Frizzy Lizzy Who Mauled a Grizzly

My only friend, is my friend Lizzy.
Her Hair is black and also frizzy.
She sucks at basketball,
shops at the Holyoke Mall,
went to the woods to maul a grizzly.

The Old Man and the Sea Prompt

Throughout life everyone faces many obstacles or problems where the person has to make a sincere decision that can affect the person’s life or someone else’s. That person has to think about the situation and come to a reasonable outcome. Even people in works of literature face obstacles or problems that affect their life, like in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The main character Santiago faces to most powerful obstacle than anyone else in the novella. He also faces other problems while he’s out at sea.

The most powerful obstacle he faces is the pack of angry sharks that attacks Santiago’s boat. Santiago went out to sea to fish, and while out there, he caught on to a marlin that after a couple days dragged him far from the land. Santiago didn’t expect to be so far out into the ocean, so he didn’t have enough supplies to last him another couple of days. He was on the break of starvation, tiredness, and dehydration; he used to last of his strength to pull out the taunting marlin, “In the darkness he [Santiago] loosened his sheath of the knife and taking all the strain of the fish on his left shoulder...”(51). When the old man pulled the marlin onto the boat the man felt enthusiastic, elated, and relieved that he finally caught the fish. The old man couldn't be happier that after 84 days without a catch, he caught a huge marlin. Santiago was absolutely devoted

One problem Santiago faces, besides the shark is the marlin. The marlin he caught dragged him farther out into the ocean than where he started. When Santiago caught onto the marlin, the fish took the line and pulled the old man’s boat a far distance from the land. The old man states, “It was noon when I hooked him. I have never seen him”(46). Santiago emphasizes that it has been a while since he hooked the fish. This problem affects the old man by using up all the old man’s energy which makes Santiago tired and eventually weakened.

Another problem the old man confronts is lack of supplies. He didn’t plan his trip to take as long as it did. He had to be thoughtful about how to use up his supplies. He had to partially eat the dolphin fish he caught to build energy, the old man says to himself, “Perhaps I should eat some of it when I clean it. It will be harder than to eat than the bonito. But, then, nothing is easy”(74). The old man was most disappointed when his oar and knife broke and the shark took his harpoon and rope while he was fighting off the pack of sharks that wanted his marlin, “he took my harpoon and all the rope, he [Santiago] thought, and now my fish bleeds again and there will be others”(103)the old man thinks to himself.

Santiago is a lonely man who lost his wife and the young man he took with him fishing, is now on another boat because the parents wanted their son to fish with a luckier boat. The old man is approved of the young man's parents. He knows that he hasn't been lucky in 84 days and that 85 is his lucky number. The old man is tense and determined everyday he goes out to sea. He wants to catch some fish so he can make some money, buy better supplies, and buy food and drinks. He old man is outgoing even when he knows he is very poor and has almost nothing to eat. In the story the young man feels apologetic towards the old man, Manolin takes Santiago out for beer and coffee the next morning. Everyone in town feels apologetic for the old man when the old man goes out to fish and doesn't come back for four days and when he does he only brings back a large carcass of a marlin.

Short Story

Trepidation and Revenge

Amy is a kind, smart girl who comes from a rich family. She can be tough at times when needed, like in sports. Her family owns one of the top companies in Colombia. The company has been bequeathed through generations. She and her family live in the biggest house on the eastern coast of Colombia. Her house is three streets from the private school that she attends. Jenny is Amy’s best friends since they were both born in the same hospital around the same time on June 23rd, 1996. Their fathers worked in the same company and Jenny’s father was appointed the top leader of the company below the owners, Amy’s family. Amy's favorite things to do in her spare time are playing sports, like basketball, shopping with her mom and being with her family. She loves her family dearly and probably couldn't live without such a huge part of her life aloof. She would be doleful or morose if something happened to her beloved family, and her brain would be severely garbled. Now enough of her life let's get on with the story of Amy’s experience last year.

~~~~*~~~~

The clock in the classroom read 1:58 and second hand is counting down the time left in school. Amy is sitting at her desk, surrounded by all of her closest friends. She's wearing her favorite pair of hoop earrings with her school uniform. She can't wait to go home and go shopping with her mom when Amy gets home.

"Oh my gosh, Jenny. Guess what I'm doing when I get home?” Amy asks Jenny

“Let me guess…shopping with your mom,” Jenny replies

“How did you know?” Amy sarcastically asks

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the eight times today you told me that you were going shopping,” Jenny smartly remarks

Both Jenny and Amy laugh together as the school bell rings. A myriad amount of junior high school students run out of the school building to get home by bus, parents, or walking. Everyone is so elated to get home to their families, only Amy doesn’t know she’ll be coming home to a different situation than she has ever been in.

