The Book Nook

Wednesday Guest

2006-08-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

I am Dougs Wednesday guest this week! If you want to check it out, check out his blog. :D

http://bitterbierce.blogspot.com/

(For the time being, I am trying to not use/take out all apostrophes from my posts due to coding problems my blog is experiencing, so please; excuse improper grammar and punctuations. :))

Clear The Road! The Bookworm is 16!

2006-07-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well, you can delay clearing the road for a while; your cars are safe - for now at least until I get my permit :D I am now 16. Yeah, you heard me; I have been around for 16 long years.

I know that all you bloggers out there are going to get an eyeful of Happy Birthday to the Twins posts knowing my crazy Pez family. Gotta love those guys. ;)

Greetings From Mexico!

2006-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

I wonder how long it will take for everyone to realize I´ve posted :D I am using a Spanish keyboard to type this post, and everything on this computer is Spanish (Including this site and spell check) so bear with me. I´m in Tepoztlan right now, and having a blast. Mexico is a very lovely country, and I think I actually perfer the weather here; it´s hot, but not humid, and whenever it rains, it´s always preceded by a great deal of thunder. I miss being in the states,(yes, the states. I accidently started using this phrase after hanging around with the Canadians that are here too much.)but I really do like it here. I miss the internet though. :P Maybe I´ll post some picture when I get back ;)

Goa´uld says hi.

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, Off to Disney I Go!

2006-04-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

I’m so sorry that I haven’t posted in… forever. I guess there really isn’t any excuse for it. (I may be busy, but I’m not THAT busy :P) Well, Goa’uld and me are off to Disney till Wednesday for our marching band. We get to march in Magic Kingdom, and everyone’s REALLY excited. :D When I get back I’m hopefully going to get back into the habit of blogging more often. I might to a review for V for Vendetta later on, and I KNOW I’ll eventually do a review for the game Kingdom Hearts II, which was AMAZING. Goa’uld and me basically spend every last moment of our free time for a little more then a week beating that game, but it was worth every second. :) Now we’ll have to wait several MORE years for the third installment to come out. –sighs- Oh well. I’ll also be sure to give you guys a post once I come back from Florida. ;) Hopefully I’ll start up the Quote of the Week again too…

Quote of the Week- Teachers

2006-02-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book. -Author Unknown

Question: What makes a good teacher? What should or shouldn’t a teacher be like?

(The reason I am doing a teacher quote this week, is because our Western Cultures teacher just quit his job, and now we have a new teacher. Also, our German teacher, whom everyone adores, has announced that she will be retiring at the end of this year. PLUS this year our class is the first to have the new 9th grade English teacher. With all these new teachers, it got me thinking, what should a good teacher be?)

Quote of the Week- Presidential Quote

2006-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Since today is President’s day here in the U.S, I simply HAD to do a quote from a president. :P

"People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters."
-Eisenhower, Dwight D

Question: Would you agree with this? Are all problems in the gray areas? What exceptions to this rule are there in life? (What things must be either all black or white?)

(As a side note, I apologize that my posts look all funny and littered with symbols and such. I'm trying to figure out what's causing it, and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.)

Quote of the Week- Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

Love means nothing in tennis, but it's everything in life. ~Author Unknown

(Heh, Tennis Humor. :P)

Well, Since it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow… I thought I might give a try at a “love” quote. The reason I chose this quote was since this is the first year really that my group of friends has really discovered the ‘dating’ world. We’re young, and we don’t quite get the whole “love” thing yet… but still I’ve heard my friends use the big “L” Word to describe a relationship they’re in… Then there’s the annoying situations my friends get themselves in where they say the “like” so-in-so, but when the ‘man or women of their dreams’ finally returns the feeling… they tell me that they think they don’t ‘like them like that’ anymore, leaving them in a rather awkward position. Plus, I know a few 6th Graders who already have steady boyfriends.

So, my Question is this: Can people my age (High Schoolers/Middle Schoolers.) Really understand the true meaning/concept of real love?

Pen Pal

2006-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Awhile ago, our German teacher told us about a program that would allow us to have German penpals… of course, I eagerly signed up at once. It’s been so long, that I’d forgotten about it… but it hadn’t forgotten about me. :P

Today I received a letter in the mail from the company informing me that they had picked a suitable pen pal for me: Someone in Hannover Germany. I must admit, it’s sort of a weird feeling thinking that I’ll soon be writing letters to someone so far away in a place I’ve never been to… I also must admit I’m a bit nervous about it too… I’m a bit afraid of making myself out as being just another rude American. Weird huh? Well, It’ll be a new experience for me definitely.

Quote of the Week- Discrimination

2006-02-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other causes for prejudice by noon.
-George Aiken (politician)

Question: Why do people feel the need to discriminate? Is it because they need to feel THEY are right, and superior? Is it simply fear? Or perhaps does the answer lie deeper?

