Reading:)

            James Patterson has recently released a new book titled “Nevermore” as the conclusion to his Maximum Ride series. Having read all the other books in the series, I had anxiously awaited this one. About a week before it came out, I decided that in order to fully enjoy the book, I should go back and re-read the other books once again, in order to catch all the little details.

            I did this, and when I finally got to Nevermore, I only read about ten chapters (his chapters are all short, around two pages each) before I sat there for a moment, thinking to myself, “this book is just not going to have a happy ending…” I found myself unable to read for a few minutes, completely convinced that I would soon be reading an ending where nobody lives happily ever after.

            My sister had already read the book, because I was content on re-reading the other books in the series, and she was so frustrated at me for not reading. Finally she convinced me to continue reading, and I finished the book within two hours.

          The ending was… frustrating. There were parts I loved, and parts I hated. James Patterson left lots of holes in the plot, with unanswered questions. I felt like the author would impulsively add snippets of action and plot twists, and then completely forget about them, to be forever unresolved.

          As annoying as this was, I did like other parts of the book. Frankly, this book was alright.

My Pet Peeves :)

Pet Peeves:

1.    People trying to erase things from a pencil when their eraser is obviously gone.

2. People telling me how books end.

3.  When people write in this font.

4. Guys who wear their pants around their knees.

5.  When people try to sing songs they don’t know the lyrics too.

6.  “Never mind”

7.  People who are always negative.

8.  When something doesn’t work for you, but as soon as somebody else tries, it works perfectly.

9.  When people spell the word “Okay” as “ok” or “O.K."

10.             Complainers J

reading response :)

      Yes, I am still reading The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Recently in the story, the thirteeen dwarves, Mr. Baggins, and Gandalf have all arrived at the home of a sorcerer/bear-thing (he can transform into a bear). He usually doesn't let people near his house and is usually mean, but he really likes stories. So, first Gandalf and Bilbo came, and started telling him of their adventures.
      Every five minutes, 2 dwarves would come to the sorcerers home too, and the interruptions kept the man interested in their tale. He let them stay at his home for a couple days, but now they are leaving. He supplied them with plenty of food, more ponies, and a horse for Gandalf. (they lost their first ponies and horse when they were attacked by goblins.)
      I really like how J. R. R. Tolkien spells dwarves, (not dwarfs) and the only thing that really bugs me, (is how much he puts things in parenthesis.) As I am reading it, I keep waiting for two of them to die, so their will only be 13 of them left, or for one to die and Gandalf leave. The only reason that Bilbo Baggins even came was because there were thirteen dwarves, and that is an unlucky number. It is kind of a funny way to set the story, but it works.

Vocabulary :)

Palpitating: to pulsate; quiver; throb; tremble.
Venerable: commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity.
Guffawing: a loud, unrestrained burst of laughter.

Acrid: sharp and harsh; bitter.

Nadir: the lowest point.

Accede: to agree of assent.

Melee: a confused conflict

Reading response :)

          I am reading the book “The Hobbit” by J. R. R. Tolkien, and I really like it so far. The first chapter started out kind of slow and boring, but as the story progressed it got more exciting. I now like reading it a lot, and I am not dragging through it.

          Right now I am about halfway through chapter six, and they are fully into their adventure. Bilbo Baggins sort-of agreed (and was sort of forced) to go on the journey with all of the dwarves, and they have faced multiple challenges on their road to glory.

          So far, they have met up with some particularly nasty trolls in the woods, which were almost too much for them. Thankfully, Gandalf—who had been traveling ahead of them—returned just in time to cleverly save them.

 They have also had to face some Goblins, who are even worse than trolls. They were captured, and again rescued by Gandalf, only to be attacked by the same Goblins again. When they were attacked this time though, they got away. Well, all except for Bilbo, who got knocked out and then left behind in their hasty retreat. When he woke up in the tunnels of the goblin territory, he was alone. He wandered around for a while before finding Golem, who he exchanged riddles with and won a way out, which was unwillingly given.

He eventually got back to his group, but decided not to tell them of the object he had found while in the caves. It was a small golden ring, previously belonging to Golem.

blogging :)

Im not cut out for this,

We both know its true,

To sit at a computer,

And write blogs for you.

It seems to take days,

(though really it’s not)

And all of this blogging

makes me feel I’ve been shot.

Now That’s all I have to say,

Yes, now my peoms done.

I’m just glad that this weeks blog

Is the very last one.

My Favorites :)

My favorite color: green

My favorite scent: peppermints, and old books

My favorite drink: Chrystal Light

My favorite TV show: PSYCH!

