My poem of Animal Farm...

There once was a pig
They called him Snowball.
He was a great leader
Indeed; he led all

Snowball was vivacious,
quick in his speech.
He made seven commandments
For that he must teach.

But suddenly Mr. Jones
appeared with some men.
They fought with the animals
But soon came to an end.

Snowball fought bravely and was
Injured in war.
But that didn't matter
Victory was what they wore.

He never held back
When he ran at Mr. Jones.
Snowball was bravest
And he made no moans.

So next time when
You start to put up a mess.
Remember brave Snowball
And try to do your best.

Mockingbird Motif

When I was doing the summer reading assignment for Honors English, I had no idea what the word motif even meant. And starting Honors English was the hardest thing to do because I didn't understand any of those big meaningful words. We moved on so quickly and I knew I was getting left behind in the gigantic, smart-word, dictionary dust the rest of the class left for me, to choke on and slowly fade away to nothing under their feet. So as I'm the turtle in this 1000 meters/second, Mrs. Gilman announces to the class that we are starting a new book. Oh great! Just the thing I had been hoping for, right? WRONG! Just more motif and tone stuff to deal with! But I was very surprised when I actually could annotate the book! Doesn't mean I did well, but how awesome is that! So trying to not get off topic, I am getting to my point in this paragraph. After I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I finally could understand in depth of the great wonders of motif!
After Linnaea told me what the mokingbird meant, I finally got it! The mokingbird is a symbol for an innocent person. And it's a sin to kill a innocent person. Now dont think that means just physically and you can go killing people's feelings like crazy, it means if you harm an innocent person in any way, it is a sin. And karma's going come back and hit you right in the backside for your wrongdoing (Wow! Big word!)!

Life Lessons

My mother always is giving me helpful advice that has meaning behind it. But the one piece of advice she always told me was to "follow through". When I make a committment, she tells me I can never give up. And sometimes that can be really hard when you are trying new things and you find that some things are not your best taste of interest. But what mother says goes, and I have to endure something boring, horrifying, or painful for a long time.
Last year i played basketball for Reeves (worst thing Ive ever done). I hated it from the moment I started to the moment it ended. The one thing I truly hate about sports is all the jocks who act as if they are better than everyone else and exclude the ones who suck(me). But my mom (the coach) would not let me quit because of her little rule. So, for the whole basketball season, I was the outcast of the team. But Ive had some good experiences with my mom's advice too. When I was in fourth grade, I enrolled in a summer play at Capital Playhouse. I remember the director being really mean and always yelling at me if I did something wrong. I was innocent and young! I didnt know what I was doing! But anyway, you can imagine what my mom said to me when I told her I wanted to quit. She said "follow through because you made a committment and you need to keep it". So I kept acting at Capital Playhouse and got to meet other directors in plays. And that has made me the actor, singer, and dancer I am today (which I HOPE is a good thing!).

My best friend

My best friend is Mo. Mo has darkish brown hair that reaches to about her shoulder. People always laugh when they hear Mo make a joke. She always has a mirror with her and sometimes she brings her brush if her hair is really messed up one day. She has been wearing braces since elemntary school and has even worn head gear in fifth grade. She plays the piano and likes to talk about guys a lot (I normally just sit out on those occasions). Mo can never be alone and she always tells secrets to her closest friends about her updated relationship status because she can't ever keep it in.
Mo might seem like an egoist at times, but she truly is an extrovert. She is very creative and uses new ideas every day. Mo always has a way to keep smiling through the day and always loves to make you giggle from the inside out. She is always out going and tries to think of a positive solution to a problem. She loves to create new songs on the piano and put them on Youtube. She always has a friend to talk to and really wants her opinion of a person understood by a close friend so that they are on the same page

My Early Memories

I've had many memories. Some good, some bad. The one I truly remember is of my friend, Derik. Derik was one year older than me, and he was like the bigger brother I never had. I looked up to him. He was my role-model. And I wanted to be exactly like him. And I remember the last time I ever saw him. The last time we ever spoke to each other. Before the accident that ended Derik's life.



My family was on the move to our house on Littlerock Road. We had stayed in a rental house for two years while the house was being built. And of course, my mom needed more help loading boxes than just me and my sister, so she asked her friend Doug if he could help us move. When Doug got there, he had brought his son, Derik, with him. So Derik, my sister, and I, went to play on the gigantic tree that stood in the backyard.



