My Funny Broken Arm.doc 

 

   

 

  

Poetry

 

Among Us 

 

There are those among us

The ones that shine brighter

The ones that help others

And work the all nighters

They hold us together

Through thick and thin

And when we fall out

They pull us back in

We don't really know them

But we know they're there

There are those among us

Who really do care

 

 

As I Walk

 

As I walk along the dusty dirt road

I put together all the things I don't know

Like why the world spins

And why the wind blows

 

As I walk along

 I start to see

All the wonderous things

That were hidden from me

 

My eyes become clear

The clouds start to part

The world seems so near

When I open my heart

 

It seems silly now

That I never did see

The majestic mysteries

That I thought couldn't be

 

As I open my mind

I open my soul

Something changes inside me

And my life becomes whole

 

 

Descriptive Essay

 

Midland

 

Over the summer I went to Midland with my parents.  We had to go there because I play for the Chill Soccer Club and we had a tournament.  The morning we left I got up and collected my soccer uniforms and extra clothing for the 3 day stay there.  As I walked through my livingroom, there was a knock on the door.  "They are here!"  I yelled, to no one in particular.  I opened the door to see my friend, Lance, standing there and waiting with his dad.  I greeted them, told them that we were ready to leave and ushered them to my family's van.  After the long trip to Midland, we pulled up to the hotel we were staying in.  It was a tall, dark building but many lights were on inside.  It was right next to a few fast food restaurants and it looked enormous compared to them.  As we walked inside, the atmosphere changed.  The beautiful hotel helped me to go on to win the Midland tournament.

 

 

DEATH

 

I believe in death.  I've met many people who fear death in my short lifetime and I always answer with the same question:  Why?  Most people say that death is a bad thing but in my eyes it's just another way of life.  What is the point of fearing the inevitable?  If death did not happen then the world would become unlivable and there would be mass chaos.  I believe that we need death. 

 

I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea about me and what I think, but I do wish for everyone to listen.  Dying is just like getting a year older.  I use to fear death and think of it just like most people but that all changed when I had my near death experience.  I had a displaced fracture of the ulna in my right arm at the end of 5th grade.  Not until after I started healing was it that I realized that I could have easily been killed.  The doctor had told me that the stress of the bones and the pain I was under was one level below a fatal injury. 

 

That's when I changed and realized that death isn't something that should be feared but something that should be known and accepted.  That is why I don't just believe in death but have learned to accept that when my time comes to pass, there will be a reason and my death will have purpose.  I believe in accepting death.

 

 

 

 

Alfanso’s Discovery

Joshua Guenther

 

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away (The Milky Way) there was a middle-aged man living on a curious little planet called Earth. His name was Alfanso and he had just undergone an experimental operation that, if performed correctly, was supposed to enhance your intelligence immensely. The operation worked flawlessly and Alfanso’s IQ level shot from 113 to almost 250! He was easily solving problems that had troubled mankind for ages when an astronomer approached him with a fascinating idea. The idea was to launch Alfanso up and out into deep space in search a worm hole that, in theory, should take him to different sections of the universe, further than any known being had ever traveled. He accepted the idea and got right to work.

          Being the man he is, Alfanso designed the blueprints for his space craft overnight and hired some workers to put it together. About two months later, his craft was ready for space travel. He was on national news as he set up and made some final preparations. As he boarded his ship, cameras trained in on him, he turned around and said “Do not be afraid, great people of Earth, for I shall return, and with me I will bring the knowledge that no one has ever known.” He put his up to his forehead gazing skyward and saluted the world. And with that he turned and closed the shuttle door behind him.  Within five minutes the engines were roaring, flame bursting out from the bottom of the rocket and he was off. Millions of people cheered as the ship flew upward and out of sight.

          It was not very hard to operate the space ship Alfanso had configured and in no time he had leveled out the ship and set the controls to use the OACUAFHD, or the overly advanced, completely unnecessary, amazingly fast hyper-drive so he could travel light years within hours. The OACUAFHD kicked in and he shot off through the universe.

          It had been about two weeks with no luck of finding a worm hole when something unexpectedly great happened. Alfanso had been flying the ship for about two hours and for the first time saw something that he thought might help his research. His radar had been completely empty one second and the next a massive energy source had shown up. He decided to investigate and finally realized he had found what he had been looking for. What he was seeing was a large worm hole. He switched his ship over to the worm hole travel settings and directed it towards the hole. As he got closer he could almost feel the strain on his body as the pull of the worm hole sucked in his ship. First the front entered, and then the rest of the ship followed as he plunged into the abyss of the unknown...

