Graduation Is Right Around the Corner

     Graduation is on June 1, which is like a week away. I feel like it was yesterday that the year was starting and I was entering sixth grade. These three years have passed by so quickly that I can't believe it. As I enter every grade, the year goes by faster and faster. This year has been fun and interesting. We have gone to exciting places for field trips and the work overall was a lot more appealing to me. The fact that I am graduating seems so surreal to me, because I can remember when my brother graduated from eighth grade.

     Throughout this year I become more cognizant of my strengths and weaknesses academically. I have gotten closer with new people and drifted away from others, but that's part of life. I definitely believe that I have learned a lot of new information specifically in science and math. I have improved so much in volleyball and I will hopefully make the team next year. I have gotten awards and been recognized and done lots of community service. I don't think I'm going to miss my school specifically, but more the people and the memories. Overall, I have had a great time in this school and I'm excited to go to a new school with new people, and make new memories.

This Song Will Change Your Life Book Review

     I just finished this book called This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. This book is a mix of teen fiction and realistic fiction. It is about a 15 year old girl named Elise Dembowski and how she believes that she was born to be unpopular. She explains how throughout the school years, less and less people want to interact with her. After all the years of being 'uncool', Elise takes the executive decision to remake herself into a new person. She gets rid of her old clothes, tries new hairstyles, attempts to listen to new music, and stays up to date with celebrity news. All of this doesn't work in the new school year and she doesn't become popular. Eventually, Elise starts to think that there is nothing left for her in this world and becomes suicidal for about a day.
     Elise's parents are divorced so they both live in different houses, that happen to be on the opposite sides of town. Seven months after she calls a girl named Amelia because she started cutting herself and Amelia called the police, Elise goes out in the middle of the night. She meets two girls, Vicky and Pippa, in an alley that was actually the entry way to night club called Start. There she becomes friends with the DJ, Char, and the bouncer, Mel. One Thursday night when Elise goes to Start, Char has to take Pippa home so he puts Elise in charge of the music. She only makes one transition to another song before he is back but she wants to learn more. Eventually, Char teaches her how to DJ better and she gets her own DJ equipment, and Char shares his Thursday night shift with her. This book is basically about how she struggles to keep her DJ life a secret but still manage to survive her 'unpopular' day life. She goes through struggles with new friends she makes at school, her family, her friends at Start, and especially with herself.
     Honestly, there were times when this book got me mad because sometimes some of the characters would do dumb things. Overall, I enjoyed reading it and I liked how at the end of the book the author describes the the different places and times Elise would play music and what songs she would like to listen to. I would recommend this book to people who like music, semi-quick reads, teen fiction, and realistic fiction. I say that this book is a semi-quick read because it can be a quick read if you read fast, but if not then it would only take you a couple of days. In conclusion, I enjoyed reading this book and I think that others would like to read it as well.

Sherlock Season 4

     If you watch the BBC show Sherlock or you know someone who does, then you would know that we have to wait about a year or more for one season to come out. The actors on the show also do movies so they get busy, therefore makes us wait more than a year for a season. I love BBC, I love most of the shows that they have. BBC owns Doctor Who, Luther, Merlin, and Sherlock. I also hate the some of the BBC writers, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss to be exact. They kill off characters that you would never want to die and if they are lucky they come back to life or they don't. They write great episodes and created amazing shows but sometimes they do some questionable things. Anyways, I'm rambling, we have been waiting for Sherlock season 4 to come out for like two years. It finally came out but I didn't have time to watch it on tv when it aired, so I had to wait months for it to come out on Netflix. I think it went on Netflix on May 15.
     I watched like six episodes on the weekend, I rewatched three episodes from season 3, so I spent around 6 hours of my life watching Sherlock. I don't regret it because man did a lot happen. I would summarize what happened but in the first episodes but you would have to watched season 1, 2, and 3. I don't want to spoil it for you but let's just say that Sherlock has his susbstance abuse problems again  and a new person is introduced to us. I just had to write this post because Sherlock is one of my favorite shows and I would recommend this show to anyone who like detective shows and sociopaths. The episodes are about an hour long and they aren't for everyone because it can be boring for some people.

