Othello
We are currently reading Othello in class. Trying to understand Shakespeare is really hard for me. Not all of the words, but most of the words being different and meaning different things is hard for me to get used to. The book being in Shakespeare makes me not be able to understand what is happening in the book at all. The only time I know what is going on is when we do class discussions in class, and even then its still hard because I have to listen really well during those class discussions to get it. I can’t just read the book and understand what is happening. I read a line and think to myself, “what did I just read?’’ After that thought I continue to read the line over and over until I can make some sense of what it is meaning or talking about. When we watched the clips of the Othello movie, it did make it a little easier. But it was still hard to understand, because they are still saying the same thing and meaning the same thing. The only thing that made it a little easier is that I could see them, and if I didn’t understand what they were saying still I could try to take what they were doing or what their surroundings were. I could look at their body language or facial expressions or even the tone in their voice and try to pick out words they were saying. The word “really” can be taken in many different ways. For example, it can be said with anger. It can be said with excitement. It can be said with sarcasm. It can be said with sadness. A word can be taken many different ways. Thats why watching the Othello clip and being able to see the actors emotions and facial expression and body language made it a little better than reading Othello just out of the book. I had set up these images of each character and what I imagined them to look like, in my head. It is just really difficult for me to understand. I honestly don’t see the need to have to read Shakespeare. When we read Animal Farm that was something I could understand. It made sense to me, but Othello does not. Shakespeare is not my thing, and I don’t understand it.
School is about to come to an end! Finally! These last few weeks are just dragging on. In classes all we are doing is busy work. We have nothing else to learn. We have taken the EOC for biology and geometry, so we have learned everything we need to learn in those classes. We should be able to be done with those classes. School is just a waste of time right now. We are not learning anything right now. School should be over. I’m so ready for summer. This school year is way too long. It’s like never ending. I cannot wait to sleep in on days we don’t have cheer. I cannot wait to hang out at the lake with friends and family. I cannot wait to have cookouts. I cannot wait to go traveling with my family to wherever we decide. I love summer, it is my favorite season. I love the sunshine and warm weather. I think I'm going to the beach, but I'm not sure yet. Whatever it is I'm excited!
We had cheer tryouts this last Friday and Saturday.
Friday we stayed after school from 3:30 until 6:30 woking on all of the tryout material. We had to learn a cheer and a dance. For varsity tryouts we had to throw a tumbling pass, perform our cheer, dance, and fight song, and then do all of our jumps. We had to do a toe touch, a whip ( which is two toe touches in a row ) , a pike, and a left or right hurdler. Friday night five other girls and I met at a house and practiced and practiced and practiced over and over again until we got it perfectly. I didn’t go to bed until 12 in the morning. I was getting so frustrated. I would do the dance correctly and then I would try and do it again and I would mess up. If it wasn’t the part I didn’t know very well, it was the part that I knew very well. It was so frustrating. I’m the type that goes to sleep and has it perfectly after I wake up, though. I have been that way every time I have tried out for cheer. This was my fifth year to tryout for cheer. I only have one more cheer tryout left for the rest of my life. The thought of that makes me sad a little. But the other part is glad, because cheer tryouts are so stressful.
Saturday morning I woke up 6:30. We had to be at the facility by 7:45. Tryouts started at 8. The three boys were given their numbers last, but they were first to go. It’s always been like that. Once we tried out we were allowed to go home, so they were home super early. Last year we had to go back in the locker room and wait until everybody was done, and then we would get the results of who made it before junior high even tried out. This year after we tried out we could go home and wait until about 2:30 and come back up to the facility and see the list. She waited until junior high tryouts were over until she posted the list, that way she could post both lists and leave before angry parents attacked her demanding their daughters tryout scores.
After I tried out I went home and then I went shopping with my mom to kill time. On our way back from town my friend texted me saying the list was posted and then I had her send it to me so I didn’t have to go up there. I tried not to think about it after I left, it makes me so nervous! I’m so glad cheer tryouts are over, until next year, my final year!
