1. I was mesmerized when I saw this optical illusion.

-How to see Jesus; Concentrate on the four dots in the middle for about 30 seconds. Then close your eyes. The image will be blurry but keep your eyes closed for at least 30 seconds. Leave a comment if you see Jesus :]

2. The night the prom came, every boy and girl were dressed impeccably from top to bottom; wearing shimmering dresses, well-ironed tux, and neatly-done hair.

3. After watching the brutal murder of my best friend, I was petrified with fear seeing her little finger twitch for the last time.

4. My eyes were burnt and hot, everything suddenly blurry as his image shrunk slowly away after I tried to dissuade him from leaving.

5. The crowd was buzzing; some cheering her name, some holding up big signs, some singing her songs. It was chaotic, but we were all here to see her.

6. My Dad negotiated an important business deal with the other chefs from the state.

7. Skimming through my glass shelf of trophies, I held up the newest one, looking at my reflection on the golden surface as I grinned at my latest acquisition.

8. The press corps gathered together to summarize the whole incident that just happened in a farm on the outskirts of town.

9. I played with the one of the aps on my Dad's iPhone, where a cat would be mimicking whatever I said.

10. Looking down on the coffin before it was closed, there was a long silence just to commemorate the dog that had been with us for 17 years.

Make Judgements - How does Don Anselmo's sense of duty and honor conflict with the narrator's? Who is right? On what basis can you make that decision?

I think that Don Anselmo is right. The reason for that is because firstly, the narrator asked to buy the land, but he never went into details about what he was about to buy. Therefore if there was any fault, it would be his for not inquiring the properties of the land or about the land itself, for he only talked about doubling the price of the land and trying to convince Don Anselmo to take the option. Secondly, Don Anselmo had a sense of duty and honor because the trees were not his, so if he did sell them because it was on his land, he would lose his duty of keeping the trees there for his descendants, which will make him a not very honorable man, and we did not know that until the very end when he explained about how his mother and himself had planted a tree for a child, and how the orchard belonged to the children of the village. The narrator never asked of the trees, so there was no reason for Don Anselmo to answer it, for it did not belong to him anyway. So overall, Don Anselmo was right for not saying what he could have said at the beginning.


-xoxo-

1. We're always fighting over the clothes we think are cute, but since we're best friends we both come down to a negotiation before the friendship turns into nothing.

2. The grands of sand on Long Beach are innumerable.

3. The United States of America has lots of states, in which all has boundaries to claim their own property.

4. We are the modern descendants of monkeys.

1. I squeezed through the crowd as my heart thumped louder with each beat. When I got there, people we're scattering away from the dead body; the commotion was over.

2. The zig-zagged lines across the screen started to turn straight with a beeping sound that was so earsplitting, it might've cracked the nearby window. The test foundered and the person was not with us anymore.

3. I slowly stepped into the room; clothes were dumped on the floor, perfume bottles dropped and broken, the furniture all crooked. My heart sank just looking at the ruin.

4. The land was quiet and calm after a long day of hard rain, and sea surrounding the island was inert.

Make Judgements - Do you think Terry made the right decision about questioning his father on his experiences in Vietnam? Why or why not?

I think Terry made the right decision because without knowing the reason why his father was acting strange, Terry would still have that feeling of embarrassment. Understanding what his father went through made him feel empathetic for his father, and that is important because it is better to understand people before you judge them. Terry tried to imagine what his father went through as he was telling the story, and he was feeling it as well, being able to step into his father's shoes and finally realizing that he was wrong for being mortified of his father. I think knowing the motivations of someone before judging them creates a sense of realization and understanding, and that's what made Terry's choice correct.


-xoxo-