French vs. Writing

Hey, guys. We're pretty much officially going to start doing work in this class tomorrow, so I may not be able to post as often anymore. That, and I may be getting a job -!!- and/or starting piano lessons again. While I have the time, though, I'd like to talk about something.

Since I was in grade school, I've enjoyed writing. I love to put the ideas in my head onto paper, and give them to others to enjoy. It gives me satisfaction when people like what I write, and it lets me know that I am actually good at something worthwhile. These past couple of years, though, I've been getting out of the habit of it.

Two years ago, I first started learning French. I fell in love with the language for its beauty, its simplicity and its complexity, and how I picked up on it. Where I thought I'd grow up to be a writer, I began to imagine myself as the next Madame. I thought I'd be a French teacher, or go to France and teach English, or something like that. That dream still excites me.

But, now I've been writing a lot more- because of this class, because of my creative writing class, and another reason which I will not delve into right now. I've learned to love it again. There's something so wonderful about the words in my head becoming manifested on paper or on a screen. Sometimes, I can understand what I'm feeling more when I think about it as I'm writing. So, what do I do? I'm torn between two loves. Do I go with writing, or French? Of course, French includes writing -and, to be honest, I am way better at reading and writing French than I am at listening or speaking- but there is more to it when you are the one teaching.

I just don't know.

Little Gesture, Big Difference

This will sound silly, but the best part of my day was after school ended. Well, that or my Bible study with one of my favorite Sunday School teachers EVER. Anyway...

I was walking to my car once the bell rang, and a sort-of friend of mine ran by. As she jogged passed me, she said, "Have a good day, -redacted-". It took me by surprise. We rarely see each other or talk anymore, but she still considered me enough to say something nice to me. I don't know exactly why, but it made me really happy. I was smiling all the way home.

It made me think about how small things make a big difference. What if there were, say, a bus driver, who spends his day driving loud, smelly kids to and from school, and he barely gets any recognition or pay? I can imagine that a small "thank you" or "have a good day" would mean a lot. Even though it may be nothing to you, it can mean the world to someone who really needs some kindness.

I know Jesus did big acts of kindness in His miracles, and a HUGE one with His sacrifice on the cross, but I wonder if He ever did anything like that? Surely He'd know just who would need it and when. I'm sure He'd love it if we all showed a little more kindness.

Please, for me, try and find the one kind thing you can do this week, or each day, and do it. It may be as small as a hello, or as big as buying lunch for someone. Just do it! You might be surprised how far your best gesture can go

Creative Writing

It's that time again, folks! The time of day for everyone's favorite game, Will We Actually Do Work in Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing? Hedge your bets, everybody. Announcements are go. The bell has rung, and any second now, Mr. E will call roll. He's at his computer. Will it work today? Will we finally have our first dive into the world of icons and brochures? The suspense is murderous. In the meantime, the announcer attempts to read comics, but finds them blocked due to "incidental nudity," even though it is a My Little Pony comic, and ponies don't wear clothes anyway.

And, it looks like the answer to the question on everyone's mind is no! We will not be doing any work in this class today. A bummer for over-achievers, and a relief to slackers everywhere. Well, tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of Will We Actually Do Work in Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing?

Hehe. In all seriousness, it is getting a bit tiring, not doing any work in here. I can't complain much about having this free time to write, but it doesn't feel right doing absolutely nothing for 55 minutes a day when I am supposed to be working to earn the credit I'll receive at the end of the course. Tant pis. Oh well.

I mentioned my creative writing assignment yesterday, right? Well, we finally read mine not long after I last posted. My story, which started out as a girl having a bad day, ended up with her hallucinating due to drugs, and dying from said drugs... Okay, then. Well, at least it wasn't among the many stories that had minions added to it by this one girl in our class. I mean, I like them as much as the next person, don't get me wrong, but it's not creative writing when you only write about one thing. Even the guy who wrote about the spaghetti gypsy branched out, as far as I can tell.

Speaking of the spaghetti gypsy, I'm pretty sure whoever wrote about that guy is the same author of the famous Meatball story. The narrator's best friend/crush comes over for dinner, and he has an allergic reaction to the meatballs in the spaghetti. In the end, the narrator has a dream, and her sub conscious tells her, "You are the meatball." If that makes sense to you please let me know in the comments below.

