How To Read Like a Professor by Thomas Foster

        I just started reading How To Read Like a Professor by Thomas Foster and I thought it was mostly advices from a cocky, know-it-all guy, but I guess I was wrong. I think the book will help me find the deeper meanings of stories and I want to learn how to do that. I really like to read different kinds of stories, but every time they ask me if I can talk about some symbolism I always respond them with, "I don't know." I know this book will be a little hard for me to understand.  Just a little though. I just read 4 or 5 chapters and it's sad to say that the book bore me and it didn't grab my attention. It's weird how I just said that I was "sad" reading it because I finished reading the 2 summer reading books and I really enjoyed both of them. I really hope there's going to be interesting chapters so I can talk about them. It's really disappointing  to know that I only got 5 more blogs to make because I know I can still talk about a lot of things in this book. When I first started making my first blog, I promise to write more than 20 blogs because I always want to talk about what I learned. But I think I should just blog about the chapters that interest me.

Let’s play the "Answer 6 questions from the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and earn points" Game Show!!

First Question
What do you think of the book?
I think it was a really good book. I really like reading Chris's journey. Although it didn't felt like  Krakauer was talking directly to me. I wasn’t feeling the emotions he felt (I don’t know if that makes sense). It was more of a listening to a story than discussing a story with someone. Overall it was great experience reading Into the Wild.

You got 1 point!

Second question
Did the book remind you of something?
Yes it did remind of the song “Good Life” by One Republic and “Today my life begins” by Bruno Mars. Chris kinda relate to the song “Good Life” because he talks about how being in nature can make your life so much better. Even though the song is not about nature, Chris thinks having a good life means being in nature.

You just earned yourself .5 points!

Third question
If you were Chris, would you live in the wild by yourself too?
Heck no. I love nature and I love camping (even though I don’t know how to put up a tent..Yet) but I think I’d rather stay where I am right now. I love technology and I’m used to living with it and to me that’s a pretty good life.

Alright, you just got another .5 points!

Fourth question
What do you think about Chris McCandless?
I think Chris was really outgoing and I think his personality is a good model for not just us teens but also to all the adults to learn. But the thing I didn’t like about Chris was he didn’t appreciate what he had. I mean, come on you have a good education and a family that cares about you alot! Aren’t you supposed to be thankful?

You just got yourself a 1 point kid!

Fifth question
Do you think of Chris’s journey as something?
It’s weird how I think of Chris’s journey as a new person growing up by his own. When he changed his name into Alex, it was like he made a new birth certificate. As he grows up, he began learning a lot of things about himself, through the people he met and his surroundings. I don’t know if you’re getting the point of what I’m saying. You probably don’t.

Good job kid, you got .5 points!

Sixth question

What did you learn from the book?

I learned that you’re not always gonna be content with your life. There’s always that something that you want to achieve. And I also learned that God created nature for us to appreciate and love not for us to say, “It’s just nature...So what?”

Congratulations you have 4.5 points

Last question, If you have a chance to rate the book from 1-5, how would you rate it?

Well, since I got 4.5 points then I’ll rate it 4.5!

Thank you for watching. We’ll see you again next time!

Like a Lost Little Boy, Looking for His Mommy and His Daddy...

        Chapter 14 &15 were kinda boring for me. I don’t know about anybody else but listening to Krakauer talking about climbing the “Devils Thumb” wasn’t really exciting for me. I don’t know if I was paying attention to what he is talking about or I just wasn’t interested. So I sort of skip some boring parts because I wanted to know more about Chris. I DO KNOW that the book isn’t just about Chris, but I wanted to know more about his journey into the wild. It’s a good book though, but I guess reading Jon’s story abut climbing the “Devils Thumbs” came in a bad timing. I was looking for more background story about Jon Krakauer (I think I’m starting to like reading other people’s biography).

