Finally

This semester I read more than I thought I would, however it wasn't always easy for me to reach the required amount of pages or to find time to read. I read a lot of romance novels, of course, and a variety of other books that were recommended to me by someone else. One challenge I had was pushing myself to stick with a book that I found boring to read or hard to read, but I did. I read during any amount of time I could find, at night, during commercials while watching tv, etc. If I find a book that instantly grabs me and interests me, I can read for hours totally absorbed in the book. However, I don't think that's happened completely since I read the Twilight series. Whenever I find a good book that I think someone else would enjoy, like a family member or friend, I talk about it to them and suggest they read it.

At the end of the semester I still think I'm the same reader I always have been. I still read the same types of books because the books I read are the ones that interest me. But, by doing the "Art of" projects and exercises I look at writing in a different way. I have a new perspective of how to be descriptive and analytical. This summer I will most likely read independently because I do almost every summer. I'll probably be reading the same types of books because I like to enjoy what I read. If I'm reading a book that I don't get into until the very end, I don't enjoy reading it. I think you should enjoy what you're reading, especially if you're reading independently and have a choice of what you read. As of right now I'm going to finish reading Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen and then read another one of her books.

Riding Through the Pages

Rebecca...still difficult to read; enough said.

Currently absorbed in Along for the Ride.

Auden continues her conflict with her dad, and I still want to reach through this book and give her dad a little talkin' to. Aside from that I'm happy to read/see Auden making friends, even though the friendship is not what I had expected to form between Auden and Leah, Esther, and Maggie. In the beginning of their "friendship" Maggie had been nothing but nice to Auden until Maggie found out that her ex-boy toy was flirting and suddenly interested in Auden. Auden, already socially awkward, being new to the town, and being just a visitor for the summer, has no intention of having a relationship with the ex-boy toy, Jake, or of getting on anyone's bad side, aka Maggie. But, Auden starts working at her father's wife's store, Auden is forced to face Maggie everyday, where eventually a friendship is formed between her, Maggie, and the other two girls who work there. I personally think it's great that they became friends because Auden needs a couple of girlfriends, for more than one reason. First of all, she doesn't know hardly anyone in the town. Second, she's always had a relationship with her books and numbers and school work, but never with boys or friends. Not being much of a social butterfly, she could use some friends like Maggie, Esther, and Leah. And, while gaining some friends, she's also content back in the office at Hiedi's store, working with the checkbook and money. Best of both worlds.

Week 10

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Pages this Week: 103
Total Pages: 1110

Along for the Ride

So, the beginning of Along for the Ride was a little slow but now that I'm farther into it, it's pretty good. It does frustrate me though how inconsiderate and ignorant Auden's father is. He barely helps out with his newborn baby, just like he hadn't with Auden or her brother, and he's so focused on his work that he barely spends any time with Auden even though he doesn't see her often at all. Sometimes I wish I could just jump into the book and talk some sense into him. Auden is a very independent and intelligent girl, as she's been brought up to be. And I see why she's the way she is in regards to personality. Her mom, being so caught up in her successful writing career, expects the best from her and always over assumes when it comes to responsibility. Not to mention her mom's partial absence due to her consistent dinner parties with students who are a little more than overly intrigued by her. Auden is often left to fend for herself, which is probably why she's used to staying up doing homework and then going to a small little diner at 2 o'clock in the morning, by herself. I can also see how the relationships with her parents have caused her to be some what of a social outcast.The smart one, and then mix in the contentedness of being alone and you get, Auden. I almost feel bad for her because she's missing out on vital parts of being a teenager, like having fun. Auden needs a little fun in her life, which is why I'm happy that she decides to go to her dad's for the summer. Her dad lives on a beach, for the record.

Week 9 Currently

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Pages this Week: 105
Total Pages: 1007

Bingo

1. "When describing a simple he book, he states, "black Penguin paperback," when he could have just stated paperback." The Written Word

2. "Throughout the excerpt Barker used excellent verbs and description to explain all of the sentences."Let's Start!

