Time

1 hour reading

Best part

As days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and years, everyone eventually forgets to think about why they're happy, or what is good about they're life. I personally have had trouble in the past seeing that, but its obvious now, in ninth grade, that there is a lot of positivity in my life. I wake up in a warm bed and every morning eat breakfast. I have everything to be thankful for. But what in my life isn't as painfully obvious as my house, or the food I eat.

I thought about it for a while. I wake up with music in my ears and a song in my head. I look out the window in the car with the knowledge that whatever happens today, I will still have tomorrow. I sit in class with comfort in knowing that there are friends all around me. I walk to chapel or the VPAC with a smile on my face, even if I'm not with a huge group of friends I don't let that bother me. I know that to be happy I shouldn't worry about what people think about me, I should worry about whether or not I'm spending my life making myself happy. To sum it all up, I think the best part of my life is that I'm able to have positivity, because even the richest person can be the saddest.

Writing center

My visit to the writing center was actually very helpful. I went expecting to just be told I was wrong and my paper was horrible, but the entire thing was so positive. I made an appt with Christine Phan, we started with me reading my paper so I would notice any grammatical mistakes. Throughout the appt she would always remember to compliment me on my paper. I never felt like I was just being yelled at and told I was wrong, I felt like I was finally being taken seriously as a writer.

The overall experience was excellent and I will definitely return next semester for any papers I have then. I would encourage everyone to go if they are ever unsure about a paper.

College

I knew that when I started high school I would make older friends, but I honestly never anticipated having friends that were 2-4 years older than me. The fact they are older has never bothered me - my sister is my best friend who is six years older, so I'm used to it - but now that graduation is rolling around and everyone is talking about where they're moving to, I'm getting scared. I would rather not lose these amazing people right after I met them.

That's the problem with high school, you meet amazing people who change your life, but depending on their age, they could be gone right after you arrive. It scares me to imagine some of my best friends in college, because to me they aren't adults just yet, they're still kids who aren't ready to be given to the world of taxes and mortgages just yet. My biggest fear is that once they experience the amazing world out there, they'll forget all about me who's still stuck in high school.

2 hours
LOTF

LOTF reflection

So far the book is very good. I enjoy the detailed physical descriptions of the island, and all of the social controversy that is subtly going on in the boys lives. I have a few problems though. The book can be hard to understand at points because of the way it's written. There it a lot of British slang, and war references that would be a lot easier to understand if I was born at the time.

I am glad my topic to focus on is evil, because from what I've heard and seen, there is a lot of evil that becomes ever present in the boys now that they are on the island. It made me wonder what I would be like on an island like that. We all have our own views, and everyone has their different ways of expressing the, but in a situation like this would the darkness in everyone come out? Would I become a wild animal?  It is rather strange to see how quickly people change in situations where danger is the reality. I do wish we would be able to see what the boys were like before all of this, to get a better view on how much they changed when they became stranded on the island.

Simulation

The desert island simulation went fairly well for my class. We all started off yelling at each other, of course, but over the course of a few minutes someone came up with an idea. The talking fork, which was a fork and whoever was holding it was the only one who could talk. Then we established jobs, and leaders. I considered starting my own group at first. I knew that if we didn't organize all the chaos we wouldn't last long, but surprisingly it worked out very well.

I think our class would last a long while on a desert island. We were organized and made sure everyone had a chance to speak. But honestly after reading a bit of the book, I think now if our class was on an island like that I would go on my own. In extreme conditions like that, people become someone they're not, I'd rather not deal with that..

1 hour
Blogs

Reading

Perks of being a wallflower
1 hour