14/31

Wednesday over Winter Collective, my family and I visited Clearwater Beach in Florida with Julia. Behind me there were people and blue umbrellas as well as to my sides. My only escape was the clear ocean or as clear as it could be. The cold water tingled against my ankles while the rest of me was baking in the ninety degree heat. "Briahn!" my mom called. "You should really here what just happened! I just made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and while it was still in my hands a seagull came and ate it! Can you believe it?!" My mom was astonished and I was already swimming. The shells I found on average were about two inches wide and two inches tall which is really cool. I started a pile of clam like shells, broken sand dollars, and some spiral shells. My sister and Julia thought I was too crazy about shells, and suggested to have a sand sculpture contest. "The theme is fruit!" called my sister. "Briahn, what are you going to be sculpting?" "Fruit." I said sharply. Annoyed, she walked over to Julia and asked her the same thing. I started to sculpt my apple. It took a while, but I finally moved on to a banana. "Briahn, what are you sculpting right now?" Hannah asks expecting a sassy reply. "A banana." My sister was the judge so she though it was her job to pester us about fruit. Impatient, she came back 30 seconds later "Briahn, what are you sculpting now?" "Still a banana Hannah." Julia and I were sand sculpting for at least an hour and in the end I won, but we should have tied. As we were diving through the waves, I kept looking looking for shells. I found two small and round ones so I picked one up expecting it to be dead and found a hermit crab inside. I screamed and through it back in the water. I kept on swimming and collecting shells. The biggest shell I found was greenish black and was about nine inches long. I think it belonged to a horseshoe crab, but I'm not sure.

13/31

In printing class, we carve different things out of a soft rubber, a hard rubber, and linoleum which is the hardest. "Gale, can I use some of the linoleum?" I ask. "Yes, let me go grab it." she replies. I pull out the scoop tool, the and the thin push tool and sit down at the paint incrusted table. She hands me the thin piece of linoleum, and instructs me to put it on the special plate to heat it up to make it easier to carve. I stand there with my hand pressed onto the linoleum listening to other conversations, and forget everything else I have to do. I just take a deep breath and relax. Adrian and I are making a Colorado print, so I am carving a 5280 to put on. The linoleum feels warm, so I grab the plate but a get a small electric shock in the process and jump back. Every single time I grab the linoleum, I get shocked and no one else does, and I think the warming plate hates me.
I pick up the pencil and try to tune everything else out so I can work on drawing 5280 backwards on my piece. It is all laid out, and I pick up the scoop tool. I get a couple good carves, and then it starts to cool and harden, but I don't want to go back up so a stay in my chair and dig the carving tool in harder. My hand grabs the handle and attempts to carve the linoleum, but it slips and cuts off a part of my fingernail. I still don't want to go up to warm it up, so I try to be more careful. It is getting harder, but I put more energy and effort into carving. My hands are cramping up, but the heating plate is not worth it for 30 seconds of easy carving. One last time I grab the handle and try to get a good grip on the piece, but it didn't work and I didn't move my hand out of the way in time. The blade slips and all of the force I put into the handle went right into my finger and a puddle of blood pools on my fingernail. I jump back in pain, but try not to make a big deal out of it because Gale would freak out. "Gale, I am going to the bathroom." I run out before she has time to respond, and head for the front desk. I grab a bandaid from Miriam and grab some paper towels from the bathroom. The paper wrappers fall into the trash as the bandaid is put on, and I head back to class. I see the tool that pierced my skin, so I grab the pull tool so it wont touch my hands and I get back to work.

12/31

I search on my desk for a pair of scissors my sister is requesting, and she wont go away until I give them to her. As I search, I come across my Dumb Friends League pin, and I forget about the scissors and get transported to memory lane. One of the days, I helped walk dogs and play with them. "Ok group three; Sam, Ben, Lily, Jackson, and Brian." I sigh and head over to the corner where our group has gathered. "Its actually Briahn." I say. She apologizes, but it really is not that big of a deal. I get called Brian almost everyday and everyone thinks they are so funny and original with that name. Nope.

We start to walk to the kennels and the strong smell of dog and cleaning supplies hits me hard and I have to blink my eyes to get adjusted. Our supervisor quickly stops at the desk. "Today it looks like we will be working with 307, 328, 412, and 251." Normally I end up with Sam and Jackson, because thats how it always plays out. Sam, Jackson and I stand over by the door and wait until we know where dog in kennel 328, and 307 are. "First, we are going to walk Presley." He was around six years old and had short brown and white fur for a Basset Hound. The purple leash is clipped in, and the walk went by quickly, and soon we reach the pen where we play with the dog. Sam played a lot of fetch and Jackson did tug-a-war, while I waited for my turn and tried to see how well he would listen to commands. I pulled out the treats "Presley, sit!" he sat. I gave him a treat, and moved on to the next one. "Presley, stay." I walk away swiftly not looking back for a reaction until I reach the other side. He does as he as told, and the supervisor marks something on her sheet. It's time for the dog in kennel 307, so we quickly walk back.

"This is Spike." He was probably around four, and he was a Boxer mix with brown fur. The people at the Dumb Friends League didn't know what other breed he was mixed with, only that he was part Boxer. Spike's green leash is clipped and we head out. It starts to snow, but Spike is as happy as every walking around. When we get to the pen, Sam, Jackson and I do the same things. First Sam plays fetch, Jackson does tug-a-war, and I work on the training. Spike was really obedient just like Presley, and the supervisor marks something down and flashes a quick smile. I lost track of time, and it was time to go already. I said goodbye to Spike and headed towards, "Briahn, where are the scissors?"

