I've added this to the Discussion board and have changed it a bit on there.
“Target down,” she said with her eyes still glistening. Taking a step backward she looked down and gently nudged the body with her stiletto, leather boots. Still breathing. Of course he was she thought, shaking herself out of her trance. It was a perfect shot, close enough to the nerve to keep him alive, but enough so he wouldn’t be able to play football with his little nephews for months, maybe years. Lowering her pistol with a steady hand she looked at her hands wet with his blood. Her heart pace lowered and her breathing rate, well, she mused, it never changed. This was her job, why should it bug her. Subtly glancing around the underground parking lot she scanned for any sign of the incoming whirlwind. Flipping her rich chocolate hair over her shoulder she bent down and took a small needle out of her jacket pocket. Quickly she injected the small chip into his shoulder.
“Kat, we got trouble,” the small listening device whispered in her ear. Touching her long, blue painted fingernail to it she looked down with sad crystal blue eyes on her fiancées face. He hadn’t deserved this. He was handsome with dark honey-brown hair and luscious eyes that matched. When she met his parents she had heard them talking in another room about how they were the perfect match. They both loved sports, especially horseback riding, and she fit in perfectly with the family. Her 6 foot structure had made it so she was the first girl he had not made dwarfed with his 6’4 frame, and personality wise they were the best match. The best one the company had ever put her with. Would he even remember me? Would he be sad he lost me? Of course he would remember her, but not as the person who had just ruined his life. He would know that she had been shot and killed by the same man that had attacked him. They’d give him back his million dollar ring, act sorry, and it’d be done with. One more job taken care of.
“Kat?”
Snapping back to life she took one more glance at the body with her dark brown eyes, disgust evident in her raised eyebrows.
“Send them in.”
Hopping into the car she knew she had five minutes at the most. Breaking into the Ferrari was any but a challenge however hotwiring this thing would be. If you even could. The car had a hand touch memory on the steering wheel and while playing fiancée to a rich, handsome, bachelor had its perks- driving the car wasn’t one of them. Throwing the door open she walked in frustrated to the trunk. Picking the lock would take about ten seconds she figured pulling her tool from the half of her hair that had a bun in it. Once opened, she searched the trunk to find her options. Choosing her “weapon” she grabbed the crowbar.
“Maddy,” the husky voice moaned, “Maddy, where are you?”
She froze, that was one thing she’d never get used to. The lies, always the lies, only this one she had almost believed herself.
“Sir, she’s here,” the receptionist said as he walked into the neatly furnished room. The man who sat anxiously behind the desk glanced up, and then checked his watch.
“She’s getting faster”, he said with a smile as he straightened his grey suit coat and practically ran to the stairwell outside his office. The receptionist simply smiled. The director was only like that with Maddy. With any other agent he would have finished what he was doing and meandered over to talk to them in about an hour. Maddy on the other hand was a different story. The boss had been waiting for her to return since she’d left on her “date” an hour and a half ago. Of course he’d never admit that to her, but it was fun to watch. Maddy had that effect on most people.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Book Review
“At least once in his career, every fire man gets an itch. What the books say, he wonders. Oh, to scratch that itch, eh? Well, Montag, take my words for it, I’ve had to read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and the books say nothing! Nothing you can teach or believe. They’re about nonexistent people, figments of imagination, if they’re fictions. You come away lost.”
“Well, then, what if a fireman accidentally, really not intending anything, takes a book home with him?”
“A natural error. Curiosity alone. We don’ get overanxious or mad. We let the fireman keep the book twenty-four hours. If he hasn’t burned it by then, we simply come burn it for him.” “Of course.”
