Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Resistence to civil government
Resistence to Civil Government is a strong paper. When you read it you can really see Henry David Thoreau's anger in the government. I really like it in the paper when Henry writes about how he can't imagine a state in which he can be treated as an equal "I please myself with imagining a state at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor." I also liked how he talks about how the government needs to back off and man needs to step up and better themselves in order to govern themselves.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Self-Reliance
Like Nature this story was pretty boring and took me a few times to read it to understand it completely. the part of the story that stood out most to me was the part when he talks about man can only be happy when he has done his best best and worked hard. It is true, there is nothing that makes me feel better than accomplishing something. Another thing that stood out to me in this story is how at the end Ralph talks about how man shouldn't be scared to do what he believes of because of being scared of being misunderstood by the general public.
Nature
Reading Nature you can really see Ralph Waldo Emerson's love for beauty. I like it at the beginning when he's talking about the stars, " the rays that come from those heavenly worlds."
The middle of the book is probably the best because he talks about how everything belongs to nature. Even though you might own your land, your land is part of the big picture which is nature.
Though this story was good and interesting, it was very boring and took some time to read to fully understand. I like where it was going but it was just too boring and not really fun to read.
The middle of the book is probably the best because he talks about how everything belongs to nature. Even though you might own your land, your land is part of the big picture which is nature.
Though this story was good and interesting, it was very boring and took some time to read to fully understand. I like where it was going but it was just too boring and not really fun to read.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Romanticism
Romanticism
Can you imagine if almost all rules and regulations in society were dropped? If you could throw your trash anywhere, drive in whichever lane was open, park your car anywhere that suited you? That’s basically how it was for people living in large cities in the time between 1820 to 1840. Relatively young cities (young compared to other large European cities) like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia quadrupled in this period giving these young cities no time to create all the rules and regulations you need to control large cities. With few rules and regulations and thousands of people flooding in the cities everyday they became a hectic mess. People could throw garbage anywhere, horses could lay droppings anywhere, and there was not one person to clean all of it up or keeping order. In all of this chaos people needed a break from the harsh realities surrounding them. To break away from the crummy usual day, writers began writing in a more imaginative artistic style of writing, giving berth to Romanticism. Romanticism focuses on intuition over logic very different from there fathers, Rationalist, who focused on reason to describe the world around them.
Rip Van Winkle, written by Washington Irving is a great example of Romantic Writing. Some of the parts are a little boring but most of the book is quite good. At the beginning of Rip Van Winkle it was overly descriptive and boring. By being so descriptive Irving would get off from the main point of the story and start to ramble about peoples clothing.
"On nearer approach he was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger's appearance. He was a short square-built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion--a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist--several pair of breeches, the outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulder a stout keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load."
This would get annoying because I really just wanted to read about the story not about the characters clothing.
"On nearer approach he was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger's appearance. He was a short square-built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion--a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist--several pair of breeches, the outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulder a stout keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load."
This would get annoying because I really just wanted to read about the story not about the characters clothing.
Towards the end of the book is when I started to enjoy it, because Irving started focusing more on the story, less on people’s clothes, and the story picked up. One thing that I thought was interesting was how Irving didn’t tell you whether the whole scene with the elves was real or not because it made me stop and think whether if he was already dreaming or if drinking with the elves made him begin sleeping.
When I was reading the story I was very intrigued by all the unique illustrations. All of the pictures in the book are very dark, and many of the people in the illustrations seem to be ol
d, dirty, and poor. To me this represents the majority of the people in this time period and the dark gloomy backgrounds represent the sad city settings.
d, dirty, and poor. To me this represents the majority of the people in this time period and the dark gloomy backgrounds represent the sad city settings.What I found particularly Romantic was the use of fantastic elements in the story. When Rip goes out hunting in the woods and comes along a band of little people. "in the centre was a company of odd-looking personages playing at nine-pins. They were dressed in a quaint outlandish fashion; some wore short doublets, others jerkins, with long knives in their belts, and most of them had enormous breeches, of similar style with that of the guide's." This is very illogical and probably would never happen in the real world. Another example of the surreal is Rip going to sleep for twenty years. The reader is expected to believe that Rip survives for two decades without food or water. This is scientifically impossible because a human cannot live without sustenance.
The poem Thanatopsis written by William Cullen Bryant is a little bit of a depressing poem. Though there is an underdog theme most of the poem he is talking about the beauty of earth and the darkness of death.
"By those, who in their turn shall follow them.
"By those, who in their turn shall follow them.
So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan,
that moves To the pale realms of shade,
where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, "
This part of the poem I thought was particularly depressing. Death being a dark, silent, nothing I think is what everyone fears of death and doesn’t want death to be.
This part of the poem I thought was particularly depressing. Death being a dark, silent, nothing I think is what everyone fears of death and doesn’t want death to be.
