Why doesn't Christmas ever feel like Christmas here?

Image taken from google images.

Ever since I have moved here it never feels like Christmas. Maybe it's just me, but I was used to was a nice cold Christmas-y feeling around this time of year. But, here I wouldn't know it was Christmas time if I didn't know the date.

Not very many people get into the Christmas spirit here either and that's part of the problem. Nobody does really anything, there aren't very many houses with Christmas lights up and there aren't very many people that give a dang.

I know that there are parades and parties and that kind of stuff, but not many people participate. I myself went to the boat parade where they decorate them with lights and have santa riding with them and then I went to the Festival of lights down on Old Main Street. There is also a church right down the road that does a really good Christmas thing that you drive through and look at all the stuff. It was really cool.

Another part of the problem would be the weather. Seriously, can't the climate just say, "Hey it's Christmas time over there in Florida. Let's cool it down a little."

I think that the economy probably has helped people get out of the Christmas spirit some as well because a lot of people can't afford to buy any presents and they can't really afford to do all the Christmas things. It sucks.

I used to love Christmas a lot, but now, I don't even think that much of it.

I didn't say there wasn't ANY Christmas spirit going on, I just meant that there isn't that much.

WOO! I won money!

If I were to win 100,000 dollars and had to give half of it to charity, I would give half to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital to help them try to find a way to cure all the little kids that are in there. They deserve some because of all that they are doing to help the little kids who don't deserve being there.

With my half of the money I would buy me a good car (not a new one), buy me a laptop, and some new clothes, and then put the rest away for whatever I may need it for in the future. I would probably spend the rest of it on college if I needed to or I would save it up for when I move out of my mom's house so I have enough money.

That's all I'd spend it on cause I don't know what else to do with it.

What Bugs Me...

I'm usually bugged more by little things than I am about the big stuff. Like food noises, people "jittering", and people talking obnoxiously loud during class.

I absolutely loathe food noises. They annoy and disgust me more than anything. The sound just makes me cringe and I just want to smack the person silly. What bugs me more though is when they're making food noises and I ask them to stop and they do it even more. When they do that I just want to stab them with a fork or something.

Another thing that bugs me is when someone is sitting next to me and they're shaking they're leg non-stop and shaking everything else around them too, or when they bang on top of the table (what they call "drumming"), or drag they're feet while walking. There is this kid in my economics class that constantly shakes and makes the whole table shake and it annoys me so much that a lot of the time I can hardly pay attention. The "drumming" thing is really annoying too but it's especially annoying when their drumming sucks. When people drag their feet and it makes that noise, that also really bugs me.

Another thing that bugs me is when people are talking obnoxiously loud during class when people are trying to pay attention because I actually want to know what's going on so I can do well in whatever class it is I'm in. In my economics class it's a bunch of (not smart) kids in there and they're always talking over the teacher.

I hate being ignored, talked down to, or when I'm trying to explain something the other person just says "whatever" and dismisses what I'm saying. That drives me crazy because it makes me feel like whatever it is that I'm saying isn't important. But most of the time if I do that back to the person they get all annoyed at me and that bugs me even more because if they can do it to me then why can't I do it to them?

Oh, stupid people bug me too. You know, the ones who are always asking the dumbest questions and just being overly obnoxious.

It also bugs me when people are listening to music in their cars but its turned up so loud that you can hear it a block away. How the heck can they even hear what they're listening to? They've got to be deaf after all that noise. Just listen to it at a reasonable level. Jeeze.

All in all, a lot of things bug me.

Dear Awesome Soldier,

First of all, I would like to say, I think that what you and every other soldier is doing for our country is really awesome. I really respect what you guys are doing for us and I really, really appreciate it. I respect you guys for doing what you're doing for us because I know it takes a strong person to do what you're doing. So thank you.

Last month at the CMA awards Taylor Swift took home a lot of awards and I was really proud of her for that because I think she's a great singer. Plus, I think that what Kanye West did at the VMA's was a really crappy thing to do to her so I'm glad she got all she deserved at the CMAs. At the CMA's they even did a little "reenactment" of what happened and Kanye's part was played by a little tiny OLD man. It was extremely funny and really cute.

So, Obama's president... I'm sure you know that. I think he's okay. I don;t know yet though, we'll see. Also, I think Sarah Palin is hilariously stupid but I don't really like her that much.

