Another Essay 1st draft

Everyone starts out with a dream and throughout life they go through the steps to either get towards that dream or somehow just a bit further from it. In my life I believe I've taken the correct steps to be able to fulfill my dream and to expand on it. This started for me when I went to the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology. They helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life by showing me all the options that I had. I figured out that I wanted to become a graphic designer and that I wanted to further my education in a school in San Francisco to pursue my dream. I'm greatly appreciate that I was able to find my dream at such a young age because most people in life never really figure out what they want to do with their life and how they're going to reach goals they set themselves. My school has given me a bilities to be able to go after my dreams. Being a senior in high school I'm glad that I was able to line up all the stuff I needed to do to be able to go after my dreams. Such as taking classes and learning the information that I need to further what I want to do with my life. My dream first started out with my engineering classes but then they branched off and started taking graphic design and animation classes at my school which has opened up my eyes to the new path I want to take. I'm grateful to be able to have such dreams and goals to pursue. One day hopefully soon I will be exactly where I want to be to further my dreams and goals even more.

Abstract Paragraph

For my English class we needed to write an abstract paragraph for our capstone project. It is a project that i have done for my senior year that will branch off into my future. Which is going to San Francisco to study web design and new media, I am really excited and hope that this is a good paragraph for it.

Aspiring Design for the Future

            My senior capstone project was signing up for a pre-college course at the Academy or Arts University in San Francisco. I was able to take four classes that count as units towards my freshman year at college. I acquired four points so far and once I do the spring course I will have six units for myself. I took a class in figure drawing, introduction to comic book illustration, photography and introduction to visual design. My courses over the summer lasted for 15 weeks or modules as they were called by the program. Once I finished the course I received a certification for doing the program and I was able to have my fee for admission into the college waived for taking this course. I learned many things from taking this course such as better drawing techniques, photography skills and more skills with adobe software.

Steps that I have taken:

1.      I enrolled in the summer pre-college program(four classes max)

2.      Picked the classes that I want that would be beneficial to the field that I want to go into

3.      Participated in online discussions

4.      Book work on the subjects

5.      Did the homework for the classes by the time each module was over

6.      Completed 15 modules

7.      Signed up for the spring pre-college program(two classes max)

8.      Still need to pick my classes

9.      Then I will have to do the module work

10.  Finish 

Elks Essay

A day that I will always appreciate is the day that I stepped up to be a leader for my service learning project. We were given the task to go out into the community and find an issue we felt we could help change or doing something that we felt the community needed. I found what the community needed, which was a garden for the students of Smith Ridge Elementary to use and that the community would be able to use. I met with teachers from that area and we went over what kind of plans that they wanted for their garden. I took those ideas and designed a garden that they were happy with.

 I recruited students from my school to come and help out with the construction of the garden. It felt great to get students from my school and from the elementary school to come out and work together. I felt like a good leader because I just didn't tell them what they needed to do I also did the work with them which made the feeling of being out there even more fulfilling because I got the satisfaction of helping with the design and the building of the garden. It was very inspiring for me because I was able to take knowledge from my studies and apply them to really world applications and help out the community. I learned that I have skills that I can offer to the community to help make it a better one for the kids of the future. In making this garden there are many thing that the kids can learn from it, such as healthy eating, agriculture, social skills and plenty more. It did not only help the kids with their future but also with mine by showing that I do like to do design work, which has opened my eyes to wanting to further my education in design

.It has also made me more aware for my community and how I can keep helping it now and in the future. This was a wonderful experience for me because it really brought me out of my shell and helped me to step up and take charge of my life and has helped me to be more of a leader than I have been in the past. I am proud to be able to say that I have become a leader with the things in my life because most people never really go for being a leader even when their opportunity comes around and for me to be able to say that I did choose to be a leader is a magnificent thing.

College Essay

Everyone starts out with a dream and throughout life they go through the steps to either get towards that dream or somehow just a bit further from it. In my life I believe I've taken the correct steps to be able to fulfill my dream and to expand on it. This strated for me when I went to the Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology. They helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life by showing me all the options that I had. I figured out that I wanted to become a graphic designer and that I wanted to further my education in a school in San Francisco to pursue my dream. I'm greatly appreciate that I was able to find my dream at such a young age because most people in life never really figure out what they want to do with their life and how they're going to reach golas they set themselves. My school has given me a bilities to be able to go after my dreams. Being a senior in high school I'm glad that I was able to line up all the stuff I needed to do to be able to go after my dreams. Such as taking classes and learning the information that I need to further what I want to do with my life. My dream first started out with my engineering classes but then they branched off and started taking graphic design and animation classes at my school which has opened up my eyes to the new path I want to take. I'm grateful to be able to have such dreams and goals to pursue. One day hopefully soon I will be exactly where I want to be to further my dreams and goals even more.

