Thursday, December 16, 2010

Final Unwind Book Post

I LOVED this book, it was so good and I highly recommend it! Today, we had our last lit circle discussion for this book and it was pretty fun because we all shared our amazement at all of the surprises and twists the author, Neal Shusterman, had in store for us at the end. One point that came up during our discussion that stood out to me was that Roland was much more of a brutal killer than Connor was.Now I agree with this statement but it was controversial for the simple fact Connor killed someone and Roland never did. But evidence supported by the book proved our point right.

Earlier in the book when Connor killed the bus driver. This was just a big freak accident because all he was doing was running from the Juvey cops, not purposely seeking out victims. Now, this was good too because the bus was full of Unwinds on their way to harvest camp and one of them was Risa. So this freak accident might have killed someone, but it also saved someone from getting unwound.
Roland on the other hand pushed Connor to start a fight with him so he could kill Connor. Also when they were in the warehouse and him & Connor were about to get pushed into the same cart group, Roland was going to kill Connor as soon as they got in it. He even made a knife to do it with! Towards the end of the book, Roland even choked Connor until he was unconscious, but stopped right before he would’ve died. Now if Roland was a psyco killer he would’ve killed Connor right there. He didn’t, therefore I think Roland just likes to see people suffer, he doesn’t have the guts to actually kill them himself. Which brings me to another point. Who’s more brave and bold, Connor or Roland?

I think Connor hands down because he actually follows through with his actions unlike Roland. Also when they Roland had to walk down the ‘red carpet’ to the ‘Chop Shop’, he through a fit!
“But...but I’ve only been her a few days....I need more time. Another day. That’s all. One more day. I’ll be ready tomorrow. I promise!” (pg.287)
Unlike Connor who took his supposedly last walk of life gracefully.
“Hands off me, I’ll walk by myself,” he orders the guards,...The first step is the hardest, but...he will take this last walk of his life in steady strides...’ (pg.304)
This shows how even though Roland acts all tough, when it comes to death he’s a scared puppy. Unlike Connor who mans up to reality.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Unwind Post #1

So far, this has been a very intriguing book. In our first lit circle discussion, my table mates and I brought up some very interesting points. We had different ideas on some of them and most were very logical.

One of the topics we discussed was the fact that Risa is a perfectionist. In the beginning of the book at her piano recital, she missed a few minor notes. Her coach said she did marvelous and that he was proud of her but Risa was being very hard on herself and calmly replied.

“I stunk up the stage.” (pg.21)

This quote helped support our point, but I made a conclusion from this statement. The fact that Risa is a perfectionist, allowed her, Lev, and Connor to make it this far without being caught. Risa doesn’t like making mistakes, so every time she makes one she practically freaks out and feels she has to do something to cover it up. That’s when her street smart instincts kick in.

A situation that exemplifies this is when her, Connor, and Lev are trying not to be recognized by the police by waiting at a school bus stop with other students. But then Connor overhears a little boy telling his mom that they’ve been storked (when a baby is left on your doorstep) again, and it reminds him of when his family was storked, but the baby died. Connor runs to their door, with the police still watching, because he thinks it’s the same baby.  The mother yells at him asking if he put the baby there. But Connor gets tongue-tied in shock of what he just did because he doesn’t think before he does things. Then Risa comes up behind him and says,

“He didn’t put it there. I did.”(pg.63)

Then Risa takes the baby when the lady threatens to call the cops over. Connor could’ve gotten them caught right then and there, and sent off to be unwound. The decisions he makes can get them killed, but Risa is a perfectionist so she knows how to cover up and take care of mistakes when they happen. In other words, she’s street smart.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Kite Runner Basic Book Review

Throughout this mind-blowing novel by Khaled Hosseini we are overwhelmed with tragic events, one after the other. The Kite Runner is a realistic fiction about a boy named Amir who grew up in Kabul and had to flee to America after the Soviet Invasion in Afghanistan. As a college graduate, living in San Francisco with a beautiful wife and home, he gets a life changing phone call telling him that he should come back home to Kabul to become “good again”. Amir then travels back to Afghanistan to clear up his restless past that came back to hunt him. While there, he realizes how badly the invasion affected his home. Amir tries to do everything in his power to make up for all the bad he did, but gets caught up in some life-risking obstacles along the way.

Amir is the main character in this novel. Throughout his childhood, he has a servant named Hassan who is like his best friend. These two characters have a very strange relationship as little kids, mainly because Hassan is Hazara and the society looks down on Hazaras. Therefore,  Amir doesn’t admit Hassan is his friend because he’s ashamed of him. Hassan is always standing up for Amir and dealing with his crap because Amir’s a coward and Hassan’s a loyal friend. Baba, Amir’s dad, seems to like Hassan better than Amir because he has more courage than Amir. And one time, Hassan even got raped for sticking up for Amir, and the cold part is Amir was there the entire time hiding and didn’t say a word! But now Amir is all grown up and takes a visit back to Afghanistan to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab, after the Russian’s invaded the country and killed Hassan and his wife. Amir goes through hell and back trying to get Sohrab to a safe place. He eventually gets Sohrab but before he did, he gets beaten half to death with brass knuckles by the guy who raped Hassan back when they were little. But thank God Sohrab was there to save him with a slingshot. Now this may seem like a lot and very nice of Amir to risk his life for Sohrab , but he’s actually being very selfish. Allow me to explain why.

