My Great Fish

"There is never a time or place for success. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."

In The Old Man In The Sea, Santiago has to face many struggles while while trying to make his "big catch". While he was struggling with his fish, one of his biggest struggles was himself. He had struggled a lot with his need for water and food and keeping sane. It was only his self on the boat which made it harder for him to concentrate and focus on his real goal of catching the fish. Another struggle that he faced were the sharks that threatened to eat his prize. He had nothing he could use to fend for himself so in the end they ended up eating it on him. One other struggle were the cuts and burns that he got on his hands from the fishing line while trying to reel in the fish. 

My own struggle I can relate to is with my grade for geometry. All year I have had trouble trying to keep it up and stay on task. My sharks were the tests. The tests were like the sharks from The Old Man in The Sea because each test was another threat to drop my grade lower than it was. I wasn't completely comfortable with the material that we would go over, so when it came to the day if the test I wouldn't know what to do and get a low grade. As for me, I wouldn't study for the tests and had no motivation to, so that wouldn't help either. This I can relate to the Old Man's struggle with himself. Lastly, I had a hard time juggling with the sports and homework and trying to balance them out and have time for each. I would have practice right after school, and By the time I would get home and be done showering it would be pretty late so I would just want to go to sleep. I relate this with Santiago's burns and cuts on his hands because, it hurt him and didn't help motivate him to keep trying. 

It took me a while to realize that I needed to get in task and really start to focus on getting my work done. All together it was the first two terms of school where I was in the D range, and it made me feel really stressed out. It really sucked.

At the start of the 3rd quarter, after receiving my midterm and seeing my grade it really snapped me back to reality and made me realize I need to focus. My parents were my turtles in this situation because they supported me and pushed me to do better. I started to stay after, do my homework, and study for my tests. As mentioned before, sports were hard to deal with but I decided that work would have to come first. I finally came over my struggle when I made my goal come true by getting a 100 on a test that I took. My hard work really payed off and it felt really good. At the end of term 3, I had raised my grade to a B which was pretty awesome. 

I think that Santiago's main struggle was himself and what other people on the island though of him. To overcome this struggle, he went out everyday to try and catch a fish to prove them wrong and he finally did. I think that he made a good decision to go out and try to prove them wrong everyday because he knew he could. And in the end, all of his hard work payed off. Yes, the sharks may have eaten the fish but in the end it was all worth it to him because he knew he had proved then wrong and that's all that mattered. 

All throughout the story, I think Hemingway is trying to portray a certain message/lesson to his readers. It can be said in a couple ways but the two that I think best fit it are "always believe in yourself" and "never give up" I feel like these fit because the old man never have up in trying and kept fishing and believed that he would catch a fish. 

Short Story

Cages

It was game day and she was ready to go. All she could think about at school was this game. Her last High School Championship as a senior in her school now. She wanted the win more than anything she had ever wanted before, especially against their rival team the Rams. The crowd would be roaring for sure tonight, and she knew she had to be on her game in order to win. She was their secret weapon, a major necessity to keep the team focused and intense. This was it. And she was ready to go.

Alex came down the stairs to find her breakfast sitting on the table for her.

“What is this all about?” she said to her dad

“Well, it’s a big day for you and i just wanted to make sure that you would be performing at your best ability tonight, so i made you a nice and nutritious breakfast.”

“Thanks dad your the best coach out there” she said back, ate her breakfast and left the house to her car and drove off to school.

Sinced today was a big game day, the school decided to have a pep rally to get everybody pumped. The schools 6th man was one of the best, but one of the most inconsiderate crowds out there. They did not care what time of the game it was, they would cheer and boo. She walked into the school and it was like a mad house. Students were running around the school cheering and yelling. Someone had even decided to print out posters of the players and hang them around the school. It was definitely a good start off to the day.

Finally it was almost game time. T minus 1 hour. Her hands were sweating and she was pacing around. The plays were racing in her head, and she could feel the sticky air of the of the gym around around her. She had only imagined this moment in her head all of her life, and now it was finally a reality. Although, something didn’t feel right to her. it was like there was a little voice in the back of her head saying that something was wrong. It’s like she could sense that something was going to happen. She put the thought aside though thinking that her nerves were just getting the best of her, and started to walk back to the locker room. She turned around sensing something behind her, but nothing was there apart from a shadow that quickly disappeared. Thinking nothing of it she walked to the locker room with the rest of her team.

“TIGERS! TIGERS! TIGERS! TIGERS!”

It was the last quarter and the score was tied, 55-55. Alex had just been knocked over and would take one foul shot that could win the game for them. ‘boom, boom, boom’ All she could hear was the ball bouncing on the wood. She got set and was right about to throw it into the hoop when all of the lights went out. The whole schools power had went out. people were screaming, it was chaos.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! HEEEELP!” screamed Alex, but nobody seemed to hear.

