Sunday, July 19, 2015

Author's Note as of Sun 7/19

I just want you to know that a few more chapters of my legacy challenge is coming soon, so get ready for more surprises, shocks, twists, turns and whatnot.

Two months from now, I'm starting college.

And also, more book reviews for the past school year are on the way for the rest of the summer.

I presume that to be perfectly honest for right now, I guess I just have to start updating anything else I could do for myself as well as to accomplish more goals.

We are over halfway there through 2015, can't you believe it you guys? I am free of school: no more homework, no more sitting around in silence while learning something new and no more useless 5 minute breaks. Thank God! I graduated from high school finally after 16 years of formal education from 1999-2015...


Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Metamorphosis Review

This is one of the modern classics you'll enjoy. My dad read it when he was in college, but last year, I've read the book before. It was so short and sweet, you can appreciate as a quick read when you're on a break from long sits of reading. It's been a hundred years since it was first published in October 1915. The story was divided into three parts, so it might feel as if it were acts of the play.

When Gregor Samsa, the main character of the story woke up first thing in the morning, he discovered that he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. You'll see the obstacles Gregor faces when it comes to being a bug he'd transformed once you read it. It's sad, witty and yes, inspiring to be realistic. Good read, but I had read it aloud for a bit when Dad told me to at one time.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Newbery Medal Winning Masterpieces Double Feature Review

A Wrinkle in Time

WrinkleInTimePBA1.jpg

A 1962 Newbery Award Winner

This is the story of how Meg, Calvin and Wallace went into whether dimensions take them via three witches with three W's - Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. What. The mission is to find the dad who was a governmental scientist, lost after working on the tesseract. Do you know what the tesseract means?

In geometry, the tesseract is the four-dimensional analog of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells. The tesseract is one of the six convex regular 4-polytopes.

The tesseract is also called an 8-cell, C8, (regular) octachoron, octahedroid,[1] cubic prism, and tetracube (although this last term can also mean a polycube made of four cubes). It is the four-dimensional hypercube, or 4-cube as a part of the dimensional family of hypercubes or "measure polytopes".[2]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word tesseract was coined and first used in 1888 by Charles Howard Hinton in his book A New Era of Thought, from the Greek τέσσερεις ακτίνες (téssereis aktines or "four rays"), referring to the four lines from each vertex to other vertices.[3] In this publication, as well as some of Hinton's later work, the word was occasionally spelled "tessaract".

That's in mathematical terms, but how in literature format? The tesseract also known as Project Tesseract in my language, is a fifth dimension through wrinkling time. It's called space warp when it comes to this book.

I think it's very interesting when I was still a fan of Contact by Carl Sagan and other sci-fi stuff, so I'm a sci-fi geek on the inward out in case you don't know me. I did fantasy and sci-fi combined on my own purpose to know that imagination is for funsies and it can mean realsies when deviantART comes into being for you to give yours a try. My subscribers are so small that I did subscribed to several people - the one who made My Inner Life a webcomic adaptation from fanfiction (Imaginary-Alchemist), the one I felt free to request ideas (Sanna2011) and the one that automatically got into me (PvtKitty). Thank you, my friends! It means a lot to me when posting stuff on the web.

Now back to the review, the fight of good against evil as the battle between light and dark reminds me how did I have to write something. Well, it's a recurring one I am writing it down as inspiration from the top two stuff I had explored through the years and recently from Christmas break of the past year. Thank middle school for assigning this! I first read it when I was twelve, it's for school. The two rereadings is when I was fourteen and recently, at age eighteen and going on super senior year. This made me picture science and fantasy, as if it came from my autistic brain. I think I'll dream on in order to keep moving forward through life ahead of now, because I'm such a better writer three times the magic L'Engle had for me to make myself love to learn, no matter how old are you. Five? Eight? Twelve? Fourteen? Eighteen? It's for all ages... trust me, if you have not read the book already, please do so, for I would love to when you comment your experience with this.

Did you know that A Wrinkle in Time was the first in the Time Quintet Saga? There's going to be several sequels available now at your local library or in bookstores.

