Month: September 2025

When the Journey Feels Too Long

When I read Master and Man, I kept noticing the difference between being selfish and being unselfish. Right away Vasili Andreevich, the rich merchant, came across as bossy, greedy, and kind of rude. He only cared about money and his own status, and he didn’t even notice how bad the storm was getting or how much Nikita, his servant, was suffering. At first that really annoyed me. The way he treated Nikita like his life didn’t matter made me think about how, even today, people sometimes treat others like objects instead of real people.

As the story went on, my feelings about him started to change. When Vasili realized he might actually die in the snow, I could almost feel his panic. The heavy snow and freezing wind made it clear that nature doesn’t care how rich or important someone is. Everyone is fragile when they face death, and that idea kind of unsettled me.

The part that stayed with me most was when Vasili finally gave up his own warmth and life to save Nikita. It wasn’t just the action itself, but the calm and peace he felt once he let go of his greed and showed real kindness. It made me wonder if people only find real freedom when they stop worrying about money and control. I liked that Tolstoy shows that someone can change for the better, even after a lifetime of being selfish.

In the end, I wouldn’t say this was the most exciting or fun book I’ve ever read, but it had a strong message. It made me think about what really matters in life and how we can always try to do better.

Personal Response to “Master & Man”

When I read master and man I felt myself thinking a lot about the contrast between selfishness and selflessness. Vasili Andreevich the wealthy merchant, immediately struck me as rude disrespectful greedy and arrogant. His obsession with profit and status makes him  blind to the impending danger the of the storm and even to the suffering of Nikita his servant/slave. At first, I felt kinda annoyed with him. The way he treats Nikita as if his life is not very important or like expendable made me reflect on how often people, even in our world today, treat others as tools rather than as human beings with equal worth. Tolstoy’s description of Vasili’s cold indifference left me feeling sad at how people like that are still today because it reminded me that selfishness is not always extreme or dramatic it can creep into ordinary decisions we make every day (pp. 65–66).

As the story developed, however, my feelings shifted. When Vasili begins to realize his own vulnerability in the snowstorm, I could almost feel his panic pressing in. The setting itself the blinding snow, the endless cold made me think about how nature levels us all. No matter how rich or powerful someone may be, they are still just as fragile when facing death. That thought filled me with a sense of unease (pp. 78–80).

I think the most meaningful moment in the story for me was Vasili’s final act of sacrifice when he gives his own body warmth and life to protect Nikita. What really stuck me was not only what Vasili actually did but the sense of peace and fulfilment he experiences as he lets go of his greed and embraces compassion (pp. 107–108). It made me wonder if real freedom and dignity only come when we stop clinging to wealth or control. I felt nice here, because Tolstoy seems to suggest that redemption is always possible, even for someone who has lived most of his life in selfishness.

Ultimately, the text left me reflecting on what it means to live a meaningful life.now I dont think this was the most interesting of fun book ive read but the deeper meanings in this book are subtle but quite powerful. That, for me, is the emotional power of Tolstoy’s story it makes us confront our own flaws while also offering the possibility of transformation.

PW #2 Fun facts about fairy tales [part 1]

The facts are about the story of Cinderella. Did you know that the story of Cinderella has ancient roots from Greece and Egypt? Over the years, the story traveled to China as Yeh-Shen in the 9th Century, and appeared again in Italy around the 17th century, named Cenerentola. Lastly, it was translated from French to English by Charles Perrault and was officially written by the Brothers Grimm. There is however a common myth suggesting that originally, Cinderella was wearing fur slippers. So the word “vair” [fur] was mistaken for the word “verre” [glass] and the phrase “pantoufle de vair” [fur slipper] was turned into “pantoufle de verre” [glass slipper]. The last fact about the story of Cinderella is a little gross/unpleasant. In the original story of Cinderella, everything was the same except for a horrifying detail. In the movie, the stepsisters put their feet in ice to make them smaller, but the trick didn’t work. Their feet were still as bad as before, maybe a size smaller if they were lucky. In the original story, the stepsisters tried the same trick, failed, and chopped their toes of. The prince fell for the trick twice, but noticed the bleeding before he took any of them back to his castle. eventually, Cinderella put the shoe on and didn’t bleed out. The end. ?

IRJE #1 The vanishing stair

In Maureen Johnson’s book, the vanishing stair, a girl named Stevie Bell is  forced return to her old school, Ellingham Academy under a secret deal with a politician named Edward King. He wants her to keep an eye on his son, David in exchange for her return to school. While away, Stevie tries to forget about her obsession with the “Truly, Devious” case but finds it impossible, leading her to accept King’s offer when her parents pull her out of Ellingham after she solves the murder of her dead classmate [in the previous book]. ]

” You get to go back to a place I think you very much want to be, and you have a very simple job – make sure David stays there too.” [p. 47]

Stevie feels uncomfortable with the situation because she has to lie to David about the reason that she came back. On the other hand, Stevie is eager to come back and continue solving the “Truly, Devious” case and disappearance of her friend, Ellie.

