Finally

So, I am fully aware that it has been a long time since I have posted anything to my blog. But, I have been doing great things along the way. I finally have the approval needed for an initial meeting for the Teens for Life, which is November 28th. The We the People team won district and we are moving on to state in December. I have finished up most of my college applications. The Debate team has done well and I have taught my novice debaters well enough to be successful. The only thing is that I have to be at school tomorrow by 5:30. I usually get up somewhere between 6:00 and 6:20, so this is super early! I will probably get up sometime around 3. Ugh! Anyway, I also have been working on finding scholarships to apply for. I found out that I can apply for FASFA as an independent, which means I will get a lot of financial aid for college, which will be nice because the school I want to go to is $50,000 a year!!! Tonight, I am going to the fall play to support my friends that are in it, and I think it will be fun. For Speech, I am doing a piece where I am from Brooklyn, but I have no idea how to speak like a New Yorker, or anybody from the Northern East Coast. 

The end of the time that I need have to post is a bittersweet occasion. I get to move on to better and brighter things, but I will miss the use of blogger, maybe I will start a blog that I use like facebook and maybe also a tumblr. Who knows? I think that I will attempt to, but it is not the most important thing going on in my life. But then again, the end of blogging for Etymology, which means that we will so have the end of the semester, and the end of my time with an amazing teacher (I am not brown nosing! It cannot be brown nosing if it is true!!!), Mr. Hill. He can feel free to kidnap me from any class at anytime!

I would say that when I began this class, I loved reading, which I still do. I'm absolutely the hide under the covers with a flashlight after the parental units have told you to go to bed type of person. I remember that freshman year I was grounded from reading for leisure! I would go home without homework and read for like 6 hours, only stopping to eat and to take a shower. Later in my high school career, I had neglected my relationship with "reading" we never sat down and spent time together. It was the occasional reading on the debate bus and that was about it. I cheated on reading with homework. 

This semester, I have rediscovered my love for reading. We got back together. I tend to like it better when I am "seeing" its popular fiction side. It is a very diverse side of reading and therefore, I never got bored. With homework, I have had a hard time meeting the quota. I know that it is almost the only homework that I have in the class but I needed time to work on my other homework. This semester I have 2 English classes.

I will work hard to maintain my relationship with "reading," but like any other relationship, it is difficult to maintain it.

Gross!!!

I have been working with a program that teaches young children (grades kindergarten to third) how to read and how to become better readers since I was in 4th grade. However, last night was the first time in all those years that a child got sick!!!! It was disgusting and horrible. To make matters worse, she started crying after it happened.... :( poor kid....

Close Reading Bingo

Problems...

1. He presents words like "if you really want to know" and "if I have to" that explains his boring life as the average teenager. Amanda

2. In Chapter One of The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker's elegant and flowing elevation, journalistic and descriptive denotation, and slightly sweet musical tone convey the vivid detailing of the narrator's office. Although there is not an emotional tone to the passage, it still presents a brilliant and exact description of the building and its surroundings. His scholarly word choice is depicted through "radians of black luster that ride the undulating outer edge" and the lobby's "towering volumes of marble and glass." His denotation is evident through the descriptions of "the struts and piers" and the "black Penguin paperback and small white CVS bag" which are clearly easy to picture. The mood isn't very uplifting, but the connected words of "sunlight," "glossy," and "shine" help to emphasize the melodious sound that Baker employs.  XC Hoosier 3366

The problem I have with the above quote is that although the writer uses strong verbs, they also use a halping verb before hand.

3.In Nicholson Baker's work The Mezzanine, he uses elegant and intricate diction to create a formal tone. Skittles Train

4.The breezy feeling of ease when he notices the "Long glossy highlights" in the the cracks that hang among escalators. The Chief

This one is more grammatical but it it is a run on.

However the best one that I read is from my dear friend Cara, who I have not talked to in a long time! :( Anyway, here's the link... Less Than Three

Close Reading

The Catcher in the Rye By: J.D. Salinger

Salinger's bluntly precise and gritting use of language in The Catcher in the Rye depicts life in its entirety as seen from a nonchalant teenager. The passage begins with "If you really want to hear about it," suggesting that his life is nothing more than the average teenager's life. The narrator describes his childhood as "lousy." He displays the laziness in teenagers when he says, "I don't feel like going into it." He uses vulgar words like "crap," "hell," "damn," and "goddam." This suggests that Holden Caulfield is somewhat uneducated, rouge, and ignorant of the facts of life.

