"Daddy's Day"

I encourage you to read the entire poem if you could. This touched me in ways I did not quite think possible. And I hope that it will do the same to you...

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/daddy.asp

Please only read this once you've read the poem....

This is such a great reminder to all of us, not to judge based on a glimpse or a partial, but to try to look at the whole situation before assuming. I'm going to try to do that, I know I'll probably not make it. It's very hard to see something and not make conclusions in our head. But I'll try to see the whole situation and not be judgmental. Because you never know what extenuating circumstances might be behind something...just like the girl who came to "Daddy's Day" to share the story of how her dad died saving people when the twin towers fell...

Rooms

AWWWHH! I just finished an incredible book called Rooms, by James Rubart. Its comparable to a Ted Dekker book...I guess, but with way more of the light side and spirituality and God's eternal love and taking responsibility for your choices. In the book, a young man named Micah faces his past and turns his life around. His supporters against his demon haunting spirit are Rick, who actually turns out to be ------, and Sarah, the love of his life. His Great Uncle, Archie, whom he's never met, built him a house that both changes him and changes around him. Turns out, Micah lost six years of his memory thinking he worked at a software company which actually never happens. But the other people remember. Its just a great book. Well written, motivating, thought provoking, one of the best books I've ever read....I was engrossed in it for six straight hours. :) I highly recommend this to anyone no matter if they are trying to enhance their relationship with God, or just want a good read.

Science - Understanding Popcorn

Popcorn, isn't it just great? :)

The Fluffy little crunchy pieces, topped with butter, caramel, chocolate, white chocolate, or almost anything else. Perfect for a movie at home or at the theater. Orville Redenbacher's Microwaveable stuff. Oh, it just doesn't get much better. (Microwaveable popcorn trick below) But I want to explain exactly what happens to give you a fluffy popcorn kernel.

Most people think its just a little explosion which brings out the white puffy stuff. Essentially, that's true. But actually, (in a condensed form so I don't ramble forever) the little popcorn kernels hold tiny drops of water. When they are heated, the water vaporizes, turns into its gas form (water vapor), therefore applying more pressure to the shell of the kernel. Science 101, gas is less dense then solids and spreads out more. Since Pascal's Principle says that pressure in an object in equal on all sides no matter where the force is, it takes quite a while for the corn to pop. When it does, I guess you could call it an explosion...or starch. Starch is the white stuff you see when it pops. It is crammed up inside the kernel and when the shell breaks....PUFF! You get fluff!


Anyway, when you have those pieces of popcorn that don't pop, it means that the shell had a microscopic hole in it. So instead of the pressure building, enough of the water vapor escaped to prevent an explosion. Now for the Microwaveable popcorn trick for maximum coverage of popcorn.

It's simple. After listening to the pops (normally after 2 minutes) and taking the bag out, shake the bag before you open it! Shake it for twenty seconds and then open it. You will have almost every piece of popcorn covered in butter and it tastes so much better. Many people don't do this and are frustrated with the popcorn, but I mean, come on guys....this is a no-brainer.


That concludes our first "Science with Alex."
Tune in next time to learn about water craft and buoyancy.

Kitty Post #25

So we went up to my Grandma's house for Memorial weekend, and it turns out that....

My cat gets a little freaked out on car rides...

Salsa

No, no, no, no, and no. I know what your thinking, but this is not a video of me dancing and it NEVER will happen because, frankly, I don't dance. EVER! So don't ask. :P

Anyway, Tums is my best friend, yes, there you go. I'm talking about real salsa, like Pace and Ortega and Tostitos and Ragu....wait....my mom has just informed me that Ragu is not in fact salsa, but Spaghetti sauce. No wonder it tasted so odd with chips! XD I thought it was just because it expired like a month and a half ago. :P Anyway, moving on, I love salsa, but it always gives me awful heartburn for some reason, thus the Tums. Ever heard of them? They help heartburn just enough so that you get addicted to it...And the flavored ones are really tasty! So I am admitting that I have a problem, besides being high like every da.....

