My Letters about Literature!

Dear James Dashner,

          I really enjoyed your book, The Scorch Trials. It was a very fast read for me because I was so intrigued with the book. The characters in your book really made me think about some of the people in my own life. Your book also made me really think about what the future may be about, and frankly scared me to think that was the way you saw the future. It made me think about so many things that I had never thought about before, and brought out things in me that I did not know I could do.

          I have never been really into reading, so to read this book in less than two days really made me surprise myself. I had made up my mind to devote a day to really read this book and figure out what happens, because sometimes I get lost in so many other things that I don’t make time to read.  It made me realize that when I put my mind to something, I can do it. I think the reason I read it so fast was because I connected to the characters in a way that really made me want to keep reading. Sometimes in our daily lives we really do forget things in the past and really focus on what is happening only in the present. This book helped me realize that when we do that, it just makes things more difficult. Like Thomas, we are sometimes put into situations that we don’t want to be in and we sometimes don’t understand why it is happening to us. The Scorch Trials taught me that even if we don’t understand, we need to just keep trying and don’t give up until we reach the end.  The time that the story took place really made me think too.

          You set your books in the future. This made me really stop and think about what the future could be like. It would be such a scary world to live in if you could get scorched by the sun or killed by cranks with a disease that the whole world was starting to get. I had a lot of sympathy for Thomas because of what he was going through. Many times while I was reading the book I found myself truly scared for many of the main characters. Some of the story also made me really sad for how many lost and dead there were throughout the whole story. Not to mention how it ripped my heart right out of my chest when Theresa fooled Thomas with her dumb love trick.

          When Theresa and Aris made Thomas feel betrayed by making him think that Theresa never really loved him, they made him think it was all just to get him to do something for them. WICKED truly is evil. When they tricked Thomas I didn’t know if it was real, and it truly made me sick for Thomas. It made me want to cry. This book really shook my emotions. It made me realize exactly what I am sensitive to and what I really like in a story. I really connected with Thomas in this book because I felt that sometimes he didn’t know exactly what he was doing being there. He didn’t really know what he was supposed to be doing in life, but he ended up figuring it out. He never once gave up even though a couple of times he thought he didn’t have the strength to keep going. He made it to the end no matter what the cost was. Thomas is truly inspiring for that.

          I really did enjoy the book that you wrote. It inspired me in so many ways. I liked how you developed each of the characters so well. The Scorch Trials inspired me to want to read more and write better.  It affected me more than any other book like this has. It helped me realize things that I had never realized before!  Thank you Mr. Dashner for giving us this book for me to read and thank you for your time.

           

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is one of the happiest times of year for most people. It is a time for celebrating many things.  There is caroling, present giving, baking, decorating, and many other things. For many people, Christmas means traveling. Others it means just staying at home and eating hot chocolate. Christmas time is a time for traditions. We once received a book of Christmas traditions from a friend. There are some traditions that I had never heard of before, and some that us as a family do every year.

                One tradition that I learned that we had never done before was a limbo contest every Christmas eve. This family had come from Cuba and so there traditions were a little different than most of ours. Every Christmas Eve there whole extended family would come out and they would have a massive Christmas parent. It always ended up being sort of a family reunion.

                For others, a normal Christmas tradition involves a family dinner and then a simple get together on Christmas. I know for my family it is a time where we spend a whole day just with each other. We always do activities together on Christmas Eve and then spend all of Christmas enjoying being with our family. There is one tradition that we have in our house that sometimes I don’t particularly like.

                Every Christmas morning we have to wait for everyone to be away until we can go downstairs where the presents are and where we usually spend most of our Christmas. Usually on Christmas morning we are always waiting for our parents to get up. I sometimes think that they try to stay in bed extra-long just to torment us. But for one Christmas, it was my little brother keeping us from going downstairs. We were not allowed to wake him up and he just kept sleeping for a couple hours more. I just remember how frustrating it was at the time. Now we all think of it as a joke!

