Currently week 6

This week I finished my book "Its kind of a funny story" and started reading "19 minutes" by Jodi Picoult


Pages this week: 112
Pages this semester: 800


Quotes of the week:


"In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game."
This is the opening sentence and i think it makes the book really powerful to begin with.


"If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?”


"You don't need water to feel like youre drowning, do you?"
THIS IS SO TRUE!!!!

just some thoughts...

-im going to make my parents buy and read "its kind of a funny story" and then they might just know how teenagers work and the stress they go through. sometimes i just dont think they understand.

 

-I liked the change of pace as far as “problems” go. Craig is an overachiever but he’s not nerdy.

-I loved that Craig took charge and checked himself in. Too many people don’t ever get the help they really need.

-Never having been around psych patients, I thought the author did a very good job of writing about and depicting psych problems.

-The author did a great job of getting the reader into Craig’s head with all the pressure. I almost felt like having a panic attack with everything he had to deal with.

-I didn’t know it until after I read the book but the author was in a psych hospital for a while. After getting out, he wrote this book in about a month. Knowing the author has experienced some of the problems adds to his credibility.

-Even though there are a lot of serious issues here in this book, you can't help but laugh. The people Craig encounters in the ward aren't anything like his friends from school. Craig tries to maintain normal ties with his pals while there, but they don't quite work out. His voice is very honest, and he's not afraid to share the details of a high-stress high school life, including sex, drugs and Egyptian popular music. Read it and weep. Or laugh. Maybe both :))))

 

 

this post is OLD.

sooo, i always type my posts into word and then copy and paste into this little box thingy. and i forgot about this one, so .. here it is. it was from...tuesday night.

A good book or movie that will suck me in a whole other world, and out of my own reality. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is one of those stories for me deffinately I HAVE DISCOVERED. I only have about 70 pages , and I am really excited (and sad) to finish the book, and then go rent the movie.

I think that’s what I will do this weekend. Rent the movie.
and then ill watch it this weekend with a friend....im excited. i hope the movie does the book justice.
This book is amazing and I suggest that anyone who loves reading about teenlife struggles and getting through hardships should read it. and its pretty funny in some parts too.

currently...

my current book: its kind of a funny story

pages this week: 159

pages this semester: 688

quotes of the month:

“Things to do today:
1) Breathe in.
2) Breathe out.” 

 

i can really relate to this quote, its my favorite. i relate to this quote because i have a lot of anxiety and i have to tell myself that every single day to get through the day. taking deep breaths really helps.

 

“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.” 

this is so true...

 

"I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning."

this is from perks of being a wallflower, i love how he gives you insight of his life like he does.

stress will do that to you

"It's Kind of a Funny Story" may seem like an odd title for a book with such extreme themes as adolescent depression and suicide, until you recall the last time you burst out laughing at an inappropriate moment in this book. Laughter is one way to cope with pressure, and that's what i think Ned Vizzini's novel is all about i think, the kind of pressure teenagers face in a success-oriented society that values product over process, scores over scholarship and extracurriculars.

Craig becomes dysfunctional and severely depressed after driving himself relentlessly to get accepted into Executive Pre-Professional High School, "set up to create the leaders of tomorrow." Graduates of this pressure cooker "end up being, like, president," if they don't end up on the psych ward first. Once he's admitted to the school, Craig realizes that staying there is the true challenge. Just reading about his assignments is anxiety-producing — nine classes, unbearable reading lists, four hours of homework a night. One class requires reading two hefty daily newspapers and analyses of the stock market. Within months Craig has "stress vomiting for the first time." I CANT EVEN IMAGINE THIS. AND I HAVE ANXIETY JUST LIKE HIM. The more behind he gets, the more paralyzed he is, until he contemplates jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Instead, he calls 1-800-SUICIDE and checks himself into a nearby hospital. His mom's response when he calls from the E.R. is touching: "I am so proud of you. . . . This is the bravest thing you've ever done."