3. "On the subject of his parents, he says "they're touchy as hell." T-Rex

4. "Salinger uses boring, depressing words to shape his character's harsh and "crumby" living environment and how he came to live there." Live, Laugh, Read

Best: In the opening page of Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger underscores the teenage angst bursting though the young, yet disillusioned, Holden Caulfield. Lowbrow words like "lousy,"
"crap," "stuff,' "hell," "crumby," and "damn" accentuate Holden's anger as he rambles the opening of his story. Furthermore, sentence fragments, such as, "One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour," destroy any last vestige of formality, further developing the aura of simply telling a story to a friend. Despite a Dickens allusion, the majority of the passage is purely denotative, lacking symbolism. This expository passage helps develop Holden's past. Although the majority of this passage is about Holden's family and past, the majority of the character development shines through Salinger's diction and style.
A Scrap of Parchment 

Practice Diction Analysis

J. D. Salinger’s loutish and reverberating style in his excerpt from Catcher in the Rye, expresses the narrator’s unenthusiastic and lethargic attitude towards his own life and world in general.The narrator begins by addressing the desire of readers to know more about his "lousy childhood" in which he doesn't want to describe because "that stuff bores" him. His outlook displays the disconnection and unwilling relationship between his parents and himself. The only history the narrator seems to inform the reader about is "madman stuff" that happened to him before he becomes "pretty run-down." His cloistered approach to most people, even his family, implies that he is guarded and informs about most anyone or anything, except for himself. Aside from his connections with family the narrator reveals a pessimistic attitude towards the place he lives describing it as a "crumby place." Clearly, the narrator isn't satisfied with his current situation, from his public relations to living situations. 

Style Mapping

       Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier all have different languages that can be described in different ways. The connotation of all three excerpts is connotative. Stardust uses poetic and picturesque style to illiterate the story whereas Rebecca uses quaint and lyrical style; both are connotative in their own way. The elevation of Stardust and Rebecca are both elevated and ornate whereas Cormac McCarthy uses a familiar and colloquial elevation in Blood Meridian. In addition, the language used by both Neil Gaiman and Daphne Du Maurier is pleasant and sophisticated in sound. In contrast, Cormac McCarthy uses more raspy and resonant sounding language. All three excerpts use language style that is unique to its author and sets in apart from the rest. 

Stardust: Neil Gaiman
x= connotative, figurative, poetic, picturesque
y= elevation, scholarly, elevated, ornate, archaic
z= pleasant, mellow, sohpisticated

Cormac McCarthy: Blood Memdian
x=connotative, scenic, illustrative, poetic
y= low, concise, familiar, colloquial
z=harsh, raspy, resonant, grating

Rebecca: Daphne Du Maurier
x=connotative, lyrical, quaint, descriptive
y= high, intricate, elegant, scholarly
z= musical, melodious, pleasant, sweet

Update Week 8

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Pages This Week: 132
Total Pages: 902

Quarterly

This quarter I've read more than I probably have in the past year. It's been challenging for me to find the time to read and the time to blog. However I have surprised myself on time I did find to read a book, even just a few pages. This quarter I surprised myself by reading a book I got a lot time ago and could never push myself to finish. As of right now I'm almost done with it. I find myself reading at all times of the day, basically whenever I can find the time. A lot of reading has been done at night and when I have free time during the school day. The most challenging book I've read this quarter is probably Rebecca. It's a semi-thick book with fairly small type so it takes the most time for me to get through, especially when I go back and reread certain passages to understand or remind myself. For the remainder of the semester I'd like to set a goal to start blogging more frequently. I haven't had much time to this quarter so I'd like to change that.

Currently week 7 and Sentences of the Quarter

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Night by Elie Wiesel - finished. :)
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Pages this Week: 130
Total Pages: 770

Sentences of the Quarter:

1. "At the moment it inspires me, if not with love, at least with confidence." Rebecca

2. "He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer..." Night

3. "Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get - a cold, sick feeling deep down inside - when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were." A Northern Light

4. "So big question - why so much hate in your mind when love is the only way to straighten things out?" Jay's Journal

I like all of these sentences for different reasons. Sentence # 1, I like the idea of it and the optimism of her thinking. Sentence # 2, makes me think. When I first read it I was confused but the more I thought about it I understood, and I like that it made me think. Sentence # 3, I like because I personally can relate to what Mattie is describing. And sentence # 4, I like because I like the concept of the question. I believe that you shouldn't waste time hating or resenting as well as regretting, so why not be happy and love?    

