Rounding up a loooonng year...

Reading and reflecting on these past posts of mine, the first thing that I notice is it is a reflection of my opinions, coming as a stream of thought rather than in the form of an essay. I've tried to fit the assignment to my personal style of thought/writing (possibly a tad more outgoing than me in person) and keep it exciting and attention grabbing. From my first post, 'Writing about Reading', to ' Unassigned Reading??? What's That?!?!?!?!' and the odd 21 posts in between I have become more comfortable with this form of self-expression and (I think) become a little more skilled at it.

Blogging has helped me to work with group members on projects and understand things I was confused on by questioning something and getting a answering post. Plus people's comments on my other posts have been beneficial to my writing technique...though not as much as they could have been because most of the responses are rather shallow and unoffensive (not that I want them to be offensive, just more constructive).

Recurring throughout my blog is the "all this is so new for me" idea. High School, Blogging, using computers for homework, going to public school, (etc) are all things suddenly dumped into my lap this year. In the song "New Beginning", by Trapt the lyrics "Do I see just one small chance to be myself/To try and make it last/Every step that I make", it expresses the new chances to be ones self...I think that may really be the motive (other than grades) behind this blog. Gone are the confining walls of Waldorf, demolished to let in the opportunities of High School. Computers are part of my assignments, no longer some foreign object disdained upon by the curriculum and rules of my school.

To think this new beginning has come to an end, which opens up to yet another new beginning. From Waldorf to OHS, Freshman to Sophomore and eventually Senior to Freshman again. These ends and beginnings are the rhythm of life, each a new opportunity and a new accomplishment. Now, to my first summer with my many new friends!

Unassigned Reading??? What's That?!?!?!

Oh, summer! Why so far away??? 3o days, around a month, about 1/12 of a year...Sounds like FOREVER! Still the memory of this past summer strong in my mind, the long days filled with relaxing in bed till noon grazing through a wonderful, light, easy to read book (no annotating involved!).

With all this 'Pennies for Peace' and Greg Mortenson inspired talk at school I have become increasingly interested in the book that started it all...Three Cups of Tea, is first on my reading list for my leisure days in the sun.

Second, well, which to choose! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many books out there, begging to be read... I know many people who have devoured the Pendragon books, by D. J. MacHale, and said, "Beth! You just have to read these!!!!!". So, I guess I will! Walker already has purchased most of them so it will only take an easy walk into the living room to snatch the next one for reading.

Suddenly, as I sum up this post, I feel new excitement for the break to come! YAY!

To Dream or not to Dream?

Are dreams foretelling what is to come? Are they what is happening in some other spin off of reality? That is not really an answerable question at the moment...All we can do is speculate.

When I was young I had this reoccurring dream, or nightmare if you will, where I would be sitting on the back porch of my house with my brother and my friend. Our moms would be standing in the yard chatting (you know the way parents do when they come to pick up their kid?). When suddenly I would see some movement from behind the garage...A TYRANNOSAURUS REX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We would scream at our moms but they would just keep talking, the T-rex would start out from behind the garage getting closer and closer to the conversationally absorbed adults. We would running into the house and...I'd wake up.

Did my mom every get stepped on by a humongous dinosaur? Not that I'm aware of! Does that mean there is no hidden meaning? Nope.

Now that I think about it...a really terrible thing happened in that garage...but that's a different story.

I really think that dreams are a way for our sub-conscious mind to sort through the things we don't let ourselves go through with awareness. So though I don't think they are necessarily prescient, I do think they are relevant. I don't have Romeo's full hearted confidence in their use as an oracle but neither do I have Mercutio's distasteful disdain toward them.

Romeo's foreboding seems to have foretold true, for Tybalt is dead and Mercutio slain. So at least in R & J dreams seem to be a power over them all.

Romeo & Juliet

Every since I can remember, the names 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' have been alluded to here and there throughout conversations, television shows, movies and books. From saying "He's no Romeo...", to silly spoofs on TV shows.

