Blah

Before I answer the question of how I learn best, I want to know how you, as my 9th grade teacher are going to be able to teach a room full of 30 kids, each of who learns a different way. You have to be versatile. Willing to push ALL of us to our limits and beyond. You have to incorporate technology and more interesting things than just reading and writing.

This blog is an example of something I love. It’s not some stupid writing assignment that I have to do every week. It’s some stupid writing assignment that I Get to do every week (and it’s really not all that stupid). It’s my heart and soul. It’s my feelings, my joys, my struggles. It’s one of my claims to fame. It’s me!

Also, I want you, as my future teacher, to know all of my perks and downfalls:

1. I can sit down a read a book for 8 hours at a time; on one condtion, I have to like this book and be interested in it. If not, I read the book in maybe a week or two, get nothing from  it, and never look at it again. (maybe I should fix that…?)

2. I am creative. You can give me a terrible writing prompt and I will write something clever and witty, something funny and with a twist of “claire” in it. Something you will probably not forget very quickly. But, if you give me a blank page, or computer screen, and ask me to create something from it, I can guarantee it will be good. Wait, not just good, amazing! Give me something I’m passionate about and I will give you my heart on that paper.

3. I’m not afraid of a challenge. I like it.

4. My grammar may not be as great as some, but it’s good enough for me if it’s good enough for you. (if not, I guess some vocab won’t hurt!)

5. As my teacher next year, you have some big shoes to fill! I know that sounds really stuck up of me, and I’m sorry if you’re offended, but really, Mr. Wilkoff has only had us for two years, and he seem to know me better than some people who have known me since birth. He knows all of our abilities, and uses them to his advantage, which through that is then our own advantage. He is a great teacher and we have done some amazing stuff in his class. (such as our isms, which were the COOLEST)

6. I’m actually really looking forward to a new experience. Middle School has been great, but somehow I know highschool is gonna be great.

I mainly learn through experience, technology and passion. If I don’t have passion for a subject, there is nothing there for me! I will do the project, and learn lots from it, but a lot of the time, I just don’t care! I’m a hardworker and will get it done, but I can almost promise you it won’t be as good as something I’m passionate about! So, I just want you to know, that I am willing to learn. I just hope you’re willing to teach!

-Claire Stasiewicz

we are in the last 20 days of school, and i am really stressed out. I just don’t have time for everything. The teachers are putting on the pressure to get my grades up (not that they can really get that much higher) and i have lots of stuff to do and no time at all. i have to make a serious decision about what extra curricular activities i’m gonna be doing next year by saturday, and it’s really hard to decide. I have a piano competition on saturday where i have to play 10 songs that i have memorized, even though I only have 9 memorized and they’re not even that good. so basically i’m gonna get up on this stage on saturday and have to play 10 songs that i don’t have memorized by memory…i’m just screwed. I don’t have enough time to do all of this stuff! and i have a math test today that i’m totally gonna fail cause i had to go to a track meet and my sister’s band concert last night and didn’t have much time to study. and i am not getting enough sleep either because i have so much stuff to do there just isn’t enough time to sleep. and tonight i’m not gonna have time to practice my piano or whatever because i have track practiced followed immediatley by piano followed immediatley by my sister’s band banquet where i get to sit in a fancy country club in a stupid fancy dress for 3 hours. i mean, i like my sister and all the stuff i get to do, it’s just WAYYYYY too much right now, and i just want it to stop!

So sorry I’ve been complaining. This was probably really boring for you, but i just REALLY needed to scream at someone, and the computer won’t say anything when I tell it about my problems. so yeah, sorry about that.

Sorry I didn't post one last week, but when your computer at home
keeps on crashing every time you log in to learnerblogs or even
writetomyblog, then it's really annoying and stupid.

Okay, so here is this random post about a pretty amazing song by Switchfoot.

Awakening

Face down with the LA curbside endings
With the ones and zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but man- made never made our dreams collide,
Collide.

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We're awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, we're awakening

Last week found me living for nothing but deadlines,
With my dead beat sky but, this town doesn't look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know if I've ever felt so alive,
Alive

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating,
I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It's beating… it's beating…
I'm bleeding

Here's the video:

Sorry I didn’t post one last week, but when your computer at home keeps on crashing every time you log in to learnerblogs or even writetomyblog, then it’s really annoying and stupid.

Okay, so here is this random post about a pretty amazing song by Switchfoot.

Awakening

Face down with the LA curbside endings
With the ones and zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but man- made never made our dreams collide,
Collide.

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It’s beating,
I’m bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I’m leaving
I want a heart that I know is beating,
It’s beating… it’s beating…
I’m bleeding

Here’s the video: " width="10" height="10" wmode="transparent" /]

Mooseism
 This is my amazing belief…it took a long time and is very long, so if you don’t want to spend a long time reading something, don’t read this one.