This novel is on the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of the 90s, coming in at #23. The reasons why this book was challenged and/or banned is that it has references to witches and crystal balls, the claim that challenges religious beliefs and the listing of Jesus with great artists, philosophers, scientists and religious leaders. Shocking, isn't it? I'm not surprised. This is not anti-Christian, nor is it secular. It's pure imagination! Feed your brain with banned books right now! If you don't know banned books, research for more surprises.

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia.jpg

A 1977 Newbery Award Winner

This is the one I've read the first time back in middle school, so I wonder if this book has to compare with the movie. While reading and rereading it, I found out that I am not sure. The movie from Disney is okay, but let's take a closer look at this book.

It's about two lonely children named Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke who create a magical forest kingdom called Terabithia. Leslie is a tomboy and Jesse was artistic. They're both in fifth grade. At first, he was fearful, scared, angry and frustrated. When he first met her, his life had been changed. He has to let go of frustration.

I know why I have to let go of what my problems did occurred when it comes to my disability, because I can handle the feelings. However, here's the important rule of the day: men have to be logical, reasonable and rational, whereas women tend to be emotional (like me).

WARNING: Spoilers ahead! Duh!

This book is so tragic in the end, but it's not that. I mean, Leslie had died a terrible death in a creek after the rope broke, in which somebody said it was the stupidest way to kill off a character. I know I checked it on Goodreads recently. Do you know what it means? It means it can teach children how to deal with death, especially friends who perished untimely and by accident. It was inspired by the author's son, whose friend Lisa Christina Hill died after being struck by lightning in Bethany Beach, Delaware. She was 8 years old at the time, it was on August 14, 1974 when it happened. There is a tree dedicated to her in a memorial outside Takoma Park Elementary School in grades Pre-K to 2nd grade. Sligo Creek and Terabinthia from Dawn Treader had soon followed after to be inspired into this book.

But wait... there's more! Jesse made a bridge to Terabithia and made his little sister May Belle as the new queen.

End Spoiler

In the 90s, the ALA Most Frequently Challenged Books has listed as #8. In the 2000s, it went down twenty to #28 on the list. Censors try to purge from death as being part of the plot; Jesse's frequent use of the word "lord" outside of prayer; allegations of witchcraft; and language. To count the crush part between Miss Edmunds and Jesse, it was considered sexually explicit (which is not over the top, but still it's just the way relationships mature a bit by the time you're nine). Still shocking? I was not surprised also.

There you have it. That's the double feature. I hope that you enjoyed this review, so thank you and have an awesome day.

Sources:

The Screwtape Letters Review

I've read that book before, but recently, I looked it up on Goodreads to see the reviews of what other people have read this. Boy, was I pressured to reread it again sometime in the future.

Read it in Deaf Awareness Week 2014 (September 14-20, 2014).

This is such a good book about Wormwood and Screwtape - two devils from the underworld. Screwtape was older than Wormwood, so it's like Uncle and Nephew relationship-wise. There are 25 letters in all, telling us how the world was portrayed as realistic spiritually (in other words, it's full of hate) and that they tell us what are the problems are in our lives, especially if you're a Christian. I was thinking I had learned that it's a great classic, risen out of the depths of the second world war. It's C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia who wrote it.

Did you know this is first published in February 1942? The first edition cover is a dust wrapper as you'll see on Wikipedia in the link using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters. This is a story of things (it's the letters in Christian apologetic form with plot and characters, so it's unique) that have to deal with temptation and to know how to resist it, especially if you're a millennial (like me) that was uprising individualism (I sometimes turned to it when it comes to the Internet because I was such a good blogger in what I experience with importance). I understand this, but to be perfectly honest, you have to read this book. I guarantee to do so...

5/5 stars

I Did COMPASS Again!!!

Today is July 7, 2015. My score for math placement in pre-algebra is 57, so I think they recommended me to go to MATH 087 for Quantitative Literacy or BUSA 100 for Business Math.