The musical West Side Story was inspired by this play. It is a romantic tragedy (as is R & J).I've been trying desperately to attach a picture of Maria And Tony on a fire escape (very similar to the balcony scene) but have not been able to make stupid computer cooperate!

SEVEN MONTHS?!?! YOUR KIDDING!

WOW! Seven months already?!?! It's hard to believe my first year at high school (not to mention my first year at public school) is so far along! So much learned and so much to learn...

English was a big step for me, having coincidentally been sick almost every time we had a grammar or other English-y block at good ol' Waldorf. I have struggled with writing and English-like-things in the past and surprisingly I didn't just flop (or flunk) directly out of Honors. This class has been really fun from stuttering poems to a preoccupied class trying to memorize their own ballads and verses, to ridiculous skits, to deliciously sickening pie parties.

Over the last summer when preparing "literary elements" for admission to Honors English, it started pretty basic...
symbol = Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention.
theme = An implicit or recurrent idea; a motif.
(uh-oh! MOTIF)
motif = ??????
It ended up seeming like a motif said it was a reoccurring theme or symbol, and a theme was the opposite ( a recurrent motif), seemed like I couldn't get a straight answer!

Motifs throughout the year: money, money, (money), file, mockingbird, honesty, dishonesty, etc.

Sometimes I wonder, does the author even know what is going into the book??? Do they intend for all these minute meanings and representations to be there? Some of them are definitely intentional...goodness! I'm rambling...

Great Expectations for our Skits!

The first scene I think could be fun as a skit is when pip visits the Satis House for the first time and Miss Havisham goes all crazy with "My heart its broken" and stuff. This could be really fun if it is extremely over dramatized.

Another is when Magwitch comes to Pip's apartment and tells him he is the benefactor. This is a comical bit and it is very important to the development of the story.

The last part I think would be good is when Pip, Herbert, Startop and Magwitch are executing their escape attempt, when Compeyson tracks them down and plans to hand them in. This is really dramatic with Compeyson getting drowned and all, and would be intense to act in and view.

Another question...

So, we all know Miss Havisham is a terrible, depressed, heartbroken person. But what would make her pretend to be Pip's benefactor? It is a cruel, cruel thing to do to Pip. Pip's whole life was based on hopes of winning over Estella, and she alluded to his being intended for her, but when the time comes and he knows the truth she admits to the whole shenanigans(360). Please help me understand!!!!!!!!!!!

Sooo...

As a start, the whole of chapter 31 utterly confused me. If figured out they are at Wopsle"s play, hough the transitions from viewing the play to Being back stage (?) is hard for me to discern. The particular part that mixed me up is, " 'Mr Waldengarver,' said the man, 'would be glad to have the honour."
Waldengarver?' I repeated--when Herbert murmured in my ear, 'Probably Wopsle.' (256)
Later on it continues," 'Gentlemen,' said Mr. Wopsle, 'I am proud to see you. I hope, Mr. Pip, you will excuse my sending round. I had the happiness to know you in former times, and the drama has ever been acknowledged on the noble and the affluent.' Meanwhile, Mr. Waldengarver, in a frightful perspiration, w as trying to t himself out of his princely sables." (257).

So, my question is...Is Waldengarver Wopsles alter ego, another actor or what????

Photo interpretation

Rocks. No one expects them to move but in Death Valley the rocks travel, leaving a rut in their wake. This is like Pip. He is a low class common person. A rough handed, thick booted commoner. He is in his place, imagining what could be, and suddenly he goes where nobody thought possible for him to go. He leaves his common roots and miraculously is in a place of great expectations and high society, free of his apprenticeship and wandering into his new life. Only one thing remains...Will he finally be happy where he is going?

Chains of iron or gold...

"Pause as you read this, and think of a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that bound you, but for the formation of the first link on that memorable day." (70).

