Book Challenge

So I have decided to start the book challenge over agian and see how many books I can read this year.
so far I have read 2 and in one week which I am kinda proud about.

The first book is...

#1 Charlie Bone
~Jenny Nimmo

#2 The Rise and Fall of A Teen-age Wako
~Mary Anderson

This book wasted two hours of my life. Lamest book ever!!! There was no point to it, and I could have gone through my life not reading it.

I am excited though because I have a stack of library books just waiting to be read, and so far I have started the year out right!! I am on track and I see my goal drawing closer with each page!!

Keep you posted!!

Patrick Henry- One of the greatest men to walk the earth

This upcoming week I am going to try to blog everyday about a different person who has changed my life.
Patrick Henry is one of them.

This is a paper I wrote three years ago for my government class. It is one of my favorites.

Patrick Henry

 Freedom or slavery?

That's a big question. Many have fought for both. The Civil War was about the slaves wanting freedom and the slave owners not wanting freedom for their slaves.

The revolutionary war was about the bondage or slavery that Britain had over the Americas.

Patrick Henry gave a speech to the Virginian House of Burgesses, his speech talked not only about freedom and slavery, also what would happen if we don't open our eyes and see, or our ears and hear.

Patrick Henry asked the speaker of the house a question.

"Are we...of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having, ears, hear not, the things which so rearly concern their temporal salvation?"

This question was asked over two hundred years ago. But that doesn't mean people of today still don't live with their ears and eyes shut. I'm going to ask you a question, have you ever lived your life with your eyes and ears shut?

If you said "No, I don't think I have ever done that." think again, everyone has fallen into this trap sometime in their life.

I had an experience just happen to me. I read the speech "give me liberty, or give me death"  a couple months ago, but I shut my eyes to what I was suppose to learn because I didn't want to read it, when I was asked to give a report on it, I didn't know what to say because I didn't wont to do it. It wasn't till I read it again with the intent to get inspiration, and guidance on what to write, that I was open to all that Patrick Henry had to tell me.

Patrick Henry said

"We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth."

Can shutting our eyes and ears to truth be a form of slavery?

I think it can, if we aren't looking for truth, what are we looking for?

If we aren't letting ourselves progress in wisdom and truth, what are we progressing ourselves in?

In the premortal life there was a division of rule, Jesus Christ and Satan. Heavenly Father wants us to progress in all we can, and Satan wants us to decrease, he wants us to become his slaves.

What is a way we can decrease?

I can think of a couple things.

-laziness

-education

-smoking

-drinking

Can you think of any more? Let's talk about the ones that I have.

Laziness, what can make a person lazy? Sometimes it's staying up late, or if it's hot summer days, or cold winter nights, or not wanting to do work, or if you just got a new video game and you really want to play it, even if you have a pile of homework that still needs to be done. This brings us to the purpose of education. Education brings life to us, I'm not just talking about books, education can be anything that you can learn from. You can get an education from cooking and sewing.

In Patrick Henry's day they didn't have video games. But they had hot summer days. If a farmer in the 1770's got up one morning and decided that they didn't want to work that day. What could be the consequence of that? Well if he didn't go milk the cow he might not have milk with breakfast that morning, but whatever, he's not hurting anyone else, or is he?

By not milking the cow he is making it so she  (the cow) is in pain all day, or he could get in the habit or slave of not working. What if it's time for harvesting his wheat, he could not go harvest it, he might say "Oh I'll do that tomorrow" but then day after day he might not do anything.

What's the problem with not working? or not harvesting the wheat? What could be the long term consequence?

By not harvesting the wheat he not only won't have food for the day or week, he won't have any food for the winter, and then what is he to do? In the 177'0s they didn't have a store that you could just go to and buy food, you had to work hard to keep a living.

How can not doing your homework have a long term consequence?

You could not get a good grade and then not be able to go to college and get a good job.

Which brings us to the next two things on our list, Smoking and drinking. If you are lazy, you might not care about what other people think or what you want to do with your life, you might not care about yourself as a person. You might think that life is a game. Drinking and smoking are not jokes, they have serious consequences, and if you are smoking you are ruining your breathing. If you drink you aren't in control of your emotions. You could hurt people around you.

Patrick Henry didn't have a problem with laziness, or a lack of education, he didn't have a problem with smoking and drinking. He did although have a problem with the practice of slavery, with others being slaves. If you were a slave to something you like, such as smoking or drinking, you wouldn't want to listen to people telling you that it's wrong; you would shut your ears to the advice of others. Like I have said before "We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the siren till she transforms us into beasts." Some things are more pleasant to hear at a time, but then we find out that we were wrong and made a decrease instead of an increase.

