Journal #41: Describe a hero

A hero is a hero.  They have big muscles.  Also they have beards sometimes.  I think that the bigger the beard, the better the hero.  Like in Lord of the Rings, Gimlie is a hero because he has a big beard.  And Aragon has a little beard that grows into a bigger and better one, showing his journey back to the throne of Gondor as heroic.  I also think that Katie H is a hero because her beard is huge.  She is looking like a wizard like Gandalf.  Gandolf is a hero too because he becomes Gandolf the white and helps to save Gondor and middle earth.  Harry Potter is also a hero because he kills "he who must not be named".  Voldemort was a jerk and tried to take over the wizard world and eventually the WHOLE world.  Dumbledore was also a hero because he had a HUGE beard.  It reached his hips which is a pretty important beard.  He also helped Harry succeed to kill Voldemort.  Mr. Walworth is not a hero because he has a little beard.  His beard resembles a billy goat.  It is a ba-aa-ba bad beard.  It is obviously one of the worst beards.  Hero's always make the right decisions.  They do the best for everyone no matter what.  Harry Potter sacrificed himself to save the Wizard world.  Aragon made a fake battle to help Frodo throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom.  Frodo is also a hero in Lord of the Rings because he risks his life and his sanity to get the ring to Mount Doom and destroy Sauron.  This is a true indication of a hero because they risk it all for the benefit of the world.  I hope to one day be a hero.  Maybe one who does not have a beard because I am a lady and that is kind of gross to have a beard when you are a women.  Katie is not a hero anymore because she shaved her beard off and I think it will not grow back a luscious and cool.

Journal #40: Choice

They sky is mandarin,

The clouds are timber-wolf,

and I think that a plane is about to crash into Katie's nose.

The grey goose howls,

the crayfish wanders alone,

and Jessie is glum.

Why must the school be made of spaghetti,

I think that the meatballs are spoiled,

I do not think that they are necessary.

The keyboard on the computer is melting,

it hurts my hands because it is scalding,

Ouch, I think as I run into the photo.

 The camera snaps with a sneeze,

The twinkle looms out from the equestrian,

Why must the horse kick the udder.

Rudolph is sick in his bed,

His nose is green instead of red,

Plums are tasty.

Now we must go to the bazaar,

And wonder why.

Fin.

Journal #39: Spring Break

My spring break was pretty good.  The first day was a track meet.  This was one of the best track meets I have had in a while.  I got two personal records and my relay got second.  My first event of the day was long jump, and I really did not expect to do very well.  However, I did better than I ever had before.  I got two inches further than my previous best, and I got second place in the meet.  My other personal record that I set was in the 300 hurdles.  I did not think I would do very well in this either, but I did!  I got third place and I barely beat my personal record.  I beat it by approximately half a second.  It may not seem like a lot, but that was the first time I had ran it in about a year, so it was good to start out with.  And last year at the same meet I was running about three second slower, so it gives me good hopes for this year and hopefully I will be faster than ever!  Another highlight of my spring break would be going to Chicago.  Two of my friends and I spontaneously planned a trip to Chicago.  We hopped a train up to the windy city and my aunt said it was okay to stay with her.  So the first night we got there about 9 o'clock in the evening.  My aunt decided to treat us to some dessert and to drive us on a tour of Chicago, because it was one of my friends first times there.  So we ate some chocolate fondue, which was absolutely delicious.  My friend Megan wanted to go there again before we left, but I said it would be better to do as many different things as we could so we could get the most out of our trip!  We also went to the sky deck on the Willis/Sears tower.  I had to be dragged on because I am very scared of heights.

Journal #38

My job shadowing experience was very helpful.  I learned that it is positively what I want to do when I am older.  However, I job shadowed a Speech-Language Pathologist who mostly worked on patients who were older and some were dying.  I know that now I would like to work in a school or in a hospital pediatrics section.  I observed an x-ray of a swallowing exercise to see if the patient was aspirating any liquids or substances.  I also observed a shock therapy method used on a patient while she ate her lunch.  This method is apparently very controversial, but it has helped the patient.  The shock did not hurt her, but it did work her throat muscles while she ate to re-train her abilities to swallow and to talk.  I know this is what I want to do because Speech Language Pathologists truly help people. While they are not really known, they help patients relearn how to eat and to talk.  You never will know how much they really help until you cannot eat your favorite food due to a swallowing disability.  I did get a taste of the reality of the job though.  Many of the patients were old and close to their end.  The Speech Pathologist had to be honest with them and recommend a diet according to whether they wanted to fight to stay alive or just eat whatever they wanted in their last days.  This was a very sad and depressing part of the job.  Also, a gross part of the job is that you deal with a lot of nasty mouths.  You have to help clean mouths of those who cannot do it themselves in order to check their swallowing.  This was the next worst part second to the sad parts.  There was also a boring part.  The lady I was shadowing had to file a lot of "notes" after a visit with a patient so their doctor could observe what she had done.  My job shadowing was overall good though.