My job plan for hours will be 1-10 hours per week. I am fairly sure what life takes me to when it comes to the unknown, but thank you LWIT (Lake Washington Institute of Technology in case if you don't know me). The COMPASS test is free if you have to go to LWIT, but however $21 is what you need by check fee to test at Bellevue College. The total time is 18 minutes and 2 seconds, thus counting directions and profile page time. The test alone is 11 minutes and 41 seconds.

UPDATE: I'm sorry for the interruption. The reading and writing placement has been cancelled for this year, due to the fact I just skipped the lines too quickly and now I have nothing else to do but to go back to where I need to be at. They had me to start all over again and I'm like not going back for now. I don't feel like talking to be perfectly honest, but still, I quit COMPASS reading and writing test altogether.

Last year, on February 14, 2014, I had 54 on COMPASS reading for 23 minutes and 59 seconds, 47 for 28 minutes and 33 seconds on COMPASS writing and 55 on pre-algrbra for six minutes and twenty-five seconds.

Since I had miscarried the writing results at this time, I had 53 on the COMPASS reading for forty-four minutes and three seconds. It is all because of my own fault that I accidentally skipped way over the top! Don't worry, I can still study well for tomorrow or Friday... if I might let it go of stress.

UPDATE 2: So instead of waiting, I suddenly got back into the desktop computer and quickly got into it again. And... I tried. The results for COMPASS reading is 63 for 25 minutes and eight seconds, while COMPASS writing is 93 for eleven minutes and two seconds for what I've shockingly mastered... I was accepted into English Composition I.

The afterward: mom and I went to Taco Bell for Happier Hour. Not only did I felt stressed and hungry to be depressed a bit, but I had 2 Loaded Potato Grillers and a drink of water instead of the HH drink. We have to turn-in the scores to Bellevue College so we can register for the Fall Trimester. I felt bored, so I had nothing much else to say, but to give yourselves something of what I've thought. The depressed moments for a bit made me want to remind myself of what I've experienced last year at the 2014 Movin' Up Assembly - a song means comfort to me.


There you have it, folks! You do have an awesome day and I'll get back to you whether I have. Kudos! :)

Friday, July 3, 2015

It's Summertime, But However...

I went on a stay vacation with my family, which started on Monday June 22, 2015 and it did go on until the end of last week; to be perfectly honest for now, I'm pretty much am sure if my summer reading is officially on Wednesday, June 17, starting with The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien because I did enjoyed a break from Mistborn: The Final Empire after 23 chapters over most of spring (but I made it to the end of Part 3 when I had needed to).

The 4th of July is tomorrow, because I sure can't wait to at least catch up on Goodreads in what I've read over the past year. I had my identification card issued on June 24, 2015, but the day before that, my birth certificate was issued. Not only did I had a city outing with Dad, but also I had a blast somewhat. I am officially into Autism Spectrum Navigators last Wednesday, and the orientation for the second time is on July 13th. The registration for credit classes still go on, however, I have a confused feeling about what am I going to do after graduation from college. I had decided to get my fanfiction all taken care of for now because chapter 19 is so long...

That's what I had for over the summer because I had signed up for the ORCA pass, as well as I had the ORCA card to save it for future rides and whatnot. Here's what my first year looks like:
  • Fall 2015: Skills for Navigating College & Career
  • Winter 2016: Executive Functioning in the Workplace
  • Spring 2016: Career Exploration
If you were an autistic kid my age (I'm 19 if you don't know me) (or if you're 18-21 or something older/younger) living in the King County of Washington, you should:
1. Have a documented autism spectrum (or related) diagnosis,
2. Be an matriculated Bellevue College student, assessed into English classes at level 070 or above,
3. Be taking classes at BC during the quarter or quarters they are in the program,
4. Complete the Disability Resource Center intake process,
5. Participate in weekly meetings with a Navigation Assistant (& make up missed meetings),
6. Participate in weekly 2-credit ASN classes each quarter they are in the program

I do need to pay my parents $525.00 per month for room & board from SSI. I guess that's all I had in one big picture: transitioning into a new life. So, I guess you have a 4th of July weekend and I'll talk to you whether I discuss. Bye! And one more thing... roll credits.