Friday, November 7, 2014

The McCandless Project

Leia Goldberg
Mrs. Belden
Honors English I
7 November, 2014
The McCandless Project
For my experiment I decided that I would wear two different shoes to school. I wanted to know what people thought, or if they even noticed. First off, not many people even realized I was wearing two different shoes. I might have gotten a few weird looks, or giggles, but when people did realize, it took them a while. Even if people did notice all they’d say is something like, “why are you wearing to different shoes,” or “Did you know you’re wearing two different shoes.” Even my brother didn't notice when he walked by me, and his job is picking out my flaws.
During the experiment I was a little embarrassed; I thought about whether people would think I did it on purpose because I’m odd. Or if they thought I was just really tired this morning, and put different shoes on, on accident, which has happened to me before. On the other hand, for some of the day I forgot I was wearing two different shoes, and carried on with my everyday routine.
I thought more people would notice my different shoes, but at the same time, I was happy that some people were kind enough not to point them out. Overall this experiment has made me slightly more confident in myself. If wearing two different shoes to school didn't throw people off, maybe other out of the ordinary things wouldn't either.


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Quote Post

My quote is,"Smile, because there's always something to smile about". I chose this quote because I think the message of it is really important. It's saying that no matter how bad a day is think of the positive, there's always a reason to be happy, no matter how small the reason may be. This quote represents me because, I've been told I'm a smiley person. I also like being positive, and putting another smile on someone else's face. I know if I'm having a bad day I can always think of something that will help me keep moving. If I lived by this quote, it wouldn't be much trouble. I would always be happy, all of my negative thoughts would go in one ear and out the other. This quote wouldn't just make me happy, it would motivate me to make others happy too. (:

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Short Story: Disney

Leia Goldberg
Mrs. Belden
Honors English I
10 October, 2014
Disney
The ground was cold and hard, I felt like I was shifting back and forth, probably because I was. I was awake, but too scared to open up my eyes, so I laid there for a while, but nothing changed. I became curious to where I was so I stood up. I was on a monorail, an empty monorail going in circles. Then I heard a voice, “Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse se alejado de las puertas.” I walked over to the window, it was foggy, and everything was blurry. Then I saw something faint, sitting within the gloom, it was a castle, a big beautiful castle with over one hundred windows, blue and gold flags at the tip of every point, and the gorgeous entrance sitting underneath it all. I could remember it like it was yesterday, Disney was the only place I felt safe, from all of my problems, and worries back in Texas. The monorail stopped, and I heard the same recorded voice say the exact same thing. The doors opened, so I got off. I walked down a ramp trying to recall what I did before I woke up on the monorail, but I couldn’t remember anything. I knew my name was Mary, I also knew I was from Dallas, I’m fourteen, and… I stopped there. I was standing in front of the entrance to Magic Kingdom probably my favorite out of all of the Disney Parks. Of course I had to check it out. There was no one at the gates, which was strange because it’s the middle of… of… it’s the middle of some month, but that doesn’t matter Disney always has lines for everything, even the bathrooms. I thought about turning back, but I didn’t exactly have a ride back to wherever I had come from, so I walked in.
Nothing changed about Magic Kingdom since the last time I came, like two years ago, except that fact that it was empty, but that didn’t scare me. I’ve had my share of horrifying movies, and Halloween mazes, where clowns jumped out with chain saws chasing you up the nearest tree. After a few last looks I made my way into Pecos Bill an amazing restaurant, in Magic Kingdom. When I walked in there were rows and rows of different meals, but still no one to eat any of them. I grabbed one, and sat down. I peered over my shoulder and saw the silhouette of a person, and turned back to my meal. Then reality slapped me across the face, I wasn’t alone! I turned all the way around to find a boy who looked about my age maybe a little older. It took a while before he noticed me too.
 I walked over to the boy to introduce myself, “hi, I’m Mary”, I said with a smile. “Hi, I’m Aaron”, he said back to me, standing up and revealing his height, which was about two hundred feet taller than me. “Is today some sort of don’t go to Disney day or something, because if you haven’t noticed I think were the only people here.” Aaron looked at me funny, and replied,” I’m just as confused as you are, but we aren’t the only two people here.” I was disappointed when he said that, Aaron was pretty cute. “My friend Elisa is in the bathroom.” “Oh cool, I bet she’s pretty nice,” I said kicking a fry sitting on the floor. “Elisa’s a guy.” When Aaron said that I lite up, and my attention was immediately off the fry, and back to him. “That’s ok,” a voice said coming from behind a pole. “You must be Elisa, sorry about mixing up your name.” I said as Elisa walked toward Aaron, and I. “It’s cool, happens a lot,” Elisa said like he’s heard it a million times before. “Hey, why don’t we head over to splash mountain, I’ll bet you there’s no line,” I said trying to be funny. We started walking toward Splash Mountain, it was still creepy out, but in a place like Disney, I didn’t have anything to be worried about, or so I thought.
“So what are you doing in Disney,” Aaron asked. “Well I didn’t exactly ask to be here, it’s kind of hard to explain, but I’m happy I’m here anyway. Let’s just say high school is tough, and Disney World helps me slip away from my problems.” “I can understand that,” interrupted Elisa. Elisa started talking about why he loved Disney so much, and how Aaron was his only guy friend who loved it too. Then he stopped, we all heard a noise like footsteps creeping behind us, but as we turned around nothing was there. Aaron and Elisa started circling around, while I stood frozen like a dog with its tail between its legs. “Let’s keep walking,” Aaron said giving me a little shove, to help me start moving. I know I said I was brave, and all but let’s just say I haven’t been to a Halloween maze in a while.