Journal #37

The many diverse instruments like piano and trumpet and saxophone are what I see at the beginning of this song because it is all instruments.  I also see people dancing the scat cat dance and the mash potato.  I also see a jazz club that is full of swingers and soulful people.  I think that the saxophone helps a lot with imagery. I also see a lot of colorful outfits that people are dancing in.  There are women in colorful dresses that are flowing every which way due to their swing like dance moves.  Now the song is at a quieter part, and I see the end of a day.  Similar to closing time, I see all the loners at the bar of a club, slowing finishing their last cigarette and swirling around the small amount of drink that is left in their glass.  Many people are walking out into the cold streets of New York City, but the musicians continue to play for the few who remain in the club.  The piano player seems to be done, but he joins back in after a long saxophone solo.  It seems that the piano player is getting his second wind, and whit a smile on his face, he takes of the song once again.  The people at the bar who were sad about this night ending begin to see things more positively as if the piano brought them a second chance.  You see many of the men look around as if to get in one last dance with one of the remaining ladies, although there are few still in the club.  A few couples get back up to have one last dance.  The bartender finally takes charge because he is ready to go home and sleep after a long day, so the cello or bass player starts to play a solo to quiet things down once more.  You can see the rest of the band is exhausted from a long night of playing jazz to the many people in the club. They wipe their foreheads as if to say it was a job well done.  Before you know it, the band peps up one last time to wrap up the song the way it started- soulful and passionate.  The band knew that this was their last song and they should finish it off right.

Journal #36 Being yourself

There is a great importance to being yourself!  If you try to be something you are not out, than you will never be truly happy.  This is unfair to yourself and to others.  People should know what you are like so they get a fair chance to know you.  Also, it is unfair to yourself because if you act in a way that you really do not like, than you will never be happy.  Also, you will never be able to search for who you really are because you are not being yourself. This is super important because you can also go insane if you hold secret feelings inside of yourself.  If you do not let out your true self, then you will be a very sad person.  I learned that in high school there are a lot of people who hide their true self.  They try to be like someone else so they can fit in.  This is a hard time in high school because there are a lot of fake people and you have to see who is real and who can be your friend.  I think I am mostly myself, but there are times when I keep quiet or I just agree with someone because it is the easy way out of a situation.  This happens a lot in life.  It is not called being fake all the time if you just try to solve a conflict by giving in, even if it goes against your personal beliefs.  There are times in life where you have to choose between being friendly and being yourself.  That goes for many situations in life.  You can either be mean, or you can be yourself.  It just depends how you truly are as a person when you decide how to act in a situation.  I know that there are times in life where you just want to try and be the good guy because your personality is not a mean one, but you have to shoot someone down because it is the right choice.  This is a good quality to have to a personality because you can distinguish what is write from a lose-lose situation.  You must try and come through as a person in your decisions, but life is life.  You need to be yourself, yet make all the right decisions.  Life is obviously confusing.

Journal #35

My writing has changed enormously since September the 24, 2012.  I have learned to be more thorough and to dig deep into research to find my information.  I also have learned that I need to spend more time researching because, back in September, I did not spend as much time researching as I do now.  I think that now my writing is at least one-hundred times better than in September.  My writing also now seems more intellectual and it actually raises new ideas from that of my peers.  My old writing style basically stated already known topics and did not explore much beyond the topic.  Now my writing displays new ideas and it is a lot more interesting to read than my old writings.  I also use way more support now than I used in September.  I now use more parenthetical citations to support my facts and my elaboration had progressed as well.  I think this is due to Mr. Langley's great teaching skills.  He taught my fellow peers and I how to write properly and how to make essays go above and beyond expectations.  He gave us pointers on how to make our writing better by bringing in outside facts by using extra literary criticisms in our essays.  This has helped my classmates and I get better and better as we keep writing more and more.  Another reason I am better at writing is probably due to the fact that we write an essay or analysis every other day.  We write so much that it was inevitable for us to get better and better with our writings.  Also, sentence studies have taught us to use better grammar and to also use great punctuation in our essays.  I think that all of these factors have helped my writing skills enormously.  In these past few months, my writing has gone from plain and somewhat horrible, to better and well supported.  I believe that my writing from September compared to now is horrible, and now it is awesome thanks to English Class!