Monday Muses

Family is one of the most important aspects in my life. I am really thankful for my parents taking care of me. Many children take there parents efforts and sacrifices for granted, believing that it is their parent's job to give themselves up for their child's benefit. It is true that not all parents put an extra amount of effort in order to help their child grow to be better person, however for me, my parents have always been trying their best in order to help me grow and have a easier life after. My parents have been supporting me financially, giving up their own pleasures to help me experience a better childhood. My parents have also been supporting me emotionally and physically. My parents are the greatest blessings in my life, supporting me and various ways in order to help me grow to become better person than themselves.

My Father has always been giving up his time in order to work a little bit extra in order to make my life easier. My father works for a significant amount of time in order to help pay for my luxuries such as games as well as paying for my tutoring in order for me to have an easier time in school and become more successful. This is, there is a test called the SHSAT, in order to determine who is accepted into the specialized high schools. My father has also put in extra work in housework such as cleaning and shopping, relieving me of chores so I can spend more time in my studies for school and SHSAT. My Father has always been working behind the scenes supporting me, although he might believe that I don't take notice, I have always taken note of the effort he puts into making my life easier and more enjoyable.

My Mother supports me emotionally and physically, helping me get through tough times in my life has I grow up. My mother has always been wary of my health. Although her constant nagging of making sure to dress warm for cold weather, and not staying up late at night so I won't be exhausted in the morning, I knew she was just looking out for me so I won't get sick. Whenever I due happen to get sick, my Mother gives me her full attention in order for me become healthy again. She would spend her time making my favorite foods for me, as well as feed me so I won't have to use my own energy. Every time I'm stressed out or feel depressed, she would always show me positive sides of my situation and encourage me with compliments. My Mother works at home unlike my Father. She spends her day making sure that when my Father and I get home, we would come to a clean house with our favorite foods ready for us to eat.

My Family has always been supporting me in order for me to become a better person and have a easier life. My Father has always been helping financially and physically, putting extra effort in order to make my life easier, My Mother has always been helping me emotionally and physically, helping me get through tough situations such as depression and colds, There many things I do to my family, I make them worry about me, I lie to them,I force my ideals on them, I have them use their free time order to make my life easier. I owe them many things, things that I will never be able to pay them back for, but I believe that it's okay, since we're family.    

Reading Response 3 Theme

In the book “The Boy Who Couldn’t Die” by William Sleator is about a boy name Ken who was invulnerable to anything that is hazardous. When his best friend died in a plane accident he was very frightened and didn’t want to die. So he finds a women who claims she can make him invulnerable to pain and death for only 50 dollars. When he became invulnerable his life changed into a strange and somewhat a good life. Whenever he gets bullied he would stand up for himself. He would of course get beaten up but he wouldn’t get hurt. Whenever someone beats him up his friends would get scared and would ask questions. Also whenever he sleeps he is getting horrifying nightmares. Throughout the book, the theme is the importance of being courage’s.
On page 3 the main character Ken goes to a lady that claims she can make him invulnerable for only 50 dollars. The lady tells him that she will make him go to sleep and then take his soul to make him invulnerable. Ken the main character is being very courage’s because he is giving himself up to a strange lady. The lady asked “You’re sure you want to do this, now?” This quote is showing that Ken is very courage’s because he is letting a stranger do stuff to him that is very risky. He is letting a stranger do magic on him which might kill him. He is also giving up 50 dollars for something that makes no sense in the human world. First of all Ken has no clue who this lady is or what is her personality. He doesn’t even know why she is doing this for only 50 dollars. I think that Ken is trying to teach us that if you are courage’s and take risks you might get what you want without getting hurt. This is one reason why I think this is the theme.
On page 20 the main character Ken, stood up for himself when some bullies tried to pick on him. On the other hand, he stood up for himself because he wanted to see if he was really invulnerable or not. “I just said I was going on a date. And now I gotta get home.” Ken repeated. “Sure by ambulance.” Adam said. This 2 quote shows us that the main character was being courage’s because he was letting himself get beaten up. It also shows that the bullies were going to injure him. As a result Ken was getting punched and getting kicked. When they kept hitting him Ken felt nothing but a touch. Ken was so courage’s that at the end he was safe and not injured. I think that Ken was trying to teach us that if you are courage’s and take risks you might get what you want without getting hurt.  This is another reason why this is the theme.
On page 35 the main character Ken, goes scuba diving to let sharks bite him. When he confirmed that he was invulnerable to anything he wanted to try it one more time. So he went to an island where you can scuba dive and he let himself get bitten by a shark. Although he wanted to try it, he was scared in the beginning. “What happens if somehow my invulnerable to pain don’t work?” Ken thought to himself. This quote shows us that Ken was taking a risk and being courage’s. He was so courage’s that he let himself get bitten by a shark. Ken is trying to teach us that taking risks and being courage’s will sometimes give you good results.
Therefore the main character was teaching us that being courage’s can lead to a good result. When Ken let a stranger do stuff to him he was scared and felt like he was going to get killed. When Ken let bullies beat him up he felt like he was going to feel those hits. When Ken let a shark bite him he felt like he was going to die right there. For all that he was very courage’s and as result he was safe and didn’t get harmed. I think being courage’s sometimes shows us that you can take risk and still be safe.

Tarek Kawser October 2 2013 809 Faithful Elephants Dying from starvation is something I don't want to experience. The pain, the suffering, and the struggle of not eating or drinking for 17 days is torture. I may not know what it feels like to be starved to death but I can say that, its not something we want. In the story “Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya is a story about 3 elephants that die without having water or anything to eat. In Tokyo, the war that is going on is the cause of this miserable incident. The trainers had to kill the animals, because if bombs hit the zoo than animals will go wild and cause a mess. So they had to kill the animals as a sacrifice to save the lives of others. The trainers were cornered and had no choice but to kill them. The theme of this story is, the war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and the trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. The war in Tokyo was so dangerous that if bombs hit the zoo than the animals would go wild. This created the killing of all animals living in Tokyo. The elephants, Tonky and Wanly were next on line after the death of John. These two elephants had always gazed at people with loving eyes. They were sweet and gentle-hearted. The trainers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly. The days went by and the elephants became thinner and thinner. These two elephants became weak and started to look like they were begging. Whenever the trainers passed by the elephants would stand up, tottering as they were begging. The elephants were very hungry and looked very depressing. Whenever the trainers passed by they would look down and walk away. This is one reason why I think the this is the theme. The war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. The military agents told the trainers to kill the animals so that the animals doesn't get wild. The military told them that if bombs hit the zoo than the animals will go wild. When the trainers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly they were also suffering. They thought of them as there own children. The trainers would pace in front of the cage and moan, “You poor. Poor, pitful elephants!” This quote from the story shows us that the trainers aren't happy of what they are doing to the elephants. It shows us that they love and wish that what they are doing isn't real. When the elephants stood on there hind legs and lifted their front legs up as high as they could. They did the banzai trick and surely thought that there trainers would feed them. When the trainers saw the elephants, they couldn't stand any longer. They went and got food for the elephants but it was too late. All the other trainers acted like they didn't see what was going on. They pretended not to see but inside there minds and hearts were very happy. When they saw the elephants die they were very depressed. One of the trainers buried his head in his arms and cried. Others ran to the cage and they also burst into tears. This is another good example of why the war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and the trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. In conclusion the war that created this atmosphere was very depressing and devastating. The trainers had no choice but to kill the animals. They were forced to kill the animals because of the war. When reading this story I noticed how the author used details that made you feel there pain, there struggle, there suffering etc. What would you do when you were in there position.