Lets play the game of...What's the tone??? :D

"Yeah mom. I know."

She plopped down tiredly on the couch, her hair falling to shield her eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah. I know, I'm sorry."

Her mother's voice on the other line turned shrill, then soft, then shrill again.

"Yes, I knew what I was doing. I mean, I thought I knew what I was doing. No, I didn't think through to see the effect it would have on you and dad. Yes, I DO realize what effect this could have on my future."

She lay flat on the couch now, stomach pressed to the soft cushion as she closed her eyes to stop the tears.

As hard as she tried, no more words came into her mouth. Only the aching feeling of emptiness, weariness, and some other uncontrollable hunger filled her heart and mind.

After the bitter one-sided conversation ended, she pressed her shaking finger on the call END button. She lay there, silently, alone in the quiet room, and waited for darkness to slip over her.

"This is it then," she whispered, just before her last moments. "This is the end."

Emotions and mystery MOODS!!

whats the mood! :D

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He stepped into the room, silently, his face covered by his dark hood, hair still dripping from the rain. He was dressed all in black, naturally, expression covered in the shadow of his clothes so that we were left to guess at his expression underneath. I could hear Doctor 7 shuffle his feet behind me. I frowned.

"Does this one look promising?" I whispered to Doctor 7, knowing the uneasy feeling coming from this passerby wasn't a coincidence.

Doctor 7 cocked his head, and paused for a moment, rearranging a single flower in the vase near his hand. Although it appeared like he was straightening the pot I knew better--He was actually looking over the handsome young man from the corner of his eyes.

"Hmm..."He mused. His black eyes twinkled in the low light. "Appearances can be deceiving, I'm sure...But, in this case..."

I winced as the young man stalked slowly over to the counter, his boots dragging roughly against the floor. Doctor 7's calm voice continued on.

"Bring him to me. I'll question him from my office."

I turned to give my OK to Doctor 7, but he was gone.

The young man leaned over the counter, and he looked straight at me.

Neither one of us spoke.

Then, the young lad took off his hood, and I found myself looking into a pair of the most gentle and kind-hearted looking eyes I had ever seen in my life. His soft blonde hair fell free from his dark hood and the smile he gave me moved my heart. He flashed me a wide, perfect smile.

"Hello," he said.

My heart melted.

When I blinked again however, I caught the sharpness of some hidden emotion behind his eyes. The way he kept shifting uneasily from one foot to another, the way his one hand had never left his pocket...

"This way," I said leading him to Doctor 7. "Welcome to the Post Office. I'm sure we have something for you in the back."

Happy Song lyrics

Title: Better Together

Artist: Jack Johnson

There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard

No song that I could sing

But I could try for your heart

Our dreams, and they are made of real things,

Like a shoebox of photographs,

With sepiatone loving,

Love is the answer

At least for most of the questions in my heart,

Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come life is so hard?

It's not always easy,

And sometimes life can be deceiving,

I'll tell you one thing,

its always better when we're together.

MMM, it's always better when we're together

Yeah, we'll look at them stars when we're together,

Well, it's always better when we're together,

Yeah, it's always better when we're together...

(There's more to the lyrics, but i'll stop here..)

* This song is about happiness because obviously, the writer of the song is telling us that when he is with a specific person, life seems better. He is happier with  that person. It is not directly connected to happiness, but in this song it shows us the feeling of love this person has towards his love. Whenever I am in a sad mood, I listen to this song and Jack Johnson's soothing voice and I feel happy too. It makes me wonder...God is always with us, and with him in our lives we are happy too. 

$259 Million Dollar Prize win...?

I just won the lottery.

I just won the lottery?

Wait...

