I lost the game.

Haha. The title of this blogpost is EPIC.

Anyway, here is just a youtube video of Indus Valley's amazing sailboat :D
Thank you Livy, Canek and Diego for working together to build this boat. Indus Valley pwned.



(And thank you Jeffery for giving me the song used in the video.)
And thank you Taylor for hauling our boat into the bay and chasing it when it was sailing away.

Lol. Laugh Out Loud. Lawl.

First off, I would like to thank my friend Brandon for showing me this.

This is absolutely hilarious. Try it with your blogs! You can use other types of "Dialects" for your blog.

http://rinkworks.com/dialect/dialectp.cgi?dialect=jive&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tayloritablog.blogspot.com%2F

Funny stuff. Haha.

Gates of Fire and the Taco Song?!

This is for Livy :P

Ok, while we were reading Gates of Fire, we saw the quote on page 322: "No horses or beaters, just two dogs per man." And we both started LAUGHING. It reminded us of our inside joke called the Taco Song :)

Literature is awesome :D.....especially when it makes you laugh!




This is also to introduce the Taco Song and its awesomeness :D

Dialectic Journals for books 7 and 8

Book 7

Page 318: "Leonidas offered the parties wine from his personal store and poured the libations from his own plain cup. He addressed each man , squires not included, not by his name, but by his nickname, and even the diminutive of that. He called Doreion "Little Hare", the Knights play name from childhood. Dekton he addressed not as Rooster, but "Roo," and touched him with tendermess upon the shoulder."

I remember when Charlotte was talking about this moment in class. It's a small paragraph, but it has a lot of meaning. Like Charlotte said, King Leonidas knows so much about his men, that he knows there childhood names. Not only that, but he refers to them by their childhood names. Now how cool is that! If Leonidas knows there childhood names, it means that he obviously has the means trust and cares for them. He doesn't act superior among them, instead he blends in with them. Leonidas is probably a role for the spartan warriors. I personally would like to be called my childhood name by my teachers or friends. It shows they know me.

Page 333: "The opposite of fear," Dienekes said, "is love."

When I read this, I had no clue what they meant. I personally thought that the opposite of fear is courage, bravery, or fearlessness. I thought about that quote and how it related to the story. What I determined is that their love for fighting for Sparta over powered their fear and that's what lead to there incredible patriotism. That's why they were so strong against an army that was much much larger than theirs.

It might also be one of those "love conquers all" things. I'm not really sure, but I will stick with my first statement.

Book 8

Page 360: "In the final moments before the actual commencement of people, when the lines of the Persians and Medes and Sacae, the Bactrians and Illyrians, Egyptians and Macedonians, lay so close across from the defenders that their individual faces could be seen, Leonidas moved along the Spartan than Thespian foreranks, speaking with each platoon commander individually. When he stopped beside Dienekes, I was close enough to hear his words.
'Do you hate them, Dienekes?' the king asked in the tone of a comrade, unhurried, conversational, gesturing to those captains and officers of the Persians proximately visible across the oudenos chorion, the no-mans-land.
Dienekes answered at once that he did not. 'I see faces of gentle and noble bearing. More than a few, I think, whom one would welcome with a clap and a laugh to any table of friends.'"

Oh my goodness. That was an intense moment. Dienekes is probably getting that horrible feeling of killing innocent people who are great friends and great men. Knowing that good men are fighting and you could possibly murder them is a stab in the guts. This part of the book just spoke to me. Either kill people you know are good men? or fight for your civilization? It's one of those decisions that no matter what you will feel bad about it in the end possibly. But, this also shows that the Spartans aren't ruthless killers. They were intelligent people who had feelings and dedication. Sparta rules :)

Page 364-365: "The ear could hear His Majesty bawling orders, so near at hand ranged he upon his chariot. Was he calling in his foreign tongue for his men to cease fire, to capture the final defenders alive? Were those to whom he cried the marines of Egypt, under their captain, Ptammitechus, who spurned their monarchs order and rushed in t0 gift what Spartans and Thespaians they could reach with the final boon of death? It was impossible to see or hear within the tumult. "

You can imagine by these few sentences what is going on. It's a turmoil, a large stream of clashes. Later on page 365 it says: "...overwhelmed by the insuperable onslaught of heaven."
Ok, it's official. Gates of Fire was very INTENSE. This should be called the Gates of Intensiveness. It describes the madness going on. I really like the onslaught of heaven. Two words that stand out. Heaven, a place of peace. Onslaught, brutal attacks. Oxymoron!

This event reminds me of the black Friday riots. The screams and voices of desperate shoppers roared the malls, and someone was killed from their stampede.

Thank you.

There are many things I am thankful for this year and now I would like to list them with a bunch of cheer!

