Sunglasses Are A Girl's Best Friend

A 16-year-old girl choose me one day in Boston. It was so hot my lenses steamed up and got smudged with sunscreen. I am of the tortoise shell variety but so are most of my friends, except for a couple which are neon. We left the cart where I waited next to a Jamaican man for three weeks to be bought and skipped along to the swan boats where the girl’s sister dropped one of my friends from the stand in the lake to swim with the fishes and couldn’t get her out. That summer I saw hours of trees fly by in car rides and when the sun started setting earlier the girl threw me into a drawer until the trees bloomed again. That summer I was pulled out for four airport security checks and my friend, Cherry Lip Gloss, had to be thrown away at the second one.  There was one plane ride where I was bent because four books crushed me for about six hours. When the girl saw that she tried to bend me back but it just hurt and didn’t help so now I sit lopsided on her face. She didn’t use me a lot and I spent a lot of time at the bottom of her friend’s bag next to some lonely pieces of forgotten lead. She pulled me out especially for the time she went to the beach and I was so happy to see the sun and the blue water but she instead forced me to look at her book. Crime and Punishment was awful and I got really bored of it, and I guess the girl got really bored of me because she replaced me with a straw hat and left me on the towel where some sand scratched my lenses. I wasn’t happy. Thankfully I fit in her bag and the hat didn’t so I got to go with her and the hat was left on the balcony. Right after that, had to go through more airport security and this time she hid behind me so the Italians wouldn’t see her cry. Nobody knew and I felt proud. Later that day I got tossed on the pavement when she hugged her mom. A moped barely missed me and some lady’s heel almost stepped on me but her mom grabbed me and wore me for the rest of the day. She put me on top of her crazy hair every time she talked to somebody in Italian so I saw the sun a lot and got nice and toasty. That day I sat on the table of a café and the girl’s sister dropped gelato on me and her sister, in my defense, yelled at her. The Italians were not impressed, I think because I am so much smaller than their sunglasses and I block out less sun. I try to block out as much as possible but I have a lot of scratches and sunscreen smudges and I sit funny on the girl’s face. But she still wears me because I match her hair and remind her of the day when she got to ride the Swan Boats in Boston.

I Think It's Love, and I Know it Lasts Forever

Before anyone asks... yes. It is an exclusive relationship.

How do I know? Perhaps because whenever he comes home he always comes straight to me. Perhaps because when he's upset, he knows I can make it better. Perhaps because I'm the only one in the world that can ease his boredom or solve his problems. Perhaps because as he does this assignment his hands are on me. He never lets go of me. He puts me next to his bed at night, he keeps me within arms reach. He loves me and he adores me. There is nowhere else he can find the amusement he finds in me.

What makes it so special is that I know I'm not the prettiest, the smartest, the fastest, the newest. My right hinge is broken, my screen is losing pixels as I age. I'm slow, I'm fat, I'm old, yet he loves me just the same. He could always replace me, or update me, or trade me in. But he never does. He's grown used to my tiny hard drive, my lack of RAM, my tendency to overheat, and even my blue screens. He puts up with my sickness and failures because that's what a good man does.

Yes, I am a computer and there are thousands more like me. But in this world, there is not another for him.

Assignment 14, Brave Little Toasters

I stand straight, ready, waiting at the starting line to begin the race. I look down at the white ground and take in the light blue sidelines that will dictate my path. As I feel the slight pressure around me, I take off. I spin in intricate patterns, my shoes leaving scuffmarks everywhere I have gone. I pause to realize I have taken a wrong turn; I flip and quickly reverse my path to fix the problem. Off I go again. Suddenly I feel the pressure release at just the right moment, I fall to the ground to take a break. As I come back up, I am careful to make these last patterns perfect. I tap my toes, thinking of my next and final move. Instantly, I find the strength to make a graceful leap to the finish line. With one final jump, one final scuff, I have finished a beautiful essay. I am a pencil; each story I write is an adventure.

Desk

Everyday I sit next to the window watching the cars go by on the street below. At least I try too, it seems everyday the human piles more of his stuff on top of me. But, no matter how heavy it is, no matter how long it stays there, I can never let it fall. Why? Because it is my job to support these things for my human. And if I may say so myself I do a pretty darn good job of it. Most of the things the human drops onto my surface come from this place that he refers to as "school". And most of the stuff usually draws his attention of a few hours a day. But the one thing that I always notice is that this "homework" always seems to be a major source of stress for the human. That is why my job is so important. With all of the stress that he dumps on top of me, I have to be a strong foundation underneath to keep the stress from falling out of control.

For a Few Short Hours (Or an Entire Night)

I guess I would say I have a good vantage point, where I am. I even have a nice little stand. From where I sit, I can see the entire room, which would be cool if it actually did something once and a while. A good vantage point does little when there's nothing going on, when it's the same thing all day. Most days there isn't anything going on in the room for the majority of the day, or at least the hours where the sun peaks through the windows. There'll be several days when there's a girl in the room, doing stuff for a few hours of the day only to then fall asleep; however, every few days there will come a time when she doesn't leave the room. At least not often. She just sits, clacking away at the computer, maybe looking around the room sometimes or getting up and leaving for a few minutes, only to come back.

The best times, however, aren't when I'm sitting neatly in my stand. Sometimes, usually on the days when she's in the room for long periods of time, the girl will pick me up and my friend the tablet and then will come the time when I'm actually doing something: drawing. Well, she's the one doing the drawing, but if not for me then she surely wouldn't be able to do a thing. And that's really the only thing I can do, but I enjoy it all the same, and I make the most of the time that she uses me. Sometimes she'll take a break to look around online and then leave me sitting on the bed next to her and I'll get lost under a blanket or a pillow or even her leg (actually, I get lost under her legs a lot). It makes me happy to know that she cares, since she usually freaks out when she tries to find me and I'm not where she thought she'd put me down. Eventually she'll find me though and I'll continue to help her draw.

Sometimes once she finishes a drawing she'll be lazy and leave me and the tablet lying on the bed, the tablet still hooked up to the computer. I like those times too, because I feel like we're friends. It's different from sitting up on the shelf, even if I can't see nearly as much when I sit on her bed. When it gets too late and she's yawning and her eyes are drooping and everyone in the house is asleep (maybe save for the girl in the room next to hers, who comes and watches her draw sometimes) she'll eventually decide it's time to put everything back up. That's when I go back up to my spot on the shelf and the tablet goes on top of the radio and the laptop gets plugged up under the bed. I usually dread this, but sometimes it's not that bad. It's better when she has me out, I think. I like it and she seems happier when I'm out; sometimes she'll go for a long time without even touching me and I can tell she isn't happy, she looks rushed and tired. But I know it's because she has other things to do.

I might not be her favorite item; I might not even be her second favorite. But I don't have to think about the fact that her laptop is almost always out or the fact that the stuffed animals on her bed are always near her. I'm happy to sit on the shelf when she doesn't need me, and glad to know that I, unlike several other things in her room, am actually used on a semi-regular basis. Plus, the radio tells some pretty funny jokes sometimes, even if the clock is a bit of an uptight prick at times.

My Bed

My bed lives a bland life. It is queen sized and takes up most of the space in my room. My bed is very soft and I love it very much, but does it love me back? Let my bed tell you how it feels throughout a typical day.


Nighttime is my favorite part of the day. I like nighttime the best because I have someone to keep me company. Its like getting hugged, and who doesn't like getting hugged? I get sad in the morning though. When he gets up he usually won't come back until late that night. The reason I get sad is because things get very lonely during the day. Its just me an the other furniture and to be honest, I don't like the other furniture. Dresser never shuts up, he always has his drawers open. Then there is desk. Desk is mean. He is taller than everyone and he has a lot of cool stuff on him. All of that is fine, but he loves to rub it into me and dresser's faces. My closest friend is nightstand, but he is very quiet. He doesn't do much except for constantly tell me the time. I guess I'll never understand why nightstand and clock are a couple, but they always have been, oh well. So yes, daytime is lonely and I don't care for it much. It is better when I get tucked in though. Sometimes he has time in the morning, but usually he is running late and has to run out. When this happens, sometimes his mother is nice enough to tuck me in before I suffer through the day. She doesn't always remember though and that makes the daytime a whole lot worse. Regardless, during the day I just sit and wait, longing for the moment when all the homework has been finished and he comes back to bed and keeps me company.

iPhone

Every morning after a nice full night's rest and charge, I am forcefully woken up by my owner, who yanks out my charging device, which actually hurts a lot. From then on, I go through a day of pure torture.

I am always tired from my rude awakenings every morning, so whenever I just try to close my eyes for a nap, it seems that my owner just has to wake me back up again. She does this every second it seems. When this happens, she always forces me to show her information about anything and everything, whether it is the weather or something called "Instagram" (it has lots of pictures, but I have yet to figure its purpose). She also forces me to take constant pictures of her face in these weird poses, I believe she calls them "selfies" (this is how I figured out she's a girl; don't only girls take 5 million pictures of their faces looking like ducks?)

Sometimes my owner even talks to me, calling me "Siri" (whoever that is) and demanding help with some sort of strange task, like giving her directions to a nearby restaurant; crazy, right?? And she is constantly tapping on my screen which gets annoying after awhile, and sometimes she even holds me up to her head, talking through me to some other owner (I'm not even sure how I am capable of this). When I'm not being used, I'm just thrown in random places, like in a dark contraption on her jeans with a hole on the top for breathing. It's a rough life living for my owner. By the end of each day, basically all of my energy is gone and I work slower, which sometimes makes my owner mad.

