Author: Lyla

I am me. You are not.

IRJE #4 Dragonsong

Dragonsong is a book written by Anne McCaffrey featuring a young girl called Menolly, whose dream is to make music and sing. But her father is incredibly strict as women aren’t generally allowed to sing. So after a tragic incident leading to her severely injuring her hand and no longer being able to play, she runs away from home and lives alone in a cave with 9 fire lizards as her friends. When she is caught outside during a thread fall she is rescued by a patrolling dragonrider, and taken back to the weyr, where she eventually leaves to go to the harper hall to pursue her dream of music.

“Does he hear what I’m telling you?” Menolly whispered anxiously in T’gellan’s ear. “Yes, so be careful how you speak of him. He’s very sensitive.” “I haven’t said anything, have I, that would hurt his feelings?” “Menolly!” T’gellan looked back at her, grinning, “I was teasing you.” “Oh!”

I chose this quote because She is talking to a dragonrider about his dragon. Literally a gigantic dragon up to 45 meters in length and height, and she is worried about hurting his feelings. I just thought it was really funny. Also I was really struggling to find another quote.

 

PW#4 Prince Cucumber

After the tragic death of his father King Pickle, Prince Cucumber was unsure what to do. He had not yet been pickled and there was no time to waste, with the dragons being the only creatures left in the kingdom besides his loyal cucumbers, everyone was in danger. The process of being pickled happens when the cucumber next in line for the throne is pickled and becomes king. The dragons had wreaked havoc on his kingdom and were terrifying the people. The only thing he could think to do at this time was to call upon his neighboring, and much more technologically advanced kingdom, the kingdom of kabbage, pronounced KUH-BAH-JE. Which was ruled by his mortal enemy King Aubergine. King Aubergine was always starting conflicts which thankfully up until now Prince Cucumbers kingdom had been safe from because of the dragons that had been protecting them. Once he explained the situation to his fellow king, the kingdom of Kabbage flew in a large glass dome to protect against the flying dragons. The solution worked well enough for a while, until people started to worry about oxygen. But the kingdom didn’t even come close to running out of oxygen before they were struck by a bigger problem. The dragons were now flaming their dome, and the glass was trapping all of the heat inside and making it unbearably hot! So he called upon his friend, King Pomme De Tato, who had his army lift the dome immediately to save the people, and decided to do the only fair thing which was to train the dragons and use them. But that didn’t work and many people died so they gave up and shot them down, and ate them for dinner along with a nice salad.

IRJE #3 The Dragonriders of Pern

I saw my last IRJE entry and I am going to try and make this one a lot shorter. In part three of The Dragonriders of Pern, The White Dragon, by Anne McCaffrey, the young Lord Jaxom of Ruatha hold is faced with a challenge. He and his dragon Ruth are making history as the first Lord Holder to ever own a dragon, but the problem is that he can’t be a full time dragon rider, and Ruth is different from all the other dragons. He is the only White Dragon on all of Pern, and he is much smaller than even the smallest of the small dragons. Together they will strike out on their own and pursue what they are denied in secret, but in doing so will find themselves facing a desperate choice, one that will push their bond to the breaking point and threaten Pern itself.

“Ruth, what if N’ton finds out we’ve been timing it,” Jaxom said through chattering teeth as they broke out of between into the hot midmorning sun of Telgar over the Mastersmithcrafthall.     He will not ask.                                                                                      Jaxom wished that Ruth wouldn’t sound so complacent. But then, the white dragon wouldn’t have to take N’ton’s tongue-lashing. Timing was bloody dangerous!                                                              I always know when I’m going, Ruth replied, not at all perturbed.                                                                                                That’s something few other dragons can say (p.540).

I chose this quote because I find the confidence in the dragon funny and entertaining. Dragons generally do not differ from their riders opinions, and are usually quite polite and respectful. I just enjoy the way that Ruth sounds so confident in his abilities to tell when he is going.

