Finally, maybe

During this semester, I didn’t read much of a book selection. I tend to read romantic, love stories with a little kick to it. I like reading about girls my age who fall in love with a boy, and then somehow the relationship comes back to haunt them. It makes me realize that getting caught up in the moment is an easy thing to do , and that I should always keep my guard up. Although I always somehow hope the good girl gets back with the – what everybody else thinks – bad boy. Turns out, all girls like the bad boys. Well most of the time. Fortunately it is pretty easy to find books like these on my own that interested me. Many authors like to write about this stuff for young adults. I like all of the Nicholas sparks books, because he always has a main conflict that interferes with the two characters. I just recently got the book called Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles. It is a sequel to her earlier book, Perfect Chemistry. Wanna know what I’ve been thinking about lately being a junior taking chemistry and all? I don’t understand why authors and movie makers love to make the chemistry lab partners fall in love with each other. Chemistry has to do with electrons and the periodic table, not potions to make you fall in in love. I have found chemistry rather annoying, and I know my previous lab partner were nothing even close to connecting. We didn’t even get along half the time! I did have an easy time looking for something I could stick with. The only book I had to drop was Modelland by Tyra Banks, and that book was just crazy. It was so creative and imaginative; there was no way I could keep up.
                The only problem with this reading assignment was me being able to keep up with the reading assignment. With my busy schedule:

Monday:  work and homework

Tuesday: read and homework

Wednesday: Dad’s house and homework

Thursday: work and homework

Friday: work

Saturday: read

Sunday: work and homework

                School has really been taking over my life lately, I have so many projects going on like the English research paper, Chemistry presentation, this anthology, and work. But when I do have time reading, I really enjoyed it. (:

True Love!

I finally finished True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (:
It was a great book, and I will definately be reading the sequel sometime soon. Although what I expected to happen didn't, there was a very different outcome than I had thought. The lights are not ghosts, and everything was messed up. Lexie ran away from Jeremy, and Jeremy had to come chasing after her. The lights, Jeremy figured out, was not from any type of supernatural phenomenon or from the car lights passing by. The lights occurence happened when a train was passing by and, since the cemetery has been sinking, the fog became extra dense in the low, sunk ground, and the light from the train made it look as if ghosts came dancing in.
When Jeremy was in the library, he looked through the mayor's father's journal of the town. He knew everything about the town, and in it said the reasoning for the occurence of the lights. When Jeremy found out that everyone knew all along about the lights, he thought everythign was a scam and left the town. He called the mayor, and decided that the mayor had to take every word out of the town pamphlet that had to do with the "haunted" cemetery, and he would not tell the national press the actual reasoning behind the lights.
Although, when Jeremy leaves, he missed Lexie a lot. One day, he decides to take a trip to Boone Creek, and there decided he will move there to be with Lexie (: ! <3

Love is in the air!

Now that I'm finally starting to have more time with myself, I cannot put this book down. My last post was about how Jeremy and Lexie spent the night in the cemetery to see the lights. Well now that Jeremy is back at the lodge where he is staying, he has come up with the reason the lights appear, although he hasn't said what it is. Nicholas Sparks just lets me know that Jeremy has come up with the reason the lights appear. Jeremy spends basically the whole night coming up with the conclusion, and gets two hours of sleep when his "agent" calls him and tells him he has a huge show coming up with GMA about diet pills. After the phone call with Nate, he goes over to the library to do some more research, and hoping to see Lexie. When he gets to the library, he sees a note from Lexie that goes: 

"I'm taking care of some personal things. Feel free to use the VCR."

Lexie

When Jeremy sees this, I'm sure you can guess he pretty much goes crazy inside. He looks around for her around town, he goes to Doris to see if she left any hint to where she was going - and Doris answers she can't tell - and finally Jeremy decides he will track her down. I'm at the part in the story where he has somehow thought of a location he might think she be at, which is about four hours away, and Nate will be coming in town to see the lights within 10 hours, so he doesn't have much time. The last part I read - which I'm super excited about - is Lexie looking up to see Jeremy walking towards her, and she feels happy about that!!

AHH, I'm so excited (:

Currently

Wow, still insanely behind. I'm pretty sure I forgot to do a currently, because there is no way I am still underneath 1000. Also, my last currently didn't even have the book I'm currently reading. So I know I have read at least 191 pages since my last currently, so now we're up to date.


True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Pages this week: 91
Pages last week: 100
Pages this semester: 1132


Sentences of the week:
1. Nothing about this entire scenario made sense. But who cared?
2. Love could be set in motion quickly, but true love needed time to grow into something strong and enduring.
3. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that without Lexie, the room may as well be completely empty.


