Blog Entry Number 10

This morning Mark and I got back from our, very well needed, two week vacation in beautiful Cancun, Mexico. The trip was great we did everything that we could have dreamed of and the weather was amazing the whole time. Everything would have been perfect if I wasn’t lying in bed right now sicker than ever, can you believe it?! Of course right when I get back from my trip, and I have a big volleyball game tonight against the toughest team. The last thing I want to do is not show up and let my team down, but I can’t even get out of bed! I’m just getting sicker and sicker as the day goes on, I don’t know what to do! If I don’t show up to my game then our team will have to for fit and then we lose, and that’s the last thing we want against our biggest rivalry team. But there is no way that I’ll be able to play, I can’t even stand up to walk, this is an issue. I just want to feel better, and not only am I sick, but Mark is too, the same thing! And the worst thing is that we haven’t seen Kira in two weeks and she is just so happy to see us so she won’t leave us alone, all I want is some peace and quiet and to rest. Finally, about three hours later, my best friend Jordan shows up with some medicine. She starts yelling at me saying I have to get better and play so we don’t have to for fit; she’s on my team too. She leaves and I go take my medicine and a nice shower. After a little while, I do start to feel better, it’s a miracle! But of course, the game has already started, so I start to rush around to find my shorts, jersey, knee pads, and…runners! Where are my runners?! I can’t find them anywhere; they are always in the exact same place. I run to Kira’s room and there they are in her crib. What the heck are they doing there? I am so late now I can’t believe it! I finally get into my car and start zooming down the street to get to the game. Phew, I made it, just in time for the last set though, I guess they survived the first two without me. It’s all tied up and both teams have won one set and this is the one to win it all, I am so nervous. The first few points were just awful; we’re losing 9-0 we have to pick it up if we want any chance of winning! Jordan serves a killer serve and slowly starts to get us back in the game, all of a sudden it’s 24-23 for us, if we get this point we win and will finally beat this team for once! It’s my serve and the pressure is on, all I have to do is get this point. I toss the ball up, serve it, and…it goes straight over and drops right between two of their players, we won!! Yay everyone is cheering and jumping around, but out of nowhere I start to feel sick again…uh oh, well I guess it was good while it lasted.    

Blog nEntry Number 9

I Lindsey McDonald am a twenty-eight year old physiotherapist, wife, and mother of one living in Toronto, Ontario. I like to wake up at the same time every morning, 6:03 to be exact, I am a bit of a perfectionist and schedule out everything. On a good day I wake up peacefully at the right time to my alarm and the birds singing outside. But some mornings, if not most, I am roughly awoken by the screaming of my little two year old daughter, Kira, like today. So as I’m lying in bed, I turn over to face my husband Mark and hope that just this once he’ll get up and take care of Kira, but of course like always apparently in the mornings she’s “my department.” As I get out of bed I totally forget what’s above me and smoke my head on a shelf, is 5 foot 10 really that tall?! I finally get to Kira’s room, get her dressed, fed, and changed. As I’m walking down the flight of stairs of our two story house in Toronto, I remember that I forgot to feed or beagle Molly, back up I go. Mark is now ready to go to work at his job as an electrical engineer and takes Kira with him to drop her off at daycare. Finally, some time to myself, I grab a bowl and start to make my favourite breakfast, hot oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries, yum! After having a kid I realised just how hard it actually is to stay fit, so I’m off for a run! I get back and hop into the shower to wash my long brown hair, and to get all of the sweat and dirt off of my mocha, tan skin. I come out of the shower and put on my typical everyday work outfit, dress pants, a blouse, and of course my signature silver jewelry. I then get into my black Volkswagen, right on time of course, and drive to work. The physiotherapist office that I work at is a family business, so I work with me parents, my two brothers, my sister, and my best friend since we were five Jordan. It’s great working with my family, but sometimes it’s a lot to handle, I think I now know why we have no non-family employees…Anyways, the only thing that is getting me through this day is knowing that I get to do my absolute most favourite thing tomorrow, travel. I love to travel anywhere and everywhere, before I die I want to make it all the way around the world with Mark by my side. Tomorrow though, the two of us are going to Cancun, Mexico and I am pumped! No kids, no work, no problems! While I am on the trip I get to do my favourite things, swim, read, golf, and relax, I can`t wait! Well, I got to go my first patient is here!