(I had to do a discrimination quote this week, because here in PA they’re trying to pass a bill saying the marriage is solely meant to be between a man and a woman…)

Quote of the Week- Right and Wrong Deeds

2006-01-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.
-T. S. Eliot (poet)

Question: Which is truly worst: Doing the right thing for the wrong reason, or doing the wrong thing for the right one?

New Look

2006-01-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

Well, you've probably noticed that my blog has a very cool new background, and banner... I'd like to thank Goa'uld for spending the time to create, design, and code it for me. You rock sis! :D

Quote of the Week- Courage and Fear

2006-01-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
-Mark Twain

Question: What is real, true, courage? Are there different kinds of bravery, and do you have to be afraid to be brave?

Quote of the Week- I Have a Dream

2006-01-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

I thought that since today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, that it would be appropriate for this week’s quote to be from Martin Luther King Jr. I'm sure you'll all recognize this quote...

Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'
-Martin Luther King Jr.

Question: Has Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream come true? And if not, do you believe that his dream will ever become a reality?

First Impressions: Animal Crossing Wild World

2006-01-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got Animal Crossing Wild World for my DS, and it’s AWESOME. Basically, the concept behind the game is that you move into a town, and you basically have to LIVE. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Firstly, you’re the only human in the town. Everyone else is some sort of animal (hence the title: Animal Crossing.) I named my town Troy, and my character Artemis (It’s all Western Culture’s fault… we just learned about the Trojan war.) I started the game with this pathetic looking shack of a house, and the guy who built it (The raccoon shopkeeper, Tom Nook) informed me that I had a massive amount of debt to pay off before I could make it any bigger… And when I FINALLY paid it off and enlarged my house, I had another HUGE debt to pay to the guy. Oh well, at least the neighbors are interesting. The town starts out having only three “residents”, plus the shopkeepers, who don’t ever leave their shops… So, because the game is in “real time”, (What time, and day it is in the real world is the same time and day that it is in the game world… and the game doesn’t stop just because you aren’t there.) different things happen at different times of days, and there are parties on holidays and such… plus, each day so far a new resident has moved into my town. So, every day I get to chat with a bunch of funny characters who often have errands for you to run for them. My best bud is defiantly Joey, the food-obsessed duck. His heart is really in the right place, but I don’t think he always realizes what he’s saying… He gets along o.k. with mostly everyone, but sometimes he just says some pretty stupid things. Calling the uptight, grumpy, fish-loving Chow an “old man” being one of them. Usually those two get along fine… usually it’s Tank and Chow who are at each other’s throats. (Tank is a rhino who’s obsessed with body-building and fossils… and because he asked me to pick out his catch-phrase, he now says “Meow” all the time :D) Joey of course, is also always sharing gossip and speculations with me, asking me if I think that “so-in-so” and “so-in-so” will hook up. Sometimes it’s rather like a soap-opera… especially when it comes to Blaire and Twiggy, (A female squirrel and a bird) who are “girly girls”. They’re always talking about clothing and shopping… and while Twiggy is nice, Blaire can be a little self-centered. Then of course, there’s Lucy, the pig. She’s really nice, and the only girl in town who doesn’t go on and on about clothing and other girly things… and because it’s winter, I can make snowmen… talking snowmen that is. I kinda screwed up the first two snowmen’s proportions, and those two just go ON and ON about how horrid they look and other depressing stuff… the OTHER snowman however is very cocky (“Y’know, I’m a good-looking snowman, but there’s not a snowlady in sight…This is a big problem! I wish I had a pair of legs or a phone or something…” Yes, he really said that.) It’s just an awesome game so far, and I DEFINATLY recommend it. :D

Quote of the Week- Silence

2006-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-Martin Luther King Jr.

Question: When is it o.k. to remain silent? When should you stand and speak out, and when should you let something go by without comment?

Game Review: Tales of Symphonia Warning: Spoilers

2006-01-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

I finally got around and wrote the review I said I was going to do for Tales of Symphonia… The game’s official website can be found HERE.

Well, It all started when I was talking to this guy at church, and he recommended the game… SOOO… I got it, and boy am I glad I did :D

(The people in the picture are Colette [the blonde], Zelos [the red head], Sheena [the other girl], and Lloyd [the brunette])

Both the plot and the characters were interesting and well developed, and I just loved it in every possible way. :) The main characters in the story were Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Raine and Genis Sage, Sheena Fujibayashi, Presea Combatir, Regal Bryant, Zelos Wilder, and Kratos Aurion.

