The End?

Yesterday marked an ending and a beginning. It was my last day of high school forever! And I didn't waste anytime. I've already marked two things off of my summer bucket list: Panera party and chillin in the environmental center. I took my physics final, said farewell to my beloved art teacher, picked up my painting, and I was out the door. All by 9:30. Later on my friend Brie texted me to see if I wanted to go to Panera with her and a couple of our friends. Of course I said yes...Panera has the best Mac n Cheese in the whole world. Anyway, there were just four of us there but another one of our friend groups show up, so we moved to a bigger table and had a Panera party! It was so much fun but kinda sad because we go to Panera all the time and this fall we'll be everywhere from Chicago to Cincinatti. Very bittersweet. Then around 4 I went to the country club pool with three of my guy friends where we jumped off the diving board and played keep the frisbee away from me--which isn't hard when I'm only 5'1 and theyre all 5'10+ haha then we hit up wings and ribs for dinner which was deliious as always. After dinner we went to the environmental center where we walked around while singing Journey's "don't stop believin" at the top of our lungs. Oh and my friend Michael is practically a monkey, so he climbed a tree trunk to get up to the rockwall, all barefoot. He's crazy but I love him to death. We headed to Arby's to wait for nate to get home then we went there And got in his pool and sat around te bonfire. It was fun but I was tires and had to get up for work te next morning, so I left around 11:45 and went home. Overall it was a Successful first day of summer and I can't wait for many more days like it!

it's been a long time.

i completely forgot about this blog. i created it over a year ago for my etymology class and my ap lit class. it was mandatory which made me naturally not like blogging. especially blogging about books that i had to read for school. but looking back all of that work was worth it. thank you mr. hill. anyway i'm going to try to get back in the swing of things and update my blog more often. i must add that instead of talking about books and poems and all that good stuff, this blog will now be my personal space to document my last summer with all of my friends before we head off to college. i have a whole summer bucket list worked out and i cant wait to start on it. only two more days of high school left. woooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Breaking Dawn pg. 554-606

the last section left off with Alice and Jasper surprisingly running away from the Cullen clan. the family questions their whereabouts for Alice has never stayed away from home for this long. Carlisle and Edward decide that it would be best to sniff out the scent of the missing vampires and are joined by the rest of the group. they come to a dead end on the border the the vampire-werewolf territory. Sam reveals that Alice and Jasper asked permission to cross the land to the ocean and that all they left was a note. the note basically told the family not to look for Alice and Jasper, that it was too dangerous.

Bella notices that the note was written on a page from one of her books. So she goes back to their cottage and found the book that Alice ripped the page from. Next to the feathered edge left by the torn page was another note that said "destroy this" with a name and address below. Bella tries to hunt down J. Jenks on the internet without Edward's knowledge. all she can discover is that he is a lawyer in Seattle but his address doesn't match up to the one that Alice had given her.

the Denali clan arrives at the house because Carlisle told them that their family was in trouble. Edward explains that Renesmee is not what Irina thought her to be. That she is in fact half human and half vampire. the young child wins over the hearts of the Denali's with her sweet smile and exquisite storytelling gift. the Denali's agree to be a witness at the Volturi encounter.

the rest of the section describes the supernatural powers of the new vampires and of the Volturi and their reason for coming to Forks. the Denali clan consists of Eleazer, Carmen, Tanya, Kate, and Irina. Eleazer used to be on the Volturi council but voluntarily left. He can sense another vampires special powers and even certain traits in humans. This is how he comes to characterize Bella as a "shield". she is a protector of herself and with some help could possibly protect those around her--including Renesmee. Edward can read minds. Renesmee can show you her thoughts with the touch of her hand. Alice can see the future. Jasper can control the mood setting. Kate can produce a current over her skin so that if someone touches her she can shock them. Now for the Volturi. Jane can cause excruciating pain by focusing on a person. Aro can read a persons mind with the touch of his hand. Demetri can take away as many peoples senses away as he wants--sight, sound, touch, taste, smell--which is very effective during a fight.