Amir went to Afghanistan to clear up his past regarding Hassan. Sohrab just happened to be a factor in a way he could achieve this for the simple fact he’s Hassan’s son. He is doing quite a few nice gestures for Sohrab, but when you look at the big picture he’s only trying to get rid of his guilt so he can have a better life and live in peace. When Amir was on the phone with Rahim Khan, he thought,
“I knew it wasn’t just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins."(pg.1)
This quote shows that the entire reason Amir went back to Afghanistan was because he had a past of unatoned sins he needed to make up for. Amir neglected and used Hassan and was not a loyal friend to him like Hassan was to Amir. In other words, Amir was being a fake friend mainly because Hassan was Hazara, no other reason but that. Now when his past rises back up to the surface, he feels he owes Hassan, which he does, for how he treated him when they were kids in order to put his past to rest. Getting Sohrab and giving him a safe place to live is the perfect way to repay Hassan in Amir’s case.

Throughout Amir’s life, his dad Baba was not very kind to him but lightened up a bit since Amir grew up. I believe Baba is beginning more nice to Amir because he was growing old and had cancer, and needs someone to take care of him, although he won’t admit it. But Baba is still disrespectful and mean to Amir for no apparent reason.

For example, when Amir had to almost force him to go to the hospital because Baba thinks no doctor can help him. Then Baba finds out that his pulmonologist is Russian and says,
“I don’t care where he was born, he’s Roussi...I swear on your mother’s face I’ll break his arm if he tries to touch me.”(pg.155)
Now I know Baba has a very big grudge against the Russians, but this doctor didn’t do anything to him, he had no right to be as racist as he did.
Even after Baba gets a new doctor, and he offers Baba chemotherapy for his cancer, he rejects the offer in an arrogant way. Then Amir tries to persuade him to get it, once again being mean, old, and stubborn, Baba replies,
“Don’t you challenge me in public, Amir. Ever. Who do you think you are?”(pg.156)
All Amir was trying to do is help him out, not intentionally offend him in any way.

Now some may argue, that Baba isn’t mean because he got Amir a new car for his graduation and he built an orphanage. But when you think about it, money can’t buy love. Baba also spent all day every day building an orphanage for bad kids and one of them was a guy(Assef) who raped his son, Hassan. On top of that, he has never shown Amir any mercy when he is hurt and he has only seemed proud of him twice in his whole lifetime. When he won the kite competition and graduated from community college, and Amir was about 23 already.

Baba knew that he was almost at the end of life and probably regretted how he treated Amir in his childhood, so Baba is doing everything he can to make up for it. Now doesn’t this remind you of a certain someone. Yes, this connects right back to Amir’s feelings towards Hassan. as they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I believe this novel is based upon the ultimate test of friendship. It allows us to realize the heights some go to just to attempt to put their past to rest. It shows us how you cannot do bad things and expect no aftershock, those very things you do come back to hunt you. It’ a little thing called Karma.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Cold weather, Eh?

OMG I am freezing my ace off and it's raining! Apparently it's going to be like this all weekend and maybe all next week but I hope not because I don't want my break to be ruined! I love the rain, but I really dislike being in it. Especially when it's just really cold, barely sprinkling, and windy because that weather just messes up my hair. I kind of want to go to karaoke night Tuesday, but if it's like this I highly doubt I will be attending. Well it's almost eleven, so I guess I'll go to sleep now. Bye! 

Monday, November 15, 2010

Kite Runner Part Three, Last but Not Least !

The last part of this book was very intense and left me very depressed. I thought that when Hassan got raped was the biggest highlight of this book. I was mistaken and turns out it was just a warm-up to prepare for what Hosseini had in store for us. The events that take place in this book are unimaginable and very easy to believe. I had to remind myself multiple times that this story was only fiction and so were the most of the events & characters in it. The scenes that stood out to most people was probably the rape and fight scenes. But what happened right before Amir entered Assef's mansion engaged me. As Farid and Amir arrived at the house, they sat for a moment in silence.
"Farid shifted on his seat and toyed with the keys still hanging from the ignition switch. I could tell he was readying himself to tell me something.'I guess I'll wait in the car for you,' he said finally, his tone a little apologetic."
As I re-read this, I took a moment and thought, why would Farid's tone be a little apologetic? It's almost like Farid is apologizing in advance to Amir. 

Now why would Farid do this? What reason does he have to apologize to Amir after all he's done for him. After reading through the entire fight scene and going back to do my annotations, I realized that Farid knew something very bad would happen to Amir when he was inside of that house. Farid and Amir both saw what Assef had done to that poor man at the soccer game so for what reason would he have to show Amir mercy? I also believe that Amir knew before hand ,and not when he was in the room and blurted out those words, that something bad might happen to him if he went to that meeting with Assef. But this shows that Amir really cared about Sohrab, or just wanted to get him to cleanse himself of guilt.

Response post to "The One"

As I was looking through the blog posts, I came across an interesting one written by sophomore, Andy Tsang.  The central topic of his post was finding "the one", or perfect soul mate. Now some of us may never find that perfect someone who will stay faithful, honest, love you for who you are, and stick by your side no matter what. And the others that do, are by far the luckiest people in the world. As I began reading through the post, his introduction paragraph specifically stood out the most to me.
 The other day, I was discussing relationships with one of my friends. He had recently started dating, but was unsure if his +1 was “the one” for him. They were obviously an odd couple, evident racially and by the fact that they barely knew each other. However, they both seem to really want to make their relationship work, ignoring jeers and insults on the side. But does this make them soulmates, or are they just going through their honeymoon period? Is she really “the one” for him? And how many girls out there are “the one”(s) for any guy?


