Mind of Marisa

Thanksgiving is almost here! Here is a list of what I am thankful for!

1. Every day I am thankful for my close group of friends who always keeps my life interesting! My weekends are never boring when I’m with them!

2. I am thankful for my family even though half of them live miles and miles away. Getting an occasional call from my nephews and nieces makes me eager to see them again!

3. Choosing a college can be very hard and stressful for many high school seniors. I am thankful that this decision has been fairly easy for me. Can’t wait for Dordt!!!

4. Every year my family has a Thanksgiving reunion at the community center. We spend our time eating tons of food and playing games. I am thankful for this fun and tasty tradition!

5. I also give thanks for a nice, long break from school this weekend and that I have the opportunity to go Black Friday shopping and spend all my time with friends and family!

6. I am thankful to be a part of the senior class of 2010!!! I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to spend my four years of high school with. I will definitely miss seeing these people!!

7. I am so thankful that Western has been blessed with so many athletes. Because of their amazing talents, we get to take  breaks from school and cheer on the various teams at state!

8. I am so thankful that my entire family has avoided the swine flu! We’ve been blessed with a great deal of health and strength!

9. I am thankful that I have a job where I get to work with fun people and am basically my own boss!

10. Finally, I am thankful for the Christian education and values that my family, school, and church has instilled in me over the years.

What’s up with the world’s sudden fascination of vampires these days? Every where I turn, I see movies, books, TV series, etc. that have something to do with these imaginary creatures.  Was Twilight the fire behind this surge of blood-sucking icons? Well, I’m not about to research this topic because I have no interest in this new ‘fad’ which the world has sadly latched on to.  I’m only interested in why everyone else is so interested!

So, if you’re one of those people who is obsessed with vampires, please tell me why. I just don’t understand.

When I Googled my name, I found my Facebook page, my family tree, the Honor Roll on the Western Witness, and my accident report!! Some might be worried to have their Facebook profile be so accessible, but not me. I have nothing to hide. My profile is just filled with my favorite movies, interests, pictures, and bumper stickers! I have NO personal information on my page, and I do not post any negative comments toward anyone. To my surprise, however, I did not find my Edublogger’s blog on Google.  I guess that’s because I don’t use my full name. In the end, I think I have a pretty positive digital footprint.

I would only use my real name and post a picture of myself on the Internet if I knew the sight was safe and protected. Nobody can access my Facebook page without becoming my ‘friend’ first, so I don’t see why that would be a problem.

I believe my parents are responsible for teaching me how to become ‘internet savvy.’ They should be aware of what you post on the Web and set guidelines for you to follow.

When registering for a website, I think it’s ok to include my full name, address, phone number and age, but only if I’m are familiar with the site and know it’s safe. It’s not ok, however, to give them a credit card number or medical information.

My college composition class is learning all the definitions and uses of commonly mistaken words. For example, what’s the difference between accept and except? The next paragraph is a completely random and made-up story with a bunch of these confusing words. Enjoy!

As I set the table for supper, my principal called and asked to talk to my mother. I was so scared that I was in trouble that I dropped the good China plate and watched as it fell into a million pieces. My breath was caught in my throat, and my conscience started telling me everything I had done wrong.  Earlier that day I threw a paper airplane at the teacher and had supposedly “disturbed the peace.” Apparently having fun is against his principles. The day continued to replay itself in my head, and I was brought back to lunch time. I was all ready to eat my dessert when suddenly from between the pillars came Bob, the bully whose teasing drove me to anger every day. He began to sit down at my table. There was no way I was going to put up with this kid, so I proceeded to pull his chair from underneath him. As Bob began his descent towards the dirty, tile floor, I moved to a table much farther from the inevitable trouble. I found myself among the Nerds. They’re always talking about math and science and the “thorough research done by NASA.” Gus, their leader, tried to elicit my reaction to global warming. I was confused, so I stole two of his fries. I had fewer than he did anyway! He got mad and asked where I had learned such terrible manners. “You’re mean,” said Gus as he laid his head down and cried. I rolled my eyes and stole his milk, too because, once again, I had less in my carton! The effect of my behavior led Gus to lose his mind. I was annoyed. Then I looked at his everyday shoe lying on the ground and noticed that its laces were loose. “Who’s going to pass up this opportunity?” I thought to myself. I was further in knowledge than these nerds realized. With my sneaky skills, I crawled under the table and started to tie Gus’s shoelace to the table leg. I got the first lace through the loop when it suddenly got really quiet in the cafeteria. I could no longer hear Gus cry or breathe. I poked my head out from the table and saw the principal staring at me with eyes as unforgiving as the heat of the desert. “Get your butt over here right now!” I pulled myself off the ground and went straight to his office. “Your attitude today is not, by any means, decent!” he said to me. “It’s embarrassing! The teachers and I cannot accept this illicit behavior any longer. We’re trying to decide your punishment.” As I sat in the chair listening to him, I suddenly became conscious of how my rude behavior affected others. I felt sorry for all the people I hurt, except Bob the bully; he deserved it because he stole my lead pencils the other day. The principal pulled me from my thoughts and let me out of his office.  And that was how my school day went. I stopped replaying the day in my head and looked once again at the shattered plate on the ground. My mom got off the phone with my principal and was not happy. Apparently she heard every detail of my behavior. Other than getting 3 detentions from the principal, I was also grounded for breaking her good China. What a lovely day.

