Writing Sample: It happened to me...

Snorkling In Fiji

I had always wanted to go snorkling (properly). In deep water where there is actually fish, not just murky water. When I went to Fiji I got that chance, twice. The first time was probably the best.

We took a boat ride from Denarau (where we were staying) to a small island. That was really just a small heap of sand with a coral reef around it.

When we got there we had to jump from the boat into the water. I was slightly scared, but mostly excited. The water rushed around me and I felt the cold water surround me but then it became warm because I had reached the surface.

When I got to the shallow parts I was amazed by all the little fish who were swimming around the coral caves. Some looked like they were playing tag.

One of the guys showed us what happens when you put a piece of bread in  the water, all the fish swim up and attack it basically. He gave us some bread each. I swam off and fed some fish, there was the tiniest fish about the size of a button, it was so cute and I got so close to feeding it but it got scared and swam off.

I also got scared once, because of a Parrot Fish... In my defence I had been told they have bitten peoples fingers.

I really enjoyed snorkling, it's a memory I will remember for a while.

-Shannon

Matariki Panels

Matariki, a cluster of stars also known as Pleiades. Matariki is also a festival that signals the nearing of the Maori new year. Do you celebrate Matariki? In my class we made Matariki panels. There are three thirds to the panels, each represents something. First New Growth, second you, and third Matariki.

For my first third (new growth) I had three koru, each different shades of green. Light green, olive green and a dark green.  I used this because the koru represents new life, so I used it to represent new growth.

For my second third (you) I had a Irish pattern that is like a weaving. It has four lines that weave into a X. Two are two shades of red, and the other two are two shades of green. The pattern represents me because I am part Irish from my Grandad. Each line is a main person in my family, Mum, Dad, Penelope (step mum) and Michael (big brother), there is also a little gold square in the middle that is my baby brother Otis (who isn't born yet.)

For my last third I had the star cluster Matariki. Seven blue stars that kind of look like eyes because Matariki translates to 'little eyes' or 'eyes of god'. I thought this was a good way to show Matariki because it has Matariki, the translation and what is looks like, all in one.

I think I did okay with making my panel. I maybe could've  cut it out better but otherwise I think I did okay.


-Shannon

quote

Be your self, everybody else is taken.

This is by Oscar Wilde.

What I think it means;
To be yourself and don't try to be someone your not. Wear, say and act like you, not like everybody else.

-Shannon

Our protesting

So as most of you know, the government is going to bring up our class sizes, reduce our school budget and deduct SPEC. This means that next year, school won't be as good for all of this years year 7's. So teachers have been protesting and maybe even striking. Me, Callista and Ryley in my class (with and idea from Ms. T) came up with a song, it's a remake of a song 'Another Brick in a Wall' by Pink Floyd. Here are the lyrics.

Another Brick in The Wall
We don't need no crowded classrooms
We don't need no stressed out souls
No deductions of the spec rooms
Hekia leave us kids alone 

Hey Hekia leave us kids alone 
All in all it's just another bad decision
All in all you're just another bad politician

[chorus at end by pupils from the Fourth Form Music Class Islington Green School, London]

We don't need no crowded classrooms
We don't need no stressed out souls
No deductions of the spec rooms
Hekia leave us kids alone 
Hey Hekia leave us kids alone 
All in all you're just another bad politician
All in all you're just another bad politician

-Shannon

Quote

One shall not be afraid of the darkness...
For it is in our darkest moments, that our stars truly shine.

A quote by S.C Harris.
teps
What I think it means;
That even it the worst of times, don't be afraid because in those times is when someone steps up and helps make it better.

-Shannon

Quote

As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.

This quote is by Ben Hogan.

What I think it means;
That you have to take your time and enjoy life, because you only get one life. Don't rush through things and miss a whole lot of opportunities, but instead take chances, challenge yourself and live it to its fullest.

Quote

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.

A amazing quote by a website called Sevenly.org.

What I think it means;
That you can't change everything you try to change, but you won't be able to change it (if you can) without trying.

