36. EXTRA CREDIT post #10

WOOT! This is the last one! But once again, I can't think of anything else to talk about. So here's another poem:

My lord and m' lady, I’m terribly sorry,
But I have to continue my marvelous story:

There once was a lady riding the trail,
Wearing fine jewels and dress –
But how a baker cracks an egg,
Her horse broke a leg
And everything made a big mess!

A man came along to deliver the mail
When he spotted the lady with heed.
Her skirts in one hand, a ready pistol in the other,
She took aim for the man on the steed -

He took off his hat,
And to her he hailed
For he was none other
Than her brother!

She asked for a ride
But he sadly refused, saying:
“This pony was bred for just one, not two.”

“Though it is getting late,” he added with care
And served her some bread, cheese, and more.
But soon after she fed,
She cut off his head,
Which fell on the damp forest floor.

I don't even know why I wrote this. It's untitled, but by the beginning, I think it was meant to be a monologue or something for one of the stories I was writing. I found this on a random piece of paper about a year ago, but I'm pretty sure I wrote this a long time before that, probably when I was around 9 or something. The ending must make me sound like quite the cynical 9-year-old. I don't know, murders have always seemed to fascinate me.. I'm not a sadist I swear.

35. EXTRA CREDIT post #9

So close to finishing! I really hope these count as quality posts, but I feel like I've been rambling again. Oh well, might as well just include another poem. For some reason this is one of my favorites that I've written. I think it was one of my first, too:

The Ocean

I love to be by the ocean
where the blue of the sky
meets the blue of the sea
I see not a cloud,
and hear only the sounds
of waves crashing upon sandy shores
and the seagulls flying
-shouting,
-screeching,
yelling for fish all the more!
And then comes the sunset,
the only one brave enough,
-bold enough,
to separate the wonders blue
with its bright and daring orange hue
And I watch the beauty of the sun
laying itself down to sleep
only to rise again in the morn
to continue its dauntless duty
But alas! - the beach is now plunged into
darkness,
a deep and dangerous darkness,
a soft and beautiful darkness,
where the glimmer of the tide
mimics the twinkling of the stars,
where all the fishes go to bed,
and every creature rests its head,
And the ocean is now at ease-
the deep and dangerous ocean,
the soft and beautiful ocean,
where the blue of the sky
meets the blue of the sea
In my sight, not a cloud,
I hear only the sound
of waves crashing upon sandy shores
And I return on the morrow
with all my joy and all my sorrow
To gaze upon those sandy shores
and listen to the seagulls flying,
-howling,
-yowling,
bawling for fish all the more!

34. EXTRA CREDIT post #8

Now I REALLY can't think of anything else to write about. So I'm just going to put down a poem I wrote last year. It was part of my poetry project for English, and it was the only project I ever got an A on in that class. My only other A on a major assignment was my short story. Anyway, here it is:

Curious

Ladies, gentlemen, people of all kinds:
The story I share, 'twill surely blow minds!
A curious incident, what happened long ago,
So pay close attention for I won't tell it slow.

Awoken with fright one cold winter night,
I sleepily climbed out of bed.
Paying heed to a call, I walked up to the wall
Still wondering why I had been led.

Staring straight at a painting for quite a long while,
A Georges Seurat in Impressionist style:
Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte-
How I've longed to be in a place such as that!

And as you can imagine, to my great surprise,
Each and every figure, though they had no eyes,
All turned to face me with a plan they devised
And pulled me into their world - Oh, what a prize!

At a quarter to ten, among high-class men,
Moonlight Sonata could faintly be heard.
I turned around then and Ludwig van Beethoven
Was playing piano! I uttered no word.

Soon I spotted Mister Edgar Allan Poe,
A crowd surrounding him, enjoying the show:
The Raven, The Bells, and Annabel Lee,
Reciting these poems under the shade of a tree.

Suddenly the Lost Boys came flying by
With Peter Pan behind them, doing tricks in the sky!
And there was J.M. Barrie, on a hill with his wife
And the script to the play that makes these characters come to life.

My adventure, now over, was a memorable one;
The dream within a dream in finally done.
Time to go, my day's just begun,
And like Alice in Wonderland, out the door I run!

Tada! Am I a loser for actually memorizing this?

