Finally

I have softball practice every week down in Pendleton about an hour and half away on Wednesday nights. My mom or dad usually takes me so that I can get homework done during the trip rather than just driving there and back and having to start homework at 9:30 every Wednesday night.  This is when I would get a lot of reading done and do my vocab homework. I don't like to read with music if it's a book I need to remember a lot about and will get quizzed over later but if it's a book I'm reading for fun I don't mind quiet music. I'm such an audio person that sometimes I find that I'm not reading but listening to the music instead which can sometimes be a problem. If it's a book I really like and can't put down then I don't check my phone very often but if it's something that I'm not enjoying then I'm constantly checking my phone or checking what's new on facebook. My mom loves reading and is always interested in what I'm reading. I'm pretty sure the only reason she is so interested is so that she knows it's appropriate. Thankfully the policy where she has to read every single book I want to read before I do has stopped. It's been a few years of freedom and I really don't want to lose that. My mom is pretty much the only one I talk to about books unless I think a friend or a family member might want to read it. That's when I give them a brief outline and tell them they should read it. You, blog, are pretty much the main one I tell about the books I'm reading. You probably think I'm pretty boring, but don't worry, this is going to be my last post, or so I think it will be.

The Lost Crown

This week I have started The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller. It's the story of Anastasia and her family starting before the revolution and probably ending at their deaths.

It's a pretty interesting book and I'm learning a lot about the family and what it was like back then. The author likes to throw in Russian so there is a little dictionary in the beginning which helps a ton.

The book begins with the family on vacation on a boat and everyone is running around having fun until Alexei bumps his ankle and hurts it. Three days later it is still swelling and now about the size of his knee and getting worse. For those of you who don't know, Alexei has Hemophilia B which means his blood cannot properly clot.

The family gets back from the vacation and Alexei is still extremely ill. His mother is having trouble holding everything together because Russia might go to war with her home, Germany. There is a great deal of war whisperings that go from sibling to sibling and trying to keep it hush hush from their mother who, unbeknownst to them, already knows.

Where I'm at right now, Russia will go to war and Alexei is still in bed so he has to miss the ceremony where his dad announces going to war and I'm in the middle of the ceremony. Reporters are going crazy trying to figure out what has kept Alexei from coming (again). He is so sickly that he often has to miss events such as this because his future country (at least it would have been before the revolution) cannot see him as sickly and weak.

Poetry Project

For my poetry project I chose the theme simplicity. I know what you're thinking-- simplicity? What the heck do you mean by that? Well, I pretty much pick poetry that is simple. Easier said than done. I could choose it for a simple context or simple language. Pretty much all my poems are significantly different except for simplicity.

This is probably my favorite poem that I've found so far.

The Crippled Girl, The Rose

By David Ferry

It was as if a flower bloomed as if

Its muttering root and stem had suddenly spoken,

Uttering on the air a poem of summer,

The rose the utterance of its root and stem.

Thus her beautiful face, the crippled girl’s,

Was like the poem spoken by her body—

The richness of that face!—most generous

In what it keeps, giving in its having.

The rose reserves the sweetness that it yields,

Petal on petal, telling its own silence,

Her beauty saying from its thorny stalk

That what it is is kept as it is given.

Currently

Nightshade Andrea Cremer
Wolfsbane Andrea Cremer

Pages These Past Two Weeks: 844

Pages This Semester: 3446

1. I wondered why I'd want my eyes to "pop"; it sounded grotesque. (Referring to making her eyes 'pop' with make-up) Nightshade

2. Our giggles transformed into miniature clouds in the cold night air. Nightshade

3. The howl echoed as it rose toward the full moon, a sound full of agony and irreparable loss. Nightshade

The first sentence is probably my favorite because I don't wear make-up and I love characters that are against it as well. Not everyone feels the need to wear uncomfortable clothes, shoes, and put on make-up every morning just to look nice. :)

The Help

Several weeks ago I said that I would put The Help down and finish it later. It turns out I've become one of those "I'm just taking a break from college and then I'm going back" kinda people because I have yet to touch The Help since I put it down. I know I would like the book and I enjoyed it when I was reading it but the motivation has kinda vanished. I have a ton of books I said I would read and still haven't that I need to get to and maybe The Help  will just have to wait in line with the rest of the books. Looks like it's home on my bench is gonna change because now it needs to be returned so other book lovers can enjoy it instead of it sitting lonely on my 'To Read Bench' with all the other books.

Wolfsbane

This is the sequel to Nightshade, which I read last week, and is part of my 'ohmigoodness vampires and werewolves are AMAZING!' experiment. I'm trying to figure out what is so alluring about them.

