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I have big end of semester assignments due in most of my classes, which is expected.
So I'm trying to get as much done as I can, and then in my last class of the day we do NOTHING. every single class period, absolutely nothing. haaaaa. waste of time. all well. only one more week!

I'm so excited for Christmas break :)

and I got all my classes for next semester figured out!
life is good

Yesterday

yesterday I brought Brookes dog to to the vet.
Brooke came along, and Boston (the dog) was happy to come ( He loves car rides ) we had his leash, so he probably thought he was going on a walk. We pulled up to the building and right when Boston saw where he was he started whining, he knew where he was! It was a bit sad, but so so funny. The whole time we were waiting to be called in for his shots he just wouldn't stop whining, the old woman sitting next to us had this tiny little dog and kept holding her dog and looking the other way so Boston wouldn't disturb them, and the secretary was just laughing the whole time. When He got called in Brooke took him into the room and I waited outside, And then we heard this loud YELP come from the door, and Brooke poked her head out and said "Kaya, can you help hold him?" hahahaha. oh man, when I went in there he was just going crazy. He HATES the vet, and when the vet was trying to give him shots he was growling, and then when the vet tried to check his teeth, Boston tried biting the vet! ( so the vet quickly gave up on that ) Everyone was laughing at him, annd ahh. haha, it was so funny! Brooke thought it was embarrassing, which I can understand.. But it was just too funny to get embarrassed about. hmm :)

giving thanks

aha, tomorrow is back to school.
This break was nice, we just stayed home. But I got to see a lot of friends I hardly see anymore annnnd I had fun. My friend came down to visit from Iowa, and my other friend got his mission call! crazy crazy. I've seen so many movies over the break. First I saw 2012.. which was alright, ehh. kinda dragged on. Then I saw The Blindside, which I really liked. And THEN I saw New Moon, whichh.. haa. I think I should read the books.. but then I don't want to. hmm. I thought it was really cheesy, But I can't imagine how you would make a vampire romance NOT cheesy, so I'm okay with it. I spent three hours making an apple pie, goodness. My grandma starts cooking for thanksgiving like.. a month ahead, no joke. It's crazy! she just cooks and cooks and cooks. I love cooking, but I was so sick of it after making just one pie. haha. wellll, glad to have people like her. phew. There's nothing huge or exciting I can think of to write right now so I'll just leave it at that.

Harrison

The U.S. Constitution states that all men are created equal. We nod our heads in agreement when we first hear it, But how far will we go to keep it that way? Kurt Vonnegut’s book “The Monkey House” has a short story in it called Harrison Bergeron that puts equality in a new perspective for us.
The story takes place in the year 2081, and EVERYONE is equal. The Government in this time period goes so far, and tries so hard to make everyone equal that they give people handicaps, to make sure that no one excels. This story focuses on a set of parents who have been so handicapped that they are numbed to their own son’s death. How far will our government go, to try and make us all equal? Already, we are seeing the beginning of something momentous. With this pretty recent program “no child left behind” we are making those children who learn faster stay behind and wait up for those who are slower.
This program is preventing those fast learners from reaching their full potential, and learning all that they possibly could. Is it right to say that “all men are created equal?” All men excel in certain things, and struggle in others. Trying to make those elementary kids have the same IQ and learn all the same material is a toned down version of our government tying bags of lead balls to our ankles, and putting little radios on our ears that prevent us from being able to think for too long. It is not possible that we could all be equal. Each and every human on earth is different, isn’t that crazy? There are an estimated 6.798 billion people in this world, and not one of them is exactly identical to another.
There are things that encourage equality everywhere. Any time we see a sign of difference, or a fraction of something unfair we feel we have to ‘fix it’ in some way, and correct it by making everything equal. Here are some examples of things we face in life that do not represent equality, but work all the same. In the work place, men and women are treated differently. Men are generally given more hard labor jobs and women more jobs that deal with customer service. This is because men and women are different. Men are naturally blunter, and women are naturally more sensitive. Both can be good or bad, and it’s something that we must let happen, let nature take its course. Trying to make men and women’s jobs exactly equal would just make it harder on both genders.
A huge issue that we see right now, is racial equality. Some discriminate others because of the color of their skin, But I believe, that for the most part, it is mostly in their heads. People have gone so far as to convince themselves that the reason they are not succeeding or advancing anywhere in life is because they are being treated unfairly, and being judged by their ethnicity. (7 habits!) The government saying, “Oh, sorry we enslaved your ancestors back in the 1800’s, here, we’ll give you some money” is just a cop out, a way to make us feel that we are justifying things and setting things straight? When in reality, we are just separating our races more and more by focusing so much attention on it.
Trying to make everyone feel equal by changing simple things likes your taste in music and viewpoints on political issues, sounds completely ridiculous to us. We have our own judgments, we have the right to think and act as individuals, and we do not wish to all be the same, even though we might sometimes think we do.
In conclusion, Harrison Bergeron addressed a very important issue that we face today, that is, how far should we go to make everybody equal. We have browsed through some topics that we are now dealing with, and have come to the conclusion that it is ridiculous to try to equalize everyone because we are so individual, and we all thrive off each other’s knowledge, we need diversity. And we require it. Because after all we are all different, all 6 billion of us.

