24

The following post happens between 10:03 PM and 10:06 PM

Events occur in real time.

10:03

I've been watching 24 non stop. Best show ever!

10:04

My mom and her boyfriend, Shawn have the first 6 seasons of the show on DVD and I've been watching them all the way through for the past two months.

10:05

Right now, I am in season 5. So far, I think the best season is..... well, all of them. I can't

10:06

think of any one that was better then the others. It is so good!!!!!!!!!!!! Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in terrorists.

10:07

It has so many great twists!!!!!! I never know what happens next!! I can't believe the bad guy in Season 1 was reallly ****. Sorry. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. And anyone who hasn't really should!

10:08

10:09

Jack Bauer is awesome!!!!!

10:10

Ummm.... can't really think of anything else to say without spoiling the whole series.

Victory!!!

For the last few months, I've had some major writers block in some of my stories. I felt as if they were missing something really important. They all had a good amount of magic in them, and some politics, but I just realized a third thing very important in making these fictional worlds.

Over the last few days, I've been reading Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson. It's very good, and it showed me that third thing I was missing. In these worlds I'd created, there was no religion! There was a god or two, of course, but I was thinking of them in more mythological ways, less as beings worshiped by the people in my worlds. Also, these gods belonged to the same sort of religion. Everyone believed in them. Reading Elantris though, I realized the illogic in that. Everyone isn't going to believe in the same thing! Being Jewish, I can't believe I didn't notice that before. In real life, I see how my religion differs from others all the time, but I never thought to include it in my writing. Adding these religions can help stem tons of new story lines, and much more to write. Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!!!

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.