~~~~*~~~~

Amy is walking home from school since her ethereal house is three streets over from her private school, James S. Cavalier Junior High School. She has the biggest smile on her face, she can’t wait to get home to her mom.

“I’ll probably have to do homework before we go. Good thing I did most of it at school. That means I have more time for shopping,” shrieked Amy to herself.

Amy turns the corner into her driveway and sees two black SUVs of a large girth. Amy thinks to herself that the people at her house must be associates of her parents company. Amy grabs her key out of her backpack and puts it into the lock, but before she turns the key she hears people talking inside and items being knocked over. Amy slowly turns the key and slowly opens the door. As she opens the door she notices gun bullet shells on the floor and blood all over the wall. Amy wants to close the door, but wants to find out about her family.

She walks through the door and sees men in black suits searching through the prodigious filing cabinet. Amy doesn’t know what the men are after, but she’s curious. She walks into the living room furtively, without a sound. Just until she’s near the couch, the men realize Amy is in the room and grab her without dilatory.

“Who are you?” one of men questions.

“I’m Amy. Where are my parents? What are you doing in my house?” Amy quickly asks.

“Oh, You’re the daughter of James and Miranda. I wondered where you were. Well….your parents are no longer with us, as you can see,” the man says.

“Where are there? Why are the holding on to me? Who are you? I want them now!” Amy asks with trepidation in her voice.

“I’m Rico and your parents won’t be ever come back from where they went. Well…let’s see…would you like to see them?” Rico asks

“YES!” exclaims Amy

“Bring their bodies here, Paul,” Rico commands

“Bodies?” Amy asks in a whisper

Paul, a muscular and tan man brings in three bodies covered in blood. Amy screams as long as she can before the men holding her cover her mouth. The bodies are the bodies of her mother, her father, and her older brother. Amy can’t believe what she’s and wishes this was all a dream and that she was still in bed.

“Put the bodies back Paul. I think she’s seen enough,” Rico commands

“Ok, boss,” Paul replies

“Wh..what did you do?” stammers Amy

“Well…..we killed them,” Rico answers

Amy is shocked in fear and can’t say anything, she’s too much in awe to get even a squeak out. The men take Amy into another room and lock the door behind them like Rico ordered. As Amy is placed in the room, Rico and the rest of his men talk about what they should do with Amy. Rico walks in the room with his own swagger and tells Amy that they are going to take Amy to their drug warehouse until they find what they were looking for in the house. Amy is dragged out of the house with a towel placed on top of her head and her mouth covered so she wouldn’t scream. She is then thrown into the back of the SUV and the men start to drive away.

~~~~*~~~~

Amy feels the car start to slow down and tries to struggle out of the ties wrapped around her wrists. She fails at trying to get free, because the men tied it tighter as she attempted to break free from the grasp of the malefactors. The car suddenly stops and the men rush out of the cars and into the warehouse where they make and store the drugs they make. Amy smells salt-water and realizes that they are near the ocean, probably on the abandoned docks in lower Colombia on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

After 10 minutes of shuffling around, the men holding Amy finally take off the towel upon her head. Amy finds herself in the middle of the building and tied down to a chair. Inside of Amy’s head, Amy is scared out of her mind and is freaking out because she hasn’t yet absorbed the thought of her being taken by these strange men.

“What do you want with me?” asks Amy

“I want to know where your father keeps all of your family’s money,” Rico responses

“How the hell would I know!” exclaims Amy

“You should know. You’re the daughter of the family. Your parents should have told you or given you clues to where it is,” says Rico

“How would he give me clues to where it is? I see him all the time but all he does is tutor me in my classes and buys me custom made jewelry,” Amy say

Rico reaches towards Amy his dry right hand and rips the necklace off Amy’s neck.

He observes the necklace closely with his bare eyes and then asks for a magnifying glass. After being handed the magnifying glass, he inspects the metal braided, heart-shaped necklace’s braids. It takes him 3 minutes to finally spot numbers etched in the metal.

“What are these numbers?” questions Rico

“I don’t know! My father gave it to me, not told me what was on it. It’s probably the serial number, so if it gets lost you can find out the original buyer,” responses Amy

~~~~*~~~~

Amy is place in a room where there is only a chair, a blanket, a table, and a old, dirty mattress. Amy is forced to live in this small, petite room with very few bathroom breaks. Amy has been in this room for two days, she misses her friends, and is depressed about what happened to her family. She can’t stand living in these conditions

One day she asks knocks on the door of the room she’s in and asks if she can go to the bathroom. The guard doesn’t realize that he is going to get the wind knocked of his in many ways.