What I found to be romantic in Thanatopsis was the underdog theme of the average American. What Bryant is saying in the poem is that though Europeans might call Americans unsophisticated and stupid, Americans don’t really care and believe they can do just as good and live just as happy lives as Europeans without being sophisticated, and when we die we all rot in the ground as complete equals.
The Poem Ropewalk, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is really imaginative poem. The point of this poem was that even though this guy’s job sucked he could go deep in his head and imagine something good. While walking down the ropewalk he starts to imagine what all of the rope he’s spinning is going to be used for.
"Two fair maidens in a swing,
Like white doves upon the wing,"
This quote from the poem really is the easiest thing for me to picture. Two beautiful girls flying through the air in a swing held up by a strong, thick, white rope.
This quote from the poem really is the easiest thing for me to picture. Two beautiful girls flying through the air in a swing held up by a strong, thick, white rope.
What I thought was romantic about Ropewalk was that the main character could escape from his everyday life. Even though spinning rope was hard, hot, and tedious the character could get out and go to a much more imaginiative world where things weren't so bad.
I think that this picture is romantic because to me it represents natures power over man, and no matter what man makes it want be as beautiful, great, or powerful as what natur
e creates. The way the sun shines down on all bellow I think is a way the artist wanted to symbolize the sun as the real power in the universe. The cliffs and mountains I think are representing how nature can create huge beautiful landmarks that humans will never be able to match.
e creates. The way the sun shines down on all bellow I think is a way the artist wanted to symbolize the sun as the real power in the universe. The cliffs and mountains I think are representing how nature can create huge beautiful landmarks that humans will never be able to match.American Romanticism was a really cool time in history. When everything was dark and logic ruled all thinking, there came Romantics believing in intuition of logic which was a break for the everyday factory beaten Americans. Knowing your going to work in factory all day long everyday for the rest of your life making just pennies a day is a harsh reality that I think Americans wanted to escape. Romantic Books by Washington Irving and poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were perfect antidotes for the rough city life of Americans in the Industrial Revolution.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Jitterbug Perfume
Jitterbug Perfume is an epic written by Tom Robbins. It's a very different type of epic that i'm use to reading about. Instead of the classic hero Robbins uses a coward of death king, Alobar. This book is a very interesting book that has many twist and many mind opening adventures.
The book starts off in the middle ages of Europe with a man named Alobar. Alobar is a king in the beginning of the story but runs away from his kingdom to avoid death. He goes to another village but ends up fleeing the town to avoid death once again. Once Alobar flees the second town he meets Pan who tells him to travel east in search of the bandaloop. The bandaloop is some weird settlement of people in caves who practice immortality. When Alobar gets there he learns the ways to become immortal, and eventually leaves and travels back west. While traveling he meets a girl named Kudra. Kudra is unhappy with her life because she's in a fixed marriage and doesnt like it. So she travels with Alobar.
While all of the mess with Alobar is going on there are three other stories going on. One is a story of a kind've messy confused waitress/chemist named Priscilla who lives in a small apartment in Seatle and is trying to have a breakthrough in perfumery. The second is a story of a perfumer by the name of Madam Duvailer who owns a small perfumery in New Orleans. The Third is about the Lefever family. They are a family that owns a large highly respected perfumery in Paris. All of these stories come in kind've like chapters all through the book, and eventually tie together in the end.
Once Alobar meets Kudra he teaches her the bandaloop methods of immortality, and they travel all over the Europe and parts of Asia together. While traveling Alobar reacquaints himself with Pan and Pan travels with them. They can never stay in one city long because people start getting suspicious on why they never age. So they just travel from city to city when finally Kudra says they should go to Paris and open an incense shop. Everything was going good in Paris except for Pans strong odor that brings suspicion to them. So Kudra starts to try to find a perfume that will cover Pans odor. While trying to make this perfume Kudra becomes a little obssesed with it. She can find all the perfect ingrediants just not the base note, and that drives her mad. When one day she comes up with the idea of dematerialization and convinces Alobar to try it with her. When they try it she dematerialiates but Alobar does not. Somehow then Alobar gets the idea that if he can find the right base note for the perfume and finish it that it will help Kudra find her way back to earth.
The book starts to get really crazy after that part. Many twist and surprises happen. Alobar ends finding the base note to the perfume. On the way to the New World Pan throws the bottle of perfume over board, and Alobar ends up in jail in the modern time. All of this is starting to come into the other stories in the book as it progresses.
In the end all of the stories come together in the theme of the perfume. They all want to market on the perfume and figure out a way to even out the money. Kudra re-materializes and her and Alobar reunite again.
This book was the most intresting epic i've ever read. the twists Tom Robbins uses are unlike any other. The only bad thing abou the book is how sometimes Tom goes into really long boring tangents that are irrelevent to the story and butt in at climatic times. Though many of the tangents are instresting and you can learn stuff from them, they go off topic and I didn't particularley like them. Other than that the book is amazing. I would recomend this book to anyone. It's the best book i've read in awhile.
