Waves- SOL 3/30

I bob up and down in the dark blue waves, looking across the water. There's a breeze, blowing against the water, sending sharp, stinging droplets of saltwater through the air in to my eyes and streaming down my face.  To my right is a bunch of boats, mostly sailboat, a small cliff guarded by a bunch of dark brown rocks and sloshing sea foam and waves slamming against then, and a small beach with a row of perfectly manicured palm trees, my hotel. The smoothie shack lies on the hot sand in front of the Koi pone, and the long path leads back to the condos and hotel with the big, wide windows and perfect yards. It's so different from the ocean, I think. The ocean is beautiful in a different way then the hotel and gardens and palm trees. The hotel seems so taken care of, pretty but not wild, perfect. The ocean is perfect too, but you know that it's not under the control of any human- it could turn wild at any moment. I lose my awareness for one second, thinking random stuff like this and I get doused by a wave. I choke on the water, I look out at the dark water again and think how lucky I am to be here, among the waves.

Travel SOL 3/31

Right now I'm sitting at the airport, writing this last slice of the Slice of Life March Challenge (woohoo)! I'm going to the grand canyon, where I get to hike down it, camp, and back up in three days. It's kinda going to be like backpacking. After that, we get to go to Las Vegas and see shows and stuff like that, including the Bellaggio fountains. We also get to stay in the Mandalay Bay hotel, which is themed to have a shark tank, waterfalls, and a super-cool pool. I think that traveling is super important because it exposes you to cultures outside of your own, as well as different people, and helps you understand and see the beauty in different cultures and try new things. I also actually like long airplane rides-they're kind of fun, especially when you have a friend to talk to or free wifi, or the TVs that come down from the ceiling.
Happy End of SOL everybody!

Music-SOL 3/29/15

Music is really important to a lot of people, and it is definitely really important to me. I love to listen to it, play it, and write it. Music is really something that I love to do. I think that it's kinda cool how big of an effect music can have. Music can change the world where war can't, or can describe the effect of the war afterwards. Because this can happen when a bunch of really influential people, with fanbases all over the world, that also happen to be really good at making music, come together to do something. And put it in action, especially through something that they are very good at and can connect to so many people,  a lot of things can happen. Each separate person connects to music in their own different way, and we often hear people saying that music saved their life. But why? I mean, it's just bunch of sounds mixed together, right?

Outside-SOL 3/28/15

Today (yesterday, by the time you guys are all reading this) we got to go outside after school and play soccer. It wasn't that big of a deal-most people crowded around the goal and some of the better at soccer people and people who just wanted to play dribbled out and shot on the goal. People were nice though, so it was fun. People also walked around the track, sat on the bleachers, and threw a frisbee. However it was just nice to be outside, and being active. I was wearing a sweatshirt, boots, and skinny jeans so it got so hot. The grass was green and it was really warm out, so it was just nice to be doing something outside. It made me excited for summer.
Sorry for the short post :)
HAPPY BREAK EVERYONE!

Season Part Two: SOL 3/27

Winter: The Voice, heat of inside a room, defrosting, thawing, red hands and nose, snow, ice crystals, sledding, hot chocolate, long afternoons, busy, snow, night, parties, out late, restaurants, pavilions, out for dinner, music, smiles, snow stomped in from outside, Pink Converse, boots, laughter, heat, soups and bread, Mini Wheats, school, my cold breath freezing in the air, hairstyles, laughter at school, surprises, screams of joy, snow, friends, Christmas, break, snow, Festival of Lights, classmates, fun, Basketball, bus rides, holiday walk, AS Breakfast, laughter, surprises, nice clothes, our car in the snow, good smells, warmth of streetlights, downtown, bright lights, coats, gloves, laughter, Maroon 5, jokes, silliness, invitations, RSVP, smiles, comfortable, NBC, 2015, excited, people, Lucky Strike, gold, Christmas Eve, food, loud voices, music in car rides, the color red, our cars, cookies, the Pepsi Center, everything, The Voice, wandering around by ourselves, movies, skiing, presents, the color white, mac n' cheese, home alone, Avs, Nuggets, cold, shiny floors, warm, home, new TV Shows, Commercials, comfortable, Carbondale, our cats, fish, Boo shaking off after being out in the snow, water droplets, cold ears, biting wind, neck-warmers, on top of Snowmass, sleepovers, Snowmass, cake, did I say The Voice, Chopped, new snow, fresh powder, racing my dad, lunch, Sam's Smokehouse, warm smells, Spaghetti and Meat Sauce in the mountains, all this and more, concrete floors, soaring beams,  after swimming, sunlight in the snow, laughter, screaming, singing loudly, dancing down the hallways, Sam's Smokehouse hot chocolate, late nights, bright lights, dreams, people, dinner, smiles, trips, my favorite season.

