Simile and Metaphor

Similes and metaphors are closely related types of figurative language. Both are used to compare one object to another. Their only difference is that simile requires you to use "like" or "as" to compare where as a metaphor you do not use "like" or "as".
The dictionary definition of Simile is, "A figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by 'like' or 'as'" and the dictionary definition of metaphor is, "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them".
Similes and metaphors are very important components of figurative language. It is used to add power to a sentence.
For example, look at the following two sentences: "the man was small", "The man was as small as an ant". Obviously the second sentence was better. Similes metaphors add more description to a piece of literature to help you understand more.

Here are 2 more examples. The first poem is an example of simile and the second poem is an example of a metaphor. The examples are highlighted to help show you where they are.

Flint

An emerald is as green as grass,

A ruby red as blood;

A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;

A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone,

To catch the world's desire;

An opal holds a fiery spark;

But a flint holds a fire.

Christina Rossetti 

 Simile

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

"I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me."

                                                                       Emily Dickinson

Metaphor

MLK Day

The great Martin Luther King Jr. can be considered a martyr because he was assassinated for his belief and for the journey he took to get the black community the same rights the white community has in the United States of America. In the speech before his assassination he said, "I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land." Dr. King knew what he was doing would lead him to death and it eventually did. Even though he died, he still completed his task. Almost 50 years later, if he was alive today he would be proud to see that his people obtained equal rights but would be disappointed to see the violence that has been developed within the black community.

Dr. King once said, "We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools." These words should let people know that what he is saying that every man needs to live peacefully or we will all kill each other. This is the case in many heavily black populated cities such as Camden, parts of Detroit, and Compton. The blacks in those areas are turning against one another by joining different gangs and senselessly killing one other. Martin Luther King also said, "People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” Dr. King knew that communication was the key to peace but it seems that no one want to communicate today.

If Martin Luther King were to come to my school and see all that we have been doing with our civil rights, I believe he would be disappointed.  Walking through our halls he would see young men with their pants below their butts, young women showing a little too much of their body, and would see each other disrespect one another with foul profanity. If he were to go into a classroom he would see young people disrespecting teachers, others sleeping, or not being attentive. Martin Luther King fought for the full education of black people and to see people in my school take advantage of such a thing the way we're doing, would disappoint him very much.

In the words of DR. King, “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King would want what he has been fighting for to continue but it seems after 45 years the black community has not moved much. We've overcome the obstacle of inequality but face a new obstacle of hatred toward one another. Like King said, "We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools." and right now we are perishing.

Exaggeration to the MAX

People exaggerate a lot; in books, in life, in music, basically everywhere. When exaggeration happens in literature, it is called a hyperbole. The dictionary definition for the word is "obvious and intentional exaggeration." 
An example of a hyperbole could be, "It's so hot outside, I can fry an egg on the sidewalk." Now some maybe be thinking. "Wait. Is a hyperbole something like a lie?" The answer to that question is, "Sorta". It is a lie but the difference is when you lie, you DON'T want the person to know you're lying but when you use a hyperbole, you make it so obvious that the person can catch on to it.
Hyperbole is important in literature. Why? Well why not? Imagine life without sarcasm; Everything would be so straightforward and that would be so boring. Hyperbole adds excitement to a piece of literature.

Here is an example of a hyperbole used in one of Shakespeare's pieces of literature:
(Note: The hyperbole comes late in the scene so you can go ahead and skip most of the reading if you want.)

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

William Shakespeare 

SCENE II. The same. 

    Enter LADY MACBETH 

LADY MACBETH:

    That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; 
    What hath quench'd them hath given me fire. 
    Hark! Peace! 
    It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, 
    Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it: 
    The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms 
    Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd 
    their possets, 
    That death and nature do contend about them, 
    Whether they live or die. 

MACBETH:

    [Within] Who's there? what, ho! 

LADY MACBETH:

    Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, 
    And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed 
    Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready; 
    He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled 
    My father as he slept, I had done't. 

    Enter MACBETH 
    My husband! 

MACBETH:

    I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? 

LADY MACBETH:

    I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. 
    Did not you speak? 

MACBETH:

    When? 

LADY MACBETH:

    Now. 

MACBETH:

    As I descended? 

