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Before this class I was not much of a reader and I actually took this class to get myself to read more. Before I would probably read only one or two books a year. At the beginning of the semester I found it really easy to get the reading quota in and I enjoyed all of the reading. I found many books that interested me and I could not put them down. The month though was difficult for me to find time to read and get all of the blogs in on time. Golf reason rolled around and I lost all of my focus on that and and trying to get stuff done for other classes. During the summer I intend to keep reading and find more books that intrest me.

A Long Way Gone, reading log

This section opens with Ishmael once again fighting a dream. This time, it isn’t something his mind imagines, but an actual memory mixed up with his imagination. He is pushing a wheelbarrow with a dead body in it, and there are other bodies bleeding and dying all around him. He doesn’t know why he is taking this particular body to the cemetery, but he pushes on, oblivious to the cries of the dying. The body is wrapped in a white bed sheet and after Ishmael pulls it to the ground, he begins to unwrap it, noting that there are bullets all the way from his feet to his neck. He lifts the cloth and sees his own face. When he forces himself awake, he realizes he is in New York City where he is starting his new life. However, he can’t keep his waking mind from drifting back to Sierra Leone where he remembers carrying an AK-47 and walking with a squad of many boys and a few adults. They were on their way to attack a small town that had ammunition and food. They engage an enemy squad in a firefight and kill them all. This squad had consisted of young boys like them, but they didn’t care. They gave each other high fives and took the ammunition from the bodies. Then, they sat down on the bodies and ate their food while fresh blood leaked out all around them.

A Long Way Gone, pg 1-50

Ishmael and his family and friends have very little connection to the war that is taking place in their homeland until refugees begin passing through. The first time that he actually begins to experience the war. He and some of his friends go to participate in a talent show. They all rap together. On the morning they left for Mattru Jong, they loaded their backpacks with their cassettes and lyrics they are working on as well as several layers of clothes on their bodies for the days they would be gone. Unfortunatly they heard the rebels had attacked Ishmael’s village of Mogbwemo.

The book is pretty interesting and from hearing from my friends I know that this book will only get better. I am interested to see how he is affected by the war.

It's Kind of a Funny Story, pgs 1-30

So far this story is about a teenager named Craig who does not seem satisfied with his life and is confused. He is always depressed but he really is not sure why he feels that way. Craig feels guilt for spend putting his family through what he feels and having them pay for a psychiatrist. Most of the beginning of the book is Craig talking to his doctor. We find out that Craig is a little odd, for example he finds comfort in peeing. It is relaxing for him and is a time to think. Craig talks with his psychiatrist about what he wanted to be when he grew up back when he was a younger, when he was happy. He wanted to be a mapmaker. He found comfort in creating his own cities. Once he got to the age nine though he started to find comfort in video games. Even enjoyed watching other people play video games.

The book is okay so far and I have not read enough  to know if I will like it. It is a really easy read and I will soon find out if it is worth reading the rest of the book. Craig is a very interesting person and seems like he is very lost. He wants to succeed but has many things in his life that are holding him back. Hopefully he is able to figure out whats wrong with him and can become a more happier person.

Anthology Poems

Theme: Weather
1. "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes
2. "Storm Ending" by Jean Toomer
3. "Veil" by Todd Davis
4. "April Snow" by Matthew Zapruder
5. "The Rain" by Robert Creeley
6. "Wind on the Hill" by A. A. Milne

Video: "The Rain"

Osama is dead!

I have read the entire article over the death of Osama bin laden and I found it to be very interesting. First of all I think that it is crazy that he was able to avoid capture for so many years and now it is finally over. I am not sure how much this will interrupt the operations of al queda considering they probably will be able to continue without Osama. One thing for sure is that it will boost the confidence of he united states against the war on terror. I also believe the troops will rally with he this successful mission and be even more determined to change the middle east. Some things hat I found interesting in the article were that Osama was able to hide so close to other people and that he was living with so many other people. He had many children in he complex and most of his family. Also it is odd that the neighbors never were suspicious about who was living in such a house with such attention to security. I am positive that several people I'm Pakistan knew that Osama was hiding in that house but they were too scares for their lives to tell anyone. I am relives that he is dead. It would have been extremely interesting if we were able to capture him alive and what we would have done to him. We will soon find out if they are going to release pictures that were taken during the raid and I would be very curious to see them because I would be interested in the specifics of the operation. I am glad that the worry is over about this terrible man but the war is not over yet.

hole in my life, pgs 170-200 (end of the book)

Finally finished the end of the book! Jack is about to go to the parole board where he will find out how long he will have to stay in prison. He spends days working on his facial expressions so he could win sympathy support from the board. Unfortunately he failed to make a good first impression with the board considering the seriousness of Jack's crime. A few weeks later Jack received a letter telling him that he has a 2 year sentence. He was heartbroken. In prison Jack become more intense with writing. The main reason was because there were no distractions to take him away from writing such as going to the bar. Jack was desperate to get out of prison and he thought of a great way that would allow him to get out early. He decided that he would apply for college and hopefully that would convince the parole board that he was ready to leave the prison. Jack applied to a small college in New York and he was accepted. Soon after the parole board decided that he would be allowed to leave with special conditions. When Jack was leaving the prison he lost one of his most important writings of his life. The book in which he wrote all of his thoughts and journals was apart of the prison library and he was not allowed to keep it. Jack needed to have a place to live and a job. With the help from his father Jack found a women to stay with in little Italy where he would have to rent. Jack also got a holiday job of selling and delivering Christmas trees to people. Eventually he started college and got a job as a security guard for the college. As Jack's writings began to develop, he found that his childhood was full of things to write about he wrote some children's books. Now in the real world Jack is enjoying what he has always wanted to do. Writing.

I loved reading this story mostly because it is a true story. It is great to know what this man had to go through in his life but still came out to be a successful human being. He stuck to what he wanted to do eventually in life and it turned out well for him. To me it seems that he would not have been a such a great writer if it was not for him going to prison. I say this because prison allowed him to actually realize that he had stuff to write about and it was good. This story is fairly short but shows that people make mistakes and can turn out to be good.

hole in my life, pgs 140-170

The sentence day eventually came for Jack and he met with his lawyer before he headed to court. Jack gave his lawyer the rest of the money that he had and told him to keep it in case he had to go to jail. When they made it to the court room the prosecutor tested against him which was damaging to Jack's image. The decision of the judge was "5010B" which was a youth sentence that could last for 6 months to 6 years. After the sentence he was able to meet with his father and he was sorry for the pain that he brought to his family. Jack also found out that his dad wrecked Jack's car in order to gain some insurance money. Jack and the rest of the sentenced criminals were taken to a prison in New York the next day and were placed to bunks. Jack was quickly introduced to the prison life when a man asked if he would have sex with guys. He also found Lucas, a guy who came into the prison at the same time as Jack, in the bathroom naked after he was raped but several guys. Jack was then later transferred to a prison in Kentucky where he was placed in a single cell because he had lice. The first week was rough for Jack because he had no books or anything and all he could do was think about what he had done. Eventually someone gave Jack some books and a pencil and paper to write with. Jack was about to be released into population when he was cleared for not having lice but he was able to stay in the single cell because he got a job as a X-ray tech in the prison hospital. This job allowed him to see the harshness of prison life without having to be close to it.

It is really interesting to hear some of the stories that actually happened in prison and it really makes you wonder at the possible things that go on at prison. It is also crazy that just 24 hours in prison, Jack had experienced a victim of rape in the prison. Jack seems to focus himself in prison and has stopped doing any drugs even though they are easy to come by in prison. I believe since he is being a good inmate and that he is working in the hospital it will allow him to get out of prison faster. I can not wait to see if Jack writes about anymore prison stories.

hole in my life, pgs 110-140

This section of the book has been my favorite so far and it has been about how he got caught! Rik, Hamilton, and Jack now had to sell all of the hash to people before Jack could make his share of the money and leave. They stayed at the Chelsea hotel when things started to fall apart. Rik informed the guys that the last sale was ready to be made. Hamilton left to work out the deal while Jack stayed at the hotel when suddenly Jack started to hear screaming and fighting going on lobby. It was the FBI and they were attempting to arrest Hamilton. Scared out of his mind, Jack when pack up to his room and packed his stuff to leave. He was able to get himself to the subway system and eventually the Amtrak station without being discovered. Jack then took the train to Florida where he went to stay at his old motel where he lived for a year during high school. Eventually he called his dad and found out that the FBI is all over his family trying to find out where Jack had gone to. Jack's father set him up with a lawyer in New York and after talking to the lawyer Jack decided that it would be best to turn himself in so he headed back to New York. At first it looked like they would have little evidence against Jack but after meeting with the prosecutor they found out they were wrong. While Hamilton and Jack were sailing to New York with the hash, Rik was arrested and Rik confessed about his operation that he was doing. Rik then decided to help the FBI by continuing the operation so they could arrest all the people who bought from them and also arrest Jack and Hamilton. Rik turned out to be the snitch the whole time. The FBI had photo of them on the boat and unloading the hash. The next few weeks Jack passed his time in the Chelsea hotel waiting for his sentence day to come to find out what the punishment would be.