        When I learned that Chris was afraid of water I scoffed, “You’re afraid of water, but you’re not afraid of being lost in the wild?” But the quote “Disaster...Rained in. River look impossible. Lonely scared,” made me feel bad about saying he’s a wimp. It was weird reading line that because I kinda got used to knowing Chris as an adventurous, and fearless guy. He never really showed his anxiety side (Was that sentence right?).When he said “Lonely , scared,” it reminded me of his mom and dad. I have no idea why I thought of them, but Chris sounded like he needed his parents to comfort him. He was like a lost little boy, looking for his mommy and his daddy.

Wasn't It Their Fault???

      Reading Chapter 12 & 13 made me feel bad about Chris’s family. “Lies were told and then exposed, begetting more lies to explain away the initial deceptions.”(pg.121) This quote explains why Chris disappeared out of their lives. He was so mad about the family issue, that he expresses his frustration by being quiet and not being socially and emotionally close to them. But the passage, “ ‘Whenever we were out driving and saw a hitchhiker, if he looked anything like Chris, we’d turn around and circle back. It was a terrible time. Night was the worst, especially when it was cold and stormy. You’d wonder, ‘Where is he? Is he warm? Is he hurt? Is he lonely? Is he OK?’”(pg.125) made me realize that they really cared abut Chris. They are so worried about him that they started losing their minds and began changing their lives.

       At the end of Chapter 13, the last paragraph, “‘I just don’t understand why he had to take those kinds of chances,’ Billie protests through her tears. ‘ I just don’t understand it at all.’”(pg.132) made me ask myself, “Wasn’t it their fault?”

He Doesn't Like To Be Told What To Do...

        I really liked reading Chapter 11 because it talks about Chris's family and I assume that there was some family issue that made Chris live his life in the wild. I learned a lot of things about Chris in this chapter including, his childhood memories, his personality, and what he likes and dislikes. It was sorta like reading “On Writing” by Stephen King again. I learned that Chris doesn’t like playing by the rules. He’d always get frustrated every time they tell him his not doing like he was supposed to do. He is really serious about life and he cares about what’s right and what’s wrong. “McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives.” This quote shows that Chris cares about other people even though he doesn’t like the society. It’s funny how he recommends other people on how they could improve their lives, while he doesn’t like to be told what to do.

The Differences and The Similarities to Chris McCandless....

     Chapter 7 & 8 are mostly about the similarities and the differences of Chris McCandless, Gene Rosellini, John Waterman, Carl McCunn, and Everett Ruess.
Gene Rosellini

·         Good Athlete and Brilliant student

·         “Decided to devote life to an ambitious anthropological experiment” (Wanted to know if it was possible to be independent of modern technology)

·         Believed that humans had transfer into lower beings

·         Lived in a hovel

·         Brought logs

·         Enjoyed hardship

·         Cause(s) of death: Knife through his heart (Self-inflicted)

John Waterman

·         Athletic

·         Has sense of humor

·         Goal(s): To climb an unclimbed route, Mt.Hunter; To make a solo ascent of the south face of Denali

·          Brought flour, sugar, and Crisco

·         *Had a horrible relationship with his dad

·         Self-critical

·         Scared of dying

·         *Declined offers

·         Cause(s) of death: Assumed that he fell in the bottom of the deep cracks

Carl McCunn

·         Goal(s): to shoot pictures of wildlife

·         Brought rolls of film, .22- and .30-.30-caliber rifles, and shotgun

·         *Threw away weapons(shotguns)

·         *Had unrealistic expectations

·         Loved his family

·         Cause(s) of death: Assumed someone would save him automatically (ignorance); Starved and froze to death

Everett Ruess

·         Artistic

·         *Romantic

·         Goal(s): “Beauty” Wants to be a “lone wanderer of the wilderness”

·         *He did things he dreamed about

·         *Wrote letters to his family and friends ( Just Chris's friends, not his family)

·         *Loves freedom

·         *Adopted a new name ( From Everett Reuss to Lan Rameau to Evert Rulan and finally to Nemo)

·         They like being with someone but they cant stand being around with people for very long

·         No one really knew how he died so in this case Assumptions of his death: Believed that “He fell to his death while scrambling on one or another canyon wall.” Some believe he fell off a cliff. And some assumed he drowned.

