Jerk

I wish I wasn’t such a jerk.

“I don’t strike matches to start fires, but I still strike matches.”-Jasey Rae. I don’t intentionally try to be a jerk, but I’ll be with my friends and we’ll talk and sometimes things just come out. Or sometimes I’m way too busy to talk to the people who should matter, but I will still choose to blow them off anyway. Which is stupid.

Maybe everyone struggles with being someone with a crappy attitude. I know that some people see me as nice or as a genuine person and I like to see myself as that kind of person. The truth is I am a brat. And maybe the first step to becoming a cool person is realizing that I’m not.

Another step would be apologizing to all the people I’ve hurt; especially my family. They put up with so much crap that I just toss into their direction. The way I talk to my parents is so rude. Why would I talk that way to the people that have given up so much for me?

There is a specific person that I would want to apologize to. He is one of those genuine people and I blew him off too. I don’t regret many things, but he’s one of the things I regret. I’m not saying I regret meeting him, but I regret not talking to him more.

I used to try to be that sweet girl that people love and nobody could say anything bad about, but now I am just becoming well practiced in apologies. I know I don’t have it out for anyone, but I also know the way I act is sometimes ridiculous. It’s kind of hard to blatantly state your faults, but if I never do, then they won’t ever go away.

Character Totems

The characters of The Tale Of Two Cities are as equally distinct as plants and animals in the natural world and can therefore be compared to the plants and animal as if they were totems.

Lucie Manette is like a daisy because she is quiet, calm, and pretty like a flower. A daisy is also white, and white reminds me of innocence which is something that Lucie Manette represents. Lucie Manette is also a little helpless like a daisy. It would be a shame if she got ‘picked’ but it wouldn’t be hard if there was nothing there to protect her.

Miss Pross could be represented by an ox. Oxen are extremely strong, but are also gentle. Miss Pross cares for Lucie very much and ‘pulls’ Lucie through her life. In the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities Miss Pross is described as a strong woman, which reminds me of an ox.

Madame Defarge is like a snake. She sits behind a rock undetected but if someone takes a false step towards her she will strike to not only injure but also kill. Her personality reminds me of something that would have to slither on its stomach because she does so much harm with so much pride.

Lastly, Jerry Cruncher reminds me of a hyena. Jerry Cruncher is a scavenger that picks at the leftovers to try to turn some profit, like a body. Jerry Cruncher also picks on smaller prey such as his wife.

Tale of Two Cities makes comparing people to animals and plants easy because the comparison is not made on social standing but on personality and morals.

Reading Strategies (again)

One of the reading strategies in which I decided to utilize was the strategy of asking questions.

This is a very good strategy when reading difficult texts such as Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, because Dickens writes with so much detail, that real events get lost in all of those beautiful accounts of scenery, feelings, and people. Asking questions such as, “What just happened, what did I just read?” Helps me to keep up with the book and its plot and its constant interweaving of characters. To answer these questions, I use sparknotes. Sparknotes is an excellent tool because it gives a brief summary of all the events that happen in the book. Knowing the events helps me when my eyes glaze over them as I am reading.

Another way that asking questions in the text is helping me is finding background information. The chapter, Gorgon’s head, in which the Marquis gets murdered, became extra interesting when I found out what a Gorgon’s head actually was. A Gorgon’s head is like the Medusa head which is found in greek culture.

I was also confused on some of the descriptions that Dickens used to set the scene for his various characters because Dickens does mix some French with English. Using my strategy I looked up the word château, which is a stone wall.

What I also find extremely helpful is when I ask questions about certain characters. Those questions include, “where have I seen this character before?, how does this character relate to the other characters?, and how does this character feel about the government, royals, marriage, and life in general? Asking these questions helps me because I can keep all the characters straight and I remember what role they play in telling this story.

Asking questions has proved beneficial to me, but only if I take the extra step and actually search for the answers.