I JUST WON THE LOTTERY?! *SCREAMS*

*faints*

~*~

If I had won the lottery, I don't think rational thoughts would reach my mind until a long time after. First of all, I would need to seriously calm down and accept the fact that I really had won. I wouldn't be sure at all of what to do WITH the money, and little items that I have wanted for a long time would probably dance in front of my eyes. Since I'm only 14 I'm sure my parents would take my money from me, or persuade me the best thing for me to do was to give them control over the money...Which I don't completely agree with and probably won't have much choice over..*sigh*.

My grandmother lives all by herself near Seoul, and although she says she is happy there among her church-family, I know my parents have wanted to buy her a new house for a long time. They haven't been able to do this however because we don't have enough money. I would make sure that my grandmother had a really good house to live in. I would also want to save most of the money into my personal bank account for the future, hehe.

QW: A person who left an impression on me...

Yesterday, me and my sister were walking to our home after delivering a present to little baby Jacob. We were heading up the stairs to the door of our apartment when we saw a hunched over elderly woman who was as shriveled up as a prune. She was holding a cane shakily in her right hand and she stopped to stare confusedly up at me and my sister. She hobbled over to the first floor apartment room with the number 104 on it and knocked impatiently on the door. When nobody replied she rang the doorbell and yelled, "IS THIS MY HOUSE?" And the freaked out young lady inside replied, "No. No, please. Please move along now."

And the woman frowned at me and my sister and asked us, "Is this my house?"

My sister looked at me for guidance. I shrugged half-heartedly. I had honestly never seen that woman ever before.I frowned and quickened my steps. After a few seconds she followed us and started to make her way towards the elevator door. I panicked. This woman was obviously confused and wacked. She had no idea which house she lived in, so was she planning on stopping at each floor to yell "IS THIS MY HOUSE?" I decided then and there no, she wouldn't be doing that when I was on the elevator. So when she yelled "WAIT!" as the door to the elevator began to slide slowly to a close, I pressed the "><" button to clang the door shut.

My sister stared up at me with her mouth wide open.

"Why-" She began to say. I cut her off with a twist of my head. "I'll explain later."

Although I tried very hard that day to get the image of that old woman out of my head, I found that I couldn't. The picture of her dumbfounded expression as the elevator doors began to close kept haunting me throughout the day. She was, a "deer caught in the headlights" as they say. Her child-like expression on her aged face was something I will never forget.

clue #5

1. Who is Effie waiting for?

I have read the story "About Effie" 3 times and I am still puzzled by what the author is saying. When I first read the story, I was convinced that Effie was just another crazy girl who was good at doing her job. But after thinking about it for a few moments, I began to think about the possibility of the existence of the man. If he was real, then how could he come on a cloud? And why would there be music? And plus, what was the whole big deal on lightning and thunder? When the part in the text came up about the man riding on a cloud, it reminded me of the short superhuman guy from the movie The Incredibles. It also reminded me of Jesus. But I soon discarded this idea after I realized that we as people don't exactly know how Jesus will return to earth. But when the part about there being music came into the text, I began to suspect that somehow the man was related to Jesus.

2. This story contains a lot of Christ imagery. Write down three seperate sentences from the story that might symbolize Jesus and explain why Timothy Findley might have written these into his story.

1) "Will he take you away?"

"Of course he will. That's why he's coming. That's why I'm waiting."

2)"On a cloud," she whispered. "A big black cloud. That's a rule."

3) Then she looked at me and all of a sudden I felt it. That it wasn't just some knight in shining armour she had in mind. Or some crazy man on a black cloud, either. No, sir. Whoever he was, he surely was coming. You could tell that just from the way she looked.

--> In the first example, it seems as if the "man" could even be death. Everybody is waiting for death whether they like it for not, and in a sense death does "take you away." On the other hand, when Jesus comes back, it says in the Bible that he will take his children with him to heaven, and we will have a place that is prepared for us in heaven.

-->In the second example, it states that the man will come on a cloud. I am not sure about this one but whenever people draw Jesus going up to heaven, they always draw him on a cloud (actually, I think this is somewhere in the Bible, at the end of one of the Gospels I think). I think this is some sort of key connection as well.

