The day is coming...

The day is coming...

Prom is coming up and lets just say I have some mixed feelings about it. I am really nervous and I am also super excited! I have never been to a prom before like most other high school girls, which makes me feel a little more comfortable. I think I am just nervous because our plans are completely final. Our group hasn’t decided exactly what time we are going to start taking pictures and what time we should get to Grand March.

We don’t want to be the very first people that walk through and we don’t want to be the very last people who walk through. It is going to be kind of hard because we have a girl in our group that has a tennis meet in Dubuque and probably will not get home till three at the earliest. Before we knew this we were planning on having pictures at three and then heading to Grand March around 4:15, but there is no way she will be ready at three when she probably won’t even be home by then.

I am really excited to go because it is my first time ever going to a prom and it is like a big thing in High School. Everyone looks forward to going to their prom dance.  Recently we found out that the administration is not going to let us grind. I think this is extremely stupid because how else are we supposed to dance? It isn’t the 1970s anymore. I think that if students want to grind they should be allowed to unless it becomes too inappropriate. If students are dancing with their hands on the ground and their dresses pulled all the way up, then something should be told to them.

I just hope the administration doesn’t ruin prom for all the seniors. It is their last dance in high school so why not make it a good one?

(321 words)

Don't Give Up

Don't Give Up

When Ms. A assigned that poetry assignment I wanted to cry. Now that I have completed the assignment I am glad I did it. I think that having to write the poem was a very difficult task, but I learned from doing it. Many people including me didn’t want to do the assignment when it was handed out. Most of us now would say it ended up being an ok assignment.

I am writing this blog to explain how important it is to not give up. While writing that poem I wanted to stop and give up every five minutes but then I would say to myself that I couldn’t because it was going to be graded. After completing the assignment I am happy that I didn’t give up because if I would have given up, then I wouldn’t be able to be proud of the poem I wrote.

As I was writing the poem, I didn’t exactly know what I was going to write until I got to the next line, I didn’t have an outline in my head. I did want the poem to describe the object of a basketball and I think I did a good job with that.

Sometimes when you are doing something that you don’t exactly want to be doing, you have to take it in little steps. If you look at it overall, then you will get too overwhelmed with what you are trying to accomplish. That is why I took each line of my poem one step at a time, other than thinking about the poem as a hole.

Many people that don’t want to accomplish something that is hard will give up. Don’t be that person. Try to accomplish as many challenging things as you can and you will feel a lot better about yourself.

(304 words)

Pets

Pets

                Many people now days have a pet. I think that owning a pet is a great way to teach kids how hard it is to take care of something.  All kids want to own a pet but at that time they don’t know what it is like to take care of one. To make kids learn how to take care of something, a pet is a great thing to get.

                Once you actually get the pet, everyone adores it, like it is some celebrity. When the pet actually arrives home, friends want to come over to see what the pet looks like. But as days and years go on, the pet becomes less and less exciting to see.

                I can remember when we first got our dog, Maverick. When our family got home from the pet store after buying all his food and toys we had visitors at the door waiting to see him. The rest of that day we had neighbors, friends, and family all in our living room watching the little white fluffy dog lay on the ground. Maverick was very shy at first. That first week he just liked to lie down and shiver. As weeks progressed, Maverick become rowdier, running through the house barking at every dog that walked by.

                Now Maverick is eight years old and is still running through the entire house to each and every window trying to look for dogs that are out on a walk. It is crazy to see how fast time flies. I still remember the first day we got him when I was the only child that knew we were getting him. We decided to get a boy dog because our house is full of girls and one male. My father wanted to have another male in the house other than himself.

                I cannot even imagine what it is going to be like when Maverick has to be put down. I have pretty much grown up with him the majority of my life. Even though he isn’t an actual person, I consider him a brother. He comes to cuddle with me when he knows I am down or sick and he is the only thing that can make me happy when I am upset.

                My friend is going through a really tough time right now. His dog has to be put down tonight after having a tumor in her stomach for a while now. The dog’s name is Amber and has been a “sister” to my friend and his brothers ever since they were toddlers. When I found out that they were going to have to put Amber down, my heart melted because I knew how close their family is to Amber.

                Having a pet die is probably one of the worst things that could happen other than a family member dying. Pets are usually kids’ best friends. When they have to see their best friend die or be put down, it is definitely tuff. I had a dog before Maverick and she passed away when I was about 7. I can still remember that day when I just balled and balled because she died. The weird thing is I don’t remember anything else about the dog other than her dying.

                Since I was old enough to remember when my family got Maverick, I remember all of the moments we have had/ are having with him. When that day comes where we have to put him down, or the day that he dies, I do not know what we are going to do. All I can say is, it will be a very and I mean very tough day.

(612 words)

Nail Polish

Nail Polish

             I cannot go a day without a certain color on my fingernails. Every day my nails are painted, whether they are perfect or destroyed, I don’t mind. I don’t have time to paint them every week so I paint them every couple weeks. I usually try to match the color I paint them, with the season we are currently in or the holiday that is coming around the corner.

                I don’t see how people cannot have their fingernails painted. It bothers me too much when they aren’t. I think that having your finger nails painted makes the girl more girly, so I can see why some don’t paint their nails, because they might not want to be so girly. My favorite color to put on my nails is pastel purple and pastel blue. I don’t really know why the blue but purple is my favorite color so I like to wear a lot of different purples.

 I recently started to buy my own finger nail polish. I have mostly just used my mom’s nail polish but now that I will be going to college in a year, I will not be able to take her nail polish with me. My favorite place to buy nail polish is from Ulta because they have a very large variety of colors. The more colors the store has, the more I want to buy which is a bad thing.

