Goals

1. How are you different now than when you started school in August?

I am a lot more outgoing in school and my writing skills have increased. I know different rules to writing that I never knew before. Also, in Socratic seminars I've been speaking a lot more than I usually ever had. I feel confident about raising my hand and asking questions as well. All of these things that are different now than what they used to be are good differences/changes, so I'm very happy to say that I'm improving a lot in High Tech High Media Arts.

2. What skills do you think are the most important for succeeding in Humanities? Why?

I believe that paying attention and making a dedication to the class are very important skills someone would need in humanities and in all of the other classes. These might not seem like skills, but they to do me. This is because you have to decide whether or not you want to pay attention or not. If someone were to choose to pay attention and listen to the class, they have to learn to not doze off and keep all attention on the teacher and not on other distractions. Same applies with dedicating yourself to the class. I dedicate myself to the class by paying attention, also by putting in every effort I can to do well and succeed in school. At points I want to slack off and do other fun activities, but then I have to remember my dedication to learning at school. These 2 skills will help you with every other skill you might need to do well in a humanities class. Those skills might be either recognizing FANBOYS, or using descriptive writing in your writing, but you can only do so if you focus in class and put all of your effort to do well.

3. One thing I would like to improve on this semester is....I am going to do this by....

Public speaking. I stutter and squint when I try to say something. I also have trouble getting my point across to the audience. I try to explain what I am thinking, but most people look at me confused or don't get what I am trying to tell them. I want to try to get my words out correctly and catch the attention of them while I speak. I'm going to improve on this by participating in Socratic seminars and reading aloud the Word of the Day, my WEX writings or other reading material in class.

4. What are you most curious about? If you could study any topic, what would you study and why?
I would really like to study Shakespeare and his form of writing. Last year in 8th grade, we had to translate one of his sonnets into modern day language. It was one of the most difficult assignments I've ever done. My teacher had to help me through the entire sonnet. I would like to know more about his writing styles and why he chose to write like he did. I want to know his key messages in his poems or plays and how to decode his complicated writing.

What Ive Done.

(The Picture corresponds with #91, Met Someone Famous. This is Max Atom, the Creator of "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy")

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (school band, haha)
4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I've seen it!)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gold panned

27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (when I was on a plane we flew over it!)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (for 8 years!)
59. Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all (on New Years, haha)
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Changed a light bulb
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Mowed the lawn
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Total= 41

I lost the game.

Haha. The title of this blogpost is EPIC.

Anyway, here is just a youtube video of Indus Valley's amazing sailboat :D
Thank you Livy, Canek and Diego for working together to build this boat. Indus Valley pwned.



(And thank you Jeffery for giving me the song used in the video.)
And thank you Taylor for hauling our boat into the bay and chasing it when it was sailing away.

Lol. Laugh Out Loud. Lawl.

First off, I would like to thank my friend Brandon for showing me this.

This is absolutely hilarious. Try it with your blogs! You can use other types of "Dialects" for your blog.

http://rinkworks.com/dialect/dialectp.cgi?dialect=jive&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tayloritablog.blogspot.com%2F

Funny stuff. Haha.

Gates of Fire and the Taco Song?!

This is for Livy :P

Ok, while we were reading Gates of Fire, we saw the quote on page 322: "No horses or beaters, just two dogs per man." And we both started LAUGHING. It reminded us of our inside joke called the Taco Song :)

Literature is awesome :D.....especially when it makes you laugh!




This is also to introduce the Taco Song and its awesomeness :D

Dialectic Journals for books 7 and 8

Book 7

Page 318: "Leonidas offered the parties wine from his personal store and poured the libations from his own plain cup. He addressed each man , squires not included, not by his name, but by his nickname, and even the diminutive of that. He called Doreion "Little Hare", the Knights play name from childhood. Dekton he addressed not as Rooster, but "Roo," and touched him with tendermess upon the shoulder."

