The Great Gatsby: Chapter 9

I found it kind of sad that nobody would go to Gatsby's funeral, but I guess most of them were scared away. It kind of shows you how good of friends he really had because, like Owl-Eyes said, they used to pour in by the hundreds to his parties. It's kind of like that saying where it's better to have a few really good friends than 100 lousy friends....(something like that...quality not quantity).


Somehow I knew deep down that Tom was behind Gatsby's death. He didn't even show any remorse when he found out Wilson killed Gatsby because he probably knew Wilson would go kill him. I'm guessing that's why Tom and Daisy left town right away. I like how Nick compared Tom to a child, because that's how he is--selfish and always wanting his way. I'm thinking that Tom stopped Daisy from sending any flowers or calling or something like that because I'm sure she heard about how Gatsby died.

I like how Nick talks about Daisy and Tom at the end and about how inconsiderate the rich are. They make messes that they never clean up and can get away with most anything because of their money and popularity. I guess it's no wonder how they seem to think their better than everybody else...somebody's got to because I think that poorer people seem to be kinder because they appreciate what they have (not in all cases, but in many).

Well, I can't say that I'm really "crushed" because Nick broke up with Jordan because apparently she's engaged to some other man now...unless she just said that because she didn't want to show that she was really hurt or something--because her pride got in her way (and believe me, pride is one thing that that woman isn't lacking...)

Overall, I thought the book was pretty good...much better than the Grapes of Wrath. I feel like Gatsby's whole life and existance was in vain though. Even though he was rich and threw lavish parties, because he was living such a lie and fantasy, nobody really knew him and nobody seemed to remember him when he died....

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 7-8

Well, I'd have to say that this was probably the most interesting section of reading we've done so far. I was shocked when I read that Gatsby dies...I almost wanted to read on to the next chapter, but I didn't have time.

You know, if Tom had only not taken Gatsby's car, I think a lot of these troubles could've been avoided (Why on earth did Tom want to take Gatsby's car anyway??). For instance, had he not taken the car, he wouldn't have had to get gas at Wilson's and Myrtle wouldn't have seen him in the car and wouldn't have thought that Jordan was his wife, so she wouldn't have become so frantic. Myrtle probably wouldn't have ran out into the street towards Gatsby's car--trying to talk to Tom--and Daisy wouldn't have hit her. George wouldn't have gone "mad" and wouldn't have tracked down Gatsby and killed him.

But something good did come out of this...I guess Tom and Daisy are finally back together and loving each other. Which makes me think back to the River Styx connection and the billboard with Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's eyes on it. The River Styx talked about how promises were made to someone but that person would end up dying in the end. I guess that could kind of explain Myrtle and Gatsby (how Daisy said she'd run away with Gatsby and how Tom was going to get Myrtle out of the dump she was in). I guess the fact that George thought the eyes of the Dr. were God was somewhat true (in a symbolic way). Those eyes saw everything and disapproved of it...I guess they were finally being judged or something...I don't know...

Question: What's the importance of the leash? I have a few ideas in my mind why George would be so upset about this but I'm not sure...anybody have some input on this?

All I can say is that now I want to read more....

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 6

Well, it turns out that Gatsby's real name is James Gatz and he's really from North Dakota. I guess that explains why he said he was from the Midwest before, even though he said he was from San Francisco, which isn't really in the Midwest (Loui pointed that out for me). Anywho, I guess it just shows you that Gatsby really was living a fantasy life and he finally told Nick about it much later.

I kind of enjoyed the fact that Tom became so riled up when he thought that Daisy was "getting around." It's funny how he thinks that he can go cheat on her, but NO! She can't get near another man! That is out of the question!....Oh how the tables have turned...mua ha ha!

Anywhosit....they use the word "bootlegger" a lot in this book, and I didn't really know what that meant, so I looked it up and it means: someone who makes or sells illegal liquor (or some other product). I partly believe what Tom was saying when he thought Gatsby was a bootlegger because I'm not entirely sure that Gatsby has received all of his "moolah" legally.