In the first book I just wanted to slap Calla (the main character), but in the second she seemed more reasonable but still making awful choices. Shay has decided to take Ren's place and be her mate and the pack's alpha male. Um, excuse me, but who died and made you alpha? Oh yeah, no one because Ren is still alive and the rightful alpha. Shay is constantly running to Calla's aid even though she doesn't need it. In an effort to protect her, he almost got her killed and someone else died in her place. How do you feel about yourself now Shay? I'm hoping really crappy because in the book you didn't seem too upset.

Calla is able to save some of her packmates that she had left behind in the previous book. Sadly Ren was not one. From the short scene you read where the two of them are together you can induce that he still deeply loves her and wants her safely home. I believe he would have safely made it back with Calla and her new friends the Searchers had their meeting not been interrupted by some Keepers and former packmates who decided to stay with the Keepers.

Don't think I' a Twilight hater, because I'm not. I read the books and enjoyed them-- they didn't change my life or anything but I still liked them. They certainly aren't my favorite but I don't understand the craze. I understand people liking the books and enjoying them but not why these are the best books ever and all the people constantly talking about them.


Honestly I don't understand why these books are so popular. Calla is even dumber than Bella (that says a lot). I feel like that one Jacob fan because I wish she would have chosen Ren. Pretty much everyone who reads the Twilight books adores Edward because on paper he seems like a perfect boyfriend-- stalker side included. The movie goers tend to lean toward Jacob because, well let's be honest, Taylor Lautner is much more attractive than Robert Pattison. I know it's hopeless to want Ren to win which just makes me even more frustrated with the books. The guy (Shay) who gets the main character to break countless rules and defy her parents is the one who wins over the intended soul mate who has not broken any rules and has loved the main character since he was young. That's awesome, ya know, just what I wanted.

Nightshade

 
To continue with my werewolf/vampire book experiment, I read Nightshade. It seems to me that all teenage girl books need insanely dumb teenage girls to make them popular. Perhaps this device is used to make the readers feel smart. In this book, the main character, Calla (what a pretty name), is the alpha of her pack, the Nightshades. The 'Keepers' (the masters of the werewolf pack) want to create a third pack to protect a sacred site, Haldis. The alpha in the other pack, the Banes, is to mate with Calla. Renier (Ren) is the alpha of the Bane pack and is extremely good looking, not a bad choice right?

Calla was with her second in command, Bryn, patrolling the sacred sight when a bear was attacking a human. For some reason Calla felt like she had to protect this human and she saved him, breaking a rule set in effect by the Keepers. He was bleeding out and could have died from blood loss but she healed him which was the rule she broke. In order to heal him, he drank her blood. Pack blood can heal every injury which was what saved Shay, the human (weird blood thingy-- more like vampire-ish than werewolf-y if you ask me).

Calla thinks that it won't be a big deal, I mean it's not like she's ever going to see him again right? Wrong. He was at school the next, the new transfer student. Basically she falls for Shay even though Ren is cuter and who she's supposed to be with (she admits it all the time being all he was made for me). With Shay, Calla discovers that her life has pretty much been a lie-- one that all the werewolves were living.

Anyways, Calla runs off with Shay to help the 'Searchers,' the Keepers sworn enemies, the ones she's killed and fought before. Now she's on their side fighting for her pack and her freedom.

Close Reading Bingo

Rule #6
In the exert The Mezzanine, by Nichason Baker, the author uses high language to describe the lobby of his office building along with his over the top appearance. (Found Here)

Rule #2
Baker describes as the escalator as "They were the free standing kind: a pair of integral signs swooping upward between the two floors they served without struts or piers to bear any intermediate weight" and  he tells us that "On sunny days like this one, a temporary, steeper escalator of daylight, formed by intersections of the lobby's towering volumes of marble and glass, met the real escalators just above their middle point, spreading into a needly area of shine where it fell against their brushed-steel side-pannels, and adding long glossy highlights to each of the black rubber handrails." (Found Here)

Rule #1
He says whatever comes to mind, saying that his parents "would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them," shows that he doesn't really care what he says, just wants to get his point across. (Found Here)

Rule #7
This excerpt was not extremely musical. (Found Here)


Best Paragraph so far:
In the opening page of Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger underscores the teenage angst bursting though the young, yet disillusioned, Holden Caulfield. Lowbrow words like "lousy," "crap," "stuff,' "hell," "crumby," and "damn" accentuate Holden's anger as he rambles the opening of his story. Furthermore, sentence fragments, such as, "One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour," destroy any last vestige of formality, further developing the aura of simply telling a story to a friend. Despite a Dickens allusion, the majority of the passage is purely denotative, lacking symbolism. This expository passage helps develop Holden's past. Although the majority of this passage is about Holden's family and past, the majority of the character development shines through Salinger's diction and style. (Found Here)

Practice Diction Analysis

In J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, the coarsely low-level formality, barefaced connotation, and caterwauling sound convey the matter-of-fact attitude the character has towards his situation. Salinger describes the parents as "touchy as hell" but also as "nice and all" which suggests that the character cares for his parents but has to give reason for not explaining his childhood. He has no patience for small talk or background information referring to it as that "kind of crap." The skipping of details infers the apathetic regard and reluctance of speaking about the topic and telling people his story in general.

