Guide through hell

I would chose god to guide me through hell because he would be able to protect me no matter what problem I might get into. He would be completely trustworthy

13th picture on phone

It was a great day so far. Everyone was smiling and having a good time at downtown Disney. We were celebrating my cousin's fourth birthday. My aunt, uncle, and grandma joined me and my mom for the festivities. The sun was shining and the heat was insane. We had to duck into random stores from time to time to cool down.

 
            Eventually we came to a store with nothing but dinosaurs and we had to stay and check it out. My cousin was awestruck at all the huge creatures surrounding him. We stayed in that store for at least an hour trying all the different activities they had to offer. We were able to pan for treasures, dust off dinosaur bones, and even crack open our own geode.

Canterbury tales actors

                Daniel Craig would be an appropriate actor to play as the knight because of his role as James Bond. The James Bond character has always been known as a great action hero and the knight is like the action hero of the pilgrimage. “He had done nobly in his sovereign’s war and ridden into battle, no man more, as well in Christian as in heathen places, and ever honored for his noble graces.” Bond maintains a calm and collected personality no matter what and is well respected because of this. The knight is also admired for his honorable attitude toward the people. James Bond always dresses in a sharp suit in order to fit in with the people he has to interact with. Rather than embracing his royal appearance, the knight dresses appropriately for his surroundings and looks like a common man. When he is first introduced into the story, he has returned directly from a battle “with smudges where his armor had left mark” just to take part in the pilgrimage.

 

                Jayden Smith was the boy in the karate kid remake and would be a good actor to play as the Squire. Both of them have many different talents that have helped make them famous. The squire has gained his popularity mainly from traveling with the knight but he can also write songs, dance, and recite poetry. Jayden Smith is primarily an actor but also is known for his rapping and dancing. They have both followed in their father’s footsteps and embraced the things they have been taught. The squire was trained in combat by the knight and has fought in the cavalry while Jayden was put into the entertainment business.

 

                Leonardo DiCaprio and his character, Frank Abagnale Jr., in the film Catch Me if you Can, perfectly duplicates the actions of the pardoner. For money, the pardoner traveled around selling his false abilities to pardon people of their sins under the guise that he has authority from the pope to do so. “He’d sewed a holy relic on his cap” to enhance his character as a pardoner and exploit sinners who were looking for forgiveness. The character of Frank Abagnale Jr. was also a very successful scam artist in the film. He was able to con millions of dollars out of various sources before he was even nineteen.  He became famous across the world by passing $2.5 million dollars worth of forged checks across twenty six different countries. He deceived people by assuming several different identities and changing his personality and clothing completely to fit the part just like the pardoner did.

Inferno canto 34

Inferno canto 26

Inferno canto 10

Earth without people

            Earth Without People was written by Alan Weisman and is a “what if” story telling about what would happen if all the humans in the world were gone one day. It discusses all the effects that the world would have on everything that humans have ever done. It starts out telling us about a specific section of Korea that hasn’t been touched by humans since a war took place there over 50 years ago. It gives us an example of just how fast the world can work to turn a completely ravaged landscape back into a thriving ecosystem. The rest of the article focuses on all the different aspects of human life and how the absence of humans would help the world rebuild over them.

            The entire article gives you a very good perspective about the good and bad effects humans have had on the world. It mostly talks about what has happened that has hindered and destroyed nature such as cutting down forests and wrecking the coral reefs. However it does bring up some points about how if we didn’t have humans how it would negatively affect the world. For example, different electric and nuclear power plants will leak toxic chemicals into the environment without the proper care over several years. The buildings may have been built by humans in the first place but now that they’re here we need to take care of them otherwise there will be consequences.

Ashfall Journal #2

         The most important event in the book is also the most obvious and is what kick starts the entire story. The eruption of the volcano in Yellowstone completely changes Alex’s life forever. He started out as a typical teenager who wasn’t too fond of his family and just spent his time in his room. He gets left on his own for the weekend while his parents and younger sister go to visit some relatives. Soon after, the volcano erupts and Alex is forced to face the disaster all on his own. He starts out staying with his neighbors for a few days until they end up brutally murdering three men that try to break into the house. Alex is too scared to stay with them any longer and decides to set out to find his family. This experience only gave Alex a small sample of what was to come later. He takes a pair of skis and some supplies from his house to begin his quest to find his family.

