What's Happening To Us?

So, today in English we had a Christmas party! The teacher wanted us to play games that either were Christmas or English related. That meant that we could play Apples to Apples or dreidel. Dreidel is a Jewish Hanukkah (Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that falls around the same time as Christmas) gambling game played with a four-sided dice. I didn't play that. I played Apples to Apples, which is a game where you have some red cards and one green card. The green cards are descriptive words (adjectives) and the red cards are people, places, or things (nouns). The whole point of the game is that a green card is pulled out and placed face up. Then, everyone looks at their cards and tries to pick the card that matches the adjective best. Then someone looks at the red cards and picks the best match. Anyway, that's the game we were playing, and about halfway through a green card entitled famous (or something to that extent) was pulled out. Well, what wasn't really odd was that Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the red cards that was put down. What was odd was that nobody knew who Napoleon was, except me and the person who put him down! (For those of you who don't know but should, Napoleon was a very famous, short French leader who had a dream of taking over Europe!) And then, there are all the people who know nothing and/or care nothing about math, science, writing. These subjects have been the core of society for a very long time! People may not like the way they are taught to us (*cough public cough school cough system cough*) but that doesn't degrade any of these subjects!

Seriously, what is the world coming to? Is it any big surprise that other nations are starting to catch up with us? Why can't we, the so called "new" generation, learn what our fathers and our fathers' fathers knew? Is it that we're becoming dumber, or do we just not care? And if we just don't care, WHY don't we? I hate to leave unanswered questions at the end of a blog but, for almost the first time ever, I don't have an answer.

Read My Blogs! (Unless You Don't Want To)

I, being the genius that I am, noticed that some days I"ll write small blogs and other times I'll write long blogs. I also noticed that when I write a long blog, not as many people comment; and when I write a short blog, people do. Who else has noticed this? Or is it just me and people just don't want to take the time to read mine because, unfortunately, you don't know me as well as you know others. If that's it, then it's your loss because you don't get to be as enlightened. OK, fine, you'd be just as enlightened, just not in the same way.

I Ask For Your Opinion!

This is the letter I sent to that Letters for Literature contest. I was wondering what you guys (and girls) thought of it? Don't worry...I'm open to constructive critcism!

Dear Mr. Christopher Paolini,

I first read Eragon in the fifth grade. Now, about four years later, I, Moe Joe, have read this book at least 25 times! Eragon is one of my favorite books. It is a very good thing for me to see a book that is extremely well written and with an intense plot, that was written by someone only a little bit older than I am. This knowledge, I know, has given many other people who were previously scared to write stories (even though they had talent) the drive and confidence to express themselves through their writing.
Even better, I think you would be delighted to know that Eragon has had a very big influence on me. For example, when I was in fifth grade, I used to play pretend games where I had a dragon named Saphira and was blasting Urgals to bits left and right using magic. Reading Eragon changed my youth by inspiring my childhood creativity and interest in fantasy. I can only imagine what it must feel like to you knowing that being the author of such a popular book, you have literally changed the lives of many people. To me, that would be more than I could comprehend.
Another thing that I thought was very good about Eragon was that I read about how much effort you put into the writing, editing, publishing, and promoting of your book. Some people, such as myself, might have given up long ago. I probably wouldn’t have lasted a month. Your dedication shows up in your writing, too. All throughout your book are the constant reminders showing the importance of hard work. The character, Eragon, faces dangerous mountains looking for food for his family. Being in our world where machines are constantly making our load much easier, some of us tend to forget that we need to know how to do things ourselves. We’re becoming a lazier society with video games and TV. Eragon taught me that hard work is important no matter how much you dislike it. I think it was good for our society to finally get an extremely popular fantasy book with a good moral about working hard.
One of my favorite characters from Eragon was Roran. I know that he wasn’t a very well developed character in Eragon, but he actually had one of the largest impacts on me. He always seemed to be looking into the future and trying to decide what was the best course of action. After a while, reading about him kind of awakened me to how I thought I should be acting. I’m not saying that I was a bad kid; it’s just that at that particular point in time I wasn’t acting as well as I should be. I wasn’t planning at all or looking ahead. Roran was a kind of kick in the pants that I didn’t really notice was kicking me until I read the book for about the millionth time. He was one of the many factors that made MY life better.
My only wish for Eragon was that you could have been a little more involved with the movie Eragon. With a book of that caliber, it was a pity that it had to be shown in theaters with almost none of the original plot. I’m not saying that it was a really bad movie, because it was very well done as far as special effects and acting are concerned, but my friends and I were still extremely disappointed with how it turned out.
Finally, I would like you to continue to touch the lives of others with your writing because it makes a difference. I have enjoyed Eldest as well and I’m looking forward to your third book. As I’m sure you know by now, writers have a big impact on society and with an ever-changing world, we need plenty of good influences.