My Summer Plans

     Summer is right around the corner and it's normal for people to have summer plans. My summer usually consists of me staying up until 3 in the morning and not waking up until after 11. I watch lots and lots of YouTube and Netflix. Even though I'm an athletic person, I don't really go out and play sports. This summer is going to be different, hopefully.
     Last summer, we found out that my aunt was going to get married. Not very surprising or phenomenal, people get married all the time. The one thing that caught my eye was the location she was getting married at, Key Largo, Florida. I have never been to Florida so this was very exciting for me. My mom told the that if we were to go to Florida, she would want us to go to Disney World. She said that it has been a dream of hers to take her kids to Disney World, and I have always wanted to go as well. So, Disney World is on the agenda, another thing that is also on the agenda is to go to Miami. I personally just want to go to Miami to go to the beach and do water related activities that I have never had the chance to do before. This trip is something that we aren't for sure is going to happen but hopefully it does, because it would make great picture for Snapchat and Instagram.
      If this trip doesn't happen, then I have a backup plan. Last year, my family got the membership for Six Flags. That means that I can go to Six Flags as many times I want, and my parents just have to pay a monthly fee. It is similar to the season pass but you don't have to give the money all at once. I would recommend it to those whose families like to go to Six Flags and enjoy it. This membership doesn't just work for Six Flags Great America, you are able to go to whichever Six Flags in the nation. I've never had the season pass so I don't know if you are able to go to all the Six Flags parks as well. Anyway, that is what I am planning to do this summer.

Lord of the Flies Book Review

     This year in my ELA class we read a whole class book. This book was Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Honestly, this book isn't for everyone. It is about a group of boys, who are around 12 and younger, who get there plane crashed on an unknown island during a war. There are no adults who survived and these kids have to survive until they, and if they get rescued. The boys go through a lot, like loss of some of their members, the hard job to just survive, surviving each other, and the island. Some say that this book is a representation of humanity. Do I agree with that? More or less, people who read this book have different opinions.
      I thought the book was good but not great. It was interesting but I wouldn't put it in my ultimate favorites list. It took a couple of chapters for the real action to happen, so if you aren't even the slightest bit of patient then I don't suggest this book. I would recommend this book to a person who likes survival books and wants to see how someone else thinks of humanity. There isn't a lot of people I would specifically tell to read this book, so I'm telling everyone. This book is a classic and isn't very long. If you're looking for another book to read try this one. At the end, all books don't work for everyone.

A New Show I'm Watching

     A couple of days I ago, I decided to watch a new show on Netflix. I already knew about this show because an actor who is in another show I love is in it. This show is called DC Legends of Tomorrow. The main reason I started watching it was because of Arthur Darvill, who also happened to be in Doctor Who. He is like the main character in this new show.
     DC Legends of Tomorrow is about this guy named Rip Hunter who has a ship that can travel through time and space. He lives in the year 2166 and has decided to go back in time to 2016 to recruit a team that will help him kill someone. This someone is immortal and over the years has done things that in the future will give him power of the world. The reason why this guy is so important is because in 2166 he takes over the planet and kills Rip's family. That is a little bit about the show, if you want to know more go watch the show on Netflix, the CW app, or Hulu.
       I'm not much of a DC fan but I must say, I enjoy watching this show. Every since I started watching Doctor Who, I have loved anything that had to do with traveling through time and space. In this show they do go to different eras but at the same time you learn more about the characters. I binged watched the first season on Netflix in one day. I would suggest this show to anyone who likes shows like Doctor Who, likes DC, and enjoys superheroes, this show is basically a mix of all of these.