You find out later in this novel that he is only two of the three that I have proposed.

Currently

This one is from Hidden in a Journal "Voice is what imbues a novel with the feeling that it communicates. And no two novels ever share the exact same voice."

I like this introduction because it immediately captured my attention and it made me want to finish reading. I know that seems cliche because English teachers have continually told us to capture your readers' attention, but it is so true! I have to be caught into a book by the end of the first chapter or I will not finish because it bores me. This is why I would not read the neither Blue Blood's series, despite Taylor telling me to, or Heart of Darkness, despite the fact that Mr. Jankowski made us write an essay on it. (I plead the 5th whenever asked what I received on that essay........)

"1984 by George Orwell uses straightforward and exact diction, colloquial formality, and dull sound to create a harsh feeling for the reader, much like how Winston feels the chill of the bright cold day and the enormous eyes of the face watching him." This person has another awesome quote that I am posting. "Homer's The Odyssey poetic connotation, elegant and scholarly formality, and melodious sound."

Lucky

Style Mapping

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, uses the coarsely sophisticated literal language which accurately conveys the dialect of the narrator. The narrator is Scout, a girl growing up in the segregated south in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. She writes in long seemingly run-on sentences, but uses words like "assuaged" and "apothecary," while also saying blunt ignorant comments like "If General Jackson hadn't run the Creeks up the creek." Contrastingly, Charles Dickens' David Copperfield uses the elegant, lyrical, and archaic language of Victorian England. The first sentence begins with "Whether I shall." Even more different is the style of language that is in George Orwell's 1984. He uses what he thinks to be "futuristic" language that has many made up words and long seemingly run-on sentences that are more sophisticated than those of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Quarterly

This quarter, I have been notoriously bad at maintaining my goals for reading. I feel like I'm breaking a New Year's resolution, and in a way, I am. At the beginning of the school year, I made a promise to myself that I would work on homework before it is due. Yet, I end up doing the majority of my reading on Thursday nights and Friday morning on the bus. I want to do better at work ahead over the weekend. I need to apply this to everything I do: other course work and debate included. I think everyone should implement this to an extent. Now, I'm not saying that we should be like robots and only do work. All work, no play left Jack a dull boy.

Anyway, so my goal is to read better books and more pages, which will lead to more books.

Tomorrow

So I am so excited for tomorrow because I am going to DePauw. I have to be ready to leave the house by 7:15, which is a half hour later than I would usually have to sleep. I am going to IHOP and eating breakfast. We will then hit the road and drive for 3 hours to get to the college. I have a tour at 11:30 and then I am sitting in on a class. I emailed the proff yesterday and she said that I could participate in the class if I want to and if I have something to contribute. So the good news, she sent me a pdf file so I can read what they have read so I can participate. Apparently it is on the Principle-Agent Theory. Which, Mr. Hill, if you read my posts tonight and happen to remember it from your lawyer days, then I would appreciate it if you could dumb it down for me. Anyway, that leads me to the bad news, the file is 30 pages long! I guess I should get used to it because it is what I will have to do if I go there and study Political Science. Anyway, after my class, Clay Knappenberger will be showing me around and talking to me about DePauw. We all (him, his mom since she's driving me there, and myslef) might go out to lunch too. Then, it will be heading back sometime after that. I hope to do some homework and some debate work while I am in the car for so long. Anyway, i best be getting to the clubs that I am in, as I am currently sitting in the IMC and it is almost closing time.

Discussion on The Case for Life

So Scott continues by saying that there are no major differences between those that are adults and those that are the pre-born. He says that they philosophic way to argue that there is no difference is through what is called S.L.E.D. This stands for Size, Level of Development, Environment, and Degree of Dependency. One of the things I did one night while I was writing a paper for We the People, was to go to this site that has pro-life quotes and a comments section. The following is what another person said.

Mr. Liberal says:

May 3, 2011 at 7:39 pm

Wow! That’s the biggest list of crap I’ve ever read. You people call yourselves Christians? I’m sure Christ said that only he who is without sin should cast the first stone and not to judge unless you’re ready to be judged yourself. You people aren’t pro-life, you’re anti-woman. According to you a rape victim should be forced to carry her rapists baby; that’s real Christ like. Good God, you people have some real studying of the bible to do.