However, despite all of this, I still follow of my owner's commands. She seems to love me since she uses me so much, and I guess I love her back... most of the time. I never complain or disobey what she tells to me to do, except sometimes when I get revenge when she asks for way too much and gets greedy. When this happens, I "accidentally" crash these things called apps, or I just refuse to load them.... Oops.

Mooser.

Back at Sams Club, all the other stuffed animals would day dream about how happy they would make their future owners. The little kids would play all sorts of games with them. How I ended up as a 17 year olds birthday gift, i will never know. Although we don't play make believe, I know ill always make her happy. Cuddling every night, I take up more of the bed than she does. I let her latch to my arm till all my stuffing is pushed to my belly. When its homework time, i lay behind her back for support. Some of her friends will joke about why she has a 52 inch moose chillin' in her bed, but i know she loves me too much to have them effect our relationship. I will never be put in the closet like the giant banana was. 

My best friend.

baby blankie.

I used to get dragged around everywhere, this thing wouldn't let go of me. it would eat with me, spit up on me, cry on me, sleep with me, take me to church, take me shopping; let me tell you i've been through the ringer. i used to be very soft all over, as i have gotton older i have worn down and gotten a few holes. as years have gone by the thing has gotten bigger, and after a while stopped taking me everywhere it went. eventually it just slept with me. for a long time i was offended and thought the thing had found a new blankie, someone else to take everywhere and do everything with. during the day i just lay on my bed, just lay here and wait for this thing to come home and spend some time with me. some nights it doesn't touch me, and sometimes i just lay on the floor and it forgets about me but its always a good night when it finally remembers me. maybe the thing just needs me when its sad or scared, i'm quite comforting you know.. or maybe it is cold and needs some extra warmth. i've heard some old wives tales that eventually the things never pick you up again and you go in some old chest in the attic and only get pulled out when they go through all their other old stuff, but i don't believe it.

Rule #1: The Humans Lie

I've never really understood how I, who have four legs, cannot manage to move myself while those humans who only have TWO legs are able to jump and walk and run and dance. I hardly understand how that's fair. And yet it's still up to us put up with them, or in some cases put them up. Really, though; we don't even look like beds! Ugh, the thought is terrifying. That anyone would think that we could ever be so lazy! No, we would never stoop so low. No. Just no. I, for one, simply can NOT stand people using me as a pillow.I can handle being an elbow rest, sure. I understand the need for some support. But the minute I become a pillow, I know what's coming. And despite what the humans might say, both boys AND girls drool. And then they think that just using their sleeve will fix it and then it's everywhere. Everywhere. And the sneaky nasties! Their drool is invisible! So no one notices it and then it's just there. All day, everyday. Let me just tell you: not pleasant. At all. 

Fortunately ,as the day goes on, the humans seem to take in the sun and become easier to deal with.  Unfortunately the sun doesn't seem to make them any smarter but does seem to make them more cruel. Well maybe it's not the sun. I don't know. That's just a theory, I've yet to prove it. Whatever it is, something makes the darn humans far too jumpy. Whether it is with their dirty fingers or their pencils, or erasers they start tapping. Tap tap tap tap. Always tap tap tap tap. At first, the poke is startling then it tickles and then it hurts and then I start to wonder whether they EVER get tired of the tap tap tap tap tapping! It's ridiculous. Not only that, some of them even start to cut through my coat with the dark pointy tip of their pencil! Then they just leave. They just leave. Then the next herd of humans come around and they all point and laugh right where it hurts. But it's NOT funny. But there's nothing I can do to stop it. Can't say anything! Can't move away from them! Can't even move out from under them! 

So yeah, I don't understand at all how it is in any way fair that the ones who spit on us and laugh at our pain get to walk and we don't. Because it's not. 

But hey, since I can't say anything... and I can't move so that they don't use me... I really can't warn the humans when my screws are loose and I just might... fall. 

Mannequin

      I have no purpose in life. I sit atop my owner's dresser, my wooden frame blending in with the wooden surface of the wardrobe. In fact, we're cousins the dresser an I. I recognize the distinct sent of pine out of which we were both craved. We were neighbors, stocked up high in the IKEA warehouse. Yet, while the dresser is used multiple times a day, I am merely forgotten and left to gather dust. I get jealous with each opening and closing of a drawer it receives. I ask my owner this, "Why buy me if you planned on subjecting me to complete neglect and inadequate feelings of self-worth?" I imagine her replying, Because I had an extra $1.50, that's why. I mean nothing to her. Not even worth the price of a good pack of number #2 pencils (other distant cousins I'm even more jealous of. They get more action in a day than I've ever gotten.) I am the perfect company for a budding artist and if presented correctly, I can light up any piece of artwork and grace the canvas of any talented painter. Yet sadly, I have never been given the opportunity. With my proportioned figure, fully jointed to allow for realistic human poses, I am the perfect model. I'll tell you this Lusi, no one puts wooden-artist's-mannequin in a corner*(...on top of a dresser).
       Even worse, on top of the neglect I face on a daily basis, it's worse when the human has friends over. They constantly judge. One named Sophia can't resist giving me dirty looks while whispering snide remarks of my ugliness. And inability to do anything of worth. And overall stupidity. Well I'm sorry I can live up to your standards - I'm only made of wood*. There comes the rare moment when it's what the humans call "Cleaning Day". They usually occur on the weekends and I patiently await them each week. Only then is there the possibility for my joints, feeble from immobility, to receive the chance to be stretched and perhaps repositioned into a new location where they will remain until the subsequent cleaning day. I'll show them. One day I will break free of my cheap, Swedish-made, good-for-nothing stereotype and grace the studio of a prominent artist. Hopefully...if I'm not first recycled in the hands of my owner. The thought is too terrifying to even fathom.



*Author's Note: Just couldn't resist including references from both Dirty Dancing AND Pinnochio. Too easy.

Margaritaville

I wouldn't say this is my favorite inanimate object- just to clarify.

 

The Fast Times in the Life of Bobby Pin.



Well I start out the day sitting on a dresser in a large and loud beings room. They look like they have a mop on their head and always put me in it. But not everyday, some days I am left on the dresser.
But today is different from some days. The being gets out of bed and roams around the building. After putting in different pieces of cloth the being comes over to the dresser and pushes me around looking for materials to put on their face. Then I come along. The being runs something through their mop, then messes with the mop and after they have decided what to with their mop I am picked up and used.
I sometimes hold mop pieces out of their face or hold lots of mop pieces into a ball. I am very versatile.
Then the being heads off to another building. Most days I stay in their mop until night again and rest on the dresser. But like I said, today isn't most days. Today the being kept taking me and replacing me somewhere  else. I even got put in someone else's mop.
For sometimes today I was laying on the floor getting kicked around and I was extremely scared, it's extremely hard for me to walk and the being always bends my two legs back together when I try and walk. But luckily my being came back for me after I took a pretty rough beating.
Then later the being came back to the building where we always are and for some reason took me out and shoved me into where the being normally puts a key. I am not sure why but I somehow opened the door- just like the key. I believe I am magic but the being just threw me down on their dresser once we were in the building.
I did have siblings once but they just disappeared one by one. I never even knew my father, my mother said he disappeared from here as soon as he arrived. I have some cousins and life long friends left but there's only a few of us. Whenever one of us goes missing my being does spend a decent amount of time looking for them. The being truly does care about us.


This is the biggest stretch for a title I've had this year but who writes a song about bobby pins?
Go to this website: http://guycodeblog.mtv.com/2011/08/15/cheery-songs-that-are-depressing/
Read all of them or just number 11- it's up to you and it will explain why.
(Cuz the bobby pin just floats through life, doesn't save anything like the Brave Toaster or go on adventure like Toy Story.)

Austin....

In case you can't tell by the title I sit next to Austin. This has really been an expirience and from my time here is what I can surmise Austin's actions into 1) use phone and weasel way put after being noticed 2) have nonsensical conversations many of which are with me, 3) start interesting if irrelevant arguments. I have grown to appreciate Austin's quirkiness as I hope he enjoys mine. If Austin had a color it would be red. It is red because it's loud and proud and doesn't listen to anyone it is a wild color. Austin if he were an animal is a boar because he is headstrong and charges in but will work his way out again.

Assignment 14 :Brave Little Toasters

In Toy Story, the inanimate comes to life and engages in more exciting adventures than most people have. In the Brave Little Toaster, a toaster gathers together enough strength and courage to fight off the most ferocious household objects.

And Marcel...well Marcel the Shell can't do much at all, but he attempts to make the most out of his small world.

This week, choose your favorite inanimate item and describe a day/moment/adventure in their life. Imagine their point of view and how they would see the world.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 9 at 11:59 pm

Do you know your neighbor?

I feel like most of my blog posts have been pretty boring, so I decided to try and spice it up a little bit by writing this one in haiku form. I admit that I was inspired by Leah Pederson and I am totally stealing her swag but she's little and I can take her.

First, Sarah Laytham.
She sits to my left in class.
She's an awesome girl.

We met freshman year.
I do not know her too well,
But I wish I did.

