wiki 5 20/20 - Good post! - so you liked it and didn't think the Pastor should have talked AFTER the skit as well? (some folks did think that...0

Wiki 5-Pub.Spking

On Monday the Chapel was first led by Pastor Schwab but then he handed it over to Bethany Lyons, Rachel Krauss, and Corey Boucher who led us in a skit. I really liked the skit it really made me think about why people think you can replace God with machines. You can not match the love and grace God has towards us and a machine is artificial and not real but God is real and he always will be here for us. A machine will eventually short circuit or just die but God never dies he is someone we can count on all the time. Bethany, Rachel, and Corey acted very well and you could tell they had been over what their lines were and practiced them. They caught the audience's attention and held it and their overall presentation was fantastic. I think it was the best chapel yet because in my opinion skits like that aren't boring and are something that I would pay attention to so i could get the message.

wiki 4 - 16/20 - Good post. The bird was a first for me... and part of me wondered if he shouldn't have said something to admit it was there... and then call everyone collectively back to his talk... that way it wouldn't have been a new group of the crowd spotting it everytime the bird moved. What do you think? This was a little bit short this time.

Wiki 4-Pub.Spking.

So chapel Wednesday was led by Pastor Clausing and it was different because there was a big distraction. When i say distraction i am not saying that just because im borderline adhd and i found something to be a distraction i am saying there was a living, breathing, flying distraction which was a...bird. Pastor Clausing's chapels aren't very intriguing to me and so I take no interest most of the time. Pastor Clausing though, dealt with the bird distraction very well and just ignored it and went on with his message.

wiki 3 - 20/20 - good post. I thought the "stung" ray was silly too.

Wiki 3-Pub.Spking.

Chris Mizel led one of the chapels this past week and it was alright. He used his hands way to much when he was talking and it got annoying. The way he talked was also annoying. He would lose train of thought for a minute but would remember what he was going o say and he also stumbled around with some words. For in stance when he said  "just like how Steve Irwin got stung by a stung ray," it made me laugh because it is definitely a sting ray. I just didn't like how he presented his message and it made me lose interest and want to fall asleep. He really needs to work on addressing everyone in the gym and not over emphasizing on the hand motions. Oh and he talks in a tone of voice that seems like he is really bored and not wanting to talk to us. He needs to have a tone of voice thats not so dull.

wiki 2 - 20/20 - good points. he handled the tech snafu well!

Wiki 2-Pub.Spking.

So today (Friday), Mr. Stec led chapel and it was interesting. I personally like Mr. Stec's chapels but today he didnt really catch my attention very well. He had a slide show he was gonna show but due to technical difficulties he couldnt show it. The slideshows he normally shows are the introduction to his message and draw you in but since he didnt get to show it I felt out of the loop. He did however recover from that and went on to his message and his point he wanted to make. I like how he doesn't stay in one spot but sometimes though he seems to move around way more than he should. He addressed everyone in the gym and didn't just focus on one part of the gym. He made us laugh though so that was a plus because i have a great sense of humor and laugh at well anything remotely funny. Mr. Stec knows how to get his point across and he does it in a well and organized manner.

wiki 1 20/20 - great response work!

Wiki 1- Pub.Spking.

One of the chapels this week was led by Pastor Arle who gave an okay message. He really didnt speak as loud as he should, he seemed to talk quietly and didn't put a lot of emphasis on words and phrases he should have. He also seemed to be addressing more of the right side of the gym (his left), which was another thing that is not good to do in a speech because you are suppose to be directing what you are talking about to the whole audience. The way he spoke made me want to fall asleep and made me lose interest and just wish that chapel would be over. His message he gave was well thought up and it seemed like he had practiced it so he was organized. He had good poise and didn't hide behind the podium which was a good thing. Overall his message he gave was okay but it could have been presented a little better than it was.

