Essay About Evil

This was the assignment:
Evil is present in literature, in our daily lives, and the world at large. However, how a person chooses to face that evil impacts whether it will spread or diminish. Before fully exploring how a person should act in the face of evil, it may be necessary to determine how that person does act in the face of evil. Did he/she act appropriately? Could he/she have acted differently to change the results of the situation for the better? "What is evil?" may also be an essential question that must be contemplated.

This was my essay:

When one is faced with evil, it must first be determined what that evil is. My brother calls me evil whenever I'm bothering him; what I'm doing is not evil though, it's just mean. What must be determined is everyone's view on where the line between evil and bad is crossed. I think that line is crossed when one does not regret the bad things that have been done and when they have no feelings about committing horrendous crimes like murder or rape. Another question that is essential to understanding what evil is would be where the evil is coming from. I think that there are two main origins of evil. I think that the two main locations are inside of you, an internal, personal demon, and outside of you, an external evil. Both of those are harmful to people both mentally and physically.

When one is faced with internal evil, I believe that they should act in a way to get rid of those demons, such as therapy or confronting them. In Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix, Harry is having nightmares in which he sees into Voldemort and Nagini's mind. When Harry sees their actions inflict pain on his loved ones, like when Nagini attacked Mr. Weasley, Harry believes that he is the one that performed those actions and he thinks that he is to blame for Mr. Weasley almost dying. Harry then reacts by staying away from all of his loved ones, afraid that he will turn into a giant snake and attack them. He believed that the evil was coming from inside of him and that his subconscious thoughts and actions were to blame. Harry reacted that way in the face face of internal evil, but I don't believe that was the way that Harry should have acted in the face of evil. I think that Harry should have confronted what he knew to be evil, which ultimately, with occlumency (blocking Voldemort's thoughts and actions from seeping into his mind during his sleep), is what wound up happening.

Harry is also faced with the external evil of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. They present a constant external evil. I believe that Voldemort is the epitome of evil. The only thing he wanted was power over all. He used hatred of those that did not have pure wizard blood to fuel his campaign and he went around merciless torturing and killing those that simply didn't agree with him. He had no regret for his actions and did things that evil wizard before him wouldn't even think of doing, such as creating seven horcruxes. He did that by splitting his soul seven times, meaning he murdered seven people, which divided his soul in half, and then placed that soul into another object. He did this so that even if he was murdered, he would be able to come back to life. He used hatred and greed to gain power over others and preyed on the weak. That is what I think evil is.

Another example of evil in pop culture is in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There were two teenagers who were called upon to be the slayers of vampires, Buffy and Faith. Faith, after having accidentally killing a human, joined forces with a demon that she thought would win and became a hit woman for him, while Buffy stayed with what she believed was the good side. Buffy then attempted to kill Faith, to cure her boyfriend who Faith poisoned. After Faith killed a human being, she broke down and stopped caring about her actions, while Buffy regret her action afterwords and was extremely sorry about what she did.

There are many different faces of evil, and it's up to each person to determine what they believe on the subject. I believe that people should face evil with fortitude and bravery and try to destroy it before it can blossom. Evil can have many different appearances. Weather it's your face, or the face of a monster. All evils are capable to overcome, and the way a person should act in the face of evil should be straight forward and vicious. They should be looking to destroy that evil. I know that doesn't always happen, and that evil may always be lurking in darkness, but if enough people believe that evil can be overcome, ultimately it can. Evil is an intangible thing and is given power by thoughts. If people had a more positive attitude and intolerance and hatred didn't exist, neither would evil.

Ahh! I'm Dumb! and Net Neutrality

So what is it with me and constantly forgetting about blogging and only doing it every other day? I have no idea why I do that. But today I have a lot of things to talk about because I have to talk about today and yesterday and right now I am freezing cold and have a fan blowing right at me so I'm attempting to type this as fast as possible so I apologize for any spelling/ grammar issues I don't pick up.