My favorite sport: soccer

My favorite candy: Pelon Pelo Rico

My favorite Animal: an Eagle J

My favorite food: Cherokee casserole, or homemade eggrolls

My favorite place: the beach

My favorite restaurant: Café Rio

My favorite website: My Life Is Average

My favorite number: 13

My favorite brand: apple

My favorite board game: Curses

My favorite season: Summer

My favorite month: July

reading response :)

     A while ago, I started reading this book. This book is the first out of a fourteen book series. The title of it is “The Eye of the World”, and it is part of the wheel of time series.

     I tried to read this book a long time ago, but I unfortunately picked up a version that had an epilogue that had recently been replaced, as to let people who were reading the book a second time have further insight on the pasts of the characters and other things. It was the worst epilogue that I have ever read. It was so boring! It went on forever, with nothing interesting at all. I finished the epilogue, but couldn’t bring myself to keep reading the actual story.

     Now, about a year later, I am reading this book again—all the way this time. I read the original epilogue, and it is so exciting and different you wouldn’t believe it was the same book! It is really good now, and I like reading it. I would recommend this book to other people, but maybe I should wait until I finish it first. 

Vocabulary :)

Extempore: Without premeditation or preparation.

Pervicacious: Stubborn, obstinate.

Apotheosis: A model of excellence or perfection of  a kind.

Comely: Pleasing to the sight.

Rivulet: A small stream or brook.

Acrimony: Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness.

Jocular: given to or characterized by joking.

Weird Holidays :)

Recently I decided to look up some weird holidays, and i came across Brownielocks.com. It had a ton of wacky holidays, so here are some of my favorites:

·                     Respect for chickens day, on May fourth.

·                     No homework day, on May sixth.

·                     Barbie in a blender day, on July 27th.

·                     Cow milked while flying in an airplane day, on February 18th.

·                     International literacy day, on September 8^th (My birthday!)

·                     Awkward moment day, on March 18^th.

·                     Ask a stupid question day, on September 28^th.

·                     Humbug day, on December 21^st.

·                     Stay home because you’re well day, on November 30^th.

·                     National go barefoot day, on June 1^st.

There were a lot of others too, but these were just a few of the more strange ones that I liked.

THE HOBBIT:)

          Over spring break, my brother decided to watch the “Lord of the Rings” movies, a tradition he has had for a long time. One evening, we started talking about The Hobbit, and told me how he wanted me to read it. After this talk, I decided I would. He gave me the book, and I started reading it. By the way, doesn't this font look so J. R. R. Tolkien?

          I have only just recently finished the very first  chapter of this book, and I have been reading it extremely slowly. I like it, but it is a little bit boring.  So far in the story, Gandalf came over inviting a hobbit from the shire named Bilbo Bagins on an adventure, and he refused. He is a hobbit, and it is considered improper and shocking for hobbits to go on adventures of any sort.

          In an attempt to change his mind, Gandalf comes up with a hilarious plan that involves all of the dwarves already going on the journey to come stay at his house, eat all his food (which hobbits love so dearly), and be extremely loud and annoying. When they are singing songs about great ventures of people of history, and you start to realize that Bilbo does want to go on the endeavor, but he has learned all his life that going on adventures is something that hobbits simply do not do.

          I have not found out if he has accepted this call yet, so I guess I will just have to continue reading. Or you know, just figure that he does, because he had already gone in the Lord Of The Rings movies.

15 Reasons Why Summer is the Best Season.

Summer is definetly better than any of the other seasons, and here are some reasons why:

1.   There is no school.

2.   No school=no homework.

3.   No homework=more freetime.

4.   It is warm!

5.   You can swim outside.

6.   Later curfew.

7.   Now that everyone has cell phones, you can still keep in touch.

8.   It doesn’t rain .

9.   …or snow.

10.               You can figure out why the words are randomly far away from the numbers and how to get it to stop.

11.                You don’t have to carry around a 60-pound back-pack ever.

12.               …Unless you really like carrying back-packs around.

13.                There is not a thirteenth reason because  that is unlucky and summer is too cool to have bad luck.

14.                Once it ends, you feel older, even though it is just one grade.

15.                It’s pronounced like my last name!!!

What different colors mean to me :)

Red: I think red catches your eye. It jumps out at you, screaming and yelling the whole time. It looks powerful and strong

Yellow: this color looks fun and happy, and makes me think of a bright summer day, with the sun shining down.

