Who killed Wellington?

       A 15 year old autistic boy named Christopher finds his neighbors dog killed with a garden fork. Now he wants to take this opportunity to solve a crime and write a good detective book while doing so. Chris is very smart, but he is yet to find out that was his father, Mr. Boone, who was guilty of killing the dog, Wellington.

       If Mr. Boone wasn't guilty, he probably wouldn't care about Christopher trying to figure out who killed the dog. The first time Mr. Boone told Christopher to leave it alone was on the drive back home from the police station. Christopher was just curious about the dog and wanted to know what happened, but Mr. Boone got angry right away "then Father banged the wheel with his fist"- chapter 41. It could be the fact that he's bringing his son back home from the police station at 3am that is making Mr. Boone a little on edge, but he would have no need to want Christopher to leave it if he didn't have anything to do with it. Then, in chapter 79 after Christopher's father finds out he has still been doing some detective work, he gets angry again and tells Christopher to stop, but this time he gives Christopher very clear instructions the way Christopher understands them. He also makes Chris promise to stop the detective game because Christopher can't lie therefore he an't break his promises. Mr. Boone felt the need to go as far as to make Christopher promise to stop trying to figure out who killed Wellington. Mr. Boone being Christopher's father knows that he can't break a promise so he also knows that if he makes Christopher promise, he will stop. Mr. Boone would probably not want Christopher to stop all his detective work if he didn't have anything to do with Wellington's death.

       When Christopher's mother died their neighbor, Mrs. Shears, came over and would spend some nights at The Boone's house. Christopher stated that when Mrs. Shears was comforting his father, she was being a little bit friendly with him. Obviously, if there was something going on between Mr. Boone and Mrs. Shears and they were trying to hide it, Christopher probably wouldn't know, but to a person who understands social cues most people would probably find it unusual for a woman to hug or comfort a man by pulling his head to their chest. Almost the entire class immediately thought Mr. Shears was an evil disgusting man who had been cheating on his dying wife with the neighbour across the street. Then people thought of crazy theories about their relationship that led to the murder of Wellington. It could be true, but it could also have been a red herring. We later learned that it was actually Mr. Shears and Mrs. Boone that were having an affair. Mrs. Shears and Mr. Boone might just be lonely now that their previous spouses left them and are now finding comfort in each other because they can both relate. Mr. Boone could be having a hard time raising Christopher on his own, being the provider of their income but also playing the mother role at the same time and Mrs. Shears, not being busy with a husband of her own, maybe just wants to be a good friend to them and help out the Boone's. Although Mrs. Shears and Mr. Boone seemed to be a little affectionate after Christopher's mother died, it doesn't necessarily mean something was definitely going on between the two.

     As Christopher said in Chapter 67, Wellington's murder would have had to have a motive for why they would even want to kill an innocent dog. Some of Christopher's reasons for why someone would kill Wellington were because they were mad and because they wanted to make Mrs. Shears upset. Mr. Boone could be guilty for both of these things. He has been known to have a short temper, especially when talking about the death of Wellington, and he tends to drink as well. In chapter 41 Christopher found his dad crying and drinking scotch on the sofa at 2:07 a.m. so his father could very well have been drunk and angry one night and did something that he shouldn't have. Mr. Boone also said that Mrs. Shears was not their friend anymore and that Mr. Shears was evil. That is already two people connected to Wellington that Mr. Boone doesn't like. He was also friends with Mrs. Shears before. Now, all of a sudden, Christopher finds out they aren't anymore meaning something had to have happened to end their friendship. If whatever happened was really that bad, it would give Mr. Boone a reason to want to hurt Mrs. Shears and the best way to hurt someone would be to kill or get rid of the last thing left that they love. Mr. Boone has the most reasons to why someone would want to kill Wellington and is known to sometimes drink and be a bit hot-tempered.

     In the midst of writing an interesting detective novel, Christopher will soon discover that it was his own father, Mr. Boon, who was responsible for the death of their poor neighbour's dog. Who knows why or what the real cause of this murder was. Now all that's left for Mr. Boone to do is admit what he has done to his son and Mrs. Shears and hope that they can forgive him for what he did to the  faultless dog.