Another thing: in this chapter, Daisy says, "If you want to kiss me any time during the evening, Nick, just let me know and I'll be glad to arrange it for you..." yeah....she's mentioned something like this before in a previous chapter when she asked Nick if he was in love with her...isn't she his cousin?? Now I don't know how things were back then, but I hope she meant a kiss on the cheek...

I still think that there's going to be a fallout between Gatsby and Tom...It's coming...I know these things (well...I could be wrong, but I can guess can't I?!) :P

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 5

Well, first of all, did anyone else think it was bizzarre that Gatsby had his gardener come over and fix Nick's lawn in the rain? Or did I just read that wrong?
And you know that green light? It's kind of funny because it used to seem like it had such meaning, and it was only the light on Daisy's dock. Before Gatsby was always looking at that light and longing for her, now it seems like just an ordinary light to him...nothing special.

I think that the weather kind of followed the moods of the characters a little bit. At first, it was raining and nothing really seemed to be going right--everything was foggy to them. Then the sun came out and the mood of the chapter seemed to lighten as Gatsby took Nick and Daisy to his mansion.

I'm kind of wondering what's going to happen to Daisy and Gatsby if Tom finds out about them, because he's bound to find out. (I'm guessing if Tom does find out, he'll totally flip out because he doesn't have control over her...but he can go and cheat on her any time he likes, just not the other way around...judging by his personality, that's probably what he'd think...)

Personally, I like Gatsby and Daisy together way better than Tom and Daisy just because Tom is a complete...well....jerk, to put it nicely. I kind of found it funny that Mr. Wolfsheim said that Gatsby would never look at another man's wife in a previous chapter. That was probably because he was so absorbed with Daisy and he'd never even think to look at any other woman...but the fact of the matter is that Daisy is still married to Tom.....this is going to cause some issues....

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 4

I like this book better than The Grapes of Wrath. It seems to have a little more meaning and symbolism, even though there are still some wrongs that go on.

Well, first of all, one of the main things that I remember from the reading was the part where Nick is going on a drive with Mr. Gatsby in Gatsby's fancy car and they pass a limo. Nick laughs because there is a white man driving the limo and three black people riding in it and they are all looking enviously at him. He said that anything can happen now that they're over the bridge. I didn't really like how he referred to the three black people as "two bucks and a girl". Calling a person a buck, unless that's their name, just doesn't really sound good to me. I guess that he was still in that time period though.

I'm kind of wondering where Mr. Wolfsheim got the molars for his cuffs. It said that they were the finest in human teeth so that's kind of a mystery to me...and somewhat creepy. Why on earth he would want human teeth for cuffs, I don't know.

I figured Nick would sorta hook up with Jordan, but I'd never have guessed that Gatsby and Daisy used to be a couple. I think that Daisy would've been way better off with Gatsby than Tom because I really don't like Tom that much. I'm curious as to what will come next. Maybe Gatsby and Daisy will do the same thing that Tom is doing behind Daisy's back, but if Tom finds out, he'll probably go bizurk and severely harm or kill somebody. I don't know...we'll have to see.

The Great Gatsby: Chapter 2-3

I'm kind of starting to like Nick a little more. I enjoyed how he mocked pretty much everything and everyone at the party at Tom's apartment. I don't really get why those people would want to be so proper and rich and whatever. There's more important things in life to look forward to. And if I was in Myrtle's shoes, and Tom had smacked me in the nose, no matter how much pain I was in, I would've grabbed the nearest expensive vase and made it lose it's priceless value all over his ugly face, if you get my drift. I don't care how rich he is, it's not worth it for her to stay with him.

I found it interesting how Nick would refer to the people at Gatsby's party as men and "girls". I guess it just shows you the change in the time periods. Back then, it was normal for some old guy to date a young woman, but now we'd think it was just a little creepy. And I'm not sure about "Owl-eyes" and his compadre from the car accident, but they should've cut off their drinks about...oh, I'd say...10 bottles ago! I found it kind of funny that when people told them that the car had lost it's tire the one guy looked up in the air.