The book starts off in the middle ages of Europe with a man named Alobar. Alobar is a king in the beginning of the story but runs away from his kingdom to avoid death. He goes to another village but ends up fleeing the town to avoid death once again. Once Alobar flees the second town he meets Pan who tells him to travel east in search of the bandaloop. The bandaloop is some weird settlement of people in caves who practice immortality. When Alobar gets there he learns the ways to become immortal, and eventually leaves and travels back west. While traveling he meets a girl named Kudra. Kudra is unhappy with her life because she's in a fixed marriage and doesnt like it. So she travels with Alobar.
While all of the mess with Alobar is going on there are three other stories going on. One is a story of a kind've messy confused waitress/chemist named Priscilla who lives in a small apartment in Seatle and is trying to have a breakthrough in perfumery. The second is a story of a perfumer by the name of Madam Duvailer who owns a small perfumery in New Orleans. The Third is about the Lefever family. They are a family that owns a large highly respected perfumery in Paris. All of these stories come in kind've like chapters all through the book, and eventually tie together in the end.
Once Alobar meets Kudra he teaches her the bandaloop methods of immortality, and they travel all over the Europe and parts of Asia together. While traveling Alobar reacquaints himself with Pan and Pan travels with them. They can never stay in one city long because people start getting suspicious on why they never age. So they just travel from city to city when finally Kudra says they should go to Paris and open an incense shop. Everything was going good in Paris except for Pans strong odor that brings suspicion to them. So Kudra starts to try to find a perfume that will cover Pans odor. While trying to make this perfume Kudra becomes a little obssesed with it. She can find all the perfect ingrediants just not the base note, and that drives her mad. When one day she comes up with the idea of dematerialization and convinces Alobar to try it with her. When they try it she dematerialiates but Alobar does not. Somehow then Alobar gets the idea that if he can find the right base note for the perfume and finish it that it will help Kudra find her way back to earth.
The book starts to get really crazy after that part. Many twist and surprises happen. Alobar ends finding the base note to the perfume. On the way to the New World Pan throws the bottle of perfume over board, and Alobar ends up in jail in the modern time. All of this is starting to come into the other stories in the book as it progresses.
In the end all of the stories come together in the theme of the perfume. They all want to market on the perfume and figure out a way to even out the money. Kudra re-materializes and her and Alobar reunite again.
This book was the most intresting epic i've ever read. the twists Tom Robbins uses are unlike any other. The only bad thing abou the book is how sometimes Tom goes into really long boring tangents that are irrelevent to the story and butt in at climatic times. Though many of the tangents are instresting and you can learn stuff from them, they go off topic and I didn't particularley like them. Other than that the book is amazing. I would recomend this book to anyone. It's the best book i've read in awhile.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Rationalist
The Rationalist and Puritans differ very much. The Rationalist are more scientific and don’t believe things just happen because god said so. They believe that most things can be proven through mathematics or science. The Puritans based their explanations of the world around them on god. They believed that god was the reason the sun set in the morning and the moon rises at night not that the earth in spinning and moving through space. In General, The Rationalist were open minded and wanted to fill their minds with more information. The Puritans were closed minded and wanted to keep their minds shut in order of god.
Benjamin Franklin in one of the best examples you can use to explain The Rationalist. Franklin was an open book ready to be filled. He wanted to know why things were and wanted to improve everything around him including himself. You can truly see this when you read The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. "I balances some time between principle and inclination; till I recollected that when the were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs. Then thought I, if you can eat one another, I don’t see why I can’t eat you. So I dined upon cod very heartily and continued to eat with other people." What is happening in this quote is Franklin doesn’t want to eat fish because he has felt they have never done him any wrong, but when he sees inside the fish’s belly he sees smaller fish. "So why not eat the fish? "He asks himself. And then comes to the conclusion that it’s ok to eat the fish and dines happily.
Franklin had a list of moral virtues that he went by day after day trying to make himself a better person. This is a very Rationalist thought because Rationalist wanted to better themselves, which in turn will better the society as a whole. Like Franklin I have a list of moral Virtues:
Being Nice- Do on to others as what you’d do on to yourself, and you will almost always be nice.
Honesty- Be honest and do not lie.
Being calm- Don’t Freak out over every little thing.
Reason- There is reason to almost everything. So use it.
Open minded- Stay open minded letting as much information in my head as possible.
Resourceful- Always make the best of what you have.
Silence- to not speak unless you have something to say, and do not get into pointless conversations.
Goals- Always have goals in order to keep yourself in line.
Moderation- Avoid extremes. Too much of anything is never a good thing.
Values- Always keep things you value close to you and cherish them.
Cleanliness- always to clean and keep things around you clean.
Humility- Imitate Jesus or anyone wiser than me.
Love- Always have love for something
Have you every asked yourself why America is as successful as it is? It is because we were founded by Rationalist. People like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock were Rationalist who played a major role in the creation of America. You can see strong Rationalist thoughts when you read The Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." What Thomas Jefferson is saying here is that all people have their natural rights, and we use governments as a way to secure these natural rights, but when the government takes your natural rights you have to abolish that government.
