500 Days of Summer

One of my favorite movies of all time is "500 Days of Summer" starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.  It is this beautiful story of boy meets girl, boy loves girl, girl gets tired of boy, and boy meets new girl.  I love it so much because of the strong focus on the main character, Tom Hansen, which helps the viewer really experience his emotions and confusion through the nonlinear narrative style.  It starts off with Tom in a regular, boring work setting and all of the sudden, a wonderful new girl steps into his picture.  This girl is Summer Finn and she is unique while still luring and flirtatious.  She reels Tom in with her interesting persona and they share a common band they both enjoy which sparks their relationship.  However, Summer is not one to settle down, regardless of how attracted she is to someone.  Because she does make it apparent to Tom that she likes him, they have a relationship but it is never given a title.  And Tom needs that.  So, Tom decides to ask Summer what they are and what they are doing if they aren't even moving forward.  Summer has no idea and doesn't want to make it anything and she calls them "friends", the ULTIMATE insult.  They break it off, and then it goes back on, and then off again, and this pattern continues for about 500 days.  Until the last day when they are off, Tom sees Summer and they talk and he finds out that she is engaged.  Imagine the pain Tom felt in that moment.  The words must have stung so badly, especially since he probably convinced himself that he was better off without the crazy girl who will probably never find real love and stick with it, but she does.  But, Tom has grown stronger since they were together and after they meet, he goes to an interview for a new job and while in the waiting room he meets a new girl.  She starts a conversation with him and seems to be interested so Tom asks her out.  When he asks for her name, she replies with, "Autumn".  How beautiful is that?  I can't even handle it.  Like a new season in the cycle of of life, Tom, without trying or expecting it, flipped over to a new page and heads into the beginning of a new story.  The whole movie ends there and I love that we don't see any more about him and Autumn because it keeps the movie sweet and simple in the finale.  The ending kept the story about the main topic, Tom finding love and losing love, and I could literally watch the movie 500 times without getting sick of it.  THE END.

How "Sisterhood" Inspired Me

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is one of my favorite stories and I think it is because it inspires me to improve my life.  During the course of being a teenage girl, and over the four long years of high school, I have found time when it has been hard to stay true to myself.  There have been so many influences around me wanting to mold and change every part of me, but I think I have done a good job at keeping myself straight.  And simple reminders of this path, like the book, have helped so much in doing so.  The reason I find the book moving is because every character grows more into who they are supposed to be throughout the journey of the book.  They are all teenage girls too, so that helps me relate.  But it makes me think about my life and who I want to be and surround myself with because they all have such a deep relationship with each other.  Finding those who you can truly call family without being legitimately related to is hard, but I know I have found some people like that over the years just as the girls did in Sisterhood.  Also, each girl meets someone new who helps mold them into who they are supposed to be and I love that because each story is different.  Lena meet Kostos and he helped her break down her defensive walls shielding her from love and being vulnerable.  Bridget met the guy at camp who helped herself realize that she needed to come to terms with her mother's death and that she needs to be true to her virtues.  Tibby meets Bailey who helps her open her heart to someone and finally feel love from another human being. And lastly, Carmen sees her dad for the first time in a while and she allows herself to let go of the grudge she has held against him for many years.  So reading about these beautiful stories makes me want to take a step back and reevaluate my life.  I may need to change some of the things about myself that I never though to before, but it would be for the better and I am grateful a nice story like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants helped me to do so.  