Currently

Deadly Little Games by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
Damned by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Pages This Week: 851

Pages This Semester: 2602

In contrast to Stardust, the narrator of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian demonstrates a thorough understanding of sophisticated, picturesque language( Find it here on Keep It Classy).

This is just one of the fantastic sentences in this post. She describes the language so well that I can clearly picture what the passage is like without ever reading what she looked at.

Cormac McCarthy's diction in Blood Meridian creates a common, harmonious sound to the passage. I fell like it could be a poem almost with it slow, music like qualities (Find it here on To Kill a Mockingjay).

The entire post had descriptive language just like this sentence. The adjectives used are ones that I didn't think about and she cleverly puts them together to create a ribbon of description.

Weird Poems

In the book Crusade that I wrote about in the last post, every chapter begins with a poem. They are all dark and 'scary,' I thought I should share one in case people are interested.

We are strong of mind and heart

Mesmerism our deadly art

We can seduce even the most pure

From our control there is no cure

So resist us now if you can

Declare your loyalty only to man

But in the night you'll beg and crawl

On your knees you soon will fall

Crusade

Thankfully I was able to read a second book this week, Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Crusade

 Personally I'm not a fan of vampire books and this new craze with them and of course werewolves, but I know that many people are. To gather a better opinion of these types of books I picked up a vampire/werewolf book from the library. The only real vampire kinda books I've read have been the Twilight series which was pretty good but I wouldn't say that it changed my life or that I could read it multiple times and not get sick of it.

This book takes a darker view on the vampires. The vampires cannot go out into the sun because will die (much more exciting than 'I can't be in the sun or I'll start sparkling') Solomon, the spokesperson for the 'vampire nation' spread lies that vampires can survive off animal blood, wrong, they can't. Another difference in this is that people can't be changed by being bitten, they have to drink the blood of a vampire. This vampire is their sire and they are forever faithful to their sire until their sire dies.

Remember all those legends about vampires not being able to be in the sun, not being able to look at crosses or touch holy water or garlic? Well, in this book they're all true. The vampires are portrayed as the 'Cursed Ones' and should be feared unlike the friendly Cullen family. There are hunters who are trained to kill the vampires but they're losing, terribly. The book follows the first ever hunter group. There are Hunters who are trained and then given an elixir that will make them almost as strong and fast as vampires and then there are hunters who have no potion but are still trained to fight. There is a group of six hunters that the book follows, one Hunter with five hunters killing vampires and saving people-- mostly at least.

Deadly Little Games

I have already told you about the first two books in the Touch series and this is going to be about the third.

Deadly Little Games by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Amazingly enough this book once again has an extremely similar plot line, oh wait, it's the exact same one as the past two. I had some high hopes that after two books full of creepy stalker notes and people trying to kill each other the stalker notes would be left out of the third book and left maybe just the trying to kill people? if even that. Yeah, no. Apparently I'm not good at guessing, probably shouldn't buy a lottery ticket.

This book is once again about Camelia getting stalker notes. Oh just kidding, IT CHANGED! Camelia isn't the one getting the stalker notes this time, it's ADAM. Wow, she has written three books all  centered around someone getting death threats and stalker notes and ultimately almost killed (and by the way in all three books Ben is the one doing the saving). There is supposed to be a fourth book coming out soonish and I have an awful feeling that it will too be filled with stalker notes and almost death.

I finished this book because I felt obligated since I read the other two. It isn't too bad, there is still excitement, I just wish that it wasn't exactly like the other two. It was rather fun to trying and figure out who the creepy stalker was because it is never obvious until the end but there are definitely hints to help you figure it out. It turned out to be the psycho chick that Adam started hanging out with. She loves him but Camelia is getting in the way. Of course there is a lot going on beside that but it's pretty much the best action in the book.

If you want to know more about this book just read about the other two summaries and rearrange the names and there you go.

Falling Behind

I am sad to say that even though I am well ahead on my reading I have been ignoring my blog since last Friday. I have read two books since then and have yet to blog about them. I should probably start with the book  I read last week but didn't blog about.

Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

This is the sequel to Deadly Little Secret that I blogged about last week. In the first book we met Ben and Canmelia who were meant to be together (as all the readers know but for conflict Ben doesn't). In this second book, Ben didn't come back to school for three months and when he is at school he refuses to talk to Camelia, frustrating for all by the way. Camelia longs for Ben but decides to try and let go by dating a really 'hot' guy recently hired at her work, Adam. Their dates seem to be going really well and they are enjoying themselves... except, he's not Ben.

Throughout their dating Camelia is receiving death threats and scary stalker notes just like she did in the last book before she almost died at the hand of her ex-boyfriend, Matt. This scares, obviously, but not enough to tell her parents or the police.She doesn't want to trouble her parents with the notes because her parents are going through a rough time and she doesn't want to go to the police because she doesn't think it is serious enough. The other problem is... should she tell Adam or is he the one sending them?

