Into the Wild

My first impression of this book is that the story started and ended within the opening paragraph. I don't like how the reader is told that their protagonist is dead in the first sentence. Sure is opens up as a mystery, but I haven't been able to connect to him yet. His death brought no emotional blow to me. I like how each chapter is started by a descripiton from another piece of work to help describe the scenes in Chris' life that we plunge into. One word to describe Chris is done. He is done with his overbearing but loving family, finished with a conventional life and wants to start a new chapter. He's done with his name, his past identity and everything that ties him to it. Individuality and the discovery of one's self is the main theme that is present thus far in the novel. Everything Chris does, and every scene Krakauer describes bleeds the need for individuality. There are many books, movies and things throughout history that people go off in need to find themselves or to find an adventure. The massive character growth Chris McCandless goes through reminds me of the sixth Harry Potter book. It was in that book that Harry Potter fully discovered who he was, what he regretted, but also what he was capable of. In some ways I can really connect to some of the thoughts that Chris goes through, after all, he was pretty close to my age. There are some days when I get up and follow through my daily dull routine of going to school, coming home being with my family, doing homework and just itching the whole while to leave it all behind and do something that will get my blood rushing and do something of my choosing. Everybody holds the idea somewhere deep in their hearts of wanting to leave everything behind and be completely selfish and do whatever they please. But most balk if they have the chance. They are held in thier homes and places by duty, loyalty and love to people other than themselves. It has always been an dreams of people throughout history to set out for the horizon with nothing but the adventure ahead of them weighing down their mind.

Second Review

August Wilson. The name brings forth many different emotions. He could be argued to be one of the most influential African-American playwrites in American history. This may be so, but his play The Piano Lesson, does not demonstrate any significant and rousing ideas. Filled with sterotypical names and actions, Wilson attempts to show how he is above sterotypes, but I feel he just succumbs to these in the end. The play revolves around a family despute over selling a piano that has been in the family for years, ever since their family was in slavery. With a hint of a mystery murder, that Boy Willie, the younger brother and trouble causer of the the family, may or may not have committed. Berniece is the lead female in the play, she has a daughter and moved up north to try and make a suitable life for her and her daughter after her husband dies. She is stubborn and very strong willed with what she wants, and gets her way most of the time. Berniece lives with Doaker, her uncle and he provides the calming voice of wisdom in the play. Not only does Boy Willie's presence bring drama, the friend he brings with him, Lymon, brings on many desputes into the home as well. In what should have been the climax of the story, flops miserably will it tries desperately to tie everything together and add a pinch of extremely hidden symbolism on top of the chaos. His themes are hard to discern and even now I'm not quite sure of his plot. The dialogue was simple, the ideas so simple they seemed to have no point.
A taste of what the entire play is like "Hey Berniece if you and Maretha don't keep playing on that piano ain't no telling me and Sutter both liable to be back." The whole play revolves around this circular argument that does not even matter.

Reviews

Book:

He Shall Thunder in the Sky: An Amelia Peabody Mystery by Elizabeth Peters

This book is a continuation the Amelia Peabody series, it takes place in Egypt during the breakout of the First World War. Amelia Peabody and her family are devoted Egyptologists who seem to always find themselves in the heart of murder mystery. This season's find marks the family as a huge target for both sides of the war. Ramses, Amelia's son has cultivated talents as good as any spy. Nefret, Amelia's adoptive daughter is as giving as she is beautiful, her work in saving the fallen women of Egypt's Red Blind district marks her as an oddity among the Anglo-Egyptian society, but her beauty is a draw for many friends and foes alike. Amelia's hot tempered, but always righteous husband Emerson completes the family. Together they stand strong and prove to be a impenetrable wall for enemies who try to break through.
The plot is swiftly moving and keeps the reader wanting more. Presented as factual papers from the Emerson household and gathered by "the editor" (who in reality is the author Elizabeth Peters) she offers up different flavors in the story by adding viewpoints. Rameses' excursions and things he keeps from his mother are always interesting on-your-toes action sequences. One voice flows seamlessly into the next and the reader is always involved in guess "who-done it?" The ending ties up beautifully and unexpectedly, leaving the reader jumping for joy. Long awaited romances blossom and the bad guys are behind bars.
Amelia's voice that Peters gives her is one of a fiery woman who knows what she wants and is strikingly easy to connect to. Sometimes she seems like my mother (fitting for she is the mother of three, one of blood and two adopted) and other times, she seems like a best friend and close companion. I seem to know her family as well as I know my own. Elizabeth Peters has a PhD.D in Egyptology, so not only does every scene she paint sound so real and tangible, her characters are telling the truth and are knowledgeable in what they are saying. It gives the story a ring of authenticity. She's a fantastic writer and portrays all arrays of human emotion, while still stringing together a fantastic mystery story.

