Watership Down is a 10/10 book. Oh my gosh please read it. Everyone needs to read it. I love this book so much. I will try to give the plot events without giving too much away but this book is like essentially only plot twists and foreshadowing and it’s beautiful. Two rabbit brothers (please keep an open mind, side note I am not a furry) make a tough decision to leave the warren. The warren is controlled by the Owsla, the biggest rabbits, they have power and they abuse it. Fiver (who has a high intuition) senses something is wrong within the warren and he sees the field covered with blood. His brother Hazel is like bro no it’s just the sunset but Fiver cannot be swayed. They go to tell the chief rabbit that they should leave the warren and the chief rabbit essentially laughs in their faces and refuses to leave. Fiver and Hazel decide to go anyway and they gather a small group of rabbits including some from the Owsla. And the adventure begins! Bigwig is mister tough and I love him. I could talk about Bigwig for days. The group goes on and encounter multiple snares…

But literally nothing will prepare you for what goes down. I really want you to read it so I’m gonna try not to spoil it but essentially the book has a lot to do with power structures and war. I want people to read it because it gives a new perspective on wildlife. I’m sure the idea that rabbits leave a warren and a mouse becomes a spy (spoiler) which leads to the fight of the rabbit century is far fetched but it will make you see animals as more complicated creatures. I think it would help people who don’t care much about “lesser” beings. I am a believer that every creature is important and I would really like my dad to read this and maybe he will stop shooting the gofers at our house.

I don’t think the book is that controversial, there are definitely some parts where you have to set the book down and take a deep breath but I wouldn’t say it’s too controversial. I think the book does a good job at warning people about the dangers of war and trust.

I rate this book 5/5, it is so good I love it oh my gosh. It’s weird as absolute heck but I’m into that (once again I am not a furry). Also, I think every book I’ve read I would rate 5/5 (books I’ve read by choice) because if I don’t like it I would stop reading it.

I haven’t watched the movie yet because I am planning a watch party (when the corona is over) and I want my friends to see it too. But please for the love of all things watch the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S26LA8Bk14

Welp, I had a pretty good year. I enjoyed reading Hamlet that was fun. I think my year started out ok but it has gone downhill! You know my year actually started out pretty poopy. I missed my first day of school and then some because my grandpa died. Great timing Dale (It is a joke rip gpa love you bro). The musical low key sucked. But I made honor roll so that’s good. I tried my best but my best was never very good. Oh well! I still made honor roll (thank gosh). I enjoyed fences and oedipus rex, I really liked oedipus rex (don’t look to into that). I did not enjoy the book projects, not your fault, I know they are helpful and I am glad I did them but I wish I could have chosen my books (like from a list). I loved Things Fall Apart, I really did not like Kite Runner it was written well and it had a good message but I just did not feel ok about it. Beloved was ok but I always struggle when I’m told to read something. I like reading for myself and books I want to read, but it did challenge me in new ways which I was not expecting. My least favorite thing was the personality test. I think you know that (whoops). I just strongly dislike personality tests and I would not have been so bothered if it was just a personality test but it was also a paper and career research and it was very annoying. Doing vocab cards was helpful and I had a good time with those too. My mental state was easy to track with my pictures on my vocab cards.

I do think doing the stuff I don’t like helped me though. Life is riddled with things we don’t want to do but we have to do. Like taxes. I can complain and birch about things as much as I want but at the end of the day I still have to do it. This is sounding fairly rude and I genuinely don’t mean it to be, I did enjoy your class a lot, this is regarding literally every class I was in this year. I think my vocabulary has improved as well, I don’t use it in my blogs because I want to keep a certain vibe going.

I don’t really have much advice for incoming seniors. I guess just to take things one day at a time, don’t take on too much, and remember that life is full of unexpected situations.

I don’t have much AP test advice, I’m fairly certain my advice will not count for next year. Just practice and do your work.

After doing to Nearpod assignment I feel more confident analyzing questions. Most of the questions ask to explain the complex relationship between characters. I’ll use narrative techniques like imagery and repetition, I love repetition. Like almost every single piece I’ve read includes some bit of repetition it’s great. Foreshadowing as well, that’s good too. I definitely will use setting more.

I feel fine for test day. The writing doesn’t worry me, I am pretty good at faking it till I make it. https://youtu.be/-77cUxba-aA?t=7045

That’s me. I’d put that exact thing in my blog but I don’t want to get yelled at. I’m not worried about the content of the test but I am worried about actually taking it, I am so stressed about the test itself. I am confused about how it will work I am just overall stressed. I wish I could just be in an actual classroom and have a proctor and use a pen and not a keyboard. I’m not having a fun time. I feel prepared in every way other than the ways of the test portion. I’m not explaining this very well, oh well.