Argumentative Essay

Who killed Wellington?

Mr. Boon killed Wellington

-Mr Boone drinks and has a short temper(gets mad at Christopher easily)

-Hates Mrs and Mr Shears

-Doesn't want Chris to play detective

Red Herring- Everyone thought it was Mrs Shears and Mr Boone that had something going on but it was actually Mrs Boone and Mr Shears

Pressure song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iDZnS0wL-0g

The song I chose is "Confetti" by Tori Kelly. I can relate to the chorus where she says

"People seem to think

That you'll be happier, once you reach the top

You'll have it all

But I'm living for right now

Cause what if tomorrow never comes

I'm not waiting, I'm not waiting

For the confetti to fall"

I relate to this because I get really stressed out and spend a lot of time worrying about what I want to do in the future, what my dreams are and what university I want to go to after high school but I forget to stop and take a breath. Sometimes I do things because I know it will help me get into a good university instead of doing them for my happiness or other people but I have to realize that it's good to be this age and that I'm really lucky to be who I am and you only get older. Life goes by really fast and I don't want to look back on my teenage years and all my memories will be me stressing about the future.

"Confetti"

I gotta keep myself in check sometimes

Cause' I tend to dream real big sometimes

The fancy outfits and the sparkly awards

My name in lights, the people lined up at the doors

But I gotta remember to take it one step at a time

[Chorus:]

People seem to think

That you'll be happier, once you reach the top

You'll have it all

But I'm living for right now

Cause what if tomorrow never comes

I'm not waiting, I'm not waiting

For the confetti to fall

I can't just sit around and wait for my life to start

I can make a difference, put a little happiness in someone's heart

The fancy cars, the glitter and the fame

It's all nice, but it won't be worth a thing

Love is bigger, so I'm a stand up for love, yeah

[Chorus:]

People seem to think

That you'll be happier, once you reach the top

You'll have it all

But I'm living for right now

Cause what if tomorrow never comes

I'm not waiting, I'm not waiting

For the confetti to fall

[Bridge:]

If there was a rope stretching up to the sky

With all of my dreams at the very top, so high

I get so caught up in everything around me, moving quickly

I forget to cherish every single moment I receive ohh

I forget about the climb, I just wanna get there

Don't wanna wait in line, even though it's so clear

That I'm called to use patience on this journey that I'm on

I know that I'll come out alive and it'll only make me strong

Oh oh, while everybody's focused on the hype

Oh oh, oh oh... I'll be wondering why we seem to think

You'll be happier, once you reach the top

You'll have it all

But I'm living for right now

Cause what if tomorrow never comes

I'm not waiting, I'm not waiting, no

[Chorus:]

People seem to think

That you'll be happier, once you reach the top

You'll have it all

But I'm living for right now, hey

Cause what if tomorrow never comes

I'm not waiting, no I'm not waiting

For the confetti to fall

I'm not waiting to be happy

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Ooh, yeah

     Main characters do not have to be mature and mentally developed in order to be interesting. Romeo did many childish things throughout the play. His decisions were not well thought out and were based on emotions over sense and he also did a lot of self pitying in the play. Romeo had no self control over his feelings, made irrational decisions, and whined and complained multiple times throughout the play making him an immature young teenager.

     Romeo could not control his feelings very well and was too thoughtless in his decisions. He claimed to love Juliet, but not even a day before he met her he also claimed to love another girl named Rosaline. The love Romeo professed for Rosaline was not even real love, he just wanted to sleep with her. 

"ROMEO

She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste,

For beauty, starved with her severity,

Cuts beauty off from all posterity.

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair," Romeo was upset and thought it was a waste for her to stay a virgin because she was so beautiful. Romeo only wanted to sleep with Rosaline, but he was already depressed about her not returning his feelings. All Romeo did was lock himself in his room and pity himself to the point where Benvolio would try to get him out and find other girls, but Romeo still claimed he loved Rosaline and seeing beautiful girls would only remind him of how beautiful Rosaline is.

"ROMEO

Show me a mistress that is passing fair;

What doth her beauty serve but as a note

Where I may read who passed that passing fair?

Farewell. Thou canst not teach me to forget."

