Getting ready

As we all know yesterday was prom. It was a day to be with our classmates for our last dance together. It was a time for all girls to come together to get ready together and make a day of the big event. It was something that I truly will never forget and have to say it was one of the funnest days of my life.

It started out getting ready with all my friends around 11. We were doing each other’s hair and makeup. And transforming each other into an elegant woman that will fit the elegant dress that will be worm for the rest of the night. My hair appointment was at 1 pm. If I had to change anything next time I would schedule my hair a little earlier so we have more time to relax once the hair was done.

Getting ready with your friends on prom night is something that needs to happen. You need to surround yourself with the ones you love and care about and that you want to experience your last big event with before graduation. Once you get to this point in your high school career you know who are going to be the long time friends and who are going to your friends for the rest of your life. (220)

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is a music festival that is in Chicago, Illinois. It takes place in Grant Park in the first week of August. This is where tons of music artists come and perform for the excited fans. There are usually 12 really known artists that show up to play. They are what draw in the crowds.  The tickets come in three different options. You can either get the weekend pass for 200 if you’re early, this year they sold out within in 2 minutes of going on sale. The next option is worth 235, giving you the same three day pass. That set sold out within 5 hours of being up for sale. That means that in 5 hours 100.000 people bought tickets to this music fest to join the fun. If you were bummed that you couldn’t get the three day pass tickets they sold one day passes at a later date. By the time the one day passes went on sale they released the lineup and who would be playing each day so you could go see your favorite bands. One of the kickers about buying tickets is that they go on sale at 10 am, so you have to take yourself out of either your work world or school day to be on the computer right when they go on sale. Fortunately for me, my dad doesn’t have to go to work in the morning so he bought me and my friends’ tickets right when they went on sale.

They next thing that needs to be taken care of is the hotel. Most of the people that go to this festival are around 18 or at least 21 or younger so that creates an issue. In Chicago you can’t get a hotel without the presence of someone who is 21 or older.  So that means that I and my friends needed to have one of our parents come with us so we can get the hotel.  My dad is interested in music so he volunteered to come with us so we could enjoy the concert. He actually bought one of the one day tickets along with my brother so he could see the band he likes, The Cure.  On the other days he will be doing his own thing with my brother like going to baseball games and walking around to enjoy the city. Another plus side to having my dad come with us is that we don’t have to drive in the crazy Chicago traffic, no one is an expert at that, but at least he has more experience in driving in traffic.

Where should the location of our hotel be? Well it would be the smartest to have it down town and in walking distance so that we don’t have to pay for a cab or worrying about being in traffic. We decided to get a down town hotel. This way if we want to get away from the crowd we can easily go back to the hotel and either shower or relax. If the weather is crappy, or we just don’t want to watch all the bands we can go back.

This festival is lasting all day and multiple bands are playing at the same time so we need to pick and choose which favorites we want to go to. But the big named people go at the end and close the night off. I am super excited to go and enjoy lolla! (615)

Senior Skip day

Senior skip day is coming up and I am planning on taking part in all the activities! There are some pros and cons when it comes to participating. The teachers can either be nice or be harsh when it comes to skip day.  If it were up to me I would want them all to make no penalty and just have a relaxing day. But then again when does the student get to choose what we do for the lesson of the day.

All the teachers know it is coming and should give seniors this one day to live life to fullest and get to extend the prom weekend. But this issue only affects teacher who either have one class of just seniors or teach only seniors just like Mr. Grady. This is the last time that we will be able to enjoy each other as classmates and want to make it one big party.  There are two ways that teachers can approach dealing with all the seniors being gone. Either they can take the mean route and assign a test on that day or make something due that day that is worth a lot of points. They could also dock off points if you don’t show up that you can’t make up.  There is another side, where they could reward extra credit if you do come, that way you could pick and choose what class you want to come to, so you don’t have to come the whole day. There are two more stances that are on the nicer that I would prefer, those being either they do nothing that day or they just move on with the lesson but they don’t deduct points or reward extra credit.

