Vocabulary Words #8 (Honors Option)

plucky- having or showing pluck or courage; brave


corpulent- large or bulky of body; portly; stout; fat.


malaise- a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.

indolent- having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful

volatile- tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive


quixotic- extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable


tutelage- the act of guarding, protecting, or guiding; office or function of a guardian; guardianship

balustrade- a railing with supporting balusters

flying buttresse- An external, arched support for the wall of a church or other building. Flying buttresses were used in many Gothic cathedrals; they enabled builders to put up very tall but comparatively thin stone walls, so that much of the wall space could be filled with stained-glass windows. The cathedrals of Chartres and Notre Dame de Paris were built with flying buttresses.




eidetic-of, pertaining to, or constituting visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail.

Vocabulary Words #7 (Honors Option)

mugwump- a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, esp. in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue.

muliebrity- womanly nature or qualities.


chevron- a badge consisting of stripes meeting at an angle, worn on the sleeve by noncommissioned officers, police officers, etc., as an indication of rank, service, or the like.

eristic- a person who engages in disputation; controversialist.

perpend- a large stone passing through the entire thickness of a wall.


vamoose- to leave hurriedly or quickly; decamp.

iatrogenic- Induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially of an infection or other complication of treatment.


jnana- knowledge acquired through meditation and study as a means of reaching Brahman


fatuous- foolish or inane, esp. in an unconscious, complacent manner; silly.


doff- to remove or take off, as clothing.

Vocabulary Words #6 (Honors Option)

indemnification- something that serves to indemnify; compensation.


sultry- oppressively hot and close or moist; sweltering: a sultry day.


raze- to tear down; demolish; level to the ground: to raze a row of old buildings.


quell- to suppress; put an end to; extinguish


mollify- to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease.


licentious- going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits; disregarding rules

rectify- to make, put, or set right; remedy; correct

cognizance- awareness, realization, or knowledge; notice; perception

pluralism- a theory that there is more than one basic substance or principle.

tier- one of a number of galleries, as in a theater

Vocabulary Words #5 (Honors Option)

disport- to divert or amuse (oneself).



transmogrify- to change in appearance or form, esp. strangely or grotesquely; transform.


oneiric- of or pertaining to dreams.

pelf- money or wealth, esp. when regarded with contempt or acquired by reprehensible means.


bloviate- To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner

neologism- the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.

dishabille- the state of being dressed in a careless, disheveled, or disorderly style or manner; undress.

ne plus ultra- the most intense degree of a quality or state.


trammel- a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint

gubernatorial- of or pertaining to a state governor or the office of state governor

Vocabulary Words #4 (Honors Option)

hubris- excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

popinjay- a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter


superfluous- being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.

neophyte- a person newly converted to a belief, as a heathen, heretic, or nonbeliever; proselyte.

portentous- marvelous; amazing; prodigious.

sylvan- of, pertaining to, or inhabiting the woods.


impecunious- having little or no money; penniless; poor.



lucre- monetary reward or gain; money


defenestrate- To throw out of a window.


exiguous- scanty; meager; small; slender

Vocabulary Words #3 (Honors Option)

bourgeoisie- In general, the middle class. Applied to the Middle Ages, it refers to townspeople, who were neither nobles nor peasants. In Marxism it refers to those who control the means of production and do not live directly by the sale of their labor. Karl Marx distinguished between the “haute” (high) bourgeoisie (industrialists and financiers) and the “petite” (small or “petty”) bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, self-employed artisans, lawyers). Marxism postulates a fundamental conflict between the interests of the bourgeoisie and those of the propertyless workers, the proletariat.


proletariat- the class of wage earners, esp. those who earn their living by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual employment; the working class.

stop-loss- designed or planned to prevent continued loss, as a customer's order to a broker to sell a stock if its price declines to a specific amount.

elucidate- to provide clarification; explain.


elusive- eluding clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define: an elusive concept.

profligate- utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated; thoroughly dissolute.

chasm- a deep opening in the earth's surface


fulminate- to explode with a loud noise; detonate


ostentatious- characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others: an ostentatious dresser.

obfuscate- to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.

