A Poetic Week!

This week was a lot of fun! We had the project of finding a poem we really like and then analyzing it. This project brought back childhood memories because I chose to do a poem from Shel Silverstein's 'Where The Sidewalk Ends' book. When I was younger, my aunt would read my cousins and I the goofy poems from that book and it has become a beloved memory of mine. Anyways, for the project I chose the poem called 'Sick' by Shel Silverstein. I really liked this poem because it is about a kid who is trying to get out of going to school because she's too 'sick'. It is a really cute and funny poem, but I also found it pretty easy to relate to. 

In my Lit class this week, we have also been looking at poems, but more importantly, how to write them. My teacher showed us a really neat tactic of writing a poem. He had us pick an emotion, then an event you'd experience this emotion, and then write a paragraph about it. Once you had written a paragraph, you cut out unnecessary words and made it into the structure of poem. I chose the emotion 'Excitement' and the situation 'Amusement Park'. 
This is what I had done:

I walk through the gates of the amusement park, taking in the smells of buttery popcorn and tasty snacks. The rays of the sun beat down on my back, warming my body as a move through the crowed space. Entering the line for the roller coaster, I hear distant screams of the riders before me. Anticipation runs through me like a trickling brook, flooding every nerve and thought. I pass the old tired ticket man my crumpled ticket, and step onto the coaster. Making that slow vertical climb to the top, a smile creeps up my face as I enjoy looking down and watching the people down below turn into ants, scurrying around. My stomach flips as we fly down the tracks. A scream of excitement escapes my lips , but is lost in the bellowing 'whoosh' of the wind. 

And then I converted it (as best I could) into a poem:

Walking through the gate,

I take in the smells of buttery popcorn and tasty snacks.

The rays of sun on my back

warming me as I move through the crowed.

In line, I hear distant screams.

Anticipation runs through me like a trickling brook,

flooding my every nerve and thought. 

I pass the ticket taker my crumpled slip.

Making that slow vertical climb to the top,

a smile creeps up my face. 

Looking down, watching the people below turn into ants

scurrying around.

My stomach flips as we fly down. 

A scream of excitement escapes my lips

but is lost in the bellowing whoosh of the wind.

So this was my week! I learnt a lot about poetry and am really excited to learn more!

Until next time! (with hopefully another tasty trial to share!)
Melina

Let's Pop Into It!

This week I had my first cooking/baking attempt of my independent project! I was looking for something fun and seemingly simple, and I came across the idea of doing Cake Pops. I referenced a lot of different recipes and Youtube videos before beginning. I have to admit, I was super excited to start this baking project since the end result seemed so cute! A lot of websites threw out great ideas for decorating that I was so stoked to try! Here are the ingredients I used:


-Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix
-Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
-Cadbury Milk Chocolate
-White Chocolate Bunny (Easter leftovers!)
-Sprinkles (and other decorations)
-Food Colouring
and then of course, the tricky to find lollipop sticks!

The steps needed to complete this recipe were not tricky, however I did hit a few bumps in the road...


My first big mistake was not letting the cake cool down enough. Before you can form the cake pop balls, you have to bake the cake and let it cool. I only waited about 40min before I started making the balls, causing them to be too moist and quite crumbly. Something important I learned about cake pops from this trial was that; how far you push the lollipop sticks in will affect its outcome. Too far in (more than 2/3) and it will just break in half. Not far enough in, and the cake pop will just slide off the stick when you're dipping.  My next little 'oopsie' was not buying enough chocolate! I only bought 1 bar of the milk chocolate, so I was only able to coat half of the cake balls I had formed. The dunking went pretty well (only two cake balls broke during round 1!). The trick to not losing the cake pop in the chocolate (it falling off the stick) is not twist it, but just simply dunk straight in and then straight out.


I had a lot of fun with this recipe! Decorating was a lot of fun, and seeing the outcome was really cool for me. However! It was a LOT of work and can cause a lot of frustration at times. I would not suggest this recipe if you're short for time or if your house is infested with teenagers (if it is- all your hard work will disappear in one gulp!).



