Saving Money

Previously, I had no desire to spend money. I saw money as something that I earned from my many lawns that I mowed. I kept almost a thousand dollars in a shoe box in my cupboard, the dust collecting on the money until I had a rare chance to use it.

            Now, everything has, unfortunately, changed. With my new job at Cherry Hill combined with the lawns that I mow, I am making a substantial amount of money (in my terms, at least.). This money sits in the same old shoebox, but I find myself more prone to wanting to purchase things that I probably don’t need.

            One of the things that I know this challenge is good for is the way it teaches me to save for my mission and my college education. My Mom has taught me the principle of paying my 10% tithing to the church first, then save all but the last 10 percent to save.  As much as I want to give in and buy something, I know that the saving will bring me even greater joy in the future.

            Mostly, the things I want are what most boys my age like. I would like to buy all sorts of cool basketball shoes, soccer cleats, shirts, and other sports related material off of the internet. I could spend the whole day customizing shoes on NikeID(http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/?sitesrc=uslp). Or I could spend all my money on itunes gift cards and buy music until I could listen to different songs continually for a thousand years.

            Although my habits and wants have changed with me becoming more independent. I hope I can concentrate on making the right decision of saving my money

Vietnam War Questions For my Grandpa

            My Grandpa Oldham flew F-4s over Vietnam during the war. I asked him the following questions on May 15, 2011. The answers are in bold.

1. What is your opinion of the My Lai Massacre?

            It was a violation of USA standards on noncombatant civilians. It is comparable to the mountain meadows massacre.

2. How did you feel about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of Aug. 7, 1964?

            I believe it was a phony, trumped up charge. It allowed American intervention based on non-real things.

3. How were you involved in the Tet offensive?

             I wasn’t involved in the Tet Offensive.

4. What was your opinion on the American war protests?

            They undermined the position of agreement from USA. They lost sight of the fact that injustice had been done. I have no respect for these protestors.

5. What was your most dangerous mission in Vietnam?

            My first mission when I was flying my F-4 in Laos over the Ho-Chi- Minh Trail. A 37 millimeter bullet when over my canopy, it was so close I could have touched it.

Learning about the Vietnam War in my Geography class has opened my eyes to a conflict that I usually don't think much about. I think it is sad that I can forget about such a sad thing happening. I am grateful to come to knowledge about the many brave men that fought and sometimes died to help another nation. I am also very blessed to have my grandpa survive such a war unscathed and come home to raise my father.

Loud Music Versus Soft Music

Loud Music

By Stephen Dobyns

My stepdaughter and I circle round and round.
You see, I like the music loud, the speakers
throbbing, jam-packing the room with sound whether
Bach or rock and roll, the volume cranked up so
each bass notes is like a hand smacking the gut.
But my stepdaughter disagrees. She is four
and likes the music decorous, pitched below
her own voice-that tenuous projection of self.
With music blasting, she feels she disappears,
is lost within the blare, which in fact I like.
But at four what she wants is self-location
and uses her voice as a porpoise uses
its sonar: to find herself in all this space.
If she had a sort of box with a peephole
and looked inside, what she'd like to see would be
herself standing there in her red pants, jacket,
yellow plastic lunch box: a proper subject
for serious study. But me, if I raised
the same box to my eye, I would wish to find
the ocean on one of those days when wind
and thick cloud make the water gray and restless
as if some creature brooded underneath,
a rocky coast with a road along the shore
where someone like me was walking and has gone.
Loud music does this, it wipes out the ego,
leaving turbulent water and winding road,
a landscape stripped of people and language-
how clear the air becomes, how sharp the colors.

When I first read over this poem for my English class, it really confused me. But as I read it more slowly again to try to understand the imagery, I started to see what the poem was about. It made me think about peoples’ different tastes in music and how I like my music. I know a lot of people who like to have the music all around them. They want to get carried away by the rhythms. These are the people blasting their music in the house next door at 3:00 in the morning. On the other hand, my grandma is a big advocate of the classical music makes you smarter theory. She listens to quiet Bach and Vivaldi all the time. To me she seems like a person with much more control over her life rather than someone who loves to blast their music so loud it can be heard over a Boeing 747 flyover.

But with me, I’m indecisive. I like to chill out and listen to my favorite classical guitar music, but I also like to jam out in a car to some rock and roll, windows down, seats vibrating from the sound waves. Teenagers in general seem to like loud music, but I think that it detracts from what we can hear all around us. One example is teenagers who listen to their ipods in a public place like a party. They should be talking with others, but instead they look just like a selfish noob. For now, I will have to try to keep my loud music level on a low, because in the end, I know that classical music is the best for me.

The Hill Aerospace Museum

The Hill Aerospace Museum was first established in 1982, since then it has amazed and inspired many a child and adult alike. When I went to this museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, I especially liked several things that I learned about. I learned about the history of Hill Air Force Base, I learned about the way they keep their aviation artifacts alive, and I learned about the many interesting exhibits found at this fascinating and interesting Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum.