Vocabulary Words #2 (Honors Option)

ego- the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.


subjectivity- of, relating to, or constituting a subject

metacognition- awareness and understanding one's thinking and cognitive processes; thinking about thinking


epistemology- a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge.

mollify- to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease

abrogate- to abolish by formal or official means; annul by an authoritative act; repeal: to abrogate a law.


bureaucracy- the body of officials and administrators, esp. of a government or government department.


viscosity- the property of a fluid that resists the force tending to cause the fluid to flow.

filibuster- the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.

reconcile- to bring into agreement or harmony


vilify- to speak ill of; defame; slander.

aggregate- formed by the conjunction or collection of particulars into a whole mass or sum; total; combined: the aggregate amount of indebtedness.

Something to think about..

Right now for the Honors Option, I am reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho and I came across this excerpt that caught my eye and really made me think--

"...When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

I like this passage because this reminds me that each person has their own goals and dreams. As the days leading up to college are coming near,I feel kind of scared because I am still undecided about what I want to do after college. I haven't really found an area of study that I feel really passionate about, YET. This passage made me realize that I don't always have to listen to people when they tell me that I should study this, or I should study that.

But anyways..So far, I really like this book!!

Book Talk: America Is In The Heart

This book brought me a lot of emotions, especially because the author came from the same place my parents did. I feel like I personally know the author because I can totally relate to what he’s been through in a way. I’ve visited the Philippines before, and I know exactly how the American’s treat the Filipinos, and vice versa. American’s look at the peasants with sympathy, and they look at American’s with envy. There was a part in the book where a middle-class ignorant lady purposefully knocked down a huge bowl of beans just because Carlos’s mother was staring at her with envy. Then his mother got on her hands and knees and started picking up all the beans and was saying “It’s okay, it’s okay...” It made me very sad because that shows how much even people of your own race really care about one another. This book also made me realize how corrupt third world countries may be. The governments take so much money from the peasants, and can’t even provide education for even half the population. They take money from the poor, only to make the wealthy even wealthier. In Carlos’s family, it was only his older brother who succeeded past through high school that’s what the family could only afford.

Growing up, Carlos’s family was getting smaller and smaller because either his siblings were dying, or moving away. When it was time for Carlos to realize that he needs to go, he leaves his two younger sisters with his parents, his father already getting very sick. Although they are very poor, and his father was very sick, Carlos needed to leave his family for a better life for himself. He didn’t want to leave them, but he had to. Through the long process, he made it to America only to find a more difficult life. He hopped on trains and went from city to city in search of labor jobs. Sometimes he worked the whole day, only to make fifty cents.

This book makes me appreciate the fact that I live in America, because here everything is basically given to us. I have the resources I need to help me in everything I try to accomplish, and best of all, I have the freedom to do what I want. Because of this book, I learned that many poor people do everything they can to survive. They don’t even have any mode of transportation, so if they want to go somewhere, they’ll either have to walk or pay a few pesos to ride on the back of a bike. They make their money through hard work of cultivating their land so that they can grow food. It seems like we all take for granted what we have, compared to other countries where living may be a difficulty. Not only in the Asian countries, but many others as well.

Vocabulary Words #1 (Honors Option)

flourish- to grow luxuriantly: THRIVE

The crops flourished in the rich soil.

guerilla- a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harrassment and sabatoge

The guerrilla tactics lead to the winning of the revolutionary war.

renegade- a deserter from one faith, cause, or allegiance to another

Many scientists have been called renegades for their thoughts against religion.

repose- 1a: to lie at rest b: to lie dead c: to remain still or concealed

His hands were reposed in his pockets as he was standing out in the cold weather.

stereotype- idea that many people have about a thing or a group and that may often be untrue or only partly true

Many people like to stereotype teens, thinking that they are always up to no good.

symbiosis- the living together in close association of two different kinds of organisms especially when such an association is of benefit to both

Apple collaborated with AT&T for the "iPhone" which was a perfect symbiosis between humans and cell phone technology.

tariff- a list of taxes placed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods

During the Tea Act, colonists were forced to pay a tariff on the tea that they bought.

tempo- characteristic rate, rhythym, or pattern of work or activity

We had to practice at a faster tempo, because we were running out of time.

tranquility- quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity

After months of arguing, learning to communicate better finally lead to tranquility in their marriage.

tumult- violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob; uproar

The tumult was at its peak as a protester gave a speech.

tundra- one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America

The arctic tundra is a habitat to animals like the white fox.

unanimous- of one mind; in complete agreement; agreed.