The following is what I replied to and I will also continue by adding what it is common to hear if you are part of the pro-life community and have discussed our views with those who believe differently.

pro-life expert says:

September 14, 2011 at 10:54 pm

@ Mr. Liberal: First off, I am a woman, so how can a woman be anti-woman. I went to a lecture of Scott Klusendorf’s over the summer. He is a brilliant man who is an expert in bio-ethics and author of The Case for Life. The first and foremost thing that I will address is that rather than refute the pro-life stance, you attack the person them self and deem them someone who is “anti-woman.” So what exactly does that mean if it is a woman advocating the pro-life stance. Although Christ did say let he who is with out sin cast the first stone, he also said to tell your brother that they are in sin or you will be responsible for that sin. (Its in Ephesians) Also, you can hate the sin and love the sinner. The sinner needs prayers too. I am pro-choice when it comes to where a woman works, what she does at her job, what she wears, etc. except when it impedes upon the life of another human being. Whether that means that she murders someone else in society or her unborn child. The rapist ought to be charged with the full extent of the law. However, it is not a matter of how the child came to be but instead a question of what the child is. Greg Koukl said that if the unborn is not human, no justification is necessary for elective abortion, but if the unborn is human, no justification is adequate for elective abortion. At the point of conception, the pre-born is not a gamete but instead a whole, distinct, living human being called a zygote. The law of biogenesis states that life comes from other life and that like creates like meaning that I (a human) cannot produce puppies. The only difference between the zygote you were then and the person you are now (and this applies to anyone who can read this, is known as an acronym known as S.L.E.D. meaning that the only thing that differs is Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency. You were not the size you are now the moment you were born. What is the difference between a tiny zygote and an infant? A toddler is less developed than a full grown woman, but does that mean that we can kill it? I’m not entirely sure about you, but when I leave a room, I don’t change into something or someone else. What makes a child that has moved through the 6 to 8 inches through the birth canal any different from one that has not. There are different degrees of dependency throughout life. A child depend on its mother and father until it is a legal adult (and then sometimes after that). What is the difference between an infant that is dependent on its mother and a pre-born that is dependent on its mother?

Alright, so let's look at what Mr. Liberal had to say...

First, note that he has not refuted the pro-life position (as many pro-choice people fail to do), but has instead chosen to personally attack the person making the claim. For instance, during an HBO special, comedian Rosanne Barr told the audience: "You know who else I can't stand is them people that are antiabortion....I hate them. They're ugly, old, geeky, hideous men. They just don't want nobody to have an abortion, cause they want you to keep spitting out kids so they can molest them."

So according to Rosanne, I am an ugly, old, geeky, hideous man because I am against abortion. Anybody see how that is completely untrue. I am a 17 year old young woman, who although I tend to be somewhat of a nerd, is not in any way an old man that wants to have women keep spitting out kids that I can molest.  

Instead of defending the abortion act itself, some "pro-choice" advocates personally attack those who do not share their views. At a 1995 "Rock for Choice" concert in Pensacola Florida, vocalist Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam shrieked from the stage: "I'm usually good about my temper, but all these men trying to control women's bodies really piss me off. They're talking from a bubble. They're not talking from the street, and they're not in touch with what's real. Well, I'm f----ing mean, and I'm ugly, and my name is reality. Music--that is my religion. I would never force my beliefs on anyone--that's the thing."

  Again, Eddie Vedder is assuming (my grandpa always told me never to assume because I make something out of u and me) that I am a man who is unable to see what is real. However, he could not deviate further from the truth. I believe we have already established my gender. And what I see as "real" entails the fact that as a country we will help those from Burma because they are already born, yet we will not defend life in its most pure state. This person attack that people use to silence pro-lifers is called the ad hominem fallacy.


One thing that I addressed that many people are on the borderline between pro-life and pro-choice is rape. As I stated above, it is not a matter of how the child came to be, but of what the child is. If it is not human, no justification for killing it is necessary. However, if it is human, no justification is acceptable for killing the innocent child. 


Another thing that comes up often is "We don't know when human life begins." However, as Scott puts it, we should remain on the side of caution. He says that if we see what looks like a coat lying in the middle of the road but there is a chance that there is a homeless person under the coat, that we would swerve in order to be cautious. 


Lastly, I wanted to say that there is going to be a Teens for Life at our school. I am in charge of it. I am looking at Halloween as the first meeting. If you are interested but cannot attend, please let me know or contact Mr. Panning, as he is the club sponsor.

