Alliteration Zoo

Anxiously Ambling Aardvarks,

Blindly Blissful Bears,

Crazily Chattering Chimpanzees,

Docilely Dozing Deer,

Easily Excitable Elephants,

Fiercely Fraternizing Fox,

Gently Grazing Gazelles,

Happily Hopeless Hippos,

Ingeniously Ignorant Iguanas,

Jittery Jumping Jackals,

Keenly Kicking Kangaroos,

Lavishly Ludicrous Lions,

Melodically Maniacal Macaws,

Needlessly Noisy Nightingales,

Overly Obsessive Orangutans,

Prettily Preening Peacocks,

Quaintly Quiet Quail,

Ravenous Racing Rhinoceri,

Slyly Slithering Snakes,

Tenaciously Treading Tigers,

Unanticipated Ubiquitous Umbrettes,

Vainly Vindictive Vultures,

Wishfully Wading Walruses,

Xenophobic Xeric Xantusiidae,

Yearnfully Yapping Yaks,

Zestfully Zany Zoo!

Note: Ubiquitous=ever-present; Umbrette=type of bird with hammer-shaped head; Xeric= deficient in moisture; Xantusiidae=type of lizard

Poetry- your best (and worst) friend

When one hears ones English teacher say that the class is beginning a poetry unit, one tends to freak out. "Poetry?!" One thinks, "Oh, no! I can't write poetry!" or "Ugh. Poetry's so boring." Well, it doesn't have to be boring or hard at all. In fact, I quite enjoy poetry. Sort of. Okay, yeah, I do find some poems boring, as anyone does. But isn't it the same as stories? Some are boring, some are amazing. There's no comparison between Shakespeare’s works and JK Rowling's, is there? They're two different people, and write about completely different things. It's silly to group them together. Same goes for Poetry. Sometimes, you'll love a poem. It’ll really click, and you'll feel like, "Wow! That’s exactly how I feel!" You can relate to it. Other poems, however, aren't so great. It varies depending on the person, just as one's taste in stories varies. There are many different types of poems, too. Short witty limericks, such as Dr. Seuss poems, ballads, such as Paul Revere's Ride, epics, such as the Odyssey. Some rhyme, some don't. Some go by syllables, like haiku. Others are called free verse, where there doesn't have to be a rhyme, or a pattern, or any rules at all- those are entirely up to the writer! Which is why writing poems doesn't have to be hard, either. Different styles are preferred by different writers. And if you are stuck, just start writing free verse. Jot down a phrase per line, and BAM, you have a poem! It's true; I do get intimidated by poetry. I used to write some, but since I've stopped. I wouldn't write it at all, except for the fact that in Creative Writing we're doing poetry. But I do enjoy poems. My favorite types are the short, quirky limericks, and the longer ballads and epics. I like how they weave a poem and story together. Haiku, to me, is too short and restrained, so I don't like it much. I love rhymes and patterns, although I'm not too good at finding rhymes. I used to go through the alphabet trying to rhyme stuff with "orange," until I discovered there was no rhyme for it in English. But that's okay- one can always make up new words in poetry, after all! Did you know that some poems consist entirely of made-up words, or some poets just add a few bits of jumble to make rhymes because they can't think of a rhyming word? It’s true! Really anything goes in poetry. I've read lots of poems in the past. Besides the mandatory English ones, I have a few cousins and friends who write poetry. They each have extremely different styles, although most of it's free verse. Sometime's they're good, sometime's they're not. Oh, and no one can forget the poems of Dr. Seuss, the greatest children’s' author ever! Anyway, that's all I have on Poetry.

School Poem (last class of the week)

I sat down in math class.
I moaned and groaned with the class
as Mrs. P passed out the test.
The formulas,
she scribbled on the board.
I stared at the test.
My eyes began to close...
No, no. I couldn't sleep now,
I couldn't risk getting an F.
But it was just so quiet,
except for the scratching
of pencils on paper,
and the occasional whirr of the sharpener.
Oh, and there was the soft tapping
of calculator buttons.
The classroom smelled of many things:
pencil shavings, sweat, markers,
and some kid's strong cologne,
mixed with the scents the warm breeze blew in:
crisp almost-summer air,
the sweetness of flowers,
and all those kinds of things.
I was hungry, too,
and the chewing gum didn't help:
It actually made me hungrier.
I leaned my head on my hand as I stared at the test,
but not for long:
The sweat and heat made it
sticky and uncomfortable.
I tapped my pencil impatiently on my desk,
occasionally robotically scribbling the answers,
as we had learned to do them.
The clock went tick-tock-tick;
a kid in the back began to snore.
Mrs. P ignored him;
it was his fault that he let the weather get to him.
It didn't help that my desk
was right next to the window.
It only distracted me more.
Just a few more questions...
Ah, the test was done!
I quickly handed it in
and returned to my desk.
I laid my head down.
The warm sunshine shone on me,
warming the back of my neck.
Before I knew, I was asleep.
I dreamed of the awesome weekend I would have.
A three-day weekend...
what could be better?
I imagined video games, friends,
movies, walks in the park...
BIIIIIIIING!
The bell!
Quick!
Grab your stuff!
And everyone dashed to the door,
and I was caught in the rush.
Time for the weekend!