                Many people that I know are always gone on Christmas. It is there tradition. I can’t remember the last time my grandparents who live in Washington were home for the holidays. They always go somewhere warm. This year it is Florida, last year it was Hawaii. It is very fun to get post cards from them from where ever they are. Sometimes I wish that are family had that tradition!

                December is a time for traditions! There are so many kinds of traditions that we have not even heard of before. Some are very interesting. Traditions are a fun way to get everyone together for the holidays. Traditions is just one of the many things I love about Christmas.

Not Enough Food by 2050? This is a Very Scary Thought

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the food consumption and demand doubled? If you think about how much the world consumes daily and then double that, there is a whole lot of food and when there isn’t enough to go around, that is when you get the problems.

                In something that I read online, it talks about some of the food issues that we might be faced with in the near future. It says by 2050 the food demand will nearly double. This may seem like a really long time, but let me assure you, it’s not.  2050 will happen during our lifetime so it will be something we may want to think and worry about. This article talks about how if we help other countries learn the best ways to farm and to produce food, it will help with this upcoming crisis. In the document it says, “Our analyses show that we can save most of the Earth's remaining ecosystems by helping the poorer nations of the world feed themselves."

                I think that we should really continue to work on finding out more about this subject. It is very important we work as hard as we can to figure out this situation before it really becomes a problem. Can you imagine not having enough food? I know that the thought frightens me enough to want to try and fix it. The research should most definitely be continued to find out more on how we can help our world always have enough food for the people who live here.

               

“Agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions could double by 2050 if current trends in global food production continue; this would be a major problem, since global agriculture already accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions,” says one of the scientists who work on the project. They are just saying that if our current trends don’t stop, we will be in trouble. Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation, says the following. “Ever increasing global demands for food pit environmental health against human prosperity."  This is really a scary thing to think about. A world with not enough food can mean a world with fewer humans. That is why we should continue the research on this topic.

                The article states that the food demand may double by 2050. This may not sound like a lot right now, but when you think about every person in the whole world and double the food consumption, that is a ton of food! We need to be careful about how we grow crops and how we teach out next generation to not waste. The article helps us understand what is going on in the world today. We need to ensure the future of our globe is a bright one filled with plenty of food for everyone.

                I don’t know how the world will handle a crisis like this one. This is a very scary thought. This is one of the reasons I am posting this on my blog. If we are all informed on what is happening in the world, we will be more willing to help out and make sure that something like not having enough food will never happen.

comma rule test

You may think that ethics means just knowing right from wrong, but people who practice good ethics don’t tolerate things that are wrong. In this ethics module, I learned a lot about ethics and gained a better understanding of what it means. There were three parts to my reading. They are as follows: a question of ethics, ethics check, and last but certainly not least, universal ethics principles. To others, I can explain what I have learned and it can help everyone know just what ethics really means and how it can be applied to our lives.

          The first part was entitled, “A Question of Ethics.”  This section explains the meaning of ethics. It goes on to say that no matter what the context of the decision, ethics is simply a matter of right versus wrong or more right than wrong. You really want to make up your mind right now, so when you are faced with the decision to cheat or do something unethical, you know that you won’t do it. It then asked the question “something might not be against the law, but is it ethical?” This is indeed a very good question to ask ourselves when we are having a hard time making a decision.

The next part was “Ethics Check.” In this part of the article, it listed five things to think about when making an ethical decision. Five things were mentioned, and I liked all of the information. Those five things were the golden rule, the rotary 4-way test, the power of ethical management, the markula program, and the mother test. The tips given, compared to anything else I have ever heard, were very helpful. Have you ever heard the phrase, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” I am sure you have, and it goes right alongside with rule number one, the golden rule. Through this part of the article, I learned all the ways to really test what is ethical.

          The third part of the article was called “Universal Ethical Principles.” The small heading for this part is “ethics according to the world’s great philosophers.”  This part, written by four very famous people, tells a lot about what being ethical is all about. I had heard some of the rules before like, “tell the truth no matter what.” But there were others I had never heard before. Rawls says, “When things can’t be equal, fairness means protecting the least advantaged.” This is one I had never read before and it really made me stop and think. At this point, I learned that no matter what the consequence is, you should always tell the truth because it is the right thing to do.

