The Tyro Writer's Hollow

Camp NaNoWriMo!!!!!

2011-06-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited!!! On July 1st, the first session of Camp NaNoWriMo is going to begin!

I won't be participating, since I'm in Brazil studying and since I've been planning on participating in NaNoWriMo in November, but I'm looking forward to participating next year (or perhaps even in December!!).

For those of you who don't know about the Office of Letters and Light and their absolute amazingness, please check out their website, donate, or participate in their amazing events!

Classical History Primary Sources

2011-03-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

I found this wonderful database filled with classical primary sources. The Perseus Digital Library has a vast collection of classical (Greek and Roman) primary sources. They have the original, for those who can read classical Greek and Latin, and a translated version for most, if not all, of their texts. These texts include writings like Virgil's Aeneid, Euripides' the Trojan Women and Favius Josephus' The Wars of the Jews. They also have Arabic, Germanic, and Renaissance material (which I haven't looked at yet).

The writings are listed alphabetically by author, so if you know who wrote it, you can find it. Also, they have a study tool which lets you click on a word and see what the most accepted definition of it is (this tool is obviously only available for non-English texts). Personally, I haven't used this tool because I don't know Latin or Greek enough (or linguistic-speak) to know how to use it, but I'm sure it's helpful for a lot of people.

This site is one of the best sources for primary material I have ever seen. I haven't even looked at everything simply because there is so much of it.

A Question of Grammar

2011-02-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

I was looking at the dictionary and I saw the word "tyro" which is a word I use in my blog's title (obviously). Here's what the dictionary entry looks like:

tyro |ˈtīrō| (also tiro)noun ( pl. -ros)a beginner or novice.ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin tiro, medieval Latin tyro‘recruit.’

Everything looked all fine and dandy until I noticed that this word is a noun. I'm not too good in the grammar department, so I'm not sure, but I think I'm using tyro as an adjective. It's really too late to change it now, though. Oh well. Perhaps one day when I'm rich and famous I'll change it to something else. Well, if I become rich and famous, then I'm not a tyro any more, which means I would have to change it in order to still be correct. Actually, I think that if I become published (but still don't write for a living) I can call myself an amateur. Maybe the day to change my blog's title is closer than I think...

World of Grayham (Worlds of the Crystal Moon #1) Book Review

2011-02-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

I just got this book yesterday and, while I'm not finished reading it, I thought I should give it a preliminary review based on what I've read so far.

Let me start off by making sure everyone knows that I'm not a very good writer (you can tell by the contents of this blog). However, I am very adept at reading and for a book review, that's really all that matters. While it may be good to "read like a writer and write like a reader," a lot of people just read like readers. In other words, I'm looking at this book more as reader, and less as a writer.

I wasn't (and am still) not expecting much. The author's name is Phillip "Big Dog" Jones and the book was self published. Then, there are some content issues. There are these random insertions that could have been deleted or incorporated into previous or following paragraphs, and this book is in no way appropriate for 13 year old kids. Eragon got a little risque sometimes (which was fine), but this book is 100 times worse (I can't believe the author compared it to Narnia. Narnia was totally christian. It had morals, but this is no where near that).

As for the issue of the author's name. I have never in my life seen any author give them selves a title besides perhaps Royal Historian of Oz or something like that. "Big Dog"? Honestly? Are you a wrestler or an author? It looks and sounds unprofessional and geeky, which isn't the kind of impression I would want to give potential readers especially if I'm the new kid on the block. Maybe a little teenager will think it's cool, but if you want to be successful as an author, you need to appeal to as many people as possible. Adults will not see "Big Dog" as a good thing.

I haven't had very good experiences with self published books. The ones that aren't full of grammatical errors are filled with plot, setting and character errors and sometimes they have all four. So far, this book is no exception. While I haven't caught any serious grammatical mistakes yet and I'm not far in enough to talk about the plot, the setting and characters need some serious help.

The author begins by telling me that I'm dead and he frequently refers to us as souls. He also says we're in a Book of Immortality. The problem is that if I'm dead, why don't I know that? Why don't I remember life? What's the difference between life and death? Last I checked, souls don't bleed, but I do, so do I have a body or not? If this is death, what is or was life? Of course, I understand that all of this is fantasy, that, as far as I can tell, I am alive and that some day I'm going to die and really become just a soul or spirit. But there needs to be a suspension of disbelief, some explanation as to how his world can be possible, so that I can believe the story could be true. By saying I'm dead and that I'm just a soul the author needs to explain what death and souls are, otherwise I'll have to use my own definitions and by those I am neither dead nor just a soul but very much alive as a soul and a body.

The author also fails to adequately explain the destruction of the universe and my preservation inside this Book of Immortality. He says it happened 14,000 years ago. The world he describes just before the universe is destroyed is exactly like ours, complete with Texans, RVs and sex obsessed men who don't have a life. So...what's been happening for 14,000 years and why do I (or why does the human race) not remember these 14,000 years happening? As far as I know, the modern world as we know it has only been around for less than 50 years and it keeps changing, meaning time isn't at a stand still (besides, I'm reading the darn book aren't I? So I can't be frozen in time). I honestly can't see how this happened, why I don't know this and why it even matters because if life is like death than why not stay dead (the plot is about three people trying to create worlds again so people can live)? I haven't gotten very far, but I have already lost all belief in the story because I don't understand the setting.

Then there's the characters. I hate all three. One of them can't exist (although, now the author is beginning to mention that he might not be completely human, so I guess I'll see what happens) because, unfortunately, geniuses who graduate from med school at 16 aren't hot because their chromosomes are all messed up. The other male is so obsessed with sex and girls that I don't think he really cares about his daughter at all and the girl is stupid, self centered and has an accent that must have been annoying to write and is definitely annoying to read. A simple, "she had a Texan accent," the use of some Texas sayings and a few abbreviations would have been appropriate.

None of them seem real. I don't know who the author hangs out with, but if his friends act like this, then he must have a sad life. These people don't make sense to me. They don't have motivation and they seem contradictory. I know that real people are complicated, and that we can contradict ourselves a lot. But does a conman really care that much about sex? And if he does, would he really care about his daughter? With the way the sex obsessed conman treats women, I can't see how he wouldn't even try to molest his daughter. Every time the author talked about how much he loved her and wanted to protect her, I kept thinking "You're lying. You only want him to like his daughter, but he doesn't."

There are some content issues that should be addressed as well. The author puts in these random insertions that could just be deleted or incorporated elsewhere because it's annoying to keep taking me out of the story to tell me useless information. I feel like I'm reading the story, and scene finishes and BREAK! We go off on this random tangent which I think is going to go somewhere but then there is another BREAK! Back to the story. It's odd and pointless.

For example, I don't need to know that there are over 500 employees in Sam's family practice. It's a 13 story building, I can guess that there are a lot of employees, and I can guess that they have doctors and nurses and even a janitorial staff. But do I really need to know that there are over 500 employees? And, every time there's a break (or a least many times), he starts off with "Now...fellow soul..." I know what I am, you don't have to keep reminding me. You can just start.

One more thing. This book is in no way appropriate for 13-15 year old kids. There is too much swearing and suggestive content for 13 year olds and I'm not even to page 100. I know our standards are dropping rapidly (most movies rated PG-13 should be R and most movies rated PG should be PG-13), but do we really want 13 year olds swearing so they can be as cool as a character in a book or movie? Do we really want to expose them to sexual material before they should be reproducing? Do we really want pregnant teenagers? According to our entertainment, we do. This book is more for mature teens, probably around 16. Not all 13 year old kids can take this material maturely. Besides, I really don't see a point to all the swearing. Sure, you want the characters to have this bad-a feel, but they don't need to swear that much. Same with the sexual content. Okay, the character has probably been sexually active since he was 10 years old. We get that, it's part of modern life (sadly), but do we really need to know about it? I can't help but think that Phillip doesn't have sex very often and makes up for it by writing about beautiful women who's sole purpose is to arouse the main character (and, therefore, himself). That's really the feeling I get when I read this.