Someone was grabbing her and she could not get free.

“Scream or move again and i’ll kill you right here, right now. understand?

“Y-y-yes” she stammered back to the creepily man sounding voice.

She was terrified and had no clue what to do. Punch him? Bite him? “think Alex, think” she kept telling herself, but before she even had time to react, she felt a slight pinch in her arm and her world got even darker than it was and she drifted off into a blissful sleep.

  

She finally woke up to the faint sound of a baby crying. Becoming more aware of her surroundings, she discovered it was more than one baby that was crying. In fact it was hundreds. She looked around and was stunned at what she saw. All of the babies she saw were in cages, and so was she. She figured out that she was located in some sort of barn, and its walls were filled with all different kinds of chainsaws.

“What in the world?” she thought aloud not realizing it.

“Ahhh, and the princess finally awakens from her slumber” said a creepy, low and raspy mans voice.

“Who are you and what do you want from me?” she yelled back.

Out of the shadows of the barn came a middle aged lanky man, with scruff all over his face. His eyes were as black as the night sky and cut through you like icicles. He wore torn up jeans, and a ragged shirt as if he had just walked out of a dumpster.

“You, my darling, is all that I want” He said with a smug grin on his face.

Back at home her father was frantic. He had just been trying to process all that was going on-The power went out- Alex had been taken- and he had to find her. Not only being the coach, but also a retired detective, his first instinct was to go back to the scene when the crime had taken place.

Once he had reached to school he climbed out of his car and looked around. Tire marks lay on the ground. They must be from when he was leaving with her. He thought to himself. Quick but sloppy leaving behind evidence only a beginner criminal would do. With this thought in his head he quickly headed into the gym. His eyes swept the room finding nothing. As he was about to leave he took a last glance around the room only to have something catch his eye. A wallet. He opened it up and found a licence with the name Dimitri Anglov. He felt a tingle in his stomach, one he had always gotten whenever he was certain about something- And he was certain this was the man that had taken Alex.

He was speeding down the highway only to sharply turn down a dirt road into the middle of nowhere. He had taken the licence to the station and had been able to track down Dimitri. He had hopes that he would be keeping Alex in the place he was headed. He rounded the corner only to find a small house with quite a large barn beside it. He ran inside to only be astonished by what he saw.

“DAD!” Yelled Alex from the middle of the barn.

A wave of relief washed over her fathers face as he peered into Alex’s deep blue terrified eyes. He looked around the barn trying to find the key that would unlock her cage.

“Looking for this I suppose?” Said Dimitri holding up a key in his hand.

“Let her go! Give me that key!” Her dad screamed at the man.

And all of a sudden, his body moved before his brain could figure out what he was doing and grabbed one of the various chainsaws from the wall. He pulled the cord, the machine roaring to life. He charged full force at the man. Dimitri, astonished, was frozen and didn't know how to react to his sudden movement. And with all of her fathers will power, he slashed the frozen man’s body creating a gaping bloody wound in the center of his stomach.

The man looked down at what had been done to his body and let out a soft weep before crumpling to the ground. His body lay still and motionless- he had killed Dimitri. He grabbed the key from his cold dead hand, and ran over to Alex and unlocked the cage she had been trapped in.

The police had showed up right after the action and released and took in all of the babies he had captured. Alex and her father had returned safely home. It took a while for her to realize that it even happened, but she had to accept it to get over it. And as the days passed she slowly moved on with her life making new memories, but never forgot this one. Even today it is still a mystery why he had captured Alex and the babies. The question still burns deep in the back of Alex’s mind some days. But soon the topic of the tragedy faded away, and was replaced by new ones each day.    

Pearl Value Essay

The Value of "Capturing the Moment" to "In the Moment"

What are some things that are valued? Is it family? Or simply a piece of toast in the morning? We all have different things in life that we value more than another.
Something that I value in my life is my camera. I use it everyday and just could spend endless time taking pictures of anything and anything. it is just something that I enjoy very much. I have a canon camera

and although i do not know very much about how to properly work them, I am learning more everyday. Everytime that I learn something new it just gives me the more reason to go out and use it more and accurately. The pictures I take just get better and better each time I take a new one it seems. there are timeless moments when I am just doing something and there is a perfect moment where it is literally “picture perfect”.
My camera is indeed something that I value, but I can put a price on it and be able to sell it. Though something that is a bit more special and I cannot put a price tag on to me is a sunset at the beach in Cape Cod. I go to Cape Cod a good 5-6 times a year usually to visit my grandparents who live there usually for

holidays and just to visit here and there. When we go we always do a bunch of fun stuff, but the thing that I look forward to most is watching the sunset on the beach. I think that it is one of the most beautiful things to see and I just get a feeling of serenity and peace while watching it. To me, there is no other perfect moment such as this one. The wind gently blowing, the waves are crashing, the smell of the salt water, the feel of the soft sand, everything is just beautiful.

