Post 17

The most embarrassing moment of my life was when I was about 14 years old. It was during summer at my Jewish sleep-away camp. My age group had just come from the sporting section of our day and it had been particularly hot out. Walking into the dining hall was like a blessing from God himself as the air conditioning immediately cooled us down. Almost the entire camp was inside the hall and into the three assigned sections. While heading towards my section, me and my friends noticed that for lunch was grilled cheese and tomato soup. Literally everybody's favorite meal on campus. And already being incredibly hungry, we ran towards our seating section. I was running faster than my friends which at first didn't occur to me; I was always the slowest runner out of everyone. Before I could look back to see why no one else was running as fast as me, I looked up and saw the food, and then slammed into the glass door! I hadn't realized that the incredibly deceiving glass doors had been closed and that's why my friends hadn't been running as fast as me. I bounced off the heavy glass with a loud thwack in front of the entire camp, kitchen and camp staff included. I was completely mortified.

Post 16

I keep neglecting this blog absentmindedly >< i keep forgetting it's existence. anyways.

PACKER AND FORNEY:

I thought Packer's story was incredibly vivid about a young black woman struggling to identify with her sexuality in college. I understand the hardships and struggles she went through to identify with herself. I know what it's like to be a compulsive liar just so people wouldn't know anything about me; at one point I started believing my own lies. I also believe that she had an unusually hard time accepting herself because of society's idea of homosexuality and her own father.

Forney's first comic about change is really thought provoking. I often wonder if anything I do makes a difference. I use to try to recycle and be more green, but the little amount I did compared to everyone seemed like such a waste and I gave up. I think this comic is basically trying to encourage your beliefs and not giving up. The second comic I think tries to point out that people feel that there is only one moment that they wish they could live or make better when in fact there will be more in the future.

Post 15

Harley sat in her room with a bowl of popcorn as she watched a film absent mindedly. Her little hedgehog - Stormaggedon - pranced around her bed, often cuddling with the stuffed armadillo Harley had gotten it when it was just a baby. Three months. She had pined for Diego for three months. He had seriously screwed with her head. In the past three months, they saw each other weekly, and she had really fallen for him. But, he was a player, and he played Harley good. Heartbroken and depressed, Harley barely ventured out anymore except to go to classes. Next week was Thanksgiving. She was going home to see the family. She could already hear them criticizing her for still being single. She sighed with sadness as her door opened up. Her little Dachshund - Weiner - ran into the room, his stumpy little tail wagging furiously. He looked up at Harley with a confused look and began to whine as he attempted to climb the bed. Harley picked him up and placed him on the bed. Stormaggedon squeaked with disapproval and hid under a pillow while Weiner cuddled with Harley; for once, being calm instead of hyper. She began to cry.

Post 14

Overly stressed:

I have two research papers due by next Thursday - one I'm almost done with but needs some serious revising and editing, and the other I haven't even started with research. Also, I have two math quizzes to do, one tonight, and one by Monday night. If that wasn't enough, I also have two tests next Wednesday - one for my family and relationships class which I hardly ever pay attention to let alone study for, and the other for college algebra and this is the third day in a row I've slept through class. I'm really starting to freak out, and while I should dedicate my weekend to studying, I simply can't. Friday afternoon I have lunch with my great Aunt and the Vice President of the school for God knows how long. Then whenever I get out, I have to study and write my butt off. Then at six I'm going to Hillel for about three hours since theirs an actual service and dinner tonight. THEN, after that, I'm going to the club tonight for fun and dancing. Saturday afternoon, I'm going to tailgates and then the big football game against Miami. Then sometime after, I think I need to be at a fundraising event to raise money so I can join the sorority I want. Then when that's done, I'm going out again for fun and dancing. Sunday is really the only day I will be able to study before the hellish cycle of classes resumes again.

Post 13

"Harry Potter teaches about being strong and doing what's right even when things go horribly wrong; Twilight talks about the importance of having a boyfriend" (Stephen King).

Twilight is a ridiculous cliche about falling in love with someone who is incredibly dangerous. While everyone loves a bad boy, most women don't tend to fall in love with someone who potentially wants to eat them.

While the plot is certainly an interesting one, it gets old very fast. Especially since the story line is the exact same in every book: Bella falls for a guy and is in a relationship/married, some badies come out and try to kill her, Edward saves the day.

The twilight fandom is another negative of the whole Twilight saga. Young impressionable girls fall for the idea that someone dark and mysterious will come and save them. They all want that tragic love story that ends happily ever after. While its perfectly acceptable to love a book series, it is not, however, "normal" to relate it exactly to your life. The things girls say: "Oh Twilight relates so much to my life and every other girls lives!" Oh yeah, I remember that one time I jumped off a cliff so I could see my vampire ex-boyfriend. All the twilight series is about, is about a girl who couldn't decide for three books if she wanted to commit bestiality or necrophilia.

