vacation please.

pg. 452- 494

where i left during these endless snow days, drake had just received this whipping arm he now uses as a weapon. like he needs another weapon.

At the beginning Sam is wondering where Lana has gone, not knowing that she has been taken by Caine and the coyotes. He is also wondering where Caine is because Sam is all ready to take him on and he is no where to be seen. They also go to visit Orc which they find probably wasn't the best idea. all he does is drink beer anymore and they find that after being dragged by the coyotes, and who knows what, he is covered in patches of gravel. gross.

Sam collects all the machine guns from the nuclear plant for the war that is about to come, also to keep them away from Caine. They all get ready for battle, they take their positions sort of i mean. Astrid goes on top of the church where you can basically see everything that is about to come and they get walkie talkies so they can communicate. Sams day to disappear is not too far away, actually its hours away, but he wont go down without a fight.

Sam also says something that he suspects Astrid has some sort of power. Diana said she was a two bar and Astrid confesses that whenever she touches a person's hand, she sees something in her mind. in Sam's case, a streak of fire. my guess is, that Astrid can tell what powers each person has by the touch of the hand, but its just a guess.

Also, Diana asks Jack to go to Sam and tell him what he can do to save himself from disappearing. Jack starts driving off, but he finds that drake and panda are following him so he drives into the forest to hide. As he emerges the next day, he thinks he is being followed again by a huge semi truck being driven by Drake, but it is really two children, unaccounted for who have been living in hiding and have threatened to kill him. luckily, he saved himself after promising to fix the boy's wii.

Sam sees a whole bunch of Coates kids reach the school so he goes there with some of the kids with powers. After destroying half the school and terrorizing the two kids the are inside, they find that it is a trap... great.

this is me...

pg. 392- 452

im taking advantage of these snow days to finally finish this book...

it's getting kind of weird. i mean weirder than it already has. after Sam and Lana and them escape from the cabin, they follow the wall home, but they happen upon this girl whose hands are encased in cement. she is basically dying from starvation and exhaustion in the forest which is sick. we get a little clue prior to this that Drake is actually the one who has been doing this to people, but only people with the power. but they show compassion to this girl, give her some food, and try to carry her back to Perdido Beach, until they get stopped by Drake and Caine who were driving along because they saw the fire that Sam had caused.

They get brought back to Coates academy where Lana is introduced as the healer and Drake encases Sam's hands in cement like the girls. They also meet at least a dozen people in the same situation who are basically being held hostage because they can't going anywhere due to lack of food and exhaustion. After being encased in cement, something happend and Little Pete uses his power, causing the cement blocks to disappear not only on Sam's hands, but on everyone elses too. it is kind of weird how his powers come and go. after Sam's hands are free, he burns Drake's arm off, causing a big diversion and they escape back to Perdido Beach.

They basically have to chop Drake's arm off after they leave which causes a big scene. Drake refuses to let them, but they do it against his will and with the power of Caine's power.

When Lana finally reaches Perdido beach she is invited to stay in this house where she gets cleaned up, but its not long before she is basically abducted by Drake himself. They don't get far. there car, also with Howard in it, gets surrounded by coyotes and they are forced to get out and are lead to see that darkness that the pack leader always talks about. When they get there it's kind of creepy. the darkness speaks through Lana but then when it finds out that Drake is there, it thinks that Drake is more suitable for the position that it has been looking for, to kill humans, so it takes him in, healing his arm, not regrowing it with human flesh, but with some sort of tentacle.

It is also learned in this section that Little Pete was the one which caused this whole situation. he was in the control room of the nuclear power plant in the day it happened with his dad when a whole bunch of alarms went off. to my understanding, the alarm that was going off was about to destroy every human on earth, with the help of Little Pete and his power, he sort of saved everyone by putting them in this situation.

2.23 Diction Exercise

a.)
jut
hewn
rushing
taciturn
stocky
treacherously
placid
graze
lumps
slate
sharply

b.)
harsh
pensive
pleasant
smooth
brash
delicate
c.)
Neil Gaiman's beautifully concrete language illustrates the delicate image of pleasant brashness.

pg. 351-392

In this section, Caine is reminded of a boy named Andrew, still living at Coates with the power, who has a birthday today. he gathers a whole bunch of camera equipment so Jack can film when or if he goes at the time he turns fifteen. He wants to know if the theory he has that people with the power do not go, is true or not. After they arrive at Coates, they finally track Andrew down, and tie him to a chair so he does not mess up the filming experience. Jack counts down to what he thinks is the exact time he is supposed to poof out, but then he ends up going over in time. Andrew is doing is power and going nuts, thinking that maybe he might survive and then after twenty seconds, he disappears. Luckily, they got it all on film and they actually saw something at the time of his disappearance. after slowing down the footage considerably, they see that right before Andrew disappears, he smiles and starts extending his arms as if he is reaching our for a hug. They also saw some sort of green blob. they say that for Andrew this whole experience was lasting a whole lot longer than than it was for anyone else, that that green thing, looking like a monster to them, must have looked like something positive to Andrew. They say that this whole experience is a trick and that if it was just possible to say no...