The following list is of all of my favorite bands and some of their best songs, make sure to check out the links, they’ll take you right to their sites

My Chemical Romance (just for Greta)

-Welcome to the black parade

- House of Wolves

AFI

-The Missing Frame

-Love like Winter

-Miss Murder

 Taking Back Sunday

-What’s it like to be a ghost

-Makedamnsure

-My blue Heaven

-Twenty-Twenty Surgery

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

-Face Down

Single File

-Zombies ate my Neighbors

Fall Out Boy

-Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

-It’s not a scene, it’s an arm’s race
30 Seconds to Mars

-From Yesterday

-The Kill

Switchfoot

-Stars

-Politicians

-The american Dream

-4:12

-the Shadow proves the sunshine

The vincent black shadow

-Metro

        At the
beginning of today's class, Mr. Wilkoff said that our blogging was
about the writing, not the technology. But I am wondering if that is
true or not.         Last week, I spent
about 10 minutes writing my Substitutes post, and about 50 minutes
trying to fix the computer and get my posts to post! I spent more time
that night worrying about whether or not it actually posted instead of
sleeping in "preperation" for CSAP or whatever I had the day after. I
got so fricking hacked off at learnerblogs the week before and wrote a
really bad post about something stupid (actually, i think it might have
been about my sister, who isn't stupid, but the post still sucked) 

   
Mr. Wilkoff promised us today that we wouldn't have any trouble logging
in to write to my blog and that we would all be able to post. Greta is
currently yelling at her computer "What the crap!?" and her frequent
swearing isn't making any difference. Now Mr. Wilkoff is trying to fix
layne's computer, and Javon is telling me about his computer issues
last week (*yawn*)

Don't get me wrong,
I love this technology stuff, and I've never done anything cooler
during school, but really, when our learning is all hanging on this
hinge of technology, is that really safe? I'm sure we could always
write on paper, (if we remember how) but that would suck. Maybe we're
trying to push technology too hard right now. Maybe it's not ready for
Mr. Wilkoff's 8th grade L.A. class. I guess we'll find out.

All
I can say now, is that no matter how much i hate it, I'm going to miss
this struggle with technology next year in english. I am guessing we're
gonna have to go back to standard, typical english class, with boring
books and hours of vocab homework. I knew it was too good to last. And
so ends my provoking post about technology vs. the writing. Now I'll
try to publish this post and hope not to get screwed over by my
computer. Ahhh, the glory of technology.

Why are they so mean to us? And why are we so mean to them? Why is it, that when our real teacher isn't there, we feel like being the worst class ever? It's cause we're amazing like that!

    No, really, like last year, where our math class had that mouse looking lady as a sub. We started doing the macarena, and the wave and the YMCA because she was really stupid and was just standing in front of the board not looking at us.  Then, we all sit down except Danny, and she turns around and he's still doing the macarena. Then, she tells him he has to write an essay about why not to do the macarena in class. That was the best math class ever!

How about the time a month ago in Math, when we had that weird sub. The one that's really tall and was obsessed with her dogs? Yeah, that one. Well, "someone" was talking a lot, and she asked him why. And he said he didn't know why. So then she said, well, would you do this with your mom? and he said no. And she said, then why do you do it for me? and he said: Because you're a sub and I'm never going to see you again so why do I have to be nice? So then she got really mad and sent him out into the hall. Then, once she leaves the room, Eric says: That kid is my hero.  It was pretty cool I guess. 

Then, the time we flash mobbed the sub in Language Arts. Or when I was sitting with a laptop that was really squeaky, and I wouldn't stop squeaking it and everyone got mad at me. That was just a couple of weeks ago actaully, with that bird-lady sub. Subs are weird, except for Santa, he's amazing. That's my next class and Santa's my teacher, so it can't be too bad right? So, i'll leave you with this: We should keep on tormenting subs, it's fun! 

You ask me what more you can do for me? Well, you can just

Let

Me

Be.

Leave me alone to ponder, to question, to drown in my own misery!

you don’t understand that I don’t want to share my deepest thoughts and secrets,

You don’t understand that I love you more than anything, but Cannot Stand You!

It doesn’t make sense, all of these emotions in my head,

But I guarantee you one thing, I don’t ever want to see you dead,

I know you think I hate you, and that I wish you were never born,

I know my words are hurtful, and always filled with scorn,

I love you more than you can imagine, more than time,

i love you so much that you even make me rhyme!

So happy birthday To the bestest best sister in the world! (that doesn’t rhyme with anything, but oh well)

I like all of the points that Mr. Wilkoff makes, but the one thing that I really hate about this whole thing, is that the district thinks we don’t use google video enough! I mean really, have they ever seen our blogs? they just don’t understand that technology is our whole language arts class. Technology is how we learn and they are taking away one of our resources, which technically means that they are depriving us from learning, which is the exact opposite of what they should be doing so they’re just hypocrites and they need to stop and give us our “learning enviornment” back.

This is the story of tar the bar of soap, donitioner the conditioner, danpoo, the shampoo, and bob…the loufa.  They set out one day for adventure. They were tired of watching people take showers, day in and day out, so they decided to venture out to the beyond.

They trecked for hours across the gleaming white desert of tiles, hiked up the frigidly wet mountains of bathwall, and hiked down the other side, to the freezing cold bathroom floor. They finally made it to the edge of the cold bathroom floor, and got to the forest of carpet. After climbing down the huge steps of doom, they made it to the hot desert of wood floor. They ran into the dog, a terrifying experience, and after a few casualties having to do with some very sharp teeth and a loufa, they made it to the tall door.  They stood on top of each others shoulders, and finally, Bob wrapped his string around the door knob, they turned, they pulled and…………Hooray! They were free. It was the happiest day of their lifes until…

The russian mafia drove by the house, they were obviously trigger happy, because when I came home, all I found was two beat up bottles, piles of shampoo and conditioner, and a bar of soap…but wait, where was bob? Could the mafia have taken him? Did he get eaten by a mushroom? We will never know, or will we?

It is so annoying that people keep on calling me anorexic and or bulemic. I’m not! and I’m not fat either *cough TIM cough* gosh, it is way annoying so just stop it, I’m fine how I am, I’m not too skinny, I’m not too big, and if anyone thinks any differently they had better keep it to themselves, because the next person who calls me fat, anorexic, or bulemic is going to really regret it, so PLEASE, just stop.

