Decided to Blog

because I've had a weird day.

My morning was normal, woke up late, forgot to eat lunch, etc.
I called my friend Eda because we were thinking of meeting up. It takes us a long time to get to the real topic of the conversation, and before we got to that point, something went wrong with the phone. I thought Eda would call back and waited (actually forgot about the whole thing). My father called me and asked if I had talked to Eda, and before he hung up he said my last batch of comics had arrived!! This package contained the very last volume of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga!! Of course I called Eda instantly and told her of the news.
And then we went to the doctor who just irritated me. Oh well, though, because I went to Eda's house and then she read Fullmetal Alchemist with occasional comments from me like "OH, that part is so good!"
Anyway and then we got really excited. And we watched two episodes of the anime and my dad came and dragged me away.
It was amazing and the end was satisfying (though there were little things I wanted to see but were not included) and I salute you, Hiromu Arakawa.
Totodilekid97: If you want volumes 26 and 27, you can borrow them from me :) Only because my trust in you has increased and I'm sure you won't read them in the bathroom and also they are too awesome for you to miss.
Anyway, afterward I searched a bookstore for The Hobbit. And I found it!! I also wanted to buy comics but the only one I wanted was too expensive :/
Little comments on the comics that came with the package today:
These ones were better than my first batch!! And this is weird too, because these are less important titles.
I got an issue of Hawk and Dove. They're pretty interesting and the art is good but there was just too much talking.
Superboy was nice too, but I want more :/
Supergirl is just amazing. And the art is beautiful. The artist is Turkish! This gives me hope and I feel like I have an idol now. I regret buying only one issue.
Then there's the Legion of Superheroes. I like these guys more than the Justice League. They're colourful, amusing, and interesting heroes.
Green Lantern Corps is also wonderful. Too gory, but still. And I decided my favorite GL is Guy Gardner, not Hal Jordan. Because Hal can be this depressed lame dude while Guy is just always awesome. I mean, Guy enters a planet acting like a cowboy and shouting while all the other GLs are just flying normally. And when the situation is serious, he gets even better. I think I'll go draw him now.

Guy:


Aughhhhhhhh.

More about New Year. Hmm. Does everybody do the same thing every year? Because I feel like ours is becoming 'just another one of those special days' and we keep doing the same thing over and over again.
Gahh.

Well happy new year, I hope it'll be a good one.

2012

Good morning!
I don't think I'll be able to blog tomorrow, so I'm blogging now.

Happy New Year to everyone!

It came so quickly and I'm not that excited about it. Oh well. It was a nice year.

I don't have much to say.

Boom Kapoww Whack!

I was very upset earlier today and I talked to a friend who somehow managed to calm me down. Thank you very much!
And then my dad gave me a paper package. Of course this made my day (or the 2 hours left of it) amazing!
So I spent some time reading all my new comics. When I first read them I'm usually too excited and don't concentrate on the details, but then for 2 days I read them over and over again.

What do I think of them?
If anybody reads my blog they're probably Marvel fans, but oh well.
I think the DC reboot isn't as horrible as I thought it would be. It seems like everything is getting more violent and bloody (probably because the art is better).
I like the slight change in the Flash's costume, and the comics were awesome, but STUPID CLIFFHANGER!
The Teen Titans disappointed me. Because suddenly they're not a group of teenage superheroes that get together to help each other, but they're totally awkward kids who are hyperactive (Kid Flash), a stalker (Red Robin), an angry kleptomaniac (Wonder Girl), an overexcited Mexican (Bunker), an assassin (Superboy), a slimy confused bug-girl, and a fake Starfire named Charcoal Girl I think. I liked Bart as he was, they changed him too much. I like Tim, and his costume with the wings is just awesome. Superboy was also a disappointment, maybe because I haven't seen much of him yet. But I have to wait for my next batch of comics to see what happens to Superboy.
Nightwing is awesome too. Not much to say, really. His new costume is too dark and I liked the blue on him, but he's still the guy he is.
Uhhh, Batman and Robin. I love the relationship between them. They're both in total confusion and don't know what to do (or it seems like it) and I'm sure it will be fun to watch them improve throughout the comics. My favorite Robin would be the first one, Dick Grayson, but this Robin (Damian Wayne) is definitely the second. And of course Alfred is still like the trunk of the tree while Bruce and Damian are the leaves and branches. Alfred is always there and awesome.

