kitchen silverware

ahhhh yes.

I missed a couple days of college literature and I am now deeply depressed about it. In turn--I am to complete two additional blogs to makeup for what I have missed!

I guess in this blog I will recap on what I did during the snow-day, since it relates to school in that I missed college literature.

On the snow day, I did indeed read Slaughterhouse Five so this is obviously a great topic.

As well as reading SH5, I spent the day with my beloved mother and lover, Thomas. Mother started out the day by shoveling before I even attempted to arise. She then made pancakes for my darling little brother Michael; as well as myself. After I got out of bed I ate a few pancakes and talked to my mother about the tasks ahead of us, who was now resting from all of the work that she had done. We had planned two nights before that we would bake our christmas cookies all day! Mother had already made the dough, as she was so sure that we weren't going to have school.

Thomas arrived soon after, and we got to work on all that we had to do! We rolled out 2 batches of dough and used our holiday cookie cutters to make christmas-like things like snowmen, holly, ornaments, candy canes, stockings, and christmas trees! After we rolled out all of the dough we got on a sort of routine of cutting the dough out, popping them in the oven and repeating it over and over. Although Thomas really didn't do much but bounce on the pilates ball, taunt Tucker the Devil Dog, and watch the random soaps my mother had on tv, he did a great job of being our moral support =) After all of the cookies were cut out, baked, and cooled we got to work on our most challenging task--DECORATING!! =)

We decorated for what seemed to be hours! (But it really wasn't) Mother had bought all different colors and kinds of decorating frostings and cute candies to embellish our treats. Thomas and I worked on cookies sort of in an assembly line way--I would frost a bunch of them quickly while he got to work on decorating them and making them look fantastic. After I would frost the first layer I helped him finish up the details and touches. He turned out to the best decorator out of mother, him and myself. After decorating what seemed to be a million different shapes, designs, and sizes of cookies we took a long break where we watched some television! Overall it was a fantastic day, and I couldn't of asked for a better snow-day! Eating a ton of cookie dough and candy, and being lazy with the ones I love.

Even though it was a fantastic, relaxing, and rewarding day I much rather would have been in college literature!!! (not) hehe. No offense Mr. Kunkle =)

There's one make-up! One down, One to go!! Bye!!

apple pie and other things

I'm a little confused as to why we are doing so much on war. Yes. War and learning about war history is beneficial; however, why the heck are we doing so much on it in our College Literature class? We are currently reading a book on a war, but instead of jumping right into a bunch of articles about the war let's talk about the book!!!! Maybe I am just a little bitter about the busywork we were told to do. Yes. Busywork. Another may argue that it is close reading, close reading can also be in news articles. Well great!! Awesome!! Can we at least talk about our thoughts about the book that We Are Reading Currently first??

HA.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the book we are reading. I am not really fond of the war letter assignment, and why we are close reading letters from people. But I guess I really don't have to understand, or do it. It'll just end up effecting my grade. Can't wait for break! Or possibly a snow day tomorrow!! SWEET. If we have one that will be SO AWESOME!! But we will see I suppose.

Gotta Skidadle! Peace!

SH5

Just started that new book--Slaughterhouse Five. The first chapter confused me at first; I enjoyed how it was written (the whole book for that matter), but maybe it was just that I wasn't paying attention as much as I should have been while reading. Kurt was narrating the first chapter! Haha. As we discussed today in class; the story does have many motifs. One in particular that I noticed was the clock/time motif. Time seemed to occur quite frequently throughout both chapters. Whether it was Billy Pilgrim and how 'time was unstuck', or the times when Billy would suddenly go back in time in his mind. So far I'm enjoying the writing a lot, and I think my liking for it will grow as I continue to read.

In the second chapter, we are introduced to Robert Weary who is among the gentleman who were dragging Billy along trying to save his life. It seemed throughout their trekking that Weary was his friend. Weary was the one who would pick him up and drag him along, even when Billy just really wanted to die. When Billy wanted to quit, Weary wanted him to keep going no matter what. At the end of chapter two Billy tells the other men to go on ahead, but Weary refuses to let him die (Whether he was already planning on beating on him for fun, or maybe he just cared for his life). After Weary gets rejected he decides to take out his anger on Billy. He repeatedly kicks Billy and Billy just lies there defenseless; wearing hardly anything to keep him warm or safe. I was wondering throughout Weary's friendliness to Billy if he was hanging onto Billy as a friend, or if he actually intended on kicking his unfortunate butt.

Hopefully I will find out more as we read along, but so far so good!

Peace!

College Literature

Well; so far on our college literature trail we have covered many interesting stories. I guess I really don't have a point to this blog--I'm just going to start babbling..


Ha! So far we have covered quite a bit in this class and we are now nearing mid-term! Holy cow.. how time flies. It's really frightening to think that we are almost half-way done with high school, (Well.. many of us anyway). This class has definitely opened my eyes to new short stories and now a new book that I definitely wouldn't have picked up on my own. Surprisingly I've enjoyed almost every story we've read. Almost Every..mainly referring to Bartleby! Well; I have been pretty harsh on poor Bartleby, the problem with the story personally was that it was extremely hard to get into early on, and because of that; I just didn't have the patience for it. And the fact that the musical was at its high point and I was extremely busy to give it a chance! Maybe I would have liked it; but I guess I'll only find out if I decide to take it out again.. hahahaha... ehhh..


Anyway; about leaving.. This class has definitely given me the right perspective of a college literature class. I'm sure professors in college will not be as leanient about deadlines and what have you; but overall I think it may be a fair comparison. Aside from Mr. Kunkle randomly checking to see if we've been annotating what we have to read, the class itself has been pretty laid-back and student led. I've never really had the chance to analyze pieces of writing to this extent so i've really enjoyed it. I have to say it's only been a couple times where I've been dragging myself to class..but that was mostly during the musical/Bartleby.

