Author: Sydney

PR to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Is a story about a man who is tired of listening to the rules, and wants to be able to do bad things without consequences. This story shows the true nature of the human mind, and how in everyone’s head, there is the desire to do something which could inflict damage upon someone or something else.

From the beginning of the story, Dr. Jekyll does not seem too out of the ordinary; he is seen as your average doctor, just trying to help others. But, sometimes, the doctor will be nowhere to be found, and instead a very sinister Mr. Hyde will roam around the streets bringing havoc. Eventually it is discovered that Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll. Some readers of this book may believe that Dr. Jekyll changed as a character, and while he did change physically; i believe that his mental state did not change at all. From the beginning of the story, he likely still had the desire to do bad things, but it is when he acquired the potion that he was able to do those bad things. Leading me to conclude that Dr. Jekyll did not change throughout the story.

Overall, I think this story was done quite well, and I believe that the author did a great job of setting a mysterious atmosphere throughout the book. But to make the story better, The author could’ve made the final section a little bit easier to read.

PR to “Our Town”

Our town was a beautifully crafted masterpiece which depicts the story of an average, small town, in the technologically advancing ages of the late 1890s to the early 1910s. “Our town”, seems like a normal story on the surface, but after a full read-through of the book. It is reasonable to say that “our town” is a story about time, and how seemingly average lives will eventually succumb to the unremitting grasps of time. Which would result in relatively large amounts of character development.

 

In “Our Town”, I believe that every single character whom has met their fate, has changed quite a bit, and they have learned significantly more about themselves. after becoming victim to time, they have reflected on their lives when they were still “living”. And they have regretted the decisions they have made. Most of them, by the end of the story, were trying to tell Emily not to relive her past experience. but Emily, whom was in search of reliving her happiest moments, refused their advice. Eventually, she learned why, and the reasoning, was time. Right before Emily left, she said: “It all goes so fast”. Which could be a metaphor to enjoy every moment of your life, and make the most of it, as “it all goes so fast”. I truly believe that the author of this story is a genius, and creating a story such as this requires unprecedented levels of experience in the writing industry.

Even if by some chance the story was not a hidden metaphor for time, it still went on to display quite high levels of realism, even though it would sometimes differ with characters like the stage manager. Overall, I believe that this book is very well written, and that more people should read it.

 

PW#5 – Ski trip

2 weeks ago, we went on a ski trip to mount Washington. I hadn’t been to mount Washington since I was around the age of 7, so i was quite exited to finally come there after 7 years.

On the way to mount Washington, we had to take a 3 hour bus ride. to pass the time, I decided to listen to some music, which helped pass the time. After several desperate attempts to sleep, I failed. I have found that is is very difficult for me to fall asleep while in a vehicle. But, all that aside, we eventually made it to the mountain. I hadn’t seen this much snow since I was 7. The white snow coating the mountain like frosting on a birthday cake. The intense snowfall clashing against the side of the bus window. On the way up, it was difficult to see the snow gaining height. The snow almost appeared suddenly, the snow went from being not there, to being what seemed like 10 feet tall in the span of only 5 minutes. And when everyone wanted to leave the bus, we were delayed by a time of what felt like half an hour. We all wanted to leave, and it was a huge relief when we were finally let out. After an hour or two, I got my skiing equipment, and I took some lessons, in which I recorded using my go pro.

Eventually, I was able to go skiing with the rest of my friends, which was quite a fun experience. The charm of mount Washington hadn’t changed since I was last there. I vaguely remember going there as a kid, in which I would go tubing with my mom. After all, I had a lot of fun, but by the end, both of my arms hurt, as I crashed into the ground around 7 times.

IRJE#3

“The kite runner” by Khaled Hosseini is a book about the life of a character named Amir, he has to abandon his friend, Hassan, in order to escape the soviet invasion.’

“I’ll come back with your morphine and a glass of water, Kaka jan,” Soraya said. “Not tonight,” he said. “There is no pain tonight.” “Okay” she said. She pulled up his blanket. We closed the door. Baba never woke up.

 

I chose this quote because it conveys the death of a character in a different way than most books I have read do. Typically, in the other books I have read, the death is significantly more intense, but in this book, its over in one sentence. since this character is one of the most important characters in the story, a more detailed death would be expected. The reason believe this was a good choice is because it puts more of an emotional impact on the reader, because it doesn’t overuse anything to make it more emotional, and  it doesn’t use too little.

PW#3: Weather

If you go to Canada in the winter, you will notice snow everywhere, that is, if you go to any place except Victoria. In Victoria, it will snow 3 feet one day, and the next day is will be 30 degrees celsius and the snow will have melted overnight. Normal weather is extremely rare in Victoria. And the rain is a whole different story. You can have a flood because of how much rain there is, and the next day of course, it will all have evaporated. When I was 12, I decided it was a good idea to go outside in the snow. that day, there was around 3 inches of snow, so I decided to shovel the sidewalk. after that, I went to bed, and when I woke up there was probably 2-3 feet of snow. To sum it up, my hard work was all lost the next day. Since it snowed so much, I decided to make the most of it. after I went to bed that night, the snow had gotten shorter, and the day after, it was gone. and it never snowed again since. This is common in Victoria, the weather changes a lot here. Especially the temperature.