OMG! "Don't Stop Believing" is on...DANCE PARTY!!

4 minutes later....
Well that was invigorating. :) Really, don't judge me because you weren't here, and YOU didn't SEE it. It was fun and awesome, and I ka-blammed my pinky toe into the side of a dresser....nvrmd. Anyway...

Where was I? Oh yeah, I have a problem because I absolutely love salsa, but its painful. (Who ever knew that appetizers could be so dangerous?....well...besides Elliot, played by Christian Kane, on Season 1 Episode 7 of the great TV show "Leverage." Oh yeah, I need to end the parenthesis) There you go, happy? OK, anyway, on Leverage, he stuffs a spicy lemon appetizer into his opponents eyes knocking him out somehow. Yeah, that's the story...

Sorry if this makes no sense, but I feel kinda happy. :) And I'm just saying that I can't stop eating salsa, but it hurts, but I think its worth it....yeah.

Bug Off, Bee!

Hey, don't judge me....I just hate bees.

So, yeah, I was outside watering our garden with a hose, when a bee flew right past my face and I was like, What a Pimp! And then I saw it again over the grass and I focused the water spray at it.

Then it disappeared and I'm all like, Oh S**t! Cuz I though it was going to come back, like behind me and try to sting me since I bugged it. (Haha, bad pun)

Then I started twirling not-so-gracefully, just spinning actually, with the hose and trying to catch the bee with the water before it stung me because I had convinced myself to this point that it was intent on revenge.

Well, my mom came out and saw me spinning and randomly swatting the air with my free hand in hysterics because I hate bees (doesn't everybody?) and she thought that maybe I hate gotten hold of some alcohol and was mildly buzzed. (Hahaha, Also bad pun)

So yeah, then I eventually saw the bee again, or maybe a different one, and it wasn't even interested in me, just flying around a flower. But I, in my controlled hysteria, (Or not so much), tried to get him again, as if I hadn't learned my lesson already....wait...I didn't.

Anyway, I finally saw him (the bee) go down (on the ground) and momentarily diverted the water. I went over and saw him still twitching. Then I had a choice between being a bee killer or leaving him alone. You know, the life altering choice of "To bee, or not to bee." (HAHA! I'm good at this).

Then I chose and covered the hose hole with my now freezing finger and SSHSHSHHHHSHSHHSHH! The bee was gone! Then there was this foreboding sense of remorse....for a split second. Then I was like, HA! And yeah....it was fun. :)

Jocks vs. Nerds

------Jocks vs Nerds----

Round 1

     Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.
     If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
     If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
     If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.
     He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.
     He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.
     If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
     If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.
     He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.
     Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), his contributions will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.
     If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
     He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.
     While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600.
     This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined. 

Amazing isn't it?

However...
If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today.

Round 1 Concluded

Nerd Wins

- Unknown

Caddie Training Day 7?

Ugh! Today was grueling! It was hot and depressing because...well....let me explain. Sixteen Caddie's train every day, different caddies each time.Our caddiemaster, Mr. Matte, has to incorporate all seventy caddies into nine training sessions EACH. I think we've had 30-35 training dates so far, I've only been to seven because that's all he signed me up for even though I was one of the first to sign up for the first nine days....whatever. Anyway, we have four golfers every time with four caddies to each golfer trading off with their bag every 3 holes. While one is carrying the golfers bag, the others are carrying Broadmoor golf bags with nothing but a few clubs. Anyway, I was fine for the first six holes, but when I carried the real bag, I almost died on the next hole. Grrr! I am soooo out of shape. I mean, I know my mom keeps saying that its just me filling out before I grow, but I feel disgustingly fat. :( Anyway, I've started a workout routine of lunges, squats, and these grueling squat things where you keep your heels together and stay on your toes. AHHHH!!! Yeah, I got like 32 lunges three minute rest, then another 37 lunges as my base score. I have yet to figure out my base scores for the other stuff. Anyway, I am going to commit to my working out plan with some slight upper body strengthening included....I hope I stick to it. Because if I can stick to it for a while, I'll have no problems out on the course. :) That would be a big relief, because out there....I get paid!