So, yeah, my creative writing class has a lot of quirks. But, there were also deep stories, like about schizophrenia and existence. Those mess with my brain, since they always remind me of the breakdown I experienced after I watched the movie "Inception." So, I do my best to ignore them.

What's the craziest story you've ever heard? Let me know in the comments- I'd love to hear them! Thanks for reading, and I'll most likely see you all tomorrow. Bye!

School

Haha, my blog isn't blocked on the school computer! Whoopie! Hi, guys! Been a while, huh? Sorry about that. It's been busy, and this blog hasn't really come to mind.

School just started. I'm a senior this year. I don't feel any different most of the time, but when I think about it, it can hit me like a rock. This is my last year of high school. I'm getting closer and closer to real life. The thought of being an adult terrifies me. It will be totally different from what I'm used to! Being grown up, living on my own, buying groceries for myself... I don't know if I'll be able to handle it.

Agh, sorry. Enough about my Peter Pan syndrome. School so far has been amazing! Granted, it hasn't really been even a week yet, but it has been fun. I have most of my credits, so most of my classes are electives. Right now, I am in computer class, which is supposed to be about graphic design and desktop publishing, but apparently our teacher's computer is messed up or something, so we have the hour to ourselves for the most part. That gives me time to write you guys!

Another elective of mine is Creative Writing. Perfect for me, right? I love writing, so this is a good opportunity for practice, and a friend of mine is in it with me. The only problem is that the teacher was M and B's English teacher last year, and they say she's a witch. I haven't picked up on that so far, but time can tell. I'll follow my grandmother's advice and make my own opinion, which is this: Ms. Z is no Sally Sunshine, but she's also no witch. She seems like a cool lady to me, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

So far, the class itself has been fun. First, we interviewed each other to learn about our classmates. My friend and I interviewed each other. That may sound like I'm not branching out, but it's really not. I mean, we hang out, but, for the most part, I don't know much about her. This was a good time for us to learn more, like how we both love Jem and the Holograms! You know, that old eighties cartoon that was about a singer with a secret identity before Hannah Montana was cool? I also was able to reveal my new obsession with pokémon- I can't help it! The different critters can be cute, goofy looking, cool looking, or just plain epic, and they are so loyal and strong.

Got off on a rabbit trail, sorry. Our second assignment was this game where you're given a sentence to start a story with, and you keep on passing it around for others to add to it. So far, the results have been hilarious! Like, there was this one where Bob the Builder was dreaming that he was Katniss from the Hunger Games, and another one where the narrator pulled a pied piper and ended up with a herd of pet spiders. I can't wait to see how mine turns out!

My core classes are cool, too- I have Mutt's senior English teacher, and he seems pretty nice so far. At times in English, of course I feel like we're putting too much thought into a book, but other times I like going deeper into stories and finding possible hidden meanings. My other core class is American Studies, aka US Government. This is one of the only classes that grades participation, and what do I do? I can't stop nodding off! What's up with that? I mean, I wake up early for Zero Hour, and I feel fine, but when we get started in gov, boom. Eyelids become ten times heavier. Maybe is psychological, like I know that I'm being graded and since I'm telling myself not to sleep, sleep is exactly what I do.

Such is life. Anyway, this post is getting long, so I think I'll sign off for now. Talk to y'all later!

Frozen 2

Hi, all! Sorry it has been so long. It's been crazy! Anyway, today I have something very exciting to talk about!

It was just announced that Disney is officially making a sequel to their hit movie "Frozen." I love Frozen as much as anyone, but I was wondering what it could be about. I mean, the story was pretty open and shut. There's not much more, if anything, else to tell.

Then, I found this song on YouTube:

It's a song sung by Idina, the voice of Elsa, about the Snow Queen's powers and all. There has been uncertainty about whether it's going to be in Frozen Fever, the short in front of the new live-action Cinderella, or Frozen 2. In any case, it seems to be a little bit odd. It still sounds like Elsa is wary of her powers, even though she seemed to fully accept them and gain control of them by the end of the original film. So what's going on?

My theory is that Frozen 2 will be a prequel. It might delve into more detail of how Anna and Elsa grew up, and how each of the girls felt in their isolation. This was glazed over in the "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" montage, and they could do something with that, possibly enough for an entire film. That would be really intriguing!

