Halloween: Day 12

When I first saw this picture it was in the summer when I was ten years old and I was amazed by how it was like two separate pictures in one. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The school year came and it was a difficult year, not just for me but also for my school because our principal was diagnosed with cancer. Eventually my birthday came up but it didn't start off so great, I woke up at five in the morning with stomach pains, but they soon disappeared. After I got up and got ready for school I opened my presents and this picture was one of them I had completely forgotten about this picture.  I was so excited about it that I brought it to school and on the bus I would show my friends and they thought it was cool too.

However when I walked down the hallway things were different, people weren't walking around like usual. Everyone was lined up and sitting on the floor against the wall, quietly. I kept the picture in my backpack knowing that this wasn't the time to show my birthday present, and I was right it wasn't the time. Our principal died the morning of my birthday.

After that day I hid the picture because it frightened me but if someone happens to find it buried underneath my books, which some people have I tell them the story. A picture's worth a thousand words.

Thirteen Days of Halloween: Day 13

Since there are thirteen days until Halloween I am going to blog everyday. (Like how ABC does the twenty five days of Christmas. Yeah, I know, it's going to be hard but I'm gonna try.) The point of me doing this is because of the sketchiness of Friday the thirteenth, but you probably already understood that. These post are going to be anywhere from a short scary story, a freaky picture/video, a Halloween craft or whatever else this brain of mine can conjure up.

Enjoy the thirteen days of Halloween, my fellow goblins and ghouls.

***

This is a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad director noticed a strange mist moving along side the vehicle, they later found out that a year earlier someone had died in that same spot. The ad was never broad casted on television because of the strange ghostly phenomenon of the strange unexplainable white mist. If you look closely and watch the front end of the car after it clears the trees you can see the mist and how it follows the car. Watch the video for yourself and decide if it's a ghost or just a mist.

I thought it was pretty ghostly myself. ;)

Why Tweak the Curriculum?

(Yes the pun was intended. And no this isn't a slam on my parents.)

My nonfiction class was going to read the book TWEAK: GROWING UP ON METHAMPHETAMINES but because the book was too...lets say vulgar, we could not read it. My teacher made a wise decision, a decision backed by research to not have us read the books for our curriculum. If she had remembered to send out permission forms then we would have read it, unless a parent would have disagreed with the material. Which is possible considering the up rise it caused in some schools (primarily on the East coast).

This class is made up of juniors and seniors, the next generation, young adults. Whatever you want to call us... The point being that we are going to go out into the world and not know what to expect because we have been sheltered all our lives. This book, though vulgar, gives us a different perspective to life that our parents don't want to show us because they are too afraid that we might find that life isn't always a bed of roses.

There are reasons to be afraid of what we might uncover while reading this book. But. But it's better than finding out the hard way. It's better to experience this life through a character rather than our own lives. Maybe it is vulgar but we are growing up and we are going to find that life is real and we might even be faced with the decision of whether or not to do drugs. As vulgar as this book might be it could influence our decisions, but if we can't read it then it won't have any impact on us, including a positive impact.

To be ready for the world later we have to have glimpses of what it is really like. This book would not only show some difficult decisions and the affect of those decisions but it also is a good sign of hope. The author has obviously come along way from being addicted to drugs to writing a book. So my conclusion is that if people wouldn't dwell on the negative in this book then they might find a better message, and we might be able to read a book that most of the class was interested in, and it wouldn't cause an up rise in schools.

Perceiving Quotes

In case you haven't really noticed I'm kind of a quote person. I can't really explain why but there's just something about a serious quote that inspires me. So, anyways I saw this quote on my teachers desk and he explained what he thought about it. When I read the quote I thought something totally different, but I still understand his points.

"It's always about choices but it's not about choosing between two roads. It's about choosing from countless possibilities. Choose one, and you give up not just the other but all the others. And you never know if you've chosen the right one until it's too late to change your mind."
 

First I will point out that my teacher said this quote was about Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken. However my teacher said he liked the poem because he thought as if like, if he was having a bad day how should he act. How would it affect a student if he chose to give a student an eighth hour compared to yelling at them?

The thoughts that were evoked by this quote mainly focused on my future. Where am I going to go to college? What do I really want to major in? What do I want to do with the rest of my life? That is the scariest question of all because I want to make the right decision. That's what makes this quote sink in, because of that question and the last sentence of this quote.

I like this quote because it helps me understand that there are so many possibilities out there and I have the ability to use those possibilities. Even if I make the wrong decision, which is likely, I can still make another decision. I may not know if I made the right decision until it's too late to change my mind but I can always make another decision based on previous ones.

Hearing my teachers opinion on this quote opens my eyes on how people perceive things differently. So, I would love to hear what opinions you might have on this quote. Feel free to comment in the the comments below. :)

When Strength is Too Much

In one of my classes we read a book and this quote just so happened to be in it:

"Anyone who looks with anguish on evils so great must acknowledge the tragedy of it all; and if anyone experiences them without anguish, his condition is even more tragic, since he remains serene by losing his humanity." 

        --Augustine of Hippo

 I think it is depressing, if it's true; but in my opinion, it is not.

From the quote I understood that it is depressing to think that people should hurt; that it is healthy for a person to hurt. No matter how strong a person is at one point they have to break, and if they don't then they probably weren't strong in the first place--they were just numbed, and that is weakness.