Spring: Earth, snow, thawing, suitcases, breaks, family, the color blue, the color green, grass, packing up, Washington DC, texting friends, Croissants, airports, Caribou Coffee, ends and beginnings, stories, reading books, Nooks, beaches, running, humidity, diving, brother, skirts, casual dresses, warmth, sitting outside, dry, smells, bonding, spring trip, Elitches, adrenaline, exhilaration, out-of -school good friends, flowers, packing up, friends, airports, groups, shopping, time of our lives, fun, guitar lessons, airplanes, journaling, drawing, locations, no sleep, cool experiences, camping, fruit pies, hotels, tents, mornings, fun, everything will be alright, Math Appreciation day, joy, woohoo, roller coasters, bumper cars, cold windowpanes, warm windowpanes, music, summer songs, playlist, piano lesson, guitar lesson, unfamiliar and familiar faces, smells, rain, whipping cream, chocolate sauce, Easter, mashed potatoes and gravy, malted milk balls, friends, gelato, T-Shirts, happiness, preparing for summer, end of school, shaving cream fights, water balloons, saying goodbye, happily going home, piano, recording, last day of school, pounding feet on the bleachers, screaming and cheering, disregarding, smells like spring, warming up, Avril Lavigne, small sun, happiness, friends.

Seasons Part #1: 3/26

Summer: Hot, dry, swimming at the pool, no school, early mornings, Panera, sunbathing, swim team, sunscreen, warmth, sunburns, tanning, hot plastic straps of lounge chairs, Crestmoor, more Crestmoor, early mornings for swim team, birds chirping, walking the dog, sunlight filtering through my window, meeting up with friends, shopping, vacations, Europe, swimming with friends, Home Depot with my dad, making our garden, riding bikes, sunlight, early lunches, Parkburger, tomatoes, reading, relaxing, trampolines, outside, warm sun on my face, late at night at Crestmoor, events at Crestmoor, staying in touch with friends, texting, Instagram, hot pool decks, summer teammates and friends, cheering, Grandparents, runway walk, swimming, winning, tired, goals set for the end of the season, early pancake breakfasts with my friends at Crestmoor, smiles, laughter, ribbons and medals, swimsuits, swimsuit tans, fire trucks, forth of July at Crestmoor, more friends, friends at party, Crickets at night, burning power lines, watermelon, fireworks on the fourth of July, warm pool decks, towels, skateboarding, lying on warm pool decks, Trader Joe's, Crestmoor Park, Parkburger, running with the dog,  camps, relaxing, bored, museums, parties, shorts, T-Shirts, hairstyles, chlorine, Ice Cream, Lowry, Converse, warmth, songwriting, friends.

Fall: Trees, falling leaves, Aspen, fancy restaurants, extended family, Thanksgiving, warmth, snow, cold, good food, laughter, candlelight, school shadowing, first day of school, fading sunshine, sleepovers, Halloween, sticky fake blood, candy costumes, out late, meeting new people, new teachers, pumpkins, carving, The Voice, family friends, cards, my brother's video games, Piano Lessons, adults, Lowry Beer Gardens, shopping, pumpkin spice latte, warmth, computers, math, sports, birthdays, skeleton trees, bees, dreams, smiles, Starbucks, AS Play, leaves fall, making new friends, swimming, running, walking the dog, Uggs, jackets, chill, garden-picking, landscapes, dogs, apple-picking, hiking, warm glow, hiking boots, trips, long weekends, family.

The Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck Book Blog(SOL 3/24/15)

This book is about a 17-year-old named Kelsey who gets a summer job working at a circus, where she meets a tiger named Dhiren. Soon, she and Dhiren get scooped up and go to India, where she discovers the Dhiren is actually a man put under a curse. Together, they meet Dhiren's brother Kishan and go on a quest to try to break the curse.
This book sounds weird, but I was actually surprised by how good it was. It was kind of a mix of realistic fiction, adventure, and fantasy. I also got really attached to the characters. Like, REALLY attached. The chemistry between the characters was also really good, and I can't pick a favorite character because of that.
If you don't usually read fantasy or adventure books, this would be a really good one to try. Also if you usually read both fantasy or realistic fiction books, or want to get REALLY attached to characters,
this would be a very good one to try. :)

