Algebra II

Algebra II is pretty much the hardest class I have ever had the misfortune to take in my life. And I love my teacher as a person, but as a teacher I just don't understand anything she tries to teach me. What my friends and I have decided is that she doesn't speak kid, she speaks textbook. The teacher that I had in seventh and eighth grade was great at speaking kid, so I learned all year without feeling like I was learning at all. When we got to end of level tests, I was pretty proud of myself for only missing one question. He was just really laid back, so I actually kind of liked math. A lot of what helped was that most of the time was spent teaching, asking questions, and doing examples on the board, and then we had a small assignment that took about fifteen minutes. This year she just goes over what's in our study notes and then passes out a two-three page assignment that takes you a couple hours. And each assignment is only worth five points, but if you don't turn an assignment in then you stop getting curves on tests. Curves are really good, because when they're really high it's because everyone did bad, which happens a lot. I really wouldn't want to miss out on twenty extra points on a test I completely failed. So that's pretty much what motivates me to get my assignment in somehow. I'm not a very good test taker, especially not on timed tests (which hers all are). The hardest part about her class is that if you're sick for a day, you've just missed eighty minutes of stuff that takes forever to make up. This year math has just been really bad on my self esteem. When you can't seem to get a good score on any tests, you don't understand a word of what she's saying, and you're spending hours on assignments that you totally don't understand, it's kind of hard to feel good about yourself. So hopefully I won't fail this term and have to retake it again... Surprisingly I've actually managed to get all two A's and one A minus in her class so far this year. Mostly because if you are good during her class then she raises your grade up one level at the end of the term. (So like from an A minus to an A, or a B plus to an A minus) Hopefully I can do that again this term, but I have a feeling that I totally failed the test I took last week (I ran out of time). I got maybe two or three full pages done out of five, so I'm really just hoping that everyone else did bad so we have a higher curve. If nothing else, this class has made me challenge myself more and hopefully I'm getting better at math, even though it feels like I'm just getting worse. But I guess I'll just have to keep trying and doing the best I can and hope it works out.

"I've got a frog in my throat!" "iTengo una rana en la garganta!"

Well this week has just been delightful. While practicing for all my upcoming auditions, I noticed that my throat (that has been giving me problems for a few months) was cooperating less and less. Plus my nose was constantly stuffed up. Then I woke up Friday morning and all this was really bugging me, and my eyes were filled with a bunch of "gunk". I told my mom about all of this, so instead of going to school we went to see the doctor. After checking some things and taking a couple tests, he said that I had strep, pink eye, and a sinus infection. Since my choir audition was in three days (it's tomorrow at 8:10 PM) I was freaking out just a little bit. Luckily, the doctor had 4 different things to prescribe to me that he said worked really well. A pill called Amoxicillin for my strep that I have to take morning and night for 10 days, these tiny little red pills called Pseudoephedrine that help de-congest my nose and ears, eye drops for my pink eye that I take 3 times a day, and a nasal spray called Affrin that's really strong that helps extra-de-congest my nose. I made a chart so every morning, afternoon, and night I can remember what I'm supposed to be taking. So all weekend I've mostly just been resting with some tissues and Ricola cough drops nearby. The medicine works really well, because I've only been taking it for 3 days and I feel better than I have since before Christmas. I guess when they say, "If symptoms persist after a week, see your doctor," they mean it...

Anyways, Thursday, the day before I found out I was all sick and stuff, I went to the Foreign Language Fair at BYU. It was really fun, both Spanish classes came. The bus ride was about an hour long. Once we got there and sat through the boring opening ceremonies that no one was really listening to, we all had to do some kind of thing that we got a score on. I said a Spanish poem. I don't really get what it's about. But it's something about growing a white rose and giving it to your good friend and stuff like that. I got an Excellent! on it, so I was pretty proud of myself. Then we went upstairs to "Espańolandia", where we had to talk to all these fake Spanish store people, and we could only talk in Spanish. If we got caught speaking in English then they put us in jail. Honestly I spoke in English most of the time, just not when "la policía" were around. Once I had my "estampilla" in my "pasaporte" from all the people, it was lunch time. Since my sister goes to BYU, I talked to her during the day, and then she came over and had lunch with me. It was really fun since I don't get to see her that often. After she left, me and my friend went to the BYU Creamery there and got some "helado" (ice cream) that was "muy rico" (very delicious). After we went to the closing ceremonies, we got back on the bus. I slept most of the way home.