I'm thankful for teachers High Tech High Media Arts
Because they inspire me to learn and follow my heart
I'm thankful for my friends at Patrick Henry High School
Because even though I'm not at the same school as them, they are still cool.
I am also thankful for my new friends at HTHMA,
Since you guys totally rock, hurray!
I'm thankful for my family,
who have a home for me daily
and I'm thankful for the Twilight Movie
because it was groovy!
(I'm also thankful that it was one of the best movies ever and it totally enlightened my week!)
I'm thankful for savior Jesus,
and our new Toyota Prius.
Along our troops and music,
and the moments in my life that are " classic"
I must say,
I will have much to thank on Thanksgiving day

Secret Life of Bees

Last week, I saw Secret Life of Bees the movie. It blew me away. The movie was slightly different, but it also included many similarities. The differences in the movie compared to the book I noticed was the way Zach went to jail, the relationship between the Bees and the Black Mary, and how May died

The first big difference I noticed in The Secret Life of Bees movie was when Zach went to jail. In the book on page 179 to page 180, it explains how one of Zachs friends throws a bottle at a mans head and they police takes Zach and his friends away because none of them would admit who through the bottle. In the movie, Lily and Zach go see a movie together. There were two separate theaters that were for white and colored. Zach and Lily both go into the colored theater and a group of white men beat up Zach because he was watching a movie with a white (Lily). I was a little confused during that part of the movie, but I believe that Zach was kidnapped by those men and the police didn't want to do anything to help them.

The relationship between the bees and the Black Mary between Lily isn't very strong in the movie compared to the book. The only time you really see Lily interacting and deeply feeling connected to the Black Mary is when she touches her heart and when she is learning about the story of the Black Mary. But, a similarity that occurred was when Lily approached the Black Mary statue and fainted (page 111). Also, Lily didn't seem very connected with the bees either. Immediately as she is learning about how to bee keep, she says "I love you, I love you" in the movie. In the book, she keeps on saying "I love you, I love you" in her head as the queen bee lands on her forehead.

The part everyone started to tear up and snort big sniffles during the movie was Mays . Yes, in the movie May does by drowning herself just like she did in the book (page 192-193) but the events leading up to it was different. Instead of May finding out about how Zach was in jail from the Boatwrights, Zachs mom tells her instead. May does freeze up like she did in the book and collapse, but when she said she was going to the wall, August didn't argue with her about someone going with her. Instead it just flips to a screen of May walking out of the house.

Other minor differences was when T-Ray finds Lily. In the movie, Lily never called T-Ray to ask him what was her favorite color, instead he was staring at the wall were the map of South Carolina was. He notices there was a bump where the city "Tiburon" is. Also, when Rosaleen and Lily run away and they sleep across from each other from the river like in the book, when Lily wakes up, she is walking with Rosaleen. In the book, she wakes up and freaks out because Rosaleen isn't there.

I truly enjoyed this movie. It was very powerful, even if it was confusing for some people if you didn't read it. I actually liked some of the changes they did in the movie, for example, the issue with Zach. It was heart warming and a great reminder of the book by the wonderful author Sue Monk Kidd.

Gates of Fire Dialectic Journal 7-9

Chapter 7, page 59:

"I felt it was my doing, my brothers death, as if I had willed it in secret and the gods had somehow responded to this shameful prayer. It was the most painful thing that had ever happened to me. I felt I couldn't go on living, but I didn't know how honorably to end my life."

Dienekes is having a strong feeling of regret. He is explaining how the pain of is brothers death being his fault is something that gives him great sorrow and to the point that he wants to commit suicide. This part of Gates of Fire reminds me of Secret Life of Bees. He feels that the death of his brother was his fault and Lily felt the death of her mother was her fault. The feeling of regret is very overwhelming and it surely haunts you for a long time or even for your whole life. It made Lily in Secret Life of Bees feel lonely and unloved while in Gates of Fire, Dienekes wants to take his life. Regret leads to sorrow and the loss of a loved one can be such a strong sorrow to lead someone to wanting to commit suicide.

Chapter 8, page 75:

"This is my shield. I bear it before me into battle, but its not only mine alone. It protects my brother on my left. It protects my city. I will never let my brother out of its shadow nor my city out of its shelter. I will die with my shield before me facing the enemy."

I really like this quote. Its very meaningful, powerful and it really makes me think. It represents bravery and especially honor for someones community and family. Putting others before yourself is represented in this quote. It obviously relates to war, as in fighting for your country and people. The shield represents that you died fighting for what you believed in or many other reasons that could be considered honorable or heroic in your eyes. If you were to die, you would die with the honor of a warrior who fought for your people and community. That is what the shield represents in the quote. This quote can also be changed, but still hold a very strong meaning. Instead of shield you can say my heart and instead of a brother and city, you can say friends and family. Then it would represent the bond and love of friends and family. Whenever there is a quote that I really like, I change it up to see if I can make it into something else meaningful. This quote is an excellent example.