"I fell asleep recalling what I 'used to do' when I when I was at Miss Havisham's; as though I had been there weeks or months, instead of hours---and as though it were quite an old subject of remembrance, instead of one that had risen only that day. " (70) This is the first day of the rest of Pip's life...He goes by the will of his greedy sister, to Miss Havisham's, little do they know he will never be the same for now there is Estella, beautiful as a flower with a tongue of thorns, forever on his mind, forever coloring his actions.

Would any of us be the same with out something as small as one step, one word, one introduction? Every minute detail of our being is set up by every second we've lived. Waldorf (no, it is not like Hogwarts) has most definitely influenced my life. Nine loonnggg years, K through eighth, of the same classes, teachers and classmates. After the first introductory day in Briar Rose Kindergarten my mom could no longer make me even think about going to a different school. It was perfect for me, I was a hippy child and needed the wiggle room. The one thing I really feel gratuitous toward OWS for is the extensive creative opportunities (visual art, drama, music, woodwork, and handwork), without these programs I would not be having soooooo much trouble choosing electives, and would not love these things the way I do, things I really feel define me.

collaboration on dishonesty in TIBE

Well, for our groups third paragraph (mine), I wrote about the more direct references to dishonesty. For my first concrete detail I cited where Algernon and Jack talk about being truthful with ladies (29). This shows how Wilde sees society treating women. Second I wrote about Lady Bracknell and "undeceiving" Lord Bracknell (76). In a backhanded way this is talking about the lack of sincerity in marriage. Third and lastly is when Jack is about to completely confess the truth about 'Ernest' to Cecily and Gwendolyn (65). Jack says it is painful to tell the truth, and he has never been reduced to such a position . Wilde is making it plain he sees the truth as a thing seldom used in society and rarely expected.

Well this is all =D

TIBE ( I took the caps from the cover to make that name)

When we did our research on the Victorian age I learned a lot (A LOT!) of really interesting and slightly distressing facts, though I figure if it hadn't been that way it wouldn't be this way today. These facts have helped me to have a deeper understanding of the play. I learned of social expectations, gender roles, and the importance and drive behind marriage. The expectation for a higher class man was to be gentlemanly, and for a women to be graceful, bright, and well rounded (to have art skills, speak a few languages, and be able to lead a house hold). All of these things that women had to do were done to enhance their worth as a bride, and marriage was the overall goal. To get married was the way to improve a families social standing and increase their wealth, it was for all important pretenses, was a business arrangement.

In The Importance of Being Earnest there are the four romantic young people, Jack (Ernest), Algernon (Ernest), Cecily (in love with Ernest) and Gwendolyn (ALSO in love with Ernest). The adult figures in charge of each of the girls are pushing for more "advancing" marriages, while they of course (or at least at first) fight to be with their loves. I have trouble explaining how exactly my research helped me, but it definitely deepened my perception of the play.

2010 <)={D

Wow! twenty-ten...I remember when my sister was so excited for the big two-thousand. Well, for this upcoming year there are many things I wish to improve about myself...there will always be more or what would the reason and drive behind living be?

The resolution I have decided to wright about may seem like a strange one but it truly will benefit me in the future in many ways. I have decided to stop biting my nails. I made this decision when I read an article talking about all the draw-backs of nail biting. Firstly, the most obvious reason, it is a gross, nervous habit that can frankly hurt very badly. Second, there are many germs on and underneath the finger nails that when chewed on can go into your body possibly making you ill. Last of all I learned that it can damage your teeth badly and as I'm a very self conscious and concerned with my oral health as of recently (another resolution) this struck e particularly hard.

My plan for the extermination of this nail annihilating addiction is to carefully cut, file, buff, and paint with a shiny clear coat of nail polish (I dislike colored polishes on my hands) that will catch my attention and divert my naughtily nibbling nippers (I felt the urge to wright that). For the last week this method has been working...lets just hope it continues to work.