Thursday, August 18, 2011

Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society

           When reading a book, you want to read something special. By special, I don't mean things like a supposedly "epic" storyline, because most books already have that checked. What I mean is a thing like a very well organized puzzle for the reader to solve, a riddle or some kind of factor that the reader can participate in, other than just reading. This is exactly what the Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart, provides; a very complicated puzzle that seems impossible at a glimpse, but proves to be remarkably easy in use of a bit of brain power. Hooked up already? Let me introduce to you some key highlights and major considerations for the choosing of this book, because this is one great story aboard a one way bus towards the honor of #1 best seller.
          The book starts off with, as mentioned, a test. Not exactly a normal test, though. It doesn't ask math or science question; this particular test requires intellegence and personality to proceed. The questions are so peculiar, easy in a way but also very challenging. The test isn't entirely on paper, either. Some require mental and physical strength as well; puzzles applied on fields of ground.  Out of thousands of kids who took the test, only four passes; Reynie, Sticky, Constance, and Kate. But the newspaper that advertised this extraordinary test to be taken did not say one thing. It was that passing the test meant a direct mission into the Learning Institute of the Very Enlightened, as a spy. They are hired by Mr. Benedict, the genius behind all the earlier testing, and is sent to the suspicious Institue. However, the newspaper  also didn't tell that the role as a spy would not be as easy as Reynie, Sticky, Constance, and Kate had passed the test.
           The thing I would like to say about this book is that the author wrote its contents so well. His writing uses complex and high class words which are a pleasure to the eye but is also able to be read with ease. Trenton Lee Stewart's way of writing makes normal things sound funny, not so special events sound dramatic and filled with action. He also added puzzles and riddles throughout the entire book, making it a luxurious, mystery fiction book. As they contact Mr. Benedict through their dormitory windows using morse code with flashlights, Reynie and his gang struggle to find out the terrible secret of the purpose the institute was ever constructed. In addition to this, they are also in need to find out the hidden identity of Mr. Curtain, the principle of the school.
           In conclusion, I think that the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart is an excellent book for those who enjoy tons of humour, great plotline, a bit of mystery and climax, along with some very good writing. There is no limitations to whom I would like to recommend this book, since it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Become the hero! Become Reynie, Sticky, Constance and Kate, as you venture through the world of Trenton Lee Stewart, and that of the Mysterious Benedict Society.
          

Monday, August 15, 2011

Ode to Friends

Ode to friends, Ode to friends,
With relationship that never ends,

The ones who loyally stand beside,
In times of wrong, they, who criticize,

The ones who talk, play, laugh with you,
They who worry, cry, grieve with you, too,

It's not that I would like to say,
But sometimes there is great dismay,

We can fight, battle, brawl as friends,
But that won't stop us as it soon mends,

Hello,
Goodbye,

I won't deny,
To save a friend I'd even die,

So Ode to friends, Ode to friends,
We share a bond that never ends.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Creative Writing--The Padlocked Chest (Dongho Shin and Sungmook Kim)

          
           Arson woke up. It was a bright summer day and he had been taking a nap outside in his front yard. His nap was supposed to be short, but he had already slept for two hours. He was late for work. which started at 12 o'clock sharp. Arson took a glimpse at his watch; it was 2 o'clock. He ran back to into his house and changed his clothes. He hurried out the door, and waved hastily at a taxi. By the time he finally arrived at his company building, it was already two thirty. Although he was afraid to meet his boss, he had to go. When he did he was given a deadly sentence which was that he was fired. In shock, Arson tried to make an apology but was totally refused. Then he was led out of the building and onto the streets.

