Driving

Oh, driving. Such an easy task, don't you think? At first, while I was learning, I was terrified to drive! I hated it and had no interest in ever getting my license. After being pushed so much and, eventually, getting my license, I was happy I did. I didn't have to depend on my sister, who often said no, to take me places. I could also visit friends whenever I felt like it! But with driving comes some other bad things. Like ROAD RAGE.

Road rage is a serious thing. I see people with it all the time. While I don't see myself as having road rage, I see myself as potentially developing it. There are many things that make me absolutely crazy while driving. The major thing is when the person in front of me does not go the speed limit! Another is when I get cut off. I also hate it when people ride my bumper while driving. That and the speed limit issue set me off the most.

It is what it is, though, and I'll just have to deal with it! Oh well.

Blog #2

It is always fun to sit outside on a hot summer day, the bright sun shining on you, you cooling yourself off with a nice Kool-Aid Jammer! These little drinks, probably made for kids, are absolutely amazing. I love to drink them whenever and wherever. My current one, that I am drinking right now, is orange flavored! I like to test them all, even though I'd prefer others over some. Although orange isn't my favorite, I definitely like it a lot.

I am also a big fan of drinking Iced Tea. It's very sweet, and it's also very cooling to me in the summer. When I am laying out, I prefer Iced Tea to drink. My mother keeps it around all the time in the summer, but rarely in the winter, because I'd much rather have milk in the winter. Milk is also one of my favorite drinks.

There are so many drinks out there, but things to me being a "picky eater", I prefer only a few. I dislike drinks like water, soda, energy drinks, coffee, apple juice, and others!

Blog NUMBER ONE!

I have one problem with books. They are never funny! Hey, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore reading books, especially ones that I can relate to, but every once in a while, I'd like to just read a book that will make me laugh, even in public. I'd like to just be sitting in a library, reading a good book, and just laugh out loud, causing everyone to stare at me! That just never happens, though. There are some "comedies" out there, but they never truely make me laugh. I hope that someone will some day write a book that will make me laugh hysterically! Maybe I'm in need of some "book broadening", meaning I shall expand my taste on books and try many more. There has to be that special one out there somewhere!

Blog blog blog

I am definitely out of things to blog about. Seriously, who wants to read a blog about not having something to write a blog about? :) Since I am required to write it, it will be written. Our poetry books were due today. I felt like I had to scrape together many unfinished things to make it all come together. It isn't what I had wanted as the final product, but I guess it will do. I wasn't fully done with my slam poem, so I hope to revise it before saying it for that grade after Spring Break. I wanted it to be filled with emotions, but at this point.... IT ISN'T! I also am behind on blogging. I have to go back and make up the ones I have missed as soon as I find out the topics on them. My grades are really low from missing two weeks in all classes. I wish I could raise them all back up, but I can't. It is what it is, I guess....

Echo

So I finally received my dream pet, a Sun Conure, and her name is Echo! She is absolutely brilliant, can speak a few words, plays basketball (her own mini version) and dances. She's so full of personality, that I spend most of my time trying to guess what she will do next, but with little success. She is, of course, extremely loud. She likes to be in conversations, so she squaks when others are talking.

Echo is still a baby, only 8 months old, and is just finally having her first molting (losing her feathers and growing new ones). Me, being her owner, I am required to make sure that the feathers grow in correctly and that, when it is time, her wings get clipped so she cannot hurt herself. At first, I was against wing clipping. I thought it was sort of painful for a bird, but after I learn that it does no harm and that I can even do it myself, I decided it was for the best.

Echo has a brilliant pattern to her. That my be because she still has her baby feathers, but I love it. I don't want to see her grow up :(. It'll be devastating when she passes away in 30 years or so.

Oh, Egypt.

PYRAMIDS! is the first thing I think of when someone says Egypt. I do not think of the current happenings occuring there. Do you want to know why I don't think of them? 1) I do not care. 2) I do not watch the news. In my opinion, the news only shares the sad, unfortunate stories, so I don't like to read about them or watch them.

I have heard very little about Egypt. Some of my friends have shared few facts on it, but I always cut them off because I don't care. There is a big change going on in Egypt, the citizens overthrowing and trying to take charge and change who is in charge (the president). I hope they achieve what they set out to do (if it is right) and I hope it happens to benefit us all.

I have heard that many people in Egypt have gotten hurt because of the protests. I hope that isn't true, and if it is, I disagree with the protests. Anything that hurts innocent people in any situation is not right. It needs to either be handled correctly or it needs to stop.