Partying With The Dinos

So for my term project for my Biology class, we have to go on two field trips. One to places like Farmington Bay, Dinosaur Park, etc, and the other one to somewhere like the zoo, Clark Planetarium, and places like that. So basically you have to go to one really boring place and one sort of fun place. So since you have to have one of them done by tomorrow, my friend and I both went to Dinosaur Park yesterday. Surprisingly, it was actually really fun. First we went through the museum part. My favorite part was the moving dinosaurs that made noises. There were games around that I think were mostly for little kids, but we played them anyways. They had like these touch screen word searches about different dinosaurs and stuff like that. After taking some pictures and getting some of the information we went to the outside part. They have this path thing that you walk on where they try to make you feel like you're in dinosaur time. Considering the fact that the park is meant for little kids, I thought some of it was kind of detailed. Like we walked by this nest with a bunch of little baby dinosaurs, and then about 5 feet away there's a velociraptor or something waiting to eat them! And then there were humongous creepy bugs and rats and stuff sitting around on rocks. I was kind of scared, but maybe little kids are a little braver than me. And I know that we don't really know what color dinosaurs are, but it was still kind of funny when we walked past a bright pink one. There were a ton of different kinds of dinosaurs and there were little things next to them that told you about them. I'd be lying if I said we read them all. But we had a lot of fun and took tons of pictures. At the end of the path thing there's a park for the kids to play in. It's a park, but it still kind of shows them some more types of dinosaurs, and there were even some pretty weird prehistoric frogs that you could climb on. What was really weird is that we think we saw a couple getting their wedding pictures done there. They were posing on the dinosaurs and stuff and they had a professional photographer following them around and taking the pictures. I mean they looked cute, but it was kind of.... well, a weird place to get pictures taken for your wedding. We just assumed that maybe that's where they met, or where they went on their first date or something. Me and my friend took some pictures too and had my little sister be the photographer. So even though going to Dinosaur Park sounded really lame, it turned out to be fun, pretty much because we made it fun. So if you have some spare time, six bucks, and nothing to do, try Dinosaur Park! The dinos really know how to party!

A.I.M.

So every spring, my piano teacher has all her students do something called A.I.M., or Achievement In Music. It isn't exactly a competition because no one wins, but you do play for judges and they give you a score. You memorize two full songs that you play, and they should both be different kinds of songs. Like one could be fast, and the other slow. Or one happy, one sad. That's kind of how mine are. One of them is L'Orage (The Storm), and the other one is Allegro Burlesco. The first one is all serious, and there are a lot of crashes and other things that make it sound like a big storm. The other one kind of reminds of clowns, because it's more upbeat and everything. The judge scores you on things like memorization and accuracy, interpretation (how you play the song), dynamics (h0w loud or soft it is), and other musical conventions (crescendos, decrescendos, accents, etc). After you play your songs, you go to a different judge. You play a technique piece, which doesn't have to be memorized, but shows that you can read the music and do what it tells you to. Then they ask you to play different scales that you need to know and see how well you can play them. You have to have good technique, remember all the sharps and flats, and not trip over your fingers. You also have to do chords, chord inversions, arpeggios, and cadences. It's kind of the same thing as the scales. You have to use the right fingerings, sharps and flats, and play them like you know them. Before you go to any of the judges, you do a written test. It asks you about musical vocabulary, musical history, and a lot of other musical stuff. You need to know how to find key signatures, the order of sharps and flats, how to form different kinds of chords, etc. Then you do an ear-training test with your teacher. You have to tell the difference between major, minor, and phrygian scales, and major, minor, dimished, and augmented chords just by listening to them. You also need to recognize intervals. (2nds, 3rds, minor 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, and octaves). A.I.M. takes a long time and a lot of work to prepare for, but in the end you're better at what you do, you know more, and if you work hard, then it's easy and you're prepared. I've been playing piano since I was in second grade. When you start learning to play piano you're mostly just learning how to read music and what different notes and symbols mean. As you play longer, reading the notes is just second nature and your fingers know exactly what to do. Each time you finish a book she tells you to buy a new one that's another level up. You also get to learn some fun songs that you've heard before, either on the radio or from a movie, play, etc. My favorite part about playing the piano is that I can learn songs that I can play and sing along to. That's kind of what makes all your hard work worth it, is something that makes it fun for you. I'm really glad that I play piano because I think it makes me a better, more hard-working person, and I think it's really fun.