           Arson then came back to his house. He just wanted to have a single moment of rest to review what in the earth is going on. But when he ttried to go into the garden, he was blocked by two policemen who firmly grabbed his shoulders. Arsene yelled,"what the hell are you doing in my house and how dare you block me to enter my house!" The police did not change any expressions but gave him a piece of receipt. The receipt said,"This house, owned by Arson Robin, is now occupied by lord Phillip who bought it from the auction." So, Arson's house was sold to the auction and someone bought it. Which means that he has nowhere to go. He lost his job and money. But why, why did this all happen?
            Arson let out a single tear. It slipped away from his eyes and made its way down over his cheek, and dropped, silently, to the ground. Arson tried to hold it back, but one escape did not stop another. Soon, he found himself sobbing, sitting on what was once his grass, what was once his own front yard. By the time Arson squeezed out every last teardrop left in him, nightgall was coming. He couldn't sit here and do nothing. He had to at least try to move, he had to start somewhere.
              Arson arrived at the subway station. It was against his dignity, but there was no other choice but to start begging. Soon after, he spotted a seemingly wealthy man walking grandly among the crowds. Arson approached the man and politely asked for change. He was surprised to find that, despite the man's royal appearance, he was very rude in decining Arson's request. He yelled so loudly that most people in the station whipped their heads around to stared, and a guard came over to check on the situation. The man angrily stomped away, and Arson, in equal amount of rage, followed him out of the station and began to stalk him. Arson fumed at this man's offending behavior, for Arson, too, had once been as wealthy as he was now. He followed this unknown man to his house. Staying a few meters behind him, he thought of a brilliant, but evil idea. He could rob this man of his treasures, which could bring Arson back to his ideal course of daily life. Arson decided to observe this man for a period of time, at least, before he began his heist.
               During his wait, Arso noticed something odd about the man's servant. Arson spotted that every mrning, the servant would leave with a wooden box in his hand, only to return a few hours later empty-haned. Once, due to his clumsiness, he dropped the box and some of its contents. The servant quickly tried to gather them up and, with a hasty look around his surroundings, disappeared. Arson went forward to try and find what had dropped from the box. He gasped when he discovered a golden coin lying on the grass, which must have been left behind by the servant.
               Next morning, Arson followed the servant to try and find his destination, along with the mysterious boxes. He soon found that the servant was moving the boxes to an abandoned house at the end of the street. Arson figured that all of the boxes would be filled with similar riches. How many days had he waited for the robbery? It had been exactly a week, which meant seven chests of valuable treasue hidden inside the abandoned building. Arson attacked the servant on his way out. He robbed him of the key to the chest, and ended up killing him in attempt of finishing things cleanly. Arson proved a strong man, and succeeded in strangling the poor servant to death. Now in possession of the key, Arson sneaked into the abandoned house, shut the front door with a snap, and began his search. He scanned the first floor, but nothing was there. It was daylight, but even so, it was dark enough inside for Arson to have difficulty in making his way throughout the structure of the building. He crept his way up the stairs, and peeked into the attic room.
Sitting boldly in the middle of the floor was a giant, padlocked chest. The note attatched said only three simle words: 'do not open'. But the man seemed not to care a bit of this warning. It was as if he knew what the chest would contain, and he did. He reached inside his pocketand pulled the key out. The man approached the chest, stabbed the key inside the lock, and grinned. This was it.
                 
The chest opened and a golden light leaked out from the chest. Arson cried out. He found silver, Rubi, Diamond and lots of other jewels. Arson grabbed them threw them into the air with joy. But then—
BOOM! BOOM!
two bullets shot through the air, piercing Arson'. After a moment of silence, Arson's body fell down to the floor. Red strains were around the floor. Two men walked out of darkness. One of them glimpsed at the body, dead, on the floor. He grinned, and said, “Finished. Let’s go.”Arson blinked at them with all power he could make and said, "you... made me like this, right?" and closed his eyes. One bullet pierced again his head, sending Arson completely to death. "Yes, we did." The two men took the treasure and left the house. Arson's body cooled slowly in the building.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Riding a Bike (Descriptive)