Ben finds out about Adam and decides to confront him in front of Camelia. It turns out Adam used to be Ben's best friend until Adam started an affair with Julie, Ben's old girlfriend. Adam loved Julie and blames Ben for her accidental death even though it wasn't Ben's fault and began dating Camelia to get back at Ben. What he didn't expect to happen was that he would actually fall for her.

Well in the end, the stalker notes were from this creepy weirdo girl at her school who hated Ben. She framed it to seem as if Ben was the one trying to kill her and left her all those notes and such. Well, she failed. Shocker, that wouldn't make a good ending especially since there is a third book.

Style Mapping

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Mud Bean by Annie Proulx
Macbeth by Shakespeare

All three of these titles are similar because of the boringly aggravated language use. Sadly, due to this, there isn't much to discuss. McCarthy's is more musical than Proulx with excerpts like ' Days of riding where there rode no soul save he.' compared to 'He kepthis butt cocked to one side, his feet up on the chute rails so the bull...' Shakespeare's writing is by far the most musical, the way the poetry flows together in all of the passages plus with the rhyming,

Second Witch:
'When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.' The language elevation for all three is moderately high to high and they are all connotative, the sound of the books is what really separates them.

Quarterly

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Pages This Week: 534

Pages This Semester: 1751

Sentences This Week:

1. "Forget him, Camelia," Kimmie says. "I mean, yes, he saved your life; it was very chivalrous of him. And, yes, he's totally buff, which further complicates things, but closure is way overrated, in my opinion, anyway." Deadly Little Secret

2. Last year he (Wes) left a Saran Wrapped rubber Teletubby in my duffel bag, along with a note that said, 'Save me. I'm suffocating.' Deadly Little Secret

I love that we get to pick the books that we read. This helps me push myself with some books and yet allows me to read a fun easy book when I need a break. I read a couple books that I have truly enjoyed while I pushed myself to finish ones that I don't care for, now that is a rare thing and something I am trying to work on. I can always tell when I really get into a book because I will read it all the time and everywhere and read over doing my homework. This past week I read two books and almost completely ignored most of my homework. I could not put them down, or I would put them down for about ten minutes while I ate or did a quick bit of homework. I came home from practice on Tuesday and read for about five hours straight and I read all the way to practice (hour and a half) and all the way back home again and then once I got home. Every time I had a break in a class, even if it was only five minutes, I would pull out my book and start reading it. I didn't pick up the third book to the series yesterday because I knew I needed to study, but then I spent the night making up what I thought the third book might be about. It's a sickness. I'm not quite sure why I am so engrossed in these books because this kind of thing is extremely rare for me.

It's like I'm caught up in a magically magnificent world where time is nonexistent and reality is nothing more than a dream.

My goals for next quarter are that I will find books like the ones I'm reading now that remind me why I love reading because I forget that a lot. It's hard for me to fall for a book and it's rare to find any that I can't put down. I need some more books that make me grow and some that make me fall back into love with reading. What I really want for this upcoming quarter is to find a balance.

Wrap Up of My Week

Last you heard, I was sick of reading The Help. Thankfully I went to the library to find another book. I found Deadly Little Secret. I actually finished it that night. It's about a girl who falls in love with this new boy at her school who supposedly killed his old girlfriend two years ago. This book is suspenseful and exciting because she has a stalker who leaves pictures of her in her mailbox and breaks into her house. The new kid, Ben, keeps telling her to trust him but everyone else says to stay away from her, that Ben's the one stalking her.

Ben can sense things, the future or past, when he touches something recently touched by a human or a human. The first time Ben touched Camelia (the main character), he could see that she would end up dead without him. It turns out that her ex-boyfriend was the one who stalked her. She loves art and works at the Knead, a pottery shop. This is where Matt, her ex, finds her and kidnaps her. He lures her out by telling her that Ben crashed into him and Matt wants Camelia to talk some sense into him.He ends up taking her to an abandoned trailer park, drugs her and ties her up. I don't want to give the whole story away so that's the ending you get, what will happen to her?

Don't worry, there's a second book, so how bad can it be? I also finished the second book which I will blog about later. :)

Getting Bored

I've been reading The Help, but I've been getting a little bored with it so I need to start another book and put this one down for a little bit before I come back to it. I would like to The Dart League King or The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but the thing is I kinda want a happy book. I've been reading all these depressing books lately and it's driving me crazy. I want a easy read that will make me laugh (either because it's supposed to or because the characters are dumb that it's comical) and maybe even a little girl drama that I usually hate. I don't know but I need to pick another book soon before I lose my mind. Well, whatever I pick I hope I don't have to put it down.