 

Master & Man: PR

To start, Master and Man is a story that provokes many different emotions in readers, many of which you would likely not expect. In the beginning, we do not see very many of these emotions as it is shown more towards the end where we see how the characters actually feel.

For me in the beginning, Vassili did not seem like a very good person, he seemed to not care about anyone else but himself and that is the impression I had for the majority of the book. Not only did Vassili act this way, but he also portrayed himself as the good person on the outside. Nikita, on the other hand, showed me that he is a kind, generous and empathetic man, almost the complete opposite of his Master Vassili. The more the story goes, the more invested I felt as I read about Vassili and Nikita trudging through the winter storm. The story gets really interesting, especially near the last portion of the story. The end of the book actually surprised me quite a bit, as I was not expecting Vassili to sacrifice himself for his friend. It was not something I really saw somebody like him doing, especially after he tried running away and abandoning Nikita. I think that this was really heartwarming as it was almost Vassili’s apology for trying to manipulate Nikita. In the end, I really do think that the experiences of Vassili and Nikita had together made Vassili have this change of heart.

Even though both of these characters are extremely different from one another, they both have a really interesting dynamic, as Nikita is quite selfless while Vassili only thinks about himself. Although Vassili may not seem like the nicest person ever, I feel like the story does a good job of showing that even with all that selfishness deep down he still has some empathy that does eventually start to show. Nikita is always the one who tries to help others, and this is what really separates him from Vassili. It was obvious from the beginning that Nikita was going to survive no matter what because the writers made him the more likeable character. This story makes me think about two really good friends who are on an adventure but the sad part is one of them has to say goodbye even through all of the hardships. One of them still has to go, and that’s the sad part about all these different stories.

In conclusion for me Master and Man was a very enjoyable read that provoked many different emotions, primarily feelings of sadness, I think that it is a very captivating book that keeps the reader hooked.

 

 

PR #1 Master and Man

I did not enjoy reading the book Master and Man. In my opinion, the book had too many small events that did not build character or influence the story in any way. The book was also set in a time period I do not care much about. Russia during the ~1700s was not too interesting; though it was different, it was overall a very boring time. I also prefer longer novels instead of short novels like this one.

The book may have been good when it was released, as the books that people looked for were probably similar. The book does not hold up today. I also did not like that there was a lack of character arcs; given the book was short, I would still like some strong character arcs. The main storylineof the book also seems quite repetitive, with them getting in a snowstorm every single time and nothing else happening. I know this is not the author’s fault, but the English language has evolved, and some of the words are now not commonly used. There is also no exciting moment, like a plot twist or an exciting battle.

The characters were also not enjoyable. Vassili seems like a rich, ignorant noble, not listening to his guide. Evil characters can be good for a story, but bad characters like Vassili seem usually not useful to a story. If Vassili were a more interesting person, the story could perhaps be interesting. Other events would also be mandatory to make it up-to-date. Slow-paced stories like Master and Man are not fun to read.

Overall, too much of the story did not mean anything or develop character; the annoying characters did not help make it fun to read, but it may have been good when it was first released.

Personal Response to Master and Man

Personally, I did not enjoy reading “Master and Man.” I understand that this book is considered a classic, offering lessons about life, greed, guilt, and societal status. However, the book did not resonate with me.  The story and parts of the book felt very slow and dragged in my opinion. An example of this is when the narrator describes the snow and harsh conditions. At the start of the book, I didn’t mind reading it, but as the book progressed, I quickly felt myself losing interest, as it seemed repetitive, constantly filled with descriptions of the weather and hopelessness.

Additionally,  I didn’t like the story of Vasili, who was a selfish, greedy, and mean main character throughout the majority of the book. “Vassili Andreyich was lit up by wine he had drunk with his guests and consequently extra satisfied by everything that belonged to him and everything that he did” (p.67). He was a challenging character for me to connect with; this includes the changes his character undergoes at the end of the story, when he sacrifices himself to save his servant, Nikita. You would think that when the author tries to redeem the character at the end, I would feel more sympathy for him, but I still couldn’t connect with him, and I had no interest in him at all.