           This article really made me think, and I thought about everything I did in life. It had good pointers on how to look at a situation and decide whether or not it is the right thing to do. Sometimes we know right from wrong, but choose wrong because we are not thinking about the ethical thing to do. I know from now on I can look at a situation and better tell for myself what to do. In my own life, I can apply what I have learned about ethics. There is more than one part to the definition of ethics. How to tell if things are ethical, some wise words from some really smart people on what to do in a sticky situation, and general rules to ethics, are all things I learned. Just tell the truth, even though it might be hard,  and I promise that it will be a lot easier to make ethical decisions!

      

Gratitude

Around thanksgiving many of us believe that we should be grateful for everything in our lives, but many of us don’t know that it actually helps us be happy! Scientists are finding that an attitude of gratitude is a powerful contributor to a happy life.  Some believe that it may be the single most effective way to increase happiness.  According to Dr. Robert Emmons, a leading gratitude researcher and author of the book thanks, the idea of receiving a gift is central to the concept of gratitude.  While merely appreciating something for its positive qualities does have a positive impact on our lives and emotions, gratitude takes the next step beyond.  Gratitude happens when we go beyond just appreciating something to acknowledging that we have received a gift that we did nothing to earn or deserve.  The warm emotional rush we feel when we really feel gratitude is very like the glow we feel from realizing we are unconditionally loved. 

New research shows that practicing gratitude may be the fastest single pathway to happiness, health, long life, and prosperity.  In a study Dr. Emmons people who kept a gratitude journal for just 3 weeks measured 25% higher on life satisfaction afterwards.  They exercised more, drank alcohol less, and their families and friends noticed that they were nicer to be around.  And the effects lasted for several months beyond the initial 3 week study.  Other studies are confirming these results.  Peo0ple who take the time to notice and appreciate the good things that come their way through grace, or luck, or the goodness of others are happier and more peaceful.  They do better on cognitive tests and tests of problem solving skills.  They practice healthier habits, have better relationships, are more optimistic and live longer.  Gratitude is one powerful emotion and can be used to turn our lives around in a time of need!

Don’t sweat the small stuff – Spend a moment every day thinking of someone to thank. Gratitude and inner peach go hand in hand.  The more genuinely grateful I feel for the gift of my life, the more peaceful I feel.  Gratitude, then, is worthy of a little practice.  Learned a long time ago it’s easy to allow my mind to slip into various forms of negativity.  First thing that leaves is sense of gratitude.  Begin to take people in my life for granted and love feel is often replaced with frustration and resentment.  As I think of one person to feel gratitude for soon another pops in my head along with other things to feel grateful for.

Often overlooked blessings…The kindness of strangers

Expressions of unconditional love and support.

Times when your ideas “clicked” with others

Reading a passage in a book or a poem that expresses exactly how you feel

First morsel of comfort food

 Reading a book that changes your life

Sense of relief throwing stuff out brings

Rediscovering old family photos

 Finding the perfect gift for someone

An unexpected compliment that makes your day

The simple abundance journal of gratitude…

All of these things when expressed and noticed can make our lives better.

Thankgiving

When thanksgiving comes around a lot of us just think that it is time of holiday and a time where we can stuff ourselves with food. Thanksgiving is a little more than that though. It is a time for us to really give thanks and really think about all of the blessing in our lives. There are a lot of things we are thankful for that we take for granite every single day of our lives. Of course we always think of being thankful for our families, friends, electronics, education, and many other things but it is the less common things that we are thankful for that we should really try to focus on.

          Every single thing that is good in our lives is something we should be thankful for. Things like roads, ovens, school (even though we don’t always like it, it still helps us) keyboards, computers, pictures, shelter, and people that work hard everyday to make our lives possible. There are so many things that we really should be more thankful for.

