Action Movie

I think action is the most effective element in a story. The actions the characters take can show their true intentions and personality. Such as how Caroline took care of Elizabeth when she came down with Scarlett Fever, despite the obvious risks. This action shows that Caroline was a caring woman with good intentions.  The characters actions can also greatly impact the plot of a story. In the case of Frankenstein, Victors action of creating the monster was the most important in the story. Without the creation of the monster the story would literally have no point, or plot. Another important action in the story was the murder of William and the death of Justine. These character deaths help to push the plot along and show other characters emotions and intentions. A final important action in Frankenstein would be when the monster escapes from Victor. This, most likely, is the reason for Justine and Williams death since it is suspected that William was murdered by the monster. This also pushes the plot along in a dramatic and necessary way.

Cat Tails

Mary Shelly's opening to Frankenstein is the letters, the letters allow the reader to have some insight as to who the characters in the story are and foreshadows the end of the story. However, the story truly starts when the narration changes from Robert Walton to Frankenstein in the first chapter of the story. Frankenstein describes his early life in Geneva and all his hopes and aspirations. The opening pulls the reader in for the desire to know how a kind man such as Frankenstein brought himself to create such a monster as he does later in the story. Mary Shelly's opening is quite interesting and compelling. If I wrote a ghost story, I would open it in a normal way, making the story seem absolutely ordinary. I would portray the characters in the most innocent way, and have it set in the typical sweet small town. I would continue the story in this way, making the characters and the setting seem absolutely innocent and normal, but occasionally add in small slightly disturbing details. This would go on until the end of the story where the true horror of one of the characters comes out, or it's reviled that the characters are actually living in a not so normal town. No one would ever see it coming, it would be perfect.

Spring Break

This spring break I plan to catch up on my sleep, art practice and TV shows. Since school has been bombarding us with assignments and projects I have not had much time to indulge in my favorite hobbies and pastimes. Catching up on my sleep would be wonderful. It would mean less headaches and a much more positive attitude. Since I have not been able to indulge my hobbies that means my artwork has stopped being made. Over spring break I plan to get as much practice in as possible. I would like to be able to work on new drawings and paintings without being rushed or worried about school. This means that they will come out nicer, and I can focus on the things I am bad at, rather then just mildly acknowledging them. Lastly, catching up on the multiple TV shows I have started but never finished would be nice, and maybe starting a couple new ones. I can finally finish all the TV shows that I usually never have time to finish during the week.

Star Stories

 I awoke in my room. Though it did not feel like my room, something was horribly wrong about it. It was pitch black, the glow in the dark stars that speckle my ceiling were not shining nor where the stars that speckle the sky. I crawled out of my bed and to my window, and stared out. I was utterly confused. Why would the stars not shine? I continued to stare until I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a small twinkle. I looked directly at it as it grew larger and larger. That was when I realized that it was a multitude of stars, but who was carrying them was what shocked me. A girl went running by my window, a bag full of light slung across her shoulders. She had a white scarf wrapped around her neck and wore a white dress and had silver hair. She streaked across my yard and down my street. Intrigued, I climbed out my window and ran after her. Something in me told me I knew this girl, from somewhere, and that she had to be stopped. She continued to run down the street, and all light seemed to gravitate towards her. It was if a shooting star was streaking down my street, she was the only light for miles. I finally got close enough to snatch her scarf and tug her back. That was when she looked directly at me. She was pale, practically the color of snow and wore a necklace around her neck that had a blue swirling liquid in it. However, the most shocking thing was her eyes. They were pure white and almost painful to look at, and when I looked at them I knew who she was. The Star Bandit. I had heard about her in my grandmothers stories. She was a girl who traveled around the universe, stealing the light and hording it for herself, to try and light her darkened heart. She was dangerous and notorious, for not all the light in the universe could help her. She wiggled from my grip and ran down the street, continuing to steal the light from every source around her. I took a moment to snap out of my shock and run after her, determined to not let earth fall into darkness. I ran as fast as I could, my feet ground into the pavement and small cuts formed on my ankles. I finally came close enough to grab the bag, causing her to fall backwards. I pulled it off her and ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. As I ran, I glanced behind me to see her slowly getting off the ground, a look of sheer rage painting her features. I opened the bag just as she began running after me, and flung it into the air as hard as I could. The bag went straight into the air, and for a terrifying second I thought gravity would forsaken me and send it back to earth, but it stopped and stood suspended in the air. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, the Star Bandit  moved in slow motion and the universe held it's breath. Suddenly the bag collapsed in on itself, before exploding into a massive ball of energy and light that would put a supernova to shame. The Star Bandit screamed as the world was once again painted in light, the stars shot back into the sky, the street lights flickered to life and the moon emerged from the darkness all as signs of her defeat. As I turned to confront her, I saw that she was gone, the only thing left in her place was a scarf and a necklace.

Trust me, just not on cliffs.

A time I had to convince someone of something was when I convinced my cousin, Brittney, to trust me on a camping trip. It was the summer before 9th grade and we were at a family reunion in Wisconsin. While on the family reunion we decided to take a small camping trip. This was the average camping trip, with bonfires, hikes and of course, swimming in the lake. It just so happened that there was a small cliff at the camp site we were staying at that rose right over the lake. People dove off this cliff into the water occasionally, and the people that owned the camping grounds assured us it was safe to jump off of, so I decided to do a little joke. I convinced Brittney that I had a surprise for her, she was slightly skeptical but I convinced her to trust me. I told her that we would go on a hike and maybe a swim, just the two of us. The next day me and Brittney set out on an all day hike.  I walked her along multiple trails and confusing paths to make sure that she had no idea where I was really talking her. When we got closer to the cliff I told her to close her eyes, she refused, but I once again convinced her to trust me. I led her over to the cliff and turned her backwards, I positioned her right at the edge until I was satisfied with where she was placed. I told her to open her eyes and asked her if she knew how to swim, she said yes and I simply smiled before proceeding to push her off the cliff. She landed in the water and surfaced perfectly fine, of course screaming about how much of a horrible person I am. She still trusts me, even after the incident, just not around cliffs. The best part of the story has to be how she got payback. She could not push me off the cliff in return due to the fact that I do not know how to swim, so instead she locked me out of the tent one night, during a thunderstorm.

Struggles

In my Sophomore year I was met with many difficulties, some of them being unorganization, no motivation  and procrastination. I went into my Sophomore year with the mindset of a Freshman, thinking I could easily pass my classes with my previous bad habits. This, however, was  not the case. I immediately learned that my old habits would have to stop, and I would have to grow up. I could no longer have a messy locker and folder, with papers spilling out and being easily lost. I learned that I would have to motivate myself if I wanted to get any work done, because I was now a 10th grader and was not expected to have a teacher push me, I had to learn to push myself. The most important thing I learned from these struggles however, was that my extreme procrastination was the habit I had to diminish the most. The beginning of 10th grade year I thought I could push my assignments off until the very last moment and wait to do them, and as anyone knows, you can not do that. Beating this habit was by far the hardest struggle. I was so used to putting things off for the next day that I found it extremely hard to force myself to do it in a timely manner. I eventually did learn how to stop my procrastination and now begin assignments and projects the day they are assigned. Despite the fact that these difficulties pushed me back, they never stopped me from reaching achievements in my Sophomore year.

Uh-Oh GTs

The OGT that I feel most nervous about would be math. I've always been pretty bad at math, and I hardly ever do well on tests, so a math OGT is a little nerve racking. However, to change these feelings I plan to take online practice tests, study and have friends help me. I always have done better when I have my friends study with me, it makes me feel less self conscious about the material I don't understand and allows me to relax, simply because I know them well. I won't push myself into a stressful frenzy but I will study enough that I'll feel confident that I can get a good grade on the test. Another thing I do to get positive feelings for a test is to wake up early, study, take a break in the afternoon and study at night. This makes me feel like I'm letting the information set in while I'm relaxing in the afternoon, so the night time studying is a form of review. If my feelings towards the math OGT don't change after taking practice test, studying and even receiving help from my friends then I will seek help from one of the tutors or Mr. Vasi himself. My main goal is to restore confidence in this test, and to receive a good grade, I just hope my usual study methods are able to do that.