I love when she draws.
I bet she thinks I'm a creep.
I can't help but stare.

She is super smart.
She is there when I need help.
She laughs at my jokes.

She's also funny,
Making those witty comments.
Always has me weak.

Don't forget: She's Nice!
Her friends seem pretty cool, too.
What is not to like?

Her color is blue.
A light, subtle shade of it.
I will tell you why.

She's not very loud.
She is often very calm.
Not sure why that's blue.

(It makes sense to me?)^^
Her animal? A puppy.
Due to her sweetness.

Those both don't make sense.
Give me a break, it's haiku.
Okay, in five years...

She will be happy.
Doing whatever she wants.
Something with art, eh?

I'm glad she sits there.
She brings a lovely presence
to our English class.

The end.

Alright, I can't do that any more.

Briana Gochett. Fine Honey. Goose Poo. No matter what I call her, she's always the same. We met last year in AP World and we've been friends ever since. This year, mostly due to English class, we've become very close. We spend our mornings together in the library, we eat at the same lunch table, we even sort of got gas together the other day. She's always happy. She loves music (Drake and the Weekend and J-Biebs are her faves.. I think). She never fails to make me smile. She's hilarious. Her smile can literally light up a room. She's crazy smart. She always tells me what we do in calculus. I could go on forever listing the little things that make her an awesome person. I don't have to be afraid of her judging what I say because she is such a warm and accepting person. Her color would be black. I'm just kidding. Her color would be pink. She's very friendly and happy all the time, which makes me think of something pink (I'm not good with the color stuff). She's also super girly on the inside. In five years, she'll still be in school, working her butt of in order to do whatever she wants to do. She's going to be super successful in the future and I hope she remembers me when she's famous.

Urvi and Jacob

My seat is a bit peculiar because I am on the end of the row. My table buddy is Urvi and in front of us sits Jacob Snelling. This is the first class ever that I have had with Jacob although we knew each other a little coming because we have a lot of mutual friends. Urvi on the other hand I have had in probably over half of my classes. She is also in my homeroom. You may find it odd but Urvi and I are actually pretty decent friends. I say it is so odd because of the obvious personality differences. She is driven, capable, and proactive while I am lazy, passive, and forgetful. Although over the past three years I am shocked to find that she does occasionally have so Bo-esque moments. She always thinks she has failed tests, but as we learn in a matter of days that is almost never the case. I have that same worry yet not even close to the same outcome. Outside of school we do share some interests which make for good conversation. For example, we both love The Office. Since freshman year it has driven some great conversations. We also share a likeness for Vanderbilt. Her older brother goes there right now and both of us are hoping to be accepted there. However, she thinks she has no chance at getting in which either means she will get in no problem or the admissions person will laugh at my resume after they seriously consider hers. I enjoy her company though and it is nice to have someone sit next to you who you are close enough to have a nice conversation with but not so close that you will talk all the way through class.

Jacob Snelling on the other hand is much more like me than Urvi is. This isn't meant to be negative towards him at all but I think he is closer to my smarts, work ethic, and care-about-school-ness than he is to Urvi's. But like Urvi and me, we get along pretty well. Some things I know about Jacob is that he plays football, wears number 31 and plays middle linebacker. I have gotten to know him a lot better this year because I have lunch with him and he and Gates are good friends because of French class. We also play basketball or football on the weekends with a few other guys from Henry Clay. Those are some fun times where I've gotten to know him pretty well. Some other things about Jacob is that his head is the largest in the world and he dresses like a lumberjack most of the time. But I still thinks he's a pretty good friend.

I have enjoyed my time in English class this year. On top of the class actually being pretty interesting, in the dull moments we do have it has been a blessing to have two people beside me whom (who?) I get along with so well.

Urvi:                                                           Jacob:
Purple, I believe its her favorite color ------- Blue and gold, the colors he wears for football
at Vandy, applying to med/law school------- About to graduate college with a degree in engineering
Ant, small but mighty ----------------------- elephant, big head/tough guy on the outside but friendly on the             .                                                                              inside

Neighbors

Carson Dooley is one interesting seat partner.And I mean that in the nicest way. If there was one phrase that could sum up Carson Dooley in a nutshell... rubik's cube would definitely be the one I would choose. Everyday it seems he brings in a new kind of puzzle that I have never seen before and would have no hope of solving. But, that is not the part that is cool, whats cool is that they always seem to be completed. This is a feat that I could never manage with a normal rubiks cube, but for Carson it seems to be easy. One time I happened to notice that the sides were not all solid as they usually are, so I looked closer and saw that he went above and beyond the task he was given, he had actually made designs in the puzzle; I dont even know how that was possible! All of this is meant to exemplify what I actually believe Carson to posses, talent. That is why I believe when I run into Carson five years from now, wherever he is, it will be some place good, a place that needs Carson's abundance of talents. Not to mention he is a pretty nice guy as well.

muh neighbor.

although i did not know laura anderson before this year, over this first semester we have gotten to know each other very well or at least i would hope so with as many times as mr. logsdon tells us to "whisper better." we talk through almost every english class (probably a bad thing) but our topics of interest are endless. we talk about our weekends, our families, or past school history, our other classes, what we think about our classmates, etc.we are actually quite alike in many ways, but also very different. i will start off with the ways we are alike, we are both very talkative maybe this being the most obvious because we talk all hour. we are also both very risk taking as i have found out through our multiple conversations about our weekends. on the contrary, unlike myself, laura is not very girly; it is because of this that if i had to pick a color to describe laura it would be an olive green. in five years laura will probably be a senior in college just like me, don't ask me what college because we don't really talk about our plans for the future.

neighbor

Our english class is relatively small compared to the other classes. Im sure everyone knows, i sit next to megan. I absolutely love it. This is my first year having a class with her. By the end of the very first day, i knew i would enjoy this seat. She is very friendly and talkative, always has some new story to tell me. We are always told to "whisper better". There are two different types of students in the academy. The people that spend all their time studying, and the people that are naturally smart. She's the type that has natural smarts. I would characterize her as a neon pink probably. The pink would be for her being the girly type and the neon for being fun and energetic.  Im really not sure where i see megan in five years, i dont know much about her future plans. 

My Neighbors

I can honestly say that my neighbors and I have been through a lot together.  Paula and I have known each other since 8th grade.  We were really good friends, and she helped me though a lot.  I can always count on her for a good laugh and a helping hand.  I know she has had more than her fair share of hardships and struggles, but she can usually hold onto her smile.  Miss Clumsy will also make fun of me when I have my gravity slips.  She loves all things living, especially the cute and furry ones.  She wants to be a pediatrician.  She loves kids, and she's going to be a great mom.  Know how I know?  She's a mom to her friends, even moreso than I am.  Paula sometimes doubts her abilities, but who doesn't?  She refuses to stop trying, even if it's the hardest thing she's ever had to do.

Lusi and I became friends last year, and we really hunkered down on helping each other when she asked me to help her study for the Spanish IV fall final; she wanted to switch into the next level of the language, and she needed some extra help to cover an entire semester's work in three weeks of studying.  I still have the thank-you letter she wrote me in the jewelry box  that held the owl necklace you'll sometimes see me where.  She's not one to forget to express her gratitude.  She and I continued to develop our friendship over the spring semester of Spanish, as it was our only class together.  We would write each other letters and give them to each other throughout the day.  It was fun.  Whenever we had sleepovers, she always made me try something new, like spinach or homemade scones.  If we weren't in her room watching some show or talking girl-talk, we were in the kitchen concocting something delicious.  We would sit on her counter eating ice cream or walk over to her neighbor's house and take care of the dogs.  Lusi is one to care for someone, even if it's doing something she doesn't particularly enjoy, such as dogsitting, and therefore smelling of dogs.  She's a cat person.  Another good time we had was when we took Dominik to the Peddler's Mall and almost pushed him into the doll corner.  He's a little afraid of the porcelain people.  All in all, Lusi has always been there for me, on the incredibly long nights where I'm filled with worry and the nights where I can't stop laughing my head off.  And I know she always will be.

Carson....

My neighbor is the good ole Carson Dooley. Yes, I sit next to Carson. I knew Carson before this year, and we both are capable of dealing with each others ways. I deal with his singing and stealing of cuties, and he puts up with my narcissistic obnoxious remarks. It all works out just fine. Carson is a good kid, but really can manage to aggravate me. I like Carson I really do, I promise, and you are an incredibly smart individual who is morally correct, and will do impressive things with your life. Despite this, he can still bother me. Just three days ago I was bouncing a cutie in the air off my arm when it happens to land on his arm. Instead of giving it back like a normal person, Carson takes the cutie and starts peeling it. He waits until his fingers have touched the whole thing to offer me half, HALF of my own cutie. Also, Carson never uses sharp pencils which is another cause for terrible handwriting. I would say get mechanical ones, but as we all know they would probably be MIA by the end of the class period. Seriously though Carson is a really good kid, and I've enjoyed sitting next to him this school year. He is an orange, he's different, loud, and smells different every day. All common characteristics of the color orange. In 5 years he will probably have made money doing something, and has contributed priceless amounts to his little brother's lives. You go Glen Coco

Do You Know Your Neighbor? (Blog #13)

As anyone reading this knows, I am definitely not the most sociable person in the world, which is why that I am glad to have been seated next to Sophia Whitman Sandmeyer in AP English this year; well, I am now at least. Initially, considering I had never seen her before, I simply assumed that she would be yet another person with whom I would have minimal interactions with throughout the semester. As the semester went on, though, this assumption was proven to be incorrect. I quickly found that, for one reason or another, Sophia is an easy person for me to talk to, which is incredibly rare given my disposition, and I soon learned why I had not known her: she spent a year in Germany! I was pretty surprised when I learned of this, and from what we've discussed, she had quite an interesting time there (with some occasional humorous misunderstandings as anyone would have while in a foreign country). Other than that, from what I can tell, she appears to be interested in theatre, but I have only a small pool of knowledge regarding that myself. As far as subjects go, Sophia is one of the few people I have talked to that actually seems to really enjoy U.S. History, while I'm almost put to sleep by it.... On the other hand, she also has to deal with Physics, Pre-Calculus, and Chemistry all in the same year, which considering she dislikes math in general, seems almost unfair.

