raised $100,000 for helping women in Baton Rouge fight against breast cancer. This was the largest amount of money that they had ever raised!

Not only did they have a great turnout for the great cause, but the tigers had a great meet as well. They had a huge win over North Carolina. Freshman Llominicia Hall won first all around, and had an almost perfect floor routine. (9.75) The crowd was very interactive and energetic. They were also very supportive of all of the girls on the team. I had a great time at the meet with my friends from gym, and I also got to meet up with some old friends that I no longer get to see as often. Overall, I think that the meet had a great turnout in many ways and I can't wait until the next LSU meet. They only have one more home meet, and it will not be as big of a turnout, but I love watching them, and I think that it is just a fun Friday night thing to do! So in two weeks from Friday, if you have nothing to do, then consider going to watch the LSU gymnasts in their last home meet of the season. I can guarente that you will not regret it, it is a great expirence!

Nervous Conditions

After reading trough chapter 7, I can tell that this book is now making more sense and going in a straight line. (not skipping through time a lot) I am still trying to have positive thoughts while reading this book, it is just that the chapters are so long that it is hard for me to read because I can't read for that long. All the annotations and the reading at one time kind of overwhelm me. Thankfully since we had a week break, I could space my reading out which helped me a lot. I am happy to not be as rushed with these 2 chapters. I think that the book is getting a lot less confusing as far as the timeline goes, which is making it more interesting for me to read. Even though this book is very difficult for me to read, I am not going to give up on it and I am going to keep positive thoughts so maybe by the end I will really enjoy it.

One of the most confusing things in the book are all of the African words and names. I have to constantly look at the sheet and in other places to find what these words mean so I am not even more confused. This slows down my reading even more. I wish everyone would just call each other by their names, it would make this book so much more easy and enjoyable to read. I think that when a book is hard to read, it makes it not as enjoyable. I know that it is for the better and will make us better readers, and I am trying to keep that in mind as I read this book. I just hope that when I get through it, I will be a better reader than when I started it. I think the book has gotten more interesting since Tambu has gone to the mission because more interesting things have happened. I also learned a lot about certain characters that I didnt know before which is always good to know, and fun to find out. So overall, so far I think that the book has gotten better as I have read more and I hope it continues to do so.

Water Color, FL

Water Color is a little beach town in Florida. My family owns a house there and I just absolutly love going there. It is a neighboring town to Seaside, which is a little more known than Water Color. They have so many things that you can do there, so it is pretty hard to become board. There are several pools, small but delicious resturants, shops of all kinds, (ice cream, clothing, kids, art shops etc...) and of coarse a beach. The beach is clean, and very nice. The whole town has a relaxing atmosphere. We ride bikes everywhere, and there are also bike trails if you like to bike further than just to the pool. One thing that makes Water Color special and different than other beaches is that there is a natural lake (not man made). The lake creates many more activities for you to do. You can fish in the lake, (not that there are any big fish, but it is fun to do if you enjoy fishing) kayack in the lake, or you can Yolo board on the lake. A Yolo board is almost like a surf board, but you stand on it and paddle through the lake. You can rent any of these things at Water Color.

Because Seaside is so close, you can also bike there for things to do. It is only a 3-5 minute bike ride and there are lots of things to do in Seaside as well. There are also many shops and resturants there too that are all very good. Seaside has one of the best snowcone shops that I have ever had in my life. It is called frost bites. Every time I go to Water Color, I get a snowcone from there. They have about 100 flavors, and they are amazing! So every time I go to Water Color, I enjoy myself because of many different reasons. I think that if you havent been, you may want to check it out because you will definietly not regret going on a vacation there.

Nervous Conditions so far...

So now that I am through chapter 4 in Nervous Conditions, I have definitely learned something about the culture of this time and place. It is extremely different form our culture. You can even see a huge difference between Tambu and her cousin Nyasha, who are from the same family, but have a totally different upbringing. This shows you how much an education can get you in life. In this case, it has made the difference of a man who doesn’t even have enough money to send one child to school, and a man who can afford to care for his family and his sibling’s families. I think now that Tambu is in school; she can realize this drastic difference that an education can make.

I think that now that Tambu has been at this home, her attitude has changed a little. She is disgusted by how her cousin speaks to her aunt, who is (to her) the sweetest person she knows. I wonder if she will end up getting along with her cousin, or will she just end up becoming sick of her attitude and tell her something about it? I also wonder how often she will go home to visit her family. She always complained about how much her brother wouldn’t come home to visit. I think that once she starts living at the mission for a while, she will realize why her brother did certain things. She will probably end up realizing how her brother had to feel, and start to understand him more.

