Thursday, March 31, 2011

Narrative Poem

I watch her from a distance,
I stray not too close by.
She sits at Mura everyday,
But I still haven't figured out why.

She sits alone day-to-day,
Cause she doesn't like crowds.
She sits at Mura everyday,
And I still haven't figured out why.

The waiter guy comes in a big ol' tie,
He sets down the tray
to pour some sauce.
I watch a big huge grin appear.

She sits at Mura everyday,
And I finally figured out why.

Sonnet 13

I look around to notice it is Spring,
The flowers are in bloom and Spring revives.
I listen to the birds as they will sing,
The bees fly in and out of their a' hives.

I watch some clouds and lay in the a' grass,
I listen to the bird with special tune.
The animals buzz 'round so very fast,
I smell the air to smell the month of June.

The sky falls dark and the sunshine goes away,
The rain pours down and lighting comes after.
I pray & pray, hoping for a new day,
As I continue to watch the thunder.

I like to think back on a' yesterday,
And just hope & pray for new bright day.

*sorry it's late, I lost it but then I just took the revised draft in my notebook*

Extra Credit Response

This week, I am deeply immersed in a book called The Red Pyramid, which is a book about Egyptian gods and goddesses, and kid magicians who have to go on a mission to save the world. Carter and Sadie have to travel national and international to save their father from the evil god, Set. The thing is, this book is almost IDENTICAL to Percy Jackson and The Olympians. I was introduced to this book by my younger brother who has a passion for greek mythology. It is also by the same author, Rick Riordan who is also starting to worry me.

These two books are about different religious beliefs, but in reality they have the same format. A girl and a boy on a mission, with a magical friend or creature (Carter, Sadie and Bast, Percy, Annabeth and Grover). Your basic fantasy story.
 

They have to save a parent figure (Carter and Sadie's dad, Percy's mom) by traveling around the world and even traveling down to different underworlds. They each have a magical object, which just so happens to be the same one (Carter's sword, Percy's sword).

As much as I love Rick's writing, descriptions, and chapter titles (I almost got killed by a french dude was my favorite), I think that Rick needs to start writing with a little bit of a different story plot. And when he learns how to, maybe he can meet up with Sarah Dessen and help her out too? There's nothing wrong with a little extra funk guys. But hey, maybe I'm being overly critical.



 I am only halfway through the Red Pyramid but I have already planned out what is going to happen. Despite the similarities both books have, they do have one variation. Much like some of Jerry Spinelli's books, the narration changes from chapter to chapter. Talk about too confusing to follow along! I shall continue to try, and I shall succeed! Wish me luck!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Revised Looking For Alaska Response

I enjoyed reading the suspenseful Looking For Alaska by John Green because its format kept you engaged. Each chapter beginning at 143 days before to the day before kept me intrigued. The book kept me really excited. After Alaska died, I resented the author, and the book itself so much. How could he take the very character i related to completely out of the picture? It angered me. I related to Alaska in several ways as she is bright, crazy and spontaneous like me. She gave the book life and energy and by taking her out to early, there were things about her we would never find out about. 


I enjoyed Alaska. She was definitely a flirt, but she still had her boundaries. She liked to laugh, much like myself which was one way I felt I could relate to her at times. Throughout the whole first suspenseful half, I found that Alaska lived by my motto. This seemed to prove my theory further of us being alike. My motto is "live life as happy as you can, and keep your head up," or something along those lines. 


Sometimes what I do best, is concealing my true feelings and shutting the world out, while acting in my own play where I fool everyone into thinking everything's okay. I could also see Alaska hiding things at times. Watching her mother die, and then being blamed by her own father definitely put a damper on her life. Then she would take out her anger on her friends and not realizing she was doing so as she hurt them. As most bullies would do, they would cause harm to other people which would alternatively make them feel better as well. Alaska seemed to play pranks on the other kids, and she did this to make herself feel better, but she never really meant to injure someone drastically. Although I also believe that it made her feel better about herself knowing she inflicted it onto someone purposely, without hurting them how she hurt herself, her mother, and her father.


Although I can relate to Alaska in more than one aspect, I wouldn't say we're Gemini's. Some of her choices, would most definitely not be one of mine. For example, drunk driving will not be the way my life will end. And although Alaska did some pretty terrible things, I do not hold that against her completely because when her mother died, she lost a bit of herself too. She lost some of herself and sadly could not find herself in time to save herself from her own death. 


RIP Alaska. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Looking For Alaska by John Green

This last week, I finished the book, Looking For Alaska by John Green. I enjoyed the beginning half, and I think the format was definitely suspenseful. Each chapter starting at 143 days before, all the way to 1 day before, and the day before kept me intrigued. It definitely got me really excited. When Alaska died, I resented the text so much. I hated the author. How could he take the me (I can relate to this character Alaska very much, as she is bright, and crazy, and spontaneous) out of the story? She was the heart of the story and he just goes and takes her out like that? Not cool! There was still so much that I had yet to learn about her, but now there was no chance. UGH! It made me so mad.

I liked Alaska. She was a flirt, but she had boundaries. She liked to laugh, much like myself, which is kind of how I could relate to her at times. Throughout the whole first suspenseful half, I found that Alaska lived by my motto, which proved my theory even more. (My motto is "live life as happy as you can, and keep your head up" or something along those lines.)

I also saw times where I could tell she was hiding something. Its hard to do everything they try to achieve. Her mother dying while she was watching and her father blaming her definitely put a damper on her life. She would also take this out on her friends when she was feeling that pain. She almost didn't realize that she would do this. I believe she would also play pranks on the other kids in her school to make her feel better. Never to seriously injure. Though I also believe that it made her feel better about herself knowing she inflicted it onto someone purposely, without hurting them how she hurt herself, her mother, and her family.



Though I can relate to Alaska in a way, I wouldn't say we're exactly alike. I mean, for one thing, I won't die driving drunk. And although Alaska did do some pretty bad things, I can't completely blame her because I believe that when her mother died, she lost a bit of herself. She lost some of herself and sadly could not find herself back in time to save herself from death.