Overall, the tone of the story, my inability to connect with the characters, and the pace throughout the book made reading Master and Man was a struggle for me to enjoy or even finish reading. Even thought I can see, how some people reading might find meaning it the storys lessons, but for every reason, I would not consider the story “Master and Man” a book I would read again, or recommend to other students and kids my age.

 

PR#1: Thoughts On Master and Man

In my opinion, Master and Man is a decent book. While the story may not be very interesting itself (to most people but I like it), it is interesting comparing how people interacted in different parts of the world like serving Vodka before tea in Russia (p.81). It was also cool comparing the world today to back then like how people were using horses instead of cars, talking in different ways, and problems that don’t exist today like losing road markers in the snow (p.72). It’s also weird to think that books like this used to be how people entertained themselves and considered unhealthy kind of like technology is today but also weird because reading is seen as good for you nowadays. The plot itself though, is pretty good. It does a good job showcasing the characters and what their personality is like. For example, you can tell Vasili is greedy when he uses Church money for trying to buy the forest (p.63). Tolstoy did a good job at making characters feel human as well, such as when Nikita gets uncomfortable and doesn’t really talk too much about his wife’s situation with the barrel maker after Vasili brought it up but wants to talk immediately after he brings up horses (p.70). This makes it feel like they have interests and adds personality to the characters. Also, I like how when Vasili acts annoyed at women, it felt more like Tolstoy only wrote that to show Vasili wasn’t really kind more than what he actually thought (p.68). A few things I didn’t like were how sometimes there were wasted characters. When Nikita and Vasili met Isai, he was introduced as a horse thief (p.75). He could’ve been a memorable character, but instead, he was barely there for a page and was only used as a way for them to get directions. The same goes for Marfa, she could have been a big character, however, they didn’t even interact with each other and was only used as a personal problem of Nikita’s. 

personal response mangos

To be honest, i understood the messages of sacrifice, redemption and all, but i was never really too invested in the book, i see the appeal but the story and why people may like it, but for me the story went a little too fast from exiting the home of the family straight to freezing to death it felt kind of rushed, though there were some parts i found to be good, like Vasili contemplating if he should abandon Nikita or not (p. 104) .

But thats really all there is that i could find good, the chapter lengths were also incredibly inconsistent. The first four chapters being 3-4 pages and then theres only one page between page 7 and 8, this inconsistency makes the added chapters just feel like filler to add more chapters for the sake of it, and makes the books pacing horrible.

Another issue i had with the book is that there was no explanation or story development for the family at the village, the oldest son wanted to sell something but the family was objecting. I really think that story arc could’ve been interesting and thought they would so something with it, but it never happened so why even add it at all if your not going to expand on it??

The story itself was also very confusing, some things just happened that did nothing even slightly important, like the peasants before they arrived at the Kashino Village, why we’re they there?? It was extremely confusing and unnecessary.

One last issue i felt is that Nikita felt like a side character, Vassili has this entire arc about selfishness and redemption meanwhile Nikita’s story is basically just him refusing a drink, it felt like Vassili was the main character and Nikita was just there to be someone Vassili could sacrifice himself for.

Unit 1 My Personal Response of Master and Man

To be fair, I honesty found the book entertaining. I am pretty lazy so I could not bring myself to reading everyday but once I started reading, I would usually daze off until I read to what I was supposed to. The book was not bad but there were some parts I found pretty boring like when the got lost the first time. That part was pretty boring and I didn’t find much interest in it but my favorite part was when they were resting in the snow trying to get sleep, and I liked it a lot because I was always on the edge waiting for the plot twist of someone freezing or something happening to the horse or maybe someone even finding them and helping them, so I was really engaged  in that.  “Nikita is alive, then that means I am living too.” (p.108.)  I found this quote really nice as it shows that just as everything was going wrong Andreyich decided to sacrifice his life for Nikita because Andreyich knew that he had done a lot wrong in life and this was his way of paying god to relive his sins to send him to heaven. Another part/chapter I didn’t really enjoy reading was when they stopped at the house in Kashino because it was pretty boring  and not a lot of action had happened there because they just talked about like where they were headed and how they might get lost even worse then they already had if they didn’t stay the night. I wish we could’ve got more action or context with the family’s of both andreyich and the family of the people in Kashino. The story was also pretty short itself and i wish it could’ve been longer so the story could’ve better and had more info and context. Overall  found it pretty good but there are some parts where they could’ve made it more interesting then it already is but yea I found it pretty good.

My thoughts on Master and Man

My thoughts about Master and Man are leaning towards boring. I will probably forget about it in a few months although I do not think it is bad. What I enjoyed was Vassili’s character development. From being shown to be greedy and not caring towards his family by trying to buy land on Christmas (Pg. 63). Then saving Nikita by laying on top of him when they are both buried in the snow, dying in the process “But Andreyich does not answer, and his belly and legs are solid, cold and heavy as iron weights.” (Pp. 107-108). Vassili is a semi complex character as he is not a horrible person but in no way he is good until the end of the story I guess.

