The Ninjas are Watching

Last year's happenings and this year's hopes

2009-01-08T01:04:09Z

Last year:

ASM for Mame
Spring classes- Oral Interp was the only bright spot in my entire class schedule. I loved that class.
Family went to Disney WITHOUT me- four times
Passed Spanish 2 with a C
Went to Disneyworld and saw Amanda
Started stage managing in Monticello but had to quit
Went to the beach with Brent and Justin
Took summer classes for the first time
Got sick again
Went to the doctor several times
Auditioned for Singing in the Rain and made ensamble, again
Lost my voice for almost the entire rehearsal period
Went to my first Halloween party
Competely failed at NaNoWriMo
Failed at finishing my book
Went to FTC and spent an afternoon with Amanda and Currie
Somehow managed to pass Spanish 3 with a C
Went to my first New Years Eve party

__________________________________________________

This year:

Get a job
Pass spring classes
Go to the strawberry festival for a weekend
Get a part in Peter Pan
Start rollerskating classes
Take some sort of martial arts class
Finish my book
Decorate my (NEW) room

Fun, fun, in progress: Part three

2008-12-13T20:13:33Z

Here's part three of the ongoing story. What will happen next? Why don't you READ and find out? :P

DawnClyde: Upon seeing the bird she had dropped Jing and pulled her battle ax out in record time , for in all this fog the bird had seemed to be an intangible shadow form that could very well have been a spirit. She realized what it was however and picked the disgruntled Jing back up. "Quick Jing, translate what the bird has to say before another unfortunate event occurs," she said nearly shoving him into the birds sharp beak. "Yes, yes, I know you're mad at me, just hurry up."

JulepDixen: With Jing shoved up against its face, the bird took on a disgruntled attitude and hopped to the ground. Turning its back on her, it lifted it's beak into the air and generally decided to ignore her. Jing also seemed very displeased with her. After all, she had woken him out of a sound sleep when the bees attacked, gotten very annoyed with him about the bird, had scared him with the ax, had dropped him on the ground, and then shoved him in the bird's face. The thoughts that he sent to her were most unpleasant and generally came to the fact that even IF the bird were to tell him what it had to say, he wasn't going to tell her.

DawnClyde: "Well could one of you at least help me figure out haw to get back to the camp? Anybody? Great, just great. As if I didn't have enough going on with you two on my hands. This infernal fog, I've never seen fog this thick before in my entire life."

JulepDixen: Jing sent some thoughts to her. "The only thing back in the camp is the smashed bee hive, so I don't see why you want to go back. You got everything else when you ran from the silly bees." She glowered at him and he sniffed and turned his back on her. "Fine, I'll just have to find my way back there on my own then. I can at least save some of the honeycombs to chew on. You should know that they are vital to our survival at the moment, since they are our only food source for the time being. Unless I decide that this bird would tasty."

DawnClyde: The bird gave a half choked squawking sound that made one wonder as to its health, and scuttled off behind the nearest bush, causing the surrounding fog to swirl about gleefully, completely hiding the bush from view.

JulepDixen: She smirked, and picked up the unhappy Jing. Stuffing him into the backpack, she started picking her way back toward the camp, following the ice cubes that were once bees. She managed to find the camp just as the fog was lifting. Picking up what she could salvage from the hive, she turned to continue on her journey to the meteor crash site. About halfway through the day, she noticed that the bird was still following her, albeit at a safe distance. She ignored it, thinking that if it was important, it would approach and give its message to Jing for her.

Fun, fun, in progress: Part 2

2008-12-08T18:30:17Z

Here's the second part of the ongoing story. What will happen next? We don't know...
_______________________________________________________________________

DawnClyde: she sat up and stretched, the chill air hit her as the furs fell down around her waist, the sounds of early morning surrounded her and dense fog lent an eerie feel to the whole scene, she shivered, and not just from the chill in the air. Careful not to wake Jing, she slipped out of the furs and moved to light the fire.

JulepDixen: The bird hopped around and watched her, almost as if it was impatient. It moved up close to the fire and started preening itself.

