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!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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.
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.
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