_A Stolen Life_ + Fanfiction

This past week I have read more than I normally do.  With all of the reading time allowed in class, plus the time that I spend reading at home, I have read nearly 3 and a half hours this week. I read 2 hours of A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, and it is getting *extremely* interesting, more so than it has been! She is reaching a point in her captivity where she is completely dependent on her kidnappers, who brainwash her to believe that everything else in the world is evil and that she needs to be protected. It's really sad, though, because in reality pretty much everything outside of her backyard prison is anything but evil, and everything in her life IS.

I also spent this week reading a lot of my friend's writing.  She wrote a story about One Direction,  called a fanfiction, and I read the entire thing in about an hour and a half. I also read one of our other friend's fanfiction, and both of them are really good writers! It's interesting to read what other people have to say about One Direction, my favorite band! I really enjoy reading something new and interesting, and there are a lot of fanfictions out there!

Free Write: One Direction + Cher Lloyd

So this past Saturday, my friend Mallory called me at 8:30 am, so that I could be awake and ready when the One Direction tickets went on sale.  She also called her cousin Anna, so that we would have a better chance to get good seats.  As we waited in anticipation, we couldn't help but think about how cool it would be if we actually got to see our favorite boy band live. It would be huge! Before we knew it, we were counting down the seconds, and as soon as the clock hit 9:00, we were all clicking away to get tickets. We first got seats in the nosebleeds, but then we kept searching, and found three seats together in a section very close to the stage! It was unreal for the first 4 hours that we were going to see One Direction in concert.

 Mallory and I met up later that day, and worked on our projects, but we also talked about the concert. We figured out that Cher Lloyd, X Factor finalist, might be opening for them on tour, and we got even more excited! Cher has an awesome voice and some pretty good songs, so were are definitely looking forward to the concert! Our favorite is called "Want U Back", and its a song that she wrote about her ex-boyfriend, and how when she broke up with him she thought that she would be fine, but as soon as she saw him with another girl she realized that she wants him back. After loving that song, we definitely can't wait for the concert. It's June 30th in Orlando, so Anna and I will meet up with Mallory and stay for a little bit so that we can go to the concert, but Disney World too! Its 96 days away, so summer needs to get here NOW!

_A Stolen Life_, week 2

So, this is the 2nd week of my reading of A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. It is incredibly sad, but also impossible to put down! I mentioned in my last blog post about this book that Jaycee's style of writing grows with her in the book.  When she talks about her younger years, her voice is younger, and gets older and more correct as she gets older. I read for nearly 3 hours this week, going 102 pages further in the book.  It really is such a good book, and I have gotten to the part where Jaycee has already had her 2 children, and is starting to feel like a family with her captors, Nancy and Phillip.  That's pure brainwashing, if you ask me. Her kidnappers must be master manipulators, in order for her to reach a point in her captivity where she feels like she loves Nancy and Phillip, and can't go on in life without them.  I'm excited/anxious to see what the rest of the book holds, and will definitely finish this book in the next week or two!

Free Write: Ed Sheeran

As a lot of you may know, the One Direction Infection has been covering the world ever since the 5 member boy band became famous from The X Factor. I myself am guilty of having the infection, how could you not love them? Recently at the Brit Awards, One Direction talked about who inspired them musically and whatnot, and the name Ed Sheeran began to spread around. Also nominated for a Brit award in the same category as 1D, Ed Sheeran has become not only wildly popular with European Directioners, but quite a few American Directioners.  He even wrote a song on 1D's new album, Up All Night, called "Moments". Ed has a lot of really good songs, and has inspirational messages in each one portrayed through song and lyric.  There are 4 or 5 of Ed's songs that I really like, but some of them haven't been released in America yet.  I hope that I can see Ed's fan-base grow quickly, and maybe one day see him in concert with his buddies from One Direction!