Blog Entry Number 8

My bedroom is a very basic room; it’s quite small with four walls, a window, and a walk in closet. The thing that I like most about my room is that it is my own and I don’t have to share it with anyone. All of my walls in my room are purple; three of them light purple, like a lavender and one of them dark, bold purple, the wall with the window is the dark one. Right when I walk into my room the smell of lemon smacks me in the face so hard I can taste it because of my lemon air freshener, I can also smell a bunch of random smells like different perfumes, fresh laundry, and the outside air, I also can feel the fresh spring air through my open window and the fuzzy carpet on the bottom of my feet. My furniture is also a purpley/blue, I have two dressers and a desk. Both of the dressers are piled high with a whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff, it might look crowded and messy to some people, but I know exactly where everything is and everything has a certain place. The one dresser mostly has things from different trips on it like sand and shells from the beach in Mexico. The other dresser is filled mostly with things that I need to get ready, like makeup, jewelry, brushes, and perfume. That dresser also has a huge mirror that is bordered with pictures and memories from different parts of my life. Both of those dressers are filled with clothes that are always organized how I like them. I also have a walk in closet that has clothes in it too, on the left of the closet I have all of my golf shirts that are colour coated and below those are all of my sweaters that are also colour coated. On the right side of my closet are all my pants, jeans, sweats, yoga pants, golf pants, etc. they are also organized and I know where everything is all the time. Behind my door, I have six shelves that are all filled with different things, the first two are all of my books, the next one is all jets stuff, like tickets and programs, the fourth one is all of the awards that I have won through school, for sports and academics, the next one is the medals that I have won, and the last one is the golf stuff that I have won, like trophies and plaques. My desk is mostly filled up with school supplies and on top of it are a light and my laptop. I recently got a new bigger bed and I absolutely love it, it is very comfy and piled high with a bunch of pillows. My pillows take up a bunch of space on my bed so I only sleep on the left side of it, so that side is all wore in and way lower than the right side. Every night I look forward to sleeping in my big and comfy bed. Whenever I am in my room I feel very calm and relaxed because no one is usually around, just me. I don’t usually spend that much time in my room by myself or with my friends, I’m really only there to get ready or before I’m going to bed. My room always NEEDS to be clean no matter what because I like to be really organized and I need to know where everything is all the time. Whenever I’m in my room I can hear a few things, people and dogs barking, usually my sister and mom yelling at each other, golfers golfing in my backyard, and music, I always have music playing in my room no matter what. I like to be in my room sometimes because I’m alone and relaxed, but I don’t like being in there too much because then I start to feel isolated, I would rather spend more time out of my room then in it.

Blog Enrty Number 7

For the character Puck, I have chosen Will Ferrell. He is a very funny and talented actor and he has starred in many movies that showed his comedic side like Kicking and Screaming, The Campaign, Elf, and Blades of Glory. In almost all of the movies that he is in he plays a very funny and comedic role. Will Ferrell would be the perfect person to play Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream because in the play Puck is a very funny guy, likes to play a lot of tricks on people, and gets a laugh out of them every time. In the play when Puck was talking to the fairy she says to him in Act II “Either I mistake your shape and making quite, or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite call’d Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he that frights the maidens of the villager, skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern, and bootless make the breathless housewife churn,” (II, i, 32-37). This funny and mischievous side of Puck would work really well for Will Ferrell because he likes to play funny roles and I think that he would have fun playing tricks on people. Also Will looks to be about the right age to play this role of Puck.

 

For the character Titania, I think that Anna Hathaway would be a good actress to fit her part. She is a very talented actress and has been in many different types of movies like The Princess Diaries 1 &2, Les Miserables, Bride Wars, and Ella Enchanted. In both the Princess Diaries movies and Ella enchanted, Anna Hathaway played a sort of royal or magical role. Also in some of the movies she has been in she has played sort of a demanding role, so she would fit Titania’s role really well. In Act II Titania says “Fairies, away. We shall chide downright if I longer stay.” (II, I, 129-130). This shows that she is sort of the leader of the fairies and kind of orders them around. I think that Anne Hathaway would be good and doing that since she has before and she would also be used to being around magic so she would probably be comfortable with the fairies and the other magic that’s in the play.

