Sojin's Puzzle of Happiness!

P L D G J R N S A V Z Q S L G W T E G D E F R X D U X O H B

C O F B N E X R I S F S G S R M T C C N Q K Y I Z K E G O X

I D C E R I B U S P E R N Y K K E O Z S I K V O C B P J M X

N I K J N Z H D V V C P I R J A M S U B T P E P A U P I F B

K N I I X R F S E W X V R E M X E L T J K Q P D Q O M Z C Q

H A M V S H E N I H G K R B N A Z T P L D H E O O Q N J R L

S C G Q C R T S Z F B G A Y A D N E L Y M J E G H N R A L C

T I R B N E I P X C P D E X W D S T S Z P F C U I S S Y Y P

D R C Q E B L O J J U I I R W U J R S U G O M O F C Y L A K

H E A N N G H R G B C K E Q I Z V X L O I A L A U G H I N G

V M P V R T M T E O Q U V F N V Z Z P G I P D Q E B A M O X

W A X F E P M S O S P Z S L S N X I W U N M U C W T F A L A

V M J M C L O E G B T V T C T Y I G G B N B Q Q Q I T F F B

K I L V A R I P E I A R Y U O M X M A P O A F X D X E W H E

L O I A T G E N P P X P A K N N V H I Z X R L U B X E Z T S

L C O S A T V N G Y Z N W T U G R W T U B W P B D Z N G I C

K N A C Y M F C I S U M O F P E K G R I Z G A M E S V J R M

O E S D T L G X J K K U L H U O R Y S C Q V X E N A O F B Y

V R F Y O N P H O M R I F O I S P A J L D X S W W R G R O I

Z S N W I M U T G T Q R O B N Z D Y E X U Y H B A N U X J W

R T E K K L F H O W H E S I S D K M R M C W L B X J E W K M

I R A Z C N H G B O M U L O J Y Y R I R I A O X L Q H S O F

S B M O V I E S H T G N I C N A D N D J E O G Y K A D Y O F

X F L A J G C V X N F E H R J H Z M P B K B Y M I S P N I U

G F O J E Y C V I P M Q D K G W T O T S O L W N B J W U W K

R Z O P S D N P S Q Y Y I N O P C A O B O Q F A Y Q C S U B

H F S L B L E Q Y S D U D L J E A Z I O J V G N R J J Q B I

I O X V T E R T C V W C N H P X M U J Z J V I C C T P J A M

K F V E L E N I H S N U S C Y S U V O T A B E E M Z S Y N I

T V P S M N Y B W I V T B J L A Y M S L D A G O W U F D Y H

In no particular order, the bolded words indicate the words in the puzzle that bring much happiness to my life.

1.      My family makes my life more worthwhile and I could not live without them.

2.      Poppy is my lovely little Cocker Spaniel.

3.      Sport is my fabulous French Britney Spaniel.

4.      Winston is my beloved birthday present I got from Ruby a few years ago.

5.      With plenty of fresh air, adventures, family, and friends, East Rosebud is my favorite getaway.

6.      I love traveling and seeing diverse cultures and people and big cities.

7.      Books bring me a great deal of pleasure because I can enter into completely new worlds and dimensions and think in ways I would not have on a regular basis.

8.      What would the world be without music?

9.      I love shopping, not that I love spending money, but it is a good feeling when you purchase something you really love.

10.  I go to a lot of movies, especially with my mom. Cheesy, Hollywood endings are the best.

11.  Sleeping and rejuvenating is always so nice.

12.   YUM, Strawberry Pop-Tarts are pure sugary greatness.

13.  Earrings are the perfect accessory that can make any outfit pop.

14.  Friends are a must in life.  We laugh and cry together and I do not know what I would do without all those goofballs.

15.  I watch every season of American Idol with my dad.  It is our favorite.

16.  Tea is so calming and cleansing.  It is so warm and sweet it is hard not to love.

17.  I absolutely love laughing until I cannot breathe anymore.  It is a fantastic feeling.

18.  Beautiful, colorful, delicate, and a wonderful aroma.  What else other than flowers?

19.  Sunshine is full of vitamin C and warmth and pure happiness.

20.  Baking, especially for other people, provides me great pleasure.  It is fun to experiment and make lovely treats.

21.  My guilty pleasures- Seventeen and Teen Vogue. 

22.  Whether you are by yourself or with your friends or family, dancing always provides a fun and silly time.

23.  Fishing is so calm and peaceful, but what a great feeling when you get something!

24.  A booming stadium, thousands of people, skydivers, and football.  Griz games are the best thing ever!

EVIL IAGO

What makes this evil character tick?  Let’s take a look.