DawnClyde: annoyance and hunger can do much too any person's temper, hers had just snapped. "You’re a creepy stalker bird! Shoo, shoo!!" she picked up the beehive and threw it, with an odd splat sound it hit a rock to the left of the bird, stick sweet honey splattered over everything " oh snap!" she said as angry bees began to swarm over anything that moved "Jing? Jing!" grabbing the sleepy ball of fur in one hand and anything she could lay a hand on in the other she lit out with a string of angry bees after her "darn! Now what am I supposed to do? I no longer have a beehive. Wake up Jing!"

JulepDixen: There was only one thing to do. She stopped, turned toward the angry bees, held her hands out palm forward, and shouted the magic word. "Abracadabra!!!" All the bees turned into ice cubes and fell to the ground. At that moment, Jing decided to wake up.

DawnClyde: sleepy thoughts echoed in her brain. "The bird? Oh, it's probably dead by now, the bees got it. What?! Jing! Why didn't you tell me that bird had a message for us? Do you at least know what the message was?" more sleepy thoughts bounced around in her mind. "Well that’s just dandy. You know you really need to start pulling your own weight around here, and I mean literally you have feet of your own why am I still carrying you? I need to get my battle ax out." the flurry of agitated thoughts from Jing caught her by surprise. “No Jing I'm not quite that mad at you, and besides it's a sacred battle ax that has been prepped for malicious spirits, why would I waste those preparations on a pathetic fur ball such as yourself?"

JulepDixen: A slight fluttering sound startled her and she looked up. The bird hovered over her for a brief moment and then landed lightly on her shoulder. It cocked its head at her and stared her in the eye. Then it blinked.

Christmas wish list

2008-12-07T17:23:25Z

Okay, William wanted to know what I wanted for christmas so here it is.

Amazon List (The things on this amazon list are specific things that I want, not general.)

Small, good quality digital camera (So that when I go to parties and stuff I don't have to carry around mommy's big camera, but can still get good quality pictures.)

Nice set of drawing pencils (I like to sketch, but all I have is my writing pencils and they don't draw very well.)

There you go. That's all I could come up with that I want at the present time. Well, all that I want that others can get for me. There are some things that I want but would want to pick them out for myself at the store.

Fun, fun, in progress

2008-12-06T22:02:30Z

My sister and I decided to make a story by going back and forth. Here's what we have so far.
______________________________________

DawnClyde: long ago in the farthest reaches of the galaxy was a small planet by the name of mallega.

JulepDixen: On this planet there was a girl, who had an assignment.

DawnClyde: a black cloud hovered over her all day as she thought of this horrible assignment.

JulepDixen: There were only two options: complete the assignment, or suffer dire consequences.

DawnClyde: so of course there really was no choice at all, she had to complete the assignment at all costs, for when the council said dire consequences they meant dire consequences.

JulepDixen: So she set out to gather the necessary items.

DawnClyde: first on her list, tea made from seaweed found in one of the three fresh water seas.

JulepDixen: The second item was a hive of bees.

DawnClyde: third, a sacred battle axe which had been coated in a strong poison called pentall

JulepDixen: With these three items, she set out to complete her mission.

DawnClyde: she had been assigned to check out the site where a strange meteor had crashed three days ago, but in order to reach the site where the meteor had landed she must first pass through the forest of ages, thus her preparations

JulepDixen: With her tea, bee hive, and poisoned battle ax, she ventured forth through the forest of ages. She had barely gone far enough to be out of sight of the edge of the forest, when she came upon a strange sight.

DawnClyde: the air was sweet and sticky, before her sat the biggest tree stump she'd ever seen, but nobody ever came to the forest of ages, in fact most people considered it to be haunted, why then had this giant tree been cut cleanly through as it had?

JulepDixen: Cautious now, she continued forth. The answer was most likely at the site of the meteor crash.

DawnClyde: images of giant beasts with enormous claws danced in her head.

JulepDixen: The thought of the three days it would take to get through the forest chilled her. She gripped the ax tighter and watched the surrounding woods carefully.