33. EXTRA CREDIT post #7

I cannot think of anything else to talk about. At the moment, I don't have a reading/writing life. I don't even have a life. I recently got obsessed with this one band and now they're all I think about. This is getting kind of personal so I'll stop there.. but if any teachers have been wondering why I zone out so much during class, that's why. I'M ALWAYS DAYDREAMING. Then when I actually fall asleep in class, I DREAM. And I have such wonderful dreams.. My friends are even thinking about writing a fanfiction sometime (I guess this has to do with writing). Goodness gracious, we're such fangirls. Anyway, to keep this more on topic, I will admit that I have been reading fanfictions. I HOLD NO SHAME, NO REGRETS. 

32. EXTRA CREDIT post #6

I really wish Winter Break was longer! I have so much to do.. and we only have two weeks! The first week includes Christmas in the first few days, then I'm going to Reno, then coming back for more partying on New Year's Eve. Then for the second week, I'm planning do that SAT online practice stuff. BUT THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO! Like I said in the last post, I really want to read my books.. I also want to finally get back to this story I've been writing! I started it about two years ago I think, and it's far from finished. But I'm not even sure how far I'm planning to go with it.. For all I know, it might even turn out to be an entire novel someday. IF I ever do get the time to work on it. Besides that story, there's so many others that I have in my head that I just need to write down before I forget them! But when I write stories, I always want them to be as detailed as possible. I can never leave them at their simplest. So of course, even the shortest story I write will be pretty long.

31. EXTRA CREDIT post #5

Okay, I give up on trying to write about writing in all my classes. I said that before I realized that we only do math in math class, and that most of my previous posts are already about writing in English. So, what else have I done? I still never got around to finishing those books I promised to read over the summer. I got a new bookshelf and everything, but my books seem to be there just for display.. Such a shame, really. I got most of them years ago and they still haven't been opened. I feel bad for neglecting my books like this! I used to be such an avid reader..Before high school, I would go to the library almost every week during my summers, borrow the maximum number of books, read all of them, then return them to get more. I love reading so much, but I hate how I don't have the time.

30. EXTRA CREDIT post #4

So what can I say about AP Bio.. We don't do much writing; the essays only come around every so often. And they're not too hard to write either. You don't really need a defined structure in a Bio essay. All you need to do is answer all the questions in the prompt. No extra stuff at all. AT ALL. In English and history essays, you usually want to add some.. RAZZLE DAZZLE to make it sound better, but for Bio, they really just want you to be blunt. State the facts, and that's it. So yes, overall, they're easy to write. As long as you remember the information. That's the only thing.

29. EXTRA CREDIT post #3

French III! So in French, we don't do THAT much writing, but we do significantly more than we did last year. We have to write journal entires in French, which is pretty difficult! I'm not very good with grammar. It's so hard to remember everything I've learned throughout the past three years! AND I'VE LEARNED A LOT. There's so much to know.. Whenever we do those journals, I never get a completely perfect score. I always make some mistakes about conjugations, or tenses, or agreement.. MUCH TOO MUCH TO KNOW! But I can only imagine what it's like for people trying to learn English. I heard English is one of the most difficult languages to learn. And it seems to be, because there is so much MORE to know when you really think about it and compare it to other languages.

28. EXTRA CREDIT post #2

Hmm, what can I say about Photo II that pertains to writing.. Well, for that class, we have to take notes on Youtube about photography. At first, we just took notes of tutorials, which was pretty easy. But nowadays we have to take notes on slideshows and write more about how the photos evoke emotions. It's kind of difficult sometimes, becuase usually the videos are really short and I don't have much to say. And usually, they're not really photos that interest me in the first place. But I do my best to write enough.

27. EXTRA CREDIT post #1

I hope we don't need creative titles for our blog posts.. anyway, today I shall talk about what I've been doing for the past few months (that's associated to reading/writing). I think in 6 of these 10 posts, I'll talk about each of my classes. So.. I've been getting better at history essays! I think I actually have a chance at the APUSH exam.. That's the one I'm MOST hoping to pass, because I'm actually doing pretty well in history. I actually got an 8 on one of my essays. MY FIRST 8 IN ANY ESSAY EVER. That was such an exciting moment! DBQs aren't really my thing, but I really hope I improve by May. I NEED TO PASS THAT TEST. I got a 2 on my APWH exam last May and I felt like I wasted a year of my life struggling in a college class, because now I have to take it again in college.

