The last blog ever?!!

Wow… so I’m finally done. It seems like just yesterday that we were assigned our blogs. I was very apprehensive about going into high school, and maintaining a blog didn’t seem like the best way to start. But hey, this is a great school with mostly great people, and I graded high in all my classes (so far). I also solved my problem with taking care of my blog. See, I learned a valuable lesson from my blog, and that is that the world comes a lot less close to ending every time I missed an assignment than I thought. So this year I’ve been loosening up in terms of school work and it feels pretty good. I don’t like talking about myself and what I like very much, especially on the internet, especially to my classmates and friends, so even now the idea of a blog doesn’t really appeal to me. That’s why I’m happy to know than no one actually reads these. If anyone besides Mrs. Gilman is reading this right now, I am very embarrassed.

But although I don’t like keeping a blog, I do think it has helped my writing. However I think it was a pain to have to remember to do it every Saturday night. I have done that twenty seven times, and still can’t remember them consistently. You can’t do something twenty seven times and not get better at it unless you are stupid or give yourself brain damage, which is really the same thing in the end. But because I did learn, I must not have brain damage. Also twenty seven is my least favorite number besides sixty seven and forty nine, so that’s interesting.

When I say it seems like yesterday we were assigned our blogs, I’m lying. It seems like forever. I hate doing this blog, but in the words of Cage the Elephant “I’m just a stupid kid, another crazy radical”, so what would I know. I know I’m super happy to finish this blog.

that thing was so memorable!

We have done a ton of assignments. The most memorable assignment I have done would have to be poetry out loud. Now this project was stressful and unpleasant, but I did remember. I normally don’t have a problem with memorization, and am even pretty good at it. For example, when I was like ten I could say every Pokémon. Since then my vast Pokémon knowledge has been replaced by more useful things, and also math problems. So the actual memorization isn’t very hard, but with that comes the expectation that you will recite your poem for the class. I know this is the only thing that makes sense, but it’s not fun.

After reflecting on my performance, I can’t help but note that I can no longer recall the poem. However, the period when we recited will be burned in my memory forever. So I didn’t really like that project , but it was memorable. I actually think I did pretty well, not top ten but maybe top fifteen. A high enough score that I didn’t feel as bad after I preformed as I did before.

poetry experiences

I’m sorry that I couldn’t post this earlier, but the internet at my house has been really unreliable, and was down yesterday and this morning.

I am not that into poetry, I’ve read it in school for the past four or so years but I’ve never really enjoyed it. However I have several fond memories of poetry. Of course when you’re four you enjoy the stories that you are read. I especially enjoyed limericks because they are usually direct and exiting. Then later in my life when we had to read the raven by Edger Allen Poe, I really enjoyed that poem just because of the raven, but that still wasn’t my favorite poetry experience.

My favorite poem was another one by Edger Allan Poe that we read in eighth grade. I’m pretty sure it was called the beating heart, or something similar. It’s where there’s a crazy guy and he kills his house mate and chops him up and puts him under the floor boards. But when the police arrive, he thinks he can hear the guy’s heart beating under the floor and eventually confesses. I think. I’m not totally sure about the confession, that’s because the experience wasn’t so much about the poem; it was about the follow up.

After we read the poem, we were supposed to write our own poem with vivid imagery like was in the one we read. Anyway, I really got into that assignment. Mine was one of the best in the class. This was kind of big for me because I’m not really the competitive type, like when I do better than other people I’m happy, but I don’t push to surpass others. But when I did so well on than assignment, I sort of realized that I could do poetry. And that was awesome.

So poetry is defiantly kind of a mixed thing for me, I appreciate it when other people write it, but it doesn’t really come naturally to me. I like to think about what the meaning of certain poems is, but I feel like when you analyze poems, they sort of loose what was special about them, but I feel that way about books too. But generally I like poems as long as I don’t have to write too many of them.

R & J conflict

There is a ton of conflict in Romeo and Juliet. From the doubt in peoples hearts to a war between familys, the book is full of it. The most obvious nature of this coflict is the war between familys. From the firt page it states “Two households, both alike in dignatiy… from ancient grudge break to new mutiny.” 1.1.1. that’s a pretty clear indicator that they have beef. This is the struggle that brings the whole story together. It’s the force that rips it from the inside out. Without it Romeo could just be with Juliet and they wouldn’t die, and that just wouldn’t  be much of a story.  

This struggle exists every where, in or outside books. Big or small, it is there. To factions fighting, it’s a concept that has been around forever, from to familys of cavemen fighting, to the wars in the east. Our society has , to a point, evolved around it, and it drives the improvement of tecnology and education. In a way, like the play, this conflict drives the world’s plot too.

Romeo and Juliet in the world

Almost every Disney movie ever is based off of Romeo and Juliet. all the fairy tales with princes and princesses at least. it seems like most love stories in general are based off of this play. out of all the stories my favorite is Rapunzel. i think its hilarious that a prince would climb a tower by his true loves hair. its very memorable as a story, and it draws a lot from romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet and me

It is sort of hard for me to connect with the play Romeo and Juliet. One of the reasons is because the diction Shakespeare uses is so abnormal. When characters talk like that, it’s hard to relate to, even if the character is totally relatable. Also, there is so much drama in the play that even if characters do relatable things, they do it in such a way that it seems unreasonable, no matter what the context. But I do feel like the relationship between the children and their parents are similar to my life. The parents love the kids and want what is best for them, but still keep their distance and let them live their own lives to an extent. However, I sort of have a feeling that this may change, but as of act one I can relate to it.

It has been really nice to read at home, then in class. The wording of the play is difficult enough that it’s helpful to hear it read. Reading it aloud also makes it easier to pick up on jokes and puns. Overall, it is a pretty hard to get the full meaning out of the book, but the smaller reading assignments and the in class reading really help my comprehension.

wrapping up late

The message in great expectations was pretty clear. Whatever happens, whether you move or become rich, you need to keep your humanity. If you abandon your family, or get to a point where you become ashamed of them, you’re doing something wrong. Wealth doesn’t matter if you get it from dishonest means or have to hurt people to get it, and that’s also building up some seriously bad karma. If you lose family, friends, or self esteem getting money, you’re just as poor as before.