Nikita on the other hand I find to be far more boring. I find his only character development is him getting over being an alcoholic. But to be fair it is a forty-seven page novella so I do not expect some of the most complex well developed characters to ever exist. Again I do not think he is a bad character, just not a very good one. Nikita clearly wants to be with his family. And because of his alcoholism his wife and children are living in a separate household. “Nikita was not invited to live with her.” (P. 64).

I do like the story. The relationship of a land owner and his laborer going on a journey through a snowstorm ending up with the “Master” of the story dying for his “Man.” all because Vassili wanted more money and land. I would like to read some of Leo Tolstoy’s other works like “The death of Ivan Ilyich.” because I think Leo is a good writer and Master and man was even just a few pages longer, like 60 or something. I think it would be amazing.

#PW 1 Barrett

This is my second personal writing assignment the, topic i will be choosing is Clash Royale. if you do not already know Clash Royale is one of the biggest  mobile games right now. Released in 2016 by a Moblie game company called Supercell, Clash Royale definitely has one of the biggest player counts right at this moment. although the game is surging in popularity right now its past has been kinda bumpy. Clash Royale has a history of being popular and then dying and then becoming popular again. this makes the games player count kind of inconsistent. The basic idea of the game is that you and your opponent will both have a deck of ”cards” and each on of these cards will spawn a certain troop some troops counter others the goal is for both of you to play cards until the other person loses by either losing a tower, two towers, or three towers. every troop you place will attack the opponents towers but they can play specific cards to defend your tower and prevent any damage. this makes the game all about  timing and strategy. There are professional Clash Royale players that compete in competitions to win money if they beat their opponents. This game is insanely fun to play and i highly recommend giving it a try.

PW#2 I think Undertale has some of the best writing to ever exist

Undertale is an Indie game made by Toby Fox. this game was not very well coded but it was very well written. Most games do not treat the player and the character as seperate entites. This game does and also Toby Fox’s second game Deltarune where it is more obvious. Anyway, Undertale also treats the Save and load system in video games as and in universe thing and not and video game thing. So for context Humans and monster (Creatures made of magic). Lived together for many years untill a war broke out  and they humans won sealing the monsters underground with a spell that can only be broken by 7 Human souls. But monsters can leave individually by absorbing 1. After the king of the monster’s son died. He waged war on humans again in a fit of rage and started to collect souls of anyone who enetered the underground. Also flowey a being with no soul was created using the remains of The king’s son. flowey knows about the SAVE and LOAD system and abuses it to kill people over and over again. Untill, the human you control Frisk enters and Gains priorty over the SAVE and LOAD system through Determination. So from this point on there is 3 routes you can take the True Pacifist where you spare every monster and free them but this requires a netrual run to be done before which is just a mix of sparing and fighting and then the genocide route Where you kill every monster in each area, it is the most boring but the hardest becuas eof 2 fights. But Characters will call you out and call you a terrible person for killing everyone for no reason. So I think it’s writing shines in using video game tropes to it’s adavangtage in thw writing.

 

IRJE #1

While Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito honeymoon in Hawaii, Mel Bork sends Leaphorn a page from a glossy magazine, showing the interior of a fine home. The main item on the wall is a tale-telling rug made in the 1860s of the long walk back from Bosque Redondo, which is called the Woven Sorrow Rug. Leaphorn saw that rare rug long ago in Totter’s Trading Post & Gallery, which burned down in 1965. Besides destroying the rug, that fire killed a man beyond recognition, who was identified by the FBI as Ray Shewnack, a man on their most-wanted list. Leaphorn calls Bork, learning from his wife that Mel has not been home for two days. There is a threatening message from a stranger that Mel never heard. Leaphorn begins to search for Mel. The rug would be nearly impossible to duplicate, raising the suspicion that the rug was not destroyed, as reported decades earlier. Leaphorn recalls how he was diverted from aiding Grandma Peshlakai, whose entire collection of pinyon sap for making baskets had been stolen from her, and her granddaughter saw the car driving away with it. Leaphorn’s boss had sent him to join the FBI at Totter’s place instead. She was very angry with him.