That was more of a rant then I intended. To be honest, the action sequence when genius guy was fighting the Brazilian was good (and the author pretty much nailed the Brazilian accent. I would know, I'm Brazilian). But I'm not very far in the book and I've already noticed some major setting and character issues, not to mention the content problem. I wonder if the author ever took this to a publisher and if he did, why he didn't get the hint that this story isn't good enough to be published. It's a good start, though. With some practice, Phillip could become a good story teller, but it would take time and patience.

To be continued...

Raethean Chickens

2010-11-28T22:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this scene will get into the finished product, but I

thought it was pretty funny. Brittany (an earthing who got to the

fantasy world of Raeth by accident) and the gang (all raetheans) are eating breakfast and she notices that the eggs are bigger than the

ones she's used to.

***

“What kind of eggs are these?” she asked, after finding they tasted just like the chicken eggs she was used too.

“Umm...” Ridginon started, “do you mean what do we call them or do you want to know what animal they come from?”

“What animal do they come from?”

“Chickens, of course! Where else would they come from?”

“I don’t know. These eggs are a lot bigger than the chicken eggs I’m used too. I thought maybe they came from something different.”

“Maybe our chickens are different from yours. Our chickens look kind of like small antelope with feathers. What about yours?”

“Antelope? Aren’t antelopes... not birds? How can a chicken look like an antelope?”

“Well their feathers are colored like an antelope’s fur, and their legs are skinny and lightly feathered, so if you don’t see their talons, you think it’s antelope legs.”

“But don’t antelopes have four legs and chickens have two?”

“What? No, chickens have four legs. Now, if you see a chicken with it’s wings spread out, you can tell it’s a chicken, but from a distance, and if the chicken is just grazing, then it looks like an antelope.”

Brittany tried to imagine what a chicken with four legs and antelope colored fur would look like. “Do your chickens also have antelope horns?”

“Of course! What, your don’t?”

“No.”

“Then what the heck does a chicken look like in reality?”

“Like a bird. With two, scaly legs and a big, fat body covered with what is obviously feathers. You can’t mistake a chicken for anything other than a chicken at any distance.”

“Really?” Ridginon thought for a moment. “That’s really weird.”

She couldn’t help thinking that she thought the same thing about their chickens.

Spoke Too Soon

2010-11-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

So, I was doing great on the fourth, I really was, and then I finished the exposition, and I crashed.

I haven't written a single word today. Once the introduction was finished, I didn't know where the story went from there. I still don't know where it goes. Sure, I know what they're going to do and what's supposed to happen, but it's not as planned out, and I'm still iffy on a lot of details. That blank page keeps staring at me with the little curser blinking and I don't know what to say. Maybe something will come to me, or maybe I'll get excited about my novel again but all of the momentum I had came to jarring halt the second I finished off the fourth chapter yesterday night.

Fourth Day Report

2010-11-04T22:14:00.003-07:00

Four days in and I'm at 8,715 words. That's a personal best. Usually, I'll bust out 2,000-3,000 words the first day, then fall behind and use the weekend to catch-up, but this year I've been ahead of schedule every. single. day. Amazing.

I love my novel. I haven't run into any character problems. I did have a few plot and setting troubles, but they were small. For example, I didn't know what the main house looked like, and since it was a mansion, I had to draw a floor plan to keep myself oriented. Then I had to put furniture in it. Specific events were a little scattered and could take place at different points in the story or not take place at all (was my main character going to sleep that night, or was the F.B.I. going to go after her before that?) but as I wrote, (and talked to my characters) things fell in to place and everything worked out beautifully.

This is definitely the most magical novel I have ever written. Everything (so far) is going great and I can see no future problems. Maybe this will be my first ever published work? Who knows, it just might happen. Of course, all of these good feelings might just be because this is a new project and a new NaNo year and I'm just feeling very optimistic about it all. The real test will be the second and third weeks.

Just a Few More Hours

2010-10-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

NaNoWriMo is about to start! I've got about 1.5 hours before I can start writing and I can feel the tension. My characters are getting ready to be apart of a story and everyone in my family knows that I will be temporarily unavailable for the next month.

Alright, time for a shower and some last minute character development (my main villain hasn't been developed as much as he should, but he's not even mentioned until the middle of the novel so I think I'll be okay), and then it's on to madness!

Getting Ready for NaNo Pre-season

2010-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

I can' wait for the NaNoWriMo site to relaunch! I hope I don't stay up too late waiting. Just thinking about all of those fresh forums, the sparkly pages and the plot bunnies gives me goose bumps! I've already found a story and I think this one is going to be my greatest novel ever. The whole story feels real. This is the first time I've felt so close to a character. Every time I think about her and her situation I get butterflies. Hopefully, that's a good sign.

Hawaiian Adventures

2010-07-26T23:13:00.001-07:00

Inside a Buddhist Temple

The Buddhist Temple

The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean (the ship was harbored in Oahu during our stay. We were very lucky to be able to find it and to be able to get so close. If only the trucks and cargo boxes weren't in our way!)

Another View of the Black Pearl

Wild Horse Roundups

2010-02-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I got curious and wanted to know a little more about the wild horse roundups that take place every year. I went to youtube.com and searched for "wild horse roundups" and was amazed at what came up. Almost every video had a sad song playing in the back round and a slew of comments. Wanting to know what others thought about the videos, I read the comments and was absolutely astonished. Every comment and even the description of the video stated that the horse roundups are a problem and many people included "solutions" to the problem in their comment. While reading these "solutions" I wondered if any of these people ever graduated from high school. I then seriously thought about youtube.com's main users and concluded that most of the people who have a youtube account and post comments or videos about horse roundups must not have ever graduated or are very young because I cannot believe that adults could be so clueless.

Many people blamed the ranchers and farmers saying that if there were less cattle, that would solve the problem. I concluded that these people must not even know what the problem is. The problem is that we need to control the horse population to prevent overgrazing. We need to prevent overgrazing not for the rancher's or farmer's benefit, but for the environment's and the horses' benefit. Getting rid of farmers and ranchers or limiting the number of cattle ranchers can graze on horse land will only allow the land to be able to support more horses. That means that more horses will have to run for miles to get to the roundup corral, more horses will be sent to the slaughter house (since there are already not enough people adopting the horses) and the price of food and/or beef will go up.

Some people stated that man is too stupid to be able to deal with problems, so we should just leave the horses alone and let nature take it's course. That, in my opinion, is a valid solution to the problem and many people are willing to carryout this plan. However, I can't help but wonder how many people will like the idea of "letting nature take it's course" when they see fields devoid of grass and thousands of starving horses. I believe that when the fields the horses are currently grazing on become overgrazed, they will begin to migrate to other areas until at last they reach residential areas. I wonder how many people will love wild horses when they begin to graze lawns and perhaps even kill a few children who wandered too close.

There are those who think that as the land begins to be overgrazed, the horse population will curve and balance itself harmoniously. This theory has been proven wrong time and time again. One instance that proved this theory false is the Kaibab National Forest. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt created the "Grand Canyon Federal Game Preserve." The idea for the preserve was to make a haven for deer. They eliminated hunting, grazing of livestock, and natural predators. The deer population grew and grew. There came a point when people began to see a few effects of the large amount of deer. The shrubs and understory plant life began to disappear, and, as time went on, so did the low lying branches and bark on the trees. Eventually, every tree in the forest was stripped from about 6 feet down and the forest floor was barren. There were so many deer that no one could go through the forest without seeing a few hundred. Fawns were in piles dead on the floor because they could not reach the bark that was left.