Anthology Project

MY THEME: first love
1. "first love" john clare
2. "i wish i could remember that first day" christina rossetti
3. "the best slow dancer" david wagoner
4. "once we played" mathilde blind
5. "coy mistress" annie finch
6. "first time he kissed me" elizabeth barrett browning

GLEE!!!

Glee is on and i've been missing out due to work, but not tonight..... :)

Breaking Dawn pg. 512-553

The beginning of this chapter is fun and light with an arm-wrestling competition between Bella and the strongest vampire of the clan, Emmett. However, because Bella is a newborn vampire, she is supposedly stronger than any other vampire, due to the human blood that remains in her tissues. High stakes are attached to this arm-wrestling match: if Bella wins then Emmett cannot say one more word about Bella's sex life--including allusions and innuendos, and if Emmett wins then he claims it will get a lot worse. You would think that an arm-wrestle would be completely harmless, however, the vampires are so strong that they have to take it, literally, outside to a boulder in order to avoid destroying Esme's favorite antique table. Once the competition begins, Bella lets Emmett sweat a little bit because she enjoys the force of his harm not advancing over hers. She quickly becomes bored and bashes Emmett's arm against the boulder. After Bella realizes her strength, she passes the time crushing the boulder into smithereens. Suddenly, the sun comes out from behind the clouds and Renesmee lavishes at the diamond facets that her mother's skin (and every other vampire's) has become. The young girl places her arm next to her mother's and also discovers the faint shimmer of her milky skin.

The happy day soon takes a turn. While Jake, Renesmee, and Bella are hunting near the open field, Bella notices a shimmering gold and silver figure up on the mountain ridge. She quickly pegged her to be Irina based on her sharp ice blonde hair and stern facial expression. Irina looks down in the woods and notices Jake and Renesmee and soon takes off. Bella's motherly instincts kick in and she runs to her best friend and daughter as she calls Edward to let him know whats going on. Turns out that Irina's partner was Laurent--who was killed by the wolves in the third book. Vampires don't handle vengeance lightly, so Bella just assumed that Irina was back to fight for her destroyed love. However, she and her sisters are friends with the Cullens thus it was unlikely that she would fight them. Irina's actual problem is with Renesmee, the somewhat immortal child. Irina lost her mother because of an immortal child many centuries ago and still feels the need to eliminate any immortal children today. So Alice sees her decision to go to the Volturi and tell them that there is an immortal child still alive and that she must be destroyed. The Volturi agree and plan on meeting the Cullens in about a month to destroy the pretty little girl (who is really only half-immortal) as well as to check on Bella's status. So basically, there's a really big mess about to unfold due to a complete misunderstanding and i predict that lives will be lost.

Quality Time, Redefined

This article from Sunday's New York Times unfolds the lives of modern American families and their love affairs with their electronics. The Vavra family gathered in the living room after dinner to spend some time with each other and at one point, each and every one of them had their nose buried in some kind of screen. She was on her iPad, her husband was streaming a live game on his laptap, their 10 YEAR OLD daughter was playing with some love calculator on the iPhone, and their son was intently involved in a Wii game on the t.v. At least he was getting some form of exercise and stimulation.

I find it sad that some families can't find time to actually spend together without their electronics; that they set time aside to play scrabble on the computer on opposite sides of the room without talking; or how some couples will spend five hours on opposite ends of the couch messing with their laptops and blackberries.

By no means am I saying that my family is perfect and nothing like those described in the article. I admit that I do have my phone on me at all times, and that my younger brother has his ear buds in as he checks facebook on his iPod. My mom spends some time on her laptop for school and the kids enjoy their after-school cartoons. We spend a lot of our time in the living room watching our favorite t.v. shows with each other--especially during NBC's Comedy Night on Thursdays. Sure, we're all watching t.v., but at least we are watching the same thing on the same screen and laughing out loud together. Or sometimes, on a weekend night when we have nothing to do (which is rare), all six of us will huddle on the couch and love seat to watch a movie from redbox, complete with popcorn and lights off. My five year old brother calls this "homemade movie theater."

I also think it's important to spend time away from electronics. We'll play board games sometimes or run around outside, and go to each others sporting events. Today, it's hard to find time to spend together, especially away from electronics. However, it should be a priority to spend family time with each other, not just in the same room.