The characters you meet in the very beginning are Lloyd, Colette, Raine, and Genis. The game starts in a village called Iselia, where you’re told that Raine is the school’s teacher, and Genis is her little brother; also you learn that Colette is something called “the Chosen”. The Chosen supposedly is someone chosen by the angels who will someday go on a journey to regenerate the world… The last few Chosen all failed on their journey of regeneration, and the world is in a bit of a mess because of it, and is overrun with some evil half-elf guys called Desians… so there are a LOT of people counting on Colette to end all the suffering. In the beginning, I felt bad for her, having to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders… but by the end of the game, I didn’t like her as much. Over time her attitude started to kinda got on my nerves… but she was o.k. Overall. Now, the MAIN character in the story, whom most of the plot rotates around is Lloyd Irving, a not very bright, hot-headed swordsman who was raised by a dwarf, and has a very special expshere, (Crystals that enhance a human’s fighting abilities… Later into the plot you discover these expsheres are created using human life energy… pretty gruesome, huh?) that everyone seems to want to get their hands on. Genis was also an excellent character, and the youngest main character in the game. His, and his sister’s great intelligence helped balance out Colette and Lloyd’s lack of brains at times :P.

Pretty soon into the game you meet Kratos Aurion, who introduces himself as a mercenary…And for the first part of the game he remains pretty much a mystery. His battle cries were always awesome though, and the only person who could top them was Zelos. He also had this cool attack near the end of the game called ‘Judgment’, where when he was powering up he said: “"Sacred Powers, cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls. Rest in Peace, Sinners! Judgement!" Goa’uld and me simply loved that attack. He also probably had the coolest past history out of anyone in the game…

Now, the OTHER main characters came from a world that parallel’s Lloyd’s… Sheena Fujibayashi, though from the other world, meets up with Lloyd in his world, having been sent to kill Colette. (you’ll have to play the game to find out way ;)) She was very cool, because she was a summoner and could call upon all these really cool magical creatures to fight with her in a battle… Now, the first person you meet in the other world is Presea, who at the time is pretty much devoid of emotion, and rather creepy… but of course, oddly enough, Genis has this crush on her from the start (In fact, while Presea’s still all emotionless, there is this scene where the two of them are sitting together and Genis says: “Presea… I think you’re p-p-pretty.” She asks if that’s a good thing, and upon saying “yes”, she tells Genis he’s “p-p-pretty” too. XD) She eventually is healed, and get her emotions back, but she remains pretty distant and cold throughout most of the game. She was a good character, and she had her moments just like most of the characters did, and a very mysterious past indeed… Now Regal wasn’t exactly my favorite character. I didn’t mind her personality, it was just that he wasn’t nearly as interesting a character as some of the others… He’s an ex-aristocrat who killed the women he loved she asked him to when she had been transformed into a monster…and because of this, he’s handcuffed himself, and will not use his hands, which REALLY stinks, because you learn later in the game he’s really powerful and skilled at battling with his hand, but NO. All HE’LL do is KICK people.

Zelos Wilder, the Chosen of the world that parallel’s Lloyd, was probably my favorite character in the game. Funny thing is, my first impression of the guy was “Gosh, what an idiot… I hope we never see THIS guy again!” Heh, how wrong I was. I hated in the beginning, but the guy really grew on me… and his hilarious battle cries helped. (Some of them include: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!", "Come and get some!", "I'm too pretty! Seriously!", and "Man, I rule! I'm sooooo cool!") Plus he has the saddest past… Apparently an angel told his mother she had to marry the Chosen (Zelo’s father at the time). There was a problem though: The Chosen already was in love with another women, and Zelo’s mother didn’t like the Chosen at ALL. In this one optional event, Zelos tells you about the day his mother was murdered… she took a shot that was meant for him, and her last words were “You should have never been born.” Wow, talk about depressing. I can’t begin to imagine how Zelos felt… plus his mother’s murderer was the women the Chosen was in love with, and the mother of his half-sister Seles.

One of the cool features of the game is that the ending and some events in the game aren’t set. There are a total of 8 endings for the game that all depend on which characters you befriend through the game. In seven of the endings, Zelos lives, and in one he dies, and GUESS which one I ended up with. Yeah, that’s right, the one in which Zelos died.

This game is absolutely wonderful in every respect. It has pretty good music, beautiful art work and graphics, developed, interesting characters, and a great plot.

(I’ve reserved this game called Animal Crossing: Wild World for DS… I wish it would come in…So I’ll be sure to do a review for this when I get this, so be on the lookout for it ;) Also, go to Goa’uld's blog for another review of the game.)

Quote of the Week: Happy New Years!

2006-01-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
-Hamilton Wright Mabie

Question: What makes New Years so special to us all? Is it simply because the calendar says that it is a time for a new beginning, or is it something deeper? Do we really need a calendar to tell us when it’s a good time to begin anew? Do we need it to be New Years to make resolutions?

Weird Habits

2005-12-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

Well… I’ve been getting a bit tired of just seeing my “quote of the week” posts, so I saw a post on my granny’s blog, and decided to try it out.

The Rules: (copied from Tan Lucy Pez’s Blog, because I’m far to lazy to put the rules into my own words) The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits that I have," and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says "You are tagged" (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours in order to get the rules.

So, Werid Habits Eh? Well… let’s see what I can think up…

1. Whenever I sit down to eat, I automatically put a napkin on my lap... no matter where I am. Even in the school lunchroom, at home, and at fast food restaurants... I don't even really think about it, I just DO it automatically.

