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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

Occasions

Wow. So much has happened in so little time. I'll go through them one by one in time order. I'm to tired to organize it in any other way.

1. We went school shopping last week, so that means that school is just around the corner. School starts for me on Tuesday, the day after I get back from here in Savannah. I'll be three hours earlier. Ugggggghhhh. Why has summer gone so fast.

2. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Biirrtthhdaaaaayyyy to Brian, Happy Birthday to me. I'm the only one here to sing it to me, so that will have to do. My Birthday was actually a few days ago. I just didn't have time (or the attention span) to post. So far, I haven't gotten many gifts, although the ones I have gotten are pretty good. I got a savings account, 100 dollars, 50 dollars, a cake, a book called Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander, and a promise for a gift that I don't know of yet. No party this year.

3. Well, the reason I am in Savannah is that my best friend, Jeremy, is having his bar-mitzvah this weekend. Plus, I get to see some of my family too. Good luck, Jeremy!

4. Last, my bar-mitzvah is coming up soon. Just 2 or 3 more weeks to go. Its a good thing I brought my torah stuff to practice with. I just hope I remember to . Else I'll end up sick, like my Uncle did on his bar-mitzvah.

Well, thats really all that I have to talk about.

Epic: Part 1

Right now, I am reading a great Science-Fiction book called Epic by Conor Kostick. I found the book at the local bookstore when I asked the lady at the counter about any new fantasy books.

On New Earth, a planet colonized about 1000 years ago when Earth was consumed by war, there is only one law: No Violence. New Earth is run by Central Allocations, and at the head of Central Allocations is the Committee. They govern the world through Epic, a computer game where conflicts are solved in the arena. Everyone has a character and if you lose in the arena, you will lose all of your wealth and you could be moved to a hard job, like one at the salt pans or the mines.

In Eric's small agricultural district, Hope, Central Allocations is neglecting the district's needs. After the Committee learns the true identity of Eric's father after a battle for the district's needs, he is exiled and Eric and his friends begin a quest through Epic to save him. In doing so, they will face enemies, allies, and they will learn secrets of the game that the Committee has been hiding for years.

So far, it is an awesome story. Since I probably won't finish until I'm gone, I'll finish posting a review after I get back from camp.

Lastly, SCHOOL'S OUT!

Random Stuff: June

Sorry I posted this late. I've been very busy.

1. I have decided on my list of camp books. Check back on June 16th for my list.

2. My Culture Project on James Fontaine is finally done. I know that I got at least an A- on it. My presentation was supposed to be at least 10-15 minutes. Instead, it was 19 minutes long.

3. Hooray!!! School ends one week from today. And the last day is only 20 minutes per period. The second to last day is field day.

4. Hooray!!! Again! Next Saturday, the 14th is the day when I go to sleep-away camp. Sadly, starting then, I wont be able to post until early July. :(

5. I will soon be posting on two movies I've seen recently: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and The Princess Bride. Both are great movies!

6. My brothers have both gotten new video games. It is very distracting when your working on school projects.

7. Speaking of school projects, I have another big project for school. It is a Baseball Statistics Project for school. We were supposed to pick a player and I chose Chipper Jones from the Atlanta Braves.

8. I can't think of any thing else to say.

9. Wait, one last thing. I'm going to have my contest to win a copy of Farworld: Water Keep by J Scott Savage soon, before I go to camp. I'll announce the winner when I get back from camp. Bye!

The Key to Reading Two Books at Once: Part 2

To get some stuff out of the way, I went to see Prince Caspian last weekend, and it was pretty good. It had a lot more action than the first, but it wasn't quite better. It was a little rushed. My Grandma has gone back to Chicago and my brother and Dad are back. I just finished my Culture Projects rough draft this morning. (I had to miss the bus to do it, too.) I have a four day weekend and I deserve it after such a long (or short) week. That just about all going on with my life.

Right now, I am reading two books at once, and once again, I am reading one more than the other. I am reading Fablehaven by Brandon Mull and The Alchemyst by Micheal Scott. I think that I am reading Fablehaven more than The Alchemyst because of two reasons. For one, I started it a few days before The Alchemyst. Two, although this kind of relates to one, I am far into Fablehaven and not very far into The Alchemyst. I am, therefore, more excited to see what happens in Fablehaven. So, another tip for people trying to read two books at once, try to start at the same time and to keep a steady pace, switching of every chapter or two, or something like that. So far, I'd highly recommend Fablehaven, but I can't yet say the same with The Alchemyst, considering I'm only in chapter 2.

Memoirs of a Huguenot Family by James Fontaine

My Culture Project at school is going great!

I am doing my project on my great x 11 grandfather, James Fontaine. He had an amazing life and cool family history. His great great grandfather was a member of the royal court in France in the early 1500s but was assassinated after he became a protestant and resigned his position on the court. James had trouble with the French because of this and fought French Pirates to defend his home in Ireland. If you want to read what really happened with him, his book is on the web. Click Here to go to it. Some of the parts are boring, but some are really unbelievable.

I am writing a 5+ page fictional story about him, focusing on the two pirate attacks he faced. Right now, I am outlining it. The outline is due this Friday, May 2nd. I'm actually pretty confident about this project. (Okay... I'm still worried about the speech part.) This isn't one of those boring school papers. This is an exciting story about something that really happened to my own ancestor. (Okay, that sounds a lot more fun when you say it that way.) I am about halfway through the outline already and I started it today! I have a feeling that I'll do fairly well. Wish me luck!