I Can't Imagine

I've read plenty of books about the Holocaust and World War II but none of them have made me feel so angry or annoyed. I'm not angry at the author but angry about the Nazis and how they treat the Jews. For myself, I think the reason I feel the way I do is because the author was a person who went through the harsh and unethical treatment of the Nazis. Usually, well the trend of the books I've read over the topic have been written by third party authors. In those books you don't get the same feeling or complete understanding of the extent of damage Germans caused. With Night being written by Elie you're exposed to his feelings and thoughts throughout the events and years. In this book you also get insight into the years after the Holocaust and how it effected his life, in the other books I've read you don't get as specific as first person experiences.

The specializations and restrictions the Nazis placed on the Jews is so frustrating to read about because although I've known about them when you read how it effected the author and ones he was close to, it brings you, or me as the reader to a more personal level. I think that because the reader is brought to a more personal level it causes them to feel more emotion rather than just feeling informed. If I'm feeling frustrated now I can't imagine how it would have felt to be in Elie's place back then...it's something that most people can't comprehend which for me only makes me feel for them more. This book is powerful, in the words and context it displays but also the feelings it instills in the reader.

Likes and Challenges

I've thought of a new thing I like about A Northern Light, well that I find interesting. I like how the author starts in the middle of the plot and then flashes back to a different time before returning to the original scene. I think this dives the reader into action or conflict and then keeps them hooked because they want to know what happens with that conflict, but to find out they have to read through all the flashbacks and secondary events.

I'm having mixed feelings about the new book I've started, Rebecca. It's a rather thick book, bleh, and there's a lot of words on the pages, small print. Not that I don't accept the challenge or anything it's just a different appearance and writing style then what I've been reading. In books like Jay's Journal and Go Ask Alice the tex is written in the form of journal entries. The context is broken up and spaced in such a way that makes those books an easy read...but not too easy. I guess change is a good thing...we'll see.

Sparks of Controversy

So, controversy of Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal, maybe they weren't as true as I'd thought. Turns out the editor has been accused on many accounts of creating fraud to both stories. Supposedly she took passages and events from multiple of her clients' journals and combined them into the resulting two books. Jay's Journal however was taken from one boy in particular but had bits and pieces added to it from, like I said, other journals that did not belong to the boy. In the case of Jay's Journal, the original story and published story were so different in that the published story had strayed so far from truth that it upset the original story's family. The family had to move from their city because people had read this book, immediately knew who it was about, and then read the added bits and pieces that weren't true of the real boy and began to ridicule the family. That's horrible, and even though the books are good I definitely think the publisher or editor should make a note in the book explaining that although the events in the books are very much like real life events, they did not really happen and the people, places, and occurrences are fictional. The most 'non-fiction' of the two stories is without a doubt Jay's Journal.

"Alice"

I felt so bad for "Alice" (as I've chosen to call the main character seeing as her name is never truly revealed...odd) because all she wanted was to fit in and feel accepted for once. Although she'd moved and met a new friend and felt a little more "in place" when she returned home to her previous city she felt out of place. An old classmate of hers ran into her and invited her to a party she was having later that night...but that's where Alice's trouble began. At the party (no parents, of course), they decided to play a game where the girl brought in cans of Coca-Cola and passed them out. Little did Alice know that a select few of those drinks had been laced with LSD, but that was the game. Basically, the girl and everyone else didn't know which drinks were drugged and which were normal, but they'd all know soon. And just Alice's luck she got a drugged drink, and that was her first trip. Much like the partner book, Jay's Journal, Alice's life soon began its downward battle that would never recover.

A Northern Light

A Northern Light is starting to really interest me because I'm discovering little things that I like about it. Like, the  name of every chapter is a word. At first I didn't understand the relevance of each word and then as I continued reading I realized that each word is a word that Mattie has picked from her dictionary to be her "word of the day". I thought that was a creative idea on the author's part. Another thing I like is the setting, it takes place on a farm where they have to supply almost all of their necessities. I really respect the farm life, coming from a southern background, and can relate to the characters not only in the lifestyle (to an extent) but to some of the chores they have to do as well. In addition, I also like that it takes place many years ago but it still teaches lessons that are valuable today.