Considering that Jack had made a plea agreement with the prosecutor they are hoping that Jack will only get probation. I do not think that he will get that lucky and he will have to spend just a little time in prison. It is really amazing to see the kind of life that Jack Gantos had before he became a well a know writer. It is a great book so far.

hole in my life, pgs 66-110

I am liking the story more and more as it goes on. This section of the story was about how and why he got into smuggling hash to the United States. He also talks about his journey while smuggling the drugs. Jack who always wanted to go to college never really had the funds so when an opportunity to make a lot of money came around he decided to take it. He was offered to join another man to smuggle hash from St. Croix to New York City. After completing the job he would receive $10,000 dollars and this was enough money for him not to think about the consequences too much. Jack figured that afterward he would be able to take that money and go to college somewhere. That day he told his family that he found a sailing job and would be leaving the island. After a few practice sailing trips Jack and Hamilton, the other man sailing with Jack, set out for New York. There were several rough moments through the trip considering that Jack had little experience with sailing and the weather was not great at all. They almost ran out of fuel once but fortunately they ran into a large Japanese fishing vessel and were able to barrow some fuel. They also once found their way into military water and had to be directed out by the Coast Guard. Hamilton had a strong disliking for Jack looking like he was always guilty of something. Eventually they made it to New York and found a place to keep their sail boat. Rik, the man who planned the operation, met them at the dock to pick them up. They met with some people and then later came back to the boat to get the rest of the hash. There was a huge storm the day before and caused the sail boat to unhook from the dock. The owner of the marina said that some people boarded the ship and anchored it down for them. Jack immediately realized the anchor was next to all the hash and whoever saved the boat saw the hash. They were able to get back on their ship and there was nothing unusual with the ship so they were safe and went to put the ship at a different marina.

So far they have come close to getting caught several times. My prediction is that the people who saved the boat called the cops and the cops set up a sting operation to catch them in the act with the hash. Either way I am super curious to see what happens to Jack and how he gets caught. It is kind of sad that he had to try and go to all this trouble to go to college and that he could not find a better way to get the money. Must have been some really hard times.

hole in my life, pgs 33-65

After living in the motel for a year while Jack was going to high school, he decided it was time for a change. His original plan was to take a few day trip around Florida to find inspiration to write before he would go to St. Croix and work with his dad again. Before he left a friend asked to stay with him for a couple days and he agreed. He also convinced Jack to invest his money and they would sell some weed to make some money but unfortunately this did not pan out and Jack lost his money. He then began his trip to around Florida looking for inspiration to write. When he eventually made it to St. Croix a tropical storm had hurt the city's tourist area. There also began racial tensions between whites and the blacks of the island. The blacks wanted to exterminate the whites. This hurt the island and Jack's dad's business since he was in construction. Instead they had to build crates for people who wanted to leave the island that had growing tensions.

I find the story okay so far but nothing really huge has happened so far in the story. He mainly has been moving around and talking about everyday life. He talks about the drug use of the island and how casual it was. The police payed little to no attention to it. His job of building the crates gives me the suspicion that this is how he will get involved in drug smuggling since he will be talking to many boat owners who might be involved in smuggling. I am sure the book will get more interesting as it goes on.

hole in my life, pgs 1-33

The book starts out with Jack talking about him being in prison and how violent it was. Then Jack talks about how his dad had a keen eye for spotting criminals but he never pegged his own son for being a criminal. When Jack was nineteen his family decided that they would move to Puerto Rico since his father found a job. Instead of going to school in Puerto Rico he got a job doing electrical work for a hotel and this is when Jack's downward spiral began. He had a lot of freedom while working this job because he lived in the hotel and had maid service. He was also allowed to drink. After a while he wanted to go back to school so he was sent back to Florida to live with the Bacon family and to go back to his old high school. Unfortunately Jack's behavior was too much for the Bacon family and he was kicked out of their house. Jack then found a place to stay in an old motel. He started to turn around a little bit and started to think about becoming a writer. He would write in a journal when ideas came to him. One day during school some prisoners came to the his school and talked about the life that got them into prison. Jack thought he would never be like them.

So far I have enjoyed reading this book and I am curious to see how he eventually ended up in prison. He never really thought that he would have to go through times like that. Jack had lived interesting childhood because it seems that he did not have much supervision.

I Am Number Four, pgs 392-440 (end of the book)

There was a lot of fighting at the end of this book. Many times John was close to dieing but some how he would be saved and stay alive. Unfortunately Henri dies during the fighting. John is able to defeat the Mogadorians because he realized he could communicate with animals. The Mogadorians had a 30 foot monster and John was able to convince the monster to stop attacking him and to attack the Mogadorians. After this a scout is about to kill John when suddenly Sarah stabs the Mogadorian in the back and saves John.

John later wakes up in a hotel where he is recovering from all of his injuries. He also finds all of his things packed up because he knows that he will have to leave the city and find a new a place to hide. John and Sarah are heartbroken that they have to leave each other. Sam and Number Six are also going to leave with John to find a new place to hide. They all three leave after they cremate Henri.

Sadly I did not like the end of this book because the fighting to me seemed to drag out way too much. I lost interest in the fighting and found myself not understanding what was happening. I liked how it set up for a new book at the end but the fighting could have been much more interesting. I would probably read the next book if there is one or is going to be one.

House

Dan Martensen and Shannan Click's gentle admiration for nature is expressed in the decoration of their New York farmhouse. The home is secluded and surrounded by nature. All that can be seen around the home are bovine plants of green. The owners have a garden of their own and are shown picking some vegetables from the garden. The home is consisted of wood walls and lacks any modern attributes seen in a typical home. The home reminds me of an old country house secluded from the rest of the town. The dog in several pictures shows the admiration of animals. All in all, the home expresses a love for nature.

Spring Break Story!!!

For this spring break my family went to New Smyrna Beach, Florida for the fourth year in a row. This beach happens to gave the highest shark bite incidents in all of the United States.  It started with two other families and has grown to six families all together. This year my friend's family decided they would invite their cousins family to come this year. One of the boys of this family, Adam, is 16 years old. While I was relaxing on the beach, Adam, Luke and Nick went into the ocean to swim. The three of them came back towards us minutes later but for some reason Adam was limping a little and Luke yelled out, "Adam was bit by a shark!" Adam with a squinted face walked past us and I saw the bottom of his foot was covered in blood. We then followed Adam off the beach and up on to the deck of the condo where we stayed. My dad, a doctor, then took a hose to clean off the wound that he had. Adam, not liking the pain, had to bit on a towel. The wound was one small puncture wound that bleed really well and a few scratches that had no bleeding at all. Luckily it was not bad enough that he had to go to the hospital and he was able to stop the bleeding and put a band-aid on it. The reason we believe it is a shark bit is because Luke and Nick said that they saw a fish (maybe two feet) swim away after Adam began to jump up and down. This provided some humor to our trip since Adam did not get hurt too bad and it makes for a great story.

I Am Number Four, pgs 340-392

After jumping through the window John runs back to his house where he finds Henri and Mark. He then decides to go to the school and make sure that Sarah is still okay. When he gets there he finds that the school is almost empty and he finds Sarah in the photo room. As the two of them leave the school out of no where Mogadorians show up ready to kill John. They quickly run back into the school. They head into a class room and hide under a teacher's desk. Suddenly the door quickly opens then closes again.

John and Sarah decide they should sneak out of the school before more Mogadorians come but as they try to leave to the room John is pulled back by someone. The someone was Number Six and she had entered the room since she is invisible. She had been looking for John because she thought it was time for them to fight back against the Mogadorians. Eventually Henri and Mark join with John, Sarah and Henri in the class room. They eventually think they should leave the school and battle the Mogadorians or at least run away. They leave and immediately begin fighting and killing Mogadorians. Eventually they are outside and John orders Mark and Sarah to go into the school and hide while they fight with Mogadorians who are growing in numbers.

The fighting is very intense and it seems that they are outnumbered by the Mogadorians. I defiantly think that they will need to get some help if they are going to defeat the beasts. Personally I think that the other people from Lorien will show up and join in the fight. Eventually they will be able to win. Only 30 or so pages left and I am sure it will be a good ending.

Ten Years From Now

I really enjoyed listening to these kids, mainly because it was comical to hear their plans for the future. A couple of the jobs that the people want to have are odd and almost unrealistic. One boy wants to become a marijuana baker and I believe that he wants to be this just because he is fond of marijuana and would like to have a nice supply for himself. Another girl wants to become a leading actress and the way she speaks makes it seems that she is completely confident that it will happen. I do not think that this girl realizes how difficult it is to become a leading actress in movies. One Senior wants to become a doctor but his reasoning is very interesting. He wants to be pilot but sadly his eyes are too bad so he wants to be a doctor because that is what most Asians choose as a profession. I think it would be better for him to do a job that he will enjoy. I would probably relate to the boy who is undecided the most even though that I know that I want to be some type of doctor. He says that he wants to become wealthy and even though I realize wealth is not everything I also would prefer to be wealthy. This is because I would want a stable family that I know I could provide for without having to worry at all. In ten years I see myself almost done with school to become a doctor but I will not find out what kind of doctor I want to be until I experience them in college.

