C'mon Parents Pay Attention to Your Children!

“Parents simply don’t understand the problems teenagers go through.”

I have to agree with this statement after reading this book. Melinda’s parents we’re kind of stupid in this story. Her parents we’re always busy. They always worked and never paid any attention to Melinda. Only a few times did they notice her but not really a lot. I believe the first time her parents noticed her throughout the whole story was around Christmas.  “They gave me a handful of gift certificates, a TV for my room, ice skates, and a sketchpad and pencils. they said they noticed me drawing” pg 72. But the if the parents knew what was going on in her life. They’d figure out she was only drawing because it got  her away from the problems shes having.

Another example is when Melinda cuts her inner left arm in an attempt of suicide. "If a suicide attempt is a cry for help then what is this? A peep, a whimper?" Her parents blame everything on her. They don’t care whats going on their life. They just like to blame anything on her. If her parents knew what was going on they would problem at least somewhat help her out. She would be having amazing grades, an amazing social life, she wouldn't be home being depressed. I think they would have at least notice how she stopped going out every now and then. That’s a sign right there that there’s something wrong!

Compare and Contrast

In this book I have realized their are a lot of things the same as in real life. This book has the same kind of drama teens deal with in their high school lives. This girl I know has actually had everything the same happen to her but her friends didn’t leave here. They stuck by her side and helped her out with things and she actually got pregnant from it. They found the guy that raped her and of course he went to jail. Now that shes older she regrets going to parties when she was younger. Oh and I forgot she wasn’t in 9th grade though she was in 10th.

True or False?

“People who are quiet have something to hide.”

    I totally this disagree with this statement. It doesn’t matter if your loud or quiet. You might be quiet because your shy and you don’t want to talk to many people or maybe your just socially awkward, you don’t like talking to people. While there’s other people who are loud and likes to express their feelings or just like being the center of attention or just like being with people.

    I can honestly say that most people that are loud are hiding something because you don’t suspect they would be hiding something because they express their feelings... So you think. For example, this girl Annabell is always loud, outgoing, and loves to meet new people, but what you don’t know is that she hides that her parents fight everyday and gets abused by her dad. Its a true story most people are like that and hide their personal life and pull off a fake one and pretend they have a happy life.

    I know this boy that’s quiet in school and doesn’t really like talking to people but a few of his close friends. His a really nice kid. There’s nothing wrong. He never hides anything from his parents. His always honest and tells it how it is. This kid is always happy even though you might think his depressed or a freak, but you shouldn’t judge him until you really meet him.

    So lets say you see a quiet girl walking the halls and shes doesn’t talk to anyone on her way to class, you think shes hiding something? That’s not right. Haven’t you heard, never judge a book by its cover? Maybe she just has a lot on her mind and she just wants to be alone. It doesn’t necessarily mean she has something to hide! It just means shes on a mission to not be late to class. Simple as that.

    As you can see quiet people don’t hide anything and if so its just maybe because they don’t want to talk about it. So therefore they hide it. But most people do this. Loud, quiet, popular, or even the band geek. They all have either something they hide or they just don’t want to talk about.

What do you value the most in your life?

In America we always see people having trouble with money and the people that have money are usually never satisfied, they always need to try to please themselves somehow. Most of the time you see people that don’t have a lot of things, happy with what they have.That's only because they know they can’t really buy much because they don’t have a lot of money so they like what they have. Some people don’t know how good they have until they lose it or even see how it is on the other side.

One of the thing I mostly value in life that is an expense is my iPod. I couldn’t live without it. It wakes me up in the morning, I listen to it on the bus, while cleaning, and while doing homework. I feel like I’m in my own world when I listen to the music I like. To me it just makes me feel safe and that no one can judge me. Its where I can control what I want to listen to. I like to listen to all kind of different music, but I mainly listen to heavy metal and alternative rock. These kind of music may seem heavy or even scary to other people, but it makes me feel relaxed. I basically grew up listening to this kind of music. My dad listened to it everyday when he brought me to day care when I was little. He said it was his “morning coffee.” I can’t really disagree with him on that since I do the same.