I am excited! Now I should go organize my comics.

The Teen Titans! There's a LOT of red in that picture. I don't like red.


For comparison, this is a cover of a Teen Titans volume before the reboot.

Kid Flash (Bart Allen) in the bottom right corner, Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandmark) right above him and Superboy (Conner Kent, Kon-El) right next to her. They changed them too much.

Ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it! Have an amazing one!

There's snow everywhere!!

You know, I never believed in Santa Claus, probably because he's not exactly a part of our celebrations and also because I knew people bought presents for each other.
I only believed in the Tooth Fairy but figured out she didn't exist either because the present she gave me was too much like what my parents would buy. This was when? When I was 6 years old? Yeah.

Lately I've been obsessed with Pokemon—I bought a new game yay!—and this obsession is giving me little flashbacks of elementary school.
I had this friend who lived near my house. We were on the same school bus, we both liked legos, Pokemon, etc. So I used to go to his house all the time to play with his legos. Sometimes another guy named Teo would come too, and we would order pizza. There's that thing they put in the middle of the delivery box so the pizza doesn't touch the cardboard, right? It looked so much like a table.
I had this collection of Pikachu toys, as I remember. I had like 5 Pikachus and a rubber Raichu. When we were done with the pizza we would use the box as a house. The calculator was a computer, the tissue was the rug, that plastic thing that was placed in the center of the box was the table. And we brought all our Pokemon toys and put them in the box. It was a big family. Those were fun times, really.

Now I wonder if they would remember if I went and told those two boys what we used to do. I hope they do, because I haven't seen one of them for years and the other doesn't go to our school anymore.
I guess it's memories like this that really matter.

I can't find most of my Pikachus and my Raichu has been missing for years. I really loved those toys. I only have two Pikachus left.

Gahhhhh.

I just had inspiration to draw. I'll go draw something.

Also, nobody comments on my blog and I totally feel like I'm talking to myself. But it's nice to put my thoughts somewhere.

Pikachu:


Raichu:

"We are not alone!"

--Saphira

I just finished reading 'Inheritance'.
I...I loved the book!!
When I read the first page I though 'Wow, his writing style changed a lot!' And for the better, too. His writing flows and I think everything was balanced.
I almost never got bored of the book, and that's a good thing considering the fact that the book was over 800 pages!
The story was cliche but not cliche, if you know what I mean. There was the whole 'main character is special and powerful and he's trying to kill the evil king and then one of the bad guys turns good' thing going on, but most of the events in the story were unpredictable.

But there were a few things I didn't like.
1—My favorite character died in the middle of the book, and his name wasn't mentioned for the rest of the book. No really, never mentioned.
2—So there were some really interesting and exciting scenes with Eragon, and at the end of the chapter he discovered something or something really important happened, and Mr. Paolini decided to end the chapter with a cliffhanger and start the next chapter from the perspective of Roran (Eragon's cousin) who was in a place far away from Eragon with the rest of the army and did something I did not care about. Okay not caring is not true, but what Eragon was up to was what I was truly interested in.
This really frustrated me, and sometimes I actually put the book down and didn't read it for a day just because he did this.
3—The end. Sure, it was nice, but it made me so sad. I expected a more fairy tale-like ending, with the "And they lived happily ever after!!"

Two scenes almost made me cry. This is probably because they were sad, well written, and I'm too emotional. But I could imagine everything that happened.


Um, I spent the last two days playing Pokemon and watching Lord of the Rings with my friend, Eda. It was fun!
And believe me, Eda is not who she is in class when she's with me.

I want to read the Hobbit now!

Cover of the book:

Warning: Long Post

Hi!
I haven't blogged for a while, but this post will be a long one.