Sam and everyone as they are walking back to Perdido Beach, hear coyotes which gathered are Lana leading all of them to the cabin. Sam happens up the same cabin and then sees Lana running towards him for the first time. she tells all of them to run inside very quickly, but they aren't necessarily quick enough. Sam and Quinn, especially Sam receive a fair mount of damage from the coyotes, but luckily, they are safely, inside eventually and that Lana has healing powers. They all introduce themselves, about time Lana meets another human. Lana fixes all of Sam's wounds and amazes the whole crowd. They discuss the mutations of the coyotes and the snakes. But the coyotes are angry that Lana never taught them anything. dozens of them surround the cabin, making it impossible for them to escape. They keep having to reinforce the door because the coyotes keep knocking it. After a while, Pack leader catches the cabin on fire forcing them to come out. Sam uses his power to break the barricade in front of the door to get out also kills many coyotes this way. It sets of this huge inferno of flaming coyotes, some of them running through the forest engulfed in flames.

about time

i finally saw it's kind of a funny story! the book was better but you know they did what they could. they changed a lot of parts which confused me on why they even did so, but it was still a good movie. there were still parts that were exactly the same like his map drawing and the people and the ending. overall, everyone should see it, its actually kind of inspiring.

pg. 317- 351

this book has gotten rather strange.

Lana has started living with the coyotes that abducted her. they talk and stuff so she can sort of understand what they want and need. shes dirty all the time and she and her dog, patrick are constantly running around with them. The pack doesn't necessarily like running with a human and a dog. they slow them down considerably and nip at Lana's heal causing her to bleed more than she already is. good thing she has healing powers.

Lana doesn't want to be there at all. if anything she wants to be in the comfort of that cabin with food and gold bars. so she decides to lead them there. the coyotes want Lana to teach them the ways of the human so Lana tells them she will teach them if they lead her to that house.

we also find out in this section about Diana and what she did to land her in Coates Academy. Apparently, after finding out her dad was seeing another woman, she pushed her down the stairs and blamed it on her father, ruining his business and career. Also, we find out that computer jack has powers. Jack is super strong. he found out that he had powers by stubbing his toe and grasping a chair and squeezing it to the point that his imprint was left. He makes Diana promise not to tell.

Sam continues to find an exit along the barrier and they find out that that there really isn't any hope in finding an exit in the timeframe that they have so they decide to head back to the Perdido beach to fight Caine.

Darkness

In Homestead High School's JV dance team jazz dance, underlying observation of the piece is that the dance is fast-paced and dark inferring that a great deal of practice must have been involved in creating it into how it appears today. Overall, the dance is put together by several choppy movements referencing it to ghosts or the undead. The facials in this dance are full of intensity and express someone being strangled or involved in a painful death. These facials are what make the dance what it is because without them, the undead, spooky message of the dance would be lost behind the ever-changing movements. This dance takes up a great deal of space on the gym floor during some parts, but in a blink of an eye, the dancers are in a clump in the center practicing clean, choreographed lines. The ghost feeling is inferred again with this because ghosts can travel anywhere within a matter of seconds, as do the dancers from the clump to around the gym floor. With the implied, ghost theme, this theme, this dance persuades the audience with their use of movements, choreography, and facials.

pg. 295-316

This section is basically a boat chase between Sam and Orc. Drake is no where to be seen after burning down Astrid's house. which is extreme yes. Caine is on the radio talking to Orc telling him basically if he doesn't catch Sam he's dead. Guess who doesn't catch Sam?

Sam thinks ahead and realizes that the barrier( which crossed through the ocean) could be to their advantage if they crashed the two boats. So Sam slows down his boat and Orc goes full speed and crashed right into theirs. Luckily, Sam's boat was not damaged to the point where it was no longer drivable. no one ended up hurt on Sam's side except Astrid with a gash in her leg.

