Favorite Series

     Some people's favorite things to read are poetry, or mystery, or ever romance. My favorite thing to read is by FAR, fiction. Most of my favorite books such as The Eragon series, The Artemis Fowl series, and the Percy Jackson series are ALL fiction. I don't know why this appeals to me so much, maybe its the fact that I like my imagination sometimes more than reality.

     The Eragon series was one of my favorite by far because of the adventures that Eragon, and his "companions" go through. His travels throughout the land and the battles in all of the strange cities in the book. It was really cool for me to go back and look through the book to remember these things.

     The Artemis Fowl series was my favorite because of how the main character "Artemis" acts. He acts as if someone in my imagination would be. His adventures throughout the land of the fairies always intrigued me as a little kid. Artemis's travels going through so called imaginary land turned out to be a reality. This Boy genius is the heir of the Fowl mansion and riches, and uses them to exploit, or help the fairies.

    The last of my favorite series are the Percy Jackson series which I believe intrigued me into reading it because of how the characters are displayed by the author. In this series Percy travels the world on quests for the gods and the directors of the camp, Camp Halfblood. Percy is in fact a "HalfBlood" because his mother was a mortal and his father was the god Posideon. Percy is currently the only kid at Camp Halfblood tha'ts father is Posideon, and his adventures occur because of that.

Research

     Recently I've had writers block. I had no idea what to write about until a presentation for ECA. I was required to research all about ALS. It is a disease that weakens the muscles over time, and eventually the muscles are to weak to sustain support to the body. It was inspiring to read all of the victims stories about how their lives have changed. But it was even more inspiring to hear it personally.

     They told me how their family had become closer together. She told me how everyone had been extremely kind. She told me how the ALS association had been so kind to her and her family.

     I learned with the research I did that there is no cure. Not many people diagnosed live for more than 5 years, and it is extremely devestating to the body. It was sad to hear this news almost one year ago, at a family meeting. I only have one thing to say.

     Mom, I love you.

A Changing Fate

      Hazel in the book House of Hades, changed over the course of the text from someone who was very unsure of themselves and didn't believe she had magic to a very confident sorceress. It's always really neat to see someone change over the course of a book. Hazel was an interesting one because you would have never expected her to change at all with how she acts in the other books.

     In the beginning of the novel Hazel acted as if she wasn't very confident. Well... she wasn't, "Hazel stammered, 'She didn't believe in magic. Not really. She was faking it'"(Riordan 18). You can tell by the word stammered that she isn't very confident and doesnt have much motivation. Hazel in the previous books has been portrayed as weak and timid and uncertain and hesitant and pathetic. Over and over she is described as weak. She changes that.

  
      Later in the book when the gang is trapped by the bandit Sciron, who traps people in a canal and makes them "air quote" wash his feet "air quote" when in fact he pushes tham over the edge when they kneel down. Everyone has to rely on Hazel because everyone is captured but her and Jason. She has to figure out a way to get out of this mess. I personally would have never been able to do that, or escape in anyway other than through the pearly gates, "'We have to let Sciron win.' ' What?' Jason demanded. Hazel told him the plan"(Riordan 216). Hazel is much more confident in this excerpt than from the beginning. She is very bold and dauntless.

     It is always really neat to see people change and I can't wait to see it throughout the next book I decide to pick up and read.

My Great Grandfather

     A few days ago my dad and I had a conversation about English. It was just about how I liked it and how I was doing. I told him I liked the class and i'm doing ok in it. He then remembered something that his grandfather wrote. He wouldn't tell mewhat it was until I got home from baseball. After my practice we got home and my dad pulled out a very old, or at least it looked like, a year book. I opened it and it was a naval academy biographical year book. It had every cadets name along with a little biography about them. My dad said to find my great grandfather in the index, so I looked and found it, "Hartt W. H. Jr." William H Hartt Jr. on page 221. I fliped to the page and found that on his biography a whole bunch of his good academic record and stuff. I didn't find anything really interesting until my dad pointed something out. It said close to, "He had very few violent outbreaks but the few were with the Academic department..." My dad said he fought in english to sustain a passing grade. Knowing the history in my family, my dad never liked english, my grandfather never really liked english, and my great grandfather never really liked english makes me wonder why i'm the oddball out?

Silver Medal Awarded
Naval Academy Biographical Yearbook Excerpt

Fingerprints

     Fingerprints really define a person, they show where you have been, what you have done, how you have changed. They show your entine past. All in 10 little digits. That is what books can do, show your past and how you have changed. The books you have read and liked show your personality. They show what to expect in the future. Way more than any fingerprint could tell you.
     It would be interesting if police offices took your background of books you've read instead of what your fingerprint looks like on paper. It could be much more effective because you can cover up your finger prints with a glove but you cannot easily cover up the type of genres you like. They would put you in a room full of a whole ton of books and let you read. If you read the same books as others than you would be guilty. Some people say that that wouldnt work, you could fool the system. You couldn't. You can change your looks, but you cannot change what you like.