-Shannon
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The website is for charity s, each week there is a different charity and for each charity there are clothes designed to support the charity and $7 from each sale goes to that charity. Thought I'd explain encase you want to take a look, they have some pretty cool charity s and designs.

My thoughts on war

Definition;
War, Armed conflict between nations or states or between groups.
That is the internet and dictionarys defintion.

This is my definition;
War, somthing that ruins familys, kills innocent people, destroys citys. A horrid way to solve problems.

I really think war is the worst way to solve a problem and most of the time the resolution they come to could have been solved without all the death, pain and suffering.

We have been told that violence isn't the answer and we should talk it out. Then we hear on the news that there is some war going on in a foreign country over something like some land, I may be young and not understand completely why they are fighting but I know that there is a better way. Like maybe having a discussion about it instead of bringing out weapons and attacking each other. What will it solve? Nothing, it will most likely make the other people/person mad and then they will retaliate.

"An eye for an eye just makes the whole world blind" my translation for that, doing something bad to someone because they did something bad in the first place doesn't solve a thing, it just makes the situation worse.

Conclusion, I don't like war. I think it is the worst way to solve a problem, it just causes pain, death and suffering. I think people should negotiate or have a discussion about the problem instead of attacking each other. To put it bluntly, I find war barbaric and completely point-less.

-Shannon

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Well, that was my rant-post on war. Leave me a comment telling me what your thoughts on my thoughts are. Also maybe leave me a comment giving me ideas on what I could share my thoughts on?

I just thought this could be something else I post about. Rant-posts, when I share my thoughts about something.

Catch-up quote

This is a bit of a catch-up because I have missed out on A LOT of quotes, I'm sorry....
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Man knows so much and does so little.

A great quote by R. Buckminster Fuller.

What I think it means;
That even though someones knows so much, they do so little in their life. They don't act on all the thing they could do with the things they know.

-Shannon

Quote

Sorry that I haven't posted in forever, not literally but you get what I mean. Anywho I will try and do more posts.
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You never know.

This quote was thought up my moi (me) even other people have probably already said this. But this is one of my favourite quotes.

What I think it means;
That you never really know, like I belive there is a possibility of things like vampires and fairys and ghosts existing because like the quote states, you never know. There could be fairys living in your back garden, a monster could actually live under your bed, those bats at the zoo, they could be vampires. You never know.

-Shannon

My day with my cousins and Penelope

Every year (usually around the Easter period) my cousins (Kelsi, Abbey and Phoebe) come over to my house for around 4-5 days.

So Sunday was the third day of my cousins being over here. Today we went to the zoo!!! Goig to the zoo is a tradition for us, every time they come over we always go to the zoo.

So this morning we had to get up at about 9 and get ready, we left about 10:00-10:30. We drove away to the zoo, talking on the way there. When we got there we first had a quick look at the otters and kunekune pigs. The blue penguins were not out at the moment.

We walked around the zoo for quite a while looking at the animals and going to a few talks (were the zoo-keeper talks about the animal.)

We got to the chimpanzee's and like we do almost every year, we watched the chimp talk. We love the chimp's because 1, we joke about Michael (my brother) being related to the cousins and 2, we just love the chimp's.

When we got to the baboons I did my dance that I always do, the "I like big butts and I can not lie" dance. It is a bit of a tradition ever since one year I was being silly and started dancing around singing "I like, big butts and I can not lie" because you know, baboons have big butts so I was pretending to be a baboon. It's quite silly tradition but it's fun.

Once we were done we went to the gift shop, another zoo tradition. We all get to spend $10 given to us by Penelope (my step-mum.) I brought a ostrich toy and called it Carrot. It may sound strange but I'll give you an explanation, I am called ostrich by a select few people because of my height and apparently I run like an ostrich (I don't know if I actually do or not) and I named it Carrot because I am also called O'Carrot by a couple of my friends so I connected the two and named the ostrich, Carrot.

My cousin Kelis had gotten a lucky dip and inside her lucky dip was a plastic, dung beetle. Her first reaction was "EWW!!!!, it's an ugly thing!!!" We all laughed at her. She then called the dung beetle, Henry. She grew to like Henry. We all did.