Currently (from last Friday)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Pages This Week: 150

Pages This Semester: 1217

 1. "Me watching Deni while pretending not to be watching Deni, which was kind of hard when your dad was a psychiatrist." Sea

2. "He should have been named White Fang."  My Life in Dog Years

3."Quincy launched himself from the ground, four-inch legs pumping, and caught the bear in the center of its chest." My Life in Dog Years 

4."I didn't mention that I considered the whole practice of school dances degrading or that they were just giant wastes of time and money." The Designated Ugly Fat Friend 

 These sentences aren't in any particular order but they all make me laugh. Each sentence is funny in the story context and I always love what makes me laugh. The only one that my readers may not understand is sentence number two. This is about the little dog who attacked a bear which is mentioned in sentence three.

Yum, Ziano's

I just had a fabulous dinner at Ziano's with my cousin and now I'm back to blog more! We both love country music and on the way home we heard the most obnoxious country song ever produced. "Bait a Hook" by Justin Moore. This song always get stuck in my head, for some reason I love this song but his accent is so insanely strong that it makes me smile :) talk about a good ol' country boy.

Here's some more about The Help:

The older generation in the book that have help seem more attached to them and think of them as family whereas the young women who have just hired help are rude and snappy towards them which makes me mad! Only a few, like Skeeter, remember having a black 'mother' raise them and still feel the sentimental connection there. If I was the help I would mouth off to those people like nobody's business, just like the character Minny. So far I am really enjoying the book but it just makes me so mad to know what these people went through because of their race. Next time I will have to pick a happy book. First the Hurricane Katrina book, then the tsunami orphanage one, and now  The Help. Yeah, I need a happy book next. Any suggestions?

The Help

This week I started my new book, The Help. I saw the movie when it first came out and I've been meaning to read the book. So far almost everything in the book is like the movie. You know it must be a good book when the movie so closely follows it. I absolutely adore Miss Skeeter. She seems to be the only one who genuinely cares about the help and treats them like real people, at least of the adults.

I hate blogging about the books I read because I feel like it spoils it for people who want to read them or might put someone off to the book. Because of this, I have decided to just write little snippets of The Help and still give generalizations but not really write a whole lot about the plot.

The help in the book all live in the same area and they're all really close because they have to be. They need each other to get on through the day. Most employers don't really pay attention to their help unless it's to tell them to do something, because of this, the help can hear the gossip about other people's help. This news, they will then spread to their friends and warn them of what the person needs to improve on before they are fired.

I will write more later but now I have to go. My absolutely sweet cousin is taking me out to dinner :)

A New Poem

I need to be adding more poems to my little black book, well actually it's brown but whatever. Here is one by my favorite poet, ee cummings

i carry your heart with me

by ee cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                  i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Currently

Sea by Heidi R. Kling

Pages This Week: 327

Pages This Semester: 1067

1. "They are from the countryside and have rarely seen girls with SpongeBob yellow hair." Sea

2. "Me watching Deni while pretending not to be watching Deni, which was kind of hard when your dad was a psychiatrist." Sea

 

3. "We do not choose what happens to us. We can only choose what we do after. What we do now. We can only choose to keep going." Sea

I like all three of these sentences but I think that the third is my favorite. This is coming from a tsunami survivor. He lost his family and was now an orphan but decides to keep on going.

Bring the Children Home

This book has reminded me of the mission trip I took a few years ago to an orphanage in Mexico. The experience marked me for life and I know that is exactly where I will end up. I am meant to work at that orphanage, no matter how dangerous Mexico is. These are my friends and family that came along :)

This orphanage has yet to be finished but once it is there will be over 350 beautiful Mexican orphans living there. I hate not being there. I just want to go back and help again. There was a day we called Mercy Day and we went and handed out food to families and children. It was hard for me to understand seeing as how I'd only been taking Spanish for a couple months before I went but here are some stories I got to hear.

There was a little boy who was about 6, I'm not sure about his name but he had just lost his mom. His dad had died long ago and now it was just this little boy looking after himself. Many people think, well why doesn't another family just take him in? These families are barely supporting themselves, if they're even doing that, they can't afford to take on another one. I heard so many stories about children whose parents died because they starved themselves to death so that the children could eat.

This orphanage will give these children and loving home where they will be safe and cared for. I will probably make more post sharing various stories I hear later.

These are two orphanage workers  that I became very close with and still keep in contact with. On the left is Leo and the middle is Eddy.

My friend TJ bought a bracelet from this little girl who gave him the biggest hug and cried and just loved on him like no other. He was her personal savior, she would eat tonight. She had hope.

This little girl was so hungry that she immediately began eating a raw potato that we had given her. The kids all began eating their goods as soon as they could but knowing that it would have to last them until who knows when. It shattered my heart into a million pieces seeing them so hungry.

I can't wait to go back. I need to go back. I want to bring the children home.