LADY MACBETH:

    Ay. 

MACBETH:

    Hark! 
    Who lies i' the second chamber? 

LADY MACBETH:

    Donalbain. 

MACBETH:

    This is a sorry sight. 

    Looking on his hands 

LADY MACBETH:

    A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. 

MACBETH:

    There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried 
    'Murder!' 
    That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them: 
    But they did say their prayers, and address'd them 
    Again to sleep. 

LADY MACBETH:

    There are two lodged together. 

MACBETH:

    One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other; 
    As they had seen me with these hangman's hands. 
    Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,' 
    When they did say 'God bless us!' 

LADY MACBETH:

    Consider it not so deeply. 

MACBETH:

    But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? 
    I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' 
    Stuck in my throat. 

LADY MACBETH:

    These deeds must not be thought 
    After these ways; so, it will make us mad. 

MACBETH:

    Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! 
    Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep, 
    Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, 
    The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
    Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
    Chief nourisher in life's feast,-- 

LADY MACBETH:

    What do you mean? 

MACBETH:

    Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: 
    'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor 
    Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.' 

LADY MACBETH:

    Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, 
    You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
    So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, 
    And wash this filthy witness from your hand. 
    Why did you bring these daggers from the place? 
    They must lie there: go carry them; and smear 
    The sleepy grooms with blood. 

MACBETH:

    I'll go no more: 
    I am afraid to think what I have done; 
    Look on't again I dare not. 

LADY MACBETH:

    Infirm of purpose! 
    Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead 
    Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood 
    That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 
    I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; 
    For it must seem their guilt. 

    Exit. Knocking within 

MACBETH:

    Whence is that knocking? 
    How is't with me, when every noise appals me? 
    What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes. 
    Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
    Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather 
    The multitudinous seas in incarnadine, 
    Making the green one red. 

    Re-enter LADY MACBETH 

LADY MACBETH:

    My hands are of your colour; but I shame 
    To wear a heart so white. 

    Knocking within 
    I hear a knocking 
    At the south entry: retire we to our chamber; 
    A little water clears us of this deed: 
    How easy is it, then! Your constancy 
    Hath left you unattended. 

    Knocking within 
    Hark! more knocking. 
    Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, 
    And show us to be watchers. Be not lost 
    So poorly in your thoughts. 

MACBETH:

    To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself. 

    Knocking within 
    Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst! 

    Exeunt

Congratulations! You've read a scene from Macbeth by William Shakespeare but anyways, back to the topic: hyperbole.

In this piece the hyperbole was, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" which is an extreme example of hyperbole. A small amount of water could have washed the blood away but Macbeth wanted all the water in the ocean to wash it off. Shakepeare gave off a "guilty" tone in this scene. After Macbeth murdered someone he wished to to forget what what happened. He said he wanted to wash the blood off his hands which means he wish he did not murder. Reading this scene makes me feel distressed because Macbeth feels so bad for what he has done.

Hyperbole can also be found in poems. Here is a great example:

Homework

Homework! Oh, Homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You're giving me fits.

I'd rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework,
my teacher assigns.

Homework! Oh, homework!
you're last on my list,
I simple can't see
why you even exist,
if you just disappeared
it would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!

Jack Prelutsky

This poet packed this entire poem with hyperbole just to explain how much he hated it. A simple, "I dislike homework very much" would have been fine... but boring. Instead he took the more detailed and fun way and exaggerated to the max. One hyperbole he used was, "If only a Bomb would blow you to bits". This line was a HUGE hyperbole. An entire bomb is not needed to blow up a single sheet of paper when all that is need may be as little as a single match stick. Using this hyperbole just shows how much Jack Prelutsky hates homework.
The author expressed his angry in this poem and I felt it. I feel it because I too hate homework very much. Reading this poem makes me think about homework and it pisses me off a bit... 

But anyways. to sum up hyperbole in four words, the word would be "exaggeration to the MAX". Plain and simple.

The Final Test

He tied his boat off and started to climb the cliffs. He knew that no one had lived to tell what was behind the clouds, but still he climbed...

Kim Jon's karate sensei, Master Chang, said that he must travel far to the clouded peek of the island of Faroe to face whatever sat at the top of the mountain to become a karate master. All his 26 years of living, he had always wanted to become a karate master and his chance finally arose so he happily took it. He ventured for several arduous years through cold mountains, desolate and dry deserts, and on the choppy seas with only a small ration of food to survive off of.