The Amazing People I Call My Children

     In a previous post I talked about my children, specifically one. I gave a briefly summarized why I called him my son but I decided that it would be fun to talk more about my children. So, for those who didn't read that post here is the link because you might enjoy reading that one too.
     Not so long ago, after I found the great world of fandoms, I fell in love with the actors/actresses of those who in were in the show or movie. I quickly realized that many of these people were twice my age and would be a little a weird if I called one of them by boyfriend/husband (typical fangirl). My cousin, who is another fangirl, told me that she called some celebrities her children. That is where I got the idea of naming these amazing people my children. Some people do find it weird because they are a lot older than me. I don't care though because I am already weird, maybe a little crazy, so who cares.
     I have a lot of children but one of my goals in life is to meet at least one of them. I am going to give a list of all of them. Let's start: Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Lucky Blue Smith, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padelecki, Misha Collins, Martin Freeman, Bradley James, Colin Morgan, Arthur Danville, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, David Tennant, Tom Holland, and Chadwick Boseman. This blog may have not been interesting for some but I was very fun to write about and the picture below will probably have nothing to do with this blog.

   

My First Encounters With Fandoms

     So, today I decided to write a post more personal. I pretty sure when people think of something personal, they might think of like family, something important, or something that happened to them that affected them greatly. In my case, something personal are my fandoms. Fandoms to me are like a second family. They are full of people who like the same things as you and just understand the way you are. I don't think I would be the same person I am today without my beloved fandoms. Now let's move on to the rest of the blog post. Okay that was little weird but we're going to roll with it.
     I recall the first time I figured out what fandoms where was when I was like 8, I'm not completely sure but all I know when One Direction was a thing but not a huge thing yet. Yes, just like millions of girls(and boys) around the world who would kill to just meet one of them. I'm going to be honest, I was a huge Directioner, like gigantic. Now I'm not going to bore you with the reasons of why I was a big Directioner but the point is that basically my first fandom, if you exclude Barney from when I was like 5.
     My top faves or the ones I associate more with are Doctor Who, Supernatural, Sherlock, and everything Marvel. Now that I think about it, Power Rangers might have been the first fandom I was in but I didn't know what fandoms were. Growing up I loved the Power Rangers, like I was obsessed. I watched the original Power Rangers, Jungle Fury, Samurai, all of them. I liked them so much that I told my friends that I was secretly a Power Ranger. I still say I am, but they were my thing. I never liked Disney Princesses until I was older but I still watched all the movies.
     Now that you know how I first encountered fandoms, I am going to tell you all the fandoms that I am a part of now. Here we go: Doctor Who, Supernatural, Sherlock, Marvel Comics, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe Television Series, Merlin, Star Trek, Fall Out Boy, Hamilton, Wicked, Legally Blonde:The Musical, Heathers, Spring Awakening, Little Mix, Gilmore Girls, Power Rangers, and Shameless. Those are all of the ones that I could think of but I think there are more, but I don't know how many there are to be honest. I like watching a lot of different youtubers but I don't think you can consider those fandoms. I wish I could say more but I don't want to make this blog extremely long. I am still going to make more blog posts on my fandoms and the celebrities I consider my children.

My Spring Break & Fourth Quarter Expectations

     Last week, we had spring break. To be honest, I didn't really do anything besides sleeping and watching Netflix. To summarize everything I watched on, it's basically all the shows that are from Marvel. I only left my house like twice, one was to go to one of friend's house and the other was an outing with my family. Even though I didn't leave my house, I had fun being lazy all day. Overall, I think I had fun on my spring break.
     Now that you know what happened over spring break, now to the more exciting part, graduation. When ever someone says graduation, I automatically think of summer break and no school. Now that spring break is over we are in fourth quarter. In my mind, in fourth quarter we just relax and don't really do much. It could be different but over the years it has been the same. I'm excited for fourth quarter because we have Six Flags, dinner dance, and the main event graduation. For fourth quarter, I want to have no fouls, pass all my focus areas with an 8 or higher, and end the school year with good grades. I also expect the rest of the school year to be fun because we won't be coming to this school next year or ever again.

