English Class

   In English class, we worked on our research and nervous conditions projects. I feel really relieved because I got my research project over with on Thursday. For my research project, I wrote an article specifically for teens about the Dangers of Facebook and how to be safe on social networks. I think it went pretty well, until some random music started playing while I was talking and I could stop laughing... Anyway, It's over with and now we have to focus on our Nervous Conditions project which we will be filming soon.
  I'm still reading Seriously...I'm Kidding and I'm still loving it! Ellen really knows who to talk to the readers in a way that makes you feel like you're right there with her chatting about life! What makes it cooler is that I just found out that my friend Mo Isom is going to be on the Ellen Degeneres Show on April 3rd!!! Y'all should definitely watch! Back to the book, I'm almost finished with it, but at the same time I don't want it to be over! I will hopefully read the other 2 books that Ellen has written!

3/23/12- 50 min of Seriously I'm Kidding
3/24/12- 1 hour of Seriously I'm Kidding
and 40 min of "The Fish" (reading and annotating)

This Week!

   This week felt way longer than usual. I found myself fighting to stay awake in class! That's why I was relieved when Friday came because I got the rest I needed!! But on the bright side, I saw The Sound of Music on Thursday which was amazing!! The acting, the singing, and the band was incredible. It was really cool watching my friends on the stage and seeing how talented they are! On Friday, I relaxed a lot which I was really happy about.
   Today, I went to Lafayette to look for an apartment with my mom and they were all gorgeous! Which leaves tonight to do homework...Tomorrow is the sports awards at school! So I get to go to the VPAC and see all my soccer friends (and friends from other sports too). After that, the team is going to DeAngelos and having a team dinner which I'm really excited about too! I've really missed soccer so I'm glad we get to do this!

Outside Reading: Seriously...I'm Kidding

   This week in English, we talked about our research paper project and the Nervous Conditions project. Personally, I'm excited for the NC Project because I'm in the best group of all time. Elise, Sides, Anna, Janelle, and I are all together and we already have an idea for our project! We also had 10 minutes in the beginning on English to read our outside reading books so I whipped out the Ellen book. It was hard to read silently because I was about to bust out laughing, but then people would've thought I was crazy so I had to strain myself. ;)
  Seriously...I'm Kidding is getting even funnier if that was even possible! She was talking about beauty and how far women will go to achieve it. She talks about how it's not worth all the trouble and people should be comfortable in there own skin. She says, " We are who we are. Embrace who you are. Literally. Hug yourself. Accept who you are. Unless you're a serial killer". So she really does give advice in a amusing way that makes the reader keep reading throughout the entire book. I'm really enjoying her book and I don't want it to end! I'm planning on reading the other two books she has written too!  

Lafayette this weekend!

   This weekend was very different then any other weekend. My mom and I drove to Lafayette to check out the city! Since my mom is a pediatric gastroenterologist, which in simple terms is a stomach doctor for kids, a hospital in Lafayette wants her to work there and so they are paying for EVERYTHING. It's pretty great... Our hotel, our food, etc. was all paid for! After we arrived at the hotel and dropped all our stuff in the room, a woman named Mary who works in the hospital showed us around town. We first went to St. Thomas Moore to check out the school to see if I wanted to go there next year.  The first turnoff was the mascot. They were the Cougars... I'm not sure I want to be a cougar. ;) In all seriousness, it just wasn't the right school for me! I walked in and it was like one of those gloomy. boring high schools you see in movies and it had an odd smell. So we left and went to ESA. I was really surprised when we arrived! The classrooms are like little houses!! I've never seen anything like it. We later talked to the French teacher who was nice, but I couldn't understand a word she said... But anyway, it was a very unique, outdoorsy school which I have heard a lot of good things about! I'm probably going to shadow there soon.
  We later made our way back to the hotel and wanted to go check out the mall! Mary had to leave so we were on our own. Using my phone, we finally got there safely! We went in a lot of stores and I bought a bunch of clothes and then we ate! After about 4 hours, we got back to the car and were ready to go back to the hotel, but of course my phone died because I was texting the whole time which probably wasn't such a good idea. Eventually, we got back to the hotel where I am now typing this! Tomorrow, we will probably see more of the city then return back to Baton Rouge! All in all, it has been a very fun day hanging with my mom and seeing Lafayette!