Currently from last week

I began reading Blue moon by Alyssa Noel. It's okay but I am not sure if I will continue reading it.

Anyway, I read 150 pages.

I have had a hard time lately getting all my posts and reading done.

Also, I haven't had any quotes to post because the books that I have been reading are either extremely dull or in the case of the Scott Klusendorf book, it has things that are memorable, but it all runs together and references things that were earlier in the book. So am I supposed to type out the entire book??? Anyway, as a substitute, I am going to choose some amazing quotes that I find online.

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Charles Darwin 


All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 


Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha 


He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche 


All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.
Jack Kerouac 


All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
T. E. Lawrence 


All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney 


Alright, I think that that is enough.

PSAT day

So I know for a fact there are some seniors in my etymology class that may or may not browse my blog (which is chill.) But I want to know is what seniors are doing on the PSAT day on October 12th. I am going on a college visit to DePauw University. I want to go there next year but it is $50,000 sticker price... and I have nowhere near enough money to pay that much for college. (1 year at DePauw is the equivalent of 7-8 semesters at IPFW!!!) By going to DePauw at the sticker price, I will be paying for college 4 times! Not to mention I want to be a lawyer and I will have to pay for law school. However, one of the really great things that I can say about going to DePauw is that their Alumni are very active in current students' lives. They can help you get into great schools or get you great jobs. I know that it isn't as much as what you know but instead who you know. DePauw can help me make those connections to become the politician that I can to be one day.

Currently

Last week: 100 pages
This week: 100 pages
This Semester: 977


I have decided that I should also post a song that I think is good every time I post. Therefore, my song for this post is.... Something to believe in by Poison.

Poetry

Alright, so another thing that has been bothering me when it comes to class discussions on poetry... As a amateur poet, I never put thought into what words I use so it can use alliteration or what ever or how the deviation from the set pattern (if I even have one)  is there on purpose.....




Well....



I have a secret for you....







I have never planned for these poetic elements. I have always just gone with the flow and expressed what I wanted to express. So I think we shouldn't put too much thought into poetry.....

Too Much Homework

Ok, so I know that most students complain about the amount of homework that they have to do, but I am serious. I have 5 academic classes and only one of them is AP. Just tomorrow, I have a worksheet packet due in Spanish 3 (BUSY WORK!!!! which I hate by the way), a math assignment (this usually takes me a minimum of a half hour), a bunch of grammar things to do for Composition (again..... BUSYWORK!!!!), and a We the People essay due tomorrow. Ughhh.... plus I try to do something good and teach children how to read and how am I repaid???? LOTS OF HOMEWORK...... MOST OF IT BEING BUSYWORK!!!!! Not to mention the bills were finally posted for the debate meet on the 8th and I have no idea what they are about or what they are doing so how am I supposed to teach new congressional debate kids what to do when I do not even know what to do???? I know I should probably be working on all this homework that I am complaining about instead of rambling on and on and on and








on





and





on






and





on about all of the homework that I have and instead use this time to work on it.

Stupid tv show!

So I just watched the second season finale of drop dead diva and basically to sum it up.... It was horrible! Jane is really deb in janes body and grason loved deb but Jane saw grason kissing her best friend Stacy and left for Italy with her boyfriend Owen and grason went after her but was too late to get on the plane!!! :(

Anyway, I did get 2 sentences from the episode using the word purview. :) it's kind of nice to watch tv and not be confused by their big elite words.

Currently

I have continued reading another 100 pages of Scott Klusendorf's The Case for Life. I am really enjoying this book. I would recommend it to anyone whether they are pro-life or pro-choice.

Anyway, I read 100 pages this week which makes my total for the semester at 877 pages and 3 complete books and 2 books that I have read 1/2 of.

I know the idea behind the whole book talks was that people don't always know what to read next. However, I personally have too many books to read. I need to finish the Morganville Vampire series, and the Evermore series. Not to mention the miscellaneous books that I find to read or the ones that I have to read because Taylor said to do so. Plus, I have an entire shelf on my bookshelf dedicated to "Books that I need to Read." Plus, the new House of Night book comes out soon and I want to read the books that I have been told that I am not allowed to read. These include: The Golden Compass, Lost Symbol, Angels and Demons, anything by Dan Brown. I wish that the only class I had all day everyday was a "Read good books" class.

analysis on books

So what I have read the last like 2 weeks for Etymology has been extremely boring. It really has nothing deep to talk about and analyze, which is why, I would rather use the words (three weeks worth) to describe what I have read in the book I began reading for week 4. Quotes for it will be up probably tomorrow, but I still have math homework to finish tonight, not to mention spanish homework and debate things I need to do to prepare for tomorrows meeting. Which, by the way, if anyone who reads this wants to join the team it is not too late and if you are unable to come tomorrow, let me know and I can get you the paperwork.