Wonder

This week I read Wonder and it was a really good book. It was a really quick read at around 300 pages, and I loved the way it was written. There were two parts of the book and it started out being narrated by Auggie and then it switched to his sister Via. Auggie is starting fifth grade, and he just wants to be a normal kid. He has been home schooled for a while, and though he tries to be a normal kid he may have some trouble. He has a face deformity, but on the inside he is just like everyone else. He is funny, sensitive, smart, but thats not the problem. The problem is to get everyone to accept him and treat him normally. It made a great point of stating "don't judge a book by it's cover" and it got into some bullying and friendships. I really liked this book and I would highly recommend this book to everyone in AS and everyone in our class.

10/31 SOL

I sit here on my couch thinking of what to write. Every once in a while I don't have any good ideas and just sit and stall. I'm on the couch thinking of Sarah London as I watch The Voice while I think of ideas and write. "Mom, what should I write about?" I ask impatiently. "I don't know." she continues working on her computer and her architecture. I decide to look through my photos and pass by one with a barfing pumpkin. Oh I remember when I made that, it was either in 2009 or 2010 and I saw a picture of one on the internet and I really wanted to try it. It was my favorite pumpkin carving, and it was really fun to make. Nah, its to cheesy. I keep scrolling and find a picture of my dogs and smile. It was a while ago, but I took pictures of my dogs after they got a hair cut and they looked adorable. The first line popped into my head as Adam got yet another player while Shakira had none. "Louise is almost thirteen years old but she will always be my dog." I stop to see Blake take another player and Shakira has not one person on her team. I was getting worried I wouldn't finish anything like Shakira, I just started writing and hoped I would get something down.

9/31

I wake up to the sound of my alarm going off an hour early thanks to daylight savings. Today is Sunday, the worst day of the week. I have to go to school the next day, and I have Sunday school today. I walk into my classroom, and hear screaming children. I always come early for some reason and have to play with my teachers kids while she gets ready for the day. They pull out the Dixie cups and stack them as high as they can in pyramids and scream with joy as the topple over onto the ground. "Lets make one big one!" says the oldest. Great, three times the screaming. The pyramid gets really tall and then time is up. "Ok girls, it's time for class. Clean up and head on over." The kids were disappointed, but the youngest tore through it with her arms and squealed as the cups hit the ground.
 Finally, 9:00 and people were coming in. Basically we stay in that class for twenty minutes, stalling and doing whatever then go to a different class to learn something else. The twenty minutes went by quickly in Sarah's class so we then headed over to Jim's. That also went by quickly as we talked about immigrating Jews, and watched scenes from Fiddler on the Roof. At 10:30, we went to the social hall to finish our "Olympic Games" that had absolutely nothing to do with Judaism at all. "India, its your turn to throw the ball threw the spinning hula hoop. Cam, Shane, who's your third player?" they all look at me. Darn. First Cam throws his and misses, as well as Shane. Its my turn and the hoop is quickly moving away, I throw and I barely make it. "You know, that was a bad throw on my part so lets try it again." I was starting to get competitive and into the game, and it was unfair because I made it through! He throws it again and Cam misses, Shane misses, and of course I make it through. "Wow, these hoops are bad. Lets try it again." He throws it; Cam misses, Shane misses, and I miss. "Ok no points for India, but that looks pretty hard so we will just hold up the hoop and have you guys throw it through." I don't complain out loud, but I should have gotten the points. A boy named AJ holds up the hoop and Cam gets ready for the shot. He doesn't stop talking about basketball or football so we should have had this in the bag. He pulls his arm back, and misses. The same thing happens to Shane. It's up to me and I am the least athletic person in our group but yet I stand there with the red ball in my hand. Its just twenty feet Briahn, just make it through. I try to comfort myself because I have stage freight, and yes this counts. There were probably sixty people there, and they were all focusing on my movements, most of them praying that I miss. I take a deep breath and I pull my arm back and everyone's eyes are on me. My arm moves forward and the ball escapes my fingertips, and it goes straight through the middle. "One point for India!"

8/31 SOL

Today was one of my best friends Bat Mitzvah. She did so well and I am so proud of her, even through it's not my favorite activity. I sung along to most of the songs, but every now and then my mind drifted off to something random like why lace had flowers. Once the service was done, my friends and I sat down for lunch and started to talk about things from Sunday School. There were trays of delicious food as well as deserts around the entire room, and no one hesitated to take a closer look. It is crazy how small the world is, because I saw five other people I haven't seen in at least six years, and it was great to see them again. It wasn't a very big party, but that isn't what it is all about. It's about how a girl or boy becomes Bat or Bar Mitzvah and it is then that they are allowed to bless, and read from the Torah. To celebrate, a party is thrown, or they do something else like volunteer for a charity fund. At my friends party, there was a photo booth, a spray paint t-shirt stand, and yes my favorite Henna. There was only one person doing the Henna, but she beautifully painted each one. The was symmetry, and pattern to all of them, and I could only imagine how pretty and intricate the ones in India were. I of course loved the Henna, but my favorite part was seeing one of my best friends step up onto the Bimah, and become Bat Mitzvah.