Auf wiedersehn

             Honestly, I found the blogging, all be it a little annoying, to be helpful. I enjoy going back and reading some of my blog posts. I found myself going deeper with a lot of things I had over looked countless times. I found that my best blogs were on books that I had been reading for years, or on the formatting of the books.

            It was nice that if I wanted to edit a post or add on an idea, I could. There was no hassle. I would just click edit, and be done.  Also, the fact that I could read what I had written, and not have to struggle with my handwriting was nice.

            With spell check and the ability to edit quickly, writing online is very liberating, but I know its very limiting. I hate the Internet when I have to rely on it. Something technical always goes wrong, and you may do the work, but it can be problematic.

            People definitely create online personas that project however they want to come across. I don’t really talk like how I blog, but I want to sound a certain way.  I actually have a few other blogs, not on BlogSpot. I have trouble with themed blogs though. I don’t think I will keep up with this one, but I will keep the posts on file.

            Auf wiedersehn.

Individuality- The Latest Crime

 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a book many of us grew up with.  If you boil it down, the story is about this girl who calls herself Stargirl who is very outlandish and unique. She makes a lot of decisions that most people find peculiar and bizarre.

But I think she made these choices because it’s the way she lived her life. I believe that somewhere along the line of her life her parents or someone else told her “the right thing to do is be nice” or “be who you are”. Those are classic statements that we all get as children. What she wasn’t told, or chose not to comprehend, is that there are rules of society.

She is doing the ultimate of niceness. Unfortunately kindness is a trait that isn’t as understood as it should be. She just didn’t get that enough was enough. However, I think the only reason these kids are so hateful towards her has to do with jealousy, anger, and fright. I think the kids are jealous of her. The other students saw what she had and who she was and wanted to be a part of it. But that can be harder then it looks.

The kids at Mica were angry too. They saw her betray them when she supported the opposing team, and therefore, she made a fool out of them. She represented their school, and the students acted the way she did. They felt personally harmed by her actions even though she was trying to be a good person and make the other team feel just as good as her team.

But, the main reason was fright. They were scared to step out of place, and they were afraid of Stargirl. Stargirl showed them who they wanted to be and, they didn’t want to accept that. They were “perfectly happy the way they were”. They weren’t happy the way they were. They felt free when she had influence over them, but I guess they thought she was getting to high in the status web at school, she was too popular for her own good. So they lost her. And soon lost themselves.

Jackson and the Pips

In Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, I started thinking about why things get so complicated. If you took away all the other character plot lines, this book would be so simple, but because Percy’s actions will affect the other characters, everything is complicated.

In life, you’re always going to have people egging you on or bringing you down. There will always be people to please. You have to figure out who matters, and who doesn’t. Who do you need to please, and who can you ignore? Is anyone important? Is no one important? Who will help you with your goal, and who won't, and does that even matter?

There is this point where Percy seeks the help of a character, that he knows will upset his closest friend, and jeopardize his relationship with her. He still seeks the characters help because he believes that reaching the goal is the most important thing, as much as he loves his friend.

People like to take things personally. The friend that Percy upset thought that Percy had reached out for the other character as an act of defiance to their friendship. I don’t know if she realized it was for the greater good. I don’t know if she cared. I know its sometimes hard for me to believe that what I know is right is what I want.

It comes down to judgment.  You can’t let other people rule who you are and who you want to be in life. You have to be smart enough to figure out who you are and who you want to help shape that.

Little Boys and Disney Channel

I am reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret. In the story, a young boy named Hugo Cabret lives alone in a Paris train station. He has no parental guidance.

Almost everything we know we learn from out parents. We learn what is suppose to be good or bad, smart, silly, a joke, or serious. Hugo was lucky enough to have a parent for the 10 years of his life, but there are a lot of kids who don’t. It’s interesting to think about where these children get their influences for the rest of their lives. Where do they get their values and morals? Somehow, from somewhere, these children do grow up.

I recently have had an eight-year-old move into my house. He is engrossed with every show on Disney Channel. Being someone who use to watch Disney Channel, I couldn’t believe how much I missed as a child. These shows are ridiculous. They show these situations where there will be backstabbing or cheating or something, and then the characters will go around solving the problem in the worst way, and then everything’s fine.

Small children don’t understand that the problems and results they are watching are scripted. Things wouldn’t actually work out the way that it does in the show. I realize I took a lot from those shows, why shouldn’t this eight-year-old?