Something priceless that I enjoy the most is being with my friends. I can be myself around them. When in school I feel like i have to pretend to be someone I’m not, it doesn’t seem right to me. Where I hang out with my friends are at football games, at my house, and at parks. We usually just goof off and never really pay much attention to anything that is going on around us. We just have fun with whatever we're doing. Being with my friends is a time where I can relax, talk about whats going on in life right now, and talk about things I can’t really talk to my parents about. I have three main friends that are always there for me and never fail me. That is a what makes them true friends to me.

I value these items the most out of anything in the entire world! I value my iPod and my friends because, one, I could lose a friend anytime, anywhere and two, my iPod has all the songs I’ve liked since 5th grade. These items are kind of similar in many ways to me. For starters, I can be/have things my own way instead of how people want me to be like or tell me what I should listen to (i.e. radio). Secondly, theses things are always there for me when I need them and I always know just where to find them. Lastly, some of the songs I have on my iPod reminds me of my friends or even some songs I listen to, I listen to them with my friends.

Now that you know about the things that I value the most in my life. Why not share about a few things that you value the most in your life? Its not really that hard if your talking about something you like / interested in / something you value. Think about it for a little. What is one thing you value the most that doesn’t cost a thing and then something you value the most that cost money? It could be anything in the world. To your baby blanket to your million dollar watch you got from your grandfather. Just value everything you have because it could just disappear in a blink of an eye.

Summer Reading!

Summer Readying Essay

The two characters I have chosen to be in my essay was Sean (the writer of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” when he was younger) and Daisy (main character of “How I Live Now”). The scene takes place in Oslo. They’re is a battle scene going on in the background and there was a huge bolder in this scene.

Daisy was running to the bolder for protection. Nearly out of breath. She hinds behind the bolder to find someone already there. She notices him, but doesn’t really care at the moment. Daisy peaks her head over the bolder and shouts out “TAKE COVER!!” Her and the boy takes cover.

Once the earth stopped shaking below their feet. Daisy looked around and saw the boy still covering his head. She nudged him and said “it’s okay you can relax now. I believe its over.”

The boy looked around and saw her face. She was a cute brunette, her hair was tied in the back with some hairs falling out on the sides. She looked like she would be about 15 years old. Her clothes were cut up and she also had a little cut on her left cheek, but it didn’t seem to bother her. “h-h-hi my name is Sean” he said shyly.

She gave him a smile and a little giggle. “Hi Sean. My name is Daisy. Are you OK?”

As he slowly got up and said “Yea, I believe so. The main question is, are you OK? Since you have a gash on your cheek.”

Daisy got up as well feeling her left cheek. “Oh I didn’t even notice but yes I'm OK, Thanks for asking.” She looked at the boy. He looked about 16 years old, probably played football in the past years. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. His clothes looked like he hasn’t been outside for too long, but he did look very hungry.

Daisy looked around and found no one in site. They walked through the remains of the dead soldiers. It was quiet gruesome. Dead bodies everywhere! Sean started to get so sick from the smell and the blood he puked.

Daisy looked back to find Sean puking. She walked back and stood by him rubbing his back, saying its OK, and just to calm down and cover his nose and mouth with his t-shirt.

They finally found a house. Sean went in front of Daisy, trying to gain back his manly-hood. He knocked on the door and said, “Hello, is anyone here?”

There was silence.

“I guess no ones hear. Lets go. We don’t need to go in.” Sean said turning around quickly.

“Uh no you look hungry and I know for sure I am. Lets go in and see if they have any food.”

“But someone lives here!”

“Do you see anyone around?” Daisy asked with a bit of an attitude.

Sean sighed and walked in first. He was kind of scared that someone was going to pop out like in all the other horror films that start off with a bomb going off and the town gets infected and turns into zombies.

Daisy must have read his mind because as he was thinking that when she popped out around the corner.

Sean screamed like a little girl.

Daisy laughed so hard, that she almost peed her pants, but awhile laughing so hard, somehow Daisy heard a noise from upstairs. She suddenly stopped and told Sean to shut up.

The noises stopped a few seconds after it got quite. Daisy got up quickly and grabbed a bag and some random food from the shelves. She tightly gripped Sean’s arm and dragged him outside running.

They got out of the house. Sean looked back “What was that for?!” he yelled at her.

“There was someone in there.” She was still holding onto his arm with a tight grip. “Come on lets keep on going...” She said while looking back at the strange house.