Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Fortunate King

Ever read a Greek Myth (Or tried to read one) and got put off by the small text and lack of quote marks?
Well, part of my LA in homeschool this week was to add dialogue to a Greek Myth. I picked one out of my Greek Myth book (pictured below) that wasn't as common as Pandora's Box and The Origin of The Seasons. I picked The Fortunate King.
It's was very interesting to write it, and here it is.


THE FORTUNATE KING.

Admentus was the king of Pherae, Thessaly, he was thought to be the luckiest man in the world, he was young and strong, and he was the only son of a powerful dad, who passed his great kingdom down to him, he loved his gardens and wine, and sat in his gardens one day, sipping rare drink and reading a stone book.

Meanwhile, up in Olympus, Apollo, the god of poetry, wasn’t having such a good day. “But WHY!? Why do I have to live on Earth? I don’t deserve this! Do you want to live a whole year without my music?”
“Actually, yes, I would love to.” His twin sister, Artemis, said, she was a huntress, an inch taller than him, and thought him to be soft. “It would be nice not to hear you crooning on your little flute for a while.”
“IT’S A LYRE!!!”
“Whatever.”

Hermes, the messenger of the gods appeared, “Besides, Apollo, you deserve it, nobody should offend Zeus in any way, so that’s why you have to live a year on Earth as a human. By the way, you should be off by now. Goodbye.” He said, pulling a lever. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Apollo dissipated to the Earth below.
He landed near the palace of Admentus, and, watched as he enjoyed an afternoon meal alone.

Apollo took a like to this man, and used his powers to get him the most beautiful wife ever, Alcestis. Sitting on day in the gardens with his new wife, Admentus smiled, “Ahh, this is the life, I tell you.” He said. Suddenly Apollo appeared, “Hello,” He greeted him, and they both talked, you might think Admentus was surprised ant his sudden entrance, but at that time period, Greeks were very aware of gods, and considered it a pleasure to talk to them. The two instantly became friends, and they took an odd walk or two in the gardens whenever they could.

One day, when the sun was setting, Apollo said goodbye to Admentus and sat down on the edge of the cliff. It was a habit of his to talk to the animals that gathered around him, and that’s what he did today. “There’s something that’s bothering me,” he said to a bunny, “There is something that the Fates fortold, something that Admentus must know, tomorrow, when I meet him, I will have to tell him, and then I am afraid of what he’ll say.” The bunny looked at him curiously, then hopped away. Apollo sighed and went home.

The next day he was gaily sipping wine with Admentus when he cleared his throat.
“It’s… almost time for me to, uh, leave to Olympus now.”
“Really?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Oh.”
“And, before I go, which will be tonight, I gotta tell you something.”
“What?”
“Everybody calls you the luckiest man, but as you know, the Fates don’t really give that much good things.”
“Yes. And?”
“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE IN 12 MONTHS!!!!!” Apollo blurted out.
Admentus took a double take.
“What? No! No! No, this can’t be, Oh Dear!!! How can I change this?”
He paced with his head in his hands.
“WHY, WHY, WHY SHOULD I DIE!?”
“Wait!” Apollo put his hands in the air, trying to calm the king down.
“There is a way to change it, if someone else dies instead of you when the time comes, then you will live.”
The king sat down at tried to catch his breath.
“Okay, so, it’s easy peasy, right? Just try to ask someone to die instead of me, and I’ll live. Good plan, right, cos’ people would be honored to die for their good king, right?” He turned to look at Apollo, but no one was there.

The king made public to everyone that he would die, but no one would die for him, he journeyed to the most remote places, the most wretched men, and the filthiest villages. But no one would die for him. He asked his father, his mother, but still nobody.
It’s no mystery that no one called him the luckiest, most fortunate king anymore.

But in the night that ended the 12 months, his own wife took the knife to her heart, and she did it out of love, for the king never asked her to do it. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” Ademtus cried and beat his fists on the ground, “Why? Why did this have to happen!?”
Then there was a knock on the door. Admentus opened it, it was Hercules, the great hero who had come to visit the king. Admentus loved the hero so much that he didn’t tell of the death, as not to dampen the great hero’s spirit. “Oh, hello hero! Sit down, my slaves will serve you while I rest in my chambers!” “Thanks, Admentus!”
The servants were different. Hercules watched them serve him with frowns and grimaces, but finally: He banged his fist down at the table, “Why do you not serve me as you should?! Why are your faces so creased with worry?!!?!” When they told him, through whispers and murmurs, he was appalled. “Wow, Admentus honored me so much that he pretended to be okay while he was really mourning?”

