In the beginning, I was kind of skeptical about I'll Give You the Sun. I had only read the description, and I wasn't sure how the book was going to turn out. The first couple pages were indeed strange, but funny nonetheless. As I continued reading, everything got funnier and you grew attached to the characters and the story.
I love the book now, especially how it shows the two different sides. While I prefer Noah's point of view, Jude has to deal with a whole different side of things. The twins are leading opposite lives-- and the only thing they seem to have in common is their passion for art. Both of them applied for CSA, the California School of Arts, and while Jude thought she had no chance and Noah was almost over-confident, Jude got in and Noah didn't. The twins' grandma and dad always favored Jude, because she was daring, bold and popular. However, their mom, Diana, liked Noah best after a drawing contest between the two. "Why can't you share?" Said Jude, when speaking to Noah about mom. I think that was extremely unfair, though. Jude has been supported her whole life through people who loved her and didn't care as much for Noah, and when somebody didn't like her she went and made him feel bad about it. Anyway, I think that so far, I'll Give You the Sun is a fabulous book and can't wait to read more!
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My spring break was extremely uneventful. Well, mostly. The first two days were all packing and shoving anything we could find into boxes. Then, on Monday, the movers came and loaded everything on the trucks and took it to our new house across town. I didn't want to be there when that happened, so I went to my grandma's to help her look at houses (she just sold her house and needs to find and put an offer on one in the next five months). After that we immediately started unpacking and were basically settled in in two days.
I really like the new house. It feels like home, and it's not ancient like the other one. I really miss it, though. It's the only house I've ever lived in, and leaving it was next to impossible. People say, "You're moving? You're so lucky!" or, "I hate my house so much. I want to move!" I can't stand it when people say that. How could you not love your house? I really miss my neighbors, even the old guy on the end of the street that never smiles (he always glares at us) or waves back. I miss our cracked driveway, my garden, and my peeling-paint-porch. I miss the way the laminate floors in our kitchen warp downwards, and the way the stairs creak when you walk down them, and even the ugliest bathroom you've ever seen. Now, though, we have great and friendly neighbors, a blank canvas for a new garden, and a screened-in porch. I think that I will always miss the other house, but for now I do like where I am because (and this is going to sound super cheesy) I'm with my family and that's all that matters. Anyway, I didn't do much else for the rest of the week. It was mostly just unpacking and assembling stuff. I was bored out of my mind but I enjoyed having the chance to finally get away from homework and school in general, and especially the people that are there. I'm typically a social person, but once in a while it's nice to just take a step back and not do anything. But, of course, on Friday I was ready to go back. I love school and everybody thinks that I'm crazy for it, but every time that I'm away for too long I miss the routine, especially over the summer. To sum it all up, all that happened over break was moving, furniture shopping, and being lazy. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas vs. Night Similarities
Differences
I preferred the book to the movie. Night was difficult to understand at some points, but I liked the perspective of the events (because they were told from a prisoner's point of view). I'm probably biased because I love books so much, but in this case I really liked how the story was being told in Night. On top of all that, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was way too sad at many different points in the film for my taste. It was worse because you could actually see the emotions on Bruno's parent's faces, the hurt in the prisoners eyes, and how scared Bruno was when he was about to die.
Aha Moment
On page 90 and 91, Elie and his father have just resided in a shed after running for hours. A man named Rabbi Eliahu came in, frozen and disheveled. "Perhaps someone here has seen my son?" he asks. He has lost his son in the uproar, and has been searching for him among the alive and dead. Elie responds that he has not seen him, and since he is well-loved, he is sympathetic. Soon after Eliahu leaves, however, a light bulb goes off in Elie's brain. "What if he had wanted to be rid of his father?" Elie believes that his son had purposely left him behind to be rid of the burden. He had forgotten that he had seen Eliahu's son gaining ground as he ran himself--and didn't think much of it-- and now he puts the pieces together. This changes how Elie thinks of things because he doesn't want the same thing to happen to him-- to lose his father. He later dreams about letting his father die just so he could have an extra ration of soup or bread, but he immediately regrets it. Tough Questions Here, on page 98 and 99, Elie and his father are at Gleiwitz. They haven't had food or water for days and are on the verge of death. Now they are learning that they will be moved to the center of Germany, but first there would be another selection to distinguish who would be helpful and who should die. Elie's father was sent to the left (crematoria), but Elie ran after him creating enough confusion that they were both able to switch to the right side to stay alive. Some died, some survived. Awaiting the train to leave the camp, however, Elie realizes that if his father is dead, what's the point of living? Why should he stay if he has no purpose? Why should he continue to suffer? Yet, he must keep his father alive and he must keep hope. He wonders if they will ever let him go, if he will ever be able to leave the camps and stay alive. Contrasts and Contradictions This is on the train as the prisoners are leaving for Germany (pg. 101), where crowds of people begin to throw bread onto the train. Almost everyone is tearing at each other for it, to get something to eat. A old man has managed to escape with his own crust of bread. When his son sees him with it, he begins to beat him until he is dead to get the bread. His own son! I find that contradictory to normal behavior, even though the circumstances are by no means normal. If you are that hungry, maybe you don't care about anything else except for getting something to eat. I think that that's what Meir was thinking--no matter the cost, I cannot die. If I were the president, my top three priorities would be safety and security, reduced/free education, and good health care. I think that the safety of our country is incredibly important, because if we aren't protected, then what's the point of having anything else? I would enforce our current laws, make some new ones, and get rid of others to make this happen.
