Hamlet

So today we talked about how Hamlet was being "crazy" around Ophelia and whether he was really acting. I think he was acting because he had to get everyone to think he was crazy, except for the people he told. Since he acted around Ophelia, she went and told Polonius and then he went and told the king and queen who went and got Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So now he has basically the entire court believing he is crazy, which is what he wanted. And so far, I think he is just acting crazy, but we'll see as we read more.

Inferno

Wow, the Inferno is kind of odd, but I actually enjoy reading it. Even thought it's really hard to understand at times, once I understand it, it's quite enjoyable. It's pretty interesting to me how Dante pictures the Inferno. That is definitely not how I picture it. I also find it interesting the way he places the worst to the not so bad sins. Personally I would put violence as the worst, but he put it as second. I kind of find that weird...but that's just me. 

Think about today

So today, Mr. Gilbert wast saying that we could always bring up our grade next term, and then he went on about how we don't have to dwell on the past. So I was thinking about that. The past is past, we can't go back and fix it...unless someone comes up with how to time travel...but really, we shouldn't dwell on our past. Don't get me wrong, it is good to look back and see what mistakes we can learn from or the fun times we had with our friends and stuff like that, but if maybe we didn't get the best grade this term, as in Mr. Gilberts example, we can step it up and work hard and get a good grade next term. Or maybe if we didn't make the best choice and we can fix it, then it's not a big deal, we shouldn't pull ourselves down, we can fix it and move on. We should just focus on whats going on today and try to make it so tomorrow, we can say that yesterday was good. That's kind of confusing...but yeah, thats how I am seeing things.

Things are not as they seem....

Another scary thing happened to me tonight... kind of My family and I were walking on the road next to the canal around 8, so it was dark, and all of a sudden we heard a splashing in the water. My sister and I immediately gasped and clung to whoever was nearest us with looks of terror on our faces. Well, turns out it was just a duck. Yeah, not to scary now is it. This can relate to people. Sometimes, you will meet someone and think they are so nice and they are the best person ever, but then you find out later that they do some bad things and arn't really the best person to hang around. It can go the other way to. You may meet someone who seems really rude and you just don't like to be around them, but then you get to know them and find out they are really nice and friendly and you totally misjudged them. This also ties into judging others. "Don't judge a book by its cover." That is a saying we all know. We shouldn't just look at a person and then say, "Oh I don't like them" and not even get to know them. It's just like Mr. Dye said, "Every person has a story, it's hard to hate a person who's story you know." or something along those lines. If you really get to know a person, it's going to be hard to not like them. 

To easy?

So this year, I got put on a clogging team I personally think is way to easy. My mom has reminded me that a couple years ago, I was on a championship team and I have since moved down to advanced. I have had a hard time grasping why my teacher did this. Last year, my two friends moved up to my level, so I don't really know when he moved me down or why. Now that I am thinking about it though, I'm guessing that he thought that I had more to learn and that I was rushing into championship level. I think this relates to school or church sort of because we may think that we've heard these things a million times, but maybe something was left out or there may be more to it than we've thought about before. 

Dream

So last week, I had the scariest dream of my life. I'm pretty sure the rest of you arn't going to think it's really all that scary, but it scared the living daylights out of me!! 

So I was in carpool on the way home from school and Disturbia by Rihanna was playing on the radio. I got out and opened the garage and walked in the house. It was really dark and there were cobwebs and everything just felt wrong. So I walked up to the kitchen and pulled out my phone. Now it was a Wednesday, our busiest day, and me and my sister have violin right after school, so my mom should have been home. I dialed her number and waited while it rang... and rang... and rang..."We're sorry..." the familiar voice of the message machine said. I tried again. Still no answer. I looked around and our house totally looked haunted. I raced upstairs and turned on every light on the second floor. Now I don't know why I didn't do that before...but, you know, it's a dream. I ran into my room, locked the door, and jumped into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. Just then, my phone rang. It was my dad. "Your mom should be home by now, I don't know where she would be..." he said. "Will you come home? I'm locked in my room under my covers scared to death." I had replied. "Well..." he hesitated. "Please!? I locked myself in my room!" I pleaded. "Well o..." and then, all I heard was the dial tone. 