I have always wanted to travel the world. How cool would it be to say that
you’ve been to every country and all fifty states? It’d be pretty awesome. I’ve
always wanted to go visit all of the states. I want to try and go to a different
state each summer for vacation with my family. It would be an even cooler
experience if it was shared with your close family and friends. I want to go on
cruises to different places and just explore and be adventurous. So in other
words I want to be a tourist. I think it would really help the students with
school (if the schools are allowed to do this) if you could take field trips to
different places. I don’t mean just your normal field trip, I mean a field trip
where you travel to the location that you’re studying and learning about. I feel
like that if schools did that, with a lot of hands on learning, the students
would remember the material better and actually have a funner time learning
rather than sitting in the same boring classroom everyday taking notes out of a
book. More students would want to learn if you got to see the real deal live in
person. It would help students get a better understanding of the subject. It
would also decrease the amount of absences there are for some people as well.
The fact of knowing that you are going to be able to go to the location that you
are learning about is just a great reason not to miss school. It’s like you’re
getting to relive the past as you learn about it. It would give the students a
much better memory of the subject they are learning about. It would be easier to
remember. It would be a lifelong memory that nobody would forget, which means
the knowledge they have about the subject will stay with them longer than if
they learned it out of a textbook. Not to mention it would be the absolute best
experience you could have in high school!
A memory that I will never ever forget is winning state in cheer this past
December. It was on December 21, so it was also kind of a early Christmas
present. It was by far the best feeling in my life. It made me feel so
accomplished, not only with myself, but also with my team. It made me realize
that all of the hard long hours of never ending practice finally paid off.
Practicing for all of those months with dedication and hard work, made me feel
so good about myself and my team. It is a feeling of joy and complete happiness
that I will never forget. It is a moment that I will carry with me for the rest
of my life. It was located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Our team, along with a
bunch of other teams, stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel. A lot of teams stay
there because that hotel is connected to the convention center where the
competition is held. We left early Friday morning and once we got there we
checked into our hotel and got ready for practice. It was our last practice, and
it was with our choreographer. It was the last practice we had before we
competed the next day. Our practice lasted about 45 minutes. It wasn’t a long
practice like normal, because there were all of the other teams waiting for
their time on the mats. Our practice didn’t go all that great for being our last
practice to do it full out. Stunts weren’t all hitting and neither was all
of the tumbling. You could tell that we were all getting frustrated with how
things were going. After practice was over we went out to Outback Steakhouse. I
had never been there before and it was pretty good. After we ate and got back to
the hotel everybody changed out of their dress clothes and went to coaches room
for our Christmas party. Everybody switched gifts with their “cheer sister” or
“cheer brother.” After that everybody kind of did what they wanted. Some people
went to bed and others went and walked around in the lobby. There were a lot of
people from other schools there and so that was pretty neat meeting and seeing
people. After everybody went to their own rooms, we went to sleep. The next
morning it was crazy! There were cheerleaders everywhere! Hairspray and makeup
and perfume is what every room was filled with. When everybody was ready we all
made our way over to the convention center for the competition. We got ready for
our warm up time on the mats. When time was up for our warm ups we had to wait
behind a big curtain separating us from the mats. Our time had come and we set
our props and signs in their right places and made our way back behind the
curtain, until they announced us onto the floor to perform. We got set once they
called us onto the floor. We started off strong and ended even stronger. Our
choreographer and coach were sitting in the chairs right in front of us. The
night before at practice with him, he didn’t seem that confident in us. We
didn’t practice very well. But when we performed the next day, we brought it.
And it showed all over his face, he was cheering along and clapping and just
going crazy for us! It made all of us have that much more energy. We loved his
reaction to our performance. The look on his face showed us that we were doing
awesome and that he wa proud of us. It was the best feeling! We were all so
happy and hyped up as we made our way off the mat. Seeing everyones reaction
was so great! It just boosted our confidence even more.
Waiting for awards seemed like forever When it was time for all of
the teams to meet on the mats, the nerves kicked in hardcore. Division
1A….. Division 2A…... Division 3A….. Seemed like they would never call Division
4A. “Division 4A runner up….goes to Maumelle High School!” Our
hearts sank. Our biggest competition was West Fork and that meant that we
were 1st place or 3rd place. “Your 3013 State Champs are….Pea Ridge High
School!” We jumped up and cheered and hugged one another. It was the
absolute best day ever. The feeling it gave me was such a great one. At
that moment, I realized all the hard work had paid off.
Thirteen Reasons Why
I recently read the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. In my opinion, it was a super good book. It’s the type of book that keeps you wanting to read more to see what is going to happen next. I had to take breaks throughout the day just to finish it, but it did not take me long to get back to reading it. I’ll try not to spoil anything for you readers.
