Traveling to New, Strange Places.... Well, Not Exactly

I realize that the title of my blog this week is a little confusing, but I couldn't figure out what else to call this post. Traveling is exactly what I've been doing. Most of us know the feeling of being absorbed into a book. Becoming the main character, seeing and feeling everything they do. It's amazing what simple words can do, they transport you to entirely different worlds, they make you a different person, if only for a little while. It is honestly one of the best things, to me at least.
I always find it really sad when people say they hate reading. I can't fathom it. Why in the world would you hate discovering new words, places, or people? Almost every time I pick up a book, I get absorbed into it almost instantly. Why would you hate escaping life for a little while, to live someone elses? It just makes absolutely no sense to me.
One of my favorite things about books, other than taking on a new life for a while when I read them, is that more often then not, they show me how good of a life I have. I am so glad that we have the reading, I guess you could call them opportunities, that we have today. I don't know what I'd do without books. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true. Whenever I'm sad or upset, I pick up one of my favorite books, and flip through it, skimming over my favorite parts. It never fails to make me feel better. Okay, that may not be completely true, if I happen to pick up the wrong book, well I guess it's never really wrong, but the wrong book for my mood I just end up feeling even worse than I did before. It's funny the way simple words can take us on emotional roller coasters, when most of the time the subject has no relevance with real problems. But it doesn't matter to me. Without books, my place of escape at times, I don't know what I'd do.
I think about the people who say always having your nose in a book makes you a "nerd" but what's the problem with that? Learning about new places, people, things, events in history, anything. If anything, I think reading shows the dreamers, and the extremely clever people who will eventually change the world.
My least favorite thing about reading a good book? When it ends. When books are truly amazing, they absorb you into the story, and you begin to feel as though you know the characters. Then, you're torn out of the story, the repetitive turning of the pages stops, and you're left there just wishing for more. The best and worst part of that? When you finish a book, often, your world, your life, it doesn't feel real anymore. It feels like the life you were "living" in the book was the real life, and that now as you stop turning the pages, it feels like you have only just begun to turn them. It's an amazing, confusing, bewildering feeling, but great none the less. Now I'm off to go start another book, another story, I guess you could call it another life, and hopefully lose myself in it.

L.A. Weatherly's "Angel Burn"

Willow Fields' world is thrown upside down after giving a physic reading to a schoolmate, Beth. Willow doesn't know why she has physic powers, or what they mean, but Angel Killer Alex Kylar does. When Alex receives a message concerning his next target saying, "ENEMY SIGHTED, PAWTUCKET NY. RESIDENCE: 34 NESBIT STREET" he doesn't know what he's getting into. This assignment, changes his whole world. When he finds himself protecting his enemy, and eventually falling in love, his whole world changes, and another angel invasion could put humanity on the brink of death. L.A. Weatherly's "Angel Burn" is a new type of book where angels are not all kind and sweet as they are usually portrayed.

I liked this book a lot, because it had a lot of action, but that wasn't all it was. One thing I like a lot was how the angels weren't all sweet and kind like they are usually portrayed in our world. In the book, angels have invaded our world, and they are sending humanity to it's death. "There was an angel flying towards her... The woman's life energy came into my view. I could see it draining, collapsing in on itself, fading from a vibrant pink to a dull gray." That quote is just one example of how the angels are portrayed as evil, and here is another one. "The angel curled his lip. ' I think not actually. It's time now for you to both die the way you were supposed to in the first place.'  Shifting back into his angel form he surged strait towards them wings flashing."

Seeing as there were only really two main characters, I didn't really have a favorite. There weren't a lot of characters that you got to know really well, but Alex and Willow were my two favorites. I liked them both because they overcame a lot of differences, and well, I just liked them.

I would have to say my favorite part of the book, (this isn't a big spoiler but if you haven't read it and plan on reading the book skip to the next paragraph) was when Alex bought her the necklace. If you've read the book, you know what that means. The description of the necklace was really beautiful as well. I would definitely read this again, and I plan on reading the sequel. I think that a sequel is going to be really interesting, but back to the book now.