            In July of 1939 the United States Congress approved the founding of an air force base at a site located on a hill in North Ogden, Utah. Several sites were considered, but this site was favored. The project would take 8 million dollars to complete. Next, during the second world war Hill Air Force base was a big help to the United States Air force with repairs on all kinds of airplanes including the A-26, B-17, B-24, B-29, P-40, P-47, and P-61. Later, the base became the center for F-16 fighting falcons. Nowadays, previously little Hill Air Force Base is the biggest employer in Utah, with a 960 million dollar payroll.

            The repairing of old but sometimes still flyable airplanes located at the Hill Aerospace Museum is very time consuming. The crew of repairmen works hard everyday to preserve these great artifacts of past wars. Recently, the crew is repairing a Boeing B-47E Stratojet, Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, North American OV-10 Bronco, and Consolidated B-24D Liberator. Sometimes the planes can barely be called that when they come in to the repair shop, but after the crew is done, these planes are definitely ready for display.

            The Hill Aerospace Museum has exhibits ranging from 1903 to the present. One of the exhibits that stuck out to me was that of the Wright Flyer. The exhibit shows a model of the first plane ever flown. This plane was first given flight by the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Another plane that caught my eye was that of the massive Boeing KC-135E “Stratotanker”. This huge plane was dedicated to the Museum in 2009 and sits in front of the museum. As you walk into the Museum, you are awed by the sheer power of this immense machine. The wings seem to stretch for miles, and the nose is as big as a house.  The plane was made to be so huge because it is supposed to carry tanks and other military machines of that kind. And as my trip to the museum sadly came to an end, so must this essay.

            When I went to this museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, I especially liked several things that I learned about. I learned about the interesting history of the air force base, I was taught how they preserve their old airplanes, and I learned new and exiting things at each individual exhibit. I would definitely encourage anyone to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to be inspired and taught by the amazing exhibits of these fascinating airplanes.

Singapore: A Model Society?

Recently in my geography class we learned about the pros and cons of Singapore's laws and way of life. We were given a paper that had not only the good things about the government in Singapore, but the things that are not as great also. We were then assigned to decide what we thought about Singapore's system and then write a persuasive essay to convince others on our point of view. After thinking about it, I decided that even though the clean city and crime free society ideals sound great, the laws in Singapore were not exactly perfect. I am not exactly sure if all the information I got was correct, or if I did not get the whole picture, so feel free to think differently.

Imagine going to the drug store near you to buy a pack of your favorite chewing gum, unfortunately, when you start to chew the delicious gum, you are arrested by police and given a one year prison sentence and a 5500 dollar fine. People who live in Singapore face this problem everyday. Singapore is not a model society for several reasons.  Singapore’s government has restricted free speech and placed criminal law restrictions that are too strict. Also, some of the laws are downright silly.

            Singapore is not a model society because some laws have restricted free speech. The government has imposed rules that 5 or more people meeting together for political reasons need a permit. Also, the government controls all newspapers, TV stations, magazines, and radio stations. People who host political demonstrations against the government are subject to a prison sentence. These restrictions go against the people’s basic rights to be able to say what they think without punishment.

            Singapore is not a model society because some aspects of the criminal law are unjust. For instance any individuals caught trafficking drugs are sentenced to immediate execution. Also, when imprisoned for misdoings, some criminals are subject to caning, being beat with a cane. Many laws like these seem to be too much of a punishment. Even though justice will have its way, mercy and ethics are not practiced enough in Singapore criminal law.

            Singapore is not a model society because some of its laws are downright ridiculous. In this city-state, the sale of gum is prohibited. If someone is caught littering, they must clean the streets on Sunday wearing a bib that says “I am a litterer”. People who bring cigarettes into Singapore are considered criminals. And last but not least, it is illegal to bungee jump. These and other odd laws point to the fact that Singapore is a wrongly-based society that needs to change.

            The country of Singapore is not a model city for three reasons. Singapore’s government has restricted free speech and placed criminal law restrictions that are too strict. On top of that, some of the laws are ridiculous. Singapore’s system of law may seem like a safe way to handle the people, but at the roots of the system is censorship, oppression, and unjustness.

 

Walk Two Moons

            Walk Two Moons, written by Sharon Creech, is a heartfelt novel that tells about finding peace in life despite its trials. Young people are the intended audience for this Newberry Award winning book. This book provides a touching read while weaving together two interesting stories. Walk Two Moons can teach us all about how to live life, through its hardships, and its happiness.

            Salamanca Tree Hiddle, the 13 year old protagonist in the story, misses her mother. Her mother that left one day for Lewiston, Idaho and did not come back. In the book, Salamanca travels with her grandparents to Lewiston for her mother’s birthday. During the long car ride there, Salamanca tells the story of her interactions with her friend, Phoebe. While the trio travels cross country, they learn important lessons about life and death that apply to all of us.

            Walk Two Moons was an intriguing book because it was written in an almost poetic form that provides more substance to the story. This poetic form also creates a more mysterious kind of read, which draws you to the final page. Another thing that made the book enjoyable was the occasional humor, which provides some laughter appeal to the book.