26. Rememory

I think rememory means... remembering a memory. Like, remembering a memory you forgot. Something like that. You know when you see or hear something that suddenly reminds you of a memory you've forgotten? I'm guessing that's what rememory is. I always have specific memories of almost every person I know, and if I see or hear their names, I'll instantly think of that memory. I have this one friend who I went to Disneyland with two years ago. I remember we were by the California Screamin' and he was eating a chimichanga. I wasn't paying attention to what he was talking about, but for some reason I noticed when he said the word "chimichanga." So now whenever I hear his name I think of that time he said "chimichanga." How weird.

25. Style Analysis Essay

I seriously think my style analysis was one of the worst essays I've ever written. Do they have to write those in AP Lit? I really hope not. I hope the only other times I ever have to write one is for the final and the AP test. This one took me forever though so I'm pretty sure if I have to write one with a time limit it'll be even worse. It's so difficult for me to write.. ALL the paragraphs. I just don't understand rhetorical devices. I don't understand rhetoric. I wish I could just enjoy reading.

24. Rhetoric

I always thought rhetoric was meant to confuse you.. it's weird how it actually means something else. So it's like persuasive writing, right? Meant to "appeal to an audience"... I don't know, that's just what the book said. Oh by the way, that was on.. pages 1 to 6. Anyway, I guess rhetoric itself is different from rhetorical questions? Why do you even need a word for this? "Rhetoric.." It just sounds so intimidating to me. I don't like using it. Too bad I'll have to for the rest of the year. Sorry if this was off topic.

23. Types of Writing...

So we had to read some pages in the book.. The first part was about NARRATION. I think narration is pretty easy to write because you just talk about everything that happened in chronological order and stuff like that. DESCRIPTION: Description is weird because all you do is.. describe something. Well I guess it's useful but if you wrote an entire essay just describing something I think I would get bored of it.. PROCESS ANALYSIS: So this is like writing instruction on how to do something. Easy peasy. EXEMPLIFICATION: I didn't really understand this one.. but the section talked about induction a little, which reminded me of Sherlock Holmes. I love Sherlock Holmes. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: Comparing and contrasting confuse me sometimes. I used to think they were the same thing for some reason.. CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION: The name of this category reminds me of taxonomy, the study of classifying and dividing in biology. DEFINITION: Writing an entire essay defining one word was funny. CAUSE AND EFFECT: I hate these. They make me think of World History. I hated World History.

22. GRADING ESSAYS

I've never really enjoyed grading other students' essay because I feel like I'm not a very good grader. Even though the rubrics tell me what I should be looking for, it's kind of hard for me to follow. I can never tell exactly if they got the points or not, and I just think I’m an unfair grader. So that’s why I get worried about grading papers. I always feel like I’m doing it inaccurately. But I was actually pretty proud of myself today! I gave that essay a four, and so did those professional people who score AP tests! Pretty impressive, eh? I feel like such a pro.

21. (does this have to be numbered?) WRITING ABOUT WRITING

So today I had to write about my "skills" as a writer. I'm not a very good writer, so obviously that essay was difficult for me to write. What I really hated was how much I had to use the word "write" and all other forms of it. It made the whole thing sound so repetitive. That essay forced me to overuse the word so don't blame me for not being able to find a proper synonym. Anyway, I GUESS I wrote about my "strength and weaknesses," but honestly I feel like I was just rambling on about my narcissism and fail skills as a writer. So I just spent a minute counting the words, and before this sentence I had 106. I hope this blog doesn’t have to be “quality writing,” because I feel like being too serious and academic would ruin the nature of blogs. They’re supposed to be fun, right? Or at least a bit enjoyable, for the reader AND the writer. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

20. I'M SO SORRY

I swear I'm not trying to do this last minute, I'm just.. well yeah I guess I am. But only so my last post (of the "summer") was posted on the last day. My blog's super cool like that. So anyway, I'm gonna talk about On Writing. I learned that the passive voice is unnecessary. I do agree that sometimes sentences sound weird when you rearrange them and stuff, but sometimes it sounds prettybfancy, which I actually like. Oh by the way, Stephen King must be a pretty intense writer to be "convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing." Is he saying he's scared of bad writing? After all the horrible stuff that happened in his childhood, it's almost suprising that this is what he's afraid of. Another thing, I am with him 100% when he says that informal essays are a huge waste of time. Because they are. No need to elaborate. Well, that's all on this book for now. Sorry to be the disappointment that I am. And I'm sorry to have put you through this the entire summer. But now I apologize for having to continue my ramblings throughout the school year. I hope you make it out alive!