Rationalist played an important role around the world in places like France and all over Europe, but most evident in America. Puritans came in first and set the bar of hard work in America and set us in the right direction, but then The Rationalist came in and gave us our reason. They made America the "free country" that it is. They put the icing on the voluptuous cake that is America.
Benjamin Franklin in one of the best examples you can use to explain The Rationalist. Franklin was an open book ready to be filled. He wanted to know why things were and wanted to improve everything around him including himself. You can truly see this when you read The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. "I balances some time between principle and inclination; till I recollected that when the were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs. Then thought I, if you can eat one another, I don’t see why I can’t eat you. So I dined upon cod very heartily and continued to eat with other people." What is happening in this quote is Franklin doesn’t want to eat fish because he has felt they have never done him any wrong, but when he sees inside the fish’s belly he sees smaller fish. "So why not eat the fish? "He asks himself. And then comes to the conclusion that it’s ok to eat the fish and dines happily.
Franklin had a list of moral virtues that he went by day after day trying to make himself a better person. This is a very Rationalist thought because Rationalist wanted to better themselves, which in turn will better the society as a whole. Like Franklin I have a list of moral Virtues:
Being Nice- Do on to others as what you’d do on to yourself, and you will almost always be nice.
Honesty- Be honest and do not lie.
Being calm- Don’t Freak out over every little thing.
Reason- There is reason to almost everything. So use it.
Open minded- Stay open minded letting as much information in my head as possible.
Resourceful- Always make the best of what you have.
Silence- to not speak unless you have something to say, and do not get into pointless conversations.
Goals- Always have goals in order to keep yourself in line.
Moderation- Avoid extremes. Too much of anything is never a good thing.
Values- Always keep things you value close to you and cherish them.
Cleanliness- always to clean and keep things around you clean.
Humility- Imitate Jesus or anyone wiser than me.
Love- Always have love for something
Have you every asked yourself why America is as successful as it is? It is because we were founded by Rationalist. People like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock were Rationalist who played a major role in the creation of America. You can see strong Rationalist thoughts when you read The Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." What Thomas Jefferson is saying here is that all people have their natural rights, and we use governments as a way to secure these natural rights, but when the government takes your natural rights you have to abolish that government.
Rationalist played an important role around the world in places like France and all over Europe, but most evident in America. Puritans came in first and set the bar of hard work in America and set us in the right direction, but then The Rationalist came in and gave us our reason. They made America the "free country" that it is. They put the icing on the voluptuous cake that is America.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Dragon Boy
Arthur Alexander was a dreamer. He would spend all day dreaming. Nothing could keep him focused. One second he would be taking a test, the next second he would be in another world fighting and slaying a fire breathing beast the size of a bus. With an imagination like that how can you blame him? Arthur went through his life being the weird spaced- out kid with no friends and nobody to talk to. He always had to resort to his dreams for any nurturing or advise, but Arthur always knew that one day, just one day dragons were going to come, and he would have to save the world from them.
On Monday, the first day of the school week, Arthur got up and got ready for school. Putting on the first thing saw when he woke up was Arthur style, but always wasn’t the most hygienic way. His socks smelled like burning sulfur from all the sweat absorbed in them. His shirt smelled like a fat man’s armpit from his lacking use of deodorant, but what does he care? You don’t need to smell good to slay a dragon. Skipping breakfast, Arthur made his way out of the house and made his way on his long journey to school. The walk to school was always long and boring. On the walk to school he could feel the happiness sink out of you and heaviness slip in. He felt as if you’re walking with weights on, but really it’s just the burden of school bearing down on you. The sights are always the same everyday, crack after crack on the sidewalk until you reach the big house; school.
Arthur’s walk to school that day actually wasn’t going that bad. Instead of looking down to the sidewalk and counting cracks, Arthur had his head up high and looking at the trees wave in the wind, looking like people swaying their hands in the air cheering him on. The wind that day was also different. The swiftness of the wind felt as if he were being picked up and carried. This had to have been the best walk to school Arthur could ever remember. He couldn’t explain why, but definitely knew something was different. Right as he was examining the day and its brightness he noticed an odd looking stone, a stone he had never seen before while walking to school. Was it because he was always to busy counting the cracks on the sidewalk, or has it really never been there? When he stopped to investigate he noticed a dragons face carved on the stone. "What a cool stone" he thought. Wondering if the stone belonged to anyone or not, " My stone now," Arthur said with great enthusiasm, " finders keepers, losers weepers." Reaching down to pick it up he felt heat. The kind’ve heat you feel when you almost touch the eye of a stove. A warning heat that tells you "Stop! Don’t touch this." But Arthur being a kid full of curiosity tried again and when his fingers touched the stone he let out a screeching yell so loud it could be seen because the sound waves were so powerful.
