High School Senior Predictions

I would have to say that the senior that is most comparable to my aspirations would be the architect-Nathan Rebelo. Him and I although have different majors planned I think that we both have similar life plans. I do have a plan of the college I want to go to and I also have a back-up plan like him if it all doesn't work out. I loved how he said that he wants to be an architect because he is leaving pieces of himself around the city and is able to show people his accomplishments in large. The person that I found most diluted was the actress- Shauana Casale. I think that she has some pretty high aspirations and she doesn't have any real concrete plans for her future, like a college or anything for theater arts. Also, on a personal opinion, I did not like her impersonation of Clarise on Silence of the Lams, I thought it was a little flat and unemotional. Also, the person that I found the most interesting was the Hair and Make-up artist- Raquel Renolds. I think that she was very nice and she fits the mold of a hair and make-up stylist too. It's also really cool that shes following in her Grandma's footsteps. I found it interesting that she doesn't have a lot of self-confidence and that she feels that she isn't pretty because I think she really is. Where I see myself in the future.. I really love the field of psychology and I'm really interested in art so I am thinking about going into the field of art therapy. I have a few schools that I have in mind at the moment, I'm just working on getting my test scores up so I can apply. I think it will be a good stable job that I will love and not get bored with.

1000 Awesome Things

In reading 1000 awesome things I decided to list my favorite 10 awesome things that I read:
1. #283 Eating the thing your cooking while your cooking it
2. #286 Seeing a dog chasing its own tail
3.#291 Forgetting you ordered something online then having it randomly show up on your doorstep
4. #295 Location based snacks
5. #296 Making a baby laugh
6. #303 All of the food that comes out of a pig
7. #306 Wearing pajamas outside of the house
8. #311 Finding out what song is in that commercial
9. #313 Showing old people how to do something on a computer
10. #324 Laughing at a stranger with another stranger

Favorite Poem of the Quarter

Over all of the poems we have read over the quarter, I really enjoyed listening to "Here, Bullet". I love the way Turner uses such vivid imagry and parallels the shot of a gun to the insides of someones body. It almost alludes to the soldier and how he is sacraficing himself to the bullet. Offereing himself to the bullet. I love the way when you read the poem the images that enter you mind and the way Turner goes around his words. "Here, Bullet" really captures the soldiers mind in wartime.

Listen to them all day everyday

Columbine: Chapter Six

In chapter six "His Future", it talks about Dylan's prom experience, he takes his date Robyn and treats her so nicely. Everyone in the group accounts Dylan for being cheerful, nice and playful. He event talked about his future, going to Arizona with a friend who was going for Florida and also staying in touch with each other because they were all too good of a group of friends to let it go.

This chapter also talks about Eric's prom experience, although he did not go to prom he had his love interest, Susan over to hang out at his house and watch a few movies. From the books account Eric seemed cheerful and nice and even pecked Susan on the cheek when she left his house that night.

It also talked about after prom, where the adults held a function in the gym. It was a New York, New York themed gambling idea. Where all of the students went and gambled with fake money. The whole prom group went although they said the boys and girls mostly separated at the time and Eric joined the after prom group.

Reading about how both boys dealt with prom and how cheerful they were right before Tuesday seems really odd. I cant wait to read the rest of the book finding out about why the boys were so casual just days before they had planned to massacre the very school they had enjoyed many memories in and people that they shared the memories with.

Andy Warhol genius

I love his work. Although this is not one of his more common pieces, I love his use of colors.