I have truly never in my life payed much attention to the surrounding in a book. When I’m reading something I always imagine the dialogue and the way the characters look but I never really took the time to see the scenery. I learned a lot more about setting. The year the book was written can allude to the pieces significance and I honestly didn’t think too much about the year it was written. This unit has made me realize that I am not very observant at all. 

I will definitely apply lots of these while I read fiction. I really liked the idea of how responsible the characters are for their actions and their situations. I think that can add a good amount of analysis and I understood that the most out of everything honestly. I will definitely pay more attention to the setting, the smallest details are usually the most important and when I read sometimes I feel that I’m just trying to finish reading. I also think setting can open up some great analysis options and I am feeling more confident on analysis too. There is definitely room for improvement though. I need to work on figurative language and things like that. I feel like I don’t know enough and every time I see figurative language I get so scared and worried because I feel like I’ve never seen that phrase before and I don’t remember anything I’ve ever learned in English class. So I really need to work on that. I also need to work on not being so afraid of looking stupid or being wrong because honestly I just need enough evidence to prove why I’m thinking the way I am. It’s all about evidence and the deeper meaning and that’s what I need to tattoo on my hand for the test. 

Haha jk…..unless 

I learned that there are a lot of subdivisions of neuroscience. I knew there were quite a few but I was not prepared for the sheer magnitude of job options when you are a neuroscience. 

There were definitely some areas of neuroscience that I haven’t even heard of and you can truly study just one part of the brain. Like auditory neuroscience and that’s it. Which is super cool! The brain is so under researched because of how complicated it is, there are new discoveries made everyday about the brain. It is so darn cool!

I am almost for sure not going to be job shadowing a neuroscientist so I’m not looking forward to anything in that regard. I don’t want to do anything at the veterinarian because I can’t see animals in pain I am not strong willed. Humans on the other hand I can handle (I don’t know what’s wrong with me). I’m not sure what I’ll do for job shadowing but down the road I’m hoping to learn more about brain injuries. I am very interested in those specifically and hopefully one day I’ll be able to find better ways of healing the brain. I also really want to do that thing where you touch a persons brain and they feel something on their leg or they smell something or they hear you say something. Brains are very complicated yet easily tricked. 

I enjoyed reading Hamlet, mostly because I read out loud and did fun voices and got to swear, but it was a good read and had some interesting points. 

I really fell in love with Ophelia, like I understand that suicide is never the answer bla bla bla. But how cool, your ex boyfriend thinks he’s all edgy talking about killing himself but he’s too much of a pu- wait. Too much of a wimp! To do it himself! And Ophelia is like you know what! I’m gonna do it! She was so brave and she didn’t need a man controlling her anymore. Not her father, not her brother, and sure as heck not Hamlet. It teaches how being constantly controlled (by a man, government or even a lover) is no way to live a life but she didn’t just kill herself to be free from the chains, she killed herself as an act of defiance and protest of the situation she was in, and many other people are in. This doesn’t teach ah yes your life is hard? Commit suicide. But more so it teaches to act when a situation has risen and in her time it was illegal to commit suicide, it fit for her to do that. She had one last horrah and it was her decision and she followed through. Speaking of following through, Hamlet was all talk. Now I’m not gonna bash too much on Ham here because I also liked him and I related to him cuz I’m also all talk, I rarely follow through, and I pretend I’m emo and edgy but I’m really a baby. Any how Hamlet constantly planning and talking out his revenge plan is his whole downfall, it really teaches how you have to act before it’s too late. It could be as subtle as telling the boy you like him before he moves away to being a pretty big deal like killing your uncle. It is also very frustrating because Hamlet is obviously smart and cunning. With his jabs at various characters (Polonius) and his quick thinking when he was sent off to England. Even though Hamlet is so smart he was not wise. When his opportunity arose to kill his uncle he did not take it because his uncle was asking for forgiveness, but if Hamlet would have just waiting a little longer he would have heard his uncle say that he doesn’t feel it in his soul. But alas the play would have been over and there would be no lesson to be had if Hamlet were actually smart. 

I really enjoy research so doing APA was ok. I was a little salty due to the fact that we did a personality test first but I eventually got over it. I did struggle because I was gone for a large portion of it but the cheat sheet was really helpful. 

I had a difficult time with the actual sources themselves because neuroscience isn’t the most talked about career field and trying to find the author and company and even copyright was a challenge. I especially struggled when I finally had an article that had an author but she was a doctor and she had Ph.D in her title and I had absolutely no idea how to make that work so I just kinda did what looked right and hoped for the best. 

I definitely don’t hate APA like I thought I would, I like nonfiction boring stuff so I enjoyed the research and just writing down said research without having to add to it or make it fun or interesting to read really (but I did find it pretty interesting because I am boring). 

I think if I actually showed up to class once in a while I would have done much better but I mostly knew what I was doing, mostly. 

