Derek!

I love music. I think it is powerful in a way that you can listen to a song and actually understand what the song writer was trying to say. I also think it is powerful how a song writer can write a piece of music that means a lot to them. In my opinion, if there was no music, there would be no life. I’m not saying that if there was no music we would be all dead or anything like that, but could you imagine not listening to music on your ipod, your computer, or even on the radio? Could you even imagine not having that song stuck in your head? I guess we would never know how good these things were if we didn’t have music, but I wouldn’t want a world with no music. The great thing about music is, though, is that music is free. Anybody can make music and nobody has control over what kind of music you make because it is your creation, like your children (if you have any).

Here are some cool songs that I like to listen to sometimes:

It ends tonight-The All American Rejects

Wind it up-Gwen Stephanie

My love-Justin Timberlake

Welcome to the black parade-MCR (My Chemical Romance)

High school never ends-Bowling For Soup

^{I also like older music too, not just these new songs.}

Music has been an important influence in my life. I heard music close to my whole life. My dad plays the guitar, the drums, and even sings. My uncles play guitar and sing, same with my aunt. My aunt is actually teaching me to sing. I haven’t had a lesson in a while, though. Anyway, my cousins are also in a rock band. I never heard them play before, but I’m sure they’re good. As you can see, music is in my blood and I can’t imagine if there wasn’t music.

What do you think about music?

Merry Christmas!

Introduction

In our ELA (English Language Arts) unit, we had to pick a category that meant something to us. The categories were School/Jobs, Values, Life/Death/Religion, Future, and Relationships. I picked School/Jobs, along with Ashley. M. Next, we had to decide on a topic we wanted to learn about. My topic is the process of going through college. After that, we had to decide on a name for our unit that had to do with what we were doing. Ashley. M and I came up with the title “Life After High school, What is it Like?” I think that it ties in with what we are both doing. Now, we are writing a blog post about what we are doing in ELA and what we hope to learn.

What I am Doing in ELA

^{How you get to college}

^{What you do in college}

^{The graduation ceremony}

^{What you do when you are done}

These are the things I am going to learn about in my ELA unit.

Plans on Getting the Information

I plan on researching the Internet for college applications. This would give me the basic idea on what you go through to apply for a college. I also plan on researching different colleges and find out what they do and learn. I hope I don’t get too much advertising to get to different colleges, so I will try to avoid that as much as possible. I will also read about colleges at the local library. Also, I will interview people who went to college and ask them what it was like. I will also put out a survey in my class to see if they plan on going to college. I also plan on making a watch list that you can get from Technorati about many other things I would like to learn. This is how I plan on getting my information.

My Thoughts on My Topic

My thoughts on my topic are that school is very important. It determines if you get a good job and earn lots of money and become wealthy. From what I know now, it teaches you how to become a responsible adult and to treat others with respect. This is why I think that this topic is very important.

Why I Picked My Topic

This topic is very important to me. It is very important because I plan on going to college for not only my education, but for my parents. They really want me to go to college when I’m ready. I believe that this will help me understand the world of college and not make me so scared of what is out there. This is why I picked my topic.

I found these blogging rules on a blog by a girl named Bailee. I thought that these applied to my weblog too so I decided to put them on my weblog. You can find them on the blogging rules page along with this post.

“1. Don’t put any personal information on this page.

2. No bullying or foul language.

3. This is a place to learn and have fun, not to gossip.

4. Most of all enjoy yourself and my page”

Introduction

On Wednesday, December 6^th, I went to The Pas with my dad to go get my eyes checked. My dad also wanted to go get the van fixed. I want to tell you guys that I AM GETTING GLASSES!!! I am really excited about it. Here is my story.

Heading There

So we were heading towards The Pas, and we were listening to our SIRIUS satellite radio. We were on channel one, which is new hits. My dad started to get sick of all these songs like “Fergalicious”. Here is what he said “These women have nothing better to talk about”. I chuckled a bit and started to day dream some more. After that, there was nothing else that I remember, only the daydreams in my mind about possibly getting glasses.

We’re Here!

When we arrived, it was about 12:30. We had some time to kill, so we went to Dairy Queen. My dad and I both had the double cheeseburger special. It was one of the most delicious burgers I had ever had! We also had a chocolate milkshake. It was very good.

 After that, we went to an auto parts shop, where my dad got some parts for the garbage truck. I got really bored. When my dad said we could go now, I was very happy. 

After that, we finally went to Family Optical, where I was getting my eyes checked. To my dismay, we were still early, so my dad wanted to go the car shop. I think it was Murray Dunn. Anyways, when we arrived, my dad talked to this guy about the van. Since we didn’t want to walk back to the Family Optical, my dad asked to borrow a car. To our luck, we got it and went to the Family Optical.