"The idea of Twilight came to me in a dream" (Stephanie Meyers)

"It is not good to often dwell on dreams" (Albus Dumbledore). Dumbledore has spoken Mrs.

Meyers.

Post 12

Abortion:

Pro-life -

Every living person in this world should be given a chance to live a life and make a difference. No one should have to be "deleted" because they were a mistake, or diseased, or for any reason. No one should have the authority or power to decide whether a person should live or not. Every fertilized egg - every human baby - has the right to be born.

"No one knows for sure the future of any child. Everyone is gifted in their own special way. The baby that is growing inside of a mother's body could very well be the next Einstein, or even possibly the next Ted Bundy. The point is, no one will ever know for sure unless you give that baby a chance to live."

Within the womb, a baby can dream. It's heart beats, so full with life waiting to live. It's arms and legs move, ready to take experience the joy of playing, and pain in falling. Why would anyone want to take the gift of life away from something so innocent?

Post 11

Last night after coming home from walking my roommate to her place of employment, my other roommate and I came into our room to find the largest cockroach in existence on our floor. After fully staring at it for a good two minutes, we both screamed very loudly. The monstrosity began to crawl its ugly little legs towards us. We jumped backwards onto the desk and sink, trying to keep away from it. If things weren't bad enough, the little effer could fly too! He took off and flew right into my roommates face. She swatted it away with a firm slap and it fell to the floor. At this point we're both in hysterics. Not a moment later, our incredibly hot resident assistant, Dan, came into the room; causing us to scream louder since he more or less barged into our room. After assessing the situation, he grabbed the broomstick and started to chase the little bugger.

* * * * * *

All I was doing was looking for some food to feed my family with. I have over 200 children and a wife too feed. I was minding my own business, wandering the trash cans on the street when I saw the lights go off in some window. The window itself was slightly open, and I could smell different aromas coming from it. Instinct took over and I flew in through it. While my eyes adjusted, I quickly assessed that the room was free of predators. I quietly snuck around the shadows looking for the food source; I couldn't find anything. I don't know how long I was looking for, but I guess it was long enough because the lights came on, and two huge monsters came in and started to roar! I tried to escape but the window had somehow shut itself. In my defense I tried to scare one monster, but it deflected me. Then another monster, even bigger than before came into the scene. The first two must have been calling for help. He started to chase me with a stick!

Post 10

One day whilst walking to class, Harley ran into an average. He was about four inches taller than her, with the same tanned skin, black hair and brown eyes as her. When he spoke, he had a spanish accent.

"I'm so sorry," he said quickly, glancing around nervously. Harley found herself unable to speak. She couldn't stop staring at his eyes. "Ummm, are you ok?" he asked. Harley shook her head and she came out of her comatose state.
"Sorry, umm yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that. I spaced out," she said hastily. The young male stared at her with wonderment, confusion, and what seemed like entertainment.
"Yeah, I space out a lot too. Hi, my name is Juan. Juan Diego," he said, as he extended his hand towards Harley. She grasped his hand firmly and shook it.

"Well, I gotta get to class now," she said, looking up at the darkening sky. Juan looked up with her and said:
"It's getting dark out. And it's not safe for beautiful young girls to walk around by themselves at night." Harley looked at him in shock. No one had ever called her pretty, let alone beautiful before.

"I'm not beautiful, I'm average," she laughed shakily.
"Come," Juan said as he grabbed Harley's hand, intertwining her fingers with his own. They walked down four blocks until they reached her class building. "Well, I guess this is it than," he said.
"Yeah, I guess," replied Harley, with a hint of disappointment. During their walk, they had learned a great deal about each other, and in that short amount of time, she had realized she had a strange feeling for this Ecuadorian male.

"Yeah. But hey, let me have your number, so we can play tennis some time," Juan said eagerly. Harley complied with his request and they exchanged numbers, but on her phone, he saved his name as Diego. "I don't like Juan. Just Diego," he said with a smile.
"Ok. See you later then, Diego," Harley said with a small smile. Diego smiled back at her, and to her complete and utter surprise, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

Post 9

"Reverence For Animals"

The essay was incredibly well written. It gave the reader insight on all of the authors thoughts, emotions, and sense of reality. The author gave a lot of background information that made it evident that he is an adventurer and that he has a lot of personal knowledge by experience. He wrote the essay in past tense but it really can make the reader stick to it til the very end. The piece grabs the reader's attention.