Leaphorn learns that Jason Delos owns the house shown in the magazine photo. Gossip links Delos to stories of CIA in Vietnam in the 1960s. Leaphorn calls Sgt. Garcia, who tells him the story of Ray Shewnack and his burglary of Handy’s gas station and grocery back in 1961. Shewnack told one plan to the employees (Ellie, Begay and Delonie), then carried it out differently, murdering the owners and setting up the employees to go to prison for abetting, while he drove away with the money. Begay is dead, apparently of suicide. Garcia tells this story as they drive to the remains of Totter’s place. They meet Delonie there, recently out of prison. Heading home, they stop at Grandma Peshlakai’s place, learning that she found her empty buckets at Totter’s place after the fire. A few years after the fire, she heard Totter had died, via a notice in a Gallup newspaper.

PW#2: How Media Influences Our Memory On Tragedies

I think everyone knows about the story of the RMS Titanic, she was the largest ship in the world when she sank on her maiden voyage after an iceberg collision and was considered unsinkable before that. However, there have been much worse maritime disasters (in terms of death toll) in history like the MV Doña Paz with ~ 4,386 deaths compared to Titanic’s ~1500 deaths. So why is Titanic more famous and popular than Doña Paz? Why does no one ever talk about the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history? I believe it’s because of how Titanic is portrayed in the media. First off, Titanic was heavily promoted in newspapers at the time. She was the biggest ship of her time and newspapers capitalized on that a ton, calling it unsinkable, even though White Star Line and Harland & Wolff never advertised it like that. There was also a huge difference in terms of money, both rich and poor people were on it. Meanwhile Doña Paz was just a standard RORO (Roll on, roll off) ferry that people went on frequently, only people who were interested in ships would have acknowledged what ship they were on unlike Titanic which even regular citizens knew about. Passengers onboard Doña Paz were also poor, and unable to afford better options to get to their destination. The second reason is romanticism. The story of Titanic is almost poetic, the largest ship in the world thought to be unsinkable, sinks after a collision with an iceberg on her maiden voyage with huge loss of life. Add a love story with a rich girl and poor boy falling in love until the ship slowly and dramatically sinks, make it a movie, and it becomes even more popular. Doña Paz, however, was a sudden and chaotic collision with an Oil Tanker, with no time to think and to be romanticized. I believe that this is how media influences our memory on tragedies. 

PW #2 my sister

My sisters name is Natalia Gerzso Castro, she’s 16 years old and her birthday is march 2 of 2009.

When I was about 5 and she was 7 we would get along pretty well, we would play legos for hours in the play room just imagining lives and story’s just as every little kid does; when she turned 10 she started liking American girl dolls , so as I did because the only thing that mattered was to play with my big sis , we would spend hours being moms and taking our “child’s” to school making our santas letters asking for bed and new clothes,just  letting the time fly ; when I was 10 everything was different from when she was 10 , we didn’t sleep together like we used to , her doll and toys were just laying there not divided by unicorns and Barbie’s as they were when she was 10 , I mean she was now 12 , she was growing up , but we stilled played even though that the hours we used to played were becoming minutes even less each day . A year after when she was 13 those minutes became begging her to play with me , because I was never used to play alone, that made me really sad because all does toys who had lives and wanted to be played with were just abandoned and gifted to me , when the only thing they wanted was to be played and enjoyed  by the girl who raised them and made them who they were , just like she did with me.

PW #2

The current default keyboard design in English speaking countries is the QWERTY keyboard design. Some people choose to use other keyboard designs, or other types without letters. The current QWERTY keyboard design has been shown to be a worse choice then other keyboard layouts. A keyboard design can be worse if it does not have common letters in the middle, where your fingers go to type most often, and less common ones on the outside. The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1873, and a lot has changed since then. While QWERTY is better then a random layout, there is much better keyboard designs. For example, the second most popular keyboard design Dvorak has “typing effort reduction in moving to Dvorak is 30%”. There is some downsides, like if your pinky isn’t very strong this uses the pinky 56% more. You may ask, why we as the world have not switched to a more efficient keyboard design like Dvorak or any other design. The answer to the question is just familiarity. People are familiar with the QWERTY keyboard layout, and it takes quite a long time to get used to another keyboard layout. Most people don’t see it worth to spend all the time and effort learning a new keyboard layout. There is a common myth that says the QWERTY keyboard design was to make people type as slowly as possible to prevent mechanical jamming, which is false

How Bad Is QWERTY, Really? A Review of the Literature, such as It Is. (n.d.). Erich Grunewald’s Blog. https://www.erichgrunewald.com/posts/how-bad-is-qwerty-really-a-review-of-the-literature-such-as-it-is/

IrjE #1

In Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz, Alex Rider has to make some of the hardest choices in his life, and he starts to question everything he thought he knew about loyalty, trust, and who he really is. After realizing MI6 might have been using him all along, Alex starts wondering if he’s been on the wrong side, and if the truth about his dad is with the people he always thought were his enemies, a group of terrorists called Scorpia. One part that really stood out is when Alex realizes how much they’ve taken from him:

“They had lied to him, used him, and stolen his childhood. And now they expected him to keep working for them, as if none of it mattered.” (p. XX)

This part shows a lot about Alex’s struggle. He’s a teenager who’s had to grow up way too fast, doing dangerous things most adults couldn’t do, and still doing them better than everyone. He’s giving up a normal life for missions he never asked for. I thought this moment was really powerful because it shows Alex isn’t just a spy—he’s also a kid who’s been betrayed and used, and now he’s trying to figure out who he really is.

