Daily Journal 2/28

The house was made of dragon scales that twinkle so brightly in the sunlight, you can't even squint to look at its shine. All we had to use to move all the scales to make the house was a wobbly wagon and a couple donkies to pull it; we had to take several trips to move the scales to where the house was going to be built and the wagon kept dropping a few scales. By the time my partner and I brought all the scales over to the unfinished house, we were adding those scales onto it and finding ways to make the scales stay on was really difficult. Though our work was taking us what seemed like ages to make, my partner and I were having some fun, having a gabby and being really silly about it, talking about old people tales we were told of and the craziest things the kids like to do. By the time we finished, we were in awe that the house we made would be the prettiest and the strongest in the whole village.

Sonnet Poem

What majestic creatures dragons can be
With gigantic wings and shimmering scales
Full of power and grace and bravery
Well known and ferocious in many tales
Some can be found on the highest mountains
Some of them can be in the deepest seas
Many can be soaring in the heavens
Or even in a forest full of trees
They can have powers of wind and fire
And earth, water, lightning, and even ice
Powers of light full of good desire
And darkness with thoughts of evil and vice
Creatures that can be respected or feared
Or worshipped as strong dieties or gods
Others can think they're fun and really weird
Others think their existence has no odds
No matter if they're big, weak, strong, or tall
They are earth's most unique creatures of all

Daily Journal 2/25

The first of the three people, living or dead, I would like to sit at a table with would be Makoto Nagano, two time champion of Ninja Warrior since I would like to know all of the training he's done on that fishing boat and I've always wondered why he got so dedicated to compete in all those Ninja Warrior competitions he was in. The next person would have to be Will Smith since I consider him to be my favorite actor; I love Fresh Prince, and some of the movies he was in like the Men in Black series. The last person I would choose to be with at a table would be Jesus to learn about what his life was like back then and ask him all the many questions about all the things that happened in the Bible, and listen to a few words of praise as well.

Assonance Poem

A slash, then a crash, as a Samurai cuts down bamboo
As he trains his fighting skills, his mind and his soul
Then Sakura petals begin to sail from a short and strong gale
Calming his mind and making him forget of his worries
A Koi fish in a a lake makes a splash, then returns into the water in a flash
Waking the Samurai's mind from getting carried away with the Sakura petals
The Samurai returns to his training by slashing the small Sakura petals
As they glide away from him, then fly up to the heavenly sky
Dedicated to his training, his heart is a strong fire, burning with desire
To become a great protector of his village
Finishing his training for the day, he lies down with his muscle straining
Then he lets his mind soar into the air with the ellagent Sakura petals.

Daily Journal 2/24

One of the scariest moments I've recently had was when I got myself lost in a really long shopping district in Kyoto, Japan. My school group of 12 and I split up into groups of 3-4 and we were given about an hour in a half to explore the shopping district and buy whatever we wanted. There were a ton of nice shops, from places where you could buy actual Japanese cuisine to buying Yukatas (Japanese robes). During the shopping, I decided to try to follow two other guys in my group, not sure exactly where they were going, and in a couple seconds, I lost them and the other guys in my group from the giant crowd. I ended up getting lost for about 15-20 minutes, running to one side hoping it was near the place to meet when we were done. I didn't have my cell phone with me since American phones don't actually work in Japan. But when one of the group members found me, I felt reliefed and pretty embarrassed for not knowing where to go to get to the meeting place. I got a Yukata at a small shop and went with the group and went back to the meeting place in front of the station and left for our next destination.

Marching Band

Daily Journal 2/23

Coming from a family that's pretty laid back and clean, I have plenty of pet peeves. For instance, one of the simple ones I have are people that don't clean up after themselves and leave a pretty big mess somewhere; it just annoys me to see how lazy and how messy these people can really be. Another one I have are annoying kids that don't control themselves and the parents that don't stop or control their behavior or don't even try. There are times where kids (nearly any age) should control themselves, mainly for them, it can be in school or at restaurants or any public place to not make a scene. The biggest one I have are people that don't have respect for anyone or anything, from no respect for the law, family, friends, or even strangers. People should have some respect for one another and they shouldn't think they're "Above the law or better than anyone else."