"We might soon be in greater danger than those who remained in England...Archaeology offers excellent cover for spying and subversion."

Other reviews to be continued...

The Sit Down

Hooray! Obama is the President-elect! I'm not really surprised by the win, but at the same time I am quite excited. I was getting on the highway, coming home from my best bud (and coloring buddy's) house when I heard the news that Obama had won California and was now the new President (come January)! It was really cool, a ton of people on the highway started honking their horns and flashing their brights in celebration.

If I could have twenty minutes of Mr. Obama's time, I would let him do most of the talkinging. I would introduce myself, shake his hand (or give him a hug if i was allowed) and talk about his past. I think it's really cool how he was actually just a kid from Hawaii growing up in a regular neighborhood, his family was not a big deal, there were no political ties to his family and he grew up to be the next President of the Unitied States of America. I would ask him when and why he first decided to really be the president, if he had any other aspirations when he was little and I would ask him something personal, like where his favorite country he's visited is. Or I would ask him what he's most excited for in becoming president!



In the next four years, I think just like most Americans, I expect change. I know from my years and years of history classes that many will be disappointed when change does not come extremely quickly, but the way our democratic government is set up is so change can't come too quick lest it be under a major crisis. The major things our new very democratic D.C. will be trying overcome the major recession we are in. They will really try to get the houseing market up and running again, create more jobs to stimulate the economy. By 2012 I really hope our dollar, as well as our relations with many other countries is a lot stronger. This is a bit of a selfish wish, I want to be able to travel all over the world and not become totally bankrupt.


When I am forty, I think the biggest struggle America will have, is readjusting to not being the world's only superpower. I'm pretty sure China will be the world's next superpower. When I'm in my forties I would like to be happily married with three kids, two boys and a girl (the girl being the youngest) and have a home on a lake. The economy will be much more stable, there will be a lot less worries about losing jobs, the banks failing and stocks dropping and losing savings. My husband will be a rich Spaniard, and together, with our children we will travel back and forth between our house here on the lake and our villa in the south of Spain. It will be awesome.

Venting

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I don't know what else to do right now. No sleep, no food in my house, no car, no plan. I don't know what the hell im supposed to do about college. I have turned nothing in yet, people have already gotten in, i don't know where i want to go my counselor gave me new places to look at so im pretty much back to where i started and i still dont know what to do and im so aggrivated im writing in run on sentences! Stupid stupid future planning. I hate it. senior year is supposed to be easier. I cant even do my math. calc is not possible, it has no functions in ANYBODY'S life. my stupid teacher who cant even teach it because she's "learning as she goes" doesn't even need it and shes a math major! its not relavent. i feel so helpless in that class and i cant stand it. I don't know how im gonna take a whole year of that crap. even with that curve i still have a c in that class. when and if i ever get into college, im screwing myself over this stupid !@%$#@% class!
sorry for you who have heard me rant about it before. Its pretty much whats getting me down. Puts me in a wickedly great mood for this class.... wow i can feel the sarcasm leaking out of the computer. Sorry Jaws, i'll try to wipe it up before leaving.

Poetry Vocab

Definitions provided by Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Rhythm: an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech

Rhyme Scheme: the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem

Alliteration: the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (as wild and woolly, threatening throngs) —called also head rhyme initial rhyme

Anaphora: repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect

Consonance: correspondence or recurrence of sounds especially in words ; specifically : recurrence or repetition of consonants especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels

Assonance: relatively close juxtaposition of similar sounds especially of vowels or repetition of vowels without repetition of consonants (as in stony and holy) used as an alternative to rhyme in verse

Escribe Libre

"Escribe Libre" means "free write" in SApanish (or at least i think/hope it does...) embarrassing if not! Oh well.

I really do like procrastinating. For instance, I have a hard calc test tomorrow that i've been hearing complaints about for about a week, and have i started to study...nope! Instead I've been doing all other homework before it. I also have this hard worksheet my teacher gave us three days to work on, so obviously it's a challenge, but i haven't even looked at it. Crap.

