Tag Archives: thoughts

Comments

So, for the Student Blogging Challenge this week we’re supposed to write a post about how we’re going to try to get more comments, but I feel like I’ve got that covered. My parents comment on almost everything (Kim and Bruce), Ms. Schoch comments a lot, and I recently just got some very important people to comment on my blog:

  • Mrs. Bridges, on of the school’s Vice Principals
  • Ms. Bacon, the other Vice Principal
  • Elliot Bristow, an EduBlog’s support person
  • Mr. Ramsey, my school principal

Ya, I’m very happy with my blog and how many comments I have. So, how am I going to get more comments? Keep doing what I’m doing, because that seems to be working pretty well. 

Blogging Challenge for the Week? DONE!

Happy-ness

If you look at her, you’ll just see an old, dirty stuffed animal whose fur won’t lay the right way. But when I look at her, I see the stuffed animal that I could never live without. My prized possession, my best friend, and my comforter all rolled into one. When I was younger, I even considered her to be my sister. My stuffed dog, Happy, is the thing I’ll always need and I’ll always have.

When I was five, I got a build-a-bear workshop gift-card from my grandma. When I went, I picked out a stuffed dog (because I was the type of child that could be in a room full of stuffed bears, for example, and one dog, and I’d only see the dog) that looked almost exactly like my dog, Butler. At first, I was only moderately excited, but the excitement grew as I began to build my build-a-bear collection.

I got bears, frogs, cats, and even more dogs, but each one I had would be cast aside, because I always went back to Happy. No stuffed animal I ever got was as good.

Since I’ve gotten Happy, I’ve always had her in times of need. When I got bit by the dog, Happy was there. When I had a horrible third grade year (that’s a different blog post), Happy was there. Even this year, when I shut my finger in the car door (different blog post again), Happy was there. And I’m sure Happy will be there in years to come too. She’s my every-lasting best friend.

I have to admit, when I was younger, I was starting to worry about what people would think if I still had Happy with me for everything. I thought people would start to tease me and make fun of me. I’ve gotten over that. I really don’t care if you think I’m childish (if you do, thank you!) for still having a stuffed animal as my best friend.

The assignment was to write a blog post about a memory with an object or movie (physical things), and I knew right away I was going to write about happy. But now, I don’t think that’s as smart if an idea; I can’t think of one memory with Happy that would do her justice. Looking back, Happy is in almost every good memory I have, and just about every bad one.

Happy means the world to me, even as a teenager. I would be devastated if anything happened to her. It’d be like an older sibling moving away from home, or a best friend moving to a different state. I’d be missing a part of my childhood-a part of my life. Nothing can ever break the bond between Happy and I, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
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“All I Ask of You” Commentary

I just want to go through this song from The Phantom of the Opera because it is just so full of…lies…that I don’t think many people see, and it’s seriously bothering me. So, I copied the lyrics from this website, if you want to read it, and I’m going to have my own commentary in it every now-and-then. To make it easy to find my commentary, it’s going to be orange and in this font. So, please enjoy the truth behind “All I Ask of You.” Oh, and most of this is stuff that never gets carried out.

(Raoul)
No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I’m here, nothing can harm you
My words will warm and calm you

Um, no. Raoul actually later CREATES more fears for her by making her do the Phantom’s Opera. Yup, no more fears indeed. Furthermore, he says ‘nothing can harm you’ and I just want to point out that immediately after they sing this song a chandelier almost FALLS ON CHRISTINE!

Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I’m here, with you, beside you
To guard you and to guide you

“To guard you and to guide you?” I honestly don’t think Christine wants to hear at this point since she recently asks the “Angel of Music” to guard her and guide her. The ‘Angel’ agrees and then the ‘Angel’ turns out to be The Phantom. Beautiful word choice Raoul.

(Christine)
Say you’ll love me every waking moment
Turn my head with talk of summer time
Say you need me with you now and always
Promise me that all you say is true
That’s all I ask of you

No, all he says is not true, Christine. Frankly, I think the Phantom’s more honest. One of my favorite moments is when the managers are telling Christine she has the biggest part (the lead) in the Phantom’s play. Christine says no, and when the managers are like, “Why not?” Raoul comes in and tells Christine that nobody can make her perform. Literally one minute later Raoul comes up with a fantastic plan that has Christine singing in the opera. Then Christine’s still saying “Please don’t make me.” Raoul tells her all hopes are resting on her. Ya, nobody can make you sing but he makes her. L-I-A-R.

[Raoul]
Let me be your shelter
Let me be your light
You’re safe, no one will find you
Your fears are far behind you

Ya, only behind the statue RIGHT BEHIND HER!

[Christine]
All I want is freedom
A world with no more night
And you, always beside me
To hold me and to hide me

[Raoul]
Then say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you need me with you here, beside you
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Christine, that’s all I ask of you

I’m convinced that because of Raoul, Christine is in more solitude after this song than she was earlier. I will hand it to him; he goes where she goes: when Christine is kidnapped to the Phantom’s liar at the end of the play and is trapped, Raoul smartly gets trapped in the lair.

[Christine]
Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you

[Both]
Share each day with me, each night, each morning

[Christine]
Say you love me

[Raoul]
You know I do

[Both]
Love me, that’s all I ask of you.