Now Andy brings up very interesting points here. Maybe they are soul mates, maybe they aren't. In my opinion, the key word here is recently started dating. It will be fairly hard to tell if she was the right one for him if they've only been dating for a short period of time. From my knowledge, usually couples date awhile before they decide if their partner is 'the one' for them or not. I think that his friend should just see how it goes with the girl before he begins to question his relationship with her.


Also, secondly Andy brought up the point that they were obviously an odd couple, evident racially and by the fact that they barely knew each other. Being racially different doesn't make two people an 'odd' couple, neither does the fact they barely know each other. Would two people have to be the same race and be best friends for them not to make an 'odd' couple? No. The other day a friend and I were discussing a matter similar to this and she told me, "Well opposites attract." This a very old saying, but it is true. If two people were almost exactly the same and liked everything that the other did, at some point very early in the relationship they would get sick of each other and want change. 

Now the fact that they barely know each other is not a reason to be an 'odd' couple. When two people date, they do it because they have feelings for the other person and want to get to know them better. So I do not understand what Andy is saying when he argues that they barely know each other, therefore they're an odd couple. But I guess that's just my opinion. 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Religion: The never ending debate

Since seventh grade, I have argued with numerous people about religion. But since this past summer to this day, there has been this one particular guy who is an atheist, who has argued with me about religion. I would get very heated at him, every time he would say something like God isn't real or religion is stupid.  It wasn't until the other day, I heard him arguing with my other friend, who believes in God, about religion. And I was looking at her blog and saw a blog post about another encounter they had about religion. I got this quote from her,
 I believe it was about a month ago when a rude and pathetic and freshman friend of mine (who I will call X) said to me, "Yeah sure. You believe in something that is really not up there!"
Now this is very offensive and I remember when I was in that same position just a few months ago, fighting for what I believed in. But I noticed, you can't force someone to see the world from your point of view. You can't convince someone not to express their opinion without offending yours. And you sure as hell can't argue with someone until you win, especially when that person isn't going to give up until they are sure you see where they are coming from.

Religion is a never ending debate. Religion has been the main issue of this world since the beginning of time, and lots of people have been killed for believing in certain religions. But now in present-day America, anyone is allowed to believe in any religion they want and can express it in whatever way they want. Some people are very deeply religious and have a problem when somebody says a certain remark regarding their religion. This can lead to physical or verbal harassment, and even murder. So I would recommend that a person should think before they make a mean remark regarding someone's religion because one day they will say it around the wrong person and let's just say, it's going to be all bad.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kite Runner Response Post

So far, throughout Amir’s life, his dad Baba has not been very kind to him but has lightened up a little bit now. I believe Baba is being more nice to Amir because he is growing old and has cancer now, and needs someone to take care of him, although he won’t admit it. Baba knows that he is almost at the end of life and probably regrets how he treated Amir in his childhood, so Baba is doing everything he can to make up for it. He may seem nicer now, but I think he is still a stubborn jerk.


For example, when Amir had to almost force him to go to the hospital because he thinks nobody can help him. Then Baba finds out that his pulmonologist is Russian and says,
“I don’t care where he was born, he’s Roussi...I swear on your mother’s face I’ll break his arm if he tries to touch me.” 
Now I know Baba has a very big grudge against the Russians, but this doctor didn’t do anything to him, he had no right to be as racist as he did.


Even after Baba gets a new doctor, and he offers Baba chemotherapy for his cancer, he rejects the offer in an arrogant way. Then Amir tries to persuade him to get it, once again being mean, old, and stubborn, Baba replies,
 “Don’t you challenge me in public, Amir. Ever. Who do you think you are?”
 All Amir was trying to do is help him out, not intentionally offend him in any way.


Now some may argue, that Baba isn’t a jerk because he got Amir a new car for his graduation and he built an orphanage. But when you think about it, money can’t buy love. Baba also spent all day every day building an orphanage for bad kids and one of them was a guy who raped his son, Hassan. On top of that, he has never shown Amir any mercy when he is hurt and he has only seemed proud of him twice in his whole lifetime. When he won the kite competition and graduated from high school, and Amir is about 23 already.  

Friday, November 5, 2010

Kite Runner Part 2

This book makes me feel like it actually happened and sometimes I get carried away and have to remember that it is only fictional.There was one quote that caught my attention when Baba and Hassan were sitting in Hassan's new car.
'Then Baba rolled his head toward me. "I wish Hassan had been with us today," he said. A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan's name. I rolled down the window. Waited for the steel hands to loosen their grip.'
A question I have is did Amir feel these 'steel hands' because he felt guilty for what he had done to Hassan in the past? Or was it because he missed Hassan and knew that he would most likely never see him again? Now usually when a person has lost someone or moved away from them, they would probably cry at the sound of their name. But since Amir felt like he was choking, a feeling of guilt probably overwhelmed him almost into shock mode by making him feel like he couldn't breath. So maybe Amir's past was hidden deep down inside of him and arose to the surface of his memories almost instantly.

