J.K. ROWLING

Rowling is sueing a small town publisher in Michigan over plans to release a book version of a popular website dedicated to the boy wizard. She claims that the book is extremely similiar to her own work and says that "RDR Books will infringe on Rowling's intellectual property rights if it goes ahead with its plan to publish the 400-page "Harry Potter Lexicon"". She also stated that this would cause many problems in the future when it came to later wrting a Harry Potter Encyclopedia.

Halloween

This halloween was very eventful for me. I had school, then work, and saving the best for last a party! While at work someone got arrested for committing fraud. It was amazing how everything happened so fast, and how nervous the customer got when they saw the cops walking through the door. It's amazing how when people deny of doing anything is when you can truly see if they are lying or not. I ended my day with an amazing party, but sadly i had to end things early considering i have work extremely early in the morning the next day. I hope every holiday is as fun as this one.

Baseball

Sooooooo.......sadly the Boston Red Sox won the world series against the Colorado Rockies. Although the Red Sox are complete rivals with the New York Yankees, every team deserves to have spot light especially if they worked hard through out the whole season. Even though i wish the Yankees could of won the World Series in some way im not to upset that the red sox won because they are part of the american league team and they can show people in baseball that the american league is a much stronger and better league then the national league.

Enough about the Red Sox.......the Yankees is who o mainly care about. The mos recent news facing the Yankees is that Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his 3 yr remaining contract and is now going to become a free agent. Brian Cashman of the Yankees has made it clear that he would not negotiate if he opted out. Another story in the latest Yankees news is that they have finally given an offer to Joe Girrardi for Joe Torre's former position as manager. No answer yet as to whether or not he will accept the offer, but a good canidate indeed.

Malibu, California Fires

Last week in Malibu, California, many dangerous exotic fires broke out. Many celebrities homes were damaged and destroyed in these fires. They say the fires broke out because of how hot it was in the area. Tragedies like this one make me realize how lucky we are living in New Jersey. I think New Jersey is like a little piece of heaven because of how many storms we have weathered. My heart goes out to all the families that have been struck with tragedy, by losing their homes in the fires. Today many people are beginning to clean up their homes from the fires and trying to fix their homes back to what it looked like before the tragedies. I wish all the families in California luck and hope they stay strong throughout their hard times.

Antagonist

The antagonist in the movie Stranger than Fiction was Karen Eiffol. Karen was the writer of the book that she was writing in movie. Karen wrote a book based on Harold Crick's life, and as she would write something in her book, things would happen to Harold as she wrote it. Once Harold figured out what Karen was up to, he did all he could to find her and convince her to change her mind about the ending of the book. Karen did write the ending of the book with him dying, but later changes the ending to Harold getting hit by the bus and later living in a miracle, all thanks to his wrist watch that was embedded in his wrist.

Protagonist

The protagonist in the movie Stranger than Fiction was Harold Crick. The film was based on Harold's life making him the obvious main character. Although Harold does not have too good of a life in the beginning, he makes a huge turn around at the end of the movie. He also overcomes many obstacles in order to make his life a lot better. The movie def would not have been the same if the writer of the book had never changed the ending.

Yankees

For the past 12 years the yankees have had the best manager ever in baseball. Joe Torre would have to be the best team manager ever. I had never seen a coach/manager have so much passion and love for their team like he did. Joe fought for his team as hard and as long as he could. For 12 years he brought his team to championships and world series games. Together they overcame hard obstacles.

Until recently George Steinbrenner had given Joe a choice. The choice being to either take a 1 yr contract with the Yankees and get paid 5 million dollars with a few draw backs. I believe Joe made the right choice not taking the offer. I think this because if George really missed and wanted Joe to come back to join the Yanks he would of made an offer as soon as possible opposed to making an offer 2 weeks after the season was over.

