A whole month!!! Lots of news, good and bad.

Whoa! Can't believe I've been too lazy to post on Blogger for a whole month, nearly two! Lot's to talk about.

First of all, welcome home, Jacoby!

Been really busy for the last month and a half. At school, we've had essay after essay, book after book, project after project! I had to write a 7 page in class essay with no earlier preparation in two hours on the monster in Lord of the Flies, I've got to finish reading 1984 over winter break, and I have to finish a project worth most of my semester grade in the first couple days back to school. We've been working on the same Career project for months!

Earlier this month, I was in my first Fencing tournament! It was awesome. The place it was at was so much more... organized, than the elementary school gym in issaquah, that I go to for lessons. It was a Regional Youth Circuit, and wasn't worth any national points. I did great in the early prelim rounds, winning 2 out of my 4 matches with the people in my pool. Once the real matches started though, I lost my first match to the only other student from my fencing school, 15-14. I had a big lead for a while, but had no concept of clock management and was too aggressive. She took back the lead by one and ran out the clock, while I tried desperately to get back the lead. FAIL. In the end, I got 9th place out of 12, and surprisingly enough, the girl who beat me in my first match, Jade, won in 3rd place. Congrats!

I've read a lot of great books lately. I spent weeks reading through the Belgariad series, and it is fantastic! One of the best fantasy series ever! I started the Mallorean, but just didn't get into it. I finished book one, but then moved onto something new. Today, I went to Barnes and Noble and got three new books. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, Magician: Apprentice (which I'm now reading) and Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist. I've heard it's amazing, and it's pretty good so far. I'll find out I guess.

I've also seen a lot of movies in the last two months. I've watched all of the X-Men movies, including the new one, I've watched Star Trek (twice! In the last two days! Awsome!!!), Up, Sherlock Holmes (Good movie!), Old dogs (ok), and 21, the blackjack one. Most of the movies I've seen have been terrific, and I'm excited to go see Avatar tomorrow. Supposed to be fantastic.

Now for the bad news...

Winter break has been very eventful, although that is not necessarily good. Not good at all. I spent the first week being lazy, playing the new call of duty game and ping pong at my dads. We celebrated our first christmas with our dad's girlfriend, Jackie, and her family. That was fun, but afterward, was when the bad started. We couldn't go skiing Christmas day, because Jackie's daughter, Caroline wasn't feeling well. Turned out that skiing was the worst of our problems. That night, Caroline was even worse, so they decided to be safe and take her to the hostpital. She had a Pneumonia that was resilient to antibiotics and one of her lungs was filled with fluid, and the other was half filled. A few more hours of waiting, and she'd have died. Because they couldn't get the antibiotics to work, the weren't sure whether or not she'd be all right. Last night, the antibiotics began working though, and she's gotten a little better, although I haven't gotten the most recent news, because I've been with my mom the last few days. I'm seeing my dad tomorrow though, so I'll ask then. Luckily, they think she'll live, although she'll have to spend the next few weeks in the hospital.

Well, good luck Caroline.

That's all I've got to talk about for now. Sorry I've been gone so long.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo starts in about 2 and a half hours! I'm staying up to start writing. My story this year is called Chivalry. It's about Sir Gawain's servant, Roland, who is the only logical mind among a world of chivalry and honor. After Sir Gawain accepts the challenge of the Green Knight, and intends to keep his promise, and inevitably go to the chopping block, Roland spends the year before the confrontation trying to convince his master not to go. And afterward, at the time of Gawain's wedding to the Lady Ragnell, Gawain uses the miracle that happens afterward to try to convince Roland of that chivalry is the way to go, that honor is more important than logic.

I can't wait to start writing. Only two hours to go.

Sick

I'm sick with the Swine flu, H1N1. It sucks. I'm missing so much school, and I'm dreading going back. I'm gonna be swamped with work when I get back on Monday. I was already still catching up on work.

On the other hand, I'm very excited for NaNoWriMo, which starts very soon!!! Sadly, I have no clue what to write about. All this sick time should give me time to think about it.

A bunch of family news

Wow. This week is a big week for my mom's family!!! On Monday, Yom Kipur, My Uncle Mike and Aunt Holly had their second child, Jackson Indy Schaffer. The only problem with this is that they can't come to my cousin Sara McClure's wedding this weekend! I'm leaving for Memphis, TN tomorrow morning, and getting back on Sunday. Congrats to all of them!!!

High School!!!

The other daywas my first day of high school, and so far it's pretty cool. (Other than my 4th period spanish teacher, Sr. Hovander. He's sorta nuts.) And one of the coolest things, I can come home an hour early almost everyday because for my last period, I don't have a class!!! Sorry about the short post. Homework again.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Bettina and Annette!!!

Happy Birthday, Me

Yep, yesterday was my birthday! I'm 14 now! Whoohoo! I also went to see G.I. Joe yesterday. It was really good with amazing speciel FX. I haven't gotten many other presents yet, although I got this awesome replica of the Marauder's Map from Harry Potter from my dad.

