A Voice In The Wind

Well, since I had requested Grandma read The Host book, she has requested that I read one of her favorites. It’s called A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. It’s the first book of the Mark of the Lion series. Three altogether. I’ve only read the first three chapters, but it’s okay so far. Kind of slow in the beginning. Grandma said it will pick up.

This is the original cover for the book:

But this is my favorite of all the different covers they’ve made for the book:

The one I got from the library is just a plain blue cover with the title and the authors name. I couldn’t find a picture of it. I guess it’s not a wind used one. Though, it’s paper back, I don’t know if these other two are for hardback or not.

Plot, taken from Wiki

It is the story of a young Christian-Jewish slave named Hadassah living under the Roman Empire. When Hadassah is captured by Roman soldiers, her entire family is killed. She serves as a slave to a spoiled young Roman woman named Julia. Although Julia initially dislikes Hadassah because of her plain appearance, she comes to trust her. Hadassah is faithful and kind but afraid of many things. As the story progresses, she gains the courage to tell others about her faith and the God that she serves.

Fifth Day Back

I realized I skipped the fourth day… Whoops.

It was cold. I had gotten so warm I’d actually been able to wear my shorts, then it went and got cold. Though, they said it’s suppose to warm up again.

Today Ryan didn’t come with us, so we didn’t have to leave quiet as early. But because of that as well, we weren’t the second there like we usually are.

I got my hair cut, and dyed again. This time a dark brown. Looks almost black. It was really funny. First things Max said we he saw me was, ‘What happened to your head?’. I couldn’t stop laughing. I usually change my hair color every six months, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but I always get it dyed either the same, or different. They didn’t know that, so it was surprising to them. I’d just started class last year after I’d gotten my hair dyed red and brown.

I was second to last into Creative Writing this week, Morgan always comes in last. The older Jacob was back this week, so Sarah had to fill him in, then she took our ruff drafts of our ‘Where I’m From’ poems, as well as our reading logs, and she checked out Writing Territories out to see if we had over ten. I had over fifty or something. I lost count, and some of them kind of ran together as ideas, so it might be less.

Sarah gave us our work we handed in last week back to us, and then she talked about Literary Terms. Next week we’re going to have a test on them, so she wanted to go over them and give us some neat ideas that are used to remember which means what. I’d find it much easier just to remember them in alphabetic order.

For next week we’re suppose to outline a fairy tail. I don’t know which we’ll do. I hope it’s one I know, because I didn’t read very many when I was young, because I’d never really liked them. Then we also have a sheet where we’re suppose to find a example of each of the Literary Terms in a book we read. We can find them all in different books, or we can use the same. We don’t have to turn this page in until the end of the semester. Or if we finish it early, then we can turn it in when it’s done.

We got done a few minutes early, so Sarah went ahead and let out class. I got a lot of typing done in study hall, as well as a few card games played. Robert had brought some CD’s, and the Family Guy movie to school for Max, and a few other CD’s for Tristan. Now he can’t remember who’s borrowing what. Haha.

When we got in Literature Discussion, Samantha had already taken the seat I usually got, so I stole the one Max usually got, kicking Tristan out as I did. Then I got up, I don’t remember why, and when I was back, Max had taken the seat, so I had to sit on the other side of Tristan and in front of Sam. Sam’s intolerable to sit across from, I don’t know how Morgan can stand to sit beside him.

Sam had brought a fake sword to class and I challenged him. He said I didn’t have a sword, but I told him I had something better. I held up my pen and said ‘the pen is mightier then the sword.’ Apparently, he’d never heard that quote before. I had to explain. Sam said I was weird, and I said thank you. He said something else, but I can’t remember what it was. He was trying to insult me, but I told him there was nothing he could say that could insult me. I was wrong. He said, ‘alright, your royal pink princess.’ Advantage of sitting across from him, I smacked him with my book. He didn’t repeat that sentence.

Shannon gave us our homework from The Lighting Thief back. I got A’s on all of them. Sam comment on a few of my things and said he couldn’t believe I got an A. I said it was probably only because she couldn’t read my hand writing, so she gave me an A so she wouldn’t have to try. Haha. I can’t even read most of what I write.