For the character Helena, I think that Amanda Bynes would be a really great actress to play her part. She is a very good actress and has been in many movies that showed different sides to her like Hairspray, Sydney White, She’s the Man, and What a Girl Wants. In almost all of the movies that she has been in she plays a very clumsy and sort of awkward role, I feel like this fits Helena’s personality really well. Also in Hairspray, Amanda Bynes plays a sort of side kick role to the main actress and kind of just follows her and does what she does. This is kind of how Helena acts towards Hermia and lets her make the decisions most of the time. Also in Hairspray, Amanda Bynes really looks like the way that Hermia looks in the actual movie of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and acts the same way as Helena does. In Act II Helena says “How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears. If so, my eyes are oftener washed than hers. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear, for beasts that meet me run away for fear.” (II, ii, 65-68). I fell like Amanda Bynes would be able to play this really unconfident role pretty well since she has in the past with other movies. Also Amanda Bynes is blonde and in some of her movies she has been made to look not the prettiest, so she probably could again for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Blog Entry Number 6

The book cover that I believe is the most effective for the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the last one which is the one where Titania is sleeping on the ground in the woods with all of the fairies surrounding her. I feel like the first two book covers are too childish and there is not enough detail is put into them, especially the second one. The third book cover just doesn’t look that appealing to the eye and doesn’t really make you want to pick it up and read it. The last book cover though, the one that I feel is the most effective for the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, actually looks like it was written in ancient times and fits the theme of the play. I also like how on this cover of the play there is a lot of detail in every part of it and not just in Titania or one part. This cover also sort of looks mysterious when you first look at it and lures you in to want to read it and know more about what is going on not just in the scene on the cover, but in the whole book. I like how on this cover of the play there are lots of fairies that are just flying around the whole cover. I like how all the fairies are on the cover because we know that this play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about magic and witchcraft and we also know that the fairies are connected with magic, so they probably will be in this play too, also Titania is the queen of the fairies so it makes sense to have her surrounded by fairies. I like how this cover of the play shows more than just one thing that happens in this book or just one person. The last thing that I like about this cover of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is that the scene on the cover is taking place in the woods where most of the play, and certainly the main parts of the play, take place in the woods so it is good that this cover is taking place in the woods.

 

 

Blog Entry Number 5

Since my last blog a have read and finished a few different books, but the one that I just currently finished was “Along for the Ride” by Sarah Dessen, so I will be connecting that one to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” These two books are very different in many ways, but they also do have a few things that are similar. The one main thing about these two books that is very similar are the characteristics and traits between the character’s Auden in “Along for the Ride” and Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” These two characters are very much alike. Both of them are very rebellious and don’t listen to their parents, but in different ways. Auden’s parents from “Along for the Ride” never let her have any fun when she was growing up, made her study all the time, and basically never let her leave the house. Now that she’s now seventeen and committed to a university, she wants to have fun and get to do all the things that she never got to do when she was a kid. She goes behind her parents back and sneaks around in the middle of the night with her new friend Eli and does all of these this that most kids did a long time ago, like learning to ride a bike. Her parents are furious that she is doing these things, even though they aren’t a big deal at all, but they still don’t get why she is doing all these things. Hermia from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is rebellious and doesn’t listen to her parents just like Auden, but hers is more harming and a bit more serious. Hermia wants to run away with Lysander and not listen to her father at all, but it could cause her a lot of trouble. Her dad wants her to marry Demetrius and if she doesn’t then he says that she will have to become a nun and never be able to love anyone. Since both of these characters Auden and Hermia have a rebellious side to them and don’t really listen to their parents, I fell like they add a lot of excitement to both of the stories and you don’t really know what is going to happen next with them.

Blog Entry Number 4

For spring break and the week after this year my family and are going to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. We are leaving tomorrow morning super early for our flight at 4:00am. Our family has rented a condo in a place called Puerto Fino, we rented the same condo last year and I really liked it! Our complex has a huge pool, a snack bar, a hot tub, and it’s right on the beach! I am very very excited to go on a trip and get out of Winnipeg and the cold. The whole time that I’m there I’m hoping to just lay around by the pool or beach and just relax and eat. I really like to just have a good book, my iPod, and just tan. At night though I really like to go downtown and just walk around. All of the little restaurants, shops, and people in general are so interesting! There are always people performing and dressed up as crazy things, it’s just a really cool experience! One other thing that I really like to do is go on beach walks, I’m not too sure how well that will go this year though because of my knee, but we’ll see, hopefully I’ll be able to go on a few! Our complex is right on the beach so we can be at it at all times. I prefer to lay by the pool though just so that sand doesn’t get everywhere and its closer to things like the bathroom. One other thing that I am really looking forward to on my trip is all of the different foods; I have never been a picky eater, so I really like to try a bunch of new foods. My mom likes to look up all these restaurants online and try out all of them, some of them are kind of scary looking to have to eat there, or in the middle of nowhere, but the food is almost always delicious. The last thing about my trip is that for the first time ever on a trip we are going with another family for one of the weeks. Every time that my family and I have gone on a trip, we just went as a family, so this should be a different experience to have other people with us. I am excited to go with other people, but I am also glad that we have a week just to ourselves to relax.