DawnClyde: a sudden sound startled her and she nearly dropped the beehive, merely a bird, thank goodness

JulepDixen: But it was a very strange bird, she noticed as she took a second look. It was unlike any she had ever seen and it seemed to be watching her. As she started walking again, it followed her.

DawnClyde: creepy, but something as small as a bird could hardly harm her, after all she was one of the best warriors in her tribe, she pressed on.

JulepDixen: When the day came to a close, she set out to make a camp. Mindful of the tree stump from earlier, she made sure to set traps to warn her if anything approached. The bird sat and watched her intently.

DawnClyde: a furry little animal scurried out her pack, " there you are Jing, I've been wondering when you were going to make an appearance, but you've been in my pack this whole time you naughty little rascal" Jing was her link to the creatures of the forest through him she could trade or even exchange bits of information with the native forest dwellers.

JulepDixen: The woods had grown very dark by this time, and very chilly, so she built a small fire.

DawnClyde: that bird’s watchful gaze made her curious, but Jing had already curled up and shut himself off from the world, and besides, she didn't even know if the bird was of the type that Jing could communicate with. The fire only provided so much warmth, so she decided to follow Jing's example, pulling a small fur from her pack she curled up near the fire. I can always puzzle it out tomorrow. She thought sleepily.

JulepDixen: She awoke bright and early the next morning. The bird was still there, the fire was out, and Jing had decided at some point during the night to crawl under her blankets.
________________________________________________________

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-09-22T13:58:00

2008-09-22T18:18:59Z

So aside from still coughing my lungs out, I'm feeling marginally better. I have my voice back, I feel awake, and my stomach has stopped churning everytime I think about doing something or eating. Food still tastes funny, but at least I can get it down. I think finally having a weekend to myself helped quite a bit. Still, going back to the doctor on Wednesday and hopefully getting a culture done to find out what exactly is causing me to be ill.

Idiot drivers

2008-09-13T17:02:27Z

Ok, so you've probably heard me say this before, but there are a TON of idiot drivers here in Tallahassee. Just today on my way home I was behind at least three different idiot drivers. The first one saw the speed limit sign that said 45mph and decided to go 35mph. Then, when another car turned onto the road, from a side road on the left hand side, turning to go the opposite way than the us, the guy in front of me decided to slam on his brakes and continue down the road at 20mph, finally turning off the road some five-seven miles later. Then another car gets in front of me and sees the speed limit sign and decides to go about 30mph instead of the 45mph. He finally turns off and just as I'm starting to reach the speed limit, another car comes zipping up a side road and pulls out directly in front of me without stopping at his stop sign, and proceeds to cruise along at 30mph, causing me to yet again hit the brakes.

Why can't people just obey the rules of the road and show courtesy to other drivers???? Is it really to much to ask???

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-09-09T15:52:00

2008-09-09T20:01:08Z

So I'm trying to come up with something that I can write about every week that won't be too long. Something that I could convince the Havana Herald to publish. So far the only thing I have come up with is "The Adventures of a Tallahassee Squirrel". But even with that title I can't seem to come up with any adventures for the squirrel. :( Any ideas anyone? (And no, mommy, I'm not going to write about my adventures as a student. I don't have any adventures as a student.)

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-09-03T08:33:00

2008-09-03T12:41:46Z

I was looking at the projected path for hurricane Hanna, and it just doesn't make sense to me. It looks like it turned around and is head back the way it came, but they still say that it is going to go up the east coast. To do that it would have to completely turn around and with the cold front and high pressure areas pushing it away, I don't see how it is going to do that. Now, I realize that I'm not a meteorologist, but it really doesn't make sense that a storm would turn completely around and head towards a high pressure area.

But, then again, it also doesn't make sense to me how parking at TCC could be even worse this semester than it was before when there is now a five or six story free parking garage on campus.