So far Mr. Gatsby seems like an alright guy. I'm not really sure that I believe that he killed somebody, but he is very mysterious. If he did kill somebody, it was either an accident or he has changed his ways since then because he seemed really friendly and always referred to Nick as "old sport". Maybe that's why he didn't drink at his party...maybe he killed somebody when he was drunk....just a stray thought.

Anyways, I'm kind of curious to see what'll come next. I figured that Nick probably had a thing for Jordan, so I wonder if they'll get together or whatever. I guess we'll all see....

The Great Gatsby: Chapter Uno

This book so far seems like the opposite point of view of The Grapes of Wrath. In fact, when I saw that the rich snot's name was Tom, I thought of Tom from "Grapes," even though this Tom is pretty much nothing like our previous Tom. (I kind of found it funny how Nick would always refer to him as Tom Buchanan instead of just Tom.)
I guess opposites must attract because Daisy was like the complete opposite of Tom. Even though they both had a rich air to them, Daisy seemed to be a bubbly and perky person with slight ADD, while Tom seemed crabby and controlling. Once he mensioned how the whites were the superior race, which showed more of his arrogance.
I kind of enjoyed some of Nick's sarcasm. Like when Daisy asked if anyone missed her, he said, "The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there's a persistent wail all night long along the North Shore." I thought it was kind of funny because--unless they had different colors of tires back then--the left back tire would already be black.
I felt sorry for Daisy when she found out Tom was cheating on her. I found a certain phrase she said interesting: "...that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." I guess that that could somewhat be true with the society we live in today because there's more emphasis placed on beauty than brilliance, and I'm sure that back then a woman's opinion really wasn't of any importance at all.
I'm kind of wondering what Gatsby is going to be like. He is a rich man in a mansion, but he seemed quiet and content at the first sight Nick took of him. To me, he seemed less arrogant than the other rich folks and I'm kind of curious about what his personality is going to be like.