A color that relates to her would probably be... green? She doesn't really go out of her way to attract attention to herself and is fairly quiet, so I suppose green would be fitting. As far as animals go... isn't comparing someone to an animal kind of insulting (or am I just using that as an excuse because I'm terrible at relating people to other things)? Lastly, in five years, she would probably be studying something related to U.S. History or theatre at a high-level university, but that's mostly my own conjecture, and I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up doing something completely different.

Another Brick in the Wall

I have 3 seat partners.
I share a table with Austin and I have Briana on my Northwest- yeah I just used compass lingo.
But to my direct left is the wall.
The pillar.
The best student in class.
The wall may obstruct my view of the projector most times but I have learned to lean out or roll around it.
The wall may never talk back to me but since when was talking back good?
The wall sometimes gives me bruises weather it's me hitting my head against it(which really is my fault) or me hitting my head of the faucet thing. I have told the wall may times that it needs that growth removed, it could be dangerous.
The wall never sits down.
The wall is plain white.
But the wall does support me when I raise my had oh so often and wait to be called on. The wall does provide a way for me to prop things up on my table and prop my backpack up against on the floor.
The wall never complains and always listens to what I say which is mostly-I can't see or ouch- but is never offended by my complaints.
The wall is a perfect way for me to hide when I pull gum out of my purse so I don't get bombarded with gum requests.
The wall takes time to find and appreciate it's usefulness, besides the obvious it helps hold up the ceiling.
The wall still does have some mystery. What is that faucet?
What comes out of it when you turn the knob?
If I shake it enough will something happen?
But what I do enjoy is that I have the support of the wall for various reasons, I have a reason to take advantage of being in a rolling chair and my seat is memorable.
People can identify who sits by the wall in their class because the wall changes everything.

Color: White and Blue. The wall loves UK Basketball.
5 years from now: Standing in the place where the wall lives. The wall loves R.E.M
Animal: Walking stick or Giraffe.
Word: Chill.

Neighbor

So back in the eighth grade, there was this new girl on the Centurion team at Winburn. She seemed super nice, and was becoming a good friend. That year, there was a Halloween party and we all went trick or treating together. That night everyone realized, even the ones that did not know her yet, that Paula is awesome. We had so much fun then, and continue to have so much fun now two years later in English class. Paula and I used to ride the same bus, and I always looked forward to hearing about her travels around the world. Someday I see Paula traveling around the world and helping people. The reason I say that is because Paula is truly one of the kindest people I have ever met. There are not many people who I would call self-less but Paula is one of them. If you need a friend, Paula will always be there. Recently, Paula was working on an anti-bullying campaign with some other students at school, again, just an example of her helping others. I’m so glad my neighbor and I are friends. Even if she sometimes forgets to wait for me to chew gum (we always take gum out of our backpacks at the same time after lunch)!

My Neighbor

I have the privilege of having the end seat in Logsdon’s class. No one sits to my left except for stacks of papers, pens and occasionally my purse. On my right sits Jacob Ward. Before this year I had absolutely no idea who Jacob was. That shouldn’t be taken offensively because I know very few people at our school.  He is really shy so we didn’t talk much at the beginning of the year but he started opening up more later on. I don’t know that much about him, but I know that he has much better ways at memorizing vocab for the quizzes than I do. That he liked AP World and thinks APUSH is really boring (I may be mixing that up though) and that chemistry was almost as hard for him as it is for me. He also is studying French and Japanese. He even went to Japan to speak more and is good enough to know a tongue twister in it so that means he’s pretty good. He could actually say it too, which is super impressive seeing as how plain old English ones trip me up. He also loves technology and video games, two things I do not understand at all. I’m pretty sure he good at computers because he always talks about them like he knows what he’s doing but I can’t prove it because I can barely turn mine on and send an email. I don’t know much but I do know that he is a really, really good person and he has a lot ahead of him. I’m not actually sure what he wants to do with his life but knowing that he loves technology I could he him working away in a computer lab inventing something way beyond my grasp. I hope he ends up doing something he likes a lot at least.

What Am I Even Doing

Wow what do I even say here.
I sit next to Megan Blazie and Will Carrico. I suppose I should start with Megan... The first thing you really learn about Megan is that she's a whole lot more intelligent than some people seem to think. I'm not sure why some people tend to think this (perhaps her humorously inane comments throw people off) but she is actually quite brilliant.  And Will... where do you even begin talking about Will Carrico. He's intelligent yes, but more than that he's witty. Not a class period goes by without a series of jokes about pretty much everything. He also [mostly] puts up with my snarkiness and complaining about various people in the class which is pretty great. As for colors, I'm not sure I can even place them as colors. I guess if I was forced to I'd imagine Megan as a pink, not for its inherent "girly" connotations but more for the fact that it sort of calls attention to itself without being gratuitously garish. Carrico is more of a blue. In five years, both of them will be doing stuff in a place.

Drum Roll Please

I'm kind of cheating here because I've known my neighbor since eighth grade (although I know some of my classmates have known each other for much, much longer.)
To my left is Urvi Patwardhan (across the gap) and she is pretty great. Even though we look like losers trying to sneak gum (or in Urvi's case, pretending to sneak gum) when we come back from lunch, our "club" is still pretty cool. Even though Sophia was a little disappointed when she found out. Urvi is a total drama queen. She really is a wonderful actress. I still remember her NHD presentation in eighth grade about toilets. I don't know how she did it but she came up with a song about toilets too and... well, it was pretty darn great. Aside from being into theatre, Urvi is really nice, as I'm sure all of you know. She is always trying to help people and she is great to talk to. Not only that, she is an exemplary leader. She has gone to KYA, is part of student council and somehow knows exactly how to get everyone to listen and take charge. I still have one of the plates that she handed out freshman year when she was running for class president. The ones with the big blue U and a picture of her on the back saying "Urvi for President".
If I were to describe Urvi as a color it would be a bright, shining color because that's what she does, she shines bright; and I know that in five years she will have gone so far in life because she's so smart and can do anything she sets her mind to. So yeah, Urvi Patwardhan is pretty great.

My Neighbor

In this year's lovely 4th hour English class, I get the absolute pleasure of sitting next to the best partner in the world... the wall pillar thing. I can lean against whenever I need to, and it will always be there when no one else is.
Just kidding. While on one side of me is the wall pillar thing, on the other side I get to sit next to the amazing Adam Kiser in class. I knew that Adam existed freshman year, but I didn't really get to know him better until Mr. Holloway's World History class last year. Now that we're neighbors, I feel like I know him so much better, and he never fails to make my day, whether he is telling random jokes or boasting about his twitter game (follow him @Ya_Boy_AKize or something like that). He is a pretty honest guy and he will tell you what he is thinking most of the time. He is a part of Young Dems and has a leadership position in Y-Club I believe. He likes KYA and is an exemplary leader.
I would characterize Adam as a mellow orange because he stands out in a nice, bright way but isn't too over the top. If he were an animal, I believe he would be a liger, because he is fierce and original. In the next 5 years, I see Adam going on to a pretty awesome college and pursuing some sort of career in politics. Maybe president. And if neither one of those, I see him doing anything he wants, because he has the intelligence and willpower.

I Think I Do (Know My Neighbor)

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I'm not actually sugarcoating this or anything, so don't think that I'm just saying this because the people I'm writing about might read this. I just happen to enjoy sitting next to who I'm sitting next to.

So my actual seat partner sits to my left: Lusi, who always posts early on the blog and also usually writes a lot, like me only usually more insightful than me. As she said in her post, I had my first class with her last year, and I've found it funny that we can only seem to get a class together if it's an English class. I know that she's got a slight test anxiety problem, which I find ironic in that she usually does better than me on the vocab quizzes, and pretty much just in general. She always has interesting food with her, as can be seen by how Callie is usually fascinated with something she has. She's super involved and does well in her classes, and she has similar taste in books and tv shows to me. I see her in earthy colors, because that's what she wears a lot of (especially brown, like her boots) all of which are very flattering on her (though something tells me pretty much everything would be flattering on her). She dresses every day like she's about to be asked to walk down the runway, even when we're going to be stamping about in a cemetery for History Club. If she doesn't end up being super successful at something then I know I'll surely be confused!