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-08-14T12:47:00

2008-08-14T16:49:27Z

Well, I auditioned for Singing in the Rain, but didn't get a callback. That probably means that if I do get cast, it probably won't be a speaking role. Bummer. :(

Last essay of the semester

2008-08-07T16:03:22Z

Well, this was the last essay of the summer term. It's really a letter, not an essay. I was supposed to write to future students of the class about how to get an F in the class. Enjoy.

Dear Students of Dr. Soldani:

If you’re reading this, you are probably looking for a shortcut to receive an A in the class you have selected. Good for you. I mean, who doesn’t want to get an A? But forget the A for a minute. Just let it leave your mind and disappear. Now, I am here to tell you a very well kept secret. It starts with the question: Why strive for an A, when you can get an F? Surprised? I thought you would be. You probably think I’m joking, but I’m not. I mean, think about it. Anyone can get an A, but it takes real skill to achieve an F. Everyone who goes to college wants to get an A. They never even think about being unique and striving for an F. Now you are probably wondering how you ‘strive’ for an F. Well, I am here to tell you the fool proof way of earning an F.

The first thing is to not go to class. Yes, I know, you are wondering how you will know what is going on in class if you never go. Well, in case you forgot, let me remind you why you are reading this. I’m telling you how to get an F. Not an A, B, C, or even a D. An F. So don’t go to class. That way you don’t know what is going on, or what is being taught, and you will surely fail the tests. Also, no notes. That means no reminders about what went on in class, and what was taught. Sounds awesome, right? Keep reading, because it gets better.

Don’t buy the books. Any of them. Don’t even think about them. Not even if you are dieing for something, anything to read. This way you won’t be able to study, thereby ensuring that you won’t know what the test questions are talking about, and resulting in a failing test grade. Besides, the books are a waste of money that could be used to go to the movies.

The essays are pretty much useless when you are aiming for an F. So ignore them. They take a lot of time and thought that could be used to go to the club or set up a party. I mean, about half of them are about the lectures anyways, and if you aren’t going to class, then it would be impossible to write them. A couple of the others are about the secondary book, so since you won’t be buying the books, you wouldn’t be able to write those either.

When it comes to the quizzes you may be thinking, “Well, they don’t count for credit, so why not go ahead and do them?” Don’t, I repeat, don’t take the quizzes. The tests are based on the quizzes, so if you finish the quizzes you might accidentally answer a test question correctly. Besides, who wants to waste their time on useless quizzes, anyway? Forget them, and you will find that you have much more time for things that you want to do. After all, they don’t count for credit.

Of course, you might as well skip the tests as well, because if you don’t study for them what’s the point in taking them? So as long as you’re skipping class, just go ahead and skip the days when there is a test. That way you are completely sure to fail.

So remember, don’t go to class, don’t get the books, forget the essays, ignore the quizzes, and after all that, go ahead and skip the tests as well. Just for good measure. If you follow these simple steps you won’t have a problem coming away with an F. You’ll be the pride of the school. After all, everyone respects unique people.

Wishing you all the luck in the world,
Dorothy Keckler

Now I'm going to review my spanish before the next semester starts. This semester's spanish is going to be difficult, since it's conversational spanish. Not just learning verbs, nouns, and conjugation. Now I have to be able to actually use it in a conversation.

Must be a record

2008-07-29T00:20:18Z

I just finished all of my school assignments, and it's not even nine o'clock yet. That has got to be a record for me. Also, I think the teacher messed up one of the questions. I'm not for certain sure, but I'm pretty sure.

Essay 5

2008-07-28T02:20:20Z

Here is essay numero cinco.

Essay 5

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” is a story about a girl who grows up in Brooklyn in pre-World War 1. The main underlying theme of the story, in my opinion, was that education is important. "That's what Mary Rommely, her mother had been telling her all those years, only her mother did not have the one clear word: education!" (207) The way that Francie fought to be allowed to continue school, the way her mother made Neeley go back, and the way that they both ended up going to college in the end, expresses how important education was to them at that time.

