Plymouth Plantation 1

It is important to understand the struggles the Puritans went through because it allows us to see our own lives differently and in a better light. The Pilgrims faced many struggles while trying to settle in the new world; whether it was on the way there on the ship, or when they arrived to Plymouth. It is hard to leave your life behind in the first place, but to have all the hardships along with it would be devastating. An examination of the Plymouth Plantation will reveal that even though they went through storms and sicknesses they believed God helped them through all of it.

A key idea in Plymouth Plantation is that no matter what struggle you go through it is because God decided to have that happen. At the begging of the story we see that there are many harsh storms that hit their ship causing it to crack William Bradford further explains in the quote "... one of the main beams in the midship was bowed and cracked... there was a great iron screw the passengers brought out of Holland, which would raise the beam into place..."This is segnificant because they believe that God is what allowed them to survive and find the iron rod. Additionaly, another example can be found when many get sick, we also see half of their people die from these sicknesses in the quote"... that in two or three months time half of their company died... being infected with scurvy and other deceases which this long voyage and their inaccommodate condition had brought upon them... " The impact of the deaths is it allowed the survivors to believe they survived because God wanted them to.

With an examination of The Plymouth Plantation will reveal that even though they went though storms and sicknesses they believed God helped them through it all. For instances when they find the metal screw when the main beam to the ship is cracked. Also when God saves them from dying with the help of the Indians. Ultimately though out Plymouth Plantation we see the Puritans relying on God to help and save the worthy.

Problems The Pilgrims Faced

Problems The Pilgrims Faced

The Pilgrims went through many challenges not only on arrival but on the journey over. First the ship went threw storms causing cracks in the ship and leaks. Next because of the big waves sea sickness became a big problem, this may not seem like a big deal but it made the moral of everyone very low. Also the had to turn around because the bad weather would start breaking the ship. Once they arrived their problems did not sees people started getting sick and the sicknesses killed half their people leaving only 50. People had seen the natives a couple times but never interacted so they did not know whether or not they were friendly. Last they had a lack of skills and resources. They had a lot of things there they could use but did not have the skills to get them.

Baby Its Cold Outside vs. All I Want For Christmas

There has been a recent trend of "love song" Christmas songs becoming popular and two of those songs are be Baby Its Cold Outside and All I Want For Christmas. There are big differences between these two songs first of all Baby Its Cold Outside is a duet wile All I Want For Christmas is not. All I Want For Christmas is more of a belting song wile Baby Its Cold Outside is just playful type singing. Baby Its Cold Outside is also a older song and has a more old time but timeless sound wile All I Want For Christmas is more modern and has a upbeat sound. I have always loved the song Baby Its Cold Outside it has always been one of my favorites and for these reasons I would pick Baby Its Cold Outside.

O Christmas Tree & The Little Drummer Boy

Its getting to be that time of the year when stores start playing Christmas music and have other holiday festivities going on. With this you will be hearing a lot of the two songs O Christmas Tree and The Little Drummer Boy but the question is witch is better. Everybody has their favorite song when it comes to Christmas so what makes us like some and hate other which puts you in the holiday spirt. Even though both songs are probably my least favorite Christmas songs one is still better than the other. O Christmas Tree is mostly annoying because they are singing about a tree and lets face it has nothing to do with the real meaning of Christmas. The Little Drummer Boy probably has the most annoying tune and the drum beats are annoying because they never change and how many times can one song say per rum pum pum pum. O Christmas Tree has some positives like you know what they are singing about and the tune is not to annoying. While the positives to Little Drummer Boy is it does have to do with the true meaning of Christmas which is nice also I loved the movie growing up. For these reasons I choose The Little Drummer Boy even though it can get sort of annoying it is a lot better then O Christmas Tree and it has sentimental value.

Crashing

I have always enjoyed biking with my dad and we try to do it as much as we can. This summer I decided I wanted to do a century ride which is a 100 mile bike ride, I had done a couple before but had always taken short cuts because I would get to tired. This was going to be the year I would finish the whole thing. I did the Portland Century ride which is my favorite one to do because you get to stop at aid stations and eat pizza and cookies and just take a nice long brake. I started off strong trying to go a good pace that I could keep the whole time and I am really good at down hills I'm not afraid of going to fast so those are the points I pass alot of people. It is a great time that i get to spend just me and my dad.