You see kids growing up in the modern world, and you just see all the influences they take in. Their parents don’t always have control. Hugo may have had a father to teach him, but now he is alone and he has to be smart enough to apply what he knows to his life. 

The Long History of The Catcher in the Rye, It's Relevance, and Annoying Bratty Teenagers.

          The Catcher in the Rye. Oh what a book. Honestly my whole life I thought the book was called Catch Her in the Rye, and even once I learned the real title I thought the book was about some kidnapper who hid in a field of grain. Anyways, I have seen such a mix of emotions to this book. Most of the people I have talked to don't seem to like it very much. Some politely state that they don't enjoy the book (Teddy Ostrow) and some scream in horror, pull a face, and run away (Peter Diller). I have met one person who likes the book, and he said "Every time I read it, I get something different from it".

         Something that I think is extremely interesting is that the story is over 60 years old. I have to ask myself if the book is still relevant to today. Honestly, I think it is. The book was published at a time when kids were suppose to be "seen and not heard". It was ground breaking to have a story about a mid-teenage boy wandering around the city, buying drink, getting hookers, and ridiculing others. 

         I think part of the reason why some many people hate the book, is because the writing is just rambling with long paragraphs and the story doesn't really go anywhere. However I believe that this book is suppose to be the mind of a teenager, something tabooed at that point. Our minds are not interesting, our minds are not formulated, our minds never shut up. Thats what I think the point is. 

        As I said to my dad "I don't like it, but I can relate to it". Hearing a bratty teenager complain page after page, however annoying, was strangely familiar.  

Facing My Fears; The Wisdom of Albus Dumbledore of the Subject of Fate

          I have this problem with going deeper in some of my books. I know exactly why, and I always know when my deepness-block is going to pop up. It happens with books that I grow up with. Percy Jackson, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Moby Dick, This Boys Life, and Harry Potter.
         Now as I was sitting in my backyard the other day, trying to get some inspiration for my essay, I thought of a few lines from the "world wide international best seller!" (that's a bit redundant, no?), and I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that J.K Rowling was talking about fate in a similar way that I was; Fate is made by your choices, throughout your life (not death).
        "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."- Albus Dumbledore. In this quote, Dumbledore is saying that the choices you make show the kind of human being you are, not your muscles or wits or whatever. However, on another level, he is saying that your choices will decide what paths you take (who you become), not your abilities (which are pre-existant). 
          "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! "-Albus Dumbledore. In this quote, Dumbledore states that who you were born is not always going to effect the rest of your life, because, as stated before, our choices make us who we really are. On top of that, he is saying that the way you live your life, even if you were born into a certain situation, isn't going to determine your fate.
         If you go through the books, there are countless quotes about what to do, (dragged into an arena to face your death, or walking in with your head held high) and choices to make. Even the houses show this; The houses show you who you are, and whatever house your in effects the way each character plays a role in the story. If you look at how Gryffindors would respond to situations compared to a Hufflepuff, it would be very different.
        Harry Potter is filled with the idea fate, and if you've read the last book, just look at what happens and you'll see what I mean.

Fixing a Well Deserving Blog Post- The Things We Do

          I am still in the wonderful world of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but I don't really want to talk about anything to specific to that book. All you need to know, is that the 9 year old main character, Oskar, travels the city, mainly on foot, to talk to every person with the last name Black. You may think that, logically, he would travel geographically, but he doesn't. He finds these people alphabetically. 

          I always felt so bad for Oskar, having to walk 20 miles because he is too scared to take public transportation. His father was killed in 9/11, and knowing that fact, he is scared of possible targets for terrorists attacks. I had to wonder if Oskar ever wished that he could just teleport there. However, I also think Oskar would say that you need to work for what you want. 

          I always thought, when you wish that you could just get there already or teleport, you do. That is, in a way. Like maybe there are two universes and in one universe things happen when you snap your fingers, but in the other one, the one we live in, we have to do the work. So if you wish you could just be home, the other you is home, but you have to actually do the transportation to get there. 

          Ok, ok that's really strange but think about it. There is this conception of celebrities and other rich people who look like they made millions with no effort. Anyone who seems that they get something without effort, is just that. It seems that way. Most celebrities have to persevere, work hard, and have some sort of talent. 

          The funny thing is, people respect those types of celebrities more then some silly youtube video or Paris Hilton. People respect hard work, and I think that if you didn't have to put any effort into what you accomplished, things would have a lot less value. And if we don't value the things we do, then nothing has any meaning. If nothing has any meaning, whats the point of living?

Original post:

http://thesugarrushblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/work-for-what-you-got-warning-this-post.html