12-7-11 The Coolest People I Know!

I would have to say that Kathleen Herter would be the number one coolest person I've met. We both love the T.V. show Glee and we both think about life if it was like Glee. For example, in the middle of lunch, people would break out in song. It would probably be the coolest lunch those kids have ever seen. She also just told me probably the funniest story ever about her day at Darien Lake. A person cut her and she started to trip on the back of their shoes and started falling. There were young children around so she quickly chose not to use inappropriate language. Instead, she used the phrase "Oh Chicago!" This was funnier when she told it in person I realize, but that's not the point. The next two coolest people I would have to say are Laura Slojkowski and Madeline Koelbl. We're getting t-shirts with the name "Madelaurber" which is all of our names put together. That's kind of awesome. We are also in each other's classes every day and we have the best conversations. Another super cool person I know is Tara Hammershmidt. We just went to warm up some taco dip for the best class ever, Online Publishing, and we had the best time. We started out by microwaving the taco dip for 5 minutes, and then we decided to sit on the couch in the teachers' lounge and turn on the television. A football game was being replayed and discussed, so Tara and I began stating the differences of the commentators. We also got shocked about thirty times in a matter of ten minutes. It was pretty rough, but completely worth it! Well, that is just a brief list of some of the coolest people I know. There is a lot more people, but this would be a 2000 word blog if I did!

12-1-11 The Class of Physcal Education!

My Physical Education class is probably the most awesome group of people in the entire school. I say this because it is stacked with the most athletic and industrious group of kids in this school. There are a few people that don't try that hard, but they or forget their clothes so they don't even participate. My class is full kids who are very good in the sport they play for school or out of school, and are also really good at every sport we play in P.E. These types of students are called "15 out of 15's" according to Mr. Helmicki. I've also heard Mr. Helmicki talk about our class and how great the students are and how it's probably the best class he's had so far in his teaching career. That's, dare I say, a pretty big deal. So my class has been playing volleyball for the past couple of days and it has been so much fun because my class, being as athletic as it is, actually plays to the actual rules of volleyball. Usually if one player hits the net, the teacher wouldn't say anything, but the rules actually do matter in my class. I love it because then, people who think they're so awesome at volleyball in p.e. get taken down a few notches and realize that there are legitimate rules that everyone has to follow. I think its a lot harder to break rules that you know rather than break the rules you don't know. For example, I think it's super hard to break the rules when I personally play volleyball because I've been playing since I was in fifth grade and I was brought up with my entire family being big in volleyball and I've been following these rules for a good portion of my life. However, when there's someone who wants to show off and act cool, they disregard whatever the teacher says are the rules and they just hit the ball willy nilly and they don't share the ball with anyone else on the team. Thankfully that never happens in my Physical education class because of the awesome players in there. There's also two actual volleyball players in my class. One being myself, and Sarah "Cougzie" Mye (yes, I came up with that name! I'm very proud of myself). It's funny because we're both setters when we played on the school team and now we get the chance to do things like hit and play defense. We did play these positions on the team, but we get to play these positions more often in p.e. class. Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that my Physical Education class this year is definitely the best active class he's had in years. I feel very honored to be in that class and I can't wait to continue to crush a lot in every sport!

11-29-11 Pride and What?

My favorite book, so far, is my outside reading book for A.P. English which was Pride and Prejudice. The majority of my friends read this book and told me that it was very good. I thought it was so different and enjoyable that my friend Sarah Mye and myself decided to rent the movie and watch it together since we both read the book for the first time. The movie was so close to the book, which usually isn't the case. The book was a little difficult to read at first, but once I began to read more into the words and into the story, I became really engulphed in the novel. This book is about a family with five daughters that need to be married to ensure a good future. Most women at this time would only marry rich men, so they know that they will be taken care of. However, a young girl named Elizabeth Bennet seems to want more out of a relationship: love. This is very rare to find in these times because most women only want to marry for riches. Elizabeth's sister, Jane, seems to find the perfect man who she falls in love with. He is also extremely wealthy, which just adds to the attraction. However, their relationship became very unclear in the middle of the novel. Elizabeth also starts out with a confusing affiliation with a wealthy man, Mr. Darcy. Their relationship shifts back and forth throughout the entire novel. There is some irony in the title and novel because Elizabeth judges Mr. Darcy based on other people's lies, which is, dare I say, prejudice. I don't want to ruin the story for everyone because it is a really great book. If you love to read about the romance and the difficulties of marriage in early times, then this book is a great option.