It was a unanimous vote that the girl should definitely win the contest.

Barder and the Flying Turban (Creative Writing #2)

The dog and the boy pictured to the left have a very close relationship. The kid (Mikey) goes and plays with the dog (Barder) often and finds comfort in the dog. The kid definitely uses his imagination and likes to pretend that they are traveling to faraway places. The only way they can travel is with Mikey's orange turban, which he pretends is his way of flight. Mikey has a baby sister named Grace, whom he likes to take with him on his adventures. Places where imaginary creatures exist such as dinosaurs, dragons, unicorns, etc. exist are their favorite places to travel. Those places are always made-up and don't really exist, but Mikey and Grace like to think they do. Barder is their protector, and Barder keeps them away from harm.

One day while playing in his backyard, Mikey sat on Barder's back as if he was riding on a horse, and he put on his orange turban. Mikey decided not to take Grace along this time, because she was busy playing with paint. All of a sudden, Barder and Mikey were flying through space. They were looking at Earth from a distance and were thinking of a place to travel to. Traveling was quick. All Mikey had to do was say the name of any location, and Barder would take him there. Mikey told Barder to take him to Greenland, in which he thought that everything in Greenland was green. As they arrived in Greenland, everything was what he thought it was. They people, cars, animals, streets, schools, etc., was green. Mikey was so fascinated. Even he was green himself. Barder and Mikey walked in a museum of the history of Greenland. A philosopher who was walking around explaining the artifacts introduced himself as "Mr. Green." Mr Green took them to the green gym which had a green swimming pool. Barder and Mikey jumped in. All of a sudden, Barder and Mikey were back in their backyard. Grace was mad that Mikey hadn't taken her along. Barder and Mikey were so sad to be back so quickly, that they didn't even realize that baby Grace had poured green paint all over them. Mikey also realized that the orange turban had fallen off his head, and that's why they were back in reality.

Creative Writing #1

Dayna Matthews is the name of the woman pictured. She is a mother to three young kids, and a wife to a man who is in the navy. Dayna works as a Dentist at "SmileCare" on Third Avenue, in New York City. She is a busy woman, considering she works three times a week, and the rest of the days is devoted taking care of her kids Dylan, age 2; Katherine, age 6; and Damon, age 11. Taking care of these kids is a full time job itself, while her husband is currently in Iraq, fighting for America. Dylan is at the age of the terrible twos, Katherine currently takes ballet class, and Damon is in the Little League with Pitcher as his main position. With this hectic schedule for her kids as a daily routine in her life, she rarely gets any time to herself.

It's Saturday afternoon, and the kids are at her mother-in-laws house, for she volunteered to babysit the kids, as it is her day off also. Dayna decides to take advantage of this time, and treat herself for a day of shopping. She ended up taking the subway, which she normally doesn't do, because for one thing, it's always a hassle getting the kids to and from somewhere, and also because she never liked the thought of taking public transportation. But with no kids around, and the convenience of the subway stopping just a few blocks away from the mall, she decided that today would be the perfect day for her to take public transportation.

She tried to spend her time peacefully at the mall, but every 30 minutes or so, Katherine would call her cell phone, complaining as to why her mother hadn't taken her along. "Katie honey, Mommy needs to buy Daddy's presents for when he comes home next week," she would lie. Dayna would always give her kids false hope that her husband Michael would be coming home soon, when she knows he wouldn't be home for another six months.

Dayna was shopping in Macy's, when Katherine had called her for the tenth time. She had decided that she should just go home now since she feels that she needs to get back to her kids. The only items that she bought for herself were two sweaters which were on sale. She was at the mall for five hours, but with the budget that she was on, she really couldn't find anything that was worth it. Because of the five hours of walking around the whole mall, she was exhausted, but she knew she still had to pick up her kids. She went to the Starbucks on the second level of the mall to buy a Caramel Frappacino for the caffeine that she needed to intake, to get her through the rest of the day. After, she proceeded to step back onto the Subway, to go to her mother-in-law's house to pick up her kids.