My favorite sentence is probably number three, because I think its really cute how Jeremy feels about Lexie, even though they haven't known each other a week yet. Its young love (:

Reading

Wow, I haven't posted in such a long time. I've been so busy with work, and a whole bunch of projects that are just taking over my life.
I've still been reading though, although this week I haven't met the required reading this wek :(. oh well. I'll catch up sometime soon.
A lot has happened in True Believer, Jeremy Marsh is still in Boone Creek, where the mayor continues to welcome Jeremy and do special things for him, like a town party, buying his food, giving the best hotel room, in hopes of making his town famous with the ghost legends in the cemetry. While Jeremy goes to the library everyday to get more research information about the town, the landscape, the history, anything that might be able to explain the ghostly lights that appear in the fog around midnight or so. It just so happens that the librarian, Lexie Darnell, who is granddaughter of the town's psychic,Doris - the one who wrote Jeremy the letter, who is the town's attractive bachelorette. She continues to spend time with Jeremy, teaching him about the town and taking him around to show him all he needs to know about the lights.
As he and Lexie become to be closer friends, the mayor invites him to a town party, in which Jeremy is given a key to the city, showing how important he is. Jeremy is uneasy about going to the party alone, and the mayor suggests that he take Lexie. As Jeremy asks Lexie to company him at the party, she tells him that there will be fog tonight - which means lights will be there!
After the party, Jeremy is on his way taking Lexie back home and asks her if she would like to join him in the night at the cemetery. Now most people, especially me, would say no to that. Lexie reluctantly agrees, and Jeremy waits for her to change in her house and they go on their way to the cemetery.
When they get to the cemetry, Jeremy looks around and notices there are no connections between the surrounding buildings and landscapes to the lights. He does notice however that the cemetery is at a low poing in the landscape, so when the fog rolls in, it will be thick. Lexie and Jeremy go on to set up all the things they need to get proof of the light, with three different camcorders, night vision goggles, tape recorders, flashlights, etc. Jeremy says that if he acts like he's a ghost hunter with all the electronic equiptment, people will respect his story more and know he is doing the correct and accurate research materials.
Right now in the book I am at the part where they have everything set up and are waiting for the lights to come. I'm really excited to read about how the lights look and how Jeremy reacts to it. I'm also excited to see what happens when Jeremy and Lexie spend the night together in the cemetery, and I hope they are meant for eachother (;
What can I say, I'm a hopeless romantic.

Weakness

1. The towering volumes of “marble and glass” and brushed “brushed steel side-panels” of the escalator create an elegant and ornate atmosphere.http://contemplationsxjones.blogspot.com/

This person repeated the word "brushed."

2. That is a strong case that shows even though Salinger may be straight forward on some things, the verbal irony can create an interesting diction.
http://bradey.blogspot.com/
This person talks from past to present tense.

3. The language used in the excerpt, “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, parades a blatant malicious cordialness.
http://wowfaktor.blogspot.com/
I think that the last three words are too adjective-y. I don't understand what they mean.

4. This suggests that Holden Caulfield is somewhat uneducated, rouge, and ignorant of the facts of life.
http://bookwormsfiresidereading.blogspot.com/2011/10/close-reading.html
"This suggests that..."

Practice Diction Analysis

In the story of The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, he portrays the story as a dull, harsh language. He presents words like "if you really want to know" and "if I have to" that explains his boring life as the average teenager. His diction affects the reader as a young boy who doesn't have a story to tell, and is boring and dull. His negative connotation is straightforward and precise.

True Believer

So far, in True Believer, Jeremy Marsh is now in Boone Creek. He met the woman who wrote the letter, Doris, and wrote him the letter about about the mysterious lights. She recalls the story to him again, and tells him he can research more about the town and the legend of the cemetery in the town library. I don't think I've told the story of the legend. Here it is: Hettie Doubilet, a woman from the Carribean, was enraged by the folks in her town who wanted to put a big cosmopolitan in the middle of a black folk cemetery. When she found out that they were supposed to dig up all the bodies and transfer them to another place, she got upset and tried to get the county to do something to have the route changed. But the folks that ran the county wouldn't consider it. They wouldn't even grant her the opportunity to make her case. Legend has it that when they refused her entrance, she put a curse on the white folk. She said that if graves of her ancestors would be defiled, their's would be defiled too. The ancestors of her people would tread the earth in search of their original resting place and would trample through Cedar Creek on their journey, and that in the end, the whole cemetery would be swallowed whole.

Its funny, now that it's October, I've heard many things about the paranormal things. I don't believe in ghosts that torment people, but with Paranormal Activity 3 coming out in theatres last night, and this book about ghosts, and we were talking about ghost stories in first period, I surely can't forget the fact that they've been catching my attention. Even in English class a girl is doing her research topic about Bloody Mary. I'm a big scaredy baby too, so that doesn't help (:.

