Spring Break

One thing that I hope to do over Spring Break is visit the Aut-O-Rama drive in theater. A drive in is a theater with an outside movie screen (usually 80-150 feet tall) and no seats. Instead, a person drives their car up to the theater, parks their vehicle, and sit in it the duration of the movie(s). Since a drive in is an outdoor theater, it is closed most of the fall and all of winter. Every year in spring, the Aut-O-Rama opens up and starts a great season of fun, movies, and great food.

This Friday, April 4th, is opening weekend for the Aut-O-Rama. They are going to show "Captain America : The Winter Soldier" and "Thor : The Dark World" on Screen One. Additionally, they are going to show "Frozen" and "The Lego Movie" on Screen Two. I can not wait to go see Captain America in another great Marvel movie!

Some food that the drive in offers include french fries, hot dogs, hamburgers and cheeseburgers, subs, pizza, assorted candy, ice cream, and of course, popcorn. The food at the drive in is the best food in the world. It tastes amazing, which probably means it is bad for a person's health, but that really does not matter. It is too good to pass up! I can not wait to be back out there in just a short few hours.

Flying or Invisibility

If I had to choose between flying or being able to be invisible, I would choose flying. Flying is something that humans have wanted to do since the beginning of time. We wanted to do it so much that we even invented a machine to do it for us, the plane. It would be amazing to have the ability to just get up and fly anywhere I wanted for any reason at all.

Flying is also the best form of transportation. I would no longer need a car or expensive gas to fuel it. When I want to go somewhere, I could just get up and fly. Additionally, there would be no traffic to get in my way, so I would arrive at my destination faster. Once I got to my destination, I would not need a parking spot. I would just land and walk in to my destination.

Flying has so many more advantages. It is more practical. It is also easier to manage. Invisibility would be used to do bad or mischievous tasks, neither of which I would do. Since I would not do these, there is no need for me to have invisibility. Flying would be the better choice by a long shot.

Advice for Class of 2017

One bit of advice that I would offer to the Class of 2017 for OGTs next year is not to freak of too much. The tests are very easy, and most of the answers to the questions are right there on the test. Here are some helpful tips for all five of the tests :

• Writing - Learn sentence structure. It will be helpful if the person taking the tests can tell what type of sentence it is and to know how to write those sentences. Use a VARIETY of sentence structures throughout the essays.
• Writing / Reading - Learn how to analyze texts to look for answers and quotes for later.
• Writing - Learn the "Five Paragraph" writing style and how to use graphic organizers, webs, and rough copies. This will come in handy when writing the essays on the test.
• Science - Study up on Physical Science, Earth and Space Science, Biology, and Technology. Be ready to write at least one extended response / short answer for each category.
• Math - Do not worry about memorizing formulas, as they are available on the test for you. But, know how to use the formulas in certain situations.
• History - Concentrate on Economics, Government, and the Industrial Revolution. These areas are hit hard on the tests.
• Reading - Look for the answers in the story! Most of them are right in front of the test taker.
• Reading - When writing extended responses and short answers, always quote the story to back up the answer given.

Good luck! I am sure everyone will do just fine.

Desperate Measures

Sometimes in life, people get stuck in situations that they might not want to be in. Once in these situations, it may be extremely hard or impossible to get out. Sometimes, people might feel like they are stuck in an unfixable situation, and they might try some desperate measures. I personally have not had many of these types of situations, but have had a few. One particular time that I was stuck in one of these situations was last year in English class.

One thing that I strive for in school is a perfect 4.0 GPA. It is very hard to earn that high of a GPA, and takes a dedication throughout the whole semester. To earn an overall A in a class, you have to earn an A in both grading periods and an A, B, or C on the midterm/final OR earn an A in one grading period, a B in another grading period, and an A on the midterm/final. As I was nearing the end of the second semester, I was pretty much ensured and A in each class except for English. It was looking like I was going to earn a B for the second grading period, which means I would have to get an A on the final, something which seemed nearly impossible.

