Inheritance

When reading Inheritance, I noticed an ironic statement mentioned by a dragon named Glaedr. Glaedr and his recently deceased master, Oromis, were one of the best riders and dragons in Alagaësia, being an experienced dragon, knows many strategies that Eragon and Saphira don't. He suggested to Eragon that he needed to improve his mental abilities and learn to think without thinking when fighting. When Glaedr said the latter of the two things, I was confused until he explained that he meant to just listen to instinct and not over think or think about his emotions.

The concept Glaedr is trying to teach Eragon is interesting. People can reason instead of relying on instinct. Does this mean Glaedr is suggesting Eragon act like an animal? After reading how Eragon uses this concept, it sounds like what I would call adrenaline. Eragon finds himself under pressure and the reader feels like he can see things in slow motion and can predict an opponent's movements. I doubt what Glaedr said would actually succeed in real life.

In class: 30 minutes
Saturday: 120 minutes

Sound of Music and Biology

The Sound of Music rehearsals and performances went well this week. I believe the entire cast, technical crew and orchestra did a stupendous job. However, this wasn't without long rehearsals and efforts from all involved. I think the best of all of the performances was Friday night. This makes sense as Friday's performance was the last. I have mixed feelings about the musical being over. I am glad that I have less to work on, but miss the fun that was involved.

Balancing homework and studying this past week around the musical was pretty tough. My hardest night was Wednesday night when I spent time studying for a test in Biology. I felt pretty unprepared for the test the next day. I studied awhile longer and began to understand the chapter better. I think this extra reviewing time up until the test led to my pretty good raw score on the test. I think it will end up to be a really good test score after the curve is added. (There is always a curve.)

End of 3rd Quarter

Third quarter just ended recently and all of our grades have been reset to begin the final and potentially the hardest quarter yet. Last quarter, I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I kept trying to bring my biology grade up while keeping the rest of my grades where they already were. The frequent biology pop quizzes, however didn't help my grade in that class. My other goal for other classes was exceeded though. All of my classes, except biology, climbed as I continued towards the end of the quarter.

I already have had two biology pop quizzes this quarter. The first one I got 100% and the other I don't know about yet. This is a good start and will get better as my chance for 20 bonus points is approaching. The last time I had a chance for these was in the second quarter.

This quarter has many things looming over me as the end nears and it won't be easy. First, I have two english projects to work on along with poetry and Macbeth approaching. Math is also beginning to concern me as it is definitely getting tougher. Luckily, as of right now, I am keeping a strong A in the subject. I hope that the upcoming math test doesn't hurt this grade. And finally we come to the biology paper. This is probably the hardest thing I will do all year. I have to write a pretty lengthy paper on a type of cancer and include certain details at minimum to get a good grade. I hope that this paper along with the many other things I have to do this quarter won't become to overwhelming, especially with Sound of Music rehearsals next week.

Inheritance Cycle 3-17-12

While continuing to read farther into the book, Inheritance, many new developments have risen. Recently, the narration has mainly been told from Roran, Eragon's cousin. I have noticed that the author, Christopher Paolini, often switches between these two characters before a large event which leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. However, before the reader can find out, they must read through the narration from the other character, which later ends with a cliffhanger. This results in a cycle of mini climaxes at the end of a period of narration from each character.

Why do many authors switch between characters before a big event? This is something I have wondered for years. I have seen this in many other novels I have read besides the Inheritance Series. I feel that there is some message that each author is trying to portray, however I can't grasp it. This could be something I can look into as I continue to read this book and see if I can figure out a potential meaning.

Nervous Conditions End and Test (Free Post)

I am glad that we are done with Nervous Conditions (except for the project). Now I feel that there is less work for me to have to do for English, so I can work on bringing my biology grade up to where it used to be. I felt confident prior to the Nervous Conditions test, that I would do well on the test after finishing the book and paying attention in class discussion. I felt that these two alone would at least get me an "A" on the test. The night before part one of the test, I studied the Prezis Dr. D made and notes I had taken on literary elements and postcolonial literature. Walking into the test with this information in my head, I felt 100% ready for the test.

When glancing at the first part of the test, it looked really long until I realized the first two pages were multiple choice. I worked through the test after that and felt that I knew the answers to the questions. It took me the whole class period (plus three minutes) to take the first part. The second part however took me a bit more than the class time allotted to finish. I ended up writing a lot of annotations for the close reading in a very short amount of time. However, the Literary Analysis was what ate away most of my time. I didn't write a lot (1.25 pages?), but made my point clear in a short and concise manner.

Antagonists: Lord Voldemort and Gallbatorix

I was thinking, while reading the book Inheritance and realized that Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter) and Gallbatorix(Eragon) have many similarities and differences. Voldemort is one who doesn't want anyone else to kill but him to kill the antagonist, Harry Potter. He, being cautious, chooses not to confide secrets in anyone. Gallbatorix, however, chooses to wait patiently and lets others fight the protagonist, Eragon, until he will be forced to. So far when reading, it looks like he will have to fight Eragon in the end.

Even though Gallbatorix and Voldemort exist in different novels, there are still many similarities they share.  These antagonists both are feared by many and desire power which they achieve by using force. Once achieving lots of power, they seem to be nervous about losing it. Therefore, they stop at nothing to ensure they don't lose it. Both of these men are incredible compared to others throughout the world. Voldemort is an incredible wizard while Gallbatorix is an incredible dragon rider. In some way, they end up becoming warped by an event that forever changes them.

Time:

Monday:
Nervous Conditions- 60 minutes

Saturday:
Inheritance- 90 minutes

Apple and the iPad 3 or iPad HD?

Recently, Apple surpassed Exxon in market cap and is nearing a $550 stock price and doesn't seem to lose any momentum. Apple's market cap is currently $508 billion. The stock continues to soar due to the recent speculation of a new iPad, likely to be deemed either the iPad 3 or iPad HD. This speculation has been confirmed due to the recent release of the invitation (above) to an unveiling event, which will occur on Wednesday, March 7 (the day of the first part of the English test).

The new iPad is expected to be much better than both of the previous two, which were already amazing. The new one will likely have two times better resolution than the previous two, a quad core A6 processor, Siri and best of all 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) capability with both Verizon and AT&T. These things are only rumors and haven't been confirmed by Apple because they always love to keep things secret and surprise consumers. Many believe that if these rumors aren't met, then the stock price will tumble tremendously due to the amount of hype each Apple product receives prior to its announcement.

If you like Apple products, the next iPad will likely be on the Apple website by the time school ends that day.

Nervous Conditions

At this point, there is only one more chapter left for me to read of Nervous Conditions. Ever since I first opened up the book, I have thought that much of the book is dull. The first and biggest exception was the sentence: "I was not sorry when my brother died" (1). Besides this sentence and a few other events during the book, I feel that Dangarembga's writing lacks much of which is necessary to keep one enticed during each chapter. In contrast, I feel that each character seems interesting as each has their own unique personality and "nervous condition". I see more thought in Dangarembga creating the characters than when she created the plot. It seems to me that each character's personal story is more interesting than the story itself.

Nervous Conditions put me in a mindset I had never been in before. Yes, I realized that my family, myself and friends are very fortunate compared to others throughout the world. However, Dangarembga succeeded in showing me things through the eyes of a less fortunate person. This in my opinion was one of Dangarembga's biggest successes.


I read 150 minutes of Inheritance this week:

90 minutes on Friday
60 minutes on Saturday