I like the style of writing and how it showed everything from several different characters' POV's. It was really cool to know what they were thinking. I would recommend this book to people who like books with angels in them and have read books like Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and even Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I know these books are all different in plot and storyline, but I think that they are all similar in writing style, etc. I think that people who have read those books will definitely like Angel Burn.

New Term, And A Clean Slate

So finally, just like we (as students) have been waiting for, it's a new term, a new semester and in a way a fresh start. I think that the last semester was great, but extremely frustrating. It was constantly filled with a lot of homework, unnecessary stress, and the constant wish of it to be second semester. As each school day passes, I restlessly count down the time until school is out, and I'm officially in high school. What does that mean to me though? Well, for me high school means a completely clean slate (well almost, I guess teachers will still refer to me as the younger sibling of _______. *Insert name of choice, since I have three older sisters they often know). High school will mean driving, a little more independence, and maybe a little distance from my twin. I love her, but sometimes I gotta get away. Back to the original topic though, a new semester. I can't wait to start this semester, although I have the all dreaded Gym class, I don't think it's going to be that bad, the only downside to me right now? The smell of it all. It's gross, and I won't go into further details seeing as how we all know how nasty locker rooms are. Other classes I'm looking forward to on my schedule is that I get to T.A. (for those who don't know, T.A. means Teacher's Assistant). Now, to a lot of people it sounds boring, and more like slave work, but I guess it depends on what teacher you're a T.A. for, and what subject they teach. Me? I get to T.A. for one of the art teachers at my school. While people often call her mean and harsh in my previous art class, I think that they just happen to be some of the people who hope to get by with late work. The problem with that? She doesn't take late work. At all. No matter the circumstance. It was a rough class, but if you actually care about your grade, then you would never had any problem with the class. It was a lot of fun. Hmm.... Other classes I'm excited for? Well.. There aren't really any others specifically. Yeah, I like the sarcastic teachers I have like my english teacher, but  I don't love the subject, so it's not going to be an exciting semester, but at least it's going to be a new one.
I hope that this semester will help me make more friends than the small number I have now, not that I don't love them, I'm just hoping for some more familiar faces  in my classes. I hope that I will get good grades second semester, and that I won't go into full on panic mode like I did last term, and the first term as well. I want this term to be, well not necessarily easy, but not extremely hard either. Hopefully I'll be able to balance my homework, after school set design, honors english, and possibly  online computer tech. I guess we'll see. This term is gonna be a happy one, but sad. Because with every day that passes, every term that flies by, I'm counting down the days that I have in Junior High. I'm counting down the days that I'll see some of my friends at school, if at all. It's sad, but I'm glad for the time that I do get to see them. I just hope that when the year is over, and we all split schools, we won't have a huge wedge in between us. The only thing we can do is try to prevent it and wait and see. Here's to a new semester!

To Kill a Mockingbird and Walk Two Moons

           Scout from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Salmanca from Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons have a lot in common, but also have many differences. A common idea the both of the books is that before can truly understand a person you have to look at things from their perspective.

          Scout and Salmanca are alike in that they both lost their mothers. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout was only two when her mother died. “Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence.” In Walk Two Moons, Salmanca lost her mother when she was 13, but she had grown to know her mother more than Scout ever knew her own mother. “… It was only then, when I saw the stone, and her name- Chanhassen ‘Sugar’ Pickford Hiddle- and the engraving of the tree, that I knew, by myself and for myself, that she was not coming back.” While Scout and Salmanca both lost their mothers, the difference is that Salmanca knew her mom more than Scout had, so Salmanca grieved over her mom more than the two year old Scout had,. The loss of their mothers greatly affected both of their lives.

          Another way Scout and Salmanca are alike is that they both have very strange friends. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout’s vest friend is Dill. IN the book, Dill often exaggerated things, and he ran away from his family. “‘Why’d you do it?’ No answer. ‘I said why’d you run off? Was he really hateful like you said?’” In the quote, Scout was asking Dill about his family, and why’d he had run away from them. In Walk Two Moons, Salmanca meets Phoebe Winterbottom when she moves. “When Phoebe reminded her that their mother had been kidnapped, Prudence said, ‘Oh Phoebe, Mom wasn’t kidnapped.’” Both Phoebe and Dill had trouble families, and Scout and Salmanca were the ones who tried to comfort them. They were both good friends, and they both tried to look at things from different perspectives.

