Oryx and Crake Reading Journal - day 5

I was at about page 120 when the age rating abruptly changed. it all happened when Crake was introduced to Jimmy. His first impression was mysterious. He did not talk too much about his life, and he did things that struck me as odd, such as his criticism of the chemistry room. Then, when Jimmy took Crake to the mall, he gave me another impression: mathmatical and intelligent. The way he calculated where one's hand may be really left me speechless (what a geek looool (that may not be appropriate but that was what came in to my mind first so i felt as if I just had to write it in)). To summerize, i thought he was a smart, sincere, a bit nerdy, but nice and innocent kid. Then it all changed. At later pages, a list of games and websites that Jimmy and Crake like to visit was introduced. I mean first few that was listed were okay. However more and more inappropriate sites were mentioned, such as a site all about people being executed. He was still smart but he was definitely neither nice nor innocent. Then I learned that Crake likes to smoke marijuana. To me, at least, doing drugs is never the smartest choice. In addition, he steals the marijuana from his uncle. So there went my first impression: intelligence and sincerity. Well, so as of now at the most, he is just a bit nerdy. Like him:

Oryx and Crake Reading Journal - day 4

 Last week was our group presentation of some of the inquiry questions that my group came up with in a format called Pecha Kucha (for some examples click here). My group members actually divided into three different section, each dealing with different issues. Some of those subdivided groups had a chance to meet up and rehearse. However, our ultimate flaw was we never actually got to rehearse as a whole group and practice timing. The night before the due date, I got all the pictures and put it into a power point presentation so that it fits the format of Pecha Kucha. On the last minute, as in during class, I realized that I did not have any pictures. So quickly I created one and had to say everything in 20 seconds. The lesson that I learned here is I should finish it ahead of times so that my group can rehearse and come up with some improvements, and so that I have time to change things up properly.
 The presentation was also an opportunity for me to look at some ideas that other members came up with. Among three main ideas, we decided to go with the environmental concerns that our present is leading us. Though I didn't get to the part where that question may be raised, despite my impressive progress last weekend, I cannot agree more that at the present rate of consumption of resources, the future's environment is not very  bright.

Oryx and Crake Reading Journal - day 3

Okay. so.... I am here, sitting in my English class, staring at the whiteboard. On it, it says, "DO YOUR PERSONAL REFLECTION BLOG." I stare at it for few more minutes. Finally a thought comes into my hopeless brain: 'What do I write?' During the long weekend, against all odds, the impossible had happened. I did not read a single chapter. Right this is completely irrelevant to the book and I will not get the best mark. I can stop and go straight back to the topic, but I would rather not . The purpose of anyone's blog should not be for marks. It should be a place where people can share knowledge, experience; emotions and thoughts; even deep dark secrets...........yea..... I'm just really disappointed at myself for being lazy. Well I thing I went bait too far soooooooooo

THE ACTUAL JOURNAL ENTRY STARTS HERE!!!!

 So that section above was written about three days ago in class and for that duration, I have been making some progress with the book. I came across this part that was somewhat against my belief. Jimmy, being young and all, doesn't have the best parents in the world. His mom does not make him lunch and is not exactly nice. His dad does try to please Jimmy but fails to spend quality time with his son. Worst of all, they never remember Jimmy's birthday. However, I was able to see that their love towards his son is true. I was able to see that they were trying in their own ways. Jimmy, of course, does not realize just like typical boys of his ages. Naturally, Jimmy's daily goal is to get some reaction out of her ever-so-ignorant mother. When he finally gets a reaction out of her, such as crying, running out of the house, slamming her door behind, yelling, and swearing at him, and many more, he gives himself a pat on his back. Well, to be straight forward, I do not do that. Being a nice person, not to brag about my personality or anything ;D, I think the way to get the attention is to do nice things to them. Of course it may not work for some people, such as my sister(who I do not really like, who doesn't like me either, but not to the point as the relationship between Jimmy and his mom), but what is supposed to happen is I suck up, by just simply saying "OH MY GOD YOUR FRIED CHICKENS ARE AWESOME" or waking up the first time she wakes me up, then she feels good, and I get better meals.
I know all the actions that will irritate my mom because, luckily for me, my brother is the expert at pissing off(this may not be the best word choice for school related work, but it is my blog after all :D AHAHAHA) my mom. So by watching him, I know what not to do. As the story continues, or rather as I read the book, which I do not really do too often, I will know what well become of that relationship.