Although Joe was a great asset to the yankees im sure that that ball club will be able to find someone to fill Joe's shoes. The yankees have many great men to choose from. Mattingly and Girardi are two great possiblitlies, and i know that the yankees along with the fans would be happy with either or.

britney spears rumors

Since this week was open topic week i chose to write about britney spears. On my behalf i cant stand the girl, but even though i dont like her it doesnt mean that all these reporters should be all up in her business either. The girl obviously has something wrong with herself. whether it be pychological or whatever. I think the person to blame for all her problems is her mother. Her mother pushed her until she couldnt be pushed anymore. Her mother claims to love her so much but if she truly loved her daughter she wouldve never let anything bad happen to her. For example, she would of never gotten her kids taken away, married a piece of trash that just married her for her mother, and is now possibly going to jail for committing a hit and run. The latest thing in news about our one and only britney is that she got surgery on her lips. I dont know why these people keep invading her life, it is not like anything special or surprising is going to happen.

Neat vs. Sloppy People

Neat people are most def more organized. Sloppy people can care less about anything at all. When you walk into a sloppy persons room, it looks like a hurricane hit it. Clothes would be lying everywhere and nothing would be in order. In a Neat persons room everything would be set aside neatly and organized. As i got older i learned that being a neat person makes things a lot simpler in the long run.

I would probably consider myself to have O.C.D. in certain ways. I wouldn't say that i have it to an extreme but i do get bothered by a mess and disorganization. If papers are splattered everywhere, i have to staighten things out. If cabnits or drawers are open for no reason i get an urge to close them. Everyone could be messy at times, because sometimes your just to busy to think of organization, but there should be no reason to be messy all the time.

Comparison & Contrast

The last time i compared and contrasted something was when i didnt know whether to go out with my friend eliana or go see my bf. The comparison between the two was that i care about them both very much and i enjoy being with them equally. I have the same amount of fun when im with them both and thats what makes it so hard to choose between the both of them. Whats different between both of them is that im able to talk about everything with her especially the girl things and with my bf i just talk about certain things with him. I finally chose to hang out with my friend eliana because now that we both go to different colleges i barley get to see her. I would probably say i get to see her maybe 3 or 4 times a month compared to what i used to see her, when i saw her everyday for the past 11 years.

Contrasting

In my math class we are learning how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. One example of the the problems we are learning is something like this;

[1/4-(1/2)4] / (3/4)2

In order to solve this you have to follow the rules:

1) follow order of operations
2) do things in perenthesis
3) divide
4) multiply
5) add

*as long as i follow each step correctly and follow the rules, there is no way i can go wrong.

There are many contrasts between math and english. One contrast is that in english you have to have an open mind when writing and you cant be wrong when answering the question in the essay, and in math you must follow rules in order to answer a question. They also contrast because in math you deal with numbers more then you do with words.

They are similar because they both involve using rules to answering questions. They also both have sequences to answering each question.

Ways To Lie Part 2

Erickson believes that lies are sometimes necessary for many reasons. One major reason he believes that lies should be told at times is so that people's hearts are not broken. Another reason is so relationships, whether it be a relationship wit a family member, friend, or boyfriend/girlfriend, do not get jeopardized. Most people tell lies so they can stay with their loved ones. Although lies can and sometimes do come back to haunt you, sometimes it can be for the best. As long as the lie is not something really bad that one day you will regret it, there is nothing wrong with lying once in a while.

I believe that the white lies are sometimes necessary. I believe this because i am the type of person that doesn't like to hurt anybody. I also hate having people mad at me, so i would do anything in my power to keep the people i care about happy and safe. Although i might tell a white lie every now and then, i sometimes choose to later tell them the truth, depending on what the lie was about.

Ways To Lie

Out of all the lies that Erickson spoke about, the three that stand out the most to me is "the white lie", "omission", and "the out and out lies". In my true opinion i believe these are the three lies that are committed on a daily basis by children and adults. I think adults commit the omission lies more the than children, but when it comes to the out and out lies and the white lies, i believe that kids are more often to give in to those. Lies are not always told to hurt someone or to be given in a bad intention. Sometimes they are given so that the "truth doesn't hurt" as much.

A white lie is most likely told everyday. This type of lie is mostly used towards family and friends. For example, if your mother asks your father if she looks good in those pants, and the father says yes, but really in his head he thinks she looks horrible; the father is really telling a white lie in order to not hurt her feelings and at the same time feed her a compliment. Lies are not always meant to hurt someone. Omission is another type of lie that Erickson spoke about. An omission lie is when someone tells somewhat of the truth but at the same time leaves of a few details. Omission in my opinion is commonly used by kids when they get in trouble in school.

