The Philippines - Day 3

Sunday, November 14, 2010; 8:35pm (Philippines Time)

Today, we had noodles and pineapple juice for breakfast. We all dressed up nice and went to church. Church there was long and the songs were really long. Someone in the back kept clapping very loudly. We then went and met some more of our mom's relatives. We then went back to the house and had

pancit (more noodles) for lunch. We went to the beach after that, but on our way, we went to see relatives. They are our Lola and Lolo, which is the equivalent of great uncles and aunts in America.

They had

pigs, piglets, puppies, and doves. Everybody there was sitting around watching Manny P

acquiao. Apparently, he had a big match that day. Afterwards, we went to the beach and played. It

was fun, wet, and sandy. When we got back, we played with our cousins until the Alinunu Elementary School principal came to see us (My sister had started a book project a short while back, whose goal was to giv

e books to the Alinunu Elementary School for the kids there. For more information on this project, go to http://www.alinunubookproject.blogspot.com/ ).

Rabk - Part 18

Rabk

Facing Death

Part 18

When he heard Jeeves, Dodgers hopped up from his chair, and motioned for the others to follow him. As they went through the door, Wooster burst through it, scattering the travelers. Teatime followed Wooster through the door soon afterwards. Wooster jumped over the couch and turned around. "Stop this now, Teatime," Wooster pleaded, "Why would the Assassin's Guild want me dead, anyway?" In an eerily calm voice, Teatime replied, "I haven't the slightest idea. I'm just doing my job." Wooster tried to speak again, saying "Now I'm sure we can work this out--", but by the time he had said it, Teatime had thrown a knife at him, and it was now lodged inside Wooster's chest. Wooster looked at the hilt of the knife, looked up, and said, "Oh, bother". He then fell to the floor with a thump, and the travelers gathered around. Jeeves just glanced down and walked out of the room. As the travelers watched the dying man, Teatime came up, pulled the knife out of Wooster, and left. A few seconds later, Wooster muttered a few words about pancakes and closed his eyes for good. The crowd around the dead man sat silently watching the motionless body. As they sat there, a deep voice came from behind them, saying, "Excuse me, but I must get in here." The travelers jumped up and turned around. There, in front of them, was a tall skeleton with a scythe and a long, black cloak. "Who are you?" asked Burt. "Some call me the Grim Reaper, others call me Death, and some call me The End, but I like to be called Paul. Now please step back." As they did, Death waved his scythe over the body of Wooster and it slowly faded into nothingness. "Goodbye, now." said Paul and he was gone. Jeeves came back in again with a suitcase and a bowler hat on. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. I must go to find where Mr. Wooster came back to life at." Dodgers moved quickly, "Thanks, Jeeves for the vehicle." "Not at all, Mr. Dodgers." The travelers walked with Jeeves outside, and he pointed out their car. He then got in a car and drove off. Rabk didn't even wave. He was just staring at the car, which was a wooden wagon hooked up to a donkey with a kangaroo on its back. "That's our transportation?" asked Rabk. "Yup," said Dodgers as he hopped inside, "We don't need much." Rabk shook his head and got in, and off they went towards the mountain. After a couple hours of of riding down the road, a hissing noise sounded from behind them, and as the crew turned around to find the source of the sound, the back of the wagon blew up.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Philippines - Day 2

Saturday, November 13th, 2010;6:36pm (Philippines Time)

Today was a very fun. We woke up and had a breakfast of rice and chicken. After that, Miriam, my sister, Jacob, my cousin, and I went out into the rice field, where we got almost completely dirty, though we did get a lot of snails. My mom was pretty mad at us. We got back in time to change for the bible study hosted at our aunt and uncle's house. My uncle let me drive his Kuliglig, which is basically a two-stroke engine connected to wheels and a wagon. We drove the Kuliglig to pick up kids from around the town to go to the bible study. The bible study was bilingual and they sang songs and learned about Elijah the prophet. Afterwards, we gave the kids Kool-aid and lollipops. For lunch, we had the best fried fish that I have ever tasted. It was delicious. We then drove to see another bible study by the same teachers, but at a different place.

We did this to support their ministry, and we passed out more lollipops. After seeing this bible study, we went to our mom's old high school and met one of her old teachers and some more of our mom's relatives. After that, we came home, where I played with my cousins and found out that they like puzzle books. We had Lumpia for dinner. Lumpia is a food that is made of a meat that is rolled in a bread and is fried. That was also good.

The Philippines - Days 1

In November of 2010, my family went on a trip to the Philippines. The reason was partly to sight-see, by mostly to visit family. Half of my family lives in the Philippines, and I haven't seen any of them since I was 3, so I had a lot of catching up to do with them.

November 12th 2010; 4:14am (Philippines Time)

We are in Manila after flying through Hawaii. My ears are plugged from the last plane ride and I can only hear a little. We are about to fly to Cagayan and then drive to Abulug. That's about it.

November 12th 2010; 7:51pm (Philippines Time)

Today, we flew to Tuguegarao, where we me our uncle, two of our aunts, and one of our cousins. Then we drove to Abulug and met five more of our cousins, our most closely related aunt in the Philippines, and our uncle. We went out with our uncle to harvest coconuts and we caught frogs and snails in the rice field. We then had fresh coconut milk. The kids found that my older sister is afraid of spiders and went around chasing her while saying "Spider!" or "Lawalawa!" It was hilarious. I feel kind of sick, having a stuffed nose, plugged ears, and major jet-lag. I told my dad that if I could learn drive in Tuguegarao or Manila, I could drive anywhere. The lines on the street in these places are optional and almost completely ignored.

