Meta take 2: Writing assignment

There are two things about group projects that I recognize every time I have to do one. The first being about my own way of working and the second about the general benefits of group projects.

Jane Eyre will not be my favorite book, but just one I will remember. So, I realized that with books I don't actually adore, but still have to do projects on...I like working in groups. Although I like working in groups, I still have the burning desire to run the whole thing and do stuff how I want to do it. Luckily, I've somewhat learned to suppress that idea and try to collaborate. I didn't have a group I thought I was going to end up with, but it turns out that we worked pretty well and got things done when they needed to get done.

The benefits of group projects is that you can not pinpoint exactly what one group member did or said, so Mr. Allen, if you decide not to like something, you won't know if it was me or my other group members who said the said thing. But, for group projects that shouldn't really happen because groups help generate more ideas and thoughts you wouldn't create on your own.

So, that's what I felt about this project other than the yearning for a different day to have it due...I really like actually having my day off, be offfff.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre

Mr. Allen, you were right. This book was lengthy and didn't have an action packed plot line, but I got through it. There were 3 things I had happen to me or I did while reading this book. 1, I tried to not skim the pages. 2, I tried to put my frame of mind in a 19th century women. 3, soak up the conversations we had in class.

This book was loooonnngggg. It had details and details about things I wouldn't normally care about in a book. In 8th grade, I read the book Pride and Prejudice and it had the same feel. There were details about the path she took or the room she was in and to be honest, I just did not care to hear about that at all. Those details had very little direct impact to the plot and I'm an impatient person, but for some reason, I got through passages without skimming the pages. So...that's one I tried to think about.

Second, I tried to make myself a person, as Taylor mentioned, would be ok in the kitchen. I like cooking, and I like saying the word "sammich" but I'm not going to just make you one. Reading this book made it difficult for me not to just annotate the page saying..."omg Jane, just kick him in the shin with your Uggs cuz Uggs happen to be a great weapon." I had to remember that not all places and times are what we have today. In Jane's time, she would be ok with submitting-to a degree-and that was that.

Thirdly, I realized when I totally don't understand the book while reading it, the class discussions help a lot. At some points I'm very narrow minded and can not get out of my one way of thinking. The discussions made me put my views on the drawing board and mold them to something more radical or just more logical.

Overall, Jane Eyre wasn't the worst one this year, it was a close second to HoD though. I like chick flick stories and all, but I'd rather watch the Bourne Ultimatum or any Harrison Ford movie, that's just who I am...but I got through it. Yay me!

360 degrees: Branching Out

**Disclaimer: I love my friends. I've known a handful of them since kindy, a few from 5th grade-8th grade and a bunch I met last year-I wouldn't trade them for the world.**

I'm starting to get tired with my life's routine. Weekdays: School then track. Weekend: Possible movie with the same people. It's been the same since about 6th grade when I was really allowed to just hang out with my friends without a parent around, and I'm getting tired with it. If any of you have noticed, I'm kind of an impatient person and I get bored easily. So, I've been thinking of branching out to more people and things. But why do people put on a sour face when I mention it to them?

First, the more people you know, the more connections you can make. Both my parents know a lot of people-it takes 30 minutes to get out of church. Although that seems annoying, it could lead to a job connection, vacation, college advice...anything. Life is a lot easier when there are some more doors open for you.

Second, everyone needs some different life experiences. I shouldn't be thrust into the real world with only experiencing one type of life style. My future life will probably not resemble anything I'm doing right now and so I should learn to adapt and deal with other styles now.

Third, it is just high school. I'd like to say that I will keep talking to all of you after we graduate, but chances are I won't. We will all fall into new lives and probably only keep in touch with the ones we really have a deep connection with. So, whatever happens will really only hurt your friendship for about two years or so, and after that, chances are you wouldn't have kept that relationship anyway.

So, I've decided I should probably branch. I'm not going to scratch my morals and ethics, but just experience things in a different way. Metaphor time!! Branching out reminds me of a tree. You will always have the trunk and the major branches, but new branches and leaves grow all the time. So, I don't think of branching as a negative term anymore. In other words...Dear friends, I'm not replacing you, I'm just adding more to my life. Love, Mary.

An Inconvenient Truth: Crying

Since I purposefully left this post until last minute (I'm sorry but it's my break), there were many things I could talk about. Also, I'm doing what Taylor did and the title is to grab you in. Crying is relatively what I'm going to talk about...but the good crying.