Graduation

Wow, scary stuff, almost as scary as the wrath of God and.....no, strike that, not even close. Maybe the tabasco sauce "Wrath of God." But anyway, I went to the class of 2012 graduation to see all of my senior friends leave. My mom wont even let me get a Facebook to talk to them at college. :( Sigh. Isn't that sad? Being left behind as most of your friends leave for a beginning of another life? Huh....weird. Just a weird feeling in general.

Anyway, I am going to be gone for two days to watch my Grandma's house while she's away. Fun! She's got a huge house, but doesn't allow you to do anything, like ride down the fluffy stairs in a sleeping bag, or use crushed ice, but now we can do all those things....Yippee! Anyway, I wont have access to a computer, so don't expect any posts. :) Bye!

Blackout

The dark clouds hides the spotted field of stars in the night sky. The lights of downtown provide a dim glow off in the distance, but other than that, there is no light, not even a street lamp. Odd for a Thursday night; odd and mysterious. Then in the window of a house across the way, a light passes over the window, then again, and again. Now normally that would indicate robbers in movies like "Home Alone" or the commercial for Allstate where Mayhem pretends to be a dog. (Don't worry, if you don't get it, it doesn't matter.) Then every house including this one has little flash light beams in the windows and people stream onto the streets to see why all of our electricity has gone out. HAHAHA! Yeah, last night we had a Blackout for our entire neighbor hood like 2 square miles. :) Neighbors congregated on the street, internet out, streetlights off, flashlights and candles pretty much. :) It lasted for, maybe half an hour, but we were afraid our food in the fridge (not powered) was going to spoil. It was fun. Except that I was in the middle of winning a Scrabble game....

Ginger Snaps

So, I was bored today, first day o summer vacation, so I made Ginger Snaps!! But since I had made them so many times, I put a twist on it. Bite-size ginger snaps! OMG their delicious! I really want to pass them out to all you guys. :) But, yeah, this is also a picture representing my "messing around" with the Google+ picture editing Picnik thing. :) Anyway, I can't do express mailing, but if you visit me in Colorado Springs.....no I'm so kidding. If you want my ginger snap recipe (Uses Molasses) just say so and I'll post it with instructions. Thanks!

Sophomore!/Google+

So, I guess I should probably announce that I'm finished with school and I'm technically a sophomore now. :) But I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet, and I've got a draining job the WHOLE summer so that puts a slight damper on things. Anyway, on to the important stuff...

So everyone go look at the page called "Me," and you will see a new picture of me. :) Now I know the picture isn't great, but I edited that picture on the new "Picnik" tools on Google+. They work great. The only thing I HATE is that they don't have any of the vignette or sepia or stuff, but you have to get creative to make up for it. You should all make a Gmail account and play around with the new program. Google is a mess right now, so it took me a while to find out how to and stuff, but I finally did and I think that pics pretty good.

Speaking of making a Gmail account. I insist even if you don't actually make one, you at least go far enough to see the form which you fill out. Then go to the gender/sex button and click it to see the options. Then tell me what you see by writing me a comment. I want to pique your curiosity so you actually go there and see it. :) So please please "make my day totally groovy" (as Reb says) and go look and comment. Thanks. :)

Movie Villain Medley

This is my new favorite YouTube video EVER!!! This guy has an amazing voice!

Paint

25 Things that Cat-Lovers Know.....

25 things that cat-lovers know, but wont admit. :) I own nothing.

- An aquarium is just interactive television for cats.

- Anything on the ground is a cat toy. Anything not there yet, will be.