From a wedding to the end of the world

In a land full of jubilation and joy, there was much joy and jubilation. Under the new great mayor, Vladimir, the city of Rurik had become bountiful and full of gold, jewels, crops, and other little joys in life that aren't necessary but make you just a little bit happier. Near the end of Novemtober, a wedding was to be held at the local cathedral. This wedding was to be the first wedding between citizens of the city of Rurik and the city of As-minora. A woman of As-minora had been sent from her home town to marry one of the great officials of Rurik. At the cathedral where the wedding was to be held, there live a funny little priest named Finnilwicky. The great priest of As-minora had stepped aside, humbly, allowing Finnilwicky to perform the whole wedding ceremony. The wedding was going quite smoothly and everyone was happy until it happened. The door opened and a foreign traveler with armor and a spear came inside and slumped down in the back seat of the church. The whole crowd turned around and saw this strange man, not even wearing a tie, and showed their displeasure silently. Finnilwicky, himself, was also very displeased. His very, very clean church was now getting dirty at the hands of the traveler. Nonetheless, he continued the ceremony, but then the man started making a racket and started booing the couple to be wed. When the men in the church tried to get the man out, the man attacked them with his spear. The man broke up the whole ceremony and put all of the people except for the priest in the jail, which he had also overran. The priest fell to his knees and wept. What a terrible thing to happen on his first major wedding ceremony. Then the priest decided to go and give the strange traveler a good talking to, but when he went out to talk to that man, he found that the man had put all of the people of the town in jail. When the priest walked up to the traveler, the sky suddenly filled with clouds and lightning started hitting all tall, metallic objects. Then there was a huge whoosh, and the two looked to see a large wave coming directly at them. At the same time, an earthquake rumbled and split the land, leaving only the area where the two were standing in tact. The water from the wave filled in the gap that the earthquake had made. Then the world heated up a whole lot, leading to instantaneous desertification of all the land not already submerged by water. Then a huge blizzard came and froze all the water and then it started snowing. Then the sun went out and the moon started hurtling towards the earth. When the moon hit the earth, the plot of land that the priest and the traveler were standing on shot out into space and turned into an asteroid with an atmosphere, becoming the dwarf planet, New Earth, because the rest of the earth had been blown up, and the traveler and the priest had to live on the same asteroid for the rest of their lives.

Rabk - Part 17

Teatime in the Country
Rabk
Part 17

"Ah! Here we are!" said the Doctor happily as he ran around the console, flipping switches and pressing buttons. "The north road of the City! Off you go then. I can't keep you here." So out the travelers went, into the world. As they walked off from the blue box, a vworping sound came up from the box , and when the four turned around, the box was gone. "So we just go down that way?" asked Burt, pointing down the road. "Yup," said Dodgers confidently. "We need to go right down there." "What? Have you been here before?" asked Beowulf. "Sure I have. I have a friend that lives just down here." Burt look at Rabk with eyes that asked, "Of all the people we could have picked up...", but Rabk shrugged and kept walking. Soon, Dodgers led them to a large, early 19th century mansion. Dodgers walked right up to the front door and knocked. Burt leaned over to Rabk, "How could a lowly thief know people who live in this grand estate?"As Rabk shrugged, the door opened. Behind the the door was a tall, black-haired man with a continually amused look on his face. He looked down at Dodgers and said, "Ah... Mr. Dodgers..." Dodgers tipped his cap. "Jeeves." he responded. Jeeves gazed over at the others, and looked back at Dodgers. "Mr. Wooster was quite... upset... with you the last time you... left..." Dodgers shrugged, "Well, Jeeves--" "...With his car." Jeeves interrupted. The other travelers looked at Dodgers with questioning eyes. Dodgers shrugged at them and then looked at Jeeves. Despite his obvious disapproval, Jeeves allowed them in. He showed the travelers into a lounge and then left. Soon afterward, a thin man burst into the room. Dodgers stood up and took off his hat. "Dodgers, my friend, why must you be so youish?" Dodgers tried to speak, but the man continued, "Last time I let you in here, I thought you were clean, done with your stealing, but no! Now Aunt Petunia thinks that I stole her jewels! Me!" The man slumped down into a chair. Dodgers spoke, "Wooster, I'm terribly--" "And don't try to tell me I'm sorry," Wooster interrupted, "Cause I know you're not." Dodgers gave a devious smile, "You got me there, Wooster" Wooster scratched his forehead and sighed, "What are we going to do with you, Dodgers?" Soon, he noticed the other three and hopped right back up, "Oh, and I see you brought some friends, too! More kleptomaniacs, presumably!" "Actually," said Dodgers, "These are travelers, not thieves a--" "And you want me to host a dinner party for the weak and weary, do you?" "Actually, I was hoping you'd give us a car..." "A car?! What did you do with the last one you took? Eat it? Would you like some chips with that car, sir? Oh, yes and maybe some sauce on it for the looks! No, Dodgers, I can't afford it." "but you have, like, 10 of them!" "Yeah, well I won't have any once you're done with me! I just can't--" "Mr. Wooster," said Jeeves, who was at the door to the room with another man, "Mr. Teatime is hear to see you." If he was inspected more closely, the man next had an eye that was completely black. Wooster looked at Teatime without surprise. "Oh, you again, Teatime?" he said, and with that, he made a mad dash for the other door. Teatime was right behind him with a knife. As the commotion went on with furniture being overturned and gentlemanly knick-knacks were smashed, Jeeves set out some scones and tea. Dodgers whispered something into Jeeves's ear. Jeeves nodded and left the room. Dodgers started at the tea. The other travelers followed his example, and they had tea in the lounge as Wooster flew across the desk behind them. After a while, Jeeves reappeared and said to Dodgers, "Your vehicle is ready, sir."

College Road Trip -Days 3 & 4

On days two and three of the College Road Trip were the first official days of seeing colleges. We saw UC San Diego and UC Irvine.

