My Friends
I haven't done a blog post about my friends yet. Since it's practically mandatory, I might as well do it now! I'll list each of my friends and tell you a little bit about them.
1. Britney- Britney is a girl that's a lot different from me... I only became her friend because she just moved here recently! She's 16 years old, has short dark hair and brown eyes, and is kind of fat. She has three siblings, a stepbrother named Cody who's eight, a stepsister named Lexie who's nine, and a stepsister named Kaitlyn who's six. Her parents fight a lot, so I guess that must be hard for her. (I've never had that problem.) Britney loves to play board games. She beats me at Life every time we play! She also likes Spongebob stuff, Scooby-Doo movies, and, for some unfathomable reason, coloring books! She recently moved from Arkansas to St. Louis and wanted me to be her friend, and I agreed.
2.Shaakya- Shaakya is a girl from India that moved to St. Louis just this year. She has long black hair, she's tall for her age, and she has kind of a big nose. Shaakya is in sixth grade, on the silver team. She's 11 years old. We became friends because she was in my summer school class, "The Write Stuff," last year. She likes to write, just like me. That's why when I signed up for the writing club last Monday, me and Shaakya were the only two there besides the teacher, Ms. Holt.
3. Lalana- Lalana is a girl from India. She sits with me and my best friend, Shira Pollio (I'll talk about her soon) at lunch. Lalana is rather quiet sometimes, but she's chatty around her friends. Like Shira, she always brings something interesting for lunch. She also believes in sharing everything.
Jasmine- Jasmine is a really nice girl who's on my team this year. I got to know her because she was one of Cara's friends. She's really considerate; you can tell her almost anything! Sometimes she's a bit too trusting and people step all over her. Jasmine is sort of short, heavyset, and has a pretty smiling face. She's an African- American, so of course her hair is black and it's tied up in sort of a slanted ponytail. Jasmine loves make-up kits and she's somewhat afraid of heights.
Cara- Cara is an African- American girl who's twelve years old. I got to know her because she was one of Aspen's friends. She's short, she's got a perftect happy face, and she's always well dressed. Cara trusts her friends 24/7 and never takes sides in an argument. She has a personality that's eay to get along with. It's not easy to get her to get herself in trouble. Cara has a little sister named Carly who's seven. Another thing you should know about Cara is that Cara loves make-up. Her favorite store at the mall is Libby Lu, an expensive make-up store.
Aspen- Aspen is the sort of girl who's a definite drama queen. She is rather sensitive, and gets easily hurt. She 's also very chatty and always has to get the last word in. I met her during 6th grade Orientation Day. I later found out that she used to live in Nebraska before she came here. She's about medium height, beanpole thin with curly blond hair up in a short ponytail. She wears glasses and her teeth are stained. Aspen has enzyme disorders and she must take pills before she eats anything. She also must take a vest treatment once a day. Aspen loves to shop. She picks out some of the hottest clothes when her, Cara, and, I go to the mall at a store called Limited Too. She also loves music, the same music I do, like Train and Kelly Clarkson. She also likes Hilary Duff, and I'm not so fond of her. Aspen, however, thinks Shira is a total dork!
Shira- Shira is the belle of the ball. She's Jewish and is very proud of it. Like Lalana, she brings cultural lunches that her mom packs for her. Shira loves to read, especially really hard high-school level books. She's tall, and her long reddish-brown hair curls down to her shoulders. She would wear clothes that no one else would wear in a million years. She is very sensitive, and things make her cry very harshly. She ends up very uncomfortable around Aspen. I got to know Shira in first grade when she came to Craig Elementary in first grade. Now we're best friends.
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

A Friend in Tuscaloosa
Yesterday I learned something very surprising. It began when the cheerleader girls screamed "Happy Birhtday" to Cara Smiley, as their always do for birthday girls in their clique. Shira, me, and Lalana covered our ears. After they were done, I exclaimed to Lalana and Shira, "There will be no end!"
That's when the news comes. "Actually," Shira tells us, "I'm moving to Tuscaloosa next summer."
"Moving!" I yelled.
"Yeah," Shira replied. "I haven't told you yet?"
"But, why?" I asked.
Shira sighed. "Dad's new job," she answered.
"Well, when you get there, you have to tell me what it looks like."
"I've already been there," Shira said. She told me that Tuscaloosa was a small town with hardly any stores.
For me, Shira going away was a big deal. Luckily, she'll have a computer, so we'll still be able to communicate. (Thank goodness for e-mail!) I also hope she'll visit St. Louis some time. (I know her move is not for a while, but the summer of 2007 will be here before you know it!!!)
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