Essay: Comparison/Contrast

Mer & Me
October 24, 2007

As we strolled through the silent aisles of the store, she screamed suddenly in a whispering, excited tone, “Ahhh!” pointing her finger frantically and hopping up and down, the words sped out of her mouth, “Look! Look! Look! Look at them! SHOES! Ahh! I want them!”
Glancing over at them and shrugging my shoulders, I said dryly, “Nyeh, they’re okay,” and returned to the rack of black band T-shirts I was skimming through.
“Okay? OK! How can you say that! They’re, like, the best shoes ever!” she screamed cheerfully and scampered away quickly to obtain her treasure.
Friends always have to have something in common with each other so they can get along…but some friends—even the closest of buddies—can be as opposite as a microwave and a refrigerator; and this, along with others, is one of the numerous differences between my friend Mer and me.
Scouting for shoes, her absolute favorite pastime, is one activity that Mer takes part in daily. Surprisingly, she doesn’t plan when and where she’s going to look for her shoes because she marks almost everything on a calendar before she steps foot out of the house. A perfectionist at heart, she’s incredibly particular in most of the activities she pursues…especially drawing. When Mer sketches a picture, the eraser is usually rubbed aggressively down to a small nub; and she can spend an hour redrawing the same line to make it perfect. But before one frowns on this, know that she can take almost any cartoon picture or drawing and sketch it to look like a near copy of the original.
As “perfect” as she is with everything else, Mer always seems to have some flaw with her body that she needs to go to the doctor for. From a nerve disorder that prevents her from competing in sports to nearly “bottoming out” from lack of sugar, there always seems to be some reason to take her in for a check up.
But Mer doesn’t let a little “medical problem” stop her from enjoying herself. Actually, she sees the need for sugar as an excuse to completely engorge her body with junk food as she plops down on the couch to watch one of the millions of movies she has in her collection. Even though her nerve disorder may cause “disorder” in her daily walking, she still loves to dance and keeps in rhythm with her favorite songs as she pops, locks, and drops what her mama gave her across the dance floor of a party.
I am completely opposite of this. The only dancing that really comes from my body is spontaneous spurts of flailing my arms everywhere and just going with the flow of the music, there’s really no structure to it—just like the planning I do, which is little to none and not really that big of a deal since most of my plans slip my mind anyways. Tending to ride by the seat of my over worn, ripped pants, I usually don’t plan too much for anything because my plans are subject to change at any given moment—mostly because of my involvement in sports.
Yes, my schedule tends to transform itself frequently because of the added physical activity, which alters my eating and sleeping habits. For example, I get home late from games, which gives me absolutely no time to sit down with a bowl of salty, sugar-filled sweets and watch a two-hour long movie. And as much as I absolutely love junk food and how it gets into enraged altercations with my stomach, I tend to stay away from the saccharine delicacies.
Receiving a small stomach ache from soda or over-buttered popcorn isn’t exactly a phone call to the doctor for me either. In my family, somebody either has to be bleeding or dying to waste money on seeing some guy in a white coat to give them a prescription for the problem. Most of the “diseases” that we come down with are toughened out and aren’t cured by relying strictly on a drug.
Another aspect of not being reliant on something is my drawing. I absolutely have no patience to sit at a desk and hunch over a sketch for ten hours trying to make it a twin to the image being drawn from. Preferring to scribble strange creations from my own demented mind, I usually only have the tolerance to speed-draw my picture instead of making it perfect…which can result in an extremely messy, eraser-stained sheet of gray paper.
Now, although we differ in countless ways—more than those just listed above—there are some common interests and personality quirks that we have that are close in comparison to each other. For instance, we are both incredibly unstable people. Swinging from being loud, obnoxious, and giggly to screaming and fuming with rage to sulking and whining depressively, our moods can be altered at the snap of a finger. With the attention span of a half-dead goat, the snap of a finger may be the only way to get our full concentration as well.
But our interest is fully alert when we both scream until our voices grow hoarse, head-bang until our necks go out, and jump until our knees lock up at rock concerts together. The feeling of waiting for the final pun in a Dane Cook joke seems to catch our ears too before we both fall over in our chairs and laugh until our lungs are numb.
Hair-tangling joyriding across the pastures on 4-wheelers and the quiet relaxing element that is found in writing seem to be two opposite activities that mix well with both of us. Like the opposite ends of two magnets, the opposites of our attitudes and our ways of life pull us towards each other and keep us glued, but the similarities between us give grounds to relate with each other on. Opposites are needed to create balance, and even though Mer and I are identical in a couple of our entertainment preferences, it’s the differing aspects about us that are crucial to keeping us close.

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 448-502 (end)

Well, first of all, may I voice my opinion for the end of the book? WTF?! I was kind of disappointed because it didn't really tell you what Tom did next (even though we can kind of guess what happened to him). The part with Rosasharn at the end was kind of...shocking--I guess you could say. It was a good thing that she helped the old man though--even if he didn't want her to--but it was kind of...well, you know. I guess some good came out of her not having her baby. I must wonder, though: Did Rosasharn know that she was going to have a miscarriage? When Ma asked her about picking cotton, she looked at her belly and insisted upon working...I'm curious about this.
I found it kind of interesting, too, how Pa called Ruthie a b**** for ratting out Tom. I must somewhat agree with Pa though because Ruthie was becoming a huge pain in the butt. I'd find the word "brat" more fitting than "b****" though.
I found it kind of funny how Al promised this other girl that he'd marry her at the other camp and now he's deciding to marry Aggie. I guess it just shows you how people change...or other things that I could mention but won't. Al must have a thing for blondes because the other girl was blonde too. I think he cares more about Aggie though because he was going to leave the other girl and come back (yeah right) when now, if the family had to leave, he would want to stay with Aggie.
I was also amused by the sign the land-owner had put out for his 20 acres of cotton...for some reason, I just found it funny that he wrote the words in crayon.
One part that I found related to real life today was how the Joads went out and bought things that weren't really necessary for their survival (like new clothes and such). Uncle John even said that they really didn't want beer, he just wanted to buy something. I guess that that's just human nature--how we like to use our money for more pleasure than necessity when we get the chance. They may be regretting buying new clothes now that they're out of food though.
I really wasn't too thrilled with the ending. It just kind of cut off the story and really left you hanging. Maybe the author wanted you to use your imagination and guess what happens next.
So I think that the Joads will be alright and they will get through this hardship. (Maybe Tom will stir up a little trouble with those in power too.)