Story Part 1

Once upon a time there was a greatly overzealous woman who started to go crazy after her late husband Fredrick D. Livington had died. He had been ill for quite some time before his passing, due to a hereditary disorder in his families’ blood line. No one was able to treat poor Mr. Livington and his wife started to become very desperate for a cure that could save his life. She had heard rumors around the Gelktonburg, their home town.  Mrs. Livington or Alice, as her friends called her, had heard about someone who might have been able to help her husband come back to life. She lived almost 900km outside of the nearest city and in being that far out she made the choice to go and find this mystery woman, getting ready to leave to the city to find more information about the person that might be able to help her in the resurrection of her husband. She was willing to go to any length to get her husband back because without him her life felt unbearable. The next morning Alice started her journey to the city at the crack of dawn in a cool brisk morning of fall. She took the best of their horse and rode all the way with as little stops as possible. She had reached the city of Swetich which was a very large city that was more advanced than most of the time. Alice wonder how she would one person in a city of this size, she search for days before actually coming across a name of a woman who might be the one she was looking for.

Thanksgiving!!

I am ready for Thanksgiving, I am excited to spend the time off that i get with my family and the fact that i get to help make all of the great food that we have for the dinner. We are going to have these egg things in the morning with gorilla bread which sounds amazing right now and we will probably have little snacks through out the day.Then for the dinner my mom will make a great turkey with her stuffing that is made from scratch and that just makes your mouth water when you look at it. Along with that we will have a great green bean casserole that has those on type of fried like onion strips on top of it that gives it a little something extra when you take that first bite into it. We will have mashed potatoes from scratch as well  and long with this AMAZING sweet potato dish that my mom makes. The first time that i had that i thought that is was some kind of pumpkins dish thing but I still loved it when i found out what it was. My mom will make an apple pie and my grandam will make gravy for the mashed potatoes and a few other things that are delicious as well which includes her pumpkin pie that she will be making for us. It is so wonderful to know that my family has all of these great traditions about what food to make and how to spend the day.One thing that i really love is our tradition of reading of a Thanksgiving poem that my mom has been telling us since I was a baby. Now that we all have grown she lets us all read a paragraph from it as it goes around the table then we all tell each other about what we are thankful for and why. It is great having to do this every year because no matter how much we all bug each other that never seems to matter when we are all together and having a great time.

Hamlet is OVER

I am some what happy that we are done with Hamlet because I felt like it was taking a while for us to go through it all. I am happy though that we went over it in class after we read it at home because it helped me to understand things in it much better. I also really liked that we talked and through around ideas about the book and that we were presented with questions now and then about the book.With being able to talk about the book in class it made me like the book better than I have with other book sin the past because reading in the class made me focus more on the book and made me realise the things that I had missed at home. But now that the book is over we are going to be moving onto another and I hope that we continue with our in class discussion and reading about the books we do.
I really am happy though that we finished because I was starting to get tired of reading Hamlet and i just wanted to get the book over with and kind of move on already, but I did like the book. It was good to ready the book and it was fascinating but there were also so me weird things about the book such as relationships in the book with other characters. I thought it was crazy that Hamlet's mom married her brother in law and that Laertes seemed a little to close to her with wanting to be burried in the grave with her. But all in all I did enjoy the book and i am very glade that I read the book.

Speech

Also for my English class we had to pick a speech from the play that we thought was really important and that had a impact on us from the reading. I chose to do King Claudius's speech from when him and Hamlet are talking about Old Hamlet's death and that the King thinks Hamlet is being way to sensitive about the death that happened two months ago. This speech really show how Claudius really feels about Hamlet and his brother. It gives a certain tone to his character because in the way that he uses his words that he speaks it paints a mental picture for you of who he really is.

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father.

But you must know your father lost a father,

That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound

In filial obligation for some term

To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever

In obstinate condolement is a course

Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief.

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,

A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,

An understanding simple and unschooled.