2. When I'm feeling slightly anxious, if I'm sitting waiting for something, or even if I'm just plain bored, I tie, and retie my shoes again and again. Yes, it's very weird... during the marching band session before performances it wasn't rare for me to retie my shoes a dozen different times...

3. I have the fan in my room on all year round. Seriously, even in winter when it feels like it's below 0... I also tend to leave the house during winter without a jacket (To my mother's displeasure).

4. I have the tendency to crack my finger and neck. It drives dddragon crazy :P

5. I bite my fingernails... though I really have gotten better about it over the years. I don't do it nearly as much as I used to.

Really, there is no one I have in mind to tag… so I tag whoever wants to be tagged.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

HA! I really AM the good twin :D

I hope everyone has a very happy Holiday, no matter what you celebrate… Or as my classmates have taken to saying…Happy Christmahanakwanzaka! :P

Quote of the Week: Children and Adults

2005-12-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

(About Antoine de Saint-Exupery: Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a French aviator, and author. Probably one of his best-known books is The Little Prince.)

Question: What things do children understand the best, and what do adults understand better? What subjects are children experts in, and what subjects are adults more versed in?

(Probably before Christmas I’ll post a review of the game Goa'uld and me have been playing. [Tales of Symphonia]. Really, we’ve already finished playing it, but there are really 8 different endings to the game. 7 of them are primarily the same, but the other one is quite different. Of course, Goa’uld and me got the one different ending, and wasn’t happy with it at all, because it was one in which one of my favorite characters in the game DIED… so I’ve started over, and am trying to get a different ending. Really, I already KNOW what the different endings are thanks to helpful guides fans of the game have written on the internet, but I’d like to see them for myself…)

Quote of the Week- A More Accepting World

2005-12-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

“People fear and hate what is not normal. They are scared of those that are different. Then the solution is for everyone to become the same. By using the Exspheres* to eliminate the different bloods that flow through elves and humans, everyone on this earth will become the same lifeless beings. Discrimination will vanish. That is the grand age I strive for.”
-Yggdrasill (roughly pronounced like: You-Dra-Sea-el)

That’s the main bad guy from Tales of Symphonia’s plan for creating a world free of discrimination. Yeah, it’s a twisted idea… but he DOES have a point in some respects...

My question is this: What is the best way for each and every one of us to help create a more accepting world?

(*Exspheres- crystals that enhance a human’s fighting capabilities. The process of making them is practically nasty… they need human life energy to power them up. The hero’s of Tales of Symphonia (most of which wear Exspheres) were practically disturbed upon hearing this, discovering that they were basically carrying around a human life locked in a stone…)

Happy Birthday!

2005-11-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

"A Birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip." -Unknown

I just wanted to wish my Granny (Tan Lucy Pez) A Happy Birthday! Have a good one! :D

Music Partner Woes and Video Game Joys

2005-11-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Well… Thanksgiving Break is over, and it’s back to the books for Goa'uld and me. Coming back to school made me remember how much I hate music class.

It WOULD be fun, if it weren’t for my partner, who (though she plays the bells in our school band) can’t play a piano, or create a descent melody on her life. You see, in 9th grade music class, we learn how to use these electronic pianos, and the program allows us to record several tracks to create a song. Wellll . . . What we’ve been doing recently is recording the right and left hand of piano songs and adding two creative, and one drum track to the music. Because we always work in pairs, we break up the work. I do one creative track and one part of the original music, and my partner does a creative track and another part of the music. I’ll record the original music onto the computer in no time . . . she takes SO long to do it, and usually I have to edit it anyway. Then there are the creative tracks. My partner will spend most of the period pressing random keys, and ends up creating an absolutely horrible background sound. I’ve even resorted to wincing slightly when notes particularly clash. She DOESN’T get the hint. I’ll sometimes suggest “Hey, that note doesn’t work with everything else. Maybe you could take it out or make it a C?”

My partner of course usually responds with something like “But I LIKE that part!” I’ll just have to make it somehow until we get to the final project, which we thankfully do alone…

(Warning: Next section contains slight spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played Tales of Symphonia)