Sincerely,



Moe Joe

CALVIN AND HOBBES 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Under this blog is a strip of Calvin and Hobbes comics. They are really funny and I would like everyone to see them.

So, as you may have noticed, my comics weren't exactly one hundred percent there. For those of you who didn't see, they were chopped off at the seventy-five percent mark. This made them really hard to appreciate because you couldn't read any of the punchlines. So today, I decided to have a little bit of fun and try to fix them. I learned two things: 1-After resizing, it's still hard to read the words, even though you can now. 2-You can't resize all the pictures at the same time. What I mean by that is that in order to resize the photos you have to resize one, publish the post, hit edit, resize the next one, publish, etc. That's a lot of work! Doesn't that kinda make you wonder why that is the case? Is it just my computer? Is it a glitched computer system? Oh well, I can't do anything about it.

CALVIN AND HOBBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really sorry that the pictures are cut off from the post but I honestly can't fix it. Trust me, I tried!

OK, so these are really funny comics. They are Calvin and Hobbs comics, which are the best I think. Anyone familiar with them? When I was emailed these I was in a laughing fit for about ten minutes.

Also, if you have a feeble mind and a weak heart and an easy to upset stomach, PLEASE don't read any of these extremely cool photos of snowmen getting mutilated. THERE IS NO GORE (fortunately)!

Theater, Stagefright and Me

While trying my best to come up with a topic that someone would actually read (instead of skim through and not get a thing out of it), I remembered that some time ago I went to the dinner theater matinee. Yes, I know that I'm a little late in posting about this, but seeing as I enlighten people with my ingenious ideas, why not?

First off, I'd like to publicly announce that the dinner theater was awesome. Normally I would say, Nothing is as good as doing something yourself. I proved myself wrong. It was much better to watch these Shakespeare scenes. (Although I can't really say that because I wasn't in it). Everyone was really amazing and almost the whole thing was hilarious. By the way, if you didn't go, go next year because it was really good and you missed out. My congratulations to everyone who participated.

Now, I address those people who think, Oh, I could never do something like that. Two things for ya: 1-You have stage fright, 2-So do I. My stagefright makes me believe that if I had been in the theater, no one would come back the next year (or the year after). I wish I could do acting, but if I did I'd faint.

But there is Good news: I'm working on it and trying to get better. Here's the Bad news: It's not helping. Here's the Worse news: I'm opinionated and being opinionated and also having stage fright is really bad because you need to share your opinions with other people. That's kinda hard if you are scared of talking to them. But I'm trying to get better.

Actually, I kind of cursed myself. When I was little, I would have done almost anything on stage. It didn't phase me. I did several performing things. But when I was in fourth grade, I somehow managed to convince myself that I had stage fright. How weird is that? I convinced myself that I was scared of attention so much that I actually got it. I also convinced myself of a bunch of other really stupid things but I won't get into that can of worms right now. But, oh well. So the bottom line is Don't convince yourself that you're scared of being on stage. You'll regret it. I know I do.

Winter Wonderland

So by now you've probably noticed the snow on the ground. If you haven't then you should get out a little more often. We had 7 1/2" of snow at our house. That's a lot of snow! I absolutely LOVE snow, until I have to shovel it, so I was kinda excited. With that information you can probably infer what I got to do next. I had to shovel. I had been happily contemplating the many possibilities of fun and excitement I might have when all of a sudden, out of the blue, my dad tells me that the reason I got up at 8:30 in the morning was to shovel! Great way to start the day, huh? I just need to remember to be optimistic.

President

This is just a random thought that I have before I jump into my topic: I have written more this term than I ever did during my seventh and eighth grade years combined. Even weirder than that is that I don't really mind. Before I had always thought writing was stupid, but now I enjoy it!

Warning: I would recommend not reading this if you have the wrong opinions and are emotionally unstable. Also, if you think But I agree with what you're saying then I would like to congratulate you on your right opinion and advise you not to take anything said here personally.

Anyway, back to my topic, for the past year or two I have been told by various, anonymous people at Fairfield that President Bush and his administration are dumb. First I'd like to point out that the members of the Bush administration probably have more formal (and informal) education than the average ninth grader and most of the teachers. Second, do you seriously think that you could do any better? Are you an all powerful, omniscient person who can stop wars and better the economy with the wave of your hand? If you are, then I admit defeat, but seeing as magicians aren't around anymore (if they ever were) I really don't see how you can insult someone who is more qualified and doing their best.

Personally, I'm for Bush. I have supported most of Bush's world changing decisions and most of his not so world changing decisions. Granted, sometimes I don't agree with what he does but who doesn't disagree with someone at some point? I mean, COME ON people, grow up a little bit. Nobody's perfect but does that mean they are bad? No. It means they are human, like you, me, and the rest of the past presidents and presidential candidates. Anyway, would the other candidates have been any better? Probably not. Al Gore, one of Bush's major opponents in 2000, said publicly that he wouldn't have known what to do any better than Bush about 9-11 and that Bush was handling the whole thing pretty well.