First of all, I wrote something.
Intro: In most books or movies that contain war or some kind of battle, there are those guys that die all the time and nobody cares. You know, that warrior who gets killed by the main character, that guard who is killed for no reason, that extremely minor character you probably won't remember after you're done with the book/movie? I wondered what it would be like to see things from their perspective, so I wrote the following. It's the same scene I wrote with Edmund, Ellyn and Eldwin, but from an archers view.

-----------
It’s another day at the fortress.
I’m sitting next to some other soldiers, bow in hand, checking my quiver and asking for spare arrows. No one cares, no one looks, all their arrows are too precious to them.
I must agree. “Big day it is today, indeed! Indeed!” as William said, “You will be our victory, your bows will! Use every arrow with care and the skill you posses!”
He doesn’t believe a word of it, I can tell. He just says it to fool the idiots. I’m not one of them, I know what’s happening here. William is not here now, I don’t know where the sneaky man is. Maybe he’ll appear mysteriously behind those two archers, they’re talking about him now.
So I sit there, practice pulling the string without an arrow, maybe say a word to the others. They’re nervous, I’m nervous. Nobody confesses though.
Some young man sits next to me. He’s too young to be in the army. He glances at me, then back to his bow. His eyes are dark, thoughtful, sad. He’s tired.
“Kid,” I say, “how old are you?”
He lifts his head up from his gloom and looks at me in the eye.
“Fifteen.”
“Go home.”
“No.”
“Why are you here, kid?”
He doesn’t answer. He looks back down to his worn out boots. We’re silent for what seems to be an hour. Then William rushes in, his back straight. His posture, the way he lifts his chin, ticks me off, really. Thinks he’s the king of us all, but when the dragon riders talk to him he just squeals and sweats and tries to please them, but he’s just a tool to them. Often he tells us about how the riders love him and he’s their greatest helper, but that just proves he’s an idiot too.
“Up to the walkway!” he shouts at us, “It’s time, up up up!! Run, or Sir Edmund will be mad!”
He has an accent when he talks. Dunno what accent though. Whatever it is, it makes it harder to take him seriously.
I’ve went through this many times. So I stand, and follow the line of archers up the stairs. I catch a glimpse of the boy. He has no emotion on his face, which worries me more.
In no time we’re all spread out on the high walkway behind the walls. Two steps between each man. I ready my bow and stare at the distance. It's a bright cloudless day.
Edmund is there, with two dragons—one crimson, one purple with a collar—and two elves. I have no idea what they’re doing. He’s talking to the woman, they’re jogging toward the gate. The other elf with the red dragon seems to hesitate, but follows them slowly afterward.
My eyes are locating weak points in their armor, tiny holes in their mail shirts, parts of their limbs not covered by the metal. No helmets on their heads. An accurate shot and they’re dead. I’m not planning to kill them, no. I’m just used to this. It’s a waste of a good arrow if you shoot at the wrong place.
‘Sir Edmund’ doesn’t even notice us. He’s too busy talking to the elf as they walk past the gates. The elf lifts her head and looks, though. She has this unusual beauty. Our eyes meet for a second, but she doesn’t do anything. Looks away.
This is one of the things I don’t like about my job: the riders. They’re in control, they have power, magic, flames, weapons, respect. Everything I don’t have, and possibly everything I do. Just like William, we’re only tools for them. Rag dolls they can shove on enemy soldiers while they have their battles with other riders up in the air.
I see what they do to armies. They fry them, battalion after battalion, regiment after regiment, squad after squad. It doesn’t matter how many lives they take, they do anything for victory. We don’t mean anything to them. Maybe we even get in their way. We’re flies, they’re vultures, and we’re all attacking the same carcass. Sure, we help, but they get most of the meat.
I don’t think they understand we’re people too. We have lives, maybe we’re not as important but—no, no. We’re important too. A life is a life. It’s value is the same, isn’t it? It feels like they don’t know the value of our lives. We’re not just weapons, we’re men with pasts, presents, and futures.
I have a wife back home. Mary her name is. The riders don’t care about her, no. But we all know the gossip about them. Who fancies who, which dragons mated, everybody knows. But nobody knows about Mary. It’s not that I don’t talk about her, I do.
I don’t know how she is. Don’t know if she’s ill, healthy. I’m not supposed to worry about her.