I would also like to point out that if homework was not hard enough to complete on its own with after school activities, it is even harder with a 10 month old chocolate lab puppy who is constantly chewing on things that she is not supposed to like napkins and trash and the counter and the chairs, etc. To make matters worse, she is constantly jumping up on the table and counters to get things off of there. My advice, do not get a puppy unless you can hire a full time puppy sitter that will live with you to watch her while you do important things like homework and such.

Disclaimer: what you are about to read is very heavily pro-life and comes from Scott Klusendorf's The Case for Life. If  you are not pro-life and do not wish to know this information, then stop reading now. If you are pro-life, I hope that this information will help you properly defend our stance

I had the opportunity to meet Scott Klusendorf over the summer. A little bit about him: He graduated from UCLA. He studied bio-ethics and Christian Apologetics at Biola University. He began his prolife work because he was an associate pastor who went to a prolife conference and there were 4 pastors versus the 100+ that would normally attend any other conference. He decided right then and there that he needed to do more to educate people about what abortion is and what it is doing to our nation. Although most of what I have read so far, I have read before in his book Pro-life 101 and learned at the summer camp that I went to over the summer. I also got the chance to meet Lila Rose, President of Live Action. She has gone to Planned Parenthoods across the nation to do undercover stings to expose the corruption within. I also had the chance to meet Paula Hughes because she came to declare her support for the camp that I went to

Anyway, Scott (I'm on a first name basis with him, so I will refer to him as such. I mean I spent an entire weekend with him.) claims that the unborn is human and provides arguments for any argument that a pro-life person might face. He claims that according to science, at the point of conception, the pre-born is no longer a gamete but instead a zygote that is a unique, whole, living human being. He also states that if we cannot prove yet that it is human that we should remain on the side of caution. He compares it to what we think could be a coat in the middle of the road or may be a homeless person. He says that people would swerve to not hit it just in case and that we should do the same for an unborn child. He also says that philosophically there is only 4 differences from the embryo that you were and the person you are today. These can be known from the acronym S.L.E.D. which stands for Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency. He says that if size were what defines a person, then a short person is less of a person than a tall person. He points to the fact that a toddler is nowhere near as developed as a teenager, but we don't go around killing toddlers because they are not as developed as other persons. When  you walk from one room to another, you do not turn into a dog. You are still human and you are still the same person that you were when you were in the other room. What is the difference from that to the 6-8 inches of the birth canal? Lastly, since when does dependency on another person make you less of a person? I still need my parents to pay for things, so does that mean I should die opposed to some college kid that can be completely independent?

One thing that I loved that he said was that you need to find common ground. Now I'm not sure if I would advise this, but it was funny and true. When someone says "I'm pro-choice" say "Really? Me too! I chose to wear this shirt. I chose to put my hair into a ponytail. However, I do not choose to kill unborn children."

I will now go through some of the common claims from pro-life.

The most common is that you will get people who will say "Why are you forcing your morality on me?" This is called relativism. There are 3 main problems with relativism. First and foremost, it is self refuting and commits intellectual suicide. Someone cannot say that you should not force your view upon others while they in that very act, are pressing their view that you should not force your view on others upon you.

http://d3eum8lucccgeh.cloudfront.net/designs/21120/BandPerry8x10.jpg

I'm writing this from my iPod because getting out my laptop and plugging it in is a lot of work and I am ready for bed! Therefore, I had to post the URL. Anyway, my observations are Kimberly perry's posture, the backround, and the outfit. Words to describe her posture: complacent, poised, and serious. Note that her arms are on her hips. The backround: simple, dull, and fake. Her outfit: flattering, modest, and fashionable.

Claim: The the simple backround and her fashionably flattering outfit helps to enhance her complacently poised posture.

New life decisions....