Favorite Poem

My favorite poem of this quarter has been "Here, Bullet" by Brain Turner. The seriousness and imagery of the poem are my favorite parts.

My Earlier Readings

Throughout this quarter I was able to read consistently for the first time in my life. I would usually just read here and there but now it is different. I almost finished three books this quarter and I enjoyed all of them. I have read 1083 pages this semester. It was great to see how the Hunger Games series finished with Mockingjay. I heard that a movie is suppose to be made based on the books and I will probably go see that. Suzanne Collins has become an author that I enjoy. I have noticed that I enjoy the books that have young people going through some type of struggle. Katniss is trying to start a revolution, Nailer is trying to escape the hardships of his home life, and John has to try and live a normal life even though he is different. I have almost finished my third book and it is starting to become very interesting. After I finish this book I will most likely start to read Hole In My Life because it sounds like a cool book and I have been trying to get the book for a while.

I Am Number Four, pgs 310-340

John knows that it is Sarah who is trapped inside the house. There is no other option for him but to save his girlfriend that he loves. He first runs to the back of the house so that nobody will be able to see him running into the burning house. When he enters he is engulfed in flames and can hear that Sarah is upstairs. He starts to climb up the stairs when suddenly they collapse. John then just jumps to the second floor and heads down the hall looking for Sarah. Eventually he finds her huddled in a room with Mark's dogs. John graps all three of them and then jumbs out of the house and into the backyard bringing them to saftey. John and Sarah head into the woods and there John is forced to tell Sarah about him being an alien and the powers that he has. Suprisingly Sarah takes it really well and says that she will love him no matter what.

To decsive the people watching the house burn, John and Sarah sneak back to the front yard where they find a car with a change of clothes so it hides that John was in the fire. They are then greeted with a police officer and a reporter who say that two witnesses saw John jump out of the fire. John and Sarah deny that anything of the such occured but the reporter does not believe the story that John makes up. The reporter keeps trying to ask John questions and says he will find the truth. Henri then comes and picks up John, Sarah, and Sam to take them home. John again tells the lie that he never entered the fire because he knows that Henri will force him to leave the town if he knows that people have started to noitice his unusual powers.

The next school day, John is relieved to see that the report on the house fire in the newspaper has no news about John. He is happy the entire day knowing that he will not have to leave Paradise, Ohio. During home ec class, John is called down to the office and he knows that it could be bad news. Mr. Harris shows an article on the internet to Jon that has the title The James House Fire: The Untold Story. John now knows that the reporter had told what he think really happened. John also recieves a fax that is confidental and all it says is "ARE YOU NUMBER 4?" At this same time Henri pulls up in his pick-up truck frantical and John knows that they will have to run away form Ohio and start a new life. When Henri enters the room, John decideds to run away and jumps through the glass window.

The story is starting to getting intense because of the fax that asked "are you number 4." I believe that it was the Mogadorians who sent this to him and they are on his tail ready to kill him. Now he is running away and I have no idea where he could be heading because he really has no where to go besides home. John would be heartbroken if he would not be able to say good-bye to Sarah. I am interested to see where this story leads to because I have no idea what will happen next.

I Am Number Four, pgs 254-310

John has a spilt second to decide how to escape before the Mogadorian walks up the stairs. He decides to pick up Sam and Henri and he jumps out the window and they are able to escape before the Mogadorian can reach them. They then go to Sam's truck and start to head home. On the way home they begin to explain to Sam how they are aliens and the powers that John is developing. When they get home Henri tells John to pack his stuff because they are going to move since the Mogadorians are so close. John gets upset by this and does not want to leave so he forces Henri to stay where they are until they are positive that the Mogadorians know where they are.

John and Henri continue to train as much as possible to develop his powers. At this same time John and Sarah have become really close to each other and have been dating for awhile. One day John gets another vision of the day when they left during the attack. This vision was about the other ship that took off after them. It showed animals being loaded onto the ship. Henri and John then contemplate where they possibly have gone.

John, Sarah, and Sam all get invited to go to Mark's party over the weekend. When they arrive at the party there at least a hundred kids there and most of them have been drinking. They dance for a while and Sam goes of with Emily to the basement while Sarah can not be found. People start to run up from the basement because their is a fire that was started by Sam and Emily bumping into a candle. The fire gets worse and worse and eventually they have evacuate the house. Outside John looks for Sarah but can not find her and that is when everyone hears a scream coming from the house.

This book is pretty interesting and I am excited to finish it. I am certain that it is Sarah still it the house and I am predicting that John will have to use his power of being resistant to fire to save his girlfriend. It would be sad if John would lose Sarah because she means so much to him. It will be interesting to see how he saves her since there are so many people watching him.

Cody

In the movie about two boys and their life in the country, Cody has a very unique diction. I had noticed that his diction changes in several different situations. While being interviewed for the movie he is quiet and often mumbles expressing slight shyness. When Cody is talking to his grandmother, he replies extremely quick and often with only one word. This shows that Cody is often disinterested and prefers to stay quiet. Cody is also very defensive. This character trait is shown when he argues with the history teacher. Cody increases the tone in which he talks to the teacher and is much louder during this scene. Another trait expressed by Cody's diction is that he is very rebellious. When you first see Cody you can notice that he is rebellious because of the way that he dresses and that he paints his nails black. This rebelliousness is emphasized when you witness Cody while in class. Cody of often talks during class and gets in trouble because of what he says. Lastly, Cody's diction shows that he is a good person. Cody is in a band that plays metal music but since he does not like the lack of morals in metal music, he creates his own sounds that have good messages and morals. The diction in his songs show his true personality. Cody has a various ways of talking and each show a different characteristics of him. All in all, Cody may not be normal when it comes to the rest of society but he is a humble person.

NCAA March Madness!!!!!!

The article over the NCAA tournament was very interesting. It has made me rethink some of my predictions. As it said in the article I am predicting that Michigan State will upset at least one team because they do have a lot of talent and were able to reach the final four last year with similar players. I feel they have just been under performing and can compete with higher seeds. I also do not believe that Notre Dame will exceed in the tournament. I defiantly expect them to make it to the Sweet Sixteen but if they get matched up with Purdue I think that Purdue will win. Notre Dame might even lose sooner than the Sweet Sixteen. I can not wait for the games to start and I will probably end up wearing Purdue clothes everyday until they lose (which will hopefully be never). Something that completely shocks me is that Florida is a number 2 seed even though they had lost their conference tournament game to Kentucky. Luckily for Florida they received a great draw in the tournament and to me it looks like they have an easy road to the Elite Eight. Purdue also got a favorable draw and could meet up with Notre Dame. The play in games start today and I will be thinking about the March Madness constantly for the next month. Go Boilers!!!!!

I Am Number Four, pgs 214-253

Worried that Henri is serious trouble John gets the help of Sam to go find him. John again lies to Sam to hide his true identity of being an alien. Not knowing a way to get to Athens, Ohio (which is where Henri is believed to be) Sam comes up with the idea to drive themselves in his dad's old truck. Although neither of them have driven before or have their license they head to find Henri. When they reach Athens they park the car and decide to walk towards the address that Henri had intended to visit. While finding a parking space John sees Henri's truck and knows that he is close.

John and Sam head to the house where they believe Henri is located. A large man walks out as they approach and John instructs Sam to follow the man around just in case he is heading to where Henri is located. John sneaks into the house and gets caught by a man who is upstairs. The man is furious and is holding a bat ready to beat John. John begins asking where Henri is and the man won't tell him. John starts to use telekinesis to choke the man and eventually he tells John that Henri is in the basement. While releasing Henri from a chair another man comes to the stairs with a gun. Again John uses telekinesis to disarm the man and ties him up. Sam comes to the top of the stairs and is suddenly pushed. He is falling in the air and right before he is about to slam to the ground John saves him using his power of telekinesis. After this Henri and John are forced to tell Sam that they are actually aliens and Sam takes it rather well.

Henri then goes to the man upstairs and starts to interrogate him about the article of the Mogadorians. He eventually started talking and he said that a man had called in with the information and the man found it out by capturing a Mogadore and interrogating it. After they had published the article in the magazine three Mogadores came to the house and threatened all of the journalists that they would kill them if they published more information about Mogadores and if they talked about them. They also warned that people like John and Henri would come. As they are upstairs talking to the man the door opens and John sees that it is three Mogadores carrying swords ready for battle. Two of them are going downstairs and one is going upstairs towards John and they have to make a quick decision to run or fight.

This story is taking a quick turn and is getting extremely intense. John is finally getting more of his powers but he will not be able to defeat the Mogadores yet so I am expecting him to flea. It will be interesting to see how this section of the book will end. Usually I do not read books like this (about aliens and super powers) but I am really enjoying it.

