Monthly Wrap-Up: May

Well, hey! We did it! Its almost summer! Like, that's awesome!
That aside, let's get this monthly wrap up under way.
This month, we:
     Talked about books! And the weird things that happen in my life!
     Said goodbye to this years Seniors, and looked towards the future.
     Talked Tolkien, and why it would suck to die in Middle-Earth.
     Took AP tests (oh my God, those were this month...)

So yeah, that's May, plain and simple. I'll see you guys next Wednesday, when it's June!

Wednesday #22 - Books

    Hello Dreamers! I how you guys have been rockin' it since I last say you! So, this week, we're going to talk about... Books!
     Today (and for the next couple of days, for that matter), I found myself I'm my schools book room, which is a glorious place to find yourself if you LOVE books the way I do. I was assigned to work there, since one of my classes is out of student (all the seniors have left, and it was mostly composed of seniors), and had to apply my organizational skills to the shelves and the supply closets. Something struck me, while I was laboring in that inferno of a room (it's so hot in there, I'm worried the books might catch on fire): I haven't read nearly enough  "classic" books.  Like, I haven't read Grapes of Wrath, Fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse 5,  and other selections. So, in order to combat this, I've compiled a list of books that I'm going to try to read over the summer... it's long... like, 35 books long... I'm going to get started on it very soon... like, tomorrow...
     Speaking of books, I'm a huge fan of the Dresden Files, a story of Chicago's only professional wizard, by Jim Butcher. I was out for a drive tonight, and decided to stop by Barnes & Noble, just to see if there was another Dresden File book there. I found the book I've been looking for (YES!), and checked my wallet to make sure that I had enough money to by it, and I found that I was 49 cents short... Luckily, my father was with me, so I was able to get the slight amount of money I was missing. See, at this point in the story, I'd like to point out that this very morning, I removed all the loose change from my wallet, so I had no coinage on me, only... billage... with me. Anyway, I got an extra buck from my pop, and so I run in to get the book (the store was closing in about 10 minutes)(another fun thing that happened: A guy from the local professional baseball team called me Indiana Jones), make it to the check out line a minute before the store closes, and remember that I have a membership  at Barnes & Noble... Which reduced the cost of the book...  by more than a dollar... I feel a bit like a rat in a maze...
     Well, that's a quick little insight into what's going on around me. I feel like ever since I started writing this blog, my life has gotten more interesting, and a bit more sitcom-like... thank God I'm not being stalked by a camera crew and living my life to a set of scripted scenes, only to be shut down after a couple weeks and bad ratings...

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
John Donne

"Believe you can, and you're halfway there." -Theodore Roosevelt

Wednesday # 21 - Goodbye Seniors

Hey there everyone! I'm sad... and I'm happy at the same time. As some of you may know, I am a junior in high school, but as of today, I'm what's known as a Rising Senior, meaning that I'm still a junior, but now that the seniors have left, I'm suddenly required to be responsible and lazy at the same time. Now, before I talk about the whole "me being a senior" thing, I want to say something to the class of 2014, many of whom are close friends of mine, that I will now see very rarely, if not ever, again:

Bye.

     All kidding aside, I do have something I want to say to them. Senior class of 2014, I am now talking directly to you:

     I have spent the past 11 years of school near most of you guys, ever since I entered public schooling. Did I know all of you then? Of course not, but as time went by, I began to meet more and more of you. Some, I knew from Boy Scouts or sitting at football games, while our sisters played in the same marching band we'd spend 3 years playing in together, and some I met mere months ago, but still, you all have affected my life somehow. Whether it was teaching me, leading me, talking to me (or not talking to me), or simply setting a standard to meet, you have been such an amazing group of people to come to know. 

     It's going to be hard next year, since I was friends with so many of you, and in fact, I'm not sure if you know this or not, but I actually made more friends with the year ahead of me than my own yearmates during both freshman and sophomore year. Of the people who walk the halls of our school for the next year, I will feel your absence the most. Now that you're gone, I won't have people to reminisce about Philmont with, or talk Tolkien on the early morning ride to school. I won't have someone to beat box with, or argue Batman with, or discuss the intricacies of Dungeons and Dragons with. You have all meant so much to me, and have taught me so much, whether you know it or not. I hope I can be even half of what you have been to me to the classes after me. 

     Whether your legacy is written on the wall, preserved in a joke, held in a memory, or kept in a picture somewhere, some part of you will stick around the school, and people that never knew you, and never will know you, will be touched by all that you have done for our school somehow. As far as I go, your legacy shall not be forgotten.

     I'll miss you guys so much. Good luck in all that you do, and remember Hawks: you're a Hawk, and no one can take that from you.

WOOO!!

     THEY'RE GONE! Sure, I'm sad that they're leaving, if you couldn't already tell, but I'm finally a senior! I'm not one for the whole seniority crap that can go on in high school, but there are some perks that goes with being a senior, like... okay, there really aren't any that aren't forms of seniority, but I finally get to show to people how great I can be, no more shadow covering me up! It's my turn to leave a legacy, my time to go out with a bang! I'm incredibly nervous for senior year, but I'm so excited too. It's gonna be a good one, I can feel it.