Once I realized that my GPA was in jeopardy, I went to Mrs Roberts to ask her what I could do to bring my grading period grade to an A. She told me that I had already completed all of the extra credit that she assigned, and that it looked like I was going to get a B for the semester. After talking to her a bit longer, she told me that there was one thing I could do to get an A for the grading period. She wanted me to write an essay describing what Early College is, the advantages of attending Early College, the disadvantages of attending Early College, and my personal opinion. I leaped at the chance to do this, so I began my work as soon as I got home.

The essay turned out to take longer than I expected, and was longer in length than Mrs Roberts expected. After it was all finished, I put in about 8-10 hours of work to get it done. It was five paragraphs in length, and was well worded and contained quite a few points and focuses for each of the four segments talked about. Mrs Roberts found it to meet her needs and excepted it. At the end of the semester, I got a B on the final. With the essay added into my 4th grading period grade, I got an A. It was a good thing that I did the essay, or else my GPA would have dropped.

What my trash can looked like when writing...

Trust Me

I have had to convince many people of many different things in my life. Sometimes I have been wrong, and sometimes I have been right. My favorite instance of being right occurred a couple of years ago at Cedar Point. I was at the park with my friend named Brad and his family. Although they had been to Cedar Point quite a few times before, Brad had not ridden a lot of the taller and faster rides. As we were walking through the park, I mentioned that we should ride Millenium Force. Millenium Force is my all time favorite ride at Cedar Point. Everyone in the group agreed that we should ride except for Brad. After a bit of "pep talk" from his family and I, we at least convinced him to stand in line with us until we got to the station. Unfortunately, it was a busy summer day at the park, so there was a two hour wait. We ended up waiting that time, which was actually three hours after some mechanical issues. Once we got to the station, Brad was determined that he was not going to ride. We talked to him, and after a bit of force (his dad literally picked him up and put him in the ride seat), we were ready to ride. Although it was Brad's first time riding, it was at least my 100th. The ride went smooth with a lot of screaming from Brad, but once we pulled back into the station, he had the look on his face. Anyone who has ridden Millenium Force knows what look I am talking about. The wide eyes, fast heartbeat, messed up hair, and the smirk. All of these were signs that he enjoyed the ride. Now, Millenium Force is Brad's favorite ride. His family bought passes the following year, and Brad rode more rides that he was previously scared of. Today, Cedar Point is Brad's favorite place as well as mine.

3rd Quarter Essay Preview

Along with any great feat is struggles. These obstacles can be seen as negative or positive things. I like to see them as positive because I learn from them. One of the struggles that I am facing is organization and planning. Many of my classes occur in different buildings, but my locker is always in one place. I am trying to figure out a way of making as minimum of a number of stops at my locker as possible. The main reason for this is that there is only five minutes between periods. Although I want to stop at my locker as few times as possible, I also do not want to carry many items. This whole situation has many factors in it, and I have not figured out the best solution yet. Another struggle that I am facing is time for homework. I have a very busy schedule, and have a problem of not completing my homework when it would be most convenient. On almost every school day, I do not leave school until 5PM. On top of that, I could have hours of homework or studying to do that night. Both of these struggles are problems I still have to solve.

OGT Testing

The OGT that I feel the least prepared for is the Writing OGT. Writing has never been my strong suit. Do not misinterpret what I mean by this though. I am prepared to take all 5 OGT Tests this March, but writing is the one I worry the most about.

I plan on changing my nervous feelings by working on my diction. One way that I plan on impressing the people who grade the tests is by using better diction on the writing test. I plan on using more educational words instead of simpler words. I also plan on working on my structure of paragraphs and papers. I write well, but the order I write in does not make sense sometimes. I could use tools such as graphic organizers, webs, and lists when planning the essays I am writing. Overall, I feel that I am mostly prepared for the OGT Tests this March, but I will practice all of them because I can only get better.