I start highschool in about 6 days; I got my schedule yesterday. I can't wait for that!!! As far as I know though, I have only one class with any of my friends, Griffin. (Spanish)

Internet down

Sorry I haven't posted lately. One, my friend Coleman and my cousins, Tillie and Sara have been in town, and I've been hanging with them, and two, my internet is down. The desktop is the only computer with internet. I'll post more tomorrow after it's fixed.

I'm back, and covered in bug bites!

I just got back about 8 hours ago from my mom's boyfriend, Shawn's, family ranch up by the Canadian border. (You can see Canada from the house!) It was a fun place! We went ATVing a lot, and it was beyond awesome. There are trails running all over the property that we could ride on. Even Jordan, the tiny kid that he is, got to ride one. On the last day of the trip, we were riding and saw a black bear! It ran the moment it spotted us, but it was pretty cool anyway. Better than it coming toward us! We also went fishing a bit, although I'd rather not talk about it. Fish feeding was much better. We'd throw in the trout feed and they'd jump up and do flips! It was amazing!

Well now I'm back and ready to be lazy for the next week. Yipee!

Goodbye!!!!

Bye Bye! I'm going to Canada!

...

Sorta. I'm going up with my family to my mom's boyfriend's family ranch for the weekend. I'll be back to civilization on Monday.

On the other hand, I just got back from a very strange production of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. It was the redneck version, which was very fitting for the show. It was funnier than I thought it would be, although I'd like to see a normal version too. Next Thursday, I'm seeing The Comedy of Errors with my dad. I'd have also seen Richard III this weekend if it weren't for the trip to the Ranch. Yep, lots of Shakespeare lately. In the winter, Dad and I are seeing Twelfth Night and Electra (not Shakespeare. It's replacing the production of Hamlet, which is being postponed.) And in the Spring we're seeing Two Gentlemen of Verona and Henry V, and possibly A Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo & Juliet.

Hmm... let's see. Oh! I saw the Blue Angels today! They were doing practice flights for this weekend, so my mom, her boyfriend, and I went out on the lake to watch. It wasn't as good as a real show, but it was cool. The water was surprisingly warm, due to the heatwave passing through. It was recordbreaking temperatures yesterday. 104 degrees. How is that record breaking temps! I didn't even think it was hot until I went in and checked the weather. My brothers however, were doing a Lacrosse camp and were sweating like pigs.

Well, I'll see y'all next week!

Ender

While I was at camp this year, I read a ton of good books! The last assigned book we had for L.A. class this year at school was Ender's Game by Orson Scott card, and I was beyond excited. My dad had read the book to Ezra and I a few years ago, and we both loved it. So, I read it at school, and decided it was the best book I'd ever read. I then read the parallel novel, Ender's Shadow, which was almost as good, and ten times more interesting. At camp, I reread Ender's Game, then read Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets, sequels to Ender's Shadow. I tried reading the final book in the Shadow quartet, but it seemed really boring (and the book got destroyed by water damage!).

For those who don't know, Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow revolve around an International Fleet military school in outer space, dedicated to turning the most brilliant young minds on Earth into military geniuses, for one purpose: Defending the Earth from the Third Invasion of the Buggers. And their sole hope is Ender Wiggin, a Third child. Both of his siblings were deemed wrong for Battle School, Peter for his ruthlessness, Valentine for her compassion, but Ender, his birth requested by the government, is the perfect mix. But the hand that is Graff, the "principal" of Battle School, can not overwork or underuse this tool that is Ender. If he breaks him, the human race is doomed. Ender's Game follows Ender, while Ender's Shadow follows his right hand man, Bean: a genetically altered boy, the smallest, smartest kid in Battle School fights the system, determined not to become a tool, for fear of being broken.

The remainder of the Shadow series follows the Battle School students after the end of the Bugger Wars, as the take their places in Earths new government, working toward the end of the wars following the Hegemony's fall from power. Bean also tries to survive many attempts at his friends' and his own lives.

Home!!!

I'm finally going home!!! After an almost 2 month vacation to the east coast, I'm finally taking a flight back to Seattle today!

TV

Ouch! I'm being eaten alive! The bugs are killing me! Even though I used to live in Georgia, I've gotten used to having no bugs in Seattle! I've been doing a Kayak camp with my cousin, Tilly, and our friend, Yael for the last few days. I'd known I'd been going with Tilly, but I was completely surprised when I heard Yael was coming. We've been going to Camp Judaea for the last 6 years together. She is the daughter of my cousin Michelle's best friend, so that's how she knew Tilly and I. What really surprised me was that she lives in Israel, so it would be an awfully long commute every morning and afternoon. Turns out, she is staying in the US until January, and being homeschooled by her mom.

