Many authors have different strengths and styles, which makes their book(s) popular. Dumas is great at creating dialogue which keeps the story going.  Dumas also does an excellent job at describing the setting and describing its mood, which makes the reader immersed. The author is also good at expressing the characters’ feelings. Dumas uses great technique to captivate readers to his story.

I have always thought of what I was going to do and who I was going to be in the future. When I was little I considered becoming a police officer, a nurse or a doctor. Now that I learned a few things about the “real world,” I am now unsure of what I want to become. 

When I was in preschool, we went on a field trip, we went to visit the police station where my classmate’s mom works. The idea of catching bad guys to me, is amazing and cool; and when I saw their uniforms, I immediately thought that I wanted to be a police officer. My mother graduated as a nurse, and she worked as a nurse for a few years, but unfortunately, she stopped working when she had us to take care of. Many people in my family are nurses, when I visited my aunt, I would always see that picture of her in her nurse uniform, with her cap. My relatives, especially my mom, have influenced me to become a nurse.

A few months ago, I was looking for a show to watch on Netflix, and my friend recommended Grey’s Anatomy. I was amazed by what the people did in that show, they were always trying to find someone, and help others. I have relatives who work in the medical field, the show and my relatives have inspired me to work in the medical field. I have considered becoming an anesthesiologist or a doctor, but now I want to become a doctor. 

In the future, I want to go to college, but I have also considered joining the military. After joining the military, I want to go to college and study medicine. I am still not sure on what I want to do in the future, but I know I want to work in the medical field.

My future still seems unclear to me, but I do know that I want to be in a field where I can help others. I have always thought that I would study and work in the medical field because of my relatives.

T he future is still quite far and I still have a lot of time to prepare or whatever will shall happen.

My theme is loss of innocence because like everybody, I was very innocent, I still am but not that much, and as I grow, I do lose that innocence as I become more aware of the world I live in. I also think that my theme can be idolatry, but not in the sense of worshiping, but idolization, we view many kinds of entertainment, and we do end up idolizing many people and at times we revolve our world/life around these idols. It’s more like a theme for one of the phases in my life.

Another theme for my life is tragic vanity, I do admit that I do want to fit in, I want to be cool, I want to belong, you can see this side of me when I consider purchasing things that everybody has, like those “cool” water bottles and those silly looking cordless earbuds. Even though I am making fun of them right now, I still do want to purchase these things and I will because I am in a way, quite vain.

Reading: RI. 9-10.6, I struggle with determining the purpose because I sometimes get it confused with the theme. 

Writing: W. 9-10.1, When writing arguments, I tend to contradict whatever I wrote and sometimes my arguments are weak. 

CCSS ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3 When listening, I sometimes get lost and off track and sometimes I can’t  correlate the evidence.

I started annotating when I was in 9th grade; we read The Alchemist, I wasn’t really interested in it so I had a hard time annotating. Every time I read a word that I didn’t know or wasn’t sure about the definition, I always searched it up and put a sticky note next to it. Searching up metaphors, similes, and symbols  very helpful. I try to maintain an open mind and try to read like the author, writing down your thoughts and questions is also helpful. Finding connections between different occurrences and other literature you have read. Always do some research. I used these methods and helped me find and understand the messages that are embedded in the book. 

I have learned that the amount of sentences in a paragraph do not matter; what matters is what you’re writing about, how you’re expressing your thoughts, and the flow of your ideas in text.The flow is the most significant factor as it is what makes the paragraphs interesting. When writing paragraphs, I need to improve on organization as that is the base of the flow.

Santiago from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a brave and adventurous. In the book he states “‘I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure,’ he said to himself” (Coelho, 1.239-40) . My mother has always called adventurous because of how I always dare myself to do things ever since I was little like riding on roller coasters she couldn’t even bear to look at. Santiago is a brave person as he continued through hi quest despite not knowing what will happen to him. After moving back to the US, my parents told me that I should learn how to use public transportation. I then learned how to do so by myself. sometimes I would use public transportation in the evening because of after school activities. When my sister had the option to do this, she chose not to and said I am quite brave for being capable of taking buses late at night because there are a of of scary people out there.

I have always been a fan of reading ever since I learned how to read during kindergarten. I usually had a book in my end my collection of bools never stopped growing. One of my skills is being able to read quickly. I think this is a useful skill because as we get older, we get busier. Being able to read quickly can help in taking time off of reading and applying it to other more significant tasks.

“No one can ever take your memories from yup–each day is a new beginning; make good memories everyday.”

Catherine Pulsifer

We each have our own memories, each day is different and special; make memories with everything good happening daily.

I just transferred to Eleanor Roosevelt High School which means I have to make new goals that are accustomed to this new environment I am in. My goals for this year is to make a lot of good friends, join clubs where I can have fun and help others, and get good grades. I have made a lot of good friends in the school I sued to go to (Centennial) but now that we moved, I do not know anyone and I really want to be more sociable and make a lot of good friends. Our new home is now closer to school which means I can stay after school and nor worry about transportation which was my problem last year. I want to join clubs like key club and red cross as they seem to be nice clubs and do things for a good cause.