Brandon’s English Blog

The first Christmas I can remember was when I was 4. I was wearing a Christmas sweater and sitting by the tree, watching TV until it was midnight on December 24. Every Christmas, we wait until midnight to open presents. That day, I got my first gaming console, a Nintendo Wii. I knew nothing about it except that I got Mario games. I would play it everyday for years to come, with it still being with me in my closet. Today, we continued our reading of The Color Purple by Alice Walker. We read letter 26 and 27 today, doing the same assignment as yesterday. I enjoyed it because again, we are thinking about what Alice Walker is trying to portray and being able to summarize each letter in one sentence. Today, I am happy. The band program along with 8 others in Dekalb won awards for our episode on DCSD TV. They are throwing us a pizza party after school, giving us free food just for doing what we enjoy.

 Ever since I was born, we did not have a car. We would always take public transport or pay for taxis, spending so much money just to go buy groceries, go to doctor appointments, etc. So, when I was 16, I decided I would learn how to drive in order to have someone who could drive a car if we ever bought one. Before I got my license, my mom helped me pile money together in order to buy our first car, making our life so much easier now. Today, we continued our reading of The Color Purple by Alice Walker. We read letters 20-25, writing one interesting thing about each story and a one-sentence summary. I enjoyed it because it made us think about what we were reading and showing that we actually read each chapter. Today, I am okay. I finished my last college final today, feeling pretty good about how I did. I'm officially done and don't have to wake up at 5am twice a week.

 A song that brings back a specific memory is "Out of My League" by Fitz and the Tantrums. It reminds me of my sophomore year, where I started becoming more involved into school as well as meeting my girlfriend. The song reminds me of her and the fun memories we shared together with our friends. Today, we kept reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I liked this because the letters weren't as dark, humorous at times. It was a nice change from the sad letters from before. We answered discussion questions after each letter, making sure we all understood what the letters tried to portray. Today, I am stressed again. I have a concert today, leaving me with no time to study for my final and practice for my audition tomorrow. I'm going to try my best and then go home.

 When I was a child, I believed that Santa Claus was actually real. Back then, I had no reason to not trust my mom, so when she said that presents randomly appeared under the tree because Santa left them for me, I believed it. I could never find where she stored the presents anyways. However, I unfortunately do not believe this anymore, I buy my own presents sometimes. Today, we took a diagnostic test with our group for The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I liked this because we would read a letter, then discuss the answers as a group, making it a team effort whether you got it right or wrong. It was also a nice break between such sad stories told by Celie. Today, I am stressed. I have two concerts, a final, and an audition this week. It's hard to juggle all these equally. 

 Every time I play videogames with my friends online, we're laughing non-stop having fun together. It doesn't matter how bad our days have been or what we're going through, we can come together and laugh our problems away. Today, we presented our videos for our specific letters from The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I enjoyed seeing and learning about the letters from other people's perspectives and seeing how they interpreted each lesson/theme. I felt my presentation was good and was happy with the result. Today, I feel good. I slept all day yesterday so I've been up since 3am and was very productive until I had to come to school. Now, I'm going to go home and sleep again. 

 I use to have a fear of cats when I was younger. I did not know much about the world when I was little, so the first time I saw a cat, I was freaked out. I remember being at the top of the stairs in my apartment building and being so scared I unintentionally backed up and rolled down them. Eventually, I learned how cute and friendly cats can be, having one as a pet now that I am older. Today, we continued and finished up our video on our specific letter from The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I did not like this lesson today, as the school wifi was acting up all day, so I was able to get no work done on my video. I instead wrote down and storyboarded it so I could finish it up at home. Today, I have feel okay. Jazz Band rehearsal was cancelled, so I get to go home and practice for 2 concerts I have later this week. 

 When I turned 17, my mom took me to a Salvadorian restaurant that she had been to before. I was allowed to have anything on the menu. I chose a steak layered with so many things like potatoes, eggs, ham, cheese plated with a side salad and special potato salad from El Salvador. I did not know I could eat that much food until I finished the plate. It's something I always think back to whenever I don't know what to eat. Today, we began making videos designed to explain a chapter we were assigned through Adobe Express. I got Chapter 7, which was a dense chapter that made it easy to explain through just images and text. I somewhat liked this assignment, as it allows us to be creative and explain how we interpreted the letter but it's also tedious and Adobe Express gets annoying to use sometimes. Today, I have nothing as the basketball game was rescheduled for after Winter Break. I get to go home and sleep. 

Every time I look up at the night sky, all I can think about is space. It's vast size and many unknowns have fascinated me since I was a little boy. I remember reading all about planets, solar systems, stars, anything space-related in my elementary school library. Til this day, I want to know as much as I can about the world and place we live in. Today, we began reading "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. We read the firt 5 letter. They were shocking and depicted the life of a young girl named Celie growing up and being abused in her household. Although disturbing, the story/letters were interesting in keeping you hooked and wanting to know what was coming next. Today, I am okay. I have a Basketball Band rehearsal and game today, so I am excited to see if we win or lose. 

 I had a conversation with my friends about what we all wanted to be and what we hoped for the future. This conversation opened my eyes to how different everyone is, even if they get along. We all have different ambitions, goals, and thoughts about the future and who we see in it. Today, we wrote down and learned vocabulary that will help us with a novel we will start before Winter Break. I enjoyed this because I learned some words that I knew synonyms of, increasing my vocabulary and helping me understand them if I ever came across them. It also showed me how much I truly know about words and their meanings. Today, I am okay. I have my first Jazz Band rehearsal and I have not looked at any music, so I am going to go in there and try my best.