Anyway, I've been watching more TV lately than I have before. I think it's because I've finally gone to try out new TV shows meant for older audiences than Spongebob. Now, instead of watching those stupid kid TV shows that my brothers watch, I watch some really good shows. The first one I tried out is Lie to Me, on Fox. I loved getting out into some new shows, so I stuck with this show to the end of the season. It's about a guy who can read microexpressions on faces to tell when they are lying. I then tried out a couple of others, including Heroes and Bones. I could never find any episodes of Heroes, so I stopped watching at episode 6. Then I found Bones, and it is the best tv show ever. It is a crime-solving show about a forensic anthropologist who is working with an FBI agent to solve crimes no one else can. I have watched all the way through season 4 in the last 6-7 months, and it is terrific! Sadly, all of the TV shows ended right before I left for camp, so I have to wait until next fall for some new episodes. Luckily, on NBC, I found a new summer show: Merlin. It tells the story of a young Merlin in a Camelot where magic is forbidden by it's ruler, Uther Pendragon. Merlin's duty is to protect the future king, Arther, and often has to use magic to do so. It's unfaithful to the original legend in a thousand ways, but it's still a good show.

Anyway, hopefully I won't get too addicted to TV again. I'll try to spend more time posting instead.

Catching up

Crap!!! Sorry I wasn't able to write another post the night of my last one. After I got off the computer, my brothers claimed it for the rest of the night, and have since then. The only reason I can write now is because Jordan is still asleep, and Ezra flew to Virginia the other day to visit a friend. Jordan and I are still in Savannah for another week, until this Friday, though.

Yesterday, my Grandmama took Jordan and I to a family reunion, where I was able to meet a bunch of the family that I'd done research on for my family tree, and those I hadn't known existed.

Over the last week, I've seen a ton of new movies. I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I've gotta say, it sucked. My dad said he felt nauseous afterward, and there weren't even many disgusting scenes.

We also saw Ice Age III: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and it wasn't half bad for an Ice Age movie. A bit silly of course, but it was way better than Transformers II.

And last, but certainly not least, the best movie of the series so far in my families opinion (Tilly, Jordan, and Ezra), HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE!!! Sadly, we weren't able to see it the day it came out. We had to wait until Thursday. The movie was terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They did skip a couple of scenes, but what they didn't skip, they did really well. Especially the Weasly's Wizard Wheezes! Awesome place! Oh yeah, and the Felix Felicis scene was hilarious!!!

I'll probably have more time to write now that Ezra isn't going to be hogging the computer, so I'll write later, although I may not get a chance until tomorrow. I've found a lot of really good TV shows. Maybe I'll write about them.

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm finally back from camp, and I've got a lot to talk about. My brother is nagging me to go on the computer right now (I'm in Savannah, at my grandpa's and I don't have my laptop), but I promise that I'll write about camp, DC, and whatever I meant to talk about before I left ASAP. I'll write a post later tonight.

I'm so glad to be back on Blogger!

Happy birthday, Ezra and Jordan!

Whoa. Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been really busy with end of the year projects and such. I've got a lot to talk about over the next few days before I leave for camp for a month and a half.

But for now, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my brothers, Ezra and Jordan. Ezra's is today, and Jordan's was on May 26. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Tag! I'm IT!!!

I got a tag from Bettina to answer some questions about books! This is the first time I've been tagged for something, so tell me if I'm doing something wrong... or right.

Tell me about the book that has been on your shelf the longest...

On my dad's shelves, of which we've got four huge full ones (he had to give a bunch away when we moved to Seattle), I have no idea. We have hundreds of really old ones. He just told me that he thinks that he's had some old copies of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for the longest.

On my shelves, I have a few books of my dad's that are really old, but of mine, I think that they are either The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, the Young Wizard series, or some old Harry Potters. I remember reading Ga'Hoole in 3rd Grade, Young Wzards in 4th Grade, and the Harry Potters are just pretty old, and I'm not sure how long we've had them. Oh, and we've got some old Spiderwick books from when I was in 4th grade too.

Tell me about a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (i.e. a person, a place, a time, etc.)...

Hmm... This is a tough one. I'll go by the examples...

Person: I'm gonna trave back to the Young Wizard series by Diane Duane from the last question. For those who don't know what it is, the first book is called So You Want To Be A Wizard, and it is about a girl who, running into the library to escape from bullies, finds a book called So You Want To Be A Wizard. You know how there are those guide books for little kids, like So You Want To Be A Doctor, or stuff like that? Well, that was the kind of book Nita found. She takes it home, does what it says, and of course, she's learning how to be a wizard. I remember that this book got me into that same habit a long time ago. For maybe a year or two afterwards, whenever I found a guide book about wizardry or stuff like that, I would always get it and try to follow the instructions, hoping that somehow, against all odds, I'd become a wizard. It never worked, of course, but that main character reminds me a lot of myself, and how gullible I am a lot. Of course, it's not gullible if it's true. So, I guess it's only me. ^_^

Place: The Spine, in Eragon. Of course, where I went, it was sort of the opposite. Instead of mountains, it was a ravine. Close to Kathryn's house, if you go down her road, there is a huge ravine, covered in ivy, thorns, and loose dirt. One day, we decided to try to go down there, and it was hard to get there, but once we got there, it was almost like a sanctuary. No people, tons of wildlife, and pure quiet, other than a trickleing stream. That is how I always pictured the Spine. As a place where no one would venture because of the possibility of danger, but upon arival, there isn't much danger at all.