Style Mapping

Three Musketeers                               True Believer                                         Little Bee
Scholarly                                            Elegant                                                  Precise
dull                                                    Flowery                                                 Straightforward
boring                                                Decorative                                             Sensous
older book                                        Harmonious                                            Literal


The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, is a high level reading book, and reads very scholarly. It is an older book, which makes it kind of boring and dull, but it is not too bad. "Many citizens, seeing the women flying toward the High Street, leaving their children crying at the open doorshastened to don the cuirass, and, supporting thier somewhat uncertain courage with a musket or a partizan, directed thier steps toward the hostelry of the Franc-Meunier, before which was gathered, inreasing every minute, a compact group, vociferous and full of curiosity." True Believer by Nicholas Sparks is a much more harmonious, decorative type of style. His sentences are full of elegant, flowery words that attract you to read more and more. Lastly, Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, is more traditional writer it seems like, and his thoughts are straightforward.

Quarterly

As much as I enjoy reading, I enjoy reading on my own time.  The problem with reading is that I the time I have to read is around eleven o clock at night, which should be my bedtime. But hey, I’m a junior, I should be going to bed late right? I do like reading at night though, that way I can collect my thoughts and have nothing else on my mind like I should have this homework done or that homework done or dinner will be ready in ten minutes. It’s my time to relax, and luckily my friends that i text during the day are already asleep by the time I get out my book, so I have no distractions.

Boone Creek, North Carolina

So far while I’ve been reading True Believer, I’ve already noticed I enjoy reading this one more than Modelland. I’ve always been a Nicholas Sparks lover, so I know I’ll love the rest of this book. So far, the book started off a little slow. It started in medias res, and he was in a live studio audience, watching Timothy Clausen, which I think is something like the show Maury, where big secrets are spilled to spouses and family members. Later, you learn that Jeremy, the main character, is an investigative journalist who writes for the Scientific American. He’d exposed frauds, hoaxes, and forgeries. He visted haunted houses, searched for mystical creatures, and hunted for the origins of urban legends. He had the rare ability to explain difficult scientific concepts in a way the average reader could understand. Because of his type of journalism, he has to constantly think of stories he could write for in his column that also might have bigger magazines and newspapers, like the New Yorker, interested too. So for his column that he has next to write, he received a letter from a woman explaining that there is a cemetery in Boone Creek, North Carolina, and legend has it that the cemetery is haunted by spirits of former slaves. In the winter- January through February- blue lights seem to dance on the headstones when fog rolls in. I’m very excited to get to the part of Jeremy going to the cemetery at night to see if these lights are really true!!

Book Switch!

So I have decided to drop the book Modelland by Tyra Banks. It’s just too complicated to read right now and I find myself more and more confused after every page I read. I have decided to finish reading it on my own time when I feel like, not being forced to read 100+ pages every week. So I have picked up True Believer by Nicholas Sparks this morning in the library. Although I haven’t been able to start reading it today, I look forward to reading it tonight. Who doesn’t like Nicholas Spark’s books? The book is supposed to be about a man named Jeremy Marsh, and handsome young New Yorker in the media elite empire. When he receives a letter from the tiny town Boone Creek, North Carolina, (Nicholas Spark’s readers: ever notice how often he uses this location in his books? About ghostly lights that appear in a legend-shrouded cemetery. Now although I’m not a believer in ghosts or anything, ghost stories still gives me the chills. We’ll have to see if Nicholas Sparks can scare me. I’m definitely forward to reading this book. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=true+believer+nicholas+sparks&um=1&hl=en&biw=1311&bih=555&tbm=isch&tbnid=cxustMakRnpecM:&imgrefurl=http://laurensbiteoflife.blogspot.com/2010/12/cleaning-monster-dun-dun-dunnn.html&docid=EFZFCiuk_9aALM&w=243&h=400&ei=jFqUTtO-N_KKsAK85vDvAQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=344&page=1&tbnh=127&tbnw=77&start=0&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=64&ty=77

Sentences of the Week!

This week: 144
Last Week: 138
This semester: 941


Sentences of the Week:
1. All that glitters is sometimes gold-plated.
2. Be careful what you wish for, dahling.
3. Tookie connected with her father more: they were two defectives in a world that was obsessed with perfection.


I think number two is my favorite sentence is very true, don't take anything for granted. 

Poor Tooke

Wow, I'm really falling behind on this blogging assignment, this (Sunday night) blog is for last week’s. I've been so insanely busy I'm running out of time to both read, and blog. Reading Modelland is still a challenge for me, I'm not quite sure what's going on. I think the major problem with this book, is that it is almost too descriptive, and doesn't give the actual setting and everything. I found myself reading this book today thinking, "what the heck am I reading?” or “what did I just read?” I know so far that Tooke’s (for example, I’m still not sure how to pronounce her name. Is it to-key, tuh-key, or tuk?) still upset about her mother ignoring her and saying she’s useless to the De la Crème’s household. Meanwhile, Myraccle is enjoying the spotlight, as her mother takes her and Tooke (only to hold the clothes) to the mall to get the most fabulous and stunning dress to wear to the Day of Discovery. I’m looking forward to see what the Day of Discovery is really about, and how everyone is going to react to the chaos of girls hoping to be a chosen one to become an Intoxibella. I secretly hope someone, like the creator of the Day of Discovery, will point out Tooke and make her walk down the carpet because Tooke was the one who found the SMIZE. I think it’s a sign, and I hope to find out if I’m right or not. 

