the hidden temple ch.4

The hike was going good but it took so long that in 3 hours they still hadn't reached their 1st stop. Along the way they saw amazing scenery's and many wonderful creatures. Riley was being a little too friendly to a mountain lion cub that was wondering off by himself. Even though Cheryl wanted to take a picture Jim thought it was best that they keep moving because the noise from the camera might scare him and the mom might come running out of no where. Up in font of them there came a river and the only way to get to the other side would be by crossing it. It was too deep to walk across but fortunately there was a line of rocks that peeked on top of the water...
"they are very slippery..i have fallen in once or twice before, so be careful where you step and if you do happen to fall don't panic just try to swim to the edge of the river and i will help you out." Jim said in a softly toned, but reassuring voice.
Jonah was jumping off the rocks like they were trampolines, but Riley was afraid and would not cross. It took William and Cheryl almost 20 minutes to convince her to cross but she didn't even cross the river herself her dad went with her. Almost everyone had made it across already when all of a sudden there were splashes. Right then and there all eyes had turned to Jim. The backpack was dangling on his arm after it had fallen and almost found its way into the river. One of the pockets wasn't closed and the spare batteries for the flashlights had fallen into the river and by the time they had realized it they had sunk to the bottom and it was too deep.

" as of now it looks like were going to have to save the batteries we have and only use the flashlights at night when necessary and in case of emergencies."he said.

Each person had a flashlight so they would have to use one at a time. Luckily Jim was able to catch his pocket light and that will also come in handy. I guess the Resort really promises a real life experience. Jonah and Riley had been walking faster than they rest of them and had seen something in the air that left them wondering what it was. It was glowing and green almost like really tiny floating jellyfish. Before they could follow it everyone else caught up and even though Jonah told Riley not to say anything about what they said she told her parents and Jim but they didn't believer her. Jim said that never before on the island had he seen green, glowing, and floating tiny jellyfish. The sun was almost setting and they had to hurry if they wanted to make it to camp before dark. At last they arrive and with plenty of time to set up everything and even watch the sun go down.

The Hidden Temple (part 3)

This trip hasn't turned out to be that bad. A good hotel with anything you could ever want and a poolside, beach and much more. Today was the day. The day when the lives of the Miller's would be changed forever. Today was the day they were going on a safari.
" this is going to be boring" Jonah said
"yeah, why can't we stay here. Or how about we stay here and you and dad go by yourselves." Riley said.
" Oh hush, both of you, we came here as a family to spend more time together, no ones staying, come on it will be fun." Cheryl said optimistically.
Spending 3 day in the jungle on an island seemed fun, but most tourists only stayed for 2 nights because of the weather it can get foggy and rainy. Fortunately the forecast for the week was looking pretty good.
Jim Austin was a tall bulky man, he was their tour guide.
" I can assure you that you will be safe with me, there is nothing to worry about. "I am after all the one who's worked here the longest." he added.
A couple hours later they were off on an adventure. All around them and everywhere they looked there were many exotic plants. There were small plants and big plants some were yellow, some were orange and some were green and some were blue. There were a lot of insects in the air like small mosquito's, Riley didn't fancy them at all. Cheryl was startled by a noise in the bushes behind her, William went to comfort her. Jim told her not to worry.
"it's probably only a bird or a small animal like a rabbit.Not to worry."
Not to worry, probably. Cheryl needed to be convinced. It started to get dark so they gathered wood. Jim told them that this was going to be just like going camping. They set up their tents, ate some dinner and got ready for bed. Later on in the early morning Jonah was awaken by the sound of the wind hurling by his tent. He walked around for a while but he didn't stray to far because he still caught a glimpse of the campfire. Jonah saw a green light coming from a distance but decided to go back to the campgrounds for it would be morning soon and his mother would have a heart attack if she did not find him in his tent.
Everyone woke up when the sun came up bright and early when the birds were chirping so loud that you can't bare to hear them any longer.. For breakfast they had cold strawberry pop tarts. The food wasn't like the food at the hotel but it was decent. The weather..was just as how it was predicted..clear skies and mildly warm. William was helping Jim putting all the food away, tie up the tents and gather anything else that was left. Cheryl was confused because she thought they were going to camp out in the same spot for the rest of the trip and not spending the night a new spot every time. They put some essential materials in a hiking backpack and soon they were on their way.