The lie that stung me the most was the out and out lies. When someone is telling an out and out lie, you can tell that its a bold face lie. There is no innocence when it comes to someone telling that type of lie. An out and out lie is the easiest type of lie to tell when someone is lying to your face, because there is no way around the lie. This lie struck me hard because with this type of lie there is no doubt my mind whether someone is telling me the truth or not.

Generalization

To me the generalization "good things come to those who wait" is extremely important to me. I was always one he struggled with school, and would have to study my butt off in order to do good on my exams. There were times where even though i would study, i just wouldnt be satisfied with the grades i received. All my friends were honors students, where i was your average student with the mediocre grades.

I never believed in the saying " good things come to those who wait" until my last year in middle school. I had never recieved honors until my first marking period in the 8th grade. As i attended my 8th grade graduation, i saw all my friends receiving all types of awards for their achievements throughout their years in middle school. While sitting there i wondered, "i worked as hard as these other students, how come im not getting rewarded for it"? I thought to myself just because i didnt have straight A's doesnt mean i should'nt be rewarded. As waiting for the awards ceremony to be over, the very last award was for the person that worked their hardest throughout their 3 years in middle school. When the teacher was talking about the student who would be receiving this award, i thought to myself, "i wish i could get this award", until finally my name was called for the award. The minute i heard my name i was in complete shock and astonishment. I never thought in a million years i would ever recieve that award.

Until this very day today, i strongly believe in the saying "good things come to those who wait". Althought i might not get awards everyday for all my hard work i put into my school life, i still feel as though i come to school with a positive mind to do good and accomplish my goals. My graduation made me realize that i should always work hard, because in the long run i will never regret it, and will always look back on the good i have accomplished and be proud of myself.

Free Topic

I really rather have a topic to write about, because it is a lot easier to speak your mind when you are focused on one thing, but because i dont have a specific topic i guess i will just write what ever comes to mind. I guess i can just focus on what i did today, and how my day turned out. My day didnt start off to great, for the fact that i put my heart and time into something and in the end it didnt really pay off. As the day progressed it got somewhat better. My math teacher is who really put me in a good mood, because he always knows what to say to make me laugh, even though with what he says, its the same thing all time.

Coming into work i really wasnt in a good mood what so ever. I didnt feel like tending to anyone, and anyone with an attitude would just get it right back. Im not the type of person to give attitude but everyone has their days. As the time at work passed i noticed i wasnt the only one that was down. My friend also wasnt acting her normal self, so i asked her what was wrong. She had told me she wasnt having a good day, because her uncle had passed away.

When my friend told me that her uncle passed away, in a way i felt kind of selfish. Im here complaining of a bad day because of a class that didnt make me to happy, and heres my friend mourning a loved one. Everyone had their bad days, but no one should have to go through a loved ones death the way she did today.

Alpha, Betta & Gamma Girls

Betta girls are def better then the alpha and gamma girls. Betta girls are better then the alpha and gamma girls in almost everything. The alpha might be prettier but the betta's are smarter and much better at school. Betta girls are also better runners than the alpha girls. They also have a smarter view on things, and think a lot more logically then any other girl group. Guys might not agree because guys are more attracted to the alpha girls, considering they are the pretty ones.

Whitney is one betta girl in school that would love to become a alpha all because of their looks, and how they get responses from guys. She was very smart and did well in school, but all that would change because of the pressures from the alpha's. Whitney was so hypnotized with becoming a alpha that she changed her whole look, because she was scared that the alpha girls would turn her away.

Whitney did anything in her power to try and get the attention of the alpha girls. She tried to listen to their conversations, she would try to get in on their conversations, she would just try and do anything to just try and fit in. The more she tried to fit in, the more the girls turned her away, and showed that they didn't want to have anything to do with her. Until Whitney finally realized that the alpha girl group was just not for her, she finally gave up. She thankfully went back to her old ways and continued doing good in school, because she finally realized that she has respect for herself.