What I'm Grateful For

I'm thankful for a lot of stuff right now!! First of all I'm really thankful for my family who visited me for thanksgiving. They live in Ramona and we haven't seen them in awhile. My Uncle Glen (my moms brother), my Aunt Lynn (his wife), her daughter Sydne, Sydne's boyfriend Sergio, their baby, Grace, and my Aunt Lynn's parents came to our house for thanksgiving. My other Aunt (my moms sister) also came. I haven't seen my mom's side of the family for awhile so this was a really big deal. This was the first time I met Sydne's baby Grace, who is now my second cousin. She is only a couple months old and she is a really happy, adorable baby. The only bad thing is she was sick on thanksgiving so she was kind of sad but still really cute.

I'm also really thankful for all the food we had. Everyone brought a dish and so we had a ton of food. My favorite food on thanksgiving is mashed potatoes and gravy, and my Aunt Terri's brown sugar yams. I'm really thankful for having so much food because I know that most of the world didn't have food that day. I'm a really big supporter of the Invisible Children organization, so I know that the kids and families that live in Uganda, Africa don't have any food or water at all most of the time. They have to spend all day trying to get food, and tons of kids and families are starving, on top of fighting AIDS. I feel really lucky that I am provided for here in America and that i have great food and an amazing family.

Another thing I am thankful for is my AMAZING FAMILY and FRIENDS!! I love both of my parents so so so soooo much! My mom always supports me and watches over me, and my dad helps me through everything and is so supportive of my decisions and helps me through fights with my mom. I love my brother and sister because even though they annoy me sometimes they're both so happy and fun. I LOVE my friends because they keep my life so exciting and they bring out the little kid in me and aren't afraid to be crazy with me and they have great advice and help my through every bump in the road!! They bring me laughter and love and i couldn't survive without all of them!! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving bye!!!

Oh and I'm also thankful for the amazing opportunities that I get from school and the opportunity to have a great education. :-)

Dialectic Journals Book 2

PICTURE: view the quote from Chapter 10 (scroll down) and my response... " fear the sea anytime, but never more than on a moonless night and in the hands of strangers"

Chapter 8: "...convulse with perverse glee at the misery of whatever luckless mate now found himself spitted above the coals. Up and down the lines of boys, teeth sunk into tongues seeking to suppress his fear-inspired hilarity." -80

I found I have connections to this passage because it seems the boys/soldiers first reaction to fear, or an awkward emotion is to laugh, with I often find myself doing in situations like that. When someone is yelling at someone near me, where I am in danger of getting yelled at too I find I laugh in hysteria. The part of passage where he says "convulse with perverse glee at the misery of whatever luckless mate now found himself spitted above the coals" I can relate to because I laugh in hysteria because someones being hurt/yelled at, which is also mingling with happiness that I am not in their place. This connection helps me understand how they (the other soldiers) feel about Alexandros (the boy being beaten) and the overall feeling of the group. I can almost see their facial expressions too, because I know how me and my friends look in that situation.

Chapter 9: "For once the flesh is seized, a phobokyklos, or loop of fear, may commerce, feeding upon itself, mounting into a runway of terror. Put the body in a state of aphobia, fearlessness, the Spartans believed, and the mind will follow" -78

I thought this quote was interesting because I think most people are terrified when their flesh or body is harmed, so I understand where the "loop of fear" or "phobokyklos" comes from. I think is is interesting that the Spartans believed that if your body is in a state of "aphobia" then your mind will follow, because I believe most fear is created mentally, which then affects your body (instead of the other way around). I believe that because of your past experiences/beliefs/memories; your mind creates fears, that trick yourself into thinking things that effect your body. I think if you can overcome something mentally, it will help you physically, instead of the other way around (like the Spartans believed). This is kind of like if you feel sick, when its really just your head telling you that you feel badly.

Chapter 10: "I fear the sea anytime, but never more than on a moonless night and in the hands of strangers."
I feel like I can definitely connect to this quote because I'm pretty much terrified of the sea and sailing in general. This is mainly because I am scared of anything that goes really fast or has sudden turns or drops, which usually happens because of the waves rocking the boat. If I was in the characters position I would be SO scared because I wouldn't be able to see what was happening (due to the "moonless night) but I could still feel all the motion. I would also not be able to know if something was going to happen, so I could prepare myself for it, but instead I would be shocked and suddenly terrified if a big wave came (or something scary like that). It would be like being spun around with my eyes closed, then being dropped on a roller coaster blindfolded (I HATE roller coasters.... dislike them with passion). If I was "in the hands of stranger" it would be so much worse because I wouldn't know how well they sailed, or their style of sailings, it would be a whole new experience.

