February Favorites

Hello all!

   It is almost February and that is my favorite month of the whole year. People who know me probably think it is because my birthday is this month, but that is only part of the reason. The real reason this is my favorite month is because of Mardi Gras break! I look forward to Mardi Gras break because the weather is always  nice and my family tries to take a vacation somewhere different every year. For example, this year we are going skiing in the mountains of Lake Tahoe, Nevada. I am over joyed about this vacation because the last time I went skiing was when I was six years old, and my parents signed me up for ski school; it was the most miserable thing ever. My whole family has helped us prepare for this vacation by giving us gift cards to stores that sell skiing gear, and my parents friends have helped us out by lending us some warm clothes to wear while we are there. That is one plus of the February month!

   The next reason I love February is Valentine's Day! When you think about the month February, or the word February, what do you think of? I think of the colors red, white, and all different color pinks. I also imagine chocolates and hearts, and especially the word "love". February 14th is the one day you are supposed to set aside everything and be nice and caring towards everyone, telling them how much you appreciate them. Maybe you could even give them some chocolate and sweethearts! Their is also a down side of Valentine's day, and that is if you are single. In a bunch of movies you see people expressing love to each other and everyone is so happy and joyful. Then their are those movies where people sit at home in their bed watching lovey dovey movies and eating chocolates and ice cream that they bought for themselves. I hope none of you all do the second option this year, just enjoy the day and tell everyone you love them, if you mean it. Someone once said to me "This Valentine's Day I'm going to sit at home, watch the Notebook and Valentine's Day the movie and eat strawberry ice cream because it's pink" -Unknown-

Happy almost February, 

ksparkles77

Research Work

Good evening,
   The weekend is almost over, and if you ask me it went by way too fast! Anyways, I spent my weekend in New Orleans at my grandmothers house where I spent parts of my Saturday and Sunday working on paragraphs of my paper. If I showed you what I accomplished it wouldn't look like much, but to me it is. It is't very detailed at the moment and quotes still need to be added in. It also might help me if I could meet with Dr. D sometime this week and she can help me signal phrase because I'm not to sure on how to do that. When I think of signal phrase I think of trying to fit my quote and author into the sentence/paragraph in an appropriate way that makes sense to the readers.
   Another thing I worked on that was related to my research paper was the reading assignment from Norton. Honestly, I don't like reading long sections from the Norton because I find them boring and too lengthy (they use to many words to describe one thing). This reading homework that we had over the weekend though was short and sweet for me! I didn't think the topic was interesting and there was a few words I didn't quite understand so I circled them. Besides that I think it was an impressive paper. You could tell the "student" researched well and sounded like an expert on the topic. One thing that stood out to me in the Norton research paper that I don't do in mine s put the author and source in parentheses. When I state my article title I try to combine it or merge it into the sentence to where the sentence still makes sense and isn't a comma splice or run-on. Should we be putting our sources in our paper, in parentheses, or under our works cited list?

Friday-50minutes, Finished detailed outline (took out some stuff and added in some details) and picked out a new thesis.
Saturday-1hour 10minutes, Picked out quotes I was going to use and started on the MLA format with one paragraph complete.
Sunday-40minutes, Completed two more rough draft paragraphs.

Have a good week,
ksparkles77

Restricted Relationships

Afternoon again fellow classmates,
   If you have been reading my blog post I thank you and if you happened to read my one labeled "Outcasts", this post is in relation to that one. I am smack dab in the middle of my book right now and I am enjoying it greatly. It is filled with life lessons, stories of people who have gone through rough patches in there lives and now feel "in heaven", and short chapters which I tend to enjoy in a book because it makes the book seem shorter than it really is (it's a mental thing to me). I decided to talk about relationships in my blog post today, but not just any relationships, restricted ones.
   You may ask yourself, what does she mean she says restricted relationship?, I just mean a relationship with a loved one that has boundaries, meaning you can't always be together. It can be a boyfriend/girlfriend, wife/husband, sibling, or a best friend. Anyway, in my novel, Neil, the one year inmate, is having trouble with his wife because he is not able to see her 24/7 like he was used too only a few weeks ago. When he got sent off to prison he promised her he would call everyday, write everyday, and that he would have people sending money to her and the children so she wouldn't have to go back to work, all she would have to do is take care of the children. So far Neil has not kept his promise to call everyday, and folks who were supposed to send over money to Linda, Neil's wife, have not, therefore she had to go back to work and is not happy with that. After I read that today it got me to foreshadow on this book. I was wondering to myself, is Linda gonna call for a divorce when Neil gets out or will she stay in the marriage for the sake of her children? Will things ever go back to normal between him and his wife? I guess I will have to read more to find out.

