Half of My Sophomore Year

Thinking and writing this post, I cannot believe that I am half way through my sophomore year. In just a matter of a few months, I have done so much.

I have cheered at all the football games, survived learning and performing color guard routines, and on top of all my other activities, survived all of the homework assignments and tests.

I also can't believe that I only have a matter of a few more months with my sister, Audrey, before she goes off to college. Looking back and thinking about when we were little, I do not see what I am going to do without her. My sister has helped me and is always there for me and I know that is not going to change. She has watched me do new cheers that I learned and helped me with my homework. The thing I am going to miss doing most with my sister is just goofing off and having fun whenever we can. So not only is half of my sophomore year gone, but also half of my last year with my sister at home.

Keeping busy with all my activities, I have had so much fun doing everything, even with the stress. So far, I think my sophomore year has been the most enjoying and fun in all my years of school, and I think it will continue to be.

Fate

Fate was definitely not the deciding cause of the outcome of events in Julius Caesar. Fate did not control the actions of the characters, especially Caesar and Brutus. Instead, people took over.

The outcome of the play was determined by free will because people were responsible for their actions because of the choices they made. For example, Brutus could have decided not to kill Caesar, but Brutus used his own free will to choose to kill him anyway.

They thought they were following fate, but instead, it was their own free will. Fate did not control Julius Caesar's destiny-the actions of the people were responsible for Caesar's death.

Leadership

In William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, people did not agree with Caesar but he was still their leader. Striving to be a great leader, Caesar was not respected by some people.

A few weeks ago, we had a mini cheer camp for girls grades first through second. Helping the mini cheerleaders, I saw that without leaders, people would have no idea what to do. I also saw that not all of the girls agreed with what we did. They might not have agreed with us all the time, but without our leadership, they would have had no clue what they were doing on the field and track a few Friday's ago. Seeing that they didn't show respect, we tried to be patient. This makes me think that sometimes even if you don't like your leader, they still want to help you in every way possible. Even though some people might not like cheerleaders, we try our best and I know that Julius Caesar tried hard also.

So whether or not you are a cheerleader or a ruler like Julius Caesar, it still is extremely important to respect your leaders because without them, who knows what our world would be like today.

Are You Listening?

As you probably already know from one of my earlier posts, my Pre-AP English 10 class is reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. In Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood, Covey talks about five poor listening styles: spacing out, pretend listening, selective listening, word listening, and self-centered listening.

Honestly but sadly, I find myself doing some of these styles often. Spacing out and pretend listening are probably the styles that I do the most. For example, Audrey, my older sister, has funny stories to tell me after school sometimes. I will listen for a couple of minutes and then I become so self- centered and start worrying about my self that I will start acting like I am listening. I think pretend listening is probably one of the rudest action a person can do when their friend or love one is really hurt or just want to tell a funny story. Ashamed of myself, I am striving everyday to listen better. Listening to their problems or stories, the friend or family member will always know that I am there for them.

Also, this section has really shown me the gravity of listening and that I need to start paying more attention. It has also showed me that I need to think about other people and step into their shoes every once in a while and see life from their point of view. By doing this I will become a genuine listener.

Striving To Be Proactive

For my class, Pre-AP English 10, I am reading a book called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, and I am really enjoying it. This book has given me a lot of great advice to help me through my teen years.

Out of all the habits that I have read so far, I really like habit one which is Be Proactive. Reading this section helped me realize how reactive I can be sometimes. My sister and I don’t fight a lot, but when we do, I can really be reactive. I make the situation worse instead of stepping back and seeing how I can be proactive.

This section, Be Proactive, has taught me to think before I say, and handle a situation in a way that will be best for others and me.

Mr. President

I strongly agree with McCain, especially with his opinion on pro-life.

I know people feel terrible about adoption because the parents worry that the child might someday wonder who they're real parents are, but would they rather kill a living person?

This all relates back to Sarah Palin's daughter's situation. Knowing that she messed up, she is still going to take care of the baby.

In her speech of acceptance, at the republican national convention, Sarah talked about her and Todd's new baby boy Trig that has Down's Syndrome. Even though she knew that he was disabled when she was pregnant, she didn't abort him. Instead she said, "Sometimes the greatest joys bring challenge, and children with special needs, inspire special love." Palin and her husband chose to give Trig the best life that he could possibly have.

So, with this being said, I thank John McCain for believing in pro-life, because without a leader like him, babies that are disabled, or even perfectly fine have a chance to live.

To Be or Not To Be a Genre...

I read The Time Machine in English, and after reading this book, I have decided to promote some Science- Fiction, but not all.

I promote The Time Machine because it's very adventurous and has a fun story line. The book and Science-Fiction in general also brings out the creative side in us. For me also though, The Time Machine was very hard to follow. I kept on having to go back and rethink everything, maybe even reread.

Not in this case with the book, The Time Machine, but sometimes, I would not promote science fiction as a genre. I discourage Science-Fiction because some people, when they start liking science- fiction a lot, they start believing in it. It makes me upset because, none of science- fiction is true, and some people get so into, and caught up in it they won't ever come back to reality.

My Hero...

When Beautiful was a little girl, she was shy, scared, and all the boys made fun of her, but when Beautiful grew up into a teenager, she gained the most tremendous powers a girl could ever have. All her powers lead up to one great power, which is punishing boys. If a guy says or thinks anything mean or bad about a girl, Beautiful punishes them. She punishes them because a guy should never get away with hurting a girl, because every girl is beautiful. Boys do not know Beautiful has powers, and one way is how she is dressed. Beautiful dresses how a normal everyday teenager would dress because she wants to trick the boys so they won't know she is around. Even though she looks like a normal kid, she still has to be very sneaky about when and where she does things, so boys will not find out. When Beautiful detects that a guy is saying or thinking something, by either listening, or reading their mind, she suddenly becomes invisible. After becoming invisible, she walks up behind the guy jerks him back and he starts turning around and around, transforming into an ugly creature. Having the reminder that they are ugly by being creatures, they will always think twice about saying something mean.