I'd like to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I really hope that you will have a good holiday season and stay safe.

So, once again thank you very much. Stay safe.

Jessica

Gratitude.

I am extremely grateful for all of the people in my life right now. Especially my friends. They're great.
I'm grateful for my friends because they've been there for me throughout my high school career and have supported me in everything that I do. Even it is really "dorky" like they call it. They are some of the best people a person could ever ask for and I love them to death. My best friend's family is the best, I'm extremely grateful for them too because they treat me like another one of their kids and part of their family and I love them.
I'm grateful for my family too though because they've all been really supportive of me and are really excited for me to go to college. They're saying they'll do all kinds of things for me just because I'm the first one in the family going to college and I am extremely grateful for that.

I'm also grateful to be living in America because I would most definitely not want to be living somewhere else.

I'm grateful for all the things that I have and everything that I'll ever get in the future.

I'm also thankful for al the cool technology. It's cool.

Who's my hero?

I don't really have a hero. I do have many people who have influenced me and who I respect a lot and people who I look up to though, so that's who I am writing about.

One of the people I respect is Mrs. Dominis. She has been one of my teachers for all four years of high school and I have learned a lot from her. She's a really nice person and a fun teacher.

Another person I respect a lot is my brother. He's not really a good influence or anything, but after not doing good in high school and eventually dropping out and moving out, he's got a good job and just recently got promoted. I respect him because after all the stupid things he has done he's trying to be a better brother and he's really trying to better himself.

Another person I respect a lot would have to be Mrs. Ladd. (No, I'm not sucking up. [=) She's one of my favorite teachers and I've learned more from her than I have ever learned from a teacher before. I like how she runs her class and lets the students add their input if they want to instead of just talking at us. I know I personally don't really talk that much in class but that's just because I would rather listen to other people. Anyway, I like Mrs. Ladd a lot. She's awesome.

Another person is an author named Christopher Gutierrez. He is a straight-forward, nice, awesome, hardcore person. He's not very well known, but I like his point of view and his morals and all that stuff about him. He has been through a whole lot of crap throughout his life and managed to come out a good dude. I respect that in a person.

I also respect people who are more outgoing and people who don't have a problem going up in front of the class. I have terrible stage fright so, I respect anybody who is capable of getting up there without getting all scared like I do.

My first i-Movie

My first i-movie was on the artist Banksy. While making the movie, I learned where my artist was from and a lot of new things about him that I hadn't known before. He is from Bristol, UK and has done a lot more art then I knew that he had done. I discovered a lot more of his works that are pretty famous that I didn't know he had done either. He did that monkeys in congress picture that I like a lot and I've always thought that it was pretty cool as well as the two grandma's making sweaters that say "Thug for Life" and "Punk's not Dead". I like how a lot of his work is extremely controversial like for instance one of his graffiti paintings in one of the southern states (like Alabama or something) was of a Ku Klux Klan member hanging from a noose. Things like those I think are pretty cool and sometimes funny like the one he did of a window with a man hanging off the ledge and "inside" the window was a man looking for the guy hanging off the window ledge and the woman looking over her husbands shoulder with a worried look on her face. That one is a pretty famous painting.

As I was making the movie, I discovered a lot of things that I hadn't known how to do before like adding pictures, words, and music. I thought that adding the pictures was extremely easy. Just click and drag. But, I had to go for help to add the text because I am apparently blind and didn't see the little "T" that you're supposed to click to get to the text thingy. The music was pretty easy to do too except for the fact that there isn't very much to choose from. If I could change that about the computers than I would most definitely get more music for us kids to choose from. I thought that everything was pretty simple once we learned how to do it and I am pretty sure that I will remember how to do it for future use.

The Economy Sucks.

Lately the economy has been effecting my family a lot. Back in June, my mom was laid off from her job as well as a bunch of other people. She has been looking for another job since then but no one has been hiring nurses anywhere so we've been relying on my mothers husband for him to pay for stuff and everything. But anyway, because of that, we haven't been able to pay for a lot of extra things and had to get our cell phones turned off. I don't go to the movies anymore (I used to go basically every weekend) and we're probably behind on a lot of our bills. I don't really know though because my mom likes to pretend that everything is just great but that's okay. I know that we're not doing to good, I'm not retarded.