Songwriting-SOL #25

Some of you guys might know that songwriting is actually something that I REALLY love to do. I love music, and it's basically just storytelling in a song. I can make the song sound like anything I want to, and reflect what I feel. I also want to compile a bunch of my songs and send them out to a record label in the form of a demo CD, which would be super cool. I just have to find out a way to do this, which is kinda hard, because it's not like I can get great quality recording equipment anywhere, which I can't, but if I get an OK mic-attaching mic, which I just bought myself (Woohoo!) I can attach it to a computer and edit it on there. Then I just have to do this to a couple, burn it to a CD, and go around giving it to everyone in the whole entire world that will listen to me. I try to write a song at least once a week, but that doesn't always work out. But I try, because it's cool to see me get better and I want to, as well as I've spent SO much time on it that I can't just give up now (not that I'd want to). It's also cool to have something to do in my head when I'm bored, figuring out melodies and harmonies and chords with different pitches in my head, as well as lyrics. On the Solo on the fall trip I wrote like 10 songs and wrote down the lyrics, but then promptly forgot the tunes to all of them. Oh well. They weren't very good anyways and I probably just helped me get better :).

There are a couple of ways to write a song, the first one being the melody first, which a lot of people normally do (including me!). This involves creating the melody and main idea of the song first, and then fitting lyrics and chords to it. The other two ways are chords first, where you put down a chord pattern or background first and then put on a melody corresponding to the lyrics, and then the lyrics-first method, where you can just write the lyrics first. I just normally write the melody first, because I think that it allows me the most artistic freedom with the song and it just works better for me. I also like writing lyrics first, but it's more of a challenge and less fun. I don't know where I was going with this, but I hope you guys read it. I was going to write a song for this but I didn't have time. I'll tell you how the demo goes. :)

Banner- Sol March 23

I have been sitting and staring at my continuation banner for such a long time now, and STILL have no idea what to do. For those of you who don't know, outside Logan, all the eighth graders have something called "Continuation", which is basically our version of graduation. Each eighth grader gets to design a banner representing themselves and their time at Logan.  Normally, when I'm doing something creative like this, I have all the ideas in the world, but now I have NO idea what to do. So, I sat down and brainstormed. This is what I came up with.

What represents me:

Bright Colors (especially against a dark background).
Lots of different themes in the banner/make it really busy.
Make it Stand out
Don't plan it first
Flowing Pattern/All Connected/has Big Picture

What do I like to do:
Swimming
Music
Cats
Skiing
Different Sports
Acting
Singing
Playing Piano
Hanging out with friends
Songwriting

What represents my time at Logan:

Campfires
Class Trips
Science Units
Sun
Friends
Learning

Today-SOL 3/21/15

Today was pretty cool, for a couple of reasons. The first is, that I got to see my cousins again for the first time in two years. We had lunch with them, and while they are kind of annoying sometimes, they're still pretty cool. I also got to see my Aunt and Uncle, and they told us all about the place that they moved to (Portland) as well as getting to eat a super cool lunch that was like a big giant feast. My grandparents also came over, I jumped on the trampoline and played wii with my cousins, Logan and Rowan, as well as just talking, and it was fun.
Number two is that after lunch, Jack and I went to the Escape Room with Sam and Amelia Modest, and Amelia brought Sarah Hoffer. We all were locked up in a room with Sam's dad, and had to solve a crime where the granddaughter of a billionaire was captured and taken to a hotel. When the FBI came to try and get her out, the kidnappers took her away and strapped a ticking bomb to her. We had to figure out, using a couple of clues from the room where she was supposedly kidnapped, how to unlock some locks to find the girl and then finally unlock the final door to her and then try to disarm the ticking bomb. We had 45 minutes and got occasional clues. This thing had an 8% success rate with adults, so when we almost solved it, the guy was super impressed and gave us 5 more minutes to solve it, which we did. Even though we failed within the 45-minute time range, it was still super fun and we all felt smart, which is good. :) We WERE so close.
So yeah, it was fun.

Tony the Fish Part Two-SOL 3/20/15

Today, Anthony "Tony" Dinozzo Jr., the Goldfish, got a new home. For those of your who don't know, Tony is a goldfish that Briahn left on my desk two weeks ago, named after my favorite (or one of my favorites) character on NCIS because of his Italian heritage. Anyways, Tony had been in the little cup that he came in for two whole weeks, or who knows how long, since I got him at least, and I finally decided that it was time for him to get a new container. Tony was kinda dying, so I had to get him into another container. I cleaned out this old tank that I had kept some other smaller fish in so that the other bigger fish didn't eat them, until they were grown up, and cleaned it out. I also found some leftover gravel from my larger Discus tank, and rinsed the dust out of it, then put it in. I then put water in it, added water conditioner, let it set overnight, and netted Tony Dinozzo and put him in the tank. He's much happier now. Now all we need is a Kate and a Ziva (NCIS reference).

Who's cuter part two:
NCIS-Tony Dinozzo                            

Tony Dinozzo the fish look-alike.

Who's Cuter?