Human Nature on Genocide Final

The fist chapter that we read in class “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families” by – Phillip Gourvitan. Decimation, this word really stood out to me, Decimation means the killing of every tenth person in a population. In 1994 a program of massacres decimated the republic of Rwanda. Tons of dead bodies lay dead everywhere 13 months after they were killed. Humanity is part of nature and that we must go against nature to get along and have peace. Massive violence must be organized it does not occur aimlessly.

There are stages of genocide 1) Classification, 2) Symbolization, 3) Dehumanization, 4) Organization, 5) Polarization, 6) Preparation, 7) Extermination, 8) Denial. The Tutsis new that they were going to die because they had seen the Hutus prepare two weeks prior to the massacre and instead of running away or doing something they just sat there and did nothing. They had resigned themselves when they were going to be killed they were saying "just let us pray, then kill us." or " i don't want to die in the streets I want to die at home. It’s like they had no will to survive.

I think genocide does a disruption in our moral behavior and changes our brain. Its almost like in video games that are teen rated well teens aren’t the only ones who play games with violence the ages are going down. Games are getting more and more violent. I think that video games can change you brain because if you play constantly and are obsessed then you are stuck in the virtual world and forget that real world even exists. One may say "i would never, i could never be capable of doing such horrible things like genocide." But the truth is that many people can and will do it if they are given the power and are told that they will have no responsibility. People can just go crazy when they have the power. When i was researching genocide i came across a blog post that was posted by someone named Jenn Polish, it's entitled Genocide by... Abortion?. So if it is then genocide still exists because they are poo innocent babies that didn't necessarily ask to be brought into this world. Its not their fault and yet they are getting the blame and they are being killed and they have no say in the matter. Even thought some women can't take care of the child and doesn't want to give it up for adoption because maybe by then she will feel attached to him/her or for whatever the reason its not right. I think genocide still exists even if there isn't massive killings but there are a lot of other issuse like racism.

In the book "Night" by - Elie Wiesel he was a Jew and he talked about how at first there were no Germans and then there were they put them in ghetto's and then the Germans disappeared again. A lot of the Jews thought that the Germans were putting them in ghettos for their own good because the Germans weren't doing anything to them, they weren't hurting them. Little did they know that the Germans had big plans for the Jews. First they took the and kicked them out of their houses took away all their gold and their Jewelry but they didn't separate the families. They put them in groups and send them on a train to who knows where. When they were taken to Auschwitz and told that some of them are going to die by being burned alive they took it so calmly, sure there were murmurs about revolting but they quickly died out. Then some of the SS soldiers asked why they had come,didn't hey know what was in store for them and one person said did you think we had a choice, we were forced to come. But despite all that no one wanted to rebel or complain with the fear of getting shot or burned. "Over there-that's where you're going to be taken. That's your grave, over there.'" Chapter 3 pg.28 They had been taken to a concentration camp. The SS officers told them that they would remember this forever.

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." Chapter 3 pg.32

The Hidden Temple (part 2)