I hate being here. I really do. Taking those lives I value so much...Looking straight into their eyes when I do so. Hearing men scream, seeing blood, death. I don’t like it.
I don’t know why I’m here. I want to walk away from the battle. At first I used to tell myself: “You’re here for Mary, you’re here for your friends, your village, your country. You’re here to make sure they’re safe.”
Now I realize that was just a lie. I’m only fighting because I’m forced to. Because if I hide at home, they’ll come find me and drag me to the battlefield anyway.

Another thing I hate about this is the sick feeling of satisfaction and pride you get when you successfully kill an enemy. Archery is not like slashing around with a sword, it needs concentration, skill, strength, accuracy, and being able to release the bowstring knowing you’re going to take a life. I used to feel guilty. The feeling stuck to my heart and weighed it down, I had sleepless nights. Now I’m used to it. And I get that ‘sick feeling of satisfaction’. Because I have hit my target, shot it down. Sometimes they’re not anything more than moving targets.

I think too much. I think way too much. They don’t want that. “Sir Edmund will get mad, oh jolly dragon ears what will we do!?” William. Edmund. The elves. They don’t want us to think. They prefer us as mindless warriors who know nothing but to kill. They act so blindly.

William runs up. He fixes his cloak and flicks his hair. I wonder what he’s going to say now. Maybe he’ll give another speech about how great Edmund is. He clears his throat and puts his hand on his sword.
“Sir Edmund has ordered you to get ready: they are coming.” he shouts.
So we do. I ready an arrow and look at the horizon. Marching toward us is an army—a humongous one—carrying the banners of the King of the East. Behind us I hear the roars of the three present dragons, like a war horn. Floating above are more dragons. I nod shortly at the two archers next to me.
It’s another day at the fortress. Another day of pain, risks, blood, death. Some survive, some don’t.
-----------------

Yes, that's it. I feel like I took a risk while writing this. I don't know how a soldier at that time period would feel, I just wrote down what I imagined he would. And I must say I like this character. I like this piece. I used the present tense because I felt like he should explain the moment and everything that he feels now, because that's what matters most to him. It's not the past he cares about, it's not the future either (he might not have one). He lives now.
Also I used basic words because I didn't think he would know that much.
I want to write more, but I'll do that tomorrow.

Again acknowledgements: Thanks to all my friends who read this piece and told me their opinion on it or edited it.

What have I been up to lately? Thursday I went to the dentist who changed the wire on my braces and it still hurts and I have trouble eating. Also I'm not allowed to do sports for a while because of my foot. I'm sad about this because I really miss horse riding and football.

Friday, science fair. It was very fun, I think it was the best science fair I've participated in. We ran around, gave people radioactivity stickers, judged other peoples projects and more. Sometimes I saw a radioactivity hazard sign on students' backs. This meant they had visited our poster!

Saturday I was lazy. Sunday I was also lazy. But that's what I do in holidays: I sleep, draw, write, read, chat.

I've visited some friends, and I'm having a wonderful break. This usually doesn't happen and I end up being...in a bad mood? I'm enjoying this holiday although bad things about my foot keep happening.

I finished a book my friend had let me borrow a long time ago. It's named Candor. I think it's a must-read. The end was just—GGFDGSRSGHGBBDVSRUTIYUHHHHV. I mean I liked the end, but it was just so very sad. I actually got that 'sinking heart' feeling I get when I'm upset.

Now I'm going to finish Inheritance (And it's really bothering me because the author keeps switching perspectives when an extremely important event is occurring. Sure, I care about the army trying to take over a city, but I care more about the scene I've been waiting 600+ pages for, you know.) and then continue reading my book tower, starting with the Alchemist.

I ordered comics and I'm very excited about them! I hope DC hasn't ruined these guys as much as I think they did!
They are not even going to mention my favorite comic character because 'it might confuse new readers'. I don't care, I was a new reader last year and it didn't confuse me. Some new costume designs are just horrible, but some are amazing. The art is amazing too, I can't wait to read every single one I get.

I hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday!

Checkmate

HIIIIIIIIIIIII!