As he travels across the wasteland that is Iowa, he has to learn about the new ways to live in this post-apocalyptic world. The entire state is hit with extremely cold weather and endless ash fall with little to no food or water left to spare. All Alex has to enter this world is a few basic survival supplies, his basic knowledge, and his skills in tae kwon do. But Alex doesn't really know what he's doing. He doesn't bring enough food or water and uses all of it up so quickly that he barely makes it through the first few days before he is running low on supplies.

Along the way he meets many allies and enemies that he learns different skills of survival from. He figures out he can drink from toilet water, dig up corn from farms, and even how to slaughter animals for meat. He learns most of these skills from Darla, the foil and love interest for Alex. With Darla, Alex immediately notices how hard she’s worked her entire life and it inspires him to do the same for the rest of the story.

Meeting all of the other survivors gives Alex a sense of generosity along with other life lessons. After meeting up with Darla and her mom he realizes that it was the kindness of others that was keeping him alive for so long. It would have been much easier for him to only care about himself, but he sees that he can spare some supplies to help others even when it's not necessarily the best thing to do.

Ashfall Journal #1

          The story of Ashfall covers many themes to try and give the book a more realistic feel to it. One of the most prominent themes however, is also the most emotional and scary to think about. It is the idea that in the most perilous situations, we will lose our humanity. The main character, Alex, even realizes by the end of the book that his view on humanity has completely changed since the disaster began. “For the first time ever, I felt ashamed of my species. The volcano had taken our homes, our food, our automobiles, and our airplanes, but it hadn’t taken our humanity. No, we’d given that up on our own.”

In a post-apocalyptic world where all the everyday privileges we have now are gone, what can people do to survive? At first, Alex was not worried about survival when the volcano went off, he was only concerned with finding his family and making sure they were alright. He still thought slightly ahead and packed himself basic survival gear for the journey, but he was severely underequipped for what lie ahead. He would not have to just face the environment, but also the other people trying to survive along with him. After the eruption, people begin to starve which changes most of them into savages that will hunt, steal, and kill for what they need. Alex does find several friendly people on his journey that offer him food and protection but most people realize that they need every bit of supplies they can get and they will not share them with strangers.

At one point in the book, Alex comes across a man that calls himself Target. He seems friendly at first but that quickly changes when Alex decides not to stay with him and Target retaliates by attacking him with a hand axe. After the encounter with target, Alex is seriously wounded and near death, but gets taken in by an old woman, Mrs. Edmunds, and her daughter, Darla. However, his choice to defy Target comes back to haunt him. He invades the house and ends up killing Mrs. Edmunds to gather her supplies and get revenge on Alex. He later gets knocked out and burned to death but it serves as a prime example of how desperate people have gotten just for a few scraps.

In the end it simply comes down to your own opinion on the topic. How do you draw a line between savagery and survival? What is the best way to deal with someone that needs help? Would you give them food and shelter knowing that you will most likely need it all for yourself? How do you tell the difference between someone that will help you or someone that will kill you? Should you take the risk that they will not try to betray and kill you whenever you let your guard down? Is it any better to leave them on their own to die of hunger or cold rather than just killing them on the spot?

Beowulf in the City

            Barry Wolfe reached over and smacked his alarm clock, ready to start another fantastic day at work. He walked over to his closet, donning his bright blue vest and khaki pants. He grabbed his name tag and a piece of toast on his way out as he began the trip to his favorite place in the world. He hopped in his jalopy and forged ahead to his business-place. He pulled into his reserved spot for employee of the month in the parking lot and walked towards the automatic doors. He looked up and smiled as he gazed upon the blue and white logo that meant the world to him. Walmart.

            Barry walked into the entrance hall and was inspected by the security guard sitting at his post. “I’m sorry Barry” the guard began “but I need to mark your items before you go in.” Barry pulled out his cell phone and the guard marked it with his seal of approval. The guard handed back his phone and said “Ok Barry, sorry for the holdup. You are allowed in now.”

            Barry marched into the store with a spring in his step as all his friends and co-workers greeted him. He soon went into the manager’s office to receive his daily duties. As he opened the door, he saw Mr. Roth pacing back and forth around the room. Barry was the first to break the ice by asking “What’s the matter Mr. Roth? Something seems to be troubling you.” Mr. Roth turned towards Barry with a worried look in his eyes.