The Feeling of Love at First Sight

It was another Friday night up at the mall with some friends and it was the same old standing outside talking to people. I sat there thinking what shoes would go good with my homecoming dress, which was purple, so I was thinking maybe silver show would look good. My friend Julie was talking to her friend Ariel and Julie’s boyfriend Roy was talking to this guy who I had never met before. I stopped worry about the whole which show would go with my dress situation and just sat there and watched this guy smoke a cigarette and talk to Roy. The boy was like six feet tall, had brown eyes, brown hair, an athletic but slender body. He was definitely the country boy type because his boots, belt buckle, and hat gave that away. There was something about him that just made me want to smile but I couldn’t pin point exactly what it was. He was 17 like I was and was a Senior at the high school I was going to be transferring to. He came over and sat down like three feet away from me, smiled at me and said hi. I returned the salutation he gave to me by smiling shyly and saying hey. He was saying something to Roy and then they were like hey there’s this cool looking sword in Oriental Presents, which was an Asian store that was full of sword and weapon replicas from movies and had a bunch of statues and well, oriental stuff. So Julie said goodbye to her friend Ariel and then we all entered the mall and went to the store the guys were wanting to go to. I asked Julie who the guy was that was talking to Roy and she rolled her eyes and said “oh that’s Chris he goes to my school, you know the one you are transferring to next semester.” I acknowledged what she said and smirked. While the Roy and Chris looked at all the swords, brass knuckles, and knives, Julie and I looked at the figurines of pandas and the Asian fans. After Chris and Roy had enough of looking around we all left and went to one of the clothing stores because Chris wanted to buy some jeans. When he was done there we stopped at a kiosk and Chris bought a pair of white sunglasses, following that we all went back outside and just talked and what not. I then found out Chris had quite the sense of humor, which was awesome because guys that are funny and can joke around are easy for me to be friends with and that is one of the qualifications for a guy I would date. This guy still had something about him that made me have butterflies in my stomach. When we all got bored we left the mall to drive around, granted I was driving and eventually ended up going to Chris’s house because for whatever reason he wanted to change his shirt and get something else. While we were waiting on his porch I noticed that Chris lived not even two minutes away from my house. Chris came outside with a Jack Daniels T-shirt that had cut off sleeves and over that he wore a white button up sleeveless shirt. He then said he was ready to go and announced he had a cap gun, which was pretty silly for a guy his age to play with. That’s when I realized Chris was like me. He liked to act like a little kid but be mature at the same time and he was obnoxious, not the annoying or mean type but the fun and silly type.  I was developing a crush on Chris and it was the first time ever that I knew that maybe there could be something between us because I had a gut feeling about it. Maybe he was the one that you would call Mr. Right, maybe he was the one that I am suppose to end up with. Right then I got a song stuck in my head that I found to fit my feelings I was having. The song was a country song by Keith Urban and it was called Only You Can Love Me This Way. When I first heard this song it made me think about who I would end up being with and spending the rest of my life with. Sometimes I would cry when I listened to it or I would just smile but i really thought this song went with this occasion. So back to reality; Julie, Roy, Chris and I proceeded to go drive around in my car. We drove around for about a half hour until we finally ended up in St. Chuck where we went to Chris's friend Clyde's house. As we pulled up you could see a pirate flag and a confederate flag flying, which then I just immediately thought that his friend was another country boy. I parked and we got out and had about a twenty minute conversation with Clyde about his truck and this chick that he used to date but she dumped him for his best friend. I could not stop looking at Chris but if he looked my way I would look away because I didn't want him to think I was weird or something. Anyways we left Clyde's house and went back out to St. Pier where we all lived and I dropped Roy and Julie off. It was just me and Chris now and I was on my way to take him home. We pulled up to his house and he was saying thanks for the ride and then he asked if he could have my cell phone number. My heart about dropped to the floor and i wanted to scream i was so happy. I we exchanged numbers and then he said he would text me later and I said ok and told him maybe I would see him tomorrow. He shook his head yes and told me goodbye. I drove away smiling so big and I don't think I have evr smiled that big ever! Well I got home and right when I walked into the door my phone started buzzing. I looked down and saw it was a text so I opened my phone and sure enough it was Chris! We ended up texting for like two hours then we had to stop because we were both tired so we said goodnight and would would see each other tomorrow. I was so excited for the next day that I could barely sleep but when I woke up that next morning I couldn't wait to get out of school so I could see him. After school I got home and changed out of my uniform and he texted me saying he was outside. So i went outside to see him and I was getting so happy and all of these butterflies were in my stomach. We walked to the park that was in his neighborhood and sat on a bench and just talked and talked. Time flew by so fast and it was then time for me to go. He walked with me back to my house and I told him goodnight and I would text him and he said no he would call me and I looked at him smiled and said ok that works too. I started to walk away when he grabbed my hand and pulled me back around towards him. Right then our lips met and I thought I was dreaming because I was kissing this guy that I thought was the most amazing person ever, even though I only knew him for about a day. When the kiss was done he looked at me and gabe me a hug and once more said goodnight. The thought of the moment i just shared with him made me want to giggle but I knew there was something between us now something big. I thought maybe it was the one thing I had been looking for which was love. I went inside my house and was getting on my computer when Chris called me. I answered and said hello and he said "Cab I ask you a question and I am being 100% serious?" I said yes go ahead. He then said "I know we have only known each other for a day but I really am dying to know the answer to this question." I said mhmm and was bracing myself for it. He then asked me, " Do you believe in Love at first sight?" I smiled and thought of what I could say to answer that question but I was literally speechless so I just giggled. All I could think about in my head was Chris you have no idea and I wanted to as you the same question! I got all of my nerves up and I said to him, "If there was one thing that I believed in the most it is definitely love at first sight!"

