Newspaper

I am not someone who ever really reads the newspaper because she wants to. It's more that I have to for my journalism class. When I do read the paper I always look for crime related articles, just because you know something has actually happened and it's not some boring story on how the grocery prices have gone up again.

I couldn't really find any crime stories but what I did find was an article on bull riding. One of my host mom's daughters recently took me to one of the shows in Ozark and I just did a blog post on that experience for my own blog. Here is what I wrote:


'We arrived there at 5.30 pm because that’s when the doors would open and thirty minutes later the show would start. So we both took a seat and we were there early so we watched the guy on the tractor driving circles in the ring for a while.

It was six o’clock but the show wasn’t starting yet. So they were a little late? No big deal. Soon enough it was twenty minutes later and Nicole and I started wondering why it was taking so long. So I stood up and asked the first people that I saw what time the show was supposed to start: eight pm.

The show would start two hours later than we thought it would. We got there two and a half hours early. The people who were there really must have thought we were die hard bull riding fans, just like they were. Not so much.

We laughed so hard, thinking we were there for so long before the show even started and we surely didn’t end up staying there to watch the show for the same amount of time.

It was definitely something I haven’t seen before, only on telly. I don’t agree with using bulls as an object to entertain other people by getting them all heated up and trying to ride them but it certainly is some show.

Games for kids during the break

We were seated underneath one of those huge lights, the same they have at football games. The light attracts bugs and other flying organisms that like to sit on my skin to either suck my blood or freak the hell out of me. This resulted into me screaming and embarrassing myself and Nicole when there was a huge ‘thing’on my leg. I almost cried: I was so scared that it would do something. We left. It was a nice show, just not nice enough to have flying creatures bugging you for the time you are there. Or longer, what if they are in your hair or clothing and you don’t notice? Just saying.

All together I am super glad Nicole took me their, it was a typical American experience. It was nice to see it together, both of us for the first time!'

Quotes

The most important thing to do

My all time favorite quote is one from the killer whale show in SeaWorld, Orlando called Believe.

‘For each of us there comes a moment, we stop wondering and begin to Believe.’

I am known for this quote. I write it down everywhere. It has been my motto since I was eleven years old, which is the first time I saw the show and completely fell in love with it. All of my social media asked me for a description and I always choose this quote. I don’t have a better description, it is just me.

Naturally, there are many other quotes that I like and I tried putting them in little groups to make it a bit easier to keep track of them.

Quotes from people:

‘Peace, Love, Happiness’ - Danielle Peazer

'Live life for the moment because everything else is uncertain’ - Louis Tomlinson

‘Just close your eyes and enjoy the roller coaster that is life’ - Zayn Malik

‘Don’t cry over someone who wouldn’t cry over you’ - Lauren Conrad

Quotes from movies:

‘Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’ - A Cinderella Story

‘People act out because they hurt inside’ – Sydney White

Quotes from songs:

Words will be just words until you bring them to life’ - Another World by One Direction

‘You can walk straight through hell with a smile’ – Hall of Fame by The Script

‘Life’s what you make it, so let’s make it rock’ - Life’s what you make it by Hannah Montana

Quotes from all over the place:

'Reach for your dreams, always be true and you’ll be amazed what they can do.’ - Believe at SeaWorld, Orlando

‘If you’re not barefoot, you’re overdressed.’ – Huntington Beach, California

Memorable Passage

I would never smoke, I always say that for me, smoking would be like smashing my guitar and expecting it to play... I'd never do that to my voice, not to mention the rest of my body.

This is a passage from a book called 'Miles to Go' by Miley Cyrus.

Back then when the book came out in March 2009, I was fourteen. I had always looked up to Miley so when her book came out, of course, I had to have it. We went on holiday to Orlando, Florida in May that year and buying that book was the first thing I did.

I completely agreed with her when I read the passage about smoking. I would never do that. I don't have a guitar to smash, or a beautiful singing voice to ruin but I would never smoke. It is just something that I have never felt the need for.

As the whole world knows, Miley has changed a lot. And for the worst. She has not lived up to what she wrote and she doesn't make that a secret. Recently, she spent seven hours in a coffee shop in Amsterdam. Seven! Safe to say: I don't agree with her decisions.

Knowing what she has turned out to be reminds me that I have to stay myself. She started off as a fresh, young, beautiful girl with big dreams.She did well for so long but constantly feeling the pressure of being in the public eye must have gotten to her. I don't believe that, if she were just a normal she would have done the same things. She was like a caged bird and now she is singing to get out.

Famous Lines from Famous Books

First line:

'For a long time I went to sleep early.'

This line is from the novel 'In Search of Lost Time' which was published in the year 1913 by the author Marcel Proust who lived from 1871 to 1922. This author is also known for other, works including 'Albert Disparue' and 'The Captive'.