Shannon had brought a drink and some food that was suppose to be nectar and Ambrosia, the food of the Greek gods. It all tasted nasty to me. Of course it was all loaded with sugar. Max finished mine for me since I wouldn’t eat it. He actually quite liked it.

We were divided in teams. Max and I had already decided to be on a team for this, but Shannon decided to pair us on how we were sitting, so we were anyways, but Tristan was with us since he was sitting between us. We left the class room and went to the Speech room. We were going to try and figure a name out for our team, why we had to do it in another room, I didn’t know. Well, Tristan suggested The Goths, since Max and Tristan both think I’m a Goth. I said NO. So Max suggested The Furies. Tristan and him both liked it. Until I brought up the fact that all three of the Furies were represented as being female. So that was a big no for a name. I said that it wouldn’t work anyways, since there’s only one girl in the team. Max and I both looked at Tristan and laughed. It’s a continued joke Max and I play on Tristan. It’s funny.

We ended up with Hellhounds, suggested by Tristan. He had said something about it, and Max rubbed him in the head. I said he must think Tristan was good luck. I quickly told him to stop and he asked why. And I told him the only thing he’d get from rubbing Tristan greasy hair is bad luck, so he stopped very quickly.

When we went back into the class room, it was to find Morgan and Sam had teamed up on the name and they were being called Strawberry Sunshine. I wanted to gag. Samantha never speaks up, so if she didn’t like the name, she wouldn’t say anything.

Tristan and I voted Max as the leader, which meant he was the only one allowed to give the actual answers, but we all had to agree on the answer before he could give it. Tristan and I had mainly voted him because he’d read the book several times before, but it turns out, he remembers things from the other four books very well, but not very well from the first. I ended up giving Max all the answers, Tristan gave two. I should have just been the one to say the answers, it would have been easier.

Sam and Samantha had voted Morgan, which was a bad idea, because Max was quicker to press the buzzer. In our case, since we didn’t have an actual buzzer, it was a dinosaur toy in the middle of the table. Max had even ended up hitting the dinosaur to hard and had got Morgans had. She was VERY iffy about reaching for it from then on, afraid Max might catch her again. She gets hurt way to easy.

I ended up getting us ahead because I remember something from the book that no one else did. Not even Sam, which was a shocker. They couldn’t remember what Mr. D’s shirt was. They kept saying Hawaiian, but they couldn’t get the print right. Morgan said trees, Sam said flowers, but they both missed, so we got to answer. Max couldn’t remember, neither could Tristan. I said it was tiger print. They didn’t believe me, but since they didn’t have any answers, they went ahead and put it out. I was right. I knew I was. I was pretty much laughing out of my chair while everyone else kept trying to guess. It figures I’d remember something so stupid. But when I had read that, it had just stuck with me because I thought it was such a stupid detail. Tiger print shirt… Geez.

We ended up losing because we missed one of the ten point questions. I don’t remember which it was. I was so sure we’d win since we’d gotten one they hadn’t, but, all well.

Our next book is The Witch of Blackbird Pond. We looked for it over the weekend, but couldn’t find it. At least we still have a week. Shannon told me of a bookstore that will have it.

At the end of class, dag gonit, Max stole my pen again. I caught him in the kitchen, but he pulled Robert’s move. He pulled my arms behind my back and I couldn’t get out. Jessie had showed me how to, but I couldn’t remember. So I just stepped on Max’s foot and he let go. And somehow I ended up in the floor.

I threatened to withhold resources from him, since I’d been giving him a lot in Tribal Wars to help him grow. So, he gave me the pen back. Haha, I know how to threaten someone.

We finished quiet quickly in Speech. We’d just gone over chapter seven, and then we all gave our ‘We Were There’ Speeches. We’d all got a moment from history we really liked, and we told it as if we had been there.

After Speech, we had Chess Club. This also went by pretty quickly. We got to play a few mini games, the same we had last class. But this time I was again Zoey’s sister. I can’t spell her name. Tristan didn’t have to watch over us this time. After we were done, we all got to take a quiz. I made a few simple mistakes. I mistook the king as the queen on the quiz. I figured the king would be the piece with the crown. But, apparently, on paper, the queen has the crown. Sam had ended up missing less then me, and, of course, Max got them all right.