The other day, grace and vivian and I were talking about colors. How do we know if we all see the same colors? So say one day in kindergarten, you teacher points out a color to you, it is called blue. But what you call blue, is really what someone else sees as you orange, and what someone else sees as what you call green, but really everyone calls it the same thing, even though they are seeing different colors, but to them it’s the same color because of the name. So how do you know if everyone sees the same color? you can’t describe  the colors, because if you said that the color was light bluish purplish, the other person would agree because it was the same color to them, but really it’s different! It’s just a big stupid circle that’s really hurting my brain. But it’s actually pretty true, because you wouldn’t know! Some people say that scientists can tell, but what if scientists have the same problem? It’s just as confusing as anything.  So if someone tells you your eyes are ugly because they are blue, and someone else comes up and tells you that they’re pretty because they’re blue, don’t trust either one of them. One of them is probably seeing gray, and the other one green, so you’re eyes really aren’t blue at all…makes you think huh?

Well, when you have to take a lot of tests and boring things like that, then I always forget what I’ve just learned, so really I haven’t learned anything. But with this, I can see what I have learned, I can look back at the things I have written and say “oh, that was stupid, that was good, or wow, what was I thinking,” that sort of thing. It just makes everything easier to look back on and reflect.  So all of my posts show that I’ve learned something. That little letter on my progress report doesn’t show anything, but my blogs and writing do! I’ve learned lots of new words, and just am a better writer in general. I am always thinking and really enjoy blogging.

What do you do when you don’t have anything to write about, but your teacher makes you because it’s for a grade? Well, you write about boring random stuff that happens in your life. for example: Last night my sister and I were fingerjousting, and she had me pinned and right when she was about to tag me I rolled out of the way and tagged her…anyway, so I was lying on the ground and my sister starts helping me up. So i’m halfway up and my dad tells her that there is food in the kitchen and she looks up and drops me.  Another one: Last Monday morning we had a delayed start, so I was sleeping and I was like, sound asleep and then my sister comes into my room and SCREAMS at me, really loudly and so I jump up and fall out of bed and she goes “oh good, you’re awake,I couldn’t tell if you were breathing or not.” I was like, hyperventilating for about half an hour after that!

    And really, what’s with this “flame off Claire, flame off,” don’t these people realize I can’t do that,it’s not like I can just turn off my hair,geez. 

Algae…like Al…Gebra. HAHAHAHA!(you had to be there)

The time one of my teacher’s almost passed out because someone put their feet on the $700 library chairs…that was funny.

 When I started dancing in the car and my sister got really embarassed.

Lots of other stuff actually too, and now I realize that my life isn’t SO bad. 

P.s. I like these colors!

I just read this Discovery guest blog, and decided to write about it.  I like the fact that parents love their kids enough to try to protect them, but we still need some breathing space! Don’t get me wrong, i love spending time with my family and love them, but every once in awhile I like to do my own thing. My parents personally let me hang out with friends and go to the mall by myself and stuff, but I remember the days when they had to go to the mall with me, hold my hand when I crossed the street, and screen the movies before I watched. The question is, do they still protect me too much? Sometimes I think they protect me too much, but sometimes i appreciate it.  But really, when my mom still tries to take my hand when I cross the street, I blush and stick my hands in my pockets. It’s a sweet thought, but really, can i, as a 13 year old in MIDDLE SCHOOL, really be seen holding my mother’s hand? I think not! And I never want her to know that because I really do like her. When my parents said they didn’t want me to go on a ski trip because we were going in “unsafe” buses up in the mountains, I got really angry. now I kind of understand where they were going, but it still really annoys me when they try to go on trips with me…even if it’s just over the weekend! they always want to chaparone and stuff. I like it every now and then, but when they’re constantly peeking over my shoulder…well, it gets a little tense.  But I guess when i’m older and I have kids, I’ll understand where they got this over-protectivness from, why they wanted to spend every moment with me. I’m just wondering what my kids will think of me!

I just saw this movie and I couldn’t believe how GUILTY I felt! Here I am sitting in a nice warm theatre, when everywhere in the World people are dying of hunger and living on the streets. the character was so desperate. He had $7 left, and yet he was still willing to lend $5 to a friend for a taxi. We take what we have for granted. I never will again though.

i was impressed that he could still smile, still remain calm for his son, even though his world was crashing down around him.

So, how did thomas jefferson know how to put the PURSUIT of happiness in the declaration? He must have known that not everything is easy. That maybe there isn’t really happiness. Are you happy? Are you completley happy? Is there not something that you’re not happy about? I think that half the fun of being happy is the pursuit of it. It’s like gardening. You finally finish and you have this big thing in front of you to enjoy, but you can’t. The part you like is the actual work, the pursuit of the beauty…the pursuit of happiness.

co·in·ci·dence   /koʊˈɪnsɪdəns/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[koh-in-si-duhns] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

[Origin: 1595–1605; coincid(ent) + -ence]

—Synonyms 1. accident, luck, fate.

Who would think that such a simple word could mean so much.  I am currently reading the book Small Miracles. It delves into the world of coincidence, where the author has collected a number of stories where odd coincidences happen.  She doesn’t consider them to be coincidences, as much as they are “Signs of a divine power;” and “little taps on the shoulder to remind to stay on track in your life.” I want to tell you a story that she writes in the book, it won’t be word for word, but it’s still about the same,

so there is this guy named joey, and he’s jewish. And when he’s 19 he drops out of college and tells his dad that he wants to explore and see new things while he’s young. His dad is fine with that, but when joey tells him he has stopped his faith his dad gets mad. His dad lost all of his family in the holocaust and his religion is the only thing he has (besides joey). he gets angry and tells joey he never wants to see him ever again and to get out.