In a world where everything is turned around, where education means nothing, where living is a waste of time famed author Ray Bradbury brings to life his science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. Written for all ages Fahrenheit brings to life the scary possibilities of what could evolve in to life as we know it. To me this book was fascinating; it truly was scary to see what could happen to life as we know it in a way that is not totally unrealistic. A world where the parlors talk, your ears are filled with your ancestors, and where your eyes glow as you see the pages burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Guy Montag is just your everyday firefighter. His life revolves around burning the books of criminals, dodging the Mechanical Hound and then going home to his pessimistic wife who worships “her relatives”. That is until he meets a girl who changes everything. Is the world more than this? Can we ever go back to a life where death does not live next door? But soon someone must change and lead the revolution, a man who will go forward from the flames while others wait in the shadows.
I found Fahrenheit 451 to be an amazing book. While I really can’t say I overly enjoyed every part of it the mere implications that were made and the connections to today’s society startled me. It was so true, in every way, shape and form. One thing that made this so much more believable was the characters. They seemed alive. They had a quick and easy personality to find and the dialogue that went on between the characters and even when they talked to themselves made you feel that people like this could actually exist, it wasn’t just Science Fiction and that to me is what makes a book come alive. Characters with depth, people that have deeper feelings than well, just whatever. I loved the contrast between Montag and Mildred it was shallow versus deep and it was a great way to recognize what had happened to the society.
If this book reminded me of any book it would probably be the Hunger Games. It was one of those books where you realize the sad mentality of humans. For example, watching people die for entertainment. How sad is this? Yet, we have “reality” TV, which is basically includes people that have strong emotions towards the other, such as hate, and then we sit down and watch them for fun.
If I had to choose one part of this book that seriously ruffled my feathers, it would be the profanity. Sometimes you had to “bleep” out the swearing so much in one sentence that you didn’t understand it, and then only four out of eight words were not a form of profanity. However, to lay my feathers back down again I loved the continual guessing. How you never knew what was coming next and you could continuously guess and see if you were right. Also I loved how the book would go inside the character’s brain and dig into the psychological physique so to speak of that character.
Now my theme I found in the book. It probably isn’t one that a lot of people will look at, but it was the need for someone to step forward. People like Gandhi, the military, and even the person who goes and tells the bully to stop in your school. They have the mentality that something needs to be accomplished and they’re willing to do whatever takes no matter how it affects them. I would love to have this quality. To go forward when others hesitate, to fight for what you believe in. There’s a quote that says, “If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything,” and isn’t that so true. We all need to stand up for something because when it comes down to the truth our beliefs are about all that we have. That’s what I admired about Montag, he is the type of man who can help change the world, and that’s something what we can all take out of this book. We all need to be the leader, the one to stand out and fight against what we know to be unjust. No matter who you are you have the ability to change your corner of the world. Just step out.
“Well, then, what if a fireman accidentally, really not intending anything, takes a book home with him?”
“A natural error. Curiosity alone. We don’ get overanxious or mad. We let the fireman keep the book twenty-four hours. If he hasn’t burned it by then, we simply come burn it for him.” “Of course.”
In a world where everything is turned around, where education means nothing, where living is a waste of time famed author Ray Bradbury brings to life his science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. Written for all ages Fahrenheit brings to life the scary possibilities of what could evolve in to life as we know it. To me this book was fascinating; it truly was scary to see what could happen to life as we know it in a way that is not totally unrealistic. A world where the parlors talk, your ears are filled with your ancestors, and where your eyes glow as you see the pages burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Guy Montag is just your everyday firefighter. His life revolves around burning the books of criminals, dodging the Mechanical Hound and then going home to his pessimistic wife who worships “her relatives”. That is until he meets a girl who changes everything. Is the world more than this? Can we ever go back to a life where death does not live next door? But soon someone must change and lead the revolution, a man who will go forward from the flames while others wait in the shadows.
I found Fahrenheit 451 to be an amazing book. While I really can’t say I overly enjoyed every part of it the mere implications that were made and the connections to today’s society startled me. It was so true, in every way, shape and form. One thing that made this so much more believable was the characters. They seemed alive. They had a quick and easy personality to find and the dialogue that went on between the characters and even when they talked to themselves made you feel that people like this could actually exist, it wasn’t just Science Fiction and that to me is what makes a book come alive. Characters with depth, people that have deeper feelings than well, just whatever. I loved the contrast between Montag and Mildred it was shallow versus deep and it was a great way to recognize what had happened to the society.