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Our College Composition class was assigned to read an article from the Seattle Times called “Educators Blame Internet for Rise in Student Cheating”.  To sum it up, its basically about how more and more high school and college students are resorting to plagiarism when writing papers or completing assignments.  Whether by copying and pasting or by buying complete essays from certain websites, education systems are starting to crack down. Many schools can buy an Internet detection service which surveys billions of websites to find out if a student cheated or not.

Since I was little I knew that plagiarism is wrong, but I must admit that I have committed this felony at least once, if not more.  Like many other students, I simply wanted to get my paper done.  A lot of times I just did not understand what I was supposed to be writing about, so I confided in a more reliable source-the Internet.  Therefore, I can easily identify with this article.

In my opinion, it is a good idea that schools are setting rules concerning cheating and plagiarism. Receiving credit for an idea or thought that is not your own is not right; it is against the law. Using this Internet detection service is a great way to monitor the honesty and integrity of the students, but from my observations of teenagers, I believe that they will find another way to cheat. One can never underestimate the mind and will power of a teen.  

There are many assumptions about Canada and the people that live there. One of these assumptions is that Canada is cold and snowy all year round. Canadians are often labeled as weird and isolated from the rest of the world. While this may be true for some, it is not true for all. I have family that lives up there (sister, brother-in-law, 2 nephews, and 2 nieces), and a lot of times I will tease them for being Canadian. I will make sarcastic remarks about their accents or vocabulary, but it’s all in good fun. They make fun of our President, so I guess that makes us even. Canada is a neat country to visit, and I hope to go there again sometime!

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12268891@N02/3481112269/

Friend. Webster’s definition of this word is this: a person whom one knows well and is fond of.  Webster did a pretty decent job at defining this word, but for some reason I feel like a friend is much more than just someone I’m “fond” of.

My definition of the word ‘friend’ is this (which I must admit is much better than Webster’s): a trustworthy, unrelated and revised version of a sister/brother who knows you inside and out, can be with you for hours on end and still hang out with you the next day, and who will always be there for you no matter what.

I told you my version was better!

As you having probably already figured out, my greatest interest is hanging out with my friends. One of these friends is Nicole. She is one of the sweetest and nicest people I know. Being mean is not one of her strong points at all! She loves to have fun and always makes us laugh (she has many blonde moments). The stories she tells us are so interesting and hilarious, and she never seems to be in a bad mood. She has been my friend since the beginning of high school, and I love her to death! We both go to Western Christian and love cheering for our Wolfpack!

So here’s are links to Nicole’s blog and my school’s website.

Nicole’s Blog
Western Christian High School

Remember the 90′s? I was born in this decade and can remember many of the fads and fashions of that crazy time. Some of them I miss, and some of them, well, let’s just say I’d rather forget.  Here are a few examples of what I am talking about.

Teletubbies: This TV show used to be HUGE back in the day. Personally, I hated this show. I was much too mature to watch a bunch of stuffed aliens (or whatever they were) waddle around.

BIG bangs: Poofy, curled-under bangs piled with hairspray used to be the style back in the day, believe it or not. I do not understand how my mother thought this was a cute hairstyle. How can any little girl look good with a hair ball coming out of her forehead?

Overalls: These didn’t always just belong to farmers and old men. Overalls used to be worn by basically everyone. In fact, when I was little, I owned a pair of overalls with Pooh Bear and all his friends on the front. Thank goodness they got out of style!

Frilly socks: Back in the 90′s nearly every little girl I knew owned a pair of sock with beads and/or lace on the ends. Usually these fancy socks were reserved for church on Sundays or special occasions. Nowadays everyone has ankle socks…no more beads. What a tragedy.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Haha, what 90′s kid DIDN’T say this when they were little. This used to be the ultimate comeback! What’s today’s ultimate comeback? It usually involves something about your face or your mom.

So does this post make you miss the 90′s or be very thankful the future has finally come? Maybe I’ll add more memorable fads and fashions of this decade if I think of some. I’d love to know what YOU remember, miss, or hated about the 90′s; so leave a comment and share it with me!

I love commenting on people’s blogs, and I love receiving comments from my classmates and all sorts of people around the world. I am not picky about what comments I accept. Pretty much all comments get my approval accept one’s that are inappropriate, of course.

Yes, I will moderate my comments, or approve them before they appear on my blog.

Yes, you can leave comments that criticize my grammar and spelling.  I won’t be offended. No hard feelings, right?

To tell you the truth, I really have no interest in blogging. The only reason I joined the blogging challenge was because my College Composition teacher told our whole class to do it. 

No, I do not want to take part in the commenting section. I only want to do the better blogger thing! At least, that’s what my teacher told me to do.

I really hope this blogging challenge includes ideas for what I am supposed to blog about. I always run stuck on ideas, and it would be SO nice if the computer just told me what to write! 

By the end of the ten weeks, I hope to become more savvy with computers and the complex blogging world. Improving my writing and typing skills would be a plus, too!