Post 8

Harley was just an average girl living in a cruel world. There was nothing special about her as far as society was concerned. She had plain black wavy hair that really needed to be trimmed, decently tanned skin, boring brown eyes, was of average height, was slim but could also use some weight loss, and she wore plain clothes. She was a nobody in a city filled with pretty people. She lived in the city near her University. A plain three bedroom apartment with her two average roommates. They had two dogs, one cat, and a small hedgehog living with them as well. Everyday she walked to campus by herself, trying to be as invisible as possible. She passed by all the "pretty people." Young men and women who were as perfect as society defined them. They all were in style with the latest trend, they all looked exceptionally clean, they all tall and beautiful. They ignored Harley, and kept to their own brood of pretty people. Harley wasn't the only "average" person on campus. The place was crawling with them, you just couldn't seem them. How could you when there were so many beautiful people to look by. Who would ever want to stand by one of them and be compared?

Post 7

Working on this mini memoir has been incredibly time consuming. For the past week, I've been up til at least four in the morning writing. It's not all because of the paper though; during my day, I like to enjoy things that aren't class related. Doing things like going to lunch with friends, chatting up people on Facebook, going to a late night movie, and maybe going on a study date. So yes, I suppose I could be writing the paper in between those periods of time when I'm not really doing anything; but to be quite honest, I'd rather do nothing at all than do homework. It sounds pretty lazy and bad, but in my defense, if I'm not in a writing kind of mood, I won't be able to write at all. It's like my own retarded version of writer's block. In addition, in most situations, I write faster and better under pressure. I don't mean to honk my own horn, but I'm not a bad writer. Everything I write, whether it be essays, short stories, blogs like this one and Tumblr, journalism, and writing just for fun, I always write good stuff. It might just be a gift from God or luck, but I'm pretty good. On the bright side, I actually did write my paper during my study date yesterday, and I finally finished my paper. I just need to fix any and all grammatical errors and it's ready to turn in.

Blog 6

Middle school is the three worst years of anyone's life. Little Ally would know. Being smaller than everyone else, she was often picked upon in elementary school. But now entering the sixth grade, she knew it was about to get a lot worse. Sure enough, within the first week, Ally was pushed around, knocked into the wall, people made fun of her, and they made her utterly miserable. Even though people made fun of her and tried to hurt her, Ally did her best to not let her break her. Ally had a lot of friends, and she was generally liked, so it always confused her why people made fun of her. Her best friend Kristina said it was because she was so small and pretty. And it was true. Not a day went by without someone commenting on how nice she looked. Kristina and Ally were both made fun of. Everyone in middle school is stupid and perverted; with that being said, they were both made fun of for their large chest sizes compared to the rest of their bodies. While Kristina was tall and flat, Ally was short, and not so flat. So people often used that as another term of harassment. Ally and Kristina were in it together. That is, until the day Ally found out that the whole bullying business had in fact been started up by the one person she trusted the most. Yes, Kristina was the one who poisoned the water hole. Kristina started rumors about Ally, and made fun of Ally's size behind her back, then pretended she didn't know anything about the bullying. Ally was devastated. This was her best friend. Someone she had confided all her secrets in. Someone who knew more about her than she knew about herself. After confronting Kristina, and throwing hurtful words at each other, their friendship ended; and Ally never told anyone her secrets, nor confided with anyone about any little thing for the rest of her teenage years.

Blog 5

I was just walking on the beach. Listening to the sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore. The salty smell wafts with the breeze's help. The seagull's cries echo in the empty beach. The sun is going to rise any minute now. I'm so alone outside. The people who own such beautiful houses on this beach don't even appreciate the beauty of the place they have chosen to build a home. They built pools in their backyards! The beach is their backyard! Shaking my head, I turn to the East and watch as the sun begins to ascend to the sky. A bright, yet warm golden light fills the horizon. I stare at it. I feel so disconnected from reality. This is too surreal. The air is so warm, and the light is so bright; I wonder if this is the "white light at the end of the tunnel" feeling people get when they die. Am I really feeling this? Could I possibly be experiencing such an experience even though I'm not dead? With a blinding flash, everything turns white. After what feels like a lifetime, the light fades. Everything comes into focus. I'm laying on the sand, staring at the blue sky. I feel the sane, all grainy, underneath my body. Out of the corner of my eye, a little seagull eyes me warily. I sit up, and the sun is at a 45 degree angle in the sky. I look around bewildered. What just happened? I'm not really sure. I get up and brush myself off, and continue to walk down the shoreline, wondering where I'll end up.