          In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” In Walk Two moons, Phoebe receives a note that says, “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” Both Scout and Salmanca see things from other people’s point of view at the end of the books. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout sees things from Boo Radley’s perspective. She sees herself and Jem through his eyes, and it greatly changes her thought of him, because she can finally understand why he stays inside all the time. In Walk Two Moons, Salmanca sees things from her mom’s point of view on her trip to ‘bring her back’. As she visits the different landmarks on the trip, she imagines she is her mother, and when she finally accepts her mother’s death, she accepts that her mother didn’t intentionally leave forever. In the end of each book, Scout and Salmanca each accepted things, and ‘walked in someone else’s shoes’.

          Scout and Salmanca were very similar, and despite their differences in age, environment, family, etc, they are very alike. They both lost their mothers, had strange, imaginative friends, and they both “Walked two moons in another man’s moccasins.”

What Was Old, Is Becoming New

I know this is late... I completely forgot about it yesterday with the excitement of my cousins birthday, and my step-sister leaving. Anyway, no excuses allowed, here's the post.

Recently, many things that I grew up with have made a come back. The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast have returned to theaters, in 3D, and one of my favorite childhood games, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has also made a comeback in 3D, but not in theaters. On the new 3DS.

For Christmas I got a shiny red 3DS, and I was surprised. I had no idea what I wanted this year, technically last year I guess, but when I opened the 3DS, I realized that it was what I had wanted. Yeah, yeah, I know I sound like a nerd. Why would a teenage girl want a 3DS? Well, with me it's pretty simple. When I was little, I was raised with technology around me constantly. I can't remember a time when there wasn't a computer, cell phone, or gaming system in the house. It was fun, and I miss a lot of the things from my childhood. Take the Nintendo 64 for example. When I was little, we happened to have two. People who are familiar with the N64 probably understand me right now, or at least I hope they do. Those who have no idea what a Nintendo 64 is, probably think this blog post is a whole bunch of baloney. If you are one of the latter, you should probably stop reading now.

Growing up, my 4 sisters and I had two Nintendo 64 systems, one was a dull black, and the other was a translucent green. Now, if you know what a Nintendo 64 is, then you know that they are nothing close to the game systems today. However, although they were different, they were, and are, one of the funnest game systems. Growing up, I would play Pokemon Snap, Rugrats Scavenger Hunt, Donkey Kong 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo and Kazooie, various Mario Party's,  many others, and then my favorite, Ocarina of Time. Now, your probably thinking that this blog post has strayed quite a bit, and it kind of has, but don't worry, I'm getting to the point. Anyway, as I said at the beginning, one of my favorite games from my childhood and of all time, has made a comeback on the 3DS.

The game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, was part of growing up for me. My sisters and I used to watch my mom play for hours, and when we grew up, we were the ones playing, and fighting over, the game. Now that I have it on my 3DS, I can play it whenever, and wherever I want to. It's great.

One of my favorite things about the re-release (is that even a word?) of it is that the graphics are still mostly the same. I'm not quite halfway through the game, but I have noticed very few changes. The few I have noticed? Flower fields are no longer blocks of different shades of green, and there are 2 new features as well. One of them is the Sheik- Stone. It can be taken as a place to get hints if you become stuck in the game. The other new thing I noticed was that when you are in your house in the Kokiri Forest, is you go to your bed, you can re-fight bosses. I was surprised to discover this, but I think it is a cool feature. Have I used it yet? No. Do I plan to? Not really, but I'm sure some people love to re-fight the bosses again and again.

I could go on about Zelda for a long time, but I'm not going to, as that would get very tiring. I love having it with me to play it whenever I want, and I love having a part of my childhood with me, in 3D even. Anyway, I'm trying to wrap this up. If you have a 3DS, I seriously suggest getting Zelda, if you don't have a 3DS, well then I've got nothing for you. :D