Once arriving at the hotel the Miller family was exhausted from the long trip and once they got to their rooms they felt at ease. Even though it was a long trip Jonah and Riley wanted to go swim in the pool and in the beach but their parents convinced them to rest until the next day, they told them that they had more than enough time to do everything that they wanted to do. That night they went down to the hotel restaurant and had a dinner that was fit for a king. Then next morning the kids woke up early and decided to look around. They saw a bunch of kids go into a big room where there was a man sitting down on a chair reading stories, Riley wasn't to interested but when Jonah heared the stories were about the island he became so curious. They decided to stay and listen, The stories were about the people that used to live there and how and why they left. Jonah and Riley got bored and met up with their parents and did many activities that were really fun. Jonah learned how to surf and Riley learned how to windsurf. Jonah was running up all the hallways and met some friends then they started to play together and from behind them came the manager of the hotel and told them to go and play somewhere else and send them to their room. Riley had also gone around the hotel and was walking by herself along the pool when she saw her brother and told him
" where have you been? mom has been looking for you!"
"no where" he said
"i was just walking around."
Riley looked at him and then turned around and left. Cheryl was really mad because Jonah had left without permission and no one knew where he was.
" i was so worried, why didn't you tell us where you were going to go?"
" i didn't think it was that important, besides its not like i left the hotel or anything and i didn't get in trouble." he said with an angry tone, he decided he would keep the part where the manager saw the running out. She the looked at him and scowled and said,
"you may not have gotten in trouble then, but i can assure you that you're in trouble now. As of now you are not allowed to leave the hotel room unless we are doing something as a family or unless your dad or i know where you are."
Jonah just sat on his bed and said nothing. Later on that week Jonah's parents had arranged a jungle safari without knowing the dangers they would face.

The Hidden Temple (part 1)

There is a beautiful island with a hotel along the beach and an awsome resort but what pople didn't now was that there is a temple hidden deep within a mountain, but no one knows if it true or if it is just a myth. Many people tell the story about how the temple got there and the story has been passed down from generation to generation and when occasional tourist come and hear about this mysterious temple the wonder and want to go find it and see it with their own eyes. When people tried to go exploring for it ran into trouble. Even though there were guild's for the tourists that wanted to go in the jungle they still got lost and there were dangerous animals. So if you didn't get eaten or hurt or get lost and starve then you were lucky. The island have many deaths and disappearances, though they keep that away form flyers and publicity and advertising. You have no idea what can be awaiting for you on this luxurious island.
On July 17,1996 a family of 4 were on a plane twoards the island. William and Cheryl Miller had two lovley twins. Jonah and Riley Miller are the sweetest, cutest 8 year olds you will ever meet. Jonah had dark short wavy hair, his eyes are dark green and he was really smart for his age, He is a minute and 23 seconds older than Riley and takes really good care of her. Riley has long dark brown curly hair, her eyes are light green. She was really good at remember things. she could tell you what you did 5 weeks ago in full detail without even breaking a sweat. When they were arrived at the airport they were all amazed by the scenery there were beautiful lakes and forests of bright green,empty pastures. It turned out to be that the hotel was on the other side of the island because they wanted the hotel near the ocean and there was no room to build the airport any where near the hotel. The family had to take a shuttle with 9 other familys, they were really cramed in there because there was only a few shuttles and since the hotel was around 2 hrs. away it couldn't leave right away as soon as one family got there they had to take as many people as they could.

English Final

I do make my quick writes as blog posts because i expand my writing more, When i write the quick writes in class my writing amount tends to be much less than a normal blog post. So i just go home ans work on it so it is ready to be published. I go into more detail. Also i think that its a good thing that we have a choice whether we can put the quick writes on on our blog posts. I don't know about everyone else but for me it is sometimes difficult to come up with a topic for a post. Since we usually we have two quick writes per week then it makes it a bit easier t choose a topic, i just go home and add more information on it because we only get 10 to 15 minutes to write in class.I write at least a full front page in the amount of time we are given to write. Another pro to using a quick write as a blog post for me is that one topic can lead to another,i can be writing about one thing that will bring up another issue and it grows form there. My rough draft really changes when i start write a final draft because quick writes are meant to be written quickly trying not to stop so when I'm writing I'm not really 100% thinking about the prompt and all the ideas i want to put on the piece of paper, i just want to get it over with but with a blog post your not just seeing it its your teacher and sometimes your friends or ever people you don't know. I have more time to think and comprehend my writing when I'm just sitting at home doing homework and thinking about school rather than in class thinking about what I'm going to eat for lunch. I do go back and re read my quick writes and i find small grammar,spelling and punctuation errors. Sometimes i leave a letter out of a word either because i forget ,i don't press check spelling,my keyboard is just weird like that or i type to fast. For Example "items you see on t.v son't always work." Friday, October 30, 2009.