I had two parts to my break. Part 1 was in Georgia and part 2 was in St. Louis. Part 2 had a lot of crying. My papa is 94 years old and lives in St. Louis. In the past two weeks, my papa, aunt Patti, Aunt Ellen, my sister, my cousins Katie and Brenden and my cousin once removed-Molly had a birthday...and yes, it's all the same side of the family. We all decided to come to St. Louis, so my papa doesn't travel, to celebrate all the birthdays.

In my two days there, I probably gained 10 pounds, but lost a lot of tears. My family is very close and this was just another time for us all to catch up. The best part was when my Papa got to see his great-grandchild for the first time. Once my aunt started to cry, we all broke down. My Papa isn't a man of many words, but he spoke the the little one like there was no tomorrow.

That instance made me think about family in general. I know that my family is probably one of a kind. For we sit in the lobby of the hotel screaming at the basketball games and laughing at old stories, but that's just who we are. Every family has their own way of getting together and enjoying themselves. They'll be with you forever and you can't just forget about them. So I guess the real inconvenient truth is that although your family might have many layers and be real complex, you're all still a family. Cliche, I know, but most cliche things are true.

Dialectics: Tab and Males

Well, first I should probably explain to you what Tab is. Tab is a soda pop drink. It is almost like Coca-Cola, but it tastes worse. It's in a pink can and it supposedly was the "female" drink. My mother is also the only reason it is still around; she literally drinks 7 cans a day.

With what I said before, Tab is the "female" drink. It was made by Coca-Cola and it was actually meant for those who wanted to keep "tabs" on their weight. So yes, this is the perfect female drink! No calories and it was PINK! It is the "beautiful drink for beautiful people". But what does this have to do with the other gender? The people that probably wouldn't drink something from a pink can to save their life?

Other than the fact that men probably created this drink, nothing. Tab is not for men, plus my mom has it all, so they couldn't try it if they wanted to. Most men won't drink diet coke...they'll be men and drink all the real Coca-cola. Most men have gotten over the "real men wear pink" phase, and most men don't know what it is. But the fact that this drink has nothing to do with men, has everything to do with men.

For light years now, men have had millions of things that have nothing to do with women. Power drinks, the protein powder stuff, race car driving, football and tuxedos. I, myself, am totally ok with that. Every person needs something of their own. If everyone shared, the world would go mad. When you have something that someone else doesn't, you can start a discussion, have bets, and more. I'm not trying to be anti-feminist, but if men started playing tea party because they wanted something that only we had, I'd probably question what they had to eat for breakfast...so why must women always try to have everything men have? Having things seperate from one another may actually benifit us. I could have my own things, and I could also try to learn about something new later on.

Tab is like football...you just let it stay where it's at. Tab is like males...they have their own things, too. I, in particular, just don't want Tab for the female thing. It really does taste really bad.

Blogging around numero tray-ss (3)

Katie Blog.
Hers is about being excited for the short story unit, whether it be reading or writing them.

"Katie, I'm with ya on short stories. I'm excited for this unit as well because I've always liked seeing someone go through different mind-sets. In poems you only get to see one little part of their thoughts or just one little scene. Also, short stories are a little bit easier to read than novels just because they are short, but can still have the same lasting affect like a novel. Well overall, I'm probably just as excited as you."

Anna's Blog.
Anna's was about the "aha" moments we get in life and how they might not always be like what we see on TV.

"I love seeing those mind-blowing moments on TV, but you're right. The world isn't anything like TV. You're also right in the sense that most aha moments affect you long term rather than short term. This made me think about most things in our lives, not just our aha moments. Most things in our lives build up to make us who we are today. I don't know of many things that only affect our short term lives, except for maybe food choices or something. Now though, I'm going to put my thoughts in better categories to help build up my long term life rather than my short term."

Best of the Week: Side Conversations

First off..Happy March! Can anyone, at all, believe that it is March? This year has gone by so fast!

My blog is about side conversations. I know that they aren't polite and I'm really not a fan of them when I'm the teacher for my CCD class on Saturdays, but I have to hand it to this class when I say, we are not shallow-side conversation people...we're, for lack of a better word, nerds.

I first realized this while I was sitting in class this week. This was the day I decided not to talk as much because I shouldn't be using my vocal chords. I'm always listening. I'm a gossiper, I eavesdrop, and when I'm not talking...I can listen a lot better. So that day I was listening intently for anything interesting. The class discussion was nice, but not everyone decides to say how they really feel outloud to the class. I realized that people were actually talking about the book.
This has nothing against the book or the class, but normally students talk about something other than class when they're having a side conversation. What happens in other classes is that people talk about their weekend, a different class, their clothes, a stupid SNL skit, but that is not the case with us. Our class is a bunch of people who talk about the actual assignment in a side conversation.