Throughout his entire journey, he meditated to mentally prepare him for what was to come. When he traveled on foot he tuned out the outside world to connect with his inner being. Not paying attention to his surroundings, he let his body guide him most of his journey. Even through the most contorted routes on his path, his body slide passed them with ease. This is the result of many years of training.

He traveled through by foot and animal through Asia and Europe to get to the shore of Norway, where his master said the island would be off the coast of. He stood there on the shore with his feet planted firmly in the sand as waves hit his shins hard but never moving him. A strong ocean breeze blew into him, rippling his shirt and  blowing his short, flowing black hair behind his head. Kim stared out toward the grey horizon in the direction of the island thinking about what may be there.

He remembered rumors he heard of what was hidden in the clouds. "There's a dragon up there." He remembered an old man saying at a bar, "A deadly dragon by the name of Ro Shenhi sits atop the island, minding his own business and anything that trespasses, he takes their life. No one has ever survived to tell their story." Then another man asked, "If no one has ever survived to tell their story then how do you know about it?" and the man simple replied, "I don't" and laughed followed by a sip of his sake.

"There aren't any dragons in Europe you old bat!" Kim remembered another man saying, "In Europe there are a lot of gods and titans and all that everywhere. That's probably what is at the top of that island. Your Sensei is trying to get you killed! I wouldn't do it if it were up to me."

Kim Jon didn't care what that man would or wouldn't have done. Kim knew this is what he wanted to do and he was too far ahead to turn back now. He did not even want to turn back. His light brown eyes burned bright and screamed determination.

He scavenged up and down the beach in search of a boat to get a cross the ocean to the island. He eventually found a man with a small wooden boat. He went up to him and asked, "Do you mind if I borrowed your boat to get to Faroe?"
"Faroe?!" The little pale man shrieked, "You want to row this little thing all the way out there? You'll never survive against the waves."
"Have faith little man." Kim replied calmly. "I will make it there perfectly fine. No need to worry at all"
Kim gave the man a jolly grin that made the man have faith in him. "All right, you can take the boat. I was going to chop it up anyways. It's useless."
Kim's grin turned into a smile when the man said yes then said, "Thank you mister" and took the boat. The little man watched as he slowly drifted away.

Once he was a good distance away from the shore he started meditating again. He sat on the wooden bench of the small boat with his feet folded, his body tall and erect, his chest out strong and his fist touching knuckle to knuckle in front of his chest. The boat rocked and swayed with each bump in the ocean but with all the movement, Kim's body stayed in place like a strong stone sitting at the bottom of a river.

Being so deep into his meditation, he was not able to row the boat so the slow current took him to the island. It took days but he finally reached the side of the island which was a step climb. He rose from his seat and looked directly up the mountain then started to climb. Foot by foot and hand by hand. He was anxious to see what was up there so he picked up the pace and flew up the mountain.

In no time he was up in the cloud and at the top. The cloud was so thick he could not even see 2 feet in front of himself. He stayed in his fighting stance and on guard for anything that might happen. He stood with his feet spread widely apart to give him a firm standing. He held out an open hand with his thumb pressed against the top of his palm and a clenched fist close to his body. He closed his eyes since they were useless to him. He depended on his ears to tell him where things were at.

He slowly inched forward toward the center of the plateau until he heard a shaky voice say, "Who are you?"
Kim stopped in his steps, put his feet together and bowed in respect then answered in a haste. "I am Kim Jon of China. I am the pupil of Master Chang and I am trying to being a karate master. I have come to challenge you to become master."
"I know what you have come for. After all, I am the one that sent you here. Rise my pupil."
Kim rose quickly in surprise. "Master?! I have to defeat you?" He asked with a bit of hesitation? He knew couldn't defeat him no matter how hard he tried. He was scared.
Master Chang just laughed at him. "Oh no my student. You've done enough to show me that you deserve to be a master. Not many people would make this journey all the way across the world just for a title. You have shown me that you really care about this and that is enough to be a master. You already had the mental and physical strength needed to become a master. The only thing left was the emotional strength. This was shown by following your dreams. You followed it no matter how difficult it was and that's all there was to it. You have the right to be called a true master."
Kim said, "Wow.... So All I had to do was come to this place? That wasn't so hard." A small grin came up. "So can we go home now? I'm starving. I haven't had a real meal in a long time!"
"Why yes of course! Let's go Master Jon. We'll get home in no time and you can eat all you want."

