Final Blog Post Reflection

               

Throughout the trimester, in my opinion I think my writing has definitely improved by a lot.  One way I think that it has improved is my closing statement being more of a close to the post.  In one of my first posts my closing statement was, “These messages bring the girls together for the search for A.”  This isn’t exactly a bad ending but it doesn’t really “seal the deal”, or makes it really seem like the post is done.  For example, it’d be like talking to someone and they just walk away without saying “bye”.  It feels incomplete and awkward.   In my more recent blog post my closing statement was, “Hopefully this sparked your curiosity so you' just have to read the book to find out the next!”  See here, you can tell I am done writing because it’s not exactly saying “I’m done”, but you get the point that I am done talking.  Another example of my growth in writing would be,  my detail in my writing.  In my older blog post I said, “In the summer before 8th grade, Alison went missing and was never found.”  This is very broad and there are hardly any details.  In my more recent post I said, “.  Sometimes when the alien is put into a new host the memories of the human remain and they can still kind of think for themselves.  So basically Wanda and Melanie are sharing a body.”  Which are a lot more detailed and you can tell what is going on in the story more. 

 

 

One thing that I struggled with throughout the experience was finding the right thing to blog about.  I read almost every night but not nearly as much as I should have.  I believe if I had read every night I would have had an easier time blogging about different things because I would have read more.  I overcame this struggle by starting to read more in my study hall class instead of sitting around doing nothing.  One of my strengths that I had with blogging was when I had an idea to blog about, I actually executed quite well in my opinion.  I usually made them very well thought out and detailed.  I did not meet my reading goal but I came pretty close and I used goodreads.com to see any other good book recommendations but I didn’t update how much I was reading as much as I should have.   I have improved as a reader in quite a few ways.  I think I understand books easier now because I take my time when I read instead of rushing through a book like I used to do.  I also enjoy reading more because of our blogs and good reads I can find more interesting books for my taste.  So in conclusion, I believe my blogging has improved by a ton but I could also still improve it and make it even better.

Diva Article in School Newspaper

In the most recent version of the school nespaper, the chronicle, I read a really interesting article about bring out your "inner diva". For most people, being a diva isn't such a good thing... but if you think about it, bring out your inner diva can sometimes be a good thing.  Being a diva isn't just about being sassy, it's also about being extremely confident with yourself.  A lot of students at Mason High school have found their inner diva by looking up to the famous singer, Beyonce. 


She is known as one of the most powerful women in the world because she is extremely confident in hersle and doesn't let others opinions ruin her day and stop her from doing what she wants to do.  People see her as a role model because she is easy to look up to and her confidence makes up her whole image.  If she was insecure, and normal, she couldn't make a difference in peoples lives and make other people want to be confident she is. 

Freakonomics: Questions

The thing about Freakonomics is you really have no clue how they come up with some of the questions that they do.  Some of the questions may seem irreelevent in the beginning of the chapter but towards the end they kind of make everything come together and it all makes total sense somehow.  For example, the first chapter is called "What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have in Common?"  I know what you're thinking... It's a crazy topic and you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.  That's just the start of the weirdness... throughout basically the whole chapter they don't mention Sumo Wrestlers once and all they talk about is teachers and people cheating and even politics.  But in the end of the chapter it kind of ties it all together and it all makes sense. 

Freakonomics really makes you think about life and question yourself a ton.  It has your mind questioning itself almost every page.  It gives you facts that you almost don't believe.  For example it says, "In a typical election period that includes campaigns for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, about $1 billion is spent per year---" (page 11).  You think after reading this statement that our government is crazy and there is no reason they should spend so much money.  But then the book compares it to something we never think about... "It is the same amount, for instance, that Americans spend every year on chewing gum." (page 11).  Now, you always here people constantly complaining about how out government spends loads of money that they shouldn't but people never realize how much we spend on things much less important than our government, like gum. 

Freakonomics

I just started probably one of the greatest books I have ever read in my life so far.  This book is called Freakonomics by Steve D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.  Freakonomics is non fiction... but is one of the only non fiction reads I have ever read that has intrigued my mind to keep reading more.  It's basically an economists point of view on everything.  They make you really think about the meanings of things and the hidden sides of things.  For example, it talks about how it's not only students cheating in school but also the teachers.  It talks about how maybe some teachers help out students a little too much to succeed because sometimes their pay is based on how well the students are doing.

It also talks about how polititions winning elections may not because of all of the money being spent and the amount of money they put into it like most believe, but may be because of other reasons that are much more complex.  This book makes your mind want to keep reading more and gives you very interesting facts about things to keep you from shutting the book.  It's not the easiest reading but definitely isn't the hardest.  This book is honestly for anyone because it has no one theme in it.