So is it always true that "what goes around comes around"? Or is there a lot more than meets the eye in this interesting little tale?

In almost all situations "what goes around comes around" is true and sometimes that can be a good thing or a bad thing. Normally i find that whole saying happens after someone if mean to another person or pulls a prank and then the person who was mean always gets kicked in the rear end and what they were trying to do backfires. Some people that are treated badly will let people bully them until the point the person being bullied will attack back and sometimes even worse then the bullies expected. Also sometimes the ones being bullied with often later on become a bully because they were so hurt and outraged by being terrorized.

Does the ending strike you as one that is going to be a good situation for Minta?

I dont find the ending of this story to be a good situation at all for Minta. Losing a parent sucks and is very emotional and although you may not want to show it it really hurts you where it counts. Minta losing her mom is something that will be with her forever and all of the regrets she will have cant be taken back. There is always the thought of saying i could have done something to stop this from happening, did i do something wrong for this to happen to me? So many hurtful thoughts run through peoples minds after losing someone who is near and dear to them and someone that they love. Most people are not like they used to be after losing loved ones and they change.

wiki 5-no posting... 0/20

WK. 4

Megan, wanted you to know I really was touched by the way you shared a very personel connection this week. Sometimes short stories do that to us, and I am glad you felt comfortable talking about the thoughts it gave you with us.

1.  Want you to tell me if TJ is someone you "get" or not.

TJ is a person to me who would take a little while for me to understand. He has a diffeent lifestyle then the boys in the story and thats why they find him to be strange. More and likely I could relate to TJ and "get" him. He has certain things that he finds important that others find weird and strange and I have things I like to do that my friends find weird too. I also have certain values that my friends find to be different from theirs and that is a reason why I am unique. TJ is unique and is not like the new friends he made he is from a different place and talks different but he is like the other boys but not to what their idea is of the boys in their gang. So yes TJ would be someone that i do "get."

2. How about the ending? Could it have REALISTICALLY ended any other way?

The ending of this story made me cry because it is something that i can sort of relate to in my life. I wasn't abandoned or put in an orphanage but i had to deal with my parent's divorce. The last time I saw my dad i was 7 years old and i always hoped he would call or write or something like he said he would but he never did. Then when i thought i had found where he lived on the internet off of a website that finds people, i was going to have my mom pay for me to look at the information. Sadly two days after I found the website i got a phone call from my aunt saying my dad died of cancer and that was January 1st, 2008. The story could have ended in a more realistic way i think  by the man the boy called papa coming back to the orphanage to see him before he left the next morning. Also if the man actually was the boy's father that would have been awesome. Even though i think the story could have ended in a more realistic way I do think that the ending it had was pretty good as well and is pretty realistic, it is sad but realistic.

WK. 3

1.  This story is unique in that there are no human characters. The protagonist is a house. Discuss what things Bradbury did with it to express his point about the future.