Tsunami

Right now I should be writing my Lord of the Flies essay, but instead I decided to start the new book for my blog. It's named Sea by Heidi R. Kling. I'm finding it quite a sad book so far. The main character, Sienna Jones, lost her mother three years ago in a plane crash into the Indian Ocean on the way back from a missions trip. Her parents and godfather went around the world after natural disasters and worked with the kids who have PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her father took up a clinic in California after Sienna's mom died and had not been on any mission trips, until now.

Sienna has PTSD from her mother's death so her father thought that working with orphans from a tsunami in Indonesia would not only help the children, but also Sienna. She is extremely reluctant to go because of her fear of flying but ends up coming along anyways. There is a tiny girl named Elli that she is really bonding with. She does art therapy (an occupation I have been considering for myself) with the girls and goes to the older girl group therapy sessions.

It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear all the stories that these girls tell. One girl was running with her seven year old sister away from the tsunami and when the little sister couldn't run anymore the older picked her up and carried her. The older sister tripped and dropped the younger. There were tons of people running and she couldn't reach her little sister to save her. The water washed her away. The older sister had to climb a tree and watch the water take her village and loved ones.

Currently

The Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

Pages This Week: 277

Pages This Semester: 740

1. "He should have been named White Fang."  My Life in Dog Years

2. "Quincy launched himself from the ground, four-inch legs pumping, and caught the bear in the center of its chest." My Life in Dog Years

3. "I didn't mention that I considered the whole practice of school dances degrading or that they were just giant wastes of time and money." The Designated Ugly Fat Friend

My number one sentence is definitely the first. A tiny dog attacked a huge bear to protect his owner. Best part was that the tiny dog won even though he wasn't even a quarter of the size of that huge bear.

Hobbit Day

This post should be a little happier than my last two rants :) Today is Hobbit Day! I hope you all like Hobbits and if not, too bad, its Hobbit Day whether you like it or not. I hope you like Lord of the Rings, maybe you can have a marathon this weekend or read all the books.

This is also Constitution Week so tell your history teacher and maybe ask for extra credit :)

Waste of Time

Dear readers (if I have any),

I just finished the DUFF and am rather upset that I did. My mother is always telling me to finish books out and stick with them even when I start to hate, well really dislike the characters. I regret it. I read on because I was interested to see what would happen with her dad. Well guess what! n.o.t.h.i.n.g. Doesn't that just really make you mad, because I am certainly pretty upset! I just wasted my life reading to the end of the book to never know what all happened with her dad or mom. what.the.heck. That was my other rant for the day, sorry to intrude on your pretty pretty princess mood with all this negativity.

Sincerely,
Mello

Chick Lit Books... My Rant

As I had predicted I ended up hating the characters. I had such high hopes. The main character, Bianca, was so cynical and anti-drama that I actually thought I might enjoy it. Wrong. She's a whole lot dumber than I expected her to be, now granted, I did expect her to make stupid choices because it's a book but seriously? Come on people! I just wanted to slap her straight. I do like her best friends and I feel sorry for them because Bianca is an idiot. I am extremely close to putting this book down, however, I really like Bianca's dad and am seriously considering finishing it just to hear about him. Isn't that pathetic? Reading a book to find out what happens to a minor character. I'm sorry, but I can't recommend this book to anyone unless of course the person loves stupid characters that you always want to yell at. I really wish people in real life weren't this dumb, but of course I'm sure that there are quite a few. I'm sorry that this has been such a long rant but I'm rather disappointed in this book.

The DUFF

I just started reading The Designated Ugly Fat Friend (DUFF) by Kody Keplinger. I am extremely skeptical of stereotypical chick lit books but this was supposed to be pretty decent and not as "girlie." The character is rather cynical which makes the book fabulous. A chick book where the chick hates the drama found in normal chick lit books. f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c.  Of course this is a chick book so there is that obnoxious man whore. The only reason I haven't stopped reading it because of that is the fact that the main character recognizes that Wesley is one and hates his guts. Now that's what I'm talking about! I'm sick of high school girls falling in 'love' with the dumb jock. Oh please darling, get over yourself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all against high school dating. My brother is getting married to his high school sweetheart but trust me, it's a rare case. It's possible, just improbable. If you're in love with your boyfriend, cool beans, good for you.

Sadly, I think that this book will turn for the worse when the main character realizes that she does in fact like Wesley and my hopes and dreams of a good chick book will be crushed. Maybe by the time this happens I will be okay with it and suddenly fall into the trap of dresses, make-up, and high heels. Ya know, or not, but whatever.

Claims of the Week

1. In Todrick Hall's "I Wanna Be On Glee," Hall's plea to Glee creator Ryan Murphy shows Hall's inventiveness and artistic talents through the music video's cleverly pariodistic lyrics, assertive instrumentals, and effervescent choreography.
(Zengerine's blog here)

I believe that this claim is extremely strong in the description and backing up the opinion shared.