19. SAVE ME

I sometimes (but not always) feel pretty bad that I could probably be a world champion procrastinator. I'm a horrible person. My friend told me this joke about procrastination that's super inappropriate and that's why it's hilarious. There's another type of humor I love but it's also pretty inappropriate so obviously I'm not gonna post the details or anything. Again, I am a horrible person. Anyway, this will be my last blog post about Into the Wild. I finally finished today! WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. And I must say, I'm pretty darn proud of myself. So here's just some stuff I'd like to say about the last few (hundred) pages of this book. There's quite a lot that happened, but I'll try to keep this short. Concerning the parts comparing Chris to all those other people who tried to survive in the wild: I couldn't believe there were so many of them! I never would've thought that there were others like Alexander Supertamp. And in my opinion, they're all pretty crazy. Now the part about his family was really sad. Like how his childhood was kind of messed up.. It was ESPECIALLY sad when they found out about his death! His sister was just washing the dog when she got the news. That just.. really sucks. Sorry, I can't relate. I've never really experienced death before. That's probably why I can't see Thestrals.. Okay, I'm just gonna skip to the end now. Considering how frustrated I was at Chris McCandless throughout the entire book, I was pretty.. distressed. And I thought it was especially heartwrenching near the end, when he realized that "happiness is only real when shared." And the whole description of how and when he died.. I was truly sorry that this had to happen to him. RIP CHRIS MCCANDLESS AKA ALEXANDER SUPERTRAMP

18. CHOCOLATE? DID YOU SAY.. CHOCOLATE?

I am so hungry right now but it's 11 pm and I can't go and get food. I need to start storing candy in my room again. Anyway, I'm back to reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor. And I'm almost done, I swear I am THIS close! So today, I learned that geography and seasons and pretty important in literature. I understood how "geography matters" but it's weird how even the HEIGHT of geographical features have some hidden meaning! And apparently, the south is pretty crazy because characters only go there so crazy things can happen. I wonder how Southerners feel about that.. Anywho, seasons play an important role in stories and poems by giving them a setting. It's pretty much the same as weather though, right? Well for the most part. And now, I shall end this post on the Interlude. Didn't he already say something about that "one story" stuff? How very repetitive. I got a little frustrated again. Alrighty then, well this is the last you're ever going to see of me blogging about this book. I'm going to finish it tonight, though! I've already promised myself. So I would just like to apologize for not being able to lead you through my triumphant conclusion of How to Read Literature Like a Professor. But have no doubts on the incredibility of my ending; it's gonna be A-MAZING!

17. OH, HOW I'VE MISSED YOU

So I've decided to get back to reading On Writing. It's my favorite of the three, and I really missed it. As of now, I am officially at the part where Stephen King actually talks about WRITING. (I'm not saying I didn't like his mini autobiography; I really enjoyed it!) I haven't read a lot yet, but I learned some pretty intersting stuff. Writing/reading is like telepathy: from the author to the reader. At first I didn't get it, but the concept was very thoroughly explained and it actually makes sense. I also learned that writers should have some kind of "toolbox." I didn't really understand this metaphor too well either, but I get it now. Here's some of the "tools" I've read about so far: 1) Vocabulary. Don't write long sentences if you can write short ones. Don't use big words if you can use something smaller. This really helped me because I tend to write some pretty long sentences. But it's hard for me not to! I guess I'll try to stop. 2) Grammar. You have to know the parts of speech and what makes up a sentence. That's easy enough to remember, but I've always been horrible at grammar. So I hope I learn some helpful stuff this year! I wrote a lot more than I was planning to. Darn.

16. I NEED TO SLEEP

This post isn't going to be very long (fortunately for you) because for some reason I didn't get to read much today, and I am very sleepy at the moment. Also, my allergies have been being super frustrating recently or this weird weather is making me sick or something and sleeping usually helps with that kind of stuff. Anywho, as of now, I'm on the chapter about baptism. Here's what I've read: Apparently, almost drowning ALWAYS has more than the two obvious choices as to its symbolic meaning. He used the word "apothegms" in the beginning of the chapter. I kind of understand what it means, but I have no idea how to pronounce it. I like how he says suicide could be called "death by misadventure;" while suicide will always be a horrible thing, this phrase would make it seem more.. interesting.. at least if I WAS a detective trying to solve the crime. Wow this is actually kind of long. I'm sorry. Okay just one more thing: I thought it was contradictory of him to say "'Always' and 'never' aren't good words in literary studies." He uses those words quite frequently. Just saying.

