Reading Response

   I am now reading the book Insurgent. It is the second book in the series after Divergent. I chose to read this book because many students in class recommended this book. Also, because I loved Divergent and couldn't wait to find out what happened to Tris and Four. Throughout reading this book I find myself learning more about the factions and learning more about Tris and Four. Also I find myself noticing the different ways the author ,Veronica Roth, brings back characters that may have not been in the last chapter but appear in the next. She does this in a really creative way. For Example Tris and Four get arrested in the book and she brings back Christina and Uriah during this scene.
 
  When reading Insurgent I analyze the different  characters and compare the changes they've made or went through. For example I compare Abnegation Beatrice with the now independent, Dauntless initiate Tris. Beatrice second guessed herself a lot as now Tris usually kind of just goes for it and thinks about the consequences later. Throughout Insurgent you get many explanations of relationships and things that may have happened in this past, these events get clarified and you get a better understanding.

Outside Reading Log:
 August 22nd: Insurgent -50 minutes
 August 23rd: Insurgent -35 minutes
 August 25th: Insurgent -40 minutes

Total Time: 125 minutes
Total Pages: 1-162 (161 pages)

Free Post- Gym Story

For the past 2 weeks my gym (the place I do gymnastics at) made us start working out on Saturday's, which basically means no social life. We start gym at nine in the morning and end at three in the afternoon. For the first maybe hour to hour in a half we do conditioning and strength work, including arms, legs, stomach, back, cardio, etc. Then after conditioning we stretch for a good ten to fifteen minutes. Next we start working on our events. Levels seven through ten start on beam, then bars, then floor and vault is last. In between events we get a fifteen to twenty minutes lunch break at eleven thirty.

After lunch we then go do ballet, which is horrible. Let me explain, gymnasts trying to do ballet without looking ackward in some way is impossible. We look similar to elephants trying to ice skate. Ballet is just so unnatural for my teammates and I its ridiculous. Our coaches make us practice ballet because it will make our dance (leaps, jumps, turns, etc.) in our floor and beam routines look ten times better. Usually after ballet everyone is really tired so we just try to push through the last couple of hours of workout as much as possible, together.

Reading Log- August 19, 2013

August 15th- Book Chat Notes 15 minutes

August 17th -18th - The Man Without A Face  By: Isabelle Holland
   Pages 8-154: 125 minutes

Total Time: 140 minutes

Free Post

    I'm really excited about the upcoming year, as a high schooler and as a freshman. I mean who wouldn't? You aren't that much closer to finishing school and graduating. I think I am most excited about the freedom the high schoolers have and the funs days they have planned, such as Twin Day for Homecoming Week. I am also really excited about meeting new people that are new to the school and meeting the teachers I have, new or old. I am even excited about sports. Mostly track because i hope to run for the varsity team and hopefully earn a leatherman jacket. I am also excited to compete at high school state for gymnastics, because I know it will be a lot easier compared regular competitive gymnastics.
    What I am probably least excited about as being a high schooler is probably the work. Anything that deals with work from the amount of it and the difficulty. I know the work will be a lot more challenging and harder than middle school, especially since I am pretty much in all Honors or AP courses. I am also not really excited about having to be the one of the youngest students in high school since I am a freshman, which means I am at the bottom of the totem pole. Which also means we don't get as much advantages as the juniors or seniors but then again we may also get more warning than the juniors and seniors since it is our first year of high school.
    They may cut us some slack, but who knows?

Reading Response- Divergent

    I really enjoyed the book Divergent. What I liked about it was that it had action, mystery and a little romance. Also, I really enjoyed reading about the development and change of Beatrice aka Tris. I also enjoyed the way the author sequenced the book, how she ordered the events.

   My favorite character in Divergent, I would have to say is Four (Tobias). I really liked his personality and the way he confronted people including Tris. Also, I liked how he tried to help Tris, even though she was weak, instead of being harder on her. Four also had a lot of self awareness, meaning he knew who he was and no one was going to change that. Also, I thought that Four was really clever with the choices and decisions he made. He chose to change his faction and his name , so it would't remind him of someone that hurt him so badly, his father. 

   Divergent makes me wonder what life would feel like with factions. Would it be more united or more separated? I think it would be more separated in a certain way, because you are basically separated your entire population into five groups based on their strengths. I think if this was to happen people in different factions wouldn't talk to people out of their faction. I, also think if this was to happen many people would probably try and answer the same way their friends and family did during the stimulation test or they would all choose that same faction during Choosing Ceremony so they would't be separated.