So I've been sick for the last four days. It's been pretty awful. I had to miss my volleyball team's first tournament on Sunday because of it. Though, I am proud of them because they got second place in the whole tournament (I would like to think that if I was there, we'd have won first).
Being the productive me that I am, I have spent my time wisely by finishing watching season 4 of Doctor Who and moving on to Matt Smith as The Doctor in season 5. While I am extremely sad that David Tennant has gone, Matt Smith is pretty good. He has good hair, and I like his outfit, and he has extremely long fingers, so I think it'll all work out. Also, River Song appears a lot in these upcoming episodes and such, so that'll be fun. I finished reading Bitterblue yesterday, and had to stop myself from starting any other book because the sequel to one of my favorite books, Legend came out today and I got it on my nook and started to read it. It's called Prodigy, and so far, it's amazing!! I've also spent a lot of time on Pottermore trying to make the polyjuice potion so I can get into the slytherin common room. But, like Neville, I'm terrible at making potions, so it's basically a lost cause. I don't know what I'm going to do, because I just want to read the extra content on the world of Harry Potter from J.K. Rowling, but I can't proceed because I can't get into the common room. To make it worse, the internet is EXTREMELY slow, so I have to choose wisely when I decide that I want to watch something on Netflix. Then it just buffers forever and then the pixels get all weird and it's extra annoying.
It's funny, the notion of becoming sick is far more attractive than actually becoming sick. On any normal school day, I would be happy to stay home and read and crochet and watch Doctor Who, but when you have a fever and your head is about to explode, it isn't as fun as you would like. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I think I'm done complaining now.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Book #3: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
I have to say, I enjoyed this book more than I really expected to. I first learned about The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (by E. Lockhart) when John Green recommended it in his Nerdfighter book recommendations video a couple of months ago.
I can totally understand why John Green would recommend this book. Like Looking for Alaska, it takes place in a boarding school and involves a lot of pranks. Frankie is a high school sophomore who basically is tired of people not expecting anything from her. She goes off to boarding school in the fall and meets a guy who is part of an all-male secret organization at school that basically pulls pranks and throws parties. Frankie, as the year passes, infiltrates this group, called the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds and she starts to be the one who tells the group what pranks to pull and what to do, all without them knowing it. It's a very fun book, especially the pranking part because it was all clever and witty.
I've already posted about the thing that I found fascinating in the book: the panopticon, which is something I still can't really stop thinking about, because, you know, it's intriguing. There were other things that I enjoyed about the book too. I liked Frankie's logic and the way she thought things out so that people wouldn't catch on to the fact that she was in charge of the Loyal Order. I liked the setting of the book. Not only the whole boarding school element of it, but also the fact that there were catacombs and stuff, which was awesome.
My only real problem with the book was that it took forever for the interesting things to begin. I was about halfway through the book when Frankie started to take over the Loyal Order and tell them what to do. This, disappointingly, didn't leave as much time for pranking as I would have liked, and it all ended rather quickly. I just would have liked it to go on longer. It could have been more fun that way, and then the book could have ended at the end of the school year. I just think that the change in relationships between the people in the Loyal Order and Frankie after they figure out that Frankie is the one telling them what to do could have been really interesting. Instead, it just didn't happen. Ah well, you can always hope for a sequel.
4 starts out of 5.
I can totally understand why John Green would recommend this book. Like Looking for Alaska, it takes place in a boarding school and involves a lot of pranks. Frankie is a high school sophomore who basically is tired of people not expecting anything from her. She goes off to boarding school in the fall and meets a guy who is part of an all-male secret organization at school that basically pulls pranks and throws parties. Frankie, as the year passes, infiltrates this group, called the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds and she starts to be the one who tells the group what pranks to pull and what to do, all without them knowing it. It's a very fun book, especially the pranking part because it was all clever and witty.
I've already posted about the thing that I found fascinating in the book: the panopticon, which is something I still can't really stop thinking about, because, you know, it's intriguing. There were other things that I enjoyed about the book too. I liked Frankie's logic and the way she thought things out so that people wouldn't catch on to the fact that she was in charge of the Loyal Order. I liked the setting of the book. Not only the whole boarding school element of it, but also the fact that there were catacombs and stuff, which was awesome.
