by 24dylans -

They Love Me, They Love Me Not

Meeting the Characters

       Sara Wilson is the main Character. She is an only child. She has been through a lot in in the past 7 years. When she was 6 years old her parents got divorced. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She loves to dance. She has 2 best friends, Katie Harris and Abby Brett-with.

Katie Harris is one of Sara’s best friends. She is also an only child. Katie also has divorced parents. Katie has blonde hair and brown eyes. She is very into soccer and her dream is to meet Alex Morgan.

Abby Brett-with is also one of Sara’s friends. She has an older sister. She has Light brown hair and Hazel eyes. She is also a dancer.

 

Introduction

       “Bye dad,” Sara said. Her dad just dropped her off at school.

       “Sara!” Her dad said, “You are going to your mom’s house tonight”

       “Why?” said Sara, “I hate Steven!”

       Sara ran up to Katie and Abby. She told them that she is going to her mom’s house tonight and that Steven, her mom’s boyfriend is staying at their house.

       Sara, as I said earlier has had a very hard life. On February 28th, 2009 her life was crushed as her parents told her that they were getting divorced.

       Later that night when Sara got home from school she was not excited to see Steven. Her mother said that Steven wanted to come over for a family dinner. Sara decided to say something that almost killed her mother. She said that Steven was not a part of their family. Her mother and Steven were very hurt by that choice of words.

       After dinner Steven bent down on one knee and said,”Mary Elizabeth Ross, will you marry me?”

Running Away From The Past

       7 years after the divorce, heartbreaking news came to Sara’s attention. Her mom was getting remarried. Sara was so upset. The night of the engagement Sara decided to run away. She went to her room to pack her things and call her friends to tell them she is running away. Once she got to the front porch her friends blocked the only exit.

       “Move!” Sara screamed, but they didn’t move a muscle.

       “I need to get away from this death trap,” Sara started to cry.

       Her friends tried to comfort her but Sara just started to sprint towards the local park. From that point on Sara realized that her life was changing.

 

Coming To My Senses

       It was a dark and stormy night. Sara had just left her house to run away.  She was soaked and freezing. She missed her dad and mom, but not Steven. She wanted to go home, but she also wanted to make a statement. She decided to go to Abby’s house. She got to Abby’s house and knocked on the door.

       “Hi Mrs. Brett-with,” Sara said.

       She explained to Abby’s mom what happened and Mrs. Brett-with invited Sara in. Sara was overjoyed  that she had a friend whose mom is like a second mother. Mrs. Brett-with called Abby downstairs. Sara was relieved to see her friend. Sara told Abby what happened in the past five hours. She said that she got chased down the street by a crazy person. Then she said that it started to rain once she was about 2 miles away from her house. She was holding in her tears explaining how all this marriage talk started. Once again Sara started to cry because of her situation. She had to go home tomorrow morning.

 

Home, Sweet Home

       Sara woke up on the couch at Abby’s house. She looked at the clock. It was 9:45. She woke Abby to tell her that she is leaving to go home. She packed her things and made her way out the door and onto the street. She walked to the deli to get a bite of breakfast. She gobbled down her breakfast and raced back outside. She headed to the park and saw her mom on her morning run. She dashed into the bushes.  She did not want her mom to see her. Once her mom passed her, she slowly came out. She sprinted to her front porch of her house. She climbed the outside of her house to get to her room. She sneaked through the window and into her bedroom. She went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

Just an Ordinary Day

       Once Sara got out of the shower she dried her hair so it looked like she didn’t take a shower. She went downstairs and asked Steven to make his famous Grilled Cheese. She might not like Steven, but she does like his grilled cheese.  It’s just an ordinary day. Sara’s mom came home from her run, sat down and grabbed the plate of sandwiches. Sara had only had one sandwich.  Her mom got a little suspicious and pulled Sara aside from the table for a second.

       “Honey, is something wrong?” Sara’s mom said worriedly.

       “No!” Sara said dramatically.

       “When I checked on you last night you were not there,” Sara’s mom said, “Why weren’t you there?”

       “Fine!” Sara said, “I ran away and spent the night at Abby’s house because there is too much change in my family and I couldn’t take it!”

       “Sara,” her mother said, ” I know all this change is a lot of pressure, but just think of Steven as another person to love you. Is that too much to ask?”

Old Life Gone

       Sara went to her room. Her mother followed. Sara turned.