Then our teacher used the board Max had and redid the Chess match between Bobby Fisher, and Donald Burns. He had every move on paper, so Max did Bobby’s moves, while the teacher did Donald’s. Once class was over, we all got our homework. The teacher asked us if we wanted it and Sam said he did. I told him he was sucking up. He didn’t deny it.

Robert and Sam went outside once school was over. Robert was smart enough to grab his coat, but Sam didn’t, so I told him he was going to freeze. He didn’t, but when he came back in, his arms were really red. I’d gone out to ask Robert if he’d asked Shannon and Joanna about bowling. I don’t know where he’d gotten it, but Sam had a small green flag and he was waving it around. He yelled, ‘here comes the sea hag’ when I came. I told him that if I was a sea hag, he was a sea hag plus two. He didn’t have any comeback for that.

When I got back in, Tristan asked me if I could remember what my natural hair was. Really random to just ask like that I thought. My paused made him laugh. I asked why and he apparently thought that that had meant I couldn’t, but I corrected him and told him I did. One of the little kids that were around walked by me then, and Tristan asked if I had ever been that small. And I told him of course I had been, everyone had been at one point in time. And apparently, I used to wear a lot of pink. That made him laugh. He’s gotten so convinced I’m a Goth that he didn’t think I’d ever worn any other color, even though he’s clearly seen me wear other colors.

I challenged Tristan to a Chess match. Max is good, and I’d managed to beat him twice, once with Jessie’s help, the last by myself. So I wanted to see if I could beat Tristan. He claimed he would win, and when I’d told him about me beating Max, he said was nothing because Max sucked. I never got to see who’d won since Grandma had come right after we’d started. I made my move, but he never got to make his first.

I helped Max and Tristan out the tables together for the Chess teacher. He had to leave so Tristan and I said we’d do it, and Max helped. We got them all together and Tristan started dancing, cheering ‘we did it’. I asked him if that was his ‘we did it’ dance. He said no, and started dancing different. I couldn’t help but laugh, even though he was dancing kind of creepy like.

Max apparently thought Tristan’s dance was beat him up worth, so he told me to grab him him since we were both on the same side of the table. I grabbed him and pulled his hands behind his back like Max had done for me, then Max came over and pretended to hit him in the stomach. Tristan claimed it was weird being held back by a girl. I was surprised I was able to at all, since Tristan is strong then me.

Sam came in and asked if we needed help. I’d already let go of Tristan and he tried jumping across the table. He got halfway before Sam grabbed his leg. Max and I had to stop Sam before he made Tristan do a split. Sam gets a little to carried away when horsing around.

We had to leave after that. I picked cat food up for mom at Wall-Mart before we went home.

FaceBook Again

Stupid FaceBook. I was so far in Vampire Wars and Farmville. I was level fifteen on both. Took me little over a week to get there, and then they went and disabled my account. I have no idea why. They didn’t give me a reason and I followed the rules to the letter. Well, I had to start a fresh one. Lucky, I never delete E-Mails, so I was able to get all the people in my friend list back. Unfortunately, I didn’t have E-Mails for all the groups and pages I’d joined. But, lucky there, a lot of my friends on there are in a lot of them, but there are a few I won’t be able to get back. Sucks.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d at least given me a reason. But just disabling me like that without one really pisses me off.

Alice

Alice by Avril Lavigne. Avril Lavigne used to be my favorite singer. But after awhile, I started to get tired of her songs. I haven’t listened to her since. But I heard this song at the ending credits for Alice In Wonderland and really liked it. I wanted to find out who it was by. When I found out it was by Avril, I was shocked. It’s been so long since I’ve listened to her, her voice has changed. She sounds much better then what she used to. I might have to start listening to some of her new songs. But I really like this song.