So today I educated myself with what's going on on the net neutrality front. Major internet and cable providers want to pass something in legislation that allows them to charge exorbitant amounts so that webpages load faster. It's pretty much censoring the internet so only the people who have money have webpages that are able to load. That isn't cool at all! If you go to this link, you can learn a lot more about net neutrality and send an email to your local important politicians. And that is it on net neutrality.

For the past two days of school it has been work, work, and more work. I have finally turned in all of the assignments that have been eating their way through my thoughts and I am slowly making my way through all of my homework in a decent amount of time. I have finished my English essay and after I finish this I believe I will be posting it on here because I love it so much. Let's hope that nobody in my school knows of this blog and plans to steal it. Although the chances of that are very slim.

Yesterday I also had my first CHARM meeting. It's an independent study in which we study the humanities and we create a portfolio piece each month of the year. It's a new program at my school and we are the guinea pigs so hopefully it winds up becoming an actual class in the school. It was only and introductory meeting but so far it seems like it's going to be a great program.

I also sort of had my first GSA meeting, it consisted of me and this kid I don't really like but he thinks we're best friends and next to nothing was accomplished because he thinks that he is in charge of everything and that everyone should listen to him because he is SO important. He's one of those people. My classes are going really well so far and even though there's a lot of work, I feel like I'm going to have a lot of fun this year. I'm really enjoying my AP US History class even though I thought that I was going to hate it. So far it's been a really good class.

I've also been hanging out at the school library way more than I have any other year. I was the first one to take out a book from the school library this year. NERD! But today I took out the only two John Green books that my library has. I'm going to look him up on the computer though and see if there are anymore that are just taken out or hiding from me. I'm also going to be leaving nerdfighter notes in them.

Apparently all of my friends are nerdfighters and I am just COMPLETELY oblivious. I was actually really good with these people as well.

I am so happy that fiveawesomegirls is back. It's making my weekdays a little more awesome.

So I Totally Lied

Well I completely lied about posting at all yesterday, let alone an in the middle of the day post. So today's post should be extremely long because I have lots to talk about. So Friday afternoon my aunt and my cousins just drop by to spend the weekend. They have a habit of doing that and I think that it's the most annoying thing in the world. They think that because they are family we should be open to receive them anytime but that's really not how it goes. They are obnoxious and have a habit of treating my house like their own, which it is not. It's not okay to make a mess and then expect that I'll clean it up because it's my house. It's not okay to act like my mother when clearly you're not. Sorry about the rant about how much I hate my family. They are just the most annoying things.

Then that night, I finished my essay that has been ruining all of my thoughts forever. It's done, done, done, done. I never have to look at it again, except for one last edit sometime tomorrow. I also started working on my amazing English assignment. it's about Harry Potter. I love being able to write about Harry Potter for school. It lets me stretch my Harry muscles and makes me feel knowledgeable about things.

The next day I went to my dad's house which was really nice because I don't see him nearly as often as I would like to. I got to see my baby brother and oh my goodness as he grown since the last time that I saw him. He is able to understand simple instructions and he can say "all done", "mama", "dog", "nana" and other simple words. When he was a baby my step mom taught him all done and more in sign language along with some other miscellaneous words so he was able to ask for simple things without just crying.

We went for a walk in the park that is no joke dedicated to the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. In New York. What is the point of that? I have no idea who would build that, but they had a really awesome biking/ walking trail, and while you're walking on it, while pushing a baby car like thing, it is scary when bikers are coming full speed at you and you don't know which way to go. But we survived, barely.

Around bridges I get REALLY paranoid that I'm going to fall off. I'm not good at balancing as is, but bridges I am terrified of. While I was walking with my brother, all I could think of is what would happen if he got out of the car and then ran towards the side of the bridge. He's so small, and he falls a lot, so it would not be hard for him to fall off accidentally. I'm always SO paranoid that some freak event is going to happen.

