McCandless Experiment

My experiment was to wear a completely different type of style so I chose to dress up.  O got a lot of compliments from my friends when they noticed that I was dressed differently.  I felt out of place almost as I was walking down the halls because I felt like I was too dressed up for school.  I was kinda surprised by their reactions but I had it coming since I usually don't dress nice.  I guess I would consider myself to be "free" and I sorta know how McCandless feels now.

Quote

           I chose the quote "Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can't change" because first, there's no point in holding onto something and feeling bad about something or someone when you can't change what happened or what someone did.  Also laughing when you can lightens up life and it's telling you that you don't always have to be serious in life or in some situations.  Lastly, you should apologize when the time is right.
           This quote represents me because I don't worry or put myself down about something that I can't change.  I also try to look on the bright side of things and have a positive outlook on things without being to oblivious to the issues around me.  I also apologize to someone when the time is right.  My actions are related to this quote because I literally would apologize or laugh at times.
           My life would be care-free if I lived by this quote in a literal meaning.  I would be laughing all the time and apologizing for many things.  I would let go of a lot of things without thinking twice because I would think I couldn't do anything about it.

Pills (short story)

Rachael Price

Mrs. Belden

Honors English I

10 October 2014

Pills

People always say they’re afraid of death.  That death will be painful and dark or even morbid, but it’s only like that if you don’t want it.  Death is a system of relief that last’s forever.  It’s a safe haven for the broken and wounded.  I’ve heard suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems, but my problems aren’t just temporary.  Mine will always be there just like a shadow.  My life is like a game you would play at a carnival or a fair when they throw the ball to dunk the person.  Everyone throws things at me but soon, with one lucky shot, I will fall.  After I got the letter something inside me broke.  I felt cold like the winter breeze outside.  It felt like the whole world went quiet, like everyone and everything was waiting in silence for how I would react.  How I would react to losing the only thing that kept me on the ground.  That letter, 2 pages, 326 words, and 1 apology of the loss of my best friend, and also my dad.  Even though he was in another country I still felt close to him.  While he was risking his life in Afghanistan, I was still in Colorado, going to highschool, and working at the local drug store.

My mother didn’t bother reading the letter, she knew it was coming.  That’s why she started drinking.  Something inside her died when dad left.  Instead of telling herself to be strong, like she told me, she drank her sorrows.  I remember coming home from working in the run-down, old, brick drug store on the corner of the stree.  It was fall, my favorite season.  The trees started to turn from green to golden colors and the smell of a bonfire and laughing children filled my senses.  When I unlocked the front door and stepping inside the house I was expecting to see nothing but darkness, thinking mom went to bed.  Instead she was sitting in the dimly lit kitchen, an amber liquid next to her, and a photo of Dad in front of her.  The photo of Dad was from when I was turning four, and it was my birthday.  Mom ended up dropping the cake, so instead of a happy family photo there’s a younger version of me crying and my parents looking sadly at the camera.

“Mom it’s late you need to go to bed.” I spoke to her softly.  Instead of listening to me she just stared at dads picture.  Tears brimming her eyes.  Before I could step towards her she stood abruptly and looked at me.

“You don’t get it Olivia.  He’s not coming home!  The moment he stepped out of this house was the last time we would see him!  You’re so naive Olivia!” At this point she was screaming at me.  Tears were streaming down both of our faces.  I stood there in shock, staring at the only person that I thought was there for me.  The only person who’s supposed to help me through hard times. Even though she was drunk I couldn’t help but to believe her.

After that night there was only small talk between mom and I, and that was only when she was asking for money.  When mom was home, which was rarely, she was passed out on the couch after a long night of drinking.  I still went to school even though no one would notice if I was there or not.  I don’t have many friends in high school.  Since my mom spends all the money on alcohol there isn’t much left for us.  I have no money to go to college so my future is unclear.  By the looks of it I could disappear now and no one would notice.  Not even my own mother.  

Before my dad left everything was perfect. I couldn’t complain.  My dad always gave me little encouragement quotes or bits of advice, but now that he’s gone I feel lost.  He was the only person who would guide me in the right direction and without him, I’m in the dark.  Dad made me feel like I was important and that I was fixed.  Now that he’s gone I feel like I’m as broken as can be and that I was never fixed.  I know that he’s watching over me and that he would want be to be strong but it’s so hard when I have no hope.  Now I’m sitting here, in my small house in Colorado looking at the pills in my hand and the letter from my Dad’s lieutenant in the other.  Taking these little pills could help me see my father again.  So what’s stopping me? Nothing.

Timed Writing

          I read the book A Child called "It" by David Pelzer.  The purpose of the text was to show that courage  only gets you so far.  Throughout the book, Dave is heated, starved, abandoned, and much more, but he still has the courage to survive.  One way Dave has Courage is using strategies to delay his moms punishments.  In the book he quotes, "After I finished, I felt as though I had won the Olympic Marathon.  I was so proud for beating Mother at her own game."(pg. 62)
         Dave is forced to drink soap but instead he found a way to not do it so therefor he is proud at himself.  This quote is related back to the theme because he still went through an amount of pain but he made it easier to bare by having courage.
         Another example of how courage gets you only so far is when the mom tried to make him swallow ammonia, but instead he moved his head from side to side to make his mom spill most of it.  In the book he says, " She had to  pry my mouth open, by thrashing my head from side to side, I was able to make her spill most of the cleaner onto the floor." (pg. 88)  This shows how his courage helped him decrease the punishment he was getting but he only got so far because he still had to swallow the cleaner.
         Also in the book he used he courage to delay his mom from burning him on the stove.  Dave states, "I stood against the wall and began to whimper until I realized that I had beaten her.  I had bought a few precious minutes.  I had used my head to survive.  For the fist time I had won." (pg. 34)  Even though he was beaten instead of burned he still got little punishment because he used his courage to ease the punishments and beatings.
         Lastly, after the mom stabbed Dave he refused to let the wound get to him.  In the text he states,  " I willed the wound to heal.  Somehow I knew it would.  I felt proud of myself." (pg. 55)  This shows that his courage and bravery wouldn't let him back down.  Dave did all of these tactics  to ease all the pain he was going through instead of giving in.
          Overall, there are many examples of courage only getting you so far in the book A Child Called "It".  Dave Pelzer showed that even when your'e young, you can still do the right and know how to take care of yourself.

Metacognitive Blog:  And Then There Were None

Things i had to specifically change in my And Then There Were None essay was to add the titles "Part 1" and so on.  Also I had to add on to one of my paragraphs to make it longer.  I also had to fix my quotes by adding the page number.  Lastly, I had to fix some punctuation and spelling errors.
The form of support that helped me the most was the partner check because my partner marked all the things I needed to fix and she knew what needed to be fixed while my parents didn't really know what needed to be corrected.  Looking at some of my other writing will help me improve my writing because usually all I do is make little mistakes so rereading over my writing will help me recognize punctuation errors or spelling errors.  I would like to tai emu time in writing and not rush over my writing because I usually make little mistakes while writing and then I don't check over it so my goal is to revise my writing more than once before turning it in.