The guard opens the door and Amy yells to hurt the guards ears, elbows him in the diaphragm, stomps on his huge left foot, pokes his eyes out, and grabs his gun leaning on the wall next to the door. She points the gun at the guard and puts two rounds in his left thigh and abdominals. After shooting the guards she runs out the door shooting anyone in her way, but not killing them just enough not to chase her or go after her. She makes it out of the building and hides behind the crates of fish. She wants to run to the closest police station and tells them what is there but first she wants to get revenge on the man who ordered the killing of her family and for taking the necklace her father bought her.

Rico hears all about what Amy did and Rico is furious. He searches for her like she some sort of dog. Once she hears Rico just close enough for her to aim and shoot him in the head, she comes out from behind the crates and yells “THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She aims well and shoots Rico right in the center of eyes, the kill shot. She runs up to Rico and empties the rest of the clip into Rico’s chest. Blood is splattered everywhere. Everything around Amy and Rico is covered in blood. Amy’s whole outfit is covered is imbued in dark red blood.

Amy got revenge for her family and is ready for anything that is coming her way. All she cares about right now is that Rico is dead and gone with no return. Amy throws the gun into the ocean and walks away with a grin on her face, thinking about nothing but that her family has gotten the satisfactory of the someone in the family has given back the karma to Rico that Rico started. On the walk through the town, people stare at Amy who is covered in blood and Amy hears the sound of police cars rushing towards her and the warehouse where the shots were fired. The police stop Amy and ask her what has happened. Amy starts by saying “The fastidious Rico Sanchez, the drug lord of Colombia, has been killed, the gun that killed him is now in the ocean, and you will find 25 injured men in the old Gutten Fishing Warehouse.” She is escorted into the police car without any handcuffs on.

Amy has lived through the worst experience she will ever go through. She doesn’t tell the police that she killed Rico, injured 25 men who worked for Rico, and the police, until this day, don’t know that Amy has done the things she has done. No one has asked her any questions about the death of Rico Sanchez and she will never tell them the whole truth……

Second Quarter Book Review

Outside Reading Book Review: Second Quarter

Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Tyndale House Publishers, 1995

Genre: Fiction

Left Behind is about God’s Rapture and how Rayford Steele is trying to find a way into Heaven, so he can be with his wife and kids. The setting of the story is the United States and the United Nations. Also there is a journalist, Buck Williams, get tricked into making Carpathia, leader of all of the countries.

“Even those who are not connoisseurs of fiction will be gripped by this novel,” wrote Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, Chicago

Rayford Steel takes his wife’s suggestion and goes to church to find out more information about the Rapture. He wants to know why God did this and what will happen to those ‘left behind.’ To be ‘left behind’ means that god didn’t take you to heaven with him because you’re faith in him wasn’t pure. I have started to read the second book of the series, Tribulation Force. The second book is about the gathering of people who want to get into Heaven, so they have to figure out a way to survive the next seven years of the Rapture. The people just want to be with their friends and families. The story is written through the eyes of the characters, Rayford, Buck, Carpathia, Hattie, and Chloe.

“’ And you think that this was God’s doing?” said Chloe not disrespectfully”’

I absolutely loved this book. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I have all of the books. Once I finish reading the series, I am going to find other books written by Tim LaHaye. The way the plot is written just pulls you into the story. The details are amazing, so amazing that I could actually see myself in the story.

What would you choose, money or your family?

What is valuable to you? Your MP3? Your game system? Your family? Spending time with your family? Most people think that expensive items are the most valuable items to them, but sometimes that isn’t true. Some people think that spending time with the people who love and care for you is valuable. Family members are supposed to help you out in need and love you for everything you do. Expensive items may cost money and mean something to you but think about how much your family has given back to you. Now what do you think is valuable?