My only real problem with the book was that it took forever for the interesting things to begin. I was about halfway through the book when Frankie started to take over the Loyal Order and tell them what to do. This, disappointingly, didn't leave as much time for pranking as I would have liked, and it all ended rather quickly. I just would have liked it to go on longer. It could have been more fun that way, and then the book could have ended at the end of the school year. I just think that the change in relationships between the people in the Loyal Order and Frankie after they figure out that Frankie is the one telling them what to do could have been really interesting. Instead, it just didn't happen. Ah well, you can always hope for a sequel.
4 starts out of 5.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Panopticon
I'm currently reading The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (unfortunately not the same as Gilderoy Lockhart), in which it often talks about the panopticon.
A panopticon is an institution (usually a prison), created by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham during the late eighteenth century. It's a prison in which the guards can watch the criminals without the criminals knowing that they are being watched. Thus, the criminals are supposed to act better because they assume that they are always being watched. At this time, the panopticon was ideal because is required less guards because you don't have to watch all the time, but you know that the criminals are going to be on good behavior (as good as criminal behavior can get).
I think this is really fascinating. It plays tricks on the mind. I don't think I would be able to survive in any type of panopticon, because I would be paranoid all the time. But we also do live in a world where this kind of tactic-acting better because we think someone might be watching-is very prominent.
If you know your teacher might give you a pop-quiz on the reading, you read the assignment. She doesn't have to give you a quiz all the time, but this way, she can make sure you're reading. However, this would have worked better in a world without Sparknotes. I could make my bed in the morning because my dad may be looking in to see if I did so, and because I know that eventually my bed-making skills will be judged by a person who attended the Air Force Academy, I make my bed.
This is also interesting because it brings to life the idea that people act better when they're being watched. This is just plain fact. You're on better behavior when there's a guest in the house. You dress nicer for a job interview. It also goes back to the fact that people just care about what other people think about themselves.
I also just found out that the Allegheny County Jail (the jail in Pittsburgh) is a panopticon. It's one of only three or four in the U.S. That's awesome.
A panopticon is an institution (usually a prison), created by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham during the late eighteenth century. It's a prison in which the guards can watch the criminals without the criminals knowing that they are being watched. Thus, the criminals are supposed to act better because they assume that they are always being watched. At this time, the panopticon was ideal because is required less guards because you don't have to watch all the time, but you know that the criminals are going to be on good behavior (as good as criminal behavior can get).
I think this is really fascinating. It plays tricks on the mind. I don't think I would be able to survive in any type of panopticon, because I would be paranoid all the time. But we also do live in a world where this kind of tactic-acting better because we think someone might be watching-is very prominent.
If you know your teacher might give you a pop-quiz on the reading, you read the assignment. She doesn't have to give you a quiz all the time, but this way, she can make sure you're reading. However, this would have worked better in a world without Sparknotes. I could make my bed in the morning because my dad may be looking in to see if I did so, and because I know that eventually my bed-making skills will be judged by a person who attended the Air Force Academy, I make my bed.
This is also interesting because it brings to life the idea that people act better when they're being watched. This is just plain fact. You're on better behavior when there's a guest in the house. You dress nicer for a job interview. It also goes back to the fact that people just care about what other people think about themselves.
I also just found out that the Allegheny County Jail (the jail in Pittsburgh) is a panopticon. It's one of only three or four in the U.S. That's awesome.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Book #2: Graceling
I just finished reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore a couple of minutes ago. This book is the first book in the Graceling series. I finished reading its companion book, Fire, a couple of days ago.
Graceling is set in a different part of this fantasy world than Fire. In this world, children who have two eyes of different colors are Graced with a particular ability, sort of like the X-Men. Some have the ability to predict the weather, swim really well, or even have the ability to cook amazingly good food. The main character in the book, Katsa, is Graced with the ability to kill people, which is a Grace that I wouldn't care for. However, it does set up conflict between the Grace and Katsa's unwillingness to be simply a killer.
This is what I really liked about this book. There's the theme of the power that one has and how it can control you. There was a character in this book, Leck, who was part of a subplot in Fire, who has the ability to basically say something and have the whole world believe it to be true. Even if Leck just created a rumor, it could travel all throughout the kingdom, and everyone would believe it. I don't really know what good you could really do with some amazing power or ability like that. What makes it worse is that Leck is the king of Monsea, and uses his Grace to make everybody think that he's this kind and gentle person when really, he's not. To have that kind of influence over everybody....is just a scary thought. He could rule the world with just the words that come out of his mouth. An ability like that could take over you. My favorite line in the book is when Katsa and Po (another main character in the book) are talking and Po says, "It's hard to tell where he ended and his Grace began"(468).