Relations to Lena and Kostos' Story

So I have seen the movie version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and I have also read the book, but I enjoy the movie's version of Lena's story more than how the book told it.  It may be because the movie writers probably wanted to make the story more interesting and romantic, so they added in many different scenes and completely changed the way Lena and Kostos met.  In the movie, Lena accidentally falls off of the dock and into the Mediterranean Ocean.  Her pant leg gets stuck on a piece of metal at the bottom of the ocean and she can't seem to get herself out of it.  Then, coincidentally, an attractive and single Greek native dives in and rescues her.  Now, who wouldn't want to tell this story to their kids about how they met?  Their encounter is basically every girl's dream.  To be saved by a gorgeous and all around good guy and for him to be interested in you is something that is kept to the story books and television screens.  Sadly, this encounter would not regularly happen but with fate involved, who knows what would happen.  I think the reason that I love this part of the story line so much is that I recently had something that happened to me that I can relate it to.  I went on vacation with my parents and my friend to Mexico.  While I was there, I knew I would meet boys but I never knew I would meet someone as awesome as this one guy I came across.  We met at the bar one night (don't hate me Mrs. Healey, I wasn't intoxicated) and we started talking.  We then took a walk and continued to just talk about our lives in a very natural way.  I was realizing then that this guy was literally perfect for me and it made me sad because he wasn't someone I could begin things with; he lived across the country and was in a long term relationship.  Of course.  But we still kept talking and I could tell that he was actually interested in me which was shocking since he was committed to someone already.  What was different about him was that I genuinely enjoyed being with him and was strangely comfortable with being myself around him even though we just met.  I have found it hard for guys to understand my personality and even my friends can tell you that about me, but he didn't seem to have any problem with who I was and I let him see me.  So, we ended up staying up the entire night laying on the beds by the pools under the Mexican sky and it was completely perfect and innocent.  As the sun began to rise and my time with his was coming to an end, I realized that I have never talked to a boy like this before.  We got deep but also laughed a lot together as we made dumb shapes in the clouds.  So I had to leave him and he had to go home to his girlfriend but regardless of him having previous commitments, I believe that fate was truly involved in our meeting.  When my friend and I got back to our hotel room after all of that time, my friend, witnessing the entire thing, says to me, "Lisa, I honestly think you just met your soul mate."  And I believed her because life doesn't just bring you to these people in such memorable ways and settings.  After all, my family wasn't even supposed to be going to Mexico when we canceled the first time, in January, the day before our departure because of the weather down there.  So of all times we chose and of all places in the resort, I met him in a specific time and setting that I may not have if I where somewhere else.  I still think fate is in the works.  

Anything Could Happen

For my quarter four research paper I am writing about fate and how love finds its way into people's lives without them even looking for it.  There must be a literature piece involved and I chose to incorporate The Sister of the Traveling Pants into it.  This beautiful story of four best friends has moments of excitement, sadness, and even laughter.  The books main story line begins when these four girls, all of different body types, trying on the same pair of jeans and each fitting perfectly into them.  This phenomenon keeps them together as they venture out in different paths during the approaching summer.  Each girl gets some time with the pants and then has to ship them off to the next friend that gets a turn with them.  These "traveling pants" serve purpose to keep them together but they also believed that the pants would bring them luck.  At first, Bridget believes this idea because she meets a handsome soccer coach at the camp she is at in Mexico.  Also, Lena probably felt lucky in general because she was in the breathtaking country of Greece, so who wouldn't feel lucky being in her shoes?  But for Tibby, stuck in her homeland working at a tacky superstore, luck seems to waver at first.  And Carmen's story is pretty neutral in the beginning because she is excited to see her dad but she also doesn't like the fact that he has a new family of his own.  So, as the stories expand, fate from the pants works itself into the girls' lives.  Lena ends ups pushing down her walls of protection and lets in a boy, Kostos, to love her.  Bridget ends up winning over the soccer coach in addition to other things happening after that, but overall she got what she wanted in the end.  Tibby meets an innocent girl who passes out in the superstore, and coincidentally they end up becoming great friends, but there is a twist.  The young girl is dying of leukemia.  This news upsets Tibby very much, but the defensive girl she was before has disappeared and in that place is a life loving teen.  For Carmen, she gets in a fight with her dad but they reconcile bringing them closer together than ever before.  So overall, whether it was the pants or not, fate works its way through each of the characters lives in touching way.  I love this story so much and I am very excited to be doing part of my research paper on it!