15. PLEASE JUST STOP

This book seems to go on forever! IT NEVER ENDS. I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 4 days but How to Read Literature Like a Professor has taken me almost three months. I planned to finish it tonight, but I'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen. I suck at planning! Anyway, since last night, I've read enough to talk about. Regarding the chapter about Christ figures.. it seems like you have to know simply EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING to read literature like a professor! You must be familiar with religion, politics, history.. too much! And apparently if you DON'T know these things, you won't get a "full understanding" of the text you're reading. Now the chapter about flying: I already found a crossover to my history class! It doesn't really have anything to do with history, but the author was kind of comparing Superman and Batman, and today in APUSH we had to write a thesis comparing and contrasting Superman and Batman movies! AMAZING. Later on in the book, I saw that he mentioned Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I was reading that last year during SSR! I never got to finish it, and I was hoping to this year. But I probably won't get the chance. Well I think that's all I have to say for now. I've still got an insignificantly significant portion of this book to read.

14. MORE FRUSTRATED

How to Read Literature Like a Professor has been frustrating me since the very beginning. I think it's weird how we had to read this book AND On Writing, because they're pretty much opposites and seem to contradict each other. In my opinion, How to Read Literature Like a Professor has quite a bit of (in the abbreviated form of what apparently is one of Stephen King's favorite words) bs. I feel like there's a lot of that in this book. So many things he mentions seem very unnecessary to me. And while examples do help me in understanding some certain concepts, what frustrates me even more is the author's use of examples taken from literary works he's expected EVERYONE to have read. So even when he's explaining an example, sometimes I still have no idea what he's talking about. EVEN MORE FRUSTRATING is the fact that most of his examples ruined a lot of stories for me. In that chapter about political stuff, he was telling how some Edgar Allan Poe stories (THAT I HAVE NOT READ YET, BUT WAS PLANNING TO READ IN THE NEAR FUTURE) actually contained hidden messages about politics. And in his VERY DETAILED EXPLANATION, HE JUST WENT AND SUMMARIZED THE STORY AND GAVE AWAY THE ENDING. I am very frustrated. Well, I'm gonna go back to reading now so I can just finish this book already. Hopefully I'll be done by tomorrow to have one last blog post about it. And hopefully I won't have to be in contact with this book too much afterwards.

13. FEED THE MATH MONSTER

That phrase was on a bookmark I bought in 7th grade. I am not the math monster cause I suck at math, though I AM hungry so I think I'll go feed myself soon. But before I go to the kitchen, I'll share some thoughts about what I read earlier. So yesterday (technically), I got up early to go fishing in Sacramento. While we were patiently waiting for the salmon that never bit, I had some time to read On Writing. So first, I would just like to say how amazing it is that the prices on EVERYTHING have changed so dramatically! (I still don't quite understand inflation, but I'll learn that in Econ, right?) I was so [I can't think of another word for] amazed when King said that one of his stories got him $60,000, and that was as much as he usually earned in four years! I'm pretty sure that the average family of four today could not survive for even ONE year with $60,000. But what was even MORE amazing is that his novel, Carrie, made $400,000, and he got half of that! That's still A LOT of money today, so I understand why his wife started crying when he told her that they were officially rich. Writing is quite the lucrative business! What else.. Oh, I found it very interesting how he dedicated entire chapters to his alcoholism and drug abuse. It seems like all writers go through similar problems.. (the "Hemingway Defense") but maybe I've just read too many Stephen King stories. His characters are always messed up writers.
P.S. Like how I actually talked about the book? I feel like I didn't go TOO off topic this time. If you agree, we have my friend to thank; she's the one who told me how random my posts were. You know who you are, Friend!