So, in gratitude for the great king, he traveled to Hades, and brought to Queen back, alive and well. As you can tell, there was A LOT of feasting and partying, and Admentus was once again called The Fortunate King.




Monday, September 7, 2015

My Favorite Place - Granny's Old House

Hi everyone!
It's been a long time since I've blogged here (and I'm 11 years old now!) but now I'm back and will try to do this more often.
Now that we're back in homeschool, I got an LA assignment telling me to write about my favorite place. So I chose Granny's old house in Balulang. The effect it had on me was amazing. The words started flowing, pouring out, and I wrote for half an hour... Finally, I finished, and here it is.


It's been a long time since I've seen that familiar old tree, 
standing tall and strong, growing lush green leaves.
It's been a long time since I ran down the earthy path that led to the houses,
running down the rich brown earth, kicking up dust.
I still remember the river, the quiet river, flowing easily, carrying the sound
of our laughter to lands unknown.
I remember, after a swim in it, how we would split up and run into
one of the three familiar houses.
One of them standing tall, rich and old, with stairs that creaked 
comfortably whenever we walked up.
I remember the shelves of trophies, the frames of 
butterflies, telling the stories of memories never to be forgotten.
The chickens, squacking as we chased them. The rusted
metal carts that we played magicians in, they used 
to hold food items to sell, but they became used to 
children popping in and out of their holes.
At night, torches glowed, hammocks went back and forth,
tents were put up for the kids to 'camp' in.
A little stone fireplace with stone seats running all around it was lit,
the marshmallows held over it burnt up, we were too mystified
by the stories of people we hardly knew, but felt so close to.
Memories passed over the campfire, told and retold until we knew
every word.
That was the place where everyone knew everyone else, it was a paradise,
closed and separated from the busy world outside, it is, or was my
favorite place.
It's gone now, but still, to me, it's the best place on the face of the Earth,
It's my paradise,



That's my writing.
If you are wondering why I said 'it's gone now', it's because one big flood washed it away, if you look there now, it's just mud, mud, and mud. Foot deep mud. Even the tree is gone. Our family living there was saved, but sadly, the people were the only ones saved. 
The trophies are gone, the frames are gone, they're all lost.
But the memories still thrive.

Friday, January 31, 2014

My Manuscript

Hi everyone,
I'm working on a new story called Dear Lizzy. It's about a girl who has moved into a new country with her family, everyone there speaks the same language as her but she finds it very hard to fit in. After awhile, she realizes that even though she has not been close to God those past few months she was there, He was still with her and gave her friends and things that she needed....

Here's a sneak-peek of the story,hope you like it!

----------- (unedited version)



Dear Lizzy


                        By Tricia

Chapter 1
                                            Strange Voices



Dear Lizzy,
I miss you so much!
When are you going to come back again?It  must be boring in rainy old London.Why don’t you ask you parents to come back?
My Mom keeps asking me to rewrite this in “neater” handwriting and I keep telling her that  I don’t want to!
I feel I’m the only on writing to you and sending e-mails and stuff,the others are too busy with their “new life”.
Please write back!
Love,
Elisa.