        At the time, I hated my mom for taking me there. It was a cool autumn morning and I can still picture myself, eight years old, rolling my first bicycle up the hill somewhere inside Stanford University. I was probably in the most excited state when my mom told me that she would buy me a bicycle for my birthday present. I immediately said yes, but I don't think I ever actually guessed that I would  have to go through the hard process of learning how to ride it first.
         My bike wasn't much of a bike, either. It had a star on the seat, and was overly colorful and all, but it was the only one right for me in terms of size and comfort. Looking at the bike reminds you of Uncle Sam. Honestly, the bike looked like he threw up on it; it had a U.S. flag on the sides, fifty or so stars decorated all over the bicycle. It even had handles with the U.S. flag pattern. You can imagine how ridiculous it must have looked, but I didn't care much. It was a bike, and that was it.
         So anyway, there I was, terrified out of my own, scared mind just because I was about to ride a bike down a hill so low that it was almost flat ground. Now, let us all remember that I was only in first grade, and that it would have been perfectly reasonable to be anxious of riding my first bike. At first, my mom promised that she would hold onto the back of my bike at all times, pushing me onward. It worked pretty well that way. As I was getting a hang of pedaling and balancing myself, the back of my bike started feeling a bit light. I looked back, and sure enough, my mom wasn't there. I barely saw her waving at the top of the hill when about two seconds later I crashed into a tree and flipped over along with my bike.
          Due to the scars of the crash, I sat out and rested on a bench for a few minutes before I started again. My memory tells me that when I complained to my mom, she laughed so badly it was almost actually funny. If I didn't have any of the scars I received from the tree, I would have laughed with her. But because I did, I kept quiet. I ate some snacks, and began again. By the end of the day I crashed into two more trees, ripped through a police line, and got a thorn stuck inside my finger. When I had finally reached my limits, I called my dad to pick us up, because I definitely was not going to go back home on my bike.
           It was a memorable experience, and although my bike was stolen a few months later, I managed to master how to ride the bike on my second day. Now, I can ride the bike one-handed, no-handed, and sitting sideways. The experience from six years ago is helping me today in carrying myself between my house and academies.

The Worst Mistake (Narrative)

        It was only yesterday when it happened. Come to think of it, it was probably the most unintellegent mistake I've made this year. I figured out that the only things that you need to be completely embarrassed by the entire floor are earphones, an MP3, and a half-awoken mind.
       The problem is that when you put your earphones on, you lose total awareness of the volume of your own voice. Have you ever noticed that when you try to talk while listening to music, you sound awkward and jagged? This is because of the fact that you can't hear your own voice. This becomes a problem because it is almost impossible for you to adjust the volume of your voice. It wasn't my first mistake, either. I had made the same error a few days ago, but I was stil senseless enough to make an identical blunder. So this is what happened.
        It wasn't that embarrassing, not as much as funny or stupid. It was the second self study period, and I was charging my roommate's MP3 player so that I could listen to it all day after it was done. I am a very impatient person, however, and since I couldn't listen to any songs or two days in a row, I eagerly interrupted its rest and turned the MP3 on. Because I had finished everything that I had to do, from writing my diary (which was required by the PA's) to finishing my final touches on a history presentation, I laid back and let my mind fly off to a world of beats and rythm. This was the worst mistake I could possibly make in a place that was as quiet as a graveyard; to fall asleep during second self study period, with my earphones on, and again, no ability whatsoever to adjust the volume of my own voice. Thinking that I had accidently fallen asleep, one of my roommates shook me awake. There is something I would like to make clear here. I had just been awoken abruptly from a very deep sleep, and so I had an equal intensity of deep dizziness.I blurted out nonsense which, in addition to its absurdity on its own, was in Korean. What I said roughly translates to: "WHAT? I WASN'T SLEEPING." Although I couldn't make sure how loud I actually was, I must have said it pretty loudly, because most people around me laughed out loud. I must have been heard all across the room and so a PA walked up to me and asked for an explanation of my behavior. I almost got a yellow card there, but the PA only gave me a harsh warning and walked away.
         My roommates and I laughed about it for a long time before we went to sleep, and I admit it; I must have sounded like a mentally retarded person. From this experience, I learned an important lesson: never listen to music during the second self study period.