Cristal's Blog

December 16 JOURNAL TOPIC: [" Back Door Man " by The Doors] When you leave your house you lock your door.  How do you keep your phone or your computer secure?  How do you keep other people from stealing your data or your identity? To keep my phone or computer secure i keep them on me. I don't like leaving things behind. I usually have things private like social medias. I don't follow anyone I don't know.  December 15    JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tune, in honor of my daughter - and my spirit animal, who's not exactly a dinosaur but is AWESOME... " Godzilla " from 2019 movie soundtrack, by Bear McCreary featuring Serj Tankian] We know that dinosaurs and other  sentient  species lived on Earth a long time ago and then became extinct. Can you imagine a time when humans are extinct? What might cause this, and what might take our place? Describe in detail. I think I can what I picture as humans being extinct would be like the earth very very lonely and l...

     This semester was unlike no other. I definitely did not see my junior year starting like this. It has been like a roller coaster with a lot of ups and some downs. What made this course different was that we didn't use canvas so I had to get used to making a blog and posting on it. I think what I found most meaningful was that Dr. Preston was so nice and understanding. Unlike some other teachers who would probably get mad if students still did not  have a blog he would stay longer with them to help them make a blog. Dr. Preston really made learning easier and time went by fast. I think that what I am most proud of would probably be my essay on the story  Fahrenheit 451. I think I am most proud of it because of how the story connected to the story The Pedestrian and how I reacted to it. It had caught me by surprise when I heard how they connected. It was like a wow moment for me. Something I would do differently would be being consistent with posti...

 December 7th  JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tune: " War " by Edwin Starr]  In the background of Fahrenheit 451, there is a war looming.  I mention this because today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  Before 9/11, Pearl Harbor was the deadliest attack on United States soil. Sadly, there are many examples of this sort of destruction throughout history.  Why do you think people resort to this type of violence? I think they resort to violence because they have built up anger. They just choose to let out their anger in a violent matter.  December 8th   JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tune: " Lose Yourself " by Eminem] George Bernard Shaw  was a famous author who wrote more than sixty plays and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his writing.  He was known for having a pretty sharp wit, and at some point he decided to take teachers down a peg by saying, "Those who can't do, teach."  Shaw was dead wrong about me - I teach writing, and my latest book is comi...

 December 4    JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: " Hatred (A Duet) " by The Kinks] Think of someone for whom you feel nothing but  enmity . Now imagine that tomorrow morning you wake up to discover that you and this person are two heads on the same body. Describe your day.   I think that day would be horrible. The person and I would just be arguing or not even talk at all. It would honestly be a very rough day.   December 1    JOURNAL TOPIC:  What influences you more, your relationship with yourself or your relationship with others?  Why?     I think what influences me more would be with myself because no matter how others are I wont be changing for anyone else but myself.  November 30      JOURNAL TOPIC:  So, here is today's journal question: what idea/s from any of our readings can you apply to real life?  What have the authors or characters done or said that make you think about yourself, peop...

       The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is basically about these type of people more like a society. This society is so sad and like depressing almost like boring. Basically reading is like against the law and firefighters burn down the books. One day Montag is walking and comes across Clarisse. Clarisse is different. This is where the story than connects to book The pedestrian where the man who was just walking at night was Clarisse's uncle she talks about how the police arrested him because they thought he was crazy and weird for just walking at night.     This book has things going on that you really wouldn't see going on. Like firefighters burning down books because its against the law. I feel like they burn down the books because what is in them is reality and they don't want to face it and they want things to go a certain way. That's why Clarisse is so different her and her family. Slowly Montag realizes how sad hi...

 November18 I think that what makes a good first impression is to honestly be yourself and not try to act different. A good first impression makes a difference on how they see you the very first time they meet you. Main key would be using your manners being polite. Don't be rude or anything like that. November19 Something I would change right now was changing my sleeping schedule because it is hard for me to wake up at 8:40 everyday for school. Something else I would change would be not really caring about peoples words or their negativity and really ignore them and be me. November20 I think what makes a person hardcore is when they are rude or have this edge to their personality. I think that what makes a person gentle would be being caring or really nice and having a lot of patience. I think that these qualities can be both innated and learned because you can learn  bad habits by someone you look up to. 

    The plot of the story Bridge to Terabithia is that basically this boy named Jesse becomes best friends with the new girl Leslie who is also Jesse's neighbor. They make this imaginary place called Terabithia in a forest. They make it to basically get away from both school and home problems. They create this amazing friendship but a tragedy happens when Leslie dies trying to get to Terabithia by swinging on a rope they would use to get to the other side of the river. The theme of Bridge to Terabithia is friendship. When both of them face problems and help each other out. I feel like the author Katherine Paterson's morning routine would be like she could either wake up early or sleep in. She sounds very creative so I feel like she would drink tea in the morning. She would either do yoga or meditate. I feel like for breakfast she would have a nice calming breakfast maybe some toast and orange juice or her tea. I feel like she would just as ho...