If this book reminded me of any book it would probably be the Hunger Games. It was one of those books where you realize the sad mentality of humans. For example, watching people die for entertainment. How sad is this? Yet, we have “reality” TV, which is basically includes people that have strong emotions towards the other, such as hate, and then we sit down and watch them for fun.
If I had to choose one part of this book that seriously ruffled my feathers, it would be the profanity. Sometimes you had to “bleep” out the swearing so much in one sentence that you didn’t understand it, and then only four out of eight words were not a form of profanity. However, to lay my feathers back down again I loved the continual guessing. How you never knew what was coming next and you could continuously guess and see if you were right. Also I loved how the book would go inside the character’s brain and dig into the psychological physique so to speak of that character.
Now my theme I found in the book. It probably isn’t one that a lot of people will look at, but it was the need for someone to step forward. People like Gandhi, the military, and even the person who goes and tells the bully to stop in your school. They have the mentality that something needs to be accomplished and they’re willing to do whatever takes no matter how it affects them. I would love to have this quality. To go forward when others hesitate, to fight for what you believe in. There’s a quote that says, “If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything,” and isn’t that so true. We all need to stand up for something because when it comes down to the truth our beliefs are about all that we have. That’s what I admired about Montag, he is the type of man who can help change the world, and that’s something what we can all take out of this book. We all need to be the leader, the one to stand out and fight against what we know to be unjust. No matter who you are you have the ability to change your corner of the world. Just step out.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Science Olympiad
Well before you read my biology report on Science Olympiad I just want to tell you that I got my center splits in jazz the other day!!! Yay!!! Just wanted to tell you (= ....Now the question, can I do them again...
State Science Olympiad is always an exciting and chaotic day for everyone on the team. It consists of waking up early on a Saturday morning, hopping on a bus with about 30 other sleep-crazed lunatics, and driving to Weber State where we will reside until about eight or nine o’clock. I have five events this year though only four of them were medaling events. They include Disease Detectives, Microbe Mission, Experimental Design, Anatomy, and Dynamic Planet (non-medaling).
Once you get to Weber State the first task is to set up home base, find where all your events are, and then head to your events or study until you have an event. My fist event was Microbe Mission. Microbe Mission is an event that is based on biology. You have to know different parts of the microscope, what microscope would do best analyzing a certain microbe, measurements and conversions, different microbes and their uses, fungi, bacteria, algae, etc. This was one of two events I was especially worried about. We hadn’t had a lot of training, and the test at the regional competition was based more on guessing skills then what was on the training guide. When we showed up and started the test it went pretty well, but there was definitely stuff we didn’t know, which to me killed any chance of medaling, but it was time to go on to the next event, Experimental Design.
Experimental Design was the other event I was worried about. It is completely up in the air. You have 50 minutes to design and make a write up on our experiment. We were a disaster at Regional and hadn’t had a good practice since. However, our topic seemed to go well and we had a massive write-up. Everything went as smoothly as it could when you consider all the details, but it was still rough and took almost the full 50 minutes to complete, but again time to rush on to our next event which was Anatomy.
I was not worried about anatomy, in fact I was ecstatic. I would probably get to see my first cadaver, and I had amazing coaches for it! We finished all our stations early, got to stay as long as we wanted at the cadaver (we named him Freddy) and then headed on to the next event which was Disease Detectives. Again, Disease Detectives was not a worry. We had the amazing coach we needed and practice time. We finished the event rather quickly which gave me adequate time to go back and go over what I wanted to. We usually had time to run back to the home room between these two events, and then I went to my last event, the non-medaling event of Dynamic Planet. I’d taken first at this one at district with a different partner (which was a miracle saying we hadn’t studied it), but now we’d studied and the whole test was on what my partner was in charge of, and she took over. I took the math and she did the topographic maps and that finished my events for the day. I then got to roam around campus until the awards assembly.
