Week 8A : The Briggsy Awards

Most Interesting Part of This Class: It was really interesting trying to come up with stories and poems. Stories were a lot easier to think of, but the poems were difficult to start. They got a lot easier, and I was really surprised at how much easier it got just with practice.
Most Boring/Useless Part of This Class: Um...There isnt really much that i can say here. When i didn't know what to write about or was having an off day it was kinda boring but other than that the class was really intertaining and fast pace.
Hardest I Laughed in This Class: LOTS OF TIMES! probably when Sam was 'pregnant' and Chases stupid puns (sorry chase) and making fun of brigs and when Emily...yeah. i promised i wont telll :p
Thing That I Learned That Will Be Most Useful to Know in the Real World: You dont always get your way and you arent always gonna be the best. But a 'B' is just fine. You dont have to get straight 'A's cause after high school and college, those things dont matter. No one cares after that. So why stress about one 'B' when there are so many other things in life to worry about?
Best Thing About Brigs as a Teacher: Brigs was possibly my favorite teacher this year. Yeah, the class was really hard to keep up with sometimes, but when Brigs wont get off your back about assignments (and yearbook stories) you get things done. Brig's also believes that he's funny. But he doesnt know we laugh at his jokes to be nice. hahaha.
Thing Brigs Could do to Make This Class Better For Future Classes: More time for a few things, but then again, you wouldnt have enough time for the end of the semester stuff.

My parents were ... different. My mom was really pretty in high school and she had a lot of friends, but when she became pregnant her senior year, she kind of became an outcast of sorts. My dad was a huge jock; He wrestled and played football. He was the kind of guy who a lot of people liked, but he wasn't really part of the "popular people" because he wouldn’t drink. Neither would my mom.
I was at their wedding; It was December 18th. (5 days before my first birthday) It was a really pretty wedding, to say the least. My dad's a huge country-/cow-boy, so he and the groomsmen wore cowboy hats and cowboy boots. Mom got to pick the colors then.
Before I was born, they basically had to deal with high school stuff. My mom really had a lot to deal with, but dad didn't he just had to figure out how he was gonna take care of our family I guess?

Week 6A: Movie Adaptations

If I could choose a TV show that I'd love to have made into a movie, it would be Boy Meets World. No one would leave; it'd be the original cast. The movie would basically be about them after college. Who married who and what really happened to Cory and Topanga.
Maybe it could be Cory having a dream like Eric did in that one episode. Cory and Topanga could be fighting or something and Cory has this dream about them when they get a little older and then when he wakes up everything's all better and he realizes how much he loves her and how they arent meant to be together till the day they die. (: (also Shawn should become a teacher.)

Week 5A: Looking Forward

I really cant wait for this summer. This school year seems to be taking forever, but this summer's gonna fly by. I'm going to DC this summer for band. We're marching in the Independence Day Parade in July 4th at Capital Hill. It's gonna be AMAZING! But a lot of people are probably gonna pass out due to dehydration. We leave on the 1st at night and wont be back till the 6th. Other than that, I'm babysitting this summer and going on a trip with my youth to Shelbyville. We camp out in tents by the lake for the weekend and spend the entire day in the water. It's a lot of fun, but last year it rained the everyday we were there and we woke up soaked EVERYDAY and ended up having to leave early. But it was still a ton of fun.

Week 4A : Top Ten

Top Ten Things on my "Bucket List"