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 386-448

Well, this section of reading started out contently for the Joads but just seemed to go downhill. I'm betting that they're going to really regret leaving that government camp. (I thought they could get money by cleaning up the camp or something. Why didn't they just do that for food?)
The new camp they're at up north is intolerant. The guards look down on the Okies. I found the part with Ma at the store kind of intersting. But what she said at the end made sense to me. She said something about how if you need something, only a poor man will give it to you, which I find is for the most part true. If you've never been hungry, you won't know the pain another person is going through when they're begging for food; but if you have, you will most likely take pity on that person and give them food. Speaking of food, I find it kind of funny how Tom was complaining at the beginning of the book because he was so used to getting food the same time every day...now look at his eating habbits.
I was pleasantly surpised when Casy came back into the story, but I had never expected him to get his skull smashed in by an angry guy with a pitch-handle (or whatever the weapon was). I can somewhat understand Tom's rage and could invision his reaction to Casy's death pretty clearly in my mind.
Ma's favorite in the family seems to be Tom. She depends on him more than she does her husband. It's almost like the roles of Tom and Pa were switched around. For that time period, Ma suposedly should've been leaning on Pa and giving Tom orders; but I suppose she did say she was trying to keep Pa sane by keeping him mad (which sounds kind of funny if you don't think of it as the angry kind of mad).
I'm curious as to whats going to happen next. Tom's face is bruised and scarred and he could get caught, Winfield was sick, Rose of Sharon is going to have her baby soon, Pa's loosing his place as the head of the family, and Al is thinking of leaving.
The family's bad attitudes just kind of shows you how "animal" we can become when we are deprived of our basic needs.

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 336-386

First of all, I found that one lady in the camp really bizarre. The lady that said that Rosasharn's baby was going to die if she went "play-actin'" or "hug-dancin'" when really that would probably happen to her if she was malnourished like the other women that lost their babies. I thought some of her ideas to be off the wall because she said that babies would burn in hell if their parents sinned, but I think that somewhere in the Bible it says that God will take care of the children. The lady and her fellow people would also glare in contempt at those who were dancing. Somehow the word contempt doesn't seem like a very Christian thing to be practicing. Her whole attitude of her being better than everyone else kind of bugged me too.
When Ruthie and Winfield went to go play with the other kids and Ruthie took the racket from the girl with the braids, I was glad that the other kids didn't play with her and taught her a lesson. She was kind of becoming a brat and like Tom said somewhere earlier in the book, she had a beating coming (or something like that). It kind of put her in her place.
Human nature was kind of shown at one of its lowest levels when the people would be starving and the rich folks would just let the food spoil because they weren't getting enough money from it. They threw some food in rivers and stopped the people from getting it even though they were becoming diseased from lack of food. I find that very "Hitler-ish" and cruel.

Grapes of Wrath: pgs 280-336

I enjoyed the part of this section of reading where Casy kicks the policeman in the neck and knocks him out. I feel sorry for the woman whose fingers were blown off, but at least Tom tripped the man so he didn't kill Floyd.
One part that I found odd, though, was when the people surrounded the Joads truck and stopped them. At least they were prepared with the wrench and the jack (I believe it was a jack) to try and defend themselves. It's a good thing Ma held Tom back or else he probably would've killed somebody. But the part that was different for me was the fact that Tom almost began sobbing. I think that he was either so scared that the people would hurt someone in the family or else it hurt him so much to hold back from hitting someone...maybe a combo of both, I'm not really sure.
I thought the part with Winfield and Ruthie and the toilets was kind of amusing. Ruthie was bragging about having gone to the bathroom in one and she compared it to the material that their plates are made out of. It was funny how they thought Winfield broke the toilet because he flushed it. It just kind of shows how naive they were as kids who'd always lived in the country. It also showed some nature of how children are in how they try to brag to each other and be all "important" and are not always truthful. Ruthie said that she wouldn't tell anybody that Winfield broke the toilet and then she blurted it out to Ma. Although, Winfield seemed to forget about it right away because he didn't say anything.
I guess the bathroom scene showed how children can be naive and get embarrassed, but it also showed how adults do the same thing when Ma realized that she was in the Men's bathroom.