Dialectic Journals

Pictures: I chose the picture of the cowardly lion from wizard of oz because it relates to the quote I chose to write about from chapter 6, where the character is talking about his cowardly heart. The lion from wizard of oz despises himself for being a coward just like the character from the book. The second picture is a picture of the Persians sacking the Greek towns which is mentioned in the quote I chose from Chapter 7.

Chapter 4: "Things are fallen which had stood upright. Things are free which should be bound, and bound which should be free. Things which had been hoarded in secret now blow and tumble open, and those who had hoarded them watch with dull eyes and let them go" Page 41
I believe the author is trying to make the point and illustrate the idea that everything is going crazy, and there world has been turned upside down. He is trying to show the reader that there is no more order, and everything is unorganized. In the part of the passage where he says "those who had hoarded them watch with dull eyes and let them go" is written to show that things that people have worked hard toward getting, hidden away so no one can steal, are now worthless because there is no use in keeping them, and so much has been lost that there is no worth in anything now. This paragraph can be related to by anyone who has ever experienced something that has changed their life, and left everything they know destroyed and turned their world upside down.

Chapter 5: "Fear arises from this: the flesh. This, he declared, "is the factory of fear."
After re-reading this sentence and the surrounding passages several times, I found that I agree with the author in some ways. Though I think there are other sources of fear, I agree with the author because most fear people have (especially warriors/soldiers) is associated with fear of being physically harmed. If we had no feeling of when something touched us people would not be afraid of getting shot, tortured etc. Common fears people have are fear of the dark, war, death... I believe most people are afraid of the dark because the media has put out that "monsters" reside in the dark. Monsters are usually associated with painful deaths a.k.a. harm and suffering inflicted on the flesh. I believe you can trace most fears back to the though of being harmed or a loved one/friends, flesh/body being hurt in some way. Though I agree with the author, I also think this sentence is much more relevant to ancient times because now there are more ways to inflict mental harm upon someone.

Chapter 6 : "I had seen my own heart and it was the heart of a coward. I despised myself with a blistering pitiless scorn"
After reading these sentences I immediately felt a connection to them. I think Xeo at this time feels ashamed, along with anger and disbelief at his own actions. I have felt this many times before. AT times I have done something without thining due to the fact another emotion has taken over me. The same thing happened to Xeo, where he had been hailed to a well, and pain over ruled his judgement and acted without thinking. After this my actions usually catch up to me and I'm ashamed, embarrassed and frustrated with myself, and the effect my actions have had on others. Xeo experiences this too when the torture is over he realizes what a coward he had been and the impression he had made on others; which results in the horrible anger he feels towards himself. He doesn't believe he deserves to live.

Chapter 7:
"Terror of sack spread throughout all Greece... so all pervasive was this dread that it had even been given a name. Phobos. The Fear."
I think this quote is interesting because it illustrates the effect that fear can have on people and how the fear of an event (or something else) can have on people even if the event hasn't even happened. It is interesting to me that such a large group of people can shared a common fear, one that is serious enough that it effects all of them. This fear is talked about so often in their daily lives they have to give it a name "Phobos" so this type of fear is distinct from any other feeling, and can be recognized by anyone. I think that by giving this fear a name (Phobos) its almost distinguishes this feeling as an event because it was so wide spread and shared with so many people at a particular time. The time before battle of attack. For example if you lived back then, and were alive years after the battle was over, but you had a grand parent who paricipated you coulod ask them "Do you remember the Time of Phobos?" and it would bring up an even (the time before the war) becasue the fear was so specific to that time.

Election

PICTURE EXPLANATION: OK, so if you read my post, you will find that I have no idea what is going on with the elections so, I am really confused. In this picture the guy looks confused, which is pretty much exactly how I feel!!!

To be honest, I haven't been following the elections AT ALL, which is mostly the case for every election that has gone on since I was born. I have watched some of the debates, but I still don't really understand it. I have been mainly focusing on what's going on with the recession that is going on. Even though I haven't been following the election at all, I still believe it's important to know about what's going on, and who will lead our country. I believe one of the reasons I haven't really been watching and following what's been going on is that I don't really pay attention to current events. I'm more interested in really big things like the war in Uganda, that effects kids because I can relate to it better. I think if I followed current events and all the things that are happening here in America that effect people (mostly adults) I think I would be more interested in the election.