Then all of a sudden, he sees Juliet and now he is in love with her and forgets all about Rosaline, the girl he was so in love with that no other girl could ever make him forget about her. 

ROMEO-ABOUT JULIET

"Did my heart ever love anyone before this moment? My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight."

It was very immature of Romeo to not be able to control his emotions and he did not think about the decisions he made.

As immature as Romeo is, one can argue that throughout the course of the play, because of his love for Juliet, he does grow up a little. When Tybalt wanted to fight Romeo, he decided to take the high road and try to resolve things with Romeo. It can be said that Romeo doing that did show maturity because Tybalt is his worst enemy. When Romeo surrendered to Tybalt, it showed a lot of weakness and nobody would want to look weak in front of their enemy. The fact that Romeo was willing to surrender to Tybalt and look like a coward in front of his friends also showed his loyalty to Juliet. Not only did he surrender to Tybalt, he also told him he loved him. He was willing to put himself in a vulnerable position because she is his wife and Tybalt is now family. Some people might also disagree that Romeo is immature because they are the same way and do not realize the way they are behaving.

“ROMEO

But love thee better than thou canst devise,

Till thou shalt know the reason of my love.

And so, good Capulet—which name I tender

As dearly as my own—be satisfied.”

Although Romeo was not very levelheaded, what caused him to grow up was his love for Juliet.

     Romeo and Juliet were both very young and immature and were not very rational at making their decisions. Many of the things they did were impulsive. Romeo and Juliet claimed to be in love after knowing each other for a very short time. He also pressured Friar Lawrence to marry them right away for no reason stall. They just decided they were in love and wanted to get married as soon as possible. If they waited a little longer, Nurse or Friar Lawrence could have convinced their families to let them marry each other or thought of a better plan that could have ended with Romeo and Juliet alive.

“ROMEO

I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray:

That thou consent to marry us today.”

Romeo also loves to pity himself instead of picking himself up and facing his problems, he likes to cry about them and feel bad for himself. When Romeo was banished from Verona, instead of being grateful that Prince gave him a smaller punishment than what he deserved, he still cried and complained that he would rather be dead. Even Friar Lawrence was tired of Romeo’s complaining.

“FRIAR LAWRENCE

   Hold thy desperate hand.

Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art.

Thy tears are womanish. Thy wild acts denote

The unreasonable fury of a beast.

Unseemly woman in a seeming man,

And ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!

Thou hast amazed me. By my holy order,

I thought thy disposition better tempered.

Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself,

And slay thy lady that in thy life lives

By doing damnèd hate upon thyself?

Why rail’st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?

Since birth and heaven and earth, all three do meet

In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose?

Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit,

Which, like a usurer, abound’st in all

And usest none in that true use indeed

Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit.

Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,

Digressing from the valor of a man;

Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,

Killing that love which thou hast vowed to cherish;

Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,

Misshapen in the conduct of them both,

Like powder in a skill-less soldier’s flask,

Is set afire by thine own ignorance;

And thou dismembered with thine own defence.

What, rouse thee, man! Thy Juliet is alive,

For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead—

There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,

But thou slew’st Tybalt—there art thou happy.

The law that threatened death becomes thy friend

And turns it to exile—there art thou happy.

A pack of blessings light upon thy back,

Happiness courts thee in her best array,

But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,

Thou pout’st upon thy fortune and thy love.

Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.

Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed.

Ascend her chamber, hence, and comfort her.

But look thou stay not till the watch be set,

For then thou canst not pass to Mantua,

Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time

To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,

Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back

With twenty hundred thousand times more joy

Than thou went’st forth in lamentation.—

Go before, Nurse. Commend me to thy lady,

And bid her hasten all the house to bed,

Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto.

Romeo is coming.” 

Instead of dealing with the problems he and Juliet have, Romeo would rather be dead or kill himself. It was a rash decision Romeo made to kill himself the moment he found out Juliet was dead. Instead of thinking it through or grieving, he took the easy way out and decided to kill himself right away. Romeo even felt guilty over the pain he caused Juliet by killing Tybalt that he was about to stab himself. He did not even think about how Juliet would feel if he killed himself at that moment. He would have made her feel worse.

