School for my district has been in session for two weeks now, and man was it awesome! I've got friends in each of my classes except one, which is weird since I walk with one of the girls to it, and she's in the same room, and then we're on opposite sides of the room and so don't talk. Weird, huh? But, I've got at least two in each class, and in a couple, there's so many that I've already gotten the evil eye for 'being distracted.' Wasn't a major problem, and I resolved it in time, so I'm still good.
The classes I'm most excited about are Writer's Workshop and Drawing 1. I'm already fairly rounded in each of those areas, which I love to do, and we do nothing but write and draw all day. Sweet, sweet freedom. And to top it all off, I'm not a freshman anymore, so my status is increased, and my friends and I can pretty much sit wherever we want in the big gym(really big) and in the cafeteria, including the coveted stage! It's like the whole place fades away, and there's plenty of rooms. It's luxurious indeed.
Though, I did finish reading the next installment of the Nicholas Flamel series: The Sorceress.



This was a book that explored a lot of different perspectives, which is a refreshing and interesting take on keeping up with the activities and emotions of all the main characters. There were individual adventures that I really liked, since they all fully explore the personalities of the characters and the element of fantasy involved in this storyline.
I am in the midst of reading The Necromancer currently, and, dismissing all review-related thoughts concerning that installment, this is the best book of the series so far. so much hinges on individual characters fighting for whatever motives that are carefully developed. A great selection of the series!

New Stuff!

Not all of the two pics are going to be of the new stuff, but I can still talk about them. First up is a new composition, one that isn't quite finished just yet.



There is only a slight outline of the tree found in this pic, so sorry if you can't see it right but this is a hand holding a tree on its side. I just thought of this off the top of my head.
I've been drawing trees a lot lately. Refining my technique, drawing gesture sketches, figuring out how to make the leaves with the pencil, etc. Great fun! plus, I've got a new book about drawing techniques and media. Most of the techniques are shown individually in the composition, so it's a bit simple compared to what I'm aiming for, but the book makes use of them fairly well.
Gesture sketches are explored a lot in the book too. And those little things are pretty interesting. You can use a combination of either crude lines or shapes to map out a figure, or you can leave it aloen and imagine the possibilities!
Anyways, here comes a new book review!



So, I've reviewed the first book in this series, The Alchemyst, and so with the completion of this one I wanted to contribute my thoughts to my blog.
Nicholas Flamel and the Newman twins arrive in Paris, and the action picks up from there. This book moved along so fast that I was thinking the author had split in the first one in two. In some cases, that's a bad thing, but for the most part, I loved it. The author, Michael Scott, provides such details that makes every turn of these stories enjoyable. He switches perspectives and locations fast enough that you never know what's going to come next. It also makes it somewhat easy to peer into various characters' personalities.
The fantasy aspects of this installment were broadened, introducing various characters from history, fierce creatures, and an all new form of magic. It's a must-read for fans of fantasy, and quickly brought the series to become one of my favorites!
Speaking of fantasy, my next post(tomorrow) will feature my review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. But on to other matters. The new Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Inception, knocked Sorcerer flat on its back. I hate that statistic, but Inception DOES look pretty freakin' cool! You can add that to my list of movies I want to see, I guess.

New Purchases

Today we picked up a familiar little contraption known as the Wit Balance Board. And what does that go with? That's right, Wit Fit. Well, in my family's case, the Wii Fit Plus game. I have never played the original, so I'll just start with this extended version of the game. There's strength training, aerobics, reflexes and balance tests, all sorts of games to help fitness.
But one of the things that I am DEFINITELY looking forward to trying is the Yoga. I've always been interested, but never really taken the time to research the poses and actually DO them. I can do the tree pose, and the one where you are like a bridge; that's probably called the bridge pose, but I don't know for sure.Martial arts have been a strong interest to me too, but again, commitment issues or something. Hopefully my uncle can help train me though, since he used to be a karate instructor. However, I don't know if I should do karate or kung fu. Kung Fu is more circular, and I love directing my arms like that. I'll just have to find out!
And, I finished the Alchemyst. That is one of the best fantasy books I've read in a LONG time. Warrior Heir was good, but it's a slightly less standard of a novel than this one. Anyways, Alchemyst starts off faster than many books I've read, and ends just as quick. There's tons of great storyline, magic, characters, and battles in between, and the description of the tale and everything thing relating to magic is SUPERB! I highly recommend it. Now, I'm looking for the sequels, The Magician, The Sorceress, and The Necromancer, and buy them. And did I mention that I need to buy another bookshelf? Well, I do.
Stay flamin'' hotmen!