When Britain was trying to take over the America's, they tried it with lies, they were deceptive, they told the states one thing but did another. When Britain had the stamp act, the tea act, and the sugar act, when the American people fought against these forms of slavery, Britain said they would get rid of them if the colonies submitted to the king. Patrick Henry saw around this, he saw that it was just a trap; he saw that if they submitted they would never get out of it.

"Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss." "They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging."

Patrick Henry fought for freedom and liberty, he fought for the blind men and woman of America, he fought for the deaf and those who were in bondage. He was a leader of America who opened the eyes of those who didn't know how. "I know not what course other may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

Quote of the day!! 1-12-13

I love to talk about education, there are so many aspects of it that I LOVE!!!
So the topic of to days quotes are Education.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. 
~Nelson Mandela 
 

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't.
~Anatole France 


Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
~William Butler Yeats 


An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
~Benjamin Franklin  

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
~Anthony J. D'Angelo 
 

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
~George Washington Carver 


The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.
~Carl Rogers 

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_education.html#cCRsO02hW0POBhV1.99 

Quotes

I asked my friends for their favorite quotes, now before I post them, I want to warn you that I have a lot of very odd friends. So their quotes are very odd.

"Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership"

" Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night."
~Dave Barry

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

-Marianne Williamson

 "Who wants pizza?" ~mom.

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

~Alexander Graham Bell

"It's a magical world Hobbes ol' buddy... Let's go exploring!"

"Welcome to the karma cafe. there are no menus, you will get served what you deserve"

"yolo. seatbelt"

 "The best way out is through." - Robert Frost

"You treated me like an option so I dropped you like a choice"

 -drake

Miss count!!

So I may have miss counted, and I believe the number of books I read this year past is 39, not 37. Though now I can't remember one of the books.

#38: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella
~Stephenie Meyer 

Well once I think of the second book I will inform you of it! 

And the totall is..... 37!!

I didn't reach my goal of 50 books, but that's ok, I got 37. It was funny, I was in Utah I figured out that I would have to read two books a week to reach my goal. I told my friend and this was her reaction  

Friend "so read short books." 
Me "I am." 
Friend "How long are they?" 
Me "at least 250 pages." 
Friend ":O"

What can I say I love to read.

The shortest book I read this year was 116, and is called Green Angel, it was one of the odder books I read. But it was still good, and very interesting.

I stopped keeping track of the number of pages in each book, so i am not sure which book was the longest.

Books I read in 2012

Austianland
~Shannon Hale

Graceling
~Kristin Cashore

Sun of Neptune
~Rick Riordon

Reading With the Stars
~Leonard Kniffel

Raised by Wolves
~Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Letters of a Woman Homesteader
~Elinore Pruitt

Entwined
~Heather Dixen

The Magicians Elephant
~Kate DiCamillo

The Hunger Games series
~Suzanne Collins

Starlighter
~Bryn Davis

Frog Princess
~E. D. Baker

Sorry Little Supper
~RaeAnn Proost

Dragon Slippers Series
~Jessica Day George

Sisters Grimm, The Council of Mirrors
~Michael Buckley

Green Angel
~Alice Hoffman

The Thief
~Megan Whalen Turner

Grim Tuesday
Lady Wednesday
Sir Thursday
Lady Friday
Supior Saturday
Lord Sunday
~ Garth Nix

The Giver
~Lois Lowry

Harry Potter #1
~J.K. Rowling

A Tale Dark and Grimm
~Adam Gidwitz

The Fallen Star 
~Jessica Sorensen

The Fallen Series
~Laurnen Kate

The Amulet
 ~Alison Pensy

Gravity
~Abigail Boyd

Cinderella
~Henry W. Heuet 

The Aviary
~Kathleen O'dell

That is all of them, I fell kinda accoumplished when I look at the list. A lot of teenagers these days don't like to read, so 37 books is a big deal. I have already started over to see how many I read this year. Keep you posted!!

Happy New Year!

I bet like me you might be sick of hearing that, but its a fact, so just deal with it. Its OK actually, I am sick of people telling me "happy new Year." I dont know, i just think I wasnt in the true New Year spirit this year.

Anyway, I hope everyone partied it up!! But not to much.

I spent my New Years Eve playing Monopoly Doctor Who, and then one of my friends came over and we watched Thor and RED. Now if you havent seen Thor that's sad, but if you haven't seen RED thats even sadder.


RED is one of my favorite movies ever!! It is super funny and its based on the Marvel comic books.


Red (Special Edition)

I love Doctor Who, if you don't then you need to get on netflix and watch it. 
I got Doctor Who monopoly for Christmas, and I played it for the first time last night, it was a lot of fun. It could have been the fact that I played it with my little sister and anything we do together is fun! No but really you need to get this game!



Monopoly: Dr. Who Edition 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition

I hope your had a wonderful start to the New Year!
Have a wonderful Day!