--> In the third example, it clearly shows that whoever is coming is clearly coming. So I don't think it is just some physical man. I believe it is something that she can't avoid, some sort of inevitable thing coming closer and closer.

3. Can non-Christian authors reveal truth about God's World?

I believe that yes anybody can reveal truth about God's World. God's World is the Earth that we live in and what others believe to be true is in line with the Christian faith. God's World has many different aspects to it and something as simple as a reference to a higher being having created the Universe still reveals truth about God. Revealing of truth doesn't always have to be direct; it can be indirect and still be true.

Mini Question

1. What is the theme of "About Effie"?

I'm not sure what the theme of "About Effie" is. If I had to make a theme statement I think it would have something to do about "the man" Effie is waiting for, and some idea from the scene where Effie is crying amidst the thunderstorm. A theme statement might be the following: Everybody is waiting for death and the acceptance of death can give you peace.

2. Find a verse from the Bible that relates to the theme of "About Effie" and include it in your written response.

Well, I'm still not exactly sure what the theme of "About Effie" is, but according to the answer in which I put in for question 1 (Mini Question) here is a verse.

Romans 6:23 (New International Version)

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Maybe Effie wasn't ready to accept this fact yet? I'm not sure, but in the end of the story it seems to me that she has accepted the coming of the man, whomever he may turn out to be.

clue #3 (continued)

(im sorry i forgot to post this up ms. lillo!)

1. How can you figure out a theme in a short story? Describe the process.
-First, you should look at the title of a story. Why would the author choose this specific title? Try to find the main idea of the title.
-Second, consider the main character. What are the major conflicts that the character has to go through? Think about all of the conflicts, including internal and external. What struggles does the main character have to face that later on changes who they are?
-Third, find the climax of the story. What decision does the main character make that forces them to change as a result? Try to think of ways this relates to the original conflicts that hinder your main character. Is there a similarity between these two?
-Lastly, consider the resolution. How does the story come to a close? How has the character changed now that the conflics have been resolved?

2. What is the theme of "The Utterly Perfect Murder" and how does this theme relate to your own life?
I am not sure what the theme of "The Utterly Perfect Murder" is. However, if I had to put it into a theme statement, I think it might be something like this.
Theme statement: Its best to leave the past in the past.
I think that this can be a universal theme as well. I can sit here and think of many occasions where I did something wrong to some one or I was wronged by some one else. However, I know that it doesn't help you to think about things you can't change. Its better to tell the person something then and there instead of keep your emotions inside yourself and never get them out. Thinking about something that happened a long time ago and being angry with something that happened or that you did won't change anything. If there's something you can't change, then why waste your time trying to do something futily? The best thing to do is to come to terms with yourself and either forget the past or try to learn from your experiences. I think this is something that Doug couldn't do. His negative emtions overpowered everything else that he had shared with his friend/bully.

3. How is a moral of a story different from a theme?
A moral of a story usually teaches something. It is like the daily lesson learned in a classroom. The whole story is created for the purpose of teaching the reader something they should or shouldn't do. The moral of the story is also usually simple and concise. It is usually direct to the reader and can be easily identified. The theme of a story however is different from a moral in many ways. While both the theme and the moral of a story send a message to the reader, the theme is broader than a moral. The theme is the central idea behind the story and it is the author's message about humanity to the reader. A story can have both a moral and a theme that is completely different. A story can also have a moral and a theme that are similiar in some aspects.

4. Read John 3:16. Is this a theme statement for God's story? How does this relate to the truth you might find in literature?
I personally don't think that John 3:16 is the theme statement for God's story...Wouldn't the theme of God's story be to have humanity love him and fulfill their purose on Earth and later on in Heaven in worshipping him? John 3:16 would be God's theme in how humanity can achieve eternal life...(I'm not sure but I think I need some help on this question)