I Am Number Four, pgs 143-213

John and Sarah meet with each other and head on the hayride. The ride goes into the woods and they get off to enter the walking part of the haunted woods. The people that are running the haunted ride are Mark and the rest of his football buddies. While they are walking through the path some of the football players start to attack John, Sam, Sarah and Emily. John is unable to see and in panic he decided to use his Legacy so he can see and fight back. The football players are wearing night vision goggles so they are able to see. The handful of football players are no match for John and he is able to fight them off and escape the woods with his friends. Sarah was impressed with what John was able to do and they kiss each other while walking out of the woods.

John and Henri have been working hard to try and get his powers to come because for some reason they are not coming as quickly as they should. Henri is becoming worried that he wont be able develop his powers since they are not on Lorien. Ever since the fight in the woods Sam began to ignore John. John is worried that he had seen too much and figured out that John has some special powers. He decided to go to Sam's house and find out what he knows. When John walks into Sam's room unannounced, Sam pulls a gun out on John and asks why he is there. Sam thinks that he is an alien and John is quick to make Sam think that he is acting crazy. John later finds out that when Sam was a kid his dad mysteriously disappeared and he thinks that his dad was kidnapped by aliens. Sam finally settles down and realizes that he was over thinking the incident.

John is able to the magazine in which the article about the Mogadorians preparing to attack Earth from Sam. John takes it to Henri so that he can search where it had come from. Henri eventually is able to find the source and he decided to head to the publisher to figure out how they found this information. He leaves while John is at school and expects to be home early that afternoon. John waits and waits for Henri and he never arrives. John is with Sarah and her family and his emotions are running high since Henri will not answer any of his phone calls. The emotions bring on another power and John breaks Sarah's camera using telekinesis.

Henri could be in some serious trouble since he is not answering his phone. I believe that Henri was taken kidnap by the publisher of the magazine because it is a trap and the Mogadorians are trying to get John to come to them. It will be interesting to see how John will be able to find Henri. For some reason I also think that Sam will eventually find out that John is actually an alien. I am finding this book very interesting and fun to read.

I Am Number Four, pgs 111-142

John and Henri work on improving his power while John has visions about his own home planet. While he was reliving the moment where he and the other 17 people boarded the ship to escape he saw that there was a second ship following them. He told Henri about this and he was had know idea about the second ship.

Henri describes to John the about the reasons that they decided to come to earth since he could not remember much at all. When the Mogadorians came to attack they got 9 Garde and their Keepers boarded on a ship to escape. At first they were going to just circle Lorien until the battle was over and they could return to the planet. Unfortunately it soon became obvious that the Mogadorians would win the battle and eventually they had stripped Lorien of their resources. Before they left one of the elders but a charm on the Garde so that they would have to be killed in order and when one was killed a scar would appear on their ankle. They then set off on a long journey to Earth where they would hide until they were ready to revolt against the Mogadorians.

Henri and John go into town one day for the Halloween parade. While they were there they ran into Sam Goode. Since Henri heard that Sam was interested in aliens they began exchanging conspiracies with each other (of course Henri is actually from another planet so it is humours to hear his stories). But one shocking thing that Sam had said was that Mogadorians had a plan of universe domination and that they were planning to take over Earth. Henri and John were shocked to hear this since they actually knew that it was true. They were curious to how he learned this and who would be leaking the information. After this incident they head to a pavilion where they meet with Sarah. John and Sarah make plans to go on the haunted hayride later that night and John is excited.

The information that regular people on Earth could know actual information about aliens is shocking. My belief is that one of the Garde or other Keepers started to write books about what happened to them and it is know in the hands of people on Earth. John and Sarah seem to like each other a lot and this is only making Mark more mad so I believed there will eventually be a physical fight between the two. It would be a rather unfair mismatch considering John has superpowers that they do not know about.

Spellbound

During the movie Spellbound there are obvious differences between the competitor's parents when it comes to their motives. One parent in particular, Neil's dad, seems to be more interested in winning the competition more than his own child. He is determined to make certain that his son is prepared enough for the spelling bee and that he is mentally ready to win. Neil follows his dad's confusing and almost unnecessary method to spell the words. Other people in Neil's family are hoping that he will succeed also. Neil's grandfather even payed people in India to pray and chant for Neils success and if he is able to win he planned on paying a meal for 5,000 people in India. This extreme support may have put some unnecessary pressure on Neil. On the other hand there was Ted's parents. They are country people who just want their son to do the best that he can. They are just proud that Ted was able to make it this far and want him to enjoy it. Their approach towards their son has made Ted a quiet and relaxed individual. The winning motivation of Neil's father and content of Ted's parents are very different from each other.

I Am Number Four, pgs 75-110

John heads out of the school and gets into Henri's car. When they get home John sees the Chest on the table and knows he will get to find out whats inside. Henri tells him that it is his inheritance and it is used once the Garde is getting his Legacy. Henri only lets John one thing in the Chest and it is a big rock. John lays on the kitchen table while Henri moves the rock along his body and John begins seeing scenes of when the Mogadorians began to attack his planet of Lorien. The Mogadorians attacked Lorien because their planet lost almost all of its resources so they invaded Lorien for theirs. John snaps out of his dreaming when he hears a scratching at the door. They prepare to attack while opening the door but instead they find a dog on the porch and it has a name tag that says BERNIE KOSAR.

John and Henri begin talking about the visions that John was seeing. They are taken aback by how vicious the Mogadorians are. Henri informs John that he thinks there are Mogadorians are eventually going to attack Earth also but they wont use it for the resources. He thinks that they will kill all the humans and use it as their own planet. Before John goes to bed that night and decides to look at his phone to see if Mark did anything to it. Instead he finds that Sarah entered her number into the phone.

At school the next morning John heads to his locker, and when he opens it he finds that it is half full of manure. Sam also found manure in his locker. They know that Mark was to blame. John goes through the rest of the day of school which included running the mile where he had to pretend slow even though he could have finished it in minute or so. In home ec Sarah lets John know that the Halloween festival is coming up and would like to see and hang out with John at it. He is super excited by this.

John is really falling for Sarah and Sarah seems to like John also. I am pretty sure that will end up in something. Also John is super excited that he his getting his Legacies and he can not wait to see what other Legacies he will receive. The interesting thing is that the Henri thinks that Mogadorians are among us humans and are planning to take us over. Lets hope that it is not true.

I Am Number Four, pgs 40-74

John is relieved that Henri has come to help him. John's hands are glowing and when Henri sees this he becomes happy. He knows that John is beginning to get his first Legacy. Legacies are the powers that Garde from Lorien eventually develop. Luckily Henri has gardening gloves on him and John puts them on to disguise the glowing of his hands. John is in great pain so it is difficult for him to make it to Henri's car and they use the excuse that John is having an asthma attack to hide what is actually happening. Before John's hands began to glow he left his book bag in class so Henri had to go get it. The two then head home and John becomes excited because he realizes that he will be allowed to open the Chest. The Chest has always been a valuable possession of theirs but John was not allowed or even able to open it until his Legacies began to develop.

The first thing that John notices when he gets home is that his phone is missing. Immediately he knew that Mark James had taken his phone. Mark James is the star football player and used to date Sarah Hart who John had began to like already. Mark had already picked on John during the first day of him being at school. After Henri takes a nap, he begins to explain to John the Legacy that he is beginning to develop. The Legacy is called Lumen. Henri takes a lighter and puts it on John's hand to show that he does not feel anything. As of now only his hands are resistant to fire and heat but eventually through training his whole body will be. Also he will be able to control when his hands light up.

The next morning John goes to school and decides to confront Mark about where his phone is. John tells him that he has until the end of the day to give the phone back. In class a kid named Sam Goode sits with John and it obvious that he is fond of aliens and NASA because he wears a NASA shirt and draws aliens in his note book. During lunch the two sit with each other and as they are eating a meatball flies through the air and hits Sam. Another hits John. The food came from Mark's table and in anger John goes to confront them. The argument is quickly diminished by a lunch attendant and they are sent to the principle's office. The principle does not seem to care about the situation and actual seems to side with Mark since he is the star football player and the newspaper wants to interview him later in the week.

In Home Ec John gets lucky and his cooking partner happens to be Sarah Hart. He described her as the most beautiful girl. They talk about the situation with Mark and she is sorry for how Mark has been acting towards John. After school Sarah comes to John's locker and hands his phone to him. He is shocked that she took it from Mark and is thankful for it. Walking out of the building John gloats to Mark that he has gotten his phone back and Mark is stunned.

I am still enjoying the book and I am interested to see how the plot will develop further into a more dramatic story. Hopefully it involves some sort of fighting. I have found myself hoping that there will time during my classes so that I can read this book. It is still early but I can tell that I am going to like it until the end.

2.28 Diction Exercise

a) strong, sweet, flawless, love, ripe, planned, otherwise,

b) elevation: simple, transparent
concrete: fair, straight

c) The humble transparency of Jane Kenyon's diction in Otherwise emphasizes her peerless love of unforeseeable life.