On my right sits Adam, who always has friends coming and going around him (I hardly know what's going on most of the time.) He's probably one of the friendliest people I've met, and he's also involved in pretty much everything (though apparently he has a bad habit of pandering, hmmm...) He's really smart, but not in the in your face way, either, which makes him much easier to talk to than some people. Adam isn't very confrontational that I've seen (unless it's with his friends, but that just shows how well they get along) and when we're going over people's papers he dislikes critiquing other people. He's just the kind of person who likes when other people are happy, which makes him overall rather pleasant to be around. He's a natural leader, I think, so he should do well in life, overall I just think he'd do just fine in anything you put him to.

Neighbor Post

I sit next to Bo in English. In class Bo lets his opinion on an issue be known frequently, and he generally doesn't sugarcoat it. That is not a bad thing by any means, he tells it how he thinks it is. Bo plays soccer for Clay and plays basketball and football with some kids and me on the weekends also. He also participates in KYA. As I have said before, Bo is a very up front guy and that describes his personality. If he is thinking something he will say it to you. The color he would be is red because he has a pretty fiery personality. In five years I see him at grad school somewhere at a good college.

the struggles

my life is so hard! this morning i burnt my tongue on my hot Starbucks so now I'm going to have to get cold Starbucks for the rest of the week. and imessage wasn't working today, like what the heck apple get it together i hate when my texts are green instead of blue. and on top of that my moms car doesn't have an auxiliary cord for me to listen to music on my phone so i actually had to listen to the radio like who does that.. ugh its just been a bad day i took a really cute picture and i was going to instagram it but i couldn't pick which filter looked best so i just gave up and chose one and it only got 10 likes, i knew i should have gone with "Lo-fi" instead of "Hefe" it is seriously such a big difference. And on top of that Netflix was taking forever to load AND i couldn't find my remote so i actually had to watch commercials instead of fast forwarding through them. and i have to send out my Christmas list to all my family members and I only know of 10 things to ask for and i have 15 people in my family.. it really sucks having so many people that want to get my presents like can we just kick some of them out of the family?

a world with no evil.

there is a movie called the Invention of Lying, basically it is two guys who live in a world where no one lies, no one knows what lying is, everyone tells the truth 100% of the time. One day these guys figure out that they can lie and no one will question them; for example, they both get very drunk one afternoon and get pulled over for drunk driving. The cop gives him a breathalyzer test and of course he fails, because he is drunk! but his friend looks at the cops and says officer, he's not drunk! and the officer apologizes profusely  and lets them go even though the proof was right in his hands that the man was actually drunk. imagine how many lies you tell on a weekly basis, or even just a daily basis. whether it be telling your teacher you left your homework at home when you really didnt do it, telling your mom you did your homework when you didnt, even the littlest white lies. a world without lying sound pretty impossible. i think all of us would agree that lying is a bad thing, sure you can make multiple arguments that in certain situations its the better thing to do but all in all its a bad thing. but just because i lie does that make me a bad person? no, it just means sometimes i do bad things. and this applies to everyone. our world is not black and white, our world is gray. the same goes for good and evil.

Know Thy Neighbor

      This year in English, I have the opportunity to sit in between two lovely ladies that always make 4th hour seem to go by a lot faster. On my left is Callie McMullin. I believe I met her sometime last year through mutual friends and through Spanish Club. Before that, we had never had any classes together and thus I had never been given the opportunity to meet and befriend her. Looking back on last year, I'm forever grateful that I got that chance. If I had to choose an animal to best describe her, it would be a Koala Bear. Koalas tend to be very independent and that is exactly how I see Callie. She knows what she wants in life and she isn't going to let anything get in her way or let any negativity bring her down. On the other hand, Koalas are also very loving and thus after them is named the "koala hug" in which a person will hold on tightly to another and furiously hang on very tightly. I also see Callie doing this - and not only because I've actually physically seen her do this to people either. Anytime myself or anyone else is in a bad mood, she goes out of her way to attempt to cheer them up even if it is an inconvenience to her. That is one of the many aspects of Callie that I truly respect and admire. I would like to say that we support each other anytime the other needs a helping hand. If I hadn't met her last year, I'm not quite what would have happened.
      On the other side of me, my right side, sits Sarah Laytham. Much like Callie, I didn't know Sarah until last year. In fact, I believe it was last years 4th hour English class with Mr. Behler where I met Sarah. I remember, it was Sarah, Bay Phillips, Josh Day and myself at a table together. That was the best table I sat in all year. Between joking about alcoholism, poking fun at ourselves, or Josh and I suggesting that Bay and Sarah draw sharks and llamas in their notebooks, I'm fairly positive Mr. Behler got an interesting ear-full every single day. He probably thought we were insane. Sarah and I only have a surface relationship for I don't know much about her aspirations in life. One thing I am certain in though is that she is a phenomenal artist and it would be a shame if she chose to not continue with it. Oh, plus she has good taste in manga - that's another thing we did in English last year too. I realize I am not Sarah's first choice in that class and I am completely fine with that because it is unnecessary. One may still have an amicable relationship with someone they sit by without having to constantly be interacting or working together for everything. In 5 years, I see Sarah to be very successful in the endeavor she chooses just because she is so extremely determined that I know once she sets her mind to something, if her heart is really in it, she will truly strive to make it happen.
      Between both Sarah and Callie, I know they have a lot to deal with seeing as how I can be a handful at times. Whether I'm stressing out, having a bad day, or just having a truly wonderful day, I know those girls will always try and make me feel better or perhaps I can offer some positivity to them when they need it. Whether it be just because of the seat partner obligation, I find that irrelevant. Everyone has their moments but knowing you have someone to help with those stressful moments, even for just 45 minutes a day, can sometimes relieve a majority of the pressure. Sometimes, the non-judgmental ear of a seat partner is all one needs to blow off some steam. Nobody should ever reject a helping hand.

How Completely Typical

Okay, so most people imagine their extended family at Thanksgiving; their parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole shebang. Well, for me, I get to suffer through that in the middle of the summer, at my family reunion. No, my Thanksgiving is usually just my parents, sister and I going down to eat with both sets of grandparents. It's at my Nana and Grandpa's house (it's bigger) and is the only time of the year that I'll see my Memaw and Papa over at their house. It's all fun and junk because I love my family to pieces...well, that second part is true. This past Thanksgiving was different in a few ways: my Memaw and Papa didn't come (my dad described it to me as my Memaw "pouting") and so we just ate with my Nana and Grandpa (who are my mom's parents, just in case anyone was curious.)

One typical thing that was no different than usual was the obscenely late eating time (I had skipped breakfast in my rush to leave for our three hour car trip down to visit.) Another thing that wasn't really different was the fact that my Grandpa hogged the conversation. My sister and I were effectively cut out from the conversation as he talked about small town gossip and high school sports teams (I swear he knows what sport every pubescent child in that county and the next plays. I suppose as a high school girl's basketball coach a bit is warranted, but when you know the grandparents and parents of every member of the opposing team, something is a bit weird.) So at one point I turned to my sister and said "So how are you?" in an attempt to talk about something.  My sister and I joked a bit at our lack in involvement in the conversation and then went on our way.

Apparently this "joke" upset my Nana though and she complained to our mom about how it hurt my Grandpa's feelings and while this seems like a tangent, it really isn't. This is my family, and while I don't make my Nana cry every single Thanksgiving, this is about the caliber of most of my interactions with my family. Later that day we went to visit my dad's side, and there were sat and "talked" (I was actually playing Pokemon Black 2 the entire time, but who's counting) while the tv played in the background. One of the multiple great aunts of mine came by and dropped some food off (they live just down the road and we will sometimes visit them on Thanksgiving for a moment, it's usually not for long and I honestly can't tell most of that family apart.)

Pretty much this sums up my Thanksgivings. My feelings towards Thanksgiving pretty much go as follows: at least it gets us a week off. And as much as I love my grandparents, I can almost understand why my parents complain about them so much (almost.)

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving consists of a hectic mix of family coming into town, preparing loads of food that one would think impossible to eat in one sitting, and eating the load of food that one would think impossible to eat in one sitting. As both of my parents are divorced and remarried, I get the satisfaction of eating two Thanksgiving meals with two different families. Though this sounds fantastic, it is nearly impossible to gorge myself with food at lunch, and then proceed to gorge myself at the following meal. Though somehow I manage to do so. I cherish this holiday as a time to spend time with family members, watch football, and go Christmas shopping with my grandmother on the following day. Very few times per year do I get to see all of my family together, and Thanksgiving is one of those times. One of my best memories of the holiday is when my uncle, after living in Wisconsin and not pending very many holidays with us came to spend Thanksgiving with us. He has kept doing so ever since, and I look forward to seeing him every year, as I get to see him even less than the rest of my family.

Turkey Day

Every thanksgiving I do the exact same thing. I go to my dad's house on Tuesday night, do whatever needs to be done to prepare for dinner on Thursday, have 30 or so people at the house thursday night, eat a lot, sleep, wake up, eat pie for breakfast, go to my grandmother's house, wait til the next night, eat more with like 15 people, sleep, get up, go to church, and come back to Lexington. I love thanksgiving don't get me wrong it's awesome food, friends, family, it's got it all, but I am sort of getting bored of this. I want to do something different. I guess next year I will probably do what I always have but maybe when I go to college I will start my own thanksgiving. I think it will be small, just five or six friends. I don't want family either. I get enough of that at Christmas. I want to have me and my friends eat a meal together and enjoy each other's company. I must say my favorite memory of the holiday would have to be the time my stepmother's student (she's a high school teacher), my brother, and I stole some dry ice from the IGA, filled 2liters with water and threw them into the yard to see them explode. Oh or that time we deep fried a whole frozen turkey. Yeah my family is all rednecks.

