Hello, Tim!
I am in the local library now, with the sun blasting hot outside. Maybe it can not be compared with the heat you experience in Arizona, it is certainly quite hot already for Taiwan.
After having started writing the letter, I found myself not really doing anything in this week. Maybe it was just the reading and reviewing taking up most of the time; hope the next week will be more eventful.
Contents of the Week
-Tragic Episode: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
-Pending Test next Monday, Tuesday
-Questions Answering
-Nightmares
-End
Tragic Episode: The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan
This was the highlight of the month, I believe: The third installment of The Trials of Apollo, The Burning Maze was finally published on the first of May! Having pre-ordered the book two months prior to the release, I got the book on the second.
Like the usual writing style of our Uncle Rick (This is what all his readers call him), he prevailed in capturing the attention of the readers, albeit with a twist. Normally, his books have one to three plot twists, some stronger and fiercer than the others. This book is… well, full of plot twists. Some are shocking, some are unexpected, some are comparably ‘kinder’, but a lot of them, are tragic and heartbreaking. I am not going to give spoilers because that is just not the right thing.
Sacrifices are made, and the lamentations are offered with tears shed… It feels like getting a box full of razor blades instead of receiving a hardback book. A sad, grieving box full of razor blades. My head throbbed every time when the blow struck me. But I guess we all knew that this is some of the inevitables, whereas the previous books are passed with too little fuss, and this book was just to balance that out.
“But why do they have to die?” This voice kept ringing in my head, demanding ferociously for a consoling answer, even though I know that was just the definition of heroes (I am not going to go into the argument of whether they are fictional or not) and heroes sacrifice themselves.
There were a lot of ponderings in this book, all of which came from Apollo, the God who was banished and made mortal. Of all the characters in the universe Uncle Rick created, Apollo is the one who underwent the most attitude shift. He thought about all perspectives of the difference between being human fights for a purpose on the rocky road, serving the gods and goddesses or being a God who sits upon the throne on Mount Olympus, simply looking over the world with little intervention.
“Don’t forget how it feels like to be a human.”
Ah. The sufferings of this book are just too great, though at the same time exhilarating. People say tragedies paints a better picture of humanity and the emotions, and I don’t think it is a false statement. I have almost finished with my next book (For a student with a pending mid-term, I still managed to read write a lot), but the review will have to be put off for the letter of next week.
Pending Test Next Monday, Tuesday
The class started preparing for the test only a week before it.
It was just all the things piling up for the preparation of the annual performance that made us so occupied so that we only have the nerve to stop the preparation for a week prior to the test.
Our seniors told us that right after their annual performance, which is approximately a year ago, that we should be prepared to have bad scores in this midterm, and I believe they got it right. There were just so many things to take into account that we don’t really have time to think about our test during the three weeks of preparation.
Fingers crossed, I just hope that I don’t fail many of my subjects. Haha.
Questions Answering
1. The teachers on strike turned down the offer even though they were offered a raise because the governor and the legislature didn’t offer several details like where they are going to get the extra money from, and they said nothing about raising the budget or the general fundings of schools.
2. The 70,000 teachers who went on strike wanted nothing more than a raise in their salary that I believe they deserve, the additional funds for running schools properly.
3. Hypothetically, if a teacher in Arizona goes on strike, it is likely for the teacher to get fired with the teaching certificate taken away. The teachers in this protest didn’t heed the warning or the law because there is already a three-thousand-short demand in teachers, and they knew that the chances of them getting fired are not quite probable.
4. The Republicans, who have been governing over Arizona state legislature, has offered a cut in tax during the 2008 recession in hope to attract more industries.
5. The teachers made up their mind to go on strike to demonstrate their malcontent possibly because they have had enough with the little fund given to the school, and it in no way is good regarding the education of the children.
6. To show support for the teachers, communities and churches and even schools offered children places to stay and food to eat so they won’t be unattended when parents are away at work (or also joining the protest) and teachers at the legislature protesting.
7. The state legislature reacted to the first day of the demonstration by not reacting (like noble gases); they went home and enjoyed their quality weekend.
8. The House of Representatives yelled their indifference by bringing up irrelevant topics when they should be discussing the school matters.
9. The striking stated their constant existence by sitting and occupying the spaces of the Legislature and formed bands to play music as an unceasing reminder.
10. Aside from the band performance, I think the teachers and the others who also went on protests were quite well-behaving, and even the band idea is not that bad, either. In the protests in Taiwan are just awful. Our protests include load and rude shouts (hullabaloos), occupying hospitals, violence etc. I think it is crucial to keep a cool head even in the midst of some heated atmosphere of discontent and unjust, and the fact that the teachers pushed the legislators with enough force to make things run smoothly was more impressive than not.
Nightmares
People have all sorts of nightmares, and while nightmares about monsters and ghosts, of poisonous dogs and ivy with eyes that open when you close your eyes(they did appear in my nightmares about ten years ago), are the ones that give us the most fright, there are some nightmares that would haunt you even after you wake up.
It is Saturday now, and just yesterday, I had a dream that actually does make sense, and though I don’t feel like sharing it so out-front, I still want to assure that it was something I didn’t even consider being afraid of. I could still remember the people and who they are in my dreams, with only one person I know nothing of, but I think the whole idea of that dream is a scenario, one I didn’t even know I was dreading.
Now looking back at the dream, I know there are worse dreams, worse fears, and maybe even some people are living nightmares, in reality, all off which would make my dream and my fear look like a walk in a kids’ park, mockably minor, even. But for now, I can just keep on being reminded of the dream and hope that it would not happen in real life (which very possibly might) and that I wouldn’t have to fake such a smile when it did happen.
Maybe I was just reading too many a novel with dramatic plots recently (what? That is nonsense! No such thing as too many novels).
(p.s. It is Sunday now, and Melody told Candy and me about her awesome dreams. Ugh. Why don’t I get happy dreams? :D)
End
It is already Sunday in the afternoon. My dad just came back yesterday, and it is Mothers’ Day today!
for all the mothers, Mütter, méres, 媽媽, Happy Mothers’ Day! I planned to bring my mother for dinner today, but as she said, since we are one day before our midterm, she would be happier if I just stayed at home reviewing, and we could go out for dinner next week.
Happy Mothers’ Day to the mothers in your whole family as well, Tim!
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| Selfie request by my mother |
Sincerely,
Hugo
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