For what we know must be and is as common

As any the most vulgar thing to sense,

Why should we in our peevish opposition

Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a fault to heaven,

A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

To reason most absurd, whose common theme

Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,

From the first corse till he that died today,

“This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing woe, and think of us

As of a father. For let the world take note,

You are the most immediate to our throne,

And with no less nobility of love

Than that which dearest father bears his son

Do I impart toward you. For your intent

In going back to school in Wittenberg,

It is most retrograde to our desire.

And we beseech you, bend you to remain

Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

Hamlet Must Die

For act V ,I chose to pick when Claudius and Laertes are plan on how they are going to kill Hamlet and the many ways they wish to do it. I picked this one because it shows their hate against HAmlet and that even though one thing that they can do will kill him they decided that it isn't good enough for them because they want him to suffer.

“Hamlet Must Die”

In William Shakespeare’s (act IV, scene VII) when the king and Laertes are coming up with another way to kill Hamlet is important because it really does show how much hate they both have for him. They decided that they are going to have a backup plan to their idea of how to kill Hamlet. They will use a poison in a drink that they will give to Hamlet after her is tired from dueling with Laertes yet they will also have a sharpened blade with a poisoned tip just before they offer him the drink. This way something is bound to get him and that way they have a sure way to kill him because in anything that they due he will die from the poison. This is an important part in the act because it talk about how they want to kill him and how far they are willing to go to do so. They don’t want him to have any chance of being able to survive the attack that they have planned for him. For example when the king said “Let’s further think of this”, shows that he isn’t satisfied with being able to kill Hamlet only one way. He wants to have alternative ways so that once they do poison and stab him that they know for a fact that he will never walk away from it. It really shows what kind of character the king and Laertes are by showing just how much they want to hurt Hamlet.

In conclusion this is important because it really shows the true nature of some of the people that are around Hamlet. It shows that at any moment they were willing to poison hamlet and have him die like he was nothing. Because in their eyes Hamlet is nothing but someone who has or will ruin their lives.

The Priest

For my act IV speech that I had to do a paper on I chose to do it on what the priest says when they are all in the graveyard for Ophelia's burial. I picked this one because it should what the Priest was think and that he actually spoke in a way against King Claudius.

 “The Priest”

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (act V, scene I), a quote that I believe to be important is one that the Priest says when they are bring Ophelia to her grave. I think that it is important because in act III Hamlet was talking with Ophelia about his question of whether or not to kill himself. It’s important because he tells her to learn from his mistakes and in that he was talking also about how no one knows what is beyond this life and that it is indeed a sin to kill one’s self. Yet she did kill herself and in doing so gave the Priest a reason to have her not be buried on holy ground.

The Priest also thinks she should be buried there because in her madness she had stated to everyone that she and Hamlet had been together and was no longer considered a maiden. In this quote “yet she is allowed her virgin crants, her maiden strewments”, shows that he doesn’t want to have her here because of the sins that she has done. He also expresses that the only true reason she is being buried there is because the king has asked of it otherwise she wouldn’t be there.

In conclusion I believe that this part given by the Priest is important because it shows of the things that people disapprove of yet go along with because the king wants it to be carried out. I liked how the Priest was the on to step up and truly speak of how he felt towards all that was going on with things he thought was wrong.

To Be or Not to Be

For Hamlet we needed to pick a speech from Act III so I picked the To Be or Not to Be quote and I talked about what that quote meant and what all Hamlet was talking about in it. So here is my page or so of what I wrote about it.This one is my more updated on because out of three of them we had to pick one that we wanted to extend on.

“To Be or Not to Be”

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (act III, scene I) has Hamlet questioning what he should do with his life. This is taken into a very serious term by the fact that Hamlet starts to talk out loud around Ophelia about how he is feeling about everything that is going on with him and if whether or not he actually should take his life or keep it. The famous quote of, “To be or not to be”, is spoken in such a way that has captured the attention of its audience for many years. By showing the struggles that Hamlet had over his life after everything started to go wrong for him in his eyes. Because he feels like there is truly nothing for him in his life that would make him want to keep living because everything has been turned upside down and ruined by Claudius.