Gossip Girl??

Gossip Girl.. hm. I don't watch the show.
But I've heard about it, eh. I don't watch much T.v.
I was just talking with my friend, who goes to Timpview.
I went to Timpview for my freshman and part of my sophomore year.. Then I discovered Merit! I loved and hated Timpview. But goodness,It thrived off of drama. Let me give you an example.
Back to "I was just talking with my friend, who goes to Timpview"
We were just chatting and she sent me a link to a blog titled "GOSSIP GIRL"
This whole entire blog was based off of gossip going around at Timpview. Oh my goodness, I could not believe my eyes. This Girl (nobody knows who she is) creeps on all of the 'popular' kids and discovers anything and everything there is to know about their relationships and drama. ahhh. really? like, really? I didn't know there were ACTUALLY people that involved in it. And these blog posts, they were soo long and detailed and ughh. I can't believe it. She has people send her gossip they hear about, and she just says all. It is RIDICULOUS. talk about a waste of time.
ahhhh
thank goodness for Merit.

mmm :)

Today is a great day.
So was yesterday.
It's been SUNNY and perfect outside.
loooove it.
I love all of the leaves right now.
Just looking outside my window is like looking into a big chest full of treasure.
It's soo so so golden!
oh! I might go to Mexico at the beginning of December to help these orphans have Christmas and I would teach and everything, soo I'm really really hoping that works out, I would just love that.

I had a pretty good Halloween
I didn't do anything very festive though.
I went to Maestros, love that place.
I watched where the wild things are, It was strange, But I enjoyed it. Now I need to go and read the book again :)
I ended the day with a late night dinner at Dennys with my best friend, there were alot of people dressed up there.. at like 12:30. it was entertaining :)
So overall it was a nice day. Next year I'd like to do something a little more exciting. Even a haunted house would suffice.

brrr

It's SNOWING!
Ah no.
It's October.
It cant snow.
Soo freezing.
Ew.
Don't like the cold.
I'll move to the sun.
That would be fun.
That was a lie.
my oh my.

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I'm kind of out of it at the moment.
So I'll give my apologies in advance if this is extremely boring to read.
It's really strange, I have all of these friends who graduated from high school last year, and they all don't really seem to be doing much of anything. I've always thought when I graduate from high I'm out of here! gonna go travel the world and experience everything there is to experience. It's interesting, really. How fast it all comes up on you. I think by the time I do graduate, I won't be ready. I mean, I'd LOVE to. It just never really seems to work out that way. I guess I do have some friends that went on the trips of their lives, but only because their parents are loaded. HA. figures. BUT I do think it's possible. that just means no more slacking off now..well yeah. we'll see how that works out. :)

hm hm hm

SO
my mom left for Greece last Wednesday, for work. I am incredibly jealous. She gets to go tour Greece and look through all the museums, learn about all the history, see all the sites.. everything. She said she would get me a scarf, so that's nice. I collect scarves.. kind of weird, But I do. She has already been to Greece, and she wasn't near excited enough. I'm glad she went though, I think she's enjoying it. HA. who wouldn't? She's coming back on the 24th. Today was the last day of Fall Break, breaks always go by wayyy too fast. I enjoyed it though. It was a good break, I got lost when I was trying to get to Spanish Fork though, long story. Scary at the time, funny now. The weather today was beautiful, wish it wouldn't get any colder than it was today. all well.