Without natural predators to limit the population, the number of horses on the range land will be determined by the amount of food available. When their population grows too large for the land to be able to support them, they will begin to starve and possibly migrate and the population will not curve but drop dramatically after a dramatic increase. Then the question becomes "is letting thousands of horses starve because of an uncontrolled population more humane than making hundreds run for miles to be contained in a small space, then set free again, be adopted or simply sent to the slaughter house?"

Yes, overgrazing probably does occur in nature. Even with natural predators, the population of animals is constantly changing. If predators live somewhere with lots of prey, their population will increase until they kill most of the prey, then the predator will start to starve and their population will decrease until the prey comes back and increases again. The problem is that people don't like this constant change. Our society likes consistency because consistency ensures our survival as a species where as change might kill us off. In order to keep the horse population constant, we need to do something to control it. Right now, we've resorted to roundups, but in the future we may be able to come up with another solution.

I believe that we should introduce natural predators into the areas where the wild horses live, then control the population of the predators by hunting. Many people, however, would be against this since shooting predators is generally frowned upon. I think that another way to deal with the problem is to find the areas where the horses generally graze during a specific time. Then, build multiple roundup corrals close to (but not right next to) the areas the horses graze on. That way, the horses don't have to run as far and there aren't so many in one corral. This solution will cost a lot of money which would raise taxes and increase our country's current deficit. These are just my ideas based on my experience (which isn't extensive). As time goes on, technology and maybe even public opinion will be able to come up with a better solution, but as for right now, the roundups are the best we can do with what we have.

So, do not blame farmers or ranchers because not only does it have nothing to do with them, but they are also the ones producing the food you eat (unless you buy everything you eat from China, Mexico, or some other foreign country). While "leaving it to nature" is one solution, consider ALL of the consequences. There are pros and cons to every solution and we as a society simply need to decided which cons we are willing to deal with.

No Dog is for Free

2010-02-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

It seems that people do not understand that adopting a dog is in no way like buying a fish. People do not realize that getting a fish is not like having a pet rock or a neopet or some stuffed animal. Dogs require a considerable commitment as do other pets. There is a cost that comes with owning a dog and it is the people's responsibility to know and understand that cost. A dog costs money, time, patience, and attention. No dog is for free.

I live in a college dorm far away from my parents. I went to stay with my parents over the President's Day weekend and I came back to find that a friend of mine (who does not live in the dormitories) got a golden retriever puppy over the weekend. My initial reaction was the same as most people's. "Really? That's wonderful! Can I see it?" As the seconds went by, however, the reality of the situation began to set in.

I realized that my friend was living in an apartment that did not allow pets. Also, I remembered her complaining to me just a few weeks ago that she hardly had enough money to pay the rent and buy food. I also happen to know that she and all three of her roommates have classes in the mornings, do homework in the afternoons, and go out with friends at night. Then she told me that it was her roommates who had gotten the dog when they saw that a family was giving away free golden retriever puppies in the front of Walmart. After considering all of those factors, I realized how stupid she and her roommates are.

If a place does not allow pets, then there should be no pets. Having pets in an apartment that does not allow pets is not acceptable and can even be against the law if the contract signed by the renter clearly states that pets are not allowed. Even if the contract did not make such a statement, the landlord still owns the apartment and may raise the rent payment, give an eviction notice, or use some other form of punishment. Remember, the landlord controls wether or not you have a roof over your head, so it's best to follow the rules.

Dogs cost money, not make money. They are like children except that they do not take care of the parents when the parents get old. Dogs require quality food. The cheapest brand in the store probably does not have the amount of nutrients a dog requires. The saying, "you get what you pay for," does not apply to every product, however, it usually does apply to dog food. Dogs also require annual check-ups and shots which can cost anywhere from $60 to $500 a year depending on the location and the veterinarian. Food bowls, a collar, a leash, and a crate are also expenses which need to be taken into account. Don't forget that some dogs may have medical problems and may require extra vet visits as well as medication.

Dogs, and especially puppies, require time and attention. Puppies need to be house trained and taught basic commands such as "sit" and especially "come," not to mention that they need to be taught their name. All of this training requires time. Training sessions for puppies should only last about 2-5 minutes but should be repeated throughout the day. Puppies also have small bladders and need to be taken out to go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours. A good rule to follow is that however many months old the puppy is, is how long it can hold before it has to go. Since most puppies are given to families at 8 weeks (2 months), it will need to go out ever 2 hours. At 3 months old, it will need to go out every 3 hours and so on. This means that someone has to be home every 2 hours in order to take the puppy out.

Thousands of animals die every year in animal shelters who do not have enough room for the amount of animals that come in. In an effort to reduce the amount of stray and unwanted animals, animal shelters, vets, and other animal lovers have been trying to convince the public to spay and neuter their pets. Not everyone does this and many people become "backyard breeders." Backyard breeding is irresponsible and only creates more unwanted pets. Becoming a professional breeder is possible and requires research and experience. Backyard breeders breed their dogs for the wrong reasons, these reasons being money, to allow their children to experience the miracle of birth, or because every dog should be allowed to breed. The only reason why anyone should breed a dog is for the betterment of the species. Only healthy and well tempered dogs should be bred and many backyard breeders do not take this into account. Many dog diseases, such as hip dysplasia, are genetic and can be passed from parents to pups even if the parents do not have the disease. This is because the parents may be carriers of the gene, but not actually have the disease. There are plenty of unwanted puppies and dogs in animal shelters as well as many professional breeders who breed healthy, purebred or mixed breed dogs. There is no need to breed pets because there are already plenty. The puppies found for free in the front of a Walmart are most likely (if not definitely) from a backyard breeder. The parents may be carriers or even have certain diseases and the puppies will most likely have more health problems in the future. Even mixed breed dogs are only healthy when bred responsibly.

Dogs are not stuffed animals. They are living breathing beings that require money, time, attention and owner responsibility. Bringing a dog into the family should be like adopting a child. I'm not saying to treat dogs like humans in all respects of life, because dogs are not humans and treating a dog like a human can create serious problems in the dog's life. But we should be more responsible and smart when it comes to adopting a dog. I am sad to say that my friend and her roommates will have to get rid of the dog because they suddenly realized that they couldn't take care of it (and the landlord found out). I almost cried when I heard one say that they would sell it so they could make money off of it. Anyone who has that mentality should not be allowed to own pets. Animals depend on us to be responsible and treat them well and with respect, not like a stuffed animal. People need to wake up and realize that no dog is for free.

Animal Shelters

2010-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Why is it that Animal Shelters are never open? It's almost like they don't want you to come and adopt an animal.

I went to my local animal shelter on a Saturday. I had looked on their website prior to leaving and their website said that they were open on Saturday for two hours. When I arrived, however, there was a sign on the door stating that "Due to staff shortage, we are closed on Saturdays." My first thought was, "Why didn't they say so on their website," and my second thought was, "Can I fill in their staff shortage?"

Then that got me thinking. Exactly how much does the animal shelter make every month? They might have a staff shortage due to the fact that they don't have the money to pay more people. That might also explain why they are always closed.

The second closest animal shelter to where I live never has staff at the shelter unless you make an appointment to go and adopt. You call an animal control officer's personal phone to make an appointment because the shelter doesn't have it's own line and in order to volunteer, you have to call this officer as well.

Is it like this all over the U.S. or is it just where I live? I think that shelters should be open more often and especially on a Saturday. Say there's a family that is thinking about adopting a dog. The father works every weekday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the shelter is open every weekday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. When is the father supposed to take the rest of the family to the shelter to adopt? Or is the wife just going to go and hope that the father is okay with whatever she brings home? What about people who want to volunteer? It's much easier to go to the shelter, fill out the forms, then start volunteering instead of having to call, setup a time, and then fill out the forms and start volunteering. Besides, I'm a student who is busy with classes and homework every weekday and then bored out of my mind every Saturday.