Hamlet wonders if he should even keep going through all the trouble of staying alive or if it would just be easier for him to end his life and move on. In the quote, “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them”, so that he is really wonder if it is better for him to tough it out and keep going or to just take his own life and be done. Yet he is very cautious of doing that because he is not entirely sure what is on the other side and doesn’t know what will happen to him. In the quote ,”to sleep: perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub”, gives an example of him not being so sure of what to expect once he has killed himself. After seeing his father’s ghost and the hell that it is in it makes him wonder if he will suffer the same or if he will move on to something better. Because right now he is seeing no outlet to a better life and he is through with living, yet he feels that by killing himself he will somehow end up in his own type of hell with the sins that he himself has created through his own actions in life. Hamlet wants the sweet relief of death but yet he knows nothing of what is after this life so he will not kill himself because he doesn’t want to end up like his father on the other side. When Hamlet says, “No traveler returns, puzzles the will”, makes sense to the fact that he thinks against it because of the unknown he faces. He then tells Ophelia to remember his sins so that she will not repeat the ones that he himself has created in order to keep her out of the hell that he has created for  himself.

In conclusion Hamlet has made a choice between life and death of his own life and has chosen to keep it. Because he doesn’t know what I son the other side because he himself has never seen it and believes his father’s ghost that it is a terrible place. This was a truly great decision that Hamlet was conflicted with because his life has changed so much in just a short while and for him to consider killing himself to end it is a very big deal. Yet in the end the question if the unknown is the one thing that stopped him from making this decision.

Over break

Over break I went to Santa Cruz with my ffamily and stayed there for two nights. Then too sick to go to visit the college that I am planning on going to. It was nice to be able to get out of Reno and head to the beach and relax with my family . Then once we got into San Francisco and met up with my college tour event ,everything just seemed to fall into place. Because first I talked with people at the college to see what my best options were for trying to attend the college and see what I wanted to go there for.  I ended up looking at the Web design and New media building. I enjoyed meeting the the directers of tgat program and seeing all of the work that students had already done. I was in awe the whole time that I was there and I got the feeling that this college was right for me. After that I went on a tour of the housing and saw what type of rooms they had and different things each building had to offer. Once I was done I went back to the main building and sat down with someone and went over more options and my application process with them and my parents. We put a plan together about what I was going to do and how I was going to be able to go to school there and what would be the cheapist way to do things. It feels so unreal that I am at the point in my life were I am applying for college.

Fall Break

To ready myself for the rest of the year I am going to get myself ready for the rest of the year over my fall break. I am fist going to check and see all of the work that I need to do to get some of my grades up in my classes. For my Trig class I am going to spend the three hours that I need on my test corrections so that I am able to take my test again once I get back from my break. In doing this I will raise my grade in that class keeping me on track on trying to receive the Honors Diploma. For my English class I am going to keep reading the play Hamlet and working on my blogs and my speech that I need to memorize. So far from the beginning of the year I have been trying a lot harder in my English class and I feel like I am doing well and that I am getting done what I need to do. For my other classes in school I am going to keep up my good work and stay focused on what I need to do to keep my grades where they are at.
Also over break I will be going to San Francisco to visit the open house that is at the college I am playing on going to. I am going to take a tour of the housing and of the studios that they have there. Along with this I will be working on filling out out scholarship applications and I will study for my SAT that is in November.
I am really feeling good about all the work that I am getting ready for and I am feeling like I am in the right head set for the rest of the year.

Updated Hamlet Draft

with this draft i changed up the ending paragraph and add some more text into other paragraphs as well as made some grammar and vocabulary corrections.

In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, it demonstrates the need to have control over others, even though it also shows people’s resistances towards others manipulations. In Hamlet a great example of a person who wants control over others is King Claudius. While a person who resists his manipulation is the hire to the throne, Hamlet.   This play has many great examples of the issue of trying to control and trying to fight against others rule.

            King Claudius is a great example for a person who tries to control others because that is what many kings tend to do. Kings want to have total control over their kingdoms and especially the people that live in them including people who are related to them. A prime example of King Claudius trying to control Hamlet is when he says “In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire” “(act 1, scene 2).  In this quote King Claudius is basically saying that he doesn’t want Hamlet to leave because it is not in the King’s favor for Hamlet to leave. The King wants him to be home so that he can control what he does instead of letting Hamlet go and create a future for himself.

            Another good example of King Claudius trying to control what Hamlet will do in the play is when he says,” and we beseech you, bend you to remain here in the cheer and comfort in our eye”(act 1, scene 2). The King in this quote is telling Hamlet that he doesn’t want Hamlet to leave because he wants him to be somewhere that Claudius can keep an eye on him since him may cause a threat to his rule. This makes it more evident that King Claudius is trying to control whether or not Hamlet leaves, and in doing this makes it my beneficial for himself by being able to watch Hamlet closely.