12. AND GIVE ME TIME

So I still never got the time to read any of the millions of books on my bookshelf that have been patiently waiting for me all these years. I am such a negectful book owner. Anyway, I did find a wee smidgeon of time to read a bit more of On Writing a few days ago while I was waiting at the orthodontist. I only read about 5 pages, but I think that's enough for me to comment on. Anywho, I thought it was hilarious how King never even thought about all those copyright issues when he decided to write his "novel version" of The Pit and the Pendulum. I thought it was even more hilaious when he named his publishing house V.I.B., A Very Good Book. Also, it's a good thing he didn't listen to his teacher and stop writing "trash," or else we never would have been exposed to the wonderful world of Stephen King stories. Well that's about all I have to say at the moment. But if you're wondering what's been going on in my super exciting life, I've had a pretty good week so far. I got my braces removed on Monday, finally after a horrendous 3 years and 352 days. Then the day after, I finally got my permit, on the 6 month anniversary of the first time I failed the test. Hurrah!

11. GIVE ME PROBLEMS, GIVE ME WORK

My mind rebels at stagnation. So you most likely already know that I still haven't finished those books. Well, I've got three weeks.. I am also yet to do my AP Bio, but I've discovered that I work much more efficiently after spending a large portion of my summer doing not much productive, otherwise known as... Anywho, if you haven't already noticed the title, and the first sentence of this post, I would like to announce that although I haven't been reading the assigned books, I HAVE been reading. Quite a few Sherlock Holmes stories, actually. A Scandal in Bohemia and A Case of Identity, to name two. I love Sherlock Holmes, I don't remember when I started, or even why, but my first memories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous character was a some years ago, when my sister and I were creating code names for ourselves. She took James Bond, and I claimed Sherlock Holmes. And today, I continue to use the name as mine in the credits of many of my projects. Also, the last numbers of my email are the first of the detective's address, 221B Baker Street. Anyhow, about the actual reading.. If I was to be a detective in the future, I would certainly follow in Holmes's footsteps. Inductive reasoning (no, not DEDUCTIVE reasoning) is truly an amazing investigative approach, and reading about how his mind works makes me want to try to solve a case myself, just to see if I could do it. Of course I'm not going to become a drug addict just to be exactly like him, but cocaine really seems to help him.. I'M NOT IMPLYING ANYTHING. Anyway, in my opinion, Dr. Watson is the best sidekick ever. And Irene Adler will forever be one of my favorite characters. I loved the movie two years ago. I went to see it opening day, Christmas 2009. And you will surely see me there on December 16 to watch the sequel. I apologize again for the length of this post, but I feel like I had some catching up to do. Anywhy, the game is afoot! I want to finish The Hound of the Baskervilles already. 
P.S. This post was supposed to go in an entirely different direction, based on the title, but I seem to have gotten lost in my own words again.

10. I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I AM UP TO NO GOOD

I REFUSE TO GIVE UP HARRY POTTER EVEN THOUGH IT'S OVER FOREVER. Sorry I haven't posted anything recently, but I've been quite busy.. again. A few nights ago I went to see the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II AND IT WAS BLOODY AMAZING.  I was shaking the whole time because I already knew what was going to happen so I was anticipating all the horrible things that were yet to occur. BUT OH GOODNESS, I cried so much. And I never cry! (except at the dentist.) Oh and SPOLIERS! Sorry.. anywho, I think I cried the most when Snape died. And Fred! Ahhh why did he have to die?! And Lupin!?!? He was my favorite teacher! AND HE JUST GOT MARRIED AND HAD A KID AND HIS WIFE HAS TO DIE TOO?! Oh lordy. Okay, what else have I been doing the past few weeks.. I went to Napa to ride in a hot air balloon! It was pretty darn exciting! And I repainted my room (and lots of other rooms in the house), and moving furniture is some stressful stuff, especially when your allergies are as bad as mine. I HATE THEM. So yes, quite busy indeed! But regarding the schoolwork.. I finished all my APUSH outlines! Why yes, I have! AND some of the vocabulary as well! I still need to get started on AP Bio, and I only have exactly one month left. How unfortunate. Anyway, about the reading.. I tried to finish Into the Wild while I was in line waiting for HP, but the moment was too darn exciting that I got distracted and only read a few pages. So I don't have much to say about it. Anywhat, I'M GETTING MY BRACES REMOVED IN TWO WEEKS! Finally, after four years, and having my orthodontist say, "You're almost done!" for two of them, I SHALL HAVE STRAIGHT TEETH. On that day, I wish to go to a candy store and buy many jawbreakers and lots of taffy. And I will eat a gigantic burger and won't get stuff in my teeth. How very exciting! Alrighty then, I suppose I am done for today. This post isn't really about my reading, I guess. More like an update, if you will. In case you were wondering what happened to me. YOU ARE CARING, YOU ARE.
P.S. I apologize for the length of this post. But I hope it kept you entertained nonetheless.

