The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hey guys! Sorry I have been posting in a while but I've been pretty busy. Anyway, my blog can no longer be accessed by www.claudiaolson.com just to let you know. On the with the review!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is an excellent novel. It explores the life of a modern teenager accurately. Its characters are memorable with fascinating back stories to follow them.
The protagonist is Charlie. His best friend Michael commited suicide recently (by that I mean 1991). Charlie is very depressed about this so he decides to write letters about his life to you. Yes you, the person reading this very novel. That's another reason this book is so interesting, but I will get into that later. Anyway, it is his first day of high school and he doesn't have any friends,a so-called "wallflower". This is until he meets Sam and Patrick, seniors who are step siblings. Sam is a beautiful girl and Patrick is a gay boy. Charlie immediately falls in love with Sam, but he knows he can't have her. These two people lead Charlie into many experiences including performing at showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, exchanging great gifts at a Secret Santa, and feeling infinite. If you are confused (which I'm sure you are) this is a feeling Charlie got when they were driving through a tunnel at high speeds with the wind rushing through them.
Charlie's family is also very interesting. His father takes many sacrifices for his family and his mother just wants everyone to be well cared for. His older brother is a college football player on the rise to fame and his older sister has her share of ex boyfriends and failed relationships. But the most fascinating family member by far is Aunt Helen who is Charlie's mother's sister. She died many years before and had a tragic past that no one could forget. Once she died, Charlie had gotten extremely depressed, to the brink of insanity for he loved his aunt dearly. As we arrive to the end of the book, however, we learn Aunt Helen influenced Charlie's life in more ways than one. This twist will leave you speechless.
A recurring theme in the novel deals with Charlie's English teacher Bill. This man realizes that Charlie is wise beyond his years so to challenge the boy, he gives him a series of classic novels throughout the year and assigns him to write a report on each. These books greatly shape Charlie's character.
As you can see, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an awe-inspiring series of events filled with interesting plot points, a fascinating method of narration, and, as I mentioned before, a great twist you don't want to miss. I highly recommend you to pick up this book and start reading. You won't be disappointed.

Guys and Dolls

Last night, I went to Guys and Dolls, a musical performed at the high school. It's the story of gamblers and girlfriends. See, Nathan Detroit needs to find a place for his floating crap game. The Biltmore Garage is a perfect spot, but they need $1000. Nathan bets Sky Masterson $1000 if Sky can take Sarah Brown, leader of the Save-the-Soul Mission Band, to Havana, Cuba.

Adelaide is the lead singer at the Hot Box night club. She has been engaged to Nathan for 14 years! She desperately wants to get married; she even told her mother she was married with six kids! Nathan doesn't want to have to settle down, but it may be his only option.

Will Sky take Sarah away, and will Nathan and Adelaide become husband and wife? Will you watch these guys and dolls? That's for you to decide.

Robotics Team

Today was the official first meeting of the robotics team. There are different teams in different classes and grades. It's a program I signed up for through Explore, a Gifted and Talented club that is single gender. We meet every Tuesday at lunch. Anyway, 2 friends and I planned that we were going to be a team. We decided that today would be a good time, since we all have busy schedules. We decided three main things: our team name, when we will meet for the next meeting, and what we would build. After voting for a team name, my idea, the MechaNecks, we moved on to our project. All three of us brainstormed together, and decided we'd make a simple robot to get familiar with the kit. We are going to make a robot that shoots balls at a target. Then for the competition, we have to make one that will navigate a maze in the shortest time.
So here it goes! Once we receive the Lego Mindstorms kit, we can start work. But at least we have a binder cover!

Hello, again!

I know I keep saying this and it never comes true, but I will blog much more now. I have more time since Winter Break started, and I have so much going on, especially at school. Here's a highlight of what's going on in my life:

• I applied and was accepted in the Robotics Competition! Two teammates and I will be building a robot to complete a task. In this case, there are two options. We can make a robot to race up a 10 degree incline in the shortest amount of time or make one to navigate a maze.We will use the Lego Robotics Kit and will meet about every week to prepare. The competition will be on April 25, 2012.
• I am in the school musical "Oliver!". I am a Workhouse boy. So far, I am a part of the musical numbers "Food, Glorious Food", "Oliver!", "Consider Yourself", "Oom Pah Pah", and "Who Will Buy". The show is on March 16th and 17th.
• I have set up an account on Pinterest, and I am enjoying it. I post recipes, books, movies, articles, technology information, and all kinds of things!

I realized I didn't have as much going on as I thought, but, along with blogging, it's enough to keep me occupied.

Goodbye!

Camp Nicol

I'm so sorry I haven't gotten to this. I became a bit of a procrastinator and now with school starting ( I'll post about that too. ) I've been so busy! My to-do list is jammed. Anyway.. The rest of my Camp Nicol Adventures! (I'll send pictures soon.)

Day 3: We arrived home and started unpacking. The meal was very tricky because we had planned on making sushi, but Bob doesn't like sushi. This night was the only night he was out (Boy Scout Meeting). Also we had to go to the grocery store. Joyce and I were pressed for time, since we couldn't have prepared ahead of time. After going over many steps ( the ones mostly in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrCrG-EMr8g and this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vFpcKeSdS0) So as you guessed, we had a late dinner. 8:30 about!

Day 4: We started the sewing project (making a beautiful little doll I named Jessica. I'll blog about her too.). We also made lasagna for dinner (In a regular time-frame!) It was a long layering process, but tasted very good afterward!

Day 5-6: More sewing and cooking (Grilled Swordfish on Day 5 and Chicken Avocado Salad Day 6)

Day 7: The rest of my family came! We also finished Jessica. We made my family Tenderloin for dinner and Cappuccino Brownies for dessert (Mmm!) I told all about our adventures and then when night came, we started packing up for tomorrow.

Day 8: We finished packing and headed off home! But the most exciting thing was getting home to a newly painted room!

Thanks for your patience!

Camp Nicol: Day 2

Hello!

Sorry I haven’t continued with my adventures. I can’t really say I’ve been busy (because that’s procrastinating). My mind’s just been jumbled. Anyway, the second day in Philadelphia was a busy one. I had 12,000 steps on my pedometer! Yep, we were sightseeing! The day started off with walking to the Haverford train station. We rode about half an hour until we reached Philly, where we crammed in as much as we could. We saw the Liberty Bell, a short movie about the Declaration in Independence Hall, where the Declaration was signed, had Philly cheesesteaks for lunch, and went on a duck tour. When we got home we had Maui Maui and Tilapia for dinner. Since I LOVE seafood, this was delicious. This was our last day in Philly. The next day we’d be leaving, but I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

I will e-mail you my Picasa album of pictures, so check your inbox!

Camp Nicol: Day 1

Today (after 5 hours plus rest stops)we arrived in Haverford. Tamara set us up with rooms soon after. Then Joyce and I played with Sylvia for a while (She has so many toys!). Once she got tired out, it was dinnertime. We had peanut noodles with tofu and “crazy rooster sauce”. It was pretty good. I never knew peanut butter and noodles tasted good together! After dinner, it was dessert obviously. There was a frozen yogurt store right across the street, so Tamara treated me to some. I had cookies and cream with a little milk chocolate and some chocolate chips and brownie chunks. (I know you’d love it Oma!) Now I’m sitting in the dining room typing away across from Tamara and Bob, planning our sightseeing for tomorrow.

Read about our adventures in Philadelphia tomorrow! But for now, I’m signing off! Ciao!