So I usually make important life decisions in the shower, but today I made not one but 2 while I was getting dressed. First of all, I decided that every day should be pajama day because then all I would have to do is roll out of bed, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and go and wait for the bus. Also, so many politicians focus on money for people... my platform will be based on the fact that everyone can wear pajamas to work every day. I think this will be a popular idea in America. I also decided that I should move to Tennessee because I hate natural disasters. Ideally, my dream place to live is someplace warm and without natural disasters, but I think I have to settle. Who has heard of a natural disaster in Tennessee???






Anybody????





Exactly!!!!

Quotes of the Week (all of them)

These are the quotes that I have from The Morganville Vampires: The Dead Girls' Dance

• In this quote, Michael is talking with Claire about what they are going to do to save Shane. "That's the only reason I'm letting you go. If I had any other choice-" "You do," she said. "We can all sit here and let him die. Or you can let Eve go on her wild rescue mission and get herself killed. Or you can let sweet , calm, reasonable Claire go do some talking." ... "Guess that means that there's no choice," he said. "Not really," Claire agreed. "I was kind of lying about the choice thing."

• In this quote, Claire is saying why she is going to go talk to the top two vampires in the town. "Oh I am mousy," she said. "All this scares me. But I don't know what else to do, sir, except try. Even a mouse bites."

• I love quotes that speak in third person... "Claire," Claire said, "decides for herself. In case you forgot." "Claire doesn't decide when it's something like this, because Claire is sixteen and Michael soesn't want to be explaining her tragic accidental death to her parents."

The next set of quotes come from The Morganville Vampires Midnight Alley.

• Michael is a newly formed vampire. Need I say more? "He hadn't forgotten the arsenal of stakes and crosses that Eve kept hidden in her room. In the old days, that had seemed like good sense, living in Morganville. Now, it seemed like a recipe for domestic violence."

• Claire is describing how it looked with her enemy Monica Morell standing on her doorstep. "It was like seeing Barbie and her friends, blown up life-sized and dressed like Old Navy mannequins. Tanned, toned, and perfect, from lip gloss to toenail polish."

The next set of quotes is from The Morganville Vampires Feast of Fools.

• Claire is upset that Shane has to go to this vampire ball with this super pretty vampire that has the power to control him. "It was her turn to throw a fit, slam a door, and sulk, and darn it, she was going to do it well."

• Eve just found out that Michael, her vampire boyfriend, invited Monica to the vampire ball. "I'm going to kill him, "Eve said, or at least that was what it sounded like filtered through the pillow. "Stake him right in the heart, shove garlic up his butt, and--and--" ... "When did you get home?" Claire demanded. "Apparently just in time to hear my funeral plans. I especially like the garlic up the butt. It's... different."

• Claire and Shane went out on a real date and they see a jukebox. "That's the biggest iPod I've ever seen," Claire said. "Kidding. I have seen a jukebox before."

• This is a conversation between Richard Morell, Monica's brother, and Claire. "What do you want, Richard?" "Good question," Richard said. "I guess I want a nice girl who can cook, likes action movies, and looks good in short skirts. But I'll settle for you taking the chain off the door and letting me in."

• Myrnin, this crazy vampire that Claire has to work with to find a cure for the vampires says a few nonsense expressions that I absolutely loved. "libitor frenzy" "Claire, iguana time." This one is the best. In fact, I think that I will go around saying it now. "I feel acting."

• Claire also thinks something completely obvious that I think is very satirical. "Neurological complications, of course, he did carve out part of his brain. That could have done some damage."

• "Breathe," Myrnin said. "I'm not much for it myself, but I hear it's quite good for humans."

• "I'm thinking we have about fifteen vampires and no blood," Claire said. "Is that it?" "No, I was thinking we're out of chips . Of course that was what I was thinking," said Shane.

• Claire previously thought that crosses repelled vampires. "Crosses don't work," he said. "We all pretend they do, but they don't."

The next set of quotes comes from The Morganville Vampires Lord of Misrule.

• This statement is sooooo true! Claire: "I think I need guy CliffsNotes." Eve: "Guys aren't deep enough to need CliffsNotes."

• Claire is describing how the police in Morgansville have unusual equipment. Claire thinks, "Maybe instead of pepper spray, they have garlic spray." 

• Amelie is leading Claire to Mrynin and Claire has no idea which hallway is which and she thinks, "Maybe we should drop crumbs. Or M&Ms. Or blood."