"ROMEO

     As if that name,

Shot from the deadly level of a gun,

Did murder her, as that name’s cursed hand

Murdered her kinsman. O, tell me, Friar, tell me,

In what vile part of this anatomy

Doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack

The hateful mansion. (draws his dagger)"

“ROMEO

And never from this palace of dim night

Depart again. Here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chamber maids. Oh, here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.

Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death.”

The choices that Romeo and Juliet made were reckless and the way Romeo acted in the play was very childish.

     The interesting characters are not always the ones that that are the most mentally stable and mature. Romeo was the opposite of that. The decisions he made were much more emotional rather than sensible. Romeo did not seem to have much power over his emotions and most of his choices were crazy and illogical. He spends most of his time in the play making bad decisions, whining or complaining which makes him just like another teenage boy who thinks he knows what he wants.

http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/S33.html

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/romeo-and-juliet/character-analysis/romeo

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=3239

Language

Romeo is an emotional, immature, fickle teenage boy

Intro

Romeo and Rosaline

(More like lust than love)

"ROMEO

She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste,

For beauty, starved with her severity,

Cuts beauty off from all posterity.

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,"

-Romeo is sad that Rosline doesn't want to sleep with him

-He says it's a waste for her to never have sex

-Seems more like he just wants to sleep with her than actually love her

"ROMEO

     'Tis the way

To call hers exquisite, in question more.

These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,

Being black, puts us in mind they hide the fair.

He that is strucken blind cannot forget

The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.

Show me a mistress that is passing fair;

What doth her beauty serve but as a note

Where I may read who passed that passing fair?

Farewell. Thou canst not teach me to forget."

-Romeo claims he will never be able to forget about Rosaline

-He says seeing beautiful girls will only remind him of how beautiful Rosaline is.

-Then when he sees Juliet he forgets about Rosaline

"Did my heart ever love anyone before this moment? My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight."

Always pitied himself

"FRIAR LAWRENCE

O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!

Thy fault our law calls death, but the kind Prince,

Taking thy part, hath rushed aside the law,

And turned that black word “death” to “banishment.”

This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not."

Romeo and Tybalt

However, many people may think Romeo was not immature when he tried to resolve the fight with Tybalt. 

He surrendered to Tybalt, his enemy, because of Juliet showing his loyalty to her and showing that he was willing to look weak in front of his enemy for her

Romeo and Juliet

Claimed to be in love with her after 3 days

Didn't even think about the consequences of killing Tybalt, he let his emotions get the best of him

Pressured Friar to marry him and Juliet right away instead of thinking a better, more rational idea.

Thinks the only way to solve problems with Juliet is to kill himself

"ROMEO Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say “death,” For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death. Do not say “banishment.”" Conclusion

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/romeo-and-juliet/character-analysis/romeo

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=3239

OR

Nurse is Juliet's emotional mother

Intro

Conclusion

Juliet and her dad

Juliet and her mom

Juliet and Nurse

Conclusion

Romeo and Juliet Formal Write

All the choices seemed cool but I decided to do E)

E) The "language" of love is an important part of the relationships in the play. Choose your favourite passage/s on love and discuss how the words of the characters influence your opinion of their "love". Include characters other than Romeo and Juliet... and "love" in various versions. Why do you think HOW something is said is so important to validating the quality/worth of a relationship? What kind of language exists today that makes something romantic or "real love" and not just a crush? Find examples from modern stories or real world examples to connect to


My back up choice is D)
D) Mercutio is often considered one of Shakespeare's best characters and yet he is killed quite early in this play. Discuss how the relationships Mercutio is in influence his behaviour/choices, and discuss WHY you think so many people (including me) find him interesting and pleasure to watch/read. What do you think Shakespeare would say about his character Mercutio? Would he like him? Would he think he was brave, honourable, immature, ignorant, or wise?

I think both these choices would be a little bit challenging but also interesting!

What is Love? Perspective of Lady Capulet

Lady Capulets Soliloquy on Love:

 "I don't understand why Juliet is hesitant to wed Paris. I was younger than she, when i concieved her, and I turned out great. I did not lose anything but gain money, and power; I have the best parties and I have enough money to last myself a lifetime. I greatly appreciate my life filled with parties, and luxeries."

