Inheritance Cycle (Outside Reading for the week of Mardi Gras)

The book, Inheritance, is leading up to the climatic battle between Eragon and Gallbatorix that will surely occur towards the end of the novel. Those reading this novel anticipate this event throughout the series. It began in the first book when Eragon's dragon egg hatched and he became a dragon rider. As one of the only riders who opposed Gallbatorix, Eragon was the last hope of those who disagree with the ruler of Alagaësia. This is because there only existed three dragon eggs and only one of them was under the possession of the rebels.

This climatic battle draws nearer as the Varden, a group who opposes Gallbatorix, moves towards the capitol, Urû'baen. The capitol is where Gallbatorix and most of his troops lie. Before they can reach the capitol though, they must defeat Gallbatorix's allies in the city of Dras-Leona, which is between Belatona, their current location, and the capitol.

Retreat Recap

After some minor concern prior to last week's retreat, I thought the event went well. Our class grew closer together as a group and continued to understand one another better. I had a great time at the retreat center, which included time in groups and breaks. I must admit that some topics seemed pretty obvious and easy to understand (for example being a "real man"), but others were quite helpful. When talking about things that I call obvious, I was surprised to be able to look deeper or differently at these topics.

Instead of having a field day after the morning's events, we instead defaulted to our backup plan which was to watch a movie. We watched the movie Up during this time in the afternoon. It allowed for time to relax before working again the next day. After the following school day was over, everyone was excited because there would be no school in session for a week.

Upcoming Retreat

I am hoping that the upcoming retreat will be enjoyable and not boring. I went on a retreat once and wile there some things were fun, while others were boring. Maybe after attending this retreat, I can leave with the idea that I had a good time.

I understand that we are going to talk about important things as well as play games. These important topics could potentially include cyber bullying and bullying in general. My opinion about these topics is that over my time in middle school and high school, I have already been through discussions about this. I figure others have too. I understand that it is always good to review these things. However most of the time the information is always the same, just rehashed in a different way.

Inheritance Cycle

Saturday: 150 minutes

It has been a few years since I have last read one of the books in the Inheritance series (others know it as Eragon). I have been waiting for the fourth and final installment to be released for quite a few years now. Over time, I pretty much just gave up on waiting as it had been a little over three years. Finally, the final book, Inheritance has been released. This entire series has been written by the young author Christopher Paolini.

Inheritance is a continuation of the plot of Eragon, the protagonist, trying to kill Gallbatorix, the antagonist. Gallbatorix has ruled the continent of Alagaësia for centuries and has proven to be unfriendly to many others especially dragon riders other than himself. Eragon and his dragon both want to kill Gallbatorix after he murdered many of their friends. In this final book, Eragon and his allies are headed to the capital of Alagaësia in order to take down the extremely powerful ruler.

Outside Reading: The Death Cure #3

Monday: 30 minutes
Saturday: 120 minutes

= 150 minutes


I finished reading The Death Cure, written by James Dashner, today. The author perfectly shaped the conclusion of this amazing series, which ended with a bang (literally). Many more people including a few main characters were killed trying to either save or stop WICKED. If you want to know what happened to Thomas, his friends, and WICKED, I suggest you read the Maze Runner Series.

This book contained a lot of surprises, especially near the end. Thomas's situation becomes more dangerous as the book progresses. One reason is because of all of the Cranks, bloodthirsty humans whose brains have been corrupted by the Flare, attempt to attack him and his friends multiple times. These corrupted humans will do anything in order for food, which in their minds is human flesh.

EBR All-Parish Honor Band

Many of you may have wondered about my absence during most of the day on Friday because I am not absent often. This absence was due to a five hour honor band rehearsal I attended composed of the best high school musicians in the parish. Throughout middle school I succeeded in making this band, which of course had easier music than the high school band.

The auditions for the honor band occur yearly. If one makes it into either of the two bands (symphonic band containing better musicians than concert band), then he/she receives music, which they must learn prior to the first rehearsal. The first three rehearsals are all two hours long and occur in the evening. The final rehearsal occurs upon the day of the concert during school hours.

Last night (Friday), was the night of the concert. It went better than anyone had predicted (even the conductor). All of the solos were played were impeccable. After the concert ended, I had two movements of a song called Incidental Suite stuck in my head. This song is probably my favorite of all of the ones we played.