For my Meyer Briggs test I was crowned the INFP-T personality type. I guess I agreed with the results. I am somewhat of a mediator, I am shy around people I am not very familiar with. But I am also argumentative sometimes, I really fail at hiding my feelings and when I believe something I say it. And if I’m in a good mood or I’m feeling some energy I love talking to all sorts of people and I don’t hide my true self and sometimes that means I make bad first impressions (all the time)

My “personality type” said I enjoy being my own boss which is only half true, sure that’d be pretty cool and I would enjoy it but ultimately I need stability of someone being in charge of me. 

I absolutely despise personality tests. I found this whole assignment quite a drag and I was mostly annoyed with other people around me. I view personality tests and things like that as an outlet for someone who doesn’t quite know who they are to listen to a computer test and then tell everyone for attention. That is a bit harsh I will admit but I just wanted to say that. It was especially trying when we looked up careers based on our personality. My friends kept saying oh this is the career I got? What the heck!? Oh yeah at least yours is cool I’m a jeweler. 

And obviously my friends know it’s not saying yup this is what you have to do but it was just draining having to listen to everyone trying to one up each other with our results and I’m a hypocrite because I was doing it to! And I couldn’t stop myself so I made an executive decision to put in my headphones and block everything out. 

I think personality tests are a fun pastime but not something that should be used as an actual source of strengths and weaknesses, and after reading that real big name companies use the Myer Briggs test as a “tool” for employing I was appalled. This truly just demonstrates (in my opinion) how these companies don’t actually care about the research behind said test, the Myer Briggs test was popular what better way to make your company seem with the times and progressive than using a personality test that is so revolutionary 

But in reality it isn’t. It is a theory, and it is a very interesting theory just like all of the other theories like Eysenck’s, Cattell’s, or Allport’s. Often forgotten that these are just theories. And a quick google search can disprove the Myer Briggs test fairly quickly. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/2014/09/29/the-mysterious-popularity-of-the-meaningless-myers-briggs-mbti/

https://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5881947/myers-briggs-personality-test-meaningless

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/06/myers-briggs-type-indicator-does-not-matter/3635592002/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/give-and-take/201309/goodbye-mbti-the-fad-won-t-die

https://www.medicaldaily.com/personality-tests-are-not-accurate-myers-briggs-personality-test-not-reliable-416652

Okay, I would like to preface; this is a rant, it is not organized, it is annoying and I will give no solution.

I am at a constant battle with myself, I either do not care at all or I care way too much. There is so much crap involved in society it’s annoying. I hate all the hate, like why can’t we look past peoples differences. Why is it so hard? Just be nice to people! But then I’m a hypocrite because I judge republicans, and trump supporters, and vegans. I judge people constantly it’s truly ridiculous. But then I check myself, who cares if someone is a republican? That doesn’t mean they are bad people! Just because someone is a liberal doesn’t mean they are a bad person either. I strongly dislike Trump, and every time I see one of those red hats I get mad, then I remember it doesn’t matter. Literally nothing matters. I would love to change the world don’t get me wrong but I feel like if people are constantly trying to make the world a better place; it will only get worse. I’m very annoying because I think people need to focus on themselves. Come on guys lets go into the mountains and discover ourselves (I’m kidding…)

Not really but there’s just so much hate in this world and I am a hypocrite, I flip flop constantly from being like, let’s sing kumbaya world peace baby! to immediately making fun of those “kinds” of people. I don’t see myself as a part of society, I see myself as a break away which is pretentious and very “I’m different” of me but I don’t enjoy society. It’s corrupt and confusing and I think we are all better of working on our own problems and just ignore everyone else. We should help other people and care about others. We should find a cave and sit in it. See how contradictory I am! For now I will blame it on being a teenager.

Seriously though, if you’re not hurting yourself or others why does anything matter.

peace and love 😉

So far this semester I’ve read quite a few books! I have not enjoyed them all. My favorite so far has been Things Fall Apart. I honestly don’t relate to it at all and I think that might be one of the reasons I like it. I just really enjoyed the writing style and I liked being immersed in a completely new and foreign culture. I just loved the book, the imagery and all the symbolism. MMM it was great. 10/10 do recommend.

So far I haven’t really deeply connected with any book. I’ve enjoyed almost every book. Almost. I liked Crime and punishment because it was interesting, VERY hard to read though, I related not because I wanted to or have killed someone but I really felt it when he slept all day and just felt sick, I related to that simply because I am unhealthy. Fences was good and I enjoyed Oedipus Rex because of the drama, like it’s super messed up and I live for that stuff. It was just messed up enough but some books have taken it too far and that book would be Kite Runner.

Kite Runner was very hard for me to read. I did not enjoy it, I really don’t like children being abused. I know that no one does but it’s just really hard for me to read. When you told us that there would be a rape scene I was no expecting it to involve a child. (Not your fault I’m not mad, I know this sounds mad but it isn’t). The book itself had many good lessons and it was written wonderfully but I just struggled. I like messed up books that make you think, and I know that this is a work of fiction and this book can’t hurt me but it has affected me.