The first step that I take towards celebrating my Halloween is to find a costume that is either very scary or hysterically funny. On the night of October 31, I meet up with many of my friends and we all walk around a neighborhood stopping at every door to grab some candy. After almost two hours of trick or treating, we head back to the house and hang out for another hour or so. We eat a lot of our candy and relax as the night comes to an end. Finally, when I leave to head back to my place, I pack up all of my candy making sure not to leave one single piece behind. Once I arrive back at my house,  I get ready to go to bed on a full stomach. All in all, I love it when October rolls around every year.

To display my Halloween creativity, I decided to use a great little website called Popplet. On this website, I can create graphic organizers and presentations that could help me a ton for studying and projects. However, I made a sample slide of an extremely haunted house to show my Halloween spirit. I believe it is amazing how Popplet allows it’s users to create slides with whatever they choose such as words, images, or even pictures drawn themselves. In this slide, I showcased a house that I would not want to run in to when trick or treating on Halloween night. Popplet is an amazing website that can be useful in school or to display creativity.

About four years ago when I was nine years old, my family and I took a relaxing vacation to the wonderful island of Oahu in Hawaii. During our time in Hawaii, my family got to spend a ton of time together that I will take with me for the rest of my life. For example, this vacation was the first time I ever tried surfing, and it was with my dad which made it twenty times more fun. In addition, my family visited an amazing shave ice shop named Matsumoto’s, and it is the best shave ice / ice cream that I have had to this day. Each and every day, we went down to the sandy shore of the beach and basked in the blazing sun above us. All in all, I made some pretty amazing memories with my family that I will keep with me forever on my trip to Hawaii.

Just over two years ago, my great uncle unexpectedly passed away. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of my great uncle, but he is still very dear in my heart. When I would visit my great uncle, he would always welcome me with wide arms, and he helped me with any trouble that I had. Specifically, he was amazing at helping me with baseball and my health. His house was filled with fresh fruits and vegetables he picked straight from his garden in the morning, and that is basically all I ate at his house. In addition, he used to give me many great tips on how to take my smarts in school and transfer it to baseball as well. To conclude, my great uncle is a person who’s knowledge, wisdom, and kindness I will always hold on to.

The following was written by my father:

My grandfather, James Rossi, was the son of Italian immigrants.  He grew up on a farm in Texas and, at the age of 18, enlisted in the military to serve his country during World War II.  He was a decorated soldier and even survived his plane being shot down over the English Channel.  After the war, he met and married my grandmother.  They had 2 daughters, one of which is my mother.  My grandfather passed away at the early age of 50, but the impact he had on my life continues today.

There are numerous aspects that go into creating a top notch comment. Here are just a few guidelines that I believe students should follow:

1.) Comments should be well thought out, organized , and sophisticated. When a student leaves a comment, it should not just include “cool” or “that’s interesting.” A quality comment is something that takes time to think about, develop, and write. Comments should be organized in terms of sentence variety and structure, and they should not include words such as “thing” or “good.”

2.) Comments should always directly address the writer of the post in a polite manner. When leaving a comment, one should not start it with “You should…” or “I think…” Instead, a quality comment should begin with “I agree with you, (name)” or “I respectively disagree with you, (name).” A student should never directly criticize the post in a disrespectful manner, nor should they never mention the author’s name or post title.

3.) Comments should be proofread until there is zero mistakes. Misspelling words such as “agree” or “unless” might look very atrocious on an honors level comment. Missing punctuation or adding unnecessary commas also might leave a blemish on the student’s grade for that comment.

Obviously, those are only a few examples of the many guidelines that comments should follow in my opinion. There are many more rules and strategies that go into making a sophisticated comment. All in all, commenting may seem like a very easy task to accomplish, but comments are not something to be taken very lightly.

I went to the blogs of four of my classmates and left what I believe to be meaningful comments.

First, I visited Jason’s blog at http://jasonhahn1902.edublogs.org. The post that I commented on was Jason’s “About Me” because after I read it I realized that I had many interests that were the same as Jason. The comment I left was:

I have a lot of the same interests as you, Jason! I really love baseball just like you, but I’m more of a skiing type of guy than snowboarding. I also have some relatives that live in Mexico, but I never have the chance to visit them like you. Finally, how do you manage to play four different instruments at the same time?

Next, I went over to Billy’s blog at http://williberle5801.edublogs.org. I left a comment on Billy’s post “About Me” because I have many similarities with him as well. The comment I left Billy was:

Hi Billy,
I really respect the fact that you stay true to your roots and cheer for all of the New York sports teams! In addition, I have a great grandma who will hopefully turn 100 in a couple of months, and I have visited the 9/11 Memorial as well. Lastly, did you enjoy the indoor skydiving, or was it a frightening experience?

After that, I headed to Maddie’s blog at http://madisbenne5602.edublogs.org. Maddie’s post that I commented on was “Online vs. Offline” because her views and personality online and offline are very similar to mine. Here is the comment I left:

I totally agree with your ways of presenting yourself online as opposed to offline, Maddie. Online, it is much more common to use proper grammar where as offline teenagers use slang and joke around all the time. In addition, what kind of words might you use offline that you wouldn’t use online?

Finally, I made my final stop on Aidan’s blog at http://aidanbrook5902.edublogs.org. Aidan’s post “Guidelines” really intrigued me because I felt that he had some very strong points about slang used online. The comment I wrote was:

I completely agree with your theory, Aidan. The slang that students may use with their friends while texting or talking should not translate to comments on a blog. Do you think that kids use incorrect grammar on purpose or out of habit?

I created my avatar with the website http://www.moeruavatar.com/index_en.shtml. As you can see in my virtual portrait, I have blonde hair, aqua eyes, a little spot under my eye just as I do in real life. Some other ways that I displayed my personality through my online picture are having a baseball background that shows my love for baseball, holding a basketball in my hands to communicate my enjoyment of other sports, and wearing black and white clothes that show that I don’t like bright colors. All in all, I feel as though my interests and personality are conveyed very well through this avatar.

When I am online, I am a totally different person than I am with my friends or family. While online, I generally try to be careful about what I say, what I look at, and what I post. On the other hand, I am very nonchalant about what I do offline. Although I am more outgoing offline, I do not get myself into any trouble while on the internet or off of it. I love to have fun both online and offline, and I may do this by communicating with my friends online or hanging out with my friends offline. All in all, there are some major differences between me online and offline, but I also have numerous similarities in my mannerisms.

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