1- Go sky diving; For some reason free falling toward earth with the treat of dying sounds thrilling!
2- Own a mustang; Even it is the day I die I want to own my very own Shelby Cobra and have someone drive me around in it all day.
3- Own my own architectural firm; I'm planning on going to college and studying architectural design. I'm also a controlling person who has a lot of ideas and I'd really like to develop this design program that I've been figuring out for a while now...I'm a nerd. I know.
4- Live in Japan; Last year, Olivia and I decided that when our husbands die and we're old we're gonna take a ton of money and go live in Japan for a year or so.
5- See as many places in the world as possible and spend every dollar I make trying to make the world a better place. No one needs a ton of money to live, and why do we need the highest quality things too? There are kids in Africa and many other places that are dying. How hard would it be to help prevent a few deaths if everyone helped chip in to save them?
6- Be in more than two places at once; In A Walk to Remember Jamie tells Landon she wants to be in two places at once and she proves that you can be...But how hard would it be to be in more than two places at once? Is it possible?
7- Take a bus across the country; I've talked to a few people who've actually done this and they said it's something they'll never forget and they wouldn’t change anything if they could because they learned a lot from it. I want to meet a ton of weird random people with awesome stories, and from what I hear; a Greyhound bus is a great place to do so...
8- Travel through Europe living out of a back pack; I've always wanted to go to Europe and see all the sites possible, and after my uncle went, I wanted to go even more. Sometime, I'd like to just get a plane ticket to go over there and then just stay until I've seen everything on my list. Maybe I'll buy a ticket to fly back to the states, but who knows for sure.
9- Trace my family's roots; When I asked my grandma what I am, she said I was basically a mix of everything, which sounds about right. But I'd really like to find out exactly where my great great great grandparents grew up and go visit there. I feel like there's a lot that I can learn about myself from finding out where I came from.
10- To make a difference in someone’s life and see the impact i had on them ; Kinda self explanatory but it's definitely something I want to see. My friends are always saying that I'll never know what all I've done for them, but I'd really like to see. Not even like what I did for them, but what they learned from me and what they did with it, cause that's something that you never really know.

Week 3A : Casting Your Life...

If my life became a blockbuster, i think Bethany Joy Galeotti would play me. My best friend would be that girl who sits in the corner and sees so much more than what meets the eye, like Peyton. She's a very artsy kind of girl and enjoys being depressed. My other best friend is a lot more like Brooke. If you know my best friends, you would understand.
The guys in my life totally relate to the guys in one tree hill. Which is rediculous. But still. It's true. My best friend is just as confused and lost and scared as Lucas, but can still have a ton of fun and be cool to hang out with. Then there's Mouth. He's a nerd, and he's a lot like another one of my friends.
My parents though, are nothing like anyone in the show. They're more like...Sandy and Kristen Cohen from the O.C. Totally in love and still struggling with all of lifes troubles in a very down to earth kinda of way...

Week 2A - The Ideal Mate

In order for him to be my "ideal mate," he has to be tall. I'd say between 5'9" and 6'. I prefer darker hair; blondes really just aren’t my thing. I love blue or green eyes. He can’t be too skinny, but he can’t be fat. Muscular is good, but not too muscular. He'd be interested in a lot of the same things as me, and HAS to love music. That’s nonnegotiable. He has to be a polite eater and have good table manners; gross eaters are disgusting. He has to be willing to work and be athletic and into sports. If he’s not a Cardinals, Bears or Illini fan, it’s not exactly a deal breaker— but if there’s any combination of those, it will be. He has to be a Christian and be active in his church and faith. And if he’s a cowboy, that makes all this even better (:

Week 1A : I'm so sorry...

To my dearest, loving, reliable iPod,
I'm sorry I never remember to take you places. I always leave you at home and I know you get fed up with it, always sitting there just waiting on me to come back to you. But you're getting a little...crowded. So I think we need to...take a break. Just for a while. Maybe someday, I’ll come back to you but, right now, I need a break. You have nothing new to offer me anymore. You just can’t give me what I need. It’s time to upgrade. I need more space. I’m sorry.
Sincerely,
Andrea

Week 8 : A House's History

Way back in the day, around 1954, my house was just being built. There werent any other houses on my road. Or even in the town. A southern family had moved north in search of more land. They were in their 30's. There were lots of trees and the river wasnt there yet. That was man made years later. The closest stores were 10 miles away and the closest neighbors were at the very least 5 miles away.

Week 7 : My Odd Habit

So one really odd habit that I have is the order i do things in the morning. When i wake up i have to get all my clothes that i'm gonna wear and drape them over my arm. Then i run to the bathroom because the floors cold. I hang my clothes on the shelf thing in the bathroom with the pegs, separating them into two groups. My jeans go on one peg and everything else on the other. Then i grab my towels. First, the wash cloth, then my hair towel and then the big towel. I set them on the lid of the toilet and then turn on the water. I have to start with the right knob and then the left, then i have to put my hand in the water right afterwards to check the temperature.