Personal Writing #3 That time that I think my family might have been just a little crazy…

So, we were in Hawaii staying with my stepmoms parents, and we had agreed to go out to lunch together. Her parents are older so they stayed home in the morning while my Dad and my stepmom and I went out to walk around the little shopping center. I think we agreed to meet at the restaurant at around 12:00 because that seems like a normal time to have lunch, and it gave us time to walk around the center and my grandparents time to relax. So, we get there at 12:00 and we don’t see her parents anywhere, and we decide that they will be there in just a minute, but after about 20 minutes had gone by we thought that they must have thought we were meeting at 12:30. We were all getting pretty hungry by 12:30 so, we decided to order food and wait for them to arrive. The food came to the table around 1:00 and we thought it was super weird that her parents hadn’t shown up yet, but just as I turned around to see the food coming I saw that her parents were literally sitting at the table right behind us. I was like, “Look, it’s them!” My parents turned around and said hi, but we were all so confused and asked why they were so late, but they said that they had gotten there just after 12:00. And this is the part that makes me think my family is a little crazy, for whatever reason, during the hour long time period when both groups thought the other wasn’t coming, no one had thought to give the others a call or even send a text. Also we were seated outside, and her parents were clearly visible. It’s not like it was loud and we were in a crowded booth or anything, they were literally right there. We were right in front of them and they hadn’t even realized, and we also hadn’t seen or heard them right there. IDK what to do with my family at this point…

IRJE#2 The Dragonriders of Pern

In this second part of the novel, written by Anne McCaffrey, Dragonquest, we see the effects of the last book when Lessa travels back in time with her dragon to bring forward the Weyrs of the past to help fight the alien threat called thread in the future. Thread is a substance that eats any and all living material and kills it all. The only thing that can stop thread is the fire from dragons, who fly over Holds and Halls to protect the people of Pern. Thread falls for 50 years at a time every 200 years. However the last interval lasted 400 years and many people thought that thread was just an old story, and that the dragons were no longer needed because the Weyr was supplied food from all the Holds around. There used to be 6 weyrs but 5 mysteriously disappeared–which was actually Lessa bringing them forward in time–and left only one small Weyr. Even now that Lord Holders and Craftmasters alike are forced to admit the importance of dragons, they are still impatient and start pressuring the riders to go between to the red start where thread falls form. (Dragons have the ability to travel between any place and time, but if the rider stays between too long they are in incredible danger.) One young rider from Benden Weyr decides to go between with his dragon, Canth. The risk to the rider–F’nor– and his dragon is great, seeing as no one really knows what to expect. (This was an improvised and spontaneous plan) There has been such a tremendous loss in the recent past that he feels he must do something to try, he is also scared that his older brother will try to go and get himself killed.

 With the desperation born of frenzy, Prideth wrenched herself free, Wirenths talons leaving gouges to the bone along her shoulders. But as she twisted free, beating for altitude, she slashed at Wirenth’s unprotected head, across one gleaming eye. Wirenth’s tortured scream pierced the heavens just as other queens broke into the air around them; queens who instantly divided, one group flying for Prideth, the other for Wirenth. (p. 419)

Later, ;lksd fie lksd kjasdf:

Brekke doubled up, right shoulder hunching as if to protect her head. “My eye! My eye! My eye!” Brekke was covering her right eye, her body writhing in an uncontrollable, unconscious mimicry of the aerial battle to which she was tuned. (p. 421)

This quote takes place when Brekke’s queen dragon Wirenth rises to mate, and when a queen rises to mate you always take other queens out of the wyer to not make the mating queen jealous. But you are also not supposed to take your queen out of the weyr when she is close to mating. So Brekke’s queen rose to mate and Kylara’s queen Prideth had gone out and she had risen at the same time and they fought and went between. Which is the equivalent of dying. I chose this quote, or two quotes because I thought that it was a good representation of the bond between a dragon and their rider.