"What’s going on," yelled Arthur. He was being twisted, flipped, and thrown in some type of weird funnel that was spinning profusely. Not knowing what was going on Arthur thought he was in some type of tornado until SPLAT! ! !
Arthur landed hard and flat on his back in some type of spongy grass. He was in a swamp. The thick humid in the air gave it away immediately. The air in a swamp is so thick that it fills his nose with a stuffy feeling of wet grass and bugs. Arthur, not knowing were he was, sprung to his feet immediately in a confusing shock. Looking around he became more confused not seeing the sidewalk, road, street lights, buildings, or anything else that was just before his eyes.
After scanning the area for a while Arthur noticed a shack in the distance harboring smoke with an awkward scent. The smoke itself was quite awkward. It waved around, swifted up and down, and swirled in funnels. The smell of the smoke was quite seductive. There isn’t a word for the smell of the smoke. It just made Arthur think of running through perfumery with all the beautiful smells hitting him all at once. The way the scent funneled it’s way up his nose encouraged him to go investigate.
When Arthur reached the door it opened immediately, letting out all the smoke he saw coming out of the chimney. Floating and shimmering around him he saw a small figure coming from the inside of the shack. As the smoke cleared the figure became more clear. It seemed to be an old lady. Looking more carefully Arthur noticed it was a Witch!
The Witch looked like your typical old Witch. Her hair like the smoke was long, curvy, and white. She had a big nose with a green tint to her. She was wearing an old black robe with pointy wooden shoes that looked awfully uncomfortable. She must have been over 300 years old. The smell of the shack was a mix of all the potions she had bubbling all over.
"Hello Arthur. What took you so long? I’ve been waiting," said the Witch with a voice sounding like more wood cracking than a human talking.
"What do you want?" asked Arthur in a tone sounding more like a scared dog.
"I want you," said the Witch. " For you are the chosen one. Its is you who will save the world. It is you who holds all of your friends, families, and future loved ones lives in your hands."
"WHAT?" gasped Arthur sounding like a confused stoner.
" Yes, Arthur. You are the reason you are living right now. The year is 1111 and there is a dragon so big so fierce that if it is not slayed it will kill everything on earth. Eventually killing itself for having nothing left to eat. And you Arthur, you are the only thing stopping it. You are the only thing in its way," said the Witch straying from her normal wood cracking voice to a more lively voice.
"The year is 1111?"Arthur asked still sounding confused
"Yes, I brought you back in time to this year because of this dragon that’s scraping the earth of life like a fat kid scraping the edges of his ice cream bowl. I was sure that this dragon would destroy all life on earth until I looked into the future and saw that earth beaming with life. Confused by this, I concluded that there must have been a hero of some sort. I also felt it was my destiny to harbor this hero, and I feel it’s your destiny to be this hero and save all that is all."
" You can’t be serious, this can’t be real, and I can’t be a hero. I’m not strong, I’m not smart, and I’m not clever. I don’t have the makings of a hero. I am a modern day loser," said Arthur in a low mumbling voice.
"Oh how wrong you are," said the Witch. "For you are the only human of any time that can possess the power to use the Sword of Helios and the Shield of Hydrona. Your power is your mysterious imagination. No one else could imagine a sword that shoots fire and a shield made of ice that can’t be damaged.
"
Yeah your right, I am pretty weird," for Arthur was finally being excepted as a weirdo. His weirdness is actually paying off. Oh how he couldn’t wait to be back in his time and tell his mom. Wouldn’t she be amazed. Right then Arthur felt a thump and then he was spinning out of control and flipping around in a funnel.
BOOOOM! Arthur’s fall made a furious sound that echoed and rumbled all the walls around him, for he was in a cave. The cave was dark and empty of light except for The Sword of Helios. It boasted a beautiful glow that surrounded it like a halo. There was stench in the cave that smelled horrible. The smell was very similar to the smell of a baby’s diaper. There was a noise that was loud, deep, and echoed through the cave like smoke going through your lungs. As Arthur was observing the cave and examining it he saw to big yellow balls hanging in the air. When all of the sudden the cave lighted up with fire and Arthur realized the big yellow balls hanging in the air where the eyes of a giant dragon.
"HOLY SHHH"
-"ROOOOOAAR," exhaled the giant dragon in an angry rage.
"OH MY GOD, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Arthur screamed in his head. For his adrenaline was pumping faster than gas pumps into your car. His mind was racing in fear. "What to do, What to do," Arthur thought. The room was getting very hot now because of the dragon’s breath. Making each and every decision that much more hard to make. The pressure was bearing down on Arthur and he had no idea what to do. There was no way he could come close to this fire breathing dragon.
In all this confusion Arthur looked up and saw the dragon running his way. Not knowing what to do or where to go Arthur just dove down and covered himself with the shield hoping for some miracle. Then the Dragon roared with fury, Fire spilling out of his mouth, hoping to burn Arthur. Arthur thought he was dead until he noticed he wasn’t. The flames were all around him, but not on him and not hot at all. The shield was completely flame proof. "Oh what a shield," thought Arthur.
