Category Archives: Thoughts

Texas, our Texas! All Hail The Mighty State!

I live in Austin Texas and I have for my entire life. If you were to visit Texas, there are some places you should go, and I’m here to tell you where I would go (and have been).

Firstly, you should go to the Alamo. I just recently went (during this past spring break), and I really found it interesting, even though I’m learning learned about it in class. You can learn all about William B. Travis, James Bowie, David Crockett, James Butler Bonham, and so many more heroes. In case don’t live in here in Texas, I’ll give you a little information to get you excited.

  1. We lost the Battle of the Alamo. Every man fighting died; only the women and children survived.
  2. The Alamo is probably the most famous battle in Texas History
  3. The Battle of the Alamo lasted 13 days and ended on March 6, 1836
  4. Four of the most famous people are William B. Travis (who has Travis County named after him), James Bowie (who has a high-school named after him, Bowie High School), David Crockett (king of the wild frontier!), and James Butler Bonham (the most famous Currier in Texas).
  5. The Alamo was originally named San Antonio de Valero as a Spanish Mission

Another place you should go is one of the Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement parks. They are all over  Texas and they are a blast! They are so much fun! I don’t really do roller-coasters, and the one I go to still gives me a lot of fun choices. 

You should also go to the Capital Building here in Austin. The capital is huge and is totally worth seeing. The capital holds a lot of history about Texas. I haven’t been in a while, but I remember it was really fun and interesting. If you want to learn about Texas, the Capital is definitely where to go. Here are some facts to get you excited:

  1. The capital is facing South, because Texas was part of Confederacy (South) during the Civil War, and it was important for Confederacy Capitals to be facing South.
  2. If you go to the Capital gift shop, I don’t recommend getting the key-chain that has a spinning center, it breaks really easily.

Ya, it’s been a while since I’ve gone, so that’s all I have. Go to find out more!

The final place I recommend going is San Antonio’s River-walk. There is a mall, lots of restaurants, fascinating buildings (A hospital that looks like a flat wall is one thing you’ll see if you go. Carol Burnett was born there. You’ll also see a restaurant that rotates one full turn every hour), and more all on a river below street level. It’s very cool.

There are lots of places in Texas you should go if you visit the great state. I don’t want to limit you to these, but these are some really good ones (or my favorites anyway). If you visit, spend time throughout the state, because it would be a mistake to limit yourself to one city. So, I’ll leave you will a…

Bye, y’all!

Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is my new favorite play/movie. In English recently, we’ve been studying the lyrics to Phantom of the Opera, and I like it a lot. It has some slow songs, some fast songs; it has some soft songs and some loud songs. This play has EVERYTHING! Since we’re done with it, I want to give a run-down of what I think of some of the songs. So sit back, relax, and get ready to read.

“Think of Me”

In this song, Christine, the main girl, is trying out for the part of an opera that someone else was originally the lead in, but quit at the last minute. Christine’s voice is beautiful, and everyone’s wondering who her ‘mysterious tutor’ is. The song begins in the audition, and moves to the night of the performance where she has the role. I love this song because it starts off with just a soft piano, but when it goes to the night of the performance, there’s a full orchestra that’s loud and beautiful. During the performance, Raoul, Christine’s childhood friend, sees her and is totally amazed. The song ends with a fantastic ‘of’ (kind of hard to explain what I mean. Let’s just say it’ll be the longest ‘of’ you’ve ever heard). 

“Angel of Music/Little Lotte (not one we studied)/The Mirror”

In these songs, it is after the performance and Christine is in her dressing room when her friend, Meg, comes to talk to her. In “Angel of Music,” Meg asks Christine who her tutor is. Christine tells her about an angel her now-dead father told her about, the Angel of Music, and how it’s visiting her. Christine eventually becomes in a trance, and Meg leaves her after the song slightly frightened. In “Little Lotte” (a song we didn’t study), Raoul comes in and invites Christine out to dinner. Christine refuses saying the Angel of Music won’t allow it. Raoul calls her out as silly and tells her to get ready as the song ends. We then move on into “The Mirror,” where the Phantom is talking to Christine about how annoying Raoul is to be asking her to dinner and about how Christine shouldn’t have accepted. Christine, thinking it’s the Angel of Music, apologizes and asks the Angel to enter. When he does, the Phantom pulls her into a trance and literally pulls her down to his liar. While this is happening, Raoul is freaking out behind the locked door.