He Chanted a Song of Wizardry

by J.R.R. Tolkien

He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
    Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the Sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
    Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn.
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn —-
    And Finrod fell before the throne

"Change is inevitable; growth is optional" -Eric Trio

Wednesday #20 - Why I Wouldn't Want J.R.R. Tolkien to Kill Me

WHOA! It's been 20 weeks! You know the saying, time flies... and I forget the rest of it. 20 weeks guys (and girls). We're almost halfway through the year at this point, and it's starting to look up for us at this point. I mean, my Advanced Placement tests are now finished, after tonight I have very small obligations towards my acting class, and in a couple days, when the seniors from my high school leave, one of my classes gets reduced down to three students... Yep, it's almost time to checkout excessively large volumes of books from the library and spend hours each day in a hammock reading... But until that time, I said I was going to talk about AP tests, and so I shall.

AP Tests: Good, Bad, Ugly

     Good: N/A
     Bad: N/A
     Ugly: N/A (I told you, I can't talk about them...)
   
     Luckily, I have another post prepared!

Why I Wouldn't Want J.R.R. Tolkien To Kill Me

     First of all, I don't want anyone to kill me. I'd rather hold off on dying for as long as possible (or at least until next year, we've got a good thing going here). What I'm saying here is that I wouldn't want J.R.R. Tolkien to be the author of my demise (no matter how awesome it would be). The reasoning is simple: Tolkien's track record. Over the course of his works (specifically The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and any film adaptations of his works), many people and creatures die. And just about all of them in horrible, agonizing ways.
Boromir: Son of Denethor, captain of the Citadel Guard of Gondor, best known Tolkien death. He dies when the Uruk captain sends three arrows into Boromir's torso at relatively close range, while Boromir was defending Merry and Pippin in the closing pages/minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring. Not only did he die after the arrows were resting comfortably in his torso, but he thought that he was responsible for the terrible death of the Merry and Pippin at the hands of Saruman, but also for the ultimate heat death of Middle Earth, thinking that his actions against Frodo caused the quest of the Fellowship to fail by separating the Ringbearer from those competent enough to protect him.

Denethor: Okay, Denethor wasn’t the nicest of people. He made irrational decisions as Steward of Gondor, was a royal jerk to Faramir (well, a pseudo-royal jerk; he was only steward, not king), and he was responsible for the deaths of the soldiers who attempted to retake Osgiliath. Despite all of that negative karma, did he really deserve this:

            Anyone with some serious daddy issues may think so, but dying with the belief that Gondor has fallen, and even though his son is (miraculously) not dead, he seemed set in his belief that Middle-Earth would fall and burn… Kinda like he did…

Theodin: Going with our theme of dying rulers, let’s look at how Theodin of Rohan bites it. In the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Theodin is attacked by the leader of the Nazgul, The Witch-King of Agmar. And a Fell Beast. From the air. Sneak attack style.

Theodin and horse were then released from the maw of the Fell Beast, resulting in a horse-on-king trajectory. Theodin then was crushed again when the Fell Beast stood on the horse… Sure Theodin died with a sort of peace of mind that we all hope for, but I’d rather not have the horse involved.

Sauron: Yeah, I’m going to sympathize with the villain, because he died not once, but twice (in the movies. The books bring the death count up to 4). First, his fingers are severed, and he explodes

Then, he spends 3000 years or so as a spirit, till he returns… As a great Eye… Lidless, wreathed in flame… You know of what I speak… (the Eye of Sauron) (imagine the gold Mordor has to dish out yearly for the eye drops to keep that under control). Sauron starts getting things working again, re-stokes the fires of Mount Doom, and all of a sudden, bloop, Ring + Volcano. And we get this:

Gandalf: Here’s where it gets ugly. Technically, Gandalf never died… his spirit returned to Valinor, and he trained (kinda), and then was sent back as Gandalf the White. But, think about how long he had to wait. Sure, it was only three days (after fighting a demon for 10 days, you’d be tired too), but each moment was like “a life time of the Earth”… there are 24 hours in a day, so in three days there are 72 hours. In each hour, there are 60 minutes, so 4,320 in three days. And that’s 259,200 seconds. The Earth is currently 4.54 billion years old. If the world ended today (and that was the standard age of the Earth), Gandalf had to wait 1,176,768,000,000,000 years before returning to Middle Earth… and he returned naked on top of a mountain. 

Well, there's your two posts. See y'all next week!

I sit beside the fire and think...

by J. R. R. Tolkien
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

 “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Wednesday #19 - GONE FOR AP TESTS

GONE FOR AP TESTS. TWO POSTS NEXT WEEK. SORRY.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

Emily Dickinson

 "Nothing exists except atoms and empty space, everything else is opinion." -Democritus