Bradbury expressed his point about the future in his story in many ways. The house had a life of its own which I found to be pretty awesome. The other thing that really intrigued me was that there were no humans but only robotic animals, well except for the dog.  The house's cleaning system was all of the robotic animals that acted as vacuums and just cleaned whenever something was dirty. The little mice remind me of the Romba that we have today that just goes around room to room vacuuming up dirt. The technology of the house was another thign Bradbury showed about his point of the future. The house had its own reserve of water and of chemicals to use in case of fires, but sadly the fire made the reserve of chemicals explode and the house could not be saved.

2.  Also, feel free to discuss how the author manages to make you "feel" sympathy for the house.

The author made me feel sympathy for the house by making the house seem lonely and skiddish. The house only had the friends that lived within it which were the robotic mice and little animals that would come out only to clean. The dog was the only other friend that could go in and out of the house but then it died so therefore the house lost a friend. I also felt sympathy when the author said the house caught on fire and no matter what action was taken to defend the house it still burned down except for the one wall.

Wk.2

Good job on Wiki 2, however, your answer on the 25th wasn't quite 100 words long. Shoot for that amount to get full credit next week. 18/20

AUGUST 24th

Who has the bigger problem? Charles or his mother?

The one with the bigger problem is "Charles's" mother. She is the one so oblivious to the fact that her son is making up the boy named Charles. She is so worried about her son and the influences he has at school that she doesnt focus on her son's lies. The dad caught on quicker to the fact that the Charles boy was not real and was actually his son. The mother is having the issue of being like what we called in class; a hover mother. She needs to learn to realize things and analyze what her son was saying to see what was really going on.

AUGUST 25th

Your thoughts? Is it right or wrong for Mike to do what he does to (for?) his grandma?

I think it was wrong for Mike to lie to his grandmother and lead her on. It is already bad enough she is going a little crazy from getting old but the fact that Mike reminds her of her dead husband. He should have just said from the beginning that it was Mike her grandson not her dead husband. Mike would not have had to lie to her and have to listen to th sad things she talked about.

AUGUST 26th

First question; what is the main reason people have so much difficulty simply being HONEST or at least up front in dating situations?

Most people might not be very honest or upfront in a relationship because they may be afraid what they say could be taken the wrong way. Another reason for not being honest is not to hurt the other person's feelings or make them feel insecure and down. Many people think that they will be judged by what they say or do and that whatever they say will reflect what the other person will think of them. Many people aren't honest because they are hiding secrets that they dont want to tell and they know that if they tell them that the relationship could go downhill. I think really though that everyone lies and isnt honest in a relationship at some points in time. I mean its one thing to lie when you are dating or just infatuated with someone but if you are married then thats a different story because you have committed your lfe to someone. Being honest and up front is important in a relationship but sometimes maybe there are good reasons for why.

WK.1

Why is violence more often seen as the "easier" answer to a conflict situation? Is it really?

 Violence may seem easier because it gets the conflict over and done with quickly. It can also mean that if you are violent that the other person will just back off and the conflict will be over with. It may also be seen as easier because you dont have to reason out the situation you just act and its a way to lash out anger.  Violence to me is not an easy answer to any conflict because all it sometimes does is cause bigger problems or lead to more violence which can end up with someone getting killed.

Now the really fun question: Should Grannies go about giving little kids sticks and sending them out to "battle" other kids??? (personally, I am a granny... so I am very curious as to your advice on this!) :-)

Well if the Granny is wanting the child to actually go hurt other children then I would have to say no. If the Granny is just trying to help build up confidence in the child and trying to get them to stand up for themself and not necessarily do a violent action then I don't see why not. The Granny needs to make herself clear though because the child might take what she says the wrong way. This is a story that sort of has to do with this:  One time when my cousin was little, she got hit with a stick by her brother and she told her dad (who is my grandpa) and my grandpa said" well why don't you stand up for yourself? Go hit with a stick or something." So my cousin went and grabbed a two by four and hit her brother and my Grandpa was surprised because he didn't think she would really go hit him. OH NO! :-) - Mrs S.

Good job on wk.1 - mrs. s.