Joey goes to India and looks for adventure and weird religions and stuff like that there. He finds Sarah, who is just like him. She used to be a Jew too, but went back on her faith.  Joey and Sarah are walking in India when Joey runs into an old friend. The friend tells joey he’s sorry about his dad. Joey doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but realizes that his dad suffered from a heart attack a few months ago. He thinks that his dad died from a broken heart and that it was all his fault.

He and sarah get on a plane and fly to israel. Sarah thinks he’s crazy when Joey says he wants to go pray. They go their separate ways. He goes to the wailing wall and starts to pray. He sees people putting little slips of paper in the cracks of the wall. he asks someone why. They tell him that the papers are prayers and people asking for forgiveness, he also says that most of the cracks are really full. Joey writes a prayer that says:

Dear Dad,

I am so sorry, I didn’t mean anything i said, pleases forgive me.

Joey begins searching for a spot to put his paper. It takes him over an hour to find a spot without a paper. He puts it in the crack, but another paper falls out.  He reaches to pick it up and put it back in, and something makes him read it:

To my son Joey,

I am sorry for pushing you out of my life. I never meant anything I said. you should know that if you find this, I have forgiven you, and I wish that you will forgive me.

Joey’s father signed it with his full name and address, it was definitley his dad.  A few years later when Joey is back in America, a jewish friend of his sets him up on a date with the “perfect girl”. He walks into the room, and Sarah is sitting on the couch. She had thought about what Joey did and had decided to go back to her faith, she was a Strong Jew now, and again, perfect for Joey.

What are the chances that out of the millions of papers in that wall, that Joey would find his father’s? And what are the chances that his father would have ever been there. Or that sarah and him would end up in the same place in America. It was a true Miracle, fluke, luck, and touch of Divine Power. It was a coincidence.

Everyone says that money can’t buy happiness, but is that really true? I mean, you can buy a lot of stuff, games, a big house, and you are pretty happy. being poor and struggling through life doesn’t make anyone happy, so does that mean that money can buy happiness? i think it does. i don’t really like to think it, because that’s really superficial, but rich people are generally happier than poor people who are homeless.  Most of the people i know who are rich don’t have that many family problems, or at least they can pay for therapy, right? anyways,it seems like money is kind of buying happiness now, it’s kinda sad that poor people can’t be really happy.

1. I want to look at coincedence and how people view it.  Does everything happen for a reason, or is it just a coincedence?

2.I want to thing about character traits. What makes a bad character bad, a good character good. Why are funny characters funny? Etc, it would be interesting to look at my friends and place them in these categories as well. 

3. Don’t read as much. I read SO much, it’s like i’m addicted. And it has to be bad for you. Or at least I should cut down on the re-reading of books, especially if i don’t like them. So maybe I should just find some really good books that i have never read. So I want to find good, new, different books to read. That could definitley be a challenge for me. I’m pretty picky. Writing a short summary or something about it would be good as well.

#5: That Easy Button commerical for Staples where they think that if they push someone else’s easy button Tom (or whatever his name is) will get sucked into a black hole, so they push it anyways and Tom disappears, and 5 seconds later he falls out of the closet. That’s a knee slapper!

#4: All Vonage commercials where people do stupid stuff.

#3: The old Geico commericals where they show that really wierd guy excerscing in WAAAAAAY too short shorts and he says: you can buy this excersing equipment for just 50 payments of $19.95! And then it’s like oh ya and there’s good news…i just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico.

#2: Any commercial for a movie with Johnny Depp in it. If you know me…you knew that was coming didn’t you? didn’t you????

and commerical number one….get ready for it! here it comes! and its…………………………………………….

#1: That commercial for the phone and they’re stating all of its features and he says yeah and it has a protection feature.

The other guys goes what do you mean?

First guy: Try to take my wallet.

Second guy: Trys to grab it and BOOOM! the first guy chucks his new phone at the second guy.

Second guy keels over and trys to get back up an BOOM again! He hits him again…ahhhh, goood times, eh?

Now the question is….would we like TV more or less with commercials? I think that TV would just be too weird without commercials. I mean my whole life I have turned on the TV to commercials so maybe it would be nice to have less commercials? I dunno, it’s up to you!

Everybody thinks I’m an overachiever.

I hate it!!!!!!! Because it’s not true. Everyone thinks that just because I get good grades it means I am an overachiever. Well they must have some stupid disease that makes their brains messed up. An overachiever is a person who TRIES too hard. I don’t try to hard. I don’t try to get the best grades. I just do. I don’t go above and beyond on every single assignment. Sure I might write a couple of pages instead of one. But that is because I want to. An overachiever feels like they HAVE to and they do no matter what. If I don’t have anything to write 5 pages about, I won’t I will write half a page on it. But If i’m passionate about the subject I will right a lot about it. So if you people would stop calling me a perfectionist/overachiever I would be very much obliged to stop bugging you. GEEZ!