Ideally, this quote explains that numbness is the greatest tragedy. It tells us that if a person doesn't show anguish then there is something wrong with them. Every person deserves a moment when they can be poked and bleed. Bleeding signifies that you are alive, that you still care for others and yourself. The problem occurs when one person is poked, but doesn't bleed, when they don't care to see the blood that comes out and then they claim it is just broken skin.

In my opinion this quote is not only wrong, but it makes me realize how sad the truth is. To me it is sad that human beings were designed to be weak at one point. All our lives we want to be strong, but sometimes strength is to much. We don't want others to think we are weak so we scold ourselves for giving in to the natural need of comfort, of natural actions like crying. We see others strong and put together, ultimately seeing the best of them, but we judge ourselves behind closed doors and we think something is wrong with us. Then, because of what we see we train ourselves to be the same; strong and put together. We become calloused on the outside and hold our tears in, only crying on the inside.

This quote is wrong in my opinion because, people can hold themselves together, very well, but on the inside they might be torn apart. This quote only portrays what we see, but not how the other person feels. Thus there is no way to tell how cold a person is unless you can share the same feelings, unless you see them behind their closed doors too.

The If Game

"Peace with all the world is my sincerest wish."
          -George Washington

In my opinion the greatest President that the United States of America has ever had. These are my reasons:
1. If it weren't for George Washington then we would have had a monarchy, but because of George Washington's suggestion we have a president. (So if it weren't for George Washington then some of your favorite president's wouldn't have been in office....What?! No Abe Lincoln? No Truman? No JFK? You're telling me if he wasn't president then we wouldn't have even had those tremendous leaders?....Yep!)
2. He set the precedent of having two terms (because he knew that power could get to a person) which was later turned into law.
3. He gave some concrete advice.
        -Don't start political parties.
        -Don't have allies because that means enemies.

Just to think of a world without George Washington is a thought of despair. That's one of the things I like about history; you can look back and imagine the slightest change and how that would affect the world today. If we would have listened to George about not having political parties, then where would our country be today? Would we come to a mutual understanding on abolishing slavery or would it last for centuries more? If we didn't have allies, would we remain neutral in WWI or WWII, would we be considered the international police that we consider ourselves today?

History repeats itself and it makes an impact years and years later. Who would have thought that December 24, 1979 would have a lasting affect on the world we live in today? Who would have thought that it would matter today that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan? But it has.

The if game: If the Soviet Union did not attack then the Taliban may not have taken control of Afghanistan, thus the devastation of 9/11 would not have happened because Al-Qaeda wouldn't have had the protection of the Taliban. If the Soviet Union did not attack then the government may not have fallen and there would be no Russia, if so then the United States may have still been in poor terms with the Soviet Union and the cold war wouldn't have ended.

Who's to say that the political problems we currently face won't have affects on decisions made centuries later? It's a scary thought to think of, honestly, no one can tell at that moment what kind of decision they are going to make for the generation ahead of them. Who would have thought that the rule of war that goes against chemical weapons would have been tested and caused such a controversy today? That rule was created to stop a conflict but now it is testing us to see what action we will take.

The best way to play the if game: Look at least a step ahead because what you do now will have an affect on what comes later, personally or politically. Look at least a step behind you because history repeats itself, if you don't like what you see then don't repeat it, learn from it. You won't take the right step every time, but when you take the wrong step be prepared to act because you will have to act. When you have chosen and what you did becomes history. People will evaluate your decision, whether they are family or historians and they will play the if game.

Thank You Ya Highway!!

First off, I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to ya highway!

On Thursday I was having a not so awesome day, after losing our second volleyball game against Cameron. Then I had to go home and write a college admission's essay for homework. (Man oh man is that stressful stuff. It's one thing to say I have good grades and that I am active in extra curricular activities, but it's another thing to brag. The way I was raised I was taught bragging is rude, so it's really hard to sit there and evaluate yourself to make others feel the need that you have to attend their school.) Anyways...it was Thursday night, and I remembered that I had my dad forward me a bunch of emails from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln so I decided to get on my email.

That's when one of the worst days ever turned into the best miracle God could give me.

That's when I saw that I received an email from ya highway. I love following their blog, it's very insightful especially for an aspiring author...which fits my description. So back to what the email said. It said something like "Hurray!" and that's when my heart stopped and I tried to stifle an energetic scream. I stood up really fast, which made me a little light headed because I wasn't feeling so well, and then I ran to my parents room. Well they were both out cold, go figure it was eleven thirty, so after that I ran back to my room to read the rest of the email.

It told me that I won a query critique. For those of you that don't know what a query is, it is a letter that an author will send to agents asking for representation. Queries have to be well written and really explain your book, if they aren't then you could very well end up without an agent. So winning a query critique is really good news, especially since I've never written one before and I need my query to be good.

A little note: I have written something, but I've always been hesitant about saying anything. However, I haven't let my hesitation stop me from going after my dream of being published, so I've asked some well trusted people to read it. Both times I've given them the manuscript I have heard a song that always reminds me of my manuscript, and both times I have looked up and thanked God for giving me the courage to write. Because it does take courage.

Here I am again thanking God because he has definitely given me a miracle. Winning a query critique from the ya highway giveaway is a true blessing. Once again I really want to thank ya highway, they are helping people learn how to be better writers and it really makes a difference.

Thank you so much,
Bailey