Seriously...I'm Kidding

   We have finally finished Nervous Conditions and taken the test! In the end it wasn't a bad book, but it was slow in the beginning and got better towards the end. Now, I have to find a new book to read! Since soccer season is over, I don't have much to do after school except for homework so lately I've been watching the Ellen Degeneres Show. It is so hilarious and you never know what's going to happen next and which celebrity might drop in! Ellen is very funny and everything that comes out of her mouth makes people laugh. One day, she promoted her new book called, Seriously... I'm Kidding and so I thought "Ellen is pretty hilarious so her book should be too!"
   I began reading it today and I couldn't stop! She doesn't just tell us her life story or anything. She actually tells us highlights in her life with life lessons thrown in there. Even when she talks about serious things, she finds a way to make it funny. I was actually laughing out loud while reading it and now my brother probably thinks I've gone crazy. IT'S THAT FUNNY! She breaks that wall between her and the reader and talks to us as if we were there with her. It's very entertaining and attention-grabbing! It might be one of the funniest books I've ever read. I would recommend it to everyone!

Sunday- 2 hours 45 min- 81 pgs.

Just a Girl Trying out for the Football Team...

    A lot of you have probably heard about the girl trying out to be the kicker for the LSU football team. It's a very controversial subject for some people. Some people think that a woman could NEVER make the football team because football is just for guys and women would just get hurt. Others think that it's just a publicity stunt for her to get attention and it's all for show. The remaining people (including me) think that she's just a girl that actually has the courage to tryout for the football team.

   That girl is actually my friend! Mo Isom used to be the goalkeeper for the LSU women's soccer team. In fact, she was the best goalkeeper in the history of LSU. This means she knows what it means to practice hard and be a true athlete. When she was a freshmen, she even scored a 90-yard penalty kick that bounced over the opposing keeper!! So everyone knows she has a really strong kicking leg! She is also LSU's homecoming queen this year. She's the first athlete to be crowned queen at LSU.  Now, she wants to use her last year of athletic eligibility to play for the Tigers football team. She's said that there are many reasons she's trying out for the team. For one, she wants to be a tiger as long as possible! She really wants to take that challenge to end her senior year with a bang! She once told me that another reason was because of her dad. Her father played football in college and Mo grew up watching football all the time! In 2009, he committed suicide,So this was another way to still be connected to him and keep that bond even if he is not with her anymore. Many people don't know that reason and think she just wants attention, but they don't know the real Mo and what she stands for. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3E-dgyo_jw

If you want to see her 90-yard click, click the link ^

  

YOLO!

   Everyone has their own bucket list. They have goals or things they want to do in their lives before they die. Usually, the things people want to do are sometimes out of their reach or just so crazy that they think it is impossible. On Pinterest, I have a board that I called "Bucket List" and yesterday I was looking at it and just thinking, I am ever REALLY going to ever do any of this? I have things pinned on that board such as: Go on a road trip from New York to California, learn how to surf, and even throw a dart at a map and go wherever it lands. There are crazier things, but those are just 3!

  Last night, I was trying to go to sleep, but I couldn't stop thinking about my Bucket List. I know I'm only a teenager right now and I can't go on my own and do any of those things, but I know I don't want to be stuck in Louisiana for the rest of my life. I want to see the world! Since the death of my uncle last year, it has hit my that life is too short so we should live it up!! Everyone should do some if not all the things they want to do in life because you only live once.

Nervous Conditions

   Through the course of this book, many of the characters have shown their "nervous conditions".  We find out Tambu is very nervous and worried without Nyasha, but Nyasha also has some nervous conditions. She is under a lot of stress from her dad, Babamuruku, not to mention she is bulimic. Babamuruku is always anxious because he has to be the big leader of the family. His wife Maiguru just wants to escape because she is trapped with him. All the characters has some sort of nervous condition that effects the way the change in the book.
   I believe Tambu and Nyasha are the most dynamic characters. In the beginning, Tambu really doesn't like Nyasha. She thinks she's rude to her parents and doesn't agree with anything she does, but as as time passes, she becomes really close to  Nyasha. We later see how much Tambu NEEDS Nyasha because she needs someone to talk to and understand her. Her views also change a lot too. She really sees Babamuruku and Nyasha differently after their fight. In Nyasha's case, she's always been rebellious and rude with her parents. Now, she just studies all the time, doesn't eat, then stuffs her herself to make her parents happy which ends in throwing it back up. Her bulimia is really taking control of her and changes her physically and emotionally. This week, we really found out why Tsitsi Dangarembga titled the book Nervous Conditions.

Outside Reading:
NC Ch. 8 and 9- 2 and 1/2 hours