*Similarities to Chris McCandless

I Could Have Change My Perspective About Life....

        Reading Chapter 6 & 7 showed me how Chris is different from what I think. My first impressions of him were that he was ignorant and careless. I was wrong...Chris McCandless is actually the opposite, because he was a responsible, intelligent young man. He started telling Ronald Franz to move out of his apartment and live on the road. Franz eventually followed Chris’s advice. When he heard the news that Chris died, he started coming back to his old self. “I turned my van around, drove back to the store, and bought a bottle of whiskey...” It was sad hearing this because Franz started drinking whiskey again. This just show that a lot of people were affected by Chris’s death and he left good memories to the people he met. Even though Chris died a long time ago, I wish he survived living in the wild. He could have meet more people and help them. I wish I met Chris so that way I could have change my perspective about life.

Perhaps Society and Family....

      I just started reading "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer and I am a little dissapointed on how the beginning of the story started. I was a little surprise when I read the part saying Chris probably died because of starvation. Normally I would see a character dying at the end of the book, but it's different this time. I'm looking forward to read the conclusion of the book.

    When I read Chapter 1 & 3, I found 2 quotes that made me ask myself "Why the heck would you live in the wild if you have lots of money?" (Not that money is everything to me). "How I feed myself is none of the government's business. F*** their stupid rules." This quote got me into thinking that Chris really hated our society. "A younger sister, Carine, with whom Chris was extremely close, and six half-brothers and sisters from Walt's first marriage." This quote got me saying, "Hmmm. Is there some family issues that made Chris disappear?" Perhaps society and his family are the reasons why Chris decided to live in the wild.

I just finished listening to Stephen... Next up Jon Krakauer!!

      I just finished reading "On Writing" by Stephen King, and wow that was a vivid, horrible and painful accident. Reading pages 255-262 made me speechless. It felt like I was with Stephen during his accident. I remember reading the part where he got an ear infection and the doctor had to inject a needle in his ears and boy that was painful for him! Getting hit by van and having 4 ribs broken and over 20 stitches is more painful compare to having a needle slid in your ears.

    "On Writing" taught me a lot of things, not just about grammars, vocabulary, themes, and symbolism. This book taught me to enjoy what I love to do without being doubtful to myself. Even though reading is not my favorite hobby, I still had fun listening to Stephen's stories and advices. I will always remember this book ( Embarrass to say that this the 3rd book I read completely) because It's everything I need to pass my writing classes and I am sure King's advices will come in handy.

Ratings: 4.5

Sorry I just wanted to rate the book...

Reading it Over Again...

     Reading Chapter 11 (pg 208) of the book On Writing taught me that revising your work is really important. Revising essays are not really my thing, so I'm guessing that's why I don't earn the grade I want for writing an essay. Stephen told “me” that I need to write “at least two drafts; the one  you do with the study door closed and the one you do with it open.”  He said something about “writing with the door shut” somewhere at the beginning, but I can’t seem to remember the meaning of the phrase (I’m guessing it means you have to be focus and take writing seriously). 

     According to Stephen, you should write the first draft by your own without needing any help. Needing any help means you can’t show what you’ve written to any friend because you’re being dubious or you need some compliment. And even if someone complimented your writing, you will be off the track and you will eventually concentrate on something else. 

     Stephen taught me a lot of things about revising your work and I think they will come in handy. The reason I am so grateful to learn about revising my work is because I never revise my work at all (I don’t even proof read them) because there’s this laziness that’s keeping me from reading it over again.

Show The World What You Can Do!