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 220-280

These chapters show a lot of the prejudices that start for stupid reasons. The guy at the service station said that "Okies" were no better than gorillas. Even the word "Okie" is degrating. As one man explained in the story, "Well, Okie use' ta mean you was from Oklahoma. Now it means you're a dirty son-of-a-b****...it's just the way they say it." (It never really matters what you say, but how you say it.)
I found it weird that Noah just left. I suppose he really wasn't talked about much in the story, and wasn't a major character. Maybe his purpose was to show how we can hurt people when we ignore them. I kind of found it interesting when he said, "Like to jus' stay here. Like to lay here forever. Never get hungry an' never get sad." The poor man was probably depressed and neglected all of the time.
I still think that Tom is my favorite character. I like how he got between the confrontation that was about to start between the "mayor" and Pa. I just find his attitude amusing and I like him. I personally think that the "mayor" is psycho. Half of the things that come out of his mouth don't make sense.
The part with the Jehovites was kind of...interesting too. I guess if their chanting and howling calmed Granma, then it was good. I figured Granma wouldn't last too much longer in the story without Granpa.
I also found it interesting when Casy said, "I ain't a preacher...my prayers ain't no good." Since when do you have to be a preacher to pray? I did like his point, though, when he said, "A preacher ain't nothin' but a man." It's too bad not many other folks would listen to him. Just because a man is a preacher doesn't make him perfect.

Teacher Essay

Professor Adam?
Heather
September 19, 2007

“Now sit down and be quiet please, class is about to begin,” is about the last statement that’ll probably come out of my teacher’s mouth. Try, “What’s up St. Paul, Minnesota?! How ya doin?! Make some f***in’ noise!!!!! I wanna hear everybody…in the back!!……I wanna see this whole f***in floor jumping up and down when we start, alright? And if you’re sitting in your seat, I want you to get the f*** up!!!”

My teacher: a tall man, a little pale in complexion, with long messy black hair, usually all black clothes, and tattoos streaming down each arm. Thick brows hide beneath the rim of his favorite fedora hat and intense eyes stare through narrow lids. He swears a little. He smokes a little more. He’s a Canadian rock star. His name? Adam Gontier, frontman for none other than Three Days Grace.

Although he would look out of place standing before a class giving a history lesson, he seemed to have no problem talking to young people struggling with addiction problems during his band’s “Three Days of Change” tour, where they played small acoustic shows at select rehabilitation, treatment, and youth centers in the United States and Canada. A song would be played, and then Adam would have a question and answer session with the people in the crowd, no limit on the subject (or “no holds barred,” as he puts it).

“It was just something that I thought I’d like to do, so I set it up. The biggest thing about it is I want to let kids know and people know that they can talk about it [their problems].” This lesson, talking about the problems in one’s life, is somewhat difficult to ace in society today, but Adam has been a sort of “inspiration” for me. Almost two and a half years ago, he checked himself into Toronto’s CAMH (Center for Addiction and Mental Health) for his addiction to Oxycontin, a potent pain-killing drug used for cancer patients. “…at the end of it I was taking ten to twenty…eighty mg Oxycontins a day. And just eating them, like crushing them, chewing them in half…yeah; it was a mess, man.”

Adam set aside a month to himself after his time in rehab, to stay at home with his wife and try to begin a new, healthier lifestyle. And he’s stayed clean ever since. These free, intimate concerts in “Three Days of Change” have been put on because they’re a way to give back to the community that literally saved Adam’s life and a way to let people know “that turning your life around is possible and having success at what you want is also possible.” Giving back isn’t so hard when given a second chance at life.

