I'M HUNGRY

It is 12:45 at night and I am SO HUNGRY. I don't know why. I have been very freakishly hungry lately though, and man it's bad. It's like I eat, and I'm full for about 8 minutes, and then i'm starving again. I hope I'm growing. I mean I hope I'm getting taller, if I'm getting fatter I will  be sad. I just ate a hamburger, and it was wonderful. I think I might eat some chicken wings now, or some cookies, or some yogurt. But the yogurt will probably get ruled out because it's too healthy for midnight-snacking. "Tengo hambre" means "I am hungry" in spanish. That's pretty much one of the only things I remember from spanish. I also remember "mantequilla de cacahuate" means "peanut butter"!! I only remember that because it is really fun to say.

Phases of Life Essays

     All three of the essays were really good at conveying a mood when describing a phase in the writer's life. The first essay I read, "Once More to the Lake," seemed to convey a calm mood when the writer described his past. He gave us the details of him going to the lake for a month every year when he was a kid and how calm and peaceful it would be and how much fun he would have at the lake. However, when he goes back with his son he conveys an eerie mood because he views his son as himself as a child and himself as his father. This generation change causes a "creepy sensation," because when he see himself doing something or saying something he sees his father.
      The next essay, "Hooked," portrays an accomplished feeling. The first time the writer catches one of the huge Bass from his secret fishing hole, he decides to throw it back and catch it again rather than taking it home with him and showing everyone. This shows that he likes the successful feeling of catching the massive fish. Rather than taking the fish he caught home just so that he could brag about it, he decided that he would be happier just repeating the self-accomplishment he received by catching the fish.
     The last essay, "Innocence is Bliss," conveys a blissful feeling. The writer describes her summer the year before freshman year. She states that it was the best time in her life, and that it was a time where she was the happiest she's ever been. She had not yet entered high school, so her life was still relatively easy and straightforward. Sometimes I think we all wish that we could go back to a time in our life when we were younger and more innocent and when life was easier.

Wouldn't it be fun to feed a baby giraffe?!

Isn't this adorable?! I would just love to feed a baby giraffe a bottle! And put my arm around it! I think it would be a very fun time. It makes me wonder though how big giraffes are when they are born. If this baby giraffe is still drinking from a bottle, it can't be very old, right? So is this the size they are when they come into the world?? Ouch. Poor momma giraffes. But it is adorable :)

"And through all this, she maintains her same practiced grace."

       My favorite essay sample was "A Practiced Grace." First, I liked how descriptive the writer was of the barista. It was easy to visualize the girl in my mind, and it was easy to develop the impression that the barista left on the observer.
      The writer not only stated that "her blonde, shoulder-length hair is up in a ponytail," but goes on to describe the way hair hangs down in her eye and she "moves it back into place with a nervous flick of her head that has become a constant, unthinking motion. Much like breathing." I really liked this line because it gives realism to the barista. Every girl knows how often hair gets in the way, and how natural it becomes to flick our head so it doesn't get in the way. This was not an important feature of the barista, but it was definitely one that gave the character "life."'
      The writer gives a good account of the impression the barista left on her customers when he states, "She treats them all with the same respect as she makes their order." This automatically made me think of her as a kind, compassionate person. It would be difficult to perform the same task of making coffee drinks over and over again each day while still being sincerely friendly towards each customer. She is a special person for being able to do that. And the way the writer describes how she didn't roll her eyes or laugh or look sternly at her customers tells me that she has a lot of patience and that she is not a judgemental person.
      Finally, I liked the way the writer chose to observe someone that he didn't know. I think that if I chose one of my friends to write about it, it would be hard to speak purely objectively about them. Also, I would get frustrated because I would want to portray them accurately, but sometimes this is hard to do through writing because you can't say EVERY detail about them. By chosing a random coffee shop worker, the writer of "A Practiced Grace" could observe without bias or obligation to make their friend look good.
      I really enjoyed reading "A Practiced Grace." It was easy to follow and I thought it did a great job of following the prompt!

RAWR! It's a snowdragon!

This is a picture of a nifty snowdragon. I found it on Google. I thought it was real when I first saw it and I got really excited, but unfortunately it was photoshopped. But would that not be amazing if it WERE real?!?! It would be. It would be amazing.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Yesterday we had a snow day and it was glorious. Not only was it beautiful outside, but it also allowed me to sleep in AND take a nap. It was great. I was not very productive though; well, not at all. I kept telling myself all day long that I would work on some homework and study for tests, and it kept getting later and later and I kept getting more and more bored on facebook, but STILL I could not bring myself to even open my bookbag. There was a battle occuring between me and that monster called Procrastination, and I lost. Big time. I am very frustrated that I didn't work on any homework; however, I do not regret having a glorious day.

Ground Zero - Suzanne Berne

It is incredibly late at night, 3:30 AM to be exact, and I just finished reading the essay Ground Zero by Suzanne Berne. It was interesting enough to keep me awake, so I decided to write about it. First of all, I found it interesting to read about because it was something that happened during my time. September 11th was a HUGE event in America's history, and although I was really young when it happened, I still felt the impact of it. I remember I got home from elementary school that day and my family was glued to the t.v. I really wanted my mom to read The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) to me, but she wouldn't because she was watching the news. Of course, at the time I didn't really understand the gravity of the situation, so in my mind reading about a giant was way more exciting than whatever was happening on the news. I also remember we had burritos for dinner. I really like burritos. But ANYWAY, I really liked the was Berne talked about absence in the article. One line I liked was "But once your eyes adjust to what you are looking at, 'nothing' becomes something much more potent, which is absence." I like that because it is really deep. I normally think of nothing and absence being the same thing, but in this situation I can defintely see the difference between them. Before September 11th, there were buildings standing on Ground Zero which for years had been landmarks of America. But after the tragedy, all that remains is the memory of these extraordinary buildings and the people who inhabited them. THAT is absence.

Breaking My Blogging Virginity

Hmmmmmmm.. well.. I'm not really sure if I am doing this right because I've never blogged before. It seems like a pretty fun time though. I'm not really sure who looks at blogs, but that's ok; I guess I will find out. It's really late at night right meow, and I'm sleepy. So I think I will go to bed. But for the sake of making things exciting, I will share a brief happening of my day. I went to dinner at a restaurant, and I was shocked to see CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE on the menu. I did not know this was possible. Did anyone know this was possible? Probably not. It was delicious. Anyway, good night.