Trippin out
Spinning around
I’m underground
I fell down
Yeah I fell down

I’m freaking out, where am I now?
Upside down and I can’t stop it now
Can’t stop me now, oh oh

I,I, I’ll get by
I,I, I’ll survive
When the world’s crashing down
When I fall and hit the ground
I will turn myself around
Don’t you try to stop me
I,I, I won’t cry

I found myself in Wonderland
Got back on my feet, again
Is this real?
Is this pretend?
I’ll take a stand until the end

I,I, I’ll get by
I,I, I’ll survive
When the world’s crashing down
When I fall and hit the ground
I will turn myself around
Don’t you try to stop me
I,I, I won’t cry

I,I, I’ll get by
I,I, I’ll survive
When the world’s crashing down
When I fall and hit the ground
I will turn myself around
Don’t you try to stop me
I,I, and I won’t cry

Alice In Wonderland

I never liked the Disney cartoon version. Never. But I loved this one. Though, actually, Disney’s movies aren’t the same as they used to be. They’ve started doing movies that even I would like.

I wanted to see this because Johnny Depp played the Mad Hatter. I love his characters. They’re all either creepy (in a good way, I know, weird), or their weird, or dark and mysterious, or they’re really funny. He did great and was really funny. I loved the weird dance he did at the end. It was just to funny. It must have been a lot of work with digital effects to get his head to spin around and his legs and arms as well.

I noticed that Johnny used some of his Jack Sparrow voice from Pirates of the Caribbean when he was suppose to be very serious. It made the Mad Hatter kind of creepy, but in a good way.

It ended great, as well. Though, I had it stuck in my head she would stay in Wonderland instead of going back home. But, all well.

Plot, taken from Wiki

Troubled by a recurring dream featuring strange creatures, nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska) attends a party at a Victorian estate shortly after the death of her beloved father. She learns that the formal affair is actually an engagement party to eventually wed her into the Ascot family who now own her father’s trading firm. Unsure of how to properly reply to Hamish Ascot’s proposal, Alice runs away and follows the White Rabbit, Nivens McTwisp (voiced by Michael Sheen). She then falls down a rabbit hole into Underland, a bizarre world she previously visited as a child, although she has lost most memory of it and believes what she remembers to have been a dream. It is explained throughout the course of the film that Iracebeth, the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), conquered Underland by stealing the ruling crown from her sister Mirana, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), but Alice will slay the Red Queen’s guardian, the Jabberwocky, on the Frabjous Day using the Vorpal Sword. However, a misunderstanding of words from Absolem the Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman) makes everyone believe that Alice is the wrong one. The forces of the Red Queen attack and capture McTwisp, Uilleam the Dodo (voiced by Michael Gough), and Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas), whilst Alice escapes. The Knave of Hearts Ilosovic Stayne (Crispin Glover) informs the Red Queen of Alice’s return; the Red Queen orders Alice’s capture.

Alice is found by Chessur (voiced by Stephen Fry), a grinning cat, who leads her to Tarrant Hightopp, The Hatter (Johnny Depp), March Hare (voiced by Paul Whitehouse) and Mallymkun the Dormouse (voiced by Barbara Windsor). As Stayne searches for Alice, The Hatter flees toward the White Queen’s castle with a shrunken Alice, but he is caught, leaving Alice and his hat behind. A bloodhound named Bayard (voiced by Timothy Spall), who was forced to work for the Red Queen due to his imprisoned family, aids Alice in sneaking into the Red Queen’s castle to rescue The Hatter. McTwisp, now a page for the Red Queen, gives Alice some food which makes her grow to a large size, but she fools the Red Queen into believing she is “Um from Umbridge”, and The Hatter is made the Red Queen’s hat maker. Alice learns that the Vorpal Sword is hidden in the den of the Bandersnatch, whose eye was removed by Mallymkun earlier. The eye is restored by Alice, making the Bandersnatch choose to side with her and escape from the castle with her and Bayard. Chessur saves Tarrant and Mallymkun from execution, and they lead all of the enslaved Underland creatures to flee the Red Queen’s castle. Alice delivers the Vorpal Sword to the White Queen and returns to her normal size, but she remains unsure whether she can kill the Jabberwocky.