So what do you do on senior skip day? Well most people look at it as a time to sleep in and recover from the weekend. Others go out and party on that Sunday night so they can be with their friends for another night. Honest that is probably what I will be doing. I am planning on making it a weekend to remember. I want to make a statement with my dress and be a show stopper and surround myself with the friends that I love and will miss when they leave my side.  Prom is the last step that we take a group and as classmates before we graduate.  Time has really flown by and I can’t wait for everything to be over so we can move on and not have the added stress of school. (440)

Puppy potty training

Puppies are a heartwarming animal that can cheer anyone up. They are clumsy, tiny, and have those sharp baby teeth that just want to nibble on anything and everything. Puppies are a big responsibility, they need to be potty trained, loved, and taught how to behave.  You need to feed it the proper puppy food so it grows up to be big and strong and you need to groom it so it doesn’t smell and looks sharp.

When you get a new dog you need to figure out where it is going to sleep. This needs some thought because you have to remember that it usually isn’t potty trained, and they have smaller bladders than adult dogs.  So you might not want the dog to start sleeping with you in the bed right off the bat in case of a accidental pee in the middle of the night. But should you place it in a kennel and have it be caged up all night long? Or should you give it a little more freedom and put it in the bathroom where it wouldn’t be as big of a deal if it tinkled on the tile floor which is somewhat easy to clean up?  If I were the owner I would slowly give the puppy more freedom as the trust builds that it can go through the night without peeing or that it has become potty trained. I would first keep them in the cage over night for about 2 or 3 weeks, then put it in the bathroom for a few weeks after. Then after my trust was 100% I will enjoy the puppy cuddling up to me in the bed and know that it will be loved. (288)

Prom week

Prom week is finally here. Everyone is getting pumped and ready to go. The girls are making their last minute alterations and the men are going out to rent a tux. But what else is there to be done? Well you might also want to get the boutonniere along with the corsage. It wouldn’t be a pretty site for one of the pair to have a flower and the other doesn’t.

The next step would be going out to buy prom tickets. When you purchase prom tickets there are a few choices depending on where you want to eat dinner. The most popular choice is to get the full package deal which includes dinner the dance and after prom all for the reasonable price of 40 dollars. If you weren’t planning on eating at the dance you can buy tickets to the dance separately which are 20 and the after prom tickets would also need to be purchased separately at 5 dollars each. So you if you aren’t staying at Elm Crest for dinner are 25 dollars. Personally I think it is a pretty good deal to eat there because it is a buffet and the food taste great.  Another pro about eating at Elm Crest is that most of the other people are there too so you know when to hit the dance floor and start getting your boggy on! If you didn’t eat there then it might be a crap shoot to know when everyone will be dancing, because you don’t want to show up and everyone is still eating, meaning that you have to awkwardly sit around until the party gets going.

The next thing you need to figure out is if you want to get a limo or not. They are something that is very typical for people to be driven around in. The only down fall is, is that it cost kind of a lot of money and you only get to enjoy the limo for around 4 hours.  That means that you could utilize the driver until you are at the dance. What do you do after the dance is over with? You have to find someone to pick you up and transport you for the next few events after you leave the dance. You have to go home, change, get a snack, and head to the post prom to begin the fun. You are going to need a ride home from the post prom to finally go to bed.

As the date approaches my excitement increases. I’m excited to get ready with my friends and make a whole day of it. Getting to walk down the stairs and greet my date and have his eyes light up will be the best part. Prom should be awesome, as long as everyone behaves and people don’t get kicked out for dancing. The faculty could make it great or make is something that everyone wants to leave and ruin our last dance as a cougar.  Steering away from that negative note. I will make it the best night of my high school career and enjoy being with my friends. (523)

Poem

1.       A meek girl stuffed in a dark corner

2.       Trapped by the walls of menus

3.       Slowly caving in as Time passes by

4.       4 o’clock signals the flames to light up the grounds

5.       Dusk sets in as the lights dim

6.       It is the calm before the storm

7.       The clock strikes 5

8.       Time’s Arc pulls up to the feeding grounds

9.       A sea of animals flood in from the Arc

10.   “Where would you like to sit, Time?”

11.   She shall diffuse this by osmosis

12.   She shall fight off the hungry pagers

13.   Ask not where should we seat them

14.   But ask who can take this table

15.   The bar is a watering hole

16.   All glasses leaving in pairs

17.   Time is cut off at 6

18.   Flames simmer as the animals are fed

19.   Time’s ship sails away, satisfied  

20.   Out of the dark corner reveals the meek girl

21.   She lives another day

Lines 11+12: Anaphora:“she shall” repetition in the beginning of both phrases, this emphasizes that she has to fix the issue at hand quickly. She must do her job and yet have to deal with making sure everyone has a place to sit even if they go on a wait. 