          When I went to EFY this summer we learned that we are truly happier when we express what we are thankful for. The person who told this story was paralyzed from the waist down and had trouble just moving his arms and hands. He was still grateful for so many things even though there are things in his life that he could be so sad about and just sulk on. This man was very inspirational and I hope that all of us can find the good in our lives even when everything seams to be horrible.

          Statistics show that when we are grateful for everything around us, we are happier as a person. A famous quote says “consistently expressing sincere and heartfelt gratitude for what you already have is the underlying and often overlooked force which opens doors to immeasurable abundance and happiness” I find this quote very true. When we look around us for the good, we are happy and are more likely to have good in our own lives.

          My great aunt recently got back from a service mission from Madagascar, which is a small place right off of Africa. She was in shock when she got back of how much we had here. We had clean water, food, shelter, a warm place to sleep, a bed, and many other things. She said that down in Madagascar, they had nothing, yet they were still very happy people. They could never have just a leisure day, for the second they wake up until the second they go to bed they are on a search for fresh water and food to eat. Many of the children have to find food for there whole entire family. It is very sad how they live and how they survive. We have so much here and we don’t even realize it. It is amazing to know that they have pretty much nothing, yet they are still so happy. We have so much and sometimes we are still not happy. This just goes to show how money does not bring happiness. We will be happy when we are happy with all we have.

11.11.11

Have you ever looked at the clock when it said eleven: eleven and made a wish? I am sure that many of people celebrated 11/11/11 but everyone celebrated in a different way. Many people probably did something special for 11:11 11/11/11, but a lot of people celebrated it the whole entire day. I would fall into the category that celebrated it from 11:11 am, to 11:11 at pm.  That first thing that we did was make a list of eleven things that we wanted to do on this special day. Our list included the following:

1.       Eleven jumping jacks at 11:11

2.       Eleven pictures of eleven people

3.       Kiss eleven friends on the check

4.       Eleven cookies to eleven strangers (one to each stranger)

5.       Eleven prank calls

6.       Eleven laps around the house(in the snow with bare feet and no coat)

7.       Make an elven ingredient meal

8.       Eleven minute soccer game

9.       Try eleven ice cream flavors

10.   Eleven laps in a pool

11.   Order eleven donuts

We did every one of these things on Friday.  The very first one was accomplished at exactly 11:11 am. Everyone got up and went to the hall by Mrs. Corry’s room and Mr. Thompsons room at did them together, except for me, I just stood up in computer tech and did them right in the middle of class! I must admit, it was a little embarrassing.  All the rest of them were spread out through the rest of the day, we didn’t really do them in order.

A couple of them we even ran out of time for. The eleven ingredient meal ended up just being little Cesar’s pizza that we found eleven ingredients in. We were counting things like tomatoes, milk, seasoning, pepperonis and many other things until we had exactly eleven ingredients. We still counted this one as checked off anyways though.

                The other one that we had a little trouble with was number six, considering that all the snow had melted. We really had to improvise. We just had to pretend that there was snow on the ground, and we had to pretend that we were really cold. It didn’t work out so well but we had to get it checked off somehow!

                Many people believe that if you make a wish on 11:11 then it will come true. I once heard a quote that said “dear eyelashes, wishbones, dandelions, pennies, shooting starts, 11:11 and birthday candles do your job.” I really liked this quote because many people do believe that eleven: eleven is really the best time to make a wish. This only works when you just happen to look at the clock at this time, not if you are always waiting for it.

                If so many people make wishes at 11:11, it would make sense that on 11.11.11 at 11:11 that you could make a really big wish. I think this is the main reason that this day was such a big deal. Another reason why

My Pet Peeve

Some of the things that bug me the most happen here at our school. Not in the halls or during lunch but when you are sitting in your own seat. The chairs with the seats that are hooked to the desk and have the basket underneath are the worst! There are so many ways that people can bug you with these types of chairs. The first way is when they set their feet on the basket underneath you and then start bouncing their leg up and down. The second way is as they are bouncing their foot they start to beat there pencil on their desk to make a rhythm. The third thing is when you try to answer a question and they are still bouncing their foot on your desk and then you voice sounds weird from all the vibrations.