So is Bush really doing all that bad for a next to impossible situation? I think he's doing great. And now for one of my favorite quotes from Albus Dumbledore. "Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice, between what is right, and what is easy." Well, we're in those dark and difficult times now and Bush is leading the war against terror. The road we should follow may not alway's be easy, but what the heck? Let's do what's right and go down it anyway.

Mobile Phones

Hopefully, by Christmas, I'll get a cell phone! All of ninth grade and most of my eighth grade year I wanted the luxury of having one of them. (In seventh grade I had different priorities.) So yesterday, my mom and dad got a bunch of pamphlets. We all liked one of the plans, looked and debated, debated some more, looked some more, took about four hours looking and debating, and decided we still liked the same plan best. What a great use of time? Okay, so some of you rich thugs are going to think that this is a completely stupid thing (by the way, I don't care) but we are going to do the whole pay as you go thing. We aren't a poor family just somewhat conservative which means that after buying the phone and the first chunk of minutes, I'm on my own to pay for the rest. I don't have anywhere near the amount of money required for a plan, so my only option would be this pay as you go thing because they're cheapest. Anyway, the plan I'll probably have is a Tracfone. I haven't really heard anything negative about them and they seem to have a pretty great, cheap and usable cell phone plan.

Another thing I learned about cell phones is that if you go with a certain company, you have to get one of their phones. Maybe I live a sheltered, untechnologicaly cultured, miserably sad life but in any case, I didn't know this. That's one of the main reasons to why we did so much debating and leafing through pamphlets. It's because I wanted a particular kind of look to my phone. Was that too picky of me? Anyway, I found a phone that I liked with Tracfone and, since they already had the cheapest plan, I was extremely overjoyed. And so ends my amazing mobile phone adventure. I only have to wait till Christmas now!

Randomness About a Specific Topic

While reading through the discussion board (yes, I actually read all those), on Question #9, I realized that I left out my personal opinion on the topic of school work. My personal opinion on this subject is that I don't really have one. I am one of those people who, if they have an freakishly unusual amount of homework they complain, and if they have a regular amount they don't complain. I guess I would look at myself as someone who would give in easily to any minor opinion on a whim. But no, that can't be right because that would mean that I wouldn't really have opinions on other things, like the who's better Layton or Davis thing. Which, of course, Davis is (not arguing). In fact, I know several people who have told me that some of my voiced opinions are going to get me mugged, has that stopped me? No. So that can't be it, which leaves me thinking. What kind of person am I? Honestly, I don't think they have my category. I guess I'm just one of a kind, alone with all the others like me, but at the same time not like me, who don't always fit in with "normal" society but are a long ways off from being outcasts. But, maybe that's a good thing because if you haven't noticed already, it's the different people who do the important things in life because they are different. They know when to fight, when to give in and how to use their head. George Washington was this way, as was Abe Lincoln. Now the Question is: Are you different?

P.S. I do enjoy being vague and random. (sometimes)

Nutcracker

My little sister who is eight is in The Nutcracker. For those of you who don't know what The Nutcracker is, it is a ballet dance story, made a long time ago in the days of Tchaikovsky. This production was done by Clytie Adams School of Ballet. So yesterday, Friday, I went and saw her in it. She was one of the little cupcakes that go out, do a little dance and then go off stage. If you were there, you would only see her once and for only about five minutes. I didn't actually think that The Nutcracker performance was going to be all that great, but the more that I sat there and watched the dancers dance and all the little kids doing their parts, the more I proved myself wrong. The amount of work that they put into The Nutcracker astounded me and the skill of some of those dancers was really awesome. They brought in professional dancers for the lead parts who they got from Ballet West. I had originally gone to the performance to support my sister and not because I had cared about it, but I am now really glad that I went. The other reason that I went was because my parents told me I had to be more cultured.

My sister was in the second half of the show. She has been going to the rehearsal for two months now so it was really great to see all that hard work pay off. Every parent of a dancer was required to participate in some way to help prepare for the show. There were several committees of parents: props, communication, costumes, hair and make-up (my mom did this one), boutique, and more. All in all, I thought that the second half of the show was kinda boring compared tho the first. All that they had in the second half was a bunch of dances with, in my opinion very little story line. In the first half though, they had a great story line and overall better dancing. So now I think I will go through the highlights of the show.

The Top 3 Highlights of the show:

1. First scene- At the very beginning they show Uncle Drosselmeyer packaging up a bunch of toys for the party. The Nephew comes in and is trying to peak at what he is doing but at the same time trying to remain inconspicuous. (This is one of those moments where it just isn't the same when retold.)
2. Fight scene- When the soldiers come and do a dance reenactment of a big battle. To all you blood thirsty maniacs, who are becoming more and more common in the world today, you would be very disappointed by this scene. But to anyone else, this was a great scene.
3. The Dance of the Cupcakes-This was the particular scene that my sister was in. She was dressed up in a costume that didn't look remotely like a cupcake but it was still okay. It was shiny pink and purple. She was one of the highlights of The Nutcracker because she is my sister. She did a great job. And I'm a great brother (I think).
   