Absolem, going into his pupa stage, reminds Alice of her past visit to Underland and gives her the courage and belief to fight the Jabberwocky. On the Frabjous Day, the forces of the White and Red Queens converge on a battlefield to decide the fate of Underland. The White Queen offers her sister a chance for peace one last time, but the Red Queen declines, summoning the Jabberwocky (voiced by Christopher Lee). Alice fights the Jabberwocky and is nearly killed but the Hatter distracts it, starting an all out brawl between the Red and White Queens’ forces. The Hatter fights and overcomes Ilosovic as Alice resumes her battle with the Jabberwocky, climbing onto its back and being thrown into the air, using the height to deliver a slash that beheads the Jabberwocky. Enraged at the death of her pet, the Red Queen demands Alice’s head, but without the Jabberwocky, no one fears her any more and everyone sides with the White Queen. The White Queen regains her crown and then banishes her sister and Stayne to the outlands forever. Alice returns home by drinking the blood of the Jabberwocky. She then refuses Hamish’s proposal and becomes an apprentice for Hamish’s father with the idea of beginning trade routes with China. The film ends with Alice sailing away on a ship with Absolem, now as a butterfly, fluttering off and away from her shoulder.

FaceBook

I always thought it was kind of stupid. But a friend of mine got me on it once, and I found it was actually kind of neat. And I say this mainly because of all the neat games you get to play. They even have groups to join for a show, or a band you like. Haha. You can even become a fan of pages for things like that as well. Of course, I found a group and page for Three Day’s Grace and House. Haha.

But recently, I found that it’s good for other things. I have a lot of family and friends that are on it, so it’s easy to keep up with what’s with them since I don’t see them to much. I learned something very important about Tristan on FaceBook. He favors the exclamation point a little more then he should… Haha.

My brother sighed up for it over the weekend as well. I had to show him how to work it, since he’s not as good with these kinds of onlines stuffs.

Third Day Back

So much has happened. It seems like it’s been longer then just our third week back at the Academy. It just gets so routine. But, out routine was thrown off. Our Papa had to go to a meeting on septic tanks, so our aunt Conni had to take us in. I hate her mini van so much. Try fitting two big teens with bags full of books, our lunch cooler, and then we both had our laptops with us. It’s very cramped. Especially since Lily’s car seat took up half the middle seat. And I got stuck with Ryan… Though, we made it and I didn’t kill anymore. Luckily.

We got a new student today in Creative Writing. River. He was at bowling. Apparently he was suppose to join two weeks ago, but there was some problem and he couldn’t. But him and the young Jacob are good friends, so Jacob was able to fill him in on everything he miss, which helped the teacher.

My Creative Writing class started a few minutes early because everyone showed up sooner then usual. I’m always the first student in the room. But today I even beat the teach in. Sarah gave us our homework we turned in last week back, and I aced everything. Yay!

She gave us some more Writing Territories to add to our list, then she gave us our homework. We’ve got to write a ‘Where I’m From’ poem. Poem I can do. I love writing poems. Apparently I’m the only one of the students that are in the class that does. Haha. I’m just having a little trouble coming up with things to put in it. I’m glade I have a week. I never write a poem in one sit down. I always write a line one day, maybe even two or three, then come back later and so on until I’ve finished the poem. If I rush it, then everything sounds sloppy. And it doesn’t rhyme as well.

Then, of course, we still have to do a reading log. I filled one out for The Host for this class. I’ve got my Grandma reading it now. She didn’t want to read the Twilight series because of the Vampires, and I understand that. And since there’s nothing in this book like that, she said she’d read it and see how she liked it. You can’t ever go wrong with science fiction. Well, I guess you can, but none I’ve ever read have.

For in-class writing, Sarah had us to do a ‘My Name’ paper. I wrote two pages, but I don’t think I’m done with it yet. I might be able to come up with more on for it still.

After Creative Writing was over, I got to typing, since I brought my laptop. I was able to get a few pages typed before Tristan came from his class. He was the first to come in the lunch room. He seemed bent on bugging me during lunch, instead of my brother. But since I had my laptop out, I challenged him to some Minesweeper. He said he was really good. But I suck. But apparently, my suck, is good, and his good, means he sucks. Because I beat him every time. Haha. My laptop didn’t last long, since I’d had it open for over an hour, so Tristan and I spent the rest of lunch comparing music.