Then today, I sat around and played guitar all day, pretty much. I'm just learning the guitar and I'm getting pretty good at it. I'm missing one of my strings though so I don't know where my finger goes on that string for any of the chords, but whatever. I've been obsessed with Lauren Fairweather's music lately, and I learned some of her songs on my broken guitar. The one problem with my music is that I cannot sing. I am completely tone def, so it's really unfortunate that I like music so much. Even though my love for writing trumps my love for music.

My friend also came over and we worked on a graphic organizer for our APUSH class that's due with the essay. We have a lot of holes in the essay so my friend is going to be getting the rest of it from her twin brother who is also in the class, and who had it done long ago.

Oh! This morning I also went to AC Moore for my art supplies and they are so pretty! I got new drawing pencils and charcoal and acrylic paints and chalk pastels and new kneaded erasers and a new sketchbook. I'm an art geek and I love new art supplies, so much.

Essay Writing, Oh Wow.

So my entire day has been consumed with writing an essay for history class. So this post will be brief.

The only interesting thing that happened was that my Aunt and my cousins stopped by for a visit until Sunday. I'll talk more about that later, I am REALLY tired right now. Maybe I'll post a middle of the day post tomorrow instead of my usual right before bed posts.

I also finished watching season three of Buffy and can't wait to start season four, I just need time and lack of school work to get that done.

Thank you Jews.

So today I had off of school because of Rosh Hoshanah, and it's very possible that I spelled that wrong. I started writing the essay that has been plaguing my thoughts and managed to get two pages into it, so I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow and do some form of editing. All of my facts are completely wrong, but that's no big deal. I'll just research what I need to in the ridiculously huge books I took out of the library. Who knew that George Washington could have a whole biography series about himself.

Other than writing the essays I watched my little brother and sister. They were annoying as they always are. I also learned some new songs on guitar which was fun. Only now my left fingers hurt because I have really crappy strings. One of them is nonexistent and the other one is half broken.

One thing that has really been bothering me lately is 3D movies. Not all movies need to be in 3D and it's annoying when they make a part of a really good movies series in 3D, Like Toy Story 3, which I am still yet to see, and Resident Evil. I'm not sure which Resident Evil it is, but seriously? Making it 3D? That's really not necessary. Everyone was perfectly fine with the movies and thought that they were kickass before you 3Dized them. You really don't have to. I'm not sure who the you that I am talking to is, but you, stop making good movie series morphing into 3D.

Two shows that I am OBSESSED with started today and that makes me really happy, but at the same time scares me because during the week, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to spend two hours each Thursday in front of the TV screen. Destination Truth started again, and normally I can't watch shows like that like every week. I would watch an episode now and then, but I wouldn't fight over the TV for it. But this show is sooo good. I am in love with Josh Gates. It's just amazing. Also Vampire Diaries. I know, I know, you probably don't approve but it is soo good. And it's my guilty pleasure. I eat dramas like that up like candy. And there's the return of the mysterious you! I don't know why but my mind is really happy even though I'm really ready to go to sleep. That sentence doesn't make sense. Oh well, bye, I guess. Best Wishes.

I LOVE Sleeping In.

Second day of school was today! Woo-hoo, I guess. I didn't have to go in until third period which is SUCH a blessing. I LOVE sleeping in in the mornings. I can wake up when my family is leaving and then get ready and then go to school in peace. Now, thanks to them Jews, we get a four day weekend. In which I need to write two essays. I've already started one of them though, so it shouldn't be too bad.

School today was awesome. I start classes with an art class and then end them with an art class. So my day is just surrounded in art. I really like my English class so far. Our first assignment is a personal essay about evil. So if anyone is actually reading this, if it turns out okay I'll probably be posting it here. That's not due for another week or so though so I probably won't be starting it anytime soon.

My Forensics class was horrible again. The teacher had us play a game where we throw balls at each other saying our names. Then we had to do Two Truths and A Lie which nobody really cares about. It has the potential to be such an interesting subject if the teacher wasn't so awful. I actually started my work today after school! Normally I would procrastinate all of it until Sunday, but this year I really gotta get my ass into studying mood.