Country Boys

This film centers around two boys Cody and Chris, who live in an abandoned coal town. For living in this poverty stricken town these boys acquire a stereotype of being ignorant rednecks. Both boys go to an alternate school called, David School, and they both are also not sure which grade they are in because of their lack of determination to study hard and because of family influences. Comparing the diction of the two boys, Cody and Chris are in some ways similar but also some way different. Cody expresses himself in a multitude of ways. One way is how he dresses, he dresses more gothic-ish: painting his nails black, spiking his hair, and the types of songs he sings. Also, when he speaks he is more articulate than Chris. Cody is also more socially aware, he has a girlfriend and has a firm idea of the way he wants to be seen.Chris is the opposite, he speaks rather slowly and he doesn't have as wide of a vocabulary as Chris does. His teachers tell him that he had the IQ of a seventh grader. Both boys besides their educational standing, have hard home lives as well. The majority of Cody' family is dead and Chris's family has to deal with his alcoholic father. Even though the boys are not mentally smart they have been through much more than most people could handle, therefore they are able to take care of themselves and they are emotionally smart.

Columbine: Chapter Five

In chapter five "Two Columbines" it talks about Dave Sanders the business teacher and girls basketball coach. He is described as hard nosed, strict but overall a nice guy. He is also famous for "his look" which can get students to stop talking in an instant. He also devotes his life to the girls basketball team and how much he cares about the girls. The chapter also reveals a bit about his personal life, how he was divorced because his wife claimed she was "married to herself" and was never home. He also got married again to Linda Lou who had two kids and so he had three kids including the one from his first marriage, he adopted the second two and really created the whole image of a family.

In the second part of the chapter it talks about prom. Where a boy named patrick contemplates his dates and contemplates his crush Laura. But she gets asked before he gets the chance. However at the dance they share a slow dance together, both of their favorite memory of prom. It also talks about a girl, Cassie Barnell, a girl who didn't get asked to prom but then went to all of the afterparties.

Reading this chapter I think about why the author is choosing to describe these characters.

Self Explanatory

Ah, Guster

I strongly recommend you give them a listen.

Columbine: Chapter Four

In chapter four "Rock 'n' Bowl" it talks about the boys plans for Tuesday versus Mr. D's plans. How Dylan and Eric had planned to kill themselves after the shootings and that the coming weekend they still had to straighten out some of the plans that they had going on including getting all of the ammo and for Eric, getting a date to the prom. They also talk about their jobs, Eric works for a local blackjack gig, and although he said he hated it, it helped him pay for the majority of the things for the heinous crimes on the coming Tuesday. It helped them to buy bomb production, weapons and napalm experiments.

Also Eric makes plans to go with a girl to prom, Susan, a sweet nice girl. She also gives Eric one of her fathers hunting guns because Eric claims to have no guns for his hunting trip the coming weekend.

This was an extremely short chapter however it was interesting in seeing Eric manipulative skills for guns and Dylan's money usage. Reading this makes the shootings all too real. I am looking foreword to reading more on the boys.

Columbine: Chapter Three

In chapter three "Springtime", it talks about the way that the school looks. Up by the rockies in a small valley surrounded by lush green. It was spring so everything around the school is starting to bloom and along with spring was coming senioritis. It talks about columbines lunch system and how they have an open campus and how the boys would pack one of their cars with a slew of boys and then went to a fast food restaurant. Mr. D in this chapter talks about his love for running lunch duty, where he gets to talk to all of the students and he enjoys conversing with all of the students. Unlike many of the teachers who don't necessarily love lunch duty and make fun of Mr. D for liking it.

Also, this chapter talks about how there has been school shootings for the past, and that society had hoped that there would not be another high school shooting for a while. However, everyone all over the United States were wondering when the next outcast would strike.

Although this chapter was smaller than the others it still revealed a lot of information about the boys and Columbine high school in general. Also leaving a little foreshadowing in the end.

Columbine: Chapter Two

In chapter two, "Rebels" it describes the two boys Eric and Dylan. The two boys who committed the shootings. Cullen describes the boys fairly normally, they had friends, dates and didn't seem too aggressive. Eric was the the brain of the two and he smoked, drank and got with girls. He was cool and had lots of friends. He was a ladies man and although he did make really good grades and studied hard. Dylan was a lot like Eric, however he was also very different. Dylan was self-concious and noticeable less attractive than Eric. However Dylan was a lot smarter than Eric he still looked to Eric for approval on everything that he did. Dylan looked up to Eric and was a follower of him, even though they were in the same friend group. The book also talks about how prom was nearing and ironically Eric was the one without the date, he had put all his time and effort into getting Dylan a date.