12-21-12 Theory

As "Dooms Day" approaches, I think I'm starting to get paranoid about it because as of recently, I've been having dreams about a zombie apocalypse.

Coincidence? I think not! There has been a huge rumor going around the globe saying, "The end is coming in 2012" but nobody knows how our days are going to end. Is the sun going to explode? Death by a huge meteor? I think we're going to die by a deadly disease that causes all of us to turn into zombies and those who survive the disease will be hunted by those that was infected? How did I reach this conclusion you ask? My dreams tell me.

In three nights I had four different dreams about zombies. The thing is though, all four dreams seemed to flow in perfect order. My first dream was started off with me waking up in bed with a decaying zombie with hollow white eyes over me, looking at me. I freaked out (Who wouldn't?) and jumped out of bed. Throughout the rest of my dream, I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, looking for a place to hide. I ran into some people I knew and we teamed up. At the end of my dream, the group that was formed, including myself, was walking and a hoard of zombies came running around the corner of a street... Then I woke up drenched in sweat.

My second and third dream were pretty much the same. The group and I finally found a hiding spot but weren't safe for long. Soon enough the zombies found us and we had to run for our lives. The only difference between the second and third dream was there were less people in the group but I was never caught... Until the fourth dream.

In my fourth dream I woke up in my bed but this time everything was quiet and seemed to be in a twilight. I went downstairs to see my mom in the living room and my front door wide open. I sat on my steps that connected the two floors and looked outside the door into the darkness. All of a sudden I saw a zombie dog run in a go after my mom so I ran over to help her. I pushed the dog off but in the process it bit into my wrist and I felt time slow down.. Then I woke up.

That was the last of my zombie dreams for a while. There was a lot of things going on in my dream that can be interpreted into a deeper meaning like whenever the zombies would just randomly appear out of nowhere. I think that means I should be ready for anything at any time. The Zombies would come out from the darkness or from around the corner and I would have to be ready to react in any type of way for my safety and the safety of others.

Another interpretation I can make is when the dog bit me. When the dog bit me, that was the end of all my zombie dreams. I think it means that if this 12-21-12 doomsday is real then I wouldn't be one of the survivors. This is just the superstition in me talking. Being that I've had these dreams, it made my superstitions worse. Until that day comes, I will try my best to prepare for the worst.