 

I chose this photo to represent my spring break trip because it is the exact pool that is in my complex, Puerto Fino, where I am staying. This is where I plan on spending most of my spring break just relaxing by the pool. In this picture the big circle on the right side of the pool is kind of like a kiddie pool and then there are stepping stones surrounding it. The rest of the pool is around five and a half feet deep and there is a hot tub in the upper right hand corner of this picture. There is also a fountain near this left side of the pool at the top. You can also see the ocean and beach near the top of this picture. There are lawn chairs surrounding the whole pool and there are some on the beach, there are also little tables around the pool where you can have lunch and other meals or snacks. Last year my family`s favourite pool spot was right beside the bridge on the right side closer to the beach, it had a table right behind that we used lots too. Our view from our balcony is pretty much the same angle as in this picture, but it is a bit lower because our room is on the fourth floor. There is also a snack shack that is right beside the pool, but it is cut off in this picture, it would be on the left side if it was in the picture. The snack shack had a whole bunch of options of all sorts of foods for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and a lot of drinks. At the back of the snack shack there are also bathrooms and change rooms. This is the place where my family and I will spend most of our two weeks that we are in Mexico. I am really looking forward to going back here and can`t wait to get there!

Blog Entry Number 3

The Best Part- The book that I am still currently reading is “The Truth About Forever” by Sarah Dessen. I am still really enjoying this book, so there are lots of parts in it that I have really liked. My absolute favourite part though would have to be the way that the author just simply describes each character. She describes each person completely and in full detail which I really like because I feel that I can connect to the characters better and actually know who they are, not just a brief summary of who they are. I also feel like when authors do this I can actually feel like I am part of the book and personally know each character and what they are all about. Another thing that’s good about when an author does this is that I can actually figure out if I could be friends with the characters or where I would stand with them. I also feel like I can have personal and emotional connections to the characters in my book because of the way that they are described. There is one more thing that I really enjoy about this book and that is that it’s written in first person. A lot of books are written in first person, but some I don’t really like that way, if I don’t like or can’t relate to the main character then I usually don’t like it like that. This book though is written very well in first person, I feel like I can connect really well to the main character, Macy, even though I’m not really like her. I think it’s also because of how well she was described in the beginning so I now know what she is like and what her personality is. I even feel in some parts of the book I am Macy and feel like I am the one doing what she is doing, which I really like because when I read a book I like to feel like I’m actually there.

Blog Entry Number 2

Blog Entry Number 2 - Text to Self Connection:

The book that I am currently reading "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen is very different from my life. There aren't that many things that I can personally connect to. Macy’s life is very different from mine. There is one scene though in the book that I can connect to really well. It was the part in the book where Macy, the main character, and Wes, one of her friends that she works with, were driving to a party in the middle of nowhere. As they were driving to the party and they were about half way there, so near absolutely nothing, their car ran out of gas. Macy and Wes had to get out of the car and walk a very long way to try to find a gas station, a person, or anything. They walked for a very long time before they could find anything, they played many different games to pass the time while they were walking. This very thing happened to me and my family about two summers ago. We were on a road trip driving through the states and we were in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing around us, not a person in sight. All of a sudden our car broke down and we were out of gas. We had to walk for what seemed like hours until we finally found someone. To pass the time my sister Dana and I played lots of word games, just like Macy and Wes did in my book “The Truth About Forever” when their car ran out of gas too. My family eventually did find someone who could help us and we did finally get gas and could continue on our road trip, just like Macy and Wes found someone who helped them.