“The Phantom of the Opera”

Ok, first of all,  best song EVER! Oh, I’ve had this song stuck in my head for weeks! Anyway, in this song, the Phantom is taking Christine down to his liar. Christine and the Phantom are both singing, and not only is this song lyrically strong, but the music is FANTASTIC! At the end, Christine hits a fabulous note. Christine is still in a trance during this song. I feel like I’ve said enough, there’s not much I can say… so, ya.

Other Songs In The Order That I Don’t Want To Explain:

“The Music of the Night”

“All I Ask of You”

“Masquerade”

 

“Wishing You Were Here Again”

During this song, Christine is asking for guidance from her father in a graveyard. However, it seems as though she’s speaking to both the Phantom and her dad. This song is really beautiful. She’s singing lovely, the music is awesome, the lyrics are strong, and the set-up in just phenomenal. 

Ok, I don’t want to go through the last three songs because I’m trying to keep this relatively short, so I’ll just summarize. Christine gets kidnapped once again and taken to the liar of the Phantom. The Phantom takes off his mask and tells Christine how abused he was a child. Raoul comes to save her and the Phantom makes Christine chose: Does she want to spend forever with the Phantom down below the Opera House and have Raoul’s life spared, or does she want to return to the world above, but have Raoul killed. Eventually she decides…

…what did you think I was going to tell you the ending? No! Go watch it for yourself. There are more songs than just the ones I mentioned, we only studied nine. Enjoy the  play or movie and I hope you enjoyed this blog post.

 

Expository

This is strictly an opinion.
Promt: Explain Why Expository Writing is Difficult

“Ugh! I can’t think of a good lead!” “What?! Two reasons?!” “How do I make THIS topic compare with real-life?” Expository writing is very hard!

One reason is finding the reasons. My first expository writing that I wrote was following the topic ‘Explain why Hope is Important.’ My friend, Libby, and I wrote this together, and even with two minds we could barley think of two reasons that made sense! It was insane! We were a little behind because we couldn’t get two good reasons. I think our expository turned out well, but the process was hard. Oh I really despise finding reasons for expository writing!

Furthermore, um…hold on I can’t think of another reason-it’s so hard to find them! Oh, ok. I got one. Furthermore, connecting your topic to real life can be exhaustingly frustrating. I mean, for instance, for a lot of people’s expository writing pieces that I read, they had their topic something along the lines of “Explain Why Chocolate is Enjoyable.” Come on, how do you connect the enjoyable-ness of chocolate to life, then go into turning it into a lesson you can take away? I can’t, so I’m glad I didn’t do that. Relating to real like is one of the, if not the, hardest part of expository writing.

All in all, Expository Writing is very hard. Of course, I know it’s good to learn (hence why I’ve now done 3) because of STAAR tests coming up. I might not like them, but they help. And who knows? Maybe one day I’ll have a job and my boss will say, “Hey Kendall, can you write and explanation as to why blah, blah, blah” (you get the point,) and I’ll be thanking Ms. Schoch and the state of Texas for making me learn how to do that. So, if you excuse me, I have to go make sure none of my “dream-jobs” require me to write Expository Writing pieces.

Expository Writing

Prompt: Explain why hope is important
Written By: Libby and Kendall

“Please let me pass!” You are sitting in your desk with your fingers crossed, hoping for a good grade…even though you know you didn’t study. Sometimes life can be tough and difficult, but you must keep hope through it all.

For instance, if you don’t have hope, you won’t believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself and, for example, your team in sports, you will lose confidence and you won’t preform as well. In basketball, we haven’t been doing very well in our games because we don’t believe and have hope in each other. If you don’t have hope, you won’t succeed.

Also, without hope you won’t even try a simple task. Let’s say your big science test is coming up, and you already think you’re going to fail, so you didn’t even try to study. Your grade…well…not the best. If you don’t try and believe in yourself, you won’t succeed at a very easy task.

Sometimes, life gets hard, and it’s tough to think positively. Having hope will give you the opportunity to try harder and believe in yourself so you can do great.

Bubbles
Photo Credit: Jeff Kubina via Compfight

Worst Weekend Ever

Last week (Jan. 13-17) took forever to me. It felt like the entire second semester. I couldn’t wait for the weekend! So on Friday after school I’m in a great mood, not only because it’s the weekend, but it was a 3-day weekend!