I Am Number Four, pgs 1-39

by Pittacus Lore

So far I have found the story to be quite entertaining. The story is about a race that fled from their home planet, Lorien, to Earth. There are two type of citizens of Lorien, one type develops Legacies which are powers and the powers can be almost anything. These citizens are called the Garde, while the others are called Cepan, or Keepers. Every Garde is assigned to Cepan and they help develop the Garde's powers. There were nine Gardes that came to Earth to preserve their race but they are being hunted by Mogadorians. There is charm that made it so that they would have to be killed in order and already the first three have been found and killed. Each time one is killed a scar is burned into the others to show how many of them have died.

The fourth is living in Florida when he gets the scar and realizes that he will be the next one to be hunted. He runs home as quick as he can to inform his Keeper, Henri. As they have done countless times before to avoid detection they back up their things to move and start a different life under another name. Henri decides that they will move to Ohio and number four decides that his new name will be John Smith.  They rent a house in Paradise, Ohio which is a small rural town. The house small and dirty but is isolated from other people.

The next day after arriving in Ohio, John goes to his new high school where he will do his best to blend in as a normal kid. Right when he arrives at the school he notices the usual cliques and is greeted by a girl named Sarah Hart. John then goes to the principal where he gets his schedule of classes and finds out that his first class is Astronomy. While in this class he began to shake slightly and his hands started to glow. John became worried and texted Henri to come help him. He became more and more dizzy and after the class he headed to an dark empty room and locked himself in. Eventually his hands lite up the entire room and John rocks back and forth in pain on floor waiting for help. The door handle starts to shake and John feels relief at the sound of Henri's voice.

This book has already caught my interest in the first few chapters. It is an easy read and already had established an interesting story that I am curious to see develop as I read further. It will be interesting to see how or if John will be able to stay under the radar and not be detected by the Mogadorians. Also this book has been made into a movie so I will also be curious to see the differences in the movie and the book. Hopefully the book is able to keep me interested.

2.23 Diction Exercise

a) dark slate, treacherously, stocky, taciturn, hewn, sharply, amidst, lean

b) Elevation: intelligible, unequivocal
Connotation: literal, methodical
Sound: monotone, dryness
Concreteness: objective, definite

c) Neil Gaiman's diction in "Stardust" is intelligibly methodical with objective dryness conveying the seriousness of the informative passage.

Ship Breaker, pgs 296-326 (end of the book)

The crew of the Dauntless reached the Pole Star and started to board the ship ready to battle. Captain Candless (captain of the Dauntless) was able to throw the other captain over the side of the ship. Suddenly, half-men came from under deck and started to shooting. Captain Candless was shot and hit feel bloody to the ground. Nailer quickly headed under deck to start to search for Nita. He ran all over and had no success in finding her. Out of no where Nailer's dad shows up carrying Nita who was bounded up.

Nailer's dad dropped Nita and started to try and kill his son with a machete. Nailer only had a small knife so his only option was to to run away from his father. As he ran through the ship the storm was beginning to sink the wrecked ship. Eventually they ended up in a mechanical room that was similar to the one on the Dauntless where Nailer had worked. Nailer began to climb on the gears hoping that his father would not be able to follow him. He was wrong and when his father was about to reach him he saw a level that he knew would start up the gears so he pulled it and then fell to the floor. When Nailer looked up he saw his father caught in the gears bleedy and close to dieing. He asked for help but Nailer ignored him and went to get Nita.

The ship was completly upside down now and Nita and Nailer needed to find a way out of the ship. Luckly they found an opening that led out of the ship. They then began to swim towards the Dauntless which was anchored in the bay. Once they arrived to the ship they were pulled up and Nailer was rejoined with Sadna and Pima. Later, the Dauntless began loading with supplies to head back north and return Nita back to her father. The book then ended with Pima joking with Nailer in whether he would be lucky enough to end up with such a pretty girl as Nita.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fairly unexpected throughout but I could tell that Nailer would eventually have to face or kill his father. The book also had pretty good message that anybody could be your family and they did not have to be related with blood. Sadna and Pima were more family to Nailer than his own dad. All in all, it is a quick read book that I think anyone would enjoy reading.

2 huge wins!!!!

Purdue is looking amazing of late with 2 huge victories in the past week. They started off with a win over #10 Wisconsin and then today won an even larger game against #3 Ohio State. Today was revenge game against OSU after they got spanked in Columbus and with Moore's 38 points, which was half of Purdue's total, the Boilermakers pulled out a 13 point victory. Purdue has a couple tricky games left in the regular season including heading to East Lansing where Michigan State will be looking for a must win. They also have to go to Indiana which is always a huge rivalry and Assembly Hall will be as loud as ever. I am hoping Purdue can make it these last four games unblemished and enter the BigTen tournament ready to dominate.

Ship Breaker, pgs 262-296

The Dauntless headed out to sea and started to look for the ship carrying Nita. While waiting to spot the ship Nailer was put to work on the ship and one of the half-men helped him learn how to read and write. After about a week they spotted the ship they believed that Nita was on. The ship was called the Ray and it was smaller ship that they could easily take over. The Dauntless was able to quickly catch the ship and the crew boarded and started to hunt for Nita. Unfortunately after looking everywhere Nita could not be found. It was soon realized that it was actually a trap and the real ship with Nita, the Pole Star, was coming to battle with the Dauntless.

The Pole Star was a larger and more equipped ship for battle. The captain knew that it would be a worthless battle to enter because they would be no match for the ship. To avoid being captured they began to run away from the Pole Star. The captain of the Dauntless was in search for a way to escape from the other ship and Nailer came up with a plan. His plan was to lead the Pole Star through a place called the Teeth which was located where he grew up at Bright Sands Beach. The Teeth was a city of buildings that was now under the ocean and during high tide the buildings were hidden from sight. Knowing that the other ship was larger and that the other captain was unaware of the Teeth they thought it would be a great way to cause them to wreck

The Pole Star was close to catching them when they were barley able to make it through the Teeth and they sat and watching hoping that the Pole Star. At first it seemed the ship was going to make it through unscathed and at the last moment it wrecked it the Teeth. Nailer was excited that his plan had worked and the crew of the Dauntless headed to board the Pole Star.

It looks like Nita will be rescued but you never know what Nailer's father could have done to her. The chase was exciting and it was interesting how Nailer came up with a plan that involved heading back to where he grew up and where he did not want to return. Nailer will probably have to retrieve Nita but I think there will be an obstacle for him first, like his dad. I really hope that Nita was able to survive the wreck and that she is not hurt.

Ship Breaker, 217-262

It was easy for them to find work but they pay was not excellent. When Nailer was heading away from the docks to deliver a message for someone he spotted his father and some half-men who were searching for him. He did not want to be spotted so he jumped into the water and hid under the docks. After this Nailer went to find Nita and when he found her they headed to an abandoned to meet up with Tool. After awhile it was obvious Tool was late so they headed out to find him.

They were in the city when they finally spotted Tool. As he was walking they also noticed the half-men that were with Nailer's dad earlier. The half-men began to go after Tool and they watched was he was attacked. Nailer and Nita knew it was a fight that they could not win and left the scene before they were spotted. The two headed to the beach where they thought what to do next. There was a ship, Dauntless, in the docks that Nita believed was still a loyal ship to her father but Nailer was worried that it had been taken over by his father. Realizing that there was no other option Nailer decided that he would go check if the ship was people looking for Nita or his father who wanted to capture Nita. While Nailer went to the ship, Nita was to head to the abandoned mansion and wait for him.

When Nailer arrived at the ship it took awhile to convince them that he was with Nita and that he knew where she was. Finally they believed him and they went into the city to collect the rest of their crew before they went to get Nita. Finally they had everyone so they headed to the mansion to get Nita. Sadly when they arrived there Nita was no where to be found but a beat up Tool appeared and let them know that Nailer's father and his crew had taken Nita.

Nailer and the captain of the Dauntless figured that Nailer's fathers ship had to be somewhere close and they went to sea to find it. Tool decided that his job of protecting Nailer was finished and did not come on the clipper ship with Nailer.

They story is getting pretty intense and almost coming to an end. My prediction for the ending is that they will have to battle the other ship for Nita and in a deadly fight they will win. Once they get Nita back they will take her back to her father. Nailer will then stay with Nita and I think they will start a relationship with each other. Also I am sure that Nailer will have to come face to face with his father again which could be scary and even deadly. I really hope that Nita is rescued safely.

Close win!

The highly anticipated intramural basketball went down earlier today between my team and someone else's team in my etymology class. I was quite suprised that it was an extremely low scoring game and at halftime we were deadlocked at 14 to 14.  Luckily one of my teammates caught fire in the second half and pulled us a head and we did not lose the lead after that. The game was close all the way to the end as nobody on either team was able to score but when the buzzer sounded my team had won 30 to 25!