 "So why does my daughter not want to wed such a handsome and wealthy man, Paris? Can she not see what fortune it will bring her and our family, she has nothing to lose exactly like me. He is handsome, and she is a beautiful gentlewoman just like I am. She would only make him complete. Doesn't Juliet want to live a divine, elegant life of Status and wealth, what more can she want?"

 "Maybe she actually longs for true love... I wonder what would have happened if I was not married and beared juliet at such a young age. I never truly longed for love but now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I am truly happy with Mr. Capulet. I am happy that I have luxerious parties but what if I actually have a problem. Deep down all the drinking, partying and drugs are what I use to cover up my desire for true hapiness. I just want her to be happy, I wouldn't want her to end up like me but this is important to her father."

 All this thinking is giving me a headache, I need some damn medicine. Where is my Nurse..."

Mid Term Reflection

A) I think I should get 23% for the first part because I am good with attendance. I am not away or late a lot and when I am I have a good reason. I can also control myself in class when it comes to technology. I know when the appropriate time is to use my phone and when not to but sometimes having our phones makes it hard to fully focus on assignments.

B)I think I should get 23% for this part as well. I have all my assignments in. I don't think there are any that I haven't submitted but I've handed one or two of them in late. Usually I hand in assignments late because I have the post written but I just forget to turn it in.

C) I think I should get a 22-23% on this part. I try to use pictures in my posts when i can but maybe I can find ways to use more pictures and videos in my posts. I do think that I put a lot of thought and effort into my posts and that I do the assignments for my own learning benefit and compared to the class I still think I put effort into my work compared to other people. For example, in my "How is Your Heart" post, I did a lot of reaserch to prove my point and I was able to use a lot of statistics in the post

D) When it comes to class contribution, I think I deserve 20%. I don't think I'm horrible when it comes to contributing in the class but I know I can definitely do better. I really need to work on contributing in class discussions and commenting on people's blogs that I'm not that close too and that's something I'll try to do more often. I have contributed by commenting on class discussions on edmodo. I think this was my best comment 

because I disagreed with what Simran thought the line meant and when I explained to her what I thought it meant, she understood that Romeo thought of love as something that sucks in the beginning than something that was really amazing. I also let Unjali use my iPod when hers isn't working and she needs to log into edmodo or blogger.

Overall, I think I should get 88-89%.

Romeo and Juliet Chorus

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,-Two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, both alike in dignity. Dignity meaning 

the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.

In the beautiful city Verona where this scene is set.

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean- An old feud breaks out into a new brutality,

And hands are stained by the blood of their own townspeople

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;-

Children from the two rival families can't be together but fall in love anyway and commit suicide

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.- Whose sad deaths put an end to the dispute between their families

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,-

The frightening passing of their condemned love

And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,-

And the continuance of their parents hatred for each other could not be stopped except by the deaths of their children

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.-

In the two hours that this play will take place, if you listen carefully, you will see what was left out of here about how they tried to fix the problem

To a stranger

     In my opinion, the poem "To A Stranger" by Walter Whitman seems like it's not just about a specific person but that there's more to it. I think that the poem was about reincarnation. Whitman didn't have a specific religion, his spirituality was said to be his own, but many of his theories and ideas came from Christianity. Even though his spirituality was based on Christianity, the writer of this article http://saulsamandashane.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/how-did-walt-whitman-feel-about-reincarnation/ says that Whitman was a believer of reincarnation. 

     For example, in this poem he says,"I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you," it seems like he has never met the stranger before but he remembers their spirit, like reincarnation. It also has a line that says,"All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,

chaste, matured," chaste meaning to refrain from sexual activity. From this line, he has some memory of the person's spirit. Maybe he and a stranger were connected some way in a past life and seeing the stranger brought back memories and familiar feelings. He definitely felt a connection with this stranger that he has felt before and it seems like there was some type of love between them. That is what I think of the poem when I read it.

Should whoever the poem is written about be content?

     The poem "How is Your Heart" is written about a man who some people might say has a life that sucks. He is a homeless alcoholic that lives with whores and wakes up in a random place with no memory of the night before. Some people would say that he should be content with his life considering his father was also a jobless alcoholic who abused him and his mother. Some people would argue that he could be content with the life he is living considering he had a horrible childhood, but I think that he should not be content with his life. He can always strive for more. There are many successful people that worked their way to the top.

