My Nation on Nationstates!

Over the summer, I discovered a website where you have the ability to create a country. Everyday you are given an issue and the way in which you handle this issue determines the way your nation develops. It is very interesting and very fun. Here is the link to my nation: http://www.nationstates.net/illuminati_res

Dipity Timeline of the Beginning of my Writing Career

on Dipity.

My love of writing

A movie of titanic space ships, of futuristic alien technology, of an attempt to exterminate the human, plagued my mind in the third grade. The movie Independence Day possessed all of these qualities plus more. This film’s unique plot and science fiction aspects enthralled my brain. I had always wanted to be writer, but after viewing the film, the plot had inspired to begin this career by starting my first novel. I have no records of the story except for parts of the hackneyed plot that remain in the back of my mind. The story was crude, was clichéd, and was…illegal, but regardless, it was my first. The spark gave life to my life as a writer.

This enchanting tale was filled with various plots all intertwined for the reader’s pleasure.

The pages of the novel filled themselves with the themes of religious symbolism, of medieval battles, of the reign of a family dynasty, and of an unquenchable romance. A fictitious game my friend and I created when we were in the fourth grade inspired this story. Bursting with quarrelsome, military campaigns, the game consisted of my friend and me pretending to be rulers from ninth century England fighting off anyone who threatened the nation. To stimulate these battles into our games, we used various toy weapons like plastic swords, rubber flails, old karate staffs, and whatever our imagination interrupted a stick to be. For fourth graders, we created quite the intricate story. I, being a writer, took our game’s basic plot and converted it into my first novel. I occasionally return to this novel, writing a few chapters, but my focus now is on other tales that I write. My goal is to one day finish my novel, for my own personal reasons. Even though my friend and I have not played this game since we were children, I relive the game each time my hand vigorously writes the story or my imagination goes wild creating new plot twists for the novel.

In fifth grade, my teacher had us read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." The writing in the novel grabbed my attention. Each word jumped off the pages and into my mind. Lewis' style inspired me to attempt writing a novel. Lewis and I have similar beliefs and writing tactics. Lewis incorporates his faith into his writings, which is a style I sometimes use. Reading his work reignited my drive for writing.

“Secrets, secrets are no fun; secrets, secrets hurt someone,” is the opening line of my next work entitled “Secrets.” Action stories about a secret, government agent and his adventures fill this novel. The agency and other key character force the protagonist to keep various secrets from his friends, his family, and his lover. This affluent English professor joins the agency not knowing the consequences that will follow his choice. My love of action and drama movies inspired me to create my own action story. I enjoy concocting the events that take place in this story. I completed this novel the year after I started it; however, I have revised it multiple times and do not yet consider it finished. I pray that one day I will be given the time to finish the series.

At the Delaware Valley Science in eighth grade, the amount of students present and the limited amount of judges allotted for plenty of free time in between judging. During this time, I did my homework, which did not consume much time. I soon grew bored and was desperate for an activity to occupy my time. I, as must writers do, used my pen and paper to inhabit my free time. I believe it was my dream from the night prior that inspired the sort story I wrote, but I am not entirely certain. I am certain, on the other hand, that this story was my first short story. The story is about a man who possesses a watch that he used to bring order to his life. Soon the man becomes dependent upon the watch ultimately leading to the man destroying the watch to gain his freedom. I still have a copy of the story and it remains my first short story. Since then, I have written several short stories containing various plots, but “The Watch” remains my first and most beloved short story.

Mr. McCormick, my freshmen honors English teacher, introduced the Sonnet to me. Our class had to read a few of Shakespeare's sonnets, and then for a journal, we had to create a sonnet ourselves. A few years prior, I had written a blank verse poem about a crush I had. I transformed this mediocre poem into a beautiful work of art. When I completed the transformation, the once childish poem had turned into a wonderful sonnet. My sonnet entitled "Crush" caught the teacher's eye, and he said that I had a natural ability to write poetry. This was something no one had ever told me! From that point, I began to attempt more sonnets. Since then, I have written two other sonnets and two other poems.

The beginning of my pln

Sometime towards the end of the summer, I received a letter from my high school about some new class we were offering. I opened the letter and there was paper in it entitled “Web 2.0 – Personal Learning Network (PLN.)" I had never heard of such a thing. I read the first paragraph and it said something about a class that would meet after school on Wednesdays and video chat with some class in Iowa. I was overcome with skepticism about the class especially when it said it met after school.

It was at an open house I worked for my school where my uncertainties about the class would disappear. I was giving tours to prospective students and their families by showing them the various academic departments at our school. Then we were told that a talk on the 1:1 initiative and Web 2.0 class would begin shortly. During the presentation my principal, Mr. Brannick, talked about the 1:1 initiative at my school. When he finished he gave one of my classmates, Reanne Maskart, the opportunity to talk about the Web 2.0 class. I listened attentively as Reanne presented the purpose of the Web 2.0 class and the importance of creating a PLN. My original skepticism towards the class was immediately reformed into utter interest. She had persuaded me to change my mind about the class and made me slightly excited to join the class next year. After the open house, I talked to Mr. Brannick about joining the class next year, and he told me that I would still be able to join the class this year if I was interested.

Here I , a student who once mocked the idea of going to some Web 2.0 class after school, am about to embark on journey for creating my own PLN. I am grateful to Mr. Brannick and Reanne for changing my original cynic mindset toward the class, to an excited, eager attitude. I am extremely excited for beginning my journey to create a PLN through the class. The thought that we will be connected through the internet socially and academically is an exhilarating feeling.