The name's Wulf- Beowulf.

I will be the fitst person to tell you how much I hated Beowulf when I read it in 9th grade Honors Lit with Ms. Scott. In fact, I remember loathing everything I was forced to read that year, except for one of my summer reading books (The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver), which I adored...until someone stole my copy :( . Over the past 3 years, I have had to go back and re-read some of these books, such as Farenheit-451 (which I hated when I first read in 7th grade, again when I read it in 9th grade, and still when I read excerpts from it in 11th grade). But now that we have started reading Beowulf again, I find myself enjoying the stories a bit more than before. They do have a breathtaking quality to them, one that I was to young to enjoy before.This discovery has lead me to wonder why schools teach some books so early. Just because we are in advanced classes in middle school, doesn't necessarily mean that our teachers should be introducing Honors and AP level books to us! A perfect example of this can be seen in my 7th grade honors Lit class, where the first required reading book was The Good Earth. UGGH. If you were to ask me today what that book is about, all I can tell you is that there’s an Asian guy who is poor in the beginning and he marries this ugly girl, but then he becomes really rich and has lots of whores as wives. The End. Oh and there was something to do with Opium in there, but nobody really pays attention to illicit drugs anymore. Never have I read a book that was harder to read into or understand.
This is similar to how I used to feel about Beowulf. But not anymore! Now I see him as more of a olden James Bond, scouring the Danish and Geatish (is that even correct?) lands to rid them of mythical creatures and the offspring of Cain. Pride becomes and issue sometimes, but this agent has no fear. He is abandoned by his team every now and then again, left for dead, but he comes out alive when they least expect him to. He improvises well, using whatever he comes upon to defeat his enemy, and can always be called on to help. I bet his driving was horrendous, too.
I never saw any of this when I read Beowulf in my freshman year of high school. If I had, I might have actually wanted to read the end of the book (stupid dragon) and ask questions about why everything was happening the way it was. But instead, I read what I was told (skimmed would probably be a better word), did my assignments, and handed the book back in as soon as I was allowed to be rid of it. I never saw Beowulf’s death as fate, or the monsters symbolic of his fears/ emotions. (503 words right there :] ) I actually feel happy that we reviewed Beowulf before reading Grendel, and remorseful that I didn’t give it more of a chance in 9th grade. Can we try The Good Earth next?

Things That Don't Work featuring Tone Words.

1. My Blog
So far, this blog has been a successful failure. Why? Oh, I don't know. However I spent part of the half day this week attempting to fix it. Hopefully it works because if not, I really and truly may scream. I will be very IRATE if this fails to work. Also, I will be very DISMAYED.
2. Not Subtracting Z Scores from .5000
This is how you fail a Statistics test. Although, I do find it somewhat AMUSING that I helped alot of the class on understanding this subject. But then I took the test and completely bombed it. Thankfully, Ms. Raji is letting us retake it, making me feel very RELIEVED.
3. This Weather
Ok, so this would be where I throw in a funny story that nobody will really think is funny. Thats ok, because this story delights me. Nearly a year ago, my mom bought me a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500. I named the truck Oakley and she has been my partner in crime ever since. However, Oakley is not perfect. The previous owners took very good care of this truck, and even renovated some things, such as the installation of power windows and locks (kind of). When they were doing these things, they also tinted the windows. When the back window was put back in, the mechanics did not properly reseal the frame. Do you know what happens when your car window is not properly sealed? Well, I can tell you. What happens is water leaks in through the cracks in the sealent, and collect inside the vehicle. Have I ever mentioned that mold DISGUSTS me? I guess we all know what I get to do on the next sunshiny day :)
4. Driving to a Cornmaze in the Middle of God-Only-Knows-Where and North of Cartersville and Calhoun When You Have to Be Home By 11pm.
This past Saturday, I figured out how Odysseus felt when sailing home. Some friends and I decided to go to Cagles Dairy and Cornmaze. Did you know they have two locations? One is about a hour away from Alpharetta, while the other is about 3 hours away. Well, when we left Cartersville (I have some friends that live there) for the dairy, I assumed we were going to the Cornmaze near Alpharetta. Long story short, I was very, very late getting home, and am now very, very grounded for the remainder of the week. FRUSTRATING, yes, but I am still THRILLED that I got to go.
5. Bill Long going to Georgia Tech
Bill is one of my best friends, and is currently a sophomore at Tech. While I do like this quite a bit more than when he moved to freaking Michigan to live with his dad, I still never get to see him. If only he lived closer than 45 minutes away. That would be JOYOUS.
6. Trying to Eat a Full Entree from Ippilitos
As much as I love Chicken Eggplant Parmigiana and Chicken Parmigiana, I can really only eat the spaghetti that come with one of these entrees, which is quite DISHEARTENING. What a pity.