Line 10: Apostrophe: The meek girl is talking directly to the innate object, Time. This gives the effect that the story is actually happening in sequential order because where it is placed is the point in time when the host would talk to the customer about where they would like to sit and how many will be at the table. The meek girl is also talking to the literal time who has somewhat been personified.

Likes 13+14: Antimetabole: The repetition of words, “ask not, but ask” in reverse order. They emphasize that you shouldnt just be thinking about where you need to seat the voyagers but who will be serving their table, which is more important.

Line 15: Simile: Comparing the bar and a watering hole while saying one is the other. This goes along with the analogy that the restaraunt is the feeding grounds for these animals. Typically animals gather at the watering hole when they are thirsty to get a drink.

Line 12: Personification: Giving a pager the lifelike quality of being hungry. Having the pager be hungry and almost make you think that it will bite the meek girl goes along with how the animals are hungry. When animals get too hungry they might even take a bite out of something until they get fed.

Line 7: Personification: Giving the clock the ability to strike something is a lifelike quality that it cannot do. The striking of the clock emphasizes how immediate everything happens. Everyone gets off of work around five and rush in to get a drink after work, making it happen in an instant.

Line 11: Irony: It is ironic that the meek girl should diffuse the problem, thus seating all the guests, by osmosis because the animals came in as a “sea” of people. Osmosis is the diffusion by water, therefore making it ironic.

Line 16: Irony and allusion: It is ironic that the glasses would leave in pairs just as the voyagers would come off the Ark, just as all the animals road the Noah’s Ark in pairs. Making it a biblical refference.

Throughout the entire poem Time is a character. Time was given a personified role of being a person even though it is an innate object.

The whole poem is also an allusion that twists between the reality of a host seating customers at rush hour and the image of the restaurant actually being a feeding area that a large Ark can pull up to and be serviced.

Translation:

1.       Hosts are usually quiet and have to stand behind a counter in a corner of the restaurant

2.       They have to prepare the menus and are constantly surrounded by them, servers and bussers also bring the menus back to them constantly throughout the night

3.       The “wall of menus” closes in, meaning they run out as the happy hour begins

4.       At 4 is when all the candles go out onto the tables

5.       When it starts to become dark out, we also dim the lights in the restaurant

6.        There is only about 20 minutes before everything gets out of hand for happy hour

7.       Once it gets to be 5 we know that the crazy will begin

8.       All the cars or “ships” pull into the parking lot

9.       Tons of people enter the restaurant at once

10.   We ask them all “Which table would you like”

11.   We diffuse by seating them in the dining room

12.   When there aren’t enough tables we have to go on a wait an give each customer a pager which buzzes when their table is ready

13.   When we are in a panic we just seat customers and find a waiter that can take the table

14.   During happy hour the bar is super busy and everyone wants to get drinks

15.   Happy hour means you get two drinks, leaving in “pairs”

16.   Everyone is cut off from happy hour at 6 because it only lasts from 3-6

17.   Once everyone has eaten and has left we take the candles off the tables ”simmer the flames”

18.   The quiet hosts are tired from the busy night and finally get to leave

Socks

Socks, they are the things that make our feet cozy and warm, protect us from nasty germs, and give our foot a friend. There are many different types of socks, long socks, short socks, thick socks and thin socks. There are also socks for all different types of sports. But what kind of sock should you wear to different events? There are business socks, casual socks, and fuzzy warm socks. 

With socks comes the pains of losing them in the dryer, in the drawer that they are kept in, or just aimlessly around the house.  Another problem with socks is that it is super gross and uncomfortable when you get your socks wet. The worst is when you put on a fresh pair of socks in the morning then go to the bathroom to brush your teeth and accidentally step in a wet spot from the shower that you just took. That means that you have to go change your socks and waste a fresh pari. Another way that ruins your day with socks is when you are wearing tennis shoes and you step in a puddle of water or are in a wet area and the water seeps into the shoes, then leaving the sock wet. 

When you are an athlete, you go threw pairs of socks a lot quicker than the regular person. If an athlete does not have a proper sock, then they could easily get blisters. Another thing that athletes have to deal with is getting holes in their socks. Since they are being very aggressive and constantly moving that means that the sock has more wear and tear, causing a hole to break through.