Cahokia Mounds Field Trip
Yesterday we went on a field trip to Cahokia Mounds. The mounds were built by the Mississippian Native Americans long ago. We went there in third grade, and I thought that trip was so boring! When Miss Coe told us that we were going to have to fill out these packets with about a million bajillion questions to answer, I wasn't exactly thrilled about going on the trip.
I got on the bus with my friends Aspen and Gabbie, who were also in my group, but the only problem was that we were all sitting in the same seat and I had to sit on the end! So I just sat there with my butt half on the seat for about an hour and a half! And what's even worse is that they were both sleeping on me! The only good part about the bus ride was the great view of downtown St. Louis as we passed.
Next, we headed for the biggest mound at the site, Monk's Mound. You have to climb up a ton of stairs to get to the top. (Jasmine Colvin counted, and she told us later that there were about 85.) Some of the other members in my group acted as if we were in the middle of the desert. Me and Jasmine got up all 85 stairs first in our group. We stopped to admire the views while waiting for the others. We looked down. It was very steep, with lots of brightly colored plants. Then we glanced to our left and saw the Arch in St. Louis. I remarked, "That's the last view of Missouri that we'll see for a while!" (The site was in Illinois.) "Look!" Jasmine cried. I looked, and we were both staring at a beautiful flock of white birds flying around in a circle.
Descending the mound was not nearly as difficult as climbing it. Our next stop was the Stockade, which was really just a wall that was two miles around and shaped like a baseball diamond, so we only stayed there for about five minutes. Then we reboarded the bus and started for a location about 2 blocks down called Woodhenge. Mr. Kinney told us that the Mississippians used this big circle of poles to determine time of day and season.
Mrs. Williams told our group that they could stay by the bus. I was the only one who got up to have a look around. Anyone who went up there saw a strange sight. By the center post, there were a row of two oranges and two apples with a straw braid on top. All of us wondered what it was.
Next, we took the bus to an area of picnic tables to eat our lunches. I had a cold cuts wrap, graham crackers, a fruit salad, lemonade, and two brownies. But I didn't have any silverware, so I had to eat my fruit salad by picking up each piece with my fingers.
Then a bunch of boys were playing roughly on the tire swing, swinging each other around violently and so then Miss Coe agreed to get on and everyone laughed while watching her hang from the tire swing. Finally, the second bus arrived to the picnic tables. The second they were here, I ran over and told Mrs. Buck and Mrs. Farooqui about Miss Coe and the tire swing. Mrs. Farooqui laughed. "It's perfect for her. She's so tiny," she said. Mrs. Buck looked a little nervous. She said, "As long as it's her and not me!"
Later, some of the most athletic seventh graders tried to beat Mr. Kinney in a race. (As well as being a history teacher, he's also a football coach.) Soon after that all the groups left for the Interpretive Center, where we saw a short 15-minute film about the Cahokians and then went in the rest of the Center to look at some of the exhibits. The thing that I spent a lot of time in was the pretend Cahokian village. I spent so much time there that I didn't have time to look at much else before we left. Then I had to sit through another hour and a half on the edge of the bus seat during the ride home, and had a sore butt as we were walking toward the red team area.
The packet was difficult to answer because I didn't get to see everything. Our group only got to answer about half the questions. (Plus, me and Mrs. Williams did almost all of the work.) All in all, though, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.
I didn't pay attenion to a lot of stuff during the trip because I had the Nickelback song, "Far Away" stuck in my head and sang it to myself over and over. It's a beautiful song that represents every painful feeling that I have right now in life... (Uh-oh! I think I might have just said too much!)
That's about it. (P.S: I asked Julia about my idea yesterday, and she agreed. JULIA ROCKS!)
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

