A Long Way Gone

For this quarter’s outside reading project, I read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. The main thing that came to my mind was how horrific the sights must have been for him. I would read a bit and when I was done, retrace what happened in my head and imagine if I was Ishmael. It is non-fiction, and it is an autobiography about how he got out of Sierra Leone during the war there during the 90’s. The imagery is so powerful, and to know that this is all true makes you feel even weirder. We all live in a place that is safe from all of those horrors, and it is really hard but necessary to realize what other people, in other parts of the world, have gone through. Most people seeing a dead body in America would be scarred and never be the same for most of their life, and Ishmael is traveling his way through cities with dead bodies all over the place, and severed heads rolling around at his feet. This book really changed my views on foreign places and has taught me some powerful lessons.

Reading

One day when I decided to read my outside reading book, I thought to myself, I really am having a hard time being interested in books these days. I thought of how often I read and I couldn’t really think of many times. But I think I forgot one major detail; reading doesn’t really mean how many novels you have read, it is much more. I noticed this when I was on aol.com one day and saw a news story about a 6 year old driving his parents car to school. I read the whole thing, not even really knowing I was reading the whole time. I scrolled up afterwards, and there was a lot of text. I wondered why I unconsciously decided to read this much and realized that if I’m not pressured to read and do it willingly, I can be a great reader. I just need to work on being more focused on the plot of the novel/story/magazine and not on the actual act of reading. After this I realized how often I look at those news stories and read them. I wasn’t thinking about getting done with the reading, I was just hooked in the story.

The Road: The Movie

Reading and discussing the book The Road really opened up my mind and got me thinking deeper than normal. With the video game project, I started to realize how good of a movie this would be. When we were making the plot for the video game, I began to think about how similar it was to many other games out there. I think that a movie version of The Road would be very creepy and sad, but would be a very good movie for those who don’t have a faint heart. I think that the movie could be very successful, and be a stunning image of what the world will be like if humans keep beating on the planet. Movies like that do very well in the box office, such as I am Legend, and it would open up the minds of millions more people, just like it opened mine. With great cinematography like I am Legend, The Road could be a wonderful movie. I would definitely go see it if it came out in theatres. The book already opened many people’s minds and got them thinking, but if done right, a movie could double or triple the audience in a clearer way, leaving an effect on the viewers.

The Road

Reading the Road really brings up some vivid images in my head, but the most recent pages of reading involved the man and the boy finding the house, and we already discussed today in class of what happens there. Reading this part immediately brought into my head the old abandoned house that used to be in the corner of my neighborhood. A couple of summers ago, I went with a friend to check out the old, weird looking house, because another friend lived next door and said that the old woman who used to live in there was very weird and left the house abandoned. So, feeling adventurous, we crept through the alley and into the foot-high weeds and grass of a backyard. We first went into the garage, which was just empty. Then we looked through the windows of the house and something about it was just creepy. I don’t know if it was the torn up carpet or the old wood balcony overlooking the backyard, but something about it just demanded that it needed to be explored. We tried the side door, but it was locked. We were just about to leave, when I tried opening the window on the side. The people that had locked this house up had forgotten this. We stumbled inside and the feeling immediately went from hot and dry to sticky and damp. There was a weird moldy smell everywhere, but it looked like a normal house. After exploring the cool upstairs, there was only one place we missed. The door in the corner, leading to the basement. I never went down there until I cane back with a group of 5 or 6, several months later. We were just having fun, pretending to scare each other, but then we decided to go downstairs. We tried opening the door, but it was a little jammed in. This is where the book starts reminding me of my time there. I shoved the door open and immediately came a whoosh of damp, cool, soggy air and the sight of an old, black set of stairs. We obviously didn’t see the naked half eaten humans, but we crept downstairs, scared, and looked around. Everything was dark and creepy, and the walls covered in sheets of metal, with what looked like knife marks in them. We huddled together, looking around with our imaginations racing. Someone then bolted upstairs, and without thinking everyone else did. Now, when I read that part of The Road, I can sort of see myself, scared, push open that door to the basement. Obviously this is not at all as extreme as the book, but I believe I have a good connection to think about when I am thinking about that part in the book.

P.S. That house was eventually torn down into a really nice big house, and the events that happened there are now just memories.

The last person on Earth

If I were the last person on Earth, after some sort of apocalypse, I would no doubt be living a weird life from that day on. I would sometimes like being alone, nothing is anyone else’s but yours any more, and you can eat everything in your house. It would get weird, though, when you eat all the food, or use all of the heat. What now? I would start to get depressed then, because I would not know what to do. I really haven’t had to do much for myself now that I think about it, but I think I could adapt. I would probably just break into Jerry’s across the street and take as much as I could fit in the car. I also would not like it very much, that things like money have no worth any more. Saving up for your entire life just for this? I would probably be mad at that. After some period of time though, I would probably get very lonely and go insane, and I would probably drive somewhere with the gas left in my mom or dads old car. When I ran out of gas, I would probably just sit there and think, why was I the only one that survived? I would wonder if there were any other people out there like me, and I would just try to live another day to find them and figure out what went wrong the day of the apocalypse.

behind neighbors

Just about a week ago, I was "between a rock and a hard place". I was playing catch with my brother in my backyard, and punted the ball over the fence into my behind neighbor’s yard. Now, you’re probably thinking no big deal, just go get it. Well, these people are scary. It is the real life Sandlot. There have been many frightening incidents in the past, one involving me and 2 friends being adventurous and trying to “spy” on a little party they were having. Well, let’s just say it ended up with a fire cracker, a fake bb gun, and me falling off the ladder and running away half laughing half being scared beyond belief. Even though I know they would never intentionally hurt us, they are pretty intimidating, with their rather odd characters that come and go from their property every day, to the 4 vicious (I’m sure their not as bad as my imagination has made them out to be after all of these years) dogs that bark constantly at us while we are outside. Anyways, my brother really needed that ball for recess, and I needed to jump over and get it. I guess I should have just gone over to their doorbell, but I don’t think they like me very much. So I crept through some yards to get to the side of their fence, and I jumped over. When I was in, everything just turns on and you get the feeling of being like a Marine. I ran at the ball and as I was running, guess what, the dogs came out. I luckily jumped over the fence fast before they could maul (probably just sniff) me. I skinned my knees jumping over, because I don’t have the biggest hops, but I got the ball back and I think I probably should have just asked them for the ball, because they probably aren’t as bad as I think they are.

High Heat

Last year, I read the book High Heat, by Carl Deuker. This book is about a kid my age who is a talented pitcher for his high school baseball team. When his dad, owner of a big company, gets busted for fraud ends up committing suicide, Shane (main character) loses all of his old riches, including his house and nice private school. He moves to a poor part of town, to a poor school, where he wonders if he even wants to play baseball again. He ends up playing, but he gets very annoyed at the kid who moved in to his old huge house. This kid also took his spot on his old baseball team, and is now their star player. This makes Shane very jealous. In a game against his old school, he beans this kid right in the head with a fastball, causing a serious injury to the kid and to both his and Shane’s potential scholarships. I have been jealous of many people before and what I do is I usually try to forget about the “cool stuff” or anything that the person has, and just be happy with what I have. It’s not getting what you want, its wanting what you’ve got, and I learned that sometimes the people that you are jealous of, also may be jealous of you. I would just try to be satisfied with what I have because if you are never satisfied, then why even try to be happy in the first place?