Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Black Shadow


Florence’s eyes shined like the bright sun on a summer day. She just kept saying “Thank you, thank you, I love it….Oh I sure love it.” She stood with her short blonde and white hair looking at the house her sons and daughters had bought for her and her husband. Her face had many wrinkles, her lips were small and as pink as a rose, and her eyes were blue as the ocean. It was a nice big house. It was a cream color with white at the top. It was two floors tall. There were big, green trees everywhere with a beautiful garden in the front. It was a perfect house, or almost perfect. Florence loved the house; it was what she had dreamed about all her life. She would always talk about what her perfect house would look like, and it was exactly the same as the one she was seeing right before her eyes. Her husband, John, just smiled happily, but he wasn’t as excited or happy as his wife. He wasn’t a really happy person since he had hearing problems, but he sure loved the new house.
Florence’s sons and daughters started to move all her and John’s things to the new house. The house had many windows and had four big rooms. It had a garage and a very large living room. The sun poured in from everywhere into the house. The house was located about fifteen minutes away from the main town. It was the only house there in that area; there were no other houses around only trees. In the afternoon Florence finished putting everything in place and thanked her sons and daughters again for the house.

At night, she was very tired like her husband. She went to bed and turned off all the lights. Even though she was very tired, she couldn’t go to sleep thinking about the beautiful house she had and the flowers she was going to put in her garden. Suddenly she heard footsteps going up the stairs. She was a little scared but she thought it was just nothing. Then she heard something break in the kitchen. She woke up quickly. Her husband was asleep so she didn’t want to wake him up. She went to the kitchen and saw a black shadow. The shadow seemed to have red eyes glowing like stars in the sky. It was tall and skinny and it seemed to be floating in the air. She turned on the light quickly, but there was nothing there, only a broken cup on the floor. She walked to the living room and turned on the light, but there was still nothing. She looked everywhere but didn’t find anyone or anything. She thought it was only her imagination and the wind that broke the cup so she closed the window and went back to sleep.

The next day she woke up. Her husband was already awake, making breakfast. She decided not to tell John what happened yesterday so he wouldn’t get scared. “Good morning, why did you wake up so early?” Florence asked.

“I don’t know I probably went to sleep too early and I wanted to make breakfast for both of us. I made eggs and pancakes,” John replied with a happy voice as he put the food onto Florence’s plate. He was as happy as a man who won the lottery. Florence hadn’t seen him that happy in a long time.

“Thank you,” Florence replied as she looked at John’s facial expression.

“Why was there a broken cup on the kitchen floor?” John asked.

“It must have been the air,” Florence replied.

“Oh, I love this house; it’s really big and peaceful. There is nothing bad about it,” John said with a smile on his face.

“Yes…Yes it’s really peaceful,” she answered with a strange look on her face.

After they were finished eating, John went to read a book as Florence went to fix the garden.
That night Florence went and closed all the windows, closed all the doors, put chairs in front of them, and turned off all the lights. She went to bed and was reading a book when suddenly she heard the footsteps going up the stairs again. She got scared for a little but then kept reading her book. She heard something fall and break in the kitchen but she thought she probably forgot to close a window. As she was about to go to sleep, she heard doors opening and closing and heard some voices. The voices were a little loud and scary but didn’t sound like human voices. A few minutes later Florence heard screams. She just covered herself with the blankets and fell asleep.
In the morning she woke up before her husband and saw that all the chairs she had put in the doors where still there, exactly where she had put them and the windows were all closed. She saw the broken cup on the floor so she picked it up. John walked into the kitchen and saw Florence looking confused. Her mouth was open and her eyes were looking carefully at where the broken cup was. She was more confused than a kid on his first day of school.

“What’s wrong? You seem worried and scared,” John asked putting his hand on Florence’s shoulder.
“Nothing, nothing I’m okay,” Florence said, in a very low, soft voice.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, what do you want to eat for breakfast?”

