About Me

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Pinetrees and Megapixels


Everything has a value. Whether you believe so or not, a value is placed on everything from pens to cell phones to cars and also to things that are not objects such as moments or feelings. How is the value of something chosen? What does the value of something matter towards our everyday lives?

The air is crisp and cool as I jump onto the tractor pulling several families looking to brighten up their homes this Christmas season. I am bundled up in many layers as it is very chilly the day after Thanksgiving. The tractor stops moving and I immediately jump off, take the stairs down and grab the elderly woman's hand. One by one, I help the customers get down the stairs. After everyone is off, I walk over to the small clearing and start handing out saws. I tune in to hear my uncle Victor trailing on about the rules and instructions on how to safely chop down your own evergreen tree for the Christmas season. Every Friday through Sunday from the day after Thanksgiving until the weekend before Christmas, my life is devoted to working on my family's Christmas tree farm.

With a candy cane in my mouth, I jump back onto the tractor for a free ride around the perimeter of the farm! We stop on the opposite side of the farm to pick up more customers-and their trees. As I help the mothers, fathers, children and grandparents back onto the tractor, Uncle Victor lifts all of the trees onto the back. I try to help him, but as I do, I realize that I was picking up a blue spruce tree. Ow! Blue spruce always hurt! The needles were sharp, unlike my favorite type of tree-Frasier fir! Because I just carelessly dropped the tree, my hands became covered in sticky, gooey pine sap! Because of my complaining, Victor sent me into the barn to clean up.

My hands started to shiver after the cold water touched them. I slowly put my gloves back on to try to stop the shivering. After becoming situated and at least somewhat warmer, I opened the door, ran and then stopped abruptly at the front of the store. I turn, figuring I should advertise to the customers and also be a good Samaritan and ask my uncles if they want any fresh hot chocolate or cider. I see an old lady looking clueless at the shelves filled with cemetery boxes. I turn to her and say, "Excuse me, do you need any help?". She was looking for a price on the box, but became oblivious to the sign next to her that read $15. I politely told her that they cost $15 and were each special and original as I had helped to make them! She thanked me and followed me into the shop to make her purchase.

I went behind the counter with my grandma and after ringing her up, poured two hot chocolates, one cider and grabbed three mini candy cane! i took the wrapper off the candy canes and put them in the hot chocolate. My uncle Bob Z and I invented this yummy mint hot chocolate! I carefully picked up all three cups and brought them outside to my uncle Victor and my uncle Bob Z. They said I couldn't have come one second earlier...

"Humm...," I hear the slight purring of my MacBook laptop as i press the start button. Suddenly the screen turns blue for several short seconds and then my background, right now it's a picture from the 30 Seconds to Mars music video, "Beautiful Lie", appears. "Welcome, Hannah!," a pop up box greets me as i turn my computer on for the first time today. I click on the sidebar to open several different applications. First Firefox, second iTunes, third Textedit and finally iChat. Almost every day after school, I do this routine. I set up an away message so I can work on my homework without a distraction. I start playing music from my iTunes library. My favorite song is first, "Half-Truism" by The Offspring. The music helps me to concentrate better. I start researching plant growth so that I can start writing about it for my biology project. One computer, many tasks accomplished.

I value my computer as my most valuable object because you can do almost anything with a computer. I love music more than almost anything. It gives me a way to get away from the real world, and can always change my mood. All of my music is on my computer and if there's a song I want to hear, I can just download it. My laptop also is a very good tool to help me with my homework or any projects that have to do with school. It can also be used to contact my friends and I am very social so I like to talk to my friends whenever I can.

Even though my computer is fun, It's not only used for play. My mother is a web designer and she has "hired" me to help her manage her websites. I help her with her multiple businesses by writing descriptions, adding keywords, changing prices and many other parts of the online business. The invention of the computer is probably one of the best inventions ever invented. It is a very useful object in life to many people for many advances.

I value both my winter weekends working on the farm and my laptop for very different reasons.When I am working on the farm, I just enjoy every minute of what I am doing (besides the occasional getting sprayed with mud from the tractor tires...) and the day before Christmas is always sad even though I should be having fun. I value my computer because it can bring me into different worlds, not just virtual but also through my imagination. I over-analyze everything so I could be thinking about the most simple thing and make it into something extravagant .

My computer allows me to do many tasks that could not be performed otherwise. If I did not have a computer, it would be harder to do homework or work for my mom or anything else. The computer was one of the greatest advances in technology ever created. It made it possible for less manual labor to be needed because now things could be automatic.

My winter wonderland fun which only takes place for a few weekends each year is a great way to have fun and interact with people I've never met and my own family members. I love being on the farm because I know all of the hard work that has taken place throughout the year is now paying off. I enjoy everything even if I have to get down and dirty. These are priceless moments to me.