Life Is Beautiful

     A movie that we watched during class, about the Holocaust, was Life Is Beautiful. It was about this man named Guido, who happened to be Jewish, who falls in love with a woman named Dora, who wasn't Jewish. I am going to try to summarize everything, so that you know the basics of what happend in the movie. Guido and Dora have a son named Giosue, who loved dearly by both of his parents. Since this movie is set when the Holocaust was happening and Guido was Jewish, the Nazis came for him. When they took him away to a camp, he was with his son and he kept on asking where they were going. In order to make his son not feel worried or scared, he started telling him jokes and saying that it was all game that they had to win. Even though Dora isn't Jewish, she wanted to be with her family so she also got on the train to go to the camp. This movie is basically about how Guido and Dora fall in love and start a family, but also about how all three of them do the impossible to continue to be together but as well as for all of them to survive.
     Since this movie has something to do with the Holocaust, it does have some aspects that are similar to the real thing. The events that happened in the movie that also happened in the real Holocaust was how they would the Jewish inside the trains in big amounts. Another thing was similar was when they got off the train and they separated the women from the men and categorized everyone from age. Those that were dubbed to young to work or too old were told that they were going to go take showers, but were actually sent to their deaths in gas chambers. Another thing that happened in both was when those who were old but young enough to work were analyzed, to see if they could work by Nazi doctors. One major thing that I found different or thought that couldn't really happen was the freedom they had in the camp. In some scenes you could see Guido and Giosue walking around the camp after hours and no guard catching them. I found it odd because based off what we read and learned about the Holocaust, it seemed as if you couldn't just walk wherever you wanted whenever you wanted. Another thing that I think was different was the help Guido got from a Nazi doctor, who before the Holocaust Guido actually worked for. I knew that in ghettos some people would pay Nazis to let them escape, but in the movie Guido didn't pay anyone and yet the doctor helped because he knew him. It may have been possible but I haven't read anything saying something like what happened in the movie actually happened in real life. Those were just some of the similarities and differences the movie had with the Holocaust, there are some more but I just stated those as few examples.
     In this movie, there are different characters that gave the movie a different tone from others. Guido gave the movie a humorous tone. Even when they got sent to the camp, he would use humor to comfort his son. Dora in the first half of the movie had a humorous tone because there wasn't anything happening that would make her mood turn to suspenseful. The second half of the movie, she has a more suspenseful mood because you didn't see a whole lot of what was happening with her. Another character that gave the second half a humorous mood was Giosue. Since his father made him think that the reason they were in the camp was because of a game, he didn't know what was happening so it lightened the mood. Sometimes his presence in some scenes would give the movie a suspenseful tone because you weren't sure if he was going to get caught or not.
     Life is shown as beautiful throughout the film because it shows how everything was so simple, and as the Holocaust continued to happen families continued to try to be together and survive. This shows that they cared more about their families than anything else. An example of that was when Dora told the Nazi soldier to stop the train because she was going to get in it. Even though she wasn't Jewish, she risked her life just to maybe see her family one more time. An example of how everything was so simple in the film was before the Holocaust. When Guido and Dora were falling in love it seemed as if the only thing that was important was their love and them being together. Everything they did when they met were very simple and humorous. It didn't seem as complicated as most things seem now today.

Shooting the Moon- Frances O'Roark Dowell

     The book I recently finished was called Shooting Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell. This book is about a 12 year old girl named Jamie Dexter and her brother TJ, who joins the Army and was sent off to war in Vietnam. Before leaving off to Vietnam, TJ was very into photography. In Vietnam he would take pictures of everything he saw and send them back to Jamie. Back then you had to develop the film, Jamie had to learn how to do that. As time went by, TJ would send more gruesome pictures. The one thing he would always send her at least one picture was of the moon. Jamie learned how to develop film in her local rec center, where she volunteered over the summer because her two best friends had to move away. At the red center she meets this guy, who soon becomes her best friend. In the end, this book is just about her journey coping without her brother and best friends, and the new experiences she makes with new friends.
     I really liked this book because it was easy, fast, and straight the point. It didn't have so much detail that made the book long and boring. It was detailed just enough so you could visualize what was happening in the book. I also liked how the character develops throughout the book. I would suggest this book to someone who wants a quick read and is interested in learning how the lives of army children were back when the Vietnam war was happening.