I will share some pictures of my experiment, and if you want to try some cake pops as well, I will add a couple links at the bottom for video tutorials I found helpful.

But first! Strange, but interesting facts I learnt during this experiment!

1. Adding water to your melted chocolate will NOT making it more running, it will throw off some sort of a chemical balance cause it to clump into a paste (and waste $5 worth of chocolate)

2. Do not attempt to flush melted chocolate down the toilet as an easy fix to get rid of it. Just..no.



Hope you found this funny and helpful! Feel free to post your thoughts in the comment box below, and if you try Cake Pops, please send me a picture of your tasty snacks and share your trials with me! :)

Divas Can Cook- Cake Pops
Bakerella- Cake Pops

That Awkward Moment When...

Have you ever experienced a point in your life where you were so excited to do something, but then when it actually came time to doing it, you didn't know what to do or how to start? That is how I have been feeling this past week! If you have been keeping up with my blog, you'd know that I have decided to do cooking as my independent project. However, deciding what to cook first? Yeah, that has not been easy. Not only has deciding what to make been frustrating, but choosing when to make it has been a battle as well! It seemed like any night I would offer to make supper, something would get in the way. So how do you move forward in these situations? I really started not liking my project at this point because it felt like it wouldn't work and that I wouldn't be good at it.

 However, I sought guidance from my teacher and my peers, and they helped me regain my confidence in this project. So mainly the week (back in March..This one is a TAD late!) was filled with research and learning about each other's projects. Some of the project topics my peers are doing include, psychology, building design, oil sands, and many more fascinating things! My research mainly consisted of searching for cooking/baking blogs and recipe tutorials on YouTube.

I learnt a lot about different things this week, but probably most important thing I learnt was that even if you lose your confidence or interest, you need to get back up and persevere. When you do this, the tainted glasses you were looking through before -distorting your talents and interests- fly off your head and you regain that love and interest you had to begin with.

So hopefully this down week will not be followed by another!
Until next time, friends!

Melina

Under The Overpass

New book time! I started reading Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. If you haven't heard of this book, I will give you a basic rundown. Mike and a friend of his feel called to experience true trust in God and gain a better understanding of homelessness in America. So Mike and his friend Sam spend five months going moving from five different cities to see if their faith in God was real- if they are the christians they claim to be outside of their comfort zones.

I am at the point in the book where they have completed their first month in Denver and have begun their journey in Washington DC. I am finding it hard to write about this book, mainly for the fact that it doesn't really state opinions or newer concepts often. There are some things however that stood out to me that I will make note of in this PCR.

First thing that I want to say is how impressed I am with their faith thus far. It's incredible! How many of us would willingly choose to live on the streets for 5 months? I know I would have a hard time with that one. What I like the most though is how they rely on God for their everyday needs. Thinking about my life and how I can get food when I want, how I want, and whatever I want (mostly), and then comparing it to a person living on the streets who has no idea when their next meal is, there is quite a substantial difference! When Mike is talking about this on page 58, I thought of the Bible verse from Romans 15:13:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit"

Another thing I really enjoyed was Mikes thoughts on 'mercy' on pages 61-62. At this point in the book, Mike and Same are panhandling and watching people pass by without even a glance at them. Mike is starting to get upset with the fact nobody is showing them mercy and then he says:
"I felt my frustration rising until I realized how unentitled I really was. No one deserves mercy. And no one walking by owed us a dime. Mercy is, by definition, undeserved, or else it isn't mercy.
Every coin in  the case looked different after that."-Pg 62 

Why I liked this so much was because of a recent intercity experience I had with my classmates. We lived on the floor of a homeless shelter for a week, and we were complaining a LOT ! (not all of us, mainly me). And usually our complaints were about how/what we were being served or that the floor hurt our backs and that it was cold. But also a minute after, I would feel so awful for complaining because it could be so much worse. Yes I woke up cold, but at least I was inside and not out in the snow. No that was not the most tasty meal ever, but at least I was blessed with a meal! So when Mike had that realization the money he was given was undeserved and merciful, I connected with him because I had realizations like that a lot during my week at the shelter.