9. BUT DON'T CALL ME A LIAR

SO TECHNICALLY breaking promises is not the same as lying either. Yes, I still haven't continued reading. I TRIED to finish On Writing yesterday, but I was actually quite busy doing my APUSH outlines, which I am also behind on. So my history book is what I've been reading for the past few days, and I've learned a lot. I also finally memorized the original thirteen colonies. (I swear I really did memorize them but actually listing them here would take too much space and you probably wouldn't believe me anyway cause I still could've looked in the book or something.) Anywho, another reason I was quite busy is because I was in Napa yesterday. I was SUPPOSED to go hot-air ballooning this morning but the darn unusual weather "did not permit!" So that sucked. What a waste of waking up at 4am! And yet another reason to call me a liar because I already told everyone I would be on a hot-air balloon today and that is not true at all. At least it wasn't my fault, but yeah.. darn these few days of weird summer rain! 

8. LIARS PROSPER

That was on the first page of On Writing. So even though I agree, I would like to make one tiny confession: I haven't finished reading ANY of those books yet. Ohh, aren't I hilarious. Well you see, before summer started, I arranged myself a carefully scheduled calendar. And if I consistently follow that schedule, I should be done with all my summer work by the middle of July. BUT I seem to have underestimated my amazing ability to procrastinate. I tried to stay on schedule as best as I possibly could, so even when I didn't finish a book by the assigned date, I started another book anyway. Goodness gravy I should be done with all of them by now and outlining Chapter 3 of APUSH, but I'm procrastinating on that too. SO I think I'll start.. finishing How to Read Literature Like a Professor now. P.S. I was never even lying in the first place. Withholding information is not the same as being dishonest. 

7. TAKE ME TO THE MOVIES

I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE HARRY POTTER OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS. Anywho, I'm still reading On Writing. It's pretty entertaining reading about Stephen King's childhood. I found another thing we have in common: I love movies too! If I could go back in time, I would probably go to the 50s. I would have loved to go to the movies and see a "Poepicture!" I know I've seen remakes, but I don't think I've watched many of those originals from the 60s. I love the genre: scifi and horror and stuff like that, and anything related to Edgar Allan Poe I'll probably like. Anyway, I was a little surprised when he said he didn't like Disney movies. Well I suppose I wasn't THAT surprised, knowing the kind of stuff that he writes, but.. everyone loves Disney! "Snow White and the Seven Goddam Dwarves"... well I don't really like Snow White too much either. I guess it wasn't his fault that the first Disney movies he was exposed to weren't the best. Okay I don't know if I'm defending Disney or attacking it, so I'll stop now. Oh, you know what my favorite line from a movie based on a Stephen King story is? "Oh Billy! I think i just turned my Fruit-of-the-Looms into a fudge factory! Oh Billy!!" -Stand By Me

6. DON'T REMIND ME

So now I'm reading On Writing by Stephen King. I love Stephen King, so I was excited to read one of his books this summer, even though it's not one of his horror stories or anything. Anywho, I just got through the part where he talks about his childhood illnesses. That part really entertained me. I'm not a sadist and enjoy other people's misery or anything, but I loved how I could relate. Every six months for the past eleven years of my life, I feel like torture always awaits me at the dentist. The dentist for me is like Stephen King's "ontiologist." My whole life so far has been cavity fillings and tooth extractions and braces ripping up my gums. Also, I had to get my wisdom tooth removed last summer (they kept calling the procedure a "surgery," which made me so much more scared than I already was), and that was the worst two weeks of my life. The "surgery" only took a few hours and they put me to sleep, but the time spent before and after was just horrible. I won't go into detail, but I did write a story chronicling my experience for an English assignment last year, just letting you know. So anyway, while I thoroughly enjoyed that chapter of this book, it did bring back some pretty horrible memories. Which I did not enjoy. 