In some way, I can relate these two things together because they are both something that I cherish and value a lot. I always look forward to going to the beach once I get in cape cod, just like I look forward to pulling out my camera once I get home from school. As for visually, I can say they are alike because I both get to look at them. I get to look at all of the beautiful pictures/moments that I captured on camera and I get to look at the beautiful sunset on the beach.

Although they are alike in some ways, they also differ from each other in some major ways. In one way that they are different is their physical presence. My camera is physically there and I can touch and feel and hold it while the sunset I can only watch.  Another difference is the sunset only lasts for a tiny amount of time while when you take a picture it can last all of your life it until you decide to delete it. It is a nice thing to be able to look at old pictures and remember that moment, but there is just nothing that can compare than being in that moment itself.

In my opinion something has value when it can cost a lot of money or it is something that cannot be replaced. I value a lot of things in my life but a couple that stand more than another are the things that cannot be replaced or happen again. Sometimes there are those moments where the moment is just perfect and there is no other moment that you will experience like it. Some people may say that their definition of value is how much something costs and something that you are able to put a price on, but to me it is something you can't put a price on. It is "priceless".

Speak Final Assessment

Examining Melinda’s Voice- And Your Own!

1.) “Jillian, babillian, mamillian, kazillion” said Anna. She was making fun of a little Kindergarteners name.”What kind of name is that? it’s so weird like who would name their child that?  

I knew that i should be doing something to help the girl in this situation. If anything i thought that her name was pretty cool and unique, but then again i thought “what will Anna think of me after? will she still be friends with me?” i had actually sat with Jillian on the bus a couple times when all the other seats were full and she offered. She was such a a sweet girl, never caused any trouble yet here she was getting pestered. I knew that it wasn't right that she was getting bullied and I really wanted to help her! I was just sitting and watching though like nothing was happening.

I felt so bad for Jillian. She never did anything wrong, like what did she ever do to deserve this? As for myself i thought i was a kind and nice person, but after this i felt like it was out of character. 

2.) A time when my inner voice was in harmony with my outer voice when I was deciding whether I should play soccer or not this year. I had played it all of my life basically and at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to or not. I kind of lost interest in the sport near the end of the season last year and was sure that I wasn't going play. 

All of that changed the day of the try- outs. It just didn't feel right, like i knew i should should be there playing. In my head i was saying “Go! Just go try out! if you don’t like it then you don’t have to play next year! You will never know until you try!” i knew i was right also. I mean high school soccer is so different from middle school soccer, and I have really only heard good things about it, so it can’t be THAT bad. In that moment i ran downstairs and told my mom that i wanted to play and we went and signed me up and i went to the last tryouts. It felt so good playing and i am so glad that i made the decision to play.

3.)B.) A time when Melinda’s inner voice is not in agreement with her outer voice is when she wants to tell her parents about the party when she got raped, but she doesnt. An example of this is when Melinda is opening her presents on Christmas and she just really wants to tell them. “I almost tell them right then and there… But i want to tell them everything as we sit there by our plastic Christmas tree while Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer video plays (72)”. In this situation, her inner voice is telling her to tell them. “They leave the room. I am still sitting on the floor, holding the paper and charcoals. I didn’t even say ‘Thank you.’(72)”. Her outer voice though, again, is saying nothing. After this I think that she feels regretful because she wants to finally be able to get the whole thing off of her chest and just tell them, but she can never actually seem to tell them in the long run.

Speak Reflective Reading Quiz

SPEAK REFLECTIVE READING QUIZ

1.) - Soft-Spoken

    - Clandestine

    - Arcane

    - Reserved

    - Self conscious

2.) I think that the soft-spoken suits Melinda very well. She usually doesn't say much, or rather nothing to anybody. She is a silent girl, and doesn’t like to put her thoughts out there.

I chose clandestine because it is what Melinda is; secretive. She likes to stay out everybody’s way and go and hide away in her closet that nobody knows about. She isn’t the type to share many things.

Arcane also describes Melinda well because she is not well known by many in the school, and again is secretive. Melinda likes to spend more time to herself than be around others.

Reserved also describes Melinda as a character well because reserved means  kept or set apart for a particular use or reason. Melinda is set apart from the rest of the school because she called the cops at a party so everybody doesn't really like her. She also sets herself apart from the crowd , becasue she would rather keep herself on the down-low.