Alliteration Poem

Soldiers wielding swords start their attck on enemy soil

Bold and brave men ready to battle until they die

Fighting to free their families and friends, for their lives will be a big recoil

So they start to storm the enemy, ready to sacricife themselves for you and I.



They thundered the gate and thrash their weapons on them

Men full of blood and bruises battling for what's believed to be an eternity

The war stops as the last soldier stands and the last Sakura pedal soars from the stem

For the warriors that fought and forfeited their lives did it for you and me.

Early Childhood Memories

One of the earliest childhood memories I had would probably have to be when my family first moved in from a small home in Eagan to a pretty big culdisac in Apple Valley. When we first moved in there, we had plenty of people welcoming us, and there were a lot of neighborhood kids that were nearly the same age as me and my brother. During the time when we first moved in, my mom began a small daycare at our home mainly for the kids in the neighborhood. We had plenty of friends there, and some of them were pretty nice and often times fun. But now, we live in a new neighborhood in Apple Valley, and while the house in the culdisac became too small for our family, it had some pretty nice memories with the nice people in the neighborhood.

Sense of Time Poem

June
June is Blue
The color of Sky and Life
June feels like Freedom and a New Beginning
It sounds like Chirping Birds and Calm Blowing Winds
It smells like Flowers and Plants
It tastes like Grilled Meat and Classic Childhood Foods
It begins your fun life of freedom and opportunity.

Daily Journal 2/18

A man walks into the cold night air. His hands are shaking from what happened. He went into an electronics expo featuring all the amazing upcoming pieces of technology and upcoming games. As he was exploring around, he noticed a long line in the Nintendo booth. Curious as to why it was so long, he decided to go into the line and wait for about an hour to see what everyone was so anxious about. When he was finally in the front line, he saw the Nintendo 3DS, and at first, he didn't look impressed at all of the look of the handheld, but he decided to play a game demo anyway on it to see what all the hype was about. When he first turned started playing it, he completely jumped by seeing that the game was being played in an awesome 3D setting without wearing any kind of glasses, and he was amazed by how well the 3D was used during the gameplay. After playing the demo, he left the booth wanting to go back in the line and play on that amazing handheld again, but he had to explore the rest of the expo. He saw so many interesting things in there from things involving computers to futurisic looking cars. Before he left, he decided to go back to the booth that had the 3DS. Thankfully, the line wasn't as long, and he decided to play another demo one last time before he left. When he finished, he was convinced that he would get himself a 3DS when it comes out in America, and with happiness and shock, he left the expo and walked out into the cold night and headed home.

Parts of Speech Poem

The Dragon

Intimidating yet Majestic

Flying and Breathing Fire

Creature of Fantasy

Daily Journal 2/17

One thing I'm looking foward to getting is the Nintendo 3DS; a lot of the games look amazing, they have a lot more awesome and unique features than any of the other DS systems and in a way similar to Wii like features, also being able to play regular DS games, and the 3DS games you play are in 3D without the need for glasses. It's pricy for a handheld, costing at $250, and each game is about $40. It comes out on March 27, but I'm going to wait until some of the games I want on it are released, like Kid Icarus Uprising, the new Mario Kart game, Dead or Alive Dimensions, and any other new games that are announced. Another reason I'll wait is that in early March, I'll be getting a new DS game, Pokemon Black, and I'll possibly get another new DS game, Okamiden. I do have the money for those things, but I really want to be saving up my money with college coming around, and I still need to find a job as well. Nearly every day, I feel so anxious to see what the 3D looks like when I play any of the games and how well it is used in the gameplay. All I can say is that the 3DS is going to be awesome.

Cinquain

Phoenix,
Wings full of flames,
Majestically fies
Into the bright and beautiful
Heavens.

Daily Journal 2/16

I wake up and try to take a deep breath, but the deeper the breath, the more severe the pain. The ground is hard beneath my back, and I feel a dull pain in my arm. While the pain felt dull, my arm was bleeding really badly, but fortunately, it wasn't my sword wielding arm. The battle's still going on, and as I get up, I wonder how in the world I didn't die, how I got knocked out, and also why no one finished me off. There were so many dead soldiers on the ground, about half of my fellow soldiers and half of the enemy's, and suprisingly, none of the enemy soldiers noticed me when I got back up, they were too busy fighting the soldiers blocking the gateway into the temple. So I covered my arm from the bleeding, and quckly rushed in to help out my fellow soldiers at the gate. I managed to kill two enemy soldiers before they took notice of me, and right when they gave all that focus on me, the gate guarding soldiers managed to take down most of the enemy soldiers before any of them could finish me off, and so we began our attack on the enemy's base.