Life

Life goes by so fast. I’m only sixteen and I already feel like playing at recess and planning on being a soccer star when I grow up was such a long time ago. I don’t take a break. I will continue at this breakneck pace at which I am living until the summer. The summer will be filled with friends, good times, and laughs, but then I will be back at it again.

I can’t specifically recall more than five things that I did that were worthwhile last week. I went to school, but that feels like time wasted more and more often. I want learn, in fact, gaining knowledge is a fantastic thing, but being inside those four white brick walls does absolutely nothing for me.

 I went to work, where I don’t like my manager, and did dishes for however many hours I was there.

 I played tennis, which I do truly love, but I’m almost too tired to enjoy it. I like playing tennis because all that extra energy that I have from not doing too much at school goes into every shot. The footwork, backswing, reverse pivot, watch the shot hit the corner of the court through a cloud of felt, push off the court to get to the next shot, repeat. I find it exhilarating, but I’m starting to find that I don’t have the extra energy, and it’s more of a responsibility now, going to practice and making singles.

So what’s worth getting up in the morning only to tackle those beasts my parents so fondly call responsibility? Because at school I get to see my friends’ smiles, their awkward dancing, and all of our inside jokes. That pile of dishes at work is paying for my trip to Europe, where I will learn and discover things so far away from those white bricks. Those countless tennis practices will be worth it when I play this season. Sometimes I have to stop myself and ask ‘why are you doing all of this?’, because for the most part, I haven’t seen the payoff yet.

Awkward Moments

When meeting new people, awkward moments always ensue. Which makes high school one socially retarded moment after another until it fills four full years. But even though there are lots of awkward moments, they come in many varieties.

                There is the nervous laugh that people try to fill in the silent moments.  And when something funny does actually happen and the people truly crack up there is sigh at the end of the joke that plunges you into the deep chasms of uneasiness once again.

Then of course there is always talk about the weather. If you think about it, the weather is the only thing that changes constantly but every living thing on earth also has in common with you. So theoretically, every socially strained conversation is eventually going to be about the weather. 

                There are also the people who try to be funny but are so unbelievably bad at doing it. They tell their joke, “So then, he walks into the bar and says fire extinguisher!” get it. Everybody in their head is thinking, ‘wow…FAIL,’ but laugh nervously because they are genuinely nice people.

Another gauche situation is the lunch line. Although you have friends or a spot or even just a bathroom stall that you can eat lunch in everyday, it is inevitable that you will have to withstand the lunch line conversation. There are two possibly terrible situations.

1)      You stand next to someone you have one class with and you try to make small talk, which in the end is just about the weather, homework, or the big mole that is on the teacher’s face.

2)      OR you stand between two kids that you don’t know at all and one of them has a B.O. problem.

However, with the help of technology has our generation been able to develop an escape plan. Pretending to text in awkward situations is not only a group on Facebook, but also a way to fill in those large gaps in conversations that are going nowhere.

A quote from somebody who claims to never have awkward moments, “You don’t have awkward moments because people are always laughing at you… I mean with you.” And that sums up my experience of high school (so far).

reading strategies

Throughout high school and also college, student are required to read books that are not only difficault to read at face value, but are also difficault to comprehend on a deeper level. Many strategies have been developed to help these students that are struggling reading books such as Tale of Two Cities. One reading strategy is to ask questions to yourself when you read.

According to http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/thinkaloud.htm asking questions while reading is not only beneficial, but essential to understanding.   Students that ask questions about the text, the writer, their own responses, opinions, and reactions to the reading. Questions could be used to probe deeper for understanding, but they may simply be questions about the text that a student would ask when confused and needs more clarity.  When  taught as a strategy in schools, it is likely that it will shock some of your less skilled readers; they often think that it is time to stop reading when they become confused, assuming that good readers never get confused.  It is suggested that readers mark in the book with sticky-notes where there is confusion in the book and with a different color os sticky-notes mark if they were able to find the answer.

