Outside Reading

I have been reading this book for about 4 weeks now. And I have finally got through the whole book. To be honest this was a book that took time and patience to read. The story was hard to read, but I enjoyed it a lot. The story was told by two different main characters and their outlooks were so different from each other. It took me several times to grasp the main concept of the story. Although, I don't think that it is impossible to read. I just think that you would have to have the ability to focus no matter what and remember key events in the story so won't be lost.

The one thing that I loved most about this book was the way the main character made his family and his community proud. He went through so much adversity through out the book and never complained. He always found a way to get his self out of it and sometimes it wasn't the easy way. He did so much for himself and for the community as well. He grew up from a developing boy into a man. He is providing for his family and community which is a huge accomplishment.

Outside Reading=

Saturday ( 2:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m.)

Saturday (7:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.)

Poetry

We have just started doing poetry this this week and I am so excited!! Mainly because I have always have a thing for poetry since my elemetary days. I never really learned about the different styles, but I always loved rythming. I liked telling stories in a rythmical way. I use to put words together because of the way they sounded and their meaning. I thought writing poetry was so cool. And I am glad that we are learning this because now I will develop knowledge of how to write different styles.

Ever since I've been in the second grade, I've enjoyed writing poetry. I actually did a poem in second grade that placed third in the state. It was only three lines about the colors of leaves in the fall, but it sounded good. When I was young, I always did poems for my journal entries because I loved telling vivid stories of what I'm thinking.

Things Fall Apart

I've previously just read chapters  2 through 3 and I like how the author portrays the story.  the author shows how the main character faces challenges with the absence of his father, and decsion making skills.  The main character doesn't do a good job of making good choices, and he learns the hard way.  Although, he hasn't really had his father in his life.  Most of the time he is learning on his own.
I wonder if the main character will get back up on his feet, and continue his destiny toward making a name for himself and his villeage.  Most of the characters I've read about in previous books have overcame these struggles, btu this character is slowly developing how to make good choices.  I hope this doesn't end well, and leads him to a dark path.

Saint Patrick's Day

Today, is St. “Paddy’s” Day you guys.  St. Paddy Day is a nickname that comes from St. Patrick’s Day.  St. Paddy’s Day is a western holiday that is always celebrated on March 17.  St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland and he passed on March 17, so we dedicate this event to him.  Most people come out and decorate floats to exhibit at various parades.  They also throw different green items for everyone to wear and put on.  Many people come out to these parades to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day.

When I woke up today, I was ecstatic.  I couldn’t wait to brush my teeth, and put some green clothes on with anything else I had that was green.  My family and I went to 2 parades and enjoyed every minute of them.  There were different floats with creative green designs.  I collected a lot of green stuff, but my youngest sister snatched them from me because they didn’t have as much.  I also got a chance to watch a couple of NCAA March Madness games.  I feel kind of bad for the guys who have to play on St. Paddy’s Day because they don’t get the opportunity to go out with their families and go to the parades.  Especially, if they lost and got put out of the tournament.  Any ways, I noticed many college basketball teams had their sponsorships from the various shoe companies send them yellow, and green attire.  Some of the coaches, and players wore green and yellow shoes.  I also thought that the green Baylor jerseys were cool as well. It was a really fun day for me, and I can’t wait for it to come around next year.

Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

Yesterday, I went on a walk that supported Breast Cancer.  Originally, I didn’t want to wake up 7:00 in the mourning to walk for about 3 hours.  Although my attitude changed once I arrived at LSU.  As I began walking I noticed how many survivors were out there walking showing their tremendous accomplishment.  Also there were many family members with shirts and tags that show that they are running and walking for their family/ friends.  I was amazed by the number of people that were out there.  

I am glad that none of my family members were diagnosed with cancer, but I still ran to support the cause.

One thing that stuck out to me at the walk was primarily was what they did for the surviving cancer patients after they finished the walk.  After they finished completing the walk, they set up an entrance for the survivors which lead to a bunch of surprises.  There, they handed out medals, roses, and many other prizes for completing the course.  You could feel the compassion from the survivors by the way that tears strolled down their faces.  It was a beautiful sight to see, and I’m glad that I was apart of this moment which changed people lives.

Things Fall Apart

For the last three days, I’ve just started reading my new outside reading book called, “Things fall Apart”.  I really enjoyed the first chapter of the book.  At first I thought it was going to be dull, but it caught me off guard.  I would advise many people to take a chance at reading this book.

One of the main characters in the book named, Okonkwo was a respected fighter of his clan, and a rich man.  Okonkwo brought much pride by beating a huge panther in a wrestling contest.  This panther wasn’t like any other panther.  This panther was undefeated for seven consecutive years.  Although Okonkwo grew up in a rough enviorment, his father sometimes spent all of his money which made his family poor at times. 

Friday- Things Fall Apart

(10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.) 1 hour and 15 minutes

Saturday- Things fall Apart

(11:03 p.m. – 12: 53 p.m.) 50 minutes

NC

Nervous Conditions

My feelings about how good and bad Nervous Conditions was are in the middle.  I am happy to get it over with.  Mainly because I didn’t really like reading the beginning.  I got confused so many times and reread it about 5 times.  When it got to the end, my interest level began to pick up, and I realized why so many people said that it was such a tremendous book.  The author did an amazing job writing this book.  She exposed all of the characters conditions in hidden parts of the story.  And these conditions actually linked back to the title of the book.  These conditions fit the characters really well, and I enjoyed reading about their different situations.  To read this book, you had to be focused at all times because you never know when something that could be anywhere in a paragraph could lead to a huge rise in the climax of the story.  Their also was a lot of conflict in the story.  So you had to pay attention to the way certain character’s mood were, their voice, and patterns in their words.  I felt that the characters problems made it more interesting even though it showed ways that they couldn’t survive without each other.

This story also was good because of the way it portrayed it as a tragedy in the way women are treated in society.  I mean women shouldn’t be treated that way but this tory exposes how cultures once felt this way.   They felt that the man of the family was always in charge and the women took the backseat.  Males were going to go to school while the women were going to help pick for food.  It is a very diffivult time period for Nyasha, and by the way that she overcame these limitations.  It made her that much stronger

Track

Even though, I love to play basketball.  I also love to run track.  I have ran track for about two years now.  I have done high jump, long jump, triple jump, and ran the 400.  I have had success in all of the events that I’ve ran so far.  I was very comfortable with my old coaches at my old school because they were my coaches in basketball and football, as well.  Although they didn’t know very much they gave me an idea and I began to blossom. I placed in almost every event that I did.  And I hoped to carry my success toward EHS.

Although now, I’m with a whole new coaching staff, new season (varsity), and I’m a little bit rusty.  I am starting to adapt to the new coaching staff at EHS this year.  I enjoy working with my coaches and they are teaching me way more then my previous coaches.  I am learning different techniques, and I’m getting better as I start to get a better understanding of jumping/running.  Coach Hat, and coach Duke have really taught me a lot in these last few days.  Even though at the recent track meet, I didn’t place.  I’m improving with the basics which will advance me and put my skills to the next level.  And I have to take in account that unlike middle school, I’m competing against mainly juniors and seniors.  I’m barely missing the chance to place but in long jump and high jump yesterday.  I had the opportunity to get 3^rd and 4^th.  But without those missing skills, I’m running out of chances at placing.  But like my coaches said, I’m going to get there soon.  All I need is a little more practice.  Then I will be able to show off my skills better.