What i have learned from struggling with writers block is that there are a couple ways that that you can get past it. What i mean is there are different strategies and Mr.Sutherland told us that would help with writers block is to simply write out "I'm stuck" even if your in the middle of a paragraph or sentence. It also helps to clear my head out of everything. I take a minute and close my eyes and start fresh. When i think about a concept there are so many ideas that pop into my head that to me it feels like a could write a whole book about one of the ideas running through my head but then something strange happens i get stuck.Ohh the wonders of writing. I can't put the put the words that are in my head down on the piece of paper. It sounds almost perfect in my head then my mind starts to drift, i get lost and don't know what to write. I honestly really don't know why i get stuck, its a mystery to me. I think it could be something mental thing, for example i have a fear of getting stuck. Maybe i want myself not to get stuck so bad that i think about it way to much and i eventually do get stuck. The way i tend to get unstuck is just by writing out "I'm stuck" i think its the easiest thing to do and it works but of course i can't speak for everybody. Sometime i just clear my head and start out with a bunch of new ideas even if their not on the same subject. Another thing that work for me is i make outlines before i start to write but usually if it for a big essay like this on. They work really well because i can actually see my ideas and small details that I'm going to write about already on paper, then i just go and pull from the outline instead of fishing for them in my head not knowing where they are. A pattern that i have seen in my writing is that i usually get stuck near the end of the page but i always manage to get past the writers block.

Overall i like having blogs every week even though some weeks i wish i didn't have a blog post due. Other times i would forget to publish them but their still saved or sometimes i would just forget about them until Saturday morning. Blogging has changed the way i write, because i notice myself getting deeper with my thoughts and i can easily explain more and i can expand more. It has changed the way that i think about writing not necessarily what i think. I learned that there are many types of writing. For example in class we do quick writes that are simple and kind of easy to do they only take up around 10 minutes of class. They can be something you share or not. There is also journal writing, which can be also writing in a diary. It can be personal, talking about your day or maybe your writing a story. Essay's are a type of organized writing. They have to be clearly written, edited, and sometimes typed. We also do Portfolios in school where we put things for our previous school years such as writing materials. In a portfolio you can maybe decide to put in weekly quick writes or an essay that turned out really good, this is when all types of writing come together. There is also poetry, non-fiction, fiction, novels, creative writing, there are so many ways one can express themselves by writing. even if you feel like your not the best writer to ever walk the planet just simply do your best and do what makes you happy and comfortable. Sometimes writing down my thoughts helps me think and if I'm thinking about writing something it makes sense to just start, start writing anything, it just comes to me , it flows. I can be outspoken and opinionated, writing helps me express their my ideas and thoughts while developing style and voice.





These are the questions i used in order.

5. If you used any quick writes as blog posts, how did they change from what you wrote by hand in class to what you published on your blog? In other words, how did you go from rough draft to final draft? Explain your revision/rewriting process.
7. What have you learned from your struggles with writer's block? Why do you tend to get stuck? How do you tend to get unstuck? Notice any patterns?
8. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?

Writing Groups

I believe that working in writing groups will be more useful and helpful because we can get more comments and advice about our writing from not just the person sitting next to you but from 4 or 5 other students. I'd really like help when i get writers block. I have a tendency to get stuck when i run out of ideas in my head. I think of a bunch of ideas and i will make it sound to myself that i have so much to say that it will fill up a page but it turns out to be a paragraph and then when i want to go into more depth i can't, my brain just freezes.I would also like to talk through my ideas with a group before actually writing them down because then the people in the group can offer other ideas and comments before i start to write them down so i can have more of an idea of what i want to write. When they proofread it they can offer more comments and suggestions and tell me what works and what doesn't. There are so many books out there that is really hard to choose which one to read. We should discuss books that we have read or are currently reading so we can tell each other which books are good to read. Blog posts. Blog posts are really important because we can expand more in our writing. We should leave comments on as many peoples blogs as we possibly can. Its not just for their benefit but its also for yours because you learn how to analyze a piece of writing and this will make your English writing develop.