Monday, July 19, 2010; 7:18pm

We finally made it to one of the colleges on our list of colleges to go to. We made it to UC San Diego. UC Merced is puny compared to UC San Diego. I liked the fact that UC San Diego is broken into 6 different colleges based on your wants for your classes. I also liked the Geisel Library, the buildings, and the fact that you can sign up for a radio slot. We went to a restaurant called Currants and then drove down to Irvine. Too bad we are miss Comic Con by only one week

Tuesday, July 20, 2010; 8:38pm

Today we made our way to UC Irvine. UC Irvine is one of the most fun colleges because it has an Ant Eater as its mascot. It had a nice eating area out behind the student center. It also had a nice fine arts area which was design by the architect of the Vietnam Memorial. My dad can still remember where the Starbucks was located. We also started heading towards Santa Barbara. On our way, we stopped at one of the friends of our family on our mother's side. We met them, saw there humongous garden, and then went to dinner with them. It was a long, but fun day.

Another Story of a Young Girl

Happy Birthday, once again, to my little sister Miriam. :^)

There was once a young girl. She had a mom, a dad, a brother, and a sister. This young girl loved playing with LEGOs. She loved them so much that she got all the LEGOs in the world and made a giant tower to the moon. When she made it to the moon, she looked around from her spot on the top of the LEGO tower. There in front of her was an alien who shot her LEGO tower into a million pieces. She fell and fell, and kept falling until her pet squirrel, who happened to fly, caught her and landed her down in Bolivia, where she spent five years eating JELLO. Then her pet mole came to her and told her that he had dug a hole to China. They then went to China to find that all the Terracotta warriors had come to life because of the young girl's sister. The girl's father then fell out of the sky right in front of her. The girl then threw her father into the hole to Bolivia. As she walked along, she found a giant red button, and she pressed it, which blew up every Terracotta soldier that there was. An angry guy with a wrench then came up to her and hit her on the head. When she woke up, she was under the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House. When she walked out the door of the Bedroom, everybody thought she was a terrorist, but she stopped them with her 'La Jolla' ninja skills. She then walked to Nebraska and found a giant pile of LEGOs which she played with for the rest of eternity.

THE END

College Road Trip -Days 1 & 2

From the 17th to the 23rd of July of this year, my family and I went on a road trip to see some of the colleges on the list of colleges my sister wanted to go to. The first two days were the days that we spent driving from Sacramento to San Diego.

Saturday, July 17, 2010; 8:51pm

We are in Bakersfield, California on Day 1 of my older sister's college road trip. Today we are just driving down, but we have already starting to see colleges. We saw UC Merced as we drove and gave it a quick walk-through. It is on a pretty plot of land and looks somewhat like Folsom Lake College, but with modern art and a small river around the outside of it. Unfortunately, it is in the middle of nowhere.

Sunday, July 18, 201o; 9:34pm

We are on Day 2 of the college road trip, but we saw no colleges today. After leaving Bakersfield, we went down to San Diego, but we went through the Mojave Desert, where we saw nothing but trains, windmills, and Joshua Trees. (There was seriously nothing but shrubs and a whole bunch of windmills out there in the desert. It was a very good time to just listen to music or watch a movie. My mom was the only one really interested in the desert because she loved the Joshua Trees.)

Rabk - Part 16

Rabk
A New Allie
Part 16

Rabk looked around frantically for a way out, but there was no exit, for the police mob was in the way of them and the door. "Now" said one of the policemen, "Just come quietly, or we'll have to do this the hard way." The four of them put their hands in the air. As some of the policemen started moving forward to handcuff them, a large blue wave rippled through the air, and all of the policemen fell over, revealing a man with spiked brown hair and a brown trench coat peeking through the door. "Ah!" he said, happily. "Sorry about that. These men were tracking me, but somehow got the scent wrong. Anyway, the if the picked up my scent, the master would have programed them to re-lock their tracers onto me." "But you killed them!" Burt exclaimed in disapproval with a small hint of relief. "Nah!" said the man, walking up to one of the policemen. He picked up one of the limp bodies and ripped its face off to reveal a metal face underneath. "See?" said the man, "Simply androids. No harm done." "What in the world was that blue light, and why didn't it effect us?" asked Rabk. The odd man pulled out a small, bomb-like device from his pocket. "Electromagnetic pulser. Stops anything robotic dead in its tracks." As they spoke, a few creatures floated up to the level of the rooftop. They looked like giant salt-and-pepper shakers with a camera, a whisk, and a plunger sticking out of them.. One of them started speaking in a electronic and metallic voice. "Identified as the Doctor, enemy of the Daleks! Exterminate! Exterminate!" "Oh!" yelled the man, who was apparently the Doctor, "Gotta go!" As he ran off, he turned around and said, "Hey, you lot! Do yourselves a favor and get over here!" Wanting to get away from the evil salt shakers, the four of them ran after the Doctor without question. As they turned a bend, they saw the doctor run into a small blue box big enough to hold only two or three people. "We ain't gonna all fit in there!" yelled the thief who had given Burt the diamond, but they kept running, and one by one they all made it in. When the thief had closed the door, he turned around to find a great expanse of space within the box. "Well, that's new," said Beowulf, in an amused way. The Doctor looked at them. "Oh! Yeah, its bigger on the inside then the outside. Do you like it?" he asked, but then he kept on talking, "Where do you want to go?" "Is there any chance that you could bring us to the large mountain in the center of the mountain range?" The Doctor looked at him. "What, the wise man's mountain?" Rabk nodded. "I can't" said the Doctor, "with Daleks in the city, it is no longer safe, so I will have to stay here, but I will bring you to the road leading out of the city to the mountain. Rabk sighed and slowly agreed. "Hey, Rabk!" said Beowulf, "Come over here." Rabk went over. "Rabk, this kid wants to come with us to get you back. "Sure, I don't care," said Rabk dully. "What's your name?" The kid tipped his hat. "Dodgers. The Artful Dodgers."