Hopefully this works :)

No Love Lost

From the week of September 16 I'm feeling a bit sympathetic for Tess tonight. I also feel like I am beating a dead horse by saying this, or even bringing Tess up for that matter, but its literature and it relates to my feelings at this very moment. That poor dead horse. And I'm not talking about Prince. I used to think Tess just needed to get over herself. Now, however, I'm starting to wonder if things would have been different for her if she had done something about her predicament sooner. What if she had stood up for herself when Alec kept hitting on her? What if she had never gotten involved with him, knowing what a player he is? Oh the things we think about after the fact. Why do girls always fall for the bad boys first? Its a classic theme in life. Girl meets boy, boy is bad for girl, girl is stupid and falls for boy, and then boy is stupid and doesn't fall for girl. So then when the girl tries to get herself back on track, other boys are like "Psht, no.". Like in The Princess Diaries (the books, not the movie), Mia falls for Josh (Josh is the bad boy), but when she figures out that she really should be with Michael, Michael is already going out with fruit-fly girl (she has a name, I just fail to remember it). The Lars, Mia’s bodyguard, has to drag Michael out to the dance and be all “Dance with her. NOW” and Lilly (still Michael’s sister and Mia’s best friend) has to help Lars, and after multiple trials and tribulations, Michael breaks up with Judith (that was her name!) and goes out with Mia. Yeah, I’m lost too and I’ve read the books about 10 times each. Why can't people just fall in love and be happy? Does everything really have to be the trial that we put ourselves through each time? Or is it just girls that are this insanely complicated?

If love was not so tragic and confusing, however, many of the greatest novels would never have been written. Tuck Everlasting, Ella Enchanted, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Romeo and Juliet, and Candide would not be around for us to read. We would not be able to enjoy the satisfaction in the end of the novel when the hero and heroin finally get to be together, or the burning disappointment and dissatisfaction we feel when we realize that they will never be together. Its disappointing, frustrating, aggravating, and irksome. But at the same time, that nagging feeling reminds us that loss is ok and that there must be someone out there that is better for us or them (depending on whether the situation applies to your real life or you are reading about it in a novel). I think tragic love in novels prepares us for real life in a way by letting us know that its all going to be ok in the end.

That and its good angst reading if you happen to be feeling that way in real life.

Vampires, Statistics, and Copyright Infringement.

From the Week of September 10th 15 minutes into the series premier of "The Vampire Diaries" and I have Thomas Foster ringing in my head. All I can think of is how this rip off of Twilight CAN'T be copyright infringement. Boy vampire comes upon girl he cannot resist and puts himself and everyone around him in danger so that he may get to know her. She is clumsy and eventually falls, cutting open her leg. He flips out and disappears. Stephan Salvatore (boy vampire's name) lives with his uncle, and the girl (name to be determined) lives with her slightly erratic and irresponsible aunt. They all live in a small town. Is this town called Forks? And does mystery girl have a friend/ potential love interest that just so happens to be a werewolf? I bet $20 I know how this soap opera turns out. According to Thomas Foster (who I keep calling Thomas Hardy, much to the amusement of others), there is no such thing as an original story. I, for one, have a very hard time believing this. If there is no such thing as an original story, the wouldn't that mean that there is no story to begin with? This concept makes no sense to me. There has to be at least one original story in order for there to be any story. Where did the Greek myths that we base our stories come from? Where did the Bible come from? If these things are not original stories, where are the stories that inspired these, and why have we not heard any of them? This concept of no story being original when there is no original story absolutely baffles me every time I think about it.
I do agree that most stories are based off of others, however. A perfect example of this is Harry Potter (alright, you got me, I just really wanted to write about Harry Potter). Really though, Harry Potter is one of the best examples of a most unoriginal writing EVER. The maze that J.K. Rowling comes up with for the Triwizard Tournament? Reminds us of the Labyrinth, as does the last few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone where Harry navigates the deep undergrounds of the Hogwarts Castle. I think she ended the series because she could not find any more myths to twist into her own.
This all brings me back to my question of how there can not be an original story. If there is one, I would like to know what it is. Imagine how epic that would be- reading the story that started all stories. Wow. Now THAT would be a story to remember.
A story free of possible copyright infringement- I never though I would see the day.