Chapter 9, page 77:

"When they hit, he was good for nothing for minutes at a stretch. If he could not find a way to reverse this condition, he could not when he reached manhood and made a warrior; he would lose his citizenship and be left to choose between living on in some lesser state of disgrace or embracing honor and taking his own life."

Wow! Thats a burn straight to the heart for Alexandros! If he can't recover from the situation hes in, he will lose the chance to earn the title he is working his butt off for! Being a warrior is a big title and if you lose it, as it says "living on in some lesser state of disgrace of embracing honor and taking his own life." Thats horrible! The choice of living in disgrace or suicide. This shows majorly how honor plays a big role in society. Its like saying if you humiliated yourself today, its equivalent to death. Thats a scary thought I must point out. This also might of applied to other civilizations as well.

Gate Of Fire Dialectic Journal: Chapters 4-7

Chapter 4, page 21.

"This I learned then: There is always fire.
An acrid haze hangs in the air night and day, and sulphurous smoke chokes the nostrils. The sun is the color of ash , and black stones litter the road, smoking. Everywhere one looks, some object is afire. Timber, flesh, the earth itself. Even water burns. The pitilessness of flame reinforces the sensation of the gods' anger, of fate, retribution, deeds done and hell to pay."

Whoa. This quote was very intense. As soon as I read "there is always fire", I knew something big was going to happen or he was going to say something very strong. Xeones has definitely shown great intensity in what he says. For this passage, Xeones is describing what it would look like if a fire was going on. It's scary to think about that there is something always on fire, no matter what it is. We all know fire is a dangerous thing (especially in southern California), such as what it does and even what it sometimes represents. When he says "The pitilessness of flame reinforces the sensation of the gods' anger, of fate, retribution, deeds done and hell to pay" When he says hell to pay, it could be referring to the flames of hell. Being surrounded by fire is probably not the most joyful thing in the world. Its the way he describes the fire that makes it so interesting to read this passage. When he says "The sun is the color of ash , and black stones litter the road, smoking" it really hooks me in. Its similar to hearing juicy gossip, or watching a movie that has you on the end of your seat.

Chapter 5, page 28.

"Before, on my fathers farm, we had caught wild birds for our cote, or to make breeding pairs, or just to hold for an hour before returning them to freedom. Now we ate them. Bruxieus made us devour everything but the feathers. We crunched the little hallow bones; we ate the eyes, and the legs right down to the boot, discarding only the beak and the unchewable feet. We gulped the eggs raw."

Ew. I am not kidding, I cringed after reading that. That is disgusting! I can't even imagine how horrible that must have been. This was the first passage of this book to actually make me physically react. I litteraly cuffed my mouth and squinted my eyes. That was mostly because he said "We crunched the little hallow bones", which brought me in and made me feel like I was there observing that. Besides the fact that it was beyond disgusting, it represents a change or in a way a transformation. Lets think of it as chores. When we were young, we had to just simply clean up our messes or help vacuum the floor. Now that we are older we have to clean the dishes, mow the lawn, take out the trash and much more. Chores to me when I was younger wasn't a big deal and sometimes fun. Now I dread it. I have to do things I don't want to do, and the load of stuff for me to do is bigger. Being forced to do more stuff you don't want to do is an awful feeling. Even though doing chores isn't anywhere near being as bad as eating chicken bones, it is a similar transition. You go from doing something okay and fun with the chickens, to crunching up their bones in you mouth. (I'm not sure if this is the right way to think of this situation, but that's what it reminded me of when reading it)

Chapter 6, page 40.

"Then a terrifying thought struck me.
What if this is the wrong tree? Perhaps I should be leaning against that one. Or that other, over there. A panic of indecision seized me. I was in the wrong spot!"

Haha. Making choices. If anyone ever asked me the number one thing I'm bad at or my number one least favorite thing to do, my answer would be making a decision or choice. I can never decide on anything. I'm always my afraid my decisions are wrong or something that another person doesn't want. My parents always ask me what I want for dinner. Every single time they ask me that, I always say "I don't know. I'll eat whatever you want." Even today I couldn't make a choice. My mom and I were in See's candy and I was getting 3 of those Cafe Latte Lolly-pops. Then I saw a box full of mini ones. I asked my mom if it was a good idea to get the 3 pops or the box of little ones. My mom asked me to decide and I couldn't choose. I looked behind me and saw a line of people. So my mom finally chose for me (the 3 pops). Then I realized that getting the box of mini ones was a better deal. Choosing the right tree would definitely be stressful and a very tough decision. Its horrible when you make a choice and its the wrong one, so I know what that panic feeling would be like for him.