Night

So, I've always had an interest in World War II and the Holocaust, so Night seemed like an interesting book to read. Now having a start into the book I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be a Jew living in Europe during the early 1940s. The fear of not knowing what was going to happen to yourself, your family, or people you know would have terrified me. Some of the rules Jews had to follow, like wearing a yellow star, are unfair and unjust that if it were me I'd probably end up dead or in jail for arguing against it. I really admire Elie for everything he's gone through and overcame. Yeah...I'm hooked on this book. I think it can really teach a lesson while also informing about a historical event. :)

Currently Week 6

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Night by Elie Wiesel
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Pages This Week: 106
Total Pages: 640


Sentences of the Week: 

1. "Nature had come into her own again and, little by, little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers." Rebecca

2. "At the moment it inspires me, if not with love, at least with confidence." Rebecca

3. "If you've ever heard a cow cry for her calf, you know how it feels to have something beautiful and new put into your hands, to wonder and smile at it, and then have it snatched away." A Northern Light

My favorite sentence this week is sentence number one from Rebecca. I like this sentence because it uses great adjectives to describe nature and a great verb, "encroached", instead of a bland and common verb.

Sentences of the Month

Currently:
Go Ask Alice author Anonymous edited by Beatrice Sparks
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly 
Night by Elie Wiesel

Pages this Week: 111

Total Pages: 534

Sentences of the Month:
1. "So big question - why so much hate in your mind when love is the only way to straighten things out?" Jay's Journal

2. "He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer..." Night

3. "Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get - a cold, sick feeling deep down inside - when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were." A Northern Light

4. "I wish there was some way to literally and truly and completely and permanently blot my real nightmares out, but since there isn't, I must poke them way back into the darkest and most inaccessible corners and crevices of my brain, where perhaps they will eventually be covered over or become lost." Go Ask Alice

My favorite sentence this month is the passage from Night. I like it because it's a sentence that made me stop and think about what it's saying and trying to teach. If I have to stop and think about a sentence I like it.

Class Claims

1. In the "So Long, Farewell" musical number of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp children's bright  facial expressions, poised choreography, and cooing, melodic music develops the sense of lighthearted pleasure and soothing amusement. - Keep It Classy

2. In this flash mob by Todrick Hall, the mischievous and adventurous expressions, jubilant sounds, and bustling moves, show the explosive creativity and confident energy of the dancers. - The Average Life of a Teenage Bookworm

3. In this music video, Justin Bieber and Chris Brown's powerful, driving movement, harmonic vocals, and romantic, loving facials, express a sense of passionate romance and vibrant love. - For Beliebers Everywhere!

4. In the current edition of People Magazine, the precise use of clear texture,  soft focus, and pained expression depict a Greif- ridden child who fell victim to the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.- The Blog of Epic Proportions

5. In this scene from Grease, the director's melodic sound, crazy setting, open facial expression, and clean clothing expresses a sense of intimate playfulness, romantic energy, and loving animation. - Twilight

I think the claim from Keep It Classy's blog is one of the best. It uses a variety of powerful adjectives to describe the musical number.

Most creative & original artifact for close read:
Laughapalooza

Misty Melody

Misty Melody, Leonid Afremov

Observe:
Color: vibrant, wild, bright,
Appearance: beautiful, colorful, tranquil, flowing, peaceful
Space: open, inviting
Texture: smooth, silky, fluttering, realistic

Infer:
Consoling
Contentment
Dreamy
Euphoria
Explosive
Majestic
Relaxation
Peaceful
Pleasant
Romance
Vibrancy
Whimsical

Claim:
Leonid Afremov's vibrant use of color, flowing appearance, and realistic, silky texture illustrates a feeling of whimsical relaxation and majestic euphoria.

Currently at This Moment

Elie Wiesel now.

Go Ask Alice Author Anonymous edited by Beatrice Sparks
A Northern Light Jennifer Donnelly
Night Elie Wiesel

Pages This Week: 105

Total Pages: 423

Elie Wiesel then...

Sentences of the Week:
1."He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer..." Night

2. "I wish there was some way to literally and truly and completely and permanently blot my real nightmares out, but since there isn't, I must poke them way back into the darkest and most inaccessible corners and crevices of my brain, where perhaps they will eventually be covered over or become lost." Go Ask Alice

3. "Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get - a cold, sick feeling deep down inside - when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were." A Northern Light

This week passage three, from A Northern Light, is my favorite because although it's more than one single sentence each sentence flows together to form a single thought. I think that the passage is one that can be related to by many people even though the story takes place during the early 1900s.