PW#2 What the heck is up with my birthday?

OK. I need to start off with saying that you should not ever hang out with me on my birthday. For YEARS my birthday has caused bad luck, and I partly blame it on my dad who started it the day I was born. According to him they were in Whole Foods when my mom went into labor and he asked her if he could grab a burrito before they left for the hospital, because of course he did. So they get to the hospital and there is unlucky event #1 LIKE LITERALLY THE DAY I WAS BORN. My dad got a parking ticket and I also ruined my cousins third birthday because they had decided to go away thinking that the chances of me being born on his birthday were very slim, so naturally I was born on his birthday and they rushed back to see me. I blame this on my dad because he would have had time to park properly if he hadn’t stopped for that burrito I don’t blame the cousin part on my dad, but my cousin 14 years later has still never let me forget that it was his birthday first. Unfortunately that was not the worst of events to occur on my birthday. On I believe my 11th birthday I was outside at my friends cabin playing with her on the lawn, we were throwing a large blue ball back and forth. I had no shoes on because we were on grass, but my friend did so she said that she would go and get the ball if it went into the forest, even if it was on my side. So when the ball rolled into the forest on my side she ran to get it and tripped over the sprinkler breaking her ankle. LITERALLY ON MY BDAY! A year or two before that we were up at the cabin and my friends brother Theo had some weird reaction to something (we still don’t know what.) and his eye was big and puffy and it just kept getting worse throughout the day. AGAIN LITERALLY ON MY BDAY. One year we were wake surfing behind my friends boat and my dad fell off his board, but his arm got caught in the rope and cause a really painful rope burn. On my 7th birthday my dad went out biking and sprained his ankle, which was like 10 days before he was supposed to get married. And literally just this last year we were out on my friends boat and out of nowhere my friends dad got stung by a wasp which caused a big reaction, and his foot was swollen to the size a a balloon. I am not kidding LITERALLY ALL OF THESE EVENTS HAPPENED ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY! So put it in your calendars everyone, August 8th stay away from Lyla day. You have been warned.

IRJE #1 (yes I am very behind on english posts and there will be a lot of them.)

The Dragonriders of Pern is part of a large series written by Anne McCaffrey. The Dragonriders of Pern consists of three different parts, Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. This book takes place on a planet called Pern and features Lessa who is an outcast survivor–her parents murdered and her birthright stolen–a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat reemerges she will face it head on along with her dragon Ramoth. She is struggling to adjust to a new way of life and the next choice she makes will change Pern forever and could put the life of her and her dragon in danger. Dragons and their riders share a mental and telepathic bond so intimate to the point were if any rider dies their dragon will suicide. If a dragon dies a rider is only half a person, often driven to insanity by grief.

Oblivious to the descending bronze dragons, oblivious to the presence of their riders, Lessa stood caressing the head of the most wonderful creature of all pern, fully prescient of troubles and glories, but most immediately aware that Lessa of Pern was Weyrwoman to Ramoth the Golden for now and forever (p.66).

This quote is from right after Lessa impresses Ramoth. An impression is when a rider forms the bond between them and their dragon and occurs in a large sand pit where future riders gather around the last clutch of eggs laid by the queen, and when the eggs hatch the dragon chooses the rider and forms the bond. I chose this quote because it shows a different side of the character that we don’t always get to see.

Master and Man personal response because I forgot to do this a long time ago

I thought that master and man was an interesting story, but not really for me. I enjoyed certain characters and thought that it was well thought out and had a good plot, it was just an interesting execution. It was confusing and I can’t think of any particular part that stood out to me, except for when Nikita said, “Now either a lazy woman or a dead one has left her clothes on the line.” I just thought that it was a funny statement. It is definitely not something that I would recommend to anyone. It was really just rather boring, and didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to me. Overall I would probably rate it a 2 out of 10.

My response to our town (not our town, their town, but it’s called our town but its not.)(Its theirs.)