 

IRJE#2: The Kite Runner

I am reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. the book is very well written, and so far it is one of my favourite books. The book is about the friendship between Amir and Hassan, Amir being the main character of the story.

 

I closed my eyes and loosened my grip on the string. It sliced my fingers again as the wind dragged it. And then… I didn’t need to hear the crowd’s roar to know. I didn’t need to see either. Hassan was screaming and his arm was wrapped around my neck. “Bravo! Bravo, Amir agha!” I opened my eyes, saw the blue kite spinning wildly like a tire come loose from a speeding car.

 

I chose this quote because it shows how any amount of hard work pays off, and how motivation is one of the strongest ways to win something. Amir had so much motivation he was willing to injure himself, even while the string was “slicing his fingers”, he still pushed on, which shows his extraordinary level of motivation. Additionally, this quote shows the friendship between Hassan and Amir, as Hassan was celebrating as if he won, even though it was his friend. A celebration this intense really goes to show how good of a friend Hassan is to Amir, at the point that Hassan is almost like a brother to Amir.

“Master & Man” PR#1

The story: “Master & Man”  by Leo Tolstoy, Is a short story, which I believe to be written extremely well, for the short, 48 pages the book has. The plot of the story seems extremely realistic, and its almost like the author watched something happen, and created an extremely accurate depiction, even though the story is fictional. The way that Leo Tolstoy builds suspense, or creates emotion in his writing is done very well, and it differs from a lot of books that are out there. Instead of going overboard with suspense, or level of emotion, Leo Tolstoy goes for a much more accurate depiction of it. Leo Tolstoy perfectly depicts the thoughts that would be going through the average persons head when they are in a scenario that is life-threatening. He makes the characters be frantically thinking for the first part of the situation, but as the situation gets worse, and they realize that there is nothing they can do, their thoughts get more calm. This is shown during the time Vasili and Nikita are stuck in the snow.

The ending of the story particularly stood out to me. Vasili is a character known for his selfishness, he rarely tries to help others, but, at the ending of the story, Vasili sacrifices his life in order to save Nikita. I think that the message Leo Tolstoy was trying to convey was: “Anyone can change if put in a certain situation”.

Adding on to Vasili being known as selfish, he is also very greedy, which gives the reader a bad impression about Vasili. Nikita, is quite the opposite. Nikita is not greedy, which makes sense for the circumstances he is placed in. Nikita, being a poor person, naturally cant be greedy, as he has lived his whole life without knowing what it’s like to have a lot of money. Even though Nikita isn’t greedy, it doesn’t mean he is 100% nice. also has a very important negative quality: his alchoholism. His alchoholism makes his wife afraid of him, and when he is drunk, he will sell his clothes for alchohol. The reason that these character traits are important, is because it shows how Leo Tolstoy is skilled in character creation. Leo Tolstoy made it easy to feel empathy for Nikita, because of the situation he is in, but he also made it possible for the readers to dislike him because of his alchoholism.

The Author, Leo Tolstoy also shows his superb writing skills in just the title, “Master & Man”. During the beginning of the story, we automatically assume that Vasili is the “Master”, and Nikita is the “Man”, but towards the end of the short story, Nikita refers to God as the “Chief Master”, which makes the reader contemplate if Vasili is really the “Master”, or if God is the “Master”. This is a good technique that writers use, where the author lets the reader come up with their own explanation for part of the story.

To sum everything up, The story: “Master & Man” written by Leo Tolstoy, is an extraordinarily well crafted piece of literature, even for the short, 48 pages that it covers. And I was impressed by the level of writing.

 

 

PW #2

Just around the end of august this year, my parents decided to buy be a racing simulator. For those who don’t know what a racing simulator is, it is basically a steering wheel with pedals that you can plug in to your computer in order to play certain racing games. The reasons I got my racing simulator was because 1: my friends had ones and they wanted me to be able to play with them, and 2: I had always wanted one. Once the wheel arrived I was so excited, and I tried out some racing games. I was absolutely horrible with the racing wheel on the first day, but after about a week or so I was much, much better. The first game that I got for the racing wheel was F1 2023, the second game I got was Need for Speed Heat, which I didn’t end up playing much, and the third game I got was BeamNG Drive, which I had already downloaded years before, but I booted it up with my racing wheel. On my birthday, I am going to be completing the racing set, and my parents will be buying me a stick-shift simulator.

IRJE #1

The book I am reading is “The Kite Runner”, by Khaled Hosseini. The book is about an Afghan boy, whose name is Amir. Amir is the son of a wealthy man, who is a merchant. This book is about the friendship between Amir and Hassan, Hassan is Amir’s servant.

