Christmas

The African Christmas is similar to ours.They go to church on the 25 and have family over. They have a
get together and eat and drink. They have all kinds of different rices, and foods that they enjoy.

In Spain the tradition starts on the 24 where there is a bigger celebration then on Christmas.
They have a big meal and the biggest thing to them is the Christmas mass. They always go.

In Pakistan they celebrate by helping others. They help get sick homeless and imprisoned people
gifts and a large dinner for everyone to enjoy.

ehope

Community is something different to people today. People think that community is just knowing your neighbors and waving to them. Thats not all that it is though. People need to realize that community is helping people and getting along with them and sharing, like the old days if someone asked for sugar people would have lent it to them. Then if that person needed something they could go ask that person who asked for the sugar. Its helping people out. Thats what a good community is all about. Say if someone needed help with moving something they should be able to just ask someone to help and most people would help. Now its a very difficult thing to do most people wouldn't help anymore. People mostly wouldn't open there door for someone they didnt really know. Not everyone is capable to do everything they need to get done in a day. People shouldnt really even need to ask for help someone should just offer but its not like that anymore. A good community should be full people who all know each other and get along and are willing to help one another in a time of struggle. This would be an ideal community.

President Obama

The president was interviewed with Oprah about the Christmas at the white house. He was asked some personal questions and about everything that he has done and is planning on doing. He was talking about the 3o thousand troops that he plans to send to Afghanistan and that they wount be going till atleast the first of the year. He graded himself on what he has done so far also and gave himself a b+ because he hasnt gotten to the bottom of the healthcare. He said once he dose then he will give himself an a-. He also said if he dosent do things rite then he will blame himself for what has gone wrong. He said there is no blaming anyone else. He also made the christmas at the white house for everyone so to speak. He sent out christmas ordaments to be covered/ made by people around the country. This is a way for everyone to have a part in there Christmas.

History

Today we worked on world history. We watched clips on you tube about martin luther king and his speech on blacks freedom. We watched a few clips on the falling of the berlin wall. Also we a clip about jfks famous speech. Also we watched clips about egypt. All of these clips were very informatinal about the people themselfs showing what kind of people that each one was. Each of the people were very touching and helpful to the country and to whites and blacks alike.

Ancient torcher

The torcher devices used in the earlier years were so gruesome and painful looking. The stretching device called the rack would tear your bones and tendons. They were whipped with a thing called that had small hooks on the end of it that would rip the flesh off people and that could go down to the bone. They had a pear like device that would stretch the human jaw and dislocate it and cause swelling in the back of the jaw and cause suffocation. There was also one on the show, that showed how vlad the impaler would impale people through the rectum and would go all the way through and out of there mouths. This would make it so they could last up to two days with the steak through them. People would suffer so much with this. All of this was on the history channel. http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=373070

Swine Flu

The swine flu has become big. There are cases poping up everywhere. Many people are starting to get sick from it. They are trying to reduce it by having free flu shot and nasal spray at schools work places and clinics. This is going to be one of the only ways to keep the flu case numbers down. People also need to wash there hands and sneeze into there sleeve this will also help reduce the numbers. Also if you are sick then you should stay home so you dont spread it.

The Depression

The Depression of the 1930's was huge. The impact on people was harsh and very tough to deal with. The money was horrible then. They were averaging 30 dollars a month. One of the people in the story was a young boy who went to the CCC HE was making the 30 a month and he was sending 25 to his family and keeping 5 for himself. He was extremely home sick after one month that he decided to hitchhike home. He ended up laying on the top of logs on a logging truck. It was 40 miles home on top of that truck. One of the people in the story was saying that they had learned from the last recession that you buy only what you need, not everything you want. I belive that the recession/depression that we are going through now is going to be pretty bad. Many people are loosing there job because of it. People already are working odd jobs to make ends meat. This hopefully wount be as bad as the last one because there are many people who need to afford things, such as medical stuff and feeding there family. People need work to survive. This will/ can end up being the worst depression ever.

What we have done so far

Since the beginning of this school year we have done a wide variety of things. We started out working on the health reform and the education reform. These are still big topics of study because we both have been going through the things that parts of each are talking about. We were following what senator Olympia Snowe since the beginning and what she has to say about it all. We have also been working on the basics like history, math, current affairs, gym but not lately because of the surgery. We will start that again soon. So yea pretty much thats what we have worked on with school but there has been so much stuff in between that. Things like my court stuff and all the doctors apts. working on starting my own little business and getting a truck to go with it. Witch I finally got yesterday and its sweet. Yea this has been a great year so far and I can only imagine its going to get better.

The Drift

The movie the Drift was a very strong, touching movie. The point of the movie was to show people that what they have isn't always what they need to make them happy. People have so many things in there lives that they think will make them happy. People are materialistic now a days. The movie shows people how to be them selfs not someone they aren't. One of the people in the movie wanted to be able to just make her paintings again. She felt that she wasn't able to because her husband didn't want her to and he felt that she should just be taking care of him and the kids. By the end of the movie she came out and said I really like to paint and want to be able to do it again and she was finally able to do it again. One of the others in the movie went with her husband on a business trip she was at first a very materialistic person and then realized that the reason she was that way was because of her husband. She was always bored so she would always take his money and go shopping. One of the big things in the movie was the guy who was filming a movie at the place where all of this took place. He was filming a movie about Dr. Wayne Dyer the one that the whole movie was about. He has been changing live for a long time. The movie producer was always wanting things to go his way and when they didn't he would flip out. While he was listening to the doctor talk he realized that he needed to change. By the end of the movie he was the one who was finding the place to shoot the film. This movie was a very touching movie in a sense that it can change the way you look at life. You are who you are and no body else. You shouldnt change just to fit in and make people like you. People should like you for who you are and not what you have or look like. This movie made me realize that I should do what I want to do and not what others want me to do. Im an individual who makes decisions for myself I should decide to do something just because someone else wants me to do it or will like me if I do.

