The Shiney

Erm, I mean shining! By Stephen King.

Right, well, although King is one of the greatest Horror novelists of our times... this is not the high point of his work. i mean, sure, it's well written. It's King. But there just seems to lack the element of mystery that all good Horror novels need. To be scared by a novel, you need to know that horrible things are happening, but you can't know why. knowing why turns it from a novel into a textbook. and if experience has taught me anything, reading textbooks is not fun. There's no real mystery as to what's going on. Perhaps I'm a touch simple-minded when approaching this, but the dude goes insane because of deprivation. plain and simple. not to mention the fact that the very INSTANT that the words "I won't go insane" escape his lips, his fate is sealed. Dude's gonna go insane. No doubt bout it.

I suppose, all in all, it wasn't BAD objectively, but when you consider everything else King has written, this isn't exactly printed on platinum either.

A raisin in the sun

2.) What would you do if you received a check today for $118,400? (this is what $10,000 in 1945 is worth today) Do you think money buys happiness? Why or why not?

Now, this is hard to answer, seeing as how I'm just about the farthest thing from a poor black man with a baby on the way on the planet.

Not to mention I don't have a family to provide for, a job i might ration the money out to avoid, etcetc.
I would probably just spend the majority of it on frivolous things, various guitars, amps, cables, stompboxes, pedals, strings, wahwahs, and other things that can be expressed with jargon that is meaningless to the average observer. I would also put a bunch of it away into a vacation fund so that my family can go back to tropical islands during february break, england during he summer, etcetc. Additionally, I would put a lot of it into the bank to gain interest and then use it to study abroad in England. I've always loved England. My fatherland, L'angleterre... Okay, I'm getting a bit gushy, and a bit off topic, so... YEAH Anyways...

1.) Describe one of your personal dreams (i.e. your goals, aspirations). Why is this dream important? Are you likely to succeed? What obstacles could you face? What can you do to avoid failure? How do your dreams align with the dreams your parents have for you?

Okay, so one of my dreams is to become a successful musician. I mean, yeah, it's pretty cliche, "Oh yeah, you want to be a rock star? Yeah, you and thousands of other teenagers" But even if i'm not standing up on a huge stage, smashing my fifteenth guitar on our world renowned tour, before diving into my crowd of screaming fans and being carried all the way out, (Yeah, i have way too much time on my hands to think about these things.) i think I can make a little bit of success, even if it's just on the side of takig a regular job, i think since i took piano lessons as a child, and currently play guitar, and not to toot my own horn, but I have very good ears for what sounds right and what sounds wrong. the obvious obstacles are forming an actual band, getting other instrumentalists together, yadda yadda yadda... The only thing that can keep me from failure is persistence... MAN this blog entry is full of cliches... I'm like discount cliche warehouse over here! Alright, you know what. I've answered the question. I'm done.

PEACE! \y/

A ramble and an assignment.

MY CONVERSATIONS ARE WHACK

Okay, so I was talking to my friend alex during biology, right? We're working together on a packet about the functions of different organ systems of animals. And it comes up this question "Name 5 advantages of being able to move."
So i went off on this big tangent about that... So... yeah. Here's the gist of it:

"Well, first of all, it'll keep plants from growing on you. I don't know about you, but i don't particularly like having sunflowers growing outta my crack. additionally, it allows you to actually mate with another thing, without having to send pollen out... pollenating humans, can you image? Not to mention that if we couldnt move we would also have to be like plants in the ability to make our offspring grow up somewhere other than where they were born, I.E. two feet away from their ancestors. Which would end up with basically just a line of humans, each one older than the last. Which, if we were to do that, would end up, in effect, with flying babies. Babies would literally have to pop out of the womb and float away in order to survive."
At this point we were both laughing to hard to say anything else. We got funny looks.

So... yeah. Back to your regularly scheduled programming: Responding to a poem for english.
This poem seems a little odd. If my interpretation is right, it's about some teacher person who teaches his class, or rather, allows his class to teach themselves, about a book that is so foul, so disgusting, that in the poem's metaphors it is literally spewing poison out into physical space, and "scarring [the kids] for life". It's ridden with metaphors, death's baton, etcetc.