Trip to Rio

*Beep Beep*
Just outside my small, one floor house in a small town by the name of Plainfield, New Jersey, was a yellow taxi beeping it's horn to signal it's arrival to carry me to Newark Airport to catch a flight to Rio de Janeiro, the best city in the world... In my opinion.
I was all packed and ready to spend one week in the livest city during their livest times; Carnaval. I had three bags waiting eagerly by the front door, wanting me to hurry up and load them in the trunk of the taxi so we can set out on our journey.
I raised my wrist and gave a quick glance at my digital watch. It read: Friday, February 19, 2016, 6:49 A.M. I only had two hours and 41 minutes to catch my flight. I walked to my front door and turned around to check my small house once more before leaving. Everything was perfectly neat and organized. I glanced to the left and looked into the living room to see two wide, brown sofas that could seat 3 comfortable propped opposite to each other with a brown coffee table with a complex stitched rug below it between the two sofas. Passed the table was a TV stand with an old 48" tube television sitting on top. Above the TV was a family portrait portraying my father, my mother, my sister, and I all smiling happily, dressed in our Sunday's best.
I looked to my right to see my dining room glowing in the morning sun. With a panoramic window, all the light from outside shone into the dinning room and reflected off of the plastic table covering and onto the walls. The long, rectangular table could seat two chairs on each side and one on each end. The two chairs on each side had a cloth covering to match the wallpaper and the chairs on the end had arms, unlike the other seats which exuded elegance and brought the whole room together.
Seeing that my house was in order. I opened the door and grabbed two of my three bags. I spotted the taxi in my drive way and gave the driver a quick head nod that showed him that I had more bags inside. He quickly stepped out his minivan and awkwardly walked to my house. He quickly got the other bag and walked to the trunk of the vehicle, forgetting to close the door behind him so I set down my two bags and walked back to my front door, closed it and locked it.
By the time I got back to the vehicle, the driver had already fit all my bags in the trunk and was already waiting for my in the car. I sat in the passenger seat and couldn't help but comment on how speedy he was with what he did and he replied, "Dank you" in a broken English with a slight Spanish accent.
I told him I was going to Newark airport and he gave a soft nod since he was very focused on the road. I told him how I was going to Brazil for a week and from there we sparked idle chit chat. I learned he had recently came to America from Peru about 7 years ago and ever since then he's been working with his family as a taxi driver. In no time we were on Interstate 78 and close to Newark Airport.
He dropped me off at Terminal B and helped bring my bags inside and said a final good-bye and a, "I hope you have a safe travel". I glanced at my watch again and it read: Friday, February 19, 2016, 7:33 A.M. I had plenty of time.
The airport was close to empty with the exception of about 75 people which was a small amount compared the the large number of people it could really hold. I walked to the front desk and waited behind 5 people. When it was my turn to go up, a jolly woman spoke clearly, "next please". I stepped up with my bags rolling closely behind me and when I looked up, her bright blues eyes met my glowing brown eyes. She asked for my information so I gave her everything she asked for. Soon enough she sent me on my way to my gate with my boarding pass. I left my bags with the lady to put on the plane's cargo deck. My destination was gate 25. When I got there, I had a hour and 25 minutes left before my plane would take off for it's approximately 12 hour flight to Rio. In that hour I waited, I texted some of my family and friends telling them to take care over the next week and played a few games of Temple Run.
When the time passed and it was time to board, my cabin was the first one called. I grabbed my carry on bag and headed for the plane. I gave another woman at a desk my ticket that I recently received to board the plane. I headed to the back of the plane; the economy section, where there were three columns of seating. The two columns on the end had two seats and the middle column could seat three. I went to my row, row 56, put my bag in the overhead storage compartment and sat in the middle seat in the middle column. I was one of the first people on board and I started to wonder would I would seat next to during the flight; I hoped it would be some company I would enjoy. As people came on board and the seats next to me were not being filled I started to think I would have no company, which I could deal with. I could have some time to myself.
Five minutes before take off, the seats still were not taken. I decided to pull out my iPod and a notepad and pen to write a story or two while listening to music. Doing so made the 12 hours fly by and in what seemed like 45 minutes, the plan was landing.

When the plane landed I gather my bags and stepped outside to be devastated. I stepped out into a downpour of rain. The raindrops fell hard onto the ground and on the tall palm trees planted across the street from the airport. I quickly called for a taxi with the wave of a hand and he pulled up in front of me and helped put my bags in the back. I told the drive I was going to Olinda Rio Hotel but he had trouble understanding me so I pulled out my notepad and wrote down the address which he finally understood.

We drove in the rain for what seemed like hours and the only thing I could think about was how all my plans got ruined. I was hoping on going to the beach to tan, meet ladies, and go in the ocean. I wanted to party Carnaval style but I didn't plan on going if it continued to rain. I also wanted to go to the Corcovado Mountain to check out the Chris the Redeemer Statue but I had no intention on hiking those stairs in the rain. My week was ruined if it continued to rain.

I finally arrived at my hotel, checked in, and headed to my hotel room. I settle down and checked out the room: There was a living room, a bed room, a big bathroom and a patio that lead to a deck that gave a view of the ocean. In the living room, there was a sofa and a love sea that was around a coffee table with a glass top that had a few coasters and a handbook that said "Your Hotel Experience". There was also a flat screen TV that looked like it was about 32", sitting on a medium size stand that stopped up to about my waist. Passed the living room was a wide, sliding clear door that lead to the deck. I pulled back the door and stepped onto the deck to see what would be a beautiful sight on a nice, sunny day. In this depressing downpour I saw the ocean rippling with grey waters that met with the grey horizon the sky made in the distance. Before that, palm trees swayed and rocked back in forth in the wind. Below the deck was a main street with few cars passing by due to the rainy weather.