Humans, the selfish species that they are, often take their lives for granted. Adam reminded me of this one day when he wrote a “public service announcement” to the people of the worldwide web through his blog. In a somber tone, he talked about how—although he’s very lucky to be doing what he does for a living—he wanted more. He wanted to change some of the ways of this world—how there are so many that are unfortunate and so many who believe that they’re worthless and don’t belong. He reminded me to “think about everything you have, and consider giving some of it away.” Be pictured in somebody else’s shoes for a day.

I admired how he simply wrote what he was feeling and got it off of his chest, even if it was in front of the public eye, and how he didn’t seem to care too much about what others thought of him for it. This leads me to his next “teaching”. On the band’s website, Adam used to post “Tour Diaries,” talking about their antics on the road and other random tidbits of information he felt like rambling about, ranging from the pain of his new tattoo to what ticks him off to an actual “history lesson” once about the faces on Mt. Rushmore.

In Tour Diary #4, Adam talked a little about guilty pleasures, “Whether it’s constantly eating junk food, or listening to Justin Timberlake while you’re in the shower, or maybe it’s ordering that useless s*** that you can only get from ordering off the T.V. at 3:30 in the morning. This year, my guilty pleasure was watching American Idol.”

Knowing how people would react to this, he stated in a somewhat sarcastic tone, “So what? I’m not supposed to [watch it] because it’s not cool? Because I’m the singer in a heavy rock band, that should only listen to Tool and Slipknot? Sorry.”

Adam has definitely rubbed off on me. Now every time I question doing something just because of how others might judge, I just think “American Idol” and decide, “Oh yeah, why should I care?” He’s sort of helped me to develop more of my attitude towards certain issues…and maybe added just a little more sarcasm along the way, never failing to make me use my brain. But isn’t that what a good teacher is supposed to do? Make us think? Adam seems to enjoy getting the old gears in people’s brains turning.

In his blog, he’ll post surveys. Some are just good-hearted fun; others can get people riled up. In one reply, apparently somebody became angry with him for posting a certain survey—even though it was only to get people’s opinions. Instead of replying with more anger, he said, “Thanks to the dude who said that we should all F*& off for judging a situation we don’t know. I was hoping some of you would pipe up about that...”

In another instance Adam began his blog with, “This time people, I’m gettin’ political on you’re a**es!” Holding a survey for Americans, as a curious Canadian, he was wondering how the U.S. felt about the “heightened security” measures after they headed into Iraq. In the blog after that, he revealed the results to the survey and then stated, “It was pretty interesting to read some of your comments. Some of you got really fired up about the whole thing, which is why I do these things. To make you think, and to get you to say what’s on your mind.

Way to go.
cheers,
Adam.”

In both the lyrics to Three Days Grace songs and in what they speak, Adam and the rest of the band make it pretty clear that everyone needs to be individual, and not always go along with what others think or do.

We can find lessons in all places. We learn from the bad, we learn from the good. As I was writing this, the thought came across my mind of what others may think of my teacher being the lead singer of my favorite band. But aren’t rock stars just people too? Remember: “American Idol.” Though he’s definitely not perfect, Adam is my teacher and there is much more that he’s taught me. Sometimes he’s there for life’s hard lessons, sometimes he’s just good for a laugh, but he’s a constant reminder that we are not alone in the ways we feel and “if you keep your face to the sun, you won’t see the shadows.”

“We are the ones,
We get knocked down,
We get back up,
and stand above the crowd,
We are one.”

“One-X”
-Three Days Grace

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 178-220

I enjoyed Ma's revolt. She was like the big woman who's proud to be big and knows how to throw her weight around. (kind of like an "mmm-hmmmm" attitude) I also enjoyed Tom's joke about having him and Pa attack her from different sides and have the rest of the family pile on top and maybe only 2 or 3 of them will die. It kind of gives the woman more power and is almost showing how the times are changing. I thought it was amusing to picture that big woman with a jack in her fists, ready to take down anyone in her way.

I also found some sayings sort of amusing in this reading.
Pa: "Nex' thing they'll sell ya a little tank a air." This was somewhat ironic because nowadays we actually do sell tanks of air.