Anyways, it's a real shame that neither of the shelters closest to me accept volunteer help when I have time to help, so it looks like the 40 hours of volunteer work at an animal shelter is going to be a lot tougher than I had originally planned.

An E-Mail to My Younger Sibling

2010-01-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Joseph,

I was on my way to class today and this freaky guy started following me. He had on this big, black trench coat that looked like a Harry Potter robe and he had red eyes. Anyways, so in order to get to class I had to go through a bunch of trees. As soon as I was in the tress there was this flash of white light and the next thing I knew, I was in this white room with a bunch of little green people. Then I guess I passed out because I don't remember anything that happened after that. I woke up lying on my back in the grass. When I looked at my watch I realized I had completely missed my English class, so I got up to head back to the dorm. Well I turned on my stomach and pushed myself up and there, standing in front of me was the creepy guy with the red eyes. I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing just standing there but he disappeared. It was really weird.

Well, after I got back to the dorm, the Public Safety Office texted everyone in the school saying that an avalanche had blocked the canyon. Some people got stuck underneath the snow, so they asked for volunteers to help dig people out. Me and my roommates decided to go help since we were all done with classes. So, we drove up the canyon and there was this huge pile of snow right right in the middle of the road and there were policemen, ambulances and fire trucks. Oh, and there was this guy with 4 St. Bernards. So there we were digging in the snow trying to get people out when there was this huge earthquake. I looked on the news, it was an 8.7. Well, the earthquake caused another avalanche on both sides of where we were. So basically, I just spent like 4 hours outside waiting for the emergency people to clear the road so we could get out. It sucked. Moral of the story: don't volunteer.

So that's what happened today.

Love,

Jade

Brigadeiro

2010-01-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian dessert. It is commonly made for special occasions such as birthdays and holidays and is one of my favorite desserts.

Materials needed:

1 can of condensed milk

1 and 1/2 spoons of cocoa powder (preferably Nestle)

Directions for Microwave Oven

Grease a large glass bowl. Pour condensed milk and cocoa powder in the bowl and mix the two ingredients together with a spatula. Put in the microwave for 2 minutes, then stir. Continue putting the mixture into the microwave at 1 minute intervals until it becomes thick. It should take a total of 6 to 8 minutes in the microwave. When it is done, you should be able to scrape the bottom of the bowl with the spatula and see the bottom of the bowl for at least 3 seconds.

Directions for Stove

Grease a small pot (you should use about 1 tsp. of butter). Pour condensed milk and cocoa powder into the pot and place over stove at high heat. Stir frequently. When the mixture boils and you can see the bottom of the pan for at least 3 seconds, it is done.

Eating

Let cool for 30 min. to 1 hour. It is traditional to roll the brigadeiro into small balls and dip in sprinkles, however, you may simply eat it out of the bowl. Also, if you only cook it for a small amount of time, it may also be used as a ganache for cakes.

To roll the brigadeiro, get a cereal bowl and pour small chocolate sprinkles into it. The thinner the sprinkles the better. Then, grease your hands and grab a small spoon. With the spoon, take a small amount of brigadeiro and roll it in your hands. The balls can be as big or as small as you want. I normally make mine the size of a hazelnut, but I've seen some the size of a large walnut. When you are finished rolling, drop the ball into the bowl of sprinkles and use a fork to move the ball around. DO NOT push or stab the ball, just use the fork to roll it around to get the sprinkles everywhere. Then, take the ball from the bowl and place it on a plate. Repeat the process until all of the brigadeiro is rolled.

A New Year

2010-01-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Looking back, 2009 didn't exactly go the way I planned, but then again, does anything ever go as planned? How many things really go the way I expected them too? Not many.

I am sorry to say that I lost NaNoWriMo. I only got to 8,000 words which is no where near the 50,000 word goal. Grades became a little more important than writing a novel, however I didn't get very good grades either. I finished the semester with a 3.36 GPA, which wasn't enough to keep my scholarship. Guess I'll just have to do better this semester.

Now fof my new year's resolution. Hmm . . . I've never made a new year's resolution before. How about . . .

1. Volunteer at the local animal shelter for at least 40 hours

2. Loose 10 pounds

3. Get a 3.95 GPA

4. Save $2,500 over the summer

That looks like a good list. Alright, now for the game plan.

The animal shelter is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, but is open on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on Tuesdays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays are obviously out, since I have class in the mornings, but Tuesdays to Fridays are good. I'm a volunteer not a worker so it shouldn't matter when I come. If I volunteer for two hours whenever I go, then that should be 20 days until I reach my goal. There are 15 Wednesdays left in the semester, so if I volunteer every Wednesday, I'll be almost finished before summer break starts. The Animal Shelter at home is open on Saturdays, so I'll only need to volunteer for 5 Saturdays to finish that goal.

Umm . . . loose 10 pounds . . . I'll come back to that later.

To get a 3.95 GPA, I can only get one A- which is easier said than done. How about I just do all of my homework within 2 days of receiving the assignment and use 3X5 cards and roommates to help me study. That should do it . . . maybe.

$2,500 over the summer should be easy. My father hires me every summer for $7 an hour which is $1232 a month. In three months, the total would be $3696. Minus taxes and my own expenses should be a little over $2,500. Just to make sure, I'll make a budget sheet. In order to reach my goal, I have to save $834 each month, so I'll take that amount out second (10% of my income goes to my church and I take that out first) just to make sure I reach my goal.

Now it's only a matter of doing things. I'll keep you updated on how everything is going. and we'll see what happens on this adventure called 2010.

New Technology: Video

2009-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have just discovered a new research medium: video. Before, I always thought that books, newspaper articles, and web articles were the only form of research but now I fully appreciate video.

The problem with research for my novel for National Novel Writing Month is that my novel takes place in the stone age. We have a very limited amount of information about the stone age, so it is difficult to find out what life was like back then. Most of the books and articles about this time period are academic and written by scientists who use long latin words that I don't completely understand.

One day, I had this idea to search "neolithic" (the specific cultural time period in which my novel takes place) on youtube.com. What I got was amazing results. Sure, most of the videos that came up were useless, but some were very helpful. I was thoroughly impressed by the results I got and learned more about the time period from three videos than I did from twenty scholarly articles.

2016 Olympic Election

2009-10-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

I don’t think that President Obama should have gone to Copenhagen. I think that he has many other more important things to be doing than to try to promote Chicago. I realize that having the Olympics in the United States would boost our economy, and that if Obama had not gone, than people might blame the President for the loss. However, never before has a president gone to the election of the Host City for the Olympic Games, so I don’t think it would have made much of a difference if he had not gone.

I like International Olympic Committee’s decision to have Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, be the Host City. I admire the IOC president for supporting South American countries being the Host City. A South American country has never hosted the Olympic Games, and I believe that having more countries in the southern hemisphere host the Olympics would make the Olympics more of a “global” event.

Anticipation

2009-10-01T18:51:00.003-07:00

AHHHHHHHHH! I can't do it! I just can't! Waiting is way too hard. What am I supposed to do? I can't do homework, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't do ANYTHING! If the NaNoWriMo website isn't up in a few minutes, I might die!

I can't wait for all of the excitement of brand new forum threads. People who's souls have been devoured (just like me) will immediately post at least three dozen new posts and then after five hours we'll all take a breather and start gathering notes and putting together character sketches to get ready for the big event. I keep checking the site every two seconds and I'm always disappointed.

The Jewel of Childhood

2009-09-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have always had a terrible memory. It is something I have just had to learn to deal with. While many people can remember their phone number or address from an old house, I can’t remember anything about either. I believe that it is important to remember childhood, to remember the way you once saw the world. Remembering how I once was helps me see how much I have progressed. Objects, such as pieces of paper or rocks, have helped me remember events that have happened in my life, and while I don’t remember much about my childhood, I do remember almost every event that took place involving a small necklace.

