Yearly Awards

Most Interesting Part of this Class:

Most Boring: Tuesdays and Thursdays when we had to read

Hardest I laughed in this Class: Just when Brigs was being stupid, and saying stupid things, every day

Thing That I Learned That Will Be Most Useful to Know in the Real World: That your eyes really wont stay crossed forever if you cross them.

Best Thing About Brigs as a Teacher: Hes halarious and fun to be around, gets to know all of the students making them know hes avaliable to talk if they need it, Yet hes a good teacher and gets his job done.

Thing Brigs Could do to Make This Class Better For Future Classes: Make sure the kids know to keep all of their poems and stories for their portfolio at the end of the semester

Urban Ledgends

When I was little I thought it was really cool to cross my eyes, and my mom always told me for the longest time that if I kept them like that for too long then they would stay like that, and I believed her untill I was like, 13 years old. So whenever I'd be really cool and cross my eyes, I'd make sure that I never crossed them for too long because I didn't want them to stay like that....
Something else that I always believed was if you hold toads that they'll give you warts.
I remember one time on the fouth of July we were at my uncles house and there was HUGE huge toads all over his yard for some reason.. and I thought they were cool but couldn't hold any of them because they'd give me warts.. But I later found out that its not really true.

What I'm Looking forward to...

Lets see, this week I'm looking forward to nothing. I got my car taken away for getting a Saturday school, and my mom is all pissed about it, but I have to work all weekend so I guess it's not THAT big of a deal...
This month, I'm looking forward to school being over finally, I'm so so ready for summer.
And this summer, I'm looking forward to having a totally crazy good time and not worrying about anything, but not getting grounded or getting my car taken away.
I also have a babysitting job lined up for this summer and I'll be making really good money, along with working at Froggys too so that is definently a good thing.
And of course I'm always looking forward to graduating, who isn't. My senior friends all say enjoy highschool while you can because once your done, youll never see any of your friends again and everything but I don't care (not in a mean way) but seeing my sister making all of her new friends after going to Western this year makes me really not worry about it. She comes home every once in a while and sees her old friends from highschool, but has made so many new good friends along with going to college, so in the long run she really hasnt lost anything.
And I can't WAIT to be 18, so that I can get tattoos. I want one so badddddddddd.

Internal Conflict

So I guess my internal conflict would be lieing to my mom all the time. When I'm doing it, at the time I obviously am happy that she believes me, but afterwards I ALWAYS, end up feeling so guilty about it. I end up getting in a fight with myself because I know it was wrong to lie to her. I hate when people lie to me, so I shouldn't do it, and thats the main reason I feel so bad about lieing.

Top Ten Favorite Stores.

My top 10 favorite stores would have to beeee:

1. Von Maur

2. Abercrombie

3. Pac Sun

4. Hollister

5. Buckle

6. American Eagle

7. Wal-Mart ;-)

8. Forever 21

9. Juicy Couture (if I could afford it ;-)

10. Target

Casting Your Life

If I could come up with a movie or a tv show about my life it would consist of me, my mom, and my sister, because thats ideally how I'd like ourhouse hold to be. I'm obviously not very fond of my step dad, at all.
But the show would be about a single mom, raising two daughters and dealing with the daily struggles and drama that they bring. I'd want her to independently make her own money and be financially stable enough to support herself and us.
I'd want to live in a little house in Alton Illinois, because I think its really pretty there by the river and the old victorian houses are the style that my mom likes.

Ideal Mate.

The biggest aspect of a relationship to me is trust. If you don't have trust you dont have much of anything...
But there's a lot more to a relationship than just trust, I look for a lot in guys, and most of them end up being immature and stupid to me, which is why I never have one.
I'm a pretty independent person to began with, so all of the commitment that you have to put fourth to a relationship is just challanging for me, I guess.
I'd much rather just be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want without having to deal with what my boyfriend wants me to do, cause I'm not really into the whole asking permission to do something, or staying at home just because I know that my boyfriend would be mad at me for going out without him... I think that that is just stupid.
So basically, I want to come across a guy who is very fun and easy going. I love to have a good time, so I'd want someone that I can have fun with, and be myself around.
But untill he comes along, I'm perfectly fine being single.. and doing what I want.... :)

A Wrinkle In Time...