Another reading strategy is to visualize the text. While reading a fictional text students may create a mental picture of the setting, imagine what the characters.  In a nonfiction text that is abstract in nature, the reader may create visual symbols, concept webs, or mind maps that help him/her to keep track of the information and organize it. To physically draw a picture of what the student is reading and to be able to construct it and see it can be a very valuable tool.

Reading difficault texts well can be a very difficault skill to master, but with the help of some reading strategies, understanding text becomes that much easier.

Why I want to read Tale of Two Cities

 

The novel by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, opens with introducing the reader to the chaotic and unique year of 1775. Dickens utilizes personification to foreworn the reader of the coming French Revolution. Dickens addresses the current state of things in Paris and in London and gives the reader background information that leads up to the events that occur in the rest of the book.

 I am reading a Tale of Two Cities because reading a more difficult book will help me practice critical reading skills. The novel supplies a more complicated material that will help me on tests such as the SAT and ACT. Learning strategies like framing the chapters will also help me when I’m reading difficult material in college.  In college, class sizes will be bigger, the professor won’t really know me, and I will be more or less on my own. If I can pick up good reading while reading A Tale of Two Cites it would be beneficiary to me in college.

I think that the way Dickens introduces the book and brings the reader in before all of the chaos of the Revolution and having the not so likeable character of Jerry Cruncher keeps the book interesting. Because I don’t know much background history on the French Revolution or the time period that it took place in, reading the book is challenging.

Although the level of dislike for our public officials in the United States is not near as extreme as the discontent with King Louie and Marie Antoinette the way our government is set up, there is always some people who are not happy with it. The Health Care Reform bill is causing many people to speak out against it and Obama. Dickens refers to the rulers in “The Introduction” and how the people of those countries are starting to revolt, it is similar to the United States today because we are always petitioning our government.

What to Wear

        It’s sometimes hard to realize that nobody is going to pay attention to you the way you think they will. Nobody is going to care if your shirt isn’t something completely stylish. And if, by chance, or by excruitiatingly careful planning  you are quite trendy, nobody is going to fall head over heels for you for that. And if it’s your shirt that gets you noticed, what defines you as a person? You are simply a mannequin. That idea throws the Hollister/ Abercrombie/ Aeorpostle/ American Eagle ideals out the window.

        My ideal style would be something that looks good with barefeet and a ponytail. Something you lay in the grass or jump in a lake. But those clothes aren’t in style until you make them in style. Those clothes are the clothes you live in and declare freedom. Freedom from school, drama, tears, akward moments, rules and succeeding in life. I’m definately not saying succeeding in life is a bad thing, but it’s a lot of work and a lot of stress. For me, those trendy, stylish clothes are what represents success. When you wear those clothes you tell the world that you are put together, organized, and ready. That’s why I don’t like those clothes, because for the most part, saying, “I’m put together, organized, and ready,” is a false statement. And no matter how trendy you try to dress, you can’t buy confidence from a department store. Maybe that’s the push for buying those clothes, people need the props to promote the act of ‘everything is great.’ And if everybody thrives on every detail of their self image, then everybody is preoccupied, and nobody will notice what you decided to wear.

The Concept of Blogging

1. According to the articles the top reason for blogging is entirely up to the user. Some people use their blogs to express themselves, share their ideas, inform people about a cause or to simply make money.
2. I could use a blog to promote my business or the company I work for by using the blog to inform my reader about the service that would be offered to them if they became a client.
3. People can use blogs to help them in their career because a blog puts people and their ideas out into cyberspace in which clientele can access them easier and faster. Blogs also allow for the customers to give feedback to the company about their services.
4. Blogging is more about the reader than the writer because it can help the reader find information about certain things, can give the reader links to fascinating websites, and allows the for more efficient research on a particular topic.

MY TOPIC FOR MY BLOG IS TEEN LIFE

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