Rabk -Part 15

Rabk
The New Journey
PART 15

"What?" yelled Rabk. "You heard me." said the Librarian quite plainly, "There is no known way out of this world." Rabk kicked at the ground angrily, making two small numbered sack people in hoods fly across the room. Beowulf watched them, amused, as they hit the wall, and then he looked up at Rabk with disappointment. "Wow, Rabk. Are you seriously going to give up that easily?" "Well what am I supposed to do?" muttered Rabk, looking down. "Well, you could start by doing this," replied Beowulf, turning to the Librarian. "Ma'am, can you think of anyone who might know of an unproven way to get out?" Rabk looked up at the Librarian, hopefully. The Librarian stared at the ceiling in thought. "Well..." she said, doubtfully. Rabk was immediately in her face, saying "Yes? What? Can you think of anything?" After pushing Rabk away, she said "There is one man who might know about a way out." "Who is it?" Who?" said Rabk, full of excitement. The Librarian went to the window, followed by Rabk, Beowulf, and Burt. The librarian pointed to a group of mountains outside the city. In the center of the mountain range was the largest mountain, at least twice as large as any other mountain there. "On that tall mountain lives a very odd and mysterious man, known as...," The Librarian looked at them momentously, "The wise man." Burt rolled his eyes. "Well, that's a surprise." Librarian looked at him with her own surprise showing on her face. "Oh, don't doubt the him!" she said, "Many have come back inspired!" Rabk smiled and picked up his bag. "Well, then," he said, "We have no time to waste." So off Rabk went, with Beowulf and Burt trailing behind him, through the city. As the travelers walked down the city's main street, a a teenager ran past them, shoving something into Burt's hands, then went on running. Rabk and Beowulf turned and looked at the object. It was a small, but brilliantly pink stone. "What is it?" asked Burt. "I don't know," said Rabk, "But I think I see a pink cat in it." "That's great," said Beowulf indifferently, "But I think I see something worse." Rabk and Burt turned around to see what looked like a mob of every police force on the face of the planet running towards them. "We better go," said Beowulf, who turned and ran after the boy who had given them the stone. Burt and Rabk followed behind. "Why are we following him?" asked Burt as they ran. Beowulf yelled back to him, "He knows this city better than we do, he can show us how to get away." Soon, the boy veered off of the main road and into the city alleyways. There happened to be plenty of fat cats in these alleys, and they were all eating birds. After turning into the absolutely smallest street possible, the boy entered an old apartment complex. Up the stairs the boy went, followed by the travelers, and the police mob farther behind. When the boy made it to the roof, he turned around and yelled to Beowulf, "Why did you have to follow me?" Beowulf yelled back, "Why did you hand us the jewel. The boy tried to answer, but was topped by the mob of police breaking through the door. The travelers and the thief were surrounded with no where to go.

To Be Continued...

Rabk -Part 14

Rabk
Part 14
The Library

Burt jumped back and let out a yelp. "Aah!" he exclaimed, "Why is that thing not falling on us?" Beowulf pointed. "look for yourself. With all the books, the Library had to be very tall, and it became so tall, that it leaned over and the top of it is resting on the ground somewhere else, balancing the middle right on top of us." Rabk turned to thank the giant turtles that had helped them, but when he turned, they were not there. Rabk looked around for a moment, then shrugged and turned towards where the entrance of the Library should have been. "Let's get going," he said to the others, so off they went, walking off to the Library. When they got to the end of the Library, they found that they had gone to the wrong side of it, and that they were at the ceiling instead of the base. The ceiling had made a little crater where it had landed, but nobody in the city seemed to care. When the travelers made it to the other side of the Library, the went into the Library and found and extremely old man sitting at a desk. Beowulf went up to him, "Where can we find the Librarian?" he asked. The old man leaned back, startled, "Can I help you?" he said. "Yes, can you tell us where the librarian is?" "Would you like some tea?" "No, where is the Librarian?" "Oh! The Librarian!" said the old man with a chuckle, "She's on floor 433. You can take the elevator, but mind you, its rather fast." After thanking the man, the three travelers hopped into the elevator and went up, and the old man was right, the elevator was exceedingly fast. After the elevator reached floor 212, the elevator mad a turn, and was going sideways, making the three of them fall onto the door of the elevator. Before the three could get up, the elevator came to a sudden stop, and the doors opened beneath them. The three of them looked down at what they would fall on for a second, and then they fell onto a heap of books. Upon looking around them, they found mountains of books piled up as well as overturned book shelves. Near one edge of the room, there were books flying into one of the piles. The three climbed over there and found an old lady, digging up books. Burt cleared his throat, and the old lady looked up. "Oh!" she said as she stuck her shovel into the books and leaned on it. "How can I help you, boys?" Beowulf stepped forward. "Well, you see, this man here," he said pointing to Rabk, "he came through from the real world and is trying to get back." The old lady stepped back in surprise. "The real world?" She walked forward and shook Rabk's hand firmly. "Fascinating! Pleased to meet you! And your name is..." "Rabk, ma'am" The lady pulled out a huge library catalog. "Rabk... Rabk..." she said as she flipped through it, " Robinson Crusoe... Robin Hood... Remy... Ah! Rabk! Oh." She looked up at Rabk. "I'm sorry, Rabk, but you can't see your book. It's not done yet." "I don't care about seeing it, lady." Rabk said angrily. "I want to know how I can get back." "Get back?" she asked "To the real world?" Rabk nodded. "Oh there's no way to do that.

To be Continued...