The Wedding Singer

This week I went to see "The Wedding Singer" at Layton High. It was so cute, and it was all about weddings! It's set in 1985. At the beginning, while Robbie Hart is singing at a wedding he announces that the next day he's going to marry his girlfriend, Linda. Later, he meets a waitress named Julia. She makes him promise that when she gets married, he will sing at her wedding. The next morning at Robbie's wedding, Linda is a no-show. She leaves him a letter that says that she decided that she was really in love with Robbie seven years ago, but not Robbie now. She signs it, "Your Pal, Linda (The i is dotted with a heart)" Robbie is absolutely crushed and never wants to go to another wedding again. When his band convinces him to come sing again, he gets upset and insults just about everyone at the wedding. In the end they get angry and throw him in the dumpster. Julia comes and convinces him to come out, and that he doesn't belong in the dumpster. She then tells him that she is getting married to her super rich boyfriend, Glen Ghoulia.

As the play goes on and Robbie and Julia spend more time together, they both start realizing that they actually love each other. In an attempt to impress Julia, Robbie goes to her boyfriend, Glen, who gets him started on Wall Street. However, Robbie realizes that Glen is really a jerk. He doesn't really care about Julia and he cheats on her all the time. He goes to talk to Julia at her house, but in the end chickens out and goes to a bar where he gets drunk. When he gets home, Linda is waiting for him. She tells him that it wasn't working out without him, and that she wants to "come home" to him. Robbie passes out because he's drunk, and while he's passed out Julia comes to tell him how she feels about him. Linda tells her that she and Robbie are back together again. Julia is so upset, that she decides to just hop on a plane to Vegas with Glen and get married. When Robbie hears about this, he hurries to go there and find them. Just as he gives up, a man comes to him and tells him that the organ player for a wedding didn't show up, and they want him to play guitar. They say that the man is super rich and would probably pay him a lot. Robbie goes and finds Julia and Glen. He sings Julia a song about how we wants to grow old with her and that he loves her. Julia finds out the truth about Glen, and marries Robbie. The end of the play shows their wedding, and they all live happily ever after.

This show was so good. The acting and the singing were both amazing. It was cool to me that I got to go see it because I'm trying out for next year's musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone", in a month. So it motivated me to do the best I can on my audition so that I can be part of that next year. Everyone in the play really made you feel like you were part of the story and it was really happening. It was one of the best productions I have ever seen, and I'm so glad that I get to go there next year!

Great Expectations Literary Analysis

Great Expectations is a book about a boy named Pip. Although Pip started out common, he got lucky when he got involved with a mysterious benefactor. He is suddenly learning how to be an upper class gentleman. Throughout the whole book, Pip is infatuated with a girl named Estella. Estella is hard and says that she cannot love because she never learned how. The first time she met him, she called him “coarse” and “common”, and that made a big impression on Pip. All he could think about was how to improve himself for him and for Estella. This proved to be important in the book. It showed that one person can make a huge impression on someone else’s life. This passage from Great Expectations shows exactly how much Estella meant to Pip, and how she changed him forever.
“You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since—on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!” (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations P. 386)
I think that this passage is kind of the climax of everything Pip felt for Estella. He always tried to do whatever he could to impress her. He became a gentleman so she couldn’t see him as common. He hoped more than anything that she would choose him and return his feelings. She was always on his mind, and she marked everything that he did. In this passage he explained to her that he couldn’t forget her in just one day. She was a part of him.
Pip also admits that there is more evil than good in him. But when he’s letting her go, he can only associate her with the good. By making him want to improve himself, she made him a better person overall. She made it so he could learn by trial and error. After he realized the consequences of his wrong decisions, he learned which ones he shouldn’t make again. And it was all because of Estella. She was the one who motivated him to change. That one person made a huge difference in Pip’s life.
The imagery in this passage is amazing. Really the only word you can use to describe it is beautiful. He describes everything, but it isn’t a paragraph full of adjectives. Phrases like, “the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with”, and “Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character” really demonstrate Pip’s conviction of his feelings for Estella.
This passage had a huge impact on me. The way Pip says everything, you just have to believe him. No one could say words with that much meaning if it wasn’t true. Before Estella throws herself away for someone like Drummle, he has to at least tell her exactly how he feels about her. And when Estella suggested that he would forget her the next day, he came right out and told her exactly how wrong she was. He tells her how she has been a part of everything since he met her.
The conviction in Pip’s “voice” really supports the theme. It shows that he means what he says. It shows that she really has made a huge difference in his life. And the way he phrases everything gets right to the point about what she’s done for him. After this passage, even heartless Estella can’t help but be moved. She can’t believe that someone honestly cared about her so much, and that she made such a big difference for him.
Overall, this passage shows how Pip’s character has developed throughout the book. From all of Estella’s criticism, and warnings not to fall for her, Pip became a better person. Even if she couldn’t love him back, she made a difference in his life. And she at least cared for him enough that she wouldn’t play around with him like the others. Out of anything that anyone else ever said to Pip, what Estella said was what made a difference and an impact.
Great Expectations was actually a really good book. It was definitely better than I expected. You could really feel everyone’s characters developing as the book went on. And Dickens really made all the characters seem like real people. People with real lives, real experiences, and real feelings. It was well-written and definitely worth reading.