My dad has been trying to send me some money (he lives in Missouri) when he can, but he's in college right now (he went back to be a history teacher) so they don't have tons of extra money either.

I also highly doubt that i'll be going to grad night and a lot of the things that are going to be going on this year.

Since it's getting around to be christmas time I usually get really excited. Not for presents for myself, but for everyone else. I usually go and buy presents for my "second family" (they're really just my best friends parents and her brothers, but they treat me like I'm another one of their kids) and I like doing that a lot but I won't be able to do that this year either. But, I'm not going to complain.

Well, I will kind of, not about the money or anything. But, I seriously wish she would get a job because she spends way to much time at home and is driving me nuts! She gets bored and comes and bugs me while I'm doing homework and stuff and it's really annoying.

I've been trying to find a job myself lately. I've applied at mostly fast food places and stuff but once again, nobody has really been hiring. So, if you know where anyone is hiring let me know.

I don't like talking about family stuff, so I'm going to stop now. =]

The evil in Lady Macbeth.

I think that the most evil person in Macbeth would have to be Lady Macbeth. She is seriously evil and maniacal.

I know Macbeth was the one who thought about killing Duncan first, but who hasn't thought "Oh my god, I wish I could kill (insert name here) "? Poor Macbeth is really just a gullible fool. Lady Macbeth is the evil one because she actually talked him into killing Duncan when she should have been the one who was talking him out of killing the man. In a way she reminds me of Charles Manson because he never actually killed people but convinced them to do it for him. She's also been the one influencing Macbeth and making sure he doesn't spill the beans so that just adds to her evil-ness.

She also doesn't feel any guilt for her part in the murder and I think that that's just ridiculous. I know that if I played some part in killing someone (even just a teeny-tiny part) I would feel extremely guilty and would eventually end up telling on myself.

(I couldn't really get interested in this blog topic so if I ended up writing anymore it would just be more rambling nonsense...)

"What's up with your attendance?"

I figured that now would be a good time to tell everyone why i've been missing so much school recently.

About a week or two ago my mom had gotten the swine flu and was put into the hospital because of it and wasn't doing to good. The doctors told me that I shouldn't go to school because I could give other people the swine flu even though I didn't have it myself. So, I missed a whole week of school.

Then, last Monday at like 2:30 a.m. I woke up with an extremely high fever (over 103) and was shaking violently because of that. I seriously couldn't stop shaking. It was terrible so my mom ended up taking me into the emergency room (where I sat for 6 hours) and the doctor told me that I had a viral infection and sent me on my way, not giving me any medicine or anything, telling me not to go to school until I had a follow-up appointment. My follow-up wasn't until Monday so I was extremely sick for the rest of the week and basically slept the entire time. Then on top of all that crap for some reason my nose decided that it would just start bleeding for no reason at all until it felt like it should stop. I had 3 nosebleeds and each probably lasted about 15 minutes. It freaking sucked.

So I made it until Monday and went to the doctor and my mom told him all that was wrong with me and immediately put me on Tamiflu, which is the treatment for the swine flu, and told me not to go to school for two more days.

The medicine sucks. It makes me loopy and drowsy and when it starts kicking in I turn all red and feel like I have a fever. Not to mention even thinking about swallowing pills makes me want to gag. I seriously hate it.

So, that's what's up with my attendance.

Lord of the Flies (The Game)

Danny and I made a board game for our Lord of the Flies project and I think it's pretty cool. I feel like we accomplished a lot and made it look as good as we could with no artistic ability whatsoever. What I would have done differently would be to paste it to a big piece of cardboard so that it wouldn't be so flimsy and would last a lot longer.I would have also gotten better game pieces because right now all we have are different colored pencil erasers. I also think that if I could magically get me some artistic-ness that I'd re-draw everything so that it would look better. And yes, we are prepared to present the game and let the class play it, hopefully, it won't be too boring.

While reading the Lord of the Flies, I learned that being trapped on an island can bring out the worst in people and make people revert back to their original instincts to survive.

What did I learn about myself?? I have no idea. I guess I learned about a book I had never read before and that I liked it a lot. (Yeah, I know that was a really generic answer. Sorry.)

What if??

What if I can't come up with a topic to write about?