The prompt for this blog is if you could go back in time and change anything that you regret, what would it be...
But I hold strong on the out look of life "no regrets"... I've gotten in trouble before and afterwards told myself that it wasnt worth it and that I regret it, but then in the long run, if you dont make mistakes and screw up every once in awhile then youd never be able to learn from anything...
One thing that I can think of that I would regret is fighting with my mom... My dad isnt in my life, and my older sister has moved away to college, so my mom is basically all that I have, and I never take that for granted. My biggest fear would be her dieing, or something really bad happening to her and I've thought to myself, what if the last words that I spoke to her was when we were fighting? I'd have to live with that for the rest of my life to know that the last time I saw my mom I was mad at her...
I'm not saying that I never get extremely pissed at her to the point where I dont want to see or talk to her, but I've taught myself that I can't hold grudges agianst her, I honestly can't stay mad at her for more than, probably a day. I'm lucky that I get along with her so well, shes one of my bestfriends, and I can tell her everything, well, mostly everything, and I'm very thankful for that. Its basically like, if everyone in my life shut me out but my Mom, if I had only her to lean on, I think I'd be just fine...

Spring Smells.

There's nothing better than that first smell of spring.. It means winter is finally calming down, no more snow and ice and all of the abnoxious weather that we hate.
The smell of spring always remindes me of getting our boat back out. After the long winter, the best thing ever when I was little was getting the boat out of the garage were it had hybernated all winter, taking the tarp off to reveal all of the memories we'd had from so many summers before. It might have smelled a little musty, with a tint of mothballs, but the exitement of getting the boat back out for the first time was irreplacable.
My sister Morgan and I would get into our bathing suits and Dad would give us soapy sponges and stuff and we'd wash the whole thing inside and out. I think that was the only time I didnt really mind cleaning.
There was a certain collection of cd mixes that we'd created over the years that stayed in the boat labled, "Boating Tunes" and to bring those out and hear those songs it would immediatly take me back to The Ozarks and Table Rock Lake.
Ever since I was in about 1st grade our family would carrivan down to the Ozarks with tons of our friends. We'd get a condo right on the water and wake up early, just to go boating, every single day. But it never ever got old. We were always too young to go to party cove, so we never docked there, (although I was always curious as to why that was the only cove we couldn't go to). We'd tie up to about 6 or 7 other boats, fry in the sun, and play in the water all day. There were these huge cliffs that we'd jump off of into the water which always scared me to death... But I was always the youngest out of all of the kids so I had to keep up with them, and I jumped just as many times as they did, although I think my heart about dropped out my butt every time I jumped because it was so scary. Boating was probably the best part of my childhood, and I still hate that ever since my parents got divorced we never go anymore.
My Aunt Wendy just bought a lakehouse down there though, and we went back last summer for the first time in forever and I was SO exited to go back, but once we got there my exitment was almost replaced with dissapointment. I was obviously happy to be there, but just be out on the lake in a different boat, with different people, but seeing and doing all of the same things that we used to do, it just didn't fit right anymore.
Kind of corny I guess, but me and my sister always say " my heart lies in the Ozarks" and I'll never forget our vacations there. And while admiring all of the beatiful houses in the cliffs along the lake I've always told myself how perfect it would be to live in one. And when I grow up with my perfect rich husband and perfect kids I WILL move there ;)

Odd Habit

Whenever I spend the night at a friends house, I'd always much rather sleep on the floor than in their bed..
I dont know why really, but I'm never able to get a good night sleep if someone else is sleeping in the bed with me. I move around a lot, and I hate when other people move around a lot, or make weird sleepy noises. It keeps me up and its like the only thing I can focus on.
I have a lot of other weird sleeping habits other than just that too..
My pillows have to be positioned a certain way for me to be comfortable and theres certain pajama clothes that I don't like sleeping in because it makes me feel claustrophobic, its kind of crazy.
And speaking of clausterphobia, I guess that would be another issue of mine. Obviously I hate being small places, it about gives me an anxiety attack and I can't breath. Or wearing a longsleeve shirt, then a sweatshirt or hoodie of some kind over it freaks me out. And the biggest thing would be getting my head stuck in a sweatshirt when I'm taking it off, I can't stand that.
Okay when I first started writing this blog I couldn't think of any weird habbits but I just thought of one of my biggest ones so I'll explain that too...
It may seem like an extremely weird situation but it actually happens more than youd think I guess. I HATE when people chew on sweaters or sweatshirts. Like if their just sitting there... and out of habit chew on their sleeve or something. It honestly freaks me out to the point where I want to cry. I have no idea why but I can't stand it. I dont know if its the sound that it makes, or just the fact of what the person is doing, but I HATE it!