Metaphor

A good friend is like your room,
it's one of those things you always feel
comfortable around.

They even have many memorable things
that are just so hard to let go of or take
for granite.

While it can make many rearrangements
and changes as time goes by, it'll still be the
same thing you still remember it by.

You also need to take care of it whenever
it is needed to clean things up with it and
make it feel a whole lot better to be with.

Love your friends and have some respect
for your room, they both can have great
memories all the time.

Best Friend!

My best friends are Eric and Brittney since I know about them so well. I've known about Eric ever since my first year in Marching Band before I started my sophmore year, and I've known about Brittney pretty much since she was born (she's 2 years younger than me). Eric has somewhat curled up hair, wears glasses, has pretty bad vision, and loves to make references to many things on the internet. Brittney likes to change her looks a lot; right now, she has long hair, likes to put plenty of makeup on, and swhe always like to help out make fun of the things we do, whether we're watching something or playing some video game; and in a way, I kind of like to think of Brittney as a younger sister I've never had since I'm pretty much the youngest in my family. I love my best friends!

Simile Poem

Melancholy feels like winter with the lack of life and sun shining happiness around.

Anger sounds like broken glass shattering, not being able to defend itself from the rage.

True love is like a myth because everyone thinks it's too good to be true at first.

Family feels like being in your bed in your room, all comfortable and always feeling safe.

School is like your family, something you usually don't like to talk about, but overall, you really like it a lot.

Simile Activity

1. A calendar is like a mirror because you are able to see how busy and how hard working you can really be.

2. A sandwich is like a cell phone because it can easily be convinient and easy to carry around.

3. An ice cube is like a cookie because they can both be easily crumbled.

4. A knife is like a whisper because it's silen, and it can be deadly.

5. Kissing is like a careful collision because its outcome can be very unpredictable.

6. Cold meat feels like a peeled grape.

7. A stomach ache feels like leftover spaghetti.

8. Falling in love sounds like a myth because it can feel like it's too good to be true.

9. A dentist's drill feels like torture because of the terrifying sound it makes.

10. Tomato Soup tastes like bleeding hearts because it makes you feel like you're drinking blood.

Daily Journal 2/14

Out of the dark we came, into the storm where lightning constantly rained down and it was too dangerous for us to stay out there long, and we couldn't get back in to that place of darkness. We heard a squeal coming from another building that looked like it was covered in darkness. When we entered, the place had a bad reek of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and we heardmore squeals getting all excited from the music that was playing. That's when we noticed a lot of women going crazy over an awesome and crafty trumpet player who seemed to be quite the ladie's man. So we decided to stay to have a few drinks and listen to the great trumpet music and do our best to ignore all that stupid squealing and cheering of all those women.

Change Poem

A
Beautiful
Summer
Evening

Yellow
Sky
And
Warm
Breeze
From
The
Setting
Sun

Then
Storming
Clouds
Begin
Rolling
Over
And
Covering
The
Yellow
Sky

Rain
Falls
Down
Heavily
And
The
Cold
Wind
Freezes
To
The
Bone

Then
The
Storm
Passes
And
The
Evening
Sky
Returns
To
Set
Into
An
Evening
Night

Bucket List

*Get Married
*Go back to Japan
*Own a home in Japan
*Own a Ramen or Udon Bar
*Perfect my Japanese skills
*Go to someplace in Europe
*Play the Tuba again for a band
*Have Kids
*Gain some arm muscles
*Retire Happily

Limerick

There once was an old man named Griff
Who was senile, calm, and stiff
to his kids, he would say
"You know, back in my day..."
and make them want to jump off a cliff.