Black: black seems dark, and almost frightening. It can take you to a haunted cemetery, or a haunted house. At the same time, black is kind of calming. It is the color of the night, after you have turned off all of the lights and have lain down to sleep.

Orange:Orange, being a mix of yellow and red seems bold and bright. It could represent enthusiasm, or happiness.

Blue: blue is Calming, and peaceful. It is like the cloudy sky on a bright morning. Is seems graceful, almost elegant. Blue is the favorite color of the majority of people, because of its feel.

White is terribly plain, and it screams boring. When coupled with another color, it looks very good, but alone, it seems, well... lonely. 

 

Pink is a very eye-catching color. It jumps out from a background, screaming for attention. After writing that, I hate to say pink is the color assosiated with women and girls, but it is.

Green: Green is my favorite color, and I think it looks very pleasing to the eye, and yet it is fun and exciting too. It can range from really bright to really dull.

25 uses for a toothbrush :P

25 uses for a toothbrush

          Use it as a paint brush

          Cleaning jewwerly

          Use it as a dish scrubber

          As an eyebrow comb

          Cleaning grout in tile

          Scrubbing the toilet (eww...)

          Brushing a dogs teeth

           To scrub in Shout on clothes before they go into the wash.

          Cleaning your fingernails.

          Scrup a stove-top

            Brush your tonge

           Get out spots in carpet

          Cleaning a cheese grater (in the holes)

          Clean in between keys on a keyboard

          Clean air vents

          Some people warm them up and bend them into bracelets…

          Cleaning out the bottom of shoes

          Cleaning tires

          Getting stickers of surfaces.

          Splatter paint with it

          Add texture to something

          Clean mudd of of fabric

          Dust in small crevices

          Scrub your hair combs clean

          Brush your teeth.

                      

Vocabulary:)

Alembic: anything that transforms, purifies, or refines.
Quadrennial: occurring every four years.
Pettifog: to bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
Adamantine: utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
Blandishment: flattering speech or action.
Invidious: tending to provoke envy or ill will.
Caveat: warning or caution.
Rebarbative: repellent, irritating.
Melee: a confused conflict.
Florid: flushed with red; also, excessively ornate.

Reading response :)

I finished the third book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Glass, and it was pretty good. It was supposed to be the last book, because it was a trilogy, but she wrote another book continuing after the third. I do not think that it is a completely different series, because she marked it as book four in the very same series as the other City books. The book that I am talking about (the fourth book) is titled City of Fallen Angels.

As I mentioned in my last reading response blog post, I had a guess about one of the characters, and I thought they might not be exactly who they—and everybody else—thought they were. I did not find out until the very end of the book, but my hunch turned out to be true!  I was really happy when I found out, because it kind of lets other things fall into order.

Now I am reading City of Fallen Angels, the fourth book, and I am about one hundred and fifty pages in. I really like it so far, but one of the main characters is really bugging me. It kind of sets it up so you feel bad for him, but it still annoys me. You see, he accidentally got to where he had two girlfriends, and although they know each other, they don’t get along and rarely see each other, so they do not know they are both dating him. At first he just hung out with each of them, because he liked them, and now he is dating both. He is trying to work things out, but of course, he does not want to hurt either of them. Luckily—for them, not him—there is an event that is coming up in the story where he is supposed to go with both of them to, I can’t wait!

Although it is annoying at the moment, I really like the book so far. It’s crazy, but yet it is intriguing

Reading Response :)

Right now I am reading the third book in The Mortal Insturments series. The first two books are titled City of Bones, and City of Ashes. The third one is called City of Glass. The author that wrote these books is Cassandra Clare.

So far, I really like this book. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, and it is very hard to put down and stop reading. I like how the author throws in major twists and turns, but at the same time, some of them make me want to throw the book at the wall like I have gone insane. Sometimes throughout the series, thing people have said have made me come up with ideas of what is going to happen next, and sometimes I am right, sometimes I am not, but the one that I really want to find out about hasn’t really been clarified. It was something that somebody said as they were dying about one of the main characters scars he has that makes you wonder if he is really who you think he is.

Also, I am reading the book The Way of Kings. It is one of Brandon Sanderson’s newer books.. Both my brother and my father are really big Brandon Sanderson fans, and my brother repeatedly told me I should read it, so now we are reading in together.(him for the second time) it is really good so far, but the only thing that bugs me is how it switches between three different characters every chapter. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but every time you read a chapter of one of the characters, you don’t want to stop reading from their persective, but about a page into a different characters view, your thinking the same thing! But despite that, I love the book so far.