Now feeling confident Arthur started to think of a way to kill this dragon. For he was close and had a shield that could protect him. The first thing that came to his mind was "CHARGE!" Arthur got up ran toward the dragon with his shield in front of him and his sword high in the air. Oh if only Arthur could have seen himself, for he looked like a crazed soldier in fear of nothing and willing to sacrifice their body to the better of others. When all of the sudden the dragon lifted his hand swung it at Arthur and sent him flying into a wall.
"Oh what a let down," thought Arthur barely able to move. "What a wasted effort." Feeling discouraged and injured Arthur took his time getting up when he saw the dragon sprinting towards him with fire being spitted and thrown everywhere. Once again not knowing what to do and being discouraged Arthur dove down and hid behind the shield, but this time the dragon didn’t stop. He kept going full speed and almost trampled right on top of Arthur. And with a swoop of his tail the dragon sent Arthur once again full speed into a wall.
"I’m bloody tired of this," yelled Arthur at the top of his lungs. His voice was so fierce that even the dragon flinched. Getting up quickly he yelled, "Come on you heinous beast. Come kill me now." Arthur had a glow about him now. Something had clicked inside of him. For he now looked, walked, and talked like a hero. The dragon having seen many hero’s come and go to his fury was startled for a second then reclaimed himself and once again sprinted at Arthur, but this time with a more furious focused rage. As he got closer and closer Arthur just stood their with his heroic glow. Not even moving an inch. Not even revealing one slight bit of fear. When all of the sudden Arthur pulled the handle of his sword to his head and thrusted it down deep into the ground. When The Sword of Helios hit the ground it made a wave of hot lava spread all around it and all through the cave stopping the dragon right in furious path. The dragon now on the ground in great pain huffing and puffing fire could not move. Though there was lava all around, Arthur was not affected by it. In fact he could walk on it with no problem. He had the dragon pinned down and now had to finish his duty’s of slaying the dragon
Arthur walking very slowly towards the dragon had nothing to say and nothing to think about. He was completely focused on the job at hand. The cave was collapsing right around him in a scorching manner that very much resembled the sun, but not one bit of the lava covered debris hit him, and each step he took on the burning coals of the caves didn’t burn him one bit. Why was this? Was it the Shield of Hydrona? Not at all. Nothing was affected Arthur because of his heroic glow. The glow surrounded him like a bubble and in this bubble he couldn’t be affected by anything.
Finally Arthur made it to the dragon. The dragon now just barely huffing and puffing for he was almost dead. Arthur took the sword and jabbed it right into the top of the head of the dragon. Instead of blood spewing out of the dragons head water started shooting out like a geyser. Soon water filled the whole area. And with the water little plants started to grow, on top of the plants trees started to grow, and in a matter of seconds there was a whole jungle around Arthur growing more and more rapidly around him. Then the trees started receding and roads and building came all around. It was starting to look just like the world that Arthur knows until-
Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. "Arthur Alexander. If you don’t get up right this second I’m gonna light a fire under your ass," yelled Arthur’s mom. Arthur sprang to his feet in a second
"What in the hell just happened," Arthur thought to himself. "Was it a dream. Did that really just happened." Arthur ran to the other room where his mom was looked around and realized it was just a dream. "Well hell." Thought Arthur. He could’ve sworn it was real. He was sure he had slayed a dragon. "Oh what a bummer," he thought.
Finishing getting ready for school Arthur got his things and walked out the door. Taking the normal route to school counting the same number of cracks on the sidewalk Arthur was quite disappointed realizing that it was just a dream and he was still just a weirdo loser.
The saddest part of this story isn’t that Arthur’s dream wasn’t real. The saddest part of the story is that it was real, and so were all of his dreams. Arthur is the greatest hero of our time. Every night going and battling off dragons and other monsters, saving our lives everyday without us even noticing, and him waking up every morning thinking he’s a weirdo loser who just dreams of being a hero.
On Monday, the first day of the school week, Arthur got up and got ready for school. Putting on the first thing saw when he woke up was Arthur style, but always wasn’t the most hygienic way. His socks smelled like burning sulfur from all the sweat absorbed in them. His shirt smelled like a fat man’s armpit from his lacking use of deodorant, but what does he care? You don’t need to smell good to slay a dragon. Skipping breakfast, Arthur made his way out of the house and made his way on his long journey to school. The walk to school was always long and boring. On the walk to school he could feel the happiness sink out of you and heaviness slip in. He felt as if you’re walking with weights on, but really it’s just the burden of school bearing down on you. The sights are always the same everyday, crack after crack on the sidewalk until you reach the big house; school.