talk talk talk

So this post will be about people.
I tend to listen to people talk more than I talk.
I enjoy it, I think it's interesting. yesterday in math my teacher was teaching us a math method and turning it into a open discussion. All of a sudden, everyone started talking really loud and making comments. When I was listening to this, their comments were things that everyone knows, basic knowledge, and they didn't contribute to the lesson at all. And that got me thinking about pointless talking. Everyone has been raised to know how to hold a discussion, it's proper edicate. I wonder who first thought up what a polite conversation was. I have had so many pointless conversations in my life, not that it's necessarily a bad thing, just interesting. the typical "hey, how are you, what's up" Is usually the conversation starter, then it might warm up to a small talk on how the weather is, how classes are going and things like that. I've noticed that personal conversations, just between two people are pretty civil, quiet and basic. In contrast to a group conversation, Where all at once everyone has something to say, whether it's just at the top of their head or something they've thought about. Anyways, I'm probably not making much sense.. you know, pointless talking. errr typing. that's about it.

yahoooooo

So there's this website, yahoo answers.com, or something like that. Pretty much it's where everyone writes down questions and people can give them their answers, shocking. anyways, I've been spending wayyy too much time just reading through peoples questions and the different answers they've been given. It must be a terrible waste of time, because I hardly learn anything. But I think it's super interesting to see the different ways people present their ideas, their different views, and the information they give to back up their opinion or theory, or whatever it is they are saying. I'm particularly fond of the society and culture, arts and humanities, family relationships and those sorts of questions. I'm hoping to find a better website that deals with more sort of philosophical questions, since I cant seem to be finding too much of those on this one. We'll see. oh, and it's cold outside. snow on the mountains. ah.

Biography on self for History

Kaya Hartleys Biography
By: Kaya Hartley
Kaya Danae Hartley died at the age of 16 in a terrible accident that occurred at Merit College Preparatory Academy. I have since gathered information about her, so that we can now learn about the thrilling life of this deceased teenage girl. Kaya Hartley was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. She lived there until she was one, and then the army moved her family to Belton, Texas where her sister, Courtney Brooke Hartley was born. Shortly after her sisters birth they were moved once again to Tucson Arizona. There her parents divorced, causing her mother, sister and herself to stay in Arizona for a total of 3 years. Towards the end of the third year the decision was made to move to Provo, Utah. Kaya and her family resided there until the day of her death. (Petersen,1 )

Ever since Kaya was young, she had wanted to travel to Africa to help end the poverty there. (Hartley, 2) She was involved in a charity group called Invisible Children and planned on starting a club at school to raise money for It and eventually go to Africa to do some hands on help (Hartley, 3) “ Kaya was a person with a big heart, she wanted to travel to Africa to learn more about the culture, and teach the people to become more self sufficient so that they could escape from severe poverty. Kaya wanted to make a difference in the world.” (Petersen, 1 ) As a first step towards Kayas goal of “making a difference” she started her own charity called IMPACT. She would make stencil shirts and sell them to people, donating all the money that she earned to Invisible Children. (Hartley, 3)
One day Kaya came home from preschool with a big chunk of hair cut off. When her mom asked her what had happened, she replied “I had to use it for my art project.” When Kaya was just a toddler she was drawing on walls and practicing funny faces. Starting in Kindergarten she loved to sit in front of the mirror and see how many ways she could twist her face so it would look funny and talk in different voices. In elementary she enjoyed dressing up and putting on plays that she would create. She was constantly creating art, whether it was a back drop for her play or just doodles. On family road trips she would sit in the back seat and entertain her family with stories she would make up. (Petersen, 1 )