2.  In the "So Long, Farewell" musical number of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp children's bright  facial expressions, poised choreography, and cooing, melodic music develops the sense of lighthearted pleasure and soothing amusement.
(Keep It Classy's blog here)

Keep It Classy's claim is well put together because of the specificness of the adjectives.

3. This refreshingly bright photograph taken in the environmental center reflects an existence of both dreamlike tranquility and effortless freedom.
(Look Up... (NOW!)'s blog here)

The simplistic element to this claim inspired me because the point was clearly made without wordiness.

Close Reading

For this assignment I chose one of Todrick Hall's many videos. This is a flash mob done at Neiman Marcus.

Observe:
Setting: crowded, cramped
Choreography: excited, alive, energetic, bustling, crazy, passionate
Sound: jubilant, playful
Facial Expressions: mischievous, alert, adventurous

Infer:
Energetic
Explosive
Creative
Celebratory
Confident
Jovial


In this flash mob by Todrick Hall, the mischievous and adventurous expressions, jubilant sounds, and bustling moves, reveal the explosive creativity and confident energy of the dancers.

I wanted to do that video because most haven't seen it but are more familiar with his Beyonce End of Time Target flash mob (video below)

New Poem Discovery

October

 

By Bill Berkson b. 1939 Bill Berkson

 

I

 

It’s odd to have a separate month. It

escapes the year, it is not only cold, it is warm

and loving like a death grip on a willing knee. The

Indians have a name for it, they call it:

“Summer!” The tepees shake in the blast like roosters

at dawn. Everything is special to them,

the colorful ones.

 

 

II

 

Somehow the housewife does not seem gentle.

Is she angry because her husband likes October?

Is it snow bleeds softly from her shoes?

The nest eggs have captured her,

but April rises from her bed.

 

 

III

 

“The beggars are upon us!” cried Chester.

 

Three strangers appeared at the door, demanding ribbons.

 

The October wind . . . nests

 

 

IV

 

Why do I think October is beautiful?

It is not, is not beautiful.

                                                  But then

what is there to hold one’s interest

between the various drifts of a day’s

work, but to search out the differences

                                          the window and grate—

but it is not, is not

beautiful.

 

 

V

 

I think your face is beautiful, the way it is

close to my face, and I think you are the real

October with your transparence and the stone

of your words as they pass, as I do not hear them.

I love this poem because October is my favorite month. The beautiful leaves fill my open window's view and the soft cries of the birds as they fly away surround my ears. I hate to think about the upcoming winter and how soon the leaves will be gone and snow will replace the wonderful world I had come to know and love. The cold will intrude and wash the beauty away until we forget what it once was.

Currently

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Pages This Week: 100

Pages This Semester: 463

1. In the minds of some Americans the very thought of two Syrians paddling through New Orleans together after a hurricane would seem suspicious enough. (to be arrested as terrorists) Zeitoun 

2. Now he was alone. Zeitoun 

3. He had found his messenger. Zeitoun 

The third sentence is probably my favorite because this is a man who has been in a high security prison for over a week without his wife or four kids knowing. He found a missionary who was willing to call his wife and let her know that Zeitoun was still alive.

Felt Hat Day and Balance Awareness Week

If only the whole world would recognize that today is Felt Hat Day. Everyone should just whip out the blue flower felt hat hiding in the closet. We all know that everyone has one. Psht, I have like four, what about you? Only three? What a shame. I win :)

Also this week is Balance Awareness Week. I have very little balance. It's almost nonexistent. I hope yours is better than mine, well that or you wouldn't be able to walk. But hey, if you don't have very good balance just wear this bracelet because it miraculously gives you balance! Craziness I know! You put on this little expensive bracelet and it's magic!

9/11 Tribute

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and this is kinda my tribute. I will be posting videos that you may not want to see so censor as you like.

This video is of the two plane crashes.

This next video is a clip from a 9/11 special that showed calls loved ones made from the towers to say good-bye.

This video is just a patriot song I thought I would include, it's country so if you don't like that kind of music you probably won't like it.

I remember exactly what I was doing that morning I saw the video. I was in the first grade and was sitting in the living room with the TV on waiting for my mom. She had the news on and I asked her why the building was on fire. She dropped everything she was doing and just stared at the TV in puzzlement. We saw the second plane crash into it and that's when she frantically started calling my aunt. My aunt lives in New York and she seems to be all over the city. I went to school that day thinking that my aunt had died. We didn't hear from her for a couple days afterward. It turns out she was on the subway and they stopped above ground and she watched the second plane fly into the building.

Some crazy facts are that only 40% of the bodies were found afterwards; that means that over half the bodies were never recovered. Only 20 of our states are making children learn about what happened on 9/11 in history classes. That just makes my blood boil. We should never forget, we should forgive but we can't forget all the heroes that died that day. It is an important day in our history.