What I liked about Scorpia is how Horowitz mixes action with bigger questions about loyalty and identity. It’s exciting but also makes you think. For me, it’s not my favorite book in the series, but it’s probably the most intense and deep one.

PW#2 prt 1 of ” What happens during the night of a Camping trip”

The Story begins with a Nice cold breeze hitting the cabin, 7 kids inside. “SHUT UP LACHLAN, JUST GO TO BED.” David yells. Lachlan was the trouble maker of the cabin. No one could find sleep around him. “Bro Lachlan, get in your bed before i use super slam on you” Ayaz said ( by the way super slam is  some Pokémon move or something). Lachlan is still jumping around our cabin, not one of us was able to get sleep.  I let out a little giggle before saying “bro is it that hard to go to bed.” Lachlan was now standing in the middle of the room with his sleeping bag half on jumping around till he got to the lights. He turned off the lights which made it pitch black. I pulled out my flashlight as quickly as i could because i heard screaming. Ayaz did a freaky laugh, and as i turned my flashlight on, Lachlan was attacking David, Jumping on him and punching him but we couldn’t fully see them. ” AHHHH” David yells. As Lachlan gets off David i turn my flashlight off and everything went silent. All you could hear was the nice cold breeze hitting our body’s and the glare of the moon hitting our cabin. Everything was silent but the same thought was in all our heads. Who. Was . His . next . Target. Then we finally hear it. ” THUD” Lachlan is Hanging off his top bunk tickling Kobe’s feet. ” What is tha.. LACHLAN STOP TOUCHING MY FEET” Kobe yells. At this point we were all screaming during the middle of the night, I thought we were all honestly having fun giggling and laughing but others might think otherwise. As i rest my head against my soft pillow, I hear some thudding coming from the stairs. I look at the window and…..

PW#2 – My First Sight of New York City

My trip to New York City was such an unforgettable experience. The first time I saw the city was out of the taxi window. I could not believe how big it really was. We had arrived there at night, and it was so cool to see the tall buildings, with big lights and the sound of the city noise; cars honking, music playing and the crosswalk chiming. Everywhere I looked, there were Christmas decorations, and the first sight I saw out of my hotel room window was the Empire State Building. It was so pretty with its glowing red, blue and white lights all lit up at that moment, I couldn’t believe that I was actually there. Everything felt as if I was in a dream.

Me and my family decided to walk around our first night. We saw Times Square, and although I had seen many pictures of the city on line, it was so much bigger than I thought it would be be.  The number of people packed into time square was overwhelming, people trying to sell you things, food carts and strangers dressed up in weird costumes offering  to take pictures with you for money. This is on top of all the visitors walking around like we were. The whole experience was so loud, chaotic and exciting, I will never forget the way it felt to see New York city for the first time.

pw#2 the tale of timbertimmy

Once upon a time, there was this boy called timbertimmy, at the age of 2 he fell into a sewer and broke his legs, as he cried he saw something rising from the water and its was Fredrick Fazbearington (Freddy fazbear)

Fredrick Fazbearington began to chase him, and despite having broken legs timbertimmy was just that guy so he levitated away, he saw some sand under the table and threw it at fredrick fazbearingtons eyes, but timbertimmy is an idiot fazbearington was a robot, why would that work? Well as I mentioned, timbertimmy is just that guy so the sand ends up dismembering fredrick fazbearington, as timbertimmy levitates through the sewers, he finds various things from dark fountains to old turtles drop kicking godly titles,

and then, the one and only arrives PIKACHU!!!

timbertimmy is ecstatic, he quickly rushes to pet it, pikachu is his FAVORITE, he is so glad to see it, however he wakes up the next day to have rabies as the ”pikachu” was just a rat with rabies and a skin infection, and this time timbertimmy is just not that guy anymore so he tries to levitate but rabies is rabies so he falls out of bed and dies. the end

PW #2 Emilio

Me adapting to Canada and Missing Mexico

Since I left Mexico I have been trying to understand how everything works here in Canada, I like almost everything but all the people, places, habits, etc that I left because of moving to Canada is being very hard. I know that being here in an international school meant leave temporary my country and all the things in it. But not everything is bad, I also see all the positive aspects from Canada that I don’t have in Mexico. That means that I can learn how to adapt to the different traditions, places, people, language, etc from a new country. In general I miss Mexico a lot but I am also happy because all the things I know that I will learn here in Canada. The last thing that makes me happy about being here is that I know that when I come back to Mexico I will be a different person with new experiences.