But honestly, what would you do if you could do something like that? It's very complicated. What would you do if you could kill someone with great ease? Would you do it? It's a very conflicting matter between the gifts you have and your own personality and desires. I guess things like that, even though they're not realistic in our world have to be thought about.
Anyway, I did enjoy this book a lot. There were some sections when Katsa and Po were traveling that were a bit slow. The writing itself was excellent, because you could just feel the emotion in every word. The dialogue also was realistic, along with the character's train of thought. But really, the best part about the book was its main theme. 4.5 stars.
Graceling is set in a different part of this fantasy world than Fire. In this world, children who have two eyes of different colors are Graced with a particular ability, sort of like the X-Men. Some have the ability to predict the weather, swim really well, or even have the ability to cook amazingly good food. The main character in the book, Katsa, is Graced with the ability to kill people, which is a Grace that I wouldn't care for. However, it does set up conflict between the Grace and Katsa's unwillingness to be simply a killer.
This is what I really liked about this book. There's the theme of the power that one has and how it can control you. There was a character in this book, Leck, who was part of a subplot in Fire, who has the ability to basically say something and have the whole world believe it to be true. Even if Leck just created a rumor, it could travel all throughout the kingdom, and everyone would believe it. I don't really know what good you could really do with some amazing power or ability like that. What makes it worse is that Leck is the king of Monsea, and uses his Grace to make everybody think that he's this kind and gentle person when really, he's not. To have that kind of influence over everybody....is just a scary thought. He could rule the world with just the words that come out of his mouth. An ability like that could take over you. My favorite line in the book is when Katsa and Po (another main character in the book) are talking and Po says, "It's hard to tell where he ended and his Grace began"(468).
But honestly, what would you do if you could do something like that? It's very complicated. What would you do if you could kill someone with great ease? Would you do it? It's a very conflicting matter between the gifts you have and your own personality and desires. I guess things like that, even though they're not realistic in our world have to be thought about.
Anyway, I did enjoy this book a lot. There were some sections when Katsa and Po were traveling that were a bit slow. The writing itself was excellent, because you could just feel the emotion in every word. The dialogue also was realistic, along with the character's train of thought. But really, the best part about the book was its main theme. 4.5 stars.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Block Schedule
Tomorrow is the highly anticipated unveiling of the new school schedule for next year. From what I've heard from basically all of the teachers and the students (who's parents were informed of the new schedule last week), we have a block schedule. This is a kind of schedule where you have, for example, four 75 minute class periods a day that meet every other day.
GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's the thing. I had a block schedule last year, and it was AWFUL. Like, absolutely terrible, and I'm about to tell you why.
First of all, students in my class couldn't pay attention for half an hour if they wanted to. So people didn't have the attention span for it.
Secondly, and this is totally true, I feel like some of the teachers I had last year thought that since we have a block schedule and so much time, we didn't have to use all of that to learn. So, literally, we would get twenty minute lectures about things that were totally unrelated to the class. We'd also get like, thirty minutes to do about ten Spanish questions, so I would finish it in five minutes and read for the rest of the half-hour. It was a waste of my time.
Thirdly, (and here's the thing that bothered me a LOT) say you do a section a day in math with a normal schedule that meets every day. Last year, we would spend a 75 minute class period on one section every other day, which means we only got through half of the book. I think we actually did four chapters in math last year. WE SPENT THREE WEEKS ON THE QUADRATIC FORMULA!!! It's honestly not that hard, you just plug the numbers in. And we learned that in SEVENTH grade!!! Don't insult our intelligence.
Fourthly, the thing that I like about the schedule we have now, is that, even though it's impossible to follow, there's a lot of variety, and I think that the class lengths are just right, even for the boring classes.
But here's the other side of the argument:
You could do a lot of labs and stuff in science.
There's this one class called Urban Research and Design and they have to do a bunch of really long projects, so it would help them out.
Longer periods mean you can get more stuff done.
You can go on more field trips (the only "field trips" I went on last year was going outside to the river for gym. That's it)
There's probably a lot more, but I can't think of any right now.