However, to make the money to eat, go to school, and pay the rent, they had to work hard. The mothers would scrub floors, the children might collect junk to sell, and the fathers either worked in factories or did odd jobs. “Everyone said it was a pity that a slight pretty woman like Katie Nolan had to go out scrubbing floors.” (12) As the children grew up, they would start working in factories, in offices, and, as in Neeley’s case, playing music at ice cream saloons. They weren’t always treated fairly, though, when it came to payment. For example, Francie’s employer gave her a promotion and only gave her a ten dollar raise, when the person who had the job before that had been making twenty dollars over what Francie was making. “You work eight hours a day covering wires to earn money to buy food and to pay for a place to sleep that you can keep living to come back to cover more wires.” (364) Of course, sometimes working was also a chance to learn. When Francie worked at the factory reading newspapers, marking and clipping them, she learned more about reading. When she worked in an office, she learned how to use a teletype machine, which is something she would have had to work harder at to learn in a school, if they even taught it in the schools at that time.

Teachers played an important role in children’s lives, like in Francie’s. While in the first school that she went to the teachers were unconcerned about the poorer children in their classes, the school she transferred to took more interest in their students. This is probably due to the fact that the larger school is where parents sent their children to get them out of the way while they tried to figure a way to support the family, so they were over crowded and didn’t have enough teachers for the amount of students. Smaller schools, which were probably privately owned, were able to provide better care for their students by hiring teachers who would take an interest in the students, and by regulating the number of students that they allowed to enroll. One teacher in particular had an impact on Francie, from the time that Francie told her a lie and the teacher encouraged her to, “In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened.” (199) Not all of the teachers were like this, of course, but the ones that were almost always had a positive impact the children’s lives.

With the heartache, hunger, cold, and sickness, there was always hope. The family that this story revolves around always held onto hope no matter how tough times got. Francie fought to go to college, even though she hadn’t gone to high school, studying for the entrance exams during her breaks at work and at meals. Neeley sang songs and play the piano, bringing happiness to himself and others. Baby Laurie brought hope to the family soon after the death of their father. Then there was the tree, from the title of the book. This tree continued to try and grow even in adversity. "A new tree had grown from the stump and its trunk had grown along the ground until it reached a place where there were no wash lines above it.” (493)

Considering that this story was from the perspective of a really poor girl growing up in Brooklyn, it was a widely known perspective of that time. There were a lot of poor people in the cities who had to live in crowded apartments during that time. Whether this occurred because they couldn’t find work to support themselves, or because they wouldn’t, is up for speculation. The author seems to dwell more upon the ones who tried and failed, such as the girls who had a baby out of wedlock because the man ran off when he found out she was pregnant.

It really doesn't make sense to me

2008-07-28T00:43:12Z

I find myself writing more essays in history then I did when I took english. Two of them were summaries of lectures, and two of them are about a book that has a setting in history in some way or another. And the ones about the book are worth more than the ones about the lectures. Go figure. I have to write an essay every week for this class.

I'm learning English in a History class. It should be a double credit class.

And they tell me that community colleges are much easier than regular colleges. Yeah right.

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-07-27T13:57:00

2008-07-27T18:00:10Z

I finally got my headshots!!! Yay!!!

In other news, I'm still working on my astronomy tests and history essay.

I'm also starting to get seriously annoyed at the boys and Catherine.

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-07-25T14:16:00

2008-07-25T18:19:43Z

So this weekend I have 3 take home tests for astronomy, research about global warming for astronomy, a 1000 word essay for history, and ushering at TLT.

It's going to be a long weekend.

Random thoughts

2008-07-23T18:12:44Z

I was wondering the other night, why do people watch television? Sure, it entertains, but why do they really watch it? I find myself getting bummed out and depressed when I watch shows and movies lately. Yet, I still continue to watch.

Then again, maybe people really do watch it just because it's entertaining.

And maybe I'm just an irrational person.

Or something like that, anyway.

Essay 4

2008-07-18T12:10:51Z

I hate essays. Here's number four. Two more to go.