Can time stop? i know clocks can stop but can time stop? Like in movies where you see the guy and the girl see each other and everything stands still, does that really happen? I need to know because I am not um…smart enough to figure it out. and in Heroes how the japanese guy who likes star trek can stop time and stuff. and like what grace just asked me if she went back in time would we all stop (like as in freeze in time)

I was in bed, tossing and turning, I couldn’t sleep. My dog was coming tomorrow! I was sooo excited. The door bell rang at 3 in the morning…ding dong! I raced down the stairs but my obnoxious little brother had gotten to the door first! He wrenched open the door and a gust of beautiful snow blew in the door! There was our dog on the front porch dead. My heart broke in 2. I started screaming for mom, but she wasn’t there. then I thought…how did the sparky get here? My brother screamed and I whipped around. There was a man pointing a gun in my face, another pointing one in my brother’s. I screamed as he shot my already dead dog again. I felt so much anger and adrenaline flowing through my body. Who would do that to a dog? and where were my parents?! They would come soon…I hoped. I looked over at my brother who was sitting on the ground crying. I sat down too, waiting for it to be over, i didn’t even know who these men were or what they wanted. all i know is that the killed my dog and I was furious! I decided to do something about them. I had nothing to loose. I kicked the man with the gun in the left side of the body. I screamed furiously and took the gun…

we are in middle school…8th grade to be exact. And i have noticed how weird middle schoolers are. Some of us are totally Immature (I won’t name names but you know who you are!!!) and some of us are silent, some of us are a little emotionally corrupt and some of us are just simply weird. You do know who you are…or do you? I considered making a list of everyone in this room and writing my personal opinion of their weirdness, quirkiness, immatureness, and otherness….but for obvious reasons I can’t do that…or are they obvious? anyways, i’m just saying that middle schoolers are unique. and most of us are bloody proud of that! well, I don’t know why I decided to write this…maybe it was because of *******’s apparent lack of maturity…or ******’s emotions, or maybe even *****’s quirkiness/weirdness/attention steelingness (which bugs the heck out of me) but I wrote it and I’d say that as a Middle Schooler…I’m insanely confident….but I dunno about you…I can name what you are but only you can decide what you really are, or can you? In this world can we really choose who we are?

Chapter 1

In which you meet five children, and a strange island

“Come on guys! Hurry up!” yelled Andie, giggling as she hopped across the rocks.
“Slow down there champ,” called William, shaking his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes and following quickly.  Andie and William Sanders were brother and sister, to their obvious displeasure at times. Yet they were best friends. Andie was thirteen years old, had long, curly red hair, and a face spattered with freckles. William was sixteen, and had long, dirty blonde hair (well, long for boys that is). Many would have called William a jock, but although he was incredibly athletic, he was also a prodigious student and was getting ready for college. Andie, on the other hand was more passionate in her music and sports.  Her grades were alright, but not nearly as fantastic as her brothers, which made her incredibly angry, especially when William was praised so highly for his quote “intellectual gifts.” She got out her anger by running, swimming, and playing soccer.
Along with Andie and William were three friends.  Peter, Taye, and Ellie.  Peter was fourteen, had long, dark brown hair, and a tanned body from summers filled of running.  Taye was fifteen, had white-blonde hair, fair skin and a bad temper.  He was a fantastic runner, fastest of his group, and incredibly skinny. Ellie was seventeen, had black hair and hated anything physical. She liked to write, and that was it.
“Slow down you guys!” whined Ellie, struggling in the back of the group.  They had been jumping over the rocks of Grey Lake for over an hour and Ellie was exhausted, cold, and wet.  Being Oregon, it was always wet, but running across a lake on rocks wasn’t exactly dry either and Ellie was getting seriously angry.
“Just a little longer El,” said Taye.  “Look, I can see it up there.”  They all looked in the distance, and sure enough there it was: The shifty figure of Faerie Island.
“I heard there were trolls on the Island,” said Peter, looking warily at the island.  “I mean, like, evil trolls, like, like, trolls that will eat you!” Peter wasn’t exactly known for his bravery.
“Andie, why don’t you let me go first, okay,” said William, holding back his sister.
“But Will!  I want to be the first ever to step on Faerie Island,” she complained.
Taye, Peter, and Ellie joined them on the island.
“What the hell is this?” screamed Ellie. “I thought we were supposed to have fun today! Now let’s get out of here, I’m tired of this stupid idea!” Ellie wasn’t exactly the best person to be around at times.  She had her good moments, but she had an equal amount of bad ones. She hated the cold and rainy weather known so well to Oregon and had no problem letting her friends know it.
“Yeah, I agree with El, let’s go,” said Peter, heading for the stepping-stones he had just been on.  They were gone. All Peter could see was the roiling fog around him. He looked in his backpack and took out the flashlight.  Peter was one boy who knew how to be prepared. He flicked the switch on and the beam of light pierced through the fog.
“Wow,” breathed Taye.  The scene before them was one out of a sci-fi movie.  The ground was covered in mossy rocks from massive boulders, to the tiniest pebble.  There were a few scraggly bushes in sight and a large grove of the biggest trees any of them had ever seen, out in the middle of the island.  However, the edge of the island was nowhere in sight. The five friends couldn’t find the edge of the island, no matter how far they dared to go.  After a long moment, Andie spoke.
“I don’t think this is such a good idea anymore,” she said, “I know there is supposed to be a treasure here, but, Will, I wanna go home,” she finished, sobbing into her brother’s shoulder.
Will hugged his sister close.  “I’m sure it was just a mistake, we’ll get off soon.  We got on, so we will most definitely get off.  I promise,” he said.  Andie shrugged and started walking ahead of the group, deciding to explore the island sounded like a good idea to her, especially if there really was a treasure.

It is a rather depresssing song as well! the children make the snowman and he comes to life. they become attached to their new little friend, and then, when getting chased down by the evil adults and police people it gets too hot outside and he melts (AKA HE DIES) what is less christmasy than that…christmas is about the BIRTH of jesus about LIFE and frosty is about death…what now mj?