            The characters in this story undergo massive changes in their life. The character changes in the story are very real. The main characters seem like actual people that have real trials. Relating to the hardships in the story can be easy for anyone. For example, as Salamanca comes to except the truth about her mother, she must change her heart, mind, and life to fit her new knowledge.

            As Salamanca’s mother is a Native American, much of Salamanca’s life is rooted around that culture. She finds a lot of solace in the arms of nature. This theme of nature being almost like a person, is an interesting way the book displays originality. Things such as kissing trees, singing trees, and blackberries, all are symbols of things we need in our life to feel comforted and loved.

            My favorite thing about this book was the way it combined two completely different and separate stories into one. While Salamanca and her grandparents have their own adventures on the road, the story of Salamanca’s friend Phoebe, weaves a blanket of lessons that combine into one. One such lesson is about dying, something Salamanca learns in this quote from the book:

            “I went barreling on as if it was my poem and I was an expert. ‘The waves, with their 'soft, white hands' grab the traveler. They drown him. They kill him. He's gone.’ Ben said, ‘Maybe he didn't drown. Maybe he just died, like normal people die.’ I said, ‘It isn't normal to die. It isn't normal. It's terrible.’ Ben said, ‘Maybe dying could be normal and terrible.’”(Page 182-183)

            Walk Two Moons is a touching and inspiring story, that while we read, like Salamanca, we must decide if death is normal, terrible, or both. This novel stands out because it is a deep, but still easy to read novel. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for just that.

             

Fahreinheit 451Review

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, is a fictional novel set in the future. The book addresses the problem of a futuristic generation changed by the outlawing of books. The intended audience for the book is teenagers to adults. This intense and exiting novel provides an interesting read, but asks deep questions that we must ask ourselves while reading.

            The main character of the story, Guy Montag, enjoys his job as a fireman whose job it is to burn books, and the houses that hold them. Then one day while performing a routine burn, he impulsively steals some books from a house. As he illegally reads these books in secret, he must decide for himself if ignorance less painful than knowledge. When he is caught, he must put his beliefs to the test as he is chased for his life by the government.

            The story is a very exciting one that has you guessing until the final page. Bradbury does a very good job of creating moments where you’re pulse quickens and you feel scared. While Montag is chased by a huge robotic mechanical hound, you can feel yourself breathing faster.

           

            “He turned and the mechanical hound was there. It was half across the lawn coming from the shadows, moving with such drifting ease that it was like a single solid cloud of black-gray smoke blown at him in silence. It made a single last leap into the air coming down at Montag from a good three feet over his head, its spidered legs reaching, the procaine needle snapping out its single angry tooth.”(Page 120)

            A theme that is developed in the novel is the differences of TV and books. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, TV’s cover parlor walls and are what people’s lives are centered on. Everything they know has been fed to them through this machine. While books on the other hand, make you think for yourself. In this book, people are against books because they create men that can think for themselves, and therefore create more problems. In the book, people believe all men should not be able to think for themselves. In this way they think they can create their version of happiness or “bliss” for all mankind.

           

            “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”(Page 58)

           
            Bradbury writes several things that seem very prophetic. When he wrote the book in the 1950’s, TVs were very small, and cars going 100 miles per hour, or being able to listen to music wherever you go seemed absurd. The book talks about all these things, which are now happening today. Another scary thing is that more and more people only know about what TV show is on, while being ignorant about a nuclear crisis in the world.

            Though the imagery in this book was interesting, it was sometimes hard to understand. While this was sometimes frustrating, imagery did help convey the feelings that were meant to be conveyed. Bradbury used many elements from our world today to help us visualize the futuristic world in the book. This is illustrated in a passage written about the firemen of the future.

            “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” (Page 3)

            Fahrenheit 451 is an exciting and intense novel. While the book can sometimes be hard to understand, Ray Bradbury wrote a great book about the issue of true happiness. The question we must ask ourselves while reading this book is if we will think for ourselves, or let others think for us. Anyone interested in reading about the predicted problems nearing our society today should read this interesting novel that is in some ways frighteningly prophetic.

           

                       

The Utah House

Recently I took a tour of The Utah House with some of my friends. We had fun flushing the energy efficient toilet and rebelliously turning on faucets. My favorite part of the tour was the cool skylights. There was one big one in the family room that seemed to light up the whole house. This is an essay I wrote about the Utah House:

The Utah house is a place where recycling and earth friendly practices are used to build a comfortable and attractive house. The Utah house helps the environment by making the house special in 6 different aspects:  sustainability, saving energy, conserving water, improving air pollution, and modifications for people with disabilities. In these five ways, the Utah House is helping to promote healthy habits that can save the earth.

The Utah house promotes recycling through its sustainability aspects. The aspects include carpet located in the office and bedroom that has been made from old plastic bottles. In this way, less plastic is thrown away, creating less garbage on the earth. The carpet is also made of individual squares than can be taken out if damaged. This makes it so the whole carpet will not have to be replaced if a juice stain gets into the carpet. Another way the Utah house promotes better building is in its energy saving technology.

