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

Friendship

This year, I've come to a new realization. Friends aren't what I thought they were, at least my idea of friendship was a bit warped. High school is a place where we're finally aloud to be ourselves, because unlike middle school, we're not all mushed together in a glob of angry 12 year old's who are being forced to be friendly to each other. Middle school just seemed like a failed attempt at getting us kids to bond during the most hormonal part of our lives. Everyone was changing into an adult and no one really knew what to do about it, we had no breathing room. Which in turn made my middle school something I'd rather forget. I had been floating around in that mass our 12 year old's with no goal, no meaning and no real friends. Until 8th grade I didn't have a problem with that, but then when we received a fresh batch of personalities from all over the country. This introduced me to so many new things I was a bit overwhelmed, I tried to force my way into anyone's live who I thought what cool. Not the best idea.

This year everything was different, instead of having a set of rules I had to follow and being an arms length from every student in my grade 24/7, I had time to myself. It was amazing. I took this chance to meet new people, like upperclassmen and the new kids in our grade. I walked around seeing people laughing at other peoples jokes and just the general feeling of acceptance. I saw friends walking around talking and just enjoying each others company. Before friendship for me was always so forced and dramatic, but these people seemed to be so carefree. Popular people were hanging with "nerds" and everyone seemed out of place. I realized something then. Friendship isn't something you force yourself into with an interesting person, its not something that you should be afraid of breaking because its so fragile. Friendship is a bond between people that is created when you show another person who you really are, and they love it, they don't judge your weirdness, or act different in front of people who they think are cooler than you. It's something you would do anything for, no matter who it was. I realized that it wasn't based off of "social classes" it was based off love, if you love someone for who they are, be their friend. Who cares if they don't dress like someone in vogue, or listen to bad music, if they make you happy then who cares what anyone else thinks. 

Response

The story "Sucker" is very interesting. It's about a 16 year old boy in what seems to be a dystopian setting, and his relationship with his younger cousin, Sucker. I say this story is in a dystopian setting because of how much they talk about buying cigarettes, and everyone who does buy them is way to young to be able too. Other rules or social norms bring up evidence that this is a dystopian story too but the cigarettes are what really caught my attention. My first time reading this story, and the other stories, I noticed that once you really pay close attention to every word the author wrote, you see how much symbolism there really is.

In sucker I feel the symbolism is in the two boys and their personality changes. At the begging sucker is an innocent 12 year old who idolizes the main character, Pete. Throughout the story their relationship changes A LOT. During the time that Pete is dating his crush the two boys relationship is close and loving, when before it was timid and rather tense. At the end of the story after Pete was broken up with and went through pain, he yells at Sucker, and then Sucker hates Pete. Pete feels sorry for what he said to Sucker. I feel that this relationship symbolizes that of a boy and his inner consciousness. When growing up your child self (Sucker) is very open to accepting new information from the outside world (Pete). As time grows on and you find, lets say a love interest, the whole world seems so happy and wonderful, just like Pete and Suckers relationship. When you experience some sort of pain, you shut everything out, and realize that the world isn't as pretty as you thought it was. I think near the end of the story Sucker symbolizes ones true self after being exposed to what the world has to offer, which in turn makes him angry, and possibly violent.

Reading:

Looking for alaska - 2 hours

Reading

Glass castle - 1 hour

Looking for Alaska - 20 min