I waited in there for about five minutes, then this lady asked me to sit down in a chair, put my chin on the paper in front of my face, and put my forehead against the bar that was also in front of my face. I also had to look through these weird things that almost looked like glasses. I was taking the pre-test. All I was was a farm house getting clear and blurry. After I took the test, I was asked to go in another room and find a seat. I was expecting to go to the doctors office, but instead I went into this big room where I could see a whole lot of glasses. When my dad sat next to me, he told me we were still early, so it would take a long time. When it was finally my time, this lady asks me to follow her into her office. She asked me to sit in a chair. She then gave me all these sorts of tests. She also put a light near my eye. I started to cry, since my eyes were really sensitive. After I took these tests, she told me that I was near sighted and that I needed glasses. When I heard that I was very excited. She also told me that since I had a certain colour of eyes, I was more likely to get some sort of eye cancer. Also, she said not to start smoking and eat my vegetables. Then we left the room to pick the lense of my glasses. I saw my dad and his friend, Carol. They helped my pick out the lense that suits me. It was a long and difficult process, but I finally picked out a pair. I also got a spare lense. Then, I got my lenses fitted. Then the lady said that the glasses would be ready on Monday, today actually. My dad said that we lived in Snow Lake and that we wanted to get it from the bus. The lady then said that they would be in Snow Lake around the 14^th or 15^th. After that, we left the Family Optical.

Then, we went next door to an insurance place, which I didn’t know we were coming to. We went inside and my dad went to talk to a guy. After that, we went to Murray Dunn to get our van so we could leave.

When we got the van back, we went to Burger King and got a meal to go for the family. The burgers smelled so good!!

Heading Home

I found the trip home very boring. All I did was listen to music and daydream. A good thing I remember is that when I looked out of the window, I saw the moon. For a strange reason, it was orange. Then for the rest of the trip I looked at the moon.

I HAD A GOOD TIME IN THE PAS!!

What is the Miss Earth Pageant?

The Miss Earth Pageant was recently held in Manilla. It was a contest with 84 competing women or “beauties for a cause” all around the world to be Miss Earth. The Miss Earth Pageant promotes environmental preservation. Did you know that Miss Earth pageants are the third biggest pageants in the world next to Miss World and Miss Universe?

Who Won?

Some of the top eight women were Amruta Patki of India, Marianne Puglia of Venezuela, Czech Petra Soukupova and Francys Sudnicka of Poland, Stefanie de Roux of Panama, and Meriam George of Egypt.

^{Meriam George of Egypt.}

My Opinion

I think that the Miss Earth Pageant is a very good idea. It lets women from all around the world compete in a pageant that helps promote enivronmental preservation. I also like how the ladies in this contest are called “beaties for a cause”. I find it rather unfortunate that none of the ladies from Canada won, or if they even entered. I want to congratulate everybody who entered the contest, especially to the top eight and say good luck to everybody who is going to enter next year.

If You Want to Find Out More…

Link#1-http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/12/04/egypt-miss-earth/

Link#2-http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/12/egyptian-beauty-tops-miss-earth.html

Link#3-http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/Entertainment/2006/12/194994.htm

Introduction

Mr. Fisher asked us to write about two blog posts that we found interesting. One post that found interesting was a post by The Nata Village Blog. They wrote about how a house in their neighboring village burnt down. The other post I found interesting was a post by Elaine. She wrote about how some people are poor and live in poverty.

“Family in Zoroga loses everything when their rondavel burns”

This post was written on November 30, 2006. It is about how Nata Village helped a family in Zoroga after they lost everything in the fire. I think this was very nice of Nata Village. They ask for your support to help this family. Please support if you can.

I can’t imagine how the kids must be feeling right now. I know I would be very upset if my house had burnt down and everything in it was destroyed. It makes me even more thankful for what I have and that my house didn’t burn down.

I wish the best of luck to Nata Village and the family in Zoroga.

“SAD, DEPRESSING, INDESCRIBABLE, BUT TRUE FACTS”

This post was written on November 13, 2006. It is about poverty and how a lot of people in the world are poor. I think this post was very well written and it brings out an important issue.

Elaine explains how almost half the world lives on two dollars a day. I was shocked when I read this. I could never imagine living on two dollars a day. She also states that one billion people entering the 21st century can’t even read, write, or sign their own names. I thought it was weird because I have been jealous of people in my class that can write neater than me. Now, I’m not. Here is a quote from Elaine’s blog: “There is a range of 2.2 billion children in the world and there are billion children in the world in poverty.” I found this very sad.