Strange Dream

The Giant Blue Man, the Fat Bald Man, and I

Last night, I had one of the strangest dreams that I have ever had. In my dream, I was in my house with my dad, a lady, a fat, bald man, and a man with a mustache. We were all sitting down, but suddenly we all stood up and went to look out the window. Outside, there stood a giant man with a gas mask and a bright blue suit. This man was at least a hundred feet tall. I went outside and looked at the man closer. After looking at him, I tripped and tried running back inside. The giant then turned towards my house, and I knew he was going to destroy the house, so I ran into our pantry, where I found the fat, bald man eating some food. I told him that we could live in the pantry with food forever, but he said that we couldn't because then we would have to be vegans. I then ran out of the pantry, and told all the other people to get inside the pantry because the giant was ripping apart our house, but as they ran, the giant grabbed my dad and ate him. After the woman and the man with the mustache were inside, I went inside and closed the door behind me to find that the pantry had turned into a multi-story warehouse. The giant started to break into the warehouse-pantry. I was sincerely frightened, so the four remaining people, including me, ran and hid. When the giant broke through the roof, the, the first person he found was the man with the mustache, so he ate that man, and while the giant was breaking apart the walls of the warehouse, something happened to me, so that no one acknowledged me anymore. I can only assume that I got eaten, because all I did after that was watch the lady and the bald man hide. Then soon afterward, the giant fell over and the two remaining people found that he was a giant robot. They then found an airplane in the warehouse and flew it to New York, which was being attacked by a giant robot, like my house, but the robot attacking New York was a giant yellow duck that dropped bowling balls on everything bellow it. I woke up after that. It was a very strange dream.

(The Pictures are completely random)

Rabk -Part 13

Forest Battle
Rabk - Part 13

"Now, boy," said Hook, his gun still pointed at Rabk's face. "Where is Peter?" Rabk rolled his eyes. "Don't you get the fact that I don't know where Peter is or who he is?" "Don't you get the fact that I have twenty men ready to shoot you if you don't tell me where Peter is?" Beowulf raised his hand like a shy schoolchild. "OK, I'm sure there is a better way of handling this situation." Hook turned and pointed his pistol at Beowulf. "Quiet, you! I'll deal with your predicament after I'm finished with my current patient." Taking the opportunity of having Hook's head turned, Rabk drew his sword and hit Hook on the head with it. As Hook, once again, fell unconscious, Rabk grabbed him and held Hook in front of himself. All Hook's men had their guns turned towards Rabk now. "Put down your weapons!" yelled Rabk, putting his sword to Hook's neck, "Or I'll kill him!" The surprised men slowly put their guns to the ground and put their hands in the air. Rabk looked at Burt and Beowulf and nodded. All three ran off trough the hoard of pirates, leaving Hook to fall to the ground. The pirates immediately grabbed their guns and shot after the three travellers. "You better have a plan!" yelled Beowulf. "Nonsense," replied Rabk, "People in books always make daring escapes!" "Sorry to interrupt," put in Burt, "But those pirates don't care about daring escapes, and now their chasing us!" After a couple minutes of running and letting Rabk think, Beowulf yelled at him, "Well?" Rabk swallowed and replied, "We'll just keep running and hope for a miracle!" "Oh, so heroic!" said Beowulf, rolling his eyes. Suddenly, four giant turtles and a green thing hopped out of the forest trees. The four turtles were just in ninja gear and started fighting the pirates off. Whenever they hit someone, a giant onomatopoeia in all-caps appeared in the sky. All the green thing did was get up, brush himself off and look at them. He had only one large eye in the middle of his head. He waved and said "Hi! I'm Mike Wazowski!" Then the green thing ran off. Rabk didn't notice the green thing, though, he just smiled and stared at the turtles. He had watched them on TV when he was a child. After the last of the pirates ran off, the turtles turned and said "Cowabunga, dude!" Beowulf looked at them in a strange way. "And who are you?" "Dude!" responded one of the turtles, "We're teenage, mutant, and ninjas! What do you think? And what are you doing here dudes?" "We are trying to find the library." said Burt cautiously. "Dude!" said another turtle, "Your so close to it! C'mon! We'll bring you there!" So off they group went, following the turtles, and soon, the forest disappeared and a city appeared. Suddenly, on a small street, the turtles stopped. "Here we are, dudes!" "What?" said Burt, looking at the small, pink cottage they had stopped next to. "This is the great library? The one that holds every book ever written?" Beowulf, looking up, said "Burt, I think that we are under the library. Burt looked up and found a skyscraper, hovering sideways above their heads.

To Be Continued.........

Youth at Work

Youth Group Work Day

Today was the last official work day for my youth group. So far, we have had three work days over the past two weeks. Our youth group is having a missions trip to Shonto, Arizona, on an Indian Reservation, where we help people there to fix, build, and paint buildings down there. To prepare for the trip, we were required to spend at least one day helping to work at our church. Our job was to clear the cut down all the weeds in the 2 and 1/2 acres behind our church within the three 4 hour periods we had to work on it. To do this, we had three main jobs assigned to us. The first job was to weed-whack, or cut down the weeds. We did this with the church owned weed-whackers, some of which didn't even work. The second job was to rake all the weeds cut down into piles, so that the third group could get all the weeds into bags. Three days we worked, and although we did not accomplish our goal of cutting down all the weeds, we did very good for a small group of teenagers with a few weed-whackers that hardly worked.We will probably have some more work days to finish the job, but we will probably only need 1 or 2 more days before it is finished.