We were riding along for about 70 miles when we reached this killer hill it felt like it when on for miles and at one point i slowed down so much that my bike fell over. Looking back it is sort of funny, but after riding that distance and falling off my bike I didn't think it could get any worse. I was two miles to the finish when we were riding through a old portland neighbor hood, there was tall trees on the street corners blocking some view but the intersecting streets had stop signs. There was a big group in front of us and they had just crossed the street and we were right behind them when a car pulled forward. The car had stopped for the other bikes but had not seen us coming explaining the pulling forward. That is when we got hit. I was very shook-en up after this happened and I didn't want to go on. The lady who hit me was upset to and felt super bad so she called a ambulance because they thought I would need to go to the hospital. After the ambulance got there and checked me out they told me I should go to the hospital. Before that my dad who is a Docter checked me out and said I was fine. I wanted to finish the race because I never had before and even though my hip was killing me and I knew I wouldn't be able to run for a couple weeks I pushed on and finished. That was my most proud finish ever and I can't think of one that could top that. Sense then I have not rode my bike or drove my car and I get scared really easily in a car but besides that i came out with no sierous harm.

The Election

We live in a free country and so we get to vote, sometimes not making the best decisions for our nation. I think we will look back in four years and see this election as a negative moment in American history. Not only did Obama not do much that helped our country during his first term but the things he did we will see hurt us in the long run. Romney is a business man and he obviously knew how to make money so why would we not want that for our country. Obama had already proven that he can't do it so why give him a second chance.

What I learned Nov 13, 2012

Today I read the article "Hurricane Sandy Reveals Life Unplugged" For Full Story Click Here. It was about how families are getting by without electricity. Parents have to find ways to entertain their children without power, no TV, computers, and no cellphones. People will find friends that have power and use their house as a recharging station and when the power goes out there they move on to the next house. It is nice for some families because they get to be together and spend some actual time talking and playing with their kids while some families hate the time together thinking they might kill each other. I would not want to be in these peoples situation I am lucky to live were I do but you never know when disaster will strike.

What I learned Nov. 5, 2012

Today I read the article "First Day In a Classroom, After a Hurricane" For Full Story Click Here. It was about what teachers are going through after the storm with their classes. While some students are responding well not all are, some are emotional, angry, antsy or just confused. The teacher told us that she would not teach anything but instead she would hear the kids stories and make the school a refuge. The school did not loose power allowing children to return on Monday and it was probably nice to get things back to normal after such a tragedy. Some kids will come strait out and tell you exactly how they feel and what happened and others are more reserved and wont talk at all, that is why it is important to do things for each individual child. I think it is terrible what happened and I hope that families are beginning to regroup.

What I learnd- Nov 1, 2012

Today I read the article "Plenty of Ghouls and Witches Manage to Haunt on Schedule" For Full Story Click Here. It was about what different people in New York are doing about Halloween after the super storm that had just hit.  Some people postponed Halloween to later in the week and others just did it anyways, children going to stores and having neighborhood scavenger hunts and parties. One person said that it was the biggest Halloween they had ever seen that everyone was making a even bigger deal out of it this year. It really depended on were you lived, in New Jersey all Halloween celebrations were postponed to either Friday or Saturday.  Even though Halloween parades were canceled families had the fun go on. It was probably hard to make sure that the experience was still fun for kids I would not want to be the one planning my Halloween around a hurricane.

The Best Halloween Costume I Ever Had

I have always loved to dress up for things and dressing up for Halloween is no exception.I had always been the typical princess or rock star but one year in middle school me and two of my friends decided we wanted to be different with our costume. We had to do something super cool because we were getting older and so the less candy we could get, the cooler the costume the more candy. In my neighborhood Halloween is a big deal people go all out and we will get over 500 people come to our door. After thinking about it for weeks we finally decided on something we had never seen before but had always heard of a serial box. We took big boxes and painted them to look like serial a box of course mine turned out the best. Our plan worked and we came away with a lot of candy.

This is I learned Today- Oct 30, 2012

Today I read the article "Bethany Meets Hundreds Of Fans And Teaches Orphan Children To Surf In Bali"Full story click here It was about how Bethany and Rip Curl School of Surf and Soul Surf Project Bali were giving surf lessons to under privileged kids ages ranging 8 to13. The also gave a donation of basic food supplies and surf boards for future lessons. It was cool to see someone giving back to a community that was in so much need. Its one thing to just help with the essentials and it is another to go above and beyond the norm. Bringing joy to kids is sometimes more important than the things people think of when they think of helping people its about showing these kids what love really is and that they are special. I already looked up to Bethany but now I do even more I can only hope that someday I can make that kind of impact on our world.