- Dogs do what you tell them to do. Cats take a message and get back to you.

- Buy a dog a toy and it will play with it for ever.

Buy a cat a present and it will play with the wrapper for 10 minutes.

- A cat's motto is no matter what you've done wrong, always try to make it look like the dog did it.

- A cat bites the hand that won't feed it fast enough.

- Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments,

but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.

- Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.

- Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit.

- Cats don't hunt seals. They would if they knew what they were and where to find them.

But they don't, so that's all right.

- Cats instinctively know the exact moment their owners will wake up.

Then they wake them 10 minutes sooner.

- Cats know what we feel. They don't care, but they know.

- Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.

- Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

- Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God.

- I had to get rid of my wife. The cat was allergic.

- I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

- In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.

- On the Internet, nobody knows you're a cat.

- One cat just leads to another.

- People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life.

- Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel.

It's all true, and they have many other fine qualities as well.

- There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats.

- When I wash the cat, it takes me hours to get the hair off my tongue.

- You can always tell a cat, but you can't tell him much.

Tattoos

OK, yes, I know....tattos are "bad". But even though, I am going to get one when I'm older. I found the perfect design too. (Below) Anyway, as soon as I'm eighteen, I am finding a place that will do that for me....probably on my leg, twisted around it, or something cool, but not in a totally obvious place. :) So do any of you plan one experimenting with a tat when your older? If so, tell me about it. :) I'm not doing it for rebellion, rather as a test, like, just to see what its like. :P

My Limerick

We did a poetry project a while ago, and I was quite proud of my limerick that I made up, so I decided to post it. I LOVE it! And yes, I would like a compliment. HAHAHA jk. BTW, I did get a copyright for it. :) .....I think..... (0.o)

There once, long ago, was a tree,
Who was enormous, as giants can be,
The lord over all,
The big and the small,
Was toppled by naught but a flea.


The flea as was said about he,
Commanded an army of three,
A trio of beavers,
Big overachievers,
Who toppled the mighty old tree.
-Me

Oh, and here's one from last years poetry project.

There once was a crab who made stew,
And ever so loved to fondue,
So invited he did, 
A few squid from Madrid,
And said, "Let the party ensue!"
-Me

Gutters

So I just finished cleaning out a neighbors gutter, and man do I wish I hadn't worn those pants. I got sap EVERYWHERE from climbing around on that roof. Man! Those were my fav carpenter pants! Yeah, but I got paid twenty bucks for it. :) The sad thing is that my sisters will be babysitting this summer while I caddy. Now they make as much or more than I do for looking after the AMAZING little kids in our neighborhood....easy as fricking pie! While I have to walk four miles for five hours with a 50-60 pound golf bag on my bag trying to keep up with my golf, clean the ball, attend the flag, and keep track of where each ball goes to make MY money. I mean, I know that this is going to look great on applications and it has better outcomes in the future, but right now I'm more than a little pissed. While I was cleaning the gutters (WOW NASTY btw) my sister went to help a garage saledown the street and got PAID for sitting there taking peoples money!! UGH! Yeah, ok, that was venting...sry there.

Welcome Rebecca!

Hey everyone, say hi to Rebecca. :) Well Rebecca, thank you so much for joining the little but growing community here on Random-nes Personified. :P Yeah, scratch that about growing, maybe my one person every 5 months but that's it. LOL Anyway, I just wanted to officially welcome you and say "Hi!". I hope I can entertain you while you read my posts. :) So....yeah....I want everyone to at least check out Reb's blog, can I call you Reb? Just let me know if you don't like your nickname that I just haphazardly and extemporaneously made up five seconds ago. :) Oh yeah, er.....blog link is below. So...welcome! :)

http://my-photosynthesis.blogspot.com/

And I have to say that she's got the cutest cat...(s) ever!!