Let It Be Summer

Ah... Finally. No stress... no school... no homework... Or so we kids and teenagers wnat it to be. Lately, I've been gettign the vibe that we're still going to be doing academic work, like being forced to read and stuff >:-p. Yeah, eek. Well, I have my devoted fans(of the blog anyways, there aren't many, if at all) to serve as a witnes to these covers:





As you can see, these are some cool-sounding fantasy titles, and they've been out for a while, but apparently I've picked up the urge to start a private library or something. The Warrior Heir, which I've finished, is very well written if you like fantasy in a modern setting, and I'm just getting into The Alchemyst so I can't provide feedback yet. I personally hope the sequel to The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, expands the large palette of great fantasy exhibited in the first one. It has a lot of potential, and I really hope that fanfics aren't the ones that live up to this.
I have a large list of books I'm going to buy, once I get the required money, of course. To name a few, there is The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia(the big fat black book that has all seven), the first four Harrys in hardback, Dragonology, 100 Movies to See Before You Die, and obviously the other installments in the books described above.
Plus, my blog has undergone some updates, as if you couldn't already tell. I like this format because it makes it a bit smoother in the feel of it, and the notebook page in the background says... well, you can tell. So, I don't have a pic of my latest and greatest composition yet, but it is coming soon. It's done by the way, so it won't be too large of a wait!

Hello... once again

I just had to throw out that title, as it was a pun from the Avatar commentaries I have here. I just want to say sorry for not posting, but my life's not all that interesting yet. That is if you bypass the dragon obsession.
So anyway, I'm almost through with an awesome series that I have referred to my friends and described as, "Percy Jackson mixed with the Inheritance Cycle." This is none other than the Fablehaven series... Ever heard of it?




So anyways, this series has some crazy stuff, like a demon dragon who has been disguised as a human, a shadow plague, a dark dryad, a seven-headed, ten-tailed panther with snakes on its back, and more.
Plus, the Avatar Season 1 Collector's Edition is coming out in honor of the movie, and I am so going to Best buy as soon as possible to buy it! Thank goodness it comes out after my birthday!
See ya guys later("Water Tribe...")

P.S. Sorry for those two Sokka puns above. ;-)

Now time for the slow dance...

I am REALLY confused. Alyx broke up with me... again. Not even a week, this time. I don't understand anything now, so I'm trying to isolate myself from her to minimize the worry and hurt. I won't get too personal on here, so don't walk away now.
Anyway, I think I may be close to taking a big leap in the process of publishing my book. Well, it's a draft now of course, but that's what I'm hoping it will become. Also, I may start drawing a huge mural of a dragon or two, maybe just a single, red one. Or maybe not. Oh, I don't know!
Plus, I signed up for Fanfiction.net now, and I'm hoping I can write some Fanfics based on the Inheritance Cycle(woohoo!). I'll write back when I have a few. Farewell friends... for now.

I'm Baaack!

So much for trying to keep up with this thing. I had completely forgot about until I found myself staring at the computer screen trying to think of something to do.
In other, news, my girlfriend Alyx, who I managed not to mention in the past four months we were dating, decided to break up with me about a week ago. I am really confused though, because she says she still likes me and everything we did, so I'll just have to wait and see.
In better news, I am, for the most part finished with the draft of my first book(or so i hope it will become) and are attempting to print it.
I'll try and post more on this though, besides the fact that I have three places I enter personal notes, messages, or ideas: my journal, my writing binder, and this.

Chilling on Labor Day

To be honest, I'm not really sure my family has ever done a lot on labor day. Well, we might go over to my Nana's had have a cookout there, but we don't really set up a vacation for two or three days(duh).
Anyways, I've started reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. He said that this book became so big that he needed to make the series four books instead of three, so I'm really not sure where this book will go. Christopher's Inheritance series was a ig source of inspiration form e to get off my butt and start writing, and to take it seriously.
My magic usage is a little more natural though. It deals with the fix Chinese elements and one other. This way I connect more natural forms of energy and life to the magic, instead of using thoughts(do you get it?). See ya!