A noble cause

I recently had a poll on here entitled "Is it right to do the wrong thing for a noble cause?" The answers were "depends on the cause", "right", "wrong", and "I don't know" and I have had some pretty interesting results. So my goal for this blog is to expound on all the answers and give supporting arguments for each one. If you want to add to a section please feel free to do so!

Depends on the cause: These people tend to classify the terms "right" and " justifiable" as the same thing. There are several definitions of the word "noble". Someone similar to myself would classify the fate of the universe or maybe even just the fate of the state as a noble cause. Was it a noble cause for the U.S. to bomb Hiroshima with nuclear devices in order to bring an end to the carnage of WWII? I believe that this was the right thing to do even though it was wrong to kill and injure all those innocent Japanese people. Another example is (and this is a Mormon reference) when Nephi kills Laban to get the records because the Lord tells him to. The Lord says it is better for one man to die than " ...for an enitre nation to dwindle in unbelief." This is the choice that I would choose.
Then, there are other individuals who would classify their own problem as noble but the problems of others as not noble. They still fall into this category but I don't agree with them. These kinds of people would have no problem cheating on a test because it is right to get 100 percent.
People with both of these opinions tend to fall under this mixed category. They represent a combination of the "right", "wrong", and "I don't know" categories. These are good thinkers because they tend to be independent and able to see all the sides to a moral choice such as this.

Wrong: There are some people who believe that it is always wrong to sacrifice one's values. They believe that no matter what is going to happen, even if the world goes up in flames, you should always do what is right. They believe that there is a difference between right and justifiable. They think that there are cases were one can justify what they do, but it doesn't make it right. These are the type of people who take time in their decisions. These kinds of people tend to have high morals. These are people who will think things through and can always find a supporting argument for themselves. People like this are typically very determined and always good to have in a debate.

Right: This is the answer that means "If I classify it as noble than it is. And if it is noble, than it is right to do the wrong thing." In my opinion this is the choice that self-absorbed people would choose. However, many leaders both good and bad fall in this category. For example, Napoleon had his dream of manifest destiny and wanted to conquer all of Europe. In the process he killed many people for what he believed was a noble cause. These are the kind of people who become leaders, and aren't afraid of what others think.

I don't know: This is the only choice that I had no one choose in the week I had the poll. This is the choice for non-thinkers. It is the choice for people who are not leaders but the people who do what they are told when they are told. An example of this type of person could be a lowly enlisted soldier in the military. They are told to do the wrong things and the right things and do them by following orders. Sometimes, like in Nazi Germany, this was a bad thing but it can be a good thing, too. For example, if everyone was a leader then it would be complete chaos; there would be billions of different one acre countries and nobody would make any progress in life.

I thought that this poll was great because it made me realize how many different types of people there are. We need all of them because without these people America would not be America, Britain would not be Britain and the other major powers of the world would not be major powers.

Halloween (again)

Well, Halloween is officially over. I went to a party for Halloween with both of my brothers. It was complete and utter chaos but it was all good fun. So, I've been wondering, what were all you guys(and girls) for Halloween? Did you even go trick-or-treating? And do you plan on going trick or treating next year?

The Action

How do you feel when you hurt someone? Do you feel remorse, pain... antagonistic happiness?(I hope not.) I feel remorse. I always feel terrible if I am mean to someone. Trust me though, I try to be nice to everyone and everything. Usually, the only time I am mean to anyone is if I have a lost all patience. My other question is how do you know if you have hurt someone. Like, I've been arguing before and I have accidentally said something mean. I always have tried to attune myself to the expression of others when arguing in case I insult someone. If I find I insult someone though, I usually don't do anything to comfort them until I'm ready to say sorry. It's a weakness in my character, I know.

BYU

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a very outgoing supporter of BYU. By the way, I only insult U of U when people insult BYU. I have never started an argument about colleges. When most people think of the whole BYU versus University of Utah thing, they are referring to football. I play soccer and don't care a bit about football. I like BYU for its acedemics. In my opinion, the only thing U of U is better at smarts wise is paleontology, but I don't want to be a paleontologist so that's fine.