Ship Breaker, pgs 189-216

As Nailer, Tool, and Nita ride on the train to Orleans they realize how unprepared that they were. They had to spend the long ride without any food and almost no water. They eventually enter into the many cities of Orleans which includes Orleans II, Orleans III, and New Orleans. They are considered the drowned cities because of all the hurricanes that have destroyed most of the cities. When the train begins to slow down to a stop the three jump off and start to walk towards the docks. Nita hopes that she will be able to find a clipper ship there that belongs to her father.

To get to the docking ships they have to walk waste deep in water, which Nita does not agree with. When they finally reach to docking area they find that none of the ships belong to Nita's father. As a group they are not too disappointed and head back to town to find food and water. They spend the rest of their money that night and in the morning they will need to find work to pay for food. Hopefully a clipper ship will eventually arrive for Nita.

In my opinion, Paolo Bacigalupi, the author, criticizes the current ways of humans. In the book it is described that people did not learn from the past and move away from New Orleans when the storms repeatedly destroyed the city. I am interested to find out whether Nita will ever return to her family but i think that it will take quite a bit of time to find them. In the meantime they will live in the city and try to make some money.

Borodino

In Walton Ford's "Borodino," the testy quarrelsomeness of the animals reflects the frustrated desperation of the painting. Desperation is shown by the three disgruntled wolves fighting over a worthless blanket as a hopeful bird watches with eagerness, looking for anything of interest. In the distance, giddy animals search the meek remains of human existence for food .Meanwhile, above, birds circle disheartened as they search for anything useful in the barren wilderness. The combination of the dismal snowy weather and the lethargic animals shows the bleak future of their existence. Without the necessities to survive the animals lives will end in cruel frustration. 

Procrastination

Unfortunately I happen to suffer from a drastic case of procrastination. This goes back since middle school but it has only gotten worse the closer I come to graduation. Yes, I still have a while to go until I graduate but it seems to keep getting harder and harder to open my book bag every night. There just seems to be more entertaining and interesting things I could spend my time doing. Watching basketball, facebook, fantasy football, sleeping, video games, checking the college basket rankings, hoping Purdue wins, going to friends houses, playing golf, thinking about golf, wishing it was warm enough to play golf, and countless other things just happen to be higher on my list of priorities. Even though I delay my work as much as I can I am somehow able to end up with some pretty good grades. So I don't see a problem with it at all. Now I need to stop typing and do some history homework....probably end up doing it in the morning.

Ship Breaker, pgs 156-189

Nita reveals to Nailer that she lied and people will not know where she is. She is apart of a rich family but people in her father's business have become enemies and they wanted to use Nita as leverage against her father. Nita was fleeing from these people and entered into the storm to escape from them. Nita's crew also threw the GPS locating system overboard. Pima and Nailer realize that she would be worthless if the other people found out and they would most likely kill her.

Nailer is the only one of the three not in shackles and while their guards are sleeping Nailer tries to kill the one with the key to the shackles so they could escape. As he was trying to cut Blue Eye's (one of the guards)neck, Blue Eyes woke up and began to fight Nailer. The guard was about to kill Nailer when out of nowhere Sadna tackled Blue Eyes and eventually Nailer was able to stab the guard in the neck and she fell to her death. With other people that came with Sadna and help from Tool, one of the guards who is friends with Sadna so he helped Nailer, Pima and Nita instead, they were able to defeat the rest of the guards.

Soon after this they see clipper ships along the beach and Nita realizes it is the people who were chasing her. Their only options now were to either to sell Nita to the people that want her or to try and escape with Nita. Nailer decides he doesn't want to sell Nita and rather he wanted to help her escape to her family in Orleans. The only other person that wants to try and escape with them is Tool who would be able to help with protection

They decide to jump on a moving train and ride it to Orleans. Nita surprises them by being able to jump on the moving fast moving train first with ease. Tool also had no difficulty but Nailer was another story. As he was running he fell and scrapped up his knees. He got up quick and finally on the last train he was able to grab on to a ladder and make his way on the train.

It is pretty easy to understand why Nailer would not take the opportunity to become rich by selling Nita to her enemies. He absolutely hates the life he is living and wants to escape and he realizes that this could be his only chance to get out. Also he would have to face his father who was in charge when it came to the scavenging of the crashed clipper and making money off of Nita. Nailer, Nita, and Tool are on the fast track to Orleans where they can hopefully find Nita's family and make money by giving her back to her family. I am no completely confident that they will find her family though. I feel this way because so far everything that Nita has said has only been half true.

Ship Breaker, pgs 126-156

The shoulder injury of Nailer has gotten worse and worse and now it is infected. He is in pain and needs to see get medicine quick so that he does not die. Pima, Nita, and Nailer go down to the beach to search the wrecked ship to check for any medication that they could give to Nailer. Unfortunately all of the medication was lost in the crash. Nailer figures he will be fine until Nita's people come to find her and then he will be able to get some medicine.

As the tide began to go down they noticed that a group of people were starting to run towards the island that Nailer, Pima, and Nita were on. They used a spyglass and found out that it was Nailer's dad and the group of druggies that he runs with. They were heading for the wrecked scavenge that they must have noticed. Knowing that the group would probally kill Nita they head into the island to hide.

While they are hiding Nailer's dad finds them and takes them down to the beach where the rest of people are scavenging the ship. Nailer who is even worse now lies down and can barley move. Nailer's dad, Richard Lopez, is about to kill Nita when Pima steps in and tries to stab Richard. Richard then is about to kill Pima but Nailer reminds his dad that Pima's mom, Sadna saved Richard's life during the storm so instead he breaks her fingers. He also does not kill Nita because Nailer informs that she could be worth a ransom.

Nailer wakes up three days later and finds out that Nailer's dad was able to get him some medicine. He still feels bad and is only able to sit up to eat. He also finds out that Nita's people still has not come to find her and people are getting restless that she is worthless.

A lot happened in these pages and it was pretty intense. Richard's crew is high on drugs and could snap at anytime. For some reason I feel that Nita's people will not show up to rescue her. Therefore I think that fighting will break out since Richard and his crew were expecting to get some money out of Nita.

Tension in the classroom

The regular season of intramural basketball will soon becoming to an end. My basketball team, the Bricklayers, has had to face a pretty tough schedule so far. Are current record is 1-2 and we play again tonight, which I regrettably admit that we will most likely lose. The BIG game is going to occur next week on Monday. The captain of the team that we will be playing happens to be in my etymology class. We all know each other on each team and it will be a scrappy game but hopefully my team comes out on top.

Freedom by Lou Berger

This short story is quick but full of emotions. It is set in 1943 in a concentration camp in Germany where captured enemy soldiers are held. Two peoples hope of a future out of the horrific camp ends for one as he is led off and never seen again. It shows the hopelessness that people had felt by what they were out through. This story made sorrow for the man as he knew his fate. He knew his life was coming to an end and broke down with tears. You can only hope that the young boy is able to make it out alive through dedication. My favorite line in this story is "Yakov found his peace and freedom when he became the black smoke that rose into the cold winter air, belching out of the smokestack of the crematory." The imagery is excellent in line.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133494858/freedom

Ship Breaker, pgs 94-126

Nailer and Pima jump back in surprise when they realize that the girl is still alive. The girl is buried under junk and is barley able to whisper. Pima and Nailer have to contemplate whether to kill the girl and take all her possessions to become wealthy or to save the girls life and hope it does not ruin their chances at becoming rich. Pima is about to kill the girl when Nailer decides that he wants to save her life. Reluctantly Pima gives in and helps Nailer take the junk off the girls mangled body.

They scavenge through the ship and collect food and take it to shore. Pima carries the girl to shore since Nailer is still injured. The tide comes into shore and makes it impossible for them so head back to the beach where they work. Around a fire Pima helps give water and food to the girl. Eventually the girl begins to talk to Pima and Nailer and they begin to realize how rich the girl actually was. It was incomparable to anybody they new and blew their minds. Nailer and Pima tell the girl that when people come to rescue her, she has to agree to get them away from the land they grew up on and find a better life.

The wealth that the girl has is completely ridiculous and it might be even better that they kept the girl alive instead of dead. They might be able to use bribery to get enough money to be rich for the rest of their lives. Nailer really wants to get away from the life he has now so I fully believe that he will try to leave with the girl once people come to find her. Maybe they will even become attracted to each other and live together forever. I say this because Pima has been teasing Nailer about him finding a girl he could have an interest in.

Swank

I've been reading the book Ship Breaker and during a section of this book the word "swank" has been used several times. Reading it so many times has made me fond of this word and I now feel obliged to use it more often in my everyday life. Probably the main reason that I like this word is how it sounds. Swank. Seems to get even cooler every time I say it. Some may be wondering what this word means so I took the liberty to look it up. According to dictionary.com swank means "dashing smartness". Wow. That's a pretty amazing definition. I will defiantly need to start using swank way more often. If I am able to find anymore words that catch my eye of awesomeness I will be quick to post it on my swank blog.