5. DON'T BE A HERO

That's MY job. Don't worry, dear citizens; I'll save the day! Not really. But I wish. My life is so boring, I just wish I was a superhero or something. I still like to pretend. But I think I'm pretty close! When I was a kid, I always wanted to be the brave one, because all the other kids were too scared. I would be the one to turn on the lights in a dark room, while my friends were too afraid to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. If I was in a movie, I would be the one who would try to be a hero right after someone yells, "Don't be a hero!" I would be that stupid girl in horror films that audiences get frustrated at because she opened the closet. The only thing I'm truly scared of is the dentist. But I think that's such a ridiculous thing to be scared of, so I refuse to be afraid of anything else. I try my best to keep this up, but "Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid." I hope no one sees right through me. Anywho, I was trying to blend my little life story with what I've read so far in Into the Wild. This Chris McCandless guy must be pretty darn brave to give up everything to go live in the wilderness. Or maybe he's just crazy. I'm yet to find out his motive. Hmm, what else did I want to comment on? Oh yeah, I think his assumed name is pretty hilarious. 'Alexander Supertramp'... I laugh whenever I read it. Now THAT is a proper superhero name. In other news, the Giants won today! And.. congratulations Dallas.

4. SO CONFUSED

So I started reading Into the Wild. I was so confused! I know the guy's name is Christopher so I kept wondering who this Alex guy was. I had to read like, 3 chapters before I figured out that CHRISTOPHER was just telling people his name was ALEX. I hope that's what's going on. I'm right.. right? If I'm not, then I'm going to feel really stupid when I find out what's actually happening. Anywho, yesterday was Johnny Depp's birthday! I was planning to have myself a little movie marathon, but sadly, that didn't happen. HOW UNFORTUNATE! Anywhat, I went to the sale at Bath and Body Works and got A LOT of lotion. Like.. 5 bottles. And more stuff too! THEY SMELL SO GOOD. OH MY. Anywhy, the blister on my hand popped today. It's pretty gross and it hurts. But I've had that thing for months so it better heal already!

3. LISTEN! ARE YOU LISTENING? I'M LISTENING.

Bang! How many people are dead? Ohh, I love that game. I just recently learned it. You know what else I recently learned? The word "metonymy." How to Read Literature Like a Professor has gotten a lot more intersting now that it's moved on from all that talk about symbolism and rhetoric. I'm sure I'll read more about that stuff later on, but for now, I'm enjoying the show. Anyways, I've learned quite a lot so far. I've learned that sonnets are square and that Shakespeare is the most influential man in literature. INTERESTING STUFF, THERE. INTERSTING STUFF. I keep spelling the word "interesting" wrong. I always forget the other E. Anywho, I just ate my last green velvet cupcake. I made 30 on Sunday. I didn't eat ALL of them by myself (I gave away 12), but 18 cupcakes in 4 days isn't the best kind of diet a person could be on. I'm going to gain like, 20 pounds this summer. Another random fact: I'm wearing my PE clothes as pajamas. Yay for no PE! But that's probably another reason I'm going to continue gaining weight next school year. Goodness gravy. 

2. UNGREAT EXPECTATIONS

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. And my parents are always bothering me about it, because I'm a junior and it's almost time for me to go to college and I need to start thinking about my future and whatnot. I'm still unsure. But one thing I'm sure I do NOT want to be is a literary professor. No offense to English teachers or anything, but sorry.. I'm simply not a very big fan of this particular job. It's a little too much work for me, a little too much thinking. (I must sound like a pretty lazy person. I admit, I AM a bit of a procrastinator, and I know that statement doesn't make the best first impressions, but trust me, I always try my best! Okay, I'm rambling again.) At least, that's what this book has shown me. How to Read Literature Like a Professor.. interesting book; I'm halfway through. But I'm just saying, I don't necessarily agree with each and every concept presented. TOO MUCH SYMBOLISM. TOO MANY PATTERNS. I am yet to analyze a novel myself and already I am thoroughly confused. I know the class will teach me plenty more about reading, and I might even want to pursue a career in literature someday, but right now, I already know that as an adult, I will not voluntarily choose to read literature like a professor.

1. BE WARNED

Hello World and all who inhabit it! So before I actually start blogging about all my summer reading and whatnot, I would just like to formally warn you of the things that go on in my crazy mind. I've never tried blogging before because I knew that the entire thing would just be rants of my boring, everyday life, and random thoughts that I happen to come across. My mind wanders aimlessly, so be prepared, because I WILL go off topic all the time and these posts will usually be unnecessarily long because I talk way too much about weird things that I always wonder about. This was an example. This post was useless and lengthy and I apologize in advance for what I have to put you through this entire summer. Wish me luck! And I wish the same for you. Adventure Time!