One time when I was in second grade, my mom took me shopping with her. I don’t remember much, but I do remember that in one of the stores I saw a beautiful silver necklace. The lustrous charm was in the shape of a turtle, and the turtle had an oval, red, plastic jewel on it’s shell. Because the turtle was hollow, it was possible to see through the little jewel. I never did like flashy or large jewelry, but since the turtle charm was only the size of a thumbtack, I found myself drawn to it. I was elated when my mother bought it for me, and I walked out of the store wearing it.

When I went to school the next day, I showed the necklace to my best friend, Alisha. Every day at recess, Alisha and I would run around the soccer field and play make-believe. We pretended that we lived in a magical place called Rainbowland, and almost everything we talked about was regarding the war between good and evil that was constantly going on in that magical place. No matter how many times we beat the bad guys, more kept appearing. To help us battle the forces of evil, needed weapons and gadgets, and in Rainbowland, normal things would take on magical properties. For example, pencils became wands and seagulls became dragons. When I showed Alisha the necklace, she immediately came up with its Rainbowland counterpart.

“The ruby can tell us if someone is good or bad,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When you look at someone through the necklace,” she said as she placed the little turtle in front of her eye, “if they look red then that means they’re bad, and if they look white, then that means they’re good.” It was silent for a second as she looked at me through the necklace. “Good,” she said at last, “you’re white, so you’re not a traitor.”

“Of course I’m not a traitor! Now let me try!” I took back my necklace and looked through it. I looked at a boy I didn’t like. He was definitely red. Next, I looked at a girl I didn’t know. I didn’t want her to be red; she looked like a pleasant person to be around. So I looked at her from a different angle and sure enough, she looked white. I smiled, believing that the necklace was working. Finally, I looked at Alisha. I knew that she couldn’t be red, so I twisted the jewel until the light bounced through the thinner outer edge of the jewel where there was less red coloring.

“Good,” I told her when I was satisfied with her whiteness, “you’re not a traitor either.”

“Let me try again!” Alisha exclaimed. I gave the necklace back to her, and we spent the rest of the day looking through the red plastic jewel.

Two years passed and my family moved away. We moved from Orem to Lindon, and even though the two cities are right next to each other, I was still unable to attend the same elementary school. I was devastated to suddenly lose all of my friends, and I didn’t think I could ever make new ones. When it came to making friends, it was Alisha who would make new friends first, and then introduce me to them, but I never introduced new friends to Alisha.

I remember the last day of school that year. I was in tears, and I had collected things which were important to me at the time, and had given them to my friends. I don’t think any of my friends kept what I gave them that day. I gave one friend an American Airlines pin I had received on a field trip, and I gave my best friend Alisha a rock with the word “pray” on it that I had received from Sunday School. The things I gave my friends were just pieces of junk, but those pieces of junk helped me remember things that had happened, and I hoped that they would help my friends remember me.

School began again and I was very uneasy with the unfamiliarity of my new home and school. My discomfort began to show in my grades, and I was being sent to a counselor who was supposed to help me, but all she did was make me feel worse. For my entire first year at my new school, I carried around my turtle necklace. I never wore it, I just carried it in my pocket. To me, it was too special, too sacred, to wear around my neck for everyone to see, so I kept it hidden. It reminded me of Alisha, all of my old friends and of all the adventures we had.

I began to forget my old school in the fifth grade. New friends, grades, and books were becoming increasingly important; there wasn’t time to keep thinking about people I would never see again. I don’t remember exactly when, but there came a time when I stopped carrying the necklace around. It was around this time that I had officially recovered from my bout of gloom.

Years afterward, I graduated from high school. Suddenly, everything changed again. My close friends became long distance friends as I moved to college, and I was once more forced to find a new group of people to belong to. As I looked through my things, deciding what to take, what to leave, and what to give away, I came upon the long forgotten, but cherished, turtle charm. The turtle is worn, dirty, and old now, and the chain no longer matches since it aged differently.

It is amazing that I still remember so much about that necklace. I had at one point lost the chain. I had lent it to my sister, who never gave it back to me. When I found the turtle charm again, I immediately inquired my sister about the chain. She told me she didn’t even remember taking it, but that I could take one of her chains if I wanted to. I looked through at least thirty necklace chains before I found the right one. Somehow, after all of those years, I remembered what the chain looked and felt like.

When my mother saw that I was taking the turtle necklace, she almost disowned me. There are very few things that my mother has kept for over 6 years, and the things she has kept are sitting in a small box in the garage where it’s very hard to reach. My mother hates keeping junk and she tries to teach me to not keep junk by scorning me whenever I keep anything old, dirty, and useless.

“You’re taking this?” she asked while picking up the necklace.

“Yeah.” I replied casually.

“Why?”

“Because I like it.”

“But it’s old and gross.”

“But it has sentimental value.” She gave me a disgusted look, but eventually gave the necklace back to me, and I placed it into my suitcase.

I remember sitting down on the floor of my bedroom in Lindon, caressing the old necklace. I remember realizing how wonderful it was to be a child. Back then, my knowledge of the world was limited and I couldn’t see life as being complicated because it wasn’t. I am a lot bigger now, and I can no longer see very well through the little plastic jewel because my eyes are too big. However, if I bring it close enough, I can still see the world as I once saw it, in red and white.

NaNoWriMo's COMING!

2009-09-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

So I was drinking some Naked Juice this afternoon and I just so happened to notice the expiration date was Nov 25 09. Once I saw this I completely lost it. "It can't be that close already! The NaNoWriMo website hasn't even been reset yet!" I had to turn on my computer and make sure that it was still September. That Naked Juice lasts FOREVER!

Detail Experiment

2009-09-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

My hometown is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. During the summer, the sun's heat kills just about every blade of grass. Even the pine trees start to turn brown for lack of water and exposure to too much sun. Fires start up every once in a while, making the mountains glow. Children run around their backyards or their friends' backyard and play in the sprinklers. On Saturdays, a father might gather up his family and weed the garden. Families hold barbecues and the juicy, tender meat can be smelled for miles around.

As fall approaches, the wind starts to blow, breaking fruit trees that can no longer hold their burdens. When fall does arrive, entire families will spend days gathering fruits and vegetables from their gardens. Then, they will spend even longer canning whatever they gathered. Soon, one tree will start turning yellow, and then another, and another. The mountains turn red and orange. A few stubborn maple trees decide to stay green even when it starts snowing. Black bags with leaves bursting through the tied tops line the streets, or are stacked into trucks.

When winter comes, the sky is gray, blending with the mountains so the the two are almost indistinguishable. Everything is white except for an occasional colorful house or evergreen branch. The tree branches sag under the weight of the snow. Snowmen stand in front of houses like British soldiers guarding the Buckingham Palace.

Then spring melts all of the snow and the trees look much happier because of it. Rotting snowmen noses are picked up by unwilling moms and small buds appear on the trees. The grass starts to turn a light shade of green. The long wild grass is blown gently by the wind and, from a distance, it looks as though a light green mist is traveling across the mountain side. Flowers bloom, making the city colorful.

There comes a point in between spring and summer when there is the perfect combination of rain and sun to make the trees and the grass as green as a tropical forest. This period lasts about 1-3 weeks. Though all of the seasons are wonderful, this 1-3 week period of tropical greenness is what I live for.

Interesting Idea

2009-09-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

When Karen, my roommate, was young there was a small tree in her backyard. One day, she had this idea to grab a plastic spoon and start digging in the dirt. After sometime, her spoon hit something. She dug it up and found that it was a wooden plaque with the scripture Psalms 27:1 painted on it. The scripture became Karen's motto, and even after several years, her family still has it.

Wouldn't it be interesting to write a story about how the plaque got there?