Arthur’s walk to school that day actually wasn’t going that bad. Instead of looking down to the sidewalk and counting cracks, Arthur had his head up high and looking at the trees wave in the wind, looking like people swaying their hands in the air cheering him on. The wind that day was also different. The swiftness of the wind felt as if he were being picked up and carried. This had to have been the best walk to school Arthur could ever remember. He couldn’t explain why, but definitely knew something was different. Right as he was examining the day and its brightness he noticed an odd looking stone, a stone he had never seen before while walking to school. Was it because he was always to busy counting the cracks on the sidewalk, or has it really never been there? When he stopped to investigate he noticed a dragons face carved on the stone. "What a cool stone" he thought. Wondering if the stone belonged to anyone or not, " My stone now," Arthur said with great enthusiasm, " finders keepers, losers weepers." Reaching down to pick it up he felt heat. The kind’ve heat you feel when you almost touch the eye of a stove. A warning heat that tells you "Stop! Don’t touch this." But Arthur being a kid full of curiosity tried again and when his fingers touched the stone he let out a screeching yell so loud it could be seen because the sound waves were so powerful.
"What’s going on," yelled Arthur. He was being twisted, flipped, and thrown in some type of weird funnel that was spinning profusely. Not knowing what was going on Arthur thought he was in some type of tornado until SPLAT! ! !
Arthur landed hard and flat on his back in some type of spongy grass. He was in a swamp. The thick humid in the air gave it away immediately. The air in a swamp is so thick that it fills his nose with a stuffy feeling of wet grass and bugs. Arthur, not knowing were he was, sprung to his feet immediately in a confusing shock. Looking around he became more confused not seeing the sidewalk, road, street lights, buildings, or anything else that was just before his eyes.
After scanning the area for a while Arthur noticed a shack in the distance harboring smoke with an awkward scent. The smoke itself was quite awkward. It waved around, swifted up and down, and swirled in funnels. The smell of the smoke was quite seductive. There isn’t a word for the smell of the smoke. It just made Arthur think of running through perfumery with all the beautiful smells hitting him all at once. The way the scent funneled it’s way up his nose encouraged him to go investigate.
When Arthur reached the door it opened immediately, letting out all the smoke he saw coming out of the chimney. Floating and shimmering around him he saw a small figure coming from the inside of the shack. As the smoke cleared the figure became more clear. It seemed to be an old lady. Looking more carefully Arthur noticed it was a Witch!
The Witch looked like your typical old Witch. Her hair like the smoke was long, curvy, and white. She had a big nose with a green tint to her. She was wearing an old black robe with pointy wooden shoes that looked awfully uncomfortable. She must have been over 300 years old. The smell of the shack was a mix of all the potions she had bubbling all over.
"Hello Arthur. What took you so long? I’ve been waiting," said the Witch with a voice sounding like more wood cracking than a human talking.
"What do you want?" asked Arthur in a tone sounding more like a scared dog.
"I want you," said the Witch. " For you are the chosen one. Its is you who will save the world. It is you who holds all of your friends, families, and future loved ones lives in your hands."
"WHAT?" gasped Arthur sounding like a confused stoner.
" Yes, Arthur. You are the reason you are living right now. The year is 1111 and there is a dragon so big so fierce that if it is not slayed it will kill everything on earth. Eventually killing itself for having nothing left to eat. And you Arthur, you are the only thing stopping it. You are the only thing in its way," said the Witch straying from her normal wood cracking voice to a more lively voice.
"The year is 1111?"Arthur asked still sounding confused
"Yes, I brought you back in time to this year because of this dragon that’s scraping the earth of life like a fat kid scraping the edges of his ice cream bowl. I was sure that this dragon would destroy all life on earth until I looked into the future and saw that earth beaming with life. Confused by this, I concluded that there must have been a hero of some sort. I also felt it was my destiny to harbor this hero, and I feel it’s your destiny to be this hero and save all that is all."
" You can’t be serious, this can’t be real, and I can’t be a hero. I’m not strong, I’m not smart, and I’m not clever. I don’t have the makings of a hero. I am a modern day loser," said Arthur in a low mumbling voice.
"Oh how wrong you are," said the Witch. "For you are the only human of any time that can possess the power to use the Sword of Helios and the Shield of Hydrona. Your power is your mysterious imagination. No one else could imagine a sword that shoots fire and a shield made of ice that can’t be damaged.
"
Yeah your right, I am pretty weird," for Arthur was finally being excepted as a weirdo. His weirdness is actually paying off. Oh how he couldn’t wait to be back in his time and tell his mom. Wouldn’t she be amazed. Right then Arthur felt a thump and then he was spinning out of control and flipping around in a funnel.
BOOOOM! Arthur’s fall made a furious sound that echoed and rumbled all the walls around him, for he was in a cave. The cave was dark and empty of light except for The Sword of Helios. It boasted a beautiful glow that surrounded it like a halo. There was stench in the cave that smelled horrible. The smell was very similar to the smell of a baby’s diaper. There was a noise that was loud, deep, and echoed through the cave like smoke going through your lungs. As Arthur was observing the cave and examining it he saw to big yellow balls hanging in the air. When all of the sudden the cave lighted up with fire and Arthur realized the big yellow balls hanging in the air where the eyes of a giant dragon.
