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

What You Know, It's Unknown

          I've had a rough week. Many things caused that, but one of the reasons for my terrible week, was the last book I read. After countless attempts to handle moving on from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I read petty books all week and now don't have anything I feel is worth a blog, so lets role with this. 
         Something that I've noticed happening a lot in the bloggy-blog world that we live in, is that people really only respond to the blogs on books they know of, or the blogs of people they like. This is something I find mind bottling. People are so resistant of things they don't know. It makes them lazy, scared, confused. I can't even name how many times I've seen people stare in horror at the food in my fridge (I had no idea dumplings were so horrific).
          Being someone who is sort of obsessed with psychology, I had to do a think about why the unknown is so unfathomable (I like that word, don't I?). The thing about explaining the unknown, is that it's very simple. We don't like the unknown because we cannot understand it.
          We, as a race, do not like being ignorant. We don't like to have information withheld from us. We thrive on gossip, on facts, and on language. We need to know whats going on at all times. We feed on knowledge.
          I believe that even the people who say they don't care about education or learning are delusional, because what they are saying is that they don't like to understand. Everyone wants to understand, but sometimes they just can't. The way people deal with that is by being lazy or using fear and confusion to fuel their ignorance.
          Some of the best blogposts I have read, have been on books I had never heard of. I didn't even need a summary because the post it's self was so good. When there is unknown, people jump to conclusions. Good or bad, right and wrong. When looking before you leap isn't an option, don't look. When you've landed, you can make a decision.

Unfathomable- A Nine-Eleven Post

          So after 2+ months, 368 pages, and a bathtub of tears, I finally finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The thing about the ending, is that it isnt such a shocker. It is just a sum of the story. But the characters talk about something constantly: going backwards. 
          Oskar talks of the day his father dies, and how it happened. He talks of everything that happened that could have stopped him from being in the twin towers. He undos everything that has been done. Oskars grandmother talks of everything. This she knows but may not of experienced, being un-done. One thing she says that really stuck out to me is "at the end of my dream, Eve put the apple back on the branch. The tree went back into the ground and became a sapling, which became a seed. God brought together  the land and water, the sky and water, the water and the water, evening and morning, something and nothing. He said Let there be light. And there was darkness". 
        I will be completly honest, tears are streaming down my face as I write this. they are falling onto my key board and my fingers and dancing into the puddles, dragging salty tears across the keys. 
        Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is about Nine-Eleven. I'm sorry, but unless you are a new yorker, and lived in new york during that time,it doesn't hit you the same. I am not saying that peoples grief is worse or lesser, its just not the same. 
        It is a violation. Theres no other word for it. New York was violated. The US was violated. We were violated. Every word sounds wrong. There is no word, in any language, that anything could utter, that could sum up Nine-Eleven. Everything sound past, and gone. If I had to, I would call it "Backwards Motion". 
        That's the feeling. There is nothing more I wish, at this point, then to go back, and just undo everything. Everything. But I don't think Oskar wants to undo. I mean, he does, but what he really wants is his father back. The way he was. Oskar speaks of how it happened. But ends with his dad in bed with him, telling him the story of the six boroughs, the night before the worst night. That moment should be pure and beautiful. 
       It isn't. Its slandered with knowledge. Knowledge of what will happen the next day. That moment was pure, and it was violated. 
       I want you to know, I am still crying. This book is spectacular, and I do not deserve to try and fathom it in any way. This book has given me the "heaviest boots" I have ever had. Save for my first day of school. The Ninth of September. The worst day.