Energy saving is an important part of keeping our earth healthy. The Utah house has several energy saving features that are not only good for the environment, but save money as well. The light bulbs in this house use 66 percent less energy than incandescent light bulbs, this cost 30 dollars less per bulb in a lifetime. Energy star appliances found in the home save water and energy, reducing utility costs as well.  Also, the bulbs in the house are partly powered by solar panels on the roof, saving even more energy.  And skylights on the roof that let in sunlight not only conserve energy,  but provide a beautiful lighting effect.

The Utah House saves water through the use of utilities that use less and save more. The washer and dryer in the home use 1/3 of the water and energy that others use.  The water that melts off the roof at the house is stored underground in a tank and is used to flush the toilet. The gravel surfaces on the driveway create ground that water can go through to moisten the ground.

The Utah House creates cleaner air by using paints low in chemicals to decorate the walls. There is also ventilation which lets off fumes from the kitchen which prevents mold from growing. A Carbon Monoxide detector and a ventilation system in the house also promote clean air. The features in the house that help people with disabilities include easy to get into entryways, a shower with no door, and bars to grab onto in the bathroom.

The Utah house is a great place that sets an example to the world about eco-friendly living habits. It promotes 6 different aspects:  sustainability, saving energy, conserving water, improving air pollution, and modifications for people with disabilities. These things come together to make a great house and an even cleaner world.

Getting a Job at Cherry Hill

            In the past summers I have had informal jobs working for some of my neighbors mowing their lawns. I have enjoyed having a job that helps me become more reliable and hard working. It is also nice to have your own source of money. And now that times keep getting harder, I need money so I can pay for my mission and help pay for college. Because of all this, I needed too get a more steady summer job. I didn’t want to work at Lagoon because you have to work on Sunday, and I wanted something closer too home. So I filled out an application for Cherry Hill Water Park. Since I am only a Freshman, I can only work on the grounds crew, which mows the lawns and things like that.

             I was feeling pretty good about the application, but my Mom doubted that I would get the job, owing to that there are a lot of people that want to work there. I was pretty happy when I got a call from Cherry Hill saying they wanted to interview me. From what I could find out, the interview was like the second test, only some people got an interview, and only a fraction of those got the job. So on a snowy Friday after wrestling, I went to Cherry Hill to have my interview. I didn’t think I would have to dress up that much, so I just put on a collared shirt. My interviewer was wearing jeans and a t- shirt, so I thought I would be okay. The interview went well, but when I came out I saw Farmington Junior High’s Student Body President in a shirt and tie going in to have his interview. I doubted I would make the cut because I didn’t dress up, but I did! I got a summer job mowing lawns at Cherry Hill Water Park! This summer should be awesome!

Romeo and Juliet Epitaphs

These epitaphs could be written on Juliet's and Romeo's respective tombstones:

Juliet

I lived a life of lies for love

No one could understand my pain

The pain that comes from two houses

Both alike in hatred and death

Cast off thy spirit of contention

This feud that puts an end to life so sweet must end

Romeo, whither art though? Deny thy name.

He is a rose that cannot smell as sweet

Now in his grave

We were married, yet no one knew

Time spent apart, we hoped was few

And yet, twas not to be

I would die twice to have his love

And so I did

Yet I hope, now in this place

To reunite with my one love, my all, my hero

My Romeo

Romeo

I lived for her

The fairest creature on all the earth

I died for her

Seeing her to be dead

I died with her

Drinking that deathly draught

To its very last drop

To die for my very own love

My hand resting upon her shimmering cheek

Our time in each others arms together adds to but a week

Yet feels not a minute

O, I am fortune’s fool

Caught up in rage, I killed Tybalt at a rapier’s point

Yet the pain and sacrifice for love

Is swallowed in the ripe reward of being with

Juliet in death

The Symbolism in Seedfolks

            The vacant lot garden in Seedfolks brings people from different races gradually together just as the plants grow gradually every day. When Kim plants the first seed in the garden, she plants the seed of friendship and unity that spreads and grows until the community has found something that they have in common despite their many differences. As Korean Sae Young says that the garden made her feel, “very good inside. Feel part of garden. Almost like family.”(Page 39)

            The garden is a symbol of the world in that people from all over the earth plant there and live close to people from a different race. The garden was at first separated in to sections of different nationalities. But as time went on, people started to mingle with people from different races. The earth is smaller than it seems, and because of this, we all need to learn to get along with people from a different place. This is what happens in the garden. There will always be problems, like the people dumping tires on the lot and people stealing the vegetables, but if we work together, we can make the world a better place.

            Not only does the garden grow fruits and vegetables, but the seeds of friendship are planted and nurtured until everyone in the garden are friends with those who they had never been friends before, as shown in Amir’s experience with a fellow gardener. This woman had before criticized him for not giving her the correct change and had called him a dirty foreigner. But then, after the garden, everything changed. The woman praises his eggplants, but then she is reminded of their bad past by Amir,

            “Her eyes became huge. She apologized to me over and over again. She kept saying, “Back then, I didn’t know it was you….” (Page 64)

            As the garden grows, many people also learn important lessons that shape their life, such as Maricella, a pregnant teenager, who learns the importance of the baby growing inside her.