Election 2008

2008's race for President will surely go down in history. The first woman to run for President, Hilary Clinton. The first African American to run, Barack Obama and much more. This has truly been a very exciting year. But now it comes down to republican John McCain and democrat Barack Obama. Both candidates I believe have good ideas BUT! I believe John McCain would be a better President at this time rather than Obama. He might state good ideas for what they want to do for America, but can we trust them? Obama and McCain have had "Flip-Flops" but Obamas flips strike me more than McCains. What if he were to do a major Flip Flop of his ideas as president? That would surely disappoint the United States citizens considering we voted for that him to be President for what he planned to do to help us.

I remembered back to one of the debates between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, he bad mouths her about getting defensive about people attacking her during the debates. In this link, it says that Hilary used her gender as a cover for protection as quoted "she was pummeled in a debate with six male candidates". Barack says "So it doesn't make sense for her, after having run that way for eight months, the first time that people start challenging her point of view, that suddenly she backs off and says: 'Don't pick on me' "
In Obamas blueprint of change, on page 51, it says: "Barack has a long record of standing up for women."
Yes, it may be true that Hilary shouldn't have gotten so defensive about people picking on her and using her gender as a reason why, but, what if those 6 people WERE really picking on her because she was a woman. If Obama was truly supportive of womens rights and standing up for them, shouldn't he have stood up for Hilary?

Obama does indeed like change. Even changing his own view points! In this blog post it gives us a list of Obamas "Flip-Flops" (it states articles where he/she got the information from). One of them that struck me the most was 6th one titled "Running for President or Vice President of the United States" which said:
On the January 22nd edition of “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert and Obama had the following exchange:Russert: “When we talked back in November of ‘04 after your election, I said, ‘There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?’”Obama: “I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.”Russert: “So you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?” Obama: “I will not.”
Wow, Obama broke his promise as Senator. Would he break his promises in his plans for change?

It also bugs me about the amount of effort they are putting into there plans and debates.
For Obama, I see a downfall for his written plan. He doesn't describe enough about HOW hes going to change.
Again referring back to his blueprint of change, he doesn't give enough ways how hes going to change things in the US. For example, on page 52 for "Work with Mexico", Obama only gives us 1 sentence about how hes going to work with Mexico. It says: Obama believes we need to more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration. After I read that, I let out a very disappointed sigh. One sentence? Anyone can write one sentence about how to work with Mexico. Actually, I bet most people can write 5 sentences! Immigration from Mexico is becoming a big debate in the United States and we need more than just a one sentence way of how the president will help change it. What I see missing in many parts of Obamas plan for change is how hes going to change it. Now, this doesn't apply for all of Obamas plans, but just a lot of them. I still believe that Obama is a good and intelligent man, but he needs to put more thought and effort into what he wants to change, who's going to be involved, when is it going to happen and much more.

This is another scary thing about Obama. In this link, Senator Barack wants to invade Pakistan and hunt down terrorist. Well, we are already in war with Iraq, why would we want to start a possible conflict with Pakistan especially in the condition we are in. This is why I want McCain as president. McCain has seen the horrors of war and he has major military experiences. Obama has NONE. You can't understand war until you see it yourself and Obama has not viewed war. The President of the United States is the Commander and Chief. If we want to get out of war soon and avoid wars, we need McCain who understands war and will only use war in the future as an extreme last resort. But now that we are in war, we do need to make sure that Iraq can govern itself and if we leave right now it will be dangerous because a civil war could break out in the middle east. We need to settle peace with them. (See McCains plan for Victory in Iraq here)

Here is my final issue I will explain about Obama's policies. He wants to lower taxes for the lower class and give higher taxes to the rich class. Yah! Sure it might sound nice and dandy, but its communism. If the lower class has less taxes, they would have more money and become part of the middle class. If the rich have higher taxes, they will obviously lose money and go to the middle class. Wow. Everyone will be middle class! What does that sound like? Communism. Also, if the rich work hard, why should they be charged more for taxes. That just seems unfair. Instead, McCain wants to just keep taxes low. (See his plan for taxes here)

Its time for some campaigning !

If you haven't seen this video, be prepared for this very hilarious video with a song that is completely stuck in my head!

Hero Blurb

This is my hero David. David is my hero because even though he didn't know me very well, he still wanted to help me when I was trouble. In the end, he successfully found out who spread the rumor about me. His kindness towards me makes him a great hero.

A picture that I like.

This is a photo I took in Massachusetts when I went on the 8th grade East Coast Trip. It is an image of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial in Boston. When I first saw this memorial, I was overwhelmed with multiple thoughts. Probably the first word that came to mind when I saw this was leader. The person on the horse is Robert Shaw. He was the leader of the 54th regiment and lead the attack on Fort Wagner during the Civil War. This regiment was the first regiment that consisted of volunteer black men. I really like this picture because it is a great powerful example of taking a big step forward to change society. It's also an example of leadership and doing something because you feel it's right. Robert Shaw could be considered a great hero (to the men he lead during the Civil War and now, if people see him as a man who took a stand against ). So this picture is a great example of him in his heroic actions.