          Alfanso didn’t know what to expect when he went through but it was as quick as falling asleep. One second he was here and the next he was there. What he was now witnessing was beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined. He was staring at a very large planet with probably about 20 to 30 moons and a pinkish green atmospheric gas surrounding it. He knew he that he should circle the planet a little more, finding out as much as he can but but something about the planet drew him to its surface. He powered up his back thrusters and started down to surface of the planet.

The planet, as Alfanso found out during his decent, was not as big as he had initially thought. It was a little bigger than Earth and had the same exterior look to it. Large bodies of water, various land masses with mountains shooting into the sky like skyscrapers, and lush, green forests. As Alfanso continued his decent to the planet he noticed other things, moving dots on the ground, almost like people. He spotted a good looking place to land and switched the ship to auto-pilot land.

          When he landed he put on his space exploration gear and opened the door of his ship. Before he did anything else he took out a handy little oxygen monitoring device he had made when he was still on Earth. He turned it on and measured the oxygen levels in the air. He wasn’t surprised to see that the oxygen levels were about the same as Earth’s. He went back onto his ship and changed into cloths that you might maybe wear on a warm spring day.

          When he came back out he saw that he wasn’t the only advanced species on the planet. What he saw were about 15 or 20 very tall, slender men with pale, white faces. They looked oddly, very human. They all had short, black or blond hair, with chiseled features and strong looking muscles. The only thing that made them look different from a human was than they had no eyes. They had shallow indentations where the eyes should have been and also no nostrils. It almost looked like they were all wearing thin white masks. They each had on a gray suit and formal looking ties as well. Alfanso was about to speak when he felt a sharp pain in his head and then, an eerie, creepy voice that seemed to seep into his being. It said “We know your thoughts, your dreams Alfanso. We know you wish to return to your planet and you shall but when you do you shall bring along with you the plague of the mind, which will encompass your world…”

 

City of Lost Souls Book Report

 

This book was amazing. It’s the fifth book in the series and in my opinion the best of all of them. The author, Cassandra Clare, really kept me reading. It’s a fantasy novel that has to do with demon hunters, demons, and mystical creatures such as vampires, werewolves, and faeries. There are a few main characters in the story. They are Clary, the center of the story and an important part to the story line, her boyfriend Jace who is supposedly extremely attractive, and Simon, who is Clary’s best friend. Those are the main, good characters but there are bad ones too such as Lilith, the first of all demons and the mother of warlocks, and Sebastian who is the main bad guy and a complete creeper.

 

Jace is kidnapped by Sebastian and Clary who is madly in love with Jace, decides to go after him. She fakes liking Sebastian sense it appears that he has Jace under some kind of spell that makes him feel completely fine and normal. Clary stays in contact with her friend Simon through magical faerie rings and relays the information that there’s only one way to sever the bonding spell between Sebastian and Jace. Simon and the rest of Clary’s friends have to find a way to just that before it’s too late and Sebastian can complete his horrific plan.

 

I really like the author’s style of writing because she put the story in a sort of third person view but it was constantly switching where the story was taking place and who it was focused on. I don’t like how every darned book is a cliff hanger though; thank goodness there’s another book coming soon. I would definitely recommend this book to people who have a sense of humor but can also really get into a story. The book really just pulls you in but I suggest that anybody who wants to read this book should read the first four books before it.

City of Lost Souls Book Report Part 2

 

If you loved the first books in the mortal instruments series you’re going to love the new one even more! It’s still action packed with a good story line and will keep you reading. The beginning of the story takes place in the Institute, the Shadowhunter headquarters in New York, where the leader of the Institute, Maryse, is very distraught sense Sebastian, the evil demon child and villain in the fifth book, sends her a pair of angel’s wings with a note that simply says “I am coming.” Clary, Jace, and Simon go out on a secret adventure know only to themselves to hunt down Sebastian. They encounter obstacles such as the demons that Sebastian has summoned and other Shadowhunters who would turn them in for breaking the Law. They travel around the world looking for Sebastian and eventually find him hiding out in the one place that only Jace would know about: Sebastian’s childhood home. When they find him he runs but they catch him and a bloody fight starts. Sebastian has summoned demons to do his bidding and the three teenagers are highly outnumbered but Clary uses her special power of enhanced rune creation, given to her by her father, and destroys the demons. From there Jace and Sebastian fight it out and in the end Jace comes out on top after killing Sebastian. All is well and done until they realize Simon lying dead on the ground from the demons. They run to his bleeding body and try to help him but there’s no hope. Simon is dead. Clary and Jace turn towards the dead Sebastian’s body but when they turn around he’s gone! Clary and Jace must resume their chase if they wish to avenge their friend.