Frosty the Snowman is the worst christmas song ever, because it is so overated and annoying! there are about eighteen different versions of the same song, all by some…person who hasn’t had a singing lesson in twenty years! I know it is a classic song, but it’s has absolutley nothing to do with christmas. It is about a snowman who was made out of snow (big surprise there) and some little kids put a hat on him and he magically came to life. It is not a story for the good people of the World, it is an excuse for people to have another track on their CD. You shouldn’t be able to write a song about a snowman who “magically” came to life, and still consider it a christmas song. Christmas is about CHRIST! not some snowman that came magically to life. I love christmas and I am not going to ruin christmas i just think that song has nothing good in it that has to do with the birth of jesus christ! it’s a commerical excuse for the companies to get more money because they have one more track on thier CD. Call me a Scrooge, but the song just has to go!

What does it take to have faith? To be able to jump into the unknown and just trust someone to reach out and catch you? Well, it takes courage and hope and faith. It takes trusting someone to remain with you no matter what happens. You know that He has said He will be there for you through thick and thin, but you have to have the faith to believe that. I think of something my sister told me about a long time ago:
Footprints in the Sand

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me.”

The LORD replied:

“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

It is an amazing poem because it grows your faith. You may think it to be cheesy and unreal, but personally, I know it to be true. Last week was a bad week. My dad was in Philly and my sister was busy somewhere. Me and my mom were home alone and she was having a bad week. My dad called me and apologized that i didn’t have someone to scream back at, to rely on for comfort with MY problems and not have to deal with my mom’s. All I thouht about right then was that I did have a father with me, someone to protect me, to care about me, to be there for me when no one else was. You may not believe in Him, think what you will, but I do. I know that He will always always be there to carry me, and I have faith.

In Maus we talked about how trains were used as torture. I’ve been on trains loads of time going from England to Scotland or York to London, but never for weeks at a time. In the book Maus is stuck on in a train for animals. he has been pushed in there with way too many people. People are being crushed to death, but Vladek survives by staying calm and setting up a blanket above everyone else. Every now and then they would stop and throw out the bodies. People went crazy. They were supressed, couldn’t move, what would you do? Would you go insane? If I didn’t get crushed to death i would definitley go mad. Lying in your own filth, and if one person gets sick, you all do. You haven’t had water in a long time and can’t even talk you’re so thirsty…Trains could defintley be torture…that would suck.

“Hey mom, what’s up?” said little Johnny goldfish

“you need to go to school Johnny,”

“Okay mom,” said Johnny, and started off to school.

when he got home he looked around the house.

“Mom??? Dad??? where are you?”

He started to panic…and then suddenly the evil rabid sushi men came and took him away.

he was on a boat in a big clear thing and he could breathe which was good.  but it was short lived…in the container across from him was mom and dad…they were floating bottom up…and dead

BUM BUM BUM BUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMM

he started crying…and then the men came and poisoned the water so that he died…then he was chopped up and stuck in a bunch of rice and seaweed and put on a plate in london, england, where  Alexander Levinkenko was eating…he later was in the hospital and said he got nuclear poisioning in the Sushi bar…but little did he know that the reason he died was that the little fishy was poisioned by poision water and the poision made alexander levinkenki die.  it was pretty darn sad, because the evil rabid sushi men killed an ex-british spy and poor little johnny goldfish.

The end

the following song by the Newsboys is one that not many have heard. My sister got me into it sometime last year and i fell in love with it. if you read the lyrics you will realize that they are talking about their dead friend and all of this other rather odd stuff…I’d also like to say that this song is by a christian band and i am christian and if it is controversial to you in any way i am terribly sorry and will immediatley take it off my blog. so, here is the Breakfast song:

Newsboys - Breakfast Lyrics

Hold the milk, put back the sugar
They are powerless to
console
We’ve gathered here to sprinkle ashes
From our
late friend’s cereal bowl.

Breakfast Clubbers, say
the motto
That he taught us to repeat:
“You will lose
it in your gym class if you wait til noon to eat”.

Back when the Chess Club, said our eggs were soft
Every
Monday he’d say grace and hold our juice aloft
Oh, none of
us knew his checkout time would come so soon
But before his
brain stopped waving, he composed this tune:

Chorus:
WHEN THE TOAST IS BURNED
AND ALL THE MILK
HAS TURNED
AND CAPTAIN CRUNCH IS WAVING FAREWELL
WHEN
THE BIG ONE FINDS YOU MAY THIS SONG REMIND YOU
THAT THEY
DON’T SERVE BREAFAST IN HELL

Breakfast clubbers, drop
the hankies
Though to some our friend was odd,
that
day he bought those pine pyjamas
His check was good with
God

Those here without the lord,
How do you
cope?
For this morning we don’t mourn
Like those who
have no hope

Oh rise up, Fruit Loop lovers-
Sing
out sweet and low
With spoons held high
We bid our
brother “Cheerio!”

chorus (repeat til fade)

One day, a man was walking down a long, dirt road. He noticed three people talking loudly by the side of the road. He slowed down to hear what they were saying.

“I heard, that Tom was an evil, killer alien who killed Monica,” Said one girl.

Antoher said, “Well, I did once see him glare at Monica really evilly…I bet you’re right!”

“Yeah! Let’s go tell everyone so they will know and stay away from Tom!” said the last girl.

“Okay,” they said, and walked off.

Having heard the conversation, the man paused on the road and thought. As he thought, he noticed a small weed on the side of the road that he was sure hadn’t been there before. He shrugged and walked on to town. As he arrived, he met some old friends and told them about Tom being an evil Robot Alien with mind blowing laser eyes. His friends then went off with the story, where one said Tom was a seven foot tall monster evil robot alien with mind blowing laser eyes and another said Tom was a seven foot tall monster evil robot alien with mind blowing laser eyes, really bad teeth, and a lack of hygiene. The next day, the man was walking back up the road, and saw someone sitting on the ground covered in something big and squishy. As he got closer, he realized that it was Tom sitting down, and he was covered in one big weed, crying. The man untangled him from the weeds, and helped him off the ground. Tom was scarred for life, and now the man knew why rumors, like weeds, could spread into one big terrible mess.