A Balloon for Your Viewing Pleasure

Stuffed Give-Aways

Giving Away our Stuffed Animals

Today, my older sister and I decided that we would give away some of our stuffed animals that we played with as children. We are still keeping some of the stuffed animals, but giving away the ones we have no sentimental attachment for. Bring out all these stuffed animals reminded us of our life as young children. We found our first stuffed animals, three dogs. My older sister has Peanuts, a stuffed dog with half its nose bitten off from when my sister tried to get Jello of its nose, and I have Apples, a dog with no nose because I pulled it off when trying to clean some smoothie off of it, and Chuckles, a dog who had a nose that twisted and that we said needed pills to keep him from laughing. These three dogs were the first three that we decided not to give away. We were also reminded on how we used to always play with them together. Each 'guy' animal had a wife, 'girl', animal. Some of our matches for animals were just strange. We had a snake matched up with a skunk, and a mouse matched up with a spider, but it was always so fun. We found the sunglasses that were put on the bad guys of the day and that sometimes were the bad guys by themselves. We also remembered how we used to tie a rope around each other's waist and climb down the edge of the staircase to get a stuffed animal that had fallen on the ledge between the staircases. We also used to tie a rope to a stuffed animal we didn't like and toss it over the edge of the staircase to keep our sister from coming up. It would distract her, and keep her down there because we would put it just outside of her reach, where she was unable to get it, but was also thought that if she kept reaching, she would get it. The last memory I had was of the first time when my older sister said that she wouldn't play with the stuffed animals with me. I was so sad. After she stopped playing with me, my stuffed animals were never played with each other again, but I used them to make wars. Although I remember sad memories, I also remembered good memories, which make me very happy, and now, with the stuffed animals given away, some other children will be able to create their own good memories.

A Poem Written

Last week, we read a poem in English Class that personified eggs. We then were given the assignment to personify some non-human or inanimate object and give this object thoughts and feelings. I got a 20/20 on this assignment. Enjoy!


The Life of A Pillow

By Brahms Lewis

Like an appliance, the pillow sits,

Waiting to be used,

But like a servant, the pillow hopes

It will not be abused.

On the bed, the pillow lies,

Dreading the nights to come,

For that is when the master comes,

Who thinks the pillow’s dumb.

When down the man lies on the pillow,

The servant gets to work,

Holding the master’s head up high,

Massaging the aches that lurk.

Like an oxen at the plow,

The pillow’s work is hard,

Keeping up a head so large,

Which smells of stale lard,

But when the rooster crows again,

It is a joyful bell,

For the head will rise again,

And the pillow, again, is well.

East Coast - Day 11, 12, & 13

This part of my travel journal is about our last actual sight-seeing day and our two days on our way home.

Tues. June 6, 2006; 9:45pm (East Coast Time) -
We went to the Crayola factory in Easton today. We made clay figures. My mom made a snake, my dad made an Octopus, Miriam made a yo-yo, and Shannon made two flowers and a plumb which she mixed up and made a ball out of it. I made a lasso, a flat crab, and a snail. Miriam got to stuffed crayons today. [I left a lot out of the whole day. The day was actually very interesting. We saw a model of a canal and we saw how canals worked. I also saw the world's longest blue crayon. I also had my first true understanding of stop-motion animation here. If you want to see some work that came out of this understanding, go to my YouTube channel {www.youtube.com/rabkdoomfish}.]

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; 2:30pm (East Coast Time) -
We are waiting for our airplane home. I didn't want to go home. I had a very good time in the East Coast.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Time Unknown -
I do not know what time it is. I am on the airplane. I met a man with no legs named George. I got a whole can of ginger ale!

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Time Unknown -
I saw St. Louis! [Please remember that I was 10 at the time and that my comments might be a little like a ten year-old's comments. We saw St. Louis from the sky. The pilot pointed it out to us.]

Thursday, June 8, 2006; 9:15am (West Coast Time) -
We are back home in El Dorado Hills. It feels so good that we are back home.

East Coast - Days 9 & 10

Sunday, June 4, 2006; 9:16pm (East Coast Time) -

We had a free day today. My mom is truing to make herself think she is checked into The Four Seasons Hotel [A fancy restaurant in Philadelphia]. We saw a quarter glued to the sidewalk. We also saw a cockroach. We saw the original 'Thinker'.

Monday, June 5, 2006; 9:21pm (East Coast Time) -

We went to D.C. today. We saw the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial [From the top of the Washington Monument], the White House, ducks, geese, and squirrels. My dad has gotten 3 Starbucks mugs on this trip: Philadelphia, New York, and D.C. A man said he liked my Princeton University shirt. I played the Revolution Scenario of Civ4.

East Coast - Day 7 & 8

Friday, June 2, 2006; 3:10pm (East Coast Time)
We went to the Barnes Foundation in Merino today. The most interesting picture I saw was of a lady who looked like a chicken and had some food that looked like a fried chicken leg and two chicken nuggets [When you are 10, you describe something as you see it]. There was also a picture that looked as if it was drawn by a kid. We went to the Merion Botanical Gardens and skipped rocks. On the train ride back, two people got into a fight. I heard some words I didn't want to hear.

Saturday, June 3, 2006; 10:34pm (East Coast Time)
We went to Valley Forge today. It was raining a lot. We ate on the grass next to a parking lot. I will destroy the environment by introducing a foreign species, the apple tree [I left my apple seeds on the ground there]. I went across the street while the rest of the family was eating and took a picture. A van was waiting for me to take the picture. After I took it, I signaled to him to go. I hurt my arm. I picked up a blade of grass. I ran a lot. It was all my dad's fault that my mom freaked out. He made us go a different way to the Valley Forge Visitor Center and we had to go through the grass. Many ticks got on us and my mom freaked out. At the store, Miriam got a little army kit. We got Marcus a camp cup. My Dad got a book, I got a Valley Forge license plate, and we got Grandpa a Valley Forge golf ball. I tried squid today. Miriam got a tick with its head stuck in her head! I am going to stop writing.