Dr. Vertenstien's Lessons-SOL 3/22/15

I've always kind of looked up to the older kids at my piano teacher's, or Dr. Vertenstien's, lessons and concerts. Dr. Vertenstien is 87 and from Romania, if you need any reference to get an idea what she's like. The older students were always the ones that played the longest and most intricate sounding pieces, the ones that Dr. Vertenstien always stood up for at the end of concerts, and the ones that she would request to play to me or some of the younger students, especially when I was littler, when our lessons overlapped. Normally, they're the juniors or seniors in high school, in their last couple of years with Dr. Vertenstien, and I've always told myself that someday, I'll get that good. But today, I got a chance to be one of these older students.
I've been working on a Schubert piece for the last couple of months, which is kind of a big deal because it is mostly played by older students, and this is my third try to play it, with it being too time-consuming to do before when I didn't have as much of the ability that I do now. It's 10 pages long, densely printed, and takes about 20 minutes to play through once I know it. It's also divided into three sections: the "A" Section, the "B" Section, and the "C" Section. Anyways, when the doorbell rang today at the end of my lesson, and in walked one of Dr. Vertenstien's younger students, Dr. Vertenstien asked me to play some of the Schubert for her. I said ok, sure, and I took out the Schubert, expecting her to only make me play a few measures. I kept going and going, with Dr. Vertenstien standing behind the piano, saying things like "More!" when I reached a climactic section , "smooth" as I got to a more legato section, or "shhhhh" when I needed to tone it down. I eventually got to the end of the "A" Section, which was the first time that I had played the whole thing, plus it was in front of people, or well. It was pretty cool.
Also, as I walked out the door, Dr. Vertenstien gave me one of her rare compliments. Normally if you've spent the entire week on the piece, working very hard to make it perfect for her so that she doesn't yell at you, she will say something like "Okay" or "Better", ranging to "Terrible." I know that she has high expectations of me as a piano student and a person, and yeah, I like that, because it pushes me to work harder and set my own high standards for myself. But it also makes it that much better when she gives me a compliment. Sure, the compliment was "you did okay, Sarah. Good even. You work well." But I'll take it.
So yeah, it was pretty cool.

Cats-SOL 3/18

Cats. As a lot of people probably know, I love cats. I have two cats right now, named Truffle and Cream, and they are about the cutest and sweetest and fun things in the whole entire world that have ever existed. We call Truffle Mouse because he literally looks like a mouse in the cutest, most cat-like way possible, sounds like a mouse too when he meows, and scurries like one too. We call Cream Meep, because apparently when she meows it sounds like "Meep." Don't ask me.

Also, the word cat looks really awesome, doesn't it, especially when you capitalize the first letter. Example: Cats.

Sorry for the short slice. I had like no time today at all, and no idea what to write.

Sports SOL 3/19

I've never really not liked playing sports. I've actually always like sports. I've just not always recognized the importance of them. Some people are like "I don't like sports." I mean, it's definitely possible not to like them, but you need to see why people like them. Number one, they've taught me a lot. For example...

1. How to work in a team.

You're driving down the sides of the court with the basketball. There's one second left on the clock. You glance at the bleachers to see all of your teammates, friends, and family watching. Suddenly a huge guy steps in front of you, waving their arms so that they obscure the basket. Your teammate, wide open and under the basket, motions to you. But if you make this shot, you just know you can, you'll be the hero of the game. What do you do?

2. Celebrate other people's accomplishments and make friends.

You're playing soccer, and it's the biggest game of the year. You see the goal up ahead, and the tied score on the sideline, 2-2. You see the clock on the sideline, 30 seconds left, and the tense faces of all of your friends, family, and classmates on the bleachers, cheering for you. Your teammate dribbles the ball up to the goal and shoots...SCORE! Everyone congratulates your teammate, and you won. Are you jealous?
3. Never Give Up.
You are in the final lap of a 100 butterfly, trying to qualify the last chance you have for State, in a goal that you set at the beginning of the year. All your friends are cheering for you at the end of the pool-they know how badly you want it just as much as you do. You turn into the final lap, you get through halfway, your arms are aching, you really need to take a breath of air, and the girl next to you has started to catch up. You don't think you can go on for any longer, but you need to make the time. Do you give up?


No. No you don't.

We Were Liars-(SOL March 17) Book Blog

This week I read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This book is about a girl named Cadence who spends every summer on a private island with her best friends and cousins Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. She is in the Sinclair family, a rich, generally perfect family that is headed by Cadence's grandfather, with three perfect daughters. When Cadence has an accident, she gets amnesia, and has to deal with that as well as the sickness she gets from it and the consequences from her actions that summer-that she can't remember. This book was really good, a quick read, and I would recommend it to almost anybody in our class.