I would not want to read this book for multiple reasons.
1.) I cannot even find a summery of the story that I am able to understand, hence why I don't have one.
2.) It is way too old. The words he uses are words I've never heard of and it is way too hard.
3.) I am not interested in books from before I was born, 99% of the time.
4.) I would rather read stories that make sense to me from the start instead of trying to understand this one and wasting my time whilst doing it.




Last line:

'Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.'

This line is from the novel 'Molloy' which was published in the year 1951 by the author Samuel Beckett who lived from 1906 to1989 . This author is also known for other, works including 'The Unnamable' and 'Happy Days'.

I would not want to read this book for multiple reasons.

1.) I cannot even find a summery of the story that I am able to understand, hence why I don't have one.
2.) It is way too old. The words he uses are words I've never heard of and it is way too hard.
3.) I am not interested in books from before I was born, 99% of the time.
4.) I would rather read stories that make sense to me from the start instead of trying to understand this one and wasting my time whilst doing it.

I see pattern here, do you?
I do not do well with old books.

Writers as Readers

1. When you read, what do you need to be comfortable? (environment, snacks, lightning) I don't really need anything specific. I can read and enjoy reading whenever and wherever I am. I prefer to read in bed or at least somewhere warm and cozy but that doesn't really have anything to do with the actual reading. That is just because I like being in my bed!

2. What genres (types of writing) interest you? What specifically about this genre interests you? Why are you drawn to science fiction books, for example? Most of the time I read lighthearted

3096 Days
by Natascha Kampusch

fiction books where everything is all nice and dandy. On the other side I also read a lot of vampire and werewolf related books (Thank you, Stephenie Meyer) and I love reading true crime books, for example I read 3096 Days by Natascha Kampusch. I know there's a lot of variation in my reading but it is just what I feel like. Sometimes the true crime books get to me to the point where I can't open my front door when I am home alone. With that I also like watching crime documentaries, and listen to 911 phone calls in the middle of the night. Sometimes I wonder why I do that, it's not really helping my case...



The Twilight series
by Stephenie Meyer

4. What is one of your best memories connected with reading? I can remember the first time I read Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I was fourteen and had read all of the books in Dutch already. I didn't want to read the fourth book in English, just in case I misunderstood something and the plot of the story wouldn't be the way it was supposed to be. So I decided to wait until it was translated to Dutch... And I waited for what felt like years was only a few days. I could no longer wait for it to come out and I had the English version of it just standing there in my bookshelf. I started reading at 4 pm on Wednesday afternoon and I finished reading at 7.30 am, just before I had to leave for school. I read through the entire night and I didn't put the book down once, I couldn't. It was the first book I ever read in English and I understood everything. I was so tired but so proud of myself!

The Last Song
by Nicholas Sparks

6. Who was your first reading teacher? Why do you remember her / him? Was it a 'teacher' or someone else (a family member) who 'taught' you? I honestly cannot remember most of my teachers and I don't know who taught me how to read. When I was five or six years old I was in class and we were taught how to recognize letters, how to say them and how to read them but the actual reading a book? I know I taught myself how to read in English or German but Dutch is not something that I remember.


8. What is your favorite book or series? Why is this your favorite? Actually, I don't have one book that really stands out to me. I love the 'Shopaholic' series by Sophie Kinsella, love the 'LA Candy' series by Lauren Conrad, love the 'Twilight' series by Stephenie Meyer and strangely enough I loved the '50 Shades' series by EL James (I have no shame). For novels I love 'Dear John' and 'The Last Song' both by Nicholas Sparks, I love 'Ten Things We Did' by Sarah Mlynowski and the list goes on and on and on.

Journal Questions

1. The cage birds sings because it wants to be free. It sings for freedom and I understand why it would do that. Imagine being kidnapped, wouldn't you be screaming to get away?

2. Yes, I have had hard times in my life and I have gotten through it, I am still here. For example, school was the last place I wanted to be, I hated it more than anything. I still finished my high school back home, I hated it but it had to be done. Now I am having so much fun going to high school here!!!

3. I wouldn't even know. I don't think it gives them any power at all but I can't remember having a bad dream about something so to be fair I don't know.

4. No, I just think that they are either what you are thinking about or they happen on their own and it's like a movie and you're in it.

5. How much I talk depends on who I am with at that moment. I don't talk very much around my family, my brother does the talking for me with the amount of words that come out of his mouth. Now, if I am with friends I will be the one that talks the most. Partly because I am the most opionated. I won't talk if the information that is given is new or important but if it is something I am hearing for the umpteenth time, like flight safety instructions, I don't really care for it.

6. Yes, I am very comfortable using another languag. In fact, most of the time I am more comfortable speaking English rather than Dutch. One, I like it better. Two, more people understand me. Also it is not as extremely personal, it keeps some sort of distance. I would like to be fluent in Spanish, Italian and French because it sounds really nice and is really cool.