Right before the end of chapter seventeen, we find out something very surprising. That Baba was Hassan's real father and his 'dad' Ali was sterile. Why didn't Baba just tell Amir and Hassan when they were younger that he was Hassan's dad too? Hassan would have had a better life and it would have saved Amir a whole lot of trouble. Just because people would talk about Baba if he said he was Hassan's dad, he decided to keep it a secret for thirty eight years. By this, we can tell how Baba thinks his reputation was more important than his family. I can't wait to see what happens in chapter eighteen.

Monday, November 1, 2010

K!te Runner Part 1

     So far I have enjoyed this story. it is very intense and like no other book I have ever read. The thing about this story that surprised me the most was that it's fiction! But besides that, while i was reading a few questions popped up in my head. Earlier in this book in chapter four, Amir says,
"The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual sense, anyhow." (pg.25)
     When I first read this, I thought how could Amir not consider Hassan to be his friend? And what was the usual sense? But as I read on, and Amir explained in a sort of harsh tone how they were different ethnicities and different religions and through that they were distinct. Almost like someone had told him this and he had to live by it. But then he goes back and rebuts against himself how they grew up together, spent every waking time together, and nobody could change that.

     The second question I have is why didn't Amir help Hassan in the alley? How could he just sit there and watch as it all happened before his eyes. How could he live with knowing he didn't do anything to help him? If that was me, I don't care how scared i was, somehow I would've worked up the courage to do something. That was a very intense scene and felt very realistic. I guess the differences between Amir and Hassan overruled their friendship and all the times Hassan stood up for Amir. Honestly, after that scene, Amir lost my respect. Although, he is a make believe character.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Reflective Essay

   The other day in English, Mr Sutherland asked us to reflect on our writing goals for the second quarter. Throughout the first quarter, I was introduced to lots of different writing styles and have recognized new things and bad habits in my writing.I noticed that I don’t have the easiest time being able to write a 500 word blog post/essay easily with no difficulties. But a bad habit that I’ve had for a while now has been procrastinating on my assignments. And lastly I would like to work on not getting writer’s block.  

     Right now I have a tendency to write about a 300 word essay. This is not a good thing because I have to go back over my essay and try to add in extra words so i can meet the requirement of 350 words. This also happens when I have to write response posts too. It can get very annoying at times because once I am done and have written my assignment, I don’t like having to spend another hour going back over it trying to get 350 words. One example is a quick write that I did last month. I read back over it and it was a pretty good blog post in my opinion, but it seemed very short and there were things in it that weren’t necessary. I could tell that I was just putting in extra details to try and so I could lengthen my post. Therefore, I would like to practice and learn how to write at least a 500 word essay without any problems whatsoever.

    Secondly, a major problem I have in school in general is procrastinating. Sometimes I wait until the morning the assignment is due to do it. I think  do this because I like hanging out with my friends and playing on the computer rather than taking hours out of my day to do my schoolwork.  Procrastinating is a bad habit that I have always had and would like to break because so far, it has made one of my grades go from an A+ to a B-. I am worried that if I don’t do anything about this soon, the pattern will continue and soon I will have an F. Then things will be all bad. But mainly the only times I do procrastinate is when I have to read something like a chapter book or have to respond to a text that I have read. It’s really sad, but I do not like reading because I don’t have the patience at all to sit and focus on one thing for over an hour. I guess you can say that I have a short attention span. Therefore, to stop procrastinating is one of my main goals this year.

    Lastly, I want to have the ability to stay focused and not run into writer’s block when I am doing a quick write or any type of essay. I tend to get it about once out of every two quick writes/essays we do when I have lots of things on my mind that are bothering me. Rather it’s in or outside of school. When I do get blocked, I start to write about these things that are on my mind. But once I do get all of the stuff off my chest and onto paper, new ideas on the original topic that I was writing about tend to pop up in my head. This process happens every time I get stuck on an assignment. Hopefully, by the end of this quarter, i will be less stressed and getting writer’s block will only happen rarely.   

    Over time, I have been writing better and it has gotten fairly easy for me to write essays and blog posts. Back in middle school, I hated writing essays and would’ve never imagined having to write two essays a week without breaking down at some point. Surprisingly, blog posts, essays, big projects, and labs almost every week has not overwhelmed me yet. Comparing one of the first essays I wrote this year to my most recent, you can see how I have grown as a writer. My essays now, are more organized and they sound like I am actually writing about something important. At least that’s what I think from perspective. Writing basically two essays a week has definitely helped me become a stronger writer over time. In conclusion, I have a few goals that I would hope to achieve this second quarter and become better as a student overall.  

Sunday, October 17, 2010

0f Mice & Men thoughts

     Of Mice & Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, is about two migrant workers who have a dream of having the perfect farm to live on. Except, one of them, Lennie, is mentally challenged and gets him & his companion into a lot of trouble. Iwould say that the central conflict in this story is character vs. society, or Lennie vs. the world because almost everyone has some sort of problem with Lennie.

     First of all, Lennie has his own problem to deal with 24/7, George. George is the boss of Lennie so Lennie has to listen to him and put up with whatever George does to him. One time, George says,“You never had none, you crazy bastard. I got both 'em here. Think I'd let you carry your own work card?”(5) George is calling Lennie a bastard, then saying he is incapable of carrying his things. Now this may be true, but he could've said it a little nicer and not so harsh.