My New Hobby: Doodling!
I've got a totally new interest now that I never had before: drawing! I'm really not much of an artist, so I came up with a system to teach myself how to draw something. When I draw something the first time, or rather, the first couple of times, I use the picture as a visual aid. Then after the second time, I draw the picture without aid twice. Once I draw the picture four times, the steps are sort of programmed into my brain.
My new method just recently gave me this cool idea. First, I could learn how to draw people in my classes in animated versions. Then I could ask everyone to tell me what they would do with their lives if they were in a cartoon. I could record their profiles and then put them in a blank notebook, with each profile next to their picture.
I think I will call my idea The Animated World. It might be difficult to do, though. People don't usually listen to me. I'll have to find someone who will be my ambassador, to persuade people into it. Someone like Julia Vogel. She's nice to me, she's cool, and she's creative. She might also be able to get Renee McCarthy to help her.
I'll tell you soon if The Animated World falls through or not. Bye!
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

imovie projects
In Gifted, we're making movies about whatever you want, which is AWESOME! Since I don't especially like my class... (Scott is freaky, Alex is too silent, Jenna's a suck-up, Brianne is overenthusiastic, Gary's a smartmouth, and Brett is...well,...um,...he's kind of hard to descibe. I suppose that an obnoxious, annoying, totally twisted spaz will do) ...Mrs. Laytham allowed me to work with Shira, my best friend since first grade. The only problem is, Shira and I are in separate classes, so we have to get by without each other. (She's in Mrs. Laytham's 2nd hour A-day class and I'm in her 4th hour B-day class.)
We have chosen to do a documentary describing how to be a superhero. We divided it into two different sections. Shira's section, which is first, is about helping others and the costume. Then comes my section, which was about intelligence and personal awareness.
I have all different kinds of music. Here are all the different artists I loaded onto the computer as a possibility: Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, 3 doors Down, Switchfoot, Vanessa Carlton, Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, JET, Bowling For Soup, The Killers, Avril Lavigne, Goo Goo Dolls, Melissa Ethridge, Train, Rob Thomas, Maroon5, Michelle Branch, Natasha Bedingfield, Coldplay.
Of those, these are the ones I'll probably use: Coldplay, JET, Natasha Bedingfield, Goo Goo Dolls, Train, Maroon5, Michelle Branch.
The main character of my section is Violet Neona, who has the power of the colors. She has blond hair, like me, and wears a blue long-sleeved shirt and green pants. She also has a rainbow cape and boots. She is the one who's teaching everyone how to be a "sharp superhero".
Today I just started filming. I filmed one shot where my sister tackles me, another shot where I'm just introducing myself, and the very beginning. During the shots, I dressed just like I had drawn Violet Neona, exept for my boots and cape weren't rainbow colored.
After we filmed the shots, I scanned to see what else was on the tape. I found the Invent project of Danny Goldsmith and Austin Zwiebelman from last year in May. They were in my class, so I remembered it instantly. I also saw Katie Johnston and Robby Rhoades, and heard Ben Rosemann, Ricky Parks, Gary Nicholson, and Andrew Hamelman. I didn't see me, though. If I did, I would have been wearing a splint, because I had an arm fracture during that time.
Well, looks like I've covered everything, but I'll probably have more breaking news to discuss before you know it!
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

Red Underwear and The Outsiders
Well, the news today is pretty darn weird, so if you don't like totally out-of-the-ordinary blogs, you might not want to read this post. (If you also hate blogs about books describing fictional people from the 60s or periods, then I would recommend that you leave right now!)
I think I'll start with the more normal news. In language class, we have just started a book called The Outsiders. It's about guys from the 1960s who live in total pandemonium on the streets. But what's even weirder, in my opinion, are their names. The oldest is named Darrel, which is not very strange, but his nickname is Darry. The next youngest is Soda (very unnormal), and the narrator's name is Ponyboy! That's probably the most hilarious name ever!
Now for the gross part. (Another heads up: It's about my P-E-R-I-O-D!) It began on Sunday night when I took my underwear off and there was RED STUFF ALL OVER IT! Since I had no clue what it was at the time, I disreguarded it. When it happened the second time the next day, that's when I finally discovered that it was blood, so I shoved the underwear in a corner. The third time, I was starting to get a little nervous. I shoved the bloody pair in the corner with the other one.
Then on Wednesday (yesterday) I finally told my best friends Shira and Lalonna about it. Shira said, "By all means, tell your mom."
Turns out I didn't have to. When I came home from school that day, my mom asked me, "Jess, when did you start your period and not tell me?" I was totally busted! I found out later that she must have found the underwear while she was cleaning my room. She bought me some pads and showed me how to use them. I thought the pads looked like diapers, but they didn't feel like it when I put one on me.
Today when I checked my pad, nothing. I guess that was it for my first month. Wasn't so bad, overall. I plan to tell all the rest of my friends tomorrow, like Aspen, Cara, and Jasmine.
I'm not the first person in my friend circle to start. Cara told me and Aspen that she started over summer vacation, so she'll understand, at least.
That's all! I'll be back soon with more stuff to tell you about!
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