This might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but to me it is a very big deal. I live in a town where the best jeans and hair are what's on most people's minds. This thing that I noticed in class shows me that in a lot of black and white, there will always be a sliver of color. I also understand that what I just said is probably the most cheesy thing I will ever say in my life. If a bunch of teenagers are ok with actually talking about school, in school, then it gives me hope that maybe this whole world isn't just one big fake. There are people in the world that don't have big egos, that don't push you to be someone you aren't. That class period gave me hope that I won't mind growing up because if there are 28 kids like that in about 4,000 people...there has gotta be about 2 million in the United States.

We might be nerds, but one day there will be too many of us that you can't call us nerds, and maybe side conversations won't be frowned upon.

Captured Thought: Extracurriculars

The thought that has been in my head for a while now has been about the future, but more specifically...extracurriculars. And especially homework during extracurriculars. Although I might seem biased because I'm doing this blog while sitting in the theory room during a V-show performance, I'm actually not. This blog or rant will probably benefit most people in our class.

For most things, teachers say that they won't take "I had volleyball" or "I had choir" as an excuse for undone work. If it is something that should have been done in class or was assigned a while ago, then I agree with the teachers, but things due the next day can be reconsidered. May I also assume that most teachers want their students to be successful in life? With that assumption, I will now go on the rant as to why teachers should allow the occasional missed or not done homework assignment.

For us to do well in life, in this era, we must keep every second of our day booked. It could have sports, V-show, dance, or stamp collecting, but whatever it is-our lives are full with it. So that means that on some occasions, we probably won't have time to take our 7 hour and 15 minute life back home with us because we are already trying to get far in life with something else. If my assumption is correct about teachers, then teachers should probably understand that sometimes we can't do your homework assignment because we already have our day filled. We are trying to be successful in our extra stuff as well as school, but to do really well in school, sometimes you have to take out extracurriculars and then colleges write you off as not being well rounded enough.

As well as putting us ahead in the collegiate world, it also could be better for our health. Most sports help relieve stress as well as keep you in shape. Most people I know are now comparing how long they stayed up at night doing homework after all their extra things after school. If sports help relieve stress, then what are we doing trying to put back all the stress by staying up late worrying about all our teachers being upset if we don't have something completed, or not the teachers, just the idea that bad grades lead to bad college then to a bad life so we might as well not be doing anything at all.


I'm pretty confident that most or even all would want us to do stuff during the school day. But when I say day, I actually mean the 7 hours and 15 minutes we're at school. Doesn't that seem like an extremely large amount of time to learn during the day anyway? So why then are we adding another 5 hours afterwards?


I guess what I'm really saying is that I realized that sometimes extracurriculars should come first before homework because maybe going to sleep earlier will help us learn more in class, in fact it probably will.

Welcome to the world of well rounded people that will die 30 years early because we're having more heart attacks on Monday from stress and dying from sleep deprivation.

Connection: Postmodernism and Olympic Phone commercials

I'm not sure if you've seen the phone commercials where they say that you can watch the olympics live off your phone, but I have. I couldn't find a video online, but here's the overveiw of what most of those commercials look like. You hear someone talking while you see their hand and a phone in their hand. On the phone there is video of a figure skater or a skiir doing what they do best. While we're hearing the person and seeing the phone, we are also seeing the surroundings move. The surroundings also move with what the athlete is doing if you pay close enough attention. I found this commercial post-modern in two ways.

The first way is the distant to close feeling. Now, with our phones we can watch something that's thousands of miles away. Sure, we're used to the idea that we can watch the Olympics at home when it's thousands of miles away, but now we can do that while moving around in all sorts of directions. No matter where we are, or what we're doing, we can watch the only Bermuda athlete compete against one of the many American athletes. We no longer have to be couch potatoes to see the olympics, we can be at work or in the halls of school. Just think about it. The world just got a little bit smaller.

The second thing I noticed was the multiple views. We weren't just seeing the olympics through one screen. We were seeing it through 2, and some can argue 3. It can be two screens because we are looking through our TVs and then the phone, but the three views are the TV, the person holding the phone's eyes, and then the phone itself. If that doesn't give you some sort of multiple viewpoint, then what does? Also, when I talked about the surroundings, I was being serious. The way that the surroundings move is very subjective to the way the athlete moves. It's not so obvious that you can tell what sport is being shown by just looking at the surroundings, but it does help give you a more inclusive feel to watching the olympics while on your phone.