 

 

The Battle at Bunker Hill

With all the historic American battles in history, the Battle at Bunker Hill is one of the most important and well-known. Significant variables in the battle were number of soldiers, weaponry and battlements used, the casualties, and overall end and effect of the battle. This essay will cover all of those topics and more on The Battle at Bunker Hill.

            The Colonists and the British were the two groups to fight at Bunker Hill. The Colonists were American settlers who wanted their own freedom from the rule of Great Britain. The British were soldiers sent by their leader to fight against the American Revolution thus, starting the Revolutionary War.

            The location of the Battle at Bunker Hill wasn’t just some random field; the place had specific meaning. The Battle was fought on the Charlestown Peninsula, just north of Boston, Massachusetts. It began on June 17^th, 1775. The Battle lasted through the night from June 17^th to June 18^th.

            After the battles at Lexington and Concord, British troops returned to Boston and an army of Colonists was waiting for them, defending Bunker Hill and Charlestown. The British attacked them because having Bunker Hill would have been a great advantage for them and they would be able to launch cannon balls down on to the opposing city.

 

 

 

            Various strategies were used in the Battle at Bunker Hill. The British started going to Bunker Hill first to get their tactical advantage but General Warren, a leader of the Colonists, got word of this and rushed his troops to the hill before the British so they could defend the city. General Gage, a leader of the British military, had the plan to launch an all-out frontal assault against the Colonist fortification that was on top of the hill. The British ended up capturing Bunker and Breed’s Hill but they lost many men in the process where the Colonists lost very few in comparison. After the third British assault, they finally broke the Colonist’s ranks because their enemy had run out of ammunition.

            Bunker Hill is named after George Bunker who owned the land along with his ancestors before him. Israel Putnam was an important general for the Colonists and was famous for his courageous orders that he gave his men. The main leaders were General Gage for the British and General Warren for the Colonists because they both led the assaults on the other side. General Howe was a minor leader for the British but he still led the first assault on the hill.

            About 4,000 people in all were involved in the Battle at Bunker Hill. Approximately 1,000 British soldiers died when only around 400 Colonists were either killed or wounded. Up on top of Breed’s Hill were 1,500 Colonists behind breastworks waiting throughout the hot day in June. At 1:00pm on June 17^th the first of 2,500 British landed near Charlestown and started attacking.

 

 

 

            The Colonists had only one type of fortification: breastworks. These battlements were called what they are because they came up to your chest and you could fire a rifle over them without having any serious injury to your body and not expose too much of yourself to the enemy. This minimal protection was instrumental in the amount of British that were killed in that battle. The British didn’t have any fortification but it wouldn’t have helped them anyways sense the Colonists had such a steep vantage point to look down on them from. The Colonists mostly used muskets, flintlock pistols, swords and sabers, and small cannons. The British had similar artillery but their muskets were newer and worked better and they also had larger cannons.

 

 

 

 

Reflection

I’ll start with the Sci-fi story. My story involved and space travel and aliens which ended up badly. It didn’t take me too long to write it; probably about 15 or 20 minutes and posting it on the wiki was relatively easy but I kept forgetting how to edit my work and had to keep getting you (Mr. Kabodian) to show me. The writing process was also very effective and I got the work done a lot quicker for all my papers, not just my sci-fi story.

Next I’ll talk about my book of choice review. For that, I did one of my personal favorites that I was just finishing up: The City of Lost Souls. This took me a little longer because I had given the book away and I had to go and get it back from Mikayla. Overall this one was really fun and I liked reviewing the book that I had finished even though I almost didn’t finish on time.

Lastly I will talk about my Myth. For that, I made up a character called Alfanso and put him in a setting where his son was killed or something and he was angry at the god (I think the god was either Zeus or someone) who caused the natural disaster. In the end Alfanso made the god angry and he split the country of Pangaea in to pieces creating the continents. This was probably the easiest of all of the assignments because I already knew what I was going to do and all I did was put my thoughts on to a computer. I guess that’s what writing is but whatever.

I learned a few useful things this year like how to turn on a computer (jk) and some other stuff. I’ve learned to take the three R’s more seriously and also the proper way to set up an essay. I also enjoyed the poetry unit immensely.