            When I sit down in class I always am worried about who sits behind me because if the wrong person does then you bounce the whole class period. What I mean by bounce is that they put their foot underneath your desk on the basket and then start to bounce their foot up and down. When they first start doing this you usually just turn around and look at them, then they usually get the message. It usually starts up again and I get really bugged. Sometimes they start making a rhythm with their pencil while they keep bouncing your desk.

            Some people think that if they can make this cool sounding rhythm with their pencil that it makes them cool or something. It actually is cool at first but then it gets really annoying, and on top of that, they are still bouncing your desk! It is really hard to concentrate and participate in the class discussion.

            When you are having a class discussion it is easy to drift away and kind of start daydreaming sometimes, and when someone is bouncing your desk and drumming their pencil it makes it even harder! When I try to answer a question it sometimes comes out funny and all messed up because I am getting bounced around. I really don’t like those types of seats.

            It is sometimes hard to stay focused in class and when someone is distracting you then it is even more difficult.  I don’t know if these things bug you the same way but I know they sure bug me.  So next time you are sitting behind someone try to be nice and keep your foot and your pencil still!

            During my ninth grade year I think this has happened more than ever! You would think that by the last year in Jr. High they would get the message that I am trying to send. The best way to avoid this problem is to sit in the very back where no one is behind you. This usually solves the problem pretty well. Whenever I don’t sit in the back I experience my worst pet peeve that happens at school!

Halloween

Halloween is a fun but extremely scary month. I love Halloween but hate being scared. Can you say that your biggest fear is being scared? That shows how much of a scaredy cat I am, and I am not going to try to make myself sound tough because I know that I am not even remotely close to brave at all. Even things that don’t scare most people still scare me. 

                Over the weekend we went to a farm called Hee Haw farms. It was really fun and they had lots of activities to choose from. One of the things they had there for the little kids was a little inflatable haunted house. Its height was about four feet tall and it was not very long at all.  “It’s time to go in!” I said, even though it still looked scary. When I got in it, it was so cheesy it was hard to be scared. I wasn’t scared at all and there was no one in it to scare me. Until I got a little behind the people I was with and one of them hid up ahead and waited for me to come. When I got to the turning point where I ducked because the inflatable was lowering, all of the Hales jumped out at me! I screamed and was so scared for the rest of the time. After they scared me, I really just wanted to go back to the Hales’ house, but they didn’t want to. I was mad at Travis Hales because it was Travis’s idea to scare me.

                 Your opinion on Halloween may be different than mine.  Yours may be that you love it and aren’t scared on bit from it. I wish that all of the districts’ people would let us celebrate Halloween more by letting us dress up. I have decided that schools don’t do very much for all of the different holidays and I wish that they did. The fun things about holidays are the preparation and festivity of the holidays. I am just happy that we get Halloween off from school.

                Halloween is a time for people to dress up and go around pranking and scaring people. Many people think that when they hit there teen years that they are too old for trick-or-treating. The definition of too old for trick-or-treating is just like saying I hate getting free candy and dressing up as anything I want.  To me that just says crazy. Halloween is very different from other Holidays because other holidays are all celebrating something good that has happened, and then there is Halloween which is just a holiday for candy and scaring.

                Many cultures do Halloween different than us. In Spanish class this year we learned about the day of the dead, which is Spanish Halloween. It is a day to mourn over all of their dead loved ones. They visits grave sites and bring flowers and gifts. They also make many crafts like paper flowers, glass paintings and sculptures. Halloween is a very fun Holiday that can be spent in many different ways!

What Nature Means To Me

            I have always been a fan of nature. It is so beautiful and has so many wonderful aspects to it. There are animals, plants and weather, all of which make up our beautiful world. One of the definitions of nature is “The beautiful elements of the natural world.” I find this statement to be very true. Nature is beautiful and everything in it is really a work of art.

