A Special Gift

A special gift that I received would probably be my sketch pad. I got my sketchpad my last year for Christmas, from my mom. When I opened the gift I was shocked, I've never had a sketch pad before. The sketch pad is a special gift because it helped me improve my drawings. It also got me into painting and using clay. Although I have owned a sketchbook, but I never filled the entire pages because it was difficult to draw since it was a hard cover sketchbook. With this sketch pad I almost filled all of the pages with my drawings and paintings! I only need like 7 pages, until the entire sketch pad is full. Thanks to my mom I've improved my art (drawing and painting) a whole lot. And I know I can improve even more, with more practice, and a new sketch pad.

Words for Artists

An inspiration quote that describes me is "Every artist was first an amateur."  I think this quote means that before artist became artist their drawings weren't as well as they are now. Their art used to be like any other kids, but with practice their art is beautiful and unique. I choose this quote because it actually relates on how I'm growing as a future artist. Before I decided my dream is to be an artist my drawing weren't so great. When I look at them now I just think, "Wow, what is that? Is that how I used to draw?" But as soon I decided I wanted to be an artist, I began practicing my drawing and they got better and better. Right now my drawing are pretty good, at the moment, but I know I will get better and better and complete my dream with that one quote that inspire me to continue.

Things Get Awkward!

Yay, I finished my first book, out of many, for the school year. The book I just finished is called Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova. I would say that the genre for this book is graphic novel, mostly because the book it is a 210 page comic. This story is basically about a girl named Penelope, Peppi for short, who just moved and is going to a new school. She joins the art club is her school, so she can make new friends. On the first day she makes a huge mistake that she regrets doing and is trying to apologize to the victim of her mistake. One of her biggest problems is that he is in the science club, which is the art club's rivals. I would recommend you readers to read this book, if you have time, of course. Also, I noticed as I finished the book that there are different types of themes. One of the main subjects for a theme is friendship. If I had to pick a possible theme for Awkward then I would say that the theme would be friendships can end battles. You might be thinking, what kind of theme is that, but don't worry have have evidence. On page 193, it says "Jamie would be the perfect ally for this. He's in science, I'm in art...but we're friends. It's what the principal said he wanted for our clubs." This detail is important because when the two show the project to the others (art and science club) they agree to do it. Working on the project put them closer together and eventually becoming friends (spolier!). The battle was art club v.s. science club and the friendship, Peppi and Jamie. With Peppi and Jamie being friends first it kind of but the effect that everyone in the art and science club will be friends, thus proving my theme that friendships can end battles. I always enjoy reading graphic novels, because when I see multiple pictures and they're together, I always picture in my head the movement of the photos, or what I think the movement is. When I do this while reading I end up enjoying the book much more.

My Heritage, Ecuadorian Style!

     Hello! So for today's blog I am going to be talking about my culture. To start, I am American-Ecuadorian. Which means I was born here in America, but my parents are from Ecuador. The specific city is Cuenca, Ecuador. In case you don't know where Ecuador is, it is in South America and it's pretty small compared to the other countries in South America. 

     What are Ecuadorian like, you may be asking. Well, let me begin with the language we or I speak. The language Ecuadorian's speak is Spanish. So when I'm at home or a family party I have to speak Spanish to my parents, aunts and uncles because that is the only language they can speak. If they try English I wouldn't really understand what they were saying.

     Anyways, now let's talk about food. Some of the food I eat at home is meat, corn, or rice. But there is this traditional food that my dad, aunts and uncle's eat that you can have as a pet here in America. It's Guinea pig. Don't worry I don't eat it I think it's pretty gross too. I visited Ecuador last year and my grandma had some Guinea pig. I got upset when I knew what was going to happen to them.

    Moving on, money is the next topic. In Ecuador we used to use sucres, with is what Ecuadorian money was called. I say USED because we don't use sucres anymore, we use American money now or dollars. Right now I have a five thousand sucre and you may think it's a lot if you trade it in or dollars, but really that would be a few cents. I also have other sucres with me, they were my dad's, but I keep them as a souvenir. They're really colorful compared to dollars.