I am finding myself truly enjoying this book and the connections I have been able to make since i've been on the Inter City Experience trip. The author's story is so intriguing and the lessons learnt are worthwhile to keep for your own life and experiences.

Until next time!
Melina

What Is Love?

I just finished reading I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris, and I will begin by saying that this book has been my favourite out of all the books offered in this class (minus the Bible, obviously!).

Not only does the author bring forward strong points and thoughts to grow on, but he also does it in a way that doesn't make you feel talked down to or that his views on dating are the only ways to date. I had made early judgments on this book, assuming that the author would be dictating how dating HAS to work, and that I probably wouldn't agree with many of his points. But now I find myself eating my own words! I agreed with every point he had. From his views on modesty and a girl's responsibility, all the way to his thoughts on how to be friends with the other sex, without tempting each other. 

I want to just touch on the friendship section of the book. He talks about how it is difficult to keep good relationships with the opposite sex without developing intimate feelings for them. He states friendship is based on a common goal or interest, but when the focus is turned away from the goal and instead on the relationship, it is no longer just a friendship. This really impacted me because I was struggling with understanding why my friendships with boys would stray away from friendship. (Either he or I would develop some sort of a crush)

I feel like this new information is already shifting some relationships in my life, and I really believe it's for the better.

On page 166, Joshua stats a very sad truth. He talks about women and how their focus when the word 'marriage' is mentioned, turns straight to the wedding. To that he wrote:

"Marriage is more than a wedding ceremony. A wedding is an event, but a marriage is a state of being. It's not a one time act; it's a lifelong commitment to be developed and maintained."

I loved this statement. I find women (myself included) focus too much on the wedding, and not what it represents. A wedding is like the words on the back of the book labeled Marriage! It gives you a little peak into what lies inside, but that little glance doesn't compare in importance to the actual book. You can't (or shouldn't) have a wedding if there’s no real commitment towards your future as one.

Ephesians 5:22-23: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour."

Lastly, my favourite part in the book was the poem on page 172. The poem is by Lena Lathrop and it's called "A Women's Question", and it asks men if they are deserving to ask for a women's heart. One of my favourite stanzas from this poem was:

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade

From this soft young check one day;

Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,

As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?

I like this part because of the rhyming pattern and the connection between spring and fall. I enjoyed the whole poem mainly since it supported women to wait for Mr. Right, and not settle for anything less. 

This book has truly impacted me and my views on love and dating. I will be buying my own copy so that I can read it again. Thank you!

Melina

Food For Thought

Another week as flown by without much of a trace, other than the homework that seems to have appeared in my lap...
Our focus this week has mainly been on the topic of well, topics! We have been brainstorming ideas and trying to decide what we want to study and learn about during the next few months for our independent projects. I have to admit, it's a hard call to make! There may be things that I am passionate about at the moment, but might despise the next. What if I choose the wrong topic? What if it gets boring? So many questions and concerns seem to tangle themselves into an ugly rat's nest of frustration!

Luckily I have great support groups (both online and in person! - Thank you to all who commented on my last post!) who have helped me review my options and pick the best one for me. So I have decided (Cue drum roll...) to do Cooking! My plan is to attempt a new meal every wednesday and post either a video-update or pictures about my independent project each week.

So we have done more poem reading and I've got to give me classmates a hand for all the insightful views and opinions on the poems. We have learned a lot more terms such as ; Simile, foreshadowing, and stream of consciousness. I have always had a hard time deciphering the difference between simile and a metaphor, but now I know to look for a 'like' or 'as'. If one of the two is present, it is more than likely a simile.

I have really been enjoying reading 451 Fahrenheit! I am constantly curious as to what the author as planned next. What feeling is he wanting us to feel at this moment? What is hidden behind that ventilator grille? What's going to happen next? I like this book a lot for the different writing style, but I also enjoy it because the author is trying to warn us about how our society is like now, and how it might be years down the road.

Well I believe it is time that I stop typing and instead begin laying outlines for my independent project! If you have any suggestions to improve my project, please let me know! I would love to hear them.