So will you be like the rumor weed? Weaving lies and rumors about people, or will you be like the man, and realize your wrongs, so you can help others? Well, I guess it is up to you.

I am watching Aladdin at the moment. A lot of people have seen this movie and an equal ammount of them know about the little dude flipping you off at the beginning of the movie. Now, what I am wondering is why? Why do we care about stuff like that? Why do we cling to the badness of Disney movies? Is it to say “Well, the guy in Aladdin flipped you off so I can,” or is it just to be able to dis the Disney company and scream at their insolence? I guess we will never know but I ask you to think about this: Why do we cling to the bad/different/unexpected things in Disney movies (or anything else for that matter) instead of looking at the good things, the things that are always there? I think it is because Disney has such a good reputation that we like to point our fingers and laugh at them when they screw up!

Chapter II

James Peterson awoke to find a note attached to the front door of his small French cottage. The note read:

Dear Mr. Peterson,I believe that you are acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Devlin Manyard. I have a favor to ask of you involving the Manyards and I was wondering if you might be interested in helping me out. IF you are interested in earning a bit of extra cash this year, you are welcome to visit me at the Sheraton Hotel this evening in Edinburgh, Scotland. I know you have a job to attend to and money to worry about, but I will offer you more money than you have seen in your life if you come to see me tonight. A plane ticket is enclosed in this envelope. Good day. Sure enough, in the envelope there was a plane ticket from the French International Airport.

“Well James, in my opinion, I think you should go,” said a kind voice in James’ head, “If this letter says work is taken care of then there’s no harm in going, right? You might as well take a risk for once in my life,” said the voice.

“NO! What are you doing you frickin’ idiot!” Why would you go to Scotland because some guy leaves a letter on your front porch! You hate the scots, and you know it,” this came from a second and rather ruder voice in his head.

“Oh come on James! Just go! It’ll be great, take a break from work, relax a little, take a chance, even if this guy isn’t there it’s a round trip ticket and you’ll be fine,” said the first voice kindly.

“Are you frickin’ kidding me? James, you are not going to Scotland, you hear me? NOT GOING TO SCOTLAND! This sounds like a bad deal to me so just go off to work like a good little boy okay?” The second voice was starting to get really hacked off.

James started to put down the envelope when the other voice in his head hissed, “Come on man, just go okay? Your boss isn’t gonna miss you for one little day trust me” James’ psychologist had been urging him to trust himself more…and with one more “You can do it!” from his head (or part of it) he got into his car and headed to the Airport, the second voice in his head swearing loudly as he went.

Today is a bad day.

They come every now and then.

I don’t know why it is a bad day.

But it is.

My mind is flooded with thoughts and memories from bad times

Of death and sadness, of sunny days and relentless heat.

It is suppressing me, taking up all of my mind space, closing in relentlessly

It is driving me crazy.

I want to curl up in a ball and sleep for hours

But tomorrow when the rain has come, it will be gone

Washed away with the rain to bring happiness

Tomorrow will be a good day

I was reading a Traveling Magazine today by National Geographic and there was a big packet that was titled EGO EMISSIONS LIST…2006. I decided to make my own. Each one is labeled with two things. The Object and it’s ego…1 being no ego and 100 being a huge ego…Are you ready???

Grillz: 98

Flamingo: 78

Sheep: 32

Sheared Sheep: 18

Palm Tree: 61 (oh yeah)

Action Figure: 36

Johnny Depp Action Figure: 87

joystick: 47

Fungus: 39 (cause it’s a sexy beast)

Afro: 62 (*coughjavoncough*)

flipflop: 12

Baldness: 3 (hahahaaaaa)

Kidney Stone: 26 (How does that work?)

canker sore: 29

nose hair: 13 (that’s right!)

Pigs that die of natural causes: 79

Paper Clips: 1

ski boot: 46

Gnome: 45

wheel chair: 81

air: 10

toe nail: 21

four-leaf clover: 34

llama: 99

dirt: 13

confetti: 44

tassel: 69 (oh ya that’s right)

Bobble-Head Moose: PRICELESS

I have officially realized that I didn’t write anything about 9/11. I read this post by nextmj1

and wanted to continue his post or give you my 9/11 story.

I walked down to breakfast. I had just turned the corner to walk into the sun drenched kitchen when I saw my mother. I could tell she was confused about something. The expression on her face was one of sadness, confusion, fear, and pure hatrid. She didn’t look up at me but kept her eyes glued to the large television in the family room. I averted my glance from her to the T.V. and to my horror saw what we all saw that day.

The first tower had been struck.

I got into the car that day at about 9:00 to go to school. As we were driving up the street towards my school the radio program was interrupted by a screaming voice.

The second tower had been struck.

We arrived at school and I walked into second grade. My teacher was shaking and crying and I was truly scared. The teachers locked the doors and we waited for a moment to remember and mourn the loss of our fellow americans. I was chilled to the bone that day…all day even though it was more than 80 degrees outside. It was a cold day for one so sunny.
My dad travels a lot and I couldn’t remember where he was that morning. It turned out he was in California. However…one of his colleagues was in New York City that morning. He was on a train to the towers when his wife called him and told him to get the hell off the train. He saved everyone on that train. He was just one of the people who have happy or tragic stories of that day. Many lives were lost that day.

