Christopher’s Pencils n Junk

Living on an abandoned island is lonely. I first arrived here when I was Shipwrecked during a storm, it all happened so fast. The island itself is in the shape of a crescent with the land more raised in the middle, with coconut palms dotting the shore. When it comes to company there is the crabs and my friend Coco the coconut. My daily routine is scavenging the shore for any washed up trash, you’d be surprised by how much junk gets washed up. I’ve found so many sandals and bottles the I could make another island! My routine is quite boring and all I do is find fish to eat while making repairs to my shelter. Sometimes I play tag with Coco, he’s really bad at all the games we play. After I catch the fish I can make a meal to end the day.

Invisible for an entire day! So many things I could do but there are three that take priority. The first thing I would do is take from my cousins candy stash. I live with one of my cousins and they always steal my snacks and candy so I have to put it somewhere they can’t reach it. They however, have their own stash of candy that sticks out like a sore thumb. So I would just take about a quarter of the candy and leave the rest as they never took that much from me. Second thing I would do, steal $200 in steam gift cards from GameStop. That’s $200 of free games! I could buy any title that was on my mind and still have a lot left over! Third thing I would do is pull funny pranks on my friends. These pranks could be whoopee cushions, fake bugs, and just poking them when they can’t see me. It’s usually pretty funny when you see someone’s reaction to seeing a huge spider on the table when they were just there 10 seconds ago. These are all the things I would do if I was invisible for a 24 hours. As a bonus, if it was on Halloween I could be the Invisible Man!

In January, I read The Martian by Andy Weir. The Martian follows astronaut Mark Watney when on his sixth sol on mars, there is a huge sandstorm and he is presumed dead and abandoned. He has to use his wits and resourcefulness to survive until the next Ares mission arrives so he can escape mars. Also, this book has a lot of swear words, so if you don’t like that, this isn’t the book for you.

What i really liked about this book is how it is as realistic as possible with how everything is scientific eg. in order to grow crops, you need the bacteria in the soil. Even with some serious moments, the main character, being the comedian that he is, makes the book pretty funny with his logs.

My favorite character was Mark Watney as he is resourceful. This can be supported by the quote, “On to idea number two. Tape! I have duct tape in my toolbox, Let’s slap some on and see if it slows the flow”. This proves that Mark is resourceful as he uses what he has to its full potential.

My favorite quote is, “But really, they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out.”. This is my favorite quote as I find it to be true. As the quote says, this might not always seem true but it is as everyone wants to help everyone.

Something that Dumbledore said was, “We must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy.”. To me this quote means that instead of choosing the easiest route, choose the route that is best for you and everyone else. This relates to me as I am quite lazy with most of my homework. This is usually in the form of procrastination which, while very easy at first, will slowly pile up and become much harder. I’ve been making an effort to stop procrastinating but it is difficult to break habits. Also, sometimes(not very often) when I have to draw something, I don’t put in the most effort but this is usually only when I have other things to do.

My idol in life is my father. My first reason is he is able to make friends with almost anybody he meets. Whenever we go somewhere in public, he is always able to make very good friends with everyone around us and have a good time. My second reason is he is very good a cooking food. Whenever we have a lot of random stuff in the fridge, he is always able to cook it into something delicious. These things could be burgers, pastas, or tacos but all of them are delicious. I would definitely want to be able to make delicious food without a recipe. My third reason is that he is always ok with a challenge. Whenever he plays a game, he usually puts it on max or close to max difficulty. I actually feel this has already passed over to me because I also choose a harder difficulty, but not nearly as high as he puts it. These are the reasons I look up to my dad.

Ok, I was a just a little late to this. Anyway…

I decided to read Refugee by Alan Gratz. Refugee is a historical fiction novel that follows the journeys of Josef, a Jew during World War Two, Isabel a Cuban during Castro’s rule, and Mahmoud, a Syrian during the Syrian war which as far as I’m aware, is still happening. All of these characters are trying to escape to somewhere with their family, whether that place be Cuba, Miami, or Germany.

I really enjoyed Refugee as you could feel the character’s emotions very clearly, which is something Alan Gratz is very good at. Also, each character’s story connects with the other in some way without feeling too intrusive. I over all think Refugee is just good at letting you truly be with the book.