I read the letter one more time and thought,Elisa is right about 2 things:Nobody’s communicating with me at all and it’s seriously boring in London. 
Then Mom called me,”Lizzy!”
“Coming!”
I went out of my room and into the kitchen,the smell of pot roast was overwhelming! ”What is it?”
Mom kept washing the dishes,and so I just had to lean there to wait for her to finish.
I missed good old Seattle,the best place to be,then Mom and Dad were asked to go to London,England,to take care of a neighbor’s job “for a while”.
“Elisabeth Jennifer Alden!”
I jumped,startled. Mom was done with the dishes now and had noticed my moping around and,clearly,she was not glad to see me in her kitchen doing nothing.
Her face softened after a moment or two,she sat down on the best armchair in the house.”Sorry,dear..It’s just that..  with nobody answering for the Easter Hunt cards I sent out,well,I just get stressed out sometimes.”
“That’s okay,Mom,It’s just that I heard you call me and I-”
“I called you?!”
“Yeah..did you call me?”
“ Um,no..”
What!
“Maybe it was just the wind,Honey..Go out and play,Dear.” She rose from her chair,
“Sure.”
”I’ve got some work to do”
I went out of the house,still unsure,Yeah,I left my window open when I heard my name,but…..since when did the wind know my name?
And besides,the noise I heard was the loud VOICE kind not the whispery WIND kind!
So I decided to check it out.
First I checked the bushes that ran around the house and beneath my window,I saw a part that had been pushed apart just a few minutes ago,Aha!The thief...wait he-or she-didn’t steal anything...um,the PERSON must have hidden here!
Then,I saw,deep in the bushes a little sparkly thing,it twinkled,and twinkled so much...too much,it was like it was calling me.I immediately shook the thought out of my head,How silly of me,just think about it,that little thing saying, “Lizzy!Lizzy!Come to me!”.
I tried reaching for it,but it was too far from me,so I plunged in and came out all thorny and bushy that I would have been mistaken for a bush myself.
Well,at least I got that shiny thingy.I looked at the “thing”.....it was a part of a shoe...the heel of a shoe it was really...glimmery,so glimmery that it
looked like real silver and by the way I was standing there,holding it and staring at it,it looked like I had stolen it...And would be exactly what my sister would think,so I had to get away FAST!
“Lizzy!”
I turned around,
uh-oh,too late.My sister Leon was there,actually,I’m the only one that calls her that,her real name is Leonanda Bouriana Alden,
I know,brain muddling right?
ANYWAY there she was,standing there and saying “Lizzy!”In that funny way of hers, “Oh,uh...Hi,um Leon..I was just,er-”At this I quickly stuffed the heel into my pocket. “-Ya know,sorta..ah..exploring every inch of our new house and ya know...that kind of thing.”
She eyed me warily.
“Ok,Liz,so can you do me a favor?”
Without thinking,I nodded.
“Good,the favor is answering this question...I know you said every inch of this house but...DOES THAT INCLUDE THE  BUSHES?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
While my brain was racking for an answer,I put my hand in my pocket and touched the silver-y heel as if for support...my mistake..Leon noticed right away,
“Hey!Watcha got over there,sis?”
My face went red,Ugh!Lousy me!
“Here?I-I-I don’t have anything here,ah...hey!Look it’s,um,HENRY!!!”
My sister craned her neck,looking for one of her new best friends.
And,taking my chance I RAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup,I ran between bikes and cars and even dogs,dogs barking,dogs sleeping and all those verbs,Wonder why people in England like dogs so much...hmmm...maybe because they-  
PWANG!
I didn’t have time to finish that thought because right at that second a lampost decided it was the perfect time to get in my way…

When I woke up,the first thing I saw was a bright light that hurt my eyeballs.
When the pain subsided,I looked around,What is this place?
The next thing I saw was a bunch of funny shapes and blobs and blurry stuff that were mixed in all kinds of colours,Yeah,It’s pretty,but what are they?
I tried to observe them properly,Okay,that big um...blob has a brown top and further down...something...blueish green?And..the second one is red all over,but the top is...hazel.And the next one is...wait,those things are Dad.And Mom!And Leon!
When I got my sense back,Mom laughed and said,”If you’re gonna keep bumping your head on all the lamposts in this neighborhood every day your classmates will laugh at you.”
“CLASSMATES!?!?!?!?!”
“Yeah,you’re ‘goin to Rosewood,big ‘sis.”
I groaned and lay down ‘cauz suddenly,my head started hurting again…