I hate my Job.

Working at Froggy's is actually pretty easy.. although there's no way that I'd want to work there for the rest of my life. I think I'd rather be a single mom on Welfare than work at Froggy's forever. It would just suck really bad.
I hate dealing with all of the crazy people that go crazy about their food, it stresses me out. But from working there it's taught me not to mess with people that are making your food...
It's also showed me how incredibly bad fryer food is for you. After making french fries, and chicken fingers and blah blah blah everyday, and seeing then soak in the grease forever, it makes me not want to eat fried foods anymore which is a good thing.
Another thing that I would hate to do for the rest of my life, which is just a chore I have to do at home would be empyting the dishwasher. I HATE doing that..
I guess it's better than actually doing dishes then putting them away and everything but still whenever my mom tells me to empty the dishwasher I completely dread doing it.

Beloved Toy..

In Bloomington there's a toystore called the Gingerbread house, which is in an actual old house, just made into a toystore, and when I was little it was my favorite place to go. Even if I wasn't getting anything it was like the biggest treat to me to go look around at everything there.

One of the coolest parts was the Hello Kitty wall. There was a wall competely dedicated to Hello Kitty with about everything you could imagine, and when I was good my mom would get me something little from it.

But the best part of the Gingerbread house for me was the babydoll room. They had really realistic babydolls that I loved, but they were also really expensive, and even though I knew that they were too much money, I always wanted one.

There was a certain one that I had wanted forever, and whenever we would go to the Gingerbread House the first thing I would do was go get that babydoll and carry it around with me untill we left, but my mom always reminded me that it was too much money.

That year for Christmas the last present that I opened was that babydoll, and I remembered that I was SO proud that I was such a good girl that year because Santa finally got me that doll.

Dear Kiddo

Coming from a 16 year old who hates being around her parents, and can't WAIT to get out of the house, I wish my parents wouldn't be so strict and would let me do whatever I wanted to. I always say, when I have kids, I'm going to let them do whatever they want, just make sure that they are safe, but in all reality I think once you REALLY have kids, that motherly instinct takes over...

I'm not going to be overly protective and strict with my kids, and I'll let them have freedom, just as long as they don't ruin my trust.

I know that I've ruined my parents trust, and it just kind of screws everything over..

I want my child to make good choices, yet know that they have to try new things, and make mistakes to learn from. If they screw up, I'd rather have them come and tell me about it, instead of hearing it through the grapevine, if they come out and tell me, in a sense it will gain my trust even more.

I want them to be able to talk to me about things. Some things that they do as teenagers might scare me, but I'd much rather know what their doing instead of them hiding it from me.

My mom, always makes it seem like I can come to her with anything and talk to her about anything, but when I actually DO it, she goes nuts and doesn't take it the way that she says she will. I want my kids to look at me as someone that they can come and talk to about problems, but then again they will have to know that I'm still the one in charge and I make the rules.

I know my Mom hates nothing more than when I try to tell her what to do, and when I think that I make the rules. And yeah I can understand why.



I'd want my kids to know that as a kid, I wasn't perfect, at all. I didn't follow the rules, and if I was told not to do something, it made me want to do it more..

So it's not going to suprize me if they do the same thing, but they do need to know that since I was in their shoes once, I know all the lies and tricks to get around rules.

If they just tell me whats going on, I'm not going to have to worry, and think of all these images in my mind of what their doing, if they justtt tell me.

If I wouldn't have wakend

I think my coolest dreams happen durring that time when I'm just about to wake up, so I'm still sleeping but not very hard. It's easier to remember them too that way, because a lot of times, I know that I had a dream, but I can't think of what it was, and I absolutly hate that, because I like telling people about my dreams.