            “Oh Barry, it’s terrible!” said Mr. Roth, “I have reason to believe we have a vandal in the store.” Barry immediately pulled up a chair, interested to hear more about this. “His name is Glenn Dale. I’ve heard he’s been rearranging items on the shelves and knocking over displays. All just for fun! It’s outrageous and I need you to put a stop to it as soon as possible!”

            Barry leaped out of his chair and looked his boss in the eyes. “Don’t you worry Mr. Roth,” Barry said “I’ll catch this Glenn and see that he is put in his place!” Barry stormed out of the room and started scouring the store for anything that looked out of the ordinary. He noticed several items had been knocked off their shelves so he put them back up and continued searching. He followed the trail of misplaced items and broken advertisements until he came across a young man throwing several products around the isle. Barry reached to his belt and whispered something into his walkie-talkie before confronting the suspected vandal.

            Barry approached Glenn and tapped his shoulder. Glenn turned around and stared down at the honorable employee. He was much bigger than Barry but he stood his ground and began to talk to the brute. “Excuse me sir,” Barry began “but you must stop what you are doing right now or I will be forced to take action!” Glenn said something to Barry but he slurred his words so much that he didn’t understand any of it. Barry assumed he was drunk and decided to try and grab the man’s arm to escort him out of the store.

            This turned out to be a bad idea because as soon as Barry grabbed ahold of him, Glenn spun around slamming him into the shelves. Barry collapsed to the ground with this monster of a man looming over him. He stood back up ready to continue the fight but he was almost immediately thrown down again. Barry looked back up and saw Glenn coming down on him once again. Suddenly, he froze in place and started twitching like a madman before collapsing right next to Barry. Barry noticed the two prongs stuck in Glenn’s back, meaning he had been tazed. The security guards Barry called earlier had finally arrived and dragged the unconscious drunkard out of the store.

            Mr. Roth walked into the isle and helped Barry to his feet. “Barry, are you alright?” Barry nodded his head, to hurt to speak. Mr. Roth spoke for him “Barry, I can’t thank you enough for getting rid of that hooligan for us. As a reward I am promoting you to assistant manager!”

College essay

Ever since I started going to Lake Mary Prep, I’ve tried to do as many different activities as I can. I’ve always been interested in living as many different experiences in my life as I can, which is the main reason I even decided to go to school in the first place. I was homeschooled for the first half of my life, but after some time had gone by, my curiosity got the better of me. When I reached the sixth grade, I decided I wanted to go to a real school to finish middle and high school.

So far I’ve tried out three different sports and participated in many of the electives that my school had to offer. I played in the track and field team for two years in a row and I was an average player on the team. I never got the chance to participate in any of the official track meets but I was still glad I got to be a part of the team. After that, I looked for a sport that I already knew so I could be a more prominent member in the group. I joined the bowling team for one year and excelled beyond even my own expectations. I ended up receiving the coach’s award, along with many other honors, by the end of the season.

Along with trying out for multiple sports teams, the elective classes at Lake Mary Prep gave me many opportunities to express my creativity to the entire school. I took part in 2-D and 3-D art which focused on improving skills with pencils, shading, and coloring. As I improved my ability to draw on paper, I was motivated to try other forms of art so I could be skilled on all levels. I soon discovered graphic design where I learned how to create images on the computer using programs like adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Taking that class motivated me to join the yearbook staff the next year to see if I could apply my newfound knowledge of digital art to something that the entire school could enjoy. The yearbook from that year was a huge success, received many awards, and even earned a spot in the yearbook hall of fame. I have recently decided to transfer my artistic skills back to reality and work on creating oil paintings on a canvas.

After spending almost six years at Lake Mary Prep, I have applied all the different skills I’ve learned to make my experience in my core classes even better. I was able to use my talent in the science fair to create an outstanding project which earned me third place overall in the fair. Over the years, I have earned the dean’s list award three times and been on the honor roll many times. Now that I am reaching then end of my high school career, I plan to stay more focused on one single goal rather than trying to learn different skills.

My ultimate goal in trying all these different things was to live my life to the fullest while I still had the opportunity to do so. Now I am focusing more on what I plan to do for the rest of my life rather than just experiencing little things to satisfy me for that moment. I have decided to pursue a career in the field of either math or science because those are the topics that are the most interesting to me.

First post

Hi, my name is Drake Kane. I'm 16 years old and I am a black belt in karate. This is my blog for all my English IV writing assignments.