I'll skip time. I can't think of anything for that one.

Tell me about a book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used book store, prize, etc.)...

I have a lot of books, and it's very difficult to remember the story of each one. There are a lot I got from my dad, one of his old ones, like the Belgariad, Ender's Game, and Calvin and Hobbes, there are a lot I got as birthday presents, some I had to get for school, and some I just happened to come into possesion of, but I think the coolest way I got a book was the ARC from J Scott Savage for Farworld: Water Keep. I was going crazy over it! I read it three times in a month, and wouldn't put it down. I was just eexcited to know an author.

Whoa!!! There was one other one I forgot! For my Bar-Mitzvah, my friend Alex tried to send out for a signed copy of Warriors from Erin Hunter. He sent her a letter, and thought she'd just passed it off or didn't get it. In fact, she didn't get it until two months later, when she sent back a signed copy of Eclipse (Warriors, not Twilight), and a letter back. He gave me both, the letter which is on my wall with the rest of my book related posters, and the book, which said, "Happy Bar-Mitzvah, Brian! Erin Hunter". I was freaking out over that one. I'm such a bibliophile, or I guess a better way to say it would be to say book fanatic, or book freak. Or Bookworm.

Tell me about the most recent addition to your shelves...

The most recent edition... I haven't been to a bookstore in a while, cause I've been rereading a lot of books lately. It was either Hunt for the Dark Infinity by James Dashner or The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan. Both were terrific, but DarkIn was more story like. It was terrific, by the way, if I haven't already posted about it. (Wow! I haven't!!!)

Tell me about a book that has been with you to the most places...

Like Bettina, I haven't been many place. I'd have to say that Eragon has been the most places. It's been to camp a few times, it's been to NY, Savannah, Atlanta, Seattle, Florida. Being my favorite book, I carry it around a lot. It's never been out of the country though.

Tell me about a bonus book that doesn't fit any of the above questions...

Hmm... I could do my favorite book, which would be Eragon, I could do the book I'm anticipating most right not, which would be Warriors: Sunset (5 days) or The Last Olympian (May 5, I think), I could do most read book, which could be Eragon, Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, or Lost Years of Merlin, there are a lot of possiblilites. I'll just go with all of that for now.

Oh, and I tag:

Anna, (and if they happen to read this, J Scott Savage and James Dashner) ^_^ Everyone else has already been picked!

WASL Testing 2009

WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) time again. Today, I took the Math WASL, and it was one of the easiest Math Tests I've ever taken. There was only one problem I had trouble with, and that was because I was just being really stupid. Tomorrow and Thursday, I've got Reading WASLs, and on Friday I've got Science. Wish me luck!

Lastly, Happy Birthday Kathryn!!!!!!!!

San Diego - The Rest

Well, here's the outline of the rest of my trip. I just got back yesterday:

Seaworld - Day 2: We spent that morning at the beach, and hung out with Dan again until about 2:00, when we went back to Seaworld. We rode the Atlantis rollarcoaster (Ok), went to a Pet's Rule show (Ok, sorta lame. The animals were cool though), The Sesame Street/ Elmo 4D show (I can't believe they made me go to that. It was beyond lame.), Rode some Raging Rapids ride twice. You're sorta in a raft, and go through a bunch of water things, like waterfalls, water guns, and waves. You get soaked. The first time we went, I got a little wet, but not too badly, while 3 of the 6 in our raft got wet. The three that didn't, including me and Ezra, wanted to go again. The other's including Jordan, reluctanly agreed. Those three were nice and dry afterward... I wasn't. Ezra was though. We were going to go to another Shamu show that night, but we were too cold and wet, so we went home. I spent the rest of the night watching Batman Begins on TV. It was a pretty boring day. Better than Day 1 though.

Legoland - Day 1: Terrible. Not even gonna talk about it. Lame coasters, long lines. Terrible. The only semi-good thing about it was miniworld. They had lego sculptures of cities around the world, like DC, New Orleans, Vegas, New York, and a few others. Not too bad.

Pool - Day 1: We spent our last day there at the pool of the hotel we were in. It was ok. My eyes were sore after a while, I got a bit sunburned, I played some pingpong. It was pretty fun playing with my brothers. That night we watched one of the funniest movies ever, A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger. Hilarious. I'll talk about that later.

We came home afterward. The first half of the trip was by far the best. Second half was really boring. Since I missed two days of school for the trip, I now have a ton of work to make up. We started reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, we started two big projects, and we started a really important unit in Math that I need to learn.  Great.

San Diego, so far.

So far, I have mixed feelings about this vacation. The weather has been on and off. It was nice the day we got here, so we went to the beach, it was nice the next day, so we went to the San Diego Zoo, it was supposed to be nice on Thursday, so we went to Seaworld... wasn't so nice, and it was very nice yesterday, so we hung out at the beach again.

Beach - Day 1: We splashed around in the water, chased eachother around, and lay around in the sand. It was okay.