It’s funny, last semester, Max couldn’t stop stealing my apples, but this semester, he brought his own for lunch. So, now Tristan was the one stealing my apples. But I never finish them myself, so it’s not bad. Haha.

Max hadn’t finished his lunch, so we went to Literature Discussion, while he finished. He was tired, so I don’t think he felt much like going into class anyways. So he spent a lot of time in the lunchroom, but because of that, he missed all the fun.

We gave out papers in where Shannon wanted us to draw a vase, or pot, and then draw a scene from the book on it. I suck at drawing, but apparently, Sam said I did better then everyone else. I had Shannon try and guess what mine was, but she couldn’t get it. Tristan took one look at it and knew what it was. I don’t know what Tristan was trying to draw, he said it was Ares’s, but I don’t know. It looked kind of funky. Everyone, even Tristan, couldn’t stop laughing at it.

For my Twelve Olympian gods +2 sheet, I got almost everything. A lot of the others had missed a lot of the stuff that should have gone on it. Tristan had missed almost everything, since he’d gone through and just put one thing down for each. Dwight and I both used Wiki, so we got the most. But even Dwight had missed a lot of stuff.

I couldn’t finish my name in Greek. You know why? The Greek alphabet does not consider C a letter! They have no C! I had my name all out, but I HAD NO C! Haha. It was kind of funny. I went from Nicole, to Niole. I have no idea what that spells. I can’t pronounce it.

We talked over the book, and I had to threaten to tape Sam’s mouth shut because he was answering everything. Shannon and I urged Morgan to elbow him anytime, since he was just behind her. She wouldn’t, apparently she’s to nice. So I told her next week, we’d switch seat, because I’m not to nice to elbow him. Haha.

Max had finally joined us in time to start answering questions. Though, he was preoccupied, I don’t think he was paying attention to the class. He stole my pen. I was able to get it back, but then I set it on my lap so he couldn’t reach it, but I forgot it was there, so it fell into the floor and he got it again. By time I realized he’d had it, he had taken it apart. It was funny. That’s the same thing he did to be in History last semester. I can’t trust him with a pen.

Once he was done with my pen, he took my book. He took it just as class was ending, so he ran off with it. I chased him halfway around the place and finally got it back. Tristan had tried helping, but Max smacked him in the head and he decided he was going to keep a distance from Max. After I’d gotten it, he got it again. I don’t know how. I threatened to get my brother. He replied with a ‘Uh-Oh’. But when I looked around, I realized Robert must have been outside for PE today, since it was so nice, so he couldn’t help.

I had to go to Speech, so Max won. For Speech, we all turned in our outline of last weeks speech, then we all got up and told out jokes. Morgans was boring. Why? Because it’s the same joke she told us twice last semester. She must have forgotten. But Tristan’s joke was really funny. He had to read it because it was so long. But there was not one part that wasn’t funny.

Since we weren’t allow to tell any jokes that were considered ‘dirty’, I had to find one. Because, quiet frankly, I will admit all my jokes are a little, well, not dirty per say, but not exactly nice. So I found some church bulletin bloopers to use.

This is the one I used:

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

Everyone laughed. I wanted to use this one:

The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: “I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours

But I was afraid the last part might not go well with Lydia. Tristan said he wanted to hear my other jokes. I knew he would. Tristan has as bad a sense of humor as I do.

We got into telling jokes, so Sam told me a bunch of the blond jokes he knew. Most I hadn’t heard. I told him the one I knew. He said he’d heard almost all, well, he hadn’t heard this one:

Three girls walk into a bar; a brunette a red head and a green haired girl. The bar tender asks the brunette how she keeps her hair so brown.

The brunette combs her hands through her hair and says, “It’s natural it’s natural.

Then the bar tender asks the red head how she keeps her hair so red. She combs her hands through her hair and says, “It’s natural, it’s natural.

Then he asks the green haired girl how she keeps her hair so green. She sneezes into her hands, combs her hands through her hair and says, “Its natural, its natural.”