“Anything…”
After they were done, John went outside to walk around as Florence stayed inside to clean. As she was cleaning her room she noticed that there was a knife in one corner of her room, it was one of the knives she had in her kitchen. She went to the kitchen to check if the knives were in their place, but there were only two and she had four. She thought she probably had moved them, but couldn’t remember. She went to the other rooms and as she opened the closet of the third room she noticed a place that was red. The red looked like blood but it was dried. It looked like human blood and as if it had been dripping from something. Then there were some places with red in the blue carpet of the closet. She closed the closet quickly and went outside to walk around.
Florence was starting to get scared, but at the same time she tried to convince herself that everything was okay, that the house was perfect. At night, Florence tried to go to sleep and not hear anything. As she was about to go to sleep she heard the footsteps and something fall and break. John woke up and asked, “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Florence said with a scared look in her face.

“I’ll go check.” John went over to the kitchen and saw a black shadow. It was the same black shadow as the one Florence had seen the first night in the new house. The black shadow had big, red, glowing eyes starring closely at John. Suddenly he had a knife in his stomach. He started to scream as the pain traveled through his body. He fell to ground screaming and crying for help. Florence woke up quickly and went to the kitchen. She saw John on the floor with a knife pierced through his stomach like in a scary movie. “OH MY GOD JOHN, PLEASE SPEAK TO ME!” She moved him and grabbed his hands, which were as cold as ice. When no one replied she turned on the light quickly. John had died on a dark Friday night. His eyes were closed and his face was pallid. His hands were on his stomach wet from all the blood. There was blood all in his white shirt. Florence began to cry. The tears went down as rain drops on a rainy day. She stood up quickly holding a knife and began to look around for whoever had killed her husband. Her hands were shaking so much the knife almost fell from her hand. “WHO’S THERE?” she screamed in an angry and scared voice. No one answered. Florence grabbed the phone quickly and called her daughter. She came and started to ask her what happened.
The next day the police came and took the dead body. They investigated what had happened for a month but they didn’t find anything. Florence stayed alone in the house. She always thought that a person had killed her husband because that was the only logical explanation for what had happened to John. Also, Florence didn’t believe in ghosts she thought they just came out in scary movies to scare kids. After her husband had died she didn’t hear any noises in the house.

Five months had passed since her husband died and she still didn’t hear anything at night. She lived there in the big house. She was a little happy but sometimes missed and remembered her husband and became to feel sad and lonely. She remembered her long life with John and how it had all ended in the perfect house.
One night, as she was reading her book she looked over at the clock. It said in big red numbers “11:00.” She closed her book and turned off the lights. She closed her eyes and covered herself with the blankets. Suddenly, she heard the footsteps and something fall and break. She got up from her bed but fell so she turned on the light and stood up and walked over to the kitchen with a bat in her hand. As she was about to go into the kitchen a knife pierced through her stomach. She fell to the floor screaming and crying for someone to help her but no one was there. As she laid there with the knife in her stomach she screamed “WHO ARE YOU?” The blood soaked her clothes as she shuddered. As she laid there with the pain she saw a figure that was all black. Her face turned pallid and her eyes opened wide. You couldn’t see the shadow’s face because it was covered with a black cloth. Florence’s hands fell to the ground as she died on that dark Friday night. The ghost moved the black cloth from its face and laughed with an evil laugh. It stood with its red evil eyes looking at Florence.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Space and Aviation

1. In this article about Space and Aviation it talked about that in 2005 a satellite was designed to take measurements of the sea, ice, and glaciers but the satellite failed to work, making the original CryoSat satellite crash into the Arctic Ocean.

2. The satellite will offer unprecedented tracking of cloud-covered regions like Greenland. Pinpointing their thickness will help climate scientists make better computer models to predict polar temperatures, ocean circulation and, perhaps most important for those of us on the rest of the planet, rising sea levels.

3. In late February, the European Space Agency will get a second chance to launch a satellite designed to take the most sensitive measurements yet of sea ice and glaciers.

4. One of the main setbacks would be if something happened to the satellite again because they would lose a lot of money.

Entertainment

1. In 2010, you'll be able to watch TV on any screen, anywhere. Previously, the only way to access TV on a mobile screen was by paying a subscription service to send video over an unreliable 3G wireless broadband network, and the service didn't deliver local channels. Today, television broadcasters for 30 stations in 17 major cities have spent up to $150,000 per tower to install transmitters that send free, live broadcasts to specially equipped mobile devices. TV on the Go falls under the field of research of entertainment.