Superbowl Prediction

The single biggest sporting event is occuring this weekend and I am excited to watch even though the Colts aren't playing. I will be rooting for the Packers for the only reason that I hate the Steelers. The reason that I hate the Steelers is that a couple years ago they beat the Colts in the playoffs and the Steelers have won 2 superbowls in the last 5 years so I am tired of them winning. It annoys me when teams dominate from year to year (like the Patriots, hate them too) unless of course it is the Colts. I believe the Packers win 28-24.

Ship Breaker, pgs 68-94

The storm lasts for two days and once it ends Nailer and Pima head back to the beach to find Nailer's dad and Pima's mother. When they arrive they find that the beach is the cleanest that it has ever been since the storm cleared out everything. They also quickly are able to find their family members. Because of the storm the companies that ran the ship breaking left so the workers were left to scavenge for supplies by themselves. Pima and Nailer decided to go farther away and scavenge for food where there were no other people.

As they go farther to an island they are able to find some fish but a recked clipper ship catches their eye. Clipper ships are what replaced the old oil tankers and are extremely lavished and high tech. They quickly realize that they could find some very valuable stuff on the newly recked ship and could become rich. As they search the ship they find many dead people and even some half-men (genetically enhanced creatures who are super strong). Nailer and Pima rummaged through the ship and stumble into a room full of silver. They could be set for life with all the silver on the ship but they need to find a way to keep it all for themselves.

Nailer decided to go search farther in the ship and came to a room that belonged to a young girl. He finds the owner to the room in a second room. He looks at the mangled body on the ground and realizes she is fairly pretty. When Pima arrives she notices that she is wearing gold jewelry. They struggled to get the gold rings off her fingers so Pima decides that they should cut her fingers off to get the rings but as soon as Nailer starts to cut her finger the girl BLINKS.

This book is starting to get me extremely interested and I am curious to see what happens next. Considering that Nailer thought that she was pretty I believe that he will become attached to her in someway. I also think that he will struggle to hide the clipper ship from other people in the town since many people would want to get a piece of the fortune that it could provide.

Ship Breaker, pgs 32-68

Nailer was stuck inside of the room full of oil and was trying to find a way out. He is able to dive down and find that there is a door. Nailer fails at first to open the door but eventually he was able to open the door and he and the oil rushed out of the tanker and he was banged around until eventually he was shot out the tanker into the ocean. With relief Nailer realizes that he will not die the horrible death inside the suffocating room of oil and swims to shore. He screams with joy that his is alive and people look at him weird because he is bleeding everywhere.

Some people from Nailer's crew help heal him up and provide him with some stitches. Sloth is kicked off the crew for not being loyal to the crew since she decided to leave Nailer and let him die. She will now most likely never find work again. Nailer celebrates with his crew that he is alive and they provide him with luck gifts. Some of these included alcohol. As the huge storm approaches Nailer heads back to his shack ready to face his father who fell into a life of drugs and alcohol and some days beats Nailer. Nailer is able to ward off his dad by giving him some alcohol that he got as a luck gift.

During the night the storm hits and it is so powerful that it was going to destroy everthing close to the beach. Nailer tries to wake his dad but is unsuccessful. He quickly gathers his things and heads out. When outside he tells Sadna that his father will not wake up and she goes to help him while Nailer and Pima head for shelter up the hills.

I think that it is very sad that Nailer's dad could be have died even though he was not a great father. I really hope that Sadna is able to stay alive in the storm but the storm seemed to strong for anyone to survive. Now that Nailer is homeless because of the storm I am not sure where or what he will go do.

weird story!

A 63 yr old widow was admitted to the hospital in Recife, Brazil, suffering abdominal pains. X-rays showed that she was carrying a 20-inch long skeleton of a fetus which she conceived a decade earlier. It had become lodged outside the womb and was never expelled from her body.
I read this story today and I had no idea that this was even possible! How could she go that long without figuring there is something wrong with her. And 20 inches is not anything small either. It would be one thing if the skeleton was 2 inches long but having a 20 inch skeleton inside your body for 10 years without having a clue is mind blowing.

Ship Breaker, pgs 1-32

by Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer, a teenage boy, is part of a crew of people in the future who scavenge for copper wire in grounded oil tankers. They are called the light crew and Nailer crawls through ducts in an old ship searching for copper wire so it can be sold. After Nailer collected some copper wire he headed back through the duct and made it to the deck of the ship. The crew then spent time to take the insulation of the copper wire so that just copper wire was left over. Their boss then shows up, Bapi who is smug and only cares about himself, and informs the crew that a storm is coming soon and that they need to take as much wire as possible from the ship.

Nailer is forced to go back deeper inside the duct to get more wire. As he gets deeper he started to panic and when he tried to head back out of the duct it started to creak. Suddenly the duct collapsed and Nailer fell far into a liquid. He struggled to swim and found out that he was swimming in oil. He started to panic but eventually he was able to reach the side of the room that he fell in to. After a while another person of the crew, Sloth, came and found Nailer. Sloth did not really do much to help Nailer because she need to get more wire to get quota and she was complicating if she should let Nailer die and later take the oil for herself since oil was extremely valuable.

As Sloth left, Nailer had to make the decision to either find a way out or to wait and hope that Sloth goes to get help. Nailer figures that their may be a door below in the oil and decides to dive down. If there is not a door then Nailer will die.

So far I have found this book very interesting. It makes you wonder if people will be making a living taking apart things like old oil tankers in the future. Of course I expect that Nailer will find a way out of the room full of oil considering it is the very beginning of the book. He might even be able to make a huge profit from the secret oil stash and better his life. I find it very cruel that Sloth would not immediately help Nailer but it shows the desperation that these people have to make some money.

Mockingjay, pgs 372-390 (end of the book)

After Katniss shot and killed Coin she was taken away by guards and thrown into a room. Her first thoughts were to kill herself but she had no way to do that. For days she waited in that room waiting for something to happen. Finally Haymitch came in and said that her trail was over and she was allowed to go back to District 12 and live the rest of her life. A new president was elected to run Panem.

Once Katniss arrived in District 12 she barely even moved because she was still grieving over all the people that lost their lives because of her and the war. Slowly she began to become more like herself and she ended up spending the rest of her life with Petta. She has kids now and there are no longer any Hunger Game in Panem.

I think that I liked the ending to the Hunger Games series. In ways it was sad and horrible ending for Katniss since she lost her sister. Some good things happened to her also, she is able to live a free life without worries from a controlling Capitol and she also ended up with Petta. She also had kids in which she can tell stories of what she had to endure through her life as a child. All in all I loved reading this series and kind of sad that it there are no more to read.

Mockingjay, pgs 347-372

So i was wrong when it came to my prediction. The second round of bombs that went off and killed the children burnt Katniss extremely bad and she had to be taken to the hospital. While she was in the hospital getting treated for her burns, the rebels were able to take over the Capitol and President Snow surrendered. For days after this Katniss kept to herself and the explored the presidents mansion where she was staying. While walking around one day she ran into some guards guarding a door.

At first they would not let her in but eventually somebody else told the guards to let her in. She entered into a greenhouse where roses were being grown and also where President Snow was being help prisoner. When they were talking to each other he revealed that he did not order the killing of the Capitol children and that it was actually the rebel leaders who ordered this. They did it to quickly end the war and this made Katniss furious since those bombs killed her sister. She complicated with what Snow had told her and she was not sure to believe him. Eventually Snow was to be put to death and Katniss was going to kill him in front a crowd of people in the Capitol. At the very end of this section a surprise occured when instead of Katniss killing Snow, she shot and killed Coin who was the leader of the rebels and the new president of the Capitol.

I was shocked that Katniss killed Coin. She never really like Coin but I was not expecting her to do that. Maybe a good reason for it is that Katniss believed in Snow and that Coin was actually responsible for the death of her sister. I do not think that Katniss will be put to her death for her actions but she will most likely be punished.

Boiler up!!

Tomorrow is a huge game for the Boilermakers and also a big game when it comes to the Big Ten title race. I am a huge Purdue fan and I can not wait for this game. Currently Ohio State is undefeated and ranked #1 in the country. The game is in Columbus so it will be a tough win for Purdue but they have the talent to win. I firmly believe that Purdue has a chance to win and I predict a 76-69 victory for the Boilers. Lets hope that I'm right.

Mockingjay, pgs 315-347

Inside the women's apartment they find nobody else. Katniss and her group know that they have to keep moving so that they wont be found. They look outside and see that they have entered deeper into the Capitol and people are walking through the streets. After looking through the closets and finding disguises to wear they blend in with the crowd of people. While walking through the streets sirens go off and people are warned to look out for Katniss and her group of soldiers.

One person in the group, Cressida, is familiar with the Capitol and leads them to a fur store where she knows they can stay hidden. The worker of the store is a former stylist for the Hunger Games and is willing to help in destroying the Captiol. For a couple days the soldiers hide in the basement of the store while the rebels work to take over the city. Refugees of the Capitol in different parts of the city flood into the main section of the city looking for shelter since it is very cold outside. At this point Katniss is only four blocks from Snow's mansion. They realize they need to get out of the store and all put disguises back on and work their way toward the City Circle where Snow's mansion is located.