Haikus about Random Stuff (They're actually interesting) SOL 3/16

The Voice:

Some people say that

It's not real but let's just say

It's for sure not fake

Endless jokes and laughs

Cassadee will go far

Only her dreams come true

Roller Coaster:

You forget who you

are and can be and just fall

Down and down and down...

Adrenaline:

Adrenaline feels

Like you've had ten coffee cups

Just without the crash  

My Goldfish:

All of life

the universe/everything

Trapped in a tiny box

NCIS:

Drama is fake just

Like this show is too but the

Feeling shown is real

Lap-Tag at the AS Play:

Crawling inch by inch

Army Crawl Through the Battlefield

Lap-Tag field, that is.

AS Play Curtain Call:

The Lights are so bright

As I think how good it feels

To be recognized

Dreams: 

Dreams are like roses

Pick just one to be proud of

Before they destroy

Hawaii:

Haiku sounds like a

place called Hawaii (guess what?)

We are going there!

Tell me which ones are your favorites and why!

Slice 3/15 (Halfway Through!) Canolis and Boston

Quinn, Kyra, Kate, Etti, and I all sat at the rectangular table, eating the best canolis like, ever. We were in Boston on our spring trip, and we had just spent the last 5 hours walking the freedom trail by ourselves in our little group, stopping at three Starbucks, walking right by the Levis factory, spotted a stray cat, and even visited the occasional historical site (which was actually super cool). We had then gone to this tiny cafe on the way back to eat canals, which are basically a tube of deliciousness filled with a yummy-cream-thing and topped with like, 5 toppings. We were all sitting at the table eating Canolis, and had just finished them when someone glanced at the time and realized that we had about 30 minutes to run all the way back through Boston to our meeting point which took us two hours before. We grabbed all of our stuff, stuffed our field journals and pencils in our bag, said thank you and payed the owner of the restaurant, and ran out. We ran, without stopping, all the way back to the group of people, with a minute to spare. Everyone cheered when they saw us running. It turns out that we weren't even the last people there. Oh well. It was fun.

A Canoli. The Italians seriously ROCK sometimes...

Tony the Goldfish...SOL 3/14

The poor fish was left on my desk by the crazy fish abuser redhead. COCA-COLA was scrawled across the plastic container and left there. I was sick that day, so I didn't come in until really late, and walked in to find the poor fish sitting on my desk. I was at first confused, and then surprised, and then happy to find such a wonderful little fish on my desk. I took the fish away from my deskmates who were threatening the fish's life with death and torture threats as well as eating it for dinner, and brought it home. The fish is currently sitting on my desk right now at home, in a big plastic bowl. I even gave it a new amazing name-Tony, after Tony Dinozzo, my favorite character from NCIS, which honors the fish's Italian heritage. The poor little fishy now has a new home, a wonderful owner, and no more threats of being eaten for dinner, and despite multiple warnings of "you need to get this fish out of the house" by the wonderful owner's mom, the world has come to a happy ending for Anthony "Tony" Dinozzo, the little goldfish.



The real Tony Dinozzo vs. Tony Dinozzo Fish look-alike. Which one's cuter? (jk :) )

Dr. Vertenstein's Rules-SOL 3/13

My Piano Teacher is both 87 and from Romania. This is kind of strange because we couldn't be more different. I love playing piano, and I think that she's a really good piano teacher, but just kind of intimidating sometimes. She has a lot of quirks-for example, the time that I walked into her house for a piano lesson and she greeted me by saying "I shall knock my house down", and decided that she wanted to transform her house into a marble concert hall or how she's constantly boiling cabbage for a "Nutritious Snack." Most of the time, she's actually really nice to us and at least, if she's not nice, she's pretty normally fair, but she's definitely hard to work with sometimes. And So, ladies and gentlemen, I present: If Dr. Vertenstein (that's her name) had 10 rules, what would they be.

1. Always clip your nails. If you do not, I cannot let you play, especially on the Steinway (her favorite piano).
2. Do not come to the piano lesson with ink, paint, nail polish, or anything else on your hands. It will rub off onto the Steinway.
3. DO NOT get a nosebleed or start bleeding in any way, ESPECIALLY on the Steinway.
4. Don't be late. Like, even one minute.
5. Don't talk unless I ask you to, if it doesn't relate to piano.
6. You MUST practice. If you don't, I'll kick you out because you're wasting my time and won't listen to any excuses.
7. Sit Nicely at the piano, so that you look graceful.
8. No shoes allowed in my "Studio."
9. Do Not Move Chairs. (She has this one plastered all over her house on large pieces of paper scrawled with sharpie).
10. Keep your bag of books away from the Steinway, so that it doesn't hit it.
11. No jewelry, because that it might scratch the Steinway.
12. Do not bend the spine of books to make them stay open-only I will do that.
13. Always say "Thank You, Dr, Vertenstein" on the way out.