Neighbor Suicide Threat

OK, so I walk home from school, and right next to my house I see this boy trying to catch a loose dog with a collar. I try to help, but this police car shows up and the officer asks the kid if it was his dog. I say that I think it's from the house next door. So as me and the boy catch it, another police car pulls up and another cop steps out. They both approach the house while I (the kid left) walked behind them with the dog. Anyway, they start grilling the guys inside about harboring a wanted fugitive. Pretty soon another three police cars arrive. It was pretty fantastic. :P Then I offered to keep the dog tied up at our house and they agreed, so I did. Then I got on our roof and they had me keep a lookout for anyone trying to escape through the backyard and stuff. Now you can imagine all of the ideas flying through my head. Guns, shooting back, court, witness, me having to give a testimony, getting shot at, blah blah blah. The fantasies of a fourteen year old kid. Not what happened. The cop covering the back was really nice and told me all about it. Apparently, this was their 62nd visit to the residence for numerous different things. This time, was a girl who was committing suicide. Anyway, back on the roof, I relayed some things for them and then the fire trucks and ambulance came. They took the body out, she was still alive, but barely, and rushed her to the hospital. The neighbors are now facing time for harboring a fugitive. Yep. It was pretty cool in all, and afterwards, that the officers thank me for my help. Me! AHHHH!! :) OK, anyway, it was amazingly cool....I love seeing dead people....why is that? She wasn't dead of course, but whatever.

School Year Wrap Up

Do you ever get the feeling that you've missed your childhood? That you've been so focused on the here and now and what's ahead, that you've completely forgotten the past year or so. Well I just had that feeling as I turned in my final Honor English 9 project. So many years (it seems to me) have passed by....almost completely forgotten. Little snippets hat I see during the day. Chris and Luke joking about dwarfism in English class, Griffin yelling "Wet Crunch!" in health, Sharing a hug with Bopha in the hallways, Michelle stealing my muffin during break, racing against Geometry timing with Bailey and J*******, writing a full page in Jenny's yearbook, their all gone. They were just for a moment, but the moment that I wrote that last sentence is now...History. What happens to those moments? What happens to the good times we've had? They're not recorded anywhere, they're not all video taped, and the only thing we have for most of our past life is some constantly fading memories half of our teen population just wipes out with meth anyway... Life sucks, why do I feel so nostalgic all the time? People I'm never going to see again, friends I've left behind, email messages unreturned....wow, d I sound depressed or what? :) Sigh* I don't know, it just seems like time flies and slips through our fingers every day. Unless we clench our hands and hold onto memories, they're lost, likely forever.

VBS

So, Vacation Bible School Time is coming around again at my church. I have to say, going from 5th grade participant to "Annual VBS Video Actor" and Group Leader has been lotsa fun. There's been a lot of great VBS's since then and I find great pleasure in helping with them. Last night I volunteered as a teacher assistant to fill in for someone....yeah, I love little kids....on a regular weekly basis. I don't know if I could say calm for two weeks every day with them. :) Yeah, their kids. So yeah, this year I acted in the movie as a supervillian against salvation....its a great lesson in a fun form of superheroes and stuff. Hey...speaking f which, has anyone seen "The Avengers"? I haven't but want to. Is it good?

Tim Hawkins vs. Steven Curtis Chapman

OK, so today, I heard the song "I Don't Drink Beer" by Tim Hawkins. Funny right? But wait, there's more. My mom then told me that Tim Hawkins stole the melody from a Steven Curtis Chapman song called, "I Will Be Here." Here's the video for this song...listen to like the first minute of it and get the tune and stuff.

Gret song right? I loved it, it sounds so peaceful and I downloaded it on my (crappy, little) MP3 player so I could go to sleep to it if I feel restless. :) Don't judge me! :P Anyway, then I listened to the hilarious version by Tim Hawkins. It's all about reasons you shouldn't drink beer. Please listen to the whole thing, it's hysterical!