Weapons: Designing the Tools of War by Jason Richie

     This quarter a non-fiction book I read was Weapons: Designing the Tools of War by Jason Richie. This book is talks about seven weapons that have a made a huge impact in the way weapons are made today. Those seven are the Submarine, the Revolver, the Battleship, the Torpedo, the Automatic Machine Gun, the Tank, and the Ballistic Missile. It explains the background stories of how these weapons came to be and the inventors of them. Not only does it talk about those seven weapons but they also briefly discuss some popular weapons from 3000 B.C. to the 1400s. Some of those are javelins, crossbows, catapults, swords, lances, and the first handgun. The book also concisely discusses some of the newer weapons used in war. Some stated are smart bombs, new missiles, torpedoes, depth charges, machine guns, Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-117A Nighthawk (Stealth) fighter jet, laser-guided bombs, satellite-guided bombs, and many more weapons. This book was very informative on the different weapons of time.
     I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn't think that I was going to enjoy it but I did. This book was very informing and fast. There was a lot of information about different things and people but it was a quick read. I really like how you learned about major weapons used today and how they came to be. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in learning about the history of popular weapons and who wants a quick read. My favorite part of this book was when you learned about the Battleship. It was very interesting to see how before in was made out of wood and now it's this big metal ship armed with large caliber guns. Overall this book was really good, in my opinion.

Forgotten

Forgotten  by Anonymous

You wanton, quiet memory that haunts me all the while
In order to remind me of her whom love I send.
Perhaps when you caress me sweetly, I will smile,
You are my confidante today, my very dearest friend.

You sweet remembrance, tell a fairy tale
About my girl who's lost and gone, you see.
Tell, tell the one about the golden grail
And call the swallow, bring her back to me.

Fly somewhere back to her and ask her, soft and low,
If she thinks of me sometimes with love,
If she is well and ask her, too, before you go
If I am still her dearest, precious dove.

And hurry back, don't lose your way,
So if I can think of other things,
But you were too lovely, perhaps, to stay.
I loved you once. Good-bye, my love!

Regret

     In this life, we do many actions. Sometimes we love the consequences and sometimes we hate them. When we hate them, we usually hate the action itself. We wish we can go back in time and do things differently, but unfortunately that's not what happens. The one thing I regret is not obtaining more time to bond with my brotherNot getting to know him on a brotherly level.
     My brother is in the Navy, so he isn't around all the time. It is very different for all of us because it has always been the two of us. My brother is five years older than me but I see other siblings who are more years apart and talk as if they are the same age. My brother and I know each other but not really, I know a little bit more than the rest of my family. If I could go back in time and change something it would be the relationship I have with my brother.

Jews Are Lice VS Americans Will Not Be Fooled

     During WWII, Nazis used many propaganda to influence those who supported them. They had propaganda that said Jews and anyone different are bad and Nazis are good. One of these many posters is one called Jews are Lice. This poster was basically telling people that Jews had lice. As surprising as it might be now, back then people used to actually believe this poster. It made them stay away from Jews in order to not get lice. This poster was targeted to practically anyone who could read and knew about lice. This poster is not really effective today because it doesn't say why or how Jews are lice. To me it sounds very bias making it untrue. Even though today it maybe ineffective back it probably was.

     In America, they also used propaganda. An example of that is a poster called Americans Will Not Be Fooled. This poster consists of a list of things that Hitler believed in and big letters saying "Hitler wants us to believe that. . ." The ideas on this list are basically ideas that contradict the American Constitution. I think that this poster can be effective in a way. The things it says are not what America is about, so people might agree with it. It can also not be effective today because many people believe their own ideas and many say the U.S. is corrupt, making this poster not effective. I think that the people targeted are anyone who doesn't really know a lot of information about Hitler and what he was doing. If a person didn't know a lot of information then this person could give them some info that government would like them to know.

     Both of these pieces of propaganda could have been effective back in WWII, but now, not so much. If I had to choose one of them that was more effective it would have to be Jew Are Lice. The reason why is because the poster gives the person information but it isn't clear what the maker wants the reader's outcome to be. Jew Are Lice clearly shows that the maker wants the reader to stay away from Jews. In order for this to happen and person to willingly do it, the maker added false advertising about Jews having lice. 