If I had to take a stab at meaningful interpretation of this, I believe it's calling out the attitude of some of the more burnt-out school teachers, child care takers, and the like. Just plopping a book down on a child's desk doesn't give them any guidance. and without guidance, some poor kid may not be learning anything, while another poor kid may be learning far, far, too much to handle. But the court and cryptic nature of the poem makes it hard to be sure...

Now, onto part two: Statements. Statements of fact, followed by my own interpretation, opinion, and all that.
(Wahey, it kept the formatting. Quelle convenience.)
There are no evil people, just misguided ones.
This immediately brings to mind the Socratic belief that there is only one virtue, knowledge, and only one evil, ignorance. this, in layman's terms, is to say that as long as you know what doing a good thing is, you will do it. For the most part, this does hold true. Almost all evil people can have a change of heart, see the error of their ways, and many other cliché sayings meaning exactly the same thing. However, there are some people who are so twisted and contorted that they are too far gone to realistically think that anything like that is possible.

You can get used to anything.
Erm... Well, this is a tough one. Biologically speaking, almost anything yes. There's always "That which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger" but all in all, i guess it really depends on the willpower of the individual in question.
You should usually follow orders.
Nnnnnnnnno. Well... It really depends on what you mean by "usually". Obviously if the orders are a matter of life and death, don't move your left foot or the land mine will go off, that sort of thing well yeah, of course you should follow orders. but this is never a substitute for thought. Sure, you can follow orders. But once we start swallowing orders whole without thought, we lose free thought. and once we lose free thought, where are we? Back in the dark ages. that's where.
Group pressure can make you act against your will.
Are you kidding? Of course it can! 90% of decisions are made on what will look best to others, what will please one's superiors, what will get me that big promotion, what will make the other kids think I'm cool... You get the point.
We should all learn how to forgive, no matter what the other person did.
Again, same thing as the whole "Not evil, just misguided" schtick. Now, idealistically? Of course. everyone should be forgiven. not forgotten, but forgiven. Realistically? It's just not gonna happen. Bitterness, hatred, regret, grudges, they just happen. That's people for you. It happens.this is not even mentioning that there are just some acts so depraved that forgiveness is out of the question
Difficult situations can cause people to lose their faith.
Of course. Happens all the time. When people are sick of something, they need something to blame. If you can conveniently say "God has forsaken me, blah blah blah" and go off to find another god, you're completely convinced that this other god will make everything all better, kiss the booboo, and such... Whether or not it really does? Well.. that's a matter of luck, (or coincedence)
People often refuse to acknowledge unpleasant things.

Well yeah. Look at our country right at this very moment, look out your window! people are living their daily lives driving their hummers as if nothing in the world is wrong. Because crisis is like an elementary school bully. if we ignore it, it'll just go away, right? Right?

Aaaaaaand DONE!

The Shining By Stephen King

First of all, I'd just like to say...
WOOT WOOT, STEPHEN KING.
Alright, so I've just picked up the shining. I'm reading it for... Student structured reading? Something structured reading. Idunno. anyways, so... yeah. Stephen King, one of the greatest horror writers of our time.

I haven't read very far, seeing as how I just got it from the library 20 minutes ago, however, what I've read so far is excellent. King has a real knack for being able to describe the characters, how they look, how they feel, and all that jazz, without droning on and on and on with an endless string of adjectives.

So... Yeah, basically the story so far is this guy who really needs a job applies to this hotel, which according to his five-year-old son (who, by the way, is a psychic) is evil. He gets the job, not because the interviewer Who is, an "Officious little prick" likes him, but because the owner of he hotel says that he specifically should be hired as the winter caretaker. So... Yeah, back to the evilness. He can't get another job because this hotel is in East Jesus Nowhere, so they have to stay with all of the eviltude.. That's as far as I've gotten.

Hello World!

Okay, so this is my English blog. Basically I'm putting assignments here (And rambling for the whole world to see) so if you see a post that makes absolutely no sense, don't sweat it.