I then proceeded to wake up and realized I was in the same position I was in in my dream, except the door was open. I tried desperately to get back to sleep, but Disturbia was STILL stuck in my head. I finally fell asleep after about an hour and turning on the lights in my room. Now I'm pretty sure, almost positive that this will not sound scary to anyone else... but it was the scariest thing ever for me... and, the next day when I got home from car pool, my mom wasn't home, I turned on the radio, and what song just happened to be playing?! Disturbia! Again!

Another quote

Ok this quote is from General Conference... it's "Come what may and love it". I like this a lot because we never know what life is going to throw at us and we just need to accept what we get. It is really hard sometimes like maybe when a loved one dies or when you are in a fight with family or friends. But I think this is saying that we just need to go with the flow and try hard to stick it out and know that everything will be okay. He also said during this talk, "...there are times when birds don't sing and bells don't ring." We will always go through tough times, it's just a part of life, but we can get through them even if it's difficult. We just need to believe in ourselves and know that things will get better.

Personal Essays

I just have a question about our personal essays. I don't really understand what we're supposed to do. Are we supposed to tell stories and then get something moral or something out of it? What type of story are we trying to tell? The essay that we read kind of gave me the impression that we were supposed to pull some sort of lesson from it. But all of the stories that I got were not...really...like that. So, I was just wondering. :)

Islam

Well, for my project I prayed five times in a day. I realized that it was really hard to remember to do it. I expect, though, that for Muslims it wouldn't because it's a part of their religion. I also was wondering how the kids would do it during the day at school. I thought maybe if they went to a Muslim school, then that would probably be part of their routine, but if they didn't, I don't know what they would do. It seems like they could go find a quiet place or something, but if it was during class...yeah, I just was confused by that idea. When I did it during school, I went into the locker room. It was kind of odd, but it did give me a better understanding of what people who practice Islam have to do every day. I actually enjoyed the guest speaker that we had and I learned quite a bit about Islam that I had no idea about. It was really interesting to learn more about their religion and what they believe.

Quote

(the cat in the hat has nothing to do with this really...he's just dr. seuss...ish)
K, so, I really like this quote and I thought I would write something on it...
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
I really like this quote a lot because it just says so much. It's saying that you should just be yourself because the people that mind, shouldn't matter and those who you care about won't mind. This says a ton especially to me because I'm quite shy.... :D And what this is saying is to not worry about what others think, just be yourself, and if some don't like it, they shouldn't matter to you. I just think this is a great quote and I like it a lot. :)

printing press or gunpowder

Personally, I would say the printing press had more of an impact on society. If the printing press was never invented, we wouldn't have books or any sort of text. We would probably have text, but not much because it would be such a pain to copy. The printing press made it so people could print multiple copies of a text with out having to copy it over and over again or having to take a long time carving it in a piece of wood. Without the printing press, it would be hard to have good resources to learn from in school because practically all of our resources are in a text form. I think the printing press led to other advances in technology, so since it was invented, we have many books to read for pleasure or for our studies. So....thats what I think. :)

Les Mis

Well, I have just decided that I am officially excited to read Les Mis and I don't think I can wait for the end of the year! I saw the play and absolutely loved it! I know the book is different and I think it will be interesting to see the changes they made in the play. If anyone goes down to St. George in the near future, go see Les Mis at Tuachan! It is the best ever!

Why bother with Socratic Seminar? (response)

History:
I think we need to learn history because it is important to know about what other people have done before us and learn from their experiences.
Literature:
We should learn literature because it is important to be able to know about the authors and their backgrounds and the books they have written.
Language Arts:
This is very important to learn in order to construct sentences with correct punctuation and speack well.
Geography:
This is important, I think, so we can know where countries and cities are.