Intoxibellas and Smizes

So here I am trying to to get my one hundred pages in for this week. Its tough, let me tell you. I haven't had a night this week after school to go home and do nothing.
Modelland is still a pretty confusing book for me, I don't know if i want to continue reading it, but I don't want to just waste the $12.00 I spent on it for my ipod.
Tooke was making her mom a cup of tea when a SMIZE appeared, and it is the award that chooses the girls to be part of the T-DOD (Day of Discovery) to be an Intoxibella and be part of Modelland. When Tooke found it, it made me mad because Creamy, Mrs. De la Creme, took it and gave it to Tooke's thirteen year old sister, The Myrracle. Myrracle is beautiful, pretty, and has won all the beauty pageant competitions she's ever been in. Mrs. De La Creme knows that if Myrracle tries out during T-DOD, then she'll surely become and Intoxibella, which will bring the De La Creme residence fame and fortune. Mrs. De La Creme says that when they go to get Myrracle a dress and when she goes to T-DOD that Tooke will come to hold dresses and be in the background. I think Tooke should be the walker during the T-DOD because the SMIZE appeared, it appeared in Tooke's hand, therefore saying a sign that she should be it. And I also want her to be it because her family is so ignorant of her and don't pay any attention to her and I want her to become famous and leave her family because to them, she's not good enough. I hope this is how the story turns out, but i still have like 400 more pages to read and I'm sure something else will pop up (:

Survivor

Setting- South pacific, beach, jungle

Stakes- Starving, physical pain, emotional pain, dealing with stubborn people

Host- Jeff Probst, annoying, nosey

Reward- immunity idol, $1 million, exotic trips, food/shelter for camp

Competition- puzzels, jigsaw, mazes, swimming, wrestling, scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, eating

Survivor

Isolated in the jungle of the South Pacific, baring the emotional and physical pain daily, and harsh competition demonstrates an aggressive and competitive atmosphere between competitors and the host. The cast is set in the South Pacific jungle on a beach where two determined panels meet their teammates, some friendly and outgoing and others potential enemies. Jeff Probst, the nosey host who likes to cause a teensy drama, also contributes to the future thoughts of competitors. With the high risk rewards at stake, the cast puts on a game of extreme hindrance and thought-provoking strategies. After each game, the exhausted losing team must decide who to eliminate. They trudge along to the unpromising fate of Tribal Counsel to talk with the curious host, and votes to abolish a disappointed and blind-sided teammate home. At the end of an exciting, dramatic season the grudge-holding ex-competitors decide the fate of the last three standing by a unanimous vote. The well-deserving winner will then granted with a rewarding $1 million dollars, and named the Sole Survivor.

One Man Army

Setting: room, outside, in jail cell

Stakes: uncomfortable

Host:  Mykel Hawke, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and former Green Beret.

Reward: Title of “One Man Army”

Competition: Speed, strength, agility

One man army

One Many Army consists of four competing men who have been involved with the Special Forces and know how to survive in the toughest terrain. This game is a reenactment of dangerous comeback scenarios. They are displayed in an area where their competition awaits them, inside or out. Stakes are high when the men are put in to unsettling and uncomfortable situations. Some of the brutal competitions of this game depend on focus, staying calm, and using the best epigrammatic strategies. This includes freeing themselves from a taunting rope hanging them upside down, breaking through a series of tough concrete walls, figuring out the best tactics to escape from a locked cell, crossing a laser-beam filled room, and escaping a terrifying water coffin. With a clock ticking ferociously, competitors use all their might to have the fastest time possible. At the end of the seemingly impossible game, the skilled competitor with the lowest times is respectfully named the One Man Army.

CURRENTLY

Pages this week: 138

Pages last week: 130

Pages this semester: 797

Sentences of week:

1. She says that there are no gray areas in the revised code of conduct; there was no gray area in the events that transpired.

2. The front of  Tooke's journal cover displayed Tooke's first name, handwritten in beautiful callifgraphy. The spine of T-Mail Jail read DON'T KEEP OUT! The backside urged, INVADE MY PRIVACY - PLEASE! If one were inclined to follow these instructions, the cover challenged, I DARE YOU TO TURN THE PAGE.

            But no one dared ... or, more accurately, cared.

3. And for Tooke De La Creme, miracles were impossible to come by.

My favorite sentence is probably sentence two because everybody wants the exact opposite, and don't want their personal lives invaded. All Tooke wants is someone to notice her.

