J4: The Diary of Pelly D

Let’s take a trip with author L.J. Adlington to City Five. I bet it doesn’t sound familiar, probably because it hasn’t quite become a city yet. The Diary of Pelly D takes place in the future. Toni V, the narrator, is drilling in City Five, rebuilding it after the war that took place. While drilling, he comes across an old water can with a note on it saying “Dig, dig everywhere.” In the water can was a diary. As something to read, he decided to keep it even though if he were to get caught with it, he’d be in huge trouble. Every night after drilling, he would go back to his bunk to read it, even though most of the other guys would head to the bar or the pool. While reading, he finds himself very interested in Pelly. He learns about her family and eventually their background. Not only is Toni going through the stress of possibly getting caught, the popular Pelly D is worrying about her brother running away to the O-HA and learning her families true social status. It turns out that not everyone in her family is socially the same. This causes her family to split up, and Pelly to climb down the social status ladder. After every day of work, Toni V constantly keeps going back to this diary. After he digs, digs everywhere, even more stuff is found! Money and jewels, but this time, unlike the diary, they items are turned into to avoid getting in major trouble. The rest of the story continues with Toni’s interest in Pelly’s life. This is a great sci-fi novel but don’t worry, that’s not all it contains. It turns out to be a great love story. It may be hard to get into at first but I can promise you that the story is definitely worth reading!

J3: Favorite Music Group

It’s hard to pick one favorite band or musician, especially since I like to listen to almost any genre of music. I’m a huge country fan, so one of my favorite musician would have to be a country artist. One of my favorite musicians would be Eric Church. He’s a great country singer, but he doesn’t follow along with the country stereotype. Instead of a cowboy hat, he is mostly seen wearing a baseball cap. His songs aren’t the general heartbreak songs either. His music is much more lively and upbeat than most other country artists. He is what I classify as “party country.” Most excitingly, I get to see him in concert this upcoming June. Another favorite artist of mine would be Hollywood Undead. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what music genre they are. Sometimes it’s a rap, other times has more of a rock feeling to it. But no matter how they are delivering their music, it almost always relates to sex, drugs or drinking. Despite their inappropriate message, I’ve been listening to them for a long time. Their music is always catching my attention and it’s something I get always sing along to. Lil Wayne is another of my favorite artists. Despite his recent run ins with the law, he still comes hard with his music. Even though he is a rapper, he tries to add a rock sound to some of his tracks. Also, he collaborates with artists of a variety of genres, expanding his fan base. Lastly, I really like the band Hedley. I heard them on a radio station a couple years back. They are a Canadian pop/rock group. I think it’s awesome that we live right by the border so we can expand our knowledge on the Canadian culture. I really like love songs, which they have tons of. As for their more upbeat songs, they are always catchy and easy to listen to.

J2: Grade School Teachers

It’s hard to flash back to several different years to pick a favorite of anything It’d be extremely hard for me to pick a favorite teacher from seven or more years ago. I can automatically eliminate kindergarten because I never went due to living in a different state at the time. My first place favorite teacher would have to be Mr. Perry. He was the first guy teacher that I had and it was a bit weird getting used to that. But eventually I opened up to the fact that I had a male teacher. Mr. Perry made class so much fun, doing more than an every day teacher would. He would make you remember class by adding in silly little things. To this day, I can talk to anyone who was in that class with me and we will all remember and joke about the time in which he jumped off a table, playing the air guitar. Just by adding in little things like that made his class so enjoyable and memorable. Since he lives in Alden, I still see him sometimes around town. Like I said, it’s not that easy to pick just one teacher to be your favorite. So the second teacher I greatly enjoyed in grade school was Mrs. Applebee. To this day, I remember her telling the class how she has an apple tree in her backyard that she would regularly read under. She was such a sweet teacher that I miss dearly. I was lucky enough to have her just years before she retired. Despite her retirement, I occasionally see her since she lives right around the corner from me. Even though these two teachers are my favorite, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoyed all the others because without them, I wouldn’t have gotten this far in life.