I really enjoyed the play and thought that it was interesting and I enjoyed that it showed different perspectives. It was different than most plays and stories because there is usually a beginning middle problem and end. Now, keep in mind there was definitely a beginning and a middle and also an end, but there was not really a problem that we saw the characters go through and resolve. I actually think that there was a problem that they had to solve and the supposedly “10%” of my brain that I use (its for like 2.5%) just couldn’t find it. If I look back on the play I feel like instead of having one central problem throughout the whole play, there were smaller problems and challenges faced on the important occasions. I really enjoyed the way that the stage manager told us about the town and the poele in it, but it did feel very weird knowing when and how they were going to die and what they were going to die from. It almost made me sad when meeting the characters because I knew what was going to happen and they were just stupid little people walking along the streets of their town. It feels mean to say that and it kind of is. But overall I really enjoyed the play and thought that for me at least it raised a lot of questions, mainly just little things, but there were also larger questions that lead to even more questions. For example in the end when they all die it makes you wonder what they are talking about that the living people don’t understand. Or the question of when the moon was large and bright why did everyone keep saying that it was potato weather? That is an example of an obvious question, but there are also the questions that are not as obvious as the others. One of the things that caught my attention was the stage managers use of “As the saying goes.” when he is describing when George and Emily realise that they are meant to be. What does that make us think about the stage managers opinions? And what different sorts of meanings could it have? Over all I would rate the play a 9.9/10 because if i gave it a 10/10 that would just be one whole and that is the same as just giving it a 1 and that would be mean.

That weird recurring dream I had as a child [PW #1]

So when I was younger I had the weirdest dream ever. And it just kept happening. In the beginning of my dream I would start out in a school gym, I was the only one there and it was silent for a minute before a horde of people holding tents with elephants walking behind them started to enter the building. It turned out that they were a traveling circus setting up for their next event. I settled in and watched the show, and it was a lot of fun, except all of a sudden they disappeared. just as I looked around in confusion a short middle aged man cam in the door pulling a boy in a wagon who was sitting in a pile of hay. He asked if I wanted to see a magic trick and I said yes. The he waved his arm and the boy turned into an owl, which for some reason always scared the crap out of me. I was terrified and tried to run for the door when all of a sudden a Disney princess came in and started yelling about danger. I was so confused until moments later a giant octopus knocked down the door and barged in. He was the size of a small mountain. I screamed and ran for my life out the other door, but when i got outside I was in front of my house and there were pools of lava on the road. Then there was a volcano erupting behind me and I ran down the street as fast as I could, but the volcano was laughing at me and chasing me. Then I was with my kindergarten class and I accidentally splashed lava in my boot and my foot burned like crazy. i started to run past the entire class because I was terrified of the jellyfish in suits that were chasing us in there cars. Then just as a jellyfish caught up to me I woke up. The weirdest thing about this dream is that the first time I had it I woke up with a large blister on my foot, just like the one from the lava in my boot…

This is me, not you, I am Lyla

My name is Lyla Jane Wittig, I was born in the Newestminster hospital when i was a baby, I lived in North Vancouver for most of my life and moved here about a year and a half ago when i was twelve and a half. I have a dog named Jax, he is a cavadoodle and he is ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY CUTE!!! My favourite subject is obviously English, but if it wasn’t it would be PHE. My mom is an artist and a contact lense sales rep, and my dad is the owner of 2 cafés here on the island. I really like suzy who I call Snoogie Woogie, I wrote that just to embarrass her. (Ur welcome Suzy.) My favourite teacher is obviously Mr. MacKnight, but if it weren’t it would be Mr. T. I have mostly hazel green eyes, but because of my wired dad and his genetics as I get older either 1 or both of them will most likely become a blue green colour. (Thx dad). Yeah…I love my dog. And I am out of ideas, but as a fun fact as I am writing this the draft was last saved at 10:44:38 am.