The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moom Marigolds: The End

Well, let me just say, as my first play, I enjoyed it very much. I agree with everyone that Beatrice is an evil, vlie woman and would be more properly named Bellatrix. The way she treated Nanny was horrible but occasionally inspired a chuckle. Ruth was... interesting. She reminded me a lot of some of the girls at school that wear tight clothes and are total airheads. But Tillie was my favorite. She was quiet but very insightful. She reminded me of a younger version of Ivy but instead of loving english she loves science. I don't know why, but Ivy's just the person I put in the place of Tillie.


The end of the play is very peculiar. Beatrice just looses it. I was afraid she was going to kill somebody [besides poor Peter]! Then Paul Zindle [author] goes back to begining and it made me feel like the whole play was just a flashback. A very long, elaborate flashback, but a flashback none the less. But I think Beatrices last line was the most beautiful and least bitter and spiteful thing she said in the whole play despite the fact that it was "I hate the world.". But while reading this I still had the style of "Catcher In The Rye" stuck in my head so when she said "I hate the world" I read it as "I hate the world, I really do."

TEOGROMITMM Act 1

Strange. A play. Let's just say that play format is not my forte. The characters are somewhat amusing to me but the format of the whole thing just throws me for a loop. For me (and others easily distracted) I find myself loosing my spot all the time when I go from reading dialog to actions. But at least I always know who is talking!

Harry Potter is Awesome.

Well this week I have been re-reading the fourth installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I am a total Harry Potter junkie. We went to the Harry Potter universal over Thanksgiving break and I got a WAND! I'll try to remember to bring it to class Tuesday :)


It isn't my favorite book in the series but I do enjoy the fact that the three schools totally rearrange their school years to do the Triwizard Tournament. But even as I read it again, I can't help but wonder what the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang kids do while the Hogwarts kids are in classes. I imagine they just hang around the castle, which would be interesting for a little while but then it would get boring once you've explored the place.


One part of the book that I've gotten to so far (I'm only on about page 100 right now) that I absolutely love! It's when the Weasley's (Mr. Weasley, Fred, George and Ron) come to get Harry from the Dursley's. It's just so crazy and the chaos just made me smile!


Some of my favorite lines from the first seven chapters or so are:

"Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale."

"He held up the envelope in which Mrs. Weasley's letter had come, and Harry had to fight down a laugh. Every bit of it was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, into which Mrs. Weasley had squeezed the Dursley's address in minute writing. 'She did put enough stamps on, then' said Harry..."

"They had reached the very edge of the wood at the top of the field, and here was an empty space, with a small sign hammered into the ground that read WEEZLY. 'Couldn't have a better spot!' said Mr. Weasely happily."

The Catcher In The Rye Ch. 7-12

Holden is different. Not a bad kind of different, but just different. He's the kind of different you think of when you can't really think of a way to describe something extraordinary. [that is so going in my novel!]

What I am really enjoying about this book is that J.D. Salinger hasn't really established a severe problem or goal that Holden must accomplish. So far it seems to me like Holden is just confused about life and I like that, it's very... easy to relate to.

I also love how Holden says that Jane really knocks him out. It's so cute!
Two of my favorite lines from this week are:
       -"If you was a fish, Mother Nature'd take care of you, wouldn't she? Right? You don't think fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?" [from the very 'touchy' cab driver, Horwitz]
       -"If I were a piano player, I'd play it in the goddam closet." [just a thought from Holden]

I am very much enjoying this book. I feel like Holden is an old friend of mine, but I can't put my finger on who...

The Catcher In The Rye Ch. 1-6

I LOVE this book! Holden is such an interesting character and I love how he considers himself a pacifist but he's totally willing to fight with Stradlater (who seems like a real jerk if you ask me). And I also enjoy how he calls people by their last names, because I also do that occasionally. He is just so blunt about things and I love the way he always says, I really did. Its as if he's trying to convince the reader that he's not that bad of a kid. Also, I love how he does things that he knows will piss people off, it just makes me laugh.

 My three favorite sentences in this section are (when Holden was in Mr. Spencer's room) "He put my goddamn paper down then and looked at me like he had just beaten the hell out of me in ping-pong or something." and (when Holden was talking about Mr. Ossenburger) He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all."  and (when Holden was in "the can" with Stradlater) "I got bored  sitting on that washbowl after a while, so I backed up a few feet and started doing this tap dance, just for the hell of it."

I also like how this book is written in first person! That's how I'm writing my novel and this book is actually helping me a little with the style. I also like the swearing, you can really tell Holden is a teenager!

To Build A Fire

We read this in 6th grade. And it is just a... simple, story. I did not enjoy it then and it was almost worse the second time because I already knew what was going to happen. Compared to the short stories we have previously read... well it doesn't even compare!  The main character is not the brightest guy around and he just bugs me with his very little use of common sense. That's pretty much all I've got to say.