One Step Closer to Health Care Reform

2009-09-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

Health care reform is one of the major issues today in the United States. It is no wonder that President Obama is trying to come up with a solution to the problem. While Obama’s health care plan has been met with a lot of opposition, I do not completely oppose the President’s plan. I realize that there are still quite a few problems with the bill, and I believe that there are better ways to solve the problem, but I still believe that the President has some good ideas.

One of the first things that I have heard people say about the President’s plan is that it will take away our freedom. People say that the bill will take away our freedom to choose what benefits are in our plan. However, the list of benefits that will be required are benefits that I believe every American should have. They are the basics, like basic car insurance. To me, requiring certain benefits to be in every plan is not restricting or taking away my freedom, it is simply guaranteeing that I will receive basic health care no mater which plan I get.

I believe that insurance companies are being greedy and irresponsible when it comes to providing their customers with insurance. I like how Obama plans to hold insurance companies responsible for being dishonest. Not allowing insurance companies to drop or water down a coverage when someone gets sick is a good idea and I believe that it should have been made law many years ago. I have a friend whose insurance was dropped when she needed it the most. Unfortunately, she is now facing a mountain of medical bills and she cannot pay it off. I had another friend whose insurance company denied her coverage because they believed that her claim was false even after they were presented with solid evidence that it was a valid claim. I believe that insurance companies are being irresponsible and that there should be a law preventing them from doing so.

One problem that I have with the bill is the fact that it is going to cost money upfront. Obama says that he is going to pay for the bill with the savings he is going to find in the country’s budget. I want Obama to spend the savings he finds in the budget on paying off our debt. Our country is in serious debt, and the time to pay it off was years ago. While Obama says that he will be able to find enough money to pay for the bill and decrease our deficit, I remain skeptical as to whether or not he will in fact find that much money.

While there are still many problems with the bill proposed by President Obama, I believe that there are many good ideas in it. Being a Republican, I do believe that Obama should focus more on market reform in order to make insurance more affordable, but I think that we can develop a bill that will satisfy to some extent both parties.

Quotes

2009-09-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

"I'm board. What should I do?"

"I don't know. Read a book, eat a pizza, kiss a girl, do something!"

-My younger sister

After a near death experience...

"That was intense."

"Yeah. Do you know what else is intense? My cat just gave birth!"

"How do you know?"

"Pet-owner telepathy."

-I came up with this one

Irresponsible Parenting

2009-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Here is an essay that I wrote about parents allowing their children to drink in front of them.

It was in response to three articles I had read. The links to the articles are included at the bottom of the essay.

While reading the article, I was amazed at how many parents allow their children to drink under aged. The fact that many teenagers drink in front of their parents astounded me. Personally, I think that it is irresponsible to allow children to drink under aged.

Allowing children to drink before they are twenty one gives children the idea that laws are not important. The law states that you must be twenty one to drink because people who wait until they’re twenty one are more likely to drink responsibly.

I know a woman who believes that underage drinking is seen as the ultimate rebellion against parents. Because of this, she would rather have her children drink in front of her where she can see what they’re doing than have them sneak drinks behind her back where they may get hurt. While this logic makes sense, I still don’t believe that parents should allow their children to drink at all. They need to make sure that their children understand that drinking is unacceptable until they have turned twenty one.

Teenage drinking is not inevitable. My friends and I never drank alcohol in high school, and we never even thought about it. I realize that in Utah, most people are LDS and most LDS people do not drink, but just because we are LDS doesn’t make it an excuse for everyone else. It is still possible for teenagers not to drink.

The problem in today’s society is that parents tell their children not to drink when they drink themselves. In prehistoric times, our ancient ancestors couldn’t speak with words, but they would speak with actions. Parents would teach children by example. Even today, small babies watch their parents and do what they do. Our brains do not learn from our parents telling us what to do. Our brains see what our parents do and then copy it. If parents are drinking, and if parents have been drinking since they were teenagers, than the children see it, and copy it. If parents want to teach their children to be something, they must first be that something themselves. The best way to teach is by example.

Another thing that parents need to do is create an environment where children will not drink. Parents need to be involved in their teenagers’ lives and know who their children’s friends are. If a child has a group of friends who drink, then the child will most likely drink as well. Parents can direct who their children hang out with by placing them in sports or other activities that interest their children. People who do sports are more into health and know the dangers of drinking. If you keep your children busy, then they will not have time to be doing other things. The trick, however, is to keep children busy when their young, to find their interests when they are not yet teenagers. This way, when they are teenagers, being busy will not be new to them; it will be a way of life that they are used to.

I believe that it is irresponsible to allow your children to drink in front of you and that if you drink you need to kick the habit, because your children will see you drinking and do the same. Parents’ drinking is what makes underage drinking inevitable.

SocialHost.org

azcentral.com

greatfallstribune.com

Choosing Civility Response

2009-09-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

Civility is something that many of people in this world need to learn more about. Choosing Civility by P. M. Forni successfully helped me learn more about civility. There are many things which I enjoyed about the book, such as how the author compared Italy and the United States, how well the author conveyed his ideas, and how the message in the book could benefit everyone and not just a specific audience. However, there were some things which I did not enjoy about the book. After I read, I consciously made a decision to practice civility and I have noticed other peoples’ acts of civility in my life.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this book is because Forni would compare Italy to the United States. One example is when he said that people in the United States would wave or nod to people as they passed, while in Italy, people wouldn’t even acknowledge each other. Another example is when the author stated that in Italy, it took years for people to refer to each other informally, while in the United States, people who didn’t even know one another refer to each other by their first names. This is significant because it helped me get a more global perspective on the idea of civility.

Another reason why I enjoyed this book is because the author did an excellent job at conveying his ideas. Many of these ideas were abstract to me, and I did not have a very clear idea about what was civil, and what was not. Choosing Civility helped me to turn those abstract ideas into concrete ideas. Now, I have a better understanding of what it is to be civil so that when I have to make a decision on what would be the most civil thing to do, I know that I will make the right choice.

Finally, I enjoyed this book because the ideas discussed are universal. Everyone, even people in Russia, can benefit from reading this book. The concepts presented in Choosing Civility are the basics for being civil in any society and in any setting. Many people can learn how to improve themselves by reading this book.

While there are many reasons why I enjoyed this book, there are also some things that I did not like about it. One reason that I didn’t like the book was because many of the ideas Forni discussed were obvious. I already knew many of the points of civility which were addressed in Choosing Civility. Whenever I began a chapter which I believed I already knew about, I would simply skim it because I believed there wasn’t any new any information for me. I realize that I probably missed some good information because of this.

Also, the book wasn’t exactly a page turner. Many times I fell asleep while trying to read it, even in the daytime. I skimmed some parts simply because I could not stay awake while I read. Because the book failed to keep me interested, I would stop reading it for long periods of time, which meant that it took a long period of time for me to finish the book. Before I wrote this paper, I had to skim through the book again because I had forgotten some of the content, even though I had taken notes.

After reading the book, I felt compelled to do something about what I had just learned. I began to practice some of the rules which Forni spoke about in his book. I even wrote down all twenty-five rules of considerate conduct and picked a few to work on. I am currently working on thinking the best about people. I have also made it a goal of mine to recognize civility when I see it.

Recently, a friend of mine went through a crisis. When she told her roommate about what she was going through, her roommate exhibited civility by listening patiently, and then taking the necessary steps to solve the problem. Her roommate then contacted my roommate and I, and all three of us worked toward a solution. The adults who were helping showed civility by being very good listeners. The problem has now been solved, and it is partially because of the considerate conduct of all of the people who were helping my friend.

Overall, I enjoyed this book because of Forni’s comparisons, his talent in conveying his ideas, and the all-inclusive ideas. However, because of the self-evident quality of the ideas and the dullness of the writing, I did not enjoy it as well as some others. The book did compel me to change some of my habits, and by changing my habits it has changed my life. Choosing Civility is only one of the many books on civility, but I believe that it was well worth my time to read it.