        There are so many species of animals, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc. in the world. There are many, many different types of species. There are also many endangered species that many of our children will never be able to see. We need to do our best to keep these animals alive so that our children can one day see them and so they keep the environment stable. When an animal is lost from an ecosystem, it can change the whole thing, which is not good and can potentially kill the environment.

        Plants are a very valuable asset to our world. They provide oxygen, food, and shelter. Plants can also be used to heal, like burns and diseases. Plants work right alongside humans. We breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants then breathe in the carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which we need to survive. We use plants to help us make our homes but it also can be a bad thing. The more trees we cut down, the less plants we have to help our ecosystem and the environment we live in. We need to be very careful so we don’t let any plant species go extinct.

        Weather is a very influential piece of our lives. I am not just talking about if it is cold we wear a jacket, and if it is hot we wear shorts.  I t is more than that. The weather is what keeps us alive, or kills us. We are very fortunate to have our mild weather. If the weather was too hot we would die.  If the weather was too cold we would die also. The weather changes our lives dramatically and if we don’t treat our nature better, then the weather could go to extremes and kill us all. We all have heard of global warming, and if we don’t start taking better care of nature, it could become a reality.

        Nature is very important in our lives and is very important to me.  Hopefully, it is also important to a lot of others. If we take time out of our busy lives to see how wonderful nature is, then we can help the world have a better future. Sometimes we think of nature as scary and gross, but it is all those parts that make nature what it is.  Animals, plants, and weather are just some of the important parts of our world. There are so many more yet to be explored and figured out, all we can do is just keep trying to help out in any way possible way we can.

Why Do Leaves Change Color In the Fall?

Why do leaves change colors in the fall? Have you ever heard of a tree using sunscreen? Both these questions may seem not very related but let me assure you that they are!  I had never heard about a tree using sunscreen until I learned about some new scientific research that shows why they change colors. In the fall the leaves change to magnificent shades of orange, red, and yellows but have you ever wondered why?

                In this article it talks about how the leaves change color. Have you ever wondered why the leaves change colors and fall off in the fall? Well I know I have and this article really cleared things up for me. In this article Hoch (one of the leading scientists on this case) says that he thinks it is the trees form of sunscreen. The scientists also believe that it might protect trees from insects. They can’t be sure yet but they are still doing research to find out why.

                I think that it is important that we continue research on this topic. The research is important because we can further figure out how nature works.  We may not be able to figure out everything about it but the more we know the better. There are so many things about nature and more specifically trees that we don’t know. If we figure out how they work we can try to find new ways for them to survive better. Trees give off the oxygen that we breathe in. It is very important that we keep these resources healthy so that we can continue living here on earth. The more trees we cut down for our own development the worse it will get. The more we know about trees the better!

                In this article Dr. Hoch says, “Nature is very efficient, and doesn’t just do something for no reason. So we figured there had to be some purpose for the production of these pigments in autumn.” I agree totally with this statement.  Everything in nature is very perfect. There is a reason for everything. He talks about how since we already know that there is a reason for everything, there has to be a reason for this. That is why we should keep researching.

                This article was very interesting and I encourage everyone to read it that is interested in this topic. It was a very interesting topic and really makes you think about all the small things in life and how they work. Just by knowing why leaves change colors in the fall can lead to more important discoveries that can end up saving lives. We should continue the research on this topic to find out more about nature.

                 You may already know that the days in the fall and winter are shorter than in the spring and the summer. This is another reason why trees change color in the fall. Trees have green leaves because they photosynthesize, but they need lots of sunlight to do that. When the days become shorter they can’t photosynthesize as much so they start to change colors. There are many different theories as to why leaves change colors, and these are just a few.  

Do you get Embarrassed Easily?

 I read an article on the science website and it really caught my eye. It was about embarrassment. Have you ever been embarrassed? Well it’s not that bad of a thing! In this article it tells you have being embarrassed is actually a characteristic of a good person.