San Diego Zoo - Day 1: Amazing!!!! The Zoo here is huge, and has such amazing animals. They have about 5 Aviaries to go into (lots of birds), Giant Pandas, A really lame Sea Lion show, Giant Tortises, Komodo Dragons, lots of snakes, including a two headed one, an awesome Gharial, or something, and some nonexistant Polar Bears. It was a ton of fun!

Seaworld - Day 1: We spent the morning watching a load of shows. First was the Dolphin show, which was really amazing!!!! We sat in the Soak Zone, so of course, we got soaked. They had 4 dolphins and some wierd whale, that looked like a giant black Beluga. Next, we saw Shamu! We sat in the Soak Zone, (with ponchos this time), and only got splashed once. I'd already seen the show in Orlando anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed. Finally, we went to see the sea lion show. It was a dress rehearsal for a brand new show that was officially opening today, so we got to watch a few scenes over again, due to the messups. It was hilarious! It included two sea lions, Seamore and Clyde, a sea otter, whose name I can't remember, and a huge manatee. It was called Sea Lions LIVE! and was the sea lions and their tamers making fun of a bunch of TV shows. They made fun of Superman, American Idol, Iron Chef, Dancing with the Stars, and Survivor. It was so funny! Sadly, we left right afterward. It was freezing all day, with overcast skies.

Beach - Day 2: There are two beaches. One across the road, which is the Pacific Ocean, and one right by our house, which is a little bay. We went to the bay first, to play frizbee, then we went across the road to boogie board and Skim Board. Ezra and I spent the whole time boogie boarding with a kid from Colorado that we met, Dan. He's Ezra's age. It was a ton of fun boogie boarding. We're planning on going back to boogie board with Dan again today. 

Jordan wants me to take him down to the beach for now though, so I'll write about the rest of my trip in a few days.

Spring Break, San Diego, and reads

Finally!!!!! Today is the first day of Spring Break for me!!!! Wow. There's only a few weeks left of school. Then it's off to camp, then just a few weeks of Summer left, then High School... Wow. Everything is passing so quickly.

I got off really lucky. No homework for my vacation except for setting up a Science Project, which I can't do quite yet. On Tuesday, I'm gonna go to California for the first time with my brothers, My dad, his girlfriend, Jackie, and two of Jackie's kids, Emmy and Caroline, both of which are older than my brothers and I. My friend Marek got unlucky. He's going on a roadtrip with his family for 8 days into the middle of nowhere with his hyperactive little brother and no computer. Kathryn is even luckier than me. She's going on her annual trip to Hawaii. Lucky her. So many kids at my school are going there. I've never been to Hawaii, and I want to soooo badly. 

Well, we're going to San Diego. A huge zoo, Seaworld, and best of all, the beach!!!! Warmth!!!! It's been freezing for weeks here on Mercer Island. It's torture. And it's been raining. If it's going to be cold, it should at least snow instead of rain.

I've also got a mission over spring break. Kathryn wants me to read a book called The Shack that she's been going on and on about, saying somthing about it "strengthening her relationship with God." We had a long argument, or well, you can't really call it an argument. It was more like a discussion about religion. I told her I'd read it if I could start it before the end of break. I had already been planning to read The 13th Reality 2 over spring break (finally!) and before that, I have to finish rereading Brisingr. I'm probably gonna finish Brisingr tonight, so I'll be done with 13th Reality in a few days. Does anyone else know about this book, The Shack? It was a New York Times Best Seller.

The Merchant of Venice

Last Friday, I went to see the Shakespeare comedy, The Merchant of Venice, with my dad. It was preformed by the Seattle Shakespeare Company, and they did a TERRIFIC job! This was the first Shakespeare play I've ever seen, and I loved it. (Picture, from left: Lorenzo, Salario (I think), Antonio, and, uhh, I forgot his name.)

****Spoilers****

There were a lot of funny moments, and Gratiano, one of the comic relief characters, did a very good job, but I wouln't call it a comedy. It was funny, but, and this is a lot more visible if you're Jewish, it was a really sad and cruel story. My dad and I had a discussion about this in the car on the way home. Shylock was made into the terrible person he was by the protagonists of the play. They pushed him around his whole life, spat on him and called him a dog, all because of his Judeaism. All he had was his money, his religion, and his daughter. He had no friends or kindness. Then, when Jessica, his daughter, ran away to be with a Christian, Lorenzo, and stealing a large sum of money from him in the process, Shylock went nearly mad. He had lost nearly everything. Now all he had left was his religion and his chance for revenge. When Antonio's ships did not come back, and he could not pay back Shylock, Shylock was ready to take his life after he Antonio was proven guilty. Shylock wanted his revenge so badly, that he refused twice what he'd given Antonio from Bassanio. That's when Shylock literally lost everything. P0rtia came in disguised as a lawyer and lost Shylock his money, his home, and his religion even. They forced him to convert to a Christian. He could either take Antonio's life, and lose his own, or he lost everything. He'd even have to give half of it to his run away daughter and her husband. Shylock really is a sad story.

*****Spoilers over*****

Even through the sad story, I still loved the play. Great acting, especially by Shylock, Antonio, and Bassanio. Oh, and by Jessica. She was played by an intern even.

