I am Thankful for Today

Author's Note: This piece was not to strengthen my writing or to write out my feelings. In two days it is Thanksgiving, and this, I believe is the least celebrated holiday. Smell the air. What do you smell? Happiness....at school!
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Although the aunts are working their hardest to get the turkey golden and plump, no one notices. As I watch their struggling effort from the stool across the kitchen, I listen. All around me is laughter, screaming, and singing from children of all ages. Although the house is small, we all fit. In the small bedroom in outside the front door, there is frost covering the windows. Snow has finally arrived, but no one notices. The older kids hang out here. There is a computer, a television, and a comfortable sitting area, but no one notices. We sit on the floor. We talk, we laugh, we throw things at each other. You are never left out. Being too young to be classified as a little kid, I stay in this room. I am welcomed. Grandma rings the bell, even though by now we are all sitting around the orange and gold table anyway. Then, our feast arrives. The highlight of the night. Turkey, chicken, and stuffing are traditional, and necessary. They arrive first. Then, come potatoes, cherry marshmallow salad, and rolls. We eat more than what is good for us, but no one notices. When the adults finish their meal, and we have thrown all of our food at each other, we stand. We try and form a circle, but this attempt is usually unsuccessful. Finally, we pray. We go around the circle saying what we are thankful for. I hear lots of "Family," and "Health." I also hear "Hippo's," and "Pokémon!" As I wait for my turn, I think hard. Mason speaks before I do, and Emma is waiting for her turn, which comes after mine. I am ready. I speak loud and clear, telling my relatives what I am thankful for. I hope I don't get made fun of, as I scan the room waiting for feedback. After all, my response was kind of cheesy. But I get applause, because it is the reason why we are here. I see smiles, and finally I give one back. Everyone notices.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Essay of the Week

Author's Note: This is my first essay, is doesn't go into social studies or science, but I had fun writing it and I learned a lot.

Christmas lights, can be a waste of electricity. Now it is that time of year. Your parents are debating on when to put the Christmas decorations up, and more importantly, the Christmas lights. You may be lazy, but Christmas spirit overpowers you. But as you are hanging the green and red lights, you realize that there may be something you forgot to think about. Maybe...how much electricity will be used this year? Will it be worth the cost?


Lets say you light up your bushes and garage with 5 strings of 100 bulbs. You also have one spotlight showing your cut-out of Santa, and you show these lights from 4-9 PM. This would cost your family 48 cents a day. I'll let you do the math and add up the cost for the season. You are also using 4 kilowatts an hour. Just to give you some more understanding, a 42 inch TV only consumes 0.3 kilowatts per hour.

Common sense is a huge part in the process of saving money and electricity, because we now know how much wattage we are using. Simple things, like making sure your lights are on a timer, or turning them off when you sleep, can keep you safer too. WE Energy says that we should check for broken lights, and if we find them we must replace them with bulbs of the same wattage. Also, we should use no more than 3 light sets per extension cords. Like I said, common sense will save you money, electricity, and a lot of trouble.

Now that you know how to save electricity, I think you should spread the word. Help make Christmas merrier. Tell others to put up some day decorations that celebrate the holiday just as well. Things like wreaths, ornaments on trees in your yard, and a wooden Santa or two, all have the same effect as Christmas lights. These things cost less, look pretty, and are probably more efficient than a bunch of IB's on a string. Save the world. Use less lights.


Look on the We Energies website to find the amount of wattage YOU use every Christmas.

Struggling

Authors Note: Are any of you out there worried about where you will be in 10 years? Of course not! We are young! We are curious and crazy! But for me, there has always been that fact in the back of my mind that whatever we do WILL affect our futures. So this thought deserves a poem.

I never have crazy ideas.
I ruin dreams, I crush feelings.

No explosives on school property
Too much homework
These aren't excuses, but facts

I try to be polite,
Common sense takes over my brain.
My creative personality falls unconscious.

I apologize to any of you who have questioned my voice of reason.

A little fun never hurt anyone, right?
Some people remember the lectures we were given when we messed up.

Have you ever heard of a six month plan,
Meant to give kids a better future?
Sounds positive,
Extremely well thought out

I do not blog about such things.
I blog negatively.

There is a flaw
Which shatters the plan;

One police record
Completely failed report card
Or missed goal on your soccer team.
Leads to a failure of the acclaimed sixth month plan.

Truth comes out,
As it always does.
We shape our future when we are young and foolish.

Why do you read my posts?
This one is getting much too long,
You could be studying for important tests
or impressing your language arts teacher.

We shape our lives like clay
in an art room.
A dent in the clay,
Stays in the clay.
We cannot change what we've done.
The clay cannot be fixed.

If I crushed the feelings
That you woke up with
Happy
Secure

I apologize.

If you are looking for happy posts,
do not keep reading,
you will find none here.


Go to Natalie's Blog, Kati's Blog, Brett's Blog, or Xavier's blog, for happy stories. Ask me tomorrow and maybe I will be a completely different person.

As You Like It

Speak'st thou in sober meanings? By my life I do.

What?! Does this make any sense to you? I suppose you could tell that a question is being answered, and in somewhat of a businesslike manner. What is really means is the common phrase used today. Are you serious? Then the answer, I swear on my life, yes!

In the play, As You Like It, by Shakespeare, all of the lines look like the one shown at the top. It is in English, if you were wondering. This was the English language that was spoken in Shakespeare's time. The stories are great, and As You Like It is a beautifully written story, but I will admit it is hard to decode.

With the help of Spark Notes, As You Like It has been translated into No Fear Shakespeare. It is a version of the book where the pages are divided into two sections. On the right side, is the authors original version. On the left side, is the modern version. It is the same story, only you can choose to read William Shakespeare's ornate form; written in the early 1600's. Or you can read the newer form, with different words and sentence structure. The greatest part of No Fear Shakespeare is that you don't have to make this choice!

This book company makes almost all of Shakespeare's books and can be found at Barnes & Noble. I highly suggest that you check them out, and you will probably find As You like It, to be more interesting, once you can understand it.