Romeo and Juliet: Love Story?

Romeo and Juliet seems to be a typical love story.  But is it really "love"?  Romeo basically snuck into a party for the Capulet's and saw Julia and instantly fell in love with her.  Before hand, Romeo had loved another woman and the second he saw Juliet he claimed that he had never felt in love before her.  I just don't think this is true love merely because he and Juliet talked for literally less than two minutes and somehow they claim they are already in love.  This reminds me of the whole idea "love at first sight."  I don't really believe you can fall in love with someone within the first day you met them. 

I think the idea between Romeo and Juliet is more "lust" than "love".  I believe loving someone can take YEARS.  You can't just look at someone and think, "I will love them forever."  Sure, at a young age you may think it's love you're feeling, but to be honest you probably won't feel love at age 16. 

That brings upon another reason that these two teenagers aren't in  love.  They are far too young to even know what love feels like.  Especially after just looking at eachother.  It's just not realistic.  Maybe it's a good iddea for a typical love story but I don't think it can really be a realistic story. 

Book Recommendations: The Host

This is one of the many covers of her book.

One book I would definitely recommend to all readers is The Host by Stephanie Meyer. The Host is kind of a complicated and long book especially in the beginning.  Basically it's in the future, and the world is perfect. No crime, everyone gets along perfectly, and economy is the best it has ever been. It sounds great right? Except I forgot to mention only few humans still roam the planet because it's taken over by an alien species. 

The book starts out in Wanda's point of view, who was just put into her new host.  A host is a human body and they put themselves in and keep the body as their own.  The only problem they sometimes have with the procedure is sometimes thoughts from the humans are not completely gone.  This is exactly what happened to Wanda's host.

Then the book switches to Melanie's point of view, She is one of the few humans alive and she and her brother are currently hiding from the alien police trying to catch them and turn them into aliens. She has to run out of hiding to get food and she promises her brother she'd come right back, during this time, she meets the love of her life, another human still alive.  This is until she gets caught and turned into nothing. 

Melanie's body is now occupied by the alien... Wanda.  But not completely.  Sometimes when the alien is put into a new host the memories of the human remain and they can still kind of think for themselves.  So basically Wanda and Melanie are sharing a body.  At fist they hate each other and don't get along at all. But then they learn to work together and help defeat the alien species together.  They run off and find an underground world with all the few humans left in the world.  at first they don't believe Melanie is still in the body so they try to harm Wanda.  But she is able to convince them she is still Melanie just also has Wanda's thoughts in her. 

Hopefully this sparked your curiosity so you'' just have to read the book to find out the next!

Pretty Little Liars: Connections and Questions

In my book Pretty Little Liars, there are many connections in the real world to make to this book.  One example would be the fact of all the mean, and anonymous users.  There are sites in real life where kids go on anonymous accounts and cyber bully other innocent kids just like them.  Usually, they don't even have a reason, maybe just jealousy... which brings me to a question about my book.  I wonder why this "A" is attacking these girls? Is he/she jealous or did the girls do something to them in the past?  It's exactly like what happens in real life if you think of it.  Ya, you may say someone acting like a dead girl to attack innocent... or not innocent girls.... is crazy, but really, this same thing is happening in our society today in different forms and that's a huge problem.  Another question I have is how this anonymous user knows so much about the 4 girls?  And how long have they been watching them?  It's actually a pretty creepy concept to think about.  I predict in the next book of the series, I may find out some more about A's intensions but I won't find out who a is.

Pretty Little Liars: End of Book Summary

The end of this book kind of leaves you hanging a TON.  In the end, when the Rosewood police find Ali's body, proving that she is dead, they have a funeral for her.  all of rosewood is invited because her mother thought that is what Ali would want.  Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer obviously all go to the funeral.  they can't believe that Ali is dead because who else would be sending them the anonymous A texts? Those text messages from A were the slightest hope for the four girls that maybe... just maybe Ali was still alive and her whole death was a practical joke she had been playing on them. At the funeral, the four girls were asked to sit together by Ali's mother.  This was a little awkward for them since they still hadn't really talked at all since Ali's dissapearance. The tension between the four girls was weird... all of them sad and them all being together... without Ali... made them feel weird.  It was the end of the funeral and the four girls had seemed they almost bonded over Ali's death.  They were all standing together after the funeral outside.  When suddenly officer Wilden, Rosewood's policeman, came up to the four girls telling them they were going to bring them in for questioning on Ali's death.  They were definitely worried because of "the Jenna Thing" and worried theyd find out.  "The Jenna thing" happened in 7th grade when all five of the girls wanted to pull a prank on Toby Cavanaugh, Jenna Cavanaugh's step-brother for just being a "creep."  They kind of blew up his shed and didn't realize that Jenna was inside.  Not him.  This whold thing had blinded Jenna for life.  They found out later that Toby had seen them and didn't tell anyone.  In my opinion, I was thinking maybe he was trying to hold it over their heads, threaten them with the situation.  The four girls when being questioned the first time, when Ali had just dissapeared, they were asked f there was anyone that had anything against Ali, but they said nothing because then they would most likely get in trouble themselves. In the very end, they all get the same message from A saying "I'm still here."  It is really mind boggling considering Ali is supposed to be dead.