 Well that is it for today and BACK TO PLAYING LEAGUE OF LEGENDS!!! PEACE OUT



Source (I am not sure if this is necessary but its now or never so yea....best grammar ever right?) : http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/may/22/child-trust-funds

Oryx and Crake Reading Journal - day 2

 So I read further into the book, about two chapters, and it definitely caught my attention. Some interesting things happened in the story so far and I am truly excited to go ahead and read the whole book. Ever since the  book began, the focus was on snowman in form of third person omniscient point of view. Everything around him seemed pretty messed up. No explanations were there to explain how snowman was all alone on his own in the middle of nowhere, completely naked. In the most recent chapter, it went back in time and showed a little bit of snowman's childhood. The past seemed pretty out of ordinary as well. One thing that was of ordinary was the mother's love for her child and a careless child who just cannot understand where his mother is coming from. It will be pretty interesting to read along and see how it all happens.

 Only thing that I am worried about at this point is how long it will take me to finish the novel.At this rate, about four chapters per week, it's going to take me few months. If I can manage to stop coming up with some dumb excuses I guess I will be able to progress more quickly.

 It's getting late so I am gonna go sleep now :P

Oryx and Crake Reading Journal - day 1

 Before I begin, I just want to let you guys know that.............that I am no good at reading. I find reading super boring most of the times and I am über slow at reading. But, I will definitely do my best to make this blog interesting. Actually I don't even know why I just said that. I guess I just had a really long day. Yea......I might sometimes go on and on off topic so please understand :)

 Now the real novel study begins!!!!!

 Among many other so called good Canadian novels (I really do not understand why some books are the best sellers after reading them), I chose to read "Oryx and Crake." The reason why I chose is is not because all of my friends were doing it; and I'm not saying that because my teacher told me not to. Having read few summaries of suggested books, this book was the only one that seemed interesting. All the other books are about wars and how difficult and hard time one can go through blah blah blah all the mainstream boring things. Others are about different race trying to fit in and going through to get to the top blah blah blah MORE MAINSTREAM! BORING! So I chose this novel, which is a fiction. Yes, that is right. All those non-fiction lovers will not find what they want here. So that was how I came to choose this particular novel.
 So I have read first two chapters on my ebook( kobo e-ink e reader is pretty dope xD) and I did find the story interesting. Even though I am a slow reader(by slow i mean extremely slow), I don't think I am gonna have any trouble reading this novel. I am not too far into the story yet, since I just figured out how to download ebooks yesterday(excuses, excuses....I know :P), but if I had to connect it to the real life it will the relationship between two unfriendly brothers with huge age gaps. The small brother will always ask somethings that they don't get to the older brother, who so old and unfriendly that he cannot care less. And, being a young one, the little brother will go around doing dumb things, which the older brother cannot quite understand.

 Well I guess that is it for my first novel study. Thank you for reading all these, I really do because I am guessing that nobody will read this at all, which will be a lie if you are reading this currently. Have a nice day! And I am going back to League of Legends :D

The City

                Gerald yawned as he waited for his automatic coffee machine to fill up his empty mug. In his immaculate dressing gown, he stared out the window with a satisfied look on his face. His city looked just the way he wanted it to look: dark, depressing, and joyless. The sun was still absent, but in the darkness, people were rushing to work.

Ever since he had seized control of the city, or what others might have viewed as a slum, life significantly improved. Everyone had what he needed, no more or no less. People did their work and they got houses, food, and clothing. In Gerald’s eyes, he saw nothing but perfection from his window.

A few minutes later, Gerald casually sauntered to a building, wearing a dark red suit and semi-polished dress shoes. The building was quite big and heavily decorated. He did not waste a moment to marvel and walked right into the elevator. He pressed a button which made ever-so-cheerful ring, and the elevator glided smoothly and stopped softly as if the elevator did not want Gerald to feel even a slightest discomfort. When he entered a room, nobody greeted him with simple “Hey, how is it going?” or “Nice weather we’re having, huh?” In fact, his staff just simply sat muted, and frozen. Gerald settled in completely ignorant of the lack of attention he was getting. Then he broke the silence.

“Shall we start?” Gerald demanded with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Then an old man sitting next to Gerald handed him a stack of papers.