Recession

Work, What is it? That's what some people are saying now a days. People are loosing there jobs left and right. The economy has gotten so bad that the unemployment is at its lowest since WWII. It doesn't matter what you are or what you are doing now a days you could loose your job. You could be a doctor, lawyer, trash man, teacher anything. It could all just stop. There are people who have been out of work for over a year, they are struggling to make ends meat. You could be working with a company for 40 years or 4 days you still have close to the same chance of loosing your job at this point. Some companies are trying to stop that slowly by not firing people, but cutting there hours. The average work week is now down to 33.1 hours a week. This is cutting a day of work for most people. This is making it twice as hard to pay the bills that each person needs to pay. There saying that the economy wont go back to what it used to be until 2014. This is going to cause allot of frustration for many families across the U.S.. I belive that this keeps up then there could be a increase in crime, because people with have to find ways to make money to pay there bills and take care of there families.

Healthcare

The health care reform is crazy at this point. They are wanting to spend so much money on this. The thing is that people all over America need the health care. People aren't able to afford the costs of health care anymore its getting outrageous. Prices have increased so much in the past few years. Insurance companies aren't covering all of the things that people need. They pay for there health care and aren't getting what they payed for. The bill is going to make it so that insurance companies have to cover all health that people are having. It is also going to make it so that everyone has health care. This is going to help people get into the doctors and get routine check ups and get the help that they need. Medicaid is going to be for everyone who needs it, the downfall is that its going to raise the taxes on high cost health plans.

What a GREAT day at the place.

Today we went to the high school to talk to officer D. but of course as soon as we walk into the office to ask where he is, he left. What dose that tell you? But other than that the visit was good. We went and say one of my favorite teachers and she was pretty happy to see me. Yea so I still don't like that place and never will. They are just oh so helpful there..

Chiari walk

This was a fun day with a great cause. The day started off with some frustration of just having it be the day of the walk. There was so much stuff to get done and not much time left to do it. Everyone was assigned something to do. We all headed for Portland to get everything set up and ready to go. Josh and I were in charge of parking and we pretty much just left everyone else behind to go do that. We ended up getting really hungry so we called for pizza. After the pizza had got there, pretty much everyone who was walking was there and headed around the bay. Me and josh headed back to the tents to help do whatever else needed to be done. About a half hour to 45 minutes after that people started coming back from the walk and we were all taking pictures and clapping for everyone. The walk was for a disease called Chiari malformation a structural defect in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance. The walk was to raise money for research for the cure for it. There will be another walk next year so any readers of my blogs please join us next year to help with the cause......

Pay It Forward

The movie Pay It Forward was definitley a great movie. It was about a young boy whos mother was an alcholic. He always hated it and would dump out her booze if he found it. He started a new school year with a teacher who gave them a project to do throughout the school year." think of something to change the world and put it into action." He decided to do what is called pay it forward. His idea was to help three people and change there lives. Throughout the movie he helped the three people, but tragically at the end he was stabbed and died. My idea is to also do pay it forward and to help at least three people and change there lives. This could possibly help the community with some of the problems that it has.

Bucket List

The movie bucket list was awesome. The events portrayed in the movie are something that could actually happen in real life. I belive that people should always have a list of things that they want to do in life.Even if they think its unrealistic. Ive been told many times in life that, "if there's a will there is a way". This has helped me through some hard times in life. Some people have told me to just give up because there is no hope for me, but I never listened because even though stuff gets extremely difficult there is always a way to figure things out. People need to set goals of what they want to accomplish and work hard to get them. You may think im crazy but there is always a way to get what you want in life. One thing in my life that ive wanted to accomplish is to get a high school diploma, I said to every one that I was never going to go back to a regular school such as private or public schools. Guess what? I didn't. I'm being home schooled this year and it to me is the best way to get an education and stay away from a school. Life is to short to not work hard to get what you want. You never know when your last day is going to be so you have to live every minute to the fullest and hope for the best.

Health Reform

Yesterday we watched the speech about the health reform. With the three lady's who got up and talked about the issues with the health care/ insurance companies. Many women are having issues getting insurance when they have a c section, breast cancer or many other types of expensive surgeries. The insurance companies are denying them the coverage they need and or not giving them any at all. The insurance companies aren't letting people go with them because of prior conditions. Some work places are switching insurance companies and then some of the people in that work place aren't being covered by them. Everyone should have an equal chance at getting the coverage that they need no matter what there situation is. There are many people dieing because of the cost of either health care or the cost of insurance.

Starting over

Today is Friday. This has been one of the fastest weeks of my life. I feel like it is still Monday or Tuesday I love it though. Home school is going great I love it. My teacher is awesome and knows just the rite amount of things to do in one day. We have been working a ton on the education reform throughout the last two weeks. We have been keeping up with gym and attempting math but we are having some troubles with the program. Oh well we will get that fixed soon so I can finish up with math. We are trying to settle into it and work on as much stuff as we possibly can. I know this year is going to be my year of success. Thats all I have for today