Halloween

I know everyone else is talking about Halloween adventures in their blogs but I think it's always good to do it yourself. Anyway, I usually go trick-or-treating but this year I'm invited to go over to the (fake names used) Adamses' house for a party. The Adamses are great people and I recently became friends with Damaris, a daughter of theirs. I was planning on going trick-or-treating but I really didn't know what I was going to be. Usually, the night before Halloween, I come up with some really lame costume that looks stupid compared to my friends' costumes. For example, when I was a seventh grader I was a guy with a wig and a big hat. I was supposed to be an old man, but everyone thought I was dressing up as Saddam Hussein. Not to mention, I hate an old costume with all its little parts. If I go to the party this year I won't have to dress up. Some of my other friends might be coming, too. However, one of my friends doesn't want to come because he prefers scaring children's pants off when they come trick-or-treating. But his type of humor is pretty strange sometimes. Some of my other friends might still go trick-or-treating just to get the houses' candy. But, I have decided I'll go to Damaris's party.

My Week

DAY 1: Monday was so fun! Okay, so, the first good thing that day was that I actually woke at 5:30 and STAYED UP! For everyone who doesn't know me very well, believe me when I say it is a miracle. Anyway, things just keep getting better and better and by the time I get to school I am like jumping off walls and not even all that tired. So, right after 3rd period I am walking past the Spanish teacher's door and see the NAL list. I made it! The rest of that school day passed normally but when we had NAL meeting later that day, I found that I had a lot of friends in it this year. When I had done it 2 years previously, I had like one friend in NAL. So it made me way happier to know I had some friends this year. When I got home even later that day, I got my homework done way speedy and had more spare time than usual.

DAY 2: Relatively speaking, Tuesday was a "normal" day. I had fun talking with my friends, but the lessons in class were extremely boring. When I got home that day I tried to watch TV for a little bit, but was interrupted so many times that I soon completely gave up. I had some fun though and when my homework was done and my chores completed we watched Transformers.

DAY 3: The worst day of my week. Wednesday was terrible. I got up at 5:30 and stayed up for about 2 minutes before falling asleep again. In school that day, I was so sleepy that I almost had 3 missings in my first 4 periods. When I got home I did my homework, which took forever, before falling asleep. The only good fortune I had that day was when my Mom came home from New York, where she had been visiting my grandparents.

DAY 4: Today was pretty fun. It was kinda like a Monday-Wednesday mix. I had a pretty good school day. In seminary I did a devotional, which was not nearly as scary as the last time I did it. All my classes seemed to go by pretty fast until science. She had us do the notebook assignment where even graded assignments were part of it. Then I had English where we were reciting the poem "IF". I had already done mine so I was dead bored. When I got home, I fooled around and now I'm writing this.

DAY 5(added later): Friday was terrible with a ray of sunshine. My day started out at O.K. but just went down from there. I got up fine and went to school without incident. But then, for some reason, bad luck set in. I started forgetting things, then started zoning out for no reason at all, etc. I am counting myself extremely fortunate that I didn't have much due that day or I would have had a lot of missings. Then, in seventh period, I had a substitute. I did not like the sub and I don't think she liked me all that much either. So, because there was a sub and the fact that I lost my ID card, I could not use the computers, which prevented me from taking the AR test that will decide my grade. Finally, class got over and I got to go home. I got home in a not so happy mood and became very obstinate(which I am ashamed of). Then I got to go to the Ward Halloween Party which I thought was going to be not so fun. I was wrong. It was about the only good thing I did all day. I had friends there, DDR, Kareoke to songs that I hate (High School Musical) but was fun anyway, and best of all FOOD. And it came to pass that (like my blog) my day ended.

Snowball Fights

"Hey Moe, where are you?" calls Dad. "I'm down here in my room," I call back. "Guess what?"Dad says,"It's snowing!" "Really?"I say. "Yeah, come on outside. I expect to see you there in five." I grumble and get off my bed thinking of ten million other things I would rather do. Dad, laughing maniacly, walks back upstairs and goes outside leaving me all alone. I am not so surprised to find that I don't care at all and begin to get on thicker clothing so I don't become the Human Popsicle (the super hero who doesn't move much). Finally, after ten minutes I am geared up in full body armor, the best gloves I could find, and my lucky hat. I walk into the garage, then go out the back door, locate everyone, gather a few balls of snow, and soon I am doing the dodge the snowball jig while dealing out deadly missiles in every direction with a person. After a while, we(my dad, two brothers and I) call a temporary truce and divide into teams. The brother on my team decides to be an idiot and goes to ridiculously close distances only to completely miss his target, get pounded by snowballs, and wait for me to come rescue him. The brother on my dad's team isn't quite so dumb, but just as inaccurate and seven times as scared of getting hit. So basically, it was just me and Dad, hurling snow in powerful, fast, and pretty accurate throws. So, I had just nailed my dad squarely on the arm when I looked down to gather more snow and had my sixth sense kick in. For those of you who have never been in a really intense snowball fight, your sixth sense is your sense that tells you that something is just about to hit you really fast and really hard. Anyway, I threw myself to one side and feel a snowball going at like mach 2, graze my coat. After trading a few more deadly blows, we call it a draw and go inside, where we warm off and eventually eat.