The theme of the book Pretty Little Liars is "learn who is most trustworthy in your life".  In this book the girls are bullied by A who knows all of their secrets so they must have told SOMEBODY in their life.  maybe this A person has links to other people that know the girls' deepest darkest secrets and maybe A is having them tell them the secrets for money.  You have to know who to trust in life or else sooner or later everyone will know about everything in your life.  Say you meet a new friend and she is super sweet and caring and never talks bad about anything so you tell her a few secrets about your family problems you really wouldn't want anyone to know. Then the girl goes to another friend of hers and tells her everything.  Then THAT girl tells a bunch of people... and so on. 

Trust Articles

But also in this book, another common theme would be to be careful what you do and make sure no on is watching.  This seems a little creepy but it really applies to this book in general.  The girls not only told all their secrets to people and lie, they also do dumb things and don't look out for who is watching them... like A.

Pretty Little Liars: Characters

There are four main characters in my book Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard.  There names are Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily.  In the beginning of my book mostly all of them were one way and then in the end they were either totally different or totally the same.  Their was also a character named Mona who wasn't exactly a "main" character but a very important one.

Hanna Marin, in the beginning of the book was kind of a typical "popular" girl who was mean, but also drop-dead gorgeous.  She had tons of money but decided to be a thief for the fun of it.  she stated it gave her thrill.  She had a best friend named Mona, who was all the same.  Both of them, when Ali was alive, were losers who nobody wanted to hang with.  the only difference was that Hanna was friends with Ali and loved and adored her and Mona hated Ali's guts because Ali would torment her and bully her.  Hanna had forgotten about all her other friends to live the "popular" lifestyle with Mona.  In the end of the book, they are all the same except Hanna has been brought together again with her old friends from a mysterious person A, that has been messing with them and they are trying to find out who it is.

Spencer Hastings, another of the four main characters, starts off as an obidient, perfect student, that does everying and anything perfectly and has one of the highest GPA's in her class. She was vice president of the school.  In the end of the book, she ofcourse, bonds with her old friends again over Ali's dissapearance, and now she is not so obidient and her grades are falling since she spends so much time trying to find out who this "A" person is. 

Aria Montgomery, just moved back to Rosewood after a year in Iceland.  She has totally reinvented herself and is now "Icelandic Aria" who is not afraid of anything, super confident, smart, and gorgeous.  She ultimitely stays the same throughout the whole first book except she loses some of her confidence because of this A person bringing her down and her trying to find out who they are with her friends that she is reunited with. 

Emily Fields is an all-star swimmer in the beginning of the book who is extra obidient to her parents and never gets in trouble.  She was like the model child.  I think she changed the most out of everyone in this book because at the end she has quit swimming, and never listens to her parents and smokes, drinks, and she is a totally different person.  She also is reconnected with her old friends and is in a search to find A.  Emily is the most affected by A in this book because a has the most dirt on her and she is more of the weakest link. 

Pretty little liars link

My book, Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard is about 4 best friends whose best friend, Allison Dilorentis, goes missing.  The four main characters are; Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Hanna.  In 7th grade, they had a best friend Alison who brought them all together. She was flawless, popular, and everyone loved her even though she could be super mean.  In the summer before 8th grade, Alison went missing and was never found.  Aria moved to Iceland, Hanna who had been the nerdy girl was now  the most popular girl in school, Emily was a swimming all-star, and Spencer was an academic all star.  Aria moved back after a year and everything was different.  None of the four best friends who had shared some of the deepest, darkest secrets with were even remotely close, the were more like strangers.  All the girls had assumed Alison was dead until they started getting mysterious messages with things in them only Alison knew and they were all signed off with an A.  An A for Alison.  These messages bring the girls together for the search for A.

The theme of  "Big Girl Small" is that one should not be judged by appearance, but by their actions.  in the beginning, the main character, Judy Lohden, a 3 foot 9 inch midget, is a really talented singer but is made fun of too much for her height so she doesn't even really try.   Chapter 1 in the book describes how she thinks small is such a bad thing and how people torment her for being so small.  It's unfair how people make fun of her even though she is one of the most talented girls in her grade.  Nobody knows that she has such talent because she is so scared at first to even show it to anybody. 

 Big Girl Small article