XD Hilarious right? So then, after watching, I showed the family and me and my sisters started cracking jokes on how Albert (my ex-father) should listen to this song and that it might have kept him sober for a whole three minutes. Yeah, just laughing and laughing. Then my mom, laughing with us, announces that "I will be here" was their wedding song!! HAHAHAHAHA! We almost died hee-haw-ing and snorting. Yeah, it was great, but I mean, I guess you had to be there, but don't you get the irony of it all? Ehh, anyway, just thought I show you the video. I love it! :)

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner is the book that I just finished. And let me say, It's AMAZING! Get it? a-MAZ-ing? AHA. Okay, moving off the cheesy pun track. It is written superbly, but the thing that gets me, is the idea behind it. It's ingenious. How Dashner came up with this I can only guess. Anyway, this guy named Thomas is thrown into a place called the Glade, a small community made up of roughly 50 teenage boys. Every month, a new boy comes in the "Box," the way that the community get supplies that they can't grow or make themselves. This community, surrounded by a gigantic wall with doors that close every night, is in the middle of a monstrous maze of rock walls, ivy, and endless cliffs on the edges. In this maze are mutative robotic biological creatures called Grievers. Anyway, these kids have tried to find a way out for two years, blah blah blah, I'm not gonna tell you anymore cuz I REALLY want you to read it! :) Anyway, I highly recommend it. The characters are relatable and well described. You can easily get into their mentality. The setting is great....yeah....READ IT! :)

Caddie Training Day 6

The other training days weren't very exciting at all. Except on one day I found a golf ball and they told me I could keep it. :) Anyway, today I found another one and I'm officially making a golfball collection exclusively for ones found on the golf course while caddying. Cool right? Anyway, I need a goal. Does anyone have an idea? I was thinking 100 golf balls by the end of the summer, but I just don't know. I think I'll stick with a hundred and IF I reach it....I'll bump the number up more. So yeah, today caddying was pretty good, really tiring, but good. We played a scramble loop which means that the game goes about 5 times faster. So in our two hours training session, instead of getting through 6 or 7 holes, we got through like 11 holes. WOW do my legs hurt! :) Anyway, here is my complete collection picture so far.....Matt, don't be jealous because I have two and you have none....someday you'll hit puberty. XD Sorry, bad joke! :P

I'm Dying to.....

You know the expression, "I'm dying to to this," or "I'm dying to get there." Well I heard a saying today that just hit me. It was a revelation that, I don't really know, changed me I guess. It made me think hard. It said...

When I was 7 I was dying to be double digits.

When turned ten I was dying to be able to drive.

When I was 16 I was "dying" to finish high school and start college. 
And then I was dying to finish college and start working. 
Then I was dying to get married and have children. 
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could go back to work.

But then I was dying to be able to retire. 
And now that I am dying, I suddenly realize that I forgot to live.

That just struck me in a way that now I feel....nostalgic in a way. I hope that I never lose sight of this saying. I need to be reminded once in a while, that even though looking forward to this is good, when it consumes your life and you want the future more than anything, you need to slow down and enjoy the now or you will lose your life to the future. Never become like the person mentioned here. Be satisfied with your life here and now and enjoy the little things like taking a hike or swimming in a pool. 
And as tribute to my new advancement of mind...LOL....I have just like, totally dumped the entire pitcher of water on myself while trying to water a hanging plant. HAHAHA :) Wow, that was...refreshing. It's like 95 degrees out here!

May the 4th

Since I am such a CRAZY Star Wars fan, seriously, I scare people with what I do with Star Wars, today is my FAVORITE DAY! EVER!! Every year I just have to celebrate in some way or whatever because its May the 4th. For those of you who don't get it, read on....

"May the force be with you, always."

"May the 4th be with you, always."