I think thats it for now 🙂

pw #2 if i had 3 wishes

If i had three wishes id first of all wish for a note book where it has and infinite amount of pages of which anything I write in them comes true, this allows me to inadvertently bypass the I wish for more wishes rule. For my second wish id wish for the ability to warp space and time around me at will this would entail the ability to time travel and teleport by bending space, somewhat like making a wormhole that i can go though to bring me anywhere any time no matter when or where it may be. For my third and final wish i would wish for all the pollution on our planet to be erased and for there to be a factory of sorts the can degrade and transform any and all types of matter into what we need in our world, it would not allow people the create weaponry but only make things that can help improve and further our abilities as the human race. So there you have it if i had three wishes i would wish for a notebook that anything written in it will come true, the ability to warp space and time at will and finally a machine that can transform matter into anything.

PW #2 – My Lunch Disaster

At lunch the other day, I was just trying to make it to my table without dropping anything. I had a full tray stacked with a burger, pizza and some chocolate milk, and I was weaving through these smelly teenagers like it was an obstacle course. Out of nowhere, I heard barking. At first, I thought it was someone’s phone, but then I saw her, my dog, LeBron, sprinting across the cafeteria like he owned the school.

Before I could react, he came charging straight at me. In that split-second I had two choice: drop the tray or get tackled. As you may have guessed, both happened. The pizza flew onto someone’s backpack, the condiments from the burger stained everyone near me, and my milk exploded in my face. The whole cafeteria froze for a second, and then everyone burst out laughing. Lebron sat proudly in a puddle of milk with my pizza dangling from his mouth.

PW#2 Second soccer game

This weekend me and my team had our second game of the season. This week we played a team that was 2 years older. The game was surprisingly a tight game. In the first minutes of the game the other team hit the post. This was kind of a wake up call that it was going to be a tough game. About 10 to 15 minutes later they scored the first goal. After a couple minutes my team got a free kick from about 40 yards out. My teammate hit a wonder shot that curled inside the top right corner. It was just a beauty. Unfortunately, our opponents took the lead again with a great goal from outside the box. But our team did not give up and we re-equalized from a corner kick. Then halftime came. it was 2-2 and a very tight game. When the second half started my team was dominating the game. But our opponents were bigger and stronger and managed to score a goal on us. After a while, the other team manned to score a 4th goal. The score was then 4-2 for the opposition. Our team still did not give up. We went on to score a third goal. Unfortunately we were unable to score an equalizer. The final score was 4-3 for the other team.

PW #2- Palm Springs

My favourite place in the world is my grandparents house in Palm Springs, California! Every spring break, my parents, cousin and I go to Palm Springs for a week, and we always have the best time enjoying the weather, swimming in the pool and being together as a family!

My grandparents house in Palm Springs is what makes the trip, I have so many happy memories in the house. The house has a small putting green and a pool, it is even on a man-made lake where we go for boat rides everyday!

I also love what we do to pass the time when we are in Palm Springs, every time we go we go to this place called Old Town. In Old Town there are a lot of shops, our favourites being the ice cream place and the restaurant that we always go to get pizza! My whole family and I love Old Town and is always a must to go. Everyday we also go for boat drives on the man made lake that the house is on, during these boat rides we all create memories all of us will remember.

Lastly, my overall favourite thing about Palm Springs is seeing my grandparents. For 6 months of the year they are in Palm Springs, so when we get to see them it has been awhile. They make Palm Springs special for my family and I, and I am forever grateful that we are able to have such a great place to go and a great family to spend the place with.

pw #2 understanding failure

Why do a lot of people fail? Understanding the question itself is difficult, we must realize the answer shall change over the course of time, as your opinion changes. Failure is a natural thing. No one has tried something new, and not made a mistake. The failures that people make shape the way to success right? I would agree with that in theory, but I would also argue that repetitive failure will never help you succeed. To fail over and over again, mindlessly repeating a process, is not the quest to success. The true path to success is realizing the mistake you made. Maybe it was an airball in basketball, or maybe it was procrastination to do homework, but you need to see that mistake and fix it Trying half-heartedly to fix something is never enough. You must also understand that leaning on others, and sharing some of that burden is okay. There will be many times, in your life when you have to work with others, and you have to share the workload. The worst thing to do when these times happen, is to let someone else do all the work. If your team succeeds but you did not contribute you have failed in the worst way possible, you have failed yourself. My opinion at the moment, is that many people fail due to a lack of effort. The people that do the bare minimum or nothing at all, have truly failed themselves and I believe they make up the majority of people who fail. I implore anyone who reads this to ask themselves what their opinion on why many people fail. They might be surprised by the answer they come up with.