Anne Reminds Me to Live Simply

Lately, with all of the cool, hip gadgets this world has come up with to tempt the "average Joe", I have gotten lost in them all.  There are iPads, iPhones, and cute and expensive clothes that are extremely hard to resist buying even without even having the needed money.  Our race has gotten sucked up into the "I want more" norm.  And it is time to have a reality check. The check can be possible with simple reminders in our daily lives like Anne Bradstreet's "To Her Father With Some Verses".  In this poem, Anne states that she would rather live simply with little to pay than live extravagantly with much debt.  In this day in age, people think the opposite way.  We create, sell, and buy in order to feel good about ourselves and feel apart of the loop.  I enjoy Anne's poem because it keeps be humble and it could do the same for most others who were to read it as well.  When I get my head out of the clouds, I am able to see things rationally, the same way Anne did.  I agree with her completely and I think that if people were to just open their eyes, they will truly see like both Anne and I.  If everyone were to drop the unnecessary items they are consumed with, mainly obtained just so they can feel accepted, then there will be no purpose in owning them.  Consumer products are all about having the next best thing but if people stopped forcing themselves to buy these things, they could spend their money on more rewarding purchases.  If people would quit blowing dollars left and right, they would be able to pull someone out of debt or help a homeless vet at a shelter.  Anything counts as long as it goes toward a higher purpose.  In conclusion, Anne's wise words go past her age and into the future because she speaks truly and about topics most people don't think twice about.

I can relate to Anne

I have realized that I rarely try to relate the poetry I read to my personal life.  I guess one isn't supposed to go out one's way and try to make connections, but I have never even naturally made connections before.  That is until I read "By Night When Others Soundly Sleep" by Anne Bradstreet.  This poem is about Anne as she lays in her bed in the midst of the night, dwelling on her life's problems.  She is stressed and is kept awake but when she thinks of her God, her discomfort is eased.  I can relate to this poem because I sometimes find myself laying in bed after a tough day and thinking of the passing time.  Stress overcomes the sleep and before I know it, it is 1 a.m.  However, when I am able to calm myself down and think about the big picture, with the help from God, I am able to relax.  Also, I have noticed that Anne's poems are not very specific with her time, which was the 1600s.  The poems I have read from her have all been on very broad and general topics that most people to understand.  If she meant to do this or not, I do not know, but that was very smart of her to do.  Because her pieces are not specific to one period of time and are such popular things to write about, religion and love, her work will never die down and be forgotten.  It won't be forgotten because she is a classic but she also won't be forgotten because she wrote about true events that happen in most people's lives.  Many people are kept awake at night due to their racing minds but stress is eventually relieved and the rest can take over.  Also, "To My Dear and Loving Husband" is about true, unconditional love which most people encounter in their lives.  Overall, Anne's work will never be forgotten because she spoke for the general public in a very relatable way.