Future Fantasy

First of all, I have just finished Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia. The actual battle took up a lot of chapters. It was a great book.

Today, I'm going to talk about upcoming fantasy books that I am jumping out of my pants to read:

Fantasy author T.A. Barron has just released the cover and description of his upcoming trilogy, Merlin's Dragon. Merlin's Dragon is set right in-between The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon. To visit his website, Click Here. If you haven't read any of his books and you have no idea what I'm talking about, your missing out. Both The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon are amazing stories. If you have read them, post a review (if you want) here. I want to here what you think of the book. Also, if you have read The Adventures of Kate by T.A. Barron, tell me how it is. I'm thinking about reading it.It is being released in Fall of 2008.

Another fantasy book I can't wait to read is Warriors: The Power of Three: Outcast. This one is a little closer than Merlin's Dragon. It is coming out on April 22, 2008, a few days from now. This is the 3rd book in The Power of Three series. I've been waiting for it to come out ever since the 2nd book came out. On the same day, I'm pretty sure two other Erin Hunter books are being released. They are Warriors: Manga edition: Warrior's Return and Seekers: Book 1: The Journey Begins. I am a little less excited for these two. To visit the Warriors website, click here. If you've read any Warriors books, pick your favorite and post a small review here. (If you want to.)

Next, Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo is being released this Fall 2008. Jenny Nimmo has also posted the new cover recently. A lot of people haven't heard of Charlie Bone, but it is a very good series. If you have read it, once again, post a review here on your favorite. (From now on, their all if you wants.) To visit Jenny Nimmo's website, click here.

Wow!!! I just found out that Ranger's Apprentice: Book 5: Sorcerer in the North will be released in the US in November of 2008. Just a few more months! If you have read any Ranger's Apprentice books blah blah blah, blah blah. You know what I was going to say. To visit John Flanagan's site, click here. To see the cover of book 5, US edition, click here.

And then of course, there are the upcoming books we all probably know about. There's Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, and mot importantly, Farworld--Water Keep by our friend J Scott Savage. Sheesh. I just listed out almost all of the books that I'm dieing for. Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

By the way, WASL testing days: 3 down, 3 to go.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia

I have just started reading Ranger's A.... whatever, I'm just going to say the second part from now on... The Battle for Skandia. So far, I'm on page 109, and the main characters have escaped from some enemies, been captured by new enemies, almost escaped, saved by old friends, discovered a plot to take over at least 4 other countries, and have found that the enemy has already secretly moved their entire army into Skandia, one of the countries they plan to conquer. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 294 pages. By the way, in Australia, this book is actually titled "Oakleaf Bearers" instead of The Battle for Skandia. Cool huh. This is such a great series... even though it is such a mouthful. Well, I have to get ready. Writing 1 WASL today. Wish me luck!

Karate + WASLs

First of all, WASLs ARE HERE!!!! I just took the reading 1WASL today. I think I did pretty well. Here is the WASL schedule (as far as I know.): Reading 1 (done,) Writing 1, Reading 2, Writing 2, Math 1, and Math 2. Tomorrow, I have to take Writing 1! Duh duh duhhhhh. Here comes my doom, so wish me luck.

Second of all, Great job Ezra! Today, he passes his belt test (I didn't even know it was testing day) to advance to blue belt. Since Jordan and I took an extra week of karate camp, we were blue belts already, but since we weren't ready to test yet (the blue belt form is hard,) Ezra will finally be the same belt as us. Congratulations Ezra!!!

The Icebound Land + My Annoying Little Brothers

First of all, I am almost done with Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Land. I have about 30 pages left. Then I can begin book four, The Battle for Skandia. There are actually 7 books, but only books 1-4 are released here in the U.S. yet. The rest are all released in Australia though, so if you ever take a trip there, take your chance and get books 5, 6, and 7.

Next, MY BROTHERS ARE SO ANNOYING. They woke me up at 6:57 AM... ON A SATURDAY!!! SO THAT THEY COULD WATCH SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS LOUD ENOUGH! Tomorrow, we're going skiing, so I won't get to in then! Now I have to wait another whole week! They are in for a rough day... and I'm in for a rougher week. WASLs!!! Oh well, at least Ezra has them too.

WASL Testing

Here in WA, at school, our standardized testing is called the WASL. It stands for Washington Assessment of Student Learning. I am getting kinda stressed out. I am confident in almost all of my subjects except for Writing. Ironic, huh. The kid who reads almost 24/7 and is thinking about being a writer when he grows up is not very sure of himself in writing. Usually, when it comes to school writing, I stink. However, when it comes to writing for fun, I'm actually OK. Why can't they just make school writing seem fun? Wish me luck on the testing. It starts next week.

Family Tree

My family tree research is going well. Last night, my grandma and I were adding more stuff into the tree and finding more stories about certain parts of the Brewton/Fontaine family. We found that there was also a book called the Memoirs of Jean de la Fontaine. It might have been Jacues de la Fontaine. Right now, a 40 something page long paper is being printed with lots of names to put into the family tree. Uh oh! It just ran out of paper.

2 minutes later...
I found the paper.

2 more minutes later...
Ok. That was a pain. I think I loaded enough paper to finish. (I hope.) Either way, the tree is really good. We have info on ancestors all the way from about the 1400s! For the project, we have to do a paper, a speech, and a visual display. I think I have the visual display covered. I'll do the time line and some pictures. I have no clue what I'll do on the other two though. Once I get the full rubric, I'll post some more info here. I have a feeling that I might need your help with thinking of ideas.