Both my time working on the farm and my computer are important to me. They allow me to have fun and get some work done. After finishing my work with either of them, I feel accomplished and everything is fine. There's almost nothing more important than these things to my life. After reading what I value, does that make you think any more about the most important things that you value in life? Sometimes it's hard to figure out, but everyone cares about some things more than others and it shows. The things that you value usually play a big part in your life and just like pictures, valued things are worth thousands of words.

10 comments:

kyleenglish9 said...

Aside from a few minor typos, this is a very good essay! I enjoyed the paragraphs describing your priceless moment, because, and maybe it's just because I'm freezing as I type this, I could really feel the icy December air, longing for the warm hot cocoa, tasting the slight hint of mint in the chocolate... it was fun to read. :-D

tom said...

You value your computer more, obviously seeing as you said so. So, i dont see why i'm still talking on this. But i need to write a paraagraph so i'm still talking. ok next paragraph.

You described your scene of you computer very well. I could picture the hmm, well pretend to hear it. I could picture the blue screen, then the hi hannah, pop up. And yes i mean it this ime when i say i picture it.

Your best strength is you description. I say this for everybody but still. I could easily picture everything that you were describing. Nice Job.

Honestlyi i have no advice to fix it. You did a really good job. So again i;m waisting space right now.

Jenny said...

Hannah seems to value working on her family Christmas tree farm and her laptop. I think she does a nice job in her first paragraph trying to catch the reader’s attention.

She describes her weekends working on the farm very well. She gives vivid descriptions of her memories working and her jobs there. I like when she talks about when she grabbed the sappy tree and was sent to go clean the barn.

Over all I think the organization was her strong point. The paper seemed to flow very well.

I think the only thing you should try is expanded on your computer. Also I think you might want to re-read your paper because there are a few little typos. Otherwise I think your essay is very well written. Good job!

kyleenglish9 said...

I. In this first introductory paragraph, I think the author is really stressing how everything can be given a value, whether or not it is a dollar amount. Everything has some sort of worth to somebody, but she also questions how the value of an object can be determined and how value matters in everyday life.

II. I think the priceless
moment was very well described. Perhaps it was because I was cold the whole time I was reading, but I could really feel the harsh November and December air, biting at my exposed skin. Then, when she enters the shop, I picture the warmth hitting me and how my muscles relax, and I really felt like I was there with her. I enjoyed reading that part a lot.

III. I think one of the essay’s overall strengths is good description that allows me to imagine in my head exactly what is going. The point of a good piece of writing is to help the reader imagine what you are writing, and that was done very well.

IV. Aside from a few minor typos that can be fixed with spell check, I couldn’t really distinguish where the conclusion was. The very last paragraph of the essay seems more like a description of the priceless moment and the object’s similarities. Try going back and revising, perhaps switching the order of some paragraphs, because the last two paragraphs seem like a conclusion more than the last paragraph does.

Brittany said...

Good job HanHan BananNan! (:

In the essay you mention, You do value your computer more. I could tell also just by how you described it too.

You described the computer really well. Like tom said, i could hear the hmmm, and see all the popups and stuff flashing on the screen. It made me think of my laptop!

You definetely have your strength in imagery and description. I could vividly see things in my mind. So thats hard to do, but you accomplished it.

overall, i wouldnt really change anything but grammatical errors. Otherwise, super job, i loved it (:

Marissa said...

In the essay, Hannah is showing that she values her computer and her winter weekends. Is seems like she values the winter weekends with the Christmas tree farm more because it showed more detail.
I think the the weekends on the Christmas tree farm are more vividly described. Hannah wrote more about them and in more detail than she did her computer. I loved the phrase "I turn, figuring I should advertise to the customers and also be a good Samaritan and ask my uncles if they want any fresh hot chocolate or cider." I like it because it lightens up the mood in the essay by adding a little humor.
I think her strength was her descriptions. They were vivid and clear. I could understand what Hannah was saying almost perfectly.
My advice for the author would be to write more about the computer. She wrote so much in detail about the farm in the winter, and then you get to the computer and it just seems like she doesn't care as much. Overall, it was a REALLY good essay and it was fun reading it. I felt like my hands were actually sticky with sap!

Ben said...

just awesome hannah.
just awesome :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Peter said...

HI HANNAH ROSE!!!!!!!

IM COMMENTING!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter said...

ITALIAN MUSIC??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

WHAT THE FLARGAS?

Hannahhh! :] said...

hahahahahaaahahaha PETER. idk where the italian music strating playing from btu that was sooooo funny in class. lol