Miss Peregrine's Home Review

It was a struggle to get to the portion of the novel where everything made sense.  I'm the type of reader that needs to have a quick introduction into a plot or else I lose interest.  I chuggled along for quite some time before I found the concrete plot, and if I was reading the book for personal use I probably would have dropped it a good 50 pages earlier.

The beginning of the book goes on about the death of his grandfather, and the mystery behind everything surrounding his death.  The portrayal of Jacob's depression was rather legitimate and done well.

The pictures added much to the book's ability to tell the story.  If the pictures were not there, it honestly would just seem like any other novel with supernatural powers and events.  The pictures are what stood this novel apart from the rest, especially knowing that the pictures used were not tampered with and were actual pictures.

Overall, I'd give this book a 85%.  The long time it took to get to the main plot worked against the book in my opinion, however, the pictures really made the story stand out as a book to remember.

Declaration of Eagle

I am not a man who typically writes to get others in trouble.  However, in a course of events that makes it inevitable to write about, I feel it's pretty necessary.  It may be some sort of vigilante, and I get that it's not my place to write, but here's what I say.


Amy must go.  Her decisions as Hall Director have negatively effected the work ethic of it's inhabitants, and have possibly jeopardized the safety of paying students.  The selectively strict mentality is a sign of favoritism, and her unwavering hand for the guidebook is a direct cause of the turmoil in the hall.  A list of complaints:

1.  The instantaneous firings of 7 Residential Advisors has made certain floors, particularly 6th floor who is now running without a residential advisor has led to a certain freedom people enjoy too much.  Instead of letting it slide by the sheer magnitude of firings or preparing a contingency plan, these employees of ORL were turned lose.  The dorm is now running at 55% efficiency in terms of Residential Advisors, with no guaranteeing of replacements.  Replacements would be available no earlier then February.  6 weeks without full RA coverage minimum, and two of which during finals/finals week.

2.  Due to lack of coverage, control, and cooperation in some sense, the student population has rebelled and is responsible for 4 fire alarm pulls in a span of approximately 26 hours, all alarms occurring between the hours of 2:30am and 4:00am.  A stairwell was also completely rendered useless on December 1st at 10:00pm as massive amounts of water were poured down it.  These were deliberate pulls, not fire emergencies.  As a result, the health of the dorm has been diminishing, as seen by the rash nature of individuals on the FaceBook page.

3.  We were cited for a violation from Amy because of this water gun.

4.  The elevator has been broken many times due to people jumping on it.  Out of the 4-5 break downs, only two people have gotten fined $2,000 a piece.  This uneven distribution of punishment was administered by Amy.

5.  Noise complaints cannot be reported because a Residential Advisor is not available a good portion of the time even when there is one supposed to be on duty.  You will simply be laughed at for caring about essentials such as sleep and studying. 

At this point, my demands are that Amy turns in papers of resignation and that we receive new Residential Advisors, or the re-employment of those who were terminated.  

The JMU Experience

Let me just say this here and now.  This is not a testimonial against alcohol or any other substances.


I am a firm believer that if you want to blow off some steam, you can party and do whatever you want.  There is, however, a line that when I look around, most freshman don't even comprehend.  While college is supposed to be a life-changing experience, it is my belief that some have succumbed further to the JMU party scene as a way of life.  For those of you who have not lost yourself in it, and have grades to brag about, then this entry is clearly not about you. 

One of the first friends I've ever made while coming to JMU is a victim.  Her grades are horrible, and she cannot balance herself out from work and play.  Now that guys are finally giving her attention for the first time in her life, she has transformed from an innocent nice girl to someone who is in constant boy trouble to the point where her friends are all involved besides me.  A lot of this trouble was events that took place while she was drunk. 

There's someone else I know who has thus far wasted over $300 on weed.  He has no job.  Now he is broke.  Why?  He simply was a product of his environment here at JMU, party capital of Virginia.

People need to be responsible and not fall into the trap of going to a party school.  It changes people to the nth degree, and if you aren't careful, you too will find yourself skipping class and throwing all your money away.  Trust me I know.

Details About the PSA

So this PSA... well it was a topic somewhat implanted in my brain last year.

Being in PA all my life, the left always outweighed the right.  Looking back, now that my political environment was much more moderate then what it was before (some would even say that I'm still in a liberal state of mind because of college), I've grown to believe that everywhere I turned it was simply Obama or perish.

I took an AP Environmental Science course in this environment.  All my friends were there... and that was about the only redeeming quality of that class.  I busted ass in that class just for a 70% on tests.  Ironically enough, this may of been my worst AP class in grade, but it was the only one I ever received credit for.

Overfishing was a topic that we discuss in great detail in the course.  Personally, I'm against any environmental acts that hurt us economically.  However, this was one of the few causes seen where there simply was no economic negative if we decided to act.  Sure, the short run could experience some loss, but economics is always about long term growth.  How can long term growth happen in an industry that's dwindling in reserves?

All in all, that's why I did this topic.  Mischief managed.

Going Against the Grain

Nancy Somners has stated in her works that she has used other people as like a crutch.  In terms of editing and preparing speeches and papers, I don't believe she is alone in feeling that we do need the known approval of others for our work.  As a result of such a need, our work tends to be just a cookie cutter product of the people around us.

We enter a paradox whenever we reach out of an existing meta.  Take a common PC game League of Legends as an example.

If we follow the typical strategy and build for any game, the typical team will consist of 1 person in top lane, 1 person in mid lane, 1 person in the jungle, and 2 people in the bottom lane.  The mid lane is always a magic-based champion.  The top lane is always a strong melee champion.  The bottom lane is always a ranged physical damage dealer with a good champion to support them.  The support cannot get any farm from the minions.  Any alteration from this pattern, and you will be raged at by the community.  However, if the professionals do it at a tournament, then it's genius.

That's the trap we walk into.  How can we experiment in the world where if the average being alters from the norm if we are the common man?  How can we initiate change, or originality for that matter if this is the trap that we walk into?

Scars like a Tattoo

The day is November 26th.  It's way over a week after the end of the last Presidential election, and the scars still run deep.  The sad reality of an emotionally bloody election is just that; it becomes permenent.

Talk of Texas seceeding and people like the man above is what makes this time of year only slightly as facepalming as when the elections were actually going on.


The people that still are complaining about this I feel are a detriment to society.  This is a time to rebuild, not complain about how much we hate obama, or how things could be better without him.


Why can't we be friends?

PSA

Here's the link to my PSA!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1QHto6NtxQ&feature=youtu.be