Or, it just occurred to me, it's possible that Frozen 2 takes place after the events of the original, and this is maybe a flashback song. Oh, well. Only time will tell!

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

I recently played through "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" and am currently re-playing it in French, because, you know, French! Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on it with you guys.

The premise of the game is that the professor, Luke, Wright, and Maya all end up in a mysterious middle- age town named Labryinthia, and end up helping a young girl named Espella, who keeps being falsely accused of being a witch. I wasn't too crazy about this concept, because I'm not a big fan of witches and dark magic and stuff like that, but I still wanted to see the most epic attorney in the universe meet my favorite English gentleman, so I bought it and played it.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! I really enjoyed the witch trial aspect, where more than one person is testifying at once. The story, aside from the witches aspect, was compelling. And, of course, it was great to see Wright and Layton work together, and all the combined drama that follows the both of them!

The way that the two titular characters met bugged me, though. Whenever Wright and Maya were brought to the town (I'm just going to call it the town, because Labyrinthia is hard to spell), they lost their memories of being an attorney and his assistant, and those memories were replaced with fake ones, as if they had always lived there. Because of this, they were completely out of character for a time, and it felt awkward when Layton and Wright met for the first time. When I imagined their first meeting, I imagined a battle of wits, or at least a pointing contest, but instead, we have Nick and Maya bumbling around a bakery.

Once they recovered their memories, though, I enjoyed how the story went on. Luke and Maya are soooo entertaining together, what with Maya's teasing, and Luke's sensitive and defensive nature. I LOVED the dual pointing confrontations by Layton and Wright at the witch trials. Much epic! So fangirling! Very wow!

That all said, I think this game was falsely advertised. In the initial teasers I saw, it seemed as if Layton and Wright were going to be at odds at first. I gathered this from a clip where it seemed like Layton was questioning Nick's scruples. It also seemed implied, from the title. This would have been very compelling! Two heroes, at odds, then finally working together towards the truth! I was looking forward to this and seeing how it played out! But, sadly, no. *spoiler* Our heroes aren't pitted against each other until close to the end, and even then, it's an act on Layton's part.

One thing I appreciated about this game: NO PUZZLE LOCKS!! Usually, in Professor Layton games, at certain points, you can't progress in the plot until you have solved a prerequisite number of puzzles. For someone who plays the games for the plot, and the puzzles are a fun added bonus, this is very annoying. This game, however, does not have any blocks like that! I was so happy!!! Ironically, I also found it odd that there were less than half the regular number of puzzles in this game. I suppose that's because of the added trials, which you get awarded picarats for based on the number of penalties you get, but still.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. It brought the charm and action and drama I love from both series together, but still could have done some things better, like the AA character's VA's. ARG, they sounded corny! Sorry, VA's, but it's true. Aw, now I feel bad and hope none of the VA's from the game actually end up reading this on the slim chance that exists... Oh, well. Until next time!

Craziness

So, a lot of crazy stuff goes down in my French class. You already know about the time the table started moving when I tried to call my phone after I lost it. But, there's much more than that.

Today, a girl who sits next to me in  class raised her hand to answer a question. I noticed some red  spots on her grey jacket, and asked what was on it.

"KKK," The girl across from her answered.

"What?" The girl I actually had asked replied. In defense, the jacket was unzipped a little bit, and a part of it was folded over itself, so all you could see was the "K" of "KIPP" or whatever it actually said. no matter what, it was the joke of our table for the rest of the hour. After all, as I said, "It's not everyday you hear someone accusing a black person of being in the KKK." (Not racist, just a fact!!)

Along with this, several students have been dressing up for spirit week in anticipation of our school's rivalry game. One of  these students decided to creep around and peer into various classes.

Here's how it went down, in my : I was doing my workbook pages, when suddenly someone notices something and says to look at the door. All I see is a guy wearing this gas mask that looked like it was from World War II or something! It was CREEPY looking, so I screamed, while everyone else laughed- not at me, mind, at least until they found out that I had screamed.

Ego bruised, I left as the bell rang, and a friend of mine came out of the class across from mine approached me and talked about the guy.

"Who screamed?" She asked.

"Me..."

"OH MY GOSH, SORRY! YOU OK?"

I half laughed, half cried as I said "Yeah, I'm fine," as I bid her adieu and headed towards my bus.

So, yeah... the kids in my French class probably consider me the class goof now, but oh well.