                In this article it says how If you are embarrassed easily you actually are a more trustworthy person and more honest.  This is a very interesting study but when I thought about it I knew it was true. Think about a person that gets embarrassed a lot. Do you think of him as trustworthy? I know that the person I’m thinking of is honest. The article also states that a person that is embarrassed easily is also good for dating help and other important decision making.

                There is so much about ourselves that we have yet to learn. Even though we think we know everything about ourselves because we are us, we are wrong. There is so much that even the smartest of people can’t find out about us. The more we can figure out how we work the better we will be able to understand ourselves. I think this research should be continued so that we know more about ourselves. There are different aspects of our body. We may know all of our interests and hobbies, but there are internal parts of us that we have yet to figure out.

                 “Embarrassment is one emotional signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources. It’s part of the social glue that fosters trust and cooperation in everyday life one of the Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a coauthor of the study published in this month’s online issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. This is the kind of studies that will really help us one day. It is important we read articles like this so we can understand our own selves better.

                After I read this article, there was one question that came into my mind. I was really curious to know if other characteristics that we have resemble something else. If embarrassment means trustworthy, then what does shy and other stuff like that mean? It would be interesting to know what all of these things mean.  You can’t always believe all the stuff that you hear in the world but that is why I like this website. It has people that know what they are doing conduct these projects so  that we know that all the information they are putting online is true.

                In conclusion, I think that we should continue this research to figure out more about ourselves. This article was very interesting. I did not know that if you get embarrassed it means you are a trustworthy and honest person.  If you are interested I stuff like this, then you should go online and read the other articles that these scientist have to offer.

October

The month of October is always one of my favorite months! Although it is the time of the year when the weather starts to get colder and summer is officially gone and past, it still has good things about it though. In October, you can really see how the leaves begin to change.  The weather is also not too hot and not too cold. The fall is filled with so many noises of birds, leaves crinkling below your feet and not to mention that Halloween comes with October too.

                When October comes it truly feels like fall. You see the first leaves change from their original green color, to every shape of red, green, and yellow.  Fall is a happy time and filled with wonderful colors and smells of fresh air. I recently went up to park city and the colors of the trees up there have already begun to change colors. I also noticed that the leaves were already starting the decent to the ground. Not to mention that when the leaves change, so does the air around us.

                When fall comes, the air starts to cool down dramatically. The days are shorter, which means less sunlight for us. Because of this annual thing, the air cools and the leaves change color. In the fall we also get to harvest our food that we have been growing all year long. For our family October is a special month because we get to harvest our giant pumpkins. You may be wondering what I mean by giant pumpkins. Every year our family grows pumpkins that grow to be over 1000 pounds!  They aren’t any regular pumpkins.

                With October also come the wonderful sounds of nature. You are presented with the sounds of crinkling leaves beneath your feet as you walk across the grass. You hear the birds chirp and the dogs howl. When you get closer to Halloween you hear even different sounds. You hear the werewolves and the myths.  You hear the vampires, and the howling wind with every different scary story.  Then on Halloween nights you hear all the kids go around as the trick or treat.

                We have a special Halloween tradition that we do every year.  We always carve our giant pumpkins in many different creative ways. Sometimes we have competitions to see who can come up with the best new idea for the pumpkins to be carved into. Whoever wins gets to participate in carving the magnificent vegetable.  We always have our traditional pumpkin pie too.

                As you can see October is a very special time of the year. So much changes in just this month, almost more than any other month.  October is very beautiful with all the colors and all the sounds.  Fall is the season when the leaves change, and so does the air. I am very excited for the rest of this month and how it will turn out. I know it will be amazing like always. I hope that you can see the beauty in the world this October!

Words to Live By

                For my theatre class I have to memorize some poems. It took me kind of a long time to find poems that were the right size. While I was trying to find some poems and I came across one that I really liked. It was called,” Words to Live By” by Rebecca Barlow Jordan.  It went like this:

It's not how much you accomplish in life

that really counts,

but how much you give to others.