But Orc still gets to Sam eventually. they get into this big violent fight, Orc just using his fists, but Sam actually using is brain. Sam pushes Orc up against the barrier which burns anyone who touches it and you can clearly tell who has won this fight. for now.

Caine go ahead and warns Sam through the radio transmitter that he will kill him. Sam has now decided to escape. where to? I have no idea.

Lana on the other hand, has found herself in a pretty sticky situation. She reaches a bunch of buildings after walking for a while and finds no one to be there. but that is no where near the weird part. while she is there, she sees dozens of coyotes flow down the mountain whispering "food...food" yeah whispering coyotes, remember those? that has to scare the heck out of her. the thing is, once they reach her, they can actually communicate somewhat... the coyotes say that there are no humans here, and tell her to come out of the building she had run into from fear. the coyote says: "go out, die fast. stay, die slow." which i am inferring to mean that if she stays here without the adults, she will die a slow and painful death...

Lana finds a dead body in the building and finds out that the coyotes were the ones who killed the MAN.

The coyotes attack Lana, but they stop for some reason.

the coyotes lead Lana into a dark cave, her dog running off from fear, they reach what might be the end and she falls over. she collapses in impossible pain, the coyotes dragging her out into the night not knowing if she is alive.

i really don't know what to make of this, i am extremely confused. from the book, it makes it seem like Lana reaches Hell. I have to keep reading because right now, i am just as lost as it sounds.

Happy Valentines Day !

pg. 263- 294

not much has really happened, i'll tell you that much.

Astrid and Little Pete disappear from Drake to Astrid's house, but they quickly realize they can't stay because that is the first place Drake will look. Astrid quickly thinks of somewhere to go and thinks of Clifftop, this country club thing, they wen there the first night. It's special to her because its the first night Sam and Astrid spent together and she is hoping Sam will make the same connection.

Sam, while looking for Astrid, gets ahold of a boat, but unfortunately is spotted by Orc and some others. Sam knew where Astrid was which was great and Sam had told Quinn who was in the boat with Sam to tell Orc that they were heading towards the power plant. Orc wasn't Smart enough to make the connection. but unfortunately, looking down from on top of the church, Drake saw Sam make a U-turn which is not so good. now Drake knows where they are going and will get there before they do. sigh.

Astrid sees the boat turn around and she knows they are coming to get her. unfortunately, Drake does get to her first, but Astrid and Pete are able to slip down on floor from the balcony. but drake finds them and as soon as he is about to shoot, Sam uses his power on him.

meanwhile, Lana, while hiding out in a secluded cabin, remains alone, and unaware of anything thats really happening. but luckily, she does decide to start walking to Perdido Beach.

While Sam and them are in the boat, they decide to see if the barrier ends under the water...

"When he reached the end of his air he stabbed toward the barrier. The screwdriver hit nothing, and he felt a momentary surge of excitement that disappeared when his next thrust stopped against solid resistance."

So there is some sort of opening down there? Either way, it's going to be dangerous to get through. good luck Sam.

hold em' up!

amazing

i found this picture. it is really amazing.

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/flash/cntower_timelapse.swf

pg. 223- 262

after retrieving my book from school, i can finally blog about it.

basically, this section started off with Caine revealing that Sam and him are brothers. they both didn't know their real father. Caine didn't know his real mother. Sam knew his mother, but his mother had worked at Coates Academy, the school Caine was attending. it was suspected that she knew that Caine had a certain power and knew they two of them were related. earlier in the book when Sam had first figured out that the adults disappeared, Sam had found that when his mother disappeared, she was in the middle of writing a journal entry on the computer that read:

It happened again last night. I wish I could take this to G. But she'll think i'm crazy. I could lose my job. She'll think i'm on drugs. If i had a way to put cameras all over, i could get some proof. but i have no proof, and C's "mother" is rich and generous to CA. I'd be out the door. Even if i tell someone the whole truth, they'll just put me down as an overwrought mother.

Sooner or later, C or one of the others will do something serious. Someone will get hurt. Just like with S and T.

Maybe I'll confront C. i don't think he'll confess. would it make any difference if her knew everything?

Sam has interpreted this to be C standing for Caine and CA for Coates Academy, the rest is unknown. But with the news of Caine and Sam being Twins and their birthday being in five days, Sam is now determined not to end up like Anna and Emma.

When Astrid, little Pete, and Sam all go shopping for food, they get stopped by Drake( if i haven't told you, he doesn't have powers, he just likes violence and trouble). by this time, Quinn has betrayed Sam and has told Caine that Sam has the Power, as he calls it.