Hmm.. Ehh Well I guess I just had to reflect since it's mid-term and all; and I also need two blogs for tomorrow =)

Peace Out!!

hmmm

ahhh the joys of study hall...

Well, as I've been sitting here for about 40 minutes doing absolutely nothing except dazing off and dreaming of sleeping in my warm and cozy bed, I decided it would probably be a fantastic idea to write my second blog. (Since it is quite overdue) hehe.

My thoughts on the book we just finished Metamorphosis were quite mixed. In the first chapter I seemed to surprisingly enjoy the book. I'm not one who really dives into fantasy/unrealistic-type movies, stories, or books. But for some reason, this book intrigued me. Well.. I can't really figure out if I actually truly Enjoyed it, or if I was just fricken’ glad we were kickin' Bartleby to the curb! Yay! Anyways, I guess the point is that I; among few people, was pulled in by this incredibly strange short story. But I'm still kind of iffy on my interpretations.

I guess one theme that passed over my mind while reading was that of a family. I couldn't help but connect the arrows that pointed to a family turning their backs on another family member because they were different. I was thinking in my head a situation of either a person 'coming out' to their family and their family being upset, or even a kid who is just an outcast and doesn’t fit in with what their family views as ‘right’. I thought about how in certain situations, parents and even other family members aren’t always open to the concept of different. Sometimes people like everything the same, and won’t except change no matter what. Gregor, their SON, turned into a bug and yet the family focused on how different he was and how they absolutely couldn’t stand to look at him or help him because of it. I mean yeah, he turned into a fricken’ beetle..haha; which I guess is quite the transformation.. But needless to say, it was Gregor and as time went on they didn’t focus on the fact that it was him anymore, they were just sick of the fact that this ‘thing’ was interrupting their lives and they actually had to get off of their butts and do something for a change! You’d think that in a family crisis the family would reach out as much as possible to help each other but in this case it was just a big pain in the butt for all of them. I felt bad for the poor vermin; he did everything for the family before he was magically changed into a beetle. He got a job and provided them with a house, all of the income, and took care of everything necessary for them to live a good life and they repay him by giving up on him! Well I guess this was just a thought; something that ignited some thoughts inside my brainy.

Another interpretation that I took from it was him being such a loner! It never talked about Gregor having friends, or having any sort of relations with anyone besides his co-workers and family. It talked about how he never took a night off and had time to himself because he was so devoted. Now that is depressing!! During the short story he was portrayed as determined, hardworking, and lonely. When he turned into a bug, he became more of an outsider than ever before. I thought about this while reading but didn’t really go into this idea very much because I was more preoccupied with my other theory. As we were in class yesterday discussing it, Jeff made a great analysis. Stages of Depression. I think he hit the nail on the head with this one. As he gave examples of how Gregor morphed physically and emotionally, this theory made a lot more sense. The story was so short it’s hard to tell exactly what the message was suppose to imply, but I think depression might be a possible contender; but I don’t know I’m just babbling.

Well, I have to go potty so I think I’m about finished with my thoughts! Peace out!!

Sutton Pie Scandal!

Whoofta!

That Sutton Pie Safe story did catch my attention I will say. My reaction towards the whole story was definitely in the direction of an affair between the mother and father of Cates. First reading the story in the beginning the thing that triggered my interest was the blacksnake killing. Notice at the very opening of the story when Cates and Mr. Albright were in the barn Cates had spotted that darned blacksnake and was obviously frightened by it. He hinted to his father to kill it and the father responded with an explanation that it was good for the mice. Then! There was an enormous amount of emphasis on Mrs. Hanson showing up at the house and how Mr. Albright was acting awkwardly when waving at her. Shortly after she walked in the house Mr. Albright completely contradicted himself and killed the blacksnake! Cates was like, what a minute? Mr. Albright asserted himself by saying he wanted to show Cates’ mother and make Cates a belt. When reading this I knew first off that woman pulling up was something big for Mr. Albright to change his mind completely, and after I had that in my head a started brainstorming on how this was going to develop.

When they came up to the house Mr. Albright had the snake in his hand, almost trying to intimidate this woman Mrs. Hanson. His wife was obviously startled and angry that he would bring such a thing into the house when company was present. Jack didn’t seem to be bothered which I think is another clue; why would he bring a three foot dead snake into the house in front of a ‘complete stranger’? Exactly! He wouldn’t. This is where I started to think that something had gone on with this Mrs. Hanson and Jack Albright. Mrs. Hanson had come over to the house claiming she had heard about how good their eggs were, and that she also wanted to buy the Sutton Pie Safe. First off, if she really wanted to buy the Sutton Pie Safe she shouldn’t have had the excuse of the eggs. As we talked about in class I’ve become more familiar with the idea that Mrs. Hanson really didn’t want eggs, or the Sutton Pie Safe. I think she just wanted to try to take something from Mr. Albright’s perhaps because she was dissatisfied with how things ended between them-- Assuming of course that something had gone on between this Mrs. Hanson and Jack.

I do believe something went on between them and Mrs. Albright is completely clueless because there really wasn’t any indication throughout the passage that Mrs. Albright was threatened. In fact she talked about the money from the Sutton Pie Safe going towards the barn for Jack. I think if anything there are marital problems involving Mr. and Mrs. Albright but I do not believe Mrs. Albright sensed that Jack was involved with Mrs. Hanson. I actually liked this story; mostly because it was like a scandal!!

peace!

<3agray