_A Stolen Life_, the story of Jaycee Dugard's 18 year captivity

This past week, my friend Mallory let me borrow A Stolen Life, the story of Jaycee Dugard's life when she lived in the secret backyard of her captor for 18 years.  When I started to read the book, I couldn't put it down! Jaycee wrote the story in the voice of her pre-teen self. It makes the book very interesting, because as a reader I can picture exactly how 11 year old Jaycee was, or how 15 year old Jaycee thought, because of the voice that she uses to tell her compelling story. When I started to read this book, it was about 8:00 at night, and I didn't put it down until 10:30, and that was just on the first night.  I got about 115-ish pages into it, and am 110% attentive to the story. This book so far has been very emotional, but also completely interesting, and I believe that it would be a great book for anyone and everyone who would like to imagine the things that Jaycee Dugard went through in her 18 year captivity. 

Free Write: Sarasota, Florida

For all of my life, my family has always talked about one day getting to live in Sarasota, Florida. Away from the major cities in south Florida, but just close enough to spend a day at Disney, Sarasota's near-pink sand and gorgeous people always seems to come up into our lives when we need it the most.  Two years ago, my family and I took a trip to Disney World over Christmas break. Part of the trip was to spend a day down in Sarasota. As it had been almost 10 years since my mom had seen her friends in town, we spent the day reaquainting ourselves with the beautiful western Florida keys, and visiting with some of our oldest family friends. Though our day was short, it was nice to be able to see what Sarasota had to offer. This past summer, I had just gotten back from a trip to my beach house in Navarre, Florida with some of my friends, and my mom decided that we would go back to Sarasota for about a week or so, not only to enjoy some time with our friends and have some more time at the beach, but also to look at real estate for another home, somewhere to spend our summer. After the trip, we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted.  When we went back to Disney World this past Christmas, we visited Sarasota one more time, and had the entire day to ourselves. You would expect that on New Year's Eve, it would be cold as can be, but it was nearly 90 degrees, and it was paradise! I love Sarasota, the people in it, the shopping, and of course the beach. I hope that one day soon I will be able to go back down to Sarasota and be able to call it my 2nd home.

Free Write: Concert and Select Choir

This year, I have really been enjoying my time in concert choir and select choir. With four major performances behind us now, it is easy for me to say that our choir is definitely one with a lot of talent and potential. We have practice nearly every day, with an extra practice on every Monday night for about an hour and a half. With the evensong music and Carmina Burana completed, we were surprised when our teacher told us that we were going to get to start working on the infamous Black Box Concert. Usually a favorite among non-choral students, the choir treats anyone who buys a ticket to dinner and an evening filled with a set of music, selected by students, and performed by students. Anyone in choir can perform in the black box concert, with a group or by themselves, and the entire concert choir has a song to sing, along with the select choir to sing a few group songs. This year the overall theme in music is generally indie, with songs like "We Are Young" by fun., and talk of songs like "Daylight" by Matt and Kim. The choir is also performing a particularly special song with the band and a dance ensemble.  I am really enjoying my time in choir, and I think that it will be something that I do all four years throughout high school, and maybe even tie it into what I do in college. I feel extremely lucky to be able to go to a school where not only is academic success an ultimate goal, but academic success alongside athletic and artistic achievements. I am enjoying choir, and look forward to our upcoming concert!

Outside Reading

This past week I have read a variety of things, mainly focusing on A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks. I read about an hour and a half of it, but I still haven't finished it. So far in the book, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan have just performed the christmas play that Jamie's father wrote about her, and she ended up playing the main role. When Jamie walked out on stage looking angelic, Landon was nearly gobsmacked at her beautiful appearance. He ended giving her a surprise kiss at the very end of the play, giving the audience near waterworks. I look forward to reading more of this book when we have our three day weekend coming up, I am anxious to finish it!

Along with A Walk To Remember, I have also read some short stories online.  I read one short story that was 19 "chapters", and it took me about 2 hours in total to read the whole thing.  It was about the British band One Direction, and a fictional tale about their outside lives with friends and family. It was a particularly good read, and the author is still updating the fanfiction.  She also plans on making a sequel to the story, which my friends and I are definitely looking forward to!