The Odyseey; It's Finally Over!

Well as you all know, we finished The Odyssey! YAY! This week it was actually enjoyable, though. I really liked the part when there was a total massacre of the suitors. They didn't stand a chance! I was a little confused, was the shooting the arrows through the axes inside or outside? I was very confused... But other than that, I really liked the reading this week. I will be a little sad to see some of the characters go, like Odysseus, he was cool, a little deceiving (he never actually told anyone hos real identity until he had too). In hindsight, I realized that Athena was really good at getting involved with other people's business and that just bugged me sometimes! But alas, the book is done, and I am relieved. Peace out!

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

This is a very amusing comedy based on the book The Odyssey. There are three main characters; Everette, Pete and Delmar. Because the movie is based off the book, there are several similarities between the two.

One is, at the beginning of the movie when the trio escapes from prison, they reach a train track and just miss the train that passes. As they stand there looking after the train, and old man in a push cart comes along and gives them a ride.That instance is like when Minerva aids Telemachus and tells him to go search for news of his lost father, Odysseus.

Another is that when ever they are very close to being captured by the police, Everette says, "damn," and then a statement complaining about having to flee. That is like all of the epithets Homer uses throughout The Odyssey like, "rosy fingered dawn".

One more similarity that I found so far is that in The Odyssey, there are beautiful Sirens that attempt to lead people to their death by singing about what the person desired most. In the movie there are women sing to Everette, Pete and Delmar and lead them off to sleep. When they awaken, Pete is gone and a toad is sitting where he was so Delmar thinks that the women turned him into a toad and he is very distressed.

There are probably more similarities, but those are just a few I picked out!

This Week's Reading

Well we read part of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It was... interesting. I had no idea what was going on until the end and let me just say, I was shocked and a little creeped out. I can't believe that they would have stoned a little kid! I wasn't very surprised when I read that it was Tessie Hutchinson who got stoned, just because of how much of a big deal she made about everything not being fair and so on. What was the most astonishing to me was that they made the family of that person throw stones too. It was just a generally depressing story.

And of course I read The Odyssey books 13-17 and that was... well it's required reading. I don't really enjoy the book but we've had to read worse (example: Habibi in Comp. & Lit. 1 :P).

Last Weeks Reading Posted This Week (oops)

Well The Odyssey was ok this week. Very good descriptions and I enjoyed getting some background on Odysseus. His story was pretty interesting.

I really, really, really liked A Good Man is Hard to Find. My favorite character was June Star, she was so funny! I loved some of the things she said like, "I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!" She was quite a card. A few things were confusing, like why there was a monkey outside of Red Sammy's restaurant. That threw me for a loop... Also, The Misfit was probably the most insightful murderer I've ever read about. My favorite lines of his (which was my favorite lines in the story) were, "there was never a body that give the undertaker a tip." and, "It's no real pleasure in life."

The Odyssey Books V-VIII

Well I am now enjoying The Odyssey much more now that we are talking about Ulysses and not Telemachus. I am starting to love how the author describes things and the epithets are slightly annoying but they're also quite beautiful. Calypso sounds like one wacked out chick! Though I do enjoy the way Homer described her home at the beginning of book V, it was great!

This Week's Reading

This week I have been re-reading a book from my favorite series, the Harry Potter series! I am reading the 3rd installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is my second favorite of the series, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm about a quarter of the way through and I am enjoying it very much. I absolutely love J.K. Rowling's style of writing and there are so many of the details in the book that you don't always remeber so when I re-read it it's sort of like a mini flashback.

Also I am doing my requirered reading for PATH. And to be honest, I am not enjoying The Odyssey very much. It's somewhat confusing to me and so I don't always rememeber what I just read so I have to keep going back and re-read. I am hoping that the story will at least pick up and start on a very adventurous track.

The Odyssey: Book One

I really enjoyed Book One of The Odyssey. At first it was difficult for me to understand, but then I started reading it out loud and it all clicked. Also, I had to keep backtracking to make sure I was thinking about the correct person. They all had really awesome name, though. I really want to know what happens next on Telemachus jouney.

Summer Reading

Unlike others in my PATH class, I didn't read all too much this summer. I spent most of the time at one of my two summer swim teams. But when I did read, I read a fantastic book called Split by Swati Avasthi. It's a story about a teenage boy (Jace) with an abusive father who gets kicked out and goes to find his older brother (Christian) who left a few years earlier. The story is based on Jace's new life with Christian in New Mexico. The whole time Jace is counting down the days until Thanksgiving, which is the day his mom promised to come to New Mexico. And along the way the author adds in memories from Jace's haunting past that are limiting him in his new home. It is an awesome book and i recomend it to everyone!