Week 6 : I hate my job

I hate having to go down to the barn and do the chores and clean up. If i actually had to do the chores everyday then i wouldnt be happy. But if it were a horse farm i guess it'd be okay. I like horses but I hate the chickens. They always chase you. And i hate having to do chores in the winter or when it's storming. It gets really muddy when it rains and then it smells really bad. Sometimes if you arent paying attention the dumb dogs will fallow you but way too closely and then they end up tripping you and sometimes you fall all the way to the ground and get real muddy and gross.

Week 5 : Snopes

Until today I had no idea that Disneyland had a "unwritten dress code" and until the late 1960's Disneyland workers would have to ask all males with long hair to leave the park because they weren’t fit to enter. Also, workers weren’t allowed to have mustaches that are neatly trimmed until 2000. Its quiet ridiculous that they control everything about these people, including their appearance. I thought that there was some law about this but I could be completely imagining this. Disneyland is crazy. They're so psycho. No one should EVER be able to control you and the way you look.

Week 4 : Beloved Toy

My favorite toys growing up were my Barbies. I used to play with them all the time. I only stopped to eat dinner and then came right back to where I left off. A lot of my friends never liked Barbie's, so I never really played with them when my friends came over. I was all alone till much later in life and then I found a friend to play Barbies with. We'd hide in my basement, and play Barbie's in the corner of the laundry room, careful to close the door behind us so that no one knew. It was embarassing to still be playing, but it brought us back to those days when life was simple and easy. It gave us the opportunity to get out of our lives and into a life we created. We could "live" any life we could imagine, even if it was for only a short time. It was our way of dealing with our problems. Ignoring them felt so much easier than dwelling on them and pondering them all the time. Our lives were simple in that dimly lit laundry room with our Barbie's in hand.

Week 3 : Dear Kiddo

Hello Kid.
Welcome to the world. Hopefully you're a girl otherwise my advice might not always help you.
Dream big dreams; dont let anyone tell you no. Work toward your dreams and making them possible and all the right things will fall into place. Trust that all the details will all fit together in the end.
Dont worry about stupid, petty high school drama. The things that happen will make you become who you are meant to be. And just keep in mind, guys will be guys; girls will be girls. Stuff happens. No one is perfect. Just take things as they are and dont try to change it. Learn to deal with your problems. It makes life easier for all involved. But you'll probablly be a lot like me, and I tend to talk through my problems with anyone who'll listen. Choose someone who is trustworthy and honest if you do need someone :)
All in all, life is what you make it. Do anything to make yourself happy, but dont do anything stupid. Dont let things get you down. Keep your head up child :)

Week 2 : fear

Under the covers I heard a sound. The usual bumps in the night tend to leave me motionless in my bed but this one was different. It was more than a bump. There was someone in my room. I felt their presence, and it wasn’t a welcoming feeling. No, it was hostile. I lay as still as I could, psyching myself up for what I was about to do. I convinced myself to be logical. There was no one in the room. No one would be able to get into my house, especially without anyone hearing them. I would simply roll over and stop being ridiculous. It was so childish of me to lay there and believe that someone was in my room. But I couldn’t get the courage.

All of the sudden, the feeling got closer, and then through the silence I heard someone say “Don’t move.” Silence fallowed immediately. Now, I was completely freaked out. When I finally got the courage to roll over and see, there was nothing, except a little light shining in the corner. They looked like eyes…

Week 1 : the definition of poetry

Poems are a piece writing written in stanzas. Sometimes they rhyme and other times they don't. To me a poem is just when someone writes about something that is really important to them. It could be a person, an emotion, a place, anything but it's important. It's a part of their life story. It means something to them. Sometimes it's about an argument or something you witness happening. It could be a personal thing or you could be writing from someone else's point of view. Most poems talk about an emotion. They have creative, descriptive words. If they don't, they tend to be "weak."