Alright, that is it for now, I have some things that I have been working on other than this. Like we have our second Debate meeting Wednesday and an officers meeting on Monday. I am working on a newsletter and a calender among some other handouts. I am kind of stressing because I will have like 2 weeks to teach the new Congressional Debate students everything they need to know before they compete at their first meet on October 8th. I mean I there's how to read the legislation, how to write a speech, what parliamentary procedure is and how to follow it, and I want to also run a mock with them so they can see for themselves what it is like. Not to mention working on speaking skills and basic research skills. Talk about enough to drive a girl crazy! At least I won't have a We the People essay due this week. Anyway, I want to finish up the handouts and all tonight before I go to bed, since tomorrow I will be working on homework, which also means posting more on here because I am very far behind. Like 3 weeks worth. I guess I just don't have enough hours in my day. I also promise to appreciate the next teacher that makes a newsletter because a lot of work goes into it!!!

Currenty

Last week: (because I was sick) 150
This week: 100

Personality Test

I just got around to taking the Personality Test from the first Friday that we spent on our blogs. My results were as follows:

Your Type is ENFJ

Extraverted	Intuitive	Feeling	Judging
Strength of the preferences %
22	38	75	44

You are:

• slightly expressed extravert
• moderately expressed intuitive personality
• distinctively expressed feeling personality
• moderately expressed judging personality

I think that this true as to who I am. I only slightly judge people. However, I am very sensitive to the feelings of others. I disagree with the only moderate intuitive though. I tend to be very intuitive. I like being around people and socializing, but I value the time that I can spend to myself  and use to do the things I value and enjoy.





Even more than the other Idealists,Teachers have a natural talent for leading students or trainees toward learning, or as Idealists like to think of it, they are capable of calling forth each learner's potentials. Teachers (around two percent of the population) are able - effortlessly, it seems, and almost endlessly-to dream up fascinating learning activities for their students to engage in. In some Teachers, this ability to fire the imagination can amount to a kind of genius which other types find hard to emulate. But perhaps their greatest strength lies in their belief in their students. Teachers look for the best in their students, and communicate clearly that each one has untold potential, and this confidence can inspire their students to grow and develop more than they ever thought possible.
In whatever field they choose, Teachers consider people their highest priority, and they instinctively communicate personal concern and a willingness to become involved. Warmly outgoing, and perhaps the most expressive of all the types, Teachers are remarkably good with language, especially when communicating in speech, face to face. And they do not hesitate to speak out and let their feelings be known. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Teachers will voice their passions with dramatic flourish, and can, with practice, become charismatic public speakers. This verbal ability gives Teachers a good deal of influence in groups, and they are often asked to take a leadership role.

Teachers like things settled and organized, and will schedule their work hours and social engagements well ahead of time -- and they are absolutely trustworthy in honoring these commitments. Valuing as they do interpersonal cooperation and harmonious relations, Teachers are extraordinarily tolerant of others, are easy to get along with, and are usually popular wherever they are.
Teachers are highly sensitive to others, which is to say their intuition tends to be well developed. Certainly their insight into themselves and others is unparalleled. Without a doubt, they know what is going on inside themselves, and they can read other people with uncanny accuracy. Teachers also identify with others quite easily, and will actually find themselves picking up the characteristics, emotions, and beliefs of those around them. Because they slip almost unconsciously into other people's skin in this way, Teachers feel closely connected with those around them, and thus show a sincere interest in the joys and problems of their employees, colleagues, students, clients, and loved ones.

The funny thing is that many people have told me that I would make a great teacher..... yet I want to go into Law..... interesting.....

Ugh......

So I've been Laying in bed for an hour and a half and I can't sleep because I'm sick. I took a nap earlier today because I wasn't feeling well so that could be part of it but it's not that I'm not tired. I just can't sleep. I took some medicine so maybe that will help. Anybody else sick? I know it's going around. Although, I think mine is allergies because antihistimines have made me feel better all day. The constant bipolar weather doesn't make it any better for either. At least debate season hasn't started so I can feel free to stay home and not be letting the team down. I'm planning on coming to school tomorrow but we will have to see how I feel in the morning after I drink some hot chocolate and get dressed. Good night!

The Here and Now...... week 2

 This is the First Book...

 The Second...

The Third

 And the Fourth one!