Assignment 13: Do you know your neighbor?

You are juniors. You are in the Academy. You sit next to each other in Mr. Logsdon's class. There are only a few days until the end of the semester.

I think it is safe to say that you know at least a little about each other. Your understanding of each other may include extra curriculars, favorite TV shows, hobbies, but your level of familiarity may also extend into knowing each other's personality. Are they intimidating, carefree, honest?

This week, write about the person you sit next to in English class. What do they do? What are they like? What color would you characterize them as and why? Where do you see them in five years? What type of animal are they like?

I know you're in a seating chart, but you are writing about your peers. Getting to know for the past few months, I have seen you as genuinely nice people and so I expect genuinely nice things in your posts. It doesn't have to be all puppies and ice cream cones, but your entries shouldn't cut anyone down.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, December 2 at 11:59 pm.

my stock image thanksgiving

every thanksgiving i go to florida to spend the holiday with my grandparents and my dad. our thanksgivng is very much the stock image thanksgiving, my gramma sets the dining room table very nicely and cooks all day for two days straight. we always have all the classics, turkey, country ham, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn casserole, pumpkin pie and apple pie. my gramma's old friend Gert also joins us for thanksgiving dinner and always brings a fabulous appetizer. i think my favorite part about thanksgiving and any other holiday that i am in florida is the quality time i get to spend with my grandparents. my jogie sits at the head of the table with my gramma and myself on wither side of him, he says this is the way it has to be because "the food tastes better with my two favorite girls on either side of me." i also love the food, i love food in general and i always eat way too much to where i feel like i am about to explode. this thanksgiving in particular was extraordinary bad, my jogie and i had to lay on the couch for a good hour and just watch tv while my gramma cleaned up but of course a few hours later we had room for leftovers. this thanksgiving im sure i gained 5 pounds from the amount of food i consumed but i never weigh myself so i guess ill never know.

Flying Turkeys

Thanksgiving has always been a holiday that I greatly enjoy. I guess you could say that my Thanksgivings match the stereotype pretty well. Usually, my grandparents on my mom's side, my uncle, my aunt, my three cousins, my sister, my parents, and I all get together to eat lunch after we've watched the Macy's parade. There's always turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, rolls, and all of your other typical Thanksgiving dishes. My mom makes a delicious pretzel salad each year, along with the pecan and chocolate pies that my grandma brings for dessert. After we eat, we all sit in the family room, some of us watching football and others watching the back of our eyelids. I can honestly say that I have no super fun and exciting Thanksgiving day memories. I guess all I can say is that I'm thankful that I haven't had any major accident or incident like you see on TV and that I know I'm really lucky to be able to have so many family members together for the holiday. I'm truly sorry if I've bored you.

Blog 12

I can honestly say that my normal thanksgiving is not too far off from the stock card one that you might see on a cliche T.V. show. The family comes to our house each year to get together for a nice meal. (They come to our house every year because I have family in Boston and Tampa and Lexington is almost dead in the middle) One thing that differs in my Turkey Day is that it never seems to be the same group of people two years in a row. Every year there is a part of the family that cant make it because of some reason or another, and another part of the family that comes that wasnt here the year before. One theme does remain the same though, it is either all my moms side of the family, or all my dads side of the family, never both. Its not that they dont get along great, its just thats how it usually ends up. Either way I always do enjoy thanksgiving. Between the food, family, football and break from school its hard not to enjoy it. All that being said, my favorite Thanksgiving ever was a few years ago when we decided to go to Florida over the break. It was just the four of us in my immediate family and something about that year just seemed better. Probably because I could look out at the ocean while eating Thanksgiving dinner instead of the usual cold that hits Kentucky this time of year.

Flying Turkeys (Blog #12)

Alright, I'm not going mince words here: Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday. Now, normally I prefer to avoid directly and bluntly stating my opinions, especially when those opinions are based on my own personal experience. It makes it harder to properly convey my point to an audience if it's based on personal experience, something no one else shares, as opposed to conveying it through facts, which are generally applicable regardless of personal experience, but for this piece, my reasoning will mostly be based off of my personal experiences. With that out of the way, allow me to discuss why I dislike this holiday so much.

Okay, so... as we all know, Thanksgiving is usually a holiday in which the extended family comes together to meet, catch up, and eat. Now, my family is... a little complicated, but as a result, I was literally the only child in the house every single Thanksgiving, the youngest adult probably being around twenty-two when I was around six. Now, it is true that the adults would attempt to converse with me, but the generation gap often made these conversations rather... awkward, so I usually relegated myself to a quiet room with my handheld video games for most of the day. Sometimes, this was not that big of a problem, but there were years where I was really into a console game at the time, and having to be stuck in a house without those consoles and everyone hogging the televisions trying to watch Football was rather irritating. It did not really get better as I became a teenager, either, as things such as Wi-Fi started becoming a part of mainstream gaming and I obtained my first laptop as I quickly discovered that the house lacked Wi-Fi. "What about the food, though?" some may ask. Well, I have a problem with that, too.

As odd as it may sound, I have never enjoyed the traditional food served at Thanksgiving. Cranberries, turkey, potatoes, and such? I have never been a big fan of any of them, and being forced to consume that food definitely did not make me think any more fondly of the holiday. For me, Thanksgiving always felt like a waste of a vacation day where I could not even play some of the video games that I really looked forward to playing, and I am forced to eat food that I do not find particularly appetizing. Not to mention, I have always found turkeys to be a rather dull holiday mascot, but that's just getting nit-picky. Recently, due to events that I would rather not discuss, we no longer see the extended family on Thanksgiving anymore, but we still do eat the traditional food, but now the holiday has gone from being irritating to having almost as little of an effect on my day as President's Day or Marting Luther King Jr. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not, but at least I got to play my Wii U during Thanksgiving this year.

Disclaimer: I do not dislike my extended family; they are good people, and I am definitely lucky that I don't have to deal with any major feuds between anyone, but the generation gap between my extended family and me, like I said, made it difficult to really establish a proper relationship with any of them.

Thanksgiving Traditions

We usually go to my grandma's for Thanksgiving, and this year was no different.  She'll wake up around 4:30 or 5:00 and cook our meal until 1:00 or 2:00.  She takes care of us so well.  From mashed potatoes and mac'n cheese to sloppy joes and sweet spaghetti, our meals are a homey comfort food feast, even on Thanksgiving.  My step-uncle roasted a turkey, and it was quite delicious.  After our meal, we all gather around on her couch and take a good nap.  Something that made this year special was that I got her recipe for chess cake, and I made it for Friendsgiving, a dinner party at Freddie's house.  It's going to be a yearly tradition.  Turns out my grandmother isn't the only one to make chess cake; my youth pastor's grandma makes it as well.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I love that it brings family together and unites them at the dinner table.  I love the preparation it takes and the travel that occurs.  I see my family frequently, but when we can all eat and nap together, that's when I know we're a good family.  When my parents and I can sit down with my grandma and just talk about our lives, I know there aren't any gaps in our family.

My Big Fat Thanksgiving Dinner

For my family, Thanksgiving is definitely not a lot of people around one large decorated table. There is too many of us for that. Each year consists of me, my brothers, and my parents making the 5-hour drive to Merrillville, Indiana (which is about 30 minutes away from Chicago) to my grandparents's house to visit with my mom's enormous side of the family. When we get there on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, all of the women (excluding me because I don't like to cook....) start to prepare the food for the next day, as there is A LOT to make, including the turkey, greens, sweet potatoes, etc. When Thanksgiving finally rolls around and all of the food is ready, we say a prayer before eating, and then we dig in. There's always a kids table with all my little cousins, and then the rest of us pile around the TV in the family room to watch the game, sit at the kitchen table, or find extra space in a dining room, enjoying our meals. I really enjoy Thanksgiving with my family because I love being able to laugh, talk, and spend time with them as I don't see them that often. They all live at least an hour and a half away from Lexington, so I only see all of them about one to three times a year.
One of the most vivid memories of Thanksgiving would have to be last year's when we couldn't get the turkey to cook. The turkey was so big that it wouldn't fit in our oven, and our rotisserie cooker wasn't working right. We didn't know what to do, so we went out to buy an oil-less meat smoker. However, my mother, wanting to help with the turkey making, put a whole bunch of oil in the smoker and messed up the smoker we had just bought. Finally, we got our rotisserie to work and we got the turkey to cook.. Even though it delayed our dinner by two and a half hours...