 November 12   JOURNAL TOPIC:  Some holidays are worth celebrating every day.  Feeling grateful makes us happier, healthier, and more productive, so why not celebrate Thanksgiving today?  Think of something/someone for whom you are truly grateful, and use today's journal time to give thanks. I am truly thankful for my mom and dad and my closest friends. They have been there for me when I truly needed them. I love each and every one of them.  November 9   JOURNAL TOPIC What do you think of when you see the word FUTURE? When I see the word future it makes me think of what will happen next. I immediately think of myself being older and having my own house and a job. Basically like a new chapter in life.  November 10 JOURNAL TOPIC: What do you think or say when someone makes fun of your lunch? This has never happened to me but I think I would be a bit confused on why they are making fun of my lunch. I feel like id probably laugh it...

 When I think of fire I do think of like something that can warm you up but I also think of something like powerful. Fire had something to do with this story but what like kind of confused me was when she said something about them stopping fires instead of starting them. Clarisse mentioned something and she said don't you ever read a book before you burn it and he said no because it was the law. 

 When in the story Clarisse was brought up I thought she was odd and I thought this because when she like was telling him her age she said I'm 17 and I'm crazy and I was just like kind of weirded out. Then as she went I just thought she was odd but different and I think that was because she was asking so many questions but I personally think that she was just trying to open his eyes because she did mention drivers driving fast and how they like only see blurs because they drive fast and at the end she asked him if he was happy and he said of course I'm happy but in the beginning he was talking about like basically forcing a smile on and when i heard that it gave me an idea that he was like sad.

 Honestly this story took a turn at first I didn't really know how to feel he felt sad and like his life was kind of boring and then he found Clarisse and she did seem a bit odd but then as they went I realized she was also walking like later in the day just as the pedestrian. Later then she mentioned her uncle who was walking and arrested which basically the pedestrian and this story are connected I was shocked when I heard that it was her uncle.

 I honestly really enjoyed this story. It was honestly interesting. I liked hearing it I feel like it helped me understand the story more. I feel like I would choose this story it like had me thinking about it for a while about like he was walking and stuff I enjoyed it. 

  October20 journal topic:  Today is your day! You find a lottery ticket-- THE lottery ticket. After Dr. Preston cashes it for you (you're too young and smart to play the lottery), you have $50 million. What will you do with it? What I would do with it would be give some money to my parents. I would also donate money to charity. I would save money for college and id spend some of it on me.  October 22 journal topic: Why is it legal for businesses to put up all sorts of ugly signs, but graffiti is illegal? I feel like its illegal because the businesses are like stores and like graffiti the public does it. I've never really thought about this. I personally think of graffiti as art like someone expressing themselves in art.  October23 journal topic: Describe an important decision you had to make.   So far one of the hardest decisions I had to make was to cut a lot of toxic friends off. I noticed how much i didn't need them and I think I made a really good choi...

 My first impression is that its like kind of like creepy. I think its creepy because he is just walking outside in the night but at the same time there was nothing wrong with him walking. I think that the police officer thought he was crazy because he was walking outside alone while some people were inside watching tv and he just found it strange that he was walking. 

 I feel like in order for you to like reading or enjoy a book you need to have a connection with the book. Usually in school they give you a book and expect you to read it no matter if you like the book or not. I like how we get to choose a book we already like to read and enjoy. Other than just reading something you don't want to read. You need to find something that catches your attention. 

 Sep 8,  Journal topic: Your friends invite you to a fancy restaurant in San Francisco-- all expenses paid! The waiter brings you a soda, calls you "sir" or "miss" and hands you a menu. With horror you realize that every dish consists of insects in different sauces! What will you do? I feel like I would not want to try anything because I am a very picky eater. But I also think that i would like maybe try something just to like try it.  Sep 11, Journal topic: Time to get stocked. Imagine that you have the magic wand. You get to do or be anything you want to do, and all you have todo is make up your mind that nothing will stop you. So, the question is: What will you do? What will you be?  If I had a magic wand I would probably want to travel like time travel. Either back in time or in the future. I just would like to see how things are like how different they are from now.  Oct 2, Journal topic: Why do you think people depend so much on push notifications from the...

 What jumped out to me was that it was sad like it would drift away then get sad. An image that I got was kind of like overthinking. I think that its called love because there comes a point in time where you do get sad or you do overthink and stuff. It sort of affected my mood I did like get a bit like not sad but I felt a bit down. 

 I choose the book Bridge to Terabithia because its been my favorite book ever since 5th grade. I've always been so interested in it and I find it different. I love the friendship that Jess and Leslie had in the story.

 Topic: Adults say it to toddlers all the time. "use your words" and "how do the words you choose make you look as a person"     I honestly think that parents say that to toddlers because they use there hands to make motions when they want something or need to go to the restroom etc. And i feel like the words you choose is how it makes you look as a person, like if you curse a lot it sort of gives you a bad impression of you.

 Topic: When someone said something unexpectedly funny.      One time my brother just yelled something random and it caught me off guard while I was drinking water and I spit it out I thought is was so funny.