Warbreaker

Hello!

               Trying to get my page count up for AP Language and Composition has been a recurring theme for my Sunday afternoons as of late. Not really, but still, introductions are hard to write, so you’ve got to live with it. This blog post is going to be about a book that I’ve read, though. It’s called Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson.

               The book starts off confusing, and doesn’t get much better throughout the course of the 400-odd pages. I understand that in many books it is necessary to allude to things you don’t understand in order to keep the audiences’ attention. In this book, however, it is way over-the-top and it makes the book read very poorly. I’m not a big fan of how convoluted the storyline was, as well as how it was told from the point of no less than three characters.

               The next thing that I’ve always loved about many fantasy books is that the author often creates an entire new universe, complete with currency, systems of government, and occasionally magic. Sanderson tries to do that in this novel, but it comes off as cliché and poorly done.

               The one thing that I think the author does very well in Warbreaker was the character development. I’ve always loved the characters in all of Sanderson’s books, and this one was no different. He did a wonderful job in making you understand the characters and want to be a part of their story.

               Overall, I was really disappointed in Warbreaker, I expected a lot better. Many of Sanderson’s other books are far better, especially The Way of Kings. That’s why it makes me sad when I read garbage like Warbreaker. I’d give it a solid 4 out of 10, but only because I really like some of the characters. Anyways, go read it, or not, I don’t care. (306)

AP Exams

Hello!

               It’s that time of year, the time where everyone freaks out. Friends are forgotten, meals are left uneaten, sleep is unattained, textbooks are dusted off and cracked open for the first time. My friends, the AP exams are coming.

               This will be my third year taking an AP exam, but only my first year taking more than one exam. I’m going to be taking the exams for AP Chemistry, AP Language and Composition, and AP US History. Now, I’m a pretty confident student, and I think that the AP Lang exam will be pretty straight forward, but the AP US History and AP Chemistry exams are going to be the end of me, almost guaranteed. It’s a lot more than just a normal final examination, in my opinion. In an AP exam, instead of having a general review of everything we’ve learned over the course of the year, it’s an intense, in-depth review. That’s not the way that we’re taught to learn throughout the course of high school, so it’s kind of annoying.

               So about two weeks ago I started reviewing for these exams. My “process” if it can even be called that, is to buy the first review book that I see, and read it. Cover to cover, page by page, the entire bloody book. And take notes. It’s time-consuming, inefficient, and probably won’t even get me a three or higher on the AP Chemistry test. It has worked for me in the past, though, and is probably how I will continue to do things. On the off chance that it actually works, I’ll be really happy.

               It’s not just the students that are on edge about the tests. The teachers either hate them or have to get students ready for them, there’s not many other options for them. As a teacher, you have to deal with students missing a ton of your class during the weeks of the exams, because they take all morning or afternoon. On top of that, you have kids that are missing more of your class time for review sessions, etc. Teachers that have teach AP classes also have to be preparing the kids for the exam early, and on top of that they have to be teaching new material and whatnot. As a teacher, that has really got to suck. But really, they should be helping us out too. Don’t get mad when we miss your class, it’s not our fault. Really, it’s tacky.

               So, AP exams. They suck. No one enjoys them, if you do you’re crazy. But  I wish you luck in taking them, and wish you luck in having your teachers not get pissy with you. (447)

Antigone

Think: all men make mistakes

But a good man yields when he

Knows his course is wrong,

And repairs the evil: The only

Crime is pride.

                This is an excerpt from the play Antigone by Sophocles. Although the section is short, sweet, and to the point, it’s full of meaning. Sophocles puts forth the opinion that since everyone makes mistake, the only people that are bad are those that don’t give up when they know that they’re at fault. I would consider his words to be very true; the only crime is pride.

                Sophocles is a playwright, and with that job comes the obligation to make things dramatic. When he says that the only crime is pride he is generalizing for the effect of drama. Obviously prideful people aren’t the only criminals in the world. Many things are actually crimes, like setting fire to someone’s car to running naked through a crowded shopping mall. What Sophocles means is that the only moral crime is pride.