     When I say more, I don't just mean money. I am also talking about healthy relationships with other people. It's human nature to interact with other people and one could say that he has never really experienced a good relationship because of his father's abuse, but just because he has never experienced a healthy relationship, but that doesn't mean he should never have good relationships with anyone.

     Having healthy relationships with people might have helped out whoever the poem was written a lot because there are many benefits mentally, physically, and emotionally. It makes people a lot happier and eases stress. Social connections with others actually increases people's odds of survival by 50%. That shows how important it is to have healthy relationships with other people. Relationships provide a level of protection and they actually make you feel richer. The National Bureau of Economic Research did a survey and found that 5,000 people thought doubling their friend group gave the same result on a person's wellbeing as increasing their income by 50%! It's not only good for us to have social connections but it's actually also harmful to not have any. Little to no social connection with others is equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, more damaging than not exercising, and twice as harmful as obesity.

     Good social connections and healthy relationships could improve the life of the person this poem is written about. Healthy relationships give people a sense of meaning and purpose that wills them

to take good care of themselves as well. There are many benefits to having good relationships with others and even health risks to not having social connections with people. If the person had healthy relationships, he could be not only content but happy and I think even with his horrible childhood, he could strive for improving his life now.

Interim report #1

Mom: What are you getting in English class?

Me:  Why don't you go see for yourself. The link to my blog is http://english10gaby.blogspot.ca/?m=1. We also have something called edmodo where we get and submit all our assignments so you can also see what I have and have not completed and you are also able to compare my work to other people in the class. I will be getting a grade when we get our report cards but for now, English will be only about learning and leaving the class better than we were before we entered the classroom instead of doing well to avoid a reward or a punishment.

Mom: Do you like it better this way?

Me: Yes, I like it better this way because I can be responsible for my own learning and I can fix my mistakes and make my work better along the way. This causes me to grow in my learning and gain skills that I will be able to use later on in life when I am forced to be responsible for myself.

Mom: Do I have to be worried about you taking responsible for your learning?

Me: No, I have been putting effort into my work and I think I am doing well in this class. If you want to see my work and compare me to other people you can check my blog like I said before.

My tattoo

     Personally, I'm not sure if I would get a tattoo. It would be cool, but as of right now I don't know. If I were to get one, it would look like this. 

     This is a tattoo of a shark swimming through water. My favourite animal is a shark so I started thinking about how I could work with that. I also love swimming and I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. It's like second nature to me and a huge part of my life. Sharks swim in water so the reason why it's a shark with waves around it and not just a plain shark represents my swimming.

     

     Sharks also symbolize many things. It can mean power and fearlessness which are traits that I would want to have for myself, but more fearlessness than power. In some cultures, people would have shark tattoos as a sign of protection. I wouldn't get a tattoo as a shield for myself or something like that, but I think it's cool that that's what other people get those types of tattoos for. 

     If I were to get this tattoo, There wouldn't be a deep meaning for where I would place it. I think I would get it on the right side of my ribs. I would want it to be there because I wouldn't want it to be visible all the time. I would like to be able to keep it hidden, but if I do something like leisurely swimming, then people will be able to see it and it's not just something I keep to myself. It would also look cool there, in my opinion.

     I'm not sure if I want a tattoo when I'm older, but if I do I want it to have meaning because it's a commitment and this tattoo does have meaning to me!

Extended Metaphor

     The movie I chose for my extended metaphor is "Shrek". I chose this movie because it's very relatable not just a to me, but probably to most of us in high school. I'm pretty sure everyone has watched Shrek, but if you haven't it's about an ogre that falls in love with a princess. His problem is that since he is an ogre, everyone judges him and assumes he's scary and mean. People just follow the stereotypes before getting to know him and it makes him a little bit cold

     I think this is very relatable not just to me or to us in high school, but everywhere in the world, too. Everywhere we go people are always judging other people, even way back thousands of years ago. People are judged by their religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and it isn't right. As Shrek and Fiona get to know each other more, they find out they have things in common and even start to fall in love. A lot of things happen in between but basically Shrek realizes that you can't please everyone so you might as well be yourself and I think that's what a lot of us, if not already, are learning right now. We are figuring out who we are and learning to be comfortable with ourselves.