:) Get it? It's great. Anyway, I thought I should make a commemorative post on it. :) To celebrate I made some no-bake cookies. They are the best batch ever....wait.....of course they are! Their made on Star Wars day. :D

National Day of Prayer

Wow, today really sucked at school All we did was pray and learn about prayer. Most of us already know this stuff! Anyway, since its a Christian school, they HAD to celebrate it. I guess I agree with celebrating it, but these people went overboard a bit. :) We didn't have any regular classes though, and NO HOMEWORK! So that was good. :) Anyway, Happy National Day of Prayer!

Inheritance Series

!!!!SPOILERS!!!

Well, what can I say, I have read through Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr 13 times each, I LOVE rereading, and have enjoyed all of them immensely. They are well written with a great, mixed plot line, and understandable, relatable characters. Christopher Paolini is a superb writer to be sure, and he's SO YOUNG! I will definitely be on the lookout for more from this emerging author.I have not read Inheritance yet because I have not been able to get my hands on it. However, I should have a copy by tomorrow

and I will make another post for it. :) I suggest these to youngsters and teens alike. I do not like, however, that iit so closely resembles Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Some of the cities, landmarks, and people's names are obviously taken from Lord of the Rings. Not very impressive creativity there. Anyhow, it doesn't change the fact that these are amazing books and I love'em to death. :) Saphra's definitely got to be my favorite character, I sooo want a dragon now!! :P I really enjoyed Oromis and Glaedr in the Du Weldenvarden and how the lessons in Eldest go so badly at first. And how Eragon gets his impediment
from Durza, it adds a humanistic, down-to-earth touch that definitely influences how the reader takes the story. However, I do not like the Arya/Eragon thing going on, it makes the parts rather awkward, but realistic....somewhat. I think if it were changed a bit then I would like it more....I don't know, it just seems wrong to me. Moving on. I suggest this series to EVERYONE! Please read if you haven't done so already! :)

PS: Please forgive any spelling typos and grammar, I am unusually tired tonight. Thanks!

Skin

OK, so a while ago I read the book by Ted Dekker called Skin. Sorry I forget to write posts for most of my books lately. Wow, I need to do that, I've read like two dozen in the past three weeks. Hmm. Anyway, this is superbly written in the creepy, captivating, confusing, crazy, and catastrophic style of Mr. Dekker. Anyway, the characters were well described and brought into the story. The surprising twists, turns, and loopholes these characters experience challenged even my mind to think the impossible and to try to predict the outcome. It did, however, contain the creepy, horror, satanic, sadistic, murderer with his own, individual game plan that he forces upon his subjects. At the end, when it reveals what is all going on and everything, I had a blank-out for about ten minutes just sitting there trying to think it through, but tht might just be a sign of ow much books affect me. :) Anyway, I do recommend this to a chosen few who I think can handle this sort of mind-changing book. And remember, if you don't like scary killings and entangled, twisted, mind-boggling plots, don't read this!

The Obsidian Blade

So I just finished reading The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman. So I am well-known in my school's library as a bookworm. I will check out a huge book and have it back by the next day asking for more suggestions. Anyway, my study hall teacher/overseer who is also the librarian, asked me if I could read the book real quick and tell her if it would be appropriate for a Christian school and what supernatural aspects were in there and what I thought about it and stuff. I felt honored. The book itself was not well written, and the characters weren't able to be related, realistic, or given characterization. You really couldn't get into the persons emotions or feelings. Kinda blank. Besides that, it could be compared a bit, though not as good, as a book by Ted Dekker like Skin or Obsessed, which I'll make reviews for later. Back on topic, this book didn't have a set plot, was kind of muddled, and definitely hard to understand/comprehend. The "diskos," "Klaatu," and scene were not described enough or even well. It gives a lot of......different, no.....twisted references to the Bible and Christianity. I really did not like this book and I do not recommend it to anyone.

By the way, the next book I hope to read is called "Watership Down" and was recommended, like many of my books, by my friend Katherine, a Senior. Has anyone read this? If so, did you like it? I gtg, thanks!