Sun Conure

Could you imagine owning a beautiful, colorful bird? One that can be trained easily, speak, and is SUPER playful? Yeah, I know, it'd be absolutely amazing! I have found this bird, a sun conure, located at a certain store (that I'm not going to tell anyone!) that I have absolutely fell in love with! He is so gorgeous and I have named him Echo. I visit him so much that he even knows who I am! The only problem is is that Echo costs a lot of money. A LOT. Echo alone is six hundred dollars and the cage is about three hundred dollars. Once you put those two, the food, the toys, and other accessories, Echo would cost about one thousand dollars! But I absolutely love Echo and will save up as quick as I can to get this adorable bird.

So here is some information on Sun Conures:

Sun Conures typically live for 25-30 years if they are treated properly. The area that I am aware that they come from is Brazil. Sun Conures are super playful and extremely loud. If they feel neglected, they'll let you know. They are very colorful, usually not maturing until they are around a year old (that's when they get the colorful feathers). They are very messy and like to eat fresh fruit everyday. Sun Conures are a type of parrot, so, yes, they are able to be trained to speak some words. They are also very messy, but can also be potty trained! They are awesome at learing tricks and, if taught, can whistle to certain songs! The size of Sun Conures is 10-15 inches in length. They also have to be given baths 2-3 times a week, which can end up being a lot.

I'm sure if you Googled Sun Conures, you could find out a lot more about them if you are interested. They are absolutely amazing birds. I can't wait to bring mine home.

A Winter Wonderland... NOT

"Walking in a winter wonderland..." Such a famous song many seem to know and sing throughout the winter season. In all reality, though, Ohio is NOT a winter wonderland. The winters here are just too long and so mischevious. By that I mean that you don't know what to expect, and something is always lurking around the corner (weather wise), ready to attack you! Snow is beautiful, and ice even more, but it is just a big pain. Yes, we get to sled and miss school, but this snow and cold just never goes away! I am a fan of summer and of warmth, so you can see why I do not enjoy winter. Maybe it'd be better if it was a season that only lasted a month, but, to me, it just seems to drag on and on.

Anywho, as winter continues on, I'll find my warmth by staying indoors. I'll continue to ATTEMPT to appreciate winter's beauty, but deep down, I'll continue to want a nice warm hug from summer.

Joy to the Ears

Ah, music. It's something almost everyone enjoys. There are SO many types out there and that may be the reason why everyone takes time to let their ears experience such intense joy. Music is its own little bundle of celebration. It's accepted everywhere and is something that will probably never go away. I, personally, have a high liking of music. I love to listen and I love to make music. No, I don't sing. My voice isn't good at all. Instead, I took up playing an instrument, or two.

I started playing the clarinet in the sixth grade. I wasn't very good at all, of course, but it didn't take long for me to develop a talent. I loved the sound that came out it. It was beautiful, not too high and not too low. It seemed so magical to me so I continued to play it in the band until I finished the eighth grade. I was sad when I had to stop, but it was required. Over the time that I had been playing the clarinet, I had developed a, supposedly common, skin disease. The clarinet was making my skin disease act up, from how you were required to play the clarinet, and I had to quit. It was devastating.

I'm fine not playing the clarinet now, but of course I still miss it and wish I could have been in the high school band. I think I'm better off just finding an instrument where only your hands are required, like a guitar or the drums!... Maybe.

Bugs, bugs, bugs

I don't think it exotic to eat bugs. To be honest, most people now-a-days have probably eaten a bug anyway. They could be on our fruits and vegetables or somehow mixed into our food. The only difference is that you don't exactly know at that moment you are eating the bugs, so it doesn't affect you. For me, when I know I am eating a bug, I would be totally disgusted and probably spit it out.

I agree that eating bugs would do great wonders, but it'd be a hard thing to change into. It could save our economy big time. It would also save all the animals from dying or becoming extinct from being hunted, killed, and eaten.

I am amazed that, if you took the total weight of all the bugs in the world compared to the total weight of all the human beings, the bugs would weigh more. There are A LOT of bugs in this world, though, so it isn't totally insane.

I, personally, would prefer not to eat bugs, but I wouldn't totally say no to the idea either. Hey, anything is worth a try.

The Only Alien on the Planet

            The Only Alien on the Planet, by Kristen D. Randle, is absolutely one of my favorite books. I could reread this book constantly, really, and I am the type that does not like to read a book more than once.

            I found this book because I enjoyed our reading circle book, Breaking Rank, very much. The book is by the same author. I think she is an amazing author, even though she is not big on explaining things out with details, but that is okay, I still love her books. She has a neat way of pulling in the readers and I sure hope she writes a lot more books for me to dive into.