Ending of One, Beginning of Another

Jay's addiction took a new turn, I'm convinced that he's possessed or at the least living with an eternal demon. This demon seems to have taken over his body and his fate. It sounds like a horror movie taking place, and then I remember its true, which elevates its scariness that much more. I want to have hope for Jay, hope that maybe a miracle will happen and things will turn around. However, at this point I feel like this story has reached the point of no return. As if things weren't already bad enough his friend Brad dies in a car accident and injuries to his right temple. Devastation in both Dell and Jay they decide that it is not going to happen to them and they're going to both turn their lives around. Sadly, a few days later Dell gets hit by a car and injuries to his right temple contribute to his death. The right temple has significance in their deaths because when they were experimenting with the cow blood and organs they focused holding their right temples; they'd also dedicated themselves to O. The loss of his best friends couldn't have happened at a worse time, and just as I'd assumed Jay joined them a week to the day after Brad's death. The ending is sad but sort of predictable. It was sad to read about how a boy who had so much going for him made one slip up after the other and ended his life with so much in front of him, or so much that could have been in his future before he 'dedicated' himself to O (which he soon after regretted). In his suicide letter he gave all his possessions to Debbie. I thought this was odd since she was really the reason he got started down the wrong path, but I must admit it was better to see her name than Tina's. The ending note from his mother was also sad. Her note really makes you realize that this story is true. And with that it's almost mind boggling to me how one person can get so mentally corrupted to where they appear to be possessed by some demonic entity. Rest in peace Jay.

Just into the book Go Ask Alice, which is the companion book to Jay's Journal. In just the beginning of the book she's already dealing with issues concerning a boy and family issues at home. I've noticed in the first few pages that names of places and businesses are being replaced with " _____." I can't help but ask, why not just change the name for confidentiality reasons? This book's author is also "Anonymous", I think that fact itself draws me into it. It gives the book a sense of mystery or danger that the author felt compelled to be Anonymous.

Get Out or Say Goodbye

Just when I said Tina needed to go, she did, or so I thought. She left for a little while which made Jay upset but then just like a rabbit in a magician's hat, she was back. This time after a series of what I believe to be, unfortunate events, Tina and Jay decide to get married? Not the tradition church legalized married, but their own occult spiritual and eternal "marriage". I don't know why I didn't see this one coming. I was reading along about this foolish marriage, and then my jaw dropped. It didn't drop in surprise but is disgust. The way they finalize their marriage is by cutting their tongues and letting the blood flow together - gross? Just when I thought things couldn't get more disturbing, of course, they did. To end their marriage ceremony (which took place in a cemetery), a boy brought in a small kitten. In the breathe of a word he snapped its neck. The "wedding" guests and Tina and Jay then all proceeding to focus all their energy on the karma of the kitten to bring its soul back into its body; they failed. I think that incident itself should be a news flash that they don't have superpowers like they thought they did. To be honest, this is getting ridiculous. It seems to me that O (Jay's nickname for occult) is taking over his life just like a drug addiction, only stronger. This addiction keeps getting worse, as I found out as I read on. If I thought the kitten was disturbing then I wasn't prepared for what I was about to read next. Mel, Brad, Dell, and Jay all left for the weekend and when they were away they ended up killing cows and cutting out only specific organs and taking blood. Why in the world would anyone want to kill a cow much less take organs and bloods, unless you're a butcher? Poor cows. Disturbing times ten. The things they ended up doing with the blood and organs is just wrong; it's wrong to the point I'm not gonna share. WRONG. Days had passed and Jay goes back to saying he's going to get out of O, like he's been saying throughout the book. Sometimes it's like he's two different people, one who is fascinated by occult and then another who wishes it had never happened to him. Tina started seeing a new guy which confuses me because she's "married" to Jay? However, maybe this is his way out...

Better Left Unknown

Just when I'd hoped Jay was gonna turn his life around, it fails. He's been making his experiences with the occult an "experiment", but if you ask me it's an excuse. An excuse for who or what...even why, I have no idea. I mean if you're going to be involved in it, at least admit to you are, to others and most importantly, yourself. His new love interest isn't helping him become a better person, at all. She herself, herself being Tina, is involved in the occult. She's involved even more so than Jay was, which by itself is scary. Personal note: I don't understand how one can get so absorbed in 'occult'. Focusing on objects trying to move them with your mind, I don't know about you but staring at an object so intensely to see it move in the slightest way does not sound appealing or even realistic. The objects they're focusing on aren't going to just grow legs and start dancing, what are they expecting? Or better yet, I wonder what they see happening through their eyes and mind? Maybe the objects did move. Back to Tina and such, I guess she can't be criticized or considered "bad for Jay" in all areas, I mean Jay was happy; keyword, was. When Tina leads him up to some hidden house activities occurred that I didn't quite understand at first. I kept reading along and then I finally understood, and oh my goodness it isn't even appropriate to post. I was shocked and almost speechless when it finally hit me. Tina needs to go if Jay has any hope left of turning his life around.