The Vow

I went and saw a movie called The Vow this weekend and I absolutely loved it. I knew when I saw the previews that I wanted to see this movie. I expected it to be good, but it even exceeded my expectations of that. It started off with a married couple, and how they came to meet each other. They were madly in love. Then one night, they go out for dinner and on the way home, they get in a bad car accident. The man turns out to be fine, but the lady is in a worse condition. She has brain damage and so when she wakes up, she can’t remember her husband. So the whole rest of the movie, he has to teach her everything that she used to do. The biggest thing he has to do is make her fall in love with him again. It is a great story.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good love story. But guys would probably not go crazy over this movie. Rachel McAdams plays the girl. I love her as an actress. She was also in The Notebook, which is one of my all time favorite movies. Channing Tatum was the man, and he did a great job in the movie as well. He was in a movie called Dear John, which is from the same author as the notebook. So if you have a chance in the next few weeks to go and see a movie, I would say that this one has a double thumbs up:)

quotes i love

I have so many quotes that really inspire me. I love reading them because I think of how it applies to my life. Pintrest has so many great quotes to think about that I could probably go on for days if i wanted to about all of the different quotes I love from there. But one of my favorites is, "If God brings you to it, he can bring you through it." I like this one a lot because I know that eventually, I will get through it. (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me- Philippians 4:13) Whenever I am going through a hard time, I just think, this will all pass over sooner or later. It really helps me when I don't think anything can help me. This is just one of the many inspirational quotes that I love from pintrest:)

Another one that I really have taken into consideration is, "What if you wake up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday." This one really makes you think of all of the things that you have to be thankful for, and kind of makes you feel guilty for not thanking God even more for what you have. I know that every time I see this quote, I list in my head all of the blessings that I have, and just can't even express the thankfulness that I have for all of them. This quote really makes you think more than any other quote that I have ever seen before, and that is one of the reason that I love it so much.

Nervous Conditions/ research paper

As of right now, I am in the process of finishing my first draft of my research paper. All I have left to do is the conclusion. I have been thinking of what to write for the conclusion for the a while, and I figured I need to give it a break and come back to it later because I am stuck on what to say. I think that the hardest part of any paper is the conclusion. I find it hard to not repeat what you have already said, but still tie it together. Also, there is no definite way to write a conclusion, because it kinds of depends on what you wrote. So I decided to come and write this blog, and get back to the paper later. On the bright side, I am happy with how my introduction turned out.

I read the first chapter of Nervous Conditions this week, and so far it is pretty good. I think that it will be very different than any other book that I have ever read, but hopefully I will enjoy it. I plan to read more of it this afternoon, because the next chapter is very long, but as of right now, I have only read one chapter. I find it kind of confusing with all of the african words, because I don't know what they mean, and it is hard to figure out what they are saying. But overall, I think that it will definitely be a different kind of book, but maybe I will end up enjoying it more than I thought I will.

150 minutes:

35 on reading NC

2 hours on my global issues paper

Dance Moms

One of my favorite TV shows is called "Dance Moms." It comes on lifetime, and there is a new episode every tuesday at 8:00. It is a fairly new show, this is only the second season. It is a very funny show but can also lead you to wonder what will happen next. In the show, there are 7 little girls who go to Abby Lee's dance studio. They are incredible competitive dancers. On each show, they show one of their competitions, practices, and the thoughts of the dancers and their moms. The moms of these dancers are crazy! They always have a problem with something, and they are just as competitive (or even more competitive) as their little girls. It is very entertaining, because you can watch these beautiful dancers, while their moms argue with each other, and the dance teacher Abby.

In the last episode, Brooke, (who is the oldest in the group) skips a competition to try out for cheerleading at school. If she were going to make it, she was going to quit dance. And if she didn't make it, she knew she would be in a heap of trouble. She made the cheer team, and that is where the episode ended. I am not sure what will happen in the next episodes. Brooke's little sister still goes to the dance studio. I wonder if she will end up quitting to, because Abby already puts her under the other girls. But if you haven't seen this show, I reccomend that you watch it because I am hooked on it now. I know of so many people that love the show. It is a truly great show.

Global Issue Research Paper

I am writing my research paper on the harassment of disabled people in England. Lots of people have asked me how I came upon such a specific topic. The truth is, I am not even sure how I came to this topic. Our whole class went to a website with very broad global issues, and Disabilities caught my eye. My Parents are both doctors so I am interested in Medicine and Health. Then I went to another database and started to try and narrow my topic. That was the hardest part so far. I started out with disabled people in Ugonda, but I didn't like that topic. I kept looking, and found an article about the mistreatment of disabled people in England, and I knew that was what I wanted to do.

Finding sources for my topic was another challenge. But after finding 8-10 sources, It has been a lot easier. I have lots of good note cards, even though I am not using them all. I feel like now I can write a good paper with the information that I have. I have gotten off to a good start. I am in the process of writing my rough draft. I think that the hardest part of the paper will be (like most papers) the introduction and the conclusion. But overall, I think that it is going pretty well. Hopefully after monday, when we learn how to do the correct introduction, I will be able to write a good intro.