The book also talks about how the two boys speak to each other. Eric leads the conversations, the more social one while Dylan is more taken back and withdrawn but he still enjoys in interesting conversation.

Listening to the descriptions of the boys really interests me, it really surprises me that they did that because the author describes them fairly normally. It is really interesting to read about how they were and the way they interacted with each other and others. I'm looking foreword to getting past the descriptive stuff in the book and really looking into the events that occurred on that sorrowful day.

Tatttooos

When I am older I am really looking foreword to getting a tattoo on my foot. But I want it done well, I could not go to some hole-in-the-wall tattoo parlor to get something on my body that is permanent. Corey is a professional tattoo artist at LA Ink and if I ever do get a tattoo it will be from him.

Columbine Chapter One

In the first chapter Mr.D Dave Cullen talks about Mr. D the principal that all of the kids that go to Columbine actually like. Compared to the way students normally treat authority, they actually listened and cared about what Mr. D had to say. A a pep rally before the students prom that day he tells all of the students how important each one of them are to him. He also gives the usual lecture about no drinking and driving on prom and remembering to be safe. But unlike all of the principals, what makes him different, is the way he opens up to his students, involving them all in his speeches and the way he gets so emotional, almost crying to his students.

Also, in the end of the chapter, theres a sad note. It tells the reader about how Mr. D's students on Tuesday will be carried out in ambulances and taken to the hospital.

This book looks really interesting and the fact that it is non-fiction is what really draws me to it. I have always known the basic facts about Columbine but I really want to learn more about the topic. So far, its starting off pretty slow but I know that it will pick up.

Nostalgic Thoughts

Thinking about all of the different books that I was looking through on the website. It really brought up alot of my childhood memories and feelings when I was younger. Two books that really stood out to me was Where The Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon. My mom always used to read Goodnight Moon to me. In watching Where the Wild Things Are this weekend it really didn't pertain to the book at all, it gave alot more family information than in the book. Both of the covers were exactly how I remembered them when I was a child. Although, I didnt know that they were really that old of books. They are really timeless classics.

Spellbound

In the Spellbound movie, all of the players deal with stress and recieve stress in different ways. While watching the movie I started to really like Neil and April. Through the competition both of their families and themselves deal with the stress in completely opposite ways. April comes from a warm family where her mother who practices with her daily is very encouraging and just overall proud that she even won just the spelling bee at her school. Her parents are both very supportive and although April is very pessimistic about her spelling capabilities, both of her parents are confident in her. April throughout the entire Bee was very self concious and cynical, which was the opposite of her parents being very optomistic. However, in contrast Neil's family was very high stress, Neils father put alot of unneeded pressure on Neil to win the spelling bee. Neils father if Neil wins is feeding children in India, however if he does not win then the children do not get food. I think that Neils father should never have put that much pressure on him to win the Bee, it is unfair to Neil and all of the children he would be feeding. Neils father also, is very pushy, always making Neil practice leaving no time for Neil to even take a breath. Although Neils father is much harder on Neil than Aprils, he still expresses how proud he is of Neil, even though he adds alot of unneeded stress to their Bee enviornment. In the end, both of the contestents are eliminated, however, both of them take the news fairly well, both familys are very proud of them and in the end although they would have liked to win, it really didnt matter in the end because they did a tremendous job.

Identity

This movie is honestly one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. It really has a message that sticks with you. I cant really go into any detail without ruining the whole movie but I will say that you should watch it, it really is what you call one of those mind games movies. You really have to watch the movie in order to know whats going on.