Another instance of my procrastination: So, I got out of play practice around six o'clock, and since today was a late start, all i had to eat was two delicious extra chocolatey chocolate chip waffles (made for me by a very sweet someone) at around 9:15 this morning i was pretty hungry. Instead of just going home and making something to eat, i go ahead and make a whole production out of it! I found out my flag football game was cancelled, so that even gave me extra time, but i call my superfan and let him know the game was cancelled, he seemed a bit busy and i didn't feel like being by myself so i called my fav gal pal Code Name: Angelina Ballerina/Monet to come dine with me. So, a half hour later we're sitting down at Panera and who should i run into? Our buddy Kraus! Twas a good time indeed. Ang and i stayed at Panera for a good hour chatting, then went on a driving hunt/ adventure (at least for me) to find a coffee shop to talk some more at. So by the time she had to go to her tutor and me dragging my butt home, it was already about 8:10...

I feel like the children's story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" i just keep finding something more and more to do. Maybe, if i was to be an animal i would be a mouse? Oh that's depressing. I would want to come back as something sweet, like a COUGER! ya... writing group, i'll know you actually read my blog entry if you comment on what kind of animal i'd be and what you think you'd be!!

Ok, off to do my studying!
... after my shower

Love is like...

Love is like water.

You don't always need to see it to know its there, and you are never sure when it's going to miraculously fall all around you and witness first hand things come alive because of it. Love is like water because you never really realize how much you need it until you're not getting it. There is no substitute for love, people try all sorts of things, but there is no substitute, just like how people try to substitute water for other things. Yes gatoraid and vitamin water are good for a while, but there is nothing like a ice cold, rushing into your mouth, thirst quenching glass of water. Sometimes a puddle of water goes unnoticed, and in everyday life and ancient stories alike, unrequited and unnoticed love is here as well. But most importantly, just like water, everyone needs love.

A Love Poem

Evening Song
by Sidney Lanier

Look off, dear love, across the sallow sands,
And mark yon meeting of sun and ses;
How long they kiss in sight of of all the lands,
Ah! Longer, longer we.

Now, in the sea's red vintage melts the sun
As Egypt's pearl dissolved in rosy wine
And Cleopatra night drinks all. 'Tis done,
Love, lay thine hand in mine.


Come forth, sweet stars, and comfort heaven's heart,
Glimmer, ye waves, 'round else unlighted sands;
Oh night! divorced our sun and sky apart
Never our lips, our hands.


The theme of this poem is the love between two people and how nature mirrors it, but never captures it. The whole poem is a metaphor for their love. In the first stanza were the sun and sea meet and "kiss in sight of all the lands," the author gives the reader a visual image of two beautiful things coming together, but he finishes the stanza off by saying "Ah! longer, longer we". Their kiss lasts longer than the the beautiful view the poet provides. Lanier goes on to the second stanza with another familiar and breathtaking sight of a fiery red sun dipping behind a river. This moment in the day, and the connection the two different things make is the author's similie for holding hands. Cleopatra could drink in that beautiful view until it's over, but the author has their loves' hand in thier own for time after that. And even when the day is gone, and "night divorce our sun and sky apart/ Never our lips, our hands" their love goes past the moment of the day and the sun setting moment, it goes on and on.

A Poem I like

LA MER by Oscar Wilde


A white mist drifts across the shrouds,
A wild moon in this wintry sky
Gleams like an angry lion's eye
Out of a mane of tawny clouds.
The muffled steersman at the wheel
Is but a shadow in the gloom;
-And in the throbbing engine-room
Leap the long rods of polished steel.
The shattered storm has left its trace
Upon this huge and heaving dome,
For the thin threads of yellow foam
Float on the waves like ravelled lace.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/oscar_wilde/poems/11085

This poem grabbed my attention with the different way the sea is portrayed. Most of the time, oceans and seas are shown as beautiful and peaceful places, but with Wilde's fierce description makes it feel dangerous and uncontrollable. I also find it intresting that Oscar Wilde would right such a dark poem, he is most known to me for his witty quotes and his attempts at deep poetry. I like this poem for its simplicity. It's words are simple, the rhyming scheme is basic, and the picture he is painting is very vivid and beautiful in a haunting way. The title is straightforward, it simply means "The Sea" in French, giving it a feeling of connecting with more than the English speaking population. It tells what the poem is about, but at the same time, it leaves the reading asking if it is going to be a cheesy rendition of the beauty of the sea, or about nature, or of the creatures of the sea... The possibilities are endless. In the poem, Wilde uses alliterations and great descriptive words to keep the poem flowing. The inclusion of both long words with many syllables, and short, persice words gives it the feeling of the sea, flowing back and forth between the two. The word choice gives it a dominant, powerful feel, using examples of "angry lion's eye" "Shattered storm" and "heaving dome."

