Bye sophomore year!

Time goes by very fast; it seems like I just came to Cheshire Academy yesterday. It’s been a year, and in this year, I made big progresses. Once when I read the blog posts that I wrote in the beginning of year, I was so amazed that I wrote those funny words. I did improve a lot in this year, especially in this semester. I have a better reading and writing skills now, I also read some good books, such as Persepolis.

First of all, I learnt myriad things this year, but I like the dramas most. If I did not take this class, I might not watch these fantastic dramas and learn something from them. During this year, I watched several dramas. I saw how hard the actors worked and how beautiful the scenes are, so I started being interested in acting. All of the shows I’ve seen all taught me how the stage worked and how several kinds of art combined and had a good drama finally. In summary, I’m so glad to see these dramas and learn these amazing things from it.

Secondly, I made big progresses in reading and writing parts. At the beginning of the year, I can still remember it clearly. I stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish reading a chapter, however, I can finish Poppy and Dingan in two hours. I had a small vocabulary, so it lowered my reading speed. During this year, I learn vocabulary everyday, as a result, I hardly need to look up unfamiliar words while I am reading. Also, my writing skills also improved; it can be obvious seen through my blog posts. At the beginning of the year, I can only earn about seventy points in a blog post, however, I can get more than ninety points. I almost complained about blog posts everyday in this year, but I cannot deny that I improved because of these “boring” blog posts. At the beginning of the year, I can only write simple sentences, and I can hardly write a complex or compound sentence. Now, I can write compoud-complex sentences easily, and I can coherent a paragraph well. To conclude, because of this class, I can read faster and write more professional.

Even though I had big progresses, I still need to improve my writing speed. I can write a more professional article now, but I cannot write it in a limited time. I always spend more than one hour writing a blog post, which is too slow to handle some big writing tests, such as TOEFL or SAT tests. I have already tried to speed up, but I am always detracted by other things. I can hardly concentrate on writing, therefore, I often divide an article to several parts and write one part a day. Subsequently, I should still work on my writing speed next year.

At last, I want to introduce my favorite book in this year, which is Persepolis. I am interested in Irani culture, so when I knew that this book was about Iran, I was so excited. In this book, I saw the situation in Iran clearly in a little girl’s eyes. In her eyes, everything is so simple that she only tells what she sees and hears. My emotion was influenced by the book; I started sympathizing the girl and Iranians. I like this book, so I borrowed the second book of the serie from library. When I finished the book, I was relaxed, because I finally saw the little girl grew up and became a beautiful and knowledgeable woman. All in all, Persepolis actually brought me to Iran, and I enjoyed reading it.

 In conclusion, before I wrote down this blog, I never realized I made this big progresses. I summarized all my thoughts of my development and this class; I am so glad to take this class in this year. This is not a hard class, but it is interesting. I learn things not only from the books, such as my favorite book, Persepolis, but also from dramas or some creative projects. Although I improved a lot in this year, I will still keep working on my writing next year. Bye, Sophomore year! Go, Junior year! 

The Best Drama in the Year

“Life is like a drama, everything depends on your acting. ” When I was watching the drama, Bone Chiller!, I kept thinking about this sentence. The drama was written by Monk Ferris and presented by Cheshire Academy varsity players. It was a mystery which was about a murder and a puzzle. I really enjoyed the show. The music, lights and actors are extremely professional, and the plots were pretty tense which made me feel excited. 

First, the plots were extremely tense and exciting; this made me feel that I was a real detective while I was watching the show. The story began with a will which was written by a rich man, however, the will was actually a puzzle. He did not only write where the money was, but also wrote who the killer was. He asked his lawyer to invite twelve people to decode the puzzle, and he promised that whoever could decode the puzzle would get a large amount of money. The thirteen people all had their own experiences and opinions about the puzzle, and they finally found out who the killers were. During the show, I was always trying to figure out who the killers were. I had a prediction, which was about the actors’ nail colors. There were ten female characters on the stage, but only three of them colored their nails, who were Zita, Kissy and Pippi. Also, Zita had Gypsy power, which meant she might have the power to kill Mauve without moving her feet. Thus, I thought they three were killers. As more and more details came out, I realized I was wrong, nevertheless, I never expected an ending like this. The lawyer and Dan were killers, and I had never thought about the Halloween tradition. This was so surprising and impressive that I still could remember all the details of the show. In summary, the show and the plots were so memorable, and it was a real enjoyment. 

Second, the music, lights and actors were also professional. It is so important to have good music and light for a drama. The mysterious atmosphere was all depended on the music or lights. In Bone Chiller!, Richard and the technical group did wonderful job. Richard used his Guitar to make the ambience more scary and mysterious. Also, the light and the sound effects were big roles in a drama, especially a mystery. In this show, several colors of lights made it easier to change the scene and adjust atmosphere. The technical part was excellent; they changed the lights very proper. In any good dramas, the actors are always professional. In Bone Chiller!, actors presented their best to the audience. Jaime was actually surprised me, and her acting totally changed my perception of her. I used to think she was an introvert girl who only played little girls in dramas, like her role in Spelling Bee. However, she played a rebellious and extroverted roll this time, and this showed me that she was a extremely professional actor. Except Jaime, other actors were also very professional. As a result, professional facilities and actors were actually one of the biggest reasons of why Bone Chiller was so successful. 