The Book My Dad Came Home With for Me

This past Saturday I was running all over the place, busy doing various things and for the hour I was home, my dad came up to me and told me he got me something.  I was very excited because who doesn't like a good present?  Especially a surprise!  But, my dad retrieves the gift and hands me a book and the title read STOP Wondering If You'll Ever Meet Him.  I took it and just smiled.  I could not believe my eyes.  That my own father is buying me self help books at the age of eighteen, let alone a love self help book.  I was dumbfounded, completely hit with the fact that my life had come to this at such a young age.  And I know how bad this must look to you Mrs. Healey and all others who may be reading this, but I swear I am not that desperate and pathetic to have my own dad buy me this.  He knows I have been pretty unlucky with guys recently and he can probably tell that I have been distressed over it.  But this distress is normal for teenage girls so there is nothing to worry about.... I hope.  Anyway, I began to read this book and I can already understand and partially relate to what it is about.  The intro brings you across this fake scenario with a girl named Julie who meets fictional Sam and they hit it off for about two nights.  Then, out of nowhere, Sam drops off the face of the earth leaving Julie sad and confused.  She thought she had gotten so close to real love and a great future even after just two dates with this man.  The writers of this book, Ryan Browning Cassaday and Jessica Cassaday, get this spot on.  Girls dream even if given the tiniest of bait from a man.  We read into literally everything they do and say and we put our every happiness on the line when we plunge in with a man.  We also exaggerate all of our feelings and make our expectations way too high for realistic.  The realistic place this book brings me down to is that love is truly out there for me, even if it takes me decades to find it.  It is nice to be reminded this right now, because quite frankly I don't even have time for a guy nor should it be one of my priorities.  It gives me comfort thinking that when the time is right, it will happen and that I won't be alone forever.  I just need to stop looking and then it will be a natural occurance.  So, I am grateful for this book even though it was most likely written for a woman in her mid twenties.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Anne Bradstreet, to me, is a very unique poet.  She is able to speak so easily of her love for her husband and then switch directions completely and give thanks to her God that eases her troubles in great symbolism and carefully chosen words.  "To My Dear and Loving Husband" is my favorite piece of hers because of the topic.  The simplicity of the message gives me chills because she has perfect comparisons entangled in the work.  For example, her love for her husband is so large that even the riches of the earth could not mean more to her than him and that her love is like a river that cannot be satisfied with all of the water on the planet.  She also compares the incompleteness of two halves to one whole.  The two halves are her and her husband and the whole would be her and him united.  She expresses the love and bond she has made with him and it truly warms my heart to read about it.  In fact, her poem gives me hope and has made me dream about my life coming to this place eventually.  The place in which you are no longer just living for yourself but you have discovered this completely new conception of your purpose.  For now, I can only look forward to this time in my life, whether it be sooner or later, but Anne helps me see how it is to love unconditionally.  Being a teenager, it has been hard to experience this feeling.  I have had my share of flings with other guys but they have never materialized in such a way as love.  But, I can imagine how great it must feel to be in Anne's shoes.  She knows that when she goes home at night, she'll see the reason she was put on Earth, the reason she was given a soul and a heart.  I am unbelievably jealous of Anne because I would love to skip over all of this awkward time of meeting guys and finding out who I am.  But, Anne must have gone through this too to find her other half so I guess the journey is unavoidable.  I am sure Anne would be pleased that even a young girl in Delaware in the twenty-first century has taken her feelings put to paper so seriously and thankfully.  Also, this poem serves purpose to anyone.  All can relate to it, even if you are not married because you could be like me and have no current relationship and find it meaningful and relatable.  Humans were made to love and created to serve others and Anne's work reminds me that this is to come in my life and that I should not give up hope yet.  So thanks, Anne.

The Notebook

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is one of the most famous, modern love stories of our time.  One may ask what makes this forbidden love novel so monumental.  The answer is simple and it is all about how Sparks portrays the characters.  In the beginning, the two leads, Allie and Noah, are from two different worlds, having  no idea about the other world that is not theirs.  Little did they know that their worlds would eventually collide breaking down the horrible barriers their community created between the classes separating them.  In addition, Sparks makes us feel like Noah and Allie are at their peak in life, being as healthy and emotionally stable as ever before.  Then they meet turning their worlds upside down, but in a good way.  Also, innocence is large part of the two main characters image.  Their innocence in the story makes their love worth knowing about.  Sparks mostly shows them when they are having good, memory-making times together.  My favorite of these moments are when they are at the beach and Allie makes Noah call her a bird which makes Noah say, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird."  This line in the story makes my heart literally hurt.  This love scene makes it apparent that while still being young kids, they are mature enough to realize that where ever they are, they want to be together.  Next, the last thing I believe that makes this book so good is the perfection of their love and everything they go through.  Allie and Noah share the most beautiful of moments and this makes every girl writhe in jealousy.  People continue to watch and read The Notebook because they want to fulfill this need for love even if they are not the ones who are involved in it.  This idea is a bit messed up, but it is truly what is behind every girl's love of Sparks' novel. 