Good night!

Melina

Soul Seller

It was a dark and stormy night as the carriage pulled up to the castle. This is it, I thought to myself. I stepped out from the protection of the carriage and was greeted by the hissing of the wind and pricks of rain on my face. I walked silently toward the large building, praying that after tonight the torment would end. One last task, he told me. Than I am free!

I thought back to the evening that started all of this. I was young and naïve, expecting the world to move at my very command. I played with fire and danced on the edges of the earth. I feared nothing and controlled all. As I walked home down a shadowy street, a whisper reached my ears.

“Alex”

I stopped at the sound of my name and turned. Not a soul was to be seen at this hour of the night. Cautiously I continued forward, but strained my ear as though hoping to hear the call again.

“Alex”

“Whose there?” I asked. I swiveled around looking for my antagonizer, but saw nothing but broken glass and newspapers littering the street. I was about to continue home when a dark chuckle resonated from above me. I turned my head up to the street sign marked Killnary Ave, and saw a figure.

 Its head was human. It had two eyes that glowered like daggers, and a smile on his lips that held no joy. But past his face, it seemed that his body was deformed. His arms were short and covered with scars. His body was permanently hunched over, exposing a strange type of bag on his back. But the strangest thing about him, was his skin color. It was red in some areas and black in others, making him look like a charred burn victim.

“Alex” The figure said “I need your help Alex.”

“Who are you? And how do you know my name?” I asked, becoming more and more afraid of his response. “What do you want?”

The figure slithered down the sign and crouched down on the concrete, a few feet from me.

“Will you help me take this bag off my back? It is so heavy and I can’t get it off. If you help me take it off, you can keep what’s inside.”

This offer intrigued me and I took a step closer to the figure.

“So if I get the bag off, I get to keep whatever is inside? What’s inside?” I asked, sounding more like a child than the 21 year old.

“Yesss” The figure hissed, sounding out of breath; “Just take it off and you shall see”.

I walked over to the figure and began trying to pull the bag off. Slowly at first, it began to peel off like a band aid, then all of a sudden it flew off the figure and wrapped itself around me. All at once I was being suffocated. The bag was tight around chest and continued to squeeze. My mind began to fill up with the same whispers I had heard earlier that evening;

“Alex Alex Alex!!”

I started flailing my arms, hoping that the figure would help me, but all I heard was another dark chuckle.

“Silly boy. That took nothing! Usually I have to offer someone money or immortality, but you! Ha! All you needed was a bag of contents!” The creature walked towards me and sneered. “You belong to me now boy. Whatever I need, you will do. If you don’t? The bag on your shoulders will tighten until you die. Understand? Oh! What is the bag full of you ask? Well you see, I store every soul I steal and put it in that bag. Pretty heavy, huh? Now I need to cause destruction, and so you’re the man for the job. If you complete all the tasks that I ask you, I will free you. Until then, you’d better learn how to listen to instructions”.

Just thinking about that night, I feel the bag tighten slightly around me. I breathe through it and continue on my task. Over the years I have destroyed houses, businesses, and families. But never have I destroyed an entire country. I stalked down the unlit hallway towards the King’s chambers. Once the religious King was found dead, his son (Who is also controlled by The Creature) would take his place and kill anything that believes in hope. I was almost at the door to his chambers when a voice from behind me said “This will not grant you freedom, you know.”

Surprised, I whipped out my dagger and turned around. An elderly women stood about 5 feet away from me, looking at me through her aged eyes. “What do you mean?” I whispered, wanting to know her answer before I disposed of her as well. “Once you have completed this task, do you really believe that your soul will be free? Your body might be, but your soul will join the others in the bag that wraps around you”. Her response shocked and angered me. I strode over to her and raised my dagger. “No! You’re wrong! This is the only way I will ever be free!” I jammed my dagger into her and she fell to the ground. The bag began to loosen around me.

Now only one person stands in my way, I thought. I turned back towards the King’s bedroom, but the image of the women stained my eyes and a question bounced around in my brain.

What if she’s right?

To Be Continued…