Currently and As of now

Jay's Journal, Beatrice Sparks

Pages This Week: 108

Total Pages: 210

Sentences of the Week:

1."Negative thoughts and actions doing the opposite." Jay's Journal

2."Am I the only one who has to ponder over things, think them out, try to find answers?" Jay's Journal

3."Together we're like a full symphony orchestra, not just a flash-in-the-night rock group or a loud dissonant combo but ... well, like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the "Hallelujah Chorus"." Jay's Journal 

My favorite sentence this week is sentence number 3. I like how it uses such description to express Jay's feeling when he's with Tina. 

Currently

Jay's Journal, Beatrice Sparks

This Week: 102 pages

Sentences of the Week: 

1. "So big question - why so much hate in your mind when love is the only way to straighten things out?" Jay's Journal

2. "I don't know how it's possible to love and hate somebody so much at the same time." Jay's Journal

3. "Can people have daymares as well as nightmares?" Jay's Journal

Cliff above the end.

I was starting to be proud of Jay for his sudden want to change the way his life was going. While he was in the Pine Boys' School it's almost like he didn't escape or better his addiction because he found a new one, occult. I thought kids went to juvenile centers as a punishment for their actions and possibly to learn from them, but Jay was introduced to occult by a man who was supposed to be a worker at the school. The man, Pete, who had introduced occult to Jay was far less than a friend, and far less of what Jay thought of him. Pete did not help Jay but rather worsened his mind and thoughts. Later on after returning back home Jay found out about Pete having raped a little boy at the school...and to think of what could have happened to Jay. Although when he left the school Jay seemed to have a better outlook on life and him, the teachings he had learned from Pete still lingered in his mind. The occult thoughts stuck around long enough for him to get Dell and Brad into them as well. In addition to the new thoughts implanted in his mind during the months after returning home, he was focused on bettering himself and he looked back and saw how self centered and idiotic he had been before, when he was into Debbie. He started to care about others instead of just himself, and he realized the positives in people that he had neglected to see before. And although he made great progress from where he started I still feel like his outlook changed too fast for someone who was so used to and hooked to his past routines. He changed almost too fast to truly change. He might want to better his life now, but I have a feeling it's only a matter of time until he falls back into either occult or drugs. On a better note though, Debbie has supposedly moved away which might turn the favors into Jay's hand with his mission. Jay has seemed to have found a new girl who might actually be good for him, whatever that entitles. So far in the book, since he's gotten out of the school, he seems to be a better person but it's almost like that feeling people get in life of "it's too good to be true." His change is almost too good to be true and usually when addicts come out of rehab, or juvenile detention in his case, they relapse and fall back into addiction. Poor Jay, I'm trying to cheer him on, even though I can already guess where it's all going to end. I'm hanging onto the pages like he's holding onto each day.

More than just a word

Addiction, a word that has been given a negative connotation and has been associated with the members of society who find themselves lost and betrayed by the empty promises of substance abuse. But what led them to that path? It's believed by many that they chose that path with the complete understanding of the consequences, but how many of them actually did? The hardships of life live within every human being, but it shows more vibrantly in those who fall into its depths. In just the first pages of this novel the pain and unclear knowledge of why and how addiction began are addressed and processed through the life of a young teenager. A boy who had all the power he was capable of to change his path, and for some reason that was even unclear to him, he was hooked. Addiction can be associated with a variety of things. Addiction in his case is faithful to pills and his love for Debbie. Pills and love seem to be two completely opposite words, but both prove to be equally as harmful to his young life. I can only imagine where they'll both lead.

Endurance in its slightest

After a long ride, tubing, of huge waves and rough wake I end up with blisters and cuts that are accompanied by pain. However, the laughs and complete focus of not surrendering to the calling waters beneath, are worth it all.