      Secondly, Curley has it out for Lennie just because he's is big. Now we didn't here this directly from Curley's mouth, but the way he says things to Lennie tells us that this might be true. But later on in the book,  there is a scene where everyone gangs up on Curley because he's wimping out on fighting when he picks the fights! Lennie just happened to be there, and he was smiling at a happy thought. Curley thought he was laughing at him. He says,“Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's yella.(62) Now since Curley doesn't like big guys and Lennie is a big person, so he decided to take his anger out on Lennie because he knew Lennie wouldn't do anything back. But after a brutal beating, Lennie finally steps up, grabs Curley's fist and squishes it until every bone in his hand is broken. Lennie didn't mean to do this, but he got caught up and held onto his fist like his life depended on it. The other men had to literally beat Lennie to get him off of Curley. Although, Curley might have been very mad at Lennie because of this, he wasn't going to rat him out because then all the men would have told his secret about being a wimp against the other guys.

      Lastly, Curley's wife creates another problem because she's such a slut. She joins Lennie in the barn while he is alone with a puppy. Now, Lennie likes to pat soft things like mice, rabbits, puppies, and velvet. Curley's wife has very soft hair and she doesn't know Lennie well, so she doesn't know how bad of a position she's putting her slutty self in.

“She took Lennie's hand and put it on her head. 'Feel right aroun there an see how soft it is.' Lennie's big fingers fell to stroking her hair. 'Don't you muss it up,' she said. Lennie said, 'Oh! That's nice,' and he stroked harder. 'Oh, that's nice.' 'Look out, now, you'll muss it.' And then she cried angrily, 'You stop it now, you'll mess it all up.' She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie's fingers closed on her hair and hung on...Lennie was in a panic...She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose...And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror...'Don't you go yellin,' he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”(90-91)Now this situation is not Lennie's fault, it's Curley's wife's fault. If she wasn't so gun ho for guys other than her husband, this would have never happened. Lennie didn't know he was hurting her, he just freaked out because he didn't want to disappoint George.

     In conclusion, none of these situations was Lennie the one to put the blame on. It isn't his fault he acts like that, the fact that he's big, or that they ended up on that ranch to work. Lennie is a very sensitive & unaware of his surroundings so everyone seeks him out as an easy target. Just because he's being himself and minding his own business.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

*****IMPORTANT!!!! BREAKING NEWS!!!!!*****

This is a very important announcement. There has been a change of plans.
For my birthday, I want a G-Shock !!!!!!!!
And that is all.
Thank you for your time.
Goodbye.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

*****My Birthday Wishlist*****

As some of you may already know, my birthday is on October 17th and I am celebrating it on the October 16th. Many people come up to me and ask me,"Well Ebone, what would you like for your birthday? I do not know what to get you." And I may say something like,"Oh, I just want money." But that is a lie. You will discover what I truly want for my birthday in this blog post.

First of all, I would like a Trey Songz CD and 3 posters of him. I love Trey Songz and someday I will get to meet him in person. I am going to a Trey Songz & Usher concert in November so I do not want concert tickets for my birthday. Unless they are front row seats. Then I will make an acception. Here is the next thing I want.

I also would like two new pairs of Vans shoes. An all black pair, and a purple and white pair too. I only own two pairs of Vans and I would like more if possible. And I am a size 8.5 by the way if you would like to fulfill this birthday wish and make me happy.

For my third wish, I would like a new purple leather jacket to go with the new pair of purple Vans that I will be getting. I like to match my clothes and not look a mess so thats why I want this jacket. This jacket is available at Rainbow and Burlington Coat Factory. But I would prefer the one that is at Rainbow which is on sale now for 24.99. Now this may sound a bit self centered, but I'm really not. I just want to be spoiled on my birthday. That's all.

And last but not least, I want a $50 gift card to Wet Seal because that is my favorite store and I need a new pair of black skinny jeans. If all of my wishes come true, I will be the happiest person in the world and I will definitely return the favor.

Now remember Trey Songz CD & 3 posters of him, two pairs of Vans all black and purple & white size 8.5, purple leather jacket at Rainbow for 24.99, and a $50 gift card to Wet Seal. 

Friday, October 1, 2010

L.O.V.E Response Post

Love is overrated. Love is too much for teenagers to handle and can cause extra stress that is not needed and when YOU GET DUMPED, your heart will break into a million pieces and you will feel like your whole world has come to an end and you will go into a dark, deep depression. Here's a quote I got from Karen's blog:
All love basically is you give someone all the love you have until they decided to hurt you or end it.
 As a teenager, I agree with this statement. Some of us fall in love, then get our hearts broken after we have given one person all of our time and trust. Now why does this happen? Well it's apart of life and nowadays, it's hard to find one person that you will be with forever and stay faithful to. And this is very sad. Back in our grandparents time, it was easier to commit to one person for all of your life and it would be okay to fall in love when you were young. But since then, times have become worse, people have become more sly and temptation is skyrocketing through the roof.

Cheating is now the thing to do and you really have to watch out who you fall for because you got guys and girls that will be dating two or three people at one time while dating you, then in the end you will feel like the stupid one, if you ever find out. And the domestic violence rate has went up greatly because women fall in love with men and then the men take advantage of them because they know the women won't leave. This is also the reason that most people cheat because they know that their partner deep in love with them and they will not leave.