After school today though, I was wearing a DFTBA bracelet I made and somebody that I'm sort of friends with understood what it meant! It made me the happiest person in the world that there is another nerdfighter in my school. One I'm already friends with too! It's awesome!

I'm exhausted right now but I really want to blog before I go to bed, so this probably won't be as long as my usual blogs.

I made a Cream Cheese Pound Cake to celebrate going back to school. Making it seem like a good thing in my brain so I associate school with good memories rather than bad ones. It was delicious! It took an hour and a half to bake it though, and I still have a bit of clean up to do before passing out but that's okay. It was totally worth it.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Cheese-Pound-Cake/Detail.aspx
That's the recipe for anyone that's interested. I also added two teaspoons of vanilla extract and some lemon zest. It is sooo good. And I put confectioners sugar on the top. I love baking. I don't do it very often because I'm always so busy, but when I do I have a lot of fun with it and I like making big things. Like the cake.

Okay, I desperately need sleep, so I will most likely be blogging tomorrow. No promises. Best wishes!

School, Meh

School starting today was okay. The only class that I will potentially be despising is Forensics and that's because the teacher already really annoys me. She's one of the, oh it's the first day of class, let's all go around and introduce ourselves type of teacher. I also had three teachers stress about how demanding the work load is. They teach a forty minute class every day and then think that one hour of homework for their class is acceptable. There are eight periods a day and if I took an actual class every period I would have eight hours of homework to do a night! Thank goodness I don't though. I have first period free everyday so I get to sleep in! It's such a blessing. It allows me to stay up late, which I would normally do anyway and not be tired when I go to school!

I also went back and visited the teachers from last year that I really liked. They were happy to sit there and talk, and while I was wasting time during my first period free today, we had to go in on time for an assembly and a small meeting, one of my favorite teachers ever waved really enthusiastically as I walked down the hall. It made me pretty happy.

I had major printer problems today. It was awful. I needed to print out a graphic organizer for APUSH that's due tomorrow and we haven't used our printer in ages. We ran out of ink and never got new ones so my mom had to stop by Staples on her way home from work and purchase that. Then we were trying to set up the printer and the cord that connected from the printer to the wall was nowhere to be found! We checked in the bag with a lot of miscellaneous cords, we checked in my mom's closet (where our printer was hibernating), and we finally found it behind our towel holder which was in front of the plug area where it used to be plugged in.

After that fiasco, we couldn't find any paper. My mom had brought home some paper in a folder, which she then brought back to work and left there. So we were unable to find any of that until we found a sketchy yellow envelope like thing containing loads of paper in the closet with the printer. After that my computer was just being mean and not responding a lot, but I got my freaking graphic organizer to print, and it looks beautiful and I am happy.

My friend procrastinated all of her APUSH work and this afternoon I furiously scrambled to help her work with it and I edited her essay (I actually only wound up reading it because it turned out to be a pretty good essay and I couldn't think of ways to make it better.)

I spent an hour and thirty one minutes watching Revenge of the Nerds and it was time well spent. I could have been working on the godawful essay that I have to do this weekend, but nope. I watch a movie from the eighties. It was a really entertaining movie. Time well spent.

I kind of can't wait to go to school tomorrow because it's nice seeing my friends again and being able to interact with adults that will actually listen to what I have to say. The work load is also virtually non-existent right now so I am in the loving school mode!

The rest of my day was a nonevent so there's nothing really to talk about there.

This morning I got to actually eat breakfast! I drank tea and watched Degrassi while I waited for Freshman orientation to be over with at twelve. I'm friends with a lot of Freshman so it's awesome having them at my school and actually being able to see them everyday rather than just seeing them on Friday's when I volunteer at an after school program in the middle school.

Oh, I'm also trying to convince my parents to sign me up for Driver's Ed, but it is ridiculously expensive. I really hope that they can say yes so that I can actually learn how to drive. It would really suck if I wasn't able to do it. I just wish that I had the money to pay for it. Oh well.