Invite-Only Private Fencing Program..... I WAS INVITED!!!!

This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was at my fencing class tonight (I missed last week because I as sick, so tonight was my first night in the intermediate class) and the instructor asked to talk to my dad. I went and got him, and the coach told us that he was reccomending us for an invite-only fencing program at the Sammamish Plateau nearby. He said that I had a lot of potential as a fencer and wanted to give me some private lessons to see if I should permanantly join!!!! This is the kind of program that gets people scholarships, and even into the Olympics!!! This is so cool!!! I'll tell you more when I know more!

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

This was an amazing, touching story about a calico cat who is abandoned at the edge of a forest by her owners. The pregnant mother wanders the forest until she finds a sad old hound dog, Ranger, chained to a post by a house in the bayou. He is maimed in one leg, having been shot by his owner, the evil Gar Face, years ago. Now, the chain is all that keeps him there. She sympathizes with Ranger and they are instant friends, living in the shadowed area under the crooked house. When the kittens are born, Ranger is like a father to them. And they are given one rule: Stay in the Underneath. Puck and Sabine respect this rule, until the trickery of a sunbeam gets the better of one of them. As Gar Face breaks up this family, Ranger, Puck, and Sabine must find a way to bring it back together. 

Meanwhile, there is magic at work in the Bayou Tartine. A thousand years ago, there lived Grandmother moccasin, an old snake, bitter after the betrayal she felt when her loved one fell for another and she morphed back into her serpent form. She has waited for many years, lonley but for one companion, the Alligator King. Until she meets her daughter, Nightsong. She is a sweet and loving companion, with a voice like sweet honey. They are happy, until another betrayal tears Grandmother Moccasin apart, and she sets out to wreak her revenge and gain a new companion. And she bides her time...

This story was amazing, told by the trees of the forest. It has the perfect balance of mysticism and reality, and a thousand emotions bundled into it. I really loved it. It was also a National Book Award Finalist! It's funny how I learned about it. I really had no desire to read it. I read it to participate in an author chat on Wandsandworlds.com It was a really fun chat. I'll be sure to post the link when it is released.

Work, work, and, uh, more work

Whew.... I've had so much homework this weekend. I missed most of last week, and had to make up all of the work this weekend. The flu has been going around Mercer Island, and my family caught it. My mom's boyfriend gave it to my mom, who gave it to Jordan, who gave it to Ezra and I. Luckily for me, most of the school was sick too. Over 200 kids were out on Tuesday and Wednesday!!! Even a lot of the teachers were sick.

Well, I just finished (sorta) my massive load of homework. I had 4 math assignments (I only finished 1. My math teacher is very lax on all of that, and said I had a while to do it all,) 2 science assignments, 4 history assignments, 3 language arts assignments, and a spanish assignment. What a load! And even worse, the trimester ends at the end of the week, so I need to make sure everything is in by then! I've also got a huge test on Friday on To Kill a Mockingbird. I'll write about To Kill a Mockingbird once I've watched the movie. I finished the book a while ago, but I havn't seen the whole movie yet.

Sorry I havn't posted in a while. It's not that I've been busy, but I havn't had anything to write about. I havn't seen a movie in ages. No new books to talk about, other than To Kill a Mockingbird. Hmm.... Oh! I do have a book to talk about soon. I read The Underneath by Kathi Appelt a few weeks ago, and participated in an author chat on this chat website. I'll talk about that one soon, too. Hmm... I havn't gotten much work done on The Necromancer Apprentice. Yeah, nothing new has really happened. I'm seeing two Shakespeare plays soon, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest. I tried reading The Merchant of Venice, but I gave up pretty quickly. It took me 10 minutes to even vaguely get the first page. And these are small pages.

Well, that's all really. I'll post soon. Oh, and to Bettina (and Jacoby. You havn't really talked 'bout them) good luck on the SATs!

New Background

My new background here is to represent my story, The Necromancer Apprentice.

The Necromancer Apprentice

Everyone else (aka. Bettina and Jacoby) have been talking about their stories, so why not talk about mine.

My story is about a 14 year old necromancer named Polsvend, who lives with his twin brother and the cruel old man who claims to have rescued them from their evil parents when they were babies. The old man is a master at necromancy, and teaches them both. Steensvend, Polsvend's brother, is adept at necromancy and idolizes the old man for his skills and for rescuing them. Polsvend, however, is a mediocre necromancer, having only successfully raised someone from the dead once, it ending in a miserable failure after the skeleton went berserk and tried to kill them all. They are both maltreated, although Polsvend more so, and Polsvend completely distrusts the old man. However, when Polsvend's suspiscions are confirmed with his brother's murder, Polsvend must go on a journey to find the truth about his family and avenge his brother. This adventure may mean more to the world than Polsvend knows, though. And it's already unlikely chances. How is an inexperienced necromancer supposed to fight an alliance of master's alone?

Oops. I sorta slipped from explaining the book to making it into a synopsis sorta thing. I started writing the story around last September. I just wrote the prologue to get my idea down. Then, I based the whole story off of that. I've been adding to it ever since.