Everybody deserves a proper education, no matter the cost. If everybody was properly educated, then people wouldn't be electing not-very-smart people like me who don't know what they're doing and can't get anything done. If people knew more about pretty much anything, Americans wouldn't have as much unemployment and many, many people would have a higher income. To make this happen, I don't necessarily think that we need more schools. With a growing population, we might, but what I think really helps is our teachers. I personally believe that teachers should make way more money than they currently do, because without them there would be nobody to teach police officers, doctors, other teachers, and scientists how to do their job. Without them to teach in the first place, there wouldn't be any advancement in medicine, technology, science, etc. The last thing that I would want to happen is for everybody to have access to good health care. Many people are already working towards that, but we're not all the way there. So many people could have done great and awesome things if they had at least some health care. There are tons of parents who can't even afford to take their kids to the dentist. I think that it would be very difficult to get done, but there has to be a way to make this happen. Over winter break I mostly stayed at home. Usually, my family and I go to New Jersey to see my grandma and grandpa, but this year we stayed here. As a result, they came to Iowa instead. Two days before they came, though, we went over to their condo in Coralville to Christmas-bomb their house since we didn't decorate ours. A few days later we came back to celebrate at their condo. I was so happy because this year, in addition to whatever they decided to gift to us, my grandparents would make a donation to a charity of our choice. I chose the animal shelter near where I live. About two weeks ago I got a letter from the shelter thanking me for "my" donation (my grandma made the donation in honor of me). It also showed an adorable senior dog that got a proper dental procedure thanks to the money, and he is now living with a retired couple.
After that we went to my other grandma's house for my dad's side of the family's Christmas. My three cousins, two aunts, two uncles, mum, dad, and grandma all are there for dinner. We didn't do much besides eat and open presents-- fine by me! My grandma made twelve different kinds of desserts for us, which made up for the food (I really don't enjoy traditional Christmas meals-- especially since my grandma always finds a way to overcook the meat in some way or another). None the less, I had a fabulous time! In this article, there are eight life skills that everyone needs to know. They are the abiltiy to talk to strangers, transport yourself, manage your workload, know how to run a household, handle problems, cope with ups and downs, earn/manage money, and take risks.
I feel that I can talk to strangers very well. My mum has her own business and I have helped her sell for the past six-ish years. Every weekend we go to various shows where I talk to at least 300 strangers per day, so I think that I'm all set in that field. If I have enough practice and am familiar with the area, then I can get wherever I need to in a short amount of time. But, if someplace is new to me and I have to use a map, it's hopeless. I think I do a fairly good job of managing my current workload-- I only have a problem getting my work in on time when I either have too much to say or I am confused about a certain project/assignment. As for helping run the household, I believe that I do my share. There isn't much to do, as there are only three people in my family (we live in a small house that doesn't need much maintenance). I'm not the best problem-solver, so that is something that I could work on, as well as coping with things that don't go as planned (ups and downs). I really enjoy managing money-- like before, I do this while working with my mum. She mostly takes care of the selling part, and I am usually the one to take and count cash, as well as deal with customer's cards and checks. And finally, taking risks is something that I could work on. I don't respond to failure all that well; I do try and fix my mistake, but I don't usually like doing that so I try to be perfect on the first try. When I do mess up, I just need to learn that it's okay and go along with what all the teachers say-- "failure helps you grow" or something like that. I don't think that this article was asking too much. These are standard skills that everyone should have. Now, I'm not saying that everyone has to be absolutely perfect in all of these areas, but we should all have them as goals. I don't think that they're asking to little, either. Eight life skills seems like the perfect balance between to much and not enough (I'm a little biased, though, because eight is my lucky number). In conclusion, I think that this is a great article that displays the most important life skills without being to demanding or too relaxed, and is a good influence on anyone who chooses to read it. I don't agree with some of the dress code rules, but what I find completely wrong is the fact that the teachers don't have to follow the same requirements. Countless times during the past months there has been one teacher I see almost every day that continues to wear spaghetti straps, backless tops, and exposed undergarments. I am not going to tell who it is, but I find it absolutely rediculous. Even at the halloween party, this teacher chose to wear a strappless, very short dress. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe teachers can wear whatever they want, no matter what the dress code says for students. If that's the case, then I believe that definately needs to change.
I am thankful for my hair. I love my hair! I don't always like it though, because there comes a time when the questions about it become too much. I get things like this on a daily basis: "Oh my gosh, your hair is so beautiful! *looks and my mum or dad* Where did you get it?" Or something along those lines. I usually respond with "K-mart." I love saying that especially when it's somebody who's older because they get so confused!
Both of my parents have dark brown hair, so it confuses a lot of people. After people ask where I got my hair, they usually tell me about how they hate their own hair; how they always wished that they had red hair. And then nobody believes me when I tell them that I wish I had plain brown hair sometimes. Ugh! I still am thankful for it though- for example, there are so many kids who lose their hair do to cancer and sickness, which is so sad. Then there are people who are bald- I'm sure that most of them are bald by choice, but I don't know why! I guess because they didn't like their hair the way it was. Anyway, in the end, I am thankful for my hair. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2017
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