Would you want your future to be decided by others?

Well I sure wouldn't. The intention of the leaders of the community is that no one would make a poor decision and end up harming themselves in any way. Even though they were aiming for something right, that does not make ruling other's lives right. The elders went about it the wrong way. If everyone made the perfect choice for themselves, then the world would be just, painless, and good. But some people do not have enough responsibility to be able to always make correct choices.In our society of today, people such as these are accepted and guided if they ask for help. The hurting that may come later from bad judgment is how they learn; learning by your mistakes. But in Jonas’s community, everyone’s lives and futures are decided by others. Think of all the things you might miss out on! Choosing your own way of live is an experience on its own. You couldn't’t choose the job you want to do, you couldn't’t decide who you marry or even when you should get your first bike! I like to select my own path, and not be forced to do what others tell me to.

Thanks to http://idahopublicrelations.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/community.jpg for the picture of the community.

The End is Here...

Dearest Will,

I'm glad to hear from your team leader that you are doing well in training. How is life in the "Newcomers Section"? I hope your underarm heals quickly. Are there ever disagreements in your community? I imagine there would be some because the uncontrolled, although noble and desperate for freedom, do have different views on other things. Also, your group is mostly young folks. What inventions has Jean Paul been working on? I'm curious to know if he's gone through with that crazy "steam engine" idea. To me, it sounds ridiculous, but hey, it just might work. As you know, my construction of a west wing in the cave still needs to be approved by the board, but I really hope we can begin progress soon. I've heard from Ozymandias that he's sent four young girls in our direction. We really need more space to fit newcomers. That's why I came up with the idea in the first place. I know we aren't to speak about this too much, but have you heard anything new about Project Tripod City?
Enough about the future. I have been entertaining the idea of writing a book. The reason I'm telling you is that I want to write it about you, from your perspective. Before I do that, though, I need to get all the facts straight. When you were in the City of the Ancients, you found a watch shop, correct? You put the watch about your wrist, but do you still have it, or did you lose it throughout the course of your journey? And another question: Did Ozymandias ever give you anything special to help you on your trip? That's about all the information I need at the moment. The rest I remember from your speech at the Welcoming Ceremony. I need to go meet with Geraldine to talk about the blueprints. I hope to see you soon, Will.

Your friend,
Ellie


I liked the book, "The White Mountains" because the author shows through his writing that he has and amazing imagination. It is so crazy to believe that he could make up this entire story just off the top of his head! I also love the way he described special scenes with creative adjectives. The author has such a wide vocabulary that searching for a "Vocab word" for the reading response sheet was no problem. I don't usually do not enjoy sci-fi books very much, but reading this book was truly a good experience. I can't wait to read the sequels!


~A.G.

P.S. Please read the comment below. Thanks!

The White Mountians Theme: Freedom

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111)

Freedom. Liberty. Choice. Independence. Those are powerful words. They are to be used sparingly and only with purpose. Will understands deeply what the true meaning of freedom is. Who needs freedom? Whites, Blacks, men, women, the educated and uneducated, the minorities, the majorities, the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Atheist, the individual, the all, the rich, and the poor, the good, and the bad. No greater gift has been bestowed upon us than the individual mind and the control of it. No matter if you have freedom of speech, or if they are the president of the United States, you not free unless you have a mind of your own and the delight that goes with it. Take a long, hard look at these children here. Are they free? Yes. The great joy on their faces leads me to believe that they are truly free. Their mothers and fathers may not be able to speak openly about what they believe, nor may they have money, but what truly matters is what they have in their hearts. I can see that they know life will change, but they are ready for it, and will love and cherish their freedom to live. I think that this is the same type of independence that Will, Henry, and Jean Paul strive to find. The capped do not have this great joy. THEY

DO

NOT

LIVE. More than ever, I find this joy in the deepest of hardships. The poorest of the poor, the lowest of the low, the least of these find joy in their lives, and the freedom of their very living. Will sees an oppisite death in every capped person he comes across.He does not want this for himself. This is what made him keep going on. This is what helped him through his journey. He wanted freedom. Will knows that all the happieness at the Castle of the Red Tower was wasted on people who cannot enjoy their own spirit, because they are puppets to the Tripods. What was the point of celebrating when you don't have your own concience to begin with? This is why freedom is so important in The White Mountains.

Choir post

Hey! In choir, we are studying "The Power of the Void", leading us up to the theme of the next concert. Void is easy enough to understand. The most simple description of void is empty space or nothingness. In the case of music, that empty space would be silence. Silence is a delicate element to apply in your music. When used to often or in the wrong place, it spoils the effect entirely. When used correctly, though, you can toy with the listener's mind and make them question, wonder, and imagine what is to happen next. If a composer writes his music to build up in tension, increasing in speed, volume, and variety and then has complete silence for a second or two makes the listener anxious, and on the end of their chair, wondering what ever could happen next? We want to do that with our audience and we can keep them entertained and enjoyed.

This is an example of void very simply in the school's mission statement. You have to read this aloud for full effect.