I got the names from a few different things. One of them I named after one of my friends. A bunch were based off of the Dutch language. Some were just words that I morphed, like Literati and Senkor, two countries in the story.

I've had so many plot changes: My original plan was to have the Prologue take place in the past, and the real story having entirly different characters. It then changed to possibly being in the future. And then, it became  what it is today, being the present.

I have a lot more to explain, but this is enough for now.

A lot to talk about... but not really/ The 13th Realiy: Hunt for the Dark Infinity Blog Tour

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. All last week my computer was broken. It couldn't connect to the internet and had to be erased intirely. Luckily, all my files were saved, including my story, which is now 12606 pages long and has 41 pages. It is lacking subplots though, and is a bit of a bore for a while. I need to have more characters, and more for my character to do in the first few chapters, other than run. I've posted the first few chapters at the critique group section on the Farworld forum under Critisism for The Necromancer Apprentice if you want to read it. Or you can email me to get the prologue. I've already sent it to you, Jacoby, right?

I've got a few short movie reviews to do.

Push -

It really sucked. Don't see it. It was so boring and disgusting that me, both of my brothers, my mom, and her friend said that they should have seen something else. It didn't even tie up all the plots at the end. If your going to leave something open for a sequel, at least make it a good movie.

Pink Panther II -

It was silly, of course, but it was better than Push. If you saw the first one, you should see II, but if not, it's not worth it.

My weekend in movies was really dissappointing.

On Friday though, I had a really fun/funny/guilty time. I went to a paintball (painball) party for my friend, Alex. I got a few bruises, but it wasn't me that got hurt. The big rule was to not shoot someone up close. When you get close, you're supposed to yell surrender. The first piece of guilt was toward my friend, Marek. We were playing a game called Presidential Assasination, and Alex was the president. I killed him, with a paintball to the chest. My turn to be president. My two secret service agents, Alex and his dad, died, and the other team rushed up to me. Marek yelled surrender. I didn't hear, and shot him in the leg from 5 feet away. My friend Sean hit me in the thumb afterward, somehow killing me. Marek had a huge welt, and was rather pissed off at me. It was rather funny though. Next, in the last game, Alex ran in front of me just as I started to fire. I hit him in the back, and he went down. He had a gigantic welt and was mad. I hadn't meant to hit him, so that wasn't funny at all. 

That's pretty much all that has happened since I last posted.

Oh, and for James Dashner's blog tour, The 13th Reality: Book 2: Hunt for the Dark Infinity comes out in 5 days!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait, and I highly encourage you to buy it!!! Was that good enough? I don't know what else to write? Also, the Maze Runner is coming out (hopefully) in September. And I really want that ARC.

High School: Class of 2013: Class Choices: Part 1

Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. Nothing has really happened, other than homework and the Superbowl, which everyone's already talked enough about. I was rooting for the Cardinals by the way, and the Doritos crystal ball commercial was the best.

Last night, my mom went to some High School informational meeting, to learn about my class choices. There are 7 periods of the day, and these are the classes she suggested to me:

• English 9
• ATC English 9
• Honors Geometry 9
• Honors Science 9 (Chemistry and Physics)
• World History 9
• Spanish 2 (2nd year of Spanish)
• 
  

That last one is a free period. I think I'll take her suggestions on this. In middle school, I took some more fun classes, but in high school, I don't think it's about having fun at school.

This Thursday, someone is coming to our school to talk for two periods to us about classes to take, so that may change my answers a bit. I'll post again after that. By the way, ATC English 9 stands for Advance Tecnical Communications. My mom says that it is very useful if you want to write papers or books.

Writing Day #2

My writing day yesterday went rather well. I had to spend the morning, until around 1:30 doing homework, and after that I wrote almost nonstop. I finished with about 1000 more words than when I started. Nothing else really to report on it.

Jumper

I know I've already posted twice tonight, but we went over to my mom's friend, Shawn's, house to watch Jumper. Jumper is a sci-fi thriller about a 15 year old by who discovers that he has the power to Jump, to be able to teleport anywhere in the world in an instant. He quickly becomes rich by robbing a bank and leaves his mean father to live on his world, traveling all over the world everyday. He can surf waves in Fiji, climb Mount Everest, and have lunch on top of the Sphinx in an hour. He can do anything. But the Paladin's don't like that. David is pulled into an ancient war between the Jumpers and the Paladin's, a group of religious fanatics who believe that only God should have the power to do anything. The Paladin's hunt and murder anyone who has this power, and anyone who get's in their way; including David's girlfriend from before he left to travel the world. Suddenly, David and his girlfriend Millie are in a high-speed chase with some help from Griffen, another wise-cracking Jumper who'd been hunting Paladin's all his life. Amazing special effects. It was a pretty cool concept. I'd highly recomend it. It was very cool.

Inkheart: The Movie

Today, I went to see the movie version of Inkheart! It was actually pretty good. They ruined it, but they ruined it well. Wierd, I know. There were a few major changes, mostly in the beginning and end, but other than that, it stayed pretty true to the book.