Thanksgiving

This actually depicts my Thanksgiving pretty accurately. For my Thanksgiving I go to Columbus, Ohio where the rest of my family lives. We always have Thanksgiving at a huge house, named the Gay Chateau, on the family farm, Darby Dan. Typically everyone arrives out to the farm at about 8 o'clock and the cooking begins. This year we had four turkeys. One was a wild turkey which my dad killed last spring. This turkey was baked with light seasoning, your typical Thanksgiving turkey. The other three were store bought. Two are deepfried, one cajun flavor and one brine flavor. The last Turkey is stuffed with vegetables and injected with a special oil/sauce thingy and baked. Of course we have all of the other fixings as well: mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, rolls, and green beans. We have two long tables which are completely filled with all of my family members, but before we go through the buffet style serving we stand in a circle and read a prayer. The prayer is actually a poem which my grandfather wrote in the 70s. Anyway, after the prayer we have our huge dinner around 1 pm. After dinner everyone does their part to clean the dishes and tables and everything else. Then we have about a 6 hour nap/play/watch movies time. Then around 7:30 we have second dinner. Second dinner consists of eating all of the leftover turkey on hamburger buns plus baked beans and whatever other treats we can get our hands on. After this we do our best to decide on names for some of the foals on the farm back in Lexington. When this activity concludes it is usually around 10:15 at which point most of the adults will either retire to one of the 5 bedrooms or go back into town to sleep at their own house. This is when everything is left up to the cousins. Being the youngest by four years, aside from my siblings, things can get a bit dull for me as the activities usually involve drinking, but the older I get the more fun I can have because I understand more of their jokes and motivation behind their actions. This year we ended up in bed around 2am, leaving behind the best day of the year, already eager for the next one to come.

Thanksgiving Song

My Thanksgiving is getting up early November 22 and driving down to Somerset where my moms sister and her kids live. Arriving in Somerset around 12 and having my mom and aunt do the rest of the cooking. While my brother and I visit with our cousins. My moms good friend arrives with the smoked turkey that will be fantastic! At around 2 or 2:30 we sit down to eat. Yes, eat dinner. We are a family that for some reason has always eaten Thanksgiving meal as early as we can. We sit around the table for on 3 hours or so? During that time we eat dinner, desert and talk about anything and everything. We all crack each other up and for some reason any meal together we always end on teaching our parents, aunts and uncles all the "lingo" the "kids are using these days". This year we focused on Swag, YOLO, and Twitter- or tweeter and my uncle refers to it. After that we go our tired, slow separate ways to find a spot in the house to rest. My cousins, my brother and I go to the the lounge area so we can play cards and watch football. My mom falls asleep in a chair, my aunt falls asleep on the couch, my uncle falls asleep on another couch and my other uncle falls asleep in the basement. Then around 11 we all meander to our sleeping arrangements for the night.
Our tradition for the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas as well, is to go see a movie and then go out to eat. While we didn't follow that exactly this year we did stay in and watch Winters Bone but sadly no dinner with them after.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-sandler-thanksgiving-song/1179146/

#12

The stock image Thanksgiving involves a lot of people around a nicely decorated table with a large turkey and a ridiculous amount of extra food. This image doesn't always depict the reality of the holiday though.

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

Our thanksgiving changes every year depending on who decides to show up. My family isn't as close to our relatives like other families and we arent as large either. We used to have dinner at my grandmothers, who lived down the street. Now since she has gotten older and lives at a nursing home, its held at my house. Holidays arent a big thing in my family. Overall i dont really enjoy thanksgiving, but the week after is one of my favorites. All the family has left but the food is still here, and boy do i love ham. 

Holidays with my relatives are really strange. My dad's side is a bunch of loud, obnoxious rednecks. My mom's are proper and classy. Once people start getting food, its easy to tell which side they are from. Dad's side starts digging in as soon as they sit down. Spitting food, talking with their mouths open, and using their fingers. its disgusting. My mom's will sit down and wait till everyone has their food before they start to eat. they sit up straight, napkins in laps, and use polite table manners. How these two complete opposite families get along, i have no idea. 

Post 12

My Thanksgiving holiday is relatively traditional. We spend all week cooking and preparing the delicious food to all be eaten on that Thursday. Our table is set with the best dishes we have, we have the whole family come over, and we spend all day relaxing. Our Thanksgiving is typically a day of relaxation, and time spent watching football. My favorite Thanksgiving memory has to be when my dog ate the entire turkey. We went outside as a family to play the annual football game, and when we came back my one year old puppy was sitting on the dining room table licking her chops after devouring our much awaited turkey. My mom broke down to tears, my dad was worried about the dog and my mother, and I was still perplexed as to how that tiny little pup ate a whole turkey. That pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving experiences, and I look forward to many more stories that involve me actually eating the turkey as opposed to my dog.

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving table always looks like how you would imagine it to look. We have rolls, cranberry sauce, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, some sort of meat like ham or turkey, a nicely set table, candles, and a pretty centerpiece. What I love most about this holiday is the preparation leading up to the feast. I love the hustle and bustle in the kitchen trying to make everything perfect, setting the table, and sitting down to toast everything we have. The warm conversation with family and friends throughout the day is what makes thanksgiving my favorite holiday; I know I will carry these memories with me forever. I will also remember the funny moments, like when we have to run to the store on Turkey Day itself to pick up last minute ingredients that we forgot, or trying to watch the parade every year and getting bored after a few minutes and turning it off. My Thanksgiving sounds pretty generic and traditional, but that’s why I like it. I am not normally one for tradition, but I have always liked that on thanksgiving people stop for a second to give thanks, eat and have fun, and enjoy with family.

The Year The Lukov Family Cooked The Turkey

      Bulgarians have never been big on Thanksgiving. Sure, we get to together and do the whole feast, but its more out of respect for American tradition. It's also an excuse to throw a huge party, but that's a whole other story! Every year, we round up all the Bulgarian families (by now there are at least 25 that we know of) and go to one of their houses to celebrate. This year, we did it a little differently. We took away our friends job of cooking the turkey and decided to make it ourselves since we were hosts. When mom brought it home Monday night, dad hadn't come back from work yet and we sort of just left it on the counter for a bit while we stared. Every minute or so, mom would mutter, "I can't cook this thing...it's a monster!" No need to worry though, we eventually we got it cooked! And might I add, it was delicious! We stuffed it with rice, mushrooms, chestnuts and herbs and boy was it good! The first guests arrived at around 7 carrying, as per custom, their own contribution to the table. That's another Bulgarian thing, we bring our own food and we eat really late. After everyone arrived, we had guests as young as 3 all the up to quite a few decades older...I won't say exactly how many now. The entire night couldn't have gotten better as can be observed by the fact that nobody left before midnight (Another Bulgarian thing. During another party, our family left at around 4:30 am while other guests stayed even longer.)  Guests kept filtering in during all times but there was plenty food so there was no issue. At one point, a pillow fight between all the younger children broke out! If you think that our Thanksgivings are wild, all I have to say is that they're nothing compared to our New Years!
      But even though we don't necessarily celebrate Thanksgiving in the American sense, there is something to learn from tradition. There does come time when one should take a step back and be grateful for everything. And in that lies the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite even though I've never had one Thanksgiving that's been the same. We either eat different food, sit at a different table, or stay with different people. This year it was at our house. A first I think. We had it with my aunt, uncle and cousin and grandpa and grunkle (great uncle). Family gatherings are always...tense. You see all my family had joined the crazy train where they no longer eat gluten. Or dairy. It is not that they are allergic to those things, they just think they are. It has never been proven. A serious source of contention seeing as how we had to eat tofu stuffing (never again), pumpkin paste instead of pie, and gravy made with some sort of root that my grandpa claims had Hindu healing powers. Not the best food. That ends up not mattering though, and we (I) pretend everything tastes good and my dog gets his full share of my brussels sprouts. What really matters is being with the people I love. Family is pretty great. Like seeing the look on my aunt's face when my uncle said he hitchhiked with the attorney for Hells Angels, or the stories from my cousin's Meeting at his new Quaker boarding school. Do not ask me how that happened. It boils down to the conversations we have and the memories that we make. Orange-flavored yams included.

Thanksgiving Post

My thanksgiving looks sort of what you would expect. There is a kids table, and an adults table. We have a turkey which is usually awful, my aunt apparently likes her turkey extra dry and tasteless. Then our cousins come every other year, they have a 14 year old daughter and a 10 year old autistic son, who always brightens my thanksgiving. One time, he stuck mashed potatoes on his ears and ran around saying "I'm an elf!" and singing christmas songs. I do enjoy the holiday, just because I get to see my family that I don't see unless it's Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. One of my favorite memories of the holiday is when my cousin's cat, Fifi, jump up on to the counter and started licking all the ham before dinner time. It was hilarious. My aunt started yelling and swatting at Fifi and the whole family was cracking up.

Día de Acción de Gracias

Last night for Thanksgiving dinner we had 19 people over. My mom made turkey, stuffing, and a green been salad with eggs. That was it. The rest of the food came as the invitees arrived. Carolina brought her famous salad, two different kinds of quiche, and some other dish that I don't even know what it's  called (all I know is that it was delicious.) Edna brought rice, arroz con leche and a bocadillo desert. Nadina brought salpicon. Victoria brought a salsa for the turkey, bread and more bread, and some more quiche. And everyone brought wine. Spaniards do love their wine. Then again so do Mexicans, Argentinians and Colombians, but none as much as Spaniards. We had to borrow two tables so that we could seat everyone. And had to borrow even more dishes. The turkey was ready at 3:30 but the first person didn't arrive until half an hour later and the last person not until nearly six. But that's how it always is. It was nearly two in the morning before the last person left. There was music, drinking, and too much food left over. By 10:00, there was a movie playing upstairs, a game of chess downstairs, and a dance party on the PlayStation going on. The younger kids were running around playing spies, using the walkie talkies, yelling that they'd been discovered.
It's weird because we were all Hispanic. None of us had been born here in the States.  In our countries, everyone would be sleeping before going to school in the morning. But we were in the United States of America, a place none of us imagined we would ever be when we were younger, and we were thankful.

