Sydney U's Blog

Once upon a time there was a turtle named Tyler. Tyler loved surf but he wasn’t very good compared to the other turtles. One day Tyler stumbled upon another turtle who was hula dancing. “Wow you’re really good,” Tyler lied, he had to say something because she knew he was staring. “Thank you, you’re a really great surfer too,” she smiled. “Oh uh, well I’m trying to get better,” He said embarrassed. “Well I hope you get better, I’m Cassie by the way,”  said the turtle. “Yeah I hope you get better too, and I’m Tyler,” replied Tyler. Cassie laughed.  Tyler practiced surfing for four hours every day for a week, and Cassie practiced hula dancing just the same. One day Tyler saw a turtle hula dancing wonderfully on the beach while he was surfing. He paddled in to see who it was, when he got to shore he realized it was Cassie. “Wow you’re really getting good at that,” said Tyler. “Yeah I guess you are too, did you hear about the showcase?” Cassie said. “Showcase?” Tyler questioned. “Yeah you know the summer party, well this year they’re throwing a surf competition and hula competition,” Replied Cassie. “Oh cool, uh are you gonna compete,” Tyler asked. “Yeah! Honestly you should to I heard the winner gets a new surfboard and the hula winner gets to perform at the end of the party.” She said enthusiastically. “Thats cool, I will,” Tyler said more confident. As he was walking home he saw a table with a sign that read “Showcase signups”. He also saw Crush, the island’s best surfer.

Day of showcase:

“Hey Tyler!” Yelled Cassie. Tyler pretended he didn’t hear her. “Alright everyone the hula competition is about to begin! First up we have Cassie!” Barked the announcer. Cassie was wonderful, and the judges looked very pleased. Everyone was so good Tyler thought. “Ok last but not least we have Tyler!” Said the announcer confused. “No this must be a mistake!” Tyler yelled to the stage. Soon the audience started chanting Tylers name. He knew if they wanted him to go up he had to. So Tyler walked up to the stage and saw Cassie laughing her head off. The music played and Tyler started to dance, he told the story of the waves he’d surfed for hours. By the first couple moves he just let the embarrassment go. The song ended and the audience went silent then the crowd roared with applause. Tyler got first place. After all the compliments from the crowd Tyler went over to Cassie who had gotten second place. “Hey” said Tyler. “Oh hi. I know what you’re thinking, but I didn’t sign you up,” Cassie explained. “Oh I know, I don’t think I paid much attention to which sign up sheet I put my name on,” Tyler replied. The disappointment then drew out of Cassie. “You’re gonna have to do that all over again in an hour,” she laughed. “Wanna do it with me?” Tyler asked. “Oh I don’t think they would let me,” she protested. “ No anything for the hula king,” Tyler smirked. So Cassie and Tyler danced together and never really stopped after that.

This month I read a book called A Kooks Guide To Surfing by Jason Borte. The book consists of fifteen chapters. These chapters are called “What is surfing?” , “Ready, Set…Surf”, “Etiquette”, “Get an education”, Surfers Beware”, “Surf Shape”, “Mommy, Where Do Waves Come from?”, “No Two Waves Are the Same”, “Waves Near and Far”, “Surfboards ‘R’ Us”, “Surf Stuff”, “A Foundation for Higher Learning”, “All the Right Moves”, “Enter to Win”, and “Through the Ranks”. Through these chapters the author describes diet to where to park at the beach and even famous surfers.

My favorite quote from the author is “I cannot tell you how many times I have been stopped en route to a winter surf by an elderly female tourist who just has to know, ‘Do those things really keep you warm?’ Yes grandma, wetsuits do indeed serve a purpose aside from making us look like super heroes.” This is my favorite quote from him because it definitely made me laugh. He also uses this as a transition to a very good paragraph about all the different kinds of wetsuits.

I really enjoyed this book because it was very educational but it wasn’t boring because of all the witty jokes the author threw in. I also loved how this book is perfect for every type of surfer.

My favorite quote in the book was “Surf culture is rooted in the love of the ocean..” This is my favorite quote because it really shows why I personally love surfing.