MODELLAND

M

So I’ve just started ModelLand by Tyra Banks, and so far it is a very different book and wild imagination. The main character is named Tooke De La Crème and has a lot of complicated things about her. She has untamable hair, an awkward body, and a large forehead. She wears mismatched clothes and has mismatched eyes: one green, one brown. She considers herself a Forgetta-Girl-invisible at school and a disappointment to her parents, who favor her stunning younger sister, Myrracle. Tookie has a big heart, an overactive imagination, and a talent for languages- 28 to be exact. She keeps a secret journal in which she writes her innermost thoughts in the form of letters to her friends, family, and enemies that she never mails.She is very self-conscience, and I think that is one of the main problems with her, and she says she will do anything to get attention, but really she is a soft-spoken girl who is just trying to find her place in life. 

http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/modelland/#

Finished!

The Mockingbirds
Daisy Whitney

Finally! I finished The Mockingbirds! It was a really good book, even though it takes a while to comprehend. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. But I definitely would recommend it. So in the last few chapters, Carter finally goes to the Mockingbird court. The court is set up in the laundry room basement, where the Mockingbirds have their existence.

 Maia, Alex’s representative, starts off the case with her argument that Alex was drunk, and the sex was not consensual. She was sleeping and therefore not able to give consent. A lack of a yes is a no, plain and simple. She says that there are no gray areas in the revised code of conduct; there was no gray area in the events that transpired.

Kevin, Carter’s representative, backfires his argument saying that Alex and Carter had sex, because its what high school students do. He says they were a couple of teenagers having a good time, having good old-fashioned consensual sex. And says that Alex is known to engage in consensual sexual conduct, and tells the court about her and Martin’s secret dating, and they made-out in an empty classroom. If that really is a reason that she engages in sexual conduct . . .

I think that Kevin’s argument is very wrong and controversial. Just because a boyfriend and girlfriend kiss, doesn’t mean they engage in sexual conduct. I think in this book, Carter is a pig, and needs to face the consequences of date-rape, as any guy should. Carter is very lucky Alex didn’t go to the police, which he would have faced worst consequences.

I really recommend this book to people who are interested in courts and those who liked reading To Kill a Mockingbird. This book is actually inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird. At the beginning, it is hard to comprehend because the court system at Themis Academy is so advanced, but it’s a really good book. I left out many other details in the book including a teacher who really helped Alex out, Martin, and what Carter’s consequence. But, you’ll have to read the book to find out. (:

Flashbacks

The Mockingbirds

Daisy Whitney

So in the past two days, I have to have read at lease 60 pages. Much has gone on, and Carter has found out that he is going to go to the Mockingbirds trial for date rape. He called Alex and told her she was a liar, and that they weren’t going to believe her or anything, he said she was all over him and she wanted it.. Martin stopped by to give Alex dinner, since she still refuses to go to the caf. Throughout the book, you can tell that Alex has some feelings for Martin, and after they have dinner, she suggests they watch Law and Order. When she is in the middle of the show, she’s staring at her computer, but the only thing on her mind is that she wants to kiss Martin. Then, you can guess it. Martin ends up kissing her! (: I hope they end up together in the end, because Martin is such a good guy. If I haven’t mentioned Martin yet, he’s part of the Mockingbirds and a school friend who she’s had her eyes on for a while.

Every now and then throughout the book, Alex has a flashback to the night and remembers more and more what happened that night. When she has the latest flashback it says:

I hear a ripping sound . . . a wrapper for the condom. I press my palms hard against him and push him. I shake my head; I say no. And I keep my hands on his chest like that, like a bodybuilder holding back a car, a strong man holding up a bridge, trying to get him off me.

When I read these flashbacks, I feel like if I was put in that situation, I wouldn’t know what to think. I feel helpless reading this and know that date-rape happens often, and it is so unfair. 

Sentences of the Month

Currently!
Pages this week: 130
Pages last week: 134
Pages this semester: 659

Sentences of the Month!

1. Part of me feels like I'm walking into the lion's den. Another part of me knows I can't become the freak who eats in her room just to avoid other students.


2."You can lie to yourself if you want, but reality is going to catch up with you." 

3. Maybe we are too educated, too "smart," to name these creatures in the simple language of a child: monsters.


My favorite line is probably sentence number three, because of how children think so simply and plainly. Adults are all about education and learning new things all the time, when it is so easy to name something a "monster."

Code of Conduct

The Mockingbirds

By Daisy Whitney

Wow, I can’t believe its already Thursday, and I have another blog to write tomorrowL. I’ve had to work a lot this week and I have so many assignments this week I’ve been staying up late just to read my book. Its relaxing though, to say the least. So when I first started reading this book, I thought I was going to be instantly attracted to it, and wouldn’t be able to put it down, unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I think the reason is that I’m still trying to comprehend what really is going on in the story, and how its set up. This book would be easily understood if it were a movie, but hey, I’m still reading it right?

The Mockingbirds in Themis is basically a court system ran by the students, for the students. Whenever somebody comes to the Mockingbirds for justice, a trial is heard, and it will “punish” the accused if found guilty in some way or form. In the Mockingbirds, they needed to revise the code of conduct to include date rape, the original code was written broadly. The students at Themis Academy then votes on the revisions.