“Another mutant was causing trouble yesterday. He killed two of our policemen at Sector 4 last night. It turned out that the night before, his parents had been taken away for stealin.”

“So where is he heading now?”

“I believe he is heading straight to the train station as we speak.”

“Dispatch a few soldiers there, and they’ll take care of him.”

Over a few centuries, the faces of different cities had changed gradually. As far as citizens knew, rich people went to big cities, and poor people lived in smaller ones, like this one. To many, big cities were considered heaven where nobody was hungry or cold, and everyone was special in their own way. People dreamed of going to such a paradise. The only known way was to take a train at the train station. However, it was heavily guarded with Gerald’s soldiers, who were told to shoot down anyone who tried to enter the station.

The meeting was over. The first to exit was Gerald. His face seemed to be full of worry but deep inside, there was confidence. As he walked through the city, he noticed one rundown house after another, and everywhere he looked, he saw dirty laundry. He then sighted a group of kids with brilliant smiles running along the sidewalks. To Gerald, in fact, the children only reminded him of the childhood he never had.

When he was young, he was abandoned by parents since they could not possibly support him. from that point on, he lived on the streets. There, he painfully learned the disparity between the rich and the poor. One day, he saw a well-dressed kid, presumably spoiled with his parents’ love, staring curiously at him. It was his smile that I could not stand. It was his sly smile when he looked down at him as if Gerald were a nobody. That roguish smile reminded of the screwed up hierarchy he found himself in. He remembered clenching his fist and attacking the kid. The next moment, the kid was several yards away from Gerald, lying next to the sidewalk, and looking quite dead. He felt joy. On his face was a smile, a devilish smile.

Rarely, are people born with mutations, especially the inhuman mutations. Gerald, however, was born with one... a very powerful one. With his mutation, he had climbed to the top and made everyone equal. Yes, everyone lived in poverty, but nobody was superior or inferior to one another. Although he had convinced himself that the reason behind this revolutionary change was to make the citizens suffer no more, deep inside he knew he wanted to make everyone feel how he had felt when he was a child.

With a hot cup of coffee in his hands, Gerald was now back at his house, sitting on his leather armchair. He stared straight into the only fireplace in the city. Rays of warmth embraced his body as he rested his legs on a foot rest. His expression was stern, yet pensive. He was wondering why and what led to the young mutant’s rebellion. Was it greed? Yearning to be special? To show his superiority? Gerald was very aware that this particular mutant posed a threat to Gerald’s current position. He imagined how this mutant might look like, and all he could think of was the smile of that spoiled brat that he punched. Then the coffee mug he was holding shattered into a thousand pieces as he thought of the mutant’s power. Seeing the mess he made, he decided to push his worries, or rather his thoughts, aside and went to bed.

Gerald woke up to his phone’s ringtone.

“I’m afraid he managed to take down your soldiers at the train station.”

“Okay. I’ll be off to take a look.”

In a matter of minutes, Gerald was climbing the stairs of the deserted station. He saw signs of both struggle and inhuman strength. He hurried up the stairs, only to see a glimpse of the mutant as the train accelerated. The kid had his eyes closed, and even though his face was splattered with blood, he wore a smile. It was the smile of arrogance arrogance! Satisfaction! Pride! The same smile of that he despised so much. This time, however, Gerald’s fingers stayed straight. No punch was thrown, and no one was injured. He simply watched the train disappear further and further into the darkness. He lit a cigarette as a blinding yellowish red globe came into view followed by a shockwave and earsplitting sound. The train had exploded.

When he was at the bottom of the stairs, his phone rang.

“So, how did it go, sir?”

“Yeah. There goes another mutant idiot submerged in false hope,” Gerald answered. “The train station did its work once again.”

“That was the fifth victim. I guess people really believe in the dream city.”

“They sure do. What they don’t realize is that this is the city of dream and perfection,” said Gerald with a smile: a smile that showed arrogance, satisfaction, and pride.

evoL

To love is to be tormented when it can't be expressed or shared
To love  is  to wear a smiling makeup over a clowns sullen face
To truly love is to make it seem real only to be forgotten over a busy day

On the other hand,
To express and share torments is to love
To smile over its sullen face of a clown is to love
To make it real over a busy day is to truly love

Though "love" spelled backward does not make any sense,

we love wether it makes sense or not.