A Strange (and Lucky!) Event

Last March, I ordered a game from on online store.
I was really looking forwards to playing Tales of Phantasia (ToP).
It was supossed to come between one and two weeks after I ordered it.
Well, when it didn't come after a month and a half, I contacted the company.
They checked with the UPS, and discovered that it got lost between the Wisconsin and Minnesota checkpoints.
So, I got my money back and everything.
The game was forgotten for a while, but after I had beaten Tales of Symphonia 2 (ToS),
I got thinking about how ToP was supposedly in the same world as ToS, but 2000 years later.
I decided to got buy it.
Well, I couldn't find it at any of my usual gaming stores, since it's an older and extremely hard to find game.
There also aren't many used copies floating around, since it's also a very good game.
So, I came home disappointed.
Well, the next day, guess what popped up?
The copy I had ordered 9 months ago was in my mailbox,
battered and weathered so much that you could barely read the address.
It was a miracle!
The game's still in perfect condition, as well, somehow.
And it is a really great game, and I love it. ^__^

The Holidays are Over.

Yeah...
I can't exactly say I had a great time, but overall I suppose it was still good. I got to see my cousins, my room finally got cleaned, and I gave and got some good gifts. I spent all my money on gifts for people, got all that money back, and then spent it all again on myself. <_< style="">


What I got:

From Parents
Zune (my big gift this year! ^_^)
Clothes (1 Pair socks, 2 shirts, 1 jeans)
Accessories (the fake hair earrings were cool)
Nail Polish
Random beautification products
Sparkly hair gel
Hat
Boots
Assorted little things in my stocking
Cheesy Crackers
Pop Tarts
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (w/2 guitars- to share with Brandt)
Digital Calendar/Alarm Clock/Calculator/World Clock/thingy

From Grandpa and Grandma D
25$ Barnes and Nobel gift card
pet photo album
$100 check (half or more for college)

From Grandma B:
4 Manga books
Shirt

From Aunt Nancy, Uncle Ken, and Allison:
Cubic Zirconium Earrings

From April:
15$ I-tunes card

From Aunt Carol:
Shirt

From Brandt:
Earrings (why do people always giving me them? I have too many!)

From Grandpa B:
Wii Fit (to share with Brandt)

From My Best Friend
Healing Stone
Green Journal (with the price tag on it X])
2 Perfumes

From My Best Friends Family (for Chrismakkah)
25$ Movie gift card in a pretty card

From My Brother's Friend
A baby Pet Rat named Nacho

From the Gamestop Store (with my Christmas money+ big sales)
A PS2
An extra PS2 controller
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Legendia
Spyro: A Hero's Tale
PS2 Memory Card

From Secret Santa (4-H):
Photo album with cats on front

From Grab Bag (girl scouts)
Lavender bath set

From My Cousins
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution
Manga version of Hamlet



What I Gave:

My Family:

Mom: 2 Ceramic masks (she loves art)
Dad: Readers Digest fix-it book, sandpaper, glue, and mini screwdriver set
Brandt: Super Monkey Ball 2
Grandpa D: Honey Roasted Peanuts
Grandma D: 2 boxes of her favorite chocolate cookies
Grandma B: Chocolate caramel turtles
Great Aunt Carol: Gertrude Hawk chocolates
Cats: Tuna Treats
Rat + Degu: Sunflower Seeds
Guinea Pigs: Calcium Treats
(I have too many uncles/aunts/cousins to give gifts to them)

My Best Friend's Family:

Aunt Sharon: Honey Roasted Peanuts
Aunt Sandra: Honey Roasted Peanuts
Gerry(his mom's boyfriend): Honey Roasted Peanuts
(Peanuts were on sale, can you tell?)
Susanne(mom): lotion
Patrick(brother): Auto-inflate whoopee-cushion
Maleek (cousin): Dinosaur encyclopedia
Cheyanne (cousin): Bird pop-up book
(I babysit his cousins every day [well, they're moving back to NY...])
Michael (my best friend): Portuguese reference book, decoupaged heart box, hemalite turtle necklace, animal crossing city folk calendar and post card

Others:

Mandy: Animal crossing city folk calendar and post card
Mrs. S (Mandy's mom/4H leader): Santa Photo Holder
April (4-H leader): Ceramic Santa candle holder
Mrs. G(Girl Scout Leader): candle holder
Sara(4-H secret Santa): socks
GS (grab bag): Gingerbread bath set

Oh, and I got a surprise right before Christmas.
You see, I had won a contest, and the prise wasn't supposed to arrive until after the holidays.
But it did!
My very own wii and animal crossing came. ^__^


So I suppose the holidays ended up all right, despite the yelling and annoyingness of my mom.