10 Years From Now

I wake up in a decent bed/futon at 7:30 AM in Japan by myself, not married yet, but in a relationship that hasn't gotten that far yet. I'm eating breakfast and then I leave for work. The day is beautful and hot, and I walk to work, which usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to get to. After a nice walk, I arrive at a simple, nice looking Ramen Bar and head to the kitchen area to get things prepared and help get the noodles set to be cooked. People don't show up until about 11, so I get plenty of time to get everything ready for cooking.

Ode to Shadow

Oh Shadow, so furry and playful you are
Always so anxious to play around no matter when or where
You always lighten my day whenever I see you,
From whining when I return home to seeing you lying on your back on a sofa
I adore your talking of growls and woofs you make trying to be so demanding in a funny way
You like to claim things a lot, from pillows, parts of a bed, or even socks
But you also have that selfless side cuddling up or licking us whenever we really need it
Always never having a care in the world but the care to be around others
Which makes me care for you a lot more for when you need it most.

Embarassing Moment

One of the most embarassing moment I had was in 6th grade; one of my intructor teacher people was talking to me about something involving an assignment I believe, while I was putting my stuff away, and I wasn't really paying much attention to it since I knew what to do, and when she finishd talking, I said "Yes, Mom", and after that, my classmates laughed and made me realize the mistake I made, and the teacher apparently said to me "It's alright, you can call me mom". When she said that, I thought "No way in heck I'll be calling you mom now, I was just being stupid."

Alex
Kind, Caring, Shy, Cheerful
Sibling of Zach
Lover of Japan, My Family,Video Games, Manga, and Anime
Who feels realxed when doing the enjoyable things I love
Who needs courage when feeling uncertain
Who gives kindness to his friends in need
Who fears rejection, pain, and uncertainty
Who would like to see Japan again
Resident of Apple Valley, Minnesota
Klinger

Haiku

Summertime in Japan

with temples, castles and shrines,

so calm and unique.

Daily Writing 2/7

and sees a monkey on your back. It pounces right on you and begins to attack the monkey. As the monkey runs around, a gorilla comes to save it and now the gorilla and the monkey begins to chase the lion while the zebra walks away. Before the zebra could get away, a 5o foot dragon appears in front of it and starts breathing fire on all the creatures while you attempt to get on the dragon's back. The dragon flicks you over with his tail, and when you landed on the ground, you noticed the monkey's tail is on fire. Then you notice a group of penguins walking down and trying to team up on the dragon, but the gorilla and the lion join in to attack them with the dragon. When you tried to get away, chickens begin to fall from the trees on top of your head, then they get cooked up by the dragon's fire, along with the Zebra, the Lion, the Monkey,the Penguins,and the Gorilla, while you sit in a corner in the feddle position, crying for mommy.

Thank You

My older brother Zach,

Thank you for all the generous things you have done for me and all the fun things we have done as well. Thank you for also giving me that common sense to help me know how to act when I'm around a public place or around home. We should probably contact each other a little more often if you're not that busy with college and being with your friends or girlfriend, and listen to the new things we have going on and have a few laughs with our "inside jokes". Even though you only do the nice things you've done as your duty as an older brother, I still feel like that I would want to pay you back somehow, even though you never want anything in return, just talking to each other seems to be the only thing you want, and that's good.
Thank you once again!
Alex

Most Memorable Events

Going to Japan
getting my dog
prom
breaking my leg
having an exchange student for a school year
school stay in Japan
marching band events
getting my license
brother leaving for college
Christmas in St. John (or any christmas I had)
Target Field opening day

Journal Entry

The best place I visited ever would probably have to be Japan. When I was there over the summer, the cities were so lively and the cultural castles, shrines, and gardens were calm and looked so amazing. I had a lot of true great Japanese food there as well, like ramen and yakitori. While I was there, my school group and I were a part of a week long school stay over in Toyama; and during that school stay, the host family I had was the family of the exchange student I hosted two years ago. We also visited Tokyo and Kyoto during our two week long trip. The shops in Japan were so amazing, about a hundred times better than in America, with department stores that can reach about ten stories high and filled with the most technological and fun items. I miss Japan now, and I hope I can go back there someday.

Free Writing

Something I'd like to learn more about to write are poetry and short stories, or any small fun thing to write where I could let my imagination be put to good use, and have it nicely done.I also want to improve more on my writing and grammar skills as well.