Part One and Part Two

Part One: Hi, my name is Brynn Todd and I am in Mr. Toms' grade 9 English class. I am 15 years old and I was born on February 17, 1998 right here in Winnipeg. I really enjoy playing a lot of sports. My favourites are hockey, golf, volleyball, and badminton. I started playing hockey when i was five and i have been playing ever since, so for 10 years. I started to golf when I was seven and I still love it a lot, I golf almost every day in the summer. I've been playing volleyball ever since I was in grade three, so I was about eight. I just started to actually enjoy badminton a lot about five years ago, ever since then I have loved it. I really like to hang out with my friends whenever I can too. I also really enjoy traveling to new places all around the world and seeing new things. I read lots of books, so I don't really have a favourite, but some that I really like are any books by Sarah Dessen, like Just Listen and That Summer, Brand New Emily by Ginger Rue, and The Ashley's by Melissa De La Cruz. My favourite movies would have to be Mean Girls, Happy Gilmore, and Miracle, but my absolute favourite movie is She's the Man. I really do like most foods and I'm not a picky eater at all, but one food that I do absolutely hate would be onions, I just can't stand them. One more thing about me is that I play the piano and I have been playing it ever since I was seven.


Part Two: 1) The book that I am currently reading is "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen. This book has a lot going on in it. This story is written in first person which I prefer over second and third person, I feel like I can connect with the characters more this way, especially the main character. The main character’s name is Macy Queen and she lives with her mother. Her sister, Caroline is married and lives with her husband, and Macy's dad died while going for one of his daily morning runs that Macy decided to skip that day. Macy feels terrible for her father's death since she wasn't there on the run with him and feels like she could have done something to help him. She also has a boyfriend named Jason who is away at "brain camp" for the summer; since he is away she has to take over his job at the library and has to work with two girls that hate her. Jason soon emails her from brain camp saying that they should take a break from each other and Macy is heartbroken. Macy doesn't really have many friends and her mom is always so busy with work, so they don't have a very close relationship between them either, Macy is kind of alone. One day Macy's mom is having a party and there is a catering company there called "Wish". Macy is very interested in this company and tells Delia, who is in charge of "Wish", that if she ever needs help, call her. Macy gets one job with "Wish", and then another, and another. She really likes this new change in jobs. She also meets a few new friends through "Wish" like Kristy, Monica, Bert, and Wes. Macy really likes hanging out with these new friends that she made and she even develops a little bit of a crush on Wes. That is how much I have read of this book so far, but I am looking forward to keep on reading it.


2) Macy Queen is the main character in my book "The Truth About Forever." She is a seventeen year old girl that lives just with her mother who is all about her work so she does't have that much time for Macy. She also has a sister who's name is Caroline, but she is older and already married, so she lives with her husband, not with Macy and her mom. Macy is just a normal teenage girl as far as looks go, there is nothing really that special about her, she is average hight, average weight,  and just plain average. She has medium length brown hair and hazel eyes. She likes to dress in plain boring clothes all the time. Since her dad died not to long ago, she has ben a very quiet person and likes to keep things to herself. She doesn’t like to open up to people or talk to them that much, because of this she doesn’t have that many friends in her life. Macy seems like a very kind and caring person once you actually get to know her and she fully opens up to you, which would take a very long time with her since she doesn’t really like talking to people and expressing her feelings to them. Macy is also very focussed on her school work, even though it is summer the whole time throughout the book she still works on extra work and studies for her SAT’s every night for a very long time. Macy doesn’t really share her feelings that much so I don’t know all that much about her, but I feel like as the book goes on she will open up more and more. I feel like if Macy was played by a famous actress that actress would be Kristen Stewart because that's who I envision Macy looking like because she has most of the features that Macy has and also she is a quiet girl that likes to keep to herself.

3) The setting in my book "The Truth About Forever" never said a  specific state that it's in, but I’m pretty sure that it is in the United States because the author is American and Macy, the main character, is preparing for her SAT’s which you only need to write if you want to get into American universities and collages. Macy and her mother live in Wildflower Ridge though, which is their neighbourhood. Macy’s mom is a designer for lots of different things, but mostly houses, she designed the whole neighbourhood of Wildflower Ridge where they live. This book was published first in 2004, so it is a pretty recent novel and everything in it is pretty much up to date and modern. The whole book happens throughout one summer and it is usually hot and sunny the whole time. Macy also has another house that is on the beach that’s mostly for the summer, but her and her mom haven’t been their since her dad died, so that house doesn’t come up in the story too much. This setting is pretty much just an average place in the United States, so it reminds me of quite a few places, like the summer that my family and I rented a condo in Branson, Missouri. It was pretty much always hot there and a couple of the days we did go to a beach that had different houses around it, which is kind of like the beach house that I picture Macy and her family having. This book though also just reminds me of just being here in Winnipeg, the weather is about the same and just little things that happen in the book remind me of things that happen right here in Winnipeg. When Macy and her new friends went to hangout with a bunch of people at a park one night and just have fun, it reminded me of when people do that here a lot on summer nights too.