Daniel's Story Quote

“We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place.  And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity… I want you both to live…And to remember...You must choose love.  Always choose love.”  

(from Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas, page 70)

This quote reminds me of my mom because my mom is such a wise person and she frequently guides me with motivational quotes like this one that Erika said to Daniel in Daniel's Story. My mom always tries to get everyone look on the bright side of every situation and if there is no bright side, then she creates one herself. Her doing that has made me do it myself and it's great to say that I've accomplished something in this world. My mom is also very determined to improve the environment in any way that she can and if she can get others involved to help then she definitely will. That is another reason why she is such an inspiration to me.

Leap Years

        Leap years take place every four years. Saying 'four years' makes me think of how my life was four years ago. Back then, many things were different for me. For starters, I was in 4th grade, and now that I am in 8th grade, there is so much more that I have to do like take tests, complete homework, and more. Life was also a lot simpler than it currently is now. I didn't worry about my grades or where I was going to be in the future, and I definitely didn't worry about getting ready to go to high school. I was also different personality-wise. For example, I was more shy and reserved. In some ways I still am now, but overall I'm more outgoing and cordial than I was four years ago.
        My life four years forward is something that I can't picture. Mainly because I just can't and don't want to see myself older and grown up. But, I predict that I will be getting somewhere at least, and hopefully I will have a decent job and have done/am doing well in school. I also hope that my family is happy and that my brother was not lying when he said that he would get a job "soon."
        Reflecting on the previous and upcoming stages of your life teaches you many things that you can appreciate. Overall, I appreciate the fact that you just have to live in the moment and not stress about what is coming up next in life because when it does come up, you'll be just fine.

Photograph Story

        It was a decent day. Decent because there was no sun was shining down as I drove my red car. I wished there would be sun, but you can't have everything in life. Looking back, I should've known that that was a bad omen for what was to happen next. Instead, I minded my own business for a while and drove as usual, until I saw darkness hovering over my car. Oh no, I thought, oh no it's happening. I tried swerved off the road and onto the grass in an attempt to lose the darkness, but it was no use. I ran out to save myself, but my car wasn't so lucky. Falling from the sky, an over-sized muffin crushed the top of it. I sighed as I thought of how much I'd have to pay to repair my only source of transportation, but relaxed when I realized that at least I had dessert.

The Best Food Ever

        Macaroni salad is one of my favorite foods ever. When I first ate it, which was a long time ago, I looked at it and I vividly remember trying not to gag in front of my mom because it looked so disgusting to me. I also remember not wanting to disappoint her since I knew that she worked hard on making it. So, instead of physically gagging, I mentally gagged as I slowly ate a spoonful of the food. I expected the worst, but when I ate more, I felt like this food was blessed because it was so good! I ate a lot more servings and got yelled at by my brother because he wanted some himself but couldn't get the chance to eat some because I was eating it all. The morale of this story is that you should really try macaroni salad because it's so good. Just kidding. The moral of this story is to not judge something by how it looks because if you give it a try, it could turn out being really good.

A Fun Activity

        Yesterday in class, we did this really cool activity. Mrs. Joyner went around the class, shook everyone's hand and said a word that described it. Everyone was confused about what was happening, but when Mrs. Joyner explained it at the end of the activity, it all made sense. When each person shook her hand, they did different, or similar, things. For example, when someone shook Mrs. Joyner's hand, they stuck their first finger out. That was called the pointer. There were different description words that ranged from spaghetti arm, to strongman, to cousin Patrick, to royalty. When I shook Mrs. Joyner's hand, she said I got cat. That's when someone looks nervous when they shake someones hand. I tried to explain that my face literally just looks like that, but when I did it again I got the same thing. At the end of the activity, everyone corrected their mistakes and we all learned the proper way to shake someone's hand. I think this activity was a really cool and fun way to learn how to do that. I really liked it and will remember it as one of my favorite activities.

October Sky Movie Review

         This week in English class, we watched a movie called "October Sky". I'd never heard of it before and didn't know what it was about so I didn't know what to expect when I started watching it. It's about a boy named Homer who lives in a place called Coalwood where almost every young boy was expected to work in the mine when they got older. The mine is a main part of a movie because it is a main part of life in Coalwood and many conflicts happened in it and because of it. Homer didn't want to work in the mine however, he wanted to go to space. Him and his three friends started building rockets because they were driven by Homer's determination. They went through many failures and public humiliation, but they didn't give up. They got help from many people in the town at the end and a lot of support. I'm not going to spoil everything that happened in the end, but I really liked the ending and the whole movie overall. It had humor, sadness, happiness, and more and that's what I think makes a good movie. If you haven't watched it, I highly suggest that you do.

Welcoming 2016

     If I were to sum up 2015 in one word, I would choose interesting. I choose that because the word can be used in a negative and positive way. 2015 was really fun. I had a lot of happy moments. But inevitably, I did have sad moments too. I had a lot of emotions in 2015 that ranged from happy to energetic to annoyed. I would like 2016 to be more than just two words. I don't want it to be a boring year, I want it to be fun but I also want to learn lessons along the way. If I had to pick two words that I would want 2016 to be, they would be awesome and unpredictable. If I could spend more time doing one activity in 2016, it would be to go outside more. I've noticed that I spent so much of my time in 2015 indoors and I want that to change. I might have to trade time to do homework and to study in exchange for that time, but it'll be worth it in the end if it makes 2016 great.