       “I love you,” Sara said, “But I can’t take all this change, I texted dad and I want to stay with him for a while.”, “I need space and dad will let me have it. Dad is fine with it. I really need someone to get me and dad does. You started dating Steven right after the divorce.” At that moment Sara realized something.

       “Mom, did you cheat on dad? You were fine while you guys were married. Then one night dad started yelling at you. I still remember. You guys made me go upstairs to my bedroom. Why would you guys lie to me! I have been okay with this whole situation of my parents hating each other, but you have to ruin my life by bringing someone else into my family!” Sara started to scream.

       “YOU KNOW WHAT!” Sara said, “I AM LEAVING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! YOU DON’T ONLY MAKE DAD UPSET YOU MAKE ME WANT TO BARF!” Sara started to calm down.

       She said, “I can’t believe you would do this to me. I have lived with divorced parents since I was 6. I  don’t have school tomorrow and it is my birthday. I am turning 14 and I better not have a birthday party with my parents fighting,”

       Sara was done fighting for the day. She decided to go to inside, take a nap and hope for the best tomorrow.

Bye 13

        Sara slept through the rest of the day and night. She heard birds chirping and sat up. It is hard to wake up on your birthday and think that your parents hate each other. After what happened yesterday Sara doesn’t want to wake up at all. She goes to her computer and looks up ways to hypnotize herself into thinking her life isn’t that bad. Of course that never works, and believe me she tried it before. Sara heard something in the living room and went inside to check it out. It was just her mom making pancakes. Sara thought the sound was a surprise party. Of course her parents disappointed her again.

       “I am leaving at 10:00,” Sara said.

       “Okay” her mom said.

       “It is 9:30, I am going to pack,” said Sara.

by 24dylans -

The Circuit Essay

 

Change is something that everyone experiences at one point in their life. Either one small change, like a change in your schedule, or a big change, like a change in your family. Some people cry over change. Some people think of change as a chance to evolve as a person. Francisco transforms his difficulties into opportunities to grow as a person.

 

Francisco loses a lot of friends. Everytime he loses one he takes the chance to give a friend to others. When Miguelito leaves Corcoran, Francisco is heartbroken because he has no friends. On Francisco’s way home from looking for Miguel he sees a dying fish and saves its life and brings it to his next door neighbor’s lonely fish.  “I picked up one last, small dying fish and took it to our next door neighbor who owned the goldfish.” p. 50. Even though Francisco now doesn’t have a friend, he can always look at the fish to remind him that he will find a friend soon and that he will always remember Miguel as a friend.

 

Francisco always tries to look on the bright side, even during hard times.  Francisco loves his first real house. Towards the end of the book it burns down. All of his personal belongings were in the house. He tries to save his favorite notebook, but he couldn’t. Towards the end of the chapter his mom tries to tell him to look on the bright side. “Well… if you know what was in your librito it’s not all lost.” p. 112. Though Francisco doesn’t have his book, he still has his family. He then realizes that that is the most important thing.

 

Francisco learns important lessons which makes him grow as a person during hard times. When Francisco’s new house burns down he thinks that he has all he needs. Then he realizes that his librito is still in the house. He tries to go back inside the burning house, but it is too late. Then his mom tells him that as long as he knows what is in his notebook it is not all lost. “I could see in my mind every word, every number, every rule, I had written in my note pad. I knew everything in it by heart. Mama was right. It was not all lost.” p. 112. Though Francisco is sad about his book he learns that he doesn’t need materialized things to be happy. He knows that he doesn’t have a lot, but that he does have the smarts and the heart to learn more and grow.

 

Everytime something bad happens to Francisco he learns from it and grows. All of these challenges are thrown in Francisco’s direction. Francisco tries to hold on to anything he can, like his librito, or even Miguel. At the end of the day his mind takes in all the things that have happened to him in his life. The Circuit demonstrates that even during hard times Francisco stays strong for his family. Although Francisco has to let go of a lot of things he will never have to let go of the people he loves.

by 24dylans -

Civilization Simulation post

I really enjoyed the Civilization Simulation so far. I have found it interesting and fun. My group at first lived in the pacific islands. We “died”  because of low food and materials. We reincarnated to The North American Tundra. What luck. We actually got much more materials and food, but the warmest climate average is 45 and the winters are way below zero… My group has over 25 resources, but we only use 15 of them, because we don’t want anything to rot. I have really enjoyed the simulation so far and can’t wait to continue.