Blog Writing

Lately….I’ve been GARDening!!!

Something that I have been doing lately is ♥gardening♥.I help my mom and grandpa in the backyard where we are getting ready to plant lots of things. Our grass is starting to turn green again and we are working hard to pull out those pesky weeds. This year, I have my own little area where I am going to plant carrots, strawberries, corn and lots of beautiful flowers! If all goes well, we might have some barbeques with the veggies that we grew! But, the birds and a plump little rabbit seem to have other ideas. I especially love watering the plants and running through the sprinkler. Last year, we set up the garden and put in new grass and painted the deck. It’s so fun and will help you get some exercise…gardening is awesome!!!!

What I Love To Do!

The one thing that I absolutely love to do is read and write stories. Writing stories has been my passion ever since we wrote “Fractured Fairytales” in 3rd grade. I realized that if the author has actually put in a lot of hard work and the end result is a really good story, then it can take you anywhere, anytime, and sometimes it’s hard to come back! Reading I’ve loved since 2nd grade, when we did the “Blue Spruce” program, I read 1 book, then it was impossible to stop reading! I try to write and read as often as possible. For example, I like to enter story contests against other young writers. When I write, I try to think like a reader; “Would I like this?” or “Hmm…this is sort of confusing…I should explain better.” or like a critic; “Is this important?” or “Should I keep this?”. I find this helps me edit my work and make it better. While reading, I’ve noticed that most of my favourite authors think this way too. One thing that inspires me is something that someone once told me, “Writing isn’t an art, writing something worth reading is.” I have discovered that tis is very true! In fact, I like writing so much, my career goal is to be a part-time author and I like reading so much that my favourite place in my school is the library!

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Review of Justice®

 This is a review of the clothing store/brand, Justice®.

Justice® is a clothing store for girls between the ages of eight and sixteen. I often shop there, so this review is based on my own experiences. It’s a nice store, but there are some “Pros and Cons”. Herethey are:

PROS

  • Specializes in clothing for “Tweens”, which is sometimes difficult to find

  • Sometimes, you get good deals

  • Many locations makes it more convenient than other brands

  • Only for girls

 

 

CONS

  • Very expensive; some people may not be able to afford their products

  • Clothes are quite gaudy (i.e lots of sequins, bright colours, etc.)

  • Boys won’t find this store helpful

  • Sizes are sometimes hard to find

These are just some of the many advantages and disadvantages. I personally feel as if there are enough “Pros” to keep me as a customer, but enough “Cons” for it not to be my first choice. If you visit a Justice® store, please let me know how it is in a comment.

Silver Birch is a series of 10 fiction and 10 non-fiction books that have been selected for us to read. So far, I have read 14 books!! Here I will post all about what I thought of those books, responses to them and some analysis. Hope you like it!

 

“SAVING LIVES, CHANGING HEARTS” ANALYSIS

I read the book “Saving Lives, Changing Hearts” by Rob Laidlaw as one of my non-fiction silver birch titles. It was a very interesting book and I really enjoyed it. Below is a “One question, one connection and one surprise”  about it:

 

One Connection:

One connection to the world is I have is written here. Once, when we (my family) were debating between going to “Marineland” or not going, my father decided to do some research. He soon found out a shocking fact….”Marineland” was being accused of showing animal cruelty. A animal rights group called “Paws” were protesting against them. They were accused of hurting animals, not taking good care of them, etc. This is like the part in the book where the author talked about fake animal sanctuaries, places which pose as animal shelter, but are really very bad for them. In the end, my family decided not to go.

One Question

One question I had regarding this book and topics mentioned in this book was:

“Why do some animal sanctuaries pose as false shelters?”

Perhaps, it is because the owners are greedy and use the funds raised for selfish purposes. Maybe, they would like to train animals, but cannot do it properly for whatever reason. No matter what, they shouldn’t do it because it can be very stressing for animals. Remember, they are living creatures!

One Surprise

One surprise that I had was that there are animal shelters for camels, pigs, turtles and other exotic creatures. I never knew that animal sanctuaries could specialize in certain animals. Another shock was that not all animals can be released into the wild. I always thought that the animals could be released or adopted after a certain period of time. These are just some of the examples of things that astounded me in this book.

                              What I am excited about…

I am really excited about my dance recital in May. It is with my entire dance class and we have been practising pretty hard. There are lots of difficult moves and other things to memorize. I think this is important to me because I recently moved up to the intermediate level. This is only my second dance at this stage! Everybody is putting in a lot of effort, so I am sure the show will be great! It is in an actual auditorium and we will be performing for a large crowd. I cannot wait! ☺☻

 

Here is a picture of Bharatanatyam (the dance I learn):

Bharatanatya

Here is a link to watch a Bharatanatyam video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olLKDDSXL9g

 

 

Bharatanatyam is one of the world’s oldest dance forms. Its origins are from 2nd century BC. Every Tuesday, I go to a dance studio to learn this ancient art; I have been since age six. Natyam means dance in Sanskrit and Bharata is the mix of Bhava (Expression), raga (music) and thala (rhythm).

 

It is a complex dance form which consists of hand gestures, facial expressions and body movements and a single dance performance combining all this could last for hours.

It takes about 10 years to learn this dance form.

 

Recently, Lata Pada, a premier exponent of this dance form in Canada was awarded the ‘Order of Canada’ for her contribution to dance.

 

Last year, in the Kindree talent show, I performed Alaripu (a short dance piece) and now I am working on Jatisiwaram, which is basically a slightly more advanced piece. We have almost completed it and one of the many things that I learned was a hasta (hand gesture). Below is a picture of this, it represents a rooster and is called Tamrachuda.

 

There are many Jatiswaram performances on youtube, it is a very interesting dance piece and I would highly recommend watching one.

Tamrachuda hasta of indian dance Bharata Natyam

I have previously learned Tamrachuda, but this is the first time I am using it in a dance

 

Review of Universal Studios, Los Angeles

Theme parks are an ideal way to spend time with any age group. They are lots of fun for adults and children, which is why I was absolutely thrilled when my parents announced a trip to Universal Studios, Los Angeles! We went last year and I must say, I wasn’t disappointed. The rides were 4D and so good that I went on each one twice! The only drawbacks are the long lines and some rides like “The Mummy” may not be appropriate for younger kids. There are also  shows which are quite amazing. Universal Studios is a fun and educational experience of its own.

Review of Universal Studios Los Angeles:  I were to rate it, I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5

I will soon be visiting Universal Studios, Orlando. Let us see which I enjoy more?

Artificial Pancreas

As I was looking through the twenty-seven different amazing inventions and ideas of 2013, the one that struck me to be the most important and coolest was the artificial pancreas. I guess that the reason it made me just stop and read all about this superb invention was due to the reason that I can personally connect with it and can imagine how this would impact the world positively years from now. I connect with it because our family has a history of diabetes and if sugar drops low, it can get pretty dangerous. The other reason this is major is because diabetes is an issue for a good bit of the world’s population. Now, if someone were to ask me, “Why would you choose this over a similar one like the artificial memory?”, I would say that though it is important in it’s own way, the thing is that I cannot connect with it.

However, there are some cons as well, like what if it fails or stops too much insulin?

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