   Overall, I really enjoy being Ecuadorian. It's a different culture than the ones my friends have. Most of them expect that I'm Mexican, because I can speak Spanish or I don't know what a common Mexican food is? When I do tell then I'm not Mexican they say other countries. Like Puerto Rico, Spain, or Cuba. I say not to all of them and tell them Ecuadorian. Most of them say "what?" I end up explaining what and where Ecuador is. In the end I come out proud that I am different from everyone else. What's your culture like?

The End! And Now My Opinions!

Hurray! I have finished The Outsiders and now it's time to say what I think about the book. Also, what I think the theme is. In case you don't know what theme means it is the message of the story, or the moral. For example the theme of The Tortoise and the Hare is, slow and steady wins the race. Anyways in my last post I was around chapter 4 and now I finished the book just yesterday. So overall I really enjoyed the book. To be extremely honest I actually cried, twice. I really don't know why, maybe because I really like the character. My favorite part of the book was when the during the rumble or chapter nine in general. The way they author puts the details makes me create an image in head and I love it when that happens. Also, chapter nine had my least favorite part, when Johnny dies (spoilers!). Johnny was one of my favorite characters in the book and when he died that got me pretty upset. One thing that made me like the book was the detail. I know I've said this a million times, but it's true. The way the author puts them, as you know makes me create an image in my head. And in my head it felt like a movie. And now the main question, what is the theme of The Outsiders. Well, I think the theme is you don't know how much you care for someone until they leave. To support my answer I will use textual evidence (spoilers). First of all in around beginning of the book, we've learned that Ponyboy's parents die. That's evidence one since Ponyboy is 14 he didn't really have a long time with his parents and after they died began to think about them more and compare them to Darry or Sodapop. Evidence two, Johnny. When Johnny dies in the hospital Ponyboy and the rest of the group are upset. Ponyboy is so upset that he tells himself that he is not dead. To prove myself even more Ponyboy says this to Randy when he is at the hospital, "Johnny is not dead." My voice was shaking. "Jonny is not dead." Even Darry got emotional. Which is the third evidence. When Johnny dies Darry was upset like everyone else, but this really effected him. So much that he ended up dying. In the book Ponyboy realizes how much Johnny meant to Darry, he says "Dally risking his life for us, trying to keep Johnny out of trouble." As you can see Johnny did meant a lot to Darry (read the book to understand a little more). In the end the theme can be something else but, its my opinion/what I think. The book was great and I think you should read it to see if you have other opinions and ideas on the book.

The Outsiders Got Dark Extremely Quick!

At the moment I enjoy the book. I usually don't read these kinds of books because I judge a book by it's cover and most of the time they don't look interesting to me. I usually read graphic novels or fantasies. But when I do pick up these types of books and begin to read it, I end up enjoying the book. Most of the time I create pictures in my head and that makes me enjoy the book even more. Like when the Socs surrounded Johnny and Ponyboy, the way Ponyboy described the park, how he felt, made me create that image, like a movie. The beginning of the book was boring, but every book is like that they need to introduce a characters. But as you continue to read the story gets better and better. One of my favorite parts so far was in chapter 4 when Johnny had killed Bob. I like how everything was calm and suddenly turned dark or shocking. Since it's barely the beginning of the book that means that there is so much left in the book, you begin to ask so many questions. What is going to happen, what is the character going to do, how will it end ect. It's a tough question that the character(s) cannot right at the moment. In the book Ponyboy was scared, screaming, shaking. It even says in the book, "A panic was rising in me...", "What are we going to do?" I nearly screamed", "I was shaking..." It truly is one of my favorite parts at the moment. The Outsiders so far is getting better and better as I continue to read, right now it is at an intense part and I can't wait what is going to happen next.