And on the other hand, you got teenagers that fall in love with a person they aren't even going out with. Back in middle school, their was this girl who fell really hard for this guy and he basically told her he didn't like her as more than a friend. Now this was in about November and she didn't get over him until after our eighth grade graduation in June. Now its not like she was ugly, she was very pretty in fact but he wanted another girl. She was crushed and in my opinion she shouldn't have fallen for him so easily. But I guess some people can't help themselves.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Essay about Qfwfq

Q’s main personality trait between both stories is always being very narrow-minded and jumping to the worst conclusions. In The Aquatic Uncle, Q assumes that his fiancee’ felt sorry for him because of his fish like uncle. He was wrong. Q has a deep shame of his uncle being a fish so he is embarrassed to introduce him to Lll. And in Dinosaurs, he assumes that the New Ones had revealed his identity, three times. And every single time he was wrong and risked losing his new friends. This shows that Q doesn’t stop to think about both sides of a situation before he automatically assumes what’s going to happen.

    First, in The Aquatic Uncle, Q has an overachieving fiancee named Lll and a rude, stubborn uncle named N’ba N’ga. Q is afraid to introduce Lll to his uncle because he is ashamed of his uncle being a fish. Then finally Q introduces them. After they meet, Lll makes a remark,
“He’s very nice, your uncle,” (77)
and Q assumes that it is the most awful and embarrassing thing. So he then tries to woo her by assuming being more land-like will get her back, but what he doesn't know is that Lll is actually attracted to how N’ba N’ga is so aquatic. But Q was being narrow-minded so he didn’t notice this about Lll. In the end, Lll left Q for N’ba N’ga so she could be a fish with him.

    Then, in The Dinosaurs, Q meets these creatures and he calls them the New Ones. In the first situation, they called him over and Q begins running assuming they recognized him as a dinosaur. But they simply wanted him to help them build a dam. Secondly, when he was going to get a drink by one of the girls, Fern Flower, and he automatically thought that the moment she saw him, she would know he was a dinosaur. Again, nothing happened and they ended up having a little conversation. And lastly, when Q fought Zahn, Fern Flower’s brother, the New Ones began yelling,”Give it to him, Dinosaur!” And Q once more thought they had figured out he was a dinosaur. All three assumptions were wrong.

    If you didn’t notice, he assumed the worst things every situation too. Q never once stopped to think, well maybe this won’t happen or maybe it’s just all in my head. No, he was so sure that the worst would happen because he is a very narrow-minded person. Comparing all of the outcomes of both stories, Q has the same personality and all that has changed were his physical features.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Response to Leah's Post about the N-Word

The other day in P.E., myself, Leah, and two caucasian students had a debate about why a white person can't say the N-Word. So Leah did a blog post on it and she brought up this point:
After we ended the debate, they brought it up again “I’m just saying when I say it ending in –ga- I mean my homey”, we said “The N-word comes from the Spanish word Negro for the color black, slave owners adopted that word using it as a bad term towards African-Americans, so know matter how u say it how u want to phrase, if your white then it is not appropriate for you to say?
What me and Leah said was a logical statement. Back in the day, when a white person called a black person the N-word, they were referring to them as a black slave. Now modern day, if a person calls another person the N-Word(usually black person to black person), it would mean homie. But on the other hand, if a white person says to a black person, "Whats up my nigga!" Then it's going to be interpreted as racist just for the simple fact that it is a white person saying this to a black person.

Now some might say, well isn't that just as racist. Saying a white person can't say the N-Word just because they're white? No, because when a white person calls a black person the N-Word, it is racist. So a black person is not being racist if they say a white person can't say the N-Word because if they do, than it is going to cause a commotion, regardless. So basically, the black person is just trying to avoid a fight, or any confrontation whatsoever with the white person by telling them not to say the N-Word.

So you people who think that white people should be allowed say the N-Word, ARE WRONG and you DON'T know what you are talking about obviously. You are just trying to start stuff and cause drama so just sit down and shut up. The end (for now).

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Over the weekend I...

      Last weekend was a very good weekend for me. After a long 7 hours of school on Friday, I went to my first high school football game with a few of my friends. The Alameda High Junior Varsity and Varsity teams played against San Lorenzo High. The JV team smoked the other team something to something. But unfortunately the Alameda High varsity team lost by one touchdown. But I had a lot of fun and didn't end up leaving until 10 that night.

On Saturday morning, still tired from the football game the previous night, I woke up at around 7 and did my science and math homework, and I started on my history homework. Then I went to the Oakland Coliseum to get my tickets to the Usher and Trey Songz concert with my friend Ariel. After that, I went to Southshore(Alameda Towne Center), to get colored pencils for my project for Fargher. Then I came back home and finished all of my homework and then got on Facebook. Then I went to sleep at around 10 because I had to get up for church the next morning. So Saturday was a pretty chill day for me.

The next morning, Sunday, I woke up and got ready for church. We had a male guest speaker who was very good. After church, we went to Wendy's in Pinole to eat. I had a chicken club sandwich, fries, and a medium drink. My mom had a burger. My sandwich was very tasty and satisfying because I was starving. Then my mom and I went to the new Burlington coat factory they opened up down the street from Wendy's. But when we got there it was closed because the grand opening wasn't until the 24th, so we went to Hilltop Mall.

When we got to Hilltop Mall, we went to Macy's and I got a green shirt with rhinestones on it and a white,pink,and orange Rocawear shirt with gold rhinestones on it. Then we walked through the mall and we went into this store called 5-7-9. Out of there, I got these low-cut, stiletto leather boots I've been wanting for a while. Then we left the mall, came home, and i finished my history project. Then we went grocery shopping for the week at Southshore.