One day when Alex gets back to her dorm, the poll to the revisions for students to vote is under her door. It states:

Sexual assault is against the standards to which Themis

Students hold themselves. Sexual assault is sexual contact

(not just intercourse) where one of the parties has not given

Or cannot give active verbal consent, i.e., uttered a clear

“yes” to the action. If a person does not say “no” that does

not mean he or she said “yes.” Silence does not equal

consent. Silence could mean fear, confusion, and inebriation.

The only thing that means yes is yes. The lack of yes is a

No.

Alex got a yes for the date rape to be revised into the code of conduct, and I am now eager to hear the trial!

5 Claims

http://clayballl.blogspot.com/

CLAIM: In this dance from the show America's Best Dance Crew, the [crew's breath-taking yet crazy, loud and exciting choreography, fast paced music, and wide range of use of space] express [a dramatic explosion and loud abstruseness.]

 

http://mbutchko.blogspot.com/

CLAIM: The music group Ok GO and dance group Pilobolus' smooth and elegant costumes along with the modern aspects of movement portray the lyrically pleasant mood of the collaboration in the music video.

 

http://trevorblogging.blogspot.com/

CLAIM: In this scene you see Blake Griffin dunking a basketball, his expressions show his immense, powerful, and colossal body floating in the air, putting the extravagant crown into a short time of faint, quiet, and peaceful time before they erupted into a thundering and noisy crowd.

http://bradey.blogspot.com/
CLAIM: This dance battle shows a magical setting, energetic choreography, vibrant attire, and upbeat sound that captivates the crowd and all who watch.

http://mariahsetymologyblog.blogspot.com/
CLAIM: In Fighting Gravity’s final Performance on America’s Got Talent, the voiceless and light dancers use graceful, upbeat, and a unique technique that expresses a new and an explosive futuristic type of dance.
My favoirte is probably the fourth claim down because it describes the picture very well.

Claim for Cars

Observe:                                                                                    Infer:

Space:                                                                                       Animation

• Crowded                                                                          Playful
• Full                                
• Colossal                                                                            Happiness
• Lots of movement                                                                           

                                                                                                   Colorful
Setting: 

• Colorful                                                                            Amusement
• Route 66
• Attractive                                                                        Silly
• Noise  

Color:

• Bright
• Warm
• Beautiful
• Soft

Action: 

• Adventurous
• Excited
• Gleaming
• Crazy

[ In this movie poster from Cars by Disney Pixar,                      [ A sense of colorful animation and silly                                                        

 Disney's colossal use of space, attractive setting,                        amusement.]

 warm colors, and the adventurous and gleaming

 action the poster gives makes this movie a must see.]

CURRENTLY

The Mockingbirds

Daisy Whitney

 This week: 134

Last week: 105

This semester: 529

So for some reason, I have been calculating my pages wrong. I've read Heaven is for Real and The Duff, and now I've started to read The Mockingbirds.

Sentences of the week:

1. You take your assignments here like a man. 

2. So I just sink down into the crimson and tan diamonds.

3. Part of me feels like I'm walking into the lion's den. Another part of me knows I can't become the freak who eats in her room just to avoid other students.

I like the third one best because it is a feeling many people can relate to. That situation you're in when you don't want to see anybody you know, yet you don't want to be a coward.

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

 Now that I’ve finished The Duff, I’ve started a new book called The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney. When I picked it up, the first thing that caught my eye was the subtitle on the top of the cover saying “Hush little students, don’t say a word. . . .” Once I read this I just had to pick it up.

This book takes place at Themis Academy, a boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way- the Themis way. Alex Patrick, the narrator and main character in the story is date-raped during her junior year of high school by a guy named Carter, someone she would never be caught dead talking to. She is raped by him when she is sleeping in Richardson Hall. He is part of the water-polo team, the arrogant jocks. When she tries to decide what to do about her conflict, her best friend T.S. suggests going to the aid of the Mockingbirds, which is a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of the student body. Not many people know who the Mockingbirds really are, they have bulletin on the walls saying:

Join the Mockingbirds! Stand up, sing out! We’re scouting

New singers, so run, run, run you way to our New

Nine where you can learn a simple trick...

Though the secret of this bulletin, its code-all code- the Mockingbirds aren’t a cappella singing group, as they say they are. And its tryout time for the Mockingbirds this term. The Mockingbirds are the law.

So I haven’t read too much of the book yet, I’m on page 89. Not much has happened with the involvement of the Mockingbirds; Alex has just decided to go to them for help. I’m really anxious to find out how the Mockingbird group handles it, and what they plan on doing to “right the wrong” of Carter.