Tom: "Pa'd crap a litter of lizzards..." I just thought this phrase was funny, along with Tom's other saying: "Ya stickin' it out like a cow's a**."

I'm beginning to like Tom more, even though he can sometimes be a jerk. I like how he just says what's on his mind, even if it isn't polite. I enjoyed his little "talking to" he had to the guy with the missing eye and how he told the guy that he's just pitying himself, and if he'd stop and do something about his life, he could get a girl and a better job. I also enjoyed his smart-alek attitude to the guy at the camp-ground. Pa seemed to be sounding pretty dumb to the other men (one was laughing at him) so Tom cut in and bit the other guys' heads of (not litterally of course). I just like how he says what he thinks, even if it's going to hurt somebody's feelings or anger them.

The Grapes of Wrath: pgs 125-178

Is it just me, or did about everybody die in these chapters? The poor dog got ran over, grandpa had a stroke, some guy got in a car accident and kiled himself and a little kid...whos next? Ma? Sairy? Who knows...
Anywho, I found the diner scene in Chapter 15 to be somewhat interesting. I liked how the two truckers gave Mae half a dollar each instead of 25 cents each (which, nowadays doesn't seem like very much, but back then $180 was enough to maybe get you to California). I did find it sweet that she gave the boys the candy for about 9 cents less than they were priced, but I kind of found it weird that Bill told her to "Go to hell" when he left...I think there's something there, but I'm not sure. And Al only seemed to talk after they got onto the subject of car accidents and people moving West.
It was kind of sad that Grampa and the dog died. I'm still not sure about Casy and what he's doing in his life. I guess I just don't really understand why they think they need a preacher to pray for them. Why don't they just pray for themselves?
I'm also kind of wondering what's next for Ma and Sairy. Sairy is already somewhat sick and Ma seems to be coming down with something. What would the family do without Ma?

The Grapes of Wrath: pgs 65-125

From reading these pages in the book, you can definitely tell that the author is a man, just by the way he described certain things, you wouldn't have to even look to tell that he was a man. But just to give him some credit, he did show the importance of women in the roles of the family, along with other features.
I found it kind of different how they each had a certain place in the family, even when riding in the truck. Even though Rose of Sharon was pregnant and Uncle John didn't want her to, she had to ride on back just because of the honor or whatever of the family. I guess that just shows you how times have changed. Steinbeck keeps describing the family with words like mean, malice, and brooding, usually words to describe people as villians nowadays, but back then I guess it was normal???
Anywho...I'm curious about what's going to happen next to this family. Tom is purposely violating his parole and not telling anyone about it, the preacher keeps going off on strange tangents, and they just drugged "Grampa" to get him to come along to California with them. I'm thinking that hell is going to break loose as soon as Grampa wakes up. That should be interesting. But will Tom get caught? What'll they do if he does?

Grapes of Wrath: pgs. 1-65

JOURNAL #1
I found some of the things they did back then a little odd after reading these 65 pages. For instance, how they would kill somebody and find no shame in it (even though some people are like that today), but it kind of made me raise a brow when Tom said he liked the guy he killed, and he was drunk, but still...he said he'd kill him again if he came running at him with a knife again. Technically now, they would call that self-defense or something and the case would go to court for who knows how long, but back then, Tom only got a total of 7 years for killing a guy.
I did kind of find the part about the jail a little interesting because nowadays even, we waste tax dollars on feeding criminals and keeping them alive in cells, and it doesn't really teach them a lesson of any type.
Does anybody else think that the part about the family arguing with the owners was actually supposed to be Tom's family (a sort of flash-back thing of sorts) while he was in jail? That's what it seemed to be to me, but I'm not really sure.
These chapters also revealed the greed of people. We'll put hundreds of others out of work and out of food before we starve or have to loose a penny. I kind of liked Muley though, and how he shared his rabbits with Casey and Joad even though he really didn't have to.
Some of the religious battles Casy had had with himself kind of struck me as odd too...some of his beleifs on certain subjects were a little...different...but I'll wait to see what he has next because he seemed to be coming into some revival again at the end of these chapters before they all went to bed under the stars.