The Last Song pgs. 72-79

In chapter eight, Ronnie, goes out to eat with her new friend Blaze. They sit and talk about Marcus and just life in general. Many of the things that they talk about are pretty intense and although they have different personalities Ronnie somehow thinks they are sort of similar in the way they both have a good sense of humor and they both dont have very good relationships with their Dad's.
One of the things that Blaze and Ronnie talk about is the worst thing that they have ever done. Blaze tells a story from her childhood where when she was little she and a boy named Billy hated their old mean neighbor and one day their neighbor had planted a bunch of pretty flowers but that same night Billy and Blaze went out and sprayed weed killer on all of the flowers. Blaze then said how her neighbor was outside all day trying to figure out what was wrong with the flowers but could never figure it out and eventually all of the flowers dies within the time of a week. Blaze then said that she didnt tell the neighbor ever that it was hers. When it is Ronnies time to tell her worst thing she begins with when she stole, but then she tells Blaze how she shoplifted twice and if she gets caught one more time that they will press charges but if she doesnt then the charges will be lifted and it will be taken off of her record.
After they are done having a few intense conversations, Marcus and a few of his friends sit down by Ronnie and Blaze but oddly enough Marcus chooses the seat by Ronnie instead of Blaze. While they are all sitting the boys start eating Blaze's food and she is being a complete pushover even allowing Marcus to embarass her and talk about extremely personal stuff at the table. Ronnie thinks it is really sad how she lets him treat her this way and Blaze reminds her of a good friend she has back at New York, Kayla.
In this chapter, I learned alot about Blaze and all of the things she has had to go through growing up, that she isnt just doing nothing with her life for no reason. I like how this chapter talks about the relationship between Marcus and Blaze and I see it slowly starting to fade and I fear that Marcus might try to pull something with Ronnie, which scares me. This was my favorite chapter so far.

The Last Song pgs 67-71

In chapter seven, Will, a very short chapter, it talks about the conversation between Scotty and Will talking about Ashley. Will does not like his ex girlfriend Ashley at all, he thinks she is shallow and closed minded. Although he thinks she is a very attractive looking person her personality ruins it all, he thinks that she is boreing and he concludes to Scotty that he is done with her and he wont even "hook-up" with her. Scotty on the otherhand really wants Will to get back together with Ashley, of course for his own benefit of getting with Ashleys friend Cassie who is as equally shallow minded as Ashley. When Will starts talking about Ronnie to Scotty he completely shuts him down calling her "Vampire Girl". But Will sees more than "Vampire Girl" he sees how she reacted in the fight being so nice and caring to the little boy who was hurt, he also notices how she is the complete opposite of Ashley. He describes Ashley as "putting people into boxes" otherwise being very judgemental and thinking back to Ronnie although he knows very little about her he knows that she does not "put people into boxes" that she is what he says "refreshing".
Will while thinking about Ronnie more and more finds it weird that he is considering he knows so little about her. However, he definately knows that he is not getting back together with Ashley so she is completely off of his radar. And in the end of the chapter he catches himself thinking about when is the next time or even if he will run into Ronnie again.
Although this chapter was very short it was actually very informational about Will. He described all of his feelings, it sort of reminded me of a soliloquy in a play where the character reveals there innermost thoughts without others around (besides Scotty in the beginning). I have started to notice the extreme cheesyness of this book, but I still really like it.

Speaking of....

All I have to say is ... Neat-o !!

The Shinning

This is my favorite movie of all time. I really love all of the camera angles in this movie as well. This movie is one of those horror movies that although they arent very gross or scary, it leaves a queeby feeling with you when your done watching it. Anyway, I love Jack Nicholson and this is the movie that got me started on all of the movies hes acted in. Ps- his wife in this movie.. looks like a horse

Kindle?