            This book is actually about a teenager who has spent his entire life neither speaking nor simply touching anyone. The main character, a girl, had just moved into his neighborhood and her new best friend and her set on a mission to discover who the boy really is. I think the book had a lovely ending and I felt very much in the book.

            I would recommend this book to just about anyone. It isn’t a weird romance book, even though there is a little, it is more of just finding out about someone and understanding and helping. Give this book a try.

Holidays

            One thing that bothers me very much is when people put Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving has even passed. Yes, the lights are very pretty, and the decorations, but, really, let one holiday pass before you begin on another. If you want to show some holiday spirit, go stick a turkey in your front yard. J

            I do enjoy Christmas very much. I am pretty bad at choosing out gifts for people, but I sure do love getting them! That’s not the only reason I like Christmas though. It is one of the few holidays a lot of our family members get together. Thanksgiving and Easter are the other two. It’s really great to get to sit around, laughing and enjoying those days. Especially when there is snow outside!

            I love holidays because they also get us out of school. How can’t you love something that does such a great favor for you? Having no school relieves some stress for a short time. You do not have to worry about homework or dumb grades. You get to enjoy your sleep and boredom.

            I’ll sure enjoy these holidays this year!

Writing About Nothing

Sometimes, I find it hard to write just a simple blog. I am quickly running out of topics to write about between them and the papers we are required to write. I also understand wanting us to write so much. It’ll improve our writing abilities fantastically. I don’t mind doing the research to write a paper, but I like to write many different types of papers. I am very big on poems and short stories.

            Short stories can be very hard to write. Often, I want to just keep writing and add way too many details. Details are wonderful, but you cannot overdue it. Also, when writing a story, you often get stuck on a similar topic in many of them. You write one about a killer, the next one you may also want to write about a killer. Especially if you get great comments on the one before. You start to think it’s your best topic, and you want to use it to the best of your ability.

            I find it quite nice that I can write a blog on not having an idea. I guess my simple thoughts are enough to get me by. Now, if only my thoughts would supply me with some great, long writing pieces. J

The video we viewed on Prader Willi Syndrome yesterday was very was touching. It is a syndrome that I have never heard of before. I could never imagine feeling how the boy did in the video, how he gets such stabbing pain when he can’t eat. It seems like his whole life revolves around food. It must be so extremely hard for him to know food is near and also know he cannot have it. It also angers me that anyone would make fun of someone with a syndrome like this. That’s inappropriate and immature. Nobody deserves to be treated without respect.



            I researched a few syndromes that I have also never heard of, and guess that many others haven’t either, that I would like to bring into awareness. The first syndrome is a syndrome called: Moebius Syndrome. Moebius Syndrome is a syndrome where the person it affects doesn’t have any function to the face. They cannot blink, smile, frown, move eyes laterally, and others. They tend to have speech problems and swallowing problems, are very weak, have sleep disorders, visual impairments, and more.

            The second syndrome I would like to talk about is: Marinesco–Sjögren syndrome. This syndrome involves coordination issues, mental retardation, muscles weakness, inability to chew food, thin brittle fingernails, and sparse hair. It is a rare autosomal recessive disorder.

            The third is: Freeman-Sheldon syndrome. It is a rare form of multiple congenital contractures and is the most severe form of distal arthrogryposis. It includes drooping of the upper eyelids, low-set ears, gradual hearing loss, walking difficulties, scoliosis, strabismus, and more. The pictures added of each can help you to actually visualize what these syndromes do to just your physical appearance. Nobody could imagine what it would be like to be them.

Marinesco–Sjögren

Moebius Syndrome

Freeman Sheldon Syndrome

Consumers & Producers

            Happen to love shopping for clothing? I sure do. Buying clothes is a nice thing and most people are excited to wear their new outfit. There are so many stores out there to stumble upon. I have a few favorite stores, but to be honest, it’s rare that I shop at those stores.

            It is ridiculous, the price of clothes at some stores. They charge you so much more than you know it took to make the clothing. In my opinion, I think it is unfair. It seems greedy to charge such a high price. Then again, the consumers help to lead the producers to the decision to raise the price.

            Maybe if, one day, everyone decided that they weren’t going to buy from a certain store, or a series of stores, because of their prices. Do you think they would lower them? Maybe they would, or maybe not. They would probably think, “They’ll have to buy clothes soon, and they’ll want the same clothes that they’ve always wanted, so they will return.” Hopefully not. Hopefully there will be that one store that does lower the prices and everyone decides to go there and other stores will follow that path.