The Famous Person I Want to Hang Out With

     If you could, would you ever want to hang out with a celebrity for an entire day? You get to choose who that special person was, dead or alive, and what would you do with them? If that were me, then I would have a hard time picking only one person. As you might know, I am a part of many fandoms so many that I have lost count. I am part of t.v. show fandoms, movie fandoms, comic book fandoms, musical fandoms, and artist/band fandoms. So, if I had to pick from all of those, it would be Sebastian Stan.
     Sebastian Stan is an actor, who is mainly known for playing Bucky in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has also been on some tv shows like Gossip Girl, Kings, Once Upon a Time, Political Animals, and more movies and shows. He is from Romania but has lived in the United States since he was 12. He is 34, so he is most definitely alive. That's a little bit about Sebastian Stan and what his Wikipedia page says, but now onto the juicy part.
     The reason I chose this beautiful creature to write about today is because he is my son. Yes, I said my son, you read that correctly. When most normal people like a celebrity, they consider themselves their fans. Other people also consider one or more celebrities their boyfriend, husband, et cetera and vice versa. For me, when a celebrity hits a certain age, that you know you could say is too old for you, I still wish I had a loving relationship so they turn into my children. I also chose him because he is a good actor, funny, invented jaw lines, the cutest thing ever, inspiring, legit 5 year old, a cinnamon roll, there are many reason more that make this post longer than it already is.
     So when my teacher tells me to write this post, you know what happened, I died. I knew that it would be a hard decision because I'm more of a go with the flow kinda person and have too many children, but here is my day with, my son, Sebastian Stan. So starting off the day, we would have breakfast at a restaurant with good food not a fancy or expensive just one that serves delicious food. He can order whatever he wants, I don't really care, and also I would want to pay the check because I invited him. I don't know what I would order to be honest so let's say I ordered some breakfast food, you pick. Once we are done with our meal, I ask for the check. I reach my hand for it and the Sebastian says that he will pay for it because he is a cinnamon roll, I try to fight with him saying that I invited him. In the end we split the check and we are both happy. Just so you know I am basing this off as if it is set in Los Angeles.
     Next on the agenda we would go to a carnival or fair. We would spend around 3 hours there just playing games, walking around, and doing fair stuff. Once we are there for a couple of hours, we start getting hungry so we decide to go to another restaurant for lunch.  During lunch, Sebastian surprises me saying that we are going to a movie premiere. He didn't say which movie, trying to surprise me but I knew which movie was premiering that night. I would most likely be on vacation in Los Angeles so I would that I didn't bring any clothes for that event or I need to go to the mall. We finish our lunch and we go to the mall, we spend here around 2 hours. When we both have purchased our desired pieces of clothing, we decide to relax at the beach. The sun is about to set and we both are indecisive so we sit down for awhile and then starting walking and fooling around.
     It is officially night time, we go back to our house/hotel room and get ready for the premiere. If you want to know my outfit, then I guess I will describe it for you. I am wearing black ripped jeans, a grey shirt, a bomber jacket, and black high tops. We arrive at the place they are holding the premiere and just like I thought, the movie was a new Marvel movie. At most premieres there is like a mini red carpet that celebrities go on and paparazzi take pictures, so at this imaginary premiere there is also one.  I see all the people and big cameras, I start to get nervous because I know I am going to have to walk down that and have my picture taken and also I'm not a celebrity. Since Sebastian knows me so well he quickly realizes my discomfort and tells me that it's just a few pictures and it is going to be okay. The mini red carpet was not so bad, the lights almost blinded me but I thought it was good. We get inside the theater and I go straight to the where the food is, I buy a large popcorn and an ICEE. We get into the room, where you see the movie, take our seats and wait for the movie to start. As I am sitting down I realize who is in front and next to us, the rest of the cast. I completely forgot that Sebastian was in the movie and that he knew the Avengers. I start to soak everything up mentally because I didn't want to take out my phone and take a picture with its bright flash in a semi-dark room, I also didn't want to seem like a crazy obsessed fan. The movie starts, so I start munching my popcorn away.
     The credits start rolling and I know Marvel so I stay seated, as well as the rest of the Avengers and Sebastian. After the movie, I am formally introduced to the other cast member. We talk for awhile but afterwards Sebastian and I decide we are hungry so we go get a late night meal. After our meal, Sebastian drops me off at my hotel, we say our goodbyes, and then he drives away to home. That is what would happen if I were to spend an entire day with Sebastian Stan.