Once we finally got to Splash Mountain I decreed the last person to get to the log had to sit in the front, and block the water from crashing, on to the people sitting in the back. Little did I know even with a head start I couldn’t beat two, junior varsity, cross country runners. So there I was soaking wet, sitting in the front of a log. Luckily I was too small to prevent water from hitting Aaron, and Elisa, so I wouldn’t have to be the only one walking around, all wet, and cold. All of a sudden the ride stopped, and we were sitting there with nowhere to go. I heard a thud behind us, we turned around to find the way we came just closed. As we were staring at each other oblivious to what was going on, another thud made its way to our ears. I slowly turned around to find the entrance into the next part of the ride was blocked off too, and the water was still coming. I felt a scream forming in my throat, but I swallowed it back down. Aaron and Elisa jumped out of the log and on to the flooded path next to us. They both grabbed one of my arms to pull me to the walk way too. We started running toward the door at the end of the walk way, but what I was worried would happen, happened. The door was locked. The log ride started filling with water faster, and the scream I swallowed came right back up again but this time I couldn’t hold it back. As soon as we started treading in the water I had an idea. My hair was up in a bun today which means there’s a bobby pin in it. I reached for my hair and grabbed a bobby pin, which let go of the buns hold, and turned into a ponytail. I pulled the bobby pin a part shoved it in the locked and started, moving it around. I heard a click and felt relived. I dived under the water and opened the door. Once we all landed in the next room, we jetted out of the ride. “What in the world happened?” Elisa exclaimed. “I don’t know, but I’m not happy about it,” I answered. “Mary! How’d you learn how to do that,” Aaron said gasping between words. “I learned it with my friends, but I’m not pleased with the way they decided to use it, so I’ve been avoiding them.” I started walking, and Elisa, and Aaron followed. I told them in more detail how I was avoiding my problems, and they actually listened, up until we heard a noise again. The noise was the same as it’s been all day, footsteps, but the footsteps wouldn’t stop, in fact they got faster, and faster, and faster. As the footsteps behind us sped up, we doubled our speed too. Up ahead came the end of our sprint, because there was nowhere left to go. Aaron dived behind a trash can, and Elisa jumped into a blush, but I, the slow, not cross country runner couldn’t exactly keep up. I came to a stop, it was standing behind me, I could tell it towered over me, and it wasn’t about to leave. I closed my eyes and turned around, then…I woke up. 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Fault in our Stars Timed Writing

Leia Goldberg
Honors English I
Mrs. Belden
18 September 2014
The Fault In Our Stars Timed Writing
The book, The Fault in our Stars, is all about living life to the greatest extent. This incredible book is written by John Green, and it’s definitely a book worth remembering. One message from this book is to live everyday as if it’s your last. Hazel Grace, and Augustus Waters are the two most important characters in this book, and they definitely do some fulfilling activities in the novel.
“You gave me forever within the numbered days, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity.”(Green 259-260). Hazel Grace said line while giving a speech at Augustus Waters Funeral. This amazing, and inspiring quote shows that anyone can have a happy life no matter how short it may be.
Another quote in the novel, The Fault in or Stars is: “You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lesson my affection for you.”(Green 122). Augustus Waters said this to Hazel Grace at a point in the book when Hazel didn’t want to see Gus anymore. She didn’t want to see him because she didn’t want to hurt him. She convinced herself she was going to die, and when she did she didn’t want to hurt anyone in the process. Augustus refused this, and pulled Hazel back on her feet, and pushed her right back into the world.
Hazel Grace was very lucky to meet Gus, and she had her mother to thank. If it wasn’t for Hazel’s mom dragging her to the weekly cancer support group she wouldn’t have ever met the wonderful Augustus Waters. Gus helped Hazel experience life in a way she never would have if she hadn’t met him.  
Overall this book shows crazy ups and downs of a beautiful yet unusual love story, between two people trying to find out where they belong. It might not have been a typical story, but it was one that needed to be heard.