            The consumer-producer relationship is a weird, but strong one. It would be hard to break it for any store. So I guess we’ll just have to live with these always-raising prices.

Trash Attack

Our world’s usage of plastics, and other materials, has gotten out of hand. Wherever you may travel to, whether it be down the street, to another state, or to another country, you will see trash littered on the ground, in the water, and other places. In my opinion, it is ridiculous.

It’s sad that we aren’t going to be able to stop this problem anytime soon. Many people may try to persuade others to recycle and to not litter, but there will still be more that will continue to. Most of our population just doesn’t care because they know that when the problem gets extremely big, they will already be gone from earth and won’t have to put up with it.

I don’t recycle, but it would be nice if I started to. To be honest, it can be an inconvenience at home, but I’m pretty sure many of us can let something that could have such a big impact slide for once and just do it. I also don’t litter. It drives me crazy when I see people throwing trash out of car windows or out of the windows at school. There are trashcans for a reason!

Maybe this problem could get better in the future, and maybe it’ll get worst. Hopefully, people won’t just sit around to wait and see and they’ll just do something about it. They’ll take it into their own hands, their responsibility, for once. We’ll see.

War

I would never choose to join the army. I don’t believe in murder, and yes, I do think wars are like any other murder.

The video didn’t really seem very interesting. Yes, the story was sad, but the photography just made the story seem like a picture book and, in my opinion, some of the pictures weren’t even that good. I do think it is bad when a soldier comes back and suffers from what they endured while in Iraq. The guy in this video was only one story out of many and I see, now more than ever, what war can do to you.

The changes in a person from before joining the army and going to war and after seeing what they saw, is unbelievable. It saddens me that they have to see what they do see and that they can’t ever be the same after it. It must also be bad for a family to have to see a loved one change in such a way.

I hope that many soldiers in the future do not have to go through such a thing and that people will realize that war is no good. Maybe things will change in the far future and for the better.

Swift Movements

Dancing is one of my favorite things to do. Whether it is at a school dance, at a recital, in a class, or just for fun, I find it absolutely amazing! You don’t even have to be good at it to be able to enjoy it. The moving and laughing can put anyone in a good mood!

The type of dance I do is Jazz. It’s so much fun to learn the dances and to enjoy even messing up with friends! Even though you may feel stupid the first time you learn the dance, by the time you have figured it out, you feel PROUD. I like that a lot. I also plan on doing Lyrical dancing. (The only type of dance I don’t particularly like is Tap Dance.)

You also have to be very flexible to be able to dance for the most part. You cannot be stiff or some of the movements will not look right. A big part of dancing is, therefore, stretching. Stretching also helps you relieve stress!

I recommend everyone try to dance, even if it’s crazy looking and just for fun. You will always get a good laugh out of it. J

Before I Die

Before I Die is a book that was written by the author Jenny Downham. It is an incredible book to read and a book I have also recently read. The book is about a girl, Tessa, who has been diagnosed with a form of cancer that is eventually going to kill her. She was diagnosed with cancer at a young age, and now at the age of 16, she is told that she can no longer fight it. She creates a list and, in the book, will try to achieve her list.

 

The book is filled with emotions and definitely pulls you in right from the first sentence. Tessa has a great personality and the other characters also encourage you to keep reading the book.

 

My favorite part was easily the ending. But, of course, I will not say a word about it because I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone who may attempt to read it! I do have an extreme urge to explain WHY it is my favorite part though, but I will not do that either!

I wouldn’t classify this book as one of my favorite, which I only have a few, I still think it is absolutely wonderful. You learn a lot about what a cancer patient may go through.

Beautiful Creatures..

I absolutely love to read. One of the most recent books that have caught my interest it a book titles “Beautiful Creatures”. I actually was beginning to get sick of books dealing with unrealistic characters, thanks to the Twilight Series, but I decided to give this book a chance. I’m glad I did because I absolutely love it.

I’ve always wanted to write a book myself and if I were, I’d want it to be as great as this book (even though I would most likely not have the kind of characters they had in my book). If I were to write a book, I could think of a million different things for it to be about.

My ideas:

1.       I like mysteries, so I’d love to write a book with a lot of crazy ones.

2.       A girl who seems normal on the outside at first, but as the story progresses you see another side come out, where crazy things happen.

3.       A girl who discovers there’s a whole other world hidden all around her that she is originally supposed to be a part of but somehow ended up in the wrong place.

I have more, but it’s so hard to summarize my ideas, even the ones above!