I feel so accomplished!

Why do you ask? Well, I'll tell you!
I finished Anna Karenina...woot! It only took me forever because I kept getting distracted and what not. I actually enjoyed it, even though I had my doubts at first. I'm actually starting to think I enjoy almost every book I read...except Twilight *shudder*

I don't really know who I sympathized most with in the book, since Tolstoy kind of made me feel bad for all of them. I probably felt the most sympathy for Seryozha (Anna's son) because the poor kid had no idea what was going on and no felt like explaining to him and he was often forgotten...poor kid. I have to say that I didn't expect Anna's death even though she was threatening suicide and everything. I kind of paralleled her threats with a child threatening to run away from their parents just to make them feel bad for them seemingly not caring about you. Anna really did regret throwing herself under the train though, that much I know. It was just like the time she thought about taking the whole bottle of morphine or opium, I can't really remember which. She got really scared of the idea of death, which made me think she wasn't going to kill herself...but I was wrong.

I must say that Levin's whole realization at the end of the book kind of irritated me, whether that was because I was tired when I read it and didn't have much patience, or something else. Being an atheist myself, I can think of plenty of things to live for in life and not flounder at the idea of right and wrong without turning to a god of some sort. But I guess Levin's not like me and since Tolstoy was a christian (or something like a christian, anyway) I figured that Levin would have some kind of conversion. His personal struggle to find something to live for was long, but I did enjoy the end result. Particularly at how Levin didn't feel much different that how he had felt before, it felt to me like Tolstoy was saying religion doesn't change who you are, you have to make an effort to change yourself. And of course, Levin's age old question of whether those who believe in a different religion go to hell, even if they're good people. Levin's internal conflict was like an ever changing picture, morphing into different shapes and colors throughout the book, making me so glad that I didn't read the abridged version (which cut out most of Levin's thoughts and feelings).

Let's see, probably my favorite scene in the book was when Levin was freaking out about Kitty going into labor. He represented the stereotyped nervous first time father absolutely perfectly and it made me laugh. Of course the doctor's and Kitty's complete calmness was funny and contrasted Levin's so greatly it was perfect. I have plenty of favorite scenes but that one was just amazing.

Would I recommend this book? I would say that I wouldn't recommend it to most of the people in my English class, so if you like major action packed, exciting, non-sluggish plot, non-human nature focused/slice of life then this book probably isn't for you. But i guess I could always be wrong. If that's the case, then check Anna Karenina out, just don't be intimidated by the 900+ pages and probably small print.
:)

^ w ^

I'm better now, don't worry! No more rants until school starts because then I'm sure I'll have something to complain about. I just thought of something. Every year my homeroom teacher is messed up (as in not the right grade, or something else) This year I actually have a homeroom teacher that actually teaches my grade! It's so exciting, though I had him for a home room teacher last year...

Anyway, here's the list:

7th Grade----> Mr. Chambers (8th Grade teacher)
8th Grade----> Mrs. McGiffin (7th Grade teacher)
9th Grade----> Mr. Witkowski (8th Grade teacher)
10th Grade----> Mr. Warner (11th Grade teacher)
11th Grade----> Mr. Warner (11th Grade teacher)

Weird huh? I've been stuck with most of the guy teachers too and they're always a bit...eccentric (for lack of a better term). It should be interesting (last year certainly was). I'm still glad I'm not doing the trout thing though...I would be bored out of my mind and probably end up killing the fish about a month into the school year. Most of my friends are in the trout class, but that's okay. I use homeroom to doodle in my planner and get done with forgotten homework. I don't have a single study hall this year! At least, not that I know of... I'm so excited, even though I have two math classes this year. Better to just get all the math over with and focus on funner topics senior year. That's the plan at least. I FINALLY got French 1 this year! *does a happy dance* I've only been trying for about 3 years! Let's cheer for the Language of Love~ *cheers* Though I hear Spanish is actually a lot easier to learn if English is your first language...oh well.

I'm happy, can you tell?
:))))))))))))

New Design!!!!

Yep, I've finally looked through some of the new design templates and picked the one that I thought was best (I actually only looked at five...tops). Anyway this one was probably the closest to my old one, sooo...yeah. I really have nothing better to do at 11:30 at night. If I could move the text over to the right side of the page I would like it better and if the post titles on the side weren't too cramped. Man, I complain a lot! It looks a lot cleaner now though...I guess that's good.
Yay Josh Peterson for the design. You're cool man. Cool.

:)

Pffft! The time's still not fixed...I'll figure it out one of these days, just you wait and see, Blogger. Just you wait...

Most Hated

I really have no excuse for this...it just popped into my head. Okay so this wasn't meant to be offending to anybody really, and I don't hate any of the things listed except terrorists (yeah i hate terrorists). Hopefully this one isn't super blurry like the last one.

:)

Happy Birthday to Me...

Today's my birthday and I'm officially 16! Yay! I usually never have a big thing for my birthday so it was quiet...what with dad going out somewhere and Simon taking my stuff and going over to a friend's house. But that's usual so i don't really care. I rarely get any presents the day of my birthday (usually days before or after), so I contented myself with sitting outside and reading or playing on the computer. Yes, i did listen to the birthday song by Arrogant Worms...and laughed because it's true. I've gotten $75 so far, which is all going into my savings account and my Europe trip fund...no spending money for me. I'm happy i got a $25 itunes card though and jewelry from my aunt! She's awesome, though she still needs to give me my money from work...hmm. Dad's working again so She's going to have to pick me up tomorrow. Oh that reminds me! I have to take my permit test soon so I can legally start driving! :) Cool.

All in all...not my best birthday, but i don't really care :D

P.S. I've beaten my old record of fifteen. Now I've traveled around the sun sixteen times! Ha! Eat that self! *maniacal laughter* Oh and thank you to my friends on facebook who wished me a happy birthday! (I'm still trying to delete my profile, but not because I hate you guys. Facebook is just so damn annoying...)

P.P.S. I've re-discovered one of my favorite 'get stuck in your head' songs! It's Istanbul (not Constantinople). Every time someone mentions Turkey or something related to that i sing that song...I really don't know why...XD

Yay!

I am so close to being done with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn homework! Now all I have to do is comment on two other people's posts and I'll be done. The only problem is that no one's posted anything but me, so I'll just have to wait... I have to find separate peace soon so I can start it (it's somewhere in my room, probably under a bunch of clothes).

;D have a good day!

By and by...

I got my expander off today and I couldn't be happier, though my mouth was bleeding a lot when they took it off...I had to rise my mouth out twice with freezing cold water before they could do anything else. Now i have my top braces on (but not the bottom because I would bite right through them), and I remembered why I was so happy when i got them off five years ago. I hate braces and now I have to wear them for a second time...gah!

I started The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn today and it's really not as bad as everyone was telling me it would be. I'm on Chapter Ten right now. Huck as said the phrase 'by and by' more times than i care to count and I think that's the only thing that kind of annoys me so far. When i first flipped through the book and saw that there was tons of southern 'talking' in it I groaned, but now that I'm reading it I've found that I sometimes talk like Huck does, not to his southern extent of course, but bits and peaces sound like me. I have to read Jim's words slowly, because it's kind of hard to grasp what he's saying if you rush through it. Huck's dad is an ass. All in all, not bad at all, I might even enjoy this story :)