Collecting my thoughts

Ohhh boy. I have so much to do. My hand is absolutely covered in scribbles. My always "handy" (hardy har har) notepad is covered in my to-do list for the day. Going into senior year, I was under the impression that it would be so much less stressful than junior year. Thus far, LIES! College might be the scariest and most time consuming process conceived by mankind. For just today, I had to use the back, front and inside wrist of my hand to keep myself on track.

So I made up a little song to make sure i don't forget anything (sung to the tune of Old McDonald)

After school the play to practice
My Dallas Brass tickets to turn in

Find a ride!
Hurry home!
Grab that Tec Form
Turn it In!

So much to do!

With my Happenings Books
Don't forget Econ
here a math quiz
there a spanish quiz

So much left to do!

I've got flag football tonight,
counselor appointments

And College to get into....

(And that only covers the back of my hand)

Potentional titles

In my earlier entry I put the opening paragraph dealing with my coming to terms on the death of Santa, but while editing my paper, i came to realize something...It wasn't really that big of a deal. It never really affected my life all that much, and I really wanted to share my own personal chrsitmas experiences, not really discovering Santa was not who he claimed to be.

I chose instead to completely rewrite my rough draft about a new experience.



My new (true) story i would like to share about in a nutshell:



I was eating breakfast at a pretty pricey restaurant, (at least pricey for a teenager) with ten of my friends, and when it came to time to pay the bills, our waitress announced to all of us that this random man, who had been dining two tables over had paid our bill in full. Over two hundred dollars of his pocket money! He told us it was his random act of kindness, and that it was now our duty to pass it on. This is truely an event that affected my outlook on life's different situations.





Possible Titles:



Breakfast of My Champion



"You were hungry and i fed you"


Matthew, Fed on Kindness

Here Lies Santa

I've always believed my Christmas's were picture perfect. A soft blanket of snow, giggling children in Christmas sweater staring dreamily into fire, Christmas music pipped into all the room via synchronized radios... has only ever been real for me on the back of those big tubs of cookies my family passes around. My holiday seasons have dozens of Filipinos bursting out of every room, calling out to each other in a mix of languages, the elders speaking in their native tongue, which, except for a few profane terms has always sounded like a made up language to me, and the younger ones all in English. Tons and tons of children, high on sugar and the holiday spirit run around the house chasing one another, while the newborns get passed from aunt to aunt.
Ask anyone of my younger relatives, the best part of Christmas for any child at the age of eight had to have been Santa. I was old enough to think I had all his ways pinned down, and could manipulate him to get any present I wanted, but still young enough to fully believe in him. It was at this age that my very small world came crashing down of me, this Christmas, I was to experience...The Death of Santa.



I'm struggling where to go with my story. I have so many ideas, I don't know what's too much or too little or if I'm just jumping all over the place. I have so many details I want to infuse, but don't know where or how to put them in. I can't really tell if this sounds like me or not, or if its pretty bland with no specific voice at all, so any input on that would be much appreciated!

What are we doing in Mexico?

What are we doing in Mexico?

Ha. Mexico. I wish.

It's so weird, I can be creative when it's the most inconvienent times, ie. during calculus, but as soon as I sign up for a class like Creative Writing, I seem to get clogged up. Writing whatever comes to mind during a certain time, like last hour, and creating a mandatory, blog for me to let lose in, I never have anything to write, say or think about. I'm struggling right now to find the next word.

So back to Mexico. I've never been there, but I've heard good things. While struggling to think of a sweet blog title, like my buddy (computer world: Ajax) came up with a sweet name of, dun Dun DAH! Syntax of Ajax. That is sweet. I sat there, feeling a bit like a fool, and looked over my shoulder to see the long, perfectly messy curls (the ones that are all the rage right now) of one of my oldest friends who is currently located behind me. We have had this long obsession with comedies, and a great one to quote from, and learn the dances of The Three Amigos.
** SEE IT IF YOU HAVEN'T!**

That quote in particular was just so ludacris in context and great to throw out there to fill awkward silences (or if you're just looking for a good laugh or a trip down memory lane).
Two more min of blogging...

Hmmm.

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Tick....Tock


Oh Darn! I'm sorry cyber space friends, or Mrs. B, since I'm thinking you may be the only one to read this.

Time to Go!

Ta Ta ~Kas