My weekend:)

I had a great weekend! On friday I went to see the movie Incredibly close and Extremely loud. It was the movie about the little boy whose dad died on 911. It was a great movie. It was sad, but it was truly an amazing movie. Then on Saturday, I had a gymnastics meet at night. But before that, I worked at the session before mine. It was at my gym which made me feel good. We started at 6:45. I ended up getting first on vault, bars, beam, floor, and the all around. I was very happy with the outcome. My teamates had a good meet too. It was a fun night and I got to see some old friends that came to support us. I also had a lot of family come and watch me too.

Today, on Sunday, I will be pretty busy most of the day. I have a lot of homework and studying to do. I had a great weekend, and I wish that it could go on longer. But I know that I have to go back to school tomorrow. Overall, I had a really great weekend, but I know that I have to return to the real world tomorrow, and get back on my normal schedule.

Reading this week

This week, I read the 17 pages in the Norton Field guide that we had to read, and my outside reading book. The pages in the norton book gave me information on how to do certain things that I will need to do for our up coming paper. I learned how to paraphrase, summarize, and quote correctly. I also learned how not to plagerize, because that is a very serious matter that should not be taken as a joke. If you plagerize, you can get in a lot of trouble not only by the school, but it is also illegal. So now that I have read and taken notes on those pages, I should be able to write my research paper without problems of cheating.

I also continued reading my outside reading book called "It's not Summer Without you." so far it is an AMAZING book! I absolutely love it. It is about a girl named Belly (her real name is Isabella) who goes to a summer house with her family and another family for the whole summer every year. But this year would be different because the boy of the other family named Conrad's mother got sick. So her two boys, Jeremiah and Conrad don't really care about anything and the summer is tunring out to be terrible. This is also the last summer that they will spend in this house again, which makes matters worse. But anyways I really can't wait to see how this book ends because I love it.

Free reading-

Norton Field Guide- 60 mins- 402-419

"It's not Summer Without you" (Jenny Han)- 90 mins- 114-175

My birthday:)

So today is my 15th birthday. I share my birthday with a few of my friends, which is pretty unusual. Olivia St.Romain, who is in our english class, shares a birthday with me. Another one of my friends from gymnastics also shares the same birthday with me. This weekend, my friend who lives in Texas came in to visit. I had a great weekend with her. We went to snowball (a cotillion party), and we also went to an LSU gymnastics meet. I was sad to see her leave, but I was glad that she got to come in for my birthday. I am very lucky to have the day off of school for my birthday! For the past two years, my birthday was on a weekend, and this year, it is another day off of school.

I spent my birthday with friends family, and my coaches. I have a competition coming up this weekend, so I spent lots of time in the gym today. I am very close to all of the girls there, so it was fun spending my birthday with them. After practice, my family and I went out to eat for my birthday. We went to Tokyo cafe. It was a great meal and I had a great time. I had a great birthday and I am blessed to have such loving family and friends.

Literary Analysis Essay

I can't believe that this essay is almost complete! It feels like forever that we have been working on this paper. I am very proud of how far I have come with this paper. When we started, I never knew how i was going to accomplish it. But now, I am just happy that I could finish it. This was probably one of the most challenging papers that I have ever written. It made me think so much more than I ever had, but I know that I will have to do these in the future. Now I will be more prepared for the next analysis that we will have to write. I am glad that we took it slow so that we could fully understand the assignment, and write better papers.

So far I am happy with how my paper has turned out. I am not used to something this vague in terms of choosing a story and coming up with your own thesis statement. This essay has pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I think that it will benefit me in the end. I think that the hardest part of the whole essay was writing the conclusion of the paper. I really struggled with this part. I knew that I could write a literary analysis when I read the short story, "Dead End." And coming up with the thesis wasn't even that challenging. But putting the paper together was the biggest challenge of all. Overall, I am happy to see this paper be finished and see how it turns out compared to the first thing that we started with this paper.

New Quarter

Now that we are starting second semester, I think that we can all be relieved to have a fresh start. The first quarter was a little rough, because we were just getting used to high school and the challenges that it brings. Hopefully now we are used to it and can strive to do even better this quarter. We have a clean slate and we should all try to make the best of it. I plan to make this semester a success by a few changing a few things. On my homework and in class assignments, I plan to give more effort to. Not that I did poorly in this, but i could have gotten a few more points is i would have done them better. Another thing that i want to improve is my worldly wise tests. i am not sure why, but I know the words but on the test, I don't always do great. I am going to try and study the synonyms more and look at exercises in the book to help me do better on the tests. Overall, i am happy with how I did in first quarter, but there is always room for improvement.

I think that we can all agree that our class could use a better attitude in the classroom. We can all try to participate more and give more enthusiasm. I think that class might be a little bit more enjoyable if we all try to do these things. I am hoping that by the end of this quarter, our class will not have the negativeness that we had in the first semester. I know that if we all give it a shot, then things will improve. It can't hurt to try, right? So I am hoping that this new quarter will bring success to many, and a whole new attitude to the classroom. If so, I think that we could all remember this class as a fun, productive class.