SOPHOMORE YEAR.

After finishing my first semester of high school, I have realized that it is not as bad as I thought it would be. I thought that tenth grade would be just a replay of seventh grade....Being the youngest ones, getting lost, not knowing the teachers, leaving junior high, and starting all over just seemed so hard.


But, it's really not that bad. This first semester flew by so fast, its almost like I was walking into that big, scary maze of hallways for the first time just yesterday. High school is definitely different than junior high, but I've adjusted to it now.


The best part of high school is that most of the students are more mature now. There aren't as many pointless fights, and there's way less drama. In junior high, it seemed like people would get bored, so they would simply try to pick fights with other people...Just because they had nothing better to do. But this year, there hasn't been any of that, so everyone is getting along most of the time.


The hardest part of high school is constantly hearing about the future. I've realized how fast time flies by. It's hard to believe that in two and a half years, I will graduate and leave everything and everyone that I'm used to being surrounded by. But, hopefully that will be another start of something great...like starting high school has been.

JULiUS CAESAR...LEADERSHiP.

In the book there are many bad examples of leaders. The bad: Cassius and Brutus.



Cassius, the "leader" of the conspirators, shows that he is merely a manipulative, devious, self - ambitious politician.



Cassius manipulates the weak-minded Brutus by convincing him to murder one of his dear friends. A true leader wouldn't manipulate other people to do his "dirty work" for him. Obviously, Cassius is not a good example of leadership.


Brutus also proved that he wasn't fit to be a leader. Brutus was gullible, weak, and naive. Nobody wants a push-over to be their leader. Brutus was such a fool that he was convinced to stab one of his best friends in the back...literally.


These are two of the worst examples of leaders in the book. Cassius was very devious..and Brutus fell hook, line, and sinker for Cassius's plan.

HABiT 5! :]

I have learned many lessons from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. The most important lesson I've learned is to "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood." This statement means that you should get to know a person, and his/her problems before you try to tell them how to solve the problem. Of course, all of us want to be understood by someone. The best way to show someone that you really care is to listen to them.

Like many people do, I often try to help to solve other peoples' problems, before I even understand what's really going on. As Covey says, you have two ears and one mouth. Why is that?? Well, its quite simple. We should listen more, and talk less. If you don't really understand a person, you can't help them. Also, it's not always our job to give advice. Sometimes, a person just needs someone to listen to them, and not tell them what they should do with THEIR life.

So, I hope that I can really utilize this habit, and become a better listener. But first, I have to learn how to shut my mouth... :]

NOW? OR lATER?

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens , the third of these seven habits is "Putting First Things First." In this chapter, the author Sean Covey divides the different ways people spend their time into four different quadrants. These four quadrants are the Procrastinator (1), the Prioritizer (2), the Yes-Man (3), and the Slacker (4).

Before reading this, I already knew that I am a procrastinator. But, until now, I never realized how bad it really was. I do what a lot of teens do...I slack off for most of the semester, and at the end, right before grades come out, stress myself out trying to make up for it. I have learned that this will only hurt me in the long run. I have decided to stop procrastinating, stop being lazy, and start putting my all into everything that I do

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the positive change that this decision is going to present in my life..

Dear Mr. President...

If I could vote in the 2008 election, I would definitely vote for John McCain. I think in his many years of military service, McCain has gained some very valuable knowledge about what the United States is struggling with, and how to solve the problems our country is dealing with. As everyone knows, the war in Iraq is currently one of those huge problems. I agree with McCain that committing our troops means completing the mission. For the good of the U.S. citizens, I think we should finish out what we started in Iraq. Many people fear that if the U.S. troops were to be just pulled out of Iraq, it would cause more problems in the United States. I also think that McCain made a great choice in picking Sarah Palin as a running mate. She seems like a very intelligent, assertive woman. Through all of the arguments about being a mother, she still remained strong and stood up for herself and her children. I think that this will bring in the votes of many people who are hoping to get more females involved in politics.

SCi-Fi AS A GENRE...

For English 10, I read The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Using this novel as a basis for other sci-fi books, I would recommend sci-fi as a must-read genre. This was the first sci-fi book I've read, and I was very impressed with the way it was written. Had I been asked before reading this book, I would have said that sci-fi was freaky and boring. At first, I was confused about where the story was headed, but as I continued reading, i began to get a better understanding of the sci-fi genre. Although I used to think that science fiction was a dumb, pointless genre, now, I definitely support!

NO FEAR....TESS iS HERE!

Tess is a fearless superhero who helps in the endless war against the little pests we all know as.....BOYS. Tess's friends, Ray-Anne and Hollywood also are a part of this battle. Tess, Hollywood, and Ray-Anne are always saving the little girls from the annoying little boys. Boys everywhere are always irritating the little girls, insisting on being their so-called "boyfriends." Tess has a very useful superpower. She can turn any person into any living thing of her choice. She uses this power to go against the boys because if there is a bad one, she can simply turn him into a flower, which not only gets rid of that boy, but also helps make the world a prettier place. All the little girls look up to Tess, their everyday hero. The girls look up to her unbelievable beauty, and appreciate her help in getting rid of the boys. Tess is a very powerful woman, and loves working together with her companions Hollywood and Ray-Anne.