            “She said how it wasn’t some disgrace to be part of it. She said it was an honor. I stared at the squash plants. It was a world in there. It seemed like I could actually see the leaves and flowers growing and changing. I was in that weird daze. And for just that minute I stopped wishing my baby would die.”(Page 57)

            A theme that is illustrated in the events of this garden is that people from all races, nationalities and cultures can come together as one through a community garden. The people that worked in the garden found friendship that enriched their lives and their community. This happened because they began to be less wary of people from different races. The garden made it easy for them to reach out to others. It is the same way in our world today. Many wars would never start if we stopped to understand and get to know other nationalities before being scared of them. Through the simple act of understanding before judging, we can make the world a better place.

           

My Sister, Jimmer, and the Beginning of Fourth Term

            These past few weeks have been pretty eventful. My sister won her pageant, BYU made it to the sweet sixteen, and the school year is almost over.

My sister has been involved in quite a few pageants in her lifetime. She has done the local and state ones since ninth grade. She is great at a lot of the things they do during the pageants, like her talent, playing the violin. She has played the instrument her whole life so she is amazing at it. She played a song called Czardas at this pageant recently. It was a gypsy kind of feel song. The fast parts are way fun, but there is also a slow part which is pretty too. Another thing she is good at is the interview and the scholastic competitions. She won in both of these categories, owing to the fact that her grades are very good and she is also very talented at talking to people in an interview setting. This pageant recently was Utah’s Distinguished Young Women. It was the Utah’s Junior Miss Pageant, but they changed the name. Anyway, my sister won this pageant, which was pretty amazing. She won a lot of scholarship money, so that is great for her. Plus she gets to go to Mobile, Alabama in the summer to compete in the national competition.

            A word that has been on a lot of people’s tongues lately is Jimmer. Jimmer can be a noun, an adjective, a verb, a pronoun, or an adverb. People cannot get enough of this basketball star. Jimmer Fredette was BYU’s star point guard. He was the arguably the best scorer in the NCAA, and was amazing at hitting his signature long range shots from well beyond the three point line, sometimes at 30 feet from the basket. This year he took BYU to the sweet sixteen. After making it to this round, BYU played Florida, who they lost to in overtime. This was sad but not as sad as the fact that this was Jimmer’s last year at BYU. Sadly, The Jimmer Era is over.

            As third term ended, I was completely swamped with assignments and tests. But now that the term is over, it looks like a pretty easy ride for the rest of the year. In my English class we wrote in our journals about what we thought about almost being done with Junior High, which got me thinking about how fast three years can go. When you’re in school, you think it will never end, but in reality, the time is going by terribly fast. With one term left to go with my experience at Fairfield, I am feeling exited but sad that I am growing up so fast. I have already applied for a job at Cherry Hill this summer, which is another reason to be scared that I am growing up too fast. Pretty soon I’ll be graduating from High School and going off to college. Hopefully in these next few years I can do everything I can to make the time go by slower and make the time more meaningful to me in the long run.

           

A Tale Of Two Cities Literary Analysis

            After reading A Tale of Two Cities, I was assigned to write a literary analysis on a significant passage that I read. It wasn’t very hard for me to choose which passage I wanted to write about because I had marked this one with a sticky note beforehand. I like the poetry and figurative language used in the passage that will be identified in my literary analysis.

           

            A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, tells the story of a family living in England during the French Revolution. The pages of this book follow the sad story of the hate, revenge, and death that took place in the French Revolution.  Developed in this book, is the theme that the lust for revenge can completely destroy a people.  The following excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities tells of how revenge twists people’s minds into terrible things. On page 374 it reads,

“Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six tumbrels carry the day’s wine to La Guillotine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused in one realization, Guillotine. And yet there is not in France, with its rich variety of soil and climate, a blade, a leaf, a root, a sprig, a peppercorn, which will grow to maturity under conditions more certain than those that have produced this horror. Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.”

            In this passage, the crude carriages are taking the condemned aristocrats to the Guillotine. Sydney Carton is on one of these death-carts.  Although not an aristocrat, he is posing as his friend who is one. This is the major climax of the book, when Carton is going to sacrifice his life in order for his friend to live.

            The carts are old and rickety, and the spirits of many dead aristocrats seem to dwell there. The day’s wine is the blood that is routinely spilt by the guillotine. All the fears that the convicts had before, are put to shame by the terrible Guillotine. On the other hand, the Parisians are captivated by the death and blood of aristocrats, almost as if it’s a drug. Nothing happy or good can take place when such hate and death are the main focus of a society. These blood thirsty people have been so fixed upon an end goal of eliminating all inequality that they have become a twisted people, doing evil things they never would have done before.

            The tone of the passage is mournful. The voice seems to lament over how such a crime could be committed. The voice is also a voice of caution, a warning to never let something like this happen again.   

