The Glorious Snow Day...Inside!

The Glorious Snow Day… Inside!

Value. When most people hear this word they immediately think about money or something that costs money. Well value is a lot more than just physical money. Its about priceless moments too. I’m talking about peeling off that cover on your phone or just waking up to the smell of bacon. Its these priceless moments that I value. I value them every time they occur and i try to make them occur as much as often.That is what value is to me. I hope that i might have changed someone else’s mine on what value is too.

I guess i should start with the priced items. I chose my Xbox. I chose my Xbox because its pretty much what i spend most of my time on when i’m at my house. I've had it for about 8 years now. I actually have a resounding total of 35 games. I have never broken my Xbox or any game which is surprising to me because all of my friends have at least broken one of there many Xbox’s. I enjoy spending time on my Xbox. It takes my mind off of the real world and put me in a virtual world for a short time. That's why i enjoy my Xbox.

My second item is priceless moment. Mine is always waking up on a snow day. Its just so good. You wake up exhausted, get out of your bed and work yourself to your window. You rub your eyes as you look out into the bright, white wonderland. Now if you were like me then the first thing i would do was go back to bed and sleep for 3 more hours. After that i’d wake up, take a shower, then go downstairs and have a huge breakfast. After that i’d finish any homework i didn't from yesterday then go play Xbox for a bit. Eventually i would have to go shovel but i usually put

that off until about 1 or 2. I just love those day because i can just be lazy and not have to worry about anything.

I guess these items are similar because i really enjoy both. They kind just let me relax and take my mind off the stressfulness in my life. I do both of these inside my house. They’re both really enjoyable.  There kind of connected in a sense. Like, i play my Xbox during snow days. I really don’t know how these two would be connected i guess.

These items are different in a lot of ways. Like for instance, i can play my Xbox at anytime really, but snow days only happen once in a while. Snow days involve the weather and my Xbox doesn't. I have to go outside and shovel on snow day but i don’t have to on regular days when i play Xbox.

I value these items in different ways. I value my Xbox by buying more games for it and making sure nothing breaks it. I also put money into it so i can buy add-ons and updates for it. I value snow days in a different way though. I value it by doing special things on that day. Like eating that big breakfast for example. I usually just eat a pop-tart or something. I also get to stay in my junkie clothes all day.

I think value isn't just money. Value is more like valuable moments.

Speak Final Assessment

Speak Final Assessment

Response 1: Trust me, there are many times where i have to say something that is the opposite of what i really want to say. Most of them are with my family of course. Like, one of the worst ones was when i was discussing with my mother about my grades. I was doing really bad in one of my favorite classes. My mom said i was missing a lot of assignments in that class and i said that i wasn’t. I knew i had turned them in but my mom didn’t believe me. She always trusted what the website said over me. I was really angry. I wanted to tell her that sometimes teachers make mistakes or are slow when they put up grades on the website but i knew that arguing with her would just make it worse than it already was. So what i did was i just nodded my head and ill talk to her tomorrow When i went against my inner voice it just made me get angry. Angry because i couldn’t speak up about how i really felt. But i had to do it or else i would just feel more guilt than anger about fighting with my mom.

Response 2: Sometimes i speak what's really on my mind. Whenever i do i feel really proud of myself when i do. For example in my math class i was sitting there listening to my teacher when he called on my brother to come up and solve the question he put on the overhead. So he went up and made a really stupid mistake but because it was so early in the morning he didn’t notice and kept on going. I started hearing whispering about that mistake from the people around me and eventually it turned into laughing. At this point he was already sitting down and people were laughing at him. I was so angry that people would do this. My brother also encouraged me to stand up for him because i knew he would do the same for me. I pretty much told them to stop and after a couple failed attempts they finally listened. It felt great that i stood up for him.

Response 3: During speak Melinda suppresses her inner voice a lot. It makes her shy, hateful, and she always pushes people away. Luckily she makes friends with heather on the first day of school. She isn’t hateful, or shy on the inside. Its just that she doesn’t want to have any sort of interaction with anyone in that school except her Art teacher Mr.Freeman. Her main problem in the story is the fact that everyone in the school already hates her even though none of them even know her on a personal level. THe worst part that makes her who she is in the story is that her best friend is dating the man who raped her at the party and she doesn’t have enough courage to speak up.

1st Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Metro 2033

Dmitry Glukhovsky

Gollancz 2011

The story of Metro 2033 is about a young man named Artyom.Artyom is a 20 year old man originally from pre-apocalyptic Russia. He lived through the bombs but only just as a baby. Metro 2033 is about a post-apocalyptic Russia. The last remnants of humanity hide with fear down in the bowels of the metro. Above ground is wasteland infested with irradiated creatures and is covered with radiation. Most people fear what is up there and won’t leave there shambles in the tuut vnnels. Some people are brave enough to go up ground but most of them are apart of 2 of the 3 main factions of the Metro: The Nazis or the Reds, which are both ruled by power hungry fools who are trying to take sections of the tunnels from the other faction. These factions in general don’t care much for the civilians just trying to hide from this fool war between the two. But the last faction cares as much for the people as they do themselves. These people are the Rangers. Artyom is a part of the rangers and his goal for this story is to stop the most dangerous creatures from destroying the last remnants of civilization.