On a lighter note, over the holidays I went to the local video game retailer and bought a game called Tales of Symphonia that was recommended to me by a friend who goes to my church. I haven’t finished it yet, so I won’t do a complete review of the game, but let me tell you… it’s AWESOME! At first, the plot seems to be pretty normal. You basically follow the main character, Lloyd Irving, age 17. His mother died when he was only a baby, so he was raised by a Dwarf named Dirk. One of his best friends is Genis Sage (age 12), who you are told at the beginning is an elf. His other best friend is Colette Brunel, who is supposedly destined to be the “chosen” one who will save their dying world of Sylvarant. It starts off with the day when an oracle appears and tells Colette that the time for her journey to save the world has come. You meet Raine Sage, the town teacher (Genis’s sister), as well as Kratos, a traveling mercenary that has been hired to protect “the Chosen” on her journey to save the world. The plot is pretty predicable at the beginning: You go around releasing seals that will open the door to the Town of Salvation, where Colette can release the final seal and “regenerate” the world. From there the plot takes a insane twist, where there is a betrayal and you discover that Sylvarant isn’t the only world there is, there is more then Chosen One, and that the bad guys in the story (The Desians) are run by the same guys that are supposedly “good”. (The Angels. Yes, Yes, I know. Evil Angels. Sounds weird huh?) You eventually meet up with some other colorful characters such as Sheena Fujibayashi, an assassin sent from another world to stop Colette from succeeding in her duties as Chosen. You also have Presea Combatir, a woodcutting girl who looks to be 12, and has no emotions, and Regal Bryant, a former aristocrat, turned criminal, who always wears handcuffs, and fights with his legs. Then you have Zelos Wilder; The guy makes me laugh so hard! He’s the second Chosen, and man, his personality doesn’t really suit it. I hated him in the beginning because he seemed like a snobbish, aristocratic womanizer. Seriously. If you go into a town playing as him, and talk to all the girls, he says some suave comment, and they all give him an item. It’s pretty sweet. Funny thing is, that he looks like a girl himself. Upon first seeing him Goa'uld asked me if he was a girl or a guy! Yes, he still is a snobbish aristocratic womanizer, but he’s also hilarious! When going into battle, his battle cry will be something like “Don’t Hate Me because I’m beautiful!” Yes, He’s grown on me … I love the game… but I swear, Goa'uld’s obsessed with it. Really, she is. It’s a bit scary sometimes… Wow, this post is longer then first intended, I’ll end it there for now. :)

If you want to see a picture of Zelos click HERE.

Quote of the Week: Social Interactions

2005-11-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
-Carl Jung

Question: Who helps us grow and change the most? Our Friends? Families? Or even our enemies?

(About Carl Jung: Carl Jung was a Swiss psychoanalyst who studied dreams, and believed dreams were windows into our unconscious that help us to see and understand what we’re about.)

Quote of the Week- Upbringings

2005-11-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

“You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."
-Albus Dumbledore

In Honor of the opening of the Fourth Harry Potter Movie, the Goblet of Fire, I decided to put up a Harry Potter quote this week.

Question: Can a man/women born to two parents who teach their offspring to live by a set of corrupt morals be blamed for his/her actions, or is it his/her choice if he/she finds how to lead a good honorable life? Can he/she help who he/she becomes?

Quote of the Week: Diversity

2005-11-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes tastes of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
-Anne Bradstreet

(About Anne Bradstreet: Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of the most important figures in the history of American Literature. She is considered by many to be the first American poet, and her first collection of poems, "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts", doesn't contain any of her best known poems, it was the first book written by a woman to be published in the United States.” –excerpt from http://www.annebradstreet.com/)

Well… the reason I chose this quote for this week is because this particular quotes illustrates one for the themes in a story I’m in the process of finishing for the Scholastic Writing Contest….

Question: Imagine a world without war, conflict, or problems of any kind. Anything that you consider wrong or immoral no longer exists. Tell me this: Is that the perfect world?

ACC’s and Birthday Wishes

2005-11-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is ACC’s, and because I’ll be gone all day, I won’t be able to post, so I decided to do so today. We made actually ACC’s, and we’ll be going tomorrow. We have practice in the morning from something like 9 to 11, then we all pick up our uniforms and get on our busses by 12… We perform at 6, and then awards are at 11. So… because it’s about a 2-hour drive to get there, we probably won’t be getting home till 2 or 3 in the morning. Fun.

Also, I’d like to inform everyone that it’s Doug’s birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Doug!

Quote of the Week- The Future

2005-11-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
-Ursula K. LeGuin

Question: If you were offered a book that told the future, would you accept it?

(About Ursula K. LeGuin: Ursula K. LeGuin is the author of the books of Earthsea, which was not to long ago made into a short mini-series on the sci-fi channel. Her official website can be found HERE)

No one Understands me...

2005-10-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

Curse my enriched vocabulary! Over the years, I’ve discovered that my vocabulary is a bit… larger then the average kid’s… For example, while my friends say “He’s a mystery.” I might say, “He’s an enigma.” Automatically. To me, the way I talk is completely normal, for those around me, sometimes the things I say go WAY over their heads. As a girl I went to Band Camp with me so eloquently put it, “You talk in an interesting way.” (That wasn’t that EXACTLY, but it was something to that effect) So, yes, it’s a bit fun sometimes to be able to say something, and have my friends have no clue what I’ve just said, but it’s also frustrating at times… Me and a friend of mine named Thomas once play a little word association game, and my other two friends just sort of stared at us when we started spouting out the names of religious figures/gods. (“Buddha.” “Allah.” “Yahweh.”...) It was all rather amusing...

…So of course, English class has become rather boring, especially since we’re mainly doing vocabulary right now… and our teacher, who just stopped substituting to take the English job this year, is using a book that gives us words like “vacant” and “content”. Honestly. SECOND graders would understand THOSE words. Oh well… at least that means good test grades for me.