Lore has it that my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands. If the story had been about anyone else, it would have been dismissed as laaf, that Afghan tendency to exaggerate-sadly, almost a national affliction; if someone bragged that his son was a doctor, chances were the kid had once passed a biology test in high school. But no one ever doubted the veracity of any story about Baba. And if they did, well, Baba did have those three parallel scars coursing a jagged path down his back. (p. 13)

I chose this quote because it shows how with at least some evidence, anything can be believable; especially with physical evidence. I feel that the author did a good job in sharing this message. In this quote, Amir states that Baba had “three parallel scars coursing a jagged path down his back”. Black bears have 5 claws, so if he was really scratched by a black bear, it would be more likely he would have 5 or 4 scars. Another fact about a black bear, is that it is near-impossible to win in a fight against them. This proves that Baba likely didn’t wrestle a black bear. To conclude, this quote shows how anything can be believable when there is physical evidence.

West Edmonton Mall

At the start of summer, my parents decided to take me to West Edmonton Mall with one of my friends from my old school. It was my first time on a plane, and my second time out of B.C.

When we arrived at the airport I was exited to go on my first plane ride, and since I had never gone to an airport previously, I thought that we wouldn’t have much of a wait. instead, we had to wait around an hour and a half before boarding. when the plane first took off, there were practically no clouds in sight, so i got a great view of Vancouver island, the best part was the fact that i got the window seat, and the window was perfectly aligned with my seat so it was easy for me to look out. the first moments of takeoff felt kind of like a roller coaster, with the stomach drop feeling surprising me. for most of the plane ride I was just listening to music, and the ride took around an hour and a half. once we landed in Edmonton, it was raining so it wasn’t that nice. We called a taxi to take us to our hotel after getting all of our luggage. Then we had to go to our hotel and put everything away.

Once we arrived at the mall it was deafeningly loud, probably because there was a huge hockey ring right in front of the entrance. After navigating our way around the mall, we found the food court, and we ate. After we finished our food, we decided to go to some of the shops in the mall. In the mall, there were over 800 shops, and it housed the one of the biggest indoor waterparks in north America. There was also a huge amusement park called galaxy land, and since nothing much happened on the first day, I’m going to skip to the second day. On the second day, we got our wrist bands that allowed us to go to galaxyland. the first ride I went on there was this yellow roller coaster that went across most of galaxyland. The ride was probably a 6 / 10 in terms of intensity, and I went on that ride around 2 times. The ride was decently fast, and the carts spun around in a circle. My friend that came with me decided to go on a drop tower called the “space shot” and it had around 2 g’s of force in it. When my friend went on it, he got rocketed to the top in around 1 and a half seconds. I obviously didn’t go on it because it was way to intense for me. the most fun ride in galaxyland was probably that yellow roller coaster, but there were also around 5 more rides I went on, but I forgot the names of them. On the 3rd day of west Edmonton mall, I went to the waterpark. The waterpark was probably the most fun part of west Edmonton mall, and there was a massive wave pool there. When I entered the waterpark, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place, the place was 20 square kilometers, and it was the 4th largest indoor waterpark in the world. there was a glass dome covering the whole top of the water park. when the waves went on, they reached probably around 1 to 2 meters in height. The wave pool took up most of the waterpark, and there was a zipline over it, which I went on. There were also around 15 different waterslides, and I went on probably 3 or 4, the tallest waterslide I went on reached to the very top of the waterpark, which I estimated to be around 50 meters up. before something happened. It was all fun, before some kid decided to contaminate the water. We thought that everything would be back to normal in around an hour, but we were so wrong. Instead, the entire waterpark was shut down for the day. That was my last full day of west Edmonton mall, before we went back home.

english thing

My name is Sydney Stewart, and I am 13 years old. I am turning 14 on October 26th. I have adhd and I was born here, in Victoria and I have never moved in my life. I currently have 2 cats, which I have had since I was around 1 year old. My cats are both Abyssinian and their names are Summe and Quatche. I did Karate in the past, but I ended up quitting around a year or two ago as it wasn’t as fun as It used to be. In my old school, GNS. I did badminton and it was probably my favourite sport. At home, I enjoy playing on my racing simulator, my pc, and VR. Some fun racing games I play are F1 2023 and Need for speed heat. This is my first year at Brookes, and at this school, I don’t have to travel over 15 kilometers a day to get to school, and in fact its so close, If I walked to Brookes it would take less time than it did for me to drive to my old school. In my first 5 days, we have gone outside a lot and it’s a fun part of this school. I am looking forward to this year and I hope its more fun than GNS.

 

I haven’t really been interested in reading that much, but there is one author that I actually enjoy reading books from. His name is Rick Riordan, and my favourite book series from him was the Kane Chronicles, the only time I enjoy reading books are when the books are made by him.

 

I don’t usually write at home, but when i do write stuff it usually isn’t stories. The only time I write at home is when I’m writing ideas for something. The only time I usually write stories is when we are supposed to in school. When we are writing stories in school, I am very good at it and I am able to easily make the stories entertaining. In my old school, I got good grades when it came to writing stories. I find it fun to write stories In school, but at home I would rather do other things.