The Memory of Earth Part 3

The final part of The Memory of Earth is basically the only part that makes sense to me. A lot of  the stuff that was confusing before starts to make sense. I started to wrap my head around this weird plot and it turned out to be quite interesting. So basically Nafai, the main protagonist in the story has to team up with his family to find the Index of the Oversoul. Mid-way  through my reading, there was a separate plot twist. This man named Gaballufix, who tries to draw Basilica into a war against the Gorayni. Nafai and his family find out about his evil plan, and they fight with each other about what to do about the situation. They need to retrieve the Index for the Oversoul, but they don't want to kill Gaballufix either. Gaballufix fights back by forcing the family to retreat out of the city and into the desert. He also plans to kill off the influential people of Basilica and overthrow the society's rules. I find that this is a very interesting point in the book, that actually got me sort of interested in it. However I do not think that it should have taken this long, to reveal this type of information to the reader. If this was introduced earlier then I think many more people would be hooked to this book from the start. I've read many reviews about how Orson Card has written an amazing novel and a great start of a series, but I don't see how people could like a book that progresses so slowly. There's just too much extra detail that does not contribute to the main plot whatsoever, so giving the reader too much information can make the story become confusing. Overall, I think this book has room for improvement, but isn't a total failure.

I am becoming pudgy.

In a world of obesity as well as health freaks, nutrition and dieting are shaping up to be a bigger part of a teenager's life. With constant pressure from magazines, movies, music videos, etc. to look a certain way, many people have resorted to outlandish things to keep up.
Now as for me, I'm not a health freak who is constantly watching my weight or what I eat. In fact, I haven't weighed myself since 2009 and I normally don't care about what I put in my mouth. I'm one of those lucky people who are born with a relatively higher metabolism compared to other people. On the other hand, I'm not a fitness junkie either. I'm not going to be one of those people who goes to the gym other day, nor do I do many workouts outside of P.E. Recently however, I've noticed that I'm starting to build up some fat around my body. I'm normally an average guy, not too skinny, but not overweight either. My current body mass index (BMI) is 22.0 which is average for someone my age. It's just now in the back of my mind every time I put something unhealthy into my mouth, I think 'You're going to regret that.' 
When I was younger I used to be really into fitness, or exercising. I would play multiple sports as well as do some push-ups, sit-ups, etc. at home. I never had to really worry about my weight or appearance. Now I'm not saying my sudden rise of fat has been so significant that I've gone through a dramatic change. No. In fact, most people probably wouldn't be able to tell. However, I can.
In the past week I've eaten really unwisely. Monday started off with a Double Down from KFC. Two pieces of fried chicken sandwiching 2 cheeses and bacon. Probably not the best choice, but I had to try it once. Wednesday for lunch I had a large sweet tea and two McGangBangs from McDonalds. This is a DIY creation made from a McDouble (double cheese burger) anda  McChicken totally a whopping 600 calories each. Friday, I had McDonalds for a second time, stuffing down one McGangBang  and 20 piece McNuggets. This is the type of unhealthy eating, and bad habits that I would like to steer away from. I hardly pass up a chance to eat some fast food since I don't eat it often. I really should be one of those people who watch what they consume though. I mean, it's a good thing to do for your body and it's not a lot of work to maintain.
Due to my laziness, schoolwork and other activities, I don't have much time to work out. I mean, sure I play basketball every now and then for a couple of hours, but there's no better way of losing weight, toning, as well as building muscle than to work out. I suppose I really should start. I know some people may think, why do you worry so much just because you may have put on a little weight? Well, it shouldn't matter as long as I have some motivation to reach my goal. I really don't know. I should just start doing a little every night or so. We'll see how it goes from there.

The Memory of Earth: Part 2

Finally! This book is starting to develop, it's not as fast paced as I would like, but progress is progress. From what I can make out, the protagonist in this book is Nafai, the youngest of four brothers. He is an 18 year old boy still learning about the customs of adulthood and how to be a man. So as he goes off to visit his mother in Basilica, his father gets a vision of the city being burned to the ground. As I read further into the novel, the plot thickens and trouble arises. The main problem that I have with this book is the way that it's written. I mean, I suppose most fantasy type novels are similar to this, but for some reason I keep having to go back and reread sections. I just get lost sometimes during the time in which I read and it can get annoying to stop and go back to clear things up. I can say one thing for sure though, this book was not what I expected it to be like, but it's got a unique twist to it. From it's good reviews, I cannot understand why I can't seem to enjoy this book. Whenever I read a section of it, I just find myself in a bored state of mind. Perhaps that's why I keep having to go back and reread sections. I guess it all depends on the type of person you are, and what type of literature you enjoy. Reading is definitely easier though, if you actually read a book that you enjoy, or are fascinated in. I suppose this was bound to happen eventually, I mean I'm not going to enjoy all the books that I read. This one probably isn't as bad as I'm making it sound, but it just kind of annoys me. The more I read, the more questions that pop up, and only a few get answered. I don't want to post most of these questions up because it won't make sense unless you are actually reading the book, but for now I'm pretty confused. Still.

