Thief of Always Exercise: Chapters 14-26

1. Start a story with the sentence: “He knocked on the door…” continue the story.

     He knocked on the door softly. He immediately removed his hand, rubbing his hands over his jeans, wiping away the sweat. After a minute or two, the door was still closed. He reached his hand up again, knocking on the door. After another minute, no one came to the door. He sighed, giving up. He turned on his heels and started heading on his way. Maybe he’d go to the neighbors and ask where they were
     “Excuse me?” A soft voice came from behind me. And there she was in all her glory. Her dark blond hair in a messy bun, her blue jeans, plaid flannel, and white tank top all covered in dust and paint. “Sorry it took so long to come out, I was just working. Did you need something?” Her blue eyes sparkled as she spoke to me. She was as beautiful as I remembered her to be.

     “Maggie?”

     “Don’t know how you know my name but I really need to get back to work. If you need something make it quick please.” She didn't remember me.

      “I-um-I just needed to use the bathroom.” I lied.

      “Oh, well, sure.” She said motioning me into her house. “Mind if I ask your name?”

      “Adam.”

      “Well nice to meet you Adam. Mind if I ask how you know my name?”

      “I-uh-asked a neighbor.” She gave me a quizzing look, nodded, and continued to show me where the bathroom.

       Once I was in, I locked the door quickly behind me. I took several deep breaths trying to calm myself. I was in Maggie’s house. Her new house at that. While walking through the halls I didn't see any signs of a boyfriend or significant other. The only thing I saw were empty boxes and boxes waiting to be unpacked.

      She didn't remember me.

      But I sure remember her. Especially those eyes. It seemed they’d gotten brighter than the light time I saw them.

      “Adam, you okay in there?” She asked knocking on the door.

      “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’ll be out in a second.” I took a moment to collect myself, washing my hands, splashing some water on my face. I put on my straightest face, unlocking and opening the door to once again face her. 

Thief of Always Exercise: Chapters 8-13

14.Describe a time you witnessed or participated in the death of a living being.

      Back in 2012 the first pet I ever owned passed away. I only remember him as the large cat he was, I never got to see him as a kitten. He was one of the most lovable pet my family owned. When he was still health he was the cutest. He had big green eyes and a stomach that hanged to the floor. But as he got older, he started getting thinner and weaker. Soon that belly that hung to the floor was barely visible. His bones would show and he could barely walk and eat. By November we would have to keep him in my mom and dad's room because all the other animals would try and play with him. By then we were bringing him his food and water and taking him to the liter box. Then, at the end of November, he passed away. It was one of the most surreal things I feel like I'd ever gone through. Here was the creature, that I'd taken care of and cherished my whole life, who I had to watched get sicker and sicker as the days went on. To make matters worse, I couldn't do anything about it. I think the most important lesson I learned from that is, sometimes stuff just happens in life. Bad things are going to happen in life and we can't do anything about it. We just need to find a way to get along. 

Thief of Always Exercise: Chapters 4-7

5. Write about a time you played a practical joke on someone or when someone played a practical joke on you.

      I don't really know if this counts as a practical joke, but as everyone knows lots of my friends like to call me 'Tampon' as a joke. It started in eighth grade when my friend Sophia started calling me Tam Tam. As days and days and days went on she eventually bumped it up to Tampon. That's when she told all everyone. To even things out we gave everyone I was close to an equally gross name, but I'm pretty sure none of theirs will surpass mine. It gets quite weird because they never call me by Tamaron anymore, with the exception of Bella and Karina. It's gotten to a point where it's weird hearing my own name, even at home. So in hopes that those people are reading this, (Serita), could you tone it down a bit maybe? You're at like a seven, maybe bring it down to like a two.

Thief of Always Exercise: Chapters 1-3

1. Pick a month and personify it.

April

      With it's pouring rain and sunshine, April is truly the month between the coldest and scorching days. It's the month where all the gears are shifting. March was a warm up. It gives April some hints as to what to add to the beautiful new season. March even tried to implement some of these things them self, but it's April who really locks everything down. April brings the sun. They let everyone know beautiful, warm days are coming. April brings the rain. There's never a pleasure in life without a little suffering. April brings the rest of the spring casualties. They let some of the slack off May. Then, after April's time has come and gone, May truly emphasizes the beautiful season.

Hello :) It's weird to think that anyone, anywhere could be reading this.

I am currently a ninth-grade Creative Writing Major at School of the Arts.   Generally, everything here will basically be about what we're doing in class.

I would say, as a reader, I'm a fantasist and a realist. I enjoy reading things that could happen in my life or that are happening in the world around me. On the opposite side, I love reading things that I know exist just in the pages of that book. Dystopian  novels, (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Divergent Series, The Maze Runner, etc.) are my absolute favorites.They're just really fascinating to me. Knowing we as humans could get to a point where our society is so bad that we could eventually reach that point stumps me.
A couple weeks ago, we started The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. I'm currently on chapter 23, and so far I can say I love this book. It definitely goes down as one of my favorite novels I've ever read. The story is about a young girl named Julia whose life turns upside when she learns the Earth is turning slower and slower each day. She goes through family, friend, and personal struggles which are shaping her into a more independent person. When I first started reading, I was unsure of how I would feel about it. I thought it would be a stereotypical little girl learning new things and coming into her own. Now, though, I know it's much deeper than that. Sure, it does have those stereotypical elements of a little girl just finding herself, it goes deeper, it actually shows her struggles, It let's us know exactly how she's feeling.

This is very much so a drastic turn from the novel, but I'd like to talk about the public education system. The idea of students going to school for free is a great thing, but to say students who complain about the actual system itself are ungrateful completely dismisses everything they go through for them to say these things. Some adults don't realize this, but school is stressful, especially in a system where passing tests is valued more than actually learning anything. Students are expected to drill this information into their head and do well on the test. If you don't do good on the test you "obviously" didn't study or pay attention to any of the lessons. Which isn't true in some cases. Some people, like me, no matter how hard they study are just bad at taking tests. In summation, the way we put so much stress on tests is not an necessarily an accurate to measure students knowledge. I mean, why are we even measuring how well they can memorize things from a text book?