Alex’s sister Casey who is now in college is the creator of the Mockingbirds, who gets the name from the book To Kill A Mockingbird. This book connects the idea of Tom Robinson being accused of rape, and she thinks maybe she accused Carter of raping her. My next chapter is called Atticus And Boo Rolled Into One. I’m excited to read this chapter because this is where I can find out what the Mockingbirds are really all about, and how they go about to solve the problem. I really look forward to continue reading this book (I’ve read 89 pages in the last day and a half) and I’m really thinking about doing it for our book project. 

The end

I have now finished The Duff, and I would recommend it to any girl who loves a little drama. In the last few pages of the book, Bianca realizes that she is supposed to be happy with Toby Tucker, he’s the perfect guy, and he’s smart, polite, loving, sensitive, and practical. But she still can’t stop thinking about Wesley. Now, I won’t tell you the end of the story, but you should read it to see if Bianca goes with her mind; to stay with the polite and perfect guy for her, or listens to her heart; and goes with Wesley who she can’t stop thinking about. The last scene of the book she is at the teen club on a date with Toby, although she sees Wesley and notices he won’t stop staring at her all night. She trips on her heel, and falls on her ankle. You’ll have to read the book to see who helps pick her up. Her boyfriend who is polite and goody-goody, or Welsey who doesn’t commit to girls and is a “bad boy?”

CURRENTLY

This week: 105
Last week: 138
Pages this semester:  343


The Duff by Kody Keplinger 


1. "No one else makes me WANT to embarrass myself by writing sappy letters like this one." 


2. "You can lie to yourself if you want, but reality is going to catch up with you." 


3. God, life had been so much easier when no one noticed me. 


My favorite quote is probably number two. This quote is so special because it is true in every way. You can't hide from everything, and it is warning you that when things to catch up, it won't be a happy ending. 

Date Time!

After continuing to read The Duff, much has changed. Bianca has decided to call it quits with Wesley, and completely get over him. Even though she might be in love with him, she has to get over him. When she tries to distract herself from thinking about him, all she does is think how she shouldn’t be thinking about him. Then, in the hallway, Toby Tucker (her crush for 3 years now) asks her on a date! So I’m really excited to see how the date goes, and unfortunately I’ve decided to stop reading right before she goes on the date. Good luck Bianca!

Distractions, distractions

My dad, soon-to-be step mom, and half sister paige! (p.s....its cute to coordinate colors right? (; ) 

My mom, dad, step sisters, sister, and brother on their wedding day!

Ever since my last post about Wesley and Bianca being partners for the English paper, I haven’t been able to put the book down! Turns out my excitement for what its like when Wesley and Bianca are alone together was predicted pretty well. Bianca went over to Wesley’s house (which by the way is a mansion, and his parents are never home, either on business trips, vacations, etc.) and the only computer was upstairs in his room….yep! Bet you can predict what is going to happen. Before they even start talking about their project, they start hooking up. I’m going to skip the details, but they continue to hook up for the next month and a half or so. (And yes, they did get an A on their project!)

After a while, they start learning more and more about each other and Wesley figures out that Bianca is using him as a distraction, but he can’t figure out why. He finally learns what he is distracting her from one night at her house. They walk down the stairs so Bianca can walk Wesley out to his car, when Bianca’s dad finds them. He is completely wasted, due to divorce papers sent to him from his wife, and starts calling Bianca a whore because she had a boy in her room. (While her father was home, they played Scrabble for three hours in her room.) Bianca is horrified to see her father like this, especially because her father had been sober for 18 years because before she was bon, when he got drinking, his anger became out of hand and he became destructive. He ends up slapping her across the face, and Wesley punches him in the mouth and leaves with Bianca to his house. At the house, he finally tells her he knows what she has been using him as a distraction from. The divorce.

This part of the story is very relevant to me, because I know exactly where she is coming from. Okay, maybe I don’t hook up with random guys to get my mind off of my parents divorce, but I did find things to distract myself. I have this one friend in particular where if anything ever goes wrong in my life, and I need to get away, I know that she and her mom will love my company. When my parents got divorced, I spent lots and lots of time there, simply because it hurt too badly because I couldn’t stand being in a broken household. My sister and I staying at her house for 3-4 days straight for the week during summer and school, just to get away from reality, and it worked, well most of the time. Everything is forgotten til you go back home and have to be bombarded back into reality. I know exactly where she is coming from, and I know many other people do.

By the way, my family is now split into to, and I absolutely love it! 

(Big familia right? (: )

CURRENTLY

This week: 100

Last week: 138

Pages this semester: 238

1: "And you daring, are the Duff." "Is that even a word?" "Designated. Ugly. Fat. Friend," he clarified. "No offense, but that would be you."

2."Hey, Obama was kind of sexy for an old guy. Maybe I had a shot."

3. "Most girls find my jokes charming." "Those girls must have IQ's low enough to trip over."

My favorite sentence is probably the third one because its you're typical male-confidence that gets the best of them. In this book, Bianca lets him know, well tries to let him know, that she isn't one of those girls who are dumb enough  to tolerate Wesley Rush.