Code of The Secret Life of Bees.

1. How accurate where your predictions?

A: Some of my predictions were correct, some were a little off.

2. Which predictions were very accurate? Describe.

A: I predicted that this book will be a bit about during the time. That was true because Lily in the story was able to see how wrong being prejudice is. I also predicted that the beginning of the book might start with an introduction of bees, which was correct because Lily was able to hear the bees in her room at the time. She also remembered stories Rosaleen told her about the bees.

3. Which predictions were less accurate? What were the differences between what you predicted and what actually happened?

A: The book was called the Secret Life of Bees, I predicted that it was going to be about the life of bees. Yes, the book does talk a little bit about the life of bees, but thats not what the book is about. I also thought that the book would be difficult to read, because I thought I would be easily confused by the content in the book, but I ended up loving the book and I didn't want to put it down. I also understood what was going on which made the book amazing!

I put the summer time image there because of August May and June. Those are the names of the Boatwrights and they are also the months of summer!

Literary Devices of the Week: Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance

Wow, its indeed wonderful to have a well worked for weekend to break away from school for a while. On Saturday I might spend some social time with my friends and surf the mall for sandals.
My friend Raph from bible camp can rant about ridiculous topics while running around the mall. He is such a little runt.

On Sunday, I am taking a special trip to Knotts Scary farm to be scared and spooked out of my shoes and socks. Fortunately, I am going with my funky friends Elena and Anastasia who are filled with excitement and are ready to have some fun. There are many mazes filled with people who will fill our gazes with fear, it's amazing how they blow you away terrified! In the torrid cramped mazes, horrible monsters will stalk us and will defiantly keep us from becoming bored. I doubt we will be able to hear the pitter patter of our foot-steps because if the monsters are scaring, then we will be screaming.

Red- Alliteration
Blue- Consenance
Green- Assononce

In this funny picture, my friend Elena and I are filled with fear and fright at the Knotts Scary Farm last year.

Challenge Assignment : EPIC

UGH!!!! STUPID COMPUTER FILTERING!
Before you read this, you must know my computer has a word filter. I used the words
h
a
t
e

and

d
e
a
t
h
a lot in this story and It wont show up because they are violent words and the stupid filter doesn't like them.
So please, if you see parts that don't make sence, like its missing a word, try to fill in the blank. Im really sorry!
PS: FILTERS ARE EVIL!

A Dream to Fight For.

Getting away, I must run away, he thought

His feet crushed the ground at every rushing step he took

My great escape, he thought

The young boy, Jasper, a farm boy, abused by all that is powerful, the hair of the family

Running away for freedom,

running for the life he dearly yearns for.

The ground was wet and slippery as his feet stumbled on the earth,

One of his feet violently slipped from the ground,

his eyes meeting the uneven ground.

A snapping noise ran through his ears,

and his eyes snapped shut immediately.

As soon as his eyes closed completely,

He thought that he wouldn't wake up,

Either he would be out for a while,

or forever

But, it was different than anything Jasper ever expected.

He woke up instantly,

expecting a long roar of pain in his head,

On the contrary, there was absolutely no pain at all

His heart felt new, his body wasn't trembling anymore.

Not only did his body feel entirely different than expected,

so was his surrounding.

A beautiful forest covered everything in sight,

The air was overwhelming.

It was soft and fresh,

but before he opened his eyes to this lively place,

the air was torrid and the land was horrible .

Jasper adapted to his new surroundings,

looking for new clues as to where he was.

He heard a faint noise coming toward him,

light footsteps and giggling.

As the noise became louder, he then saw a woman frolicking,

She gracefully dodged the trees, and came to a steady stop when she saw him

She had long brown hair down to her knees, but it flowed naturally in the wind.

“Jasper..” she whispered.

“How do you know my name? Jasper asked.

“This is your world. You are the creator of all of this.”

“Is this like my imagination in a way?”

“Yes, Only, its a bit more real than you think.”

“Come with me, I will explain. We need you” she said in a steady tone

She grabbed his hand and guided him through the binding forest.

The forest seemed to go on forever,

but they finally met the end of it

He gasped from what he saw, nothing like this has ever been brought before his eyes

It was different than any castle hes ever seen,

it was made from the roots of the trees and the clouds in the sky

The sun beamed down on it, making it glisten.

“My name is Violet.” she told Jasper

“This place is amazing, but what is it that you need me for?”

Her face became dark and fear filled her expression

“Darkness is overwhelming this place.

This darkness is your , which will destroy everything and turn it into nothingness.