Anyway, they get stopped, Sam gets captured, brought to Caine. Astrid and Pete get captured and brought to Drake and Diana. It is here where Caine's powers are revealed. he seems to have the ability to inflict pain on people, kind of like Jane in twilight...But Caine's is a little more involved. he raises his hand, and by doing so, raises Sam's body, and then Caine makes a fist, dropping Sam hard to the ground. he can basically do this with any movement, and he does, Sam is in a great deal of pain after they get through with him and they tie his hands up so he cant burn a hole through anything.

meanwhile Astrid and Pete are in some vacant room accompanied by Drake and Diana. Diana has the power to measure how much power someone has in the form of bars. She says Caine has four bars. anyway, she tests Astrid and doesn't really get anything, and doesn't bother to test Pete because he is autistic. Drake then begins to taunt Astrid and makes her say that her brother is a retard ans slaps her cold in the face. Astrid doesn't know how this happens, but Pete can teleport people from one place to another, and in that instant, they were in her bedroom.

maybe Diana should have tested Pete? HA

does this make my thighs look fat?

another blog about blogging

picture this: it's -5 degress out, your basically running to your car, your ears are freezing off, and then you remember something. you forgot your book at school because you were in such a hurry to get past the blistering winds and below zero wind chill that you accidentally just left it there. oops.

thats my story. half way down the wretched sidewalk, "OH CRAP!"

i tend to be blogging a lot about not blogging, which is funny, but also weird. maybe i should try talking about actually subjects...

like, oh my goodness, i ate my first waffle today. it was splendid.

disappointment.

my mom didn't even buy me my movie today. i am very disappointed. i have been talking about it for who knows how long. i came home and i saw a different movie on the counter. she says i have to make sure i like it first. well, i wanted it on my ipod for the weekend. thats why i was in such a rush. geez.

I'm a fantastic driver...

i just read that article about how when people are in the car while your driving, it affects you for the worse... and i would probably agree with that. i have been driving people for around 2 months and even though when i am alone i am still talking and singing and being distracting and weird, there is actually someone there responding now! just the other day i was driving my friend home from school and since the ground is so stinking snowy, and the sun was shining bright in the sky, i could hardly see. it was so bright. the snow was like reflecting the suns rays. anyway, i was kidding with my friend in the passenger seat on how it was so bright and that usually when it is bright i close my eyes. so i began to drive with my eyes closed. stupid yes i know. but we were in a straight line. so there is one example on how people in the car affect the way you drive for the worse just the article says, they don't have to test me to find out, i just told them i am a horrible driver.

Today is the day!

it is feburary 8th! remember the book that i was reading before? It's Kind of a Funny Story. well, the movie come out on DVD today! can't wait to go home to watch it! except, my mom was refusing to buy it this morning beceause we haven't seen it before. even though this is a stupid reason. she has bought movies in the past she hasn't seen. i didn't want FLUSHED AWAY but she bought that anyway. so i am crossing my fingers she buys this movie for me. :)

pg. 152-222

okay, so the first thing that really stands out in this section is at the end of it. Sam catches up with these two twins: Emma and Anna who have a birthday on that day. He wonders what will happen to them when they turn fifteen until he figures it out. the first to go is Emma. she disappears into thin air and Anna screams for dear life because 13 minutes later, she know she will go to, and she does while she is in Sam's arms. what a way to go huh? except, no one knows where they go. Sams birthday is in five days along with Caines. Maybe when they disappear, we will follow them.

We also learn that Sam killed his dad with his firey power. maybe its his stepdad... i don't remember. but his mom was in the room when it happened and she obviously knew all about it and lied for him when they went to the hospital. apparently, now the poor guy has no hand.

oh, do you remember Lana? well she found this cabin, after she healed all her broken bones and gangrene and stuff. she stays there for a while but comes across something extremely scary and odd. Astrid had said something prior about mutations and such happening with the seagulls. well Lana happens upon something similar. She is sitting in the cabin and heres something like a whisper saying "come out" which is creepy within itself. After going through that whole fracas of running away from the coyotes outside who supposedly whispered this to her, she later finds one dead outside with a snake in its mouth. "it was a snake no doubt, And yet she was sure she had seen it fly. Lana put that out of her mind. And along with it she dismissed the whisper she had heard because flying snakes and whispering coyotes the size of great danes, well none of that was possible."

so what if there really is mutations? then this book could really get interesting... it could be an even cooler randition of spy kids 2. you know, the spider monkey and well... i forgot the other animals... but i can't wait to read on!