            However Hamlet resists king Claudius by making it clear to him that he will stay but that he is only doing it for is mom. It is shown in the text when he says, “I shall in all my best obey you, madam” (act 1, scene 2). In saying this he is listening to a command but is making a joke of it as he does so. He does this by only addressing his mother in his answer and by calling her madam he is undermining her title. Which is taking away some of the control her tittle had over him by her being the Queen.

            In conclusion the struggle between control and resistances is shown by the language that was used between the King Claudius and Hamlet. The need for control is a big part in the play for King Claudius because it is something that he needs to have so that he is able to prove that he is worthy enough to be the King. Also it is the need to be able to control the real hire to the throne, Hamlet. With one mistake he could fall from being the King of Denmark if he doesn't have everything the way that he needs it to be.  Hamlet’s need for resistance against King’s Claudius’s manipulation is due to the fact that he won’t accept his uncle-father, the King, as his true father because he believes that the King isn’t worthy of his title. The need and resistance of control is a very big part of the play because it shows the struggle that people have in their everyday lives and challenges.

Hamlet Draft Essay

            In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, it demonstrates the need to have control over others, even though it also shows people’s resistances towards others manipulations. InHamlet a great example of a person who wants control over others is King Claudius. While a person who resists his manipulation is the hire to the throne, Hamlet.   This play has many great examples of the issue of trying to control and trying to fight against others rule.            King Claudius is a great example for a person who tries to control others because that is what many kings tend to do. Kings want to have total control over their kingdoms and especially the people that live in them including people who are related to them. A prime example of King Claudius trying to control Hamlet is when he says “(act 1, scene 2). In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire.” In this quote King Claudius is basically saying that he doesn’t want Hamlet to leave because it is not in the King’s favor for Hamlet to leave.            Another good example of King Claudius trying to control what Hamlet will do in the play is when he says,” and we beseech you, bend you to remain here in the cheer and comfort in our eye”(act 1, scene 2). The King in this quote is telling Hamlet that he doesn’t want Hamlet to leave because he wants him to be somewhere that Claudius can keep an eye on him since him may cause a threat to his rule. The makes it more evident that King Claudius is trying to control whether or not Hamlet leaves, and in doing this makes it my beneficial for himself by being able to watch Hamlet closely.            However Hamlet resists king Claudius by making it clear to him that he will stay but that he is only doing it for is mom. It is shown in the text when he says, “I shall in all my best obey you, madam” (act 1, scene 2). In saying this he is listening to a command but is making a joke of it as he does so. He does this by only addressing his mother in his answer and by calling her madam he undermining her title.            In conclusion the struggle between control and resistances is shown by the language that I used between the King and Hamlet. The need for control is a big part in they play for King Claudius because it is something that he never fully had when he was the Old King’s brother. Hamlet’s need for resistance against King’s Claudius’s manipulation is due to the fact that he won’t accept his uncle-father, the King, as his true father because he believes that the King isn't worthy of his title.

Last weekend of September

This weekend was a busy one for me because I had a lot of things to do and there isn't a lot of time in the day to be able to them, but I got what I needed to do done. First off I went to the school dance and had a great time and was very glad that I decided to go have fun. Then on Saturday I woke up at seven in the morning to go and pick up my friend from his house so that we could go to the Buddy Walk that was at Reno High School. The Buddy Walk is a fair to help raise and support people with down syndrome. They had booths there for people to play games and win prizes and also for people to sell goods that people with down syndrome had made. I went to this because one of my friends sister has down syndrome and she asked us to come out and be apart of the team for her to help raise money and to have a good time as well. We got to the Fair and they had a free pancake breakfast, a raffle, and a bunch of little games that y I u could play while you were there and it was a great time. Is was nice to go out and help my friend and her sister and also to help raise money for people with down syndrome. After that I went to her house to have a surprise birthday party for another friend and that was a great time because I with friends that I have known from second grade and it was wonderful to be able to catch up and have a great time with them as well. It was a great weekend but I was tired and worn out for it but it was great to he able to make those memories.