Socks are things that keep our foot happy. So be nice and provide your foot with great comfort and a nice friend. (302)

Prom Group

Picking your group for prom has many essential aspects that can affect your relationship with your friends.  There are things that you need to decide you want for your group, such as what would be a good number for a group? Another thing that would need some refinement would be what kind of dynamic do you want in your group? Do the people you want to be with get along and do your dates get along well? There are so many things that you need to work with before the tickets go on sale and before you need to pick out your seat at the dinner table at prom.

My friends and I are in somewhat of a sticky situation.  In a weird way, all of the people who want to be in our group connect to each other, but there is exactly two people too many for the dinner table. The different levels that you can have at prom are groups of 10, 16, and 20. We have 22…how are we supposed to split up everyone?!? In another weird way, half of the people don’t know the other half as well as they would like. But some of the people’s dates know the other half that the people don’t know. This is going to be one big mess and I just wish that there were only 20 people in our group.

Another thing that you have to pursue is the limo. Luckily for us there is a stretch limo that can fit 22. When we were looking at different options, we saw different cars ranging from Cadillac’s, hummers, and the classic Lincoln. The hummer stuck out more than the rest. It looks like the biggest and the best thing that we could be rolling in on our prom day. We would definitely be rolling in style if we got that big stretch hummer in the color white.

When looking at limos we found that none of them posted a price for their limos. This means that the price ranges for how many hours we need it and how many people it will be accompanying. The more people that are going to be in the limo the less amount of money it will cost.  How many hours do we need a limo for? I’m thinking that we need it for pictures, after grand march, and to take us to the actual prom itself.

By this time my friends and I are tired of fighting with other people and they want to just get a place to sit with it being drama free. I hope that this doesn’t throw a monkey wrench into this whole process, because I don’t want to lose a friend over prom and I don’t want to be held responsible for people being mad. All I know is that I and my date will be sitting by our best friends who are both going to the prom together. Other than that it is going to be first come first serve. BOOM! I’m ready for prom lets go!!! (510)

Dorm Rooms

Getting ready for college had many aspects to it.  There is picking your college that fits you best, picking your roommate, and now you need to choose your specific room. It can be overwhelming, but it has to be done to take the next step in our lives of becoming college students.

Today me and my roommate were given a time slot to choose our room. This meant that we had to go in and choose a room that fit our profile and assign it to us. Many things have changed in the past few years when it comes to the University of Iowa. There are these things called living learning communities. They basically are mini clubs that we can sign up for, they range anywhere from health sciences to acting and the arts. I and my roommate chose the health sciences. Now that we have our learning community set in place the school assigns the communities to certain floors in certain dorms across campus.

When we sign into our account we see what dorms have our top living learning communities in them and then see our options. We were given about 5 floors in each dorm to choose from. Then from there we had to pick from every room on the entire floor. The location was chosen and who we wanted to be by even.  We chose to be far away from the bathrooms, the stair well and the RA. This meant that we would be away from the majority of the noise so we could get some sleep and keep calm when we needed to.

 Another thing that you have to consider when choosing what dorm you want to be in, is where they are located compared to your freshmen classes and where they are located compared to the sports facilities if you are a athlete. I and my roommate are not continuing our athletic careers in college, so we wanted to be closer to the academic side of campus. Another thing that you have to evaluate is if you want to be in a dorm with a cafeteria or not. If you aren’t in one with a cafeteria you might have to walk in unfavorable conditions to get your food. We chose Burge which is one of the two which has the cafeteria. I think that we made the best choice and am ready for next year! Go Hawks! (402)

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Spring Fever

Spring just makes everyone happy. It means it is time for summer and the school year is coming to an end. It’s kind of ironic how when the weather starts to get nice out, us students have to be spending more time inside studying for the AP exams or finals. We are all getting that itch to be outside and enjoy it. But with spring time coming means that spring cleaning is near as well.