 

The authors humor is found throughout, focused not only on the comic impact of any given line, but on the role of humor itself, the necessity of laughter and the realization that it's O.K., even necessary, to lighten up when things seem bad. AND I LOVE THAT.... When Craig starts to share a laugh about a fellow patient, he stops himself. "I bite my tongue. I can't help it. I shouldn't be laughing at any of these people . . . but maybe it's O.K., somewhere, somehow, because we're enjoying life?" i think its important to laugh even though things might be going horribly wrong.

 

One of the most disturbing realities present in this novel is the many characters who need meds to cope with getting through school. This is an important book, not only because it will help teenagers recognize unhealthy expectations and know there are alternative choices.

Amazing Claims.

From kims corner

Bérenger's black and white photograph, his dramatic contrast and enticing depth of field draw the viewer into the picture with active negative space that elevates the shadows from the composition to illustrate an ominous and mysterious mood.

From my everyday sticky waffle

In this contemporary dance, choreographed by Mia Michaels, the varied confusion of the movement, pain and romance shown through the emotion, the regret expressed through the dull costume choice, and the dominating and aggressive use of space create a sense of lighthearted passion between the two dancers. 

From The New Zealander

On the album cover of Titus Andronicus's "The Airing of Grievances," the commanding, classic font and layout of the cover, as well as the cluttered and colorful use of space in the photograph convey the band's homely practice environment and admiration for the old-fashioned symbols of history.

From Underwater

The Ground Zero Memorial in New York, where the Twin Towers once stood, is a sincere and gorgeous memorial for all the ones who died on 9/11. The beautiful waterfall is a wonderful and memorable idea to fill the empty spot where the towers once stood. People visit this touching, unique and magnificent memorial from all over the world.

From Hog Smog Blog
This picture displays a blaring, earthshaking sound as the up-tempo crowd yells and roars while Beason shows great excitement and aggressiveness as he takes the field very authoritative and intensely out of a tunnel where the panther is posing viciously and wrathfully.

My favorite was from my everyday sticky waffle, i feel like some things are complete oppisites of eachother, but at the same time it works. This was also the most interesting to me, i really love to watch people express themselves through dance, and liked her claim as well. She really explained what was happening throughout the dance.
 

claim assignment

I used a So You Think You Can Dance Video for this assignment , here is the link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_48OKZqYzHM

What I observed:

Posture - loose, strong, real, curved

Space - useful, busy, open

Sound - quiet, smooth, soft, tender

Facial expression - passionate, fragil, concentrated

choreography - beautiful, graceful, powerful

What I Inferred: compassion, intense, gentle, formal, romantic, sincere, confident, intimate

My Claim:
[In this video from so you think you can dance, the dancers busy use of space, passionate facial expressions, and graceful, powerful choreography] expresses [a sense of compassionate intamacy and sincere confidence]

its currently friday

Book: its kind of a funny story

pages this week: 215

pages this semester: 529

Quotes of the week:

My Favorite One!! --

“Things to do today:
1) Breathe in.
2) Breathe out.” 

Its kind of funny..the main character in the story suffers from depression and anxiety disorder. I dont suffer from depression but i do have anxiety severely. This quote is something that i have to say to myself almost everyday to make it through without having an attack. Some people may not notice that i have it because i hide it pretty well, but its there.

Other quotes that stood out...

“Its so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. That's above and beyond everything else, and it's not a mental complaint-it's a physical thing, like it's physically hard to open your mouth and make the words come out. They don't come out smooth and in conjunction with your brain the way normal people's words do; they come out in chunks as if from a crushed-ice dispenser; you stumble on them as they gather behind your lower lip. So you just keep quiet.” 

“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.” 

“I'm done with those; regrets are an excuse for people who have failed.” 

its kind of a funny story..

I started reading it's kind of a funny story this week and I really like it already!! ive gotten pretty far into it already. about 200 pages or so. I would recommend this book to an older, high school-aged audience because of the sexuality, and the mature issues discussed in the book. The narrative voice of Craig sounds very genuine and real; but it can be a bit difficult to read the raw details of his depression.

