Oh, the places I want to go...

    A place I'd really like to go is Mackinac Island in Michigan on Lake Huron. I saw this island featured on an episode of Little People, Big World a while ago, maybe last summer, and ever since I've wanted to visit there.
    Since Mackinac Island is located off the top of the Michigan "mitten," I'd first have to drive to Michigan and then get to the island by ferry. Mackinac Island is known for not using any motorized vehicles (besides emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks). Instead, the people there get around by bikes and horse-drawn carriages. I think that this is partially why I want to visit there so badly. Mackinac Island is rich with history, and it's all so quaint and lovely that I can't help but fantasize about going there. The weather on the island is generally a bit colder than what we experience here in Maryland, so I'd have to bring warmer clothes in anticipation of the cold weather.
    If I ever did vacation there, I would hope to be able to experience at least a small part of what life was like back in simpler times. I really hope I would be able to appreciate the kind of "time-warp" back to a time where the technology was a lot more laid-back and life could go at a slower pace.

The Mackinac Island Ferry

image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MackinacIslandFerry.jpg

The Grand Hotel

image from: http://puttingzone.com/Gilded/gildedage4e.html

Mackinac Island- "An Island Lost in Time"

image from: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4b7c5/c5e18/

Jon Krakauer. Wooo.

     Jon Krakauer was born on April 12, 1954 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He has been an avid mountaineer since the age of eight. He studied at Corvallis High School (graduating in 1972) and then continued his studies at Hampshire college (graduated in 1976). He has been married to Linda Miriam Moore since 1980 and he currently resides in Boulder, Colorado. He has written several books besides Into the Wild, including Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

Information Citation: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. "Jon Krakauer." Wikipedia. N.p., 29 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Krakauer>.

Image from: http://outsideonline.com/outside/features/literary-all-stars_12.htm

In the wild, The mighty wild, Christopher McCandless sleeps tonight...

    Would you drop everything on a dime, giving away your life savings and traveling across the country? Would you abandon your car, your possessions, only leaving yourself to survive with only ten pounds of rice, a gun, some bullets, a camera, and a few books? And then, if someone offered to buy you better clothing, would you refuse? Would you do all this for a journey that would most likely save your life?Could you survive 119 days in the wild?

Christopher McCandless could. And he did.

     Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer profiles the journey of Christopher McCandless as he drops everything and takes off "into the wild" of Alaska. After surviving 119 days living off of wild plants and his instincts, he met his downfall in the seed of a wild potato plant. His journal keeps memory of his excursion and provides for the story of the book. 

     I'm really looking forward to starting this book. Keep up with my blog to find out how it unfolds!

I don't think that the characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream had dreams like this...

    I once had a dream nightmare when I was about 8 years old, and it's stuck with me since then. I usually can't remember my dreams for more than a couple weeks at most, so obviously this was an extremely emotionally scarring dream for me. Don't make fun.
    In my dream, I was inside my house. But instead of being in the family room, where I evidently should have been, I was at the entrance of an underground train station. The entrance to the train station was a big, gray, stone arch with ivy growing around and on it. The train station was heavily populated, but not with people. The commuters were actually small, multi-colored little monsters made out of socks and other pieces of clothing, like corduroy pants and things of that nature. But I digress. Anyway, I remember being lost and trying to get directions. These little monsters are all going about their business, not stopping to help me, until this one awesome green/dark green-striped monster came up and offered me his hand. Just as I was about to take it, though, all of these monsters came piling out of the train station in this huge panic. My new monster friend and I looked around, trying to figure out what was terrifying all these other monsters so much, and then we saw it. This HUGE BEAR came stomping out of the train station on its hind legs, roaring and running after these monsters. Then it saw me. I somehow knew it was coming after me, so I ran down the hallway(of my house, because obviously the train station was just playin' me and was really my house the entire time) into my den, because in the back of my head I had this thought that if I jumped on the couch in the den, I would be safe from this bear. The last thing I remember is jumping to get on my couch, and while in mid-air looking back to see this bear coming at me through the doorway. Then I woke up. Like I said, probably the scariest nightmare of my entire life. Besides the one I had of my dad trying to kill me. But that's for another time.
     Oh how I wish that this is what Bottom dreamed of. I would've loved to see him amongst the monsters...

p.s. This is a drawing I did of all the characters in my dream. I labeled them, but if you can't tell, the big green one in the middle is Ricardo, the friendly monster. The brown and black blob in the lower left-hand corner is the bear, and the brightly colored blobs in the other corner are the other monsters. Since they were mean to me in my dream, I didn't take the liberty of drawing them as well as Ricardo. As a result of looking at this, you may be asking yourself, "Does Kaley have a life?" The answer is no. You also may be faced with the question, "Is Kaley sane?" That, my friend, is up for you to decide.

Welcome to the Third Quarter! LOL JK, this is actually 4 weeks late. But I need a grade for it.

   Dear Reader,
           Let me start off this post with saying, welcome back! Midterms are done, the second semester has started, and boy am I excited. Quarter 3 has come, and I think everyone has rushed into it with high hopes and good attitudes. Well, I can hope, right?
    DISCLAIMER: The reason this post is so late is because I was absent on the day that this was assigned, and I'm not really the best at keeping up with this blog. Any of my blogs, actually. Fingers crossed that I have all the posts I need!
    Anyways, we're finishing up reading A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, then we're going to be moving on to Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. I'm pretty excited for that, I've heard it's a good book.
    This school year has gone by so fast! It feels like our first day of school was just yesterday. Over the school year, I've learned a lot of things, but one of the things that really stuck with me all through the year is this:

THE VALUE OF A MINUTE

I'm absolutely serious about this. Before I came to John Carroll, I just leisurely went about my business, having a general idea of where I was supposed to be and at what time I had to be there, and I didn't really pay much attention to being on time. This year at John Carroll, I've learned that a minute can make a big difference in life. Whether it be getting to chorus before 7:25, or getting to from the complete opposite side of the school(floors and all) in four minutes, an extra minute can make a HUGE difference. I think it's really given me a greater appreciation of time management and priorities vs. options. I've also made so many new friends at John Carroll. I'm so grateful for all of them, and I truly don't know what I would do with myself if I hadn't met these people. My friends make my days here at John Carroll so much more enjoyable, and they mean the world to me. So, in closing, I'd just like to express how thankful I am for everyone I've met in my time at John Carroll. I don't think I can express how meaningful their friendship is to me. I truly would be lost if I didn't have these people, this loving group of support and friendship, to share in this amazing high school experience at John Carroll with me. These are the best years of our lives, so they say. And I know for sure that these are going to be some of the best of mine. To the new semester!

Cheers, Kaley