J1: Real Heroes

A hero is defined as a person, usually a man, who is admired for courage or noble qualities. In some ways, I agree with this definition. A hero should definitely have courage and noble qualities. They should be someone who goes out of their way to do something ordinary or extraordinary for someone. But I most certainly disagree with the definition too. A hero can be anyone, not just a man. To little kids, heroes are portrayed as someone who is super, with super powers. I think they are given the wrong idea at a young age because when you learn something young, the idea sticks in your head. But when I grew up, I was taught that firefighters, police officers, and most importantly, soldiers are the true heroes in life. Someone who is a hero to me would be my grandma. It’s sad for me to admit it, but she isn’t my real grandmother. It is what she did that made her such a great person. Her and my grandfather adopted my dad when he was only eight days old. I think that adoption is a great thing. They opened up the home and hearts to a child that wasn’t theirs. I love that they adopted someone right here from Buffalo instead of doing what celebrities do; they adopt children from other countries. It’s like they don’t realize that kids in our country don’t have proper homes. I’m so thankful for what my grandparents have done. Even though my grandpa has since then passed away, my grandma remains the most amazing grandma anyone could ever ask for. Out of all my grandparents, she is the one in which I remain the closest. An adoption is a somewhat simple thing to do to be a hero. By adopting a child, you could be taking them out of an abusive home. This little act my grandparents did over fifty years, it’s really influence me to want to adopt a child when I get older.

Waking Up To Boys

This week’s book blog is author Hailey Abbott’s Waking Up To Boys. Chelsea McCormick is a wake boarder whose parents own a resort on Lake Tahoe. Before the resort is filled with tourists, the workers pile in including Todd, one of the instructors that Chelsea has had a crush for years. Chelsea always sees him with other girls, but no matter what, she is still crushing on him. But at the employee welcoming meeting, two new people catch her eye; one is a hot new tennis instructor from Brazil and the other is her absolutely gorgeous half sister from California, Sara. While Sara is getting all the attention from the guys, Chelsea and the new tennis instructor are locked into each other while Chelsea’s heart still aches for Todd. Throughout the summer, Chelsea faces so many problems, like throwing a huge pool party, the wakeboarding challenge being held at the lake near the end of the summer, her first year of teaching wakeboarding, and most importantly, boys. But her check list isn’t that easy to check off. The party, that gets crashed and results in physical labor. A halt was brought to her wakeboarding practicing after trying one of the hardest jumps. Chelsea breaks her arm and her ability to compete is very questionable. And boys? Well that’s the hardest summer task for her! She gets the Brazilian hottie, but her feelings for Todd are still there. As much as she tries, it’s hard to get  him out of her head. Most of Abbott’s books have similar themes, mostly involving a summer on the beach and a romantic “the girl who gets the boy” ending. The question mostly left for you to figure out is if Chelsea gets her long-time crush or the new boy in town. Wanna find out? Check it out right up in our school’s library!

Holiday Highlight

This holiday break was hectic, as always, for my family. I was lucky enough to have several Christmases. My first Christmas was spent with my boyfriend’s family at his grandparents house on the eve of Christmas eve. With it being the first Christmas with my boyfriend, I was very blessed to be accept into their festivities. On Christmas eve, I finished my shopping with my sister then went to my grandma’s house with my parents and sisters for dinner and gifts there. My parents went to her house early so dinner would be prepared at a decent time. While me and my oldest sister were on our way, she pulled over to let me drive. This was really exciting but scary for me because it was my first time driving on Walden and making a left hand turn. Christmas eve dinner at my grandma’s house was really nice. It was the first time in a long time that we all got to spend time together. Even though one of my sister’s lives with her fiance, she stayed home with us Christmas night since me and my sisters have a Christmas morning tradition. We woke up at seven, turned on the lights on the tree, turned on the Christmas music, made coffee for my parents and let both of the dogs outside. After this is all done, we woke up my parents, which is always a hassle. We spent a long time opening gifts then playing with the different gadgets we all got. In the early afternoon, we went to my grandpa’s house to open even more gifts with him and my aunt. After my grandpa’s, I went home and was welcomed by my boyfriend with even more gifts from him to open. We exchanged half our gifts at my house, then had dinner with my parents. Afterwards we went to his house and exchanged the rest of our gifts, then I exchanged my gifts with his sister and brother in law and their parents. Christmas came to a conclusion with the final dinner around midnight. With all the happiness over the break, it came to an end two days later when I got a call from my mom telling my the CO detectors were going off in our house, so I needed to report home immediately. We found out the their were deadly levels in our house, and one of our cats was unable to be found inside. Despite this all, me and my father were taken to the hospital since the amount of CO in our blood was almost at the highest level it could be at. We were both on oxygen for two and a half hours, while my mom and sisters were at home looking for our cat. Eventually, she was found but a cause for CO being in our house. With it being the third year and a row, it’s not a Christmas vacation in my house without the Townline Fire Department being present!