In conclusion, I was so happy to watch this fantastic show. A good show should contain fascinating plots, proper music or lights and professional actors. Obviously, Bone Chiller! fulfilled all the conditions, and it was the best drama I’ve ever seen since I got to Cheshire. 

Ghost or imagination?

Compare to imagination, I'd rather believe Gat, Johnny and Mirren became ghosts. First, after the fire, Cadence never sees the liars, and she tries to email them. If the liars are ghosts, they will be with Cadence all the time, but they don't. Second, ghosts can have their own minds, but imagination can hardly do that, because imagination is only from Cadence's mind. In the book, Mirren even goes to Windemere and reads the emails Cadence writes to her. Also, in the book, the liars always have different opinions, which means they are not from one man's mind. Third, there is such a big mess in Cuddledown, Cadence cannot make it by herself. At last, when the liars go to the cliff and jump to the sea, Gat and Johnny jump first, and Mirren just lie on the ground. Everything is so real, and they all have their own mind. In conclusion, I think Gat, Johnny and Mirren are ghosts. In addition, I really hope they are ghosts, because they can continue living in this way and being with Cadence.

A good story with a bad ending

People always say a sad surprising ending can make the story more significant. However, as far as I am concerned, not all of the surprising endings make the stories more impressive. In the book, We Were Liars, the author told the readers a story about an accident which happened to a girl, Cadence. I like the story, but I do not like the ending at all. 

I enjoyed reading this book, because the author used a special way to narrate the story, which made us read the story in Cadence’s eyes. When I started reading the book, I did not expect an accident would happen, because everything seemed to be so peaceful. Cadence played with the liars, and even it was always sunny in the island. However, the family was not really happy; since grandma died, the family fell apart actually. It did not influence Cadence that much, and she played with liars as usual. Then she hurt her head; she could not remember what happened. She started looking for the memories, and I was like a camera which recorded everything she saw. She thought, I thought; she loved Gat, I loved Gat. Her emotion influenced me; I desired the truth as she did. I love the way how the author wrote the book, this made me truly understand the book. 

However, I never expected an ending like this. I could not wait for reading the ending, so I stayed up until 2 a.m. The ending actually disappointed me, because I expected a very impressive ending which was not a fire. In the book, the liars set a fire in the Clairmont, but three of them died because of Cadence. Cadence thought they already got out, but actually they did not. They could have thrown a match in or used phones to contact to each other; Cadence should have double checked the house or called fire apartments immediately. However, they did not do all of these things, they just died! That did not make sense, and the author tried to explain everything by the alcohol, which still made no sense. In addition, the author left many mysteries to us, and she just arranged a fire to erase everything. This ending may be surprising, but it was not a good ending. 

In conclusion, in the past few weeks, I really enjoyed reading this book. I like the way how the author narrated the story; I followed Cadence’s steps to find out the truth. However, I extremely dislike this ending, because it was unreasonable. Even though the ending was surprising, it was not impressive, and it still left numerous unsolved questions. In another word, I think the ending actually ruined the book. 

Cadence's memory

Cadence remembered that aunt Carrie was crying and wearing Johnny's coat. Then she remembered that summer 15, the liars were trying to spin on the tire which was hung on the tree in front of clairmont. she remembered that the liars, they set up a big fire on clairmont.
Cadence had a new memory: on summer 15, Grandad gave Boston house to Bess, and the rest aunts had a fight. Also on summer 15, Gat and Cadence stole chocolate in clairmont. On summer 15, aunts and grandad had another fight in a meal.

Quiz Questions

1. Cadence did not want liars to console her, why?
2. What do you think the meaning of Mirren's motto?

Chapter 31-40 Notes

Chapter 31
Mirren found that Cady wanted to give her drawings, books and stuffs away, and they had a talk. Cadence was still mad at Mirrent, because she did not reply to her. Mirrent tried to persuade Cady to live with them, but her mom did not allow her to do that.

Chapter 32
Cadence and Gat went to a low hill, and they kissed. Cady told Gat that she was mad at him, and she said he was suboptimal. Finally, they decided to start over.

Chapter 33
Cadence went to lunch in Clairmont, and she found grandad erased his life also. When cadence mentioned Aunt Carrie's last night behaviors, Carrie seemed have no idea about what she was talking about.

Chapter 34
Cadence had a unhappy conversation with will and Taft, and Cadence found twins checked her room.

Chapter 35
The liars redecorated the Cuddledown, and Mirren told Cadence that Penny told the family everything.

Chapter 36
The liars played tennis together, and they talked about Cadence's Europe trip. Cadence told them she was not happy; liars all consoled her.

Chapter 37
Cadence's mother was happy to see Cadence played tennis again, and she invited Cadence to play with her, but Cadence refused. During the dinner in Clairmont, Cadence remembered a piece of her memory: once they had dinner few weeks before her accident. Compare to now, Cadence felt the relationship between grandad and aunties is different.

Chapter 38
The liars were playing scrabble, and they talked about their mottos.

Chapter 39
Cady and Gat kissed upstairs, and they had a short talk. Gat felt that Grandad did not like him; he was so inferior, however, Cadence thought he was perfect.

Chapter 40
Cadence wrote another fairy tale. It was about a little princess. She fell in love with a mouse, but her family did not like mice. Then they ran away from the Palace.