Today in class we talked about two speeches. One made by FDR after Pearl Harbor, the other made by George W. Bush after 9/11. I thought that I would address the “speech-making” quality of the two presidents. In FDR’s speech, I noticed how he paused after what seemed like every word. Javon thought it was annoying and did a rather good job of telling me he felt that way but I thought it was a good quality. It made him sound convincing, determined to perhaps not get revenge, but to certainly do something about the horrible act of violence against our country. His words also gave me hope. Though FDR is long dead…his words still ring clear.”No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. ”

Though Pearl Harbor has long since past FDR’s words still give me hope. His words could have been spoken on 9/11 and I wish they had been! For then we would remember. We would REMEMBER what happened in the past. We would look back on it and realized that we have one once and we are sure to win again…for we are the united states of america and we do not give up…will not give up.

George W. Bush’s speech was a little bit similar to FDR’s but was not said with the same conviction as FDR’s. Though george w. bush pauses in the same way as FDR…his words seem very rehearsed if that makes since. It doesn’t seem like he feels the pain that his words bring or take away. It seems as if he just let his little speech dude write it up for him…and all he did was read it. I almost wanted to fall asleep at his words. I didn’t find any passion in them except for a little when he states the 23 psalm. I am not in any way saying that george bush cannot give a good speech I am just saying that I think if he had the passion and conviction of FDR…his speeches might inspire more than they do already.

Why do some people hate reading? Why do some people like reading? Why are people who can’t read considered stupid? Why is reading so important? Why do we read only because people make us? Or stop because people make us? Why are some of us slow at reading and others fast? Are the slow ones stupid and the fast ones not? Are people who like to read overachievers or simply good readers? What makes a good reader? Surely it cannot be those stupid traits we had to learn about. Why do people make us read?????? It’s pointless. Reading isn’t pointless if you want to read but when you don’t want to read it is pointless…so write.

Their bleak white walls stare back at you, meaningless and bland

You hope to find comfort in the happy art work on the walls but find none, only hoplessness at what will not come

You enter the room to silence, nothing but pure, hard silence. silence so quiet, it echoes back at you

A beep cuts through that silence, unwelcome.

You look at the people hovering over the man. The old man you once new to be so jovial is now so frail, his weathered face looking years older than normal

You try to stop the tears, and the fear but you cannot, and know that nobody can.

You take his hand knowing he doesn’t recognize you for who you are.

You know you need to leave, leave him in what little peace he has,

as you leave you tell him you love him

He tries to say it back, but his words are blocked by the crude blue pipe coming from his lips

You walk from the room, body shaking with sobs, looking for some sort of submission, some sort of sanctuary within those bleak, palid walls.

You try to find sleep but it will not come. You close your eyes and mind, willing yourself to slip off even if just for an hour or two.

It does not come. Not in that dark place where hours crawl by, taking days of your life from you.

You return to his side, but this time there is no cruel pipe blocking his words, but only him.

All he can do is sleep. A deep, snoring sleep that is oddly comical despite the brutal thing it means: death

It has not come yet but I know it will, for now I wait. I wait until that hour when he goes away from us

He will be in a better place, but sadly that is no comfort. No comfort when you know you won’t see him again until it is your turn to go away forever too.

Until Then,

Moose

Chapter I
“Ouch!” yelled Jane, “That was my foot!” A thick white plate had dropped to the floor and onto Jane Manyard’s foot, shattering as it hit the highly polished wood floors of the Manyard family basement.
“Are you all right dear?” asked a concerned Devlin Manyard, Jane’s handsome husband. Jane smile up at him, bending down to start cleaning up the floor. Jane and Devlin Manyard were loving parents to their two year old son Cale. They had met in France four years ago where both had been studying abroad from England. They fell in love with the French countryside and with each other. Their lives started like any fairytale starts; two people fall in love, get married and get a large house hoping to raise a large family. However, their fairy tale was about to take a turn for the worst.
“What’s this now?” said Jane, pushing her dark hair out of her face and examining a small piece of paper, “It seems to have been inside that plate that I just smashed, that’s odd.” In Jane’s hand was a folded, yellowing piece of parchment.
“Well, open it, see if it says anything,” urged Devlin, who was in fact a very curious man.
Jane unfolded the paper very gently, once, twice, three times. She stared at the curved writing on the parchment in front of her.
“Looks like Latin,” she muttered.
“Latin? May I see it?” asked Devlin holding out his hand towards his wife. She handed it to him and peered over his shoulder, looking at the odd script on the paper.
“No no, it’s not Latin Jane, it’s English, just very old English, though I still think I can decipher it.” This is what the paper said:
To all who seek out secret place, awaits a hardly clever fate,
For those who awake us may just find, that unlocking us will make a bind,
A bind so tight that only you, will control us if you choose,
However, you must free us first, From the place our ship makes Birth,
You must sail far and wide, A feat that takes a clever guide,
But once you reach our island home, You have until the sun is shone,
To wake us from a dreadful sleep, you must not be at all too weak,
For once we have woken at last, havoc will be reaked rather fast,
We have power that you will not believe, until you see the evil in me.
“Wow,” said Jane in a hushed voice, “that was the oddest thing I have ever heard,” she said with a shiver.
“I don’t understand it, is it saying that there is something evil out there and that we now have the power to control it with this slip of parchment?” asked Devlin in a quivering voice.
“I think you may be right. And even if you’re not I think that we shouldn’t tell anyone about this, it just isn’t safe. What if it falls into the wrong hands? We can’t let that happen, right?” said Jane.
“Right,” said Devlin.