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

AWESOMEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

We watched the premiere with my friend, and from the moment we entered the cinema I was so excited that I was having trouble hiding all the excitement.
Anyway, since we came early we got to sit in seats right in the center. The man on the radio that gave us the tickets gave a little speech, and they started the movie directly.

If I explained it, it would be a big spoiler, so GO SEE IT ON FRIDAY!

But basically it was just amazing and it actually surprised me.

Of course, it was more action than mystery, but oh well.

Now I'm going to sleep because it's late and I have a math exam tomorrow.

Edmund and Ellyn

I was bored in History class so I drew Edmund (shhhh!) and then in Spanish class I finished answering the questions quickly, so instead of doodling in my notebook, I drew Ellyn next to Edmund.

They are highlighted according to the colour of their dragon.

Edmund had a green sword, and Ellyn uses daggers when she can't use her magic, so I drew their weapons.

And this is Edmund when he's just putting on his armor, because if he had the whole thing on, then it would look more complete to my eye.

Mrrrrrrr, yes, Ellyn has white hair with blue tips. She's an elf AND a witch. She can do whatever she wants.

Many thanks to Ezgi for letting me use her pencils! I tried out a new style.

Now I'm off to find a name for Edmund's dragon.



BTW: I'm so exited for the Sherlock Homes premiere I'm going to tomorrow!! Also I'm drawing presents for people, and suddenly I'm a lot busier than I was before! Ughgghg. I ordered comics!! Eep DC New 52!

Finally Some Writing From Me

"Sir! Sir Edmund! I heard you called me, sir."
The loud voice of a soldier distracted Edmund the dragon rider from his confused thoughts. He turned his head and faced the soldier.
"Oh, yes. I wanted to make sure the archers were positioned. Tell William to line them up on the wall."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier shouted and scrambled off.
Edmund went back to gazing at the sky. He was waiting for the arrival of other riders—oh, there they were! A purple and a crimson dragon soared through the clouds, their wings spread wide. Two elves sat on their necks.
Edmund ran out of the fortress to greet them. Soon enough, the dragons had landed. The ground jarred from their weight. The wing wash almost knocked Edmund off his feet. Instinctively, he raised his arm and covered his face. He staggered back.
The dragons folded their wings. The purple one, Porfirio, yawned in boredom. From its saddle jumped down Ellyn, the young elf witch. Being 4 furlongs away from Edmund, her figure appeared vague and blurry.
She ran toward him in excitement. The last time they had seen each other was several months ago, in battle.
As Ellyn approached him, Eldwin slid down from Quirmése, his red dragon. He was a pessimistic, cold elf. Edmund didn't like him much. Eldwin always seemed to disagree with him just because he didn't like him either.
"Edmund!" cried Ellyn and halted right before him.
"Long time no see, Ellyn!" he said and smiled.
"Mmm...How's the plan going?" the elf asked.
"We're almost ready to go! Only the archers must position themselves." Edmund explained.
"Splendid!" Ellyn said, "Shall we go?"
Edmund nodded, and not waiting for Eldwin, they walked to the fortress.
"That fool, will either be the death of us or our victory." Eldwin muttered after them.

————————————

Hi :3
We got writing time in class!! And it was free writing time too! We could write anything we wanted, but we had to use some of our new vocabulary words and mention one of the definitions of death we came up with. I used three of the words, but didn't talk about death—until I mentioned the word itself in the end.

About the characters and concept:
The dragon riders were of course inspired by Inheritance. Porifirio is actually my imaginary dragon. I came up with him with a friend and spent an hour looking for a name that would fit his colour.
Quirmése? I didn't have a name for him, but Mr. Dale said I should, so I looked up 'crimson' in the dictionary and made up a name inspired by the root words I saw there.
Edmund is my favorite medieval name. I imagined him with black curly hair and green eyes. His dragon matches his eye colour, and wasn't in this little scene (but actually was sleeping inside the fortress).
Ellyn the elf. I keep changing her, but right now she has short white hair tied in a ponytail and blue highlights at the tips. She usually wears cloaks over her armor. Since she's a witch, she carries a staff, and wields two daggers with amethyst implanted on the handle. Amethyst because I love the rock, and her dragon is purple also.
Eldwin was just a random character I came up with because I felt like it would be awkward if only two riders defended a fortress. No offense, Eldwin. I'll develop you too!

