I felt like I learned a lot today. I didn't do anything special, I just had a normal day, but I discovered so many new things. For example, when I was helping my cousin with her English midterm project, which was to create a test on a book The Face on the Milk Carton, it was as if I read the whole book and I can now summarize it. We worked together to come up with the right questions and excerpts from the book for the essay question, which was the perfect example of the saying, "two heads are better than one". We finally finished the assignment hours later, but at least it was done and to me it deserves an A! When we were done, we were able to go to the movies to see "Mall Cop," which was great by the way. This made me realize that it is so much better to get your work done first, then go have a good time. You can't go have fun first, then try to go back and get focused on doing work. This reminds me that I really need to prioritize better and I need to improve my study and work habits about 90% to get through the second semester of my senior year and adapt to my freshman year in college.

"Knowledge is power."

"My New Year Resolutions Essay"

As each year comes to an end, I think of something I should improve on and make a New Year’s resolution, most of which I do not fulfill, but this year will be different. Most years I have forgotten about my resolution after about the first week. Usually they are too difficult to reach. This year I made a few achievable, foolproof resolutions.

My first resolution is one to improve my physique and heath. I want to simply get into shape and stay in shape. I began going to the gym over the summer after my dad bought me a membership to Bally Total Fitness. We tried to work out there at least twice a week, but our number of visits slowly declined when school started and over the holidays we haven’t gone at all. I will make a promise to myself to work out at least three times a week, whether it is at the gym, in the weight room after school, or at home; doing exercises or running. Softball season is quickly approaching and this year we will be preparing by working out in the weight room after school together. If I do not stick to my word, it will be a struggle for me to keep up at practice. I also want to eat healthier. In my elective, Nutrition and Wellness, I have learned what to look out for on nutrition labels. I will limit the food I eat that contains high calories, sugar, sodium and carbohydrates.

My second resolution is to benefit my mother. I often feel guilty when I see her come home from work exhausted, then have to make dinner, do laundry, clean up around the house and do the dishes. I do load and empty the dish washer sometimes, but I know that isn’t enough. Instead of placing my soiled dishes in the sink, from now on I will put everything I use or see sitting in the sink, in the dish washer. I will fold any laundry that needs folding and offer to help with anything else that she needs. When I come home from school, I relax for a while and watch TV, then start my homework. Instead of being lazy I will first see what I can do to help out. My mom does everything for me, so the next time I think I am so tired from school I think of how hard she works and know that I need to do something for her.

My final resolution is what I consider the most important. I resolve to be more focused on schoolwork and graduate satisfied with my grades. Soon my high school career will be over and I will move on to college, which will put more responsibility on me and load me with more work. I often lack the ability to prioritize and this second semester is going to be a very busy one. With Senior Project, I need to stay motivated in order to keep up with my journal and research. Most of the time I work hard to complete assignments, but once in a while I get frustrated with all the work and slack off and especially being a senior, towards the end of the year I will be so eager to finish school. I need to just keep thinking with the end in mind.

New Year’s resolutions should be meaningful promises to make improvement and this year, thanks to this essay, mine will be taken seriously and accomplished. I will get in shape, help clean up around my house and focus on school.

Blog Visits

I read six of my classmates' blogs: Brionna's, Mr. Abrams', Turquoise's, Jamie, Ty'ana's, and Enrique.

Brionna's blog about love gave a great outlook on the different kinds of love and the way people who are in love feel around the person they are in love with. Mr. Abram's blog about how he would spend $1 million dollars shows that he is a selfless person. He cares a lot about his family and would put away a chunk of the money for his children's college funds. He would give some of the money to charity. I was immediately drawn to read Turk's entry when I saw that she wanted to rob a bank! She did admit that she was weird in the blog. I do agree that it would be quite an adventure. I was interested to find out Jamie's fear. I can relate to her. I also sometimes have low self esteem. Before I read Ty'ana's blog, I never thought of emotions, in the way that they could make or break your life. It sounds like she has learned a lot about emotions. I was surprised to read that Enrique was interested in human anatomy; it was cool to learn that about him.