The oldest people I knew

I have a pretty big family and most of them are old. So the oldest person I had ever known was my great grandma. She lived until she was about 94 but was still living on her own, she took care of her house, yard, and anything else she might have needed in normal day to day life. She was an amazing women she had practically raised my dad and always had the best stories about him. I remember going to her house and she always giving us cookies and other treats I could never wait to go to her house. Her house was pink and had all different colors of carpet in every color ranging from green to brown to red and to pink. It was like stepping back in time to the 70s when we went there. She always had toys for us to play with which at the time was all I cared about doing. My family just loved her she was funny and was kind and always offering us sweets but not in the annoying way some other grandparents do.She passed about 4 years ago but she will be graetly missed in our family; I often think of her during the day remembering the little things that made her so special. I hope that when I get old and have grandkids and great grandkids that I get to have the same kind of effect on their lives that she had on me.
I had another grat grandma but I didnt know her quite as well. She had altimeters and lived for away from us. She seemed older than my other great grandma becuase she was not doing as well. She was also a funny lady, she didn't like my grandma that much becuase she thought she stole her son away from her. You could tell by her conduct that she felt that way, the way she would greet her and say good by were dead give aways. We would go to her house and she had a lot of little glass figurines and she would let us bring one home each trip I still have all of mine and it is nice to have something to remember her by like that. She passed around the same time my other great grandma did and although I dont rember her that well I will always miss her too.
There is alot you can learn from those who come before you. They teach you what is truly important and what things we just shouldnt worry about. I wish I could still talk to them today and hear all there storys again, the things they loved and hated and what things they wish they would have not loved or hated.

Daughter Of Invention

The Daughter Of Invention is a story about a girl who lives in America but has South American roots. You could say her mom has some crazy ideas and likes to invent new ways of doing things and her dad is a more traditional guy. I thought the theme of this story was that know matter what obstacles you may face your family will be there for you to help you out. This message applies to my life too, my family is always there for me and will help me out in any situation.

My Dad

My Dad

    I like to run, sing, play the guitar, cycling, and so much more; I am 16 years old and I go to Tualatin High School, I am Brianna Tollenaar. In life it is important to learn about the past and the people in it, opinions, facts, and stories about the past can help us learn and grow in new ways that help us to see our world we live in today a little differently. I grew up in a loving, and loud family that was always full of opinions this made any family gathering interesting. I chose to interview my dad because I am extremely close to him and I have always looked up to him, he is the best dad I could ever hope for.

    Drake Tollenaar was born on April 13 1969 in Springfield Or. My dad grew up in the same town and lived in the same house almost his whole life. All the schools he went to besides collage of course were in the same town he went to Thurston schools K-12. He eventually got a full ride scholership to the U of O and then went to Western States University and got his Doctorate. When he was younger he wanted to either be a doctor or a electrician. He is now a Chiropractor and has his own practice.

     My dad had to brothers one older and one younger, making life always interseting. He played a ton of sports when he was young, baseball, football,and soccer. In high school he was in advanced classes and played sports, was in jazz band and chior. My dad told me that his favorite high school memory was a chior trip to Disney Land and this year I get to go to Disney World for a chior trip. While in High School my dad was a part of Young Life he got to go on retreats and he said that those are the moments he would like to relive. His Young Life leader was Ron Sauer and they still get together and hang out. Ron was a big part of my dads life and that is who he said he looks up to. 

      There are so many differences between now and when my dad was my age but there is also some similarities. some of the differences was the technology they only talked on the phone and doing that on a home phone. The economy was still tough mills were shutting down where my dad lived. Things that were popular were cassettes, MTV, Atari, and designer jeans. I thought this was funny because out of all those things MTV and designer jeans were still popular; you would think that everything then would be out now. There are also things that you don't see today that you would have seen back then he said the biggest thing was freedom without worry of danger, kids would roam around for fun. The big political differences was it was not as distinct as they are now it was more middle ground.

       Over all my dad is a very important part of my life. He is always there for me and is always willing to give me advice things like its not all about you and no matter what happens we will always be there for you. I enjoyed this essay because I got to spend time with my dad just interviewing him.