The book is about a high school student, Hannah Baker. She was new to the small town. Rumors after rumors were made up about her. She was the type of girl that did not just open up and talk to everybody. She stayed more to herself. When rumors kept being made up about her, it caused her to stay even more to herself than before. People she thought she could trust were even starting some of the things she was hearing about herself. She lost trust for some of her “friends” or “acquaintances.” When she became even more depressed and felt even more alone in this world. She started thinking about suicide. In the beginning of this thought, she would try to reach out to people a little bit without actually saying “help me.” She distanced herself and tried not to show how unhappy and hurt she really was the more she considered it. The title of this book is Thirteen Reasons Why. Thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker killed herself. She makes thirteen tapes, each including a person that had something to do with her ending her life. The tapes are sent only to those thirteen people and only those thirteen people know the whole story about her death and know about each other on the tapes. Everybody on those tapes hear everybody elses story with Hannah. When the tapes are sent around a map is also, marking each place a story on one of the tapes took place. The map is so that the people listening can go to the place marked on the map while they are listening to that story to get the full affect of what Hannah went through. The tapes get sent in order that that persons name shows up. In the end the lucky thirteen people know how they affected Hannah's life and how they had a part in her ending her life.
The Hideout
It was a chill Saturday night. Sara's parents were going out, and wouldn’t be back until early morning Sunday. “Lock the doors and don’t answer the door” says Michael, Sara's father, as they walked out the door. Waving her goodnights to her parents, Sara shut the door after them. She walked towards the kitchen, her stomach roaring with hunger. She grabbed some pretzels from the cabinet and dropped on the couch to watch “The Call.” She loved intense movies, such as this one. She caught herself falling asleep about 35 minutes into the movie, she heard a loud noise coming from the garage. She, at first, just thought it was perhaps the cat knocking stuff over as usual. When the same noise was heard a second time she became frightened. “Theres no way thats the cat” she mumbled under her breath. She paused the movie, got up off the couch and creeped through the living room and past the kitchen, making her way towards the door to the garage. She peeked her head out of the door to get a look. She saw a bigger muscular man rustling through some old boxes of ropes, tape and old paint on a shelf. She gasped without noticing that he was only a few feet away, he heard her. She shut the door and ran up the stairs as fast as she could, hiding herself in her parents bedroom under the bed. Breathing heavy, she tried to be silent. She heard loud footsteps pounding up the stairs. She saw him past by the bedroom with a rope wrapped around his arm and a roll of tape in his hand. Sara could feel the tears forming in her eyes, and the sweat forming on her face and palms. She could no longer hear him so she pulled out her cell phone and tried calling for help. He heard her. The next thing that happened, Sara was being pulled out from under the bed and dragged down the hall. From her last attempt at trying to call her parents for help, they had picked up. They could hear everything that was said, all the screaming and rustling of their daughter trying to protect herself. “Sara! Sara! Sara, what’s happening?!” Katherine, Sara’s mom, was yelling into the phone. Her parents hurried and called for help and the police immediately were on their way to the house. Sara’s parents quickly grabbed their coats and rushed to their car in the lot. They were going 15 over the speed limit the whole way, they weren’t stopping for anyone. When they arrived at the house, they bolted inside. There were cops everywhere. “Where is she? Wheres Sara?” the parents screamed at the police. One older cop, with a light gray mustache, walked over to the young girls parents. “The house is empty. No one is here. They must have left.” the cop explained. “Don’t worry we have cars and helicopters already out looking around the county. We even have some detectives searching the house for fingerprints.” At that time, a detective walked up holding Saras cell phone and a slipper.
A year passed after that chill Saturday night. No one had talked about Sara or the unwanted man that showed up in months. A couple months after the night, people started to calm down and realize that Sara isn’t coming home. Michael and Katherine put up pictures of their daughter all over their small town and all over the state Utah. They did everything they could to find out where their daughter was. Michael noticed that his variety of tapes and ropes were gone. His heart dropped to his stomach, as he fell to his knees in the small box garage. Upstairs, Katherine was sitting in Sara's room. She was squeezing her pillow so tight that her knuckles were turning white. She stared blankly out the window with tears in her eyes and her mascara smeared on her cheeks. Her school had stopped counting her absent from class. Her soccer team stopped counting on her to be at practice. People were starting to get forget about her; not because of any reason, but because it was such a little town and when even the littlest thing came up the town went crazy over it. A lot can happen in a year, especially in this little town in Utah. There were already exciting interesting things happening in the small town. For example, the party that happened which caused multiple kids to get in trouble with the law.