P.S. This blog post is 100% fiction. In no way, shape, or form will this happen or happened.

20 Things That Give Me Happiness

This post is just going to be a list of 20 things that make me happy.

• The feeling you get when you're the final hit and you get the point.
• Jamming out to my favorite musicals as if I'm on Broadway.
• Watching Netflix and YouTube with food.
• Reading a really good Wattpad book and finishing it in one day.
• Being able to snuggle with all my stuffed animals.
• The confidence you get when you wear new clothes and/or get all dolled up.
• Waking up at 5:30 am for morning volleyball practice.
• Getting a good grade on a test that you were not so confident about.
• The way you squeal when you see a cute animal.
• Going to parties and dancing to all the Spanish music. 
• Making an imaginary world in my head where I control what happens.
• My great-grandmother's delicious cooking.
• Being alone in my room, playing Call of Duty Black Ops on my PlayStation.
• Having my family and friends around who support and care for me.
• Volunteering for community service hours.
• When my brother comes home and it feels like old times.
• Having talks about life with my Mother.
• Seeing and being able to play with my little cousins.
• Dying of laughter over the most random things with my friends.
• A phenomenal thing called life.

Perserverance

     Everyone at some point in their life has to perserverance at one thing or another. We all have that one thing that we just want to continue trying or get better at. An example of a person like this is a person named Nick Vujicic. Nick doesn't have arms or legs, so you would automatically think that he can't do normal stuff. Actually he does everyday things like we do, he go swimming, fishing, and many more activities. Three traits that Nick has are self-respect, perserverance, and courage. He has self-respect because he respects himself for who he is, and doesn't bring himself down. He doesn't think of himself as less just because he doesn't have arms or legs. He also has perserverance because even though he has a disability, he doesn't stop doing activities that any of us would do. The third trait he has is confidence. Nick has confidence because he knows that he can try new things, he isn't going to let his lack of arms/legs bring him down, and he knows that he can accomplish anything.

      A connection that Nick and I have is that we both have perserverance. We both try new things and have confidence when it comes to new activities or old ones. An example of this is when I first started playing volleyball, I couldn't do anything. My serves didn't make it over the net, I couldn't hit the ball in any shape or form, and I didn't know what the rules are or how we had to rotate. I wanted to try it because I would always see my brother playing the sport. In order to better myself, I started taking volleyball classes and practicing more. I would ask my brother for tips and tricks and would play volleyball any chance I got. In the end, I have been on the all-star volleyball for two years in a row and I think I am a pretty a good volleyball player. For anyone who wants to try something new or get better at something, just keep trying and don't give up.

Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial

     Every year, different companies and corporations use the Super Bowl as a way to advertise their product to a big group of people. Many people watch the Super Bowl every year, so it's perfect for large companies. Some companies use this huge audience as a way to sell more products or to send a message. One commercial of this year's Super Bowl was one by Budweiser. It summarizes the journey of one of the founders of the Budweiser company, Adolphus Busch, into a 60 second video. It shows a young Adolphus immigrating from Germany to St. Louis. When he gets to America, there are people who tell him to go back to where he came from, just like many say to immigrants nowadays.
     You can obviously tell that this commercial has a message because it is about a hot topic, immigrants. I think that the message Budweiser is trying to send to its audience is that not all immigrants are bad and they actually add to our society. Adolphus Busch was one of the founders of a ver big and popular beer company. He came to the United States as an immigrant and created this company that has lived for many years and till this day is relevant to Americans.
     I think that this commercial sent a good message about immigrants. I liked how they didn't just yell, "Immigrants are good for America" and did it in a more subtle but still impactful way. This shows that if it weren't for immigrants, some of the things that we consider 'American' wouldn't exist. Also if it weren't for immigrants, America wouldn't be as diverse as it is and have all of these different cultures. In my opinion when America was nothing, immigrants from other countries came to start a new life and bettered the United States economy. If it weren't for immigrants, the United States would not be the country it is today.