                 Chapter 2
        One In A Million
As I entered Rosewood Grade School,I felt a gazillion eyes boring into my back,as for my eyes,they stared at a shiny floor,not one inch of filth.Boy,I’m gonna have a hard time fitting in.
I walked into my science class,and met Mrs.Lean,my science teacher,she was tall,thin,and had a grey bun on her hair.She stared at me over her glasses and said,“So this is Miss.Alden?Hmmm,a little thin,doesn’t wash behind her ears,other than that she looks normal..Hmm...You may go now.”
I quickly half ran to my desk.
I heard a mean comment behind me: “Ugh,I hate newcomers,always so unclean,this girl certainly does not belong in this school”
Tears jumped to my eyes,but I shoved them in and turned to see who said that,there,a girl with blond hair and icy blue eyes stared at me smiling evily...Somehow I finished that class and went to P.E..
In the locker room I was almost done pulling on my running shoes when a girl came over to me a said:”Hello!”
I looked up,surprised,”My name’s Vicki!What’s yours?”
“Um,Lizzy..”
“Is the ‘um’ spelled with one ‘m’ or two?”
We both laughed,for a second I got to look at the girl and really see her,she was a red-head,had green eyes and freckles,she wore worn-out jeans and a dusty red checkered shirt,all in all she was pretty.
We walked to the football field first,Mr.Gardon had challenged Miss.Elizabeth Touren,our gym teacher who preferred to be called Miss.Lizza,to a little ‘footy’ challenge.
As Miss.Lizza helped other kids get more organized,I made my way to Vicki,hoping to talk to her,when,the starting bell rang.
(to be continued)

Saturday, November 23, 2013

What I Found Out But Isn't So True.

 The smallest toy shop in the world is the place to be!Here are some demonstrations of the things it sells:

The Guitar:
The smallest guitar in the world can fit in between your teeth!It is the best thing for you to get...if you can find it!
                  The very small print:To activate it you need a microscope,and,oh,it is about a million times smaller than you finger so,unless you can shrink,                      you cannot activate it.
Costs a snip at:10,000 of whatever money you use!(All goods cost the same price)

The Abacus:
An abacus for kids who are too lazy to do their math homework!It's the size of the 'ball' part of a  ballpoint pen so teacher's won't notice it at all!
                                            The small print:Let's hope the teacher doesn't notice the big electron microscope you use to see and activate it!



The-
"Hello?What!But..........Okay I know but can you call later I'm making an ad here and.................okay okay!Bye."

Sorry guys we have to close the shop down because they say we got to.Bye!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

I'm Back!

Heeelllo,Everybody!!!!
I know I have not blogged in a long time.......And I'm REALLY sorry about that.
But let's let by-gone's be by-gone's, besides,just you wait 'till I tell you of all the fun facts I've read/heard about!

                           "Hey!I'm faster!"

 Every time you cut your nails you see that the nail in the middle has more 'nail' to cut.Why?Because it grows the fastest!(The thumb nail grows the slowest.)

        

                 The power of Jesus Christ

One day a man walks into a store and says to the cashier that he wants all the money that she has,or else.The woman grabs a stick and says,"In the name of the Lord God Jesus Christ,LEAVE!........and he left.When I heard of that all I could say was:"Wow"

Well,that's all for today!
See you tommrow!


Friday, December 7, 2012

My New Song

I know I've written poems before,but this is the first time I have written down a song and here it goes:

                                   I'm Not Alone

I was alone,not one place to call my home,inside a dark laaaand. I was alone people passing by,no one caring about me no one loving me at aallll. I was alone all by my self  no one with meee,But now my feelings rrise........because Christ is with meeee, Now I'm not alone 2x I'm not alone I have a home.I now have great friends, I'm gonna tell you why.......Christ is with meeeeeeeeeee .He has blessed me with his blessings from above.

-----------
This song is not about me. I am not alone, but when I look at the streets of Thailand, I see people who think they are alone.But when they turn to Jesus they will  know they are not alone.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

second day in Chiang Mai

                                                        go to hotel and rest from long ride.                                                               
As you can see,we rested  from the ride..........................................................................................................................................................................................................And it rained and POURED  all afternoon.So to pass time Lyle and I watched 'Ramona And Beezus' on the TV. Amma did computer on the dressing table,Appa was out renting a  motorbike,and the rain was pouring outside ,once the movie finished we were left with nothing to entertain us...............................The only thing we could do was wait.........wait.....................wait..........................wait.................................and wait.................................................................whenever we asked ''What to do?'' the answer was ''wait''..................we were very sad because we were supposed to go swimming and what did we do?Wait.
we were glad when the rain stopped BUT Appa was not there so what did we do?wait.    Do you mind if I flashforward?      ok.          So after we went swimming we went to the musuem,  had fun feeding the birds at the park then ate dinner. It was a fun day after all!