(Wow, I posted two days IN A ROW. It must be a miracle…)

As a final note, I’d like to just wish everyone a Happy Halloween, and to wish Aunt Aral a happy belated birthday ;)

Quote of the Week- The Truth

2005-10-30T10:28:00.000-08:00

The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. -Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone)

My dear mother dddragon suggested that I start doing something like this because I'm going through a very quote-y phase, and often have a rather large arsenal of quotes at my disposal... So I decided that this would give me a reason to post at least one a week, so here it is.

I've decided to start simple, with a quote from Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, who compared to any other character in the book, (in my opinion) tends to have the most philosophical quotes in the series.

For those of you more intuitive bloggers, you can comment on the quote if you want, and give some philosophical insight of your own, or respond to the little question that I’ve made that goes along with the quote. (You didn’t think I would just let you get away with just READING some quote did you? Nope, I’m going to make you work.)

Question: Should the truth be handled with caution as Dumbledore seems to think? If so, when is it alright to outright lie, or allude to something false?

You’ve GOT to be kidding me

2005-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

4 Hours of practice in the morning, plus 3 hours of preparation and practice prior to the TOB in the rain…and guess what happened?

The TOB was cancelled just as we were headed over to the field to perform.

So… yeah, we didn’t get to perform, and the TOB will probably be rescheduled for Tuesday, which WAS our Halloween parade, but we won’t do it if the TOB is that day.

...Wow, a good majority of my posts are all about band… I’ll have to post about something else soon for variety. :)

A Quick Band Update

2005-10-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had a REAL late TOB last night… we got home at 1:30. You can imagine that almost everyone slept on the bus on the way back. We got Three of Three again… but our score went from a 79.2 to an 81.5. If we were still a category two band, we would be wiping the floor with our competitors each time. I’m not kidding. Our scores are always higher then those of the category two bands. Oh well, it can’t be helped that we’re a category three band by two people. Oh well, that’s just how things are sometimes…

Busy Times

2005-10-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

I’m so busy lately! I have play practices on Mondays, play AND band on Tuesday, band on Wednesdays, Play on Thursday, Football Games on Fridays, and TOB’s on Saturdays X_x. Well, I did CHOOSE to do this to myself…

In marching band news, our field has gone from extremely dusty to soft, and wet. I swear, it all happened overnight, with no transition time in between…

Crazy October weather.

Also I’d like to note, as many of the other members of my family have on THEIR blogs, that today is my mother (ddragon) and my dad’s 20th anniversary. Being only 15, the thought of being with someone 20 years goes WAAAAYYY over my head, especially sense I haven’t even been ALIVE 20 years. Congrads you guys ;)

TOB Time

2005-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Welllll… I have good news, and bad news. The good news it that we got third place…The Bad news, is that there were only three bands in our category. Oh well, better luck next time. I just KNOW the seniors are going to turn into slave driver to get us all in tip top shape so they can get into ACC’s.

Well, I just NEEDED to say this: in our Western Culture class, we’re creating our own little tribe modeled after how communities would have been like in the Bronze age, and little old me is in charge of creating the religion…

...Be Afraid, Very Afraid.

Also, on an ending note, sometime before I left for Camp, Tak promised to make a background and help me code my blog, and that she’d have it all done by the time I came back from Acting camp…

…Obviously, it didn’t happen.

Hopefully soon I can talk her into either finishing it up, or getting her to work on her last episode of her Star Wars/Stargate Trilogy, which I’m sure some of you have been waiting for… Of course with Marching Band, and Homework, I can understand how she hasn’t been able to do either, but STILL…Hopefully soon my blog won’t be plain and boring looking like it is right now…

I Don’t Have a Life Anymore…

2005-09-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Well, considering how long it’s been since I last posted, I’m guessing the post is going to end up being longer then anyone would really care to read in one sitting… but for those of you who would like an update on what’s happened in my absence, then I’ll be glad to fill you in…

During the summer (yes, it seems like a LONNNGG time ago, doesn’t it?) after I came back from Acting Camp, my computer died on me, forcing me to use my evil twin sister’s for the LONGEST time, and before school started, my dad finally got it up and running once more. The goa’uld was certainly happy to not have me bugging her to use her computer all the time…

Anyway, moving forward a bit, we’ve had play tryouts for this year’s play: Cheaper by the Dozen! About 60 some people tried out for a cast of 18, and lucky me, I made it…! BUT… I have probably the least significate part in the whole darn play… the SIXTH graders parts are more exciting then mine! I’m one of the nameless, lineless children…(recently christened “Mary” by our director.) O.k., I have ONE line thus far, and it’s only because they took it away from one of the other children, but hey, it’s my part and I can cry if I want to! (There’s a reference to a song there ;)) Actually, when the parts were listed, they put the goa’uld’s name down, but she had told the director she didn’t want to try out because she was too busy… so we were all a bit confused, and so goa’uld went in after school to figure out what the heck was going on, and I went home a bit befuddled as to what was going on… The Director called my mom and the first thing he said was “Please don’t kill me…” Because he had been my sister’s teacher, when he thought of our names, he thought of her, so it turns out he had put her name down instead of mine! It was a rather amusing situation if I say so myself…

