Reading Log

Things Fall Apart, 4+ hours, Chapters 10-25

Rhetorical Situation Transformation project thing, 15 mins

A Rhyme Myth and a Vaction Destination in Whales

         Every time you hear someone say there isn't a word that rhymes with 'orange', I have a word to prove them wrong! Don't worry! I'm not going to say 'door hinge'. I don't believe that counts because it's two words. This word is 'Blorenge'. You may have heard it before if you've ever been to Monmouthshire Southeast Whales. Its a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park and a great place to visit! I've never been there but from what I've seen of it while researching for this blog post is that is quite a destination. Whether you're there for the hang gliding, paragliding (Is there a difference? I don't know), hiking, fell running, or sight seeing, there is always a scenic view for everybody to enjoy.
          If you ever go to Blorenge you can join the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club or participate in a fell running race. For those of you who are not associated with the fell racing community or don't know what that is, fell running is off road running where the course has an increased difficulty due to the rugged terrain. So.. basically it's just running up and down a bunch of hills. If you are there for the sight seeing there are a plethora of things you can go look at. Such as the grave of the only gold medalist from Britain in the 1952 Summer Olympics, Foxhunter, a showjumper horse. Also there are is an old church you can go see, as well as lots of hills, rocks, and an abandoned tramway for a nearby limestone quarry built in 1796. Cool right?
          There is also a definition in Urban Dictionary for blorenge saying "Blorenge is the only word in the entire world that rhymes with orange...and it's made up to help those people who are out to prove everyone wrong accomplish their goal." There is also one for 'blorange' saying "where someone dyes their hair blond but it looks orange."

Two Statements

1. Who we are--our essential character and temperament--is fixed and unchangeable.
              I disagree with this statement because things can change people, traumatic events or gradual changes in a person's interests. All people have a natural character and temperament, but what if they experienced something terrible like a parent dying or being scarred by the experience of battle? Then they might change.
2. Ambition is a positive, desirable trait in a person.
               I agree with this statement to an extent. I do believe that being ambitious is a good trait since it allows a person to reach the goals they've set for themselves. But in a case like Macbeth's, his ambition might take him too far in order for him to get to his goal.

Reading Log

Things Fall Apart 2 hours

NC Literary analysis 1 hour

NC Letters From Nyasha 1 1/2 hours

NC Vocab 30 mins

NC Title Analysis 30 mins

Reading and Working Times

Maximum Ride - 30 mins over the course of the week

Studying for poetry test 45 mins Thursday and Sunday

Research paper 20 mins Wednesday (I think..)

AP World History Textbook reading 1 hour 10 mins Thursday 

25 Seconds Of Courage

       I felt like I completely failed at writing that poem in class on Valentine's Day, so I wrote this. Enjoy.

25 seconds of courage, that’s all I need

Why am I like this? It’s not as bad as I think

1, I can’t do this, my feet slow their speed.

I’ll change my mind, I’m already at the brink

2, What if they judge me? , I’ll stutter or shake

I know I can do this but still I quake.

3, I’ll be fine, but if I fail...

Not him, but his friends that make me go pale

4, I’m still moving forward, I should be proud,

Look at me! I’m halfway through the crowd,

5, This’ll be easy, he’ll talk to me and I’ll talk to him,

I’ll make him laugh and he’ll make me grin.

6, A fourth of my time is over by the time I’ve arrived,

He says “Hey”, so far I’ve survived

7, 8, I open my mouth, ready to reply,

But I know people are watching, Dang it! I’m too shy

9, 10, 11, 12 Here I go, I’m talking,

Once I start it’s as easy as walking,

13, 14, 15, 16, He starts to laugh then talks a bit,

My chest pounds, but I think I’m gonna make it

17, 18, 19, 20, I can’t believe I was ever afraid,

As I listen to him, the surroundings begin to fade.

21, 22, 23, 24, Conversation’s over, I think it was a success.

Now I’m sure he won’t like me less.

25, I turn around and start to walk away,

I’m so glad I did this. He’s the best part of my day.

         Alright I hope that wasn’t too cheesy.... but I tried ok? Anyway in this poem used end rhyme with the rhyme scheme starting out as an ABAB but then turned into a CCDDEEFF and so on for the rest of the poem. I tried to have an anaphora of the words ‘I’ and ‘he’ but I don’t know if it’s as obvious as I intended. The diction of a lot of the words in this poem was to make it sound like the thoughts of this girl.

Let it Go By Idina Menzel

        The song Let it Go by Idina Menzel from the Disney movie, Frozen, is probably one of my favorite songs right now. In the beginning of the song cacophony is used to make it seem bitter towards her past of concealing herself. Assonance and euphony are used to make her sound sad by stretching out the words. Also the anaphora of the word ’don’t’ in the third stanza shows how many rules she has had to follow her whole life and how much she wants to get away from them. These things also continue on through the rest of the song but their purpose changes as the song changes.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

            In the line “No right, no wrong, no rules for me” the anaphora of the word ‘no’ emphasizes her freedom and that she doesn’t have thing controlling her anymore. The sound patterns such as cacophony, assonance, and euphony that I mentioned earlier are now used to make her words happier and allows Idina Menzel to sing even louder and puts more power into the words. Disney songs almost always make it so that they are packed with rhymes. Whether they are slant rhymes or not or if they are internal rhymes or end rhymes the whole song is rhyming so that they are catchy, easier to remember, and pleasing to the ears of people of all ages.

Reading Log

50 mins reading in class Maximum Ride for the week

1 hr 20 mins Maximum Ride on Friday after school (I had to wait around a while)

Reading/Working Log

 ATD Discussion Posting- 1 hr

ATD Discussion Comments- 30 mins

Read wordly wise book and poems in class- 20 mins

Monday morning The Iliad- 15 mins