I am pretty bad (okay, more like terrible) at coming up with things to write about when given the opportunity. I get scatter-brained and tend to ramble about useless topics until I feel that I have sufficiently humiliated myself enough to go ahead and quit writing.

I am more of a "you tell me what to do, and i'll do it" person rather than one who just comes up with something out of their imagination and does it. I am much more confident in my writing when I have something to stick to (like what your obstacles are).

When I have free reign over what I write about I feel like I should write about anything and everything all at once and it comes out a jumbled up, terrible, idiotic mess.

So next time, can you tell us what to write about or at least an alternate topic because I happen to lack an imagination.

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Obstacles Suck.

Wouldn't it be great if we could go through life without anything preventing us from doing whatever we wanted when we wanted to? But no, that would be ridiculous and unrealistic because of a thing called obstacles, and obstacles suck.

Some of the obstacles that I am facing this year are keeping my grades up, making sure that I get into college (and applying on time), getting a better grade on my ACT's/SAT's, deciding what I want to major in, and making sure I actually going to school more than half the time.

I want to make sure that I get a better score on my ACT's and SAT's because I am only a couple of points behind from getting the biggest Bright Futures Scholarship. I mean, you need a 27 on the ACT and I got a 26, that's a one point difference!!

For me to decide what I want to major in would be an extremely big deal because I have NO IDEA what I want to do later on in my life. I know all the things that I don't want to do, but I can't think of anything that I'd actually want to do. I feel like I should just settle and be an accountant or something else that's extremely boring...

Knowing me though, i'll probably just end up being a professional hobo. Bah-Hum-Bug.

One of the biggest obstacles for me is actually coming to school. I know most of you know what senior-itis is, but I had sophomore-itis, junior-itis, and am trying really hard not to have senior-itis. I don't even have a reason to miss so much, I actually ENJOY school. (Shocking, I know.) But, I am going to try not to have senior-itis because I don't want to miss any of the "fun" that I'm supposed to have this year.

To the Freshmen.

Dear Freshman,

I know that everyone has been telling you how important it is to stay focused and how important it is that you do what you're supposed to. I also know how annoying that is, but just keep in mind that they're only trying to help you out.

When I was a freshman I didn't take my classes as seriously as I should have, I didn't hang out with the greatest people, and I hated a lot of my teachers. Because of this my grades weren't what they could have been and I've had to work harder throughout the rest of high school and not have as much fun. At the beginning of my freshman year, I remember that I did not like my math teacher at all. I thought that she gave us to much homework and was really strict. Then during my sophomore year, I had a not so great math teacher and it made me realize how much I actually learned in my former math teacher's class, and how much fun I had during it, and how much I actually liked her, and now even in my senior year every time she sees me in the halls she stops me and always asks how I am doing in my math class.

So my advice to you is to pay attention to your teachers, stay focused, don't hang out with the wrong people, and even if you don't like your teachers remember they're just so strict because they want you to succeed. I know it may not seem like it, but you'll most likely learn the most from the teachers who are more strict (well, some of them anyway) and will thank them later on during your high school career.

Sincerely,

A Former Freshman.

Senior Year.

This year, I would like to participate more in school things. So far, I've joined Key Club, Mu Alpha Theta, and the National Honor Society. I've also been going to more football games and after school things. Key Club does community service and things like that so I joined that because I don't really have very many hours. I joined Mu Alpha Theta because I like math and I thought it would be pretty fun. Last year, I was asked to be a member of the National Honor Society so, of course, I did that...

Some of my goals this year are to get my GPA at least up to a 3.5 (I have a 3.45) or a 3.6, to get a 27 on the ACT because I only got a 26 the last time or get a 1270 on the SAT because I only got a 1200. I would also like to be accepted to the University of South Florida (or some other college).

This year, I am looking forward to all the senior privileges, going to prom, and graduating. Some of the senior privileges that I am looking forward to are: not having to take the exams if you have an A or B in the class, and any others. Hopefully prom will be really fun. I plan on going with a bunch of my friends all in one group and having a good ole' time. Graduation is a big deal for me because I will be the first person in my entire family to actually graduate from high school. Because of that a ton of my family will be coming down and visiting us and then, the day after graduation, is my birthday so they'll be there to celebrate my 18th birthday with me too.

Lord of the Flies Project

Danny and I decided that we are going to make the game.