Hamlet and me so far

In class we are starting to read Hamlet now and so far it is an okay book. At first read I was a little confused with the boom but I think that was just the language that it was written in the threw me a little. Once I went over the text I stayed to understand the book a whole lot better. It was also helpful for my class to go over it as well act it out.
Now that I understand the book better I can grasp what is happening in it a lot better. For instance in the play were Hamlet is completely calling his mother common, I never knew that Hamlet was calling her basically a whore. This play is really good at giving more than one meaning for a word. Because with more than one meaning it creates a different way to get the writers point across. I am now really starting to get into this play because it has become more interesting and really caught my attention. Because of this I am staying to now understand what the characters are saying a but more easily.
Some thing in the play are just weird when I think about them. An example would be that Hamlet's uncle marrying his mother. That just seems wrong on so many levels that makes Hamlet their son and nephew. Which makes our awkward because his mom is now also his aunt. For me that is just crazy to think that my mom could be my aunt as well. It just seems wrong to have a family that is all mixed up like that.

Paddle Boarding at the Sparks Marina

Over the weekend I worked down at the Sparks Marina. I work at the paddle boarding store that is by the Sunset Cove. What I usually do when I work there is tale people down to the dock and give them a sorry lesson on how to paddle board . I also bring the boards up and down from the shop and I clean them. But Saturday the weather down there was beat to go and paddle because there were some very strong winds and it was cold. When you looked or at the Marina you could see the whole dock moving because of how big the waves from the wind were. I had to take a board done Pinto the dock and it almost flew or of my hands because when I got down to the dock is was getting worse and the board was do bog that the wind just caught it as I came round the corner. It was crazy weather, yet when I went in on Sunday it was completely different weather from Saturday.  The Marina was calm with a small light breeze and it was sunny. It was the perfect weather to go paddle boarding in yet only one person came to do paddle boarding. Everyone usually thinks that the Marina is dirty and that the water is nasty but it is actually really nice and you can really see this when you paddle board and it gives you a whole new perspective on the Sparks Marina that not too many people know about.

Poetry and me

For AP English we are having to read poetry and I'm somewhat getting it but I'm not getting it at some points as well.  Because I'm getting what he saying a little bit about how a sonnet is 14 lines but I am not really understanding about how the poem flows aabb ccdd and so on. It just doesn't make any sense to me about how to do that with a poem. It makes me wonder if very poem is supposed to be like that or if it is just a basic foundation for a poem. I am starting to like poetry more I just have the feeling that I don't know how the structure of a poem is set up. I can analyze a poem pretty well I think and I can usually get what the poem is about. Just the problem that I'm having with poetry is what we are learning in class because I am only really understanding half of what I am being taught and the other stuff is just going in one ear and out the other. I hope that I get poetry in the end because after working with it in class I don't dislike it as much as I used to. I am happy that I am starting to like poetry because I believe that mu teacher is right when he says that poetry is good for our lives because it lets us express ourselves in ways that we may not be able to.

Giant Secret Music Festival

This past weekend I went to the Giant Secret Music Festival in downtown Reno. I didn't even know about the festival until one of my friends called me and asked if I wanted to go. I went downtown to the river where the concert was at and found my friends. Once I was in I sat up in front with my friends so that we would have a good view of all the bands.  Then one of my friends told me that they had a silent disco and that I should go get a pair of headphones so that I could hear that while the bands changed out, because there was ten or so different bands there. The silent disco was nice and it was also funny because they had a tent set up and when you looked around you saw people dancing around with headphones and you couldn't hear what they were dancing to unless you had them as well. The bands that preformed were all really good and there were some that were better than others. All the bands brought something different to the festival in the way that they played and it was great to see them preform and also to be there hanging out with my friends. It was a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. Some of the bands that played there were Mark sexton band, Allen Stone, The Novelists, Jack Berry and the Loots, and Rigorous Proof. It was also interesting to go because I saw my old elementary school teacher in one of the bands. One of my friends bought some of their music online and said that some of them sound better live so I was glad that I got to have that experience.