“The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. a few thousand live on, not knowing if they are the only survivors on the planet. They live in the Moscow Metro -  the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is Humanity's last refuge. It is a world without tomorrow, with no room for dreams, plans, hopes. Feelings have given way to instinct - the most important of which is survival. Survival at any price.”

The writing style of this book is very weird. I haven’t read anything like this before. I can’t even compare this book to another book because its so unique.

“He was rushing through a dark tunnel with head-spinning speed,lying on a section car that was no less than two meters long. There was a light smell of burning in the air and Artyom thought with astonishment that it must be fueled with petrol.”

This story was very unique and thats what i enjoyed about it. It had a lot of description and detail which just made the book more creepy than it actually is. He described it in a way that made me connect with the main character’s fear, anger, sadness, and happiness.

I give Metro 2033 4 Paws - Pounce on it

Speak Reflective Reading essay

Speak Reflective Reading Essay

1.Quiet: I Feel like quiet is a good word to describe Melinda because she never really talks out loud during classes or anything. Even when she does she isn’t very loud.

2.Outcast: Outcast is possibly the best word i have for her. Ever since she called the cops her old friends haven’t talked to her. No one really likes her anymore.

3.Frustrated: I think she is frustrated because she can’t tell anyone what happened at the party. It is eating her up inside that she can’t tell anyone. Not even her parents.

4.Alone: In the story she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to other than Heather, Mr.Freeman. and her conscience. She feels like she can’t even talk to her parents.

 

5.Pessimistic: Ever since the beginning of the book Melinda hasn’t really been positive about anything. She has always just went along not enjoying anything about life.

The best word that describes Melinda to me is outcast. It perfectly describes who she is in the story. She goes to school everyday talking to no one there except Heather. People just don’t avoid her either. They throw food at her too. “Thwap! A lump of potatoes and gravy hits me square in the chest.” (8)

The thing about Melinda and this word is that she kinda is making herself an outcast too. She isn’t trying to make new friends or anything. She is just accepting being an  outcast. They dont want to talk to her and she doesn’t want to talk to them. Thats just the way i see it.

The Portal

Katniss from Catching Fire

Ender from Ender’s game

Setting: Ender’s Ship

Its been 1 year since the ending of the war with the buggers. There has been no sighting of buggers or any type of threat since then. Ender was now in command of a mighty flagship. All to himself. He misses Valentine often.  Out in the empty void of space can be lonely for a boy his age.  He does have his crewmates but its not the same as his sister. Whenever he gets really lonely, which is  pretty often for ender ,he likes to wander the ship to see all of his crewmates. This sometimes takes him very late into the night. This nightly ritual will leave him very exhausted by the time he gets back to his room.

One night as he was wandering the bowels of the ship. He finished the hallway he was walking down and turn to leave but before he could a strange glimmer of light on the wall caught his eye. As he walked closer to it his gut told him to back away from it. But his brain told him otherwise. Afterall, it was his ship. As he got closer to the light  his gut feeling got stronger but he kept going.Then suddenly the Portal opened  and a strange girl dressed in hunting gear fell out of it…

Katniss left her house early in the morning. The sun was still rising over the horizon. She thought since it was her last day at home she would spend it in the woods. She left the district the same way she always does, through the hole of the fence. She decided not to hunt this day. She would be using the bow a lot more in the next couple days. She made her way through the woods and kept noticing strange things. Trees were knocked over. Animals were killed for no purpose. She got to cave that had a strange feeling about it. She wanted to explore it more but she had to go back and talk to the others about it.

The next day she went back to the cave. The feeling was even stronger this time. As she entered the cave the feeling got stronger as they got deeper. The strange occurrences were even more frequent as she got deeper. She eventually got to the end of the cave. There was a giant hole near the end. It looked manmade so she immediately got curious. She wanted to go down but it looked like she couldn’t go down without gear. She ran back through the cave but it felt like it never ended. She thought she saw the end of the cave so ran as fast as she could towards it. She was surprised that when she got there she was back at the giant hole. She thought she just took a wrong turn but she knew she was right. It seems that the cave didn’t want her to leave. She decided to try and scale it without gear. She got about 2 feet down then she slipped. She thought she was going to die down there in that cave. alone and by herself, but as she fell there was a bright lighter that got brighter as she fell. Then there was a flash.

When she awoke it was dark. She thought she was still down in the cave but as her eyes adjusted she started to see seemed just pipes. Katniss turned to her right to see a small boy looking about the age of 8 staring at her. He seemed just as surprised as she was.

She ask “Where am i?”

The boy couldn’t speak but after a minute he collected himself and said “On my spaceship……”

“ You’re joking……” she said sarcastically

“I’m not…….” he said with the same tone of sarcasm

“This can’t be a spaceship!” she said, raising the tone of her voice

“And why can’t it?” he said in a calm manner

“Because we’re underground!”

“Underground?........ We’re not underground, you must be mistaken.” he said with a hint of confusion

“I’m not mistaken, i’m right! I just fell a good 2 miles down into a cavern! I’m positive we’re underground!” She was now shouting

“*sigh*...... You won’t listen to reason so follow me….”He begins walking down the hall.

“This is so bizarre.” Katniss thought to herself. “First i just fell down a giant hole that felt two miles deep, And i lived. Now i just met a kid who thinks he’s the captain of this spaceship! At least, if it IS an actual spaceship, these could be just some underground tunnels. Well only way to know is to follow him.”

“HEY, WAIT UP!”