6 Word Memoir #1

"Don't need this to be beautiful" 
I hate how whenever a girl walks into the magazine section at a store there is ALWAYS at least 4 magazines showing how to get "the perfect flaw free skin". And all it is is product that you put onto your face. They show that having a flaw free face and a nonhealthy body is the only way to be "beautiful". Why is the word beautiful in between marks? I feel that everyone has their own way reasoning as to what it means. Why should the way media portray beautiful be the only way?

6 Word Memoir writing reflection.

Six Word Memoirs:
- How did it go? 
- Did you choose to stay in the classroom? Or go to solitary confinement? Why? How did it go?
- What do you think of this genre of writing? Pros? Cons?
- What did you learn about yourself as a writer/thinker?
- What was the hardest part? What was the most rewarding part?

Writing the 6 word memoirs was really easy for me. It went really well.

I chose to stay in the class room because I usually get off track and distracted when I work in other places

I really like this style of writing. I love how you can basically tell a story in 6 words and leave your readers just wanting so much more. One con about it is sometimes you just need more than 6 words to express how you feel, You can also get a lot deeper about your subject with more than 6 words.

I learnt that I can do a lot in less than 10 words. I usually try to go and use long and complicated words to help my story grow in length but I learnt that I can do the exact same thing with 6 words.

For me, one of the hardest parts was getting it down to 6 words exactly. I kept having good ideas yet I couldn’t get it down to 6 words for a long time. I think the most rewarding part was finally getting a deep thought and then realising I could get it down to 6 words. 

Reading Reflection #3

Book:  An Abundance Of Katherines
Author: John Green
Pages read: 1-145

This week I read a book by one of my favourite authors. At first I thought that since I loved his other books, I should like this one. To be honest, This book was a bit dull compared to Paper Towns. I found that Paper Towns had a lot more action and more things added to the story. I felt that this book was lacking something but I had no idea what it was. Perhaps the lack of mystery added to my bore of this book.

In this book, It’s about a child prodigy named Colin (or, Colon Cancer as called by many people). He’s only ever dated girls named Katherine. “Not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E” (quote taken from book, page 15. John Green, An Abundance Of Katherines,  2006) which made me question why he only chose to date girls named Katherine. I mean, it seems like it would be difficult to find 19 different girls named Katherine. But no, Colin has done it. He’s dated 19 different girls named Katherine. He only ever describes the latest Katherine and he’s still so hurt over her. It gave me the question; Why is he only dating Katherines? Does something important come from it? Does it signify something to him? Surely he’d find some other girls appealing, Ones that aren’t named Katherine. The answer is explained later that he just wanted to keep his Katherine streak alive after he dated one for a week when he was 8.

One prediction I stumbled upon while reading was that Lindsay (a girl Colin has met on a roadtrip) will finally break his Katherine streak. I feel that this prediction will come true because Colin seems to have a liking for her but doesn’t realize it. Much like Colin, Lindsay has only ever dated one guy. And his name is Colin. I predict that something will happen in between two of the characters that causes Lindsay to break up with TOC (The Other Colin, name given to him by Colin and Hassan).  He seems untrustworthy and only in the relationship for sex or other intimate gestures. I see him like that because whenever he is with Lindsay, they always seem to do something in front of Colin and the others that shouldn't be done in public.

Thank you for reading! 

Book quotes ~

The following are just some quotes from books I've read this week that made me smile. :)


“Here's what's not beautiful about it: from here, you can't see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. You can see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a paper town. I mean, look at it, Q: look at all those culs-de-sac, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters.”

- Margo Spiegelman (Paper Towns, John Green 2008) http://goo.gl/EPoIk


“Radar threw his books into his locker and shut it. Then the din of conversation around us quieted just a bit as he turned his eyes toward the heavens and shouted, "IT IS NOT MY FAULT THAT MY PARENTS OWN THE WORLD'S LARGEST COLLECTION OF BLACK SANTAS.”

 - Radar (Paper Towns, John Green 2008)  http://goo.gl/EPoIk


“Maybe its like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And then things happen - these people leave us, or don’t love us, or don’t get us, or we don’t get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack in places. And I mean, yeah once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable. Once it starts to rain inside the Osprey, it will never be remodeled. But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And its only that time that we see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face to face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade, but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”

- Quentin Jacobsen  (Paper Towns, John Green 2008)  http://goo.gl/EPoIk


“Now sod off back to your own world, you motherless scum, and save your threats for those who care. ”

- Grubbs Grady ( Lord Loss, Darren Shan, 2005)

Reading Reflection #2

Readers’ response #2

Book: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages read : 1-102

Dear Ms. Mchlauchlan

This week I read Divergent by Veronica Roth. I had it recommended to me by a friend who told me that it seemed like a book that I’d enjoy. When I first the back and first few pages of the book, I had a text to text connection because to me, it sounded a bit like The Hunger Games because of the different factions and how they have a role specifically for that faction. Further in, I found that it being more and more like Harry Potter with the factions but more with the characteristics each one had rather than the role each one played. I kept seeing Erudites as Ravenclaws, Gryffindor/Slytherin mix in Dauntless, Amity as Hufflepuff and Candor as Hufflepuff/Slytherin mix. I couldn’t see Abnegation being like anything from Harry Potter or the Hunger Games. The rivalry and hatred that Abnegation and Erudite have, reminded me a lot like the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

That being said, When Caleb first chose Erudite and everyone was really angry, I didn’t understand why. I really don’t see how intelligence and selflessness don’t go together.

The main character Beatrice is interesting to me. She’s from Abnegation so she was taught complete and utter selflessness from the very beginning. She seems to be a family person who strives for something new and adventurous. She just seems to want to break free from everything that Abnegation stands for.  On the day of the test she says the following; “It is on these morning that I feel guilty for wanting to leave them”, Which shows that she values her family an awful lot.

 At her school, she encounters bullying for being Abnegation. They call her a stiff for being one. She seems so uncomfortable and awkward in her own skin.

At another part of the book, I had a text to text connection. Beatrice has to take a test that challenges where she’ll go, faction-wise. It seemed a lot to me like a physical version of the sorting hat quiz in Harry Potter. 

Rambling Autobiography

Rambling Biography

I was named after a flower. I have one too many sisters. I've been called disturbed and disrupted yet am loved by many others. I consider The Philippines my home. When someone asks what I am, I tell them; "3 stars and a sun". I come from a musical family. Music and writing is what keeps me going. Whenever I have a sharpie in my hand, I must write on something. Sometimes I like writing in a book more than I like people. My favourite book series is Harry Potter. My favourite book is "The Notebook". I love History and English. I play ukulele and guitar. I remember my mother running past me in tears at her brothers funeral. I tried running away when I was 8. I've never sent a note to someone I like with a yes/no/maybe checkbox. I can never listen to mainstream music. I love swinging. I want to be a bird. I'm truly a dreamer.