One thing I noticed about the elections this year is the diversity between people running. I think it's really cool that things are changing in America. I'm not saying I want Obama, to win, or I'm a huge fan of Sarah Palin, or Hilary Clinton (I mean how can I support people if I haven't been following the election?). I just think it's really interesting that different people are running for president, and that its not just Caucasian men. I think it would be nice to have some change and it would be cool to have "the first African American president" or the "first female president". If a woman ever became president there wouldn't be a first lady anymore! There would be a first man... I guess.

I can kind of be a feminist so I think it might be cool to have a female president one day. Though, if there is a female running, i won't just base my vote on her gender but also on her views. After watching my mom help run several organizations and events, and belonging to an all girls organization I've noticed that women run things differently then men, and they have different ideas. It would be interesting to see if the country changed really drastically if a women became president. I also think that there is still a lot of sexists out there, and I get really offended by sexist comments, and believe women still need to show men that they are capable of anything. It kind of bugs me when women don't care about standing up for themselves. I mean a long time ago women were just there to clean the house and get pregnant right? Well now when there's women who become hookers and stuff like that because they actually want to, are just eliminating any respect we've earned. I mean hello, women haven't worked for women's rights for hundreds of years for you to be a sex slave to men! Anyways, I just kind of want change in the country. Even though I haven't been watching the elections I think I want Obama to win. I just say that because I think McCain's going to die in office, and Obama seems cooler.

Picture and My Hero SCANNER BROKE SRRY HERO PIC LATE

The person I chose was Ewan McGregor. I chose him because he is one of the main characters in my favorite movie, Moulin Rouge. The picture of Ewan where he is putting his hand on his face portrays him as someone who i frustrated and unhappy. I like this photo because unlike most celebrity photos it portrays a darker of more "real" side of him that you might not usually see. The second photo is taken directly from the movie Moulin Rouge. I like this photo because I think it is at an interesting angle, and it look almost like he was caught in suprise, like a candid picture. He looks like he is in the middle of an emotion, and is not posing or aware of the camera. In this picture I see him as someone who is distressed, surprised or contemplating something.

MY HERO: (no Ewan McGregor is NOT my hero, this is the blurb about my hero, my great uncle)...

Babe is my hero because Babe survived the Bataan Death March. Though he grew up a crazy kid living on a ranch in the country, he knew when to be strong and he knew how to fight and what was worth fighting for.

Part 3: Code- Secret Life of Bees

1. How accurate were your predictions?
My predictions were basically all correct. I think the back of the book gave most of the story's outline away, and so it was fairly easy to make accurate predictions. I believe I only made one prediction that proved to be inaccurate.

2. Which predictions were very accurate?
I predicted that the book was fiction, and that the book was about a girl who runs away with her black "stand in" mother, when she insults three racists in town. They are later taken in by three black sisters who are beekeepers. I thought Lilly would learn a lot about herself and maybe more details about how her mother was killed, and who her mother was. This was all true because toward the end of the book Lily learns how her mother knew August, and the rest of the sisters, and how she left her with TRay.

3. Which predictions were less accurate? What were the differences between what you predicted and what actually happened?
One prediction that wasn't accurate was that I thought this book might be a hard book to read due to some of the vocabulary and the subject. I don't believe this was true, it was very easy for me to read this book and it all was very clear, and made sense.

My Weekend: Alliteration!!

This weekend I went to the Miramar Airshow. It was awesome and amazing!!! It took forever to get on to the navy base due to the long, large, lines. There was around 200,000 people who showed up! The airshow started with big, booming, bombs being dropped on the airplane runway for entertainment. The smoke was everywhere! Next several planes did tricks and flew around for awhile. Finally the main attraction, the Blue Angels, came out. The Blue Angels are a group of soldiers from the Marines, and the Navy who fly planes for peoples entertainment. It was a cold, cloudy day so the Blue Angels couldn't perform most of their tumbling, terrific, tricks because it's too risky to fly through the clouds. If they accidentally hit each other they'll die. The Blue Angels planes are fast enough to break the sound barrier, but they would hurt people if they did that so they only go half the speed they are capable of.

In addition to the planes, their was a lot of other stuff to see and do at the airshow. Lot's of different food vendors were there to provide a flavorsome feast. Different stores were selling their products there and letting people try them out. For example PlayStation 3 had a huge truck that had an arcade inside it that people were allowed in, and Wii had stations set up where you could play games. There was also a merry-go-round, a jump, jungle gym, and various carnival rides. Though it took forever to get there, it turned out to be a very fruitful day full of fabulous fun!