Teenage Girl Drama-Rama

             In The Duff, I have learned more about Bianca, and how she functions with her surroundings affecting every aspect of her life. Her mom is away on business trips 2 months at a time, and her father and mother doesn’t get a divorce, which might be the best situation in this case. I know that even when I didn’t want my parents to get divorced two years ago, it was the right thing to do. Next, not wanting to go to parties and have fun with her friends. Where she lives, there is a “teen club” which was once a bar, but now its for teenagers, and they only serve soft drinks and have loud music. When she is here, Wesley Rush decides he needs to pester her, and before Bianca knows it, she kisses him. And worse, she likes it. Now she has to forget that she ever kissed Wesley, and forget how incredibly much she liked kissing him.

            With all this happening around her, she still can’t forget when Wesley called her “Duff.” He refers to her Duffy, and when she can hardly stand to be in the same room as him (contrary to what she wants to think, she still wants to kiss him!) she now has to be his partner in a report about a novel they’ve just read in class. I’m eager to see what unfolds when they are alone and have to get together over the weekend.  I just know she’s going to fall for him, and in a way, I want Wesley to actually be a soft-spoken guy who has a heart when he’s not influenced to be the bad guy in a room full of over-obsessed high school girls. I know that I shouldn’t want them to be together because he’s a jerk and coward to her, but it’s what you see in the movies right?  All teenager girls wish that something like this would happen to them, where they are partners with the hottest guy in school and suddenly realize that they know nothing about the real “him.”

The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) A novel by Kody Keplinger

So far in The Duff, we meet the main character Bianca Piper, who is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. Wesley Rush, the (excuse my language) man-slut of the school tells Bianca she is the DUFF. She is the Designated Ugly Fat Friend. You see, Wesley Rush thinks to get Bianca’s friends to hook up with him; he has to converse with, befriend, and get along with the DUFF, aka Bianca. Of course, this novel doesn’t sound like the average story you’d tell your teacher about, but hey, I can only imagine some of the blogs he’s read.

Even though I’ve only started this book yesterday (*cough* last minute check out *cough*) every time I have the chance to read it, I do! It is the basic love story; the hot guy ends up with the not-so-popular girl. But somehow I just can’t get enough of this book. “Duff” is a new term that I’ve never heard of before, although the author was introduced to it during her senior year. The biography at the end says, “When I realized that my friends felt like Duffs, too, I knew I had to write this story.” Many girls in high school feel this – I know I do! And even though we may think it, it’s just a word some stupid, arrogant jerk says to make him feel better. I’m very excited to continue reading this book to figure out how Bianca overcomes her new “nightmare word,” being called the Duff. 

PERSONALITY TEST

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
 You are:

• distinctively expressed extravert
• slightly expressed sensing personality
• moderately expressed feeling personality
• moderately expressed judging personality

CURRENTLY...

This week: 138 pages

This semester: 138 pages

1. Maybe we are too educated, too "smart," to name these creatures in the simple language of a child: monsters.

2. And to imagine God answerings it by "shooting down prayer"...well. it was just incredible.

3. But now he (Colton), had become a messenger, a tiny tour guide for a departing heavenly traveler.



My favorite sentence is number one. I like this one best because it tells that adults spend too much time using "up-scale" words and definitions, when there is another word for it that is much smaller. Perhaps you should ask a child to define every word you say, it becomes very innocent. A monster in the definition of a child is a big, scary creature, who hides under your bed, who creates shadows in your room, and the creaking and ticking you hear. Adults may say a monster is an imaginary or legendary creature, that combines parts from various animal or human forms. And foror me, when I think of monsters, I think of Sully from Monsters Inc.

RAINBOWS IN HEAVEN

After reading Heaven is for Real, I would really recommend this book to just about anybody. Those who believe in an afterlife and those who don’t, it gives you an inside look on a little boys trip to heaven and back, and everything he claims to have witnessed. Colton tells everything from the gates of heaven, to what Jesus looks like, to what God’s throne looks like, and how it never gets dark in heaven. This book makes me never want it to end, thinking there’s more and more to learn from about heaven, just from a tiny 4 year old’s mind.

It’s hard to believe that reading something like this that a four year old tells is real. Children often have the mind that can go on and on for forever, and make up thinks that seem lie impossible. Although Colton’s father who tells the story claim everything’s true, from Colton’s little sister who was miscarried that he met in heaven, to asking God to send down a rainbow that resembles the one he saw in heaven.

Colton’s childlike attitude and faith in this story is remarkable. He reminds his family that God really does love his children, and that God answer’s the prayers of friends. Everything in this book is interesting, and I never want to put it down. I plan on reading even more books like this, because it gives me a little faith that this is really what God has waiting for me in heaven. Without this book, I couldn’t even try to think of what I have waiting in store for me in my afterlife.

I am sad to see this book coming to an end, and I wish I could read more of what Colton has to say about his trip to heaven and back.