Walkie-Talkies

I was watching comedian, Brian Regan, a while ago and he starts talking about walkie talkies. He was laughing about them because they were a military invention but somehow got stuck with the name "walkie-talkie". So, like Brian, I wondered how the military, with no humor, could come up with a name like that. So I decided to do some research starting with Wikipedia (which is my personal favorite). I discovered that the walkie talkie was developed during WWII for use by the military. The nickname "walkie talkie" was invented for radio reciever/transmitter. But before the nickname "walkie talkie" was even invented, radio reciever/transmitters were nicknamed "handie-talkies". I also learned that the first walkie talkie was made by Motorola. After I learned that I decided to go do something a little more fun. So I quit that and wrote this.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are one of a kind,
With their stomping of feet
And their clashing of jaws.
They throw their heads back,
Way back,
And give a mighty ROAR!
They turn about
With a mighty bound.
Dinosaurs off on a chase;
They hunt all day long
And then there’s the test,
Of settling down for
A big night’s rest.

Global Warming

Are we all doomed to a terrible death? Are we all going to be driven back from the coasts because the water has risen a grand total of 777 micrometers? Are you tired of those extremely pessimistic scientists who only say we are going to be doomed because they want to be known for something? Before I say anything more I would like to add that I am not completely anti-global warming, only I think that the scientists have made global warming sound so ominous when it might effect only a small portion of the world. In fact, I actually agree that global warming is happening and that Antarctica and all the glaciers are getting a tad smaller. But I disagree that this is ALL human doing. Could it not also be possible that warming up a little could be part of the earth's natural cycle? I mean, scientists have admitted that they don't know everything and what if the earth decides to get a tad hotter for a while. They also have evidence to back up the theory that the earth has gone through periods of hot and cold for thousands of years. I also am sure that we as a people aren't helping the matter, but I doubt we are all going to die because the world goes up a couple degrees.

Music

WARNING: If music(especially country) is your entire life, than I would like to ask a favor of you, don't read this blog. Okay, so Thursday was my brother's birthday (the 8th grader who is quiet during school, not the noisy 7th grader, some of you might have seen him). Anyway, so I will now list out his presents for you: music from the Star Wars saga, a pirates of the carribean soundtrack, a lord of the rings soundtrack, piano sheet music, and a lego. My brother was pretty excited about his gifts and I, being the nice, kind, loving indivdual that I am, congragulated him on his presents. Privately though, I was thinking it a complete waste of money. Don't get me wrong, I love music (except country) and I like listening to it but I think he could have gotten something just a little more interesting, such as a gallon of sprite, a cell phone or some other really expensive gift that would make my parents go broke. That's all for now!

Optimism

Now, here is a topic that I have really wanted to talk about, OPTIMISM. Wouldn't you guys agree that optimism is so much better than pessimism? I know a few pessimistic people and they can be very annoying sometimes because they are always putting people down. Pessimists are most annoying during sports (or pretty much every competitive activity). Optimists, however, are awesome to have on a team or activity because they are alway's building you up. I know from experience that having someone optimistic on your team can really make a difference. I am on a competitive soccer team (by the way, soccer RULES), and I had a game on Tuesday. The score was 3-0, then in like 5 minutes(I really have no idea how much time it was but it seemed like 5) the opponents scored two goals. We could have been pessimistic, and doom ourselves, but we told ourselves and our team, that we were better than them. We eventually won that game at a score of 3-2. So, the moral to the story is, BE OPTIMISTIC.

Greek Myth

Hey everyone! I mentioned before that I had to do a report on a Greek Myth. I got to choose the character and I am pretty sure most of you have never heard the story of Deucalion. At least my teacher hadn't. When you are reading this it will probably remind you of a similar story but I promise that it is an original myth. I thought that this myth was very exciting and was kind of fun to write about. I would also like knowing what you think about the myth. The report reads as follows:

My report will be on the Greek character Deucalion. Deucalion’s father was Prometheus, a titan, and Pronoia, his mother. Deucalion has no real symbol but he is commonly paired with the symbol for flood. I am pretty sure Deucalion has never had or used a weapon, but he has thrown rocks. As far as I know Deucalion has no Roman name nor is he even mentioned in Roman mythology. However, there IS a surprising resemblance to a biblical story (Parada).
The biblical story I referred to is the story of Noah and the Ark, where God floods the earth because the people were wicked. He tells Noah to build an ark and stick a bunch of animals in it. It then rains for a long time and the world is flooded, drowning the wicked.
There are actually several versions of Deucalion, not all of them with the same story; the story that follows is not actually one specific story. Rather it is several different versions of the story condensed into one. In this report I would side with whatever version had the majority of sources supporting it. There is an Assyrian version of Deucalion’s adventure that have nothing to do with a flood or a boat, but it is uncommon and I will not use it (Wikipedia).
The story of Deucalion starts with his father, Prometheus helping humans gain fire. Then Prometheus tricks the Gods into choosing the worst part of the humans sacrificed to them. Zeus retaliates with a girl named Pandora, who Zeus gave a box, later called Pandoras Box, which he told her never to open. But curiosity got the best of her, as Zeus knew it would, and she opened the box releasing the many sins of the world. Zeus had hoped that this would scare mankind into obeying “properly”. But with the sins now released in the world, this idea seemed to have had the opposite effect. Now, instead of getting even the worst part of every sacrifice, some men started not giving any sacrifice at all. This angered the Gods on Mount Olympus and Zeus and Poseidon came up with a plan to destroy this wickedness(D’Aulaire 76).
Meanwhile, Prometheus had been punished by Zeus for helping the humans. Zeus then decreed that Prometheus should wear unbreakable iron chains tied to a pole. Furthermore, Zeus decreed that an eagle would come and eat his liver every night, which is continuous punishment because since he is immortal, his liver would continually regrow. Before Prometheus was chained, he had a good son named Deucalion. When he was old enough, he journeyed to the mountain where his father was chained and attempted to break the bonds that held him. However, they proved to be too difficult, so all he could do was fight off the eagle that came to eat Prometheus’s liver (D’Aulaire 76). His father was grateful for the son’s assistance though, so when Zeus and Poseidon came up with their plan, which was to flood the earth, Prometheus, who could see into the future, warned his son and told him to build a boat to escape the flood (D’Aulaire 77).
Deucalion built the “ark” according to the instructions which his father had given him. On board his boat he packed food, clothing and other necessities. The passenger list of the ship was Deucalion, his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, who is Prometheus’s brother (Wikipedia). After they built the boat, the Gods made it rain for nine days and nine nights after which they floated on the water for many days before finally landing on Mount Parnassus or Mount Etna in Sicily (Papageorgiou). Once there, the first thing they did was thank Zeus for letting them live. Then, as soon as their offering was done, Deucalion sought out the Oracle of Thessaly(who was immortal and therefore could not drown) and asked him how to restore the Earth to its former state. The Oracle replied saying,“Cover your head and throw the bones of your mother behind your shoulder.”(Ovid's Metamorphoses as quoted in Wikipedia). Deucalion and Pyrrha were smart enough to understand the oracles cryptic message and knew that Mother meant Gaia, mother of all creation, and bones meant, rocks of the earth(Wikipedia). So Deucalion and his wife threw rocks behind them, and as they did so, they formed into humans. The rocks of Pyrrha formed females while the rocks that Deucalion threw formed males (Parada).
After the incident with the flood, Deucalion returned home and had two known children. A third child is debated by scholars today(Wikipedia). Deucalion would still occasionally visit his Father but since he recreated the world after the flood he was busier than before. Prometheus would later be freed by Hercules, who would shoot the eagle and break his bonds. But by that time, Deucalion was dead, being a human mortal unlike his father, a Titan (Wikipedia).
There are some differences between Deucalion’s story and the story of Noah’s Ark, which is found in The Bible. In Deucalion’s version of the flood, there is no mention of saving the beasts of the earth as there was with Noah’s Ark. That does not mean that they weren’t on board, merely that the Greeks didn’t view it as important and it got lost in the retelling of the story. There is of course the obvious name differences between Noah and Deucalion and their wives. Also, in Deucalion’s story, it is only Deucalion and his wife, but in Noah’s story they have their children on board as well.
But even with all the differences, there are definite similarities. For instance, Noah and Deucalion both received insight from a wiser source(deity). They both built giant boats to save themselves while the wicked people of the world drowned. The flood was caused by God(s) because the people of the earth were wicked. Afterwards, they both landed on mountains and gave thanks to God(s) as their first act on dry ground.
I think that since this theme appears in two works of literature trying to convey the same general idea, that we can safely assume that the actual flood happened. Whether a person chooses to believe it was caused by the Gods/God, global warming, or some other weird freak of nature, it most probably was a major historical event. Researchers that have studied this event have concluded that the receding of glaciers at about 10,000 B.C. caused the flood mentioned in Deucalion’s story (Papageorgiou). It is an interesting anomaly in the history of the world. It is awesome that these two stories with such a striking resemblance to each other are both still around in literature today.

Ad-Ons

Hey! So I pride myself on being a relatively blunt person(for example, if I don't understand you I would tell you), so I'll cut to the chase. I am trying to improve my blog(make it interesting) but If you see my "poll" you have probably guessed that I was just writing randomly and really had no clue what to put. I have stated before that I view myself as busy(or maybe I just procrastinate, I don't know). So if you have any suggestions, please give instructions as it would cut down on time.
By the way, THANK YOU to anyone(specifically the two kind souls who have already commented) who comments on my blog page!

Bummer!