Opening Night SOL 3/12/15

Opening Night for me in a play is the best night because you don't know what's going to happen. The other couple nights you have a sense of repetition, of knowing what's going on. Some people like that, and I do too, sometimes. But for me it's really all about the opening, and the adrenaline rush, of something going wrong and the having to use your mind to fix it. It's more of an accomplishment that way. Today is opening night of the AS Play and I am so, so Excited to finally present something that we have been working on for months (and yeah, I'm kinda tired of it too). But it's super cool to be able to put on a play with about 40 other people, with cast and crew, that most of which are actually my friends. You all should come watch us (even though my part kinda sucks, I have like a thousand scenes but I have like one line in all of them). If I had to pick a favorite part (besides the being onstage, of course)? Well, not to sound totally conceited or anything, but I like at the end, applauding for my friends and soaking up the applause myself. It's a cool sense of accomplishment, knowing that everything went wrong, but judging by the reaction, nobody saw and nobody cares.

3/11/14SOL Music

My mind disappears into the music, as the rest of the world swirls the color of the song and disappears. The lyrics write themselves across the front of my brain, through my mind over and over again. I find myself living with the song, my storyline rising and falling with the music. I notice the technical side of the music if I want to, but most everything just blends and comes together in the shape of the whole song. I focus on just one point, vision narrowing to block out the already disappearing world. I don't know how to describe it besides the fact that the song was living in my brain, purple and blue and all the feeling and memories of the song and other things in swirling around and enveloping me, muting everything but bringing out the things that are importantly sharply.

I'm writing this with my music blasting loudly in my ears. I just described whatever I felt. If its weird, well, I bet it's weird. It's an amazing feeling though. I guess I just don't care if I go deaf early.

Answer in the comments: What's your favorite song? Why?

Book: 1001 Cranes (SOL 3/10/15)

This week I read 1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara. This book is about a girl named Angela Kato who moves to L.A. because of her parents divorce. She has to stay with her grandparents, her grandpa, who she gets along with pretty well and her grandma, who Angela doesn't get along with at all. Angela at first is totally not excited to live with her grandparents, and work every single day in the shop where they fold 1001 Paper Crane Displays for people, and hates the people that work there. After a while though, she starts to actually enjoy L.A. and living life there.
First of all, this book is totally under my reading level, but I might recommend it to some of the younger  people in our class (maybe). The story got kind of slow sometimes, but it was also very interesting at sometimes, even though it left a lot of storylines hanging (which was FRUSTRATING). My favorite character would probably be Angela, just because she was cool and not one of those perfect characters that protagonists in books sometimes are. overall, I would recommend this book to maybe 5th-Sixth Graders, it was way under my reading level.

Sick/Train of Thought/Other Stuff Too March 9 Slice.

Being sick gives you a lot to think about and a lot of time to do it, too (as well as a lot of time to write a really long slice...). When there's nothing better to do then sit around the house, you get a lot of time to think. Except for, when I have homework there's always stuff to do, but when I don't and can just sit here or do whatever I want I can't think of anything. It's kinda like being a long-distance swimmer, except for then you can't think because you keep thinking about the race. I'm a short distance swimmer, by the way, But I can do both. Here is a collection of already (as you can tell) my very mixed-up thoughts and what I thought about today.

#1: What is Talent?
Is Talent actually real, or not? A couple of days ago my dad, who was listening to me play piano, started talking about how good of a piano player I am and how I'm way better then he was when he was my age even though he practiced more and for longer every day (Thanks, Dad). But why? Is it just because I have the physical abilities to play piano, is that what we call "Talent", just having the physical ability to do something? Do I just have more connection between the two sides of my brain then he does and therefore have developed a "Talent" for it? Could this explain why I'm so much better at sports where I use my hands and reflexes relating to that then other sports, like I picked up basketball extremely quickly but have been playing soccer for almost 8 years and still have trouble with it? Or is it something else, like I enjoy the piano more, or have a better teacher, or am more dedicated or just know how to practice better? I don't know.

#2: Are TV Shows Actually like the Real Life Thing?
I'm not talking about like Reality TV Shows here, Like The Voice or Survivor, I'm talking about stuff like NCIS. Is the real Naval Criminal Investigative Service like the drama-filled, super-cool TV Show? I then went online and started researching the question. I found a few articles that said that the things that they get to experience are kind of the same as the TV Show, and the cases are very similar, both of which are SUPER COOL! I then started thinking about what really draws me to that TV Show, and I came up with a third answer as well as those other two-the characters. All of the characters and people in the show are so charming and unique and just seem too-good-to-be-in-real-life. And I guarantee that there aren't any articles online that tells you if the real-life people are even close to the characters from NCIS.