Blog entry 4

Eric Sanders. I will never forget that name. He was my first friend when I moved to Florida. We were in the same class from first to third grade. He was a sweet little kid, with blonde shaggy hair and stunning blue eyes. We were both six years old and starting the first day of first grade. He was the only person to willingly sit with me. He liked my Pokemon backpack and wanted to discuss strategies for leveling up. Everyone in the class thought we were weird, but we didn't care. Every day we sat next to each other and talked about tv shows we watched. We ate lunch together everyday and played mission impossible together at recess. Then one day, in the middle of the year, we met Mackenzie Brown. She was taller than both of us, had blonder hair than Eric and had slightly lighter shade of brown eyes than I did. We hit it off really well. She brought us all types of excitement, including cool snacks for lunch, and new games to play at recess. We were like the three musketeers; the three best friends that anybody could have. By the time we got into second grade, it seemed all the girls had started to get crushes, myself and Mackenzie included; and the boys thought we all had cooties. The bond between Mackenzie and I grew closer than ever before, and by the middle of the semester, I finally admitted my crush for our male best friend. Naturally, she showed nothing but excitement and joy. She wanted to tell him, but me being the shy and reserved type, held her back and made her swear not to tell. It went on like that for a few months, her trying to hint that I liked him, and he with his anti-girl antics; although we were allowed to hug him because it was the best friend code, whereas no other girls could get near him. I will never forget the day my heart was broken. I had walked into the classroom and as far as I could tell it was going to be a great day. That is, until Eric and Mackenzie both ran up excitedly towards me with big news.
Eric whispered excitedly to my left ear: "Alex! Me and Mackenzie kissed yesterday at after care! Don't tell anybody!"

I looked at him with utter shock and yelled, "what?!"

Mackenzie scowled at me and said, "Shhh! Don't say anything! Or people will make fun of us."
That was the day I lost my two best friends to each other.

Blog Entry 3

Ally had always been a shy and conscious girl. She never spoke out of turn or talked back to her parents, she always had manners, and always stayed home to study. She was taught to believe that the world was a dangerous place. That there are crooks at every corner, all the teenagers do drugs, and anyone not using correct grammar was really the devil. Little Ally grew up on that philosophy most of her life. She continued to be a good girl until she turned 17 and began college.

Ally was so overwhelmed with all the freedom she had. No parents to tell her what to do, no set curfew; she was free. For the first four weeks, Ally hung around the school campus, making friends, going out to the movies, and doing her homework. Then week five hit; it was the craziest week of her life. Every single day, Ally was taken by her friends to their rooms, had her clothes taken and make up done, and had foreign outfits put on. She was then driven to a different club every night, and she had to admit, she loved it. She loved the party scene, and dancing with her friends, and meeting cute boys. After a particular friday night, Ally had an epiphany. Her mother had been wrong. Not all teenagers did drugs. Not every person she met out on the street was a crook, and certainly there was bad grammar everywhere, but that didn't make students the spawn of Satan. Elated, Ally began to re-evaluate everything her mother had ever told her to see what else she was wrong about. It was the longest saturday morning of her life, and when she was done, she came out feeling enlightened and triumphant.

Blog 2

When I was six years old, my parents took me to Disney World. I had always watched the TV commercials about it, but never dreamed I would be able to go. And then one day, out of the blue, my dad woke me up at three in the morning, put me in the car, and started to drive. I passed out on most of the trip, and when I woke up, I was in a stroller, looking up at Cinderella's castle. I never squealed so much in my life. Right in front of the castle, was the mouse himself, Mickey. I remember, I jumped out of my stroller and ran to him so fast, my parents didn't even know I was gone; I got spanked for that later. But I was too excited to care about stranger danger. I remember that hug so well. He lifted me off my seat and twirled me around in a giant circle

I remember the day I turned 13. It was such an amazing day. I had been waiting my entire life to be 13, so I could finally be labeled by society as a teenager. I remember being so proud. I started walking with a strut in my step, and my head held high. I felt so classy and mature. I started to talk with a more authorative tone, and I started to boss my little brother more than usual. I was so happy to be a teenager; I felt like I crossed a major stepping stone in my life. I would be able to be more trusted, have more responsibilities, go out more, and have more fun. Even though I wouldn't be able to get away with things as much as I used to, I didn't care. I was practically an adult. That first day to teenage-dom, I walked to the playground all by myself without my parents. I was on top of the world.

Blog Entry 1

In Okri's short story, the Omovo has a close knit relationship with his father. He looks up to him, and views him as a protective figure, and wise. However, after experiencing the cruelty, and murder of a mysterious woman who was helping children, the boy tries to warn his father of the three soldiers who had killed her. Instead all his father says was to thank the men from bringing him home. In his eyes, he could see this as a sign of betrayal which causes mistrust between son and father.

In the show my So Called Life, the same idea is presented. After witnessing her father talking to a younger woman, his daughter feels betrayal from him and refuses to have anything to do with him if she can help it. She ignores, and disobeys him, trying desperately to catch him doing something wrong so she can fully hate him without feeling confused as to why. This leads to tension in the family.

As both characters grow up, they experience situations thats leads them to distrust and cause tension between them and their fathers. In show's coming of age adolescence because being young and vulnerable, all children look up to their parents for guidance and protection. However, at some point in their lives, something will occur to cause tension between such relationships.

First Post

Salutations simple and complex life forms.