That's why we need you. This is your land, your mind, your life

Only you can defeat the darkness, but we can barely help you.”

“How do I defeat it?” Jasper asked demanding “This is my life, so tell me!”

“Light. You must show light in your heart and force it onto the darkness.

Right now you are filled with hatred and your heart is hallow.

You want to be free,

You want to be a leader, and rule your own life

That is the dream you truly yearn for.

Let that dream come forth, and forget the hatred toward those who ruled you.”

Jasper tried to forget

He wanted to let go, and be free

But to forgive was harder than he thought.

He saw the darkness over the land as he felt hatred

His eyes opened widely to the destruction of loathing

Jasper turned his gaze toward the castle,

And the darkness was coming toward it

He knew time was limited, since came so quickly.

Jasper then lunged toward the castle, taking off in a great sprint for his life.

It reminded him of when he ran away,

But this time, his heart was bright

He had forgotten his , to save Violets life, and the others of this land.

He had to save his own life.

He came to the castle, and fronted the guards

Their eyes widened as they saw him and immediately let him through

The inside of the castle made his body glow,

And his heart beat in peace

Jasper thought of his dream, to be free

And he felt he had achieved it as he entered his own castle

The Darkness was at the top of the castle,

It was filled with Jaspers hatred and sins

He thought to himself if the darkness was stronger than his light,

But then he remembered his dream, the dream he ran for

The dream he earned.

His thoughts filled with the castle, the forest, everything wonderful in life

His hatred for the ones who were an abomination to his life were forgiven

The Light covered him, and it grew

He constantly thought of saving Violet, his dream, and his life

Which made the light grow stronger

The light of his heart turned into a sun greater than life,

And the chthonic Darkness was immolated by the Light(pwnd).

The Light suffused the land, a sun that would never go down

He then felt sadness as he stared at his castle

Now he would wake up, and continue running for a dream he achieved in his own dream

The young Violet came to him and thanked him

“Violet, is it possible that I can I can stay here, and not wake up?” Jasper asked desperately

“You want to stay in a dream forever?” she questioned

“This isn't a dream. Its MY Dream that helped me achieve what I always yearned for.”

“You can wake up whenever you want, and you can sleep for as long as you please

you can always come here whenever you want. But now its time for you to go,

Go fulfill your dream when you are awake.”

Jasper nodded his head,

He closed his eyes and when they opened,

He was on the floor where he fell.

Jasper went back to the farm, and slept for as long as he could

This time, he ruled himself,

He no longer payed attention to the harsh rules and abuse the hair sent on him.

Instead, he slept, ruling his own world.

Literary Device of the Week: Similes, Metaphors and Clichés

Haha. This blog post is going to be amazing. Cheesy Similes, Metaphors, and Cliches. That can't be to hard, since I am a cheesy person :P

It's hard to describe myself, but according to my friends, I'm as cuddly as a panda bear. (simile) I try my best to make people happy, because if they are not happy, then I'm not either. So technically, I'm a piece of candy, sweet all the way to the core. (metaphor). I also work extremely hard so you can say I'm a busy bee. (cliche)

I am also very loyal, and according to a lot of my friends, I'm like a clock, because they can always count on me. A lot people say that they can tell how I'm feeling from my eyes. My eyes are like a mood ring, they reflect the colors of my emotions. My body is very strange, but I'm very proud of it. Apparently, I'm a contortionist and its awesome! My arms are rubber. You can pretty much move them anywhere you want and they will go!



(I would like to give a big thanks to my friends for this post. Your opinions of me really payed off!)

Literary Device of the Week: The Epic

Epic. The word Epic is used in many ways today. The Epic Food Battle, An Epic Failure, etc. But what is an epic?

In my own words, an Epic is a tale filled with action, heroes and surreal events. Usually an epic is a long story, or a very lengthy poem, with an intense theme to it.

1. In an Epic, you have to have a theme. In the Iliad, the theme is that violence is not the way to solve conflicts. If you solve an issue with words, good things will come.
From lines 217-224, the Goddess Athena gives a speech to Achilles before he destroys Agamemnon.
"I came to see it I could check this temper of yours,
Sent from heaven by white-armed goddess
Hera, who loves and watches over both of you men.
Now come on, drop this quarrel, don't draw your sword.
Tell him off instead. And I'll tell you,
Achilles, how things will be: You're going to get
Three times as many magnificent gifts
Because of his arrogance. Just listen to us and be patient."

2. Epics need to have a conflict in it. That's what make it EPIC. If an epic involves Heroic deeds, then a conflict brings in the Hero.
In the Iliad, the conflict is Agamemnon arrogance and greed. Agamemnon has Chryses' daughter and refuses to give her back. Because of his greed, Chryses prays to the God Apollo and asks him to rain plague among the Danaans. Lines 24-51 shows the conflict heating up.