It was November; it was windy outside on the middle of football season. I was sitting on the couch at my grandparents’ historic house and my father calls me into the kitchen. I walked downstairs and across the hall into the kitchen. The kitchen smelled of warm soup and pot roast. When I walked in I saw my father leaning against the counter hold an envelope with his name written on it. He opens the envelope with a knife and pulls out two rectangular pieces of thick paper. I told me that they were the club seat $300 tickets to the next Cleveland Browns home football game. He asked me if I wanted to go since he had two tickets and I exclaimed loudly that I wanted to go. The game was going to be the Cleveland Browns versus the Indianapolis Colts.

The day of the game came around and my father was telling me that the game was going to be a little windy. He told me to wear long pants and a sweatshirt. Our seats were in the club section, so we were going to be up three levels from the field, where we could easily see the whole field. Our seats were also on the lake side, which means that we were sitting on the side of the stadium that was closest to Lake Erie so we wouldn’t get as much wind but we still got some.

Once we got to the stadium, we had to find the gate that was closest to our seats and to the elevator. Once we found the elevator and went up it, we would be inside the club. The club was filled with tables and food, had lots of TVs that showed the game, and it was heated inside since it was closed off from the rest of the stadium. When I looked around I understood why the tickets for the club seats were $250 each. My grandpa has season tickets to the club seats so that is why my father and I had club seat. The game started at 6:05 pm and it was only 5:30 pm I decided to go out to see the football field. I could see all of the football players practicing on the Astro-turf. The fake, realistic looking field was glistening from the sprinkling that Cleveland had experienced. The Astro-turf was out in so the football uniforms wouldn’t get covered in stains from being tackled hard, stepped on, or just being crushed by six football players trying to get the ball.

6:05 came way too fast and kick-off happened and before I knew what was happening the game was over. The Cleveland Browns beat the Colts and adding another victory to their record. I didn’t want to leave the stadium, I wanted to stay a little longer so I could take in a little more of the field and my first experience at a professional football game.

Every school vacation I go to Ohio to visit the side of my family I don’t get to see so often. I love spending time with my grandparents and friends. I have so many memories of going to places with my grandma. Last vacation my grandma, my brother and I went museum hopping. The first museum we went to was the Historical Society Museum. We got to look at all of the old cars and some new cars in the car display. There were, at least, 60 cars and 10 boats. The most interesting boat that I saw there was the Tinkerbell. A man traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in a small cramped boat where he had to kneel and only enough space for himself and supplies. The second museum we went to was the art gallery. There were so many different paintings and pictures. My grandma and I both loved the painting painted with gunpowder but we despised the whole modern art section. The modern art made no sense to us at all in any way. The last museum we went to was the Natural History Museum. It was filled with dinosaur bones, other prehistoric creatures, displays of animals, and an outdoors section where the birds, raccoons, foxes, and other wildlife was kept. It was the most exciting thing my brother and I have had with our grandma in a long time. We have never had so much fun exploring museums or even just spending quality time with grandma. My grandpa was too busy with work to come with us and my father didn’t come with us to Ohio that time.

Since my brother and I always play our Xbox 360 instead of spending time with our family, my grandma thought of an idea to bring all of us together. She came up with renting movies to watch every night before we went to bed. We only watched comedy movies since no one in the family, except me, likes horror movies. We had a great time watching the movies together as a family.

Both of the items that I value a lot are very similar. Both items have me sharing enjoyable and happy moments together. The Cleveland Browns Football game was in Cleveland, which is right down the road from my grandparents’ house. I love spending time with family and friends. The Cleveland Browns game and going museum hopping and watching movies with my grandma may be similar but they are also different. The ticket to the game may have been $300 but spending time with my family is priceless. Money and expensive objects cannot buy my family. I love my family too much to give them up for money, jewelry, and other pricey items.

Summer Reading Essay

Daisy- How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Ender- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

When Daisy gets back from England, her step mom signs her up to go into space to be in the Alien Fighters Army. Daisy refuses to go but her step mom is an evil step mom so she lies to her husband and tell her that Daisy is going on a trip. Daisy’s father, of course, tells her to pack for her trip. Daisy packs up her stuff and walks out to the front yard, where a spaceship in waiting for her. She gets on to the loading dock and waves to her father.

“Good-bye, Dad. Since you don’t believe me, I’ll get going!!!!” yelled Daisy from the ship.

“See you when you get back,” yelled Daisy’s father. Daisy waves for the last time and walks away from the door.

As Daisy is leaving Earth, Ender is commanding all of the people who work for him. He is setting up new armies and planning new strategies to beat the buggers, if they ever come back to take over Earth. Ender is lonely in space with no one to share his glory with. He wishes that he had some one to be with, to love, to have a relationship with.