Kaya loved to go on adventures. Her mom would often bring her family on outdoors trips, they regularly went hiking and camping. She would create her own trails and discover new places, pretending she lived in the wild. (photo ,4) Her aunts and uncles lived all over, so Kaya would get to travel around a lot to visit them, She attended a lot of family reunions in California, as well as Washington, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. (photo, 4)
As I examined Kayas room, it came to my attention that she was a very messy, unorganized girl. Her floor was covered in clothes, so that you could barely see the actual floor. On one of her walls she had hung big pieces of paper that she had drawn on, leaving the charcoal and drawing utensils sitting out on her floor. She had a big un- made bed, which leads me to believe she enjoyed sleeping. Her mother told me that she was a night owl and did most of her work at night ( Petersen, 1) On her door she had a bunch of hooks, each one holding up a scarf. Her room was a robin egg blue color, and she had different culture- style artwork hanging from her walls and displayed on her desk. Her desk was also extremely unorganized, piled with pictures of friends, clothes, jewelry and old homework assignments. (room, 5)

Kaya struggled in school, She would often be behind on assignments and have trouble paying attention in class. Math was a hard subject for her, but she enjoyed English very much. (Hartley, 2) She was falling behind in her classes during her freshman year of high school and felt stupid for not understanding the assignments, and guilty for doodling and day dreaming when she should have been paying attention. Her mom took her in to a doctor to take a test, where she discovered that she had ADD. She tried taking medication but wasn’t a huge fan, so she decided to try to learn how to work with it instead. (Petersen, 1)

Kayas parents divorced when she was two. She lived with her mom, but arrangements were made so that her and her sister could visit their dad every summer. (Hartley, 2) When Kaya was about 5 years old her dad remarried, and then about two years later had a son. (photo, 4) Her and her sister were very close to their step mom and step brother and enjoyed visiting them and their dad every summer in Arizona. Kaya stated in her journal that her favorite childhood memories are those that she had in Tucson Arizona on her dads ranch during the summers she spent there. When Kaya was in fifth grade her Dad went through some various problems and serious depression, and attempted suicide. (A failed attempt, thank goodness  ) This caused some legal problems, so that Kaya and her sister couldn’t spend the summers with their dad anymore. The two sisters struggled with this, but learned to appreciate their mom more by seeing how hard she worked for them. Kaya had lived with her mother and her sister for the majority of her life, and loved it. They grew very close to each other and created a great friendship. (Hartley, 2)

U.S. History Paper

Elie Weisel begins by telling us some of his experience in the Nazi Camp. He thanks the Americans who saved him, but is still confused as to why different countries didn’t respond and send help immediately after they knew about what was going on. He goes on to talk about the “perils of indifference.” He tells us that not acting on something and simply doing nothing can cause great sorrow and pain. He uses his experience in the concentration camps as an example, and explains that he and everybody else there felt abandoned and forgotten, and they felt that they were viewed with indifference. President Roosevelt, as described by Weisel “was a good man, with a heart.” But even so, President Roosevelt did not help the Jews in their state of need, and acted indifferently to the situation. Weisel explains to us that many people choose to be indifferent because it is easier. But that there were some people, the “Righteous Gentiles” that did help them in their time of need, and he thanks them, but again questions why there were so few.

There are many times when it would be so easy to ignore a problem and move on with your life. But when you have learned about indifference, and look back on the corruption that it caused in History, you will know that ignoring the situation is the worst thing you could do. The best possible way to respond is to take action, and find a solution to your problem. It was very important for Weisel to bring this to the attention of the President at that time because The Yugoslovs were doing something similar to what the Nazis had done and were trying to perform “ethnic cleansing” in Kosovo. But the United States had learned from the past, took action, and successfully ended the conflict in Kosovo. Americans in general, also needed to hear this speech at that time because while the U.S. economy was doing very well, there were many other countries that were doing terribly. This speech that he gave served as a sort of wake-up call, reminding everybody to think outside of themselves and help those in need.

New Blog

ta da, my first official blog.
I'm thinking about doing the rest of my blogs on the subject of different cultures. I'm really interested in learning about all of that. But I haven't made a final decision yet, we'll see :)
annnd that would wrap up my first entry.