This week I have been reading another Morganville Vampires book called Feast of Fools. This is the 4th book in the series. I constantly find myself hating and liking the book. I hate it because I do not like what Claire has to go to, but I like it because there is never a dull moment. I always want to know what is going to happen next. There are books in the series

This week: 170

Last week: 357

This semester: 527
 

Here we go...

Alright so this week has been crazy, I had a math test Wednesday alongside a quiz in Spanish. Yesterday, I had a massive AP Gov./ We The People test (which in that class you basically have 6 tests, 6 essays, and the 2 competitions and that is your entire grade for the class) and the weekly Etymology quiz. Today, I had yet another Spanish quiz and one of the Essays for We The People due. (Not to mention the other assignments that were also due but are not nearly as major.) The point being that with all of this homework, I have been neglecting and procrastinating on my blog. I am going to try to post a thought-provoking analysis of some aspect of my current reading today in Etymology, but I will also have to work on it over the weekend to catch up on my posts. Also, this means that instead of having 2 posts for the sentences of the week (which I had difficulties posting them earlier this week for last week and lost my work), I will be posting them this week in one large post that will contain like 8 or more quotes.

P.S. As it turns out, this was one of the posts that Blogger would not post but it did save this one for me.

Issues with Blogger

I have tried to post twice this week and have been unable to because I type out the post and then it does not auto-save, save, or post. I am now typing them out in word and then copying and pasting them into blogger, so if I loose it, I can get it back. I wonder though, has anybody else had the same problem?

Also, I've had a lot of homework this week and I am looking forward to a long weekend with relaxation and working ahead on what I can for my classes.

Technical Difficulties

So I went to type out all 5 of the amazing quotes that I had for last week, despite it being late. It did not save the draft automatically, or manually and I went to hit "publish post" and it said an error had occurred.  Ugh! I am going to bed and I will try to type these out again sometime tomorrow.

The Here and Now!

This week, I have read a book and a half! They are The Dead Girls' Dance and Midnight Alley both by Rachel Caine.


This week: 357
This Semester: 357

Morganville Vampires Book 3 Midnight Alley

This time Claire is faced with whether or not she should save those who are her enemies. She chooses to work on a dangerous project with a sick vampire. She discovers that there is a plague facing the vampire race which could kill all vampires in 10 years. It has made it where the vampires are unable to "reproduce" by creating other humans into new vampires. To be honest, Claire struggled with this decision, and I feel that I would also struggle. In one sense, it would make humans the top predators again, (not to mention kill off the vampires that are big jerks!) but it would also kill off the vampires she has made as friends such as: Amelie, who as the top vampire continues to protect Claire, Sam, who is her roommate's grandfather and has more in common with humans than vampires, and Michael, who is her roommate (also Sam's grandson--I know weird right?) and friend. I would like to think that I would choose as Claire did, which is to work with a sick vampire to try to find a cure for the vampires. The question that arises from this is: can you kill off an entire race or species due to the fact that some in it is bad. For example, can you kill all dogs because Pit Bulls have attacked people? Can you kill all Pit Bulls for that matter? What about the ways people can be classified? Can you kill off people based on age, race, gender, beliefs, abilities, hair color, eye color, or height? The answer is absolutely not because when it comes to people, they exist on a spectrum. Not everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes. The even bigger question that all of these lead to is: what makes a person a person. Is it their DNA, their abilities, their development. To sum up why those arbitrary things do not explain it, Abraham Lincoln once said:

"If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B.—why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A?—
You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest; you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you."

This is important because it shows that there is not a single thing that makes a person a person or more or less of a person.

Morganville Vampires Book 2 The Dead Girls' Dance

Right now, the main character is going to many lengths to save her boyfriend. She's upset two of the most powerful vampires, she threatened the mayor, she ran into a burning building to save Monica (who was held hostage by her boyfriend's dad to save Shane [her boyfriend]), and she almost was electrocuted by pulling out wires from a bomb to blow up an abandoned hospital. Reading really amazes me because you see unconditional love where someone will go to any length to protect them from harm. I cannot help but wonder if love like that truly exists, or if it is something made up by authors and directors and is only meant for novels and movies. If it doesn't exist, then maybe we should learn something from Claire and her love for Shane. Maybe we should love one another to that depth. Maybe then the world would be a better place. Think about it! Love would end hunger, war, and poverty, which ultimately leads to most of the problems in today's world.

First Post!

I'm so glad to finally have this up and running so now I blog about all of the amazing books that I read and how they relate to life. Happy reading! :D