            This passage follows the theme of how the lust for revenge can completely destroy a people. The words portray the pain, suffering, and death that the lust for revenge brings. It illustrates how nothing good can happen to a nation full of blood-thirsty people. Then, it warns us of how we must work hard so these terrible events will never repeat themselves.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Imagine sitting outside and enjoying the bright blue Israeli sky, listening to the hustle and bustle of people around you. Suddenly you hear a huge explosion and screams of women and children. The restaurant across the street has been bombed by a suicide bomber. Bodies lay across the street as you run to see what help you can give. People are dying because of an age old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

           

            Long ago, Israel was ruled by Jews, their native people. Later, Romans took the land and renamed it Palestine. Next, Arabs took over this much sought of land. Many years after this, in the 1800, Jews were searching for a homeland. They wanted to live in Palestine. And so, Jews started to immigrate into Palestine. At first, it created no problems, but as more and more Jews started to arrive, the Palestinians began to get mad.

            On November 2, 1917, the British Government signed the Balfour Declaration. This decree stated that Jews should be able to populate their homeland. At that time Arabs, now called Palestinians, still populated most of Israel and did not want to give up their land to the Jews. Jews coming back to Palestine enraged the Arabs, leading to much civil unrest and fighting.

                                                                                         

            After the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were killed, the United Nations stepped in and gave 55 percent of the Palestinian land for the Jew’s homeland. After this came the 1947-1949 war, where the Jews took over 78 percent of Palestine and killed thousands of people in 33 massacres across the country. The Jews wanted to erase any memory of Arabs living in Palestine, so they even made a new map of the country, renaming every town and geological feature.

            The result of this war led to 726000 Palestinian refugees that fled to places where Palestinians could live. They ran to the West Bank and the Gaza strip, two areas in Israel that were still owned by the Palestinians. They also went to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The amount of Palestinian refugees has since increased to 4 million. Many live in temporary shelters or tents.

            The six day war came when Israelis took back the part of the land they had not been able to get before, The Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They also completed a surprise attack on Egypt and in that way acquiring even more land. Although the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are under Israeli occupation, these lands still technically belong to the Palestinians.

            These events lead to much hatred on both sides of the conflict leading to a lot of fighting. The Palestinians are intent upon destroying Israel with violence, resulting in things like suicide bombings and riots. Thousands of Jews have been killed and injured in these attacks.

            The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has plagued the lives of people for ages. Thousands of people on both sides of the conflict are killed each year in this seemingly never-ending war. And with new riots breaking out everyday, the question is, will it ever stop?

A Story of a Pair of Metropoli

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”

When I first started reading a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens starting with this passage, I thought myself stuck in a bottomless pit of words and culture. I was definitely having the worst of times.   I saw no way out, with 380 pages to read, I wanted to despair, but I kept on going despite the difficulty of the book. Glenn Beck refers to these kinds of books and movies as “bonnet movies” where everyone has gum disease, speaks in weird accents, wears ruffled collars, and oddly, everyone seems to be wearing a bonnet. While some of these things might not be true for A Tale of Two Cities, I still found myself agreeing with Beck that these stories just seem to be mostly about the plot, wigs, and gum diseases. Today, many men such as myself crave “laser movies”, which have a lot less plot but are really heavy on the special effects and explosions.

Even though at first, my experience with Dickens made me want to quit, after a while, I started to get into the book. It seemed like, during the last 100 pages, the action and happenings really kicked up, so for that last bit, I actually found myself not wanting to put the book down. The book started to seem less and less about gum disease and powdered wigs. I started to connect with the characters in a way that I never thought could have been possible. I found my self worried and nervous that the Manettes wouldn’t make it out of France in time. I was scared that Madame Defarge was going to kill Miss Pross. It’s really wonderful how Sydney Carton saved the day. I liked how before, he was a total mess up in life. Then he saw how he could redeem himself and feel justified. Although there aren’t any explosions, special effects, or changes in the gravity, A Tale of Two Cities drew me in more than I ever thought possible.

I also enjoyed the book because of the religious content it had in it. It is refreshing to read something where the author isn’t afraid of offending someone or not being politically correct like many authors are today. I really like the scripture in John 11:25-26 that Carton kept quoting before his death:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Like Carton, I found myself thinking more deeply about what that means to me and how I am working on believing in Christ by trying to do what’s right.

Why I Turned my Worksheet in Late( a Creative Writing Approach)

 

 In my Biology class, every time we have to turn something in late, we have to write a paragraph about why we are not prepared. On the day, which happened to be Valentines day, I decided to surprise my teacher with something a little different. I am pretty sure it is the best poem she has ever gotten.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I forgot my worksheetAnd some other stuff too

Some horses are black
Some horses are brown
If you let me turn this worksheet in late
I surely won't frown

DNA is twisted
Punnet squares are not
When I turn in my worksheet
You will find an oops pass on top

Happy Valentines Day!