My favorite character is Josef as he is selfless. This trait can be proven with the text, “‘I don’t have time for games’ he world tell me. ‘I’m a man now’ And when those soldiers said one of us could go free and the other would be taken to a concentration camp, Josef said, ‘Take me.’”. This proves Josef is selfless as he lets the Nazis take him so his sister could be safe.

My favorite quote from Refugee is, “I see if now, Chabela. All of it. The past, the present, the future. All my life, I kept waiting for things to get better. For the bright promise of manana. But a funny thing happened while I was waiting for the world to change, Chabela: It didn’t. Because I didn’t change it. I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”. This is my favorite quote as I feel that sometime we wait and wait for other people to make things better but never do anything ourselves.

This year, I want to be more determined. My first reason is so i can get my homework done. Because I’m quite lazy, I sometimes procrastinate on my homework or “at home assignments” (there is a difference) and wait until the last minute and they turn out a little sloppy. What I could do if I was determined is just get the homework over with and not have to rush it in half a day. Another reason I want to be determined is so I can actually start learning more code. I’ve always wanted to learn how to code, but have always forgotten or pushed it to a later date to actually do anything. If I’m determined, I can just stick to a plan and learn to code much more quickly, not wait for later. My third reason is that sometimes I’m very afraid to fail. It’s ok to have the fear to fail, but you will never know until you try. Sometimes I’m so afraid to fail that I just don’t do what I think I might fail. If I’m determined, i can push back that fear of failure and just do what I want to do.

If I was principal for a day, I would remove homework. Personally, I feel that we learn enough in class already without homework. But I’m not just removing homework altogether, if you don’t finish an assignment in class then you would still have to finish that at home. The main reason I want to remove homework is because I like having more free time, but there are also cases where the child just doesn’t have any free time to complete the homework. Also, it would be nice to have more sections for lines at snack and lunch because I don’t really like spending 80% of it sitting in line. It’s just sad when you sit down to eat the food you waited so long for and the bell rings right when you start eating. I feel this would help stop the need for people to run to the line and also stop line cutters. I really don’t like line cutters.

In, November Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is set in a future where climate change has devastated the world with rising sea levels and higher temperatures, and many creations of the accelerated age lay in ruins. The story follows the journey of Nailer Lopez, a light crew ship breaker on America’s gulf coast region. Nailer finds a beached ship with one survivor who can give him a better life, so does he let them die and salvage the ship for all of its parts or save this person so he can be free of the ship yards?

I enjoyed the book as it had many exciting and emotional moments throughout the book, both happy and sad. You also get vivid descriptions of the different areas Nailer visits in the book, from the brutal ship breaking yards to the wealthy and exquisite clipper ships.

My favorite character was Nailer as he is kind. This can be supported with the text, “‘I’m sorry, Pima,’ he said. ‘I can’t do it. We got to help her.’”. This shows how instead of killing somebody to become rich, he risked that future to help someone.

My favorite quote from this book is, “‘Killing isn’t free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they take a pice of your soul. It’s always a trade.’”. This is a very meaningful quote as it describes how your morals and values deteriorate every time you take someone else’s life.

A picture of a clipper ship

Ted the bear was not much different from all of the other brown bear cubs. He lived in a cave with his mama and papa, and he really liked honey but not the bees that came with it. While he was walking to bear school to learn bear things, he saw a small river that he hadn’t seen before. It glistened with a wonderful blue he had never seen before, and all of the grass around it was a beautiful, lush green. There was even oak that towered above all the other trees. How had he not noticed this before? He turned around to Chubbs about it, there was only the forest and the gentle splash of the shallow stream. The thick woods seemed to fade away on the path to the river. Ted padded over to the river and as he stepped into the shallows, he felt the cool water and the soft mud. As he was thinking about how this could have possibly appeared, the river suddenly swept him off the ground and hurled him downstream! He was pushed along by the sudden rapids until he arrived at a still part of the river. When he splashed down, several ripples spread across the glassy surface of the water and then he saw it. There was another bear and it kind of looked like him! He started to approach the bear and it started forward away. When he backed away the bear backed away. It was almost like a mirror. Ted started to move forward again and instead of moving forward again, the other bear just tilted it’s head. After a what was probably seconds but felt like day, the other bear moved forward and after being dragged over here by the river, it wouldn’t hurt to make a new friend, so they played and frolicked until the day’s end.