Overall, i had a very good weekend

Saturday, September 18, 2010

*My 10 words*

  • sector
  • perceive
  • commission
  • acquisition
  • implement
  • ensure
  • constraint
  • validity
  • subsequent
  • regime

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Response blog. 9-16-10 Quickwrite

     I chose to post my quickwrite to a question Mr.Sutherland asked the freshmen class in repsonse to a post by Nawara about her school experience:

    On my first day of ASTI, as a freshmen, I thought that I would get so stressed out and overwhelmed that I would flunk out and have to go to Alameda High. Well as I got through the first couple of weeks, I felt like I did not belong here. Although no one was mistreating me or anything like that, I still felt like I didn’t fit in. But now, a month has gone by and I feel like ASTI is the perfect place for me and so far, I have not been stressed out completely. I am getting fairly good grades, I haven’t got into any trouble, I already have a big group of friends that accept me for who I am, they don’t distract me from my schoolwork and some of them actually help me with it sometimes. Unlike some of my old friends in middle school.

    Coming into ASTI I knew that there were no sports, which meant no Friday night football games, no jocks, and no cheerleaders who think they’re better than everybody. But I am okay with that because it is actually a distraction to my learning. I can always go to the Encinal and Alameda High football games with my friends who go there, I will just have to pay a little more. But unlike my friends that go to those high schools, I will be learning and doing things at ASTI in the 10th grade that they won’t until senior year. Right now, I am transitioning well with the ASTI expectations and I expect to throughout the rest of my freshmen year. Overall, I think that getting through this high school will be tough at times, but in the long run it will all be worth it.
In what ways can you identify (or not) with the process she describes of adjusting to high school, and ASTI in particular? What questions do you have? How has your first month been?
And here's my response.

Monday, September 13, 2010

CON Social Networking Rebuttal

Social networking is harmful to people’s health, real-life social relationships, and also constitutes a threat to their privacy. Most teens don’t know that when they post photos and information onto websites like Facebook and Myspace, it can still be retrieved even after deletion. Social networking also makes cyberbullying easier and Sameer Hinduja states that a 2009 study found that 17.3% of middle school students have been victims of cyberbullying, which causes depression and low self-esteem as www.ncpc.org adds on. Adults can get hacked and have their identity stolen, get their homes broken into, and potentially lose their job. And according to David Derbyshire from Daily Mail, too much time on these websites can also cause brain damage to children.
"Studies have shown that people who use social networking sites have a better quality of life. It has reduced risk of health problems, helped with stroke recovery, and overall well being.. Most social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace have an age limit.. " - Our opponents stated. Tony & Troy
Age limitations on signing up for social networking sites do nothing to prevent teenagers from being exposed to this, as many lie about their ages. And social networking sites are certainly not free from predators. In 2009, MySpace confirmed that it had identified and removed over 90,000 registered sex offenders from its site, according to an article by Nathan Olivarez-Giles in the Los Angeles Times. This same article states that Facebook declined to give a number of discovered sex offenders. And even if these sites make an effort to remove sex offenders, they cannot possibly find all of them, because it is impossible to be sure that everyone is who they say they are.
Teens do not usually realize that it is possible to find their information after it has been deleted, nor do they know that by making their information public, they leave themselves open to online predators. More sex offenders than you may think show up on social networking sites. In 2009, MySpace confirmed that it had identified and removed over 90,000 registered sex offenders from its site, according to an article by Nathan Olivarez-Giles in the Los Angeles Times.

In addition, information gathered by neuroscientist Susan Greenfield shows that excessive use of social networking can cause children to suffer from personality disorders such as an inability to have real conversations, ADHD, short attention spans, the need for instant gratification, and self-centered personalities. Greenfield has told the Daily Mail that ‘'My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.'’ She also states the concern that the use of social networking may be responsible for the current increase in autism.
Adults are also vulnerable to these dangers such as getting viruses and their identity stolen. It is possible for a message containing a virus to be sent on a social networking site with the appearance that it is from a friend. And according to Javelin & Research, the percentage of identity fraud rose by 12 percent in the U.S. last year to 11.1 million.
In short, social networking should not be trusted.

Quickwrite- I do, I have, I am

On September 12th, my first period English class did a response to the picture below drawn by an artist by the name of Saul Steinberg. I think that in Steinberg’s picture, he is trying to explain to us how the different short sentences, I am, I have, and I do, have very different, meaningful standing positions in our lives. And here is what I had to say about it.


The first phrase, I am, is drawn as being sort of carved out of the earth or apart of it. Through this, I think Steinberg is trying to explain to us that I am is the rock or base of our lives because it is who you are as a person on the inside and what makes you you or unique from others.

Secondly, is the sentence I have. It appears to be made out of pieces of a fence that are nailed together, and a raggedy, flimsy, clothing line that looks as if the slightest amount of wind blew, it would be knocked over immediately. I am assuming that his point in drawing this is that the material things that we have in life don’t really matter or compare to who you are as a person and the actions you take that represent you. In other words, I have is not as nearly important as I do or I am.

And for the last short sentence, I do, it is drawn in the sky as almost resembling the sun, with very bright, beautiful colors surrounding it. To me this means that I do, or your actions, sometimes over shine who you are and what you have in life. But the clouds that are setting in the background also tell me that what you do can fade away very easily and be replaced by something else.