Just food for thought

Columns

     I believe that I am goin to enjoy this next unit of columns. Writing them are going to be a lot of fun. It will be intriguing to see what everyone will show up with on monday... Hopefully

     My idea came from how some websites require ridiculous passwords.

     Like some sites require you to contain in your password 12 characters, 4 capitol letters, 3 numbers, and your left foot.

What my column will be about is how God named our planet. It will be God using a modern day password system to attempt to name our planet. It will be with a point of view of humor. I am curious to know if everyone else will be choosing humor or will it just be a few?

Will people describe a funny past time they had? Or will some people go with the devils dictionary? Eitherway it will be fun to see what people will come up with!

My Experience With the Divergent Series

     Over spring break I had nothing other to do than read and go on the beach, so i went on the beach my fair share, but I mainly read. I read Divertgent, Insurgent, and planned on reading Alligence but did not have time.
      I personally thought that the books were great, they were a really inresting version of the faction system, and dystopian society. They were a great read but I wanted to discuss my thoughts on why it was made. I'm sure it will be answered in the third book but its always good to share your ideas. I thought that it was created because the rest of society was failing and they needed a fall back. In the last few pages of the second book they stated the Mrs. Prior, Tris's mom, was one of the people who helped create the faction system and used to be on the outside. Let's stop and talk about her for a minute, she showed serious signs of dauntless background but she cleary wasn't because she came from the outside. Where did she get her training, and where was she from originally? Enough getting off topic, back to my thoughts. It must have been created recently because Mrs. Prior was fairly elderly when they created the place, and they must have "Brainwashed" everyone in it to forget their old ways. Maybe they are all in a simulation? Probably not. I do wonder if the older place had more advanced technology and they set themselves back? I guess i'll find out soon when I finish Alligence.

My Favorite Author

          Recently Douglas Adams has become one of my favorite authors, because of his amazing series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but mostly his writing style. In the book I have begun to read Life, The Universe, and Everything Douglas Adams writes in the first few stages about a man stranded in a desert in Africa in the 1950’s who has not spoken to anyone and has not been spoken too in over 5 years. But more importantly, he has not been insulted. Except once. Two years into his strandidness an alien space craft landed from the sky and a man popped out of it and asked, "Are you Arthur Dent?" Arthur then responded with yes, and the man said, "Your an A**hole Mr. Dent." And he left.

       This is merely on of the completely random things that Douglas Adams includes in his work. Randomness is good a little at a time. He does it perfectly, and he ties all his seemingly random things back into a form. This is what I personally look for in a good teacher and writer.

       I can' twait to finish this book and head on to the last two books in this series. If you love Science Fiction I suggest you give it a try!

Life, The Universe, and Everything

      The title of book I'm about to read in this trilogy of five, is Life, The Universe, and Everything. Its is the sequel to The Resturant at the End of the Universe, Which is the sequel to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Both of those books were very good! The second book however is one of those tv episodes in a series that is quite boring, until the last few minutes where it REALLY advances the plot. The first book was incredible for one of many reasons, and a few not so much... I'll give you the bad stuff first. YOU WILL be confused in the first chapter AND YOU WILL go back and read it after you finish it. It makes almost zero sense until you read the second and third chapter where it puts everything into perspective. The book can also be dull at times, but not for very long.
     Some of the reasons why it was amazing is it put the Earth into a bigger sequence of events. A previous machine had determined that the answer to the universe and everything is 42. That machine constructed a new machine to find the QUESTION. That machine was named earth. Earth is sadly blown up minutes before it would have had the answer.
     Hopefully the next book will continue the relationship between these two machines and the question. They did say the answer to the life, the universe, and everything is 42. This book title is that question so I'm hoping that the author will continue this story.

My Favorite Book: The Hobbit

The Hobbit is my favorite book because of my love for science fiction along with the re-readablility that the book has. J.R.R. Tolken is one of my favorite authors because he allows a little imagination with whats going on, along with what is actually happening. You can never guess whats going to happen no matter how many times you've read it.

The world that Tolken created was a magnificent world of science fiction and reality put together. It is science fiction enough that you know it couldnt exist, but the constant reminder of reality makes you wish it was. The race of the hobbits are smaller people with large hairy feet, generally liking to stay in their hole. But Gandalf the Grey almost forces hobbit on an adventure. This is my favorite part in the book because it could be alluded to so many things in reality. Almost like a rude awakening, to some people, to others it could be a blessing.



NY Times Review