The Last Song pgs 58-67

In chapter six, Ronnie, get in a huge fight with her dad. Ronnies dad while she is out having fun running around the pier with her new found bad influence friends gets ambushed by officer Pete. Who goes up to Ronnie and tells her he is taking her home, however being stubborn of course Ronnie declines, only adding further complications until she finally lets him. Ronnie when she gets home explodes with fury, she yells and screams at her dad. Even at one point she tells her dad that she hates him, grabs a picture of her dad and her playing the piano and hurls it across the room hearing it shatter. Her father however, know exactly how to handle Ronnie, he simply says nothing but "I love you, your room is down the hall" rushing Ronnie with guilt for a few split seconds. Ronnie then goes back to being mad. Her dad was the only one out of both of the parents to actually enfore rules to Ronnie. She cannot just walk all over the dad like a doormat how she did with her mom. Ronnie soon realizes that he is going to enforce the rules however much she is going to rebel against them.
Also in this chapter Ronnie learns that not only is her room down the hall, but she has to share a room with her brother Jonah, every sisters worst nightmare. However, although she is seething with anger from her dads little stunt with the poliece she is still a somewhat sweet sister to Jonah. You can tell that DEEP DEEP down she does love Jonah and her father but for the moment showing that she loves them is the farthest thing she wants to do.
Although it is not something you want to read about your favorite character getting in a bad fight with her dad. It does show some interesting characteristics of the dad and how he sort of has the power to control Ronnie better than the mom did. I am enjoying the read so far and I am thinking that soon Ronnie and Will will encounter again - igniting their tension. (haha)

The Last Song pgs 44-59

In chapter five, Will, the boy who had basically trampled Ronnie in the third chapter. This chapter however does not describe Will as some arrogant bonehead who doesnt know anything and just relies on his looks. Will is more of a nice guy who is surrounded by arrogant people, especially his friend Scotty. Will also has alot of girl drama putting into consideration of his good looks. Will has an ex girlfriend Ashley who always trys to hangout with him but he is always making excuses not to. She is a mean and nasty girl, completely beautiful girl but she has an attitude problem. Scotty on the other hand thinks that she is a total catch and always tries to set Will and Ashley up again, of course to benefit his own needs by hanging out with one of her "hot friends". To Scottys dismay, Will always declines.
In another part of this chapter it talks more about the fire that Ronnies dad Steve was involved in. Although it is only a few short excerpts not fully giving away the answer, it is inferred that Scotty started the fire and that Will had witnessed it but not said anything. They allowed Steve to get the blame for everything and they hadnt said a word.
Also in this chapter it describes a fight on the boardwalk between Scotty and Marcus. Will is describing the fight, and just when it starts to get heated, "a familiar voice" he says comes in, which ends up being Ronnie. Breaking up the annoying boy ego fight and helping a small toddler who got knocked down in all of the commotion. Will in watching Ronnie do this, the reader can tell that he is very attracted to her as a person in her manerisms and the way that she had reacted in that situation, taking the boy back to his mother and treating the boy so nicely.
This chapter I thought was very interesting, Will seems to really already have and attraction to Ronnie although they have never even shared a maximum of 5 sentances between eachother. I really am enjoying this book and I am looking foreward to reading more.

Stuck in my Head!

No matter what I do I can't get these songs out of my head this week, these are really good songs but.. I mean come on! I've been singing them all week.