Best Advice I've Received

     Advice is given everyday, it can be the smallest piece of advice to a bigone about life. Advice helps us either make good or bad choices. They help us go through our daily lives knowing a little bit more about what path to choose. I am given phenomenal advice almost every single day by my mother. She tells me things that no one ever told her about how hard life is. She lived a hard life growing up and basically grew up without a mother nor a father. Everything she knows about life, she has learned by herself. The best advice she has ever given me was 'Don't try to run, when you're barely crawling'.
     The meaning of that saying is to not try to something too early. Everything will happen at its own time. I think that generations of today try to do things or act a way that is too old for them, and I'm not saying they are mature. There are kids who are ten, who act and dress like they are sixteen. There will always be time for everything, there is no need to rush it and not enjoy what is happening in the moment. I really like this phrase and I always have it in the back of my head. In the end, my mother has given me many pieces of advice but I think this one is one of the most important ones.

Worst Argument I've Had

     Arguments are a thing that everyone has, even those who are super nice and don't have drama. They happen for various reasons and can be about almost anything you can think of. Everyone has that one argument that was so bad, and now they don't like talking about it. I haven't had a super horrible argument with anyone, the ones I have had are just average. An argument that sparked a lot of controversy is one that I had with my friends. One of my friends, we are going to call her Steve, decided to tell me and my two other friends, we are going to call them Tony and Clint, a scenario. She asked us what we would do if someone, who was an atheist and hated those who believed in any god, was holding a gun to our heads and he asked us if we believed in God. If we said yes, we died and so did our families. If we said no, he would let us and our families live. Tony, Clint, and I all said yes, Steve said that was good because we would be let into Heaven since we got killed. This is the moment where everything went south.
      Steve was saying that if we said no and survived, when we died God would not let us into Heaven because we weren't being faithful to him. All three of us, Tony, Clint, and I, tried to explain to her that's not how it works. We told her that if you said no, you could still be let into Heaven. I go to a Catholic church, so I don't know how it works in Christian churches but in Catholic Churches there is a thing called confessing. You can go and confess to the priest about your sins or just pray to God asking for forgiveness. Steve wasn't understanding this and was being extremely stubborn. In the end, we all learned that we may all be in the same religion but it all is about how you interpret things. We also learned not discuss about religion because we start yelling and it just isn't good.

'Fake It Until You Become It'

     In a TED talk video, a lady talks about how the way you position yourself can portray how much confidence you have. If you stand/sit very openly with your legs spread out or  your arms out, you have more confidence. If you slouch or wrap your arms around yourself, you have less confidence. Even though this describes how much confidence you have, this can also relate to how much confidence you have in some aspects of your life.
     One aspect of my life that I feel most confident about is health. I think that I take pretty good care of myself. I try to eat healthy by not eating so much junk food. I have gym at school every other day and I do several sports, right now I am on the volleyball team. Another aspect of my life that I feel really confident about is education or development of myself. I learn new things everyday, and I am not just talking about academic related things. I make mistakes everyday and I learn from them. I think that my mind is developing very well.
     The part that I think I need to improve on is social. I can be very talkative with my friends but once someone else or a stranger is put into the picture I turn shy. I want to be able to not be shy around strangers and try to start a conversation with them to break the ice. I also want to better the relationships I have with the people around me. Right now they are good but I feel like they can become better.

Acts of Kindness Over Winter Break

     This winter break I didn't really do many acts of kindness. In fact I didn't do anything in general, unless watching Netflix and YouTube all day counts. To many, the holiday times are when people get a break and are with their families. To others, the holidays are very stressful, that is why it's important to do acts of kindness in these times. They make those who are stressed out or can't spend time with their families feel better. Over winter break, an act of kindness I did was help my brother come home. I brother came home for Christmas and I helped him with his luggage and stuff like that. I also helped my parents prepare the food for Christmas and New Years, and attend the guest we had over. Overall, winter break was a fun time for me.