This poem was written by a little boy who lost his dad on 9/11

SPECIAL GARDEN (A Child cry to his Daddy)

In my garden, I will plant some of Daddy's things

The hat he wears for his favorite baseball team.
His special notes he wrote to me.
His favorite songs he likes to sing.
His special collect cars he bought last spring.

His favorite tie that has grease stains.
His favorite fishing pole, even though he has never caught anything.

And I'm going to plant some of my tears, these come from me.
Every night before I go to sleep, I will go out to my special garden
and pray over Daddy's things.

Currently

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Pages This Week:  160

Pages This Semester: 363

1. "But he was optimistic." Zeitoun

2. "At that moment, Zeitoun knew that the levees had been overtopped or compromised." Zeitoun

3. "In another, older box he came upon another photo, sepia-toned and in a rickety frame, and paused." Zeitoun

Sentence one is my favorite because the main character has just survived Katrina and yet he was optimistic. Man, I would have been so freaked out.

Personality Test

I was rated as ESFP, whatever that means. Beware world, I was born a diva.

Apparently I am:

• very expressed extravert
• moderately expressed sensing personality
• very expressed feeling personality
• moderately expressed perceiving personality

Looks like I am a "performer" so watch out Hollywood! ha, or not.

Extraverted	Sensing	Feeling	Perceiving
Strength of the preferences %
100	38	88	56

O Captain! My Captain!

For those of you who saw Dead Poets Society you should remember this poem but it is a classic and a pretty stinking good one. Here you go:

O Captain! My Captain!

Walt Whitman

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.


O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.


My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

National Waffle Week

I know I said that the following posts from the last would be more poems but I just have to share this with you. I love finding random holidays. This week is National Waffle Week so I would suggest that you hurry on out to IHOP or somewhere that has really good waffles :) bring it on! I don't care if it's a waffle cone or a waffle burger, just appreciate the holiday!

Psht! Of Course I Read Poetry!

This is for everyone that is behind on the poetry journals. For the next few posts I will post some good poems to add to your collection. I found this poem in eighth grade when I did a research project on ee cummings and feel in love with it. I know it's long but maybe you will like it enough to put it in your journal anyway.

This is called Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town by ee cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

Currently

My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Pages This Week: 102
This Semester: 203

1. "He should have been named White Fang."  My Life in Dog Years

2. "Quincy launched himself from the ground, four-inch legs pumping, and caught the bear in the center of its chest." My Life in Dog Years

3. "There seemed to be a half-dozen storms every August, and they were rarely worth the trouble. This one, named Katrina, would be no different."  Zeitoun

My number one sentence of the week is said about a little dog named Quincy who attacked a bear. Quincy wasn't even a foot tall and yet he was unharmed and saved his owner from a bear.

Dogs Like Tickling People Too

Josh was a Border collie and extremely smart, as all Border collies seem to be. Always serious and thinking, Paulsen would tickle his belly in order to loosen up the serious dog. Paulsen had been having a rough few days and was rather somber compared to his usual jovial self. In order to fix this, Josh decided to tickle him just as Paulsen tickled him. " At the height of this I was sitting in an old easy chair with my legs stretched out thinking dark thoughts and Josh came up in front of me and sat, studying me for a full minute, his eyes clear and calm. Then he seemed to shrug, turned around so he had his back to me, straddled my boot, then backed up my leg until his teeth were even with my foot. I had never seen him do anything like it and thought he might be going crazy when suddenly he reached down, grabbed my boot and with a mighty lunge jerked me completely out of the chair on my butt and then jumped on me and pretended to be biting my ribs, back and forth, tickling me."

Fighting Bears? Psht, No Problem

Quincy was mentioned in the last post; for those of you that didn't read it should. I mean who doesn't want to read about a dog jumping through a drive through window? Anyways, you should remember that this is a tiny dog. Most people would think that bears would frighten such a little thing but no. This is quite a change to the regular dog saves Gary Paulsen's life because this time the dog saves Paulsen's wife! Wow, craziness I know!

Quincy loved the Paulsen but absolutely adored his wife. They were the best of pals and inseparable. The Paulsens gardened every year which gave them a nice food supply and added to their little income. Bears seemed to love eating all the food so Paulsen would just shoot a gun nearish them to scare them away. There was a particular bear that seemed too friendly for its own good. One day Mrs. Paulsen was working in the garden with Quincy beside her and the bear started to charge at them. She went through all the proper procedures but nothing was stopping the bear. "Quincy launched himself from the ground, four-inch legs pumping, and caught the bear in the center of its chest."

"The bear started scraping with its front paws and my wife chose that moment to use all the good luck from the rest of her life. She rushed in, grabbed Quincy, pulled him off the bear and ran for the house." She pulled him from the bear? She is crazy! Looks like she was mad for Quincy. Mrs. Paulsen made it safe to the house and Quincy was unharmed. Psht, fighting bears, what a piece of cake. The bear had tried to bite Quincy but he was too close and small to bite. Hmm, maybe little dogs can have the advantage.