A year and a few months later the police showed up on Saras doorstep. Her father, Michael, answered the door. His eyes got big, hoping that what the police said was going to be good news. His wife, Katherine, glanced around the corner to see who her husband was talking to. She dropped the dish she was drying back into the dirty dishwater, and quickly went to the door, where they were still standing. They made their way over to the creamy blue couch. “We found something” the police began. “We found a wrecked black pick-up in the woods a few miles out of town. We had the detectives check in on it, and they found them..” Sara seemed to be bruised up quite a bit and had a few broken bones” he continued. “Your daughter is dead, I’m very sorry for your loss. We did everything we could do. “The man was found as well, we shot himself in the head.” Katherine dropped her face in her hands as Michael buried his face on her back. Sara was gone. The unknown mans identity was revealed to the girls parents, but he was gone to. There was nothing they could say or ask him. They couldn’t ask him why he did what he did or why he picked their daughter. All they could do was think of all the great memories they shared with their loving young daughter and how great she was.
This school year is going by super fast! I feel like last week was the first
week of school. Which, technically, it kind of was since we were out of school
due to a lot of snow and winter break. This school year can just keep keeping on
and hurry up and be over. I cannot wait for summer! It is my absolute favorite
season. I wish it was sunny and warm all year long. I love going camping and
traveling to different places. Someday I hope to be able to travel all over the
world. I wish to go to different countries and make it to all fifty states
before I die. I love everything about summer. I love the hot weather. I love the
lake. I love the beach. I love the sun. I love tanning. The list can go on and
on. Everything about summer is great. Last year my family and I was so
busy and didn’t have time to go on vacation. The year before last though, we
went to Destin, Florida. I had a complete blast there. We camped right on the
beach. We took our camper and it was just a walking distance from our camper to
the beach. I loved it so much. The first day we were there we spent the day at
the beach. My brother got so burnt the first day. His face had blisters on it,
it was that bad. He was miserable most of the trip after that. We were
constantly in the sun, and getting sunburned over a sunburned doesn’t feel good
at all. I am more of a fan of loving the warm weather, rather than the snowy
cold weather. I would much rather be on the beach in the sun than on a mountain
in the snow. Next Christmas my family talked about going to Colorado and go
skiing. I wish it was to the beach! I enjoy skiing though, its fun. I just don’t
like being cold! Anyway, I’m so excited for summer break and this school year to
be over!
I feel like we haven't been to school in months! Which I suppose is a little bit true, considering it has almost been a month since the last time we were at school. I loved my days off though! It even felt like a super long break, which isn't common because most breaks fly by. I did numerous things over the days that I was off. Starting with having movie night with my best friends all the way to skiing in Colorado. My friends and I all decided to go to the movies the first day we were off. We saw Anchorman 2, which in my opinion was not the best. It was so idiotic that it was a little funny. I wouldn't really recommend it but a lot of people I have talked to have said that they liked it and that it was just so funny. I, on the other hand, didn't think it was that great. It was funny though, I do give it that.
The next thing I did over break was go to Hot Springs for the 2013 State Cheer Competition. We traveled down Friday morning and got there in the afternoon where we checked into our hotel and then later went to have practice with our choreography at his gym. After practice we all went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse so we could have some team bonding. When we got back to the hotel we had our cheer Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and it was a great experience. Saturday morning, the day of the competition, we got up and ate breakfast and got competition ready. When everybody was ready we made our way over to the convention center, which is connected to our hotel. We had warm ups shortly after we got there. In warm ups we saw a girl from another team laying in the middle of a mat with paramedics all around her. She broke her neck. The team still managed to go out and compete without her. When it was our warm up time we did really good. We hit everything. We went out behind the curtain waiting to take our turn to compete. We went out there and did the best we have done this year. We hit everything and had so much energy throughout the whole thing. We waited for awards and we won! We were 2013 state champions! It was and still is a great feeling! Everything about that day was awesome!
After I returned from Hot Springs I had to start packing for Colorado! I was going skiing with my cousins. It was such a blast. It was the first time I ever skied before, but I caught on fast! I did bust and fall several times, but that made it fun! I had so many funny stories to tell my parents and friends when I got back. I even laughed at myself when I busted my face into the snow. I had a great break!
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