East Coast - Day 5 & 6

After leaving the East Coast Lewis's house, my family went to Philadelphia, which we used as our base for going to all the other major cities in the area.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006; 10:51pm (East Coast Time)
We went to New York today. We had a lot of trouble with trains. We didn't go to H&H Bagels, but someday I will. I still remember where it is: on W46 st. and 11th st. We saw Tarzan and went to the top of the Empire State Building. Oh Ya! [I seriously put that in my journal. Remember that I was 10 at the time.] We got to go to a good restaurant called Cafe Duke. We had a ferry boat ride and saw Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the USS Intrepid, and the Brooklyn Bridge. It's tome for me to go to bed now, but I got to tell you that my dad got a New York mug for his Starbucks collection.

Thursday, June 1, 2006; 11:14am (East Coast Time)
We have a free day today. We got the groceries we ordered. We are going to go shopping today. We are also going to go to a chocolate buffet today. I am pretty bored right now.

Thursday, June 1, 2006; 10:48pm (East Coast Time)
I am just about to go to bed. We went to the Ritz Carlton and had a chocolate buffet. It was very good. It is on the Avenue of Art. I will go there some other time when I am older. I only have three more pairs of underwear [I was only 10 years old]. I got a lot of books to read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court, the Tale of Two Cities, and The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. We are going to the Barnes Foundation tomorrow. I keep forgetting what the name is, but I remember right now. It is a place with impressionist art. We went and saw a place with pieces of many board games. My older sister and I had evil thoughts about what might happen if the Statue of William Penn was struck by lightning. There was lightning at night. Good night for now!
P.S. - I found a quarter in a vending machine!

East Coast - Day 3 & 4

On Monday, May 29, 2006, I was probably supposed to journal, but I didn't, so there is no entry for that day. In brief, we went to the Delaware River and Princeton University that day. That is a very short description, but it works.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006; 3:06pm (East Coast Time)
We had to leave the East Coast Lewis's. We are in Philadelphia now. We went to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell center, the Independence Visitor Center, the Constitution Center, and the U.S. Mint. We also went to Reading Terminal Market where we had Philly Cheese steaks.In the Constitution Visitor Center, we watched an awesome show called 'Freedom Rising'. Wherever we went, we ran into kids on field trips. It was so annoying. In the Constitution Center, they made me go all the way to the end of the line in the gift shop. We met a nice lady named Mary in the Reading Terminal Market. She showed us the best places to get different things. Swallowed some gum that will stay in me until 2013, when I am 17 years old! [Remember that I was 10 years old at the time].

East Coast - Day 1 & 2

In 2006, my family and I went to the East Coast of the United States on vacation. My mother said to bring a journal because that is how many people became famous. Although I am never able to keep up a journal at home, I am able to keep a journal when we are away on trips. It may be some part of my way of thinking, but it is how I function, so here is my journal from the point of view of me on the East Coast. I hope you enjoy!

Saturday, May 27, 2006; 6:24pm (California Time [I think])-
I am in the airport. I went through the metal detector and it went off. I had to take off my belt and put it on the conveyor belt. It was funny to see a belt go through one of them [Remember that I was ten years old at the time]. I'm very bored.

Saturday, May 27, 2006; 9:40pm (California Time [I still think])-
We are waiting for our plane. I am still bored. I had a huge hamburger for dinner.

Sunday, May 28, 2006; 9:15am (East Coast Time [I am sure this time])-
We are in the Trenton train station and are getting tickets. We are going to Princeton to see Uncle David, Aunt Saskia, and our cousins. We got Uncle David Pete's Coffee. I'm kinda [actual word used] and my leg hurts a bit.

Sunday, May 28, 2006; 9:49pm (East Coast Time)-
We had a good day today. We had a big meal for lunch. Aunt Saskia even fried french fries. We walked a lot and I got a Princeton T-shirt. We got candy at Ricky's Candy, Cones, and Chaos. I had a drink with no sugar or caffeine [I have no idea why I wrote that]. I am not sleepy, but I have to go to bed. I'm not that bored. I like it here at the East Coast Lewis's. I am sleeping in D.J.'s [My cousin's] room. Shannon is sleeping in the tent in the basement with Juliana [I don't remember where they slept now. Juliana is my other cousin, older than D.J.] I'm going to go to bed now.

Interesting Rain

When a person lives in a place like El Dorado Hills, you don't really get to experience extreme weather, but this week has been one of the craziest weather weeks that I have ever experienced here. On the this last Monday, the 26th, the weather seemed nice and normal. Nothing new, just sun and sky, but the next day, there was a dramatic change in weather. From the nice, sunny Monday, there came a dreary, wet, and rainy Tuesday. Even though I thought that the rain was bad enough, the weather got worse. During lunch that day, I sat happily in a classroom, free from the wetness of the rain, but I didn't know what the bell for 6th period would bring. When the bell rang, me and a friend, as usual. went out the classroom's back door into the auto shop garage. Because the garage doors were open, I could hear the tapping of the rain on the cars parked outside. Although I expected this, I thought that the rain was a little loud. When my friend and I were under the awning, my suspicions of hard rain were confirmed when I saw a small creek running down into the garage. Unfortunately, my 6th period classroom was on the other side of the school. I went into the rain and was immediately soaked by the rain. Ignorantly, my friend and I didn't run to our next class, but just walked. That was a huge mistake. The upper parking lot, which we had to walk through, was like a small pond, and when we had to go down from the upper parking lot, we had to go down a set of stairs, which actually seemed more like a waterfall. There was a wall of water at the edge of the roof on each building. My 6th period teacher was standing under the awning watching his class come in from the rain. He had to let us take off our shoes and drop all our stuff in a pile near the back of the classroom. The rest of this week was on and off rain and sun, but I still find stuff at the bottom of my backpack that are still wet.

The Lewis' Weekly Bible Verse

The Weekly Lewis' Memory Verse for this week should actually be called The Weekly Lewis' Memory Verses because this section is more than 1 verse long, but this verse struck me this week.

Mark 12:41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on."