The book was a bit was too slow paced for my liking at the beginning...i like to read something that is exciting in the beginning as well, it is slow when he was describing his depression and childhood. The action didn’t start until about halfway through the book when he checked himself into an adult psychiatric hospital

The author uses humor to ease into the deep, painful issues of the novel. I think it makes it less scary to read and more enjoyable to read.

 

Bobby, the former drug-addict whom Craig meets on the tour around the psychiatric ward, is a fascinating character. The description of him painted a perfect picture in my mind: i loved the description

“…a gaunt, hollow man with big circles under his eyes and a nose that looks like it’s been broken in about three places. In contrast to the floor policy, scruff lines his chin. He’s older but still has all his hair, a stately gray mop, combed half-heartedly. And he carries himself a little weird, leaning back as if he were on a headrest.” I thought that this was an awesome description to put a picture in your mind of what this character looks like.

Currently From Last Week .....

pages read this week:94 (finished my book)
pages this semester: 314

Quotes of the week :

"I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning."

"So, I looked up, and we were in this giant dome like a glass snowball, and Mark said that the amazing white stars were really only holes in the black glass of the dome, and when you went to heaven, the glass broke away, and there was nothing but a whole sheet of star white, which is brighter than anything but doesn't hurt your eyes. It was vast and open and thinly quiet, and I felt so small."

“This is not a time for heroes because nobody will let that happen.”

"Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody."

"Please believe that things are good with me, and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough."

I finished this book last thursday (im a little late on this post) but overall, i loved reading this book! The format made it not so boring and very interesting. I loved how Charlie grew as a character, and wrote about everything that he thought. i would reccomend this book to anyone who likes reading about real life, and the things that teenagers go through.

i really just loved it.

I just really loved reading this book.



Charlie first appears to be a quiet, strange and unpopular boy. He is left friendless as a result of his best friend committing suicide a year earlier. One day he befriends two seniors called Sam and Patrick and they, along with their friends, introduce him to a whole new life. They expose him to new music, true friendship, drugs, sex and more complicated relationships.

This story is told through a series of letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous person...and i think that this helps us really see his way of thinking..he isnt afraid to say anything that is on his mind.This is a coming of age story, however it is unlike any I've ever read. I believe this is because Charlie seems so real, so likable and I think he is also really sweet..even though he tells every other character how it is.

Memorable Quotes: 
I love my mom. And this time, I told her I loved her. And she told me she loved me, too. And things were okay for a little while.

"I feel infinite""

A Little Late.

So friday we were on the laptops in class and we were supposed to post about the blogs that we went through. i didnt get to this post until now but i wrote all of the blogs i went to and read. I'm a little late on this because Ive been struggling with some personal problems since then, but in class on friday i visited A Scrap of Parchment,  Hog Smog Blog, BookLover17, RocketGuild, FreshMoney, T-Rex, Stormy Days, Banana Smoothie, and Wolf Spot from third period and then JimmehFTWand Keep it Classy from first period. I commented on RocketGuilds blog, about one of his quotes of the week. The book that he is currently reading sounds really funny.

Real Life.

The book I read this week was "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky


The # of pages this week:117
The # of pages this semester:215


This book as many interesting quotes, i picked three that caught my attention and that i really liked:


"I just hope I remember to tell my kids that they are as happy as I look in my old photographs. And i hope they believe me."


"Do you enjoy the holidays with your family? I don't mean your mom and dad family, but your uncle and aunt and cousin family? Personally, I do. There are several reasons for this.
First, I am very interested and fascinated by how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other. Second, the fights are always the same."
---this quote is SO true. you love your family always but dont always like them. the main character then starts to talk about how every holiday is the same thing, with the same people.


RANDOM: "i love twinkies, and the reason i am saying that is because in science class we are all supposed to think of reasons to live" -- hahahah