It's not how high you build your dreams

that makes a difference,

but how high your faith can climb.

It's not how many goals you reach,

but how many lives you touch.

It's not who you know that matters,

but who you are inside.

Believe in the impossible,

hold tight to the incredible,

and live each day to its fullest potential.

You can make a difference

in your world.

I really like this poem because it is truly “Words to Live By”. The Poem takes about how it doesn’t matter how perfect you are, as long as you are trying to make a difference.  It says Believe in the impossible.” I really like this part in the poem because I really think this part of it is true. If you don’t want to do something because you think it is impossible, then you will never know for sure. There are so many things in life we may miss out on if we just classify things as impossible.

                Another part that really stood out to me in the poem was the part where it said “It’s not who you know that matters, but who you are inside”. I really liked this part because it is saying how it doesn’t matter what kind of person you are on the outside, as long as you know who you are on the inside. It is really important to remember that just because we are one way on the outside that we are like that on the inside. It is the same when we look at others. We should not judge them by their outside appearance, but instead learn to know them for who they are inside. This poem was very inspiring and that is why I liked it.

Laughing Does More Than Just Make You Happy!

                I was looking through an article the other day and came across a story that really interested me. It did not interest me because I was looking to learn about it, but simply because it was something I did every day. It said that when you laugh, it makes your body feel happier, and makes you feel better. When I heard this I was very excited because I laugh all the time.

                From what I read I learned that when you laugh, it makes endorphins in your body just like exercising does. The endorphins release stress and help you feel better about problems in your life. I heard a quote that fit right along with this subject, it said, “You don't have to get on a treadmill to relieve stress. There's a lot of research showing that laughter has an impact on illness. It releases endorphins and relieves pain.” This quote was said by Janice Hein.  This quote also supports the other thing which I read in the article, which was that it relives pain.

                Have you ever been in pain and then you started to laugh and feel better? Well if you have than you have experienced these endorphins and know that it really does relieve pain.  It is a proven fact that if you laugh while you are in pain, then your pain will feel a little better. When they tested this theory on patients, they found that all of the patients felt relief from their pain by at least 10%! This may not seem like a lot but when you are experiencing the pain, it feels like more. I really liked this article because we all laugh every day and to know that if makes us feel better makes me want to laugh even more!

Time Is An Interesting Concept

Have you ever just thought about time? It is kind of a hard thing to comprehend. There is a lot about time that we still have to figure out. When we think of time we automatically think of the present, the future, and the past. This is because that is pretty much all we know about time. There are so many other ways to think of it too, and so many other theories about it. Some think that the faster we travel, the more time slows down. Have you ever thought that maybe there is another option than just living in the now? Well on the website new.science360.gov there is a whole article on this subject.

                One of the things I learned while reading this article was that we may think we are living in the now but we really aren’t. When we tell out body to do something, it sends a message from our brain to that part of the body to tell it what to do. This could be a simple message like to think, or to move our feet. When this process takes place, it takes about eighty milliseconds to send the message from our head into our body. This means that we are actually living not in the present, but eighty milliseconds behind. In this article it also takes about how when you get traveling really fast, time actually slows down! Con you believe it? It is a very weird but real statement. Time is such a weird thing to think about and there is so much more we can learn about it.

A Planet Made of Diamonds

On a website names news.science360.gov there is an article about a planet that is suspected to be made out of diamonds. How is this possible you may say? Well, in this article I learned that scientists believe that these new planet made up of old remains of planets. These old remains have been pressurized and over millions of years have become solid diamonds.

                I definitely think that research should be continued on these unique planets. The more we find about space, the better. Finding a planet made of solid diamonds would be a huge discovery. Many scientists believe that the finding out about these unknown planets is not far away. The technology they have now a day has made it very possible for them to do research with advanced technology and many are very close to a breakthrough.  There are many planets that are expected to be similar to this one. Space is so big, with so many unknown elements. The more we can figure out about anything in space will help us understand it more. There are so many mysteries of space. We can hardly comprehend how much is out there! The more we learn the better.

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