Now the rest is history, after tighter competition than ever, Fairfield dominated and now we get to go to nationals. For me it was a bitter win, as dramatic as that sounds, but the time, work and stress paid off and now we’re going to Madison, Wisconsin!
State Science Olympiad is always an exciting and chaotic day for everyone on the team. It consists of waking up early on a Saturday morning, hopping on a bus with about 30 other sleep-crazed lunatics, and driving to Weber State where we will reside until about eight or nine o’clock. I have five events this year though only four of them were medaling events. They include Disease Detectives, Microbe Mission, Experimental Design, Anatomy, and Dynamic Planet (non-medaling).
Once you get to Weber State the first task is to set up home base, find where all your events are, and then head to your events or study until you have an event. My fist event was Microbe Mission. Microbe Mission is an event that is based on biology. You have to know different parts of the microscope, what microscope would do best analyzing a certain microbe, measurements and conversions, different microbes and their uses, fungi, bacteria, algae, etc. This was one of two events I was especially worried about. We hadn’t had a lot of training, and the test at the regional competition was based more on guessing skills then what was on the training guide. When we showed up and started the test it went pretty well, but there was definitely stuff we didn’t know, which to me killed any chance of medaling, but it was time to go on to the next event, Experimental Design.
Experimental Design was the other event I was worried about. It is completely up in the air. You have 50 minutes to design and make a write up on our experiment. We were a disaster at Regional and hadn’t had a good practice since. However, our topic seemed to go well and we had a massive write-up. Everything went as smoothly as it could when you consider all the details, but it was still rough and took almost the full 50 minutes to complete, but again time to rush on to our next event which was Anatomy.
I was not worried about anatomy, in fact I was ecstatic. I would probably get to see my first cadaver, and I had amazing coaches for it! We finished all our stations early, got to stay as long as we wanted at the cadaver (we named him Freddy) and then headed on to the next event which was Disease Detectives. Again, Disease Detectives was not a worry. We had the amazing coach we needed and practice time. We finished the event rather quickly which gave me adequate time to go back and go over what I wanted to. We usually had time to run back to the home room between these two events, and then I went to my last event, the non-medaling event of Dynamic Planet. I’d taken first at this one at district with a different partner (which was a miracle saying we hadn’t studied it), but now we’d studied and the whole test was on what my partner was in charge of, and she took over. I took the math and she did the topographic maps and that finished my events for the day. I then got to roam around campus until the awards assembly.
Now the rest is history, after tighter competition than ever, Fairfield dominated and now we get to go to nationals. For me it was a bitter win, as dramatic as that sounds, but the time, work and stress paid off and now we’re going to Madison, Wisconsin!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Future and a fun blog idea...
So lately I’ve noticed a lot of discussion on what we want to do when you grow up. Well, a lot of it depends on High School turns out, but basically I have decided to some extent (by next week I'll probably have changed my mind). I basically have 3 colleges I want to go to and 3 fields I want to go in to. The 1st college is practical, the 2nd is a little further out there, and the 3rd is somewhere and something that very few people even know I’m interested in. If I could choose it would definitely be the third college and field, but it most likely won’t happen due to the overabundant randomness of it. Anyways, enough of my "theoreticalness"… Oh, and I want to go on a mission (Hopefully foreign speaking!). By the time I get off my mission and finish all of my schooling (which will most likely take a long time) I will probably be in my later twenties (about 26, well slight exaggeration). A problem though is that all my professions may include, and I want them to, traveling. This is the biggest problem when it comes to the next part. After I get out of schooling I plan to get married once I find the "right guy". Now here comes the part I’ve heard a lot about. I want to have a profession and a family. Most people would say that that will never happen but I don’t believe that you should have to give up everything once you get married. Yes, I know that in my religion you are to bring up your children, and I’m definitely planning on it, but I don’t want to give up all my dreams for it. Now quite a few people tell me that am just not the way it’s supposed to be. Believe me, I get it a lot. A lot of people are convinced that as a girl it just shouldn’t be like that, and who knows, it probably won’t be anything like I imagine it now. It all depends on what’s been planned in a far higher pace. Now all of this is based on your personal opinion, I can appreciate it if it goes against mine, and honestly please comment and tell me your opinions because I’d love to hear them. One thing that my sister and I have noticed is that a lot of this coincides with how you have been raised. My mother, some of my aunts, both grandma’s, and once their children were older almost all other aunts have worked. I’ll admit that I plan to go a little more professional than they did, but with a little faith hopefully it can work out.