****Movie and Book Spoilers Below****

• They changed the beginning. Dustfinger chased them around a marketplace somewhere snowy, instead of finding them at their home.
• Fenoglio had a manuscript of Inkheart in the movie.
• Elinor wasn't recaptured after they went to Fenoglio's village. She tried to go home, but instead went back to, with Darius, fight against Capricorn.
  
• Mo and Dustfinger went back to Capricorns village willingly, to try to find Resa.
• And the big one was that Meggie didn't finish reading Fenoglio's alternate story for the Shadow, and had to finish it by writing her own ending on her arm, in which ALL of Capricorn's men died, including Mortola and Basta.
• Resa could talk again at the end.
• Fenoglio asked to go into the book.
• Dustfinger was sent home to his wife by Mo at the end of the movie, and Farid stayed with the group at Elinor's house.

They made it so that they could not make a second, but it was still a good movie either way.

Inkspell

The last time I read Inkspell, I never actually finished. Over winter break though, I finally finished reading it, and it was terrific!!! I loved it, especially the world the Cornelie Funke has created. Although in the book, it was Fenoglio who made it. And Fenoglio is not happy about it. Everything is going wrong: Cosimo the Fair is dead; the Laughing Prince has lately been known as the Prince of Sighs; and the Adderhead is practically in control of the land. However, when Dustfinger, Farid, Meggie and Gwin appear in Inkworld, things my start to get better. Or maybe they won't. Mortola and Basta are out for revenge toward Mo, and when he is shot in the Inkworld, Resa must keep him alive until Meggie can help with her magical voice. I absolutely loved it.

I think that the best part was probably the Spelt Mill. Meggie, Farid, and Dustfinger went to a Mill in Argenta, the realm of the Adderhead, and they are ambushed by Basta. What I loved was that Farid saves the day, attacking Basta and the Slasher, his minion, with fire.

Right now, I am reading Inkdeath, book 3. It is great so far! I can't wait to see how it ends. The end of Inkspell really made me want to read more. By the way, tomorrow is my full day of writing! I'll post on it tomorrow morning.

Virus

Sorry I haven't (spelling issues) posted in a while. My computer caught a very bad virus somehow, so I've been partially cut off from the Internet all weekend, since Thursday night. My iTouch has been a lifesaver though. When I get my computer back I'll have a lot to write about.

Full Day of Writing: Day 1: Part 2

I don't have that much to say about my first full day of writing. I goofed off a little. I watched TV. It was pretty much a lazy Sunday, except that I got some work done. I wrote about 600 more words, and did a few minor revisions. I also thought up some more ideas and plotlines. It was fun though. Maybe I'll schedule a few more!

Full Day of Writing: Day 1: Part 1

Well, I'm all set to write all day long. The only things that will probably stop my writing today is breakfast, lunch, dinner, and whatever my brothers will need while I'm babysitting them. (Hopefully they'll still be in a good mood after Sunday School at the synagogue.) I slept in a good long time, which is great. (Last night was a good night to watch Saturday Night Live.) So, now I can get to writing. (Wow. Short post.) I may post later in the day, not including night, to say how it's going.

Fencing

Fencing: An olympic sport which is based off of swordfighting. 

Before 1st lesson:

I'm so excited!!! I start fencing lessons at the South Bellevue Community Center tonight!!! I've wanted to do this for so long. Watching Fencing in the Olympics really fueled my entusiasm (I don't usually use that kind of phrase.). And reading ton's of fantasy books really helped. Plus, if anyone has seen The Princess Bride, they'll know how that played into it. I can't wait. I am so jumpy that I decided to use a homework pass on one of my assignments. I wouldn't be able to finish more than 1 assignment because I'm so jumpy. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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There. That got rid of some of my jumpyness. Sorta. I'll post about my lesson after it happens.

By the way, I've gotten a lot of work done on my story in the last few days.

Like Bettina, I'm having trouble ending a post.

Awww... My cat looks so tiny curled up in a ball.

Ok. I'm done.

After 1st lesson:

It was really fun! I loved it. First, we started by learning the footwork: Engard, Advance, and Reverse. Then, we got a sword and learned how to hold it correctly. (The type of fencing we're learning is Epee, which is the French word for sword.) We also learned how to do the footwork while holding the sword, and how to do the basic attack: the Lunge. It was actually very tiring. Not only was the sword heavy, but holding the same bent-knees position for so long while moving hurts. I can't wait for my lesson next week.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year, everyone!!! It's finally 2009, and I'm confident that it will be a good year! (As long as we don't move.) First of all, later this year will be the start of high school! I can't wait to see how it's gonna be. Also, I hope to have finished my book by the end of the year. If many people could write a 50000 word novel in a month, I'm sure I can finish my rough draft with a years work. Only 44000 more words to go... to reach 50000. There are also some reading goals I want to meet. I want to have read some Shakespeare, for one. I'll figure out others later though. One Shakespeare is enough for me... for now anyways. My dad and I are going to see The Tempest in May, so I need to read that by then.

Lot's to do in so little time. A year is shorter than it feels.