My Bucket List

I’ve never thought about my personal bucket list until now. The number one thing that I’d put on it would to be a successful and well-known social worker or adoption agent in the Buffalo area. Throughout our lives, we start at the bottom and work our way up, just to be pushed back down again. My goal is to work my way up, and stay there. It’s not necessarily about making money, since I know it’s not a high paying career. The career outlook isn’t even that great, that’s why it’d be great to have a high position. The second thing on my bucket list would be to be an extreme couponer. I constantly watch the show and it is crazy to see the amount of money that some people save. If I were to become an extreme couponer, I would have stock piles of various items that would last me for months. Even after one shopping trip, the money saved with be an extraordinary amount! Some people on the show can go in and have hundreds of dollars worth of items and get their total down to nothing, or have the store pay them money. Not only would I want to be an extreme couponer, but I would want to appear on the show. The third item on my bucket list is to be a foster mom. My dad is adopted, along with a couple of my uncles. There are so many kids in our country that are unable to be in safe, loving homes so I would love to be the one to open up my home to those kids in need. I think the hardest part about being a foster mother would be that you are opening your heart to these kids and eventually, they leave once a permanent home is found for them.

The Pact

To follow up on the previous book reviews, my choice blogs will always be dedicated to that. The most recently book that I have read is one of Jodi Picoult’s many novels, The Pact. Like many of her books, it was made into a movie shown on television only in 2002. It starts out with two families, neighbors, who are both expecting a child. When the children are born, Chris and Emily, they are insuperable. They were constantly with each other. As they got older, they became a couple. Still, they were insuperable. Everything is normal until tragedy strikes. At one of Emily’s favorite place, Chris’s work place, Emily is found dead with her childhood friend sitting next to her with a gun. After the incident, Chris was in the hospital, unaware the Emily was actually dead. He was questioned while in the hospital but wasn’t taken into police custody until he was released. Emily’s murder caused tension between the families. Like many of her books, the point of view is constantly changing, getting you into the minds of both parents. She keeps you trapped into her novels until the very end, and this one is no different. You are drawn in to the emotion from both parents and more importantly, Chris. The story takes many twists and turns going on until the end of the trial. When Chris finally speaks for himself at the trial, what he has to say completely shocks the entire courtroom and causes the jury to rethink any information that they already had. The jury has a hard decision ahead of them and Chris’s fate is in their hands. All characters are shocked by the choice, and you will be too! It’s a great love story that will capture your heart, leaving you astounded in the end!

Stop Spending Money!

Every New Year’s, people make the same resolution, to loose weight. I really don’t need a resolution like that though. I’ve never had a New Year’s resolution, nor have I been forced to make one other than now. The number one thing that I know I should change this year would be to save money. Before Christmas, I built up my bank account, trying to save for my car and eventually, a house. Once Christmas shopping came around, my bank account emptied out. I didn’t realize how much I was spending until I saw the balance in my bank account was just over two hundred dollars! It didn’t seem like all that I bought added up to that much money. Since I have a new job and I’m making much better money, I want to rebuild my bank account. In order to do this, I must stop shopping. After work and on the days that I don’t work, me and my boyfriend are usually at different stores or the mall. Even though I usually only buy little things or things that are on sale, all the money will eventually add up. I will have to stick to buying the absolute necessities. Another money spending activity that me and my boyfriend often due is go out to eat. Whether it’s fast food or a nice sit down restaurant, we are hardly ever eating at home. I usually pay the tip whereas he pays for the meal. Once again, the money will all eventually add up. Even when I’m at work, working with food and drinks, it’s always tempting to get something to eat on my break or when my shift ends. I get food and drinks half off while working, but it’s still an necessary purchase. This year, I need to stop spending money. Clothes and constant eating out isn’t nearly as important as college, a car and eventually a house.

Can You Dig It?

If I were to get to take a trip back in time, I would go back into the 1970s and 1980s. The main reason this time interests me is because the big hair and vibrant colors were mostly associated with this time. While visiting the 1970s, I would encounter many people and events. Richard Nixon was the president until 1973, when the Watergate scandal arouse. In that same year, former president Lyndon B. Johnson passed away. It wasn’t until a couple years later that I would be there to understand the tragic death of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. To be in style, I’d get a pet rock, since that was cool in the 70s. My wardrobe would consist of platform shoes and jogging suits, but I’d be smart enough to not wear them together. I would participate in Earth Day because it was an event that most people took part in. People wore gas masks to show their concern for pollution’s affect on Earth. On television, I’d be watching All In The Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Sanford And Son. But at the theaters, I would’ve been at the premier for Saturday Night Fever which makes sense since it was the disco decade. Led Zeppelin and David Bowie would be playing through my speakers but as the decade faded into the 80s, punk rock would be the new rage. The computer would be introduced into schools, homes and offices. In the middle of the decade, space shuttle Challenger exploded just over a minute after launching at Cape Canaveral. All seven of the astronauts on board were killed, one being a Florida school teacher. In the second half of the decade, the use of cocaine increases by thirty five percent, but I wouldn’t be one the users. And at the end of the decade, President Bush called for a kinder nation which caused volunteerism to be at an all time high.