Now, I can’t talk about the play without complaining about a few things… especially casting choices. The girl who plays one of the most important parts, Anne, the eldest daughter, is played by this girl I think isn’t a very good actor… She just isn’t animated! Her lines are boring and… oh, who am I kidding, I want to smack our director upside the head for picking her for the part! I also disagree with the choice of casting for Mrs. Fitzgerald, the housekeeper… she really, she isn’t that good either… of course, my distaste for her has nothing to do with the fact that we used to be best friends, but she started ignoring me one day and we broke off… of course, I wouldn’t let my judgment be skewed by something like that…. Noooo sir.

Also, last year I was an aide in the library, and this year I’m doing it again! This year I have a period that is much less busy then last year, and I hardly get to do much, so it’s basically a study hall in the library… of course, people coming to the library has also been lessened by the fact that the library’s “candy cart” is gone, because the librarian’s assistant retired, and she doesn’t have the time to do it… It’s rather sad isn’t it, that half of the people who came to the library came for candy…

Marching Band is going o.k… I can FINALLY make it through the whole show, but it is not by any means perfect… Our first TOB is Saturday, and we’re the LAST band to perform, meaning we probably won’t get home till around midnight or later. Oh dear, I do believe I’ve sold my soul to band…

Blah and More Blah

2005-08-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I have absolutely nothing to write about... but try to write I shall... So where to start?

Hmm... I've been busy trying to catch up with marching band, so when I'm not doing that, I'm pretty much just being lazy, and doing a lot of nothing. It's sad that school's coming back, yet I guess I'm KINDA looking forward to it, because it'll mean that the fall school play and the spring muscial will be happening before I know it. Dunno if I'll try out for the muscial though... I'm not much of a singer, and last year I ended up complaining about it half the time... but who could blame me? We had practices on SATURDAY MORNINGS. I mean... come on, our director was insane in thinking that a group of teenagers would be happy about getting up early in the morning on a SATURDAY. Urg.

Well, anyway, I've been playing a lot of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), which is basically a game where you dance to music using a dance pad, with four arrows, hitting the arrows in various combinations to get a score. I'm not quite sure if that definition make any since, but I'm not quite sure how to describe it any other way... I found a picture of an example of the game on the internet and posted it below, so it should help anyone who hasn't a clue as to what the game is to get a general idea of what it is.

I haven't really been reading, so I don't have any books to reveiew... I know I said I'd finish my Keys to the Kingdom book, but I didn't really have time for it at camp, and I haven't really picked it up sense... I'll probably start reading more when I get to school, so eventually I'll have a book to review here for you guys.

Soooooo....

Schools coming up soon, and it'll be back to the books for me and Tak...

A Wonderful Shakespeariance

2005-08-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, Yes, I’ve finally stopped delaying it, and I’m finally posting about my acting camp experience to get my mum to stop bothering me about it…. but of course, I’ve always been a horrible procrastinator, so it’s in my very blood to delay it, but to please dear Ellad, I shall go against my very nature and present the dear blogging community with a decent post without further ado…

At Camp, we performed a play we called “Shakesperiance”, which was basically about this college student named Veronica, and her roommate named Parker. Veronica has a bit Shakespeare final coming up, and hasn’t read any of the required plays because she things, I quote, “Shakespeare Sucks!” So it’s basically all about Parker showing Veronica some of her favorite scenes in Shakespeare to get her interested, so the play has a rather large medley of scenes from several of Shakespeare’s plays. As stated in my previous post, I played Lady Capulet from Romeo and Juliet, and Olivia from Twelfth Night.

Overall, I had an excellent time, because besides working on the play, we had lost of other fun activities as well, including a murder mystery, a lip sync, a water balloon fight, Improv Activities, as well as lots of other fun activities :D Twas much fun…

Better Late then Never...

2005-08-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

"Difficult Times LIe Ahead, Harry."

While that may be true, Harry hopefully had a good day yesterday, because it twas his Birthday! :P

Being the Mad-Potter fan that I am, I couldn’t resist creating a Happy Birthday Post for Harry, even though I’m a day late XD

Better Late then Never they always say… I wonder how old he is… I’m not quite sure as to the date he was born on… oh well. Happy Birthday Harry! :D

Where For Art Thou Romeo?

2005-07-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Here's just a quick post from acting camp! So far, I'm having a blast :D We're doing a play one of the counselors put together. It’s a play that features a bunch of little scenes from Shakespeare plays. I only have a few minutes before I have to go, so I’ll just say that I have two roles: Lady Capulet from Romeo and Juliet and Olivia from Twelfth Night. Memorizing is going to be a nightmare… and it has to be all memorized by Sunday… X_x

EDIT: I just NEEDED to say this: The Food here is HORRIBLE! The Cafeteria is full of flies, and lots of the food tastes funny… I must say, I miss meals from home… But I shall persevere, despite the hardships! XD

Here I go Again!