Myers-Briggs Personality Test

      The results I got on my test are ESFP or "The Entertainer". I was actually surprised with my results because I never thought of myself as extroverted, and I even retook the test just to make sure. After I retook the test I got a similar result except instead of feeling over thinking, the next time I got thinking over feeling.

     Here are my results the first time:

     And here are my results the second time:

     I think both of my results capture parts of my personality but none of them are spot on. 

     For ESFP or "The Entertainer" I don't agree with the "highly social nature" part because I don't think I'm highly social and I don't need to be the center of attention all the time. However, I am a "here and now" type person and I love excitement and new adventures. I also don't like being alone, it makes me feel a little bit sad. If I can talk to someone whether it's texting or talking on the phone or physically being with people, I am happier. I found it funny that ESFP people dislike science fiction because that's basically the only genre of books and movies I don't like. I can also finish work efficiently like it says, and I love helping my friends with their problems and making my friends laugh. I never knew that I had the same personality type as Marlyn Monroe, Elvis Prestly and Homer Simpson! That's interesting.

"The persuader" or ESTP also had some accurate traits but I feel like ESTP people are too exciting and extreme for me. I don't think I'm always friendly and enthusiastic. I can be but sometimes I chose not to, but I can take criticism of its to better me as a person. Apparently some of my friends at school agree that I sometimes dominate conversations and I like sports and taking risks so I do have some ESTP qualities. According to this test I am one of the Simpsons because an ESPT character is Bart Simpson.

     The career matches for both ESPT and ESFP seem fun. Any job where I don't sit down in front of a computer all day is good. Personally, I think I am more ESFP, but a lot of people told me I'm more ESTP. It's funny that our perception of ourselves is actually not how other people see us as. I never thought I would be an extrovert. When I told my mom and sister they were surprised too but I got extrovert twice and I would rather be around people than be alone so it makes sense. It was really interesting to take this test! 

     

Me

       This post is about me and my life right now as a teenager in high school. People think that being a teenager in highschool is easy. It's not. Yeah sure high school is only 5 years but I've only lived 15 years so 5 years is a long time.

       My family plays a huge role in my life. More specifically, my parents. I know that there are people who get into fights with their parents but honestly I'm not really like that. I'm not saying I never fight with them but it's very rare. They trust me a lot and aren't very strict when it comes to most things but they have some things they don't want me doing and I respect that. I don't have set chores but they ask me to do stuff around the house. My parents aren't controlling and they usually let me be responsible about how I'm going to use my time. When we do get into fights its usually when I think I'm right about something and thinking back on those fights I still think I am. Anyway, yeah I love my parents they're amazing. 

       Another big part of my life is school. School can be stressful. I don't love it but I don't really hate it all the time either. My classes aren't very hard right now. It's the beginning of the year so most of what we're learning is review of last year. I guess we'll see what happens later on in the semester. Of course there are upsides to school like getting to see friends everyday and learning new things but there are also downsides. I don't like waking up early and coming to school in the morning tired and being stressed. It can be hard to balance a social life, extra curricular activities, doing well in school, homework and getting enough sleep and that's usually what stresses me out or drains me. That's school to me.

       Friends. I think whether you're a teenager or not you need at least one friend. Someone that you can confide in and that confides in you. In school there are people that I socialize with but there are also people who I'm friends with. I have a lot of friends that go to other schools but most of the time I see them in the summer because school makes everyone have busy schedules. In school I wouldn't say I have a lot or a couple. I think it's more in between, but outside of school I have a lot. 

 My name is Gaby and this is my first post for English 10 with Neufeld. I'm going to talk about my thoughts and experiences in English. I did well in English in grade 8 and 9. Last year, I got 88%. Even though I did  well in English it's not my favourite subject. I didn't enjoy the poetry unit and I never really have. On the other hand, I did like doing novel studies. We read the book "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel and "The Outsiders" in grade 8. I didn't really like "The Pigman" but I do like to read so I think that was why I liked novel studies.That basically sums up my past year of English!