THEY'RE HERE!!

2009-08-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

The 2009 NaNoWriMo Web Badges are finally here! Hmm... which one is the prettiest?

The Namun Dialogues

2009-08-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of the Namun (NAW-mun) Dialogues. Just to give you some backstory, I've been working on my 09 NaNo novel for a very long time now, but there is one character, an elfin prince named Selvage (sell-VAU-szh), who won't tell me anything about himself or what he's up to. So, I went to his father, King Namun, to see if I could find anything out about his son. The result: The Namun Dialogues!

_____________________________________________

The elf king sat down in the chair placed for him. It was of a curious workmanship, the likes of which he had never seen before. In front of him, there was what looked to be like a large wooden box. On top of this box were strange thin sheets of some flimsy white material, a small pot about the size of an acorn, a feather, and two wooden sticks with dark grey points and what looked like gold holding some sort of pink material at the end. The king wondered if the grey points on the wooden sticks were some sort of stone, and if the Ryter would use the sticks for torture. Behind the box was a beautifully decorated chair. Unlike the chair he currently occupied, the chair behind the box had armrests and was cushioned. It reminded him of his throne back in his kingdom.

A door opened behind the throne-like chair, and the Ryter walked inside. She was taller than he was, and she had olive skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Some invisible force pulled the chair back and then pushed it forward as she sat down.

"Hello, Mr. Elf King," she said somewhat jokingly.

"Hello," the king said back.

"Do you want to tell me your name, or shall I just call you 'Mr. Elf King' the whole time?"

"My name is Namun."

"Good. King Namun, can you tell me about the Wolf Stone legends?"

"The Wolf Stone legends?" He twiddled his thumbs nervously. "Well, the legends say that the Wolf Stone is capable of performing any spell magic can do."

"Any spell magic can do?"

"Yes," he said rather surprised. "Magic can't do everything. You, of all people, should know that."

"Excuse me, Namun, but I believe that I am the one who wrote the laws of magic, which is why it amuses me to hear you say 'anything magic can do' and 'magic can't do everything' when I know for a fact that it can. You just don't know how to use it. Please, continue, you were telling me about the Wolf Stone legends." Namun began to sweat. He had insulted the Ryter and in return she had insulted him by not say "king" before saying his name. Or was that an insult? Since she was, in fact, his Creator, she didn't have to pay him any respect. So was she trying to insult him or not? "Namun," she said, snapping his train of thought in half, "how about you tell me about your son instead, since you seem so reluctant to tell me about the Wolf Stone."

"Why do you want to know about my son?" He said it more defensively than he had wanted.

"Because I have a special job for him. Now, why do you never answer my questions?" Namun gulped.

"My son doesn't fear you. He thinks that he can out smart you, that he can do something to foil your plans. It's what he wants. He wants to beat Providence, to play god."

"And he thinks the Wolf Stone can help him?"

"I suppose he thinks it might. But he wants the Stone to help us win the war, not to fulfill his own selfish desires."

"Hmm..." The Ryter thought for a moment. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Italian Inspiration

2009-08-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Colosseum

Senatus Populusque Romanus

An old map from the Musei Vaticani

Flowers from a bush by the Spanish Steps

A view from the airplane

My Favorite Poems

2009-08-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody too?

Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

-Emily Dickinson

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

If the track is tough and the hill is rough

THINKING you can just ain't enough.

-Shel Silverstein

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:

For those whom thou thinkest thou doest overthrow

Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me.

From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be,

Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow

And soonest our best men with thee do go-

Rest of their bones and souls' delivery!

Thour't slave of fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!

-John Donne

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

-William Blake

Ugh

2009-05-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Guess I really suck at this blogging thing. Here's an excerpt from the novel I started writing today.

"Kirchak stared. The person (for whatever it was could not be a man) that stood in front of him stared back and started speaking some gibberish. It had light blond hair and silver eyes, two things Kirchak had never seen before. The thing had short hair, and judging by the weapons it held, Kirchak guessed it was male, but he could not be sure.

"Who are you?" Kirchak asked, but the he-thing just stared and started speaking more gibberish. How strange, Kirchak thought, he doesn't speak the Language of the Hills."

I know it sucks, but I wrote it in two maybe three seconds (and no, I did not edit it).

Exciting Anouncement

2009-04-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

Dang! I really messed up my own challenge didn't I? No cake and ice cream for me! Oh well, maybe next year. Anyways, finals are coming up real soon. I can't wait until they're over! But enough of my boring life and on to what I came here to tell you.

I HAVE A STORY FOR MY NEXT NOVEL! It'll be the second novel I've ever written and hopefully the first one I get published. It is going to be amazing! I've already started doing research on it, and I'm almost done. Then, I just have to get an outline and start writing! I've already started on the outline. I'm using a "Living Outline." It's an idea I got from NaNoWriMo. What you do is you get a poster board (I'm just using my wall), write the events you want in your novel on the stickies, and place them in the right order. So far, I only have four stickies, a beginning, ~~a call to~~ ^beginning action, a middle, and half an ending. It's not much, but it's getting there. I'll let you know when I have an almost complete outline.

The City of Regards (NPMC)

2009-04-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

Cont...

Settlers came with some paper
So the Queen could make her
Brand-new settlement known
To her very own
people.

Now good Trepards wrote
The name of his town
On a little, sturdy note,
And sent it to the renown
Queen.

But something went wrong
For as people came along
They called the town "Regards"
Instead of "Trepards"

So the chief of the expedition
Went to petition
His queen about why
The name was awry

He looked in dispair
At the paper which the air
And the sea had changed
And his writing, deranged.

The "T", he couldn't see
the "P" looked like a "G".
So what should be "Trepards"
Is now officially"Regards"
forever.

THE END

The City of Regards (NPMC)

2009-04-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Cont...

The road was rough
And the going was tough
But Trepards pressed on
Until he had gone
far.

He reached the top of a hill
and stayed there until
he came up with a name
for that very same
hill.

"I shall call it Trepards"
That boy from old smith Bernard's
house, yelled with great jubilee.
Then, as he knelt on his knee,
prayed.

Then he thanked his Ryter
As well as he could
For his path being brighter
And his journey being good.
But...

To be continued...

The City of Regards (NPMC)

2009-04-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Years ago, in a land far away,
A man named Trepards
Could no longer stay
At old smith Bernard's
house.

So he packed up his bags
And he worked really hard
So he could carry the flags
With the strong young guard's
group.

Many years thereafter
He shouted with laughter
As he became chief
of the Queen's supposably "brief"
expedition.

To be continued...

Arrow (National Poetry Month Challenge)

2009-04-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Oh marvelous shape that has been used
by warriors to fight for right and good.
A favorite of elves and Cupid.
How thou hast been degraded to
merely point towards a goal.
Perhaps it's not so bad
after all.

2009-04-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Bannana Plantation, Brazil

Southern Brazilian Jungle (Parana)
Sunset in Curitiba, Brazil
The Botanic Gardens, Curitiba, Brazil

A Catholic Church, Curitiba, Brazil

The Moon (NPMC)

2009-04-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Mother-like as she stays
Overlooking us from
Outer space at
Night time

The Fall of Rome: A History, a Warning, and a Guess

2009-04-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to one of my essays. It is 8 pages long without the works cited. It talks about why Rome fell, some similarities between Rome and the United States, and possible future world powers. I used it for college English and got 94% (A, A- depending on the grade scale). PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. The works cited is included, so you can go to the original source that I used.

The Fall of Rome: a History, a Warning, and a Guess

Home (National Poetry Month Challenge)

2009-04-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Happiness
Overlooking
Mountains
Eternally

English Homework (National Poetry Month Challenge)

2009-04-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

In a Utopia
People would
complete their homework
in Wilde Ernest
to get
Moore sleep.