       
    

My First Ski Trip

My family is very big into being active and healthy, so you can probably guess that means we have something to do no matter the season. We are more of a summer family and it can sometimes be difficult to find fun active things to do in the winter. I have never been good at any winter sports involving snow, weather it would be snow boarding, ice skating, or the worst skying. Before this trip to Mt. Bachelor I had never skied I had always snow boarded but I had never been any good at it. Lets just say I ended up on the ground more than I was standing. The rest of my family always skied and were fairly good at it so I decided I was give it a shot. To every ones surprise I was good at it too I practiced on the bunny hill for about an hour and by then my sister was getting frustrated and wanted to go to a bigger hill. I felt bad for holding back my family so I said that I could do it and I thought that I would be fine.
We got on the lift and it took forever to get to the top of were we where going and that was fine with me thinking "The longer to get to the top the more time to prepare myself. We get to the top and I start to go down but I go to fast and hit a snow bank. That was when I realized I was not ready for this hill but I still had to get down it. To my advantage a ski patrol guy had seen me and he was going to help me get down the easy way. My mom stayed with me too and so we all three made our way down a different rout. We go to one hill and I started to go to fast but I didn't know how to slow down or stop. I saw some ski flags that I thought meant there was a cliff and so I just bailed. But then the next problem came I bounced up when I hit the ground and was still flying. Then I hit a tree and blacked out. When I opened my eyes I was in a snowy hole next to a tree and they told me that people were on their way to get me.
Once they got their to save me they put me on a sled because they thought I may have hurt my back or broken bones and pulled me down the hill attached to a snow mobile. Then I was sent away in an ambulance to the hospital were they did X-rays. To every ones surprise I had no broken bones just a bruise and some muscle tares. Later we found out they had given me speed skis and thats why I was going so fast. Lets just say I have never gone skying sense and never will.

Top 10 Overrated Summer Activitys

1. Swimming at a public pool (Just awkward if your older)
2. Outdoor malls (your inside most of the time)
3. Biking ( If your like me you get hit by cars or just fall off)
4. Fishing ( I'd rather just get a tan)
5. Going on a hike ( its in the shade but I guess its still enjoyable)
6. Garage Sales ( How many hours do you want to spend just looking for one)
7. Yard Work ( Its just not that fun)
8. Camping ( Its still cold in the mourning and at night; who wants to smell like smoke)
9. Oregon Coast ( Its colder there than it is at home)
10. Floating a river ( The water is freezing and you cant paddle)

What I learned today- Sept. 27 2012

The article I read was "Teenagers Say Parents Text And Drive" http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/teenagers-say-parents-text-and-drive/?partner=rss&emc=rss By Kj Dell'Antonia. I learned that 59% of teenagers said their parents text and drive. This is teaching kids when they grow up that it is ok to text and drive causing 78% of teens to report doing it themselves. The part of this article I did not agree with was the statistics I have never seen my parents text and drive nor have I ever or will ever text and drive. I know how dangerous it is not only for me but for the others driving around me. What is important is for parents to understand that the things they do effect us because it is teaching us whether something is write or wrong. Knowing how dangerous it is made me think and hope that my parents never text and drive when I'm not in the car. People should not only read this article but show it to their parents it is important to form good habits for a family and parents need to set a good example for their kids.

From 30 to 4

This summer I took a trip to Cambodia. We were teaching english in the slums at different schools. While we were there we also had some free time to shop in the markets were there are amazing deals and you had to bargain for the price you wanted. You could get something that would normally be 30 dollars for 4 just by bargaining. Because I was white and obviously American they would always say a higher price then if it was for someone from Cambodia. I would try to get down the price but they would keep saying no and go back up to the higher price. It was difficult to have them lower the price just by my appearance Americans have so much more then them they know you could afford it even if you told them you couldn't. In the end the deals were great I just had to work very hard for them the people running the stands would do almost anything to have you buy the stuff in the first place.

Who I Am

People are always moving; we never get the chance to stop and look and think. Through our busy lives we are constantly going whether it is school then work then chores then homework and if we are lucky we get to talk to some people in the time in between. We always find a way to move faster and get more done, think about it when you are finishing a project you don't move slow at the end. We speed up the prosess and just get it done causing mediocer work, or when you are in a race you never move slower when you see the finish line you always pick up the pace. All I want to do sometimes is just take the time to slow down forget about the things that stress me out and just take a break. That is what is important to me