I have spent many sleepless nights psychoanalyzing my subject, the evil Mr. Iago, who is the antagonist of Othello.  This is what I have concluded.

Enraged        

Iago is an extremely unhappy man in general.  He is mad at Othello for naming Cassio as his second in command.  He is unhappily married.  He has also seen terrible things at war, which could contribute to his anger management issues.

Villainous

Villainous is the exact definition of Iago.  He is evil to his core.  His character is cruel and malicious.  He is an extremely vile human being and he only cares about himself and does not care that he hurts people to get to the top.  He is a cunning man and will not let anything stop him from reaching his ultimate goal, which is basically to get everyone to turn on each other and have miserable lives.  He is a complete trouble maker.

Insecure        

Iago must have had something happen in his life to make him so insecure and envious of everyone and everything around him.  Insecure people tend to be very cruel and put others down just so that they can feel better about themselves.  Iago does this all the time, especially when he is talking to or about women. 

Liar

Iago is such a backstabbing, conniving, sneaky LIAR.  He honestly lies about everything.  He tells one person one thing and then turns and tells another person something completely opposite.  He lies and lies and lies to make sure people are doing what he wants and thinking he is a good person and helping them and being their friend.  But really, he is the only one that knows the truth. 

Intelligent          

People that are this evil have to be intelligent.  Iago is the smartest one out of all of these characters.  He manipulates everyone and somehow manages to keep all of his secrets to himself.  Roderigo is the only one who knows that Iago is seeking revenge on Othello, but even Roderigo himself, is being manipulated.  Iago is always planning what his next move is and how that move will start the next plot and so on.  He is super smart to figure this entire plan out and not get caught.

Anti-feminist

Iago is a misogynist or women-hater.  No one knows exactly why.  He believes that women should be restricted to household chores only and are good for reproducing.  He is very mean to them all of the time.  Poor Emilia, Iago’s wife, is treated like dirt and she can hardly even stick up for herself because Iago will always keep saying mean things.  He believes that the perfect woman does not exist.

Guileful

Iago is extremely guileful, or cunning and deceptive.  He tricks each and every person into thinking he is doing well for them, when really he is just manipulating them into getting what he wants.  He is such a deceiving character because in every situation, except maybe when he is talking to Emilia and Desdemona on the beach, he is looking as if he is always doing the right thing.  But then, we see what he is truly thinking in that evil mind of his.  He goes around using everyone and pretending to be the “good and honest Iago.”

Observant

Iago has to be observant or else he could never figure out everything that he has.  He pays attention to the small details so then he can go using them against people.  He also picks things out and then twists them around to be half-truths and gets people into trouble.  For example, when Cassio kisses Desdemona and holds her hands out of respect, he twists it into a scheme and says that Cassio and Desdemona are already in love.

In conclusion, Iago is an all-around terrible human being.  Why does he do the many atrocious things that he does?  Well, I hope I contributed to answering this question and uncovering the mystery behind this evil man in this psychoanalysis.

The Hunger Games

This weekend I continued reading The Hunger Games series.

The Hunger Games

Narrative Poem By:  Sojin Josephson

District 13, nonexistent, wiped out by the Capitol

Districts 1-12 just trying to get by

Families broken and stomachs never full

Hunting beyond the boundaries, creating a dangerous lie

Every year there comes The Reaping

The Capitol reminds the Districts they are in control

A big turning ball with names sure heaping

And the story begins, tributes, one boy and one girl, from the district of coal

Taken away from their families and people they love

Twenty-four tributes travel to the Capitol city

Treated like royalty, thinking of how they got to the undreamed of

Food, clothes, training, and interviews, trying to be very pretty and witty

All eyes on her, she woos as she twirls her dress

To the girl, he is just the enemy, that boy

But his love he does confess

Are these star-crossed lovers or is it just a ploy?

Into the arena these tributes do go

It is a massacre at the Cornucopia, as they fight to survive

For entertainment, they have to kill each other, the tributes well know

Into the forest she goes, just trying to stay alive

Dehydration and hunger, she is going down fast

Allies or traitors, what to do next?

After every death the cannon does blast

Enemies getting closer, she is so perplexed

Eyes of a girl resembling her sister, she sees in a tree

Finally finding an ally

A life is spared from hints about a killer bee

Soon enough, they have to say goodbye

Weeks go by and tributes are dwindling

Lonely and hoping for sponsors, she searches for the boy

He is found and tells her his story, they have a rekindling

The Capitol watches closely as the idea of star-crossed lovers bring them joy

Injured badly, he is for sure almost destroyed

Playing along, she pretends to be in love

And sure enough, a parachute is deployed

But the boy will not let go of

Hoping to save his life, she