3. A Protagonist and an Angtagonist. If an epic includes a conflict, a lot of action and heroic events, then a good guy (Hero/Heroine, Protagonist) and a bad guy (Villan/Villainess, Antagonist) must have a enormous role in an epic.
Examples of Heroes/Heroines in the Iliad are Athena, Hera and mainly Achilles. Hera is a heroine in the Iliad because she sent Athena to talk to Achilles to help stop the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Athena is another e because she announced her speech (Lines 217-224) to Achilles which made him descide to put his sword away and tell Agamemnon off.
Achilles in a protagonist because he choose to listen to Athena and put his sword away. He also gave up Briseis to Agamemnon so he would give back Chryses' daughter.
This is shown in lines 357-361. It says:
"Thus Achilles.
Patroclus obeyed his beloved friend
And brought Briseis, cheeks flushed, out of the tent
And gave her to the heralds, who led her away.
She went unwillingly."
Because Achilles gave up Brisies and returned Chryses' daughter, Chryses then prayed to Apollo again and asked him to lift the plague of the Greeks.
while the villian is Agamemnon.

The picture I have posted above represents an epic in many ways. The picture is from the Twilight Movie, which is based off the book Twilight. Twilights theme is love conquers all. The main protagonist in Twilight is Edward Cullen, a vampire and the main Antagonist is James, who is also a vampire. The conflict is that James, is out to kill Bella, the one Edward loves. To save Bella, Edward attacks James. While doing so, James bites Bella (which would transform her into a vampire.) Edward defeats James, and to save Bella from becomeing a vampire, he sucks out James vampire venom from her.
The picture pisted is a scene from Edward and James fight in the upcoming Twilight Movie.

Music

Omg... music.
I LOOOOVVEEE Music. Actually, I can't fall asleep without it. There are some songs I have to listen to or else I can't sleep (Ex. Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Whispers In the Dark, River Flows in You [this one majorly!!!])
So, I posted a playlist of SOME of my favorite songs at the bottom of my blog.
Ok, not only do I adore the music that I listen to, I like to see what other music people listen to.
So, since comments make me sooooo happy! Maybe you guys can post a comment here and tell me your favorite band! Honestly, a lot of the friends I made were from music tastes.
Coolio. And feel free to comment about my music likes, or to ask me what other bands I like.
(I decided to post this blog because I am in a very deep convo about music with my friend right now) hahahah.

A Hero in our eyes

Stephenie Meyer is the author of the Twilight series and has become a hero for many people of all ages, including me. Twilight has inspired so many people to have creative imagination, and just a simple dream you have can turn into something big.

(This following summery of Twilight is from Wikipedia.com, I did not write this)
Twilight is a young vampire novel written by author Stephenie Meyer. It is the first book of the Twilight Series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan who moves from Phoenix Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen.

Stephenie Meyer came up with the idea of Twilight when she had a dream of a falling in love with a vampire. She loved the dream and didn't want to forget it (because she has 2 kids), so she wrote it down. She decided to expand from her dream and write a book for herself. The book Twilight became a HUGE hit and even beat Harry Potter (Stephenie is very often compared to JK Rowling)

Before I read Twilight, and along with many others, I had difficulty getting interested in a book. I found Twilight and started to read it and I was blown away! Twilight is almost 500 pages and I read it in 3 days. The way Twilight was written helped improve my writing style and my way of thinking. I used to have such a hard time making up my own stories and my reports and other writings were incredibly boring. But the amazing this was after I read Twilight, ideas sprang into my head and my reports actually became interesting.


A fan of Twilight posted on the Twilight Lexcion saying how Stephenie Meyer has inspired her"
"She raised my standards when it comes to guys. I never really was one to settle for the right guy. I stray far away from dating, because I knew I was attracted to the bad guys. (the james... whoever said that, was genius. I'm borrowing our idea). And since I kept falling for the James type and getting hurt, I blocked off all the possible influences. I grew up knowing I wanted an Edward, yet I knew that fewer and fewer of his type still exist. So instead of just going with this generation of trying to find the most tolerable James type, I know that I will settle for nothing less than Edward."

But not everyone is a fan of Twilight. A lot of people don't like the idea that Stephenie Meyer had of the Cullen Family being the good guys. The "Twilight Vampires" are a lot different than the classic vampires that burn in the sun, destroyed by a stake and sleeps in coffins. From many reviews I have seen, the fans of the Anne Rice books, such as Interview with a Vampire, tend to not like Twilight. But not everyone is like that, just a majority. I love Interview with a Vampire, and I love Twilight too, so give Twilight a chance, it's amazing!