                From the beginning of man people have been doing things that were considered bad. Stealing food, money, and land have persisted since people first hunted, minted coins, and held private property.  If you’re convicted of such an offense, you will most likely be punished, and that’s the way it is. What Sophocles is saying is that it doesn’t matter what physical crime you commit, it’s how you own up to it.

                Growing up around a parent that works in and around a jail has influenced me greatly. I often hear stories about criminals that have seen the light, whether it be religious or otherwise. They then recognize that they were wrong in doing what they did to earn them a spot in the orange jumpsuit. Many of these people will still live in chains for the rest of their days, but they will be absolved – perhaps not in the eyes of others, but in the only way that counts – in their own eyes.

                Examples of pride can be seen everywhere, especially among the stubborn. My father, for example, has a “stubborn streak a mile wide.” He will start something and not let anyone tell him how to do it better, even if he’s being so counterproductive that it hurts to watch. When he’s presented with a better way to do it, then obviously the better, more efficient way is wrong. Pride certainly frustrates the hell out of everyone, even if you don’t call it a crime.

                Everyone makes mistakes; it’s the nature of trying. Owning up to those mistakes is important, though. It makes us better people by realizing that we were wrong. The enlightened criminal is still a criminal in all the legal ways, but he’s free as a bird in all the ways that count. (462)

Fishing!

Hello!

               This post is going to be all about fishing. Shout out to Sam for hitting me up with this topic. As the weather gets warmer, and it gets more tolerable for people to be outside, I’ve started fishing again. I made it a tradition last summer to go fishing almost every week, at least once. Unfortunately, during the last summer I didn’t catch a single fish. Not a one. It was awful. I went for weeks, enduring sunburn and poison ivy in order to catch a fish. And I never did. It was very possibly the most disappointing event of the summer. This summer will be different, though, I’m sure.

               Fishing is an epic sport, one of the best varieties. It’s man against beast, and it’s a vicious competition. You have to spend hours tying knots and baiting hooks in order to get out at 5 in the morning just to suffer failure when you don’t catch anything. Then you, the outdoorsman, are required to curse the fish into the darkest depths of hell. Because that’s the way that games are played.

               It’s also not really just a game of sport, it’s a game of wits. To be a really good fisherman you have to have the mindset of the ancient fishermen of yore. You have to be the fish, swimming amongst the shallows. But you also have to be outsmarting the fish, too. You have to know where it’s going to be before it’s there.

               Perhaps it’s my lack of these skills that causes me to be a poor fisherman. Or perhaps it’s because it really takes a completely different set of skills all together. Either way, fishing is actually pretty awesome. It’s really actually very relaxing. You can just chill and enjoy the changing weather as you stare into space for a while. Although it’s not the most active or involving sport, I still enjoy it quite a bit.

               So my goal for this year is to catch a hundred thousand fish, none of them smaller than eight inches. If that doesn’t turn out I guess I can settle for two fish, one of them bigger than eight inches. If all else fails, I’ll probably resort to changing my summer activity to hunting or something. Because god knows that can’t be more difficult, right? Either way, have a great day. This is Matt, and I’m out. PEACE! (400) 

Prom recap

Hello!

               Last night and early this morning was prom for Kennedy, as well as eight other schools in our area. As a junior, I usually wouldn’t have gone, but my girlfriend is a senior so she invited me. Since I’m a junior, I didn’t go to all the assemblies for seniors about what was going on when and whatnot, so I had no idea what to expect. I was simply there to look pretty and drive her around, pretty much. Since I’m a junior, though, I got to have a pretty objective view of the whole thing, and overall I was not disappointed with how it was done.

               First off, there was the Grand March. Essentially, it’s a giant photo-opp for everyone, and you can get your pictures taken professionally. This was perhaps the worst part of the whole thing. At least, the line to get your pictures taken was the worst. My date didn’t want to go up on stage in front of everyone, so we didn’t. We did, however, get our pictures taken. The line was maybe 40 minutes long when we went, which is too much. Seems to me like they could have streamlined the process a little bit.

