True Meaning

Reading the other blogs helped me to really think about the feelings and emotions the characters felt in my novel in relation to other things in life. In Celeste's blog post about the Hunger Games she related how the experience of being in the Hunger Games changed Katniss, to the song "Demons". This relates to how Augustus's experience with his cancer is changing him into a different person. Even though they are very different experiences, the effects of their situations bring out the worst in them. It relates an emotion to a song, which is something I wouldn't normally think about, it opens up my mind. In The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Meagan S. related the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel to the song "Friends" by Hedley. I related this also to the friendship/romance between Hazel and Augustus, the bond they have will never be broken even when they died, same for Hazel when Augustus died. Again, another interesting connection, relationships felt in a book, to a song, but it helps me better understand their relationship. The lyrics in the song described their relationship, this helped me realize that their love wasn't just a romantic relationship, it was friendship. The last blog I commented on was Maddie's. She wrote about the connection between Craig from It's Kind Of A Funny Story to an article about a woman who struggled with depression. This directly relates to Hazel from my book because she was in a sort of depression and Augustus was the thing that helped her get out of it, just like these people had things that helped them. This made me think more about Augustus's affect on Hazel's life, and how she is really grateful for him helping her "learn how to live". As you can tell, connections can come from anywhere, just look for a deeper meaning, it will help you understand better your story by connecting other things to the characters.

Fall From Grace

See the beautiful young girl on the left of this picture? That is Amanda Bynes, the nickelodeon star who got started from 1990's show, "All That" and continued her amazing career to "Easy A" in 2010, she was the ultimate role model for anyone watching her. Now look at the picture on the right. This is the Amanda Bynes of today, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the someone who has had a fair amount of plastic surgery and has been hospitalized for mental health issues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Bynes ). When I was younger and even until today, she was one of my favourite actresses, and years ago, my biggest idol. I would always look forward to new shows and movies including her, but look at what a mess she is now. This is the ultimate example of the fall from grace. In my book, "The Fault In Our Stars", Hazel is a 16 year old girl battling with terminal cancer in her lungs. In this story Hazel and her friend Augustus get the experience of a lifetime, meeting Hazel's idol, the author of her favourite book of all time, Mr. Van Houten. But when they get there, things take an unexpected turn of events, Van Houten has become a alcoholic with memory issues, he doesn't ever remember inviting them. He says extremely disrespectful things to Hazel, involving rude and hurtful comments on her disease. How had this happened to such and incredible author? Why had he become like this? Some would ask the exact same questions about Amanda Bynes. I feel these two circumstances are very related. Both of these sad stories show how someone who was held high in our mind let themselves go for who knows why. One of my greatest role models has turned into this person on the right, just like Van Houten turned into the person Hazel met in Amsterdam.

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5844948    I chose this picture of a rose that is dead or dying to represent how some things start off so beautiful and pure, but then they start to die. Even though Van Houten and Amanda Bynes are still living, I am trying to show how the person who was originally inside of them is dying. They are no longer beautiful and pure on the inside or out, they have simply turned into dying roses because of the people they are becoming. Not only the outside is damaged, but the inside too. When you look at them, there would be nothing left of the rose, simply something lifeless. Even though there is some colour left, it would be almost impossible to get back. 

Take your Kid to Work Day

For take your kid to work day I decided to take a walk down memory lane, and work at my middle school, Centennial Public School for the day. I went with my friend Katie, along with other former Centennial students. Katie and worked with the Phys Ed. teacher, Mr. Foss. We decided to work with Mr. Foss because last year, when there were no activities in schools, about 5 people were part of an athletic council at Centennial, which was basically the only thing running. Mr. Foss had chosen us last year when everything was still running and even though activities like inter-murals and BQQ's weren't going on this year, there was still a tuck shop and pizza day. This is part of what the athletic council would do if everything was running normally so he asked us to remain on the athletic council staff and that we were the only kids in the school who would have the chance to be on it this year because of the lack of activities. The 5 of us working there got really close and it was a part of the day I could really look forward to. This made Mr. Foss one of my favourite teachers, that's why we decided to return with him, even though I don't plan on being a Phys Ed. teacher. We got to help out in gym class if no one had a partner for the drills they were doing and performing examples for the drills. We also got to see the new "AC family", which is now full again because activities are on this year. There really wasn't one specific memorable part of day. It was a really great experience to go back and see how the grade 7's we know are now grade 8's and the new grade 7's that have come. I think it was a really positive experience because it helped me move on and understand that I belong in high school now, even if I really miss it, I'm growing up. The negative things were that it was really sad; all the memories came flooding back right as I walked into the school. Almost the whole day I felt like crying because I really didn't want it to be over, it was sad to see people in the same classes I was, having the same lockers as I had, taking our spots on AC, but like I said, I have learned from Centennial but now I am fully ready for my new life in high school. 

Forever Young

If I could freeze myself at any age I would pick 19. I think 19 is the perfect age to stay at because you still get all the fun of being a teenager but with the responsibility of being an adult at the same time. When you’re 19 you’re ready for serious relationships and living on your own but you’re still wanting to go to parties, hangout with friends and be a teenager. You’re also not in high school anymore and in University you would be taking only classes that interest you and you would have much more spare time. If I was nineteen forever, first, I would spend lots of time traveling with a group of my friends all around the world. Then we would go to a nice university and I would get a good job. Then I would move to Vancouver because it has so many things to do, go the beach, skiing, shopping, etc. The perfect atmosphere for a young adult. Everyday I could try something different with my best friends and then once we have tried everything we could move to another amazing place. The possibilities of what I could do are endless. Of course being young forever would be fun, but I would get bored and I would want to experience more things as I would if I got older. For example, getting a real house, getting married, starting a family, all those things I would miss out on if I wanted to stay young forever. I think in the long run having a full life is a lot better than staying one age forever, even though we might want to spend some extra time being young, that really isn’t the experience of life, which is the greatest experience of all.