This link also includes many other reasons why Stephenie Meyer is their inspiration and Hero:

http://www.twilightlexiconforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=472&sid=4e35cd9f3d8d8a1170813cf282ea23a0

On 11-21-08, the Twilight Movie will be released in theaters (I recommend reading the books first! And boys! Its not just a chick book, guys love it too!
http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

This is my friend and I getting our midnight release copy of the 4th and last book of the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn

About my Chin

Ok, this might be kinda weird if you have or have not noticed this already. If you have seen me scratching my chin at points, thats because there is a sensitive scar there. I am allergic to a lot of things and because it's sensitive I tend to get skin allergic reactions around there. How I got my scar you might wonder? haha this is a funny story.

I was at a friends house for her pool party. We were swimming and having a great time. The only problem was that there was A TON of Chlorine in the pool! So when I got out of the pool, my eyes were extremely red and they hurt, so I closed my eyes for a while. When I opened them, it looked really blurry and they still hurt.
My friends were setting up the game twister. They were taking a really long time so I decided to stretch out before we played. I started doing a back bend (going into a bridge position standing up). I got pretty low, but I didn't think I was going to complete it. So I shot myself forward and BAM! Hit the stucko wall with all my power. (stucko walls are really bumpy rocky-ish walls). I fall onto the floor and touch my chin where it hurt. There was all over my hand.
"OMG! WHOA!" My friend Reece shouted
"Dude, your chin is split open!" mi amiga Erica stated.
"Sweet" I said and started bursting out in laughter
My friends Matt and Olivia had to clean my chin so it wouldn't get infected and they put a BIIIIGGGG band aid on it (they were going to butterfly bandage my chin together, but they didn't have any :P ). I will still laughing though, even when I looked in the mirror and saw how messed up my chin was.

Bad news was that my parents were in Carslbad camping so they couldn't take me to the hospital, so I called my aunt and told her what happened, and picked me up from the party to the hospital. I was still laughing. Haha

I had to get stiches to close up my chin. The doctor asked if I had any unusal behavior when I hit the way and I said "I started to burst out in laughter!". I nervous about getting the first stiches of my life, and they had to be on my face! I was also cold because of the pool, so they gave me some plankets. My Uncle saw that I was nervous and said "Don't Worry Taylor! The only time you will need to worry is when they put those blankets over your head!" Ha..ha..haa..very funny.

So in the end, I got 9 stiches. I got them off in 5 days and the amazing thing was that when I hit the wall and split my chin, it did not hurt at ALL! It stung a little, but barely! It felt like I got a tiny boo-boo. Haha. It was an awesome exsperience. And now you all know about my wonderfull dazzling chin :)

The 30 things you wouldn't know about me

1) I can put both my legs behind my head
2) By popping my thumb, I can twist it 180 degrees. (yah, I know, gross)
3) I want to perform in the Sea World Show "Cirque De la Mer"
4) I want to be a Pathologist when I grow up
5) Even though I am shy, I like to act
6) I was chosen to go to High Tech MA from the waiting pool
7) I went to Lewis Middle School
8) I do Martial Arts
9) I can pop my shoulder out of my socket
10) I go to comic con every year I can
11) I dressed up as "Where's Waldo?" and Blossom from "The Powerpuff s"
12) My friends go to Patrick Henry High School
13) I am skilled at using the computer
14) I still like the show Yu-Gi-Oh!
15) My favorite book is Twilight
16) My 2nd favorite book is Maximum Ride
17) I think Trick or Treating is amazing
18) I love heavy metal and hard rock music
19) My favorite movies are "The Dark Knight" and "10 things I about you"
20) I love the rain, but I'm not a fan of the song "Chocolate Rain" even though Chocolate Rain sounds delicious :P
21) I can roll my eyes back, I learned to do it when I was on an epic search to look for my brain...I still cant find it!
22) Trying to Find 30 things that people wouldn't know about me is hard for me.
23) I can find a way that my birthday and name relates to the number 23! (I am very good at arithmetic)
24) I don't like the number 24, or any number with the number 4
25) I love pickled green beans! YUM!
26) I am very bad at speaking on the phone to people.
27) I play the piano (two handed) and the flute, but I can't read notes.
28) I had a mini Mohawk on my head once because my hair came out and started to grow back sticking up . Yikes, very embarrassing.
29) I went to Boston, Washington DC, New York and Philadelphia all in one week, but my flight back home from Washington DC was 6 hours late because of a lightning storm. The flight to San Fransisco from DC was 6 hours long and we were in the San Fransisco Air Port for 2 hours and a 2 hour flight to San Diego. Plus the 3 hour time change, it was about a 17 hour delay to get home. We got home at 1 o'clock in the morning. ( I was hoping we would get to spend the night at the DC Air Port)
30) I am a very unique person, want to know why? Because unique people can't write about their uniqueness, so that's why this list of things you wouldn't know about me is very boring :)