2. This is important because it will help people that want to watch TV on their cellphones save money. With TV on the GO it costs broadcasters less than a penny a minute to provide the service, compared with the $4 per minute price that cellular carriers pay.

3. This year consumer products capable of receiving the signal will arrive in stores. This month, USB dongles that act like TV antennas for laptops will go on sale nationwide. TV-ready cellphones, as well as add-on dongles for current phones, will be available by the second half of the year.

4. Something that could happen to the creators of TV on the GO is that maybe not that much people will want to buy that even if it's better than paying $4 per minute because they might not think it is necessary to watch TV on your cellphone.


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Semester Academic Goals for Hummanities


A goal I want to set for myself this semester is sharing more my WEX writing and not just one time because I have to. Last semester I was a little more shy so I didn't really like talking in front of everyone or sharing what I wrote in my WEX. I hope I can achieve this goal so I can become a better writer.


Another goal would be to use the habit of mind of wonder in my writing so I don't just write something boring but ask myself "what if I add showing not telling here?" or "what if I add another simile?" This will help me be a better writer and practice the literacy devices we have learned.


The last goal would be participating more in class like volunteering to read the WOD or raising my hand whenever I don't understand something or ask the people around me for help instead of just staying confused. This will help me not be as shy as I am and understand everything better.




Time Travelers Pillar

Project Description: For this part of the project we had to paint in one of the pillars in the 9th grade commons. There are four pillars and one was about art and architecture, the other one about religion and society, another about science and technology, and another about government. Everyone in our team had to paint in the pillar of what they wrote about in their research paper. For example, I had to write about Roman government in my research paper so I had to paint a picture representing the Roman government in the government pillar.


Process: First, I had to look at different pictures about Rome and about things that related to Roman government. Then, I drew out what my picture would look like. Then, I had to get it approve by Charlotte in order to start painting. Then, I started drawing in pencil what everything was going to look like in the square or rectangle we were assigned within our pillar. Then, I painted everything. At last, I wrote my name in the bottom.


Reflection: By painting this pillar I learned how to paint better and be able to show something with pictures or a drawing. For example, I showed Roman government by putting a crown, the word "Republic", an a mad emperor, which all meant that Rome went from a monarchy to a republic and at last was ruled by emperors. One challenge I encountered was trying to find how to represent Roman government because I couldn't think of anyway of representing the Roman government by a painting. If I could paint my pillar again I would spend more time on it because I kind off rushed through it at the end. This will help me later when I have to get stuff done on time and do it well and when I have to manage my time so I don't have to rush through stuff.


Artifact:

Semester Academic Goals Mysics


Goal: Participate more in class.

First Step: Raise my hand if I don't understand something.


Goal: Explore different applications for math.

First Step: Start doing the challenge assignments.


Goal: Study for every test.

First Step: Study at least 30 minutes a day before a test.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Time Travelers Essay

Project Description: In the Time Travelers Project for humanities class each one of us had to write a research paper but not about the same thing. In our groups we had to write about our civilization but one had to write about art and architecture in our civilization, another one about science and technology, one about government and one about religion and society. My group and I had the Roman civilization. I had to write about Roman government in my research paper. Our research paper had to be at least 3 pages but no more than 5 pages. We had to use footnotes in MLA style to cite our evidence. We also had to include a bibliography in MLA style.

Process: First we had to write our first draft, which could be handwritten and didn't have to include a bibliography or footnotes. Then, we had to write our second draft that had to be typed. Then, we had to write the third draft, which had to include a bibliography. Charlotte checked our third draft and we learned about conclusion and introductory paragraphs and made any changes in our paper. At last, we had to write our final draft with footnotes and a bibliography in MLA style.

Reflection: I learned a lot of things about Roman government and about Rome in general. I also learned about other civilizations in the exhibition. One of the challenges I encountered was putting footnotes in MLA style in my research paper because I didn't understand it until I asked Johanna if she could help me. If I could do this research paper again I don't think I would do anything different because I did a really good job on it and I improved a lot from my first draft to my final draft. This will help me later if I have to write something and write footnotes and a bibliography in MLA style.

Artifact: My Research Paper