But anways. One time I had a dream that I was a famous singer and I was singing at my own concert..

It might sound kind of stupid, but it felt SO real to me. Sometimes dreams kind of jump around and don't make much sense, but this dream, I remembered every little detail and it was so realistic.

It started out that I was backstage, and I could hear everyone yelling and screaming for me to come out, and when I made my first apperance it was dark, then there was a huge light show and everything. And I can remember I was amazed at how many people were in the crowd, but since I was a famous singer.. I wasn't nervous at all.

In the middle of singing my first song, my alarm clock woke me up, and after I turned if off, I even tried going back to sleep so I could return to my dream cause it was so awesome, but it didn't really work.

But on the other hand, another dream that I had that felt SO real, wasn't a happy one.

It was kind of weird, and everything didn't make complete sense, but I was going to die, almost like I already had, but I was watching myself prepare for my own death. Like, my mom was getting out old photo albums to show me pictures of myself, and asking where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do before I died. Then I was even with her when she picked out my coffin, then I attended my own funeral. It was really crazy, and I even woke up actually crying from the dream.

Week Three.

We have no prompt today so I suppose I'll tell you about my very lazy snowday.
On Wednesday Ryan was taking me home and it was snowing really really hard and it was pretty hard to see the rode when we were driving and we were thinking how awesome it would be if we got a snowday...
And sure enough my mom came downstairs to my room and told me that we didn't have school. I ended up sleeping untill like 1 when my dog Chloe came in my room and woke me up, then I got ready and stuff and went to Wal-Mart in Pekin.
I really love going to Wal-Mart even if I really don't have anything particular to get, just because they have like, everything there and its fun to look at it all.
So I bought some stuff there then came home.
I cashed my check in town, which wasn't very much at all, then came home and, ate some more food and layed around some more.
I finnally figured out how to record stuff on DVR and I discovered a lot of shows that I had recorded that I had never watched before, so that kept me occupied for the remainder of the night. Thennn. I went to bed early, to come to ugh, school today.
After school I have dance, we're trying to organize the mini cilinc that we're doing in Feburuary, then after dance I'm going to Taylors for the night.
My parents are leaving on Saturday night and don't trust me at home..
So I have to go to Bloomington and stay with my dad which I really really don't want to do. But I haven't seen my friend Annie in a long time so I'm sure we will be able to find something fun to do.

Fears

Even though I'm 16 now, my biggest fear hasn't changed since I was, little. I'm completely scared of shots. I hate them. Expecially in grade school when you had to go to the doctor every year for your school physical and get a series of shots, it seemed like every time I went to the doctor I had to get some sort of shot for something, which made me scared of the doctors office in general. It got to the point where my mom wouldn't even tell me that I had an appointment untill the day of, even like a few hours before it, because I would get myself so worked up (I guess she still basically has to do that now.)
My mom is a crazy health freak, and even though she knows that I hate shots, whenever she hears of a new vaccination, (that ussually isn't even required or necisary in the first place), she'll make sure that I get it.
This summer I was in the hospital and had to get my first IV and I literally almost passed out because of it, and the whole time I had it in I couldn't becacuse I knew it would make me puke.. Just the fact of knowing that I had a needle IN my arm for a few days made me sick, I don't even like thinking about it.

What Is A Poem?

I think a poem is a descriptive and creative way to express the way you feel. It's a good way to show your emotion or feelings about something . There's really no limit to what you can write about in a poem, you can describe in detail a certain event that happend to you that was somehow special, or you could write simpily about a certain feeling that you get. Such as love, or being scared, or getting let down. Poetry is a deeper way of telling how you feel, or describing something speical to you, in a way that's more creative than just telling it through a story.
You can write about memories, or just make the poem up about something totally random, poems can be "deep" and from the heart, and really mean something to you, or they can be funny, and kind of abstract.
Poems don't always have to rhyme, and they don't even have to have a certain or consistant flow, that's what's so fun about it, you can write about anything, any way that you want to.
My Favorite poem would be "Footprints" by Mary Stevenson

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his lifethere was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one setof footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The Lord replied,"My son, My precious child, I love you and I wouldnever leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."

I'm really not much of a religious person, at all. But I've always loved this poem, I think it has a really good meaning, or message to it.