What would life be like if you were only six inches tall? :)

                 Imagine a world where a simple chair towers as high as a skyscraper. A world in which you could climb twigs instead of trees, and a trip across town would be a long dangerous journey. Imagine a world if you were only six inches tall.

                Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. But that would probably only be the case if everybody else was only six inches in height also, and everything else was set to that proportion.  Then again, what are the chances of that? Most likely, everything would be gigantic. Spiders would be the size of dogs, birds the size of cars. Everyday things would become great challenges.  While brushing your teeth, what would you use? A normal toothbrush like the one you probably use  now would become way to big. You would have to find other means of doing that.

                What about eating? Any food you currently enjoy would have to be broken up into small pieces, and you would probably find yourself eating more like an insect. Restaurants would be out of the question. There would be close to no logical way to order! Would they ever notice you, when they are behind that big desk of theirs. Plus, it would be kind of difficult  getting high enough to reach the food!  It isn’t like you could just climb the leg of a table or chair..

                If you lived a life in which you were only six inches tall, life would be very dangerous and scary. Though at the same time, if you think about it, it would be a really big adventure.

vocabulary :)

Mammonism: the greedy pursuit of riches.
Screed: a long discourse or essay.
Delude: to mislead the mind or judgement of; deceive.
Fallacious: containing a fallacy, logically unsound.
Scintillating: animated, vivacious.
Truncated: shortened by or as if by having a part cut off. cut short.

VOCABULARY

Idoneous: appropriate, fit, suitable, apt.
Suppurate: to produce or discharge pus, as a wound; maturate. (EWWW!)
Viscid: having a glutinous consistency, sticky.
Doyenne: a woman who is the senior member of a group, class, or profession.
Birr: force; energy; vigor.

READING RESPONCE

I am so close to finishing the book Troy, by Adele Geras. I usually can finish books within a couple of days, but for some reason this is taking me forever to finish! It is not like it is not interesting, or does not have a good plot, but it isn’t book that I find myself not able to put down. I like it a lot, but I would not be able to read it for hours on end.

The book takes place during the Trojan War, and in it the Greek gods are real and living. In the story, Aphrodite is sick and tired of all the fighting, and finds other means of entertaining herself. One of those means is a huge love triangle, between three best friends, one of those friends’ sisters, and a soldier that got wounded in the war. The other way of entertaining herself is messing with Helens and Paris’s relationship.

It is very scrambled, and I wish that one of the best friend (the boy) would show up in the story more. He is my very favorite character in this book, yet the problem is he only very rarely appears in the story line! Another thing that bugs me is how the gods will sometimes show up and talk to people, but after a few minutes the people that they have spoken to forget the conversation entirely, or think it was a dream. I wish that someone would remember one of these occurrences at least once.

Vocabulary :)

 Viscid: having a glutinous consistency; stick; adhesive

Solecism: a nonstandard or ungrammatical usage, as inflammable and they was.

Immaculate: especially clean or tidy; pure perfect or without flaw; uniform in color or appearance.

Prodigious: large in force or extent (metaphysical)

Cyclopean: of or characteristic of the Cyclops.

Rhadamanthine: stern and inflexible judgment

Junoesque: beautiful qualities of the goddess juno.

Foods I Love and foods I hate :)

Foods I love/foods I hate

                Some foods that I really love are:

     Cherokee Casserole—I really like this food, and I have ever since I was little. It is a type of creamy rice casserole, and it tastes AMAZING! Its funny that I like it though, because the main ingredient is rice, and that is not exactly one of my favorite foods.

     Salmon—I love salmon, but it’s about the only seafood I like eating. I love it, either plain, or with tartar sauce. I do not however, like eating it with lemon, because it seems to ruin the flavor. I am extremely sensitive to sour, and even a little bit of lemon is too much.

     Costco Burritos-I love the microwave burritos from Costco! They are so easy to make, because you only have to throw them in the microwave for a minute and fifteen seconds (though I add 30 seconds more than that because I think it cooks it better, even if I have to let it cool down for a while after) and then it’s ready to eat. There are two different kinds—bean and cheese, and beef and bean—and  they both taste really good.

Some foods I hate are:

     White rice—I do not mind this food, as long as It is in something, but I do not like eating it plain. I think that it tastes bland and has a weird texture.

     Shrimp—I am the only one in my family that does not like this food.

     Crab/lobster—this is also one of those foods that I cannot eat because of the texture and because it’s very bland. I do not like most sea food.

How I am different from my family

There are some things that set me apart from my family. One of these things is, my looks. I am a blue eyed blonde, though my hair is getting darker. Every other person in my family has darker hair than mine, and their eyes are Hazel, or brown. When I was little and my siblings were mad or frustrated with me when I was little, they would always tell me that I was adopted.

