I have been studying for about an hour now. It is December 16, the night before the the First semester math finals. I sort have mixed feelings on the test.

For one thing, we have been working hard in class and equally so at home, but there are still those little things that I am a little fuzzy about which makes me kind of nervous.

I don’t know how much it will affect my grade, because I have a good grade and I would be very disappointed if I bombed it.

Can’t wait both good and bad, for tomorrow to see what I get!

I am from freezer’s
From ice cream and Popsicles
I am from the big backyard
With birds and wildlife
I am from the soil
The fox’s cunning wit
Inspires me to thing logically
I am from Christianity and Christmas
From my dad and mom
I am from church and work
And from music
I am from “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” and
“How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
And “clean-up”
I am from Easter
I’m from Austin and Scotland
And Swedish meatballs and ahi tuna
From the Vietnam war
And making cakes
From sepia pictures
And under the bed monsters
I am from all that was and all that will ever be.

If I could meet anybody in the whole world, even if they were alive or dead, I would probably want to meet my great uncle who passed away a few years ago. There a lot of people that I would like to have met, but he takes the prize.

A brief background on him. He was in the Air Force for twenty years in the Vietnam war, but he wasn’t in the active Air Force. He didn’t actually fly the planes, but he was the mechanic so he did get to to do some cool things. He always told my brother and I cool stories and was in general I really nice and humorous guy.

As the years went by his body wasn’t functioning as well as it use to and he was now required to move around in a wheelchair. From when I could see him, I could tell that this was hard on him as he had once been active and full of life. The only real comfort in life he really had was his black lab who he thought was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Around 82 was the age were where problems were starting to rise. There were a lot of problems in his organs and he just seemed ore depressed than usual. When I was around 9, I remember he started living in the hospital. After a few months there, there were signs that indicated that he wasn’t going to make it much longer.

My family decided to visit him 3 days before he died (didn’t realize it at the time). We arrive at the hospital and since he was in a sort of fatal zone, we had to go to a special wing of the complex. When we get there, the doors only allow people 18 and up to go pass! (I guess for health reasons).

My uncle was dying, I probably would never see him again but they weren’t going to let me past. I wanted to scream and yank my hair out. What kind of people would prevent a 9 year old from seeing a dying relative?

He died a few days later and I never got to talk to him before he passed.

There are a lot of fascinating people in the world. But even after all 107,602,707,791people that have ever lived, my Great uncle takes the cake.

**IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN OR READ THE HOBBIT, THEN I ADVISE YOU. DON’T READ THIS**
——————————————————SPOILER ALERT—————————————————

I read the Hobbit fairly recently and the book ended up way different then I predicted what happened. And for ONCE, the movie (the first one at least) is actually pretty accurate to what J. R. R. Tolkien actually wrote.

Bilbo is surprised one night when 12 dwarves and Gandalf the gray appear at his house completely unaware of. Bilbo’s distress at what the dwarves are doing to his house. They eat all the food, they wreck and get everything dirty, how could this get any worse?!

Until they bring up the topic of a mighty adventure that they were going to embark on. To take back what rightfully was there’s, and slay the mighty Smaug, a fearsome dragon who took over the dwarves home, thier great mountain. At first Frodo though that going on an adventure was a horrible idea and even the mention of it was disrespectful. After all the Hobbits in the shire were a very respected race as they did not do anything foolhardey or crazy! They just kept to themselves and lived a quiet peaceful life.

So throughout the story they face many challenges and dangers (but I won’t list them because it would take way too long, and besides, just read it for yourself!), but finally make it to the dwarves mountain.

Since going through the front door was stupid and dangerous they resolved that by going through the secret entrance. They sent in Bilbo as he was their burglar to go get some of their treasure back. When he went in he did notice the dragon and vice versa. Since Bilbo had his ring though, he was rendered invisible.

He managed in stealing a treasure and Smaug’s rage was great. He went down to the town that they locals were situated in and set fire to tons of houses.

This is where I think it gets weird. It has a short clip on the watch guard and then it tells of Smaug setting fire to some more things as the watch guard gets a lucky shot and just kills the mighty beast (not so anymore). It’s not even Bilbo, and this random person just kills it which one, single arrow.

If you want to know more about the book I would suggest buying the book. I would most definitely rate a 5 star, high quality book.

I haven’t put a lot of thought into what I want to be when I grow up, but if I had to pick something, I would mostly want to be an electrical engineer.

Mostly because my parents are, but I also like to mess and modify computers. My dad has been lately teaching me how to work with small code, nothing bug, that would just kill my brain cells. It’s more complicated then it seems, at least for me anyways.

That’s the practical thing I would want to do with my life, but what I really think that would be fun is to probably become a Major League Baseball player. I have been playing baseball since I was 5, and in my opinion I have always been the best in my team.

