New Year Intentions, 2017

       2017 is right around the corner, we have approximately 10 days until January and I am nowhere near prepared for it.  2016 wasn't really much of a good year but hopefully this new year can allow me to redeem myself.

       My intentions are to continue working hard in school and strive to get good grades. I will do this by making sure to study and becoming more organized.  Another intention I have is to catch up with all my favorite shows because I am still behind and I enjoy to watch them in my free time.

       On a more serious note, I am determined to spend more time with my family and to gain a better attitude. I want to do this because I want to be closer with my family and just cherish their company. I want to gain a better attitude in hope that I will be happier in the mornings and not much of a grudge to anyone.

       Overall, I am going to try my best to make 2017 a good year for me and everyone around me as well.

The Demi-Gods Aren't All That

Book: Percy Jackson & The Olypians - The Titans Curse

Author: Rick Riordan

Page #: 1-312 (finished)

Prompt: What Are my Thoughts on the Characters?

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     The Titans Curse is the third book of the Percy Jackson series, which I have been reading for the past two months. I'm enjoying the series but there are a few characters that I like and others that I don't.  Unfortunately, there are more annoying characters than good ones.

       In the last book, The Sea of Monsters, Zeus's daughter came back to life.  Her name is Thaila and even though she is technically supposed to be aged she's not, her hair is kind of punk rock just like her style.  As soon as she came back to life she was all of a sudden the leader, which I didn't like. The chacarters pushed Percy away and gave her more significance. She also has a very short temper and gets away with the slightest anger outburst. Overall, she's very annoying and I just don't like how she took Percy's place and thinks she's the new leader.

        This leads me to the my favorite character, which is pretty obvious, but it's Percy. He is my favorite character because he's more of a human than the others. This means he sees true emotions, and is more blunt. He is able to view the bad of a person, and honestly to me he is the smartest. That is why I like him, the other characters can get blinded easily by Luke or can be oblivious.

         Another character I don't like is Bianca because she also came into the group like Thaila thinking she's big and bad. I just didn't like it. However, I do like Annabeth and Grover because they aren't as arrgonant as the others but they still get blinded easily.

         Overall, I really only like three characters and hate the rest. They are the leaders to me and have the most reasonable thinking and experience.

All About the Fever Code

Book: The Fever Code

Author: James Dashner 

Page #: 1-384 (Finished) 

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       The Maze Runner series is my ultimate favorite series, I own all the books (excluding the Fever Code) in my personal library.  The day the 5th book, Fever Code, got publish (September 27th, 2016) I was so happy and went to Target only to find out they hadn't received the copies yet.  Too anxious to wait I read the story from my school's library but I still intend to buy it for my own pleasure, that's how much of a fan I am. 

       The Fever Code is the second prequel to the Maze Runner Series, but I highly suggest reading it after the first three. If you read it this way it the first three books would be way more interesting and you would finally get answers at the end. 

       The Fever Code is a Science-Fiction/Dystopian novel, it is a quick read (for me at least). It's concept is complex because it deals with technology and the future. Word choice may sometimes be hard to follow but shouldn't be too diffiicult. The book is written in third point of view like the other four and it mainly follows Thoma's story but it can be quite confusing as to which character they are talking about.  The story is basically a behind the scenes of the making of the maze, and the steps Thomas and Theresa took to develop it. 

       I would recommand this story to the sci-fi lovers who enjoy reading about technology and futuristic plots. This story isn't as action packed as the other four, this one takes a more logical approach so if you'd enjoy that I'd recommand this. I wouldn't recommand this story to someone who hasn't read any of the Maze Runner stories simply because it makes the novel better and gives a better understand. 

       Overall, The Fever Code is an amazing book. I'd recommand it to anybody just because I love the series so much. The movies are also good but the books have my heart. 

   

The Best Gift

       I'm thankful for all the Christmas gifts I've received in the past years, especially the ones from my parents.  However, there are some that seperate from eachother such as socks and a dog, they just don't compare. The best gift I've gotten so far was a new phone, two Christmases ago.

       Before Christmas day I had been asking for a new phone, specifically an Iphone 5C (green). At that time I had a Samsung Galaxy 1 that was previously my mom's, it was really outdated, so outdated they didn't even sell cases for it anymore. Before that phone I had one of those slide phones that kind of resembled a flip phone.

       On Christmas day we opened our presents and I remember my parents only getting my sister and I like 2 jeans and a shirt, which I was satisfied with.  When we finished opening gifts my mom sat my sister and I down and handed us two different boxed. Obviously my mom had some time on her hands because the box was wrapped in several layers of wrappings, and there was several boxes to go through. At one point I had was computer ink box and my sister had a box of laundry sheets and she said "Okay, using these two boxes guess what you are going to get?" We were so confused and I thought of a laptop because of the printer ink but then my mom started laughing and told me they had nothing to do with our gift.

       After more layers and boxed we finally got to a small box with an apple on the side, we got an IPhone 6. Imagine my amazing upgrade, a galaxy 1 to an iPhone 6! I was so happy and thankful. My sister still has her phone but recently mine started malfunctioning (not my fault) and T-mobile gave me a new Iphone 6s for free. We're going to have these phones for a while, which I don't mind because I love mine.

       Overall, my phone has been the most useful present and the best one. However, I do appreciate all my gifts and I'm thankful just to spend time with my family.
     

My Name

       I have two names, a nickname and my actually birth name. At school or any other event I introduce myself as Evelyn. With family members or people close to my family I introduce them as my nickname. Both are different personas. Evelyn is normal and kept-together, while *nickname* tends to be weirder?

       My parents chose the name Evelyn because my grandma suggested that name, they didn't have anything in mind only that they wanted it to start with an L. When my grandma suggested it they agreed and that was it. Evelyn means "little bird", but it has nothing to do with the actual reason of why my parents named me that. My nickname comes from a movie that I use to love and mispronunciation a characters name.

       No one in my direct family has my last name, my parents don't even have it. The only family that does have my last name lives in New York and we are close. My last name was my grandpa's last name from my dad's side. He passed away when my dad was a young child, when they still lived in El Salvador. When my dad, his mom, and his siblings came to the United States they used my grandma's maiden name. Overt the years, no one has changed it back and their children still have my grandma's maiden name. However, my dad did not want my grandfather's legacy to die so he named all three of his children with that last name.

       Overall, I have a lot of pride for my last name. I wouldn't change my surname, nor my maiden name even when I get married. I still want to carry my grandpa's legacy.

My Favorite Quote

       I never really paid attention to any quotes, so before I wrote this I went through a lot of different ones to choose one that spoke to me. The quote I really liked and always believed is "We are not given a good or bad life. We are given a life. It's up to us to make it good or bad." This quote means a lot to me because it goes along something my mom used to tell me but hers was about education. She would tell me "it doesn't matter where you grow up or where you go to highschool, in the end you get to make the decision wether you want to outgrow that and become something bigger." That quote is also one of my favorites. I just find both quotes so true, we make our own decisions, we determine what our future is going to be like, no one else does.  It is really motivating and encouraging to know that everything about my life depends on me and if I work hard enough I can do anything, no matter where I came from.