1. The strengths of personal essays for me is that I'm writing about a memory that I had, so I already know what my ideas are, and I don't have to take a ton of time making up crap. It's much easier to write about something you experienced. The weakness is sometimes remembering what happend. Or, making it longer and more descriptive. Like I said before, it's much easier to write something that you experienced than writing fiction, because you have to make something up and it takes way longer. No, I would never write a personal essay on my own time.

2. Reading is so crucial to a writer because it helps the writer develope vocabulary. They learn to be more descriptive by reading other people's work and getting ideas and stuff. Reading also broadens your imagination. If you never have any ideas, you could read and one thing will lead to another. Something will remind you of something else, and then you'll be like "Wow! I know what I want to write about! Blah Blah Blah I love imagination" So yeah reading is really important for alot of reasons, but mainly because it helps your vocabulary, they learn to be more descriptive, and it brodens your imagination. yay!

3. My favorite peice that I've written in creative writing would probably be one of my poems. Probably the one where I wrote about beanie babies and my brother. It was sweet. It was my favorite peice because it was my favorite memory as a child. My favorite writing genre is poems because they're really easy and I really like to rhyme. The greatest challange to write was the play. I really didn't like it because it was sooo hard. I didn't understand how to start it, and I still don't. Like, how do you introduce the scene? I don't get it, and probably never will. I don't care for my play or my short story. Neither of them made any sense. I tried to write them good, but it really didn't work, especially for the ending. I feel like I don't know how to end a story. They always end with no point, or they don't make any sense.

4.Quiz
Coke or Pepsi: pepsi
Li'l Wayne or Little Debbie: li'l wayne
McDonald's or Arby's: arbys
Chiptole or Taco Bell: Can't decide. They're both DELICIOUS
American Idol or MTV: MTV
Buffalo Wings or Florida: FLorida
New York City or Los Angeles: NYC
Name you like for your future daughter: Charlie or Peach. you think im joking, but im not
Name you like for your future son: Kyle or Pear
What is or what will be the first country you see outside the continent of North America: France
Disney movie you would be most likely to watch on your 21st birthday: Thumbelina

An Unexcitingly Titled Blog

1.I value happiness. It basically guides me through life. When I don't feel happy, I don't want to do anything and I just sit at home moping. When I'm happy, I don't have to think about the things that bother me. Things like school, parents, work, and such. Instead, I think about the good stuff, like friends... and that's basically it. Being happy is really important because it makes you feel good

2. Jamie Lyn Spears is pregnant and she had to discontinue her show. I watched Zoey 101 for the first time over break, and it was the last episode. In the show, her parents came to pick her up to tell her the "good news." They were moving to England. So i guess that was the end. Jamie thought she was impregnated with her boyfriend. But really, it turned out to be some executive producer or something. This changed my views of that girl. I thought she was completely different from her sister Brittany, but she's actually a disgusting slut who sleeps with 40 year olds.

3. One thing I hope to accomplish in 2008 is to sleep more and keep up my grades. For one, I never get enough sleep. I saw something on a commecial for the news the other day about how if your awake for 18 hours and driving, it has the same effect as if you were drunk. I think that if i get more sleep, I will be able to drive better and also focus more in school. That leads to keeping up my grades. This last quarter, I had a B average. My goal is to keep this average. The reason is because my mom said she would pay for my car insurance if i have a B average or higher. Also, it would be a good way to get into the college that I want to go to.

Toward the Future/From the Past

1. At first, I couldn't figure out how to do the setting descriptions, but I think I figured it out. I didn't really see any strengths in the form. Writing a play was really hard. It was kind of annoying that it had to be 5 pages long. Kind of stressful if you ask me. I would never be interested in writing a play on my spare time actually. I really didn't like this unit.

2. If I wrote a personal essay, I would probably write about friends or family. I could write about my first experience of a best friend moving, and how it made me realize that I could still be best friends with her. Also, how it made me become closer friends with other people. Anothing thing I could write about could be a trip I went on. For example, I went to Europe this summer. Since my brother and I were older, we went off by ourselves sometimes. I could write about those adventures we had. I could also write about some other random experience I had, like starting high school or something.

3. If I were to give advice to a 5 year old about growing up, I would pretty much tell them the basics about school, friends and family. I would tell them to always do their homework because it counts as alot of points. As long as you do your homework every day, you wont get less than a B. I would also tell them to not care what anyone thinks about them. Other people's opinions shouldn't matter, as long as you do what you want. For family, I would tell them to keep a good relationship with your family, especially siblings, because you can always count on them. If you don't have a good relationship with your family, you start to lie to them and start not trusting them. That's not good.

Luigi Pirandello, playwright: "A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die!"

1. Theme is really important. If you didn't have theme, I feel like it would be just a pointless story.
"Without theme, life sucks." - jordin.
A peice of litterature needs to express an idea to be great. What would it with no idea? Nothing. For example, the movie Ghost Rider. There's no point to it. No theme and no plot. It's pointless and boring. If it had a theme to it, the movie would be so much better!

2. In order for great literary work to live forever, they have to be able to be related to. A peice of writing is boring if you can't relate it to. When I read a book, I can't even understand it unless it relates to me. I would never be able to write something that lasts that long. I'm not planning on being a writer anyway so it's ok. But if I did write a book, it would only last like a year.

3. If I could change the world, I would want to create peace. I would make it so there were no more problems, no more wars, nothing to worry about in the world. I feel like too many people worry about too many things every day of their lives. Worrying about school, work, friends, family, where their going to sleep tonight, how their going to get their job back, or why their wife doesn't love them anymore. If I could somehow make this change, there would be definate peace.

I am a thinker and I think thinks

1. Something that concerns me is homeless people. When I drive down Southtown, everytime I see atleast one homeless person standing on the side of the road with a sign saying "help me" or something. I feel bad for them, but I think they should do something about it. And maybe they can't get a job because they don't have an address, but if they find a homeless shelter and then go through a work program, they will gain experience and be able to get a job later in life when they have an address.

2. I know a person who thinks they are god. He TOLD me that nobody in the world is better than him. And he was completely serious about it. I guess this is a pretty unique trait, you know, thinking that your god? Yeah it's really weird.

3. I don't really have a peice of art that inspired me, but I do have a person. My best friend moved to massechusets 2 summers ago and we're still best friends to this day. She taught me that any friendship can work, even if they live 5 states away.

Assignment #9

1. Happiness is a feeling that overwhelmes you with joy.
2. Happiness is being around my friends. When I'm alone, I always feel more lonely than I should. Happiness is coming home and eating food. I love coming home from school and making a pizza. It feels so good after a hard day of school. Also, happiness is sleep. Sleep feels so good, and when I'm lacking it, I'm never happy.
3. People in my life that influence my happiness the most are Steph and Mimi. I think that if I didn't have those two, I would honestly be a different person. If one of them is mad at me, I feel terrible. Other friends influence my happiness too. Pretty much anyone does. Like, if someone IGNORES me I take it really bad. :]
4. I impact my mom's happiness. I can tell when I yell at her she probably gets sad. When I'm super nice to her, she's happy.
5. My greatest need in life friends. If I didn't have any friends I would probably kill myself.

Assignment 8

BRAINSTORM!
-friends
-family
-camp
-mystical creatures
-make up a fairytail
-personal experiences