The Monday Blues Controversy
I decided to call this entry what I did because today, Monday September 18, 2006, was a definite mix of good and bad. It started off pretty awesome because I had just burned a new favorite songs CD the night before, so I didn't have to listen to the same stuff I always do on my CD player during the bus ride.
Then our bus had to pass a construction site, which made me rather late for Orchestra. I hate being tardy for any class, ever! Not only that, but we had to take a playing test today that I hadn't even practiced for!
Then there was the problem that I didn't have the required sheets in math class because I assumed that we didn't need them anymore and forgot to bring them into class. Mrs. Buck said that if I could find them by tomorrow, I would get all the points, which once again shows just how understanding she is!
Things got a little better in Learning Stratagies, though. I somehow managed before class to find the math sheets buried in my backpack and turn them in for Mrs. Buck to see! Yes!
Gifted class was part fun and part disappointment. I was planning on downloading some music onto itunes in order to use it for my project, but the computer lab was already being used for SRI testing. Bummer! But then I got to draw pictures on my storyboard with markers, so it wasn't too bad. (Downloading music would have been more fun, though!)
I didn't like history class very much. We got a totally new seating chart, and I was forced to sit next to Ben Rosemann, an insane maniac who loves to annoy everybody, especially me! Shortly afterward I also found out that we were going to Cahokia Mounds later this month on a field trip, and I hated it when we went there in third grade. I simply knew that going there again would be soooo boring!
At lunch, I sat with Shira and Lalana like I always did, and got a cool fortune cookie message. It said that I am admired for my radiance. Such a message was a great pick-me-up after a dreadful history class.
Although I don't normally enjoy science, today wasn't that bad because I managed to get to class earlier than usual, so I actually had enough time to finish the warm-up today!
Throughout the school day, I always look forward to language class. I love Mrs. Farooqui and language arts! Today we were presenting our posters about the 1960s to the rest of the class. I was the only person who was working alone. My project was about 1960s literature. After I presented, everyone said I did a great job! Mrs. Farooqui told me that my project was the best in the whole class! I asked her after the bell rang why everyone loved my project so much. She said that it was because I knew what I was talking about and I captured her attention as well as the attention of the class. I felt great after receiving those compliments!
So here's my advice to everyone who hates Mondays: You never know what surprises are going to jump out at you or wether your day will be wonderful, horrid, or a combination of both when you first wake up on Monday morning, or any day of the week. And if your morning starts out bad, remember that your day will probably get better soon, just like mine. Bottom Line: You can't predict what kind of day you're going to have before it happens!
Ciao for Now,
-Jess

I love writing anything, so when we were assigned to write a memoir for Language class, I was ALL OVER IT! I immediately knew the perfect subject: my crush...(oh, wait, I can't tell you who he is yet! Oops!)
Well, anyway, I thought that my subject was the best one ever, so I wrote about ninety bazillion pages. (Actually, there were only 6 pages, but you get the picture.)
Rebekah Shepherd peer edited my paper. The only thing she lives for is reading! And when I got my paper back, she misspelled the word "detail." (You'd think that a reading genius would be good at spelling, too.) She also wanted to know who I was talking about. (I didn't use his name...that would embarrass myself! I used his initials instead.)
Once I got to typing, my parents and teacher allowed me to bring my CD player. (Mrs. Farooqui encourages ipods. Does she rock, or what!?) With my CD player, I was able to get all the typing done in 2 days! It's amazing what my totally awesome CD collection can do!
My parents kept asking what my memoir was about, but I won't tell them! The only person I can trust is Joey Saltzman, an extremely nice girl from my science class. I promised her a copy of my memoir. I can trust her, but certainly not my parents!
Ciao for Now,
-Jess