11-21-11 Three Wishes

One wish I have is that I wish Laura Slojkowski, Madeline Koelbl, and I can get matching t-shirts that say "Madelaurber," which is all our first names put together. The shirt will have a car that has a guitar on the top of it and a bubble with that name on it. This wish is in the process of becoming true, but it will take some time unfortunately. My second wish would have to be that volleyball should last for a longer period of time. It doesn't have to last for the entire school year because that's a little eccentric. I understand that most of the girls on the team play other sports that they look forward to so I wouldn't want to do that to them. I just wish the season could go a little longer because I really miss playing and I really miss my teammates. I hardly see most of them throughout the day and I just miss all the good times we had together like before volleyball games and during practice. My third wish would be to have two more wishes because I can't choose between two ideas for wishes. My fourth wish is a little selfish, so I'm sorry, but I wish that I could be the owner of the television show Glee. I wish this because I'd be able to see this show in the making and I'd get to know what happens in the season, without waiting each week. Finally, I wish that the staff of the Alden Bulldog Newspaper would wear their office badges because a lot of time and effort was put into making these and Mrs. Currin laminated all of them, taking time out of her day, and no one wears them to the Newsroom, and it's pretty upsetting. Maybe if the workers had a role model like, oh I don't know, perhaps the so called "Boss Man" of the Newsroom. Yeah, that'd be cool, but that doesn't happen so now I must wish for it.

11-21-11 Christmas Music Haters!

This week, I've decided to write my choice blog on the big issue on when Christmas music should be played. I've spoken to several people about this subject, and the answers were all pretty similar in response. There was a total of eleven people I talked to about this subject. When I spoke with my family members about this topic, they all pretty much agreed that playing Christmas music in November, before Thanksgiving, is way too early. My sister, Allison, however disagreed very strongly with my mom, dad, and other sister. Despite her attempts in swaying them towards the idea of Christmas music being played prior to Thanksgiving, they wouldn’t budge on this sensitive issue. My mother, Liz Breyer, thinks that Christmas music should only be played the month of December. My father, Jim Breyer, thinks that it should only be played the day of Christmas, but he is kind of a Grinch. Just kidding Papa! Anyways, my other sister, Andi Breyer, agrees with my mom. Then, outside my family, I talked to Jordan Hall, Julie Fetzer, and Sarah Mye. All these people agree that Christmas music takes away the holiday of Thanksgiving, which is why it should begin playing afterwards. Jordan Hall became very in depth with this subject when I interviewed him, which did sell his point across, but mostly just confused me. After I talked to the three previous people, I talked with four of my coworkers in the Newsroom, Laura Slojkowski, Madeline Koelbl, Brian Stoldt, and Kathleen Herter. Brian made the point to say that there has to be snow on the ground for Christmas music to play. When I brought up the possibility that it might not snow some places, like Hawaii, he got very upset and heated over this subject. He began raging on and started to flip a table over. I didn't mean for the conversation to get that out of hand. It must have been some leftover feelings about that game of target ball last year. I can't be sure. Anyways, ten out of eleven people believe that November is too early to begin playing Christmas music, unless it's after Thanksgiving with the point that this music takes away from Thanksgiving, or they are still in "Halloween mode" since it is still the fall season. I do agree with all these points made about Christmas and Thanksgiving. I believe Thanksgiving is very neglected as a holiday, but when I asked these interviewed people if they like Christmas music, they all replied "yes." Then when I asked them if they thought this music was the happiest music they can listen too, all of them but three said "yes." The three that said no were my dad, my sister Andi, and Brian Stoldt. My dad has no emotion, so he doesn't feel happy with any music. My sister is a suck-up to my dad so she just agrees with whatever he says, and Brian claims that "It's definitely up there," "It" being Christmas music. My point about Christmas music is simply that it's the happiest time of the year, with the happiest music played, so why wouldn't we want to listen to this music two months rather than just one month after Thanksgiving? I understand the points made by these people, but I have to agree with my sister that it's okay Christmas music is being played early in November. Both Allison and I have also watched the movies, "Elf" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" already and we are not ashamed!

11-15-11 Mo'e Movies, Mo'e Problems!