The Hog, the Frog, the Dog, the Bog, Zog, and the Squirrel!

By Brahms Lewis

There was once a frog

Whose name was Pog.

He was the color

Of greenish fog.

There was Pog,

On a Log,

But as he sat,

There came a dog

His name was Clog.

He liked to Blog,

And so he sat

On Pog's Log.

Then came a Hog

Whose name was Gog,

So they decided
To go for a jog.

So Pog the Frog

And Clog the Dog

Went to run with

Gog the Hog.

On this jog

They found a bog.

An evil place,

The Bog of Flog.

In the Bog,

The Bog of Flog,

There lived a man

Whose name was Zog.

The three found Zog

In the Fog.

He attacked them

With a Log.

But then Pog

Picked up the Hog

and threw him at

the man called Zog.

Then off ran Zog

Into the Fog,

But from the bog

came a squirrel!

When Pog, and Clog

and Gog the Hog
Saw the squirrel,

They turned him down.

For unlike Clog

and Pog and Gog,

rhymith not

the name of the squirrel!

The Perfect Teacher

Almost everyone who has gone through school has a teacher or coach that they admire. Notice how I said, “Almost everyone…” I personally do not have a teacher or coach that I admire, but if you mix up a bunch of teachers I have had, you can find my perfect teacher. My perfect teacher, most importantly, does not crack down on students and only have them do work. Instead, he should care about a student’s life outside of school. He should also get to know the students and help kids who need help and let kids who are ahead of the current teachings to go a bit farther in the book. This can help people learn at their own pace, not too fast and not too slow. He should get to know the kids so that they see him as an acquaintance or a friend instead of an evil ogre from the deep who came out of the darkness to enslave us for two hours minutes every day so we can learn and be prepared for our doomed futures (Note that this is not personal, but a very detailed and descriptive metaphor.). Good teachers have no effect on my attitude because I always try to have a positive outlook on life, and always try to be happy. A good teacher should be interesting, help kids who are falling behind, and let kids go forward and advance ahead of class.
A good teacher must be interesting. Some teachers can be funny to be interesting, but if you’re not, don’t try (It’s not something you can learn). You can also make your subject interesting. Some teachers may say, “How do you make Math or Language Arts interesting?” If you are one of these teachers, try making fun study strategies you can do in class, such as Trivia or Jeopardy. If that’s not your style, you can assign cool projects like making 3-D geometric shapes for math and making a scene from a book in a shoebox. Teachers can also assign kids to read books that are at their reading level, but also books that they will enjoy. This type of work is probably going to make kids more relaxed, instead of making them tense and thinking, “Oh no! Ten hours of slave labor from the textbook!” (This is not a personal comment.) When the kids are less tense, the classroom atmosphere will be less tense, which makes it a better working environment.
A good teacher also helps students who are falling behind in class. A teacher could think, “We will get through the book. We won’t slow down, stop, or review, and I don’t care if my students get Fs.” (This is not a personal comment) A good teacher doesn’t think this; they would help kids and slow down for them. If a teacher does this, the students she helps will respect her, and actually, this is what a teacher should do, because these student’s grades on the Star Test will reflect on how well the teacher taught them. The kids in class will be happier because they know that if the don’t understand something, the teacher will help them keep up with the rest of the students.

Rabk - Part 12

The Obligatory Rescue Chapter
Part 12
Rabk



At this point in the story, Rabk and Beowulf have been fighting a rather large spider. Unfortunately, as in all stories with rather large spiders, they are too strong for the hero. Rabk, at the moment, has a rather large spider leg on his stomach and has the mouth of a rather large spider inches from his head, but we will stop the story and continue it in a short while. In most stories, characters would have their lives flashing before their eyes, but because Rabk is not a normal fictional character, all he thought was, "Those are some large fangs.", but Beowulf, being a normal fiction hero, saw Rabk's life flash before his eyes, which Beowulf thought was rather odd. The molds on the cave walls were not thinking anything at the moment. The spider was thinking nothing but 'FOOD!' At this point in stories with large spiders, a rather short person would come into the cave with a light, a sword, and no shoes on, and would scare the monster away, or a crazy, self-guided, flying car would come and roll over the spider, but that does not happen in this story, and we will get back to what does happen now. As the spider lunged to eat Rabk and Rabk thought about large fangs, a machine gun fired and the spider backed up and started twitching, and soon ran off. Rabk stayed lying down, and took many deep breathes. Beowulf stood up and leaned against the wall, and rubbed his head with a face full of pain. Seeing Rabk's life story was a very painful experience. Rabk, after about five minutes, looks up to see his savior, and finds a man with a beard and blue camouflage on holding a machine gun. "Who is that?" asked Rabk. Beowulf looked up, still rubbing his head. "I don't know." he said, "but that beard looks very familiar." "I know!" responded Rabk, "But I can't put a pin in exactly who's beard it is." Rabk and Beowulf spend about ten more minutes figuring out who's beard it is. In the mean time, I'm going to describe the beard. The beard was brown with a small bit of blond in it. It was about six inches long from the chin to the end, and the beard was very scruffy and had a few hairs just sticking out of it. Finally, Rabk and Beowulf figured out who's beard it was. "It's Bert's beard!" said Rabk happily. After having the normal greetings, Rabk asks "What are you doing here, Bert?" Bert frowned and said "I thought it would be more interesting to follow you than to guard Atlantis. I just have to scrutinize every fish that passes by." "Well, c'mon then!" said Beowulf happily, and they walked down the path. Soon, they found the end of the cave, and they all cheered. They ran towards the light, but came to a halt as they exited the cave. A pistol was pointed at each of their heads. Rabk slowly looked up from the barrel of the pistol to see who was holding it. He found Captain Hook on the other side of the gun. "We meet again, boy. I have a bone to pick with you."