Grandparent Story

For an assignment in my English class, we were each supposed to interview some 65+ about their life. Then we were supposed to make it into a story. I interviewed my grandma. She is 69 years old, and right now she's serving an LDS mission in Mongolia with my grandpa. It was a really fun experience since I don’t get to talk to my grandparents very often. So getting to talk to my grandma for a while was really cool. It’s also way cool to hear about what your grandma did when she was your age or younger. Like, I wouldn’t have ever guessed that my grandma liked to listen to Elvis when she was younger. It really helped me feel closer to her. My story is a little long, but I'll post part of it:

Joan Ellen

“Okay, we have some things here that Grandma and Grandpa sent from Mongolia!” My mom calls out to the people in our crowded family room. Soon everyone is admiring their new purses, ties, dolls, cards, and other Mongolian goods. As I take my purse, I love it already. It’s dark blue, and it has a long strap so I can hang it on my shoulder. The intricate stitching on the front is blue and white. It makes Christmas Eve even more special getting something from the grandparents I haven’t seen in months. I can tell that Grandma really thought about what everyone would like. She’s always been that way.

Before they left for Mongolia, my grandparents lived in Ukiah, California. It’s always been hard finding the time to drive down there to see them, but my cousin and I have flown down there a couple times during the summer. I love getting to see my grandma. She has short brown hair, glasses, and a kind face. You can tell she cares about you by watching her face when you talk to her. When we were at her house my grandma always worried that we weren’t having a good enough time and that we might get bored. So when we were there she always made sure to spend lots of time with us. She played games with us, took us places, and just talked to us about our lives. It was so easy to see that she really loved us.

She especially liked to find fun things to cook with us. I love my grandma’s cooking. Her food is some of the best that I’ve ever had. She also took us to the swimming pool nearby on extra hot days so my cousin and I could swim together. It’s a lot of fun there, and an ice cream truck comes by every hour. It was something we always got excited about. Another thing that we grandchildren love about her house is their ice cream. I’ve lost count of how many Schwann’s ice cream bars I’ve had over the years. She and grandpa always have some stocked up in their freezer.

For someone who grew up without having to do very many chores, my grandma keeps her house very clean. It’s one of the neatest places I’ve ever been in. What she learned as a child was other skills, like how to play the piano. I love playing the piano in her house. It’s a grand piano right by the window. My grandma is the reason why all her children learned the piano, and she also encourages us grandchildren to keep learning it too.

Another thing my grandma was supposed to be as a child was a good student. Her parents always expected her to learn and do well in school. And she did. All the time I’ve known her, my grandma has been a math teacher at a junior high in Ukiah. Whenever I have math questions, I can just ask her and she can explain it to me. She also just finished her Master’s Degree a year ago. You can really tell that education and learning matters to her.

Sometimes it’s hard imagining my grandma when she wasn’t already a grandma. But Grandma grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She told me that she lived in a “richy” kind of neighborhood where people had money. Her house had two stories and three bedrooms; one for her, her parents, and her younger brother Scott. She says that she loved her bedroom because it had a little porch with a railing on it. At night she liked to sit on the railing and read by the moonlight. In high school she went to a school with 1500 people in it. She was their in the Elvis Presley years. She and her friends liked to go listen to his music during lunch.

After high school she went to Brigham Young University. During her trips to the library she met Wesley Stevens, who was working there. They got married, and she says that marrying him was one of the best decisions of her life. They had seven children: Bonnie, Marjorie, John, William, Wendy, Suzanne, and Cheryl. Grandma loves spending time with her kids—and her twenty-two grandchildren. I love having a big family because there are always cousins around when the family gets together. Family is one of the most important things in the world to my grandma.

Something I’ve always admired about my grandma is that she makes a plan and sticks to it. Right now she’s in Mongolia serving an LDS mission with my grandpa. She said it was kind of hard learning the language, but she is really glad they went. She likes that she knows more about the Asian world. They went on a trip to Hong Kong a few weeks ago, and she says that she really liked the people there. I’m proud of my grandma for showing that she cares enough about her religion to spend eighteen months in Mongolia.

***

My grandma is one of the biggest role models in my life. She's always set a great example for me because she's such a great person. She always seem to make the right choice, and she really cares about her family. I really can't wait until the end of this year when we'll finally get to see her and my grandpa again. I care about them a lot, and I really miss them. But I really admire them for being so dedicated to everything that they value.