 

 

There are so many people I would invite to dinner, but these are my top three. First I would invite my friend Brooklyn, I would invite her because we always have so much fun together. The next person I would invite is Maddie Ziegler, I would invite her because I know how much my friend Brooklyn wants to dance, hopefully Maddie could teach her a lot about dance. The last person I would invite is Bethany Hamilton, I would love to have her at dinner because I would be so exited to learn all about her surfing experience’s. Bethany is a big role model for me because she is brave, religious, and she is one of the greatest surfers.  I would love to hear exactly how she overcame the challenge of the shark bite outside of a movie.

If I could have any job in the entire world, it would be a pro surfer. One reason I would like to be a pro surfer is because of the travel, when you’re competing in pro competitions you get to visit phenomenal destinations like Hawaii and Fiji. The second reason this is my dream job is because it’s fun, getting to experience all sorts of surf breaks and challenges would be amazing. I could surf along side great surfers and learn all sorts of new tricks. The third reason I would love this job is because of the fame and deals with surf company’s, I would get to build an awesome quiver and could even come out with my own line of swimwear. I would be one of the top surfers and make about 1.8 million dollar’s a year. When I retire at thirty-six I would buy a house beautiful house in Hawaii and travel to Europe with friends. During retirement I would volunteer as a youth leader at a church in Hawaii or start a surf school in Oahu.

A magician made me invisible for twenty-four hours. The first thing I would do is go to the airport. I would board a flight to Hawaii and pick a seat in first class, then I would find the kitchen and pick out whatever treats I’d like.  The island we landed on is Kawaii! I find a surf shop and rent a bike, surfboard, snorkeling gear ,and a wetsuit. I ride the bike to the beach, once I’m on the beach I put on the wetsuit and go surfing, after I catch a couple incredible waves I walk down were the surf is less intense and I use the snorkeling gear. I see beautiful reef and fish, I can also spot a sea turtle! I go to a chill restaurant and have a burger and fries with an awesome smoothie. It’s set up like a salad bar so I don’t have to talk to anyone to order. After that I go to a mall and find all the stores I usually shop at and get some clothes I like. Lastly I sneak into a hotel room and spend the night there. When I wake up I’m not invisible anymore, so I take my bike to the airport and I give my sob story to the flight attendant and she gives me a first class ticket back home.

This month I finished the book “Good Girl,Bad Blood” last month I got to page 133 and this is what happened since then. Pips parents found out she has been investigating Jamies disappearance. Pip sends out a search party for Jamie and her party finds a knife by an abandoned farm house, there is no blood on it but she soon realizes who comes here often. Ravi breaks terrible news to Pip, Max Hastings has been proven guilty, Pip starts to spiral. She vandalizes Max’s house and will not go home, her new neighbor Charlie gives her a speech about justice and how the system has gotten it all wrong. Pip then confronts Nat da Silvas boyfriend who Jamie met with. He heard him say Child Brunswick when they met up, Pip realized Jamie was helping his catfish Layla Mead find Child Brunswick. Who is a serial killers son, Child Brunswick took part in the murders by luring kids to his dad so he could kill them. No one knew the real identity of Child Brunswick because he was under a new identity. Soon after that she realized it was Stanley Forbes and when she confronted him her neighbor Charlie was there too. Charlie’s sister was one of the victims of the kidnapping and  his life completely fell apart after her death. To get justice for his sister Charlie shot and killed Stanley, Pip found out Charlie was Layla Mead and was sending Jamie to meet with all the possible Child Brunswicks, Layla told Jamie she had brain cancer and her stalker was trying to kill her and Jamie before she got treatment. Layla/Charlie said to Jamie if one of the men gives a reaction to the name Child Brunswick to kill them, when Stanley did Jamie attacked him and Stanley fought him off he also took him home and didn’t let him out because he feared he would kill him or tell people who he really was. Ravi and Conner found Jamie in the downstairs bathroom and Jamie felt awful that he wasn’t being punished for his actions.