It made him and the others laugh.

We got to stay for Chess Club this time. It didn’t last as long as it was suppose to, since Grandma had to pick us up at three-thirty, instead of four. But next class, we get to stay the whole time.

Robert and I sat through the review of last lesson. We already knew all this, but the other new kids didn’t, so we sat through anyways.

Once that was done, we got to play a mini game. I played against a kid called Harrison, and Tristan watched. Since he’d played this mini game before, he was helping the teacher. Or as he put it ‘watching and making sure I didn’t cheat’. Haha.

Harrison won the first match, and I won the second. Tristan was to busy watching our game, that he didn’t watch my brother and the other kids match. So they ended up doing it all wrong. They didn’t even get even the slightest bit done with their game before we had to leave.

The teacher said he had been impressed when I told him that I’d beaten Max. Max is probably the best in the class. But he didn’t stay today because he and Sam had swimming class. But I’d beaten him once with the help of Jessie, but I had also beat him all by myself. Which is neat, since I do suck, and Max is so good. I don’t know, though. He might have let me win. I’d played another friend once. Ryan, not my cousin Ryan, and he was a lot better then I was, and I’d won, only because he’d given himself a handicap since I wasn’t as good.

But it was fun. Robert and I were a little cranky the ride home. He wouldn’t stop bothering me. Blah. I guess it’s pay back for all the times I’ve annoyed him. But what are little sisters for? Haha.

The Lighting Thief Banner

Wow… I haven’t done a banner in quiet awhile I realize. But, I decided I wanted to do one today, so I did one for The Lighting Thief.

I didn’t go into to much on this. I just edited the cover for the book. I may have wanted to do one, but I wasn’t in the mood to take a hour for it. Haha.

The Host

Finished it in less then a day. Which is odd. Since it’s the longest of the five books I was reading. It’s over six-hundred pages, but very good. That’s why I always like science fiction novels, there just so much more entertaining to me. Anything that is always having something happen. That has more stuff happening then it does people actually talking. But since it’s in first person and the two main characters are in one head, technically, everything is thought, or described about what they are feeling, if they don’t speak, so there isn’t much room in a lot of it for actual talking. I realize, that out of the whole book, the actual two main characters say the least out of everyone in the book. And I’m even counting their conversations they hold in their head.

What I hate about books like this, is it always leaves me in a very thoughtful mood when I’ve finished. Doesn’t sound so bad, but when I’m in a thoughtful mood, I don’t feel like doing anything. Which annoys me. I usually only get like this at the end of books I really, really liked.

But with the way it ended, there’s plenty of room for a second. And Meyers has even said she wanted to have a second, and even third book. She’s got me so hopeful, I hope she follows through. Because, quiet frankly, the way she ended the book pissed me off. I wanted more from the situation she’d left it with. A lot more.

Five Books

I’m reading five books at the same time. Not literally, of course. Mom asked me how I didn’t get them confused with each other. I asked her how one possible could? Each book is so different. Even though two are Hamish Macbeth books, there still very different.

Death of a Dreamer by M. C. Beaton (aka. Marion Chesney):

Book Summery:
Most newcomers don’t stay long in remote Lochdubh. They arrive filled with romantic notions of life in northern Scotland until boredom, dampness, and nosy villagers send them running back to civilization. Hamish Macbeth is surprised when artist Effie Garrard sticks it out through the winter, especially since her cottage is so far up in the hills that it might take weeks before anyone would know if something happened to her.

By spring Macbeth fears something has. He takes his Land Rover out to check on her, and for once his uncanny sixth sense is wrong! Effie is fine – if being a dreamer and a little odd don’t count. That problem off his mind, Macbeth’s attention turns closer to home. His old flame Priscilla Halburton-Smythe has returned to Lochdubh for a long visit, not that Macbeth still cares. And a landscape painter, up from Glasgow, is charming all the ladies in the area, including the elderly twins Nessie and Jessie Currie. Macbeth’s famous intuition tells him trouble is in the air. And this time Macbeth is spot-on.