The Last Song pgs 39-44

In chapter four, Marcus, Ronnie describes a friend that she meets. He is a boy named Marcus, the boyfriend of Blaze a girl that Ronnie had met. Marcus is a jerk, Ronnie can already tell. By the way he treats Blaze and by the way he acts in general. Although he is a jerk, he has some pretty cool tricks up hiis sleve. Marcus and a few of his buddies street preform using fire balls. They take pieces of old cloth and soak them im a gasoline/fuel substance to keep them lit, then they use special gloves to handle the fireballs while juggling or messing around with the fireballs, creating a cool street show to earn some extra cash on the side.
Ronnie can tell just by watching the way that Marcus dismisses Blaze that he is completely uninterested in her. Blaze is very affectionate toward him and kisses on him and he just ignores her and pretends that she isnt even there. However, Ronnie can tell that Blaze is the kind of girl that goes for guys like that. Boys that dont pay any attention or listen to them in anyway and a girl is completely attracted to them (ie: Marcus and Blaze).
In this chapter, it conveys a huge character flaw in Marcus. Marcus in the chapter tells Ronnie a story that for some weird reason he is proud of. He tells about this boy who he talked to whom was very excited to take his boat out on the pier this summer and how much he loved his boat and only three days after him telling Marcus that, Marcus burnt the boat down. After telling that story Marcus said how he hated rich people and how he hated people that bragged.
This chapter was sort of interesting just learning about one of the characters in the book. I think that Marcus is an intersting character and he will have some sort of important impact on the book later on. The book is an excellent and easy read. At this point in time I would recommend it to someone.

The Last Song pgs 25-38

In chapter three, Ronnie, she decides to explore the Georgia coast by herself. She finds everything uninteresting just like her pessimistic outlook on life. Ronnie decides that she will go to the peir and look at all the shops first although she thinks that she will find nothing. When she gets there she was right, she finds nothing interesting although in this chapter it shows an intersting part of Ronnies character. She walks up to a puppy shelter showing love and compassion towards the puppies. Which is very unlike her negative apparel and outlook. She then donates to the puppies fund for a home. This part in the book proves Steves premonitions about Ronnie still being the sweet little girl he has always known, on the contrary beleif of her mom.
After donating, Ronnie decides to look at beach volleyball game going on below the peir. Although she is not one for sport watching or partaking she decides to give it a look because there is nothing better to do in this "boring town". When she gets down there she notices the stereotypical croud, the good looking boys playing and then the pretty, tan and blonde girls fawning over them. After Ronnie has a good staredown, she notices one of the boys, thinks that he actually doesnt look that arrogant but then corrects herself. She then gets bored and starts to leave and just as shes walking past the game a ball goes flying at her which soon she gets ran over by the cute boy she had noticed earlier. While she had been nearly trampled she also had her entire drink spilt all over the front of her.
She notices the kindness and true regret of the boy but she still is pretty standoffish toward him. When he tries to make amends by the only way he knows how, flirting, she completely shuts him down by walking away annoyed.
So far I am really liking this book. I think it is a very easy read, but even though it is not very challenging I still am very enveloped into this book reading every single detail. I love the character of Ronnie, maybe it is some alter ego I wish I had, who knows.. And I am still looking foreward as always to reading more

The Last Song pgs 13-24

In chapter two, Steve, the book changes to the perspective of Ronnies dad Steve. Steve is a loving father that still believes that there is still good in Ronnie, even though she is failing all of her classes, doesnt play the piano anymore and she failed her SAT's. Even in the book her father says "Do you know how smart you have to be to miss every single question on the SAT?" Steve really loves his family although he moved all the way to Georgia. He feels terrible though that his daughter, Ronnie, hates him. She feels that he abandoned her bother and her during the divorce. Steve shows that he is really dedicated to his family even though Ronnie may disagree. Steve however, hides a secret that none of his family knows. He is sick and has been getting sicker, the book does not reveal what sickness he has but it does convey that it is serious.
This chapter also talks about how Ronnies dad got the house that he lives in. Steve was an apperentice for the stained glass window maker at the church, and hwen the stained glass window maker passed away. The community gave the house to Ronnies dad, even though the house is very old and a mess, he likes his house although he is embarassed to say.
Steve was also in a fire. Although he does not know the details on how the fire started, Steve was playing the piano in the church late one night and then before he knew it he was getting carried out of the buring church by firemen. Many people of the community believe that Steve started the fire himself but he knows that he didnt.
This book has kept me interested the whole time. It really uses alot of the details. Even though I saw the movie before I read the book I still find the book to be very interesting and I am finding many details in the book that were not in the movie that furthers the characters personalities and the strengthens the story. I am looking foreward to reading more.