My three favorite movies would have to be Harry Potter 7 part 2, Baby Mama, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the second version). I do love the original cartoon version of the Grinch also, but the second version is really funny. Anyways, Harry Potter 7 part 2 is such a good movie because it's full of action and humor. I think my favorite part about this movie was the experience I had going to see it in theatres. I went to see HP 7 with Melissa Gostomski and Jordan Hall and we were about three hours early to the show because we wanted really good seats. When we got there, we had to wait in line for one hour because the theatre wouldn't let people in until two hours before the actual start. We were three hours early, but we were still at the end of the line. That just shows how serious people are about Harry Potter. Anyways, once we got into the theatre, we literally ran to the room where the movie was being shown. We got pretty good seats, but there were a lot of people that were already there. Anyways, we had quite a bit of time to kill before the movie actually started so Melissa, Jordan, and I thought of a game where two of us would think of a character from the entire Harry Potter series and the other person would have to guess which character we thought of by just asking questions. So it was basically 20 questions about Harry Potter characters. After that got really old, we decided to just chat about different topics, such as how people spell some words incorrectly all the time, which upsets us, and other things like which Harry Potter movie was our favorite. Then we made friends with the people in front of us using the great art of Photobombing. We sat behind a person dressed as a Dementor, which is just a scary creature in the movie that takes the souls of people. Then as time went on, people began to say "45 minutes!" meaning that there was 45 minutes left until the movie started, then everyone clapped. Melissa got very excited because she got to say "13 minutes!" and everyone clapped. Then when the commercials began, the crowd applauded after every showing, which was kind of odd but accepted. Then when the movie began, everyone stood up and began clapping again. I was so much fun to just see how serious most people are about these movies. The people next to us would not stop crying throughout the entire movie. It got pretty annoying, but we got over it. Well, now that I fulfilled my blog requirements, I will talk briefly about my next two favorite movies. The movie, Baby Mama, pretty much sums up my life. I love Baby Mama. My friends and I quote this movie everyday of our lives and that is pretty much all I can say about it. Then the movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, is just super classic and so good and funny. Both versions of this movie are great and very fun to watch with family, or friends.

11-8-11 Angola, New York

Angola New York; how does one describe this mystical and inspiring place? So many great people, stories, and events have come from Angola. This quaint little town is located just 30 miles south of Buffalo, N.Y. But how did this town achieve the interesting name, Angola? In the past, trains would come in and out of this small area called Evan's Station. Then the Angola Post Office, located in Africa, closed and the Federal Government moved it to Evan's Station, renaming the area Angola N.Y. This story and many other stories and traditions have survived the many years this great town has been in existence. This town also includes events like Christmas in the Village, sponsored by FOV, or Friends of the Village, or "Adopt a Hydrant" where people can paint their favorite themes on the fire hydrants around the town to admire the fire department. These events were thought up by people in Angola and the Village Board. The members of Board include Village Mayor the Honorable Howard "Hub" Frawley, Deputy Mayer the Honorable William Houston, first Village Trustee John Wilson, second Village Trustee Carole Kin, and third Village Trustee Charles Katra. Despite this groups great efforts and perseverance, people like Jo Anne Zeffiro have truly made this town great. Jo Anne, or Aunt JoJo as Mr. Currin refers to her as, is currently employed at the Goya distribution center on South Street in Angola New York. Not only are there great people living there today, but there were many people that once lived in Angola and are now famous. One example is Willis Haviland Carrier, born November 26, 1876 in Angola, New York, who invented the first modern air conditioner, which has changed millions of lives today. Another example is the center/power forward for the Duke basketball team, Christian Laettner, born August 17, 1969 in Angola New York. He was also selected for the U.S. men's Olympic team, then drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA draft and played 13 seasons in the NBA. A familiar person from Angola would also have to be Buffalo Sabre's right wing, Patrick Kaleta. He was born June 8, 1986 and has played for the Sabres from 2006 to the present time. Finally, the last, but certainly not least, person from Angola New York is Rob Currin, born on September 15, 1980. Rob Currin needs no introduction because he is known for his many accomplishments, like being the Offensive and Defensive Line Coach for the Alden High School Varsity Football team, who are undefeated. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Online Bulldog Newspaper, and has 700 friends on Facebook (probably increasing by the minute). However, Rob Currin does have one flaw...he never found Yoda. That's right Mr. Currin, it was I who kidnapped Yoda, but you can still find him...he's right under your nose in Online Publishing. But anyways, that is just scratching the surface of the great town of Angola New York and its many achievements and traditions.