Effie Garrard is found dead, an apparent suicide. Although his superiors close the case, Macbeth feels in his bones it is murder. Worse, things begin going haywire in his own life. Another of his old girlfriends turns up in Lochdubh, his heart is being tugged toward an unwise passion, and he may be dreaming too much himself. Distracted by his personal affairs, Macbeth may not see an evil that’s getting too close to him…or a ruthless killer whose violence will give everyone nightmares.

Distracted by his personal affairs, Macbeth may not see an evil that’s getting too close to him…or a ruthless killer whose violence will give everyone nightmares. – That line sold me. This HAD to be the next I read. And I just love the cover. It’s just so mystical looking I couldn’t resit but to grab it. Plus, I will admit, the title really made me like it as well. Those three things tell me I’ll like it, and I haven’t even gotten to the good part in it yet.

Death of a Village by M. C. Beaton (aka. Marion Chesney):

Book Summery:
Intent on having a quiet time by just sitting in a deck chair in his garden, Hamish Macbeth is quite disturbed when a very agitated Elspeth Grant, Loch- dubh’s local reporter and astrologer, arrives. It seems that three citizens of nearby Stoyre have moved to Loch- dubh-but they are quite unwilling to offer Elspeth any facts as to why, causing the reporter in her to suspect they were frightened out of their former village. So now it’s up to constable Hamish Macbeth to step into the case and take a small trip to investigate the goings-on in Stoyre. After many frights and dangers, Hamish soon discovers that a sunken German ship from World War I and its cache of gold bullion are the key to solving the strange demise of the once lively village.

I couldn’t find a typed version of the summery in the back of the book, and I didn’t feel like typing it out, but the one in the book is much better. The line that sold me for this book was ‘Macbeth’s plan may go desperately wrong with an old friend’s death, a scandalous rumor, and the loss of one so brave and true that it might break his heart.’ That’s the last line of the summery on the back of the book.

Love, Lies, and Liquor by M. C. Beaton (aka. Marion Chesney):

Book Summery:
Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies’ Society, she still misses her ex-husband, James Lacey, so she welcomes his return to the cottage next door with her usual triumph of optimism over experience—especially when he invites her on holiday at a surprise location that was once very dear to him. With visions of a romantic hideaway in Italy or the Pacific dancing in her head, Agatha goes off happily with James to … Snoth-on-Sea, in Sussex.

While James may have fond memories of boyhood holidays there, Snoth-on-Sea has seen better days, as has the once-grand Palace Hotel, now run-down and tacky and freezing cold. Nor do the other guests have much to recommend them, especially the brassy honeymoon couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jankers, who pick a fight with Agatha in the dining room. But trouble has a way of following Agatha even if romance does not: Just as she and James are preparing to flee to warmer climes, Geraldine Jankers is found dead on the beach—strangled with Agatha’s scarf. So much for Agatha’s holiday fantasies: Not only is it time to put her detective skills to work, but the police are not even sure that she’ll be allowed to leave town.

This one was funny to bring home. I told mom the title and said it sounded interesting. She just gave me the oddest look and asked why. I honestly don’t know. I just saw the title and grabbed it.

And, of course, I’m still reading The Lighting Thief. I’m only reading the chapters Shannon tells me to each week.

The Host by Stephenie Meyers:

Book Summery:
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining “wild” humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie’s thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer’s mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

I don’t really like reading romance, but there’s more science fiction in this book then romance, that’s what made me want to read it. The ideas she put into this book are just so awesome. I hope Stephine Meyers works more on this. She says she wants to have two more books in the series, so my fingers are crossed she start on them soon. This book is much, much better then her Twilight book.

I actually tried reading this book once before. About a few months ago, but I wasn’t in much of a mood I found out. I would pick it up, flip through it, read a few lines, then quit. Finally, I decided to pick it up from the library again and this time I’m reading it. And even though I say I don’t really like reading romance, something Meyers said about her book made me want to try and read it again.

Meyer had no plans for a romance between Ian and Wanderer until Jared “got on [her] last nerve”, and Ian “refused to be ignored”. – I admit, even I couldn’t resit but to read it after reading that.