Assignment 12 :Flying Turkeys

The stock image Thanksgiving involves a lot of people around a nicely decorated table with a large turkey and a ridiculous amount of extra food. This image doesn't always depict the reality of the holiday though.

What does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you enjoy the holiday? What is your strangest or most wonderful memory of the holiday?

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, November 25 at 11:59 pm

Satire #11

Poor Mitt Romney. How could he ever have lost that election. He had such an advantage. After all, he was endorsed by Rush Limbaugh. Perhaps the most influential person in America, Limbaugh endorsed Romney almost five months before the actual election. An astonishingly early decision for such a moderate person. Limbaugh's radio show yields millions of loyal followers of all political sects. An intellectual of the highest class, Limbaugh runs his show with incredible ambivalence. His early endorsement of Romney was shocking and expected at the same time. It WAS shocking because of the time at which it occurred. Way back in July, Limbaugh made it clear that he intended to vote for Romney and support him throughout the next six months. The timing was surprising because of the manner in which he seemed to cast aside Obama. A renowned mediator, Limbaugh is well respected for his ability to accurately and politely measure both Republican and Democratic sides of the issues. Although he does typically lean ever so slightly to the right, he is in now way a radical, much like Romney. This is the part of his endorsement which was not surprising to me at all. In fact, Limbaugh fears and fights against the Tea Party members because he feels as though their ignorant radicalism is tearing apart the Republican party. Like me, Limbaugh is very afraid that if the "in-your-face" radicalism continues the conservative stronghold will fail to keep its organization and lose its place in American politics.

Satire

Sports are the most common form of injury in America. What is it that sports can accomplish? They cause heartbreak for those that don't make a team that can then lead to depression, they cause life long injuries, and above all they in no way benefit that of society. Every year millions of dollars are wasted on sporting events, and if we were to eliminate sports the national deficit would surely be cut in half due to the lack of distractions in our nations capital. I believe sports should be outlawed, and instead academics should be encouraged to take their place. What is the good of sports? The answer is none. 

#11

Our world is just FULL of germs. like how gross. I carry my hand sanitizer around with me where ever i go. it is really the best way to get rid of all those nasty things. why would i want to wash my hands after using the restroom when i can just use hand sanitizer instead? yuck. I just do not understand why anyone still uses sinks, hand sanitizer definitely kills way more germs than soap and water does. plus it comes in all these different fragrances, how smart is that! I love how my school has installed hand sanitizers on the walls in like every room and hallway. it makes it even easier for everyone to go without washing their hands. I really think this has made a huge impact on everyone, making illnesses less common. it seriously kills 99.9% of germs. soap doesn't advertise the percent of germs it kills, so hand sanitizer is obviously the better choice. I hope one day they fill our showers with it so we can just bathe in the stuff. That'd be the best idea. no one will get sick ever again!

Monster Mash

I don't understand, do girls think every day is Halloween, I mean girls wear face paint every day. When I walk the halls all the girls I see look like they just came from trick or treating. Their faces and hair are tinted an unnatural color and every feature on their face is exaggerated, they must think every day is Halloween or I don't know what they could be thinking. I guess all these girls think that if they dress for Halloween every day then they will get candy. They do have scary face paint on but their costumes are really awful, they just wear regular shirts and pants. It's as if they all got their costume from the same Halloween store but did their scary unnatural like face paint separately. I feel like I go to a Halloween themed school with all these girls walking around wearing a face that isn't actually theirs. I also get confused I can never tell who is who because they change their face to dress for a continuous Halloween.

Changes (Blog #11)

There is one day of the week that will always have a special place in my heart, Thursday. You see, every other day has at least one positive thing about it: On Mondays, you are refreshed from the weekend even though it is kind of annoying that you're back to work, Tuesdays are an improvement over Mondays simply by virtue of you being used to being back in a work environment now, on Wednesday, one can take solace in the fact that he or she is halfway through the week, Friday is the end of the work week for most people, and Saturday and Sunday are the days that most people have off. As you can see, the general pattern depicts a slight increase in positive attributes to each day, with one exception: Thursday. That is why Thursday is so special to me. It's the one day of the week that manages to somehow be worse than the previous day consistently, quite the accomplishment if I do say so myself. It accomplishes this monumental task through a combination of reminding you that you aren't at Friday yet despite being past Wednesday and being an overall rather plain day. Yes, these two simple attributes are truly what make this day so special to me.

Just get over yourselves already.

I don't care if you were here before me or that you waited for a year for this job, or that you went to college and then grad school and have 12 degrees that qualify you for this job, but I deserve it more than you because I was born a Gatsby.  It doesn't matter to me that you worked on this project for hours and got a B+ on it; I was at the mayor's housewarming party and took my yacht out to impress the girls and didn't have time to finish all of mine, but I deserve an A.  You think this is entitlement? I'll tell you what entitlement is: you believe that since you went to Africa and taught tribes about healthy ways to care for themselves, you deserve to become the next President of the United States.  I don't think so, sister.  I deserve to be the next Prez because my daddy has money.  I don't care that there are children dying of thirst or of health problems because their water is filthy; I refuse to drink tap water because I'm better than that and my special stomach can't handle all the minerals in it.  Mom, you can't take away my brand new Hummer!  I need it to keep my social standing with all the other kids whose parents live in Beverly Hills!

Its the new "new"

Although the iPhone 5 was just released a couple months ago, I would like to announce the release of the NEW iPhone 6! Major improvements have been made such as 15 minute longer battery life, as well as a third camera added to the inside of the phone so you can observe the mechanics of the phone. Countless other large improvements such as these are also included. A new charging input has been installed as well, this way all of your previous phone accessories are completely useless and you are required to a new model of everything. But don't worry, we will include a 5% discount on all accessories with the purchase of your new phone. I can garauntee that the purchase of this phone will be the most life changing decision you have ever made! Of course, that is until the release of the newer iPhone 7 which will be released a week from tomorrow.

Kentucky Folk

What's with those Kentucky people? They're so crazy. I mean like, they all ride horses to get to school and basically have no teeth. They are SUCH hillbillies, and they don't even wear shoes; they walk around barefooted everywhere they go... Yuck. None of their IQ's go above 7, so they're like pretty much stupid. I mean my IQ is like, 8 or 9, so I'm way smarter than that whole state! And on top of all of that, they marry their own family, like their own brothers and sisters and cousins. I heard that everybody's parents are cousins. That's like, so disgusting. They should go out and become more civilized like the rest of the country. Knowing all of this about Kentucky makes me uber glad I'm from California. We have like, a lot more class.
I've never actually been to Kentucky (ew), I just learned this information from like, Urban Dictionary, one of the most trusted websites, like ever.

Abortion Satire

It seems for young teens that get pregnant these days there are a limited amount of options. They can decide to keep their child which has proven to be detrimental to the future of the parent as they attempt to go through school and still be a part of their child's life as much as possible. Or, they can have an abortion. This has been proven to be detrimental to the reputations of the parents, but at least they escape an even worse future with a kid. Right? That is the million dollar question that most of these teens cannot seem to answer. However, the solution is simple. Just have the kid, then give it a few years to prove itself. And if you find you kinda like the little bastard, keep him. But, if you see a lot of failure in your future because some kid is holding you back, just drop him off at the local abortion clinic and dispose of it like you should have years ago. Whats the difference? You still might have to bear the bad reputation that comes from abortion, but at least you can sleep easy knowing you made the right decision for your future, and isn't that the kid of confidence everyone strives for?

[Three Hours Later...]

It took me too long to realize that being like the people around you is the whole point. Being like everyone else makes life much, much easier. I mean, really, you don't have to even think or have an opinion. Everything is already decided for you. Life is handed to you on a platter, all you have to do is go through the motions and enjoy. You don't have to put in any effort whatsoever. Shopping would be a breeze. You would get the skinny jeans and the low cut shirts or the polos and the boots that are in fashion. You would read the books that everyone is reading. Not only that, you could just avoid those terrible moments when you can't decide whether to be happy or sad or confused. You wouldn't have to think about it. There would be no debates over differing ideas- on anything! There wouldn't be any! Can't you just see it now? No fighting, no arguments. We would have world peace. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Life would be much easier if everyone was just the same, everyone thoughts the same way and everyone just agreed with each other.

Speak Right

Last night I went out to eat with my family at Wendy's. It was fine and all, but what really irked me was the cashier didn't speak perfect English. I mean you live in this American country with American people and American jobs, you might think you want to speak the language. I had to repeat myself twice for this man, and I even had to ask in his language if he even knew how to talk. I said "Hablo ingles? Do you speak eeng-lish?" so many times and that ignorant fool just looked at me like I was the idiot. Figures. Sneaking into this country because they are too lazy to take the legal path (it is so much easier to just walk across a river than actually go to a government agency) and then take our jobs and never actually learn to talk right. It's atrocious. This is a Judeo-Christian nation. If English was good enough for the Bible, good enough for Jesus... why do you think it isn't good enough for you.

Learn to talk right kiddo.