I had brought my neopet from Mcdonalds to the backyard so I could show Derik. I wanted him to be amazed. Instead, Derik and my sister started playing monkey in the middle with the neopet, on the tree. With me in the middle. On the ground. So of course I got upset and started wailing. So, Derik gave me my neopet, and left me alone.



Now, don't think that Derik was a bad guy. He wasn't. He was the coolest, nicest, guy in the world. And I never gave any thought I would have lost him forever.



When Derik and Doug left the house, I sat in my new room and was so mad at Derik and myself. But the days passed on and I healed up quickly like I always do. And one day, in the middle of August, my sister and I were riding our bicycles around the neighborhood. When we got back home, my mom was sitting on the front porch with her cell phone in her hand. She told us to come and she, slowly but painfully, told us the bad news.

Derik died from a quad accident. He was riding quads with his dad and they were having lots of fun. Derik decided he wanted to go off a ramp with his quad, and Doug told him not to go to fast. Then Derik rode of the ramp, trying to go the speed his dad intended, but failed severly. Derik and the quad flipped and the quad landed right on top of Derik. Doug quickly went to see if Derik was okay, but Derik was gasping for air. Doug put Derik in the back of his truck and called the ambulance while trying to comfort Derik. Then, slowly, Derik died.

Now some people might think this story is balony. Some people might think it's too sad too be true. But believe me, it happens. So hold on close to the ones you love. Hold on as tightly as possible and never, ever, let go. Because when I heard those painful words, I felt that life was NOTHING. And now, even though tears swell up in my eyes every time, I think about Derik every day. I never want to forget Derik. But even now the memories are fading away from my head. But I will always have Derik in my heart.

Dracula: Motif...

Well, the motif really stood out more than anything in the book. At first, it was, of course, word choice, but then, AHA! It hit me! I finally realized that the motif is... blood! There is ssssoooo much blood in this book! Not like gory stuff or anything, but just blood. The author uses the motif the most because it sets the tone for the story. I mean, who doesn't think that blood has a dark, somber tone to it?

Another reason the author uses the motif a lot because, well, where would vampires be without blood? Blood is part of the theme! It is where the whole plot is based off of! I mean, how would vampires exist without blood? The whole story would be nothing without blood!

Outside Reading

When I was listening to presentaions of the books people read over the summer, I was most intrigued by Ahlora. I love adventrous, exiciting books and I think vampires would be great to read about for our english class. but again, "Don't judge a book by it's cover!" When I first started reading Dracula, it immediately grabbed my attention. It seemed a little spooky and mysterious. But with all those huge words and that sky high diction, it immediately made me want to throw the book across the room. But I tried to skim over the pages picking out the juicy parts of the story. Finally, I got to the good parts where the narrator meets Dracula and when Harker discovers Dracula's unusual diet and his out of the ordinary daily "naps". But now since I've gone past that part in the book, I've discovered a vast, space of boring. I'm stiil trying to push through the book.

I'm very unsure of the literary elements in Dracula...

I would think that Dracula is somber. It just has a dark feeling to it. I mean, vampires have a dark, evil thing about them that by thinking about them is probably going to give nightmares tonight. And I think it will probably stay the somber for the rest of the book (I read the thing on the back).

Writing about Reading

Sometimes I read books just because they're short! Usually, if I have to read a book for the following day, I just read a short story so I can finish the assingment. But sometimes that's not the best idea. Usually the book is sssoooo boring, most of the time because it is short. So, what I usually do when the first chapter is hard to follow is I skim. I just read like a couple sentences of each paragraph and look for the good parts. Sometimes i might miss an important detail or two. Like when I read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer(which is amazing!), I started skimming for a few paragraphs. But then I missed one of the best parts of the book when Edward makes a dent in the car! And it totally ruined the moment...

Have you ever been in a situation where you have the most powerful, amazing, wondrous book in your hands and you are longing to read it but you can't because the annoying pest you call your sister is bugging you an bugging you untill you explode? Trust me, it happens to me ALL the time! So what I usually do when that happens is I sit in a relaxing pose and I go into a soothing state of mind where all distrations can't get into my head. I just ignore those distractions, but its kind of more complexed than that. I close my eyes, hum a little, then enter the world of my book.

Now I bet that 97% of all the people in the world would rather read fiction than non-fiction. The world you live in is just too boring to read about. Wouldn't you rather explore new worlds, go on adventures, and meet much more exciting people? Non-fiction books just give you more detail about the boring things around you, while fiction takes you out of this world! Now who wouldn't want to read fiction?