Ok, so here is a fun idea you can use for your blog. Here's a random picture, that without background you don't know the who, what, where, when, or why. Using this picture or others make your own story up about what happened here. (=
Ok, so here is a fun idea you can use for your blog. Here's a random picture, that without background you don't know the who, what, where, when, or why. Using this picture or others make your own story up about what happened here. (=
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Haha...
So I'm watching Phantom of the Opera, and whenever it gets to the dramatic music and symbol crashes it keeps reminding me of the scream I did in band last year when we played it. The jumps I got from people were priceless. Oh well, that's randomness for you.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Grey Wolf
The Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) is an endangered species that lives mostly in North America, Canada, Mexico, some of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Russia, with subspecies of the wolf living in those same countries also.
The grey wolf is commonly confused with its relative the coyote. It is the largest member of its family and its color is anywhere from a grizzled gray, black to all-white. Females tend to be smaller than the average male. They have broad faces with a big muzzle, round short ears shaped like triangles with paws approximately 4 by 5 inches. They are also said to have a lower and long sounding growl. Males are 26 to 32 inches at the shoulders and are around 55 to 115 pounds. They give birth to litters of four to seven pups in April and May, with a general gestation period of about 2-3 months.
Wolves travel in packs (which is another variation from coyotes). They travel under the Alpha Male and Female, which are the only members of the pack that can mate. The Alpha Male and Female positions are chosen by who’s the best fighter. The subdominant wolves are forced to show their position by crouching and lowering their tails, while the dominant wolf can prance around, and play with them as they please.
The Grey Wolves habitats are tundra’s, forests, deserts, plains and mountains. This is reason why Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming are the ideal spots from them.
Wolves are carnivores (they eat only meat). They tend to usually thrive on larger animals, but will eat smaller animals if needed. Wolves usually kill and eat the animals that are the easiest to capture, therefore weeding out the weak parts in herds, making them stronger. This relationship with the prey is the most evident when Wolves were taken out of Yellowstone National Park. The elk and moose population along with coyotes and other animals started to grow out of control, the bighorn sheep’s pink eye disease was spreading, and food sources were rapidly depleted, however when they returned the wolves to the environment, things eventually snapped back into place for the rest of Yellowstone.
For years wolves were poached. At some times they were poached for their pelts, game, and due to them eating livestock. They were cruelly punished for this crime. Not only were they shot, they were trapped, or trapped then would have gasoline poured on them and then set fire to. Bounties were sent forth to try to get more people to hunt them. This started for the Grey Wolves (other wolf bounties for other species were or could have been set earlier or later) in 1630 in Massachusetts, and later the Unites States paid Indians with 3 quarts of wine or a bushel of corn, for one wolf that was turned in. By 1818 there was a “War of Extermination Order” for bears and wolves and slowly by 1884 bounties were set in at the least 9 states. By 1950 it was app
Finally this became too much! In 1973 the Endangered Species Act was put into order and the wolf was put on the list that August. Efforts slowly started back once more to try to get the wolf population to survive. Not all were successful though, in 1974 four wolves were introduced into an area in Michigan, but do to humans killing them the plan failed. In 1975 the first wolf reproduction (documented) pack was started since the 1950’s, bringing hope and ideas to others that wished for the wolves’ survival. Slowly, after many years the wolf population started to increase and become healthy once more, even after dips in this trend and shooting. In 2004 a hearing was held to once again remove the Grey Wolves from this list due to the fact that in 4 areas where the wolves were reintroduced the population was approximately 3,819 wolves. However in 2005 this plan was ruled against in court. Then finally on 03/12/2007 the Minnesota Grey Wolf was taken off the Endangered Species list. Unfortunately, there was no happily ever after, at least for the Rocky Mountain Grey Wolf that was delisted in April 2009. The wolves were being killed off so quickly that the healthy population formed was no longer substantial and have now been put back on the endangered species list once more. However, more people still and will continue to fight the issue.