clean plate club

while driving home from practice today, i was kind of hoping my mother wouldn't make dinner because i like it so much better when she doesn't. it's not like she's an awful cook,m but i love cereal and bagels and when she doesn't make dinner, i get to eat these lovely things. so when i arrived home today at 5:27 and found her passed out on the couch, i did a happy dance. my sister came home this weekend from college so i knew we had a variety of bagels. me being the kind of person i am, i picked the cinnamon raisin one, toasted it, buttered it, sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on it, leaving me to about 5 minutes ago. i quickly devoured this delicious but oh so unhealthy bagel. it was just so unbelievably great. i had sugar and cinnamon on my plate and when i was done with the bagel, i licked the plate clean. i don't know what is wrong with me, i probably go towards the thin mints next. you know how those draw me in. maybe celery. do you know that for every piece of celery you eat, it decreases your calorie intake my 3? i will need a lot of celery...

this is bad

do you know how hard it is to blog when you arent home all weekend? hard. and then when are you are home, you are bambarded by these horrible essays and awful things that are musts. ahhh i will try to do it tomorrow. its going to have to happen lol

pg. 99-153

wow. this is getting intense. thank goodness i was given consecutive snow days to read this or i would have been dying to know what was going to happen next. but seriously, you think you know what is going to happen then BAM they throw you another curve ball. its fantastic.

basically what has happened since the last section is that the three main kids: Sam, Astrid, and Quinn accompanied by Edilio, a 9 year old. all head to the nuclear power plant in Perdido Beach where Astrid's mom works to look for her autistic brother. Luckily they do find him in the control room of the plant along with a TV screen with the map of the land they are on. on the screen that shows, it shows the barrier that goes around the island, and that everything that lie inside the barrier, is radioactive. it's really confusing as your reading trying to sort all the information out that they are spitting at you because there is so much.

Do you remember that girl Lana who got in that car wreck because her grandfather disappeared behind the wheel. he arm had been severely broken and he leg had been broken and the rest of her body was just mutilated. well she laid there for days inside that car with her dog, Patrick, just waiting to die and watching the vultures circle above her, until a mountain lion came. Luckily, Patrick scared off the mountain lion, but not without getting bitten in the neck. anyway, she fell asleep with her hand on Patrick's wound, and when she woke up he was miraculously healed. Lana did the same for her broken arm, and it turned out to be healed too. Do you remember how i said how some of the kids developed powers? Sam being the fire. Well Lana's is some sort of healing power. wowza.

Theres this school, Coates Academy, where mostly the rich kids go in the area. parents also send their kids there because they cause trouble and such. Sam's mom works there as the school nurse. well anyway, a whole bunch of the Coates kids come to Perdido Beach, with their leader being Caine. Caine just automatically proclaims himself as leader i guess because he makes this big speech about the future and the future plans he has. he also asks from the Perdido beach kids if he could talk to some people that they think could best represent them so they can figure out a way to make their new life run the smoothest as possible i guess. Sam, Astrid, and Quinn are chosen along with the bully Orc. Mary, the one who runs the daycare also attends the "meeting."

Nothing is really accomplished by this meeting, except for the fact that Cookie, one of Orc's crew, is tackled by a fallen crucifix and is severely hurt. oh, did i mention the meeting was held in a church?

Oh, and the space within the barriers, is now being called the FAYZ which is made up by Orc. it stands for Fallout Alley Youth Zone. Fallout being the radioactive material brought to you by the nuclear power plant.

if this ever happened, like for real. i don't think i would want to be alive to watch it unfold. things are changing. animals are mutating. i don't want to be caught in the crossfire of anyone's problems. so if this happens, i am glad i am over fifteen years old. although, i am still very curious on where the parents have gone. i think it would be funny if they were like outside the barriers just watching their kids. maybe it's like a reality show, like in The Hunger Games. but even then, all the kids kill each other... i don't think parents would want to watch that.

i wouldn't want to be in it. let alone watch it.

the weather outside is frightful

seriously. it is. i feel like i am locked inside my house. i guess i kinda am because of the stupid level 1 emergency. but i woke up this morning and the whole trunk of my tree in the front yard was completely covered in snow. i might just go outside and jump in it just to see how deep it is, but i don't know. its not that of an intriguing idea. and you'd think with all of this free time, i would have extra time to read my book. no. i have been spending my time laying in bed. second day and i just remembered i have a book to read lol. so time to do that.