My favorite quote in the book was “It should be you. You find hi, Ravi. You find Jamie, Ok?”  This is my favorite quote because Pip knows Jamies disappearance holds a special place in Ravis heart. She knows that he has to be the one to save Jamie because Ravi never got that chance with his brother.

My favorite character in the book was Nat da Silva, while Nat hasn’t been the best character she still shows kindness. Nat still cares for Jamie and even though she hates Pip she will do anything to save him.

I really enjoyed this book. This mystery was full of twists and turns, as the book went on it kept gettin better and better. I loved how two side stories of the serial killer and a trial were weaved in so perfectly. I got to learn more about each character and their relationships with each other.

Life on my abandoned island is great. I got here a couple months ago, I was on a boat with some friends in Greece and after sailing for a couple hours we found a stunning mediterranean island, it was full of beautiful pink flowers and palm trees with sparkling rocks leading up to the sand. We decided to build a life here, there was so many materials to build our perfect Greek style home in the middle of the island, it looked liked it was straight out of Mamma Mia!. Every once in a while we’ll take the boat to Greece and stock up on groceries. Each morning we’ll wake up and take a swim, we’ll also make breakfast consisting of mostly stone fruit and bread. Towards the middle of the day well have bible study, after well have lunch. We also might go out on excursions across neighboring island’s. If we find a good wave along the way we’ll go surfing. This would be my island.

Once upon a time there was a lamb named Leila. She always had trouble deciding. One day Leila stumbled upon a fork in the road, one road had beautiful flowers and willow trees lining its smooth stone road, the smell was wonderful like honey. She turned and looked down the other road there were palm trees and shells with soft grass leading down the path with stunning hibiscus and lilies that smelled like cherries. Both paths were good options but Leila  just couldn’t decide, she knew what path people would want her to take but she longed for the other one just as much, soon she broke, Leila sunk down to the ground sobbing. Why was everything so hard for her even just picking a path. Suddenly a lion appeared, “Both paths are good,” He said. “Yes but which do I choose?” She pleaded. “No one can choose for you, sometimes you will know, and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Whatever path you go down, I’ll go with you.” The lion reassured. “You’d do that?” Leila asked . “Of course.” The lion said. So Leila the lamb made a choice for she didn’t feel as lost as before.

This month I read a book called Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. Good Girl, Bad Blood is the second book to A Good Girls Guide to Murder series. I am currently on page 133. After solving the murder of Salil Singh and Andie Bell Pip is done with solving mysteries because of how much danger she put herself in. Pip released the documents of the murder via podcast and it went viral. Now Pip and Ravi are dating, when everything is seeming to go smoothly she gets a knock on her door, it’s her neighbor Conner he says his brother went missing and is asking Pip to investigate. She couldn’t , could she? After a lot of convincing Pip decided she would help Conner and this would be a season two of her podcast. On top of this the trial for Max Hastings is going on. Pip put out missing posters and is questioning suspects, since Jaimie is twenty four and has gone “missing” before the police aren’t taking it seriously. Pip gets confronted by her parents when they find out she’s investigating Jaimies disappearance.

I really enjoyed the book, I think the author did an amazing job with the sequel I especially liked how most of the characters stayed while still adding new characters gradually. Though I am not finished with the book I can tell it will be a great ending.

My favorite quote in the book is “I’ll do it,” In this moment Pip says to Conner that she’ll look for his brother. This is my favorite quote because even though Pip knows what kind of consequences finding Jaimie might have she still wants to do the right thing.

My favorite character in the book is Ravi because he is caring. “No I cant make the decision for you. Only you know, only you can know.” This is my favorite quote because even though Ravi knows Pip could get hurt he also knows how important it is that she helps Conner.

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, when one remembers to turn on the light” -Albus Dumbledore. This quote means to me that happiness can be found if you choose it.  The quote relates to me because it’s easy to fall into a bad mood when something happens, everything else seems pointless but I try to remember that it’s just a bad day, not a bad life, and  I can decide what I do with a situation instead of accepting sadness. The other day when I forgot to do an assignment I was humiliated, but  then I realized that its up to me what I do with the situation, so I made it a positive or a learning experience and I didn’t let it have an impact on my emotions the rest of the day.