But overall, I think the meaning of this picture and what Steinberg was trying to say is that the material things in life come and go, what you do can easily fade away over time, but who you are is what makes you different and it can never be replaced by anything or forgotten by anyone. The end.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Debate 0pening Statement !!!!!!

CON- Social Networking


Social networking is harmful to people’s health, real-life social relationships, and also constitutes a threat to their privacy. Most teens don’t know that when they post photos and information onto websites like Facebook and Myspace, it can still be retrieved even after deletion. Social networking also makes cyberbullying easier and Sameer Hinduja states that a 2009 study found that 17.3% of middle school students have been victims of cyberbullying, which causes depression and low self-esteem, www.ncpc.org adds on. Adults can get hacked and have their identity stolen, get their homes broken into, and potentially lose their job. And according to David Derbyshire from Daily Mail, too much time on these websites can also cause brain damage to children.

Friday, August 27, 2010

ASTI Constitution- Relating quote

ASTI Constitution:

1.Think before you speak or act
2.Include, don’t exclude
3.Accept others for who they are
4.Build mutual trust and respect
5.Assume positive intent
6.Speak up for yourself and others
7.Strive to understand where other people are coming from; be empathetic
8.Take responsibility for your actions and words
9.Make a positive impact on the people and environment around you
10.Resolve conflict peacefully

Here is a quote I read that I can relate to on Rahni's blog.
When I think back to when I was a little kid growing up, I was never harassed by anyone and I never participated in an alliance that made anyone feel bad. I always helped and stood up for those people because I knew I would hate it if anyone bullied me or hurt my feelings in any way.
This quote relates to the first and sixth commandments on the ASTI Constitution. Speak up for yourself and others, and think before you speak or act. I also speak up for others when i see them being harassed so I can relate to what Rahni is trying to say here. This is a great example of what the ASTI Constitution represents because it is symbolizing standing up to bullies, thinking about your actions, and caring for others. As she explains, she didn't harass others because she knew that she wouldn't like it if anyone did that to her. However, the problem is bullies don't stop to think about how they would feel if someone did to them what they were doing to others because of their own insecurities. If they thought how Rahni does, there wouldn't be any bullies because all of them would look at things from a different perspective than their own. And that's also what is causing so many problems in our modern day society. People don't think before they act. It is one of the biggest flaws in human nature and I believe if more and more people begin to correct these flaws, life would be much easier for those victims who are bullied and the people surrounding them.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Remarks by President Barack Obama

This speech was really inspirational and it had me thinking about where my education is going to get me in life. As a student, I feel that my responsibilities are to: ask for help whenever I need it, never give up on a subject when it starts to get too hard for me, make my own decisions, and don’t let others influence me if I know that there might be trouble following it; in order to be successful. Now my goals for high school are to maintain over a 3.0 GPA at all times and to take and pass Calculus before I graduate. When I was in eighth grade, we had to do this thing called a portfolio and pass it in order to graduate. On my first portfolio check in, I got a straight 50%, F, on it. But I kept working on it got all the materials I needed in order to pass it the next check in and I did. I still feared that I wouldn’t pass on the portfolio but in the end I ended up getting two 4’s, otherwise known as passes. I felt like that there was a weight lifted off of my shoulders because I passed my portfolio and all my hard work had paid off. This experience taught me that if I fail at first, don’t give up and try again, success will come out as a result. Perseverance, it is perseverance that will help me grow as a student and keep me on track to achieving all of my goals. But I do procrastinate a lot and I plan on correcting that and not doing it by the time I get out of ninth grade. That is one of my major goals not just as a student, but as a person.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Just Kidding and Ganging up

I have bullied someone before and I myself have been bullied also. When I was in 5th grade, I was going to new school and there was this one girl that I instantly became friends with and her name was Stormie. But then there were these other girls and these two boys that had a little clique and nobody ever had the guts to stand up to them. Well about a month into the school year I became best friends with two of the girls in this clique. As a result, I basically turned my back on her to be their friend because since nobody in the group liked her, I thought why should I. Back then I didn’t really care about what if I’m really hurting her by turning my back on her, I just went with what this clique did. So throughout the school year, we started doing really mean things to her and eventually her mom got involved but we didn’t care because we were little 5th graders and we thought her mom isn’t going to do anything to us because our moms would step in. So in the end, her mom ended up taking her out of the school because we would just taunt her almost everyday, which would make her cry. I guess I liked feeling like I had power over someone else and that’s why I did that. Well when I moved to Alameda and began middle school in 7th grade at Wood, the tables turned. There was also a clique at Wood when I got there and I got into an argument with a girl in that clique, so her friend stepped in and tried to fight me. This had never happened to me, there was four of them backing her up and one of me with nobody. That girl continued to try and make my life miserable the whole time I was at Wood because as long as she was with her friends she knew I wouldn’t do anything. Well one day I decided that nobody was going to walk over me anymore. So one day in class she said something to me, I said something back and it escalated into an argument but she didn’t do anything to me at all. But this wasn’t until next year in the 8th grade. Just her and her friends being there every day made me hate it at Wood because I now knew what it felt like to be bullied. It felt like I was helpless and couldn’t do anything. I went to teachers and even my mom, but nothing really changed at all until I had to stand up to her myself. I guess she liked seeing me helpless because she felt she had power over me like I felt I did to my friend in 5th grade.