I have never seen a store that only sells nail polish. I think that if someone wanted to start a new business, I think it would be to create a building that only sells nail polish. Just imagine a store that was called Nail Polish Central where they had five hundred different colors of nail polish. I think so many women and young teenagers would go to that store because if these stores are out there, there aren’t a lot of them and everyone will want to go see it.

If you are reading this and are a girl, I wonder if you agree with me. Do you think that creating a nail polish store would be successful?

(353 words)

Rain, Rain Go Away

Rain, Rain Go Away

            Wow, has it rained a ton this past week! This week’s weather has consisted of rain, rain, and some more rain. It has been announced on the news that we have already reached our total rainfall for April, within one week. I find that pretty crazy from how fast it happened. We have pretty much gotten out of our drought from all this rain, which is a very good thing. But this rain has caused a lot of problems too.

            Since we have had rain almost every day this past week, a lot of sporting events have been cancelled, such as; track meets, soccer games, and tennis matches. It is difficult for the schools to be finding time to fit in all of the events that had to be postponed. I wonder what they are going to do…

           When the schools have to postpone their sporting events, these students are loosing out on activities. If we keep receiving rain and having to postpone more events then the school will not be able to make them up because it will be the next season’s sports.

           Having to go outside in the rain just really sucks. I hate having to walk to my car in the rain because my shoes get all wet and dirty. Once I am inside though, I love the rain. I love the sound that it produces on the windows. It makes everything seem so relaxing. Also the thunder that comes from the sky makes me scared for what could come.

          Today has not had any rain, but has had some flurries. Receiving flurries at the end of April should not be happening. Also today is very windy. The windier it gets the colder it is. I think that if the wind were to be taken away, it wouldn’t be nearly as cold as it is.

          The more I think about it, the more I think that we will never get to spring or summer weather. If our winter is still occurring at the end of April then I think we have a problem…

(347 words)

           

            

Poem

B-Ball

1  I am orange and perfect. I earn no trust.

2  I do it with uncertainty, as I must

3  Just as I am, loved or disliked

4  I am not nice or unkind

5  I am bounced as hard as most other balls

6  I don’t like to rise, I tend to fall

7  Indifferent to the score, either hoop works fine,

8  But if I had to choose, I hope that it’s mine.

9  I have been doing this since 1892,

10  Back when the number of players were few

11  To truly use me, it requires commitment

12  Many have tried but few have succeeded

13  Compared to then, my usage has exceeded

14  One of my favorite players to use me, is now on my cover

15  I wish I could go back to when he played,

16  “Oh Jerry West, look what you have made”

Techniques Used:

 (1)Imagery was used in the first line when describing the basketball. Using the word orange is a concrete word that tells the reader what color the object is. Using the word perfect is an abstract word that tells the reader the shape of the object. These words put a picture in the readers mind to what the basketball looks like.

(1,3,4,5)Anaphora is a repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a line. It was used in like 1, 3, 4, and 5. I used the phrase “I am” repeated to put emphasis on what object I am. The more I did that, the more I felt like the readers would realize what a basketball looks like. 

(5)  Simile is when two things are compared using like or as. It was used in line 5 when it says, “I am bounced as hard as most other balls”. I used this because basketballs are bounced hard just like other balls, such as; tennis balls and volleyballs.

  (7)Diction is the choice of words you use. It was used in this poem in line 7, using the word indifferent which indicates that the ball doesn’t care where or how it scores, it just wants to score. This choice of word catches the reader’s eye and makes them realize that the basketball doesn't care how it scores.

 (12) Understatement is the presentation of something as being smaller or less important than it actually is. This was used in line 12 when saying, “Many have tried but few have succeeded.” This states that a lot of people have experienced playing basketball but only a few are successful. I believe this is an understatement because more than a few have succeeded. There are tons of NBA and college teams that have players who have all succeeded.

(14)  Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. This was used in line 14, when it says, “One of my favorite players to use me is now on my cover”, this is a symbol of what the basketball looks like. The NBA basketball has an image of Jerry West on it. The picture of Jerry West symbolizes the basketball.

(16)Apostrophe is when some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding. It was used in the last line of the poem when talking to Jerry West who is on the NBA basketball and is now absent from basketball. Speaking to someone who is not alive or absent draws attention to the readers.

 Allusion was used in this poem historically. Throughout the entire poem I was talking about the basketball. In the second stanza, the first sentence states, “I have been doing this since 1892”. That is when basketball was invented.

(520 words)

Car Pooling

Car Pooling

Do you live by kids who attend the same school as you? If you do, you should really start considering to car pool with them to and from school every day. There are so many people who waste a ton of gas driving to and from school when most people live by classmates and could car pool with them. Today, gas is not very cheap. It has gotten close to four dollars a gallon. That is ridiculous considering how many times people drive a day and then they have to pay fifty dollars to fill up their gas tank. Gas prices are currently a problem in the United States but still people don’t try to solve the problem, including myself.

            Everyone always talks about gas prices and how incredibly high they are/ have been, but not many people try to prevent it. I will see students who live right next door to each other drive two cars to school. Does this make any sense? Not really. Why not drive together and save gas? It could become a little deal where one-week one-person drives and the next week the other person drives. Doing something so simple like that would really decrease the amount of money people are paying for gas.

            Also our global warming would improve a ton from car-pooling with people. When people drive, there are a lot of different gases put out into the air that are causing us to have terrible global warming. I don’t think many people realize this but it is disgusting to what a car does to the environment. I just really hope that whoever reads this could maybe help me spread the word to let people know that car-pooling is probably the best thing to do to save money on gas. The more people we notify about this problem, the more money people will be saving on gas.

(315 words)