Just another Day on the Job at Akhmed’s Body Shop

Man, work here at Akhmed’s body shop has been pretty boring lately. I find myself wishing a curse would come off one of the mummies or something. Anyway, just another day on the job today, first we did the old big swig and got all the blood out of this corpse. That was going well, until I accidentally made the cut too big, hopefully my boss won’t notice. Then I got the brains out of the dude, he was obviously not a thinker, I mean, it didn’t take very long for me to get all the brains out. Next was the complete facial, where we take out his eyes and put in new ones, I hate it when you feel like you’re being watched all the time by this sad old dead guy. Next comes the gutting of the corpse, something my boss referrers to as guts, guts, and more guts! I cut a huge hole in the guy and took out the stomach, lungs, intestines, and liver. Then I put these decimated pieces of glop and phlegm in the canoptic jars. Unfortunately, I ran out of the jars after putting away all but the liver. I checked to see if no one was looking before I hid the liver in the cooling box to put away later.

            Then it was time for lunch, today my wife had given me some leftover liver and onion from last night, thanks honey. So I wouldn’t want to come home with my lunch uneaten, I left the food in the refrigerator and told my boss, who is a real fatty, that he could have it. I think there must have been some mix up between the liver in my lunch and the liver I hid, because my boss started throwing up a little while later.

            After Lunch, I preserved the dead dude’s finger and toe nails; I accidentally spilled some non odor liquid on the guy’s hand, so now it kind of looks like he has painted fingernails. Anyway, after these steps, you pour salts on the body and wait for forty days. After those forty days, “ding!” You’ve got you’re body ready for filling with spices, which leaves you smelling very nice, almost like that really cheap body spray you can buy today. Then you sew the cut that I cut before. After that, I wrapped him in cloth, after I knocked him off his table a few times and sewn back on his arm, He was finally ready to be put into his death mask. Anyway, just another day on the job. Even though my job is boring, I still get to wear that cool Jackal helmet.

Free Run

A month ago I purchased some nike 5.O free running shoes off of nike.com. It was going to be a great day when the box with these shoes showed up on my doorstep. Unfortunately, when I finally did receive my new running shoes, they were the wrong color. Now I have sent the wrong ones back and ordered some new ones. These shoes are sweet because they give the foot a great barefoot feel, and they look sweet. This is what they look like:


Many of the reviews I looked at of the shoe described it as being the best shoe they have ever worn. I did try on the nike shoes that were the wrong color before I sent them back, and they felt great. I am excited to break free with my new go frees.

Wrestling: A Sport of Champions

   Jesse Ventura, the professional wrestler, once said, “Wrestling is ballet with violence.”  Like ballet, wrestling requires great skill and strength, but wrestling is a lot more than strength of body. Wrestling is a great all around sport for three reasons. Wrestling is sport that gets you into shape, it is a sport that develops a strong mind, and it is a sport that builds teamwork and values.

            Wrestling is great sport because it gets one into shape. To wrestle, one must be able to have strength and stamina. Socrates once said, “I swear it upon Zeus an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler.” Some wrestlers must be able to lift a 250 pound man off of his body. Another might have to be in the constant motion of getting thrown down and getting back up. Having to train for wrestling is very demanding on the body, making wrestlers have some of the toughest bodies around. Not only must a wrestler have a sound body, but he must have a tough mind.

            Wrestling is a great sport because it toughens one’s mind. While wrestling, you may be getting pinned by someone who is stronger, more experienced, and bigger than you.  When you are in this position, tired and in pain, you must be able to have the strength of mind to not give up and fight to the very last second. A wrestlers mind must be focused and ready to fight against the fear before a match. Many say that 90 percent of the time, the mentally tougher person will win the wrestling match. Any wrestler with a strong, disciplined mind will be ready to go out into the world. Wrestling develops people with strong minds that also have learned about teamwork and values.

            Wrestling is a great sport because it teaches one about teamwork and values that are used not only on the wrestling mat, but in life to come. When you are watching someone else wrestle on your team, you cheer them on to victory. Before a wrestling match, the whole team gets together to give a cheer to the person who is wrestling next. Besides teamwork, values like sportsmanship and perseverance are taught on a wrestling team. After wrestling matches, high fives and sometimes hugs are exchanged to tell the other wrestler he did a great job.

            These are the reasons wrestling is a great sport. Wrestling develops strong bodies and even stronger minds, and builds values and teamwork. Some might ridicule the sport and call it a game of violence and cruelty, but wrestling is a sport that builds people into greatness. Dan Gable summed it up when he said, “Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”

Work Paying Off, Fun Service, and The Winter Dew Tour

   I have enjoyed this past week because of several reasons. My hard work has paid off at school, I did some fun service with my friend, and I got to go to the Dew Tour!