How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul

I am currently reading the book How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul by Jason and Crystalina Evert.  This book was introduced to me when the author, Jason Evert, came to speak to the student body at Saint Marks High School.  I really enjoyed the man's talk; I know it opened my mind and the minds of the other audience members, who were also my peers.  The talk he gave us was the basis for the book he was promoting us to read.  The book is basically a "how-to" guide to relationships and love for girls.  I really love the message of the whole book which is generally to care about myself and do what is best for me even when there is a boy in my love life.  Next, I am at a great part of the book in which the "types" of guys girls need to avoid  are listed and described.  He really identifies each type with clarity and I know I can definitely relate to some of the guys he talks about because I have sadly known of or have had relations with those types.  Also, I feel like this book is so good because it is a self help.  I know that by reading it I am not just reading a story that will slip into my mind and depart within a few days.  It is a book that genuinely guides me down a safe path to be on when wanting to get involved with boys.  I recommend this book to any girl regardless if they are looking for love or even in a relationship.  This book's purpose is to put the morality back into love which is something that I believe is lost in our world today.  However, I sadly am not as impressed with the quality of the literature as much as I enjoy the messages and examples within it.  I do not think it is written as good as it could be but I don't even think that Jason or Crystalina are experienced writers or authors anyway.  But regardless of the quality, the book How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul is very enjoyable and eye opening while being a great read for any female.  

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Over break I saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at the Wilmington Drama League because my mom produced the play.  I also was genuinely intrigued by the play because I have never seen or read the story before so I had no idea what was in store.  Turns out that it is a very different and enjoyable plot.  It is about these four kids who enter a wardrobe and enter a completely alternate universe, one in which animals speak and an evil witch ruled the area, Narnia, bringing fear to all who inhabited.  There is a prophecy in Narnia that the four children fulfill the moment they enter Narnia.  They come across many characters who help guide them and bring peace and justice to Narnia in the very end.  They eventually become the new rulers of Narnia resulting in a very happy ending.  I liked the story, but not necessarily the production itself.  The scenes and the effects that were needed in order to portray the book properly were not done that well considering the Drama League is a community theater.  So, that part was not really a part of the work that I did not like, I just did not find the set or some of the actors believable.  However, there was a huge symbol in the middle of the story which was that the good, Christ like leader of Narnia, not the witch, was put to death so the other four kids could live.  When this leader, named Aslan, was killed, he Resurrected the way Jesus did when he died to save man kind.  Aslan also died in order to save his people which is why the religious figure and the fictitious lion have a similarity.  If Aslan did not die for the kids, the outcome of the story would have been completely different and the prophecy could not be fulfilled.  Aslan knew what he had to do for the higher figure above and he did it.  He did what was right and I loved seeing this come to life because it does remind me sometimes to take the higher road when I come across a decision I must make.

A Red, Red, Rose

A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns is the poem I chose to read in the Poetry Out Loud recitation in our AP Lit class.  This poem is basically just a proclamation of love for the subject, whether it be a man or a woman.  The reason I say a man or a woman is because it never specifies which gender the author is speaking to, so no assumptions are necessary.  First of all, what I think is special about this poem is the diction; it has very old fashioned, nineteenth century language which makes the poem very unique.  Also, I was right when I thought these special words would help make the poem easier to memorize because it took very little time for me to lock into my memory.  However, one of my audience members may beg to differ on this point considering I had a complete mental block the moment I entered the third stanza.  Oh well.  Another reason I chose to recite A Red, Red Rose was because I enjoy the message of the poem.  It is just a sincere, innocent profession of love to a person and I love the ending line "and I will come again, my luve, though it were ten thousand mile."  It beautifully wraps the entire meaning of the poem into one simple statement.  This person will do anything to be with the subject even if it takes much effort such as traveling ten thousand miles.  I can assume the ten thousand miles part is an exaggeration but still, the importance comes across clearly with the use of hyperbole.  Also, in the beginning stanza the poem starts off very innocently and simply comparing this person's love to a red rose that has been recently bloomed and also to melody that is nicely played in tune.  This simplicity is something to marvel at and it surely caught my eye when I was searching for poems.