“Ender? Are you there?” asks Harold.

“Yes. What do you want?” responses Ender.

“The new recruits are here,” says Harold.

“Ok. I want to meet these new recruits,” says Ender

“Sure” Harold says as he leaves out the door with Ender

Daisy gets to the station, confused and interested by what she sees around her. One of the Officers tells her where she will be staying while 15 other people from the flight. She follows the light pattern the Officers told her to follow (purple, green, green). She notices that the luggage is carried on some sort of large hover board. She wonders why this kind of technology isn’t on Earth. After she gets into the room and gets settled in, everyone goes to the cafeteria to meet the Commander.

“What is for lunch?” asks Daisy

“Pizza, milk, peaches, and a pudding cup,” responses Patrick. Patrick is one of the new people Daisy has met aboard the station.

Ender walks out of his office to go meet the new recruits. Ender is only 16 years old so he is pretty young for a Commander. Most Commanders take command when they are 25-30 years of age so he’s really young. He gets to the cafeteria and stops at the door. He fixes his custom made suit before walking through the door.

“Hello everyone. I am Commander Ender. I am glad that all of you have decided to join us to fight the Buggers if they come back. Here on this Station you will learn how to defy gravity, shoot a laser, and fight Buggers.” Ender tells all of the new recruits. Ender goes off and talks to some of the Officers.

Ender looks at the new recruits and sees Daisy. He looks at her for a while but when she looks up and sees Ender looking at her she feels something rising in her heart. She doesn’t know what she’s feeling but she knows it’s a good feeling.

“Wow! Look at Commander Ender, he’s so young. I think he’s 16, the same age as most of us. Supposedly he’s a genius and that’s why he’s Commander,” exclaimed Daisy

“He is young, and I heard that he was a genius too,” replied Patrick

After lunch, Daisy and the other recruits go off to their classes. Although they are here for battle, they still get their needed education. Daisy has her new friend, Patrick, in all of her classes. All day during her classes Daisy was thinking about Commander Ender. She doesn’t know why she was thinking of him, she just couldn’t get him out of her mind. When it was time for bedtime, she finally thought of the reason why she couldn’t stop thinking of Commander Ender. She kept thinking about him because he reminder her a lot of Edward but at least Ender made something of his life and didn’t just sit at a window looking at flowers.

That night also, Ender couldn’t stop thinking about Daisy. He thought that she was very beautiful and graceful. The only problem about him liking Daisy is that she is a recruit and he is Commander. Everyone would think that it was weird that the Commander was dating a new recruit, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. He thought about how he’s only 16 years old and that he read that in Daisy’s profile, it said that she was 16 years old too. So he thought about how that wouldn’t be as weird because they are the same age.

The next day Daisy woke up when her alarm went off and she got dress for today’s activities. When she went to look at her desk she got a message from Commander Ender to come and meet him at his office. She reread it over 5 times making sure she read it right. Daisy was excited to talk to him but at the same time she was confused.

“Why does he want me to come to his office?” she thought to herself.

She opened up the door and walk down the hall to where Commander Ender’s office was. She knocked on the door and a voice from inside told her it was open, so she opened it and walked in.

“Hello Daisy. Please come in, sit down” says Ender. Daisy sits down in the chair next to her.

“Why did you call me her?” asked Daisy

“I wanted to talk to you about how you were in the war in England,” says Ender

“How did you know I was there?” questioned Daisy

“Well, our station has the most advanced technology in the world. So I know many things about almost everyone on this station,” responded Ender

“Ohh I didn’t know that,” says Daisy. When she looks at Ender she notices that he is wearing a tuxedo. She can’t believe that she is talking to Commander Ender.

“There is another reason why I called you down here. This might sound weird but since the moment I saw you I thought that you were beautiful and that I can’t stop thinking about you,” says Ender

“I can’t stop thinking about you either. You remind me of my cousin Edward and I also have all these feelings for you Commander Ender,” replies Daisy

Ender and Daisy stared deeply into each other’s eyes. Daisy leaned in and Ender leaned in and they romantically kissed. After they had kissed they talked some more about their lives and how much they have gone through. He told Daisy that he was only bored to become this great leader that would defeat the Buggers and one day become Commander. Daisy talked about her evil step mom and how many dead bodies she saw during the war when she was in England.

After a couple of months of being together they decided to leave the station and live together. After 3 years of living together they decided to get married and have children together. So they grew older together, raised their children, and stayed happy with each other.