Another thing is that I use different words, and say the words differently. Personally, I can tell when people are related, because they express certain words similarly. Sometimes, I will notice that I speak more like my close friends than I do my own family. My dad grew up in California, and he says things differently, though some of the words have rubbed off on me.  We talked about this kind of topic in my World Geography class, and my teacher was saying that that is very normal, because friends or the people in the area where one lives and media have a larger influence on a person’s speech than their parents, though there still is a little bit of influence from them.

The last thing everyone tells me is different from my families is my creativity. My mom and dad always say that they are not creative, but I think they are, just in different aspects besides art.  I really like doing art, it’s one of my favorite things.

Last night, while watching TV, I heard a soft knock on the back door... (Make-up)

Last night, while watching TV, I heard a soft knock on the back door. Alarms went off in my head, and all I could think was “Who would knock on the back door?”  I was a little frightened at first, but I dismissed it, I was being silly. Relatives and close friends would occasionally come to the back door, but usually they walked right in. I peeled myself from the couch and  trudged over to the big white door.

The metal doornob was cold on my skin as I turned it and pulled the door open. When I first saw the figure standing out there, I was startled and took a step back. It was a man that looked like he was in his late 20’s or early 30’s, and he was stooped over, but not from any back problems. He had slightly long hay colored hair, and when he slowly looked up to make eye contact with  me, it blew across his eyes.

I didn’t know what to say to  him, and before I could think of anything, he shoved past me into my house. I finally found my voice and yelled at him to stop, but he was already heading down the stairs. Was I being robbed? Was this man some type of serial killer? Did I have something they wanted..?

As that last thought came into my mind I realized exactly what was going on.  I raced at full speed after the man, and my fears were confirmed. I got to the basement and heard him tearing through the spare room. Nobody had ever found this place before, and it was supposed to stay that way. Panicked, I went into the room, but before I could reach it a gust of wind threw the door shut and I was locked out.

About a minute later, I was able to open the door. Even with all the mess, broken glass and splintered wood, the first thing that caught my eye was the man on his back in the middle of the floor. His eyes were rolled back and lifeless. As I sucked in a breath at the sight, a heard a voice behind me.

“So you still think that you have everything under control on your own?”

Imagine you are stranded on a tropical island with your classmates

            If I unexpectedly got stranded on a tropical island with my peers, I don’t have a single doubt that things would get hectic pretty quickly. Without any supervision, everyone would try to do anything they wanted. The only problem there would be, there wouldn’t be much to do—especially stuff they would want to do.  And no matter how hard it would be for them, everybody would have to do their part to make the group as a whole survive

If there were no rules, it would almost be impossible to survive. Most likely, people would try to figure out a way to survive, or get help, even if it meant doing extremely dumb things. Rules would need to be set up very quickly to keep track of everybody and make sure that nobody would get hurt. Rules like ‘no wandering off alone’.  If the rules set up were broken, there would have to be consequences, differing depending on the outcome and the rule, not the person who broke the rule.

Who would make those rules though? Even a band of classmates on an island needs a leader. A leader would have to be voted for, not just take control because they think they would be best for the job. Unfortunately, most ninth graders would go for the most popular, funny, hunk of a guy on the Island. This would probably not be the best idea, unless he is a lot more responsible than he seems. The best possible thing that could happen would be if everyone being stranded on the island made them realize that popularity isn’t everything, and they would pick a strong, smart leader, that actually knows how to lead their classmates.

Life would definitely be hard living on an island with your classmates, but not impossible. 

Reading Response :)

I recently finished the book The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz. In the beginning, I did not like it very much. It was not exactly the very first book I would pick up from the shelf.

The reason I chose to read this book was because my world geography teacher recommended it and had said that it was very interesting and good. When I first started reading it, all I could think was that everybody has a different opinion, and mine and hers differed greatly.

When I finally got closer to the end of the book, I started to like it more. I liked it when there was more action, and I found that my favorite parts where when they met with other people besides every one that set off and escaped from the camp in the first place.

From the description on the back of the book, and also from what I had heard from people who read the book too, I thought that the deaths would get more into description, and that it would be more heartfelt and sad. Instead, the people that died in this book just slowly faded, before dying, without any type of mourning. At least, that is what it seemed like to me.

I did like this book, but I wish that it had been paced just a little bit faster. I know that you can’t really expect anything to fast paced from a historical fiction, but I felt like he went into unnecessary boring detail.