            As I have previously mentioned in my blog, I have been having a stressful time lately with all my homework and other responsibilities. But this week, I really cracked down on my homework load and tried very hard to get my homework done as soon as possible as opposed to procrastinating. It was very hard not getting discouraged, because on top of all my homework, wrestling started this week. Another problem with my homework is that after wrestling, I stay up very late doing my assignments, usually past 11:30, this has set my sleep clock askew, so my body is now used to going to bed that late. The disadvantage of that is that I do not get enough sleep. This made getting up to go to school early to get help with assignments very hard. But, in spite of it all, I managed to get to school so I could work on my Computer Technology typing assignments, which gave me a lot of trouble this week. They are timed typing paragraphs that are due at midterm. I didn’t realize this until this week, so I came in every morning to do those. But after all this hard work, I got great scores on all the tests and big assignments I had this week. These have also raised my grades, which is another reward.

            My dad was in charge of the Tri-stake Valentines Dance that was this Friday. He has been planning this for some time now, and being his son, I was volunteered to be a root beer-float maker for the occasion. I was going to wear a black bow tie and a white shirt. The upside of this is, my friend in my ward was also going to come be a float maker with me. We both had fun as he scooped the ice cream and I poured the root beer. We both looked pretty sweet in our bow ties, we joked that we were in the Godfather. Another thing that was fun was the chance we had to go to Yogotogo, my favorite yogurt place.  We went in my friend’s sweet new truck that he put his own engine in. Because of this engine, the truck is very loud, and as we pulled up to Yogotogo with our sweet ride and bow ties, we both knew we were cool. We both got our favorite combinations of yogurt. I got a lot of the “popping bobas” and my friend got strawberries. That was definitely a night to remember,

            Every year the Winter Dew Tour comes to Snowbasin, the ski resort where I have a season pass. This event tours all around the country and showcases freestyle skiing and snowboarding. There are Superpipe and Slopestyle events for men and women alike. The people that compete in the Dew Tour are professionals pulling huge air and even bigger tricks. I loved watching them soar into the air as I also went skiing myself that day.

This week has been fun for many reasons. My hard work paid off in school, I got to have fun while serving with my friend, and I got to witness one of the coolest sporting events ever: The Winter Dew Tour.

The Tibetan Struggle

Tibet is a mountainous country situated in the heart of Asia, sometimes referred to as “the roof of the world”. Although beautiful, this nation is subjected to an ugly force: China’s rule over their country. Tibet’s struggle for independence from China bears many similarities to other nations in the world; they are fighting for freedom, both for government control and religious liberties.  Their struggle has impacted their way of life negatively, which is why I believe that what China is doing is wrong. 

            Tibet’s struggle for independence from China bears similarities to other nations in the world; they are fighting for freedom, both for government control and religious liberties. Many countries have fought to gain independence from oppressive nations. England and France fought, both wanting a place to lead a good life. The United States of America has warred with Britain to give us the great land we live in today. Besides freedom, armies are also called to arms to gain lands, power, and money. Germany and Russia fought unsuccessfully to conquer the world, and even the United States has gained huge tracts of land because of fighting. China is in this phase now as they have occupied a peaceful nation. But luckily, the fight for freedom in Tibet is mostly one of reasoning. More talks and demonstrations have been held than shootouts. The reason for this kind of fight is the way of life of the Tibetan Buddhist, which is what most people in Tibet are. Their belief is one of patience and peace. Religion is also limited for the Tibetan People, as China’s government has no freedom of religion. China has imposed their own views upon the Tibetan people.

            Tibet’s struggle for independence from China has impacted the Tibetan way of life very negatively. In March of 1959 Tibetan anger burst out as people stormed the streets of Lhasa, Tibet, to protest for freedom. The Chinese took action and murdered over 87,000 people in central Tibet alone. Even after this, the head of the Tibetan Buddhist church, his holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama, kept advocating a peaceful fight for independence. China’s occupation of Tibet is hurting a great way of life, and a great people. They are hindering with the rights of others, people who they have no right to govern. I believe a basic human right is the freedom of religion. China is trespassing on the rights of others by hindering the Tibetan Buddhists.

            This is why Tibet’s struggle for independence should be ended. What China is inflicting on the Tibetan people is wrong. Tibetans have the basic rights of religion and self government. The world must take action against the oppression that is weighing down on a peaceful country.

            Tibet’s struggle for independence from China bears many similarities to other nations in the world; they are fighting for freedom, both for government control and religious liberties.  Their struggle has impacted their way of life negatively, which is why I believe that what China is doing is very wrong.  It is my hope that the life of wonderful people can be restored by the support of the world. Until then, we have our work cut out for us.

Grandpa O.

He’s more than grand

He’s amazing

Awe inspiring

He’s an animal

A classic example of an all American man

Takin’ state in High School

Football Hero

Star running back

Master of the skies

Flying f-16s over war torn

Dangerous

Bloody

Countries

Roger that

All in a days work

Girls loved him

I love him now

Victory: Sweet

But he’s still hungry

Now, two generations

Later

Kids following in footsteps

A legacy of triumph

Top scholars

Performers

Athletes

Then grandkids

Down to

Me

1,2,3 triple bypass surgery?

Psh...

Two weeks later:

Training for his next triathlon

Did I mention Skiing?

Hiking, rock climbing, backpacking

He’s still at it

63 years

Caring, funny

Always there for me

Grandpa O.