7. I can remember one thing from being a baby and then something when I was four. The rest I can remember okay but it have not been things I needed to remember so I might forget them in a few years and then I'd only be able to remember part of it.

8. Truth can be an opinion and facts cannot be discussed about. For example, my creative writing folder is purple and I think it is a good color for this class. Now it is a fact that the folder is purple but the 'good color for this class'-part is my own opinion but it is the truth.

9. My biggest distractions are my phone and laptop. There's always something that is so interesting it distracts me from my homework or school. If I don't have those devices I'll probably just end up sleeping...

10. Writing my own blogs is easy, it is something that has happened and my opinion on that and what I was thinking when that happened to me. Writing a book is harder because you have got to be creative and original. Writing science-related things go way over my head so I am not even trying that. It is just the stuff that involves and interests you are the easiest. Doing things for others or things that you don't care about is much harder.

11. Most of the people do not have their lives figured out at the age of 25. So you definitely will learn new things and do new things.

Dreams

I had a dream last thursday night, and I wrote down on my phone what happened.

I was with either one or two family members when I walked into my little sister's school.
It was open house and the kids of the elementary school had an opportunity to show everyone what they had done in school.

My sister's school, you can see
a tiny bit of the right blue door

There are multiple entrances and we used the blue door on the right-side of the main entrance. The door takes you to a small hall. And after that you only have to push the swing door before you are inside.

In front of the next wall, right before the left-turn to the other side of the building were standing three people. The middle one was my uncle who passed away five years ago. I don't know who the other two were. They weren't important to me, it's like they didn't have faces.

I could feel that I was dreaming and I made a mental note to remember it so I was able to write it down. I knew that if I didn't, I would remember seeing him in my dream and I wouldn't know what had happened. Forget what was going on in my dream has happened before and it is devastating because I miss him so much.

I went up to the three waiting people and started with greeting the left one before moving on to my uncle. I greeted him the same way as I did with the first person, three kisses on the cheek. Then I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug, I didn't want to let go.

Even though I realised it was a dream, when we hugged it was like someone was holding me when I was lying in my bed. I could feel myself being squeezed together.

Whilst I was still sleeping I could feel my entire body being numb and tears streaming down my face.

The dream didn't really have an ending, and I am glad it didn't.

It is not like I woke up during, or right after my dream, which is normally how I remember them.

It didn't end, and I am still hugging my uncle in my dreams.

Dream Threads

In front of me was a wolf.

Instant panic. No. Breathe...
Okay, think clearly. What do I do?
Breathe and stay still.
Don't move, breathe
The wolf came closer, sniffing me.
I held my breath, terrified.
I saw its big white teeth running
up and down my leg.
I am going to die.
This is it, breathe.
I shook my head.
Trying to come to my senses:
I can do this.
The wolf turned around.
He was walking away from me.
I let out a sign of relief.
Too early...
It came launching back at me.

I was almost there but I died.

Color Week

Dreaming in Color

Danielle Peazer

The world has been a lot more accepting of 'different' people, though I am not sure how much Martin Luther King has to do with that. Maybe it was just time. The whole deal with gay people has hardly changed in America and I think that is just as, if not more, rascist as skincolor differences. Everyone should be able to marry the person they love.

Eleanor Calder

Miley Cyrus used to inspire me a lot but now that the has changed her image so much, I hope I never become like her. People that inspire me to do are Danielle Peazer and Eleanor Calder. I think they carry themselves in a very good way and I love their personalities as well as their fashionsenses.

I dream in color and I know that because I can remember my dreams when I wake up and they are literally the color that they should be.

I am now living my dream and although people are not as nice and welcoming as I hoped they would be, it is still amazing to have this opportunity.


Pretty as a Princess

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there lived a princess called Jaden. She was the prettiest little girl anyone had ever seen.

In the evening there was a ball in the castle where she lived with her parents and older brother. When she was in her room, she couldn't decide what to wear. She had so many dresses, maybe too many...

Then she heard a knock on the door. She invited whoever it was in, and saw that is was Yannick, her brother. He was all dressed up in one of his fancy suits. 'You have got to help me decide what to wear.' Jaden told him.

He let out a small sign but then walked to his sister's closet. There were seven dresses hanging there. He did not even have to think for a second and picked out a pink dress. 'Here, pick this one.' he said to her. 'You'll look Pretty as a Princess.'


Poems

Corsair

Come into my world of the blue.
Overall it is pretty cold in here.
Restless nights are still to come.
Some nights colder than others.
As if that wasn't enough, there are no blankets.
If that doesn't bother you, come in.
Ready for a night of no sleep?

Storybook Charm

Storybook Charm is
The story about a girl
Who was kidnapped

Private Sanctuary

It is quiet in
The Private Sanctuary
Of the local church