The International School of Kuala Lumpur provides an exceptional education (silence) that challenges each student to develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to become a highly successful, spirited, socially responsible global citizen.

You see??? Thanks for reading!

My Current Fave Quote!! P.S. Will Change Over Time.

When I was 5 years old , my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life . When I went to school , they asked me what I wanted be when I grew up . I wrote down 'happy' . They told me I didn't understand the assignment and I told them they didn't understand life .

Snapshot: Snorkeling

My trip to Lankawi this Christmas holiday was great. One of my favorite things that we did was snorkeling. This is a picture of me at the beach there. One of the great things about this snorkeling experience was that I had two friends to enjoy it with. Trevor (12) and Mia (10) stayed at my hotel and we planned to take the trip to Pulau Payar Coral Reserve together. When my family and I signed up, they put a yellow band around each of our wrists (see pic). I was also armed with a red hair tie on my wrist along with the wristband. There were three beaches. The main one that we ate, changed, showered and rested at was in the middle. There was one to the right that I never did venture to, but I was told the coral wasn't as good over there anyway. The beach to the left (where picture was taken) was my favorite. The beach was great, the water was the right level that the sea urchins weren't too close, the fish were beautiful. I loved the water. but my snorkel popped right out of my goggles and into the sea a little after I got in! As I swam into deeper water, I noticed a yellow snorkel lying on the white sand of the ocean floor. Then I realized, the snorkel was mine! Trevor dared me to swim down the 4-5 meters and grab it. I looked down. It was either my goggles were fogging up, or 4-5 meters is a long way down! I sucked in all my breath, let it out (holding a lot of air in your lungs with only make you float more, making it hard to swim downwards), and dove under. No, my goggles were just fine, it was a long way down. I snatched the snorkel, turned my face towards the sky, and pushed off from the ocean floor. For a terrible moment before I reached the surface, I thought my lungs were going to pop! I did make it back to shore alive, though (dramatic much?).

My family and I had been to this particular snorkel site before, so we knew what was good to see. Some of the sights on the list are the barracuda, the giant (I DO mean giant!! Seriously, this thing was like, fifteen gazillion kajilonmeters long!!) grouper, a lion fish (extremely painful. Almost fatal to the touch.), little sharks (cute, they looked like a big scary shark that was put in a shrink machine by accident), and parrot fishes (beautiful). I loved to see all the marine fish!

The way we got to Pulau Payar is by boat. There was a really awesome boat that we took that was like a speed boat but about 3 times bigger. There was a deck with benches that the staff called the sun deck (properly named after the sunburns white people get when sitting there for the whole hour (see my cheeks in pic)!) I spent the whole hour standing on the side of the sun deck, leaning over the railing with the smell of saltwater tickling my nose. As the boat plowed through the blue, blue water, the waves churned, foamed and rippled. Islands in the distance passed over time and small fishing boats with fishers lying on their backs with their caps pulled over their faces came by and the fishermen would startle and then resume their afternoon naps. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I hope to take that boat back to Pulau Payar sometime and relive the experience!

My New Year's Resolution

School’s Challenges

A skill I’ve learned over the last five months in middle school is to manage my time wisely. The first few days of school, I was absolutely overwhelmed with all the things I was expected to do in What?? Due tomorrow? so little time. After working on homework until 9:45 one night, I realized what I had to do to get homework done easily and without rush. A few days into the year, I started to do my homework the day it was assigned so that I wouldn’t have to whip something together at the last moment. I stopped procrastinating, and my B, B- grades turned to A’s and A+’s! I hope to keep that skill forever.

A skill I would like to learn is to be kind to everybody. Sure, I’m great to my friends (most of the time, I hope) but I seem to ignore the kids I don’t particularly like or just didn’t get to know very well. My problem is common, but if I fix it, I could shine. I want to learn and grow in that skill and keep it and hold on to it forever.

We all know the MS core values, right? Honesty, Respect, Kindness, and Responsibility. I will give examples of when I showed each of those values. Honesty: When my friends maybe come to school with bed hair, and go about not realizing why everyone looks them in the hair instead of the eyes, I kindly tell them the problem and do my best to help them fix it. Respect: I realize that some kids in my class do not know how to behave in a classroom, or for that matter, anywhere! I realize how downright rude that is to the teacher! I try my best to respect my teachers and their authority. Kindness: Like I said before, I am currently working on my kindness towards kids I don’t know so well, but I think otherwise, I am pretty good at being kind to everyone else. Responsibility: When Zarina, Victoria, Gloria, and I set our hearts on making a difference to breast cancer victims, I think we all showed responsibility. We responsibly handled a lot of money, set up all our sales (with help from Mr. Callan and others), and organized the whole thing (again with a little help from Mr. Callan and others) almost by ourselves! My core values will be those four forever!

My two goals for the New Year are:
1. To help my family. I hope to do extra tasks to please and honor my family.
2. To befriend new students at ISKL. I would like to learn more about them and start a nice relationship with each of the new kids in my grade so that we can be friends forever!