I went back inside and closed the door behind me. I went into the next room, which was the bedroom. In the middle of the room was a California King size bed; a bed not made for a single person to sleep in alone. To the right of the bed was a wide window that showed the grey skies which I couldn't bare to look at anymore. To the right of the bed was the bathroom. Inside was a shower, a bathtub, and a Jacuzzi. I couldn't help but imagine how many ladies I would've brought back during the week to come party in the Jacuzzi with me. I let the thought go out of my head the same time I let a sigh out. I went back to the living room to spot a minibar with drinks in a cabinet above-head. I took out a shot glass and a bottle of White Rum Imported from Jamaica. I filled up the glass to the top and raise my glass high. "To a fun vacation!" I said with sarcasm to myself then took the shot to the head.

Hurricane Sandy Experience

"Hey mom. My teachers were telling the class we were suppose to have a really bad storm this weekend, what's  that all about?" I asked my mom as I spotted my mom in her office, working on her computer, after I walked into my house not too long before.

"Yeah. The news said Hurricane Sandy is suppose to come to the east coast and a few middle states to cause a lot of damage" My mom replied as she continued working on her computer, not even turning to acknowledge me. Hearing my voice was enough acknowledgment to her.

"When is suppose to come?" I asked.

"Watch the news more and you'd know."

"Why do I need the news if I have an amazing mom that can tell me things like this?" I said with a smile.

She chuckled and replied, "They said it's suppose to come this weekend; some time around Saturday through Monday."

"Oh okay. We got a few days to prepare. Do you think it's going to be worse than Hurricane Irene from last year?"

"Oh yeah; of course." she replied with a nod.

"Hm" I grunted, "Time to board up the windows then" I joked as I walked away to my room. In my room I though to myself, "Every one is saying the storm is going to be one of the worst storms in history but is that really true? They said the same thing about Irene and that hurricane wasn't so bad. I'll just have to wait and see."

When The weekend rolled around I was rather disappointed to see that nothing had happened except grey skies. I complain to my mom how the storm was late and she simply replied, "Watch when it does come" and stay silent to everything else I said.

The Plainfield school administration decide to close school for the hurricane and when Monday came and nothing happened I was highly disappointed. It wasn't until 5 pm that the I started seeing the storm coming. The first thing to go was my back fence. hours later, around 9:30, my lights went out. I would have thought that my block would have been the first block to lose power but in fact, we were one of the last blocks to go out. I wasn't too surprised when my lights went out though; I was expecting it.

The next day, my mom, sister, and I drove around town to see the damage the hurricane. We say trees that fell on power lines, trees on houses, trees blocking roads, and blown transformers. I didn't expect things to become this bad but they were.

By the time we got home, it was dark and there was nothing fun to day so I could only eat and read for entertainment. I ate and read for hours on hours because I couldn't fall asleep. I don't know what it is about black outs and me sleeping but they never seem to want to cooperate; I just can't fall asleep and stay asleep without power in my house.

My family and I only had to deal with not having power until Wednesday. My mom heard word that my grandma had power. As soon as my mom asked if we could spend the time there until our house got back power and she said yes, we gathered our essentials and bolted out of our cold imprisonment as fast as we could. We weren't the only ones that spent some time at my grandma's house though. Along with us, my uncle and his wife slept in the house too since their house didn't have power. It was a mad house with all of us 10, people and one baby but I enjoyed every minute being around my family.

Everyday my mom went back to the house to check if we had power and it wasn't until Saturday that it came back on. We stayed one more night and left on the next day.

For the whole next week I had absolutely nothing to do. Comcast was down so I wasn't able to get on the internet or watch T.V., my phone signal was barely working, and I couldn't contact any of my friends to hang out. Only thing I could do was sleep, play Temple run, and look out the window as cars drove by.

This hurricane made me experience a lot that I haven't really experienced before. Not having power for so long, losing my phone service, and seeing how bad mother nature can really get.This mad me appreciate things a bit me. I realized that this companies that provide us with entertainment like the phone companies, cable companies, etc, has done a lot for not only their customers but for many others affected. I learned that I should appreciate what I have and who I have in my life. I have a great home with great items that many people don't and I have a great family that many people yearn for.