As they walk towards the mansion rebels appear on the roof top and begin to shot at the crowd of people. In the chaos Katniss and Gale try to escape and experience many different challenges to survive. When they break into a building some soldiers of the Captiol are able to capture and take Gale while Katniss is able to escape. Katniss finally works her way back with the crowd of people and to the front of Snow's mansion. In front of the mansion kids are collected into a group and bombs go off. Rebel medics run in to save the injured childeren and Katniss sees a girl that she describes as her sister. All of a sudden more bombs go off.

This could be horrible if it is actually Katniss's sister because she loves her sister and would die for her. I was right that Katniss would end up all alone on her mission to kill Snow and I still believe that she will be able to kill Snow. In the last 40+ pages this is what I predict will happen, Katniss will end up having no choice but to sacrifice her self to the Capitol because there is no other way to reach Snow. Snow will end showing himself to the public to humiliate Katniss and Petta will show up to either kill Snow or help Katniss escape.

Mockingjay, pgs 289-315

The book is getting close to the end and it is getting very intense. Katniss and her squad relized that they better get moving and try to find Snow. They decided that they would use the various underground tunnels in the Capitol to try and reach Snow's mansion. Luckily they have a person in the squad who was an Avox (slave) for the Capitol and is very familiar with the tunnels. While they were running through the tunnels the Capitol was digging through the rubble in which they believed Katniss and her squad had died in.

All of a sudden Katniss began to her name quietly hissed through the tunnels. She realized that the Capitol found out that the her squad had not died and they knew she was in the tunnels somewhere. The Capitol had sent "mutts" to find and kill Katniss. The mutts finally caught up to Katniss and in the chaos they tried to escape to above ground. A couple of the people in her group died and when she open the hatch to above ground she entered a utility room to someones house. A women entered the room and without hesitation shot an arrow right threw her heart.

Katniss is getting closer and closer to finding Snow and I still think that she will be able to kill him. Although, Snow has gotten close to killing Katniss and she will probably have to go threw many more challenges to reach him. The author of this book does a great job of creating surprises in these books so anything can happen.

Mockingjay, pgs 246-289

Katniss was cleared to go into battle with the Capitol and was assigned to a group of soldiers. She was not happy with the mission that her group was given though because they would not be allowed to go into intense battle. Katniss wants to be the one to kill the President Snow, the leader of the Capitol. Katniss and her squad of soldiers eventually leave District 13 and move to a camp near the Captiol. The Captiol is rigged with "pods" which are different kinds of traps that are capable of killing people if they are triggered. Some of these include metal darts shooting out, land mines, and a nets made of barbed wire that come out of the ground and dangle people in the air.

The first couple days they are not allowed to go anywhere dangerous but still to someones misfortune they stepped on a pod that shot a metal dart through her brain and killed her. During a simple clearing of one of the Captiol city blocks the commander of the squad stepped on a land mine that blew his legs off. Katniss went to his aid and unexpectedly the commander made Katniss the new leader of the squad and he told her to not to go back to the camp and "do what you came to do." Of the course the thing that Katniss came to do was to kill the leader of the Capitol.

Katniss was quick to lead her squad to a new location now that the Captiol knew their location because of the landmine that was set off. When they arrived at a different building a few blocks away they went inside to rest and think of a plan. While they were there the television came on and a Capitol broadcast showed them blowing up the building that the squad was just in. A few seconds later they pronounced that Katniss had and the rest of her squad was dead when in actuality they survived.

I am almost certain that Katniss is going to be able to find and kill President Snow but I do not think that she will be able to do it with a whole squad of soldiers. They have too many people in their group for a secret mission like this. I believe that somehow it will just end up being Katniss by herself trying to kill the president. Hopefully she is able to do this because Snow is a horrible man and deserves to die.

Mockingjay, pgs 178-245

In this section of Mockingjay, it is revealed that Peeta had been changed by the Capitol to have different memories from his past. That explains the reason that Peeta started to choke Katniss. This really hurt Katniss and as a way to get away from it she went to District 2 to fight. District 2 was the only district that had not been won by the rebels and the Capitol still had control over. District 2 is very important for the Capitol because they provide military supplies and soldiers for them. The main reason that they are unable to take this district over is because most of the people and equipment are kept in a practically impenetrable mountain that had been carved out.

Gale, a close friend of Katniss, came up with the idea to cause an avalanche that would close all of the entrances to the mountain. They went with this plan but decided to leave the train tunnel that leads into the mountain open so that people could escape and could be eventually captured. The plan works as it was suppose to and sometime later people are able to escape the mountain via the train. They come armed with weapons and in the fighting Katniss gets shot on her side. She eventually wakes up in a hospital in District 13 where she is in pain from a ruptured spleen but luckily her protective gear stopped the bullet.

Now that the rebels have control of all of the districts, the rebels begin to plan to take over the Capitol. Katniss finds out that she will not be allowed to go to the Capitol to fight considering she has not had enough training and is still recovering from her injury. She is furious about this considering she wants to fight and be there when the Capitol falls. She is given the opportunity to fight in the Capitol if she goes through the training and is able to pass a field exam. The next couple weeks she dedicates herself to training and in the end is able to pass the test and will be allowed to go into the Captiol.

I think that Katniss is very brave the way that she always puts herself into fighting and she seems to have unlimited courage. I do not believe that I would be able to put myself in those situations. I think that the rest of this book will be extremely entertaining with lots of fighting. Katniss will be able to take her revenge on the Captiol for all the horrible things that they put Katniss through. I think that it is sad that Peeta has been changed. He is not the same person anymore and it would be horrible for his friends, like Katniss, to see your friend who acts almost completely different.

Mockingjay, pgs 158-78

Many things happened in this short section of Mockingjay. After the Captiol finished with the bombings of District 13, Katniss and many other people leave the bunker deep under the ground to assess the damages that occurred. They also went to the surface to tape propaganda to show the repels the effects of the Captiol. As they begin to tape footage Katniss becomes very emotional and unable to speak. During this Katniss was put under sedation to calm herself down. When Katniss wakes up from the sedation she finds out that her dear friend, Gale, and many other people left on a rescue mission.

The goal of the rescue mission was to save someone that Katniss loves, Peeta. They also went to save a couple more people that the Capitol was holding captive. To help with the rescue mission Katniss and another man named Finnick create a commercial to intend to distract the people in the Capitol while the rescue mission takes place. Katniss and Finnick wait in anxiousness to find out if the rescue mission was a success. All of a sudden Haymitch runs in and lets the two of them know that they had returned and the mission was accomplished. In excitement Katniss runs to find Peeta but something unexpected happens when they see each other. Peeta begins to choke Katniss.

I was very surprised that this happened because it came out of now where that Peeta started to choke Katniss. He must be mad at the torture he was put through by the Capitol and thinks that part of this was because of Katniss. It could also be that the Captiol had changed Peeta somehow and now he is not the same person. Peeta during the Hunger Games had an affection for Katniss and would nothing to hurt her. I am very interested to see what will happen next in the book and what is wrong with Peeta.

Walking on water????

Maybe you can really walk on water.....maybe. I was very skeptical before this video, might consider myself a "slight believer". Still some doubt in my mind.

Mockingjay, pgs 1-158

Mockingjay is the third and last book of a series written by Suzanne Collins. The series is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen and the horrific and controlling country that she lives in. She lives in a country in the future, Panem, which has a capitol city and then 12 districts that it controls over. During the first book, The Hunger Games, you learn about how the Capitol every year hosts the Hunger Games to show how much control they have over the other districts. One girl and one boy are selected from each district and they are put into an arena to fight to the death and the last child alive wins the Hunger Game. Of course Katniss becomes one of the tributes to fight in the games and it draws you into the story very quick. The second book, Catching Fire, is just as entertaining as the first.

The first 150 pages of Mockingjay describe how Katniss is now in district 13 which was believed to be destroyed along time ago by the capitol but actually is still surviving. A war has started between the rebels of the districts and the capitol city and district 13 is the command center for the rebels. Throughout Katniss's journey in the Hunger Games she has become a symbol of defiance against the capitol city and is the perfect person to lead the rebels in the fight against the cruel actions from the captiol. Katniss would love to take down the captiol because they were the ones responsible for destroying her life and even her home. But the problem is that the Capitol has somebody that she loves (she is actually very confused on her true emotions), Petta, and she wants him to be safe. Katniss finally comes around and decides to lead the rebellion and begins to create commercials that are intended in rallying the rebels and eventually lead them to victory. At the end of this section Katniss is actually becoming involved in the fighting and the Capitol even begins to bomb district 13.

I have enjoyed this series of books very much and I can not wait to finish this last book. In the end I expect that Katniss will be able to help defeat the Capitol and be rejoined with Petta. Although I am not sure if this will happen because this whole series is full with twists and turns that I did not expect. I seemed unable to predict what would happen next in these books, but oh well i guess that is what I like about them. This book makes me hope that no one will ever have to be in certain situations like Katniss. She is only a teenage girl and she is trying to lead and destroy a government. Really makes me glad that I live in....well a pretty good country.