I was 3rd for a good portion of my baseball career, but then I had a new idea, and I wanted to be a shortstop. I do pitch from time to time, and I’m ok, but I wouldn’t want to do that as a job.

I haven’t put a lot of thought into what I want to be but those are my best ideas.

“You have been chosen”, they said, all weird like as I came back into the Band hall.
“What?” I ask, in a sort of stupid manor.

They started to tell me but it was time for class. The rest of the period my mind lingered on that statement, wondering what it must be.

Still at the end of the day, my head was still wandering around that statement. Once the final bell rang, I walk over into the office where Mrs.Riecc was.

“What did they mean by I was chosen” I asked her. She looked up from her papers. You were chosen to perform a solo at the concert.

What!! I was screaming in my head. I couldn’t do that by myself, no way, nohow. But I didn’t want  to look weak so I agreed.

One week,  practiced for maybe 1 hour to 1 hour and a half everyday, but I still couldn’t get it perfect. There was always that more flaw that messed up. Weathering down my confidence little by little, which was already a mess before.

The day before the concert, we did a rehearsal in class of all the songs, which means I had to play in front of everybody. On the bright side I got practice in front of a lot of people. On the bad side… I screwed up.

The concert was here, and I had just  aced it in my practice. Tonight will be ok after all. Concert band went up first and they did a pretty good job. My friend was also doing a solo which might seem like a confidence booster, but it wasn’t. I don’t want to mess up after my friend did one.

Symphonic band’s turn. The first  two songs were gone in a flash. It was my time. Mrs. Riecc made an announcement on some students “volunteered” for the opportunity to play there district etude’s in front of  oh.. say 300 people.

She announced my name, and it was my time to shine… or wither away, fail, and be shunned. I started off, maybe 3-4 seconds after she announced me not wanting to become nervous.

Everything went great… until the last measure. I missed a high-F grace note (which I don’t know if you guys know, it is base clef). Dang I did so well all for that one note.

I don’t think anybody noticed though because they still clapped. That was my first solo and i think it didn’t go as half bad as  i though it would go.

If you are having any trouble with systems of equations in math, just watch the video and its sequels. Mr. Gillespie does a great job of explaining math problems and if you have any need with help on your homework, just go to Mr. Gillespie’s cite.

I look out the van window. The skyline casts dark shadows across the mountain. The bright stars illuminate the faces of people around me. The creeping pull of sleep and nervousness counterbalance each other as we head up the steep slope.

“Are you sure this was a good idea” I whisper to my mother.

She looks at me like I’m crazy, which I might be at the moment. How hard can it be. Bike down the tallest volcano in the world, at three AM, in the butter cold. Piece… Of… Cake…

I gave in to the idea of doing a morning tour of the mountain and then bike down but I was having second thoughts.

After what seemed liked forever, we arrive at the top. I survey my surroundings. Aside from the concrete parking lot all you could see is rock, a small gift shop, and endless clouds in endless directions.

Shivering as I get out if the van we over to the bike rack. I stream down the hill the wind tugging and yanking my fair, pulling them every way possible. The curving path headed down the volcano, not to steep, but wasn’t flat out either.

As morning passed by, the gripping sensation inflated my stomach and I called out to my parents if we were getting close to breakfast.

We stopped by the edge of the road so we could figure out an appropriate café or somewhere to eat at.

We ride down the volcano a little bit more and as we are turning into the driveway I totally miss seeing the rock that is right in my path, and watch the word do a backflip as I crash into the ground.
Instantly the world melts together blending in making it a world of shadows.

I wake up to see me in a hospital with the people x-raying my wrist. My head pounding, and wrist throbbing, I can’t exactly remember what happened.

I leave with a big sigh of disappointment as I lug around this heavy cast. Feeling broken on the inside and the outside I crawl into the car, wanting nothing but sleep.

Against the house,
Among the clouds,
Beside the window,
Above the house,
In front of white streaks,
Across my imagination,
Within there is nothing,
I finally fall into darkness.

I have read the giver before but I am going to pretend that I haven’t and think like someone new to the book. So far, we have learned that the society that Jonas lives in has very many and harsh rules. You get your job and spouse picked for you and the children that you have are not actually yours, they come from somebody else who doesn’t donate exactly, but gives them away for other people. If I were to guess, this is in the future, and is the result of some catastrophe that made them change their ways. This is from Jonas’s perspective and it seems like he is about to come to age (12) where they pick out his job from what the elders have observed from all the elevens. The elders as far as I know are the leaders of the community and call all the shots. The required voluntary hours decide what job you will later pursue as an adult. We also have learned that if you commit three transgressions then you get released (which I think it means getting killed), or when you are old then that also happens. I look forward to figuring out what is going to happen, and see what job Jonas is going to get assigned.