2005-07-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

It seems like I’ve only just returned to camp, and now I’m off again to another one… An Acting one this time. Hopefully when I get back I’ll be able to do a nice, proper post about the two camps, but at the moment I’m a bit busy getting ready for said camp…

When I return, I’m going to be—with a LOT of Help from Tak—making my blog look a lot nicer, and hopefully my posts will become more frequent. Hopefully I’ll start adding pictures of some sort to my posts as well to make them more interesting. Also, I think I’ll start reviewing some of the book I read. Hopefully I can start with my Keys to the Kingdom series, because I’ve started the third book out of the series and should be done by the time I return. It’s a bit complicated, but defiantly an interesting read. (above is a bad picture of the first book's cover, Mister Monday)

WARNING! Spoilers Ahead: Harry Potter Book 6 Review

2005-07-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yep, it’s the day that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been officially released… And I’ve finished it! My Mom (ddragon) and I went to Borders at midnight to get our copies. (Go see her blog if you want details)

Anyone who has not read the book, or does not want to know anything that happens are advised to stop reading here, and wait until they’ve finished reading the book.

This Book is defiantly guaranteed to leave you wanting more, and to have you guessing to the very last page. I hardly was able to put the book down! This book, to me, is much more fast-paced then the last 5, and J.K. hardly lets poor Harry catch his breath from his last adventure before throwing him into another. In this book, any sympathy I may have harbored for everyone’s “favorite” potion’s master was completely shattered… It makes you wonder how in the world Snape ever got Dumbledore to trust him so much. It’s excellent, but the ending especially is quite depressing. Also, it looks like The-Boy-Who-Lived won’t be returning to Hogwarts next year, and instead will be searching for Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. (objects in which he stored pieces of his soul to secure himself immortality) It wasn’t shocking that Dumbledore was killed, because throughout the books everyone kept saying “We’re all o.k. as long as we have Dumbledore.” So it was kinda bound to happen eventually, but I was hoping that I’d be wrong. Of course who DID the deed was a bit of a surprise… Snape. Draco was supposed to do it, but he didn’t seem able to do it, so I still have a bit of hope in him. It wasn’t a horrible surprise was allowed to become a Death Eater at such a young age, but it’s a little surprising that he’s only doing it because the Dark Lord is threatening his family’s lives. Probably the biggest surprise in this book is that the new Defense teacher this year is none other then Severus Snape! Also, Harry quickly becomes the new potion’s master’s favorite, and best in class by using notes in an old copy of the 6th year potion brewing book. All theses notes are written by none other then our infamous Half Blood Prince, and ironically, in the end we discover SNAPE is in fact the Half-Blood Prince (which is actually quite amusing, because the whole year Ron and Harry consistently praise the Prince’s work :D) Overall this book is excellent, but now that I’ve finished it I’m itching for the next one already, which is defiantly going to be different, considering the fact that most of it probably won’t occur at Hogwarts…

As an ending note, I found it a bit suspicious that at the end, Dumbledore practally begged Severus to spare his life… it didn’t really seem Dumbledore-like… oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to wait till Book 7 to find the answer to all the mysteries that have been presented to us in the last 6 books…

It's Coming...

2005-06-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

.

For those who do not yet know… (However, I’ve made SURE that everyone in MY Household has the date imprinted on their brain… :D) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the next book in the amazing Book Series by J.K. Rowling, will be released in the US on July 16th :D. (It’s such a nice early Birthday present!)

Also, The Harry Potter movie for the fourth book, the Goblet for Fire, is due out this November. If you want to see the trailer, check out it’s site: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/gobletoffire/#

Anagrams are fun :D

2005-02-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.anagramgenius.com/servernew.php

My Full name: Eh! Avaricious sulk
Eh! Avaricious sulk: Vacuous, rakish lie
I love to Read: Adore to Evil
I am a bookworm: I'm a bow or amok

Anagrams are so funny :P

Links

2004-12-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

here's some links to some of my families blogs:

my aunt---> http://aralecho.blogspot.com/ (She calls me Haras Pikachu Pez There.)
my mom---> http://www.dddragon.blogspot.com/
my grandmother---> http://tanlucypez.blogspot.com/
my other aunt---> http://hoppytrails.blogspot.com/
and last, but not least, my sisters VERY cool blog with great flash animations on it---> http://goauld1024.blogspot.com/

Happy Holidays everybody

Da Vinci Code

2004-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

"THE DA VINCI CODE is many notches above the intelligent thriller; this is pure genius." --Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author.

I have resently finished the Da Vinci Code, and I must say, I do agree! I usual don't like mysterys that much, but this book is amazing! I definitely recommend that everyone reads it.