#3: Does someone's favorite color effect their personality?
Or is it the other way around? Does their personality effect the color that they choose to be their favorite? What about numbers, or even favorite seasons too? I don't know. I don't have any evidence on this one so I'll skip to the next one...

#4: Where Did the Stereotypes for Brown and Blond Hair Come From?
Like the brown-haired people are more exotic, smart, and brave and blondes are more sweet, kind, and pretty. I mean, it's obviously not true, but where did they come from and who got people to believe it? It's kind of odd that a bunch of people would just start believing stuff about your hair, especially when both of the stereotypes represent good traits as well as bad. But I don't know. I believed them until I was like five, so I can't really complain. It's kind of stupid though, honestly.

AS Play- March 8, Slice #8!

I walk to the center of the room, and look at the mass of people chatting and talking to each other in various groups, mixing and intermingling. I find a circle of people and sit down next to my friends, joining in on the loud conversation, yelling across the circle to each other as pretty much always. It's not like anybody would notice us over the loud bustle and chatter already in the room. As the lights dim, the group splits into two very distinct groups; the "Stagecraftees", talking lights and cues, and us, the Actors, talking  entrances and exits. The people seem so different, with the black dark gear and the loud and brash costumes, but they share a very common bond-working together, because we have a show to run.

Elitches SOL 3/7/15 (#7)

Do you ever get that feeling where you are about to take a leap of faith, or fall into nothingness, but aren't quite sure what will happen afterwards. It could be about anything, a big decision, a risk, etc. But at that moment, I was literally about to fall into nothingness and take a leap of faith, because I was at the top of the 220 foot Tower of Doom at Elitches' Gardens. The nice thing about being up here was that I could see for miles and miles, through downtown, all the way out to DIA. The wind was whipping at my hair and it was just really nice in general. I looked over at my friend, who looked like she was enjoying herself reasonably well too. I looked around, wondering how long they were going to keep us here. What if there was a glitch? What if the brakes had stopped working and we were just going to fall all the way too the bottom and punch a hole through the concrete, not stopping until we were at the bottom of a hole, probably dead and engulfed in a crowd of dust? Or what about the fact that we might end up like the girl in Kentucky, with both of our legs sliced off at the ankles? I'm not really nervous, though. I love roller coasters, and I've learned to trust (mostly) that we'll arrive safely at the bottom. That doesn't stop me from being terrified sometimes, but what else is the point of the roller coaster? The operator chose that time to let us fall and my stomach rose up into my throat as I screamed with happiness and adrenaline. I stepped off with a huge grin on my face. By the end of the ride a few seconds later, I knew this-the feeling of the fall was 1000 times over worth the anticipation.

TV Shows SOL 3/5/14

Some people think that watching TV is a way to relax and take your mind of the present, like your mind floats up into the clouds somewhere or something like that, but I think that sounds too gentle-it's more like it yanks your mind into it's own world. Whenever I find myself watching a TV show, my mind starts to be drawn into it. I start thinking about the characters and the people and what would I do and OMG please don't kill him and so on and so on. Sometimes I get so attached to a TV show I honestly find myself fantasizing what would happen if I lived inside of it. Ok, I daydream a lot, but it's really kind of horrible to get so attached to a show, BECAUSE IT'S NOT REAL! It's fictional. All the characters and people and plotlines and story and drama that I love and that I fit right into in my dreams aren't REAL. I tell myself this to keep myself from fantasizing over TV shows, movies, and books like this-but I can't help myself from falling in love with a new set of characters or plot. My latest TV show obsessions: , The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Pretty Little Liars (I'm way behind on all of these because I don't watch that much TV-no spoilers!), ...and of course, The Voice (but that's not a recent obsession). Maybe that's why I love The Voice so much-because it's actually real, and proves that people in the real world can be just as awesome as fictional characters. That's one of the MANY reasons I love The Voice, of course. I can't just choose one.

Hawaii SOL 3/4/14

We drift closer and closer to the cliff, gliding across the deep blue water. I can hear the lapping of the ocean waves, and everything suddenly seems super quiet as I get used to the engine being turned off. Our guide stands up in the boat and it rocks side to side. I pull on a t-shirt over my swimsuit as I feel the warm sun burning my skin, little pieces flaking off in the warm sunlight as I give up on my goal not to get ANOTHER sunburn. Suddenly the guide guns the boat and we pull closer to the black rock cliffs. I was in Hawaii this summer, riding on a snorkeling trip off of the coast of the Big Island. My brother sits across from me, my mom behind me, and my dad diagonal, with the rest of the boat scattered with strangers. Suddenly the guide guns the boat and we speed up in our course towards the cliffs. We pass into the shadowy area created by the black rock cliffs above and shiver. We pull faster and faster towards the cliff and my mom screams when it looks like we might crash. The crashing of the waves suddenly gets louder in my ears. I close my eyes as we speed towards the cliff-
And nothing happens. I look up and see that we are in a tiny sea cave. Water rushes in and we float up so I can almost run my hand along the wet, slimy looking, ceiling. The water rushes out and we fall again. The guide leans in toward the water. Look closely, he says. I squint at the water-and it's glowing. I blink a couple of times and it's still glowing. Underneath the surface of the water are millions of tiny little golden fish, reflecting light of their scales into the water.
This was my second time going to Hawaii. It was lots of fun and I'm so excited to go back with all of you!