So last year, my experience with block scheduling was really bad. I ended up getting so hungry in Spanish, that I brought a nature valley bar to class and ate it while the teacher wasn't looking. Also, you just get bored, and class seems like it'll go on forever.
This is also what they do in college, but I don't think I would mind it as much there as I would here. And who knows, maybe it'll be magical and I'll fall in love with it. You never know.
GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's the thing. I had a block schedule last year, and it was AWFUL. Like, absolutely terrible, and I'm about to tell you why.
First of all, students in my class couldn't pay attention for half an hour if they wanted to. So people didn't have the attention span for it.
Secondly, and this is totally true, I feel like some of the teachers I had last year thought that since we have a block schedule and so much time, we didn't have to use all of that to learn. So, literally, we would get twenty minute lectures about things that were totally unrelated to the class. We'd also get like, thirty minutes to do about ten Spanish questions, so I would finish it in five minutes and read for the rest of the half-hour. It was a waste of my time.
Thirdly, (and here's the thing that bothered me a LOT) say you do a section a day in math with a normal schedule that meets every day. Last year, we would spend a 75 minute class period on one section every other day, which means we only got through half of the book. I think we actually did four chapters in math last year. WE SPENT THREE WEEKS ON THE QUADRATIC FORMULA!!! It's honestly not that hard, you just plug the numbers in. And we learned that in SEVENTH grade!!! Don't insult our intelligence.
Fourthly, the thing that I like about the schedule we have now, is that, even though it's impossible to follow, there's a lot of variety, and I think that the class lengths are just right, even for the boring classes.
But here's the other side of the argument:
You could do a lot of labs and stuff in science.
There's this one class called Urban Research and Design and they have to do a bunch of really long projects, so it would help them out.
Longer periods mean you can get more stuff done.
You can go on more field trips (the only "field trips" I went on last year was going outside to the river for gym. That's it)
There's probably a lot more, but I can't think of any right now.
So last year, my experience with block scheduling was really bad. I ended up getting so hungry in Spanish, that I brought a nature valley bar to class and ate it while the teacher wasn't looking. Also, you just get bored, and class seems like it'll go on forever.
This is also what they do in college, but I don't think I would mind it as much there as I would here. And who knows, maybe it'll be magical and I'll fall in love with it. You never know.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The Very Rich King
There was once a very rich king living in a very rich kingdom. The king wasn't a particularly good king. He was often too concerned with the collection of objects that he would never use. There were rooms in his castle dedicated to the collection rare instruments, such as the calliope, it's whistles burnished so much, that no one would want to touch an instrument so shiny and beautiful.
The king commissioned many people to make or find him things that were beautiful. When he first sat on his throne as a young man, he hired an antiquarian to search and collect books that were so rare and old, that their pages would crumple as soon as he laid his hand on them. His lapidary would cut him the most precious gems to place on his crown. He hired a klezmer to play him what he thought to be the most mellifluous music in the land, and his singers, with their elocution, sang him his favorite songs. His dexterous artists painted his portraits, making him look like his skin was smoother than the water on a still lake.
The king's trope in his life, searching and craving for material beauty, drove him insane. He did not care of for the people in his kingdom. Even though sickness was rampant though out his kingdom, his people suffering from ocular trauma, he did not care. Crime became common. People would get into fights to defend themselves, breaking their mandible, their teeth, or even their neck. Even though the years in the past had been a particularly fecund time, there was famine throughout the kingdom. Vorteces of air came through the kingdom and ruined the crops. There were riots and protests throughout the land, as people cried out for change and a newer, better king. His impetuous nature, his lack of interest in ruling, did not put him in a better light. He became jaded with ruling, bored of his life that he had once thought highly of. He started to take walks in his gardens, planting brambles and even building himself a grotto so that he could go somewhere away from his life.
And so, as time went on, as people became more restless, a plan emerged to usurp the king's throne.
One day, a young, handsome man entered the court of the king. He claimed to have the ability of fixing all of the king's problems. The king spent hours talking to this young man about all of his problems. The young man listened and became the king's closest confidant. Until, one day, the young man approached him, armed with weapons. He rousted him out of his throne, and when the king asked what he was doing, he replied, "I am here to kill you. Get up so that I can execute you the way the people want me to."