        “If God gives you something you can do, why is God’s name wouldn’t you do it?” I always wanted to ask this question to someone I know. I don’t want to say any names so I’ll just keep it private. This person likes to sing every time he hears any music. The first time I heard his voice was when he was singing the song “Always and Forever” by Luther Vandross. I asked him why he didn’t join the choir

       “I can’t sing and even if I can I don’t want to join the choir,” he denied.

       “Yes you can, your voice is really unique,” I replied.

He just walked away when I said he has a talent in singing. I’ve seen a lot of talented people and some aren’t willing to show their talent to anyone. It is frightening to show your talent to the world especially to the people who criticize you by your appearance. But sometimes you need to be brave to show the world what you can do!

Thanks Steve!

       “One of the really bad things you can do to your writings is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit of ashamed of your short ones.”  This quote made me really happy because now I know that someone agrees with me. I don’t really like writing essays (but now that I am going to AP English, looks like I’m gonna have to get use to it). The reason why I dislike writing essays is because I worry too much about my vocabulary. Every time I write a sentence and there’s a simple word in it I always open my thesaurus and look for a much bigger word. It really anger me (I was going to type “It really bugs me” but I did it again) because it’s like I am not being myself. But now I know someone who uses a word that comes to his mind. Thanks Steve!

She's Resting In Peace...

     “We could hear the pause after each rasping breath she drew growing longer and longer. Finally there were no more breaths and it was all pause.”  This quote is the saddest quote I’ve ever read in the book. It reminded me of our recent visit to Philippines. It was on May 28 and all of us—my family, aunts, uncles, and cousins from United States came back to Philippines to visit our relatives. Everyone was having until I heard someone sobbing. It was my aunt who was sobbing over my cousin Theresa. Theresa died at age of 42. She has diabetes and she just had her recent dialysis. It was weird because when my cousin checked her blood pressure and sugar. At first her blood pressure was normal but at 1:00 PM she left us...

     The worst part of that day was seeing my cousin gasping for air. Seeing a loved one struggling and you can’t do anything about it is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s hard to say goodbye to someone you know even though you haven’t seen them in 5 years.  But I’m glad she doesn’t have to struggle anymore because she’s safe up there, resting in peace...

Support is All I Need...(On Writing)

    “Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference.”  This quote made me realize that Stephen didn’t just write books by himself, he also had a lot of help from his wife. It felt awkward reading that quote because when I read the summary at the back of the book, my first impression was that the book is about an old man talking about his childhood memories and how he became a good writer. To me when I hear the word “writer” I think of a person in a dark room, writing in a desk. But after reading that quote it made me realize that writers wouldn’t have the strength to write something if no one supports them.Sometimes they also say "Support is all I need."

Making a remake..( On Writing)

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”  This quote was really confusing at first until Gould said, “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” He is saying that all ideas are only yours but then they just go out.  I agree to this idea because it relates to me. When I was a kid (I think I was about 10 years old) my friend always tell me these funny stories, and I end up telling the stories to my other friends first. He gets really mad every time I do that because I always tell his stories differently.
      “Relax, it’s just a story, they will hear it anyway, “I said while turning back.
     And he grabs my arm and said, “No it’s not! It’s my story and I am supposed to tell it to them.”
I disagree because stories are supposed to be told and when you told someone a story, they will eventually tell your story to other people differently.  The reason why I told the story differently was because I didn’t like it at all. So what I did was I changed the characters and the settings but the idea of his story still remained. In short, I made a remake (Sort of like what Gould said).

On Writing by Stephen King

      I just started reading On Writing by Stephen King and I can't believe I'm saying this but this book is really enjoyable to read. What makes the book different from the previous books I read is that he tells his childhood memories vividly. I never experienced all the things that happened to him when I was a kid, like carrying a cement cinderblock, eating 7 eggs for breakfast (that's too much eggs for me), and having a needle slid into my ear. This book excites me because I want to know how he became such a good writer from copying Combat Cassey comics to writing more than fifty bestseller books.