Short Story: Happiness went away very, very soon.
Long Story: I’m getting out of my car with my hands full enough that I close the door with my foot. I’m also not paying attention. Suddenly, a sharp pain explodes from my finger. I had smashed my fingertip in the door of the car, in a way that I had to open the door to get my finger out. And if that still doesn’t tell you how bad it was, listen to this: I was more scared by this than I was when I got bit under the eye by a dog. Anyway, my finger is now all swollen and bruised (it was bloody on Friday but not anymore).

So, naturally, Saturday was a relaxing day of “Heal My Finger.”

Then we get to Sunday. I was happy because my finger was a lot better, and I got to see my friends at church. Once again, I was happy. Really happy. Life was good…
So something had to go wrong.

I woke up really early in the morning with a stomach-ache. Then after a long, long time of not feeling well, I ended up vomiting. So, I didn’t go to church-I didn’t do anything fun. I vomited 3 times total in the morning, then felt better, but didn’t want to risk running around a lot. So, I got to lay at home all day doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! And no, it was not fun.

My Monday was then spent making sure I could go to school Tuesday.
So for this 3-Day weekend, I didn’t do anything or leave my house. Thanks Martin Luther King Jr!

Colors

In the morning and to the evening

Forever in a day and all through the night

We are all ready to see the lights

It’s all in our sights

 

Red is the color of love and blood,

The pain and joy of all breathing moments

If red could talk it would say:

“I’m half of your thoughts, half of your emotions.”

 

Orange is the color of the new and old day

The color of beginning and end

If orange was alive it would believe,

That it’s the way all the days bend

 

Yellow is the color of light

The light that represents the good

If yellow was more than a way, a thought

It would say it was fairly understood

 

Green is the color of new life

It brings together the leaves and the trees

If green were alive and breathing

It would say it’s famous with ease.

 

Blue is the color of water

It is the color that keeps everything living

If blue could speak out of itself

It would speak of how it is receiving and giving 

 

Purple is the color of royalty

Purple shows luxury and calmness

If it was as alive as you and me,

It would show you no darkness

 

Pink is the color of beauty

The color that shines and glows

If pink could show you it’s thoughts

You’d see a color as sweet as a rose

 

Black is the color of darkness

Of sorrow and pain

If color could talk of itself

It would cry in vain

 

White is the color of snow,

Of happiness and joy

If white was able to speak its thoughts,

It would hope to never be destroyed

Mornings!

I like afternoons, evenings, and even the middle of the night. However, I will always not be sure about mornings. To show you what I mean, I have thought of two versions of mornings, and then I will tell you what I think.

Version 1:
As I wake up, the sun is shining as if it was welcoming me into the new day. I smile and jump out of bed, ready to begin my day. I practically fly through my morning routine with a smile on my face. This was going to be a great day!

Version 2:
I hear my alarm clock going off, but I am hoping it is a dream. After a while, I wake myself up, wondering if this is a school day or not, then falling back asleep anyway. When I finally wake up for the third and final time, I drag myself through my morning responsibilities, only doing so because I want to get to school on time. I knew that, again, I was not going to be awake and ready for the day until 9:00.

Ok, now, those were a bit extreme for me just talking about mornings, but I wanted you to see my point. For me, mornings are almost exactly like Version 2 (which is part of the reason why it is longer). I want to know what you think about mornings, and which version relates to you. Please comment your response!

Rain

As I lay in bed staring out the window, the rain tries to fight its way into my bedroom from my window. The only light outside was from lightning striking often. It felt as though the sky had been holding it in for ages, then finally opening up and letting go.
Down, down, down it came. All throughout the night the clouds cried, but I slept soundly. Suddenly, there was a massive thunder crack! I jolted awake, my heart beating. However, I did not stay awake for long. The pouring rain quickly had me drifting back to sleep.
Hours and hours of pouring rain. Darkness filled my room. When I awoke, the sun had not. It had stopped raining, but the dewy smell still remained. As I was about to get up for the day, the clouds reopened and started pouring again. Thunder rang through the neighborhood, and I drifted back to sleep. When I finally woke up, I could tell the rain was not going to be done for a long, long, long time.

Bokeh-licious
Photo Credit: Vinoth Chandar via Compfight

Take a Guess

I have a riddle. It isn’t very hard, if you think about it, but it says everything I think about the topic. Take a guess at what the topic is!

It starts a a simple sound. Nothing more, nothing less.Then it grows to be a little more.

You can never truly see it with your eyes,

You can never truly hear it with your ears,

You can never truly taste it,

All you can do is feel it.

Know what it is? Leave a comment to guess! I’ll give you a hint: It isn’t any form of weather, and it isn’t feelings. Good Luck!