The king called out for help, but none came. He slowly approached the young man, quailing in his sight. "You charlatan," he spit into the man's face, "you fraud."
"Yes," the man replied, "but this is what the people want, you dead, and a more sagacious, sagacious man on the throne, who has a more holistic approach to ruling the kingdom than you do." With that, the young man took his sword and brought it down on the king's head. The king let out a yawp, then was silent evermore.
You might think this story is weird, because it is, but I'll tell you why. I have a vocab test tomorrow and I have to use all the words in a story, so this is what I do to prepare for that. The words are totally random and don't really have any relation to one another, so this is what I came up with. There are 25 vocab words, and I used all of them. You might want to see if you can find all of them. It'll probably be obvious because they're words that I don't use often.
The king commissioned many people to make or find him things that were beautiful. When he first sat on his throne as a young man, he hired an antiquarian to search and collect books that were so rare and old, that their pages would crumple as soon as he laid his hand on them. His lapidary would cut him the most precious gems to place on his crown. He hired a klezmer to play him what he thought to be the most mellifluous music in the land, and his singers, with their elocution, sang him his favorite songs. His dexterous artists painted his portraits, making him look like his skin was smoother than the water on a still lake.
The king's trope in his life, searching and craving for material beauty, drove him insane. He did not care of for the people in his kingdom. Even though sickness was rampant though out his kingdom, his people suffering from ocular trauma, he did not care. Crime became common. People would get into fights to defend themselves, breaking their mandible, their teeth, or even their neck. Even though the years in the past had been a particularly fecund time, there was famine throughout the kingdom. Vorteces of air came through the kingdom and ruined the crops. There were riots and protests throughout the land, as people cried out for change and a newer, better king. His impetuous nature, his lack of interest in ruling, did not put him in a better light. He became jaded with ruling, bored of his life that he had once thought highly of. He started to take walks in his gardens, planting brambles and even building himself a grotto so that he could go somewhere away from his life.
And so, as time went on, as people became more restless, a plan emerged to usurp the king's throne.
One day, a young, handsome man entered the court of the king. He claimed to have the ability of fixing all of the king's problems. The king spent hours talking to this young man about all of his problems. The young man listened and became the king's closest confidant. Until, one day, the young man approached him, armed with weapons. He rousted him out of his throne, and when the king asked what he was doing, he replied, "I am here to kill you. Get up so that I can execute you the way the people want me to."
The king called out for help, but none came. He slowly approached the young man, quailing in his sight. "You charlatan," he spit into the man's face, "you fraud."
"Yes," the man replied, "but this is what the people want, you dead, and a more sagacious, sagacious man on the throne, who has a more holistic approach to ruling the kingdom than you do." With that, the young man took his sword and brought it down on the king's head. The king let out a yawp, then was silent evermore.
You might think this story is weird, because it is, but I'll tell you why. I have a vocab test tomorrow and I have to use all the words in a story, so this is what I do to prepare for that. The words are totally random and don't really have any relation to one another, so this is what I came up with. There are 25 vocab words, and I used all of them. You might want to see if you can find all of them. It'll probably be obvious because they're words that I don't use often.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Florian is flowering!!!
You get two posts today! And guess what? Florian is flowering!!! OMG!!! It's flower is actually really really cute. Here's a picture:
I really like the fact that he's purple and I like the gold stuff in the middle, along with the little white flower coming out of the purple thing. I do wonder if the purple thing will expand and make a flower, but I don't know. I will keep you updated. I'm also curious to see what color Montague will be, because I've seen pictures online of ones that are red.
Since air plants flower only once in their life cycle, I guess this is a little bittersweet for me. Florian won't die....I think. I think after this, he reproduces and I can just have more Florians! Except, of course, I'll name them different things. Maybe I'll name them Obediah and Orville or maybe Melvin. We'll get there when we get there though.
I really like the fact that he's purple and I like the gold stuff in the middle, along with the little white flower coming out of the purple thing. I do wonder if the purple thing will expand and make a flower, but I don't know. I will keep you updated. I'm also curious to see what color Montague will be, because I've seen pictures online of ones that are red.
Since air plants flower only once in their life cycle, I guess this is a little bittersweet for me. Florian won't die....I think. I think after this, he reproduces and I can just have more Florians! Except, of course, I'll name them different things. Maybe I'll name them Obediah and Orville or maybe Melvin. We'll get there when we get there though.
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