     Lastly, I think that self-conscious describes Melinda because she is afraid to put herself out there because of what people will think of her. She is afraid to share her thoughts and interests.

       

3.) SOFT-SPOKEN

 

4.) I chose the word soft-spoken out of the five words because i think that it best describes her. Melinda does not like to speak out and share a lot of her thoughts. Instead she keeps them to herself. On page 9 is an example."Mr.Neck: we meet again" "Me:     ". After that she says a couple of thoughts in her head but never replies to Mr. neck.

Another example of Melinda being soft spoken is on page 63."I clear my throat. I can't get any words out, its too dry. I try again, with a little cough." This shows to me that she is not used to speaking aloud, so when she does she cannot get the words out. Also again she is keeping the thought to herself and not sharing.

Summer Reading Essay

Authors Notes

I would like the reader to get a feeling for what the main characters of the book are like, and understand their unique role in the book. i think that the two characters in the books work well together in the story because they are both very strong people. The easiest thong to write about though, was working the Ender’s Game part in. I enjoyed the book very much, which is likely the reason why. aA problem that i encountered was trying to find a way to end the story, because so much happens in both books. Lastly, i think i would like to try to improve the ending and strengthen it a bit. Feedback/Comments on enough content, ending it, and if it makes sense would be most helpful to me.

Ender Wiggin-Ender’s Game

Katniss Everdeen-Catching Fire

    It was just another day at Battle School for Ender Wiggin, ranked number one in the standings since his first battle as a commander. every day he would get out of bed to find a slip of paper telling him when his first battle of the day was. Lately though, the battles kept seeming more and more unfair and rigged. No matter what they tried on him though, cheating, head starts ect. Ender always seemed to find a way to defeat the enemy even under the most extreme circumstances. So, it was no surprise when he graduated Battle School to go to Commander school. It was something expected, but it was unexpected that he was already in Commander school. Either way, Ender Wiggin was ready for whatever was thrown at him.

    She was shocked, angry, mad, all of them together if it’s possible. It was something that she never thought she would had go through again… Another round of the annual “Hunger Games”. Katniss Everdeen, one of the two victors from the previous year, was in a special round with all of the Victors from prior games in the past years. having to leave again was not one of the things that was on her priorities list. Though, she went on headstrong, mind set on winning for her family.

    This time around, it was different. She boarded a spaceship that was taking her to a place called “Battle School” and from what she remembered, they did not do this last time. it took a couple days until she reached the place, and when she did she met a boy that went by the name of Ender Wiggin. as she was first getting to the school he was leaving, which she thought was quite strange considering how young he looked. She only thought this because on the way, the constructors told them what battle school was/was all about. They told her that they were necessary needs to help keep and protect the world from aliens called “Buggers”. They were needed to fight in a battle that may cost their lives, but since they were the victors from the Hunger Games, have a cleverness unlike a normal person. that is why they were chosen for this.

Each victor was assigned a toon consisting of 6 members used to fight in a battle. They would fight these battles through what it seemed was a computer game commanded by the same person every time. The commander would send instructions, and the toon would carry these instructions in hope of victory from the games battleships. it was odd though. after the battles, there would obviously be people who died in the battle, and so in the next battle there would be a new people(s) in the toon, almost like the game was real.

The games got more intense, day by day. The commander though seemed to be slacking off, which was not usual. finally, a couple days past without a battle because the commander, who she found out to be as the Ender kid she met was so worn down and sick he couldn’t do anything. when he returned, the battles started up as usual again. something else that Katniss noticed was that she kept hearing less and less familiar voices of the victors. soon enough, her voice and Peeta’s were the only that she remembered and the rest were random people. She thought it was quite strange.

“This is your battle Ender, we will be evaluating you as you proceed.” said Graff, the person that brought Ender to Battle School.

“and what if i don’t win?” asked Ender

    “Then you will have let us down completely, and you're not the boy we thought you were” he replied

So Ender went to the “computer machine” and it was already set up ready to go, like they have been waiting for him for hours to get there. He quickly did a mic. check seeing if his only friend Katniss was still there.

    “Katniss, you there?” he asked

    “Sallam, my friend.” she replied

Sallam was something that she said to him when they first started the battles, using it as a code word to let one another know they were still present before/after the battles. They had grown to be good friends over the weeks, and was one of the few people he could actually trust. it had actually meant “peace” though.

The last battle was the most unfair battle he had ever played. There were more than 100 times as many bugger ships than his. He was out numbered no doubt, but managed to find a way to win. everyone started crying and cheering. it turned out, the whole time that he was playing the so called “battles” it was against the real buggers and their ships, and he had just destroyed the last of them forever. As for Katniss, she was the last of the victors, which meant she won the games again and could return to her family. All, in all it was a good day for the both of them.