PW #2 – The Spectacularly Terrible Talent Show

On the day of the talent show at Coral Academy, Banana walks in to find the backstage was utter chaos. There were clothes thrown everywhere and people running around frantically. Banana goes up to their drama teacher, Ms. Clementine, and asked her what was happening. Ms. Clementine looked as if she was about to cry.

“Oh, Banana, it’s terrible! First, the pair of Pears from the tech group called in sick today, and they were the only people who knew all the riggings for the curtains! Then, Apple, being the tart one she is, provoked our makeup artist Peach by saying that nobody a-peach-iates her skills, and now Peach has locked herself in the costume room, so now we have no makeup artist, no curtains, and no costumes!”

Banana tried to reassure Ms. Clementine. “I’m sure it will be alright—” “Ms. Clementine,” Lemon interrupted, “me and Banana will fix this.” And so they got to work. First, Banana called the Pears to find a way to rig the curtain in an easier way. Meanwhile, Lemon confronted Apple.

“You need to apologize to Peach this instant!” he yelled. Apple scoffed. “Why should I? She’s way too sensitive.” “Because,” Lemon snapped, “without her, everyone’s going on stage looking like a fruit basket from the discount aisle!” That shut Apple up. She huffed, stomped over to the costume room, and knocked. “Peach, I am sorry, I didn’t mean it.” A small, muffled voice answered from inside. “Are you sure?” Apple rolled her eyes but continued. “Yes. You’re the only one who makes me look ready. Please come out.” The door creaked open, and Peach emerged, makeup brushes in hand, cheeks blushing brighter than her name. Meanwhile, Banana had the Pears on speakerphone.

“So you loop the rope twice, tie it like you’re tying shoelaces, and pull hard, right?” “That’s it!” one of the Pears crackled through the phone. Banana and Lemon followed the instructions, and in minutes, the curtain hung perfectly. When Ms. Clementine returned, her eyes filled with relief. The chaos gave way to harmony—makeup stations buzzed, costumes flew onto hangers, and the curtain stood tall and ready. The Coral Academy Talent Show was back on track.

IRJE #1: Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief

In Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 1, Percy Jackson is a 12 year boy who is a half breed between a god and a human this obviously makes his life a lot harder as he has to go to a school for special kids. Percy also has dyslexia and attention deficit disorder which makes school really hard for him. despite Percy having all of these problems everyone around him expects a lot out of him, no matter how hard Percy works his teachers always say that he can do better even when he is giving his best. this chews at Percy as he believes that he will never do good enough. this makes Percy mad and makes him realise that he should not have to do better then everyone else when he can’t:

I wanted to get angry this guy pushed me so hard mean sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted ”what ho!” and challenged us, sword point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. but Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C minus in my life. No, he didn’t expect me to be ”as good” he expected me to be better. and I just couldn’t learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly (pg. 7).

This quote stood out to me as it really shows how stranded Percy really is, even with all of his problems the expectations always stay the same for him no matter how many times he tries to tell anyone. those around him constantly fail to realise that his is just a kid and not a normal one. and it is not like they are standard expectations either he has to be ”better” than everybody else not just the ”same”.

IRJE #1

In Bubble by Stewart Foster. The main character, Joe who is 11 years old. He has a life threatening disorder. Which means he isn’t aloud to go outside. Any bad germ that goes near him could end his life. Since Joe has this disorder he is stuck in the hospital. The book title is named “Bubble” because he calls his room in the hospital his own bubble. His room is fully designed to help him avoid as much germs as he can. The room is installed with air filters and anyone who enters the room must follow strict rules to ensure safety for Joe.

“Everything’s going to be fine, mate, I promise. He seems like a good guy. If there really are aliens then they wouldn’t need an airport to land and I doubt they’d be coming to see Amir.”            (p. 49-50)

The meaning to this quotation starts off by a character in the book who is talking to Joe saying that everything is going to be fine because Joe likes to live in his own reality. He lives in a superhero world of his own imagination. That character in the book said that at the start because he was trying to make sure Joe didn’t overreact because he likes to think to himself that aliens are landing and trying to abduct him.