I thank Elaine for showing me and the other people that viewed this post that poverty is a really big issue and to be thankful for what we have.

Introduction

In my other post about “An Inconvenient Truth” I talked about the movie trailer. Now that I have seen the movie, I would like to talk about it.

When I was watching the movie, I noticed that it was based on two things. One of those things was a presentation given by Al Gore. The other part was Al Gore telling us about his life and why he is trying to tell us why we should stop global warming.

Mr.Fisher asked us to write down the images and dialogue that catches our eyes during the movie. He also asked us to write down our impressions of the movie.

The Al Gore Presentation

As I said before, part of the movie was about Al Gore’s presentation. I think Al Gore is a great speaker and his presentation was well done. There was a lot of humour in it, yet there were so many facts.

Al Gore’s Life

The telling of Al Gore’s life was also a part of the movie. I think it really ties in with the movie. It shows some happy moments and some sad moments in his life. After watching this movie, I know why Al Gore does what he does.

Images That Caught My Eye

^{I thought it was really neat how the first picture of the Earth was taken in 1968.}

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^{Al Gore said that this was a “better explanation” for global warming. I thought that this was hilarious and true.}

^{I thought it was shocking how Lake Chad used to be one of the largest lakes in the world and now it is dried up because of global warming.}

^{There was a polar bear video that caught my eye. It showed that there was very little ice and that most polar bears drown because of it.}

^{There were many pictures of hurricanes that caught my eye.}

Dialogue

In this movie, the dialogue I found interesting were the facts. The facts in this movie were excellent. That being said, here are the facts I found interesting.

• When the Nortern Hemisphere is pointed towards the sun, carbon dioxide goes up. When the Southern Hemisphere is pointed towards the sun, carbon dioxide goes down.

• The more carbon dioxide, the warmer it gets.

• The C0² rate is larger than the natural cycle

• The hottest year on Earth was 2005.

• Warmer waters means stronger storms.

• Japan had 10 typhoons last year.

• Hurricanes had doubled since 30 years.

• Global warming can cause another Ice Age.

• There are 928 studies about global warming and 0% say that global warming isn’t happening.

Impression

My impression of the movie was excellent. I give this movie five stars. Now that I have seen this movie, I have motivation to try to stop this. To tell you guys the truth, the movie kind of scared me. I guess nothing is scarier than the truth.

 Introduction

This blog post is a conversation between Elaine and me. In this post, Elaine and I talk about how global warming is not only affecting humans, but other animals such as polar bears. We also talk about a neat video that shows that polar bears are in trouble because of global warming.  

The Video

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Our Conversation

Derek: So what do you think about the video?

Elaine: I like this video. It shows how the polar bears depend on the seals for a main source of food and how they also depend on the ice.

Derek: I think this video is hilarious! I really like how the polar bear runs to the top of the hill to see no seals. I also like how he cries afterwards.

Elaine: I liked that part too! I also liked how the polar bear visualized the seal as a burger.

Derek: Me too. I also like the joke at the end of how the water had risen so high that it covered the Statue of Liberty.

Elaine: Yeah, that was funny. Did you notice that when the narrator said that the polar bear would be on densely packed ice and then he fell through?

Derek:  Yes, actually, I did. I found it very funny. If you don’t mind, let’s start talking more about the issues and how some of them were brought into this video.

Elaine: Sure. One issue is the ice and snow melting because of global warming. The video shows this by the polar bear falling through the ice trying to eat the seal and by the ice splitting apart.

Derek: I completely agree with you on that one. I thing you forgot to mention was at the beginning when the polar bear wakes up from hibernation and his home melts.

Elaine: Oh yeah. Another issue I find is that there are very few seals. I think that the video showed this very well.

Derek: I agree with you there. I think there are few seals because global warming is wiping them out. That’s just my opinion.

Elaine: I think it is because of the seals always having to move because of the polar bears and how the polar bears are eating the seals to survive.

Derek: That’s a good point.

Elaine: Thank you.

Derek: No problem. Anyways, I really like that closing message “As the arctic warms, summer sea ice is shrinking rapidly and could disappear in this entire century. If that happens, polar bears are unlikely to survive as a species.”

Elaine: Me too. I think that’s about it.

Derek: Okay then, talk to you soon.

Some Quick Facts About Polar Bears

• Polar bears can tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions

• Polar bears survive the fierce winds and the bitter cold of Arctic winter

• They also survive the heat of the summer

• Polar bears survive on ice, land, and in fresh water