The Memory of Earth: Part 1

The first thing that intrigued me about this book was the title. The Memory of Earth made me believe that this book was about the destruction of the planet Earth and what happened afterwords. Well so far, this is kind of true. From what I've read so far, I believe that the story takes place on another planet called Harmony. From the cover of the book I can tell that the characters live in a desert-type environment and their clothing and it's style looks quite old. This is the confusing part, originally I thought that this book was about the future because it talked about how Earth was destroyed and such, but I don't understand why the technology didn't seem to advance or progress. However there is one exception, the protagonist's brother, Issib is disabled, but instead of being in a wheelchair, he is on a levitating chair which is quite interesting. I think this book is pretty dull so far compared to my last book filled with zombies and shootings. This one is more of a fantasy book, but I do hope for some action later on. This early on in the book, I can't make out what the plot seems to be, except for the fact that the Overseer, a master computer designed to fix human problems, is in trouble and is seeking help from citizens. The concept is pretty strange, but I do have a little bit of hope for it. This book is tough for me to read because there are some made up words in here that make it hard to keep up with the storyline. I think next time I should be choosing a book earlier on instead of last minute, that way I can get a better understanding of whether or not I'll enjoy reading it. So far, the reading to me feels forced rather than me actually wanting to read it like my previous book. Who knows though? Never judge a book by it's cover.

My Goals as a Writer.

After effectively blogging on a variety of different topics for the past several months, my goals as a writer has shifted slightly. My main focus as of now, is to go into more depth or detail in my work. I think the cause of this would have to be partly due to the requirement changes for the blog posts issued by Mr. Sutherland. Instead of the standard 300 word blogs that I used to be able to write to effortlessly and with ease, I have found out that the going the extra 200 words is an entirely new challenge. The struggle that I have with this is not about reaching the minimum word count, but rather it is focusing on making the content worthwhile to read. The more words that you post, the harder it gets to become less and less redundant in your points. I find it rather difficult to maintain the same level of depth and detail in my old 300 word blog posts as I type out the new 500 worded posts. So this new struggle that I've encountered has slightly changed my priorities on what I want to accomplish as a writer.
Now on another note, a big thing that has been occurring around school are students enrolling for classes for the 2010-2011 school year. My final decision ended up being: English P, HP Pre-Calculus, AP Environmental Science, Multimedia Art, United States History P, and AP Computer Science. To be honest, if all of my choices become approved, I'll become rather nervous. This will be my first time taking any sort of advanced placement classes, and I'm taking two at that. The pressure of schoolwork and grades would definitely be a constant thing on my mind next year. Also, if I would like to maintain as close to a 4.0 as possible, I would need to seriously change some habits of mine. The main point would just be procrastination. I have a huge tendency to work on things the last minute, or get distracted and so if I were to keep my grades up, this major bad habit would need some revising. Now I am fully aware of the fact that AP classes are meant to be taken because a student wants to learn more about a certain subject, or they want it for college credits, but truthfully I think the main reason why I took an AP class is because I wanted a challenge. The curriculum that is currently offered at Alameda High is rather odd. I find that there is a major difference in the regular classes compared with the advanced ones. I find that the advanced classes pushes a student, shaping critical values and skills such as work ethic and being prepared. Meanwhile, from experience and friends, the standard classes are just that, standard. They're not going to be a walk in the park, but the class itself won't push a student over the edge. You'll never find a student pulling an all-nigher due to a regular class, unless they needed to catch up on work, or something. All this is my opinion after all. Some people may feel very differently towards this subject, but from what I've heard from numerous amount of people, this is what I was able to deduce.

One really big thing that's going to bother me though, is that I forgot to turn in my schedule today to the office and so I'm worried about getting into my desired classes for net year. Do you think they'll allow for me to turn the slip in on the Monday we get back? Thoughts? Thanks.