I remember when Charlotte was talking about this moment in class. It's a small paragraph, but it has a lot of meaning. Like Charlotte said, King Leonidas knows so much about his men, that he knows there childhood names. Not only that, but he refers to them by their childhood names. Now how cool is that! If Leonidas knows there childhood names, it means that he obviously has the means trust and cares for them. He doesn't act superior among them, instead he blends in with them. Leonidas is probably a role for the spartan warriors. I personally would like to be called my childhood name by my teachers or friends. It shows they know me.

Page 333: "The opposite of fear," Dienekes said, "is love."

When I read this, I had no clue what they meant. I personally thought that the opposite of fear is courage, bravery, or fearlessness. I thought about that quote and how it related to the story. What I determined is that their love for fighting for Sparta over powered their fear and that's what lead to there incredible patriotism. That's why they were so strong against an army that was much much larger than theirs.

It might also be one of those "love conquers all" things. I'm not really sure, but I will stick with my first statement.

Book 8

Page 360: "In the final moments before the actual commencement of people, when the lines of the Persians and Medes and Sacae, the Bactrians and Illyrians, Egyptians and Macedonians, lay so close across from the defenders that their individual faces could be seen, Leonidas moved along the Spartan than Thespian foreranks, speaking with each platoon commander individually. When he stopped beside Dienekes, I was close enough to hear his words.
'Do you hate them, Dienekes?' the king asked in the tone of a comrade, unhurried, conversational, gesturing to those captains and officers of the Persians proximately visible across the oudenos chorion, the no-mans-land.
Dienekes answered at once that he did not. 'I see faces of gentle and noble bearing. More than a few, I think, whom one would welcome with a clap and a laugh to any table of friends.'"

Oh my goodness. That was an intense moment. Dienekes is probably getting that horrible feeling of killing innocent people who are great friends and great men. Knowing that good men are fighting and you could possibly murder them is a stab in the guts. This part of the book just spoke to me. Either kill people you know are good men? or fight for your civilization? It's one of those decisions that no matter what you will feel bad about it in the end possibly. But, this also shows that the Spartans aren't ruthless killers. They were intelligent people who had feelings and dedication. Sparta rules :)

Page 364-365: "The ear could hear His Majesty bawling orders, so near at hand ranged he upon his chariot. Was he calling in his foreign tongue for his men to cease fire, to capture the final defenders alive? Were those to whom he cried the marines of Egypt, under their captain, Ptammitechus, who spurned their monarchs order and rushed in t0 gift what Spartans and Thespaians they could reach with the final boon of death? It was impossible to see or hear within the tumult. "

You can imagine by these few sentences what is going on. It's a turmoil, a large stream of clashes. Later on page 365 it says: "...overwhelmed by the insuperable onslaught of heaven."
Ok, it's official. Gates of Fire was very INTENSE. This should be called the Gates of Intensiveness. It describes the madness going on. I really like the onslaught of heaven. Two words that stand out. Heaven, a place of peace. Onslaught, brutal attacks. Oxymoron!

This event reminds me of the black Friday riots. The screams and voices of desperate shoppers roared the malls, and someone was killed from their stampede.

Thank you.

There are many things I am thankful for this year and now I would like to list them with a bunch of cheer!

I'm thankful for teachers High Tech High Media Arts
Because they inspire me to learn and follow my heart
I'm thankful for my friends at Patrick Henry High School
Because even though I'm not at the same school as them, they are still cool.
I am also thankful for my new friends at HTHMA,
Since you guys totally rock, hurray!
I'm thankful for my family,
who have a home for me daily
and I'm thankful for the Twilight Movie
because it was groovy!
(I'm also thankful that it was one of the best movies ever and it totally enlightened my week!)
I'm thankful for savior Jesus,
and our new Toyota Prius.
Along our troops and music,
and the moments in my life that are " classic"
I must say,
I will have much to thank on Thanksgiving day