Weekend Grab Bag

Today I was surprised with a new car! Well . . . almost surprised. Back in November I got in a car accident on my way to Friendly's to meet some friends after the Powder Puff Football game. I was driving down Chews Landing Road when a lady pulled out of the Wawa parking lot with out looking in my direction! I slammed on my brakes, but there just wasn't enough time to stop. Later I find out she doesn't have insurance. They declared my car totaled with $4,000 worth of damage and they would only give me $2,300.

So anyway, today my dad picked me up to go to my aunt's house for an Eagles party and on the way he said i have a surprise for you. My family already knew that he had gotten me the car, but apparently some of them didn't know that he didn't tell me yet. We were all sitting around the television, talking and watching the game and one of my aunts say, "So I heard you got a car". My dad just sat there for a second then he quickly said, "No not yet we're still waiting on the money from the insurance company". Then I knew that my surprise was the car. I was really mad that it was ruined. But oh well, I got over it. For the rest of the time at the party I just wanted to leave so I could go see my car. It's a cute little red car, a '96 Chevy Geo. Before I can actually drive it, there's some work that needs to me done and it needs to be inspected and registered. In about a week it should be ready!!!! It was a very special day; it felt like my birthday or like Christmas all over again. :)

Project Exploration

What is something you've always desired to learn more about? I've always had strong interest in animals. I used to dream of becoming a veterinarian, but I convinced myself that this would not be a good profession for me, since I feel sick over the sight of blood and open wounds. I also think I would feel horrible seeing suffering animals everyday. I would like to do something with animals still, maybe even a volunteer service. So, if I had a chance to use school time to become an expert about anything it would be about caring for animals.

When I was younger, I used to think that I had some kind of a connection with animals or even insects like caterpillars, moths and butterflies. This sounds weird, but I used to love to catch frogs and tadpoles. On summer nights, a lot of times moths would make their way into my house. Some of them would land on my finger and stay there, so i could walk around with them. I felt like they were comfortable with me. I kinda felt like one of those animal lovers that have their own shows, like the Crocodile Hunter. I had several hamsters one of which was my favorite, named "Fatso". I swear he was the coolest hamster ever!! I had a doll house and i would put him in front of it on the floor and he walked up the steps onto the top floor; I thought it was amazing!! Now I have a dog, Hazel and a cat Sparkle.

P.S. Whoever reads this is probably laughing at me because I sound like geek. lol

Grading Journals

I believe journal entries should be graded about once a week or maybe even though random checks. If the journal is being done electronically, through a blog, the entries can be graded by being in a network with each other and you can just read our blogs whenever you get a chance. They shouldn't be read word for word or everyday, you can read the entries that interest you and judge them on the information written; not on grammar or spelling. Grading should be something natural for you, by reading it and deciding if it sounds good or not.

Path of Study

Journal Assignment #2

For about 20 minutes, please write about what excites you about the course of study that you have selected for Senior Project Seminar (teaching grammar - especially commas - rocks my world. Please strive to use all three examples of how we use commas in a series. Let's see how this COOOOOL speck of punctuation can go to work, separating words, phrases, and clauses.

I chose to study the career of physical therapy for my Senior Project. I am very interested to learn the ins and outs of being a physical therapist. This experience will help me decide if I truly want to persue this career in college. The main reason I want to study Physical Therapy is because, I have a cousin who I am very close to that has the disability of cerebral palsy. We do many things together and I help her with tasks that she has trouble doing on her own. One day she said to me that I should be a physical therapist, because I enjoy helping her and I have patience. When I heard her say that, I thought about seriously, since I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I always knew that I wanted to have a career in which I helped people in some way.

First Thoughts about Blogging

"How do I feel right now about journal writing?"
"How might journaling help me as I navigate Senior Project Seminar."

As of now, journals are not my idea of a hobby that I would enjoy doing everyday. The main reason is that I do not like writing in general. I feel like it would be a waste of time. However, for something such as the Senior Project, I think that it may be helpful to keep a journal during the shadowing period. It will allow me to go back and read about my experiences, so that I can reflect on them and look over my journey from the beginning. I would be able to see how the relationships between both, my sponser and I and my mentor and I have grown over the four months we will work together. I will also look at what I have learned over this time period.