Hey Everyone! Well today was supposed to be extremely fun but it is turning out to be not so fun. Yeah, so like I was supposed to go to Frightmares (at Lagoon). But I don't think the weather likes me very much because it started to rain and snow. Or more likely, my family planned this on the wrong day. Yeah, so instead of having a blast there, I get to have a blast here doing my homework, chores, and not going outside. But before you pity my miserable existence, know that I will, at the end of the day, be all done with these chores and able to do funner things such as watch Stargate (a TV show, possibly the best ever), maybe go outside, go to a friend's or build legos (I know what you're thinking... but I don't get HOW legos could be a "little kids" toy). Yeah, so I've been doing the Greek project for English class and I think I've changed what character I want to do about 777 times. I finally chose some Greek guy named Deucalion (I have no idea how to pronounce that) who was in a very familiar story about the flooding of the earth and him building an ark to escape death while all the wicked people of the earth drown. After I decided who to do, I had a whole big adventure in trying to figure out the textbook's definition of how to do the most evil thing in the English language, works cited pages. I finally figured it out by calling out to my mom that I needed help. So, all in all, my day has been a disappointing day(if thats even possible). So bye now, and keep yourselves optomistic.

Turtle

In trying to think of something to write about for my blog, I looked around for inspiration and saw my family's pet turtle. So, the turtle's name is Roxy. She is a girl. She eats worms, fruit, an occasional tomato, and we tried to feed her crickets once. She's twelve years old but we have only had her 7 years (this December). She is also the same age as my brother(and acts older)! As much as I like my pet, I would not recommend a turtle to anyone because they just sit in their cage thinkin' how we humans aren't worthy enough to see them move, eat, walk, etc. The reason we got a turtle instead of a dog, or a cat or any other type of animal is because some people in my family are allergic to them. My family is allergic to the hair of cats, dogs and other furry animals. My mom is also allergic to feathers, so birds are out of the question. Anyway, the pet that I really want to get would be a lizard or a snake. I would like a lizard or snake because they are cleaner to take out of their cage. They actually move enough to be interesting. The best thing about a turtle is that they are relatively easy to clean. All you have to do is take out the turtle, stick it in some water, change the paper and it's all clean. It's also the only time you can actually see the turtle move because it doesn't like the water(although because I am a nice, kind master it is not in the water very long). Yeah, so that's my turtle story.

Was that an insane week or WHAT!?!

Well, this week was...umm...definitely character building! With that EXPLORE test and all. It was also probably the most homeworked week of my school career. I had like 777 different assignments, 100 pages to read in like 7 hours, and about 77 different soccer events to attend. (I tend to exagerate a little bit.) As I'm sure you can tell, I've had a somewhat busy week. I've always admired those people who can actually budget their time well enough to have a week like mine and still have spare time. But, now it's the end of the week and things have started to settle down a little bit. I have even had time to look a tad closer at this blog page and discover its innermost secrets. Still, I'm not entirely done, I still have a few French papers due Monday (I have no idea why I'm still taking that class) and two science mini-projects to do.

I hate that ninth grade has so much homework! (ex. I spend more time doing my math homework than I spend in the class.) And if that wasn't enough, I have gotten sick with a ? virus that the doctors think might be mono-related, which has caused me to be extra, extra tired this week. But amidst all the bad, there is some good news. Everyone I have talked to has told me that 9th grade will settle down and I will actually get used to the homework and the extreme torture of science class.

My classes this year are somewhat amusing. I have manufacturing this year and it is a pretty awesome class. So far we have listened to rock music, thrown a boomerang, talked in class and had a couple of safety tests (w/out cheesy safety videos). My next class is "release time" which is actually a very fun class. My teacher, Brother John, is a very humorous individual. We learn about the scriptures and he makes it a lot of fun. And then, I have the class where like nobody does any work AT ALL in class-geography. There are more "naughty" kids in there than any other class I have. After geography, my classes start going downhill. I have to go to math, which isn't all that bad, but I didn't exaggerate when I said I had a lot of homework in there. Then I have lunch. I know a lot of kids who would die for first lunch, but I ain't one of 'em, I would rather eat later. Then I have French which, in my opinion, is a complete waste of my time. The only reason I take it is for a college application. I would much rather take Latin on BYU independent study if I had the time. By the way, BYU is the BEST college to go to! After French class, I have science, which is worse than the blackest pits of Tartarus(from Greek myth). Don't get me wrong, I love science as a subject, I just don't like how it's being taught. After science is English, which is a pretty relaxing end to the day. I have a few friends that I sit by in there and we laugh and joke around. By the time English gets over, I hang around for a minute or two so I can talk with friends before leaving. And so ends my day at school!

Now, if you read this opinionated report and you think to yourself, This guy is an optimist, then I don't know where you got that impression, but it is CORRECT! If, however you got the impression that I am a pessimist, then sorry, but please reread the blog and choose the correct answer!

Hello World!