Essay 4

First we went over how the Creel Committee, who made films and speeches about how we should de-Germanize America, was started at the beginning of WWI. They made suggestions like changing the names of things that had German names. In WWI you were not allowed to have a substitute, unlike earlier wars where you could pay someone to go to war in your place. We briefly discussed the 14 points speech and how Woodrow Wilson said that if they were followed there would be lasting peace. The treaty of Versailles was the end of the war, and with it France and England pushed hard terms on Germany to essentially punish them for the war.

Next we went over consumerism, the selling of stuff that people didn’t need until the papers told them they did, such as halitosis, the disease that didn’t exist. Companies wanted to sell Listerine so they came up with a phony disease. Other examples are Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable compound, which had opium in it to make people feel better and to get them hooked, and Lysol disinfectant, to keep everything sparkling clean.

After the war came the 18^th amendment and the Volstead act, also known as prohibition. The Volstead act was the enabling legislation for the 18^th amendment. However, you could still get alcohol by getting a prescription. Then there was “Irish coffee”, which was whiskey in a coffee cup.

During the depression Hoover opposed direct federal relief. He was so disliked that people named things after him, such as run down towns being called “Hoovervilles”. One such Hooverville was ordered burned down by Hoover, because the occupants were the veterans from WWI who were marching on the white house asking to get their promised bonuses early.

Hitler wrote the book “Mein Kampf” laying out his plan of restoring Germany to its former greatness. He had a four step plan outlined, namely, to repeal the treaty of Versailles, annexing all German speakers into Germany, lebensraum in East, (Poland), and eliminate all the Jews from Europe. In WWII he will implement all of these steps.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact renounced war as an instrument of national policy, and sixty-one nations signed it, all agreeing to stay out of war. The stock market crashed in 1929 because the Dawes Plan had the money going around in circles and growing less and less.

There was the 1932 election with Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Roosevelt winning. He got the Glass-Steagall Banking act in one day, making all the banks federally regulated. It guaranteed people’s money that was deposited up to five thousand dollars.

Germany and Russia publicly sign the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, which agrees that they will split Poland. Shortly after, Russia tells Germany that they are going to invade Poland, so Germany goes to war Poland.

Congress passed two neutrality acts, one in 1935 and another in 1936. The first placed an embargo on arms dealing with warring countries, and the second said that all Americans traveling on warring ships were traveling at their own risk.

Motorcycle statistics

2008-07-17T21:52:46Z

Mommy gave me a challenge: to prove statistically that it would be safer for me to have a motorcycle. Unfortunately, I can't find any statistics about scooters, but here is what I can find and form about motorcycles.

less then 50% fatally injured wear a helmet ---- helmets reduce likelihood of fatalities by 29% in crash
50% of fatalities from failure to negotiate a curve
over 80% of fatalities occur off road
almost 2/3 of fatalities because of speeding ---- 1998, 41% of all fatal crashes were speeding
almost 1/3 did not have proper license
1998 had higher intoxication than other type of driver at 31%
nighttime driving accounts for 60%
2006 motorcyclists accounted for 11% of total traffic fatalities
2005 - 4,553 fatalities - 49% had previous violation on their license, more than 90% occurred in urban and rural areas, of those that were killed - 97% were males and 3% were females,

______________________________

I wear a helmet, thereby reducing my chances of having a fatal accident by 29%. Almost all of my driving is on major roads, and none of it is off road. I don't drive at night if I can help it, and when I do, I'm especially careful. I took the motorcycle safety course, therefore I can have a proper license, and since most of the course is about how to properly negotiate a curve, I am fairly certain that I won't have any problems in that area. I don't drink. I drive at a speed within the law. I don't have any violations on my license, and I am a female.

Thoughts about movies

2008-07-15T18:41:20Z

How do you find movies to watch that you think you will like? What are some of the criteria that you look for in choosing the next one that you watch?

Me, I look at a couple of different things. For instance, I look at the name of the movie. If I’m scanning titles and see something like “Hide and Seek” I’ll almost certainly skip it in favor of the one called “Hitman”, because it sounds more like my kind of movie. Sometimes, though, I’ll see an actor that I think did a good job and I’ll search for other movies that that actor has played in. For example, I liked Steven Seagal in “Above the Law” so I went and found more movies that he had acted in. While they weren’t of the same quality as the first one, they were all the same basic type of movie that I happen to enjoy.