The grey wolf is commonly confused with its relative the coyote. It is the largest member of its family and its color is anywhere from a grizzled gray, black to all-white. Females tend to be smaller than the average male. They have broad faces with a big muzzle, round short ears shaped like triangles with paws approximately 4 by 5 inches. They are also said to have a lower and long sounding growl. Males are 26 to 32 inches at the shoulders and are around 55 to 115 pounds. They give birth to litters of four to seven pups in April and May, with a general gestation period of about 2-3 months.
Wolves travel in packs (which is another variation from coyotes). They travel under the Alpha Male and Female, which are the only members of the pack that can mate. The Alpha Male and Female positions are chosen by who’s the best fighter. The subdominant wolves are forced to show their position by crouching and lowering their tails, while the dominant wolf can prance around, and play with them as they please.
The Grey Wolves habitats are tundra’s, forests, deserts, plains and mountains. This is reason why Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming are the ideal spots from them.
Wolves are carnivores (they eat only meat). They tend to usually thrive on larger animals, but will eat smaller animals if needed. Wolves usually kill and eat the animals that are the easiest to capture, therefore weeding out the weak parts in herds, making them stronger. This relationship with the prey is the most evident when Wolves were taken out of Yellowstone National Park. The elk and moose population along with coyotes and other animals started to grow out of control, the bighorn sheep’s pink eye disease was spreading, and food sources were rapidly depleted, however when they returned the wolves to the environment, things eventually snapped back into place for the rest of Yellowstone.
For years wolves were poached. At some times they were poached for their pelts, game, and due to them eating livestock. They were cruelly punished for this crime. Not only were they shot, they were trapped, or trapped then would have gasoline poured on them and then set fire to. Bounties were sent forth to try to get more people to hunt them. This started for the Grey Wolves (other wolf bounties for other species were or could have been set earlier or later) in 1630 in Massachusetts, and later the Unites States paid Indians with 3 quarts of wine or a bushel of corn, for one wolf that was turned in. By 1818 there was a “War of Extermination Order” for bears and wolves and slowly by 1884 bounties were set in at the least 9 states. By 1950 it was app
Finally this became too much! In 1973 the Endangered Species Act was put into order and the wolf was put on the list that August. Efforts slowly started back once more to try to get the wolf population to survive. Not all were successful though, in 1974 four wolves were introduced into an area in Michigan, but do to humans killing them the plan failed. In 1975 the first wolf reproduction (documented) pack was started since the 1950’s, bringing hope and ideas to others that wished for the wolves’ survival. Slowly, after many years the wolf population started to increase and become healthy once more, even after dips in this trend and shooting. In 2004 a hearing was held to once again remove the Grey Wolves from this list due to the fact that in 4 areas where the wolves were reintroduced the population was approximately 3,819 wolves. However in 2005 this plan was ruled against in court. Then finally on 03/12/2007 the Minnesota Grey Wolf was taken off the Endangered Species list. Unfortunately, there was no happily ever after, at least for the Rocky Mountain Grey Wolf that was delisted in April 2009. The wolves were being killed off so quickly that the healthy population formed was no longer substantial and have now been put back on the endangered species list once more. However, more people still and will continue to fight the issue.
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