Ehh, Edmund, Porfirio, and Ellyn were in my personal essays beginning and end. I'll post the essay here too.

Um, I'd like to thank some people for their help here.
First of all, Mr. Dale for basically being the reason for these characters existence, giving us writing time, and helping me edit my work in a rather fun way.
My friends Deniz, Ezgi, and Müfit for reading it and commenting on it.

It might not be much, but I'll probably continue it and write the connection between the essay part and this part. I'll also put up sketches of the characters when I get back home.
Adios~

roar

Hello!

I want to write something, anything. A story. Maybe something Inheritance inspired. Maybe I'll make Eda show me that scene in the Hobbit.

I want to start writing now, just throw in some words, turn it into a story, and feel satisfied. I want to feel like I've done something useful, happy, fulfilled.

But I'm forcing myself not to, because I have too much homework to do, and I get distracted enough already. Maybe if I work hard and finish everything, then I might have time to write.

Some observations before I dive into my sea of assignments:
My writing style—haha, we talked about style today!—changes temporarily whenever I read a new book and like it. For instance this is happening with Inheritance. It happened with The Fellowship of the Ring, it happened with Brisingr, Percy Jackson, etc.
This doesn't only affect my story writing, it affects my speech too. I remember saying thing like "Farewell." or "I shall not go to horse riding today, for I am too lazy." to my friends on Skype right after finishing Brisingr—and I had read LOTR two weeks before.
A friend just asked me where something was, and I replied "It is to my right." instead of saying "It's right next to me, dude."
See what I mean?

Also, something that scares me: an author could make years pass with only 3 words. So if you're reading this extremely exciting part of a book, they could just skip a couple years and leave you staring at the book like..."Er...WHAT DID YOU JUST DO WHAT HAPPENED WHY DID YOU JUST DO THIS OH GOD WHY? WHAT HAPPENS NOW? WHAT HAPPENED?"
Of course this hasn't happened to me yet, but that would be my exact reaction if it did.

Anyway, Inheritance is awesome, but it's getting a little (by that I actually mean very) disgusting.

He killed my favorite character. Mr. Paolini, I am disappointed. My favorite character ALWAYS dies.
10 pages before his death, I got this bad feeling. I though 'Please don't die...please don't die...'. And then that moment came, he burned to his death, I threw the book on my bed and had a little... outburst of anger?

Every time I read something about Eragon, this wave of thoughts crashes through my mind, roaring "Character development! Character development! Character development!" Thank you, Mr. Paolini! In the first book the only thing Eragon did was ask questions, but now he's so awesome! But of course, he's 16? Really?

Totodilekid97: I mean it when I say it's worth it when you read Brisingr! Don't give up on Eragon, go read it! Eldest is where the action starts, so get to it! Then Brisingr is just AWESOME, and since you like blood and violence you'll love Inheritance. READ. I COMMAND YOU.

"You must learn...to see what you are looking at."

--Glaedr, the yellow dragon, in Inheritance.

Hi!
I noticed I haven't blogged for a while.
I really wasn't aware of it.

Ahh, the entire week we've been reading and analyzing Ray Bradbury's story, "There Will Come Soft Rains". We circled new vocabulary like 'cavorting' and 'tremulous'. We underlined or highlighted figures of speech. I'm going to give some examples of the ones I found:
"the voice-clock sang"—personification
"electric eyes"—metaphor
"the toast was like stone"—simile

Yup. There's more, but I won't write all of them here.

I actually sketched some of the scenes of the story on my book, and will scan them later.
I like Ray Bradbury's writing, although I have only read "The Pedestrian", "Fahrenheit 451" and now this. I'd love to read more!

I'm used to my braces, but my leg is still giving me trouble. We went to the doctor again today, and he was pressing on some places on my foot while talking to my dad, and they both did not see my painful expression. Ha ha, I might draw that now.

Ah, I have no pictures for today. I'll go draw some.
Wow, short entry.