Spring cleaning is something that is somewhat bitter sweet. It makes you want to clean everything and be fresh but yet at the same time its cleaning and no one enjoys cleaning. I will say though that after everything is clean and fresh it puts me in a better mood.  But here in Iowa it had taken quite a while for the weather to even give us a glimpse of spring. Here we are in April and it is still a struggle for the temperature to get to the 50’s. I think we all can agree that we have some spring fever and are ready for it to be nice outside. Not having to wear a jacket will be the best day ever. The time is coming near and I can’t wait! (208)

Driving Privileges

Having a curfew is something that almost every teenager has to deal with while growing up in their parents households. We hate is but they might have a point. When I first got my license my parents were super strict with the rules about curfew, it was always 11 pm whenever I decided to go out with my friends. Now at the time it was tedious because all of my friends lived on the other side of town and I needed to leave an extra 15 minutes early to get home on time. This seemed like a fair trade seeing that I legally couldn’t be driving around past 12:30 a.m. When I turned 17 the times at which I couldn’t be on the road where taken off, that meant that I could drive around at all hours of the night! That’s what freedom really feels like. Now that I am 18 there aren’t any special regulations that I don’t have to follow but now it means that if I get a ticket I could go to jail or have something serious happen if I get into trouble.

Now that I am looking back on how I was treated when I first got my license and my parents were strict I find it very unfair that my brother who is a year younger than me gets to be out until 12:30 whenever he wants to and he is only 16. The rules shouldn’t change when it comes to the next sibling. I didn’t get to be out that late until I was 17. I just feel like he will abuse the system when he turns 17 and be out even later than I am now and I’m 18 and not get into trouble. Life is unfair. L  (296)

Opening Series

It is official folks, baseball season has begun. Over the Easter weekend many teams had their opening day game.  The cold weather isn’t the most enjoyable thing to play in, but it just gives the players and the fans the feeling that the time of year has rolled around again. America’s favorite game has come back from their winter break and is ready for a fresh start.  We can say the one phrase that baseball is known for “Play Ball!”

After the World Series is finished all the teams get a break for a few months. Once they have rested up from a long season they start to practice again. This is the beginning of spring league. All the teams go down south to where their team is stationed and start to get back into the swing of things and play against other teams in the area. The popular spots for the team to be are in southern Florida and in Arizona, where the heat is packing. They typically play in stadiums that aren’t nearly as big as their regular home field, but more of the size of a triple A field. In fact all the teams have feeder teams that the team can choose from in case someone was doing bad or wanted to give a new person a shot they would choose from the feeder teams who to bring to the big leagues. So the major league players just play at the triple A teams’ field.

Every year since I was in 8^th grade my dad takes me and my brother to Minneapolis, Minnesota to watch an early game at the Twins. We try to go when they are playing either the Detroit tigers or the Boston Red Sox, those are our favorite teams. This year we went to the opening series! It was so exciting and nothing can describe what being at a professional baseball game feels like unless you have experienced it yourself.  You get this happy vibe when you are surrounded by people who love to watch and interact with the game of baseball.  The atmosphere is also something of its own. Each stadium is different and has its own knick knacks. When they play the music to get the crowd riled up it makes you want to cheer as loud as you can. The best part of going to baseball games would be when it gets intense and the players make crazy plays that make you wonder how that just happened.

If you are a former player of either softball or baseball is makes going to the games a lot more enjoyable because you have been in those same positions that the players are in. You understand the mindset that you have to have when you step onto the field and the added pressure that some positions have compared to others. If I were to pick out the position that is under the most pressure I would say that it is definitely the pitcher. They control the game essentially and they are the ones that can either throw the heat or throw balls that everyone can hit. They also get blamed for runs earned most of the time.

Baseball is America’s favorite sport and that still holds true again this season. The freshness is in the air and everyone is getting baseball fever. Now all we need is some nice weather for the players to play in…and so it is more enjoyable for the fans to watch the game since all the stadiums are outdoors now.  There does come a point in the season where is becomes uncomfortably hot outside. That typically rolls around in late June, early July. It is the worst feeling when you are in the stands and are sweating while you are just sitting there and your shorts are drenched from butt sweat. Now I know that might be TMI but I don’t care because I know that it happens to everyone out there and we all feel gross after words. But as fans we will endure pretty much anything ranging from the coldest weather to the scorching hot summer days just to see a good baseball game. Amen to that!

One of the biggest things that make the start of a new season great is that everyone gets a fresh start, we get to see new players and new trades that teams make to benefit themselves. We get to see how the new dynamic of the 2013 season is going to flow. After about the first 20 games or so we see who is really meshing together well and what teams are still struggling to get their stuff together. It’s a good thing that everyone plays around one hundred and sixty games a season so they have time to turn around and make a name for themselves.

Well those are my feelings about the opening season; I’m excited and can’t wait to go to more games this summer when it is nicer out. Play Ball! (837)

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