I personally feel that although we're living in a postmodern world, some things are just more post modern than others; this being one of them. We can't stop this train now, though.

Metacognition: First Semester

I guess I can say that I've learned a lot in this past semester...although my grades probably don't show it, and I know B's aren't bad, but I'm essentially in a class chalk-full of A students.

Obvious points:

• Where I sit is not welcomed for when I take any sort of test, whether it be a reading quiz, essay, french test and more...I should just have found a different seat for the semester.
• Using one huge spiral for Academy takes up less space than 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small spiral.
• NEVER drop anything on the floor.
• Even though we go in the hall because it's "too loud" in the room, everyone is in the hall still making it "too loud", but we stay out there anyway.
• I still don't like assigned books to read over the summer; If I got to pick the book, I'd be more enthusiastic.

Less obvious points:

• My thinking or papers or ideas about anything has to have a head start. In class, I can't really chime in because it takes me a few minutes, hours or even days to really grasp the idea and formulate an opinion. With this being said...I should start my papers a lot earlier to make sure that I know what I am saying is the deepest I can go.
• Shakespeare still can't appeal to my taste. It might be because it takes me about 3 hours to get through one day's reading because the language throws me off, but whatever it is, I can't seem to get excited about Shakespeare. I can say that I've tried to be more open, but I'm getting to the edge.
• Although my grades might dip a little when I have extra-curriculars , I go a little stir crazy at home. At home, I think I have more time to do my work, so I tend to not get to it as fast. With extra-curriculars, I can exercise out anything, or give myself a break before I take school home with me. Homework I feel, is school that keeps you up really late. So, if I can do something before I get back to what I just had for 7 hours, I seem to be a happier person. It just seems to keep me a healthier person in that area of life.
• I need schedules and specific outlines, equations, formulas, the works. This semester I got to school at 7 in the morning. I then proceeded to do my math homework. Went to the same classes, same rooms, same hallways. During lunch I would do my chemistry homework and ask my friend to help me and then eat his fries. After school, I take the same route home. Then, I do my Academy homework and try not to question doing Academy...just kidding, but it's my most challenging stuff. Then my goal is to get a good 6 hours of sleep. Seems fun right? Well, I've noticed that any change in that formula throws me off for the rest of the day or week. Less than 6 hours of sleep and I'm too tired. More than 6 hours and I'm too rested. No chem homework or math homework, I get bored. Well, next semester I won't get to school at 7...math homework at home. Lunch at a different time...no chem help!! Basically, free willy work gets me too distracted. When we are given specific instructions, a format and it must be followed, I can relax a little. I've realized my frame of mind, or my thinking, needs to be in an order. Any change and I tend to go a-wall.

Things that need to be changed:

• I need more sleep. All my work keeps me up. People think they can get more done if they stay up later, but the consequences are that you will most likely suck at what you're doing the next day. You need sleep to function, but with all I do and all I'm given...the question is if I'll risk looking like a mess in school for those extra 15 minutes of sleep in the morning. Either teachers give less homework, or I can try to be a lot more efficient. I don't see less homework in the future, so....
• Actually learn. It's not just in English, but in everything I do. Doing well in school means you are good at taking tests, not how much you learned. I tend to get information, take the test, and file it away to never be used again. I'm not actually learning. I need to get rid of my file cabinets and make sure I remember everything that's said.
• Learn to make long term goals rather than short term. I essentially have my whole life planned out. I've got the colleges that I'm going to apply to, my job, my family life and what names I'm giving my kids, but I have no clue what I'm doing next weekend. Academically, I don't know what I'm looking at in the future.

So to be completely honest...I wasn't very fond of this first semester. I've done horrible on a lot of things, and that puts a dent on my long term plans. I plan to do a lot better this next semester, but it wasn't just academics that made this semester a downer. Tennis team was nothing I wanted it to be, the fun stuff from freshman year didn't carry over this year, and my life is moving full speed ahead. I wouldn't want to go back to this past semester though. Don't get me wrong, some things were extremely worth it and entertaining and most things were my fault.

Notes to myself:

• Get a more accessible seat at north.
• Find a way to not do math homework at home.
• Find a way to convince teachers to not give homework at all.