               The next part of prom was the dance itself, which was very cool. It was held at some fancy country club, which was pretty cool. Very suave, very elegant. The DJ that they had there wasn’t the best, but they played some decent quality music, stuff that you could dance to. There wasn’t many slow songs, though, which was kind of unfortunate for all of those that suck at any other kind of dancing. There also wasn’t a huge amount of grinding, which was very cool. Although I have nothing against grinding, it’d still be kind of ridiculous at such a formal event. So I’m glad that people weren’t super dumb about it. Overall, the dance had a very nice atmosphere.

               The final part of the evening was the Post-Prom thing. Once again, with this I had no idea what to expect. I had heard from a few people that it was supposed to be very lame. So I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be really, really fun. They had a ton of free food, and I mean a ton. They also had an open gym, a bunch of different games, and a hypnotist. The hypnotist was pretty cool, he made everyone do a bunch of stupid stuff.

               All in all, I had a really amazing time at prom. I have high hopes for our prom next year.

Weird Al Concert Recap

Hello!

               About a week ago I attended a Weird Al concert! This post is going to be about my experience at said concert. So if you don’t like it, get the hell out! Except I’m really going to be polite and say that perhaps you should read another one of my posts instead.

               So a little over a week ago my friend sent me a text saying that Weird Al was going to be performing at the Paramount later in the week, and that I was going to go. Honestly, the first thing I thought was “who is Weird Al?” Later I realized that he was the artist that produced parody songs such as “Amish Paradise” and “White and Nerdy.” I had heard these songs before, but never really cared who produced them. But since I enjoyed some of his works, I decided to be a good wingman and go to the concert with my friend.

               The first issue that I encountered with the concert was the price. It was anywhere from 35 dollars to 55 dollars for tickets. Now, as a poor high school student that is actually a pretty significant amount of cash. So although it was a really cool concert, it was kind of dumb that it was so expensive. Another issue that I had with the concert was that it was on a Sunday night. I know that they have a very strict schedule for concert times, and we’re lucky that we got to have the concert at all, but still. Sunday night, it lasted until 11 o’clock, and we had school the next day. That’s not the best.

               All in all, though, the concert was a blast. It was maybe two hours long, and he did a ton of different songs. We got two (!) drum solos, which is funny if you’ve ever seen a Weird Al concert. He also did a costume change after almost every song, after every two songs at most. It was great, he dressed up like an Amish dude for Amish Paradise, he dressed up in a fat suit for Eat It, and he dressed up like a jedi for The Saga Begins. Overall, I loved it. He gave the concert an aura of light-heartedness and fun, which is great.

               To anyone that has the chance, I’d say that they have to go! It’s not even a suggestion, it’s a command. You’ll most definitely enjoy yourself. (406)

Hats.

               Hello!

                              Let’s talk about hats. Hats are now considered a cliché, or even a fashion no-no. At least, this is what I’ve been told, because I have no idea what’s what when it comes to fashion. This confuses me, however, because hats used to be a staple of fashion. Wherever you went, everyone wore hats. Men wore hats, women wore hats, children wore hats, cats wore hats, dogs wore hats, EVERYONE WORE HATS. That’s because at the time it was considered a social necessity. Now, it’s not. It’s not just that the hats are no longer a staple of fashion that bothers me, it’s the seeming lack of reason as to why that bugs me. Fads in general are weird. Why is something popular one day but just plain stupid the next?

               An example of a big fad is the great #YOLOSwag epidemic of 2012. It seemed like everywhere you went people were dropping hashtag YOLO like a rapper drops rhymes. It was ridiculous, and everyone had to have known it, but did it anyway. Now, when people look back, they say that it’s stupid, “oh my god how did I ever do that.” Another example of a common fad is the hashtag thing itself. People began using the hashtag symbol to highlight a particular topic on Twitter. Then people started using them all the time, on Facebook, and even in common speech, which is ridiculously stupid.

               Anyway, don’t fall for fads. I suppose that is the point of this very short blog post. Fads are dumb, you’ll probably regret it. Like big hair from the late seventies. BIG HAIR WAS AWFUL. (272)