We also played at the playground for a bit being egg's. That is kinda a tradition. We went on the swings and the see-saw (I got bored because my legs were to long for the see-saw.)

And that, concluded our day out

-Shannon

Quote

Sorry guys I haven't been posting in ages!!! I haven't been finding a whole lot of time but I will try!!!
Here's the quote...
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It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.

This quote is by someone called Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What I think it means;
That the length of life is not the most important, but what you do in your time is the most important.

-Shannon

Bonus Quote...

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

This is a quote written by Benjamin Disraeli.

What I think it means;
That not everything you do will bring happiness, but you can't have happiness by doing nothing.

*I posted this quote because I have missed quite a few days quotes.

-Shannon =D

Quote

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.

A quote by Saint Teresa of Avila.

What I think this quote means;
Be kind and caring with others, because then they will like you. But be stern with yourself most of the time, because that is how you will make sure you achieve your goals.

-Shannon

PS I would like to know what other people think about the quotes and what they think they mean. I only say what I think they mean to me, not everyone else.

Aotea Lagoon

On Friday I went to Aotea Lagoon with Arielle Pila and Lily Pila, (you can visit their blogs from Nga Hau Mahana.) We drove to Aotea Lagoon around two o'clock in the afternoon. We were meeting my mums friend Deb and her daughter Macy at the park.

Once we were there we basically went straight to the playground (because we are very mature.) We played around on the playground for quite awhile. I nearly fell off on of these climbing things which was about 1.5-2 meters off the ground.

Arielle, Lily, Macy and I then all went over to the picnic mat and had some afternoon tea which consisted of popcorn, girl guide biscuits, marshmallow eggs, crackers and lemonade.

We then took my dog Rose for a walk around the Lagoon which Lily and Arielle complained about how she acted like a dog all the time. I just told them that she was a dog, so of course she was going to act like a dog. When we were walking Lily and Macy started to play on one if the exercise things. So me and Arielle went and  sat down on a bench and waited.

All was well until someone walking their dog came along. Rose got pretty excited and charged off towards the dog causing me to nearly knock Arielle off the bench. The dog had finally left and Rose calmed down.

We then started walking back to the playground. When we got there we stayed for a bit longer before heading home.

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Hey guys sorry I haven't posted for a while. I am going to try and catch up but I might be a bit busy but I will try.

-Shannon =D

Class Blog

Nga Hau Mahana - Room 13

Above is the link to my class blog, it has posts about what me and my class mates get up to in school time. I thought I would give it to you all encase you wanted to see what my class mates (that I might mention from time to time) get up to and maybe have a look at their blogs.

-Shannon =D

Quote

Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there is footprints on the moon.

A quote by anonymous.

What I think it means;
That don't listen when someone says there is a limit, because someone will manage to exceed that limit. So there is actually no limit.

-Shannon

Quote

Life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.

A very true quote by Lillian Dickson

What I think it means;
That you can live life anyway you want (if you make it so) but then you have to choose wisely because you only get to choose once because you only live once.

-Shannon

Chop suey and Rewana bread!!!

Yesterday Ms. T had a whole pot of chop suey and a loaf of rewana bread. So she gave each of us a slice of rewana bread and small cup of chop suey if we wanted some.

Chop suey is a noodle dish that is in a kind of oily sauce with  bits of schnitzel in it. Rewana bread is a Maori bread that is made with a certain type of yeast that gives it a bit of a sweeter taste. For a lot of us this was quite exciting, one because it was food. Two because a lot of us had never had chop suey or rewana bread before. We also had the choice of having coconut cream with our chop suey and rewana bread.

 All of the people who wanted some wrote their names on the whiteboard in a list then were called up one by one. Once we were all called up we sat down and ate while finishing our work.

I myself would have to say that the chop suey was nice, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I really liked the rewana bread and wished there was more of it, but there wasn't. I also liked the coconut cream but it was quite sweet.

-Shannon

Bonus Quote!!!!

Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile.

This quote is by the famous Demi Lovato.

What I think it means;
Smile and let it change people and make them happy, but don't let others in the world change your smile into a frown.
-Shannon