(They kiss.)

[Both]
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Love me, that’s all I ask of you

Okay, I can’t complain about this. Through all Raoul does, he does have Christine’s best interests at heart. He just has a really bad way of showing it.

Like my thought process? I hope so because that is my final say in that, unless you happen to have seriously convincing comment (so, please comment).

Now, to the best part. The Phantom’s watching behind a statue, Raoul and Christine leave to go back to the Opera house, and the Phantom comes out of his hiding spot. Lyrics from the same place as above.

[Phantom]
I gave you my music, made your song take wing.
And now, how you’ve repaid me, denied me and betrayed me.
He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing.
(Sobs) Christine, Christine.

Okay, let me just say: Poor Phantom! He had to listen to everything Raoul was saying that he wanted to do for Christine. Now, the Phantom probably would have done a worse job than Raoul of keeping his promises, but both of them did badly.

[Raoul & Christine]
Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you
Share each day with me, each night, each morning…

For just a minute, imagine you are the Phantom. You’re innocently crying about your broken heart and suddenly, the girl you loved and the man who took her from you start singing again. Rubbing it in.

[Phantom]
You will curse the day you did not do!
All that the Phantom asked of you!

(In the play, the Phantom now drops the chandelier now.)

Now, I’m not saying the Phantom’s perfect, but he sure isn’t that much better than Raoul. Raoul never dropped a chandelier or killed anybody, but he did throw Christine into his plan that totally failed and just made things worse for her.

Well, now you know my thoughts about this song. I hope you likes them, or at least saw my thought process. I could have picked any song from this point on (go look, you’ll see what I mean), but this one starts the chain reaction (I know I’ve been doing a love of things love-related, and that’s why). Please comment your thoughts!

Digital Footprints

Footprint

Photo Credit: stephanie carter via Compfight

Digital Footprints: your history online

I’m not sure what my digital footprint is, but I think it’s pretty positive. I mean, the most recent thing I searched on Google was my name and nothing about me came up (turns out, there are a lot of other ‘Kendall ——-‘s). Technology is a dangerous thing. Imagine: lets say, when you are 5 years old, you go online and join a website of some kind. Well, to get in, you must enter your email, name, age, city, and birthday. All of these things you do because you don’t yet know better. Now let’s fast-forward 10 years. You’re in the mall with your friends and some random person comes up to you and tells you something like, “Happy Birthday,” and walks away. Well, that person could have gotten that information from anything…including the website you joined when you were 5. Some other sources could have been an account on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

“But that’s not true,” you say, “My stuff isn’t able to be seen by everyone! I have the privacy setting on. You can’t see my account unless I let you.” Yes, that’s true: when you have the privacy setting on, sometimes it won’t let everyone see your posts unless you let them. Let me emphasize the word ‘sometimes.’ I just recently got an Instagram account. I didn’t have one for a long time because I didn’t want everyone to be able to see my posts. When my friend asked me why I didn’t have an account, I told her that reason. She seemed surprised that that was my only reason. “Kendall, you know there’s a privacy setting,” she told me, ” and if you have it on, only your followers can see your posts!” I’m telling you now: that doesn’t matter. There are brilliant people in this world that can easily hack into your account and get a lot of information on you. With the information a hacker gets, they can easily use it against you. And believe it or not, that happens a lot. 

Now, I’m not saying getting an account on a website or signing up to the latest social media thing is going to get you instantly hacked and attacked via-social-media, but I would be cautious. Back to the topic about Digital Footprints, if you have a negative footprint, when you go to apply to a collage, you are going to be considered more. Don’t post inappropriate stuff on anything, or it will come back to hurt you. That goes for Google too; searching bad stuff on Google is just as bad as posting something bad. 

With all of the technology in the world today, I feel as though some people are forgetting some of the most important rules of the internet, thinking it doesn’t matter. You Digital Footprint will be active and accessible for years after you die, and has been active and accessible for years (ok, a year) before you were born. If you are tempted to post something bad on the internet or look something bad up, think about your future and think about how the post or search will affect you later.

Imperfect.

Dear everyone who has made fun of someone recently for something,
Guess what? We’re all human. I make mistakes and so do you. Nobody needs to be perfect to please you; you don’t need to be perfect to please someone else. Please, be yourself and let others be themselves. Life has many, many, many twists and turns and ups and downs, and it’s not helpful to have someone in your head telling you you cannot do it.
I am perfect in my imperfection
You perfect in your imperfection
Love,
Kendall, an imperfect girl who has many flaws, but one big strength: I’m Imperfect and PROUD!

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Thanks PicCollage!

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!

The Sequence

This is the warning
This is the warning of something
This is the warning of something big
This is the warning
You have been warned

This is the beginning
This is the beginning of something
This is the beginning of something big
This is the beginning
Prepare yourself

This is the middle
This is the middle of something
This is the middle of something big
This is the middle
Prepare yourself

This is the preparation
This is the preparation of something
This is the preparation of something big
This is the preparation
You are prepared

This is the end
This is the end of something
This is the end of something big
This is the end
You have survived

 
Glitter Text @ Glitterfy.com

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.