"HOLY SHHH"
-"ROOOOOAAR," exhaled the giant dragon in an angry rage.
"OH MY GOD, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Arthur screamed in his head. For his adrenaline was pumping faster than gas pumps into your car. His mind was racing in fear. "What to do, What to do," Arthur thought. The room was getting very hot now because of the dragon’s breath. Making each and every decision that much more hard to make. The pressure was bearing down on Arthur and he had no idea what to do. There was no way he could come close to this fire breathing dragon.
In all this confusion Arthur looked up and saw the dragon running his way. Not knowing what to do or where to go Arthur just dove down and covered himself with the shield hoping for some miracle. Then the Dragon roared with fury, Fire spilling out of his mouth, hoping to burn Arthur. Arthur thought he was dead until he noticed he wasn’t. The flames were all around him, but not on him and not hot at all. The shield was completely flame proof. "Oh what a shield," thought Arthur.
Now feeling confident Arthur started to think of a way to kill this dragon. For he was close and had a shield that could protect him. The first thing that came to his mind was "CHARGE!" Arthur got up ran toward the dragon with his shield in front of him and his sword high in the air. Oh if only Arthur could have seen himself, for he looked like a crazed soldier in fear of nothing and willing to sacrifice their body to the better of others. When all of the sudden the dragon lifted his hand swung it at Arthur and sent him flying into a wall.
"Oh what a let down," thought Arthur barely able to move. "What a wasted effort." Feeling discouraged and injured Arthur took his time getting up when he saw the dragon sprinting towards him with fire being spitted and thrown everywhere. Once again not knowing what to do and being discouraged Arthur dove down and hid behind the shield, but this time the dragon didn’t stop. He kept going full speed and almost trampled right on top of Arthur. And with a swoop of his tail the dragon sent Arthur once again full speed into a wall.
"I’m bloody tired of this," yelled Arthur at the top of his lungs. His voice was so fierce that even the dragon flinched. Getting up quickly he yelled, "Come on you heinous beast. Come kill me now." Arthur had a glow about him now. Something had clicked inside of him. For he now looked, walked, and talked like a hero. The dragon having seen many hero’s come and go to his fury was startled for a second then reclaimed himself and once again sprinted at Arthur, but this time with a more furious focused rage. As he got closer and closer Arthur just stood their with his heroic glow. Not even moving an inch. Not even revealing one slight bit of fear. When all of the sudden Arthur pulled the handle of his sword to his head and thrusted it down deep into the ground. When The Sword of Helios hit the ground it made a wave of hot lava spread all around it and all through the cave stopping the dragon right in furious path. The dragon now on the ground in great pain huffing and puffing fire could not move. Though there was lava all around, Arthur was not affected by it. In fact he could walk on it with no problem. He had the dragon pinned down and now had to finish his duty’s of slaying the dragon
Arthur walking very slowly towards the dragon had nothing to say and nothing to think about. He was completely focused on the job at hand. The cave was collapsing right around him in a scorching manner that very much resembled the sun, but not one bit of the lava covered debris hit him, and each step he took on the burning coals of the caves didn’t burn him one bit. Why was this? Was it the Shield of Hydrona? Not at all. Nothing was affected Arthur because of his heroic glow. The glow surrounded him like a bubble and in this bubble he couldn’t be affected by anything.
Finally Arthur made it to the dragon. The dragon now just barely huffing and puffing for he was almost dead. Arthur took the sword and jabbed it right into the top of the head of the dragon. Instead of blood spewing out of the dragons head water started shooting out like a geyser. Soon water filled the whole area. And with the water little plants started to grow, on top of the plants trees started to grow, and in a matter of seconds there was a whole jungle around Arthur growing more and more rapidly around him. Then the trees started receding and roads and building came all around. It was starting to look just like the world that Arthur knows until-
Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. "Arthur Alexander. If you don’t get up right this second I’m gonna light a fire under your ass," yelled Arthur’s mom. Arthur sprang to his feet in a second
"What in the hell just happened," Arthur thought to himself. "Was it a dream. Did that really just happened." Arthur ran to the other room where his mom was looked around and realized it was just a dream. "Well hell." Thought Arthur. He could’ve sworn it was real. He was sure he had slayed a dragon. "Oh what a bummer," he thought.
Finishing getting ready for school Arthur got his things and walked out the door. Taking the normal route to school counting the same number of cracks on the sidewalk Arthur was quite disappointed realizing that it was just a dream and he was still just a weirdo loser.
The saddest part of this story isn’t that Arthur’s dream wasn’t real. The saddest part of the story is that it was real, and so were all of his dreams. Arthur is the greatest hero of our time. Every night going and battling off dragons and other monsters, saving our lives everyday without us even noticing, and him waking up every morning thinking he’s a weirdo loser who just dreams of being a hero.
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