College Essay Rough Draft Paragraph

In school we are starting to develop our college essays that we are going to hopefully have all ready for when we start doing our applications to schools and this is a paragraph that I was working with in my essay;

On my first day of school at The Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology I was in amazement at what was before me. I was in the second class in the school’s history for being able to AACT for four years. I was at that moment knows as a classmate of the 2014 class graduates. It was amazing being able to go to AACT. I was in the Engineering Academy at the school but I was also trying other academy classes. I was learning from teachers out of the book and also learning hands on in the lab classes that they offered. One day I would be in the bike shop learning about how to rebuild bikes and the next I was in the million dollar kitchen and bakery learning new skills. I was given the skills to do welding and metal working along with architecture and drafting. I was given the knowledge about being a graphic designer and how to be and animator. I was learning things that my parents could have learned in college and it has made me ready for my future. I was love my school and everyone in it, I am proud that I took the path less chosen and so were my parents. Every time someone would ask me where I was going to school when I said that I wasn’t at Robert McQueen High School I would say AACT. I was more than happy to tell people about my school and afterwards their response would be “I wish they had schools like that when I was growing up.”

Dawn Patrol

Over this past weekend I meet up with some old friends of mine that I have known since elementary school. I was just like old times with all of us laughing and joking around. We didn't want the fun to stop on Saturday so we made more plans for Sunday to go to the glow show at the balloon races and stay for the dawn patrol that came after. At 4:30 when my alarm went off I wasn't my usual zombie like self that I would normally be for waking up at this time, I had great energy and was ready to go meet up with my friends. I got to one of their houses that we planed to meet at and we all climbed into the van and were off. Once we got there we saw that we weren't the only ones who decided to go. It seemed like hundreds of people had decided to come and see the show as well. It was great time with us all together again, taking pictures, making memories and being in sync with everyone else as we counted down three, two, one, glow. It was a great weekend with all of my old friends and I was happy that everyone could make the time to come and catch up. As we waited for dawn patrol to start we all sat on blankets and and made jokes. Some of use tried to get a little bit more rest while we waited and others just tried to stay warm. Once the sun came over the mountains it produced a warm glow from it and it also signaled that it was time for the balloons to rise. There were dozens of balloons that rose up into the air and it was amazing to see them. It was a wonderful weekend that I shall never forget.

Poetry

In my AP English class we have just started our unit on poetry and we have been assigned to read a few selected poems and answer some questions on them. The questions are just things that are suppose to spark what the true meaning of the poem is and also to help us better understand the poem. Usually I am not one to say that I am poetry fan but there have been a few poems that I have liked.
The first poem that I liked was called The Whipping by Robert Hayden, I like this one because of the way that it is told. At first you think that it will be just from one perspective but once you read it you find that it is actually from three different perspectives. One is from the person who is seeing the boy being whipped, another is from the old woman's perspective and the final one is from the boy. It being told this way is more interesting because you get to feel the emotions behind each person.
The next poem that I liked was called Mirror by Sylvia Plath, I like this one also because of the way that it was told and the meaning that is in the poem. It talks about how we see ourselves but from the perspective of the mirror as well as our own. It talks about how we see ourselves when we like how we look and how we dislike ourselves when we feel that we look bad. I thought that this was interesting because in the poem it says that "I am not cruel, only truthful--" and I thought that was clever because its true. It's true because a mirror shows us what we see and people say that seeing is believing which in its own way makes it the truth. Another thing that I liked about this poem was that the mirror had characteristics of a person which made it seem that much more honest.
I really enjoyed these poems and a few more and I am happy that my class is getting me to broaden my views own literature. 

Senior Jitters

Right now I am a senior in high school and it is that time in my life where I am starting to get really nervous about my future. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do after I graduate from my high school. I would like to be able to go to the bay area for schooling because I really do like it over there and they have the program that I want to be in which makes it even better. I guess my problem is that I am nervous that since this is my last year at a high school that I won't be ready to go off on my own. I am worried that I won't have the focus that I need to get through my next steps in life because I have been noticing that through out my school life I have started to slip out of my good habits that I once had down, like an over all law for my school life. I'm not trying to loose my habits but it seems to me that year after year I am just loosing that way above average drive slowly. So this year I am just worried that I am going to slip up and waste away all the things that I have been working so hard for. Although hopefully since I am writing about my problem I will hopefully be able to stay on track this year and maybe even start to get my good habits back that I have lost over the years.
I am not saying that I have completely gone into the gutter with my grades, but what I am saying is that I believe I have lost a bit of my drive and focus to do the absolute best that I can do. Being a senior I feel that I need to regain that drive and focus otherwise I'm not going to be able to meet all of the goals that I have tried to set for myself and the things that I have strived for. Hopefully when I start to get my groove back I won't have these jitters. I do get that I will have them through out the year because it is my last but I want them to be for good reason and not just because I feel that my drive and focus are slipping away still.