Road Rash (Book Blog SOL #3), March 3rd.

This week I read Road Rash by Mark Huntley Parsons. This book is about a high-schooler drummer named Zach, who after being kicked out by his old band, gets picked up by a new band and embarks on a summer tour with them all over the country. It is mostly just about the dynamics in the band and Zach adjusting to them. It is also about the dynamics of him and people that he leaves at home. This book was okay, but was kind of mindless. It has almost no mature topics at all, or very little language. I would call this book realistic fiction. Also some things in the book weren't very realistic, or so overly realistic that things were boring. If you want a book with a deep message and great writing, as well as a sophisticated topic and storyline, then this book is not for you, but if you want a fun and mindless read to pass time, this book is a good candidate for something like that.

SOLSC #1-March 1st, 2015! Happy Day One, Everybody :)

I sit staring at the computer. What should I write?
But this wasn't the normal I've-run-out-of-ideas-I'll-write-a-super-boring-Slice-about-not-knowing-what-to-write type of thing. In fact, that almost never happens to me. This was like starting a story. If you were writing a collection of short stories, even about your life, and then packaging them up for your whole entire school to read, you'd want to put the most captivating story first. I had ideas jostling in my head, pushing each other out of the way for the honor of being the first Slice of the 31 day challenge, but somehow none of them seem right. Maybe I'll write about The Voice-no, no one's interested in that besides me, people will think my slices are boring. Or I'll write about Hawaii-that's a shared experience that all of us will have, but no one in Linda's Class wants to read about it-I'll lose that audience. I take a deep breath and decide to just type whatever comes into my head first.

"I sit staring at the computer. What should I write?'

Okay, maybe not the best opening line, because people will think it's one of those boring I've-run-out-of-ideas-I'll-write-a-super-boring-Slice-about-not-knowing-what-to-write Slices that as I've said, by the way, I NEVER do. So I specify it in the next sentence. I get sorta excited about this Slice, and start typing quickly, and within minutes, I have a semi-okay Slice that I hope will draw people to my blog again. Or maybe I'm overthinking this.
So Just Promise Me One Thing.
If this Slice is boring, please come back tomorrow.
Happy Day 1 of SOLSC, Everyone!

Best Sports Ever SOL 3/2/14

What is the best sport ever? When I asked this question to myself, my first thought was swimming. I'm a swimmer, and I think that swimming is a great sport. It tests your endurance, physical and mental toughness, and strength. It also builds an amazing sense of community and develops a different skill set then you would normally have. Swimmers need to be strong, tough, and confident in order to swim, and it's a super fun to achiev
e goals that you've set at the beginning of the season. It's a super cool sport.

But then I think of Basketball. This is the other sport that I play, and while I may not be as good at it as swimming, I think that I picked it up pretty quickly. The thing that I love about Basketball is that it's such a great team sport, and more of a contact sport then swimming. You're on a team and you have to be confident in your teammates, as well as not hog the ball the whole entire time. It's also more strategic, there are plays and strategies used differently then in Swimming.

And then of course there's soccer, which is the most popular sport in the world. It's probably just as athletic as Basketball but in a different way. People run across a huge field in a game that can go on for hours just for a few goals. Soccer is fun because it's a team sport too. I can definitely see why people like soccer so much, even if I don't do it the same amount that I swim (or really competitively at all. I play on the Logan team but that doesn't really count).

There are also team sports like Baseball and Football. Football needs a lot of strength and strategy, where in my limited experience Baseball is more about skills. Also Hockey, which combines learning a skill set that you wouldn't normally have, like swimming, as I've said before, or in this case skating, with a lot of strength. Also sports like Volleyball, which has less running but more concentration.

Mostly I think that it's just cool that people play sports. These sports range from Swimming to Volleyball to Soccer and different people like different ones depending on their personality. I don't think that there's one perfect sport but different ones for different people. However, it's cool that we all play them, showing that everyone likes the general idea of a sport-to be competitive, make friends, and to have fun.

So, I want your opinion. Which sport is the best, which ones do you play, and why are they the best? Comment your answer and also vote on my poll to the side ->. Thanks for reading everyone!