So, how do you choose your next movie?

Essay 3

2008-07-11T09:50:04Z

Here's my third essay for history. It's really more of a book report about the secondary book that we had to choose. 500-600 word limit, discussing whether or not I had picked the right book for myself.

Essay 3

It took me the whole first chapter and part of the second to decide if A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was the right book for me. The place where I decided it was the right one was just after the start of chapter two, where it talks about how Francie read a book everyday, in alphabetical order, and allowed herself an extra one, out of alphabetical order, on Saturdays. However, while it has so far been informative in a slightly entertaining way, it is not the kind of novel that I am accustomed to reading. Where I usually read an action/adventure novel, such as a western, mystery, or science fiction, this story really has no ‘exciting’ parts in it. I picked it because it did sound like an interesting novel, and while I haven’t actually finished reading it yet, there have been some interesting parts so far.

One part that interested me was the part about the ‘junkie’ who would buy junk from people. This gave children a chance to earn a little money for themselves or for their families. In this particular story, the junkie preferred buying from girls rather than boys, and would sometimes give a girl a bonus penny if they let him pinch their cheek. “Carney would give a girl an extra penny if she did not shrink when he pinched her cheek. Because of the possibility of this bonus, Neeley stepped aside and let Francie drag the bag into the stable.” Considering the shortage of money in those days, this was usually a wise course of action. This would give the children an extra penny to either save or spend on a special treat. However, Neeley and Francie had made an agreement that if she earned the “pinching penny” then she got to keep it.

I also found the penny candy stores interesting. Considering that you cannot buy anything for a penny these days, it is interesting to see that back then children could buy themselves a treat for only one cent.

From what I gathered by looking through the book, (since it doesn’t have a table of contents,) it’s divided into five sections. The first section is about Francie, and how she and her family lived. Working hard, collecting junk to sell to the junkie, reading books from the small library to pass what little free time there was, and saving money in the little tin can that they kept in the closet. “Half of any money they got from anywhere went into the tin can bank that was nailed to the floor in the darkest corner of the closet.” The second section is about how her mother met her father. How he was at first attracted to her best friend, but then fell in love with her. Right up through the part where they married and had their daughter Francie.

Like I mentioned in the beginning, I haven’t finished reading the book, but with the way it’s going, I will most likely finish it in another day or two, even though it’s not my usual type of book. Considering everything, I feel that I made the best choice for my secondary book.

Some people...

2008-07-10T19:08:02Z

There is this guy in my history class that sits right in front of me. He likes to stretch a LOT. And everytime he stretches, he leans waaaay back and over my desk. When I'm trying to take notes. It's sooooooooooo annoying. What's worse, during the test the other day, I had to stop writing every 20-25 seconds because I couldn't see my paper. I almost didn't get my test done in time, and had to rush some of the essay questions.

Seriously. Some people just have no regard for other's personal space.

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-07-09T14:32:00

2008-07-09T18:40:14Z

There is this church on 27, and in the afternoon the cross attached to the building casts a perfect X on the roof. It makes me think of every movie or show that I have seen that paint a big X an old building or piece of machinery and use them for target practice. I wonder if anyone who goes to that church has noticed that they have a target mark on their roof??? Or am I the only one who would think of something like this?

O_O

Mental wanderings...

2008-07-08T18:45:20Z

As I sit here half asleep, I find myself wondering about stuff. Such as, HOW could I NOT know where Aladdin's is??? It's right behind daddy's office! All those time I didn't go with the group when they went there, because "I didn't know where it is".

All those missed opportunities...

Oh well.

haunted_phoenix @ 2008-07-07T14:22:00

2008-07-07T18:24:03Z

I was just looking through my LJ account and saw that I only have family on my friends list. :( Wow. I need more of my friends to join so that I get more comments on my posts.