John VI of Portugal (snapshot of a stageplay)

2009-04-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

The year is 1807. Napoleon has been terrorizing Europe for a while now. He is heading toward the Spanish boarder. Pedro is the heir to the throne of Portugal, John VI is his father, and Charlotte of Spain is his mother. The Duke of Porto is, short, fat and devoted to the king. José Bonifácio is a Brazilian statesman and scientist who is studying in Europe for the time being. The scene is out in a courtyard in Portugal. Two stone benches are placed on both sides of the stage. Trees cover the stone wall in the back.
(Enter Tutor and Pedro)
TUTOR. Well, Pedro, have you been studying your English?

PEDRO. Yes, sir.

TUTOR. Good, what about your Portuguese?

PEDRO. Yes, sir. But I don’t understand why I have to study a language that I already speak.

TUTOR. Because you do not yet speak like a king.

PEDRO. But I am not king yet.

TUTOR. But you will be one day, thus you must study Portuguese. Do you understand?

PEDRO. Yes, sir.

TUTOR. Good, now lets go practice your numbers.

PEDRO. But, sir, I don’t want to study. I want to go play.

TUTOR. Kings don’t play. Now come.
(Exit Tutor)

PEDRO. (to the air) All of this studying just because I am supposed to be King of Portugal one day. Who ever said I wanted to be king?

TUTOR. (from off stage) Come, Pedro!
(Exit Pedro)
(Enter John VI and his wife, Charlotte of Spain speaking, as though they have been arguing for a while now)
JOHN VI. But if I flee the country, everyone will think of me as a coward!

CHARLOTTE. But John, think of our son. I do not want our nine year old son to grow up in a warring country. Let us go to Brazil. We will be safe there.

JOHN VI. I have never been one to like battles, but I don’t think I could live with the shame of being a coward and fleeing to Brazil. What will happen when I return? Will the people of Portugal think so kindly of a king who abandoned them?

CHARLOTTE. What will it matter, John, if our family is killed when Napoleon comes? He is at the border right now! If we and our son are killed, John, it won’t matter what the people or anyone in the court thinks because they will all be dead! Napoleon can not be beaten. He has already taken Spain and now he invades our boarders. He will not stop until he has the entire world, John. We can do nothing about it. Come, let us go to Brazil and build our court there. We can raise our son away from the horrors of battle. Is that not better than staying here and fighting this war which we can not win?

JOHN VI. (Pauses. Reluctantly) I suppose we could go to Brazil.

CHARLOTTE. (Triumphantly) That’s exactly right.

JOHN VI. And I believe that at least the British will be on my side. I support them…so they should support me.

CHARLOTTE. Exactly. That is exactly what they should do.

JOHN VI. And I suppose that Brazil would be a good place to raise our son. It will be away from the battle. That is at least one good thing that will come of this. Perhaps, we shall go to Brazil, and organize our court there.

CHARLOTTE. Very good. Now that you have decided, I will go and prepare to leave at once. (Exit Charlotte of Spain)

JOHN VI. (to himself) Yes…yes…at once. (With sorrow and convicting himself) What have I done? (Exit John VI)

(There is a pause for a moment, where no one is speaking. Then the Servant enters running from the same side John VI exited.)

SERVANT. The king is leaving! The king is leaving!

(Enter Duke of Porto from opposite side.)

PORTO. What is this nonsense you are shouting man?

SERVANT. The king is leaving!

PORTO. (Angrily) You must have heard wrong, you fool! The king specifically told me that he did not plan to leave any time soon.

SERVANT. Then he must have changed his mind, sir. He just told me not a second ago that he was leaving…as soon as possible too!

PORTO. That is impossible.

SERVANT. But it is true.

PORTO. No. Not our king. He is not foolish enough to leave when we need him most. Unless…(as though realizing something) his wife. Is he taking the entire family?

SERVANT. Yes, sir, he is.

PORTO. *Caseti. I knew he was too easy to manipulate! (Pauses and thinks) This is not good.

SERVANT. No, sir, it isn’t.

(Enter José Bonifácio )
BONIFÁCIO. What isn’t good?

PORTO. My heavens, man! How much did you hear?

BONIFÁCIO. I heard something about manipulating, and about something not being good.

SERVANT. The king is leaving, sir.

BONIFÁCIO. Leaving? And where on earth is he going?

PORTO. To Brazil.

BONIFÁCIO. My home! I do hope he likes it there. Tell him he must see…(he is interrupted by PORTO.)

PORTO. Fool! He isn’t going there for sightseeing! He is running away! And he is taking the rest of the family with him!

BONIFÁCIO. Ah. I see. (Pauses) He will not be very liked when he returns home.

PORTO. Well, I know that.

BONIFÁCIO. (as though he hadn’t heard) Then I see no reason to be on his side when he does.

PORTO. You would go against the king?
BONIFÁCIO. Of course! Wouldn’t you?

PORTO. (Shocked and horrified) Well… (hesitates) I…maybe.

BONIFÁCIO. Well, its settled then.

PORTO. Now, wait, I didn’t say that I would.

BONIFÁCIO. But you said “maybe.” When the king leaves, his popularity with the rest of the nobles will fall. So, if Napoleon fails to get rid of him, then the rest of the country will. I plan to be on their side when they do. (Porto just stares at Bonifácio, shocked.) Come, now, you mustn’t look so shocked. You are a duke. You should know how to play this game. Its called politics.

*[(cah-SEH-chee) Very mild Portuguese curse word.]

Bibliography
"John VI." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2008. encyclopedia.com. 4 Dec 2008 .
"JOHN VI." The History Channel website. 20084 Dec 2008 .
"Empire of Brazil." Wikipedia. 2008. 4 Dec 2008 .

Voice in Cry the Beloved Country

2009-04-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here is an essay I wrote in English class. I take AP English at a school that always has more people pass than the national average. This essay got 100%. You may use it for study purposes, but DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

In most novels, the voice stays the same throughout the entire book. Even if the book is written in third person, the writer never changes the voice of the piece. However, in Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton changes the voice of the writing to let the reader better understand the book.

Paton uses many different voices in Cry, The Beloved Country. He uses that of a mother caring for her child, and different voices of different speakers speaking about the problems in South Africa. Of course there is also the voice that he uses when telling Kumalo’s story. The different voices that Paton uses are very distinct and separate from each other.

Kumolo does not see or hear everything that the reader sees and hears. The changing voice that Paton uses help the reader understand things even if Kumolo does not understand them. It allows the reader to see what is happening all over South Africa, and not just what is happening where Kumolo is at the time.

Many authors keep the voice of their piece constant. They do not take advantage of writing in third person, for in third person there are no restrictions to stay with the main character. Alan Paton changes the voice in Cry, The Beloved Country to let the reader see and understand the different events within the book.

National Poetry Month

2009-04-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Happy National Poetry Month! Isn't it exciting! A whole month dedicated to the celebration of poetry. And what a better way to celebrate poetry than to write it. I'm setting up a challenge for myself, my friends, and anyone else out there who isn't participating in ScriptFrenzy. The challenge is to write one poem every day in April. It doesn't have to be long, it can be a couplet for all I care, but it has to be poetry. At the end of the month, you'll have 30 poems. Sure, they might be imperfect, but that's okay, you can edit later.

Assorted Pictures of Mine

2009-04-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Couplet of Being

2009-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Nature is my element, music is my soul,
Writing is my heart, darkness is my home.

Home

2009-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

As the day comes to a close, the moon comes to greet me. She shines brightly, with her silvery glow. I write by her light. The mountains are a blackish-gray, standing tall in the moolight, ominous, and hiding themselves in the darkness. A feeling of silence and secrecy presses itself on the world. I hunger for such silence, and secrecy is no stranger to me. I welcome both with open arms, and write.