Reading Log:
1/21/12- 65 minutes, 41 pages
1/22/12- 92 minutes, 51 pages

Stay fabulous,
ksparkles77

Saturday Homework Tips

Happy Saturday Bloggers,
   Saturday is my favorite day of the week just because you get to sleep late and go to bed late. It is also the day where I try to accomplish the most school work. Normally, like last year, I would wait until Sunday evening and night to do my homework, and when I tried that at the beginning of the school year this year it was a miserable memory. I remember one Sunday night I was up until 11:00pm doing homework and I could barely sleep that night, plus I had to wake up early to get ready and have time to eat breakfast. I did not want to go through that again, so I told myself Saturday is the day to do it all. And some might be thinking that it's not normal to do your homework on Saturdays because that is the day to hangout with your friends and have sleepovers, and I agree. I also agree that school comes first and I'm not encouraging you to do all your homework on Saturday, I'm just saying get the harder and longer stuff over with on Saturday so that your Sunday isn't as big of a hassle.
   For example, on Saturdays (today) I read most of my 150 minutes because I didn't want to take 2 and a half hours of reading out of my day tomorrow, and because I don't have time to read during the week. Also today I accomplished my math spiral and am going to try to finish these to blogs and comments. That means tomorrow I can sleep later, do more social activity, and worry about school less! That sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
ksparkles77

Outcasts

Happy Tuesday Block 2,
   You might read the title of my blog and think I am going to talk about outcasts and how they don't socially or economically fit into the world because that is not true. I am going to talk about my book that my mom and I recently started called In the Sanctuary of Outcasts. This book is a well written book by the man himself, Mr. Neil White. He himself is not a social outcast, but when he goes to prison for writing fraud bank checks the types of people he shares the prison "grounds" with is unreal. You would think in Louisiana that a penitentiary would be a wired in, dead grass area where not a soul smiles. According to Mr. White that is wrong. He roams mostly in the prison commons while on the other side of the yard is leopards. Not the animal leopards but people who have leprosy. Back then leprosy was a disease everyone was afraid of getting and anyone who had leprosy was considered harmful and gross, and sometimes had to change there name and get disinherited by there own family members. I don't know about you but if my family did that to me I would defiantly be heartbroken.
   I have a point to my blog, I promise! I am trying to get across to you, as a reader, that just because somebody has a skin disorder, mental disorder, or something that affects the way they grow up, you shouldn't bring them down. This relates back to my book because in my book Neil shows up at this penitentiary ready to serve his one year and get out. Little did he know that he he would be sharing air with leopards and that he would soon become friends with some, even though they were "dangerous" and there disease spread and could kill you. I think Neil did the right thing because those people with disorders are humans just like us and have feelings just like us. If we have friends, family, and a life why can't they?

Thank y'all and have a good rest of the week
LOVE, ksparkles77

<Reading Log>
January 15, 2012: 94 minutes, 50 pages
January 16, 2012: 62 minutes, 34 pages

Snowball VS. Hollyball

Good Afternoon fellow bloggers,
   Incase you were wondering about the title of my post, Snowball and Hollyball, those are winter dances that an organization known as cotillion puts on each year for the high school and middle school separately. To get in to one of these "groups", Baton Rouge or Elan, you must sign up and send in a photo of yourself. Next they will pull from a big group of names and if your name is pulled you are excepted into one organization. It is very exciting to go to these dances and dress up in theme, but sometime the dances are not enjoyable. For example, in the past month or so I went to Hollyball for Baton Rouge cotillion and last night (January 14) went to Snowball for Elan cotillion. Right now you could be asking yourself how I went to both parties if I am only a member of one cotillion, Baton Rouge? Well why you are in cotillion you are allowed to pay to bring a member to these dances and that is what me and a friend did. Therefore she can take me to all the Elan dances and I can take her to all the Baton Rouge dances. (It might sounds confusing right now, but it really isn't.)
   Last night at Snowball, compared to a few weeks ago at Hollyball, the two dances were both different in there own ways. Hollyball, in my opinion, was better and funner then Snowball only because Hollyball was less strict on many rules and we were allowed to wear tennis shoes. Another reason I enjoyed Hollyball over Snowball was because Hollyball's party favor was sweatpants and those are something I would wear more than a red sweatshirt, just because red isn't my color. Baton Rouge cotillion is with the whole high school, 9th-12th, and Elan cotillion used to be 9th and then 10th-12th but that rule was recently changed to 9th and 10th and 11th and 12th. I disagree with that rule only because I liked having all 9th graders at a party for once, and it kind of reminded me of middle school again. If you are not in a cotillion I suggest you sign up for one because the parties have many memories with them and you can ask about anyone that!
Have a safe MLK day,
LOVE, ksparkles77
 

Spring Break

Hello people who chose to read my blog (and if you do, thanks)!
My blog today is about spring break, my favorite time of the year. The weather is great during this time of year because it allows you to sit out in the sun and not be to hot. You can also go to the beach at this time of year which is a very popular choice for most. If you don't go to the beach some choose to go to Disney World, go on a cruise, or just kick back and relax at home. My favorite thing to do over spring break is go to the beach with my friends and family, getting tan, and meeting new people. It might not sound like fun, but it is!
Last year for spring break my parents let me and my sisters choose where and who we wanted to go to the beach with. We chose Gulf Shores, Alabama and we each brought a friend with us to stay for a week. Let me tell you, a week is a long long time when your having fun in the sun on the beach. By the time I left I was very tan (which I loved so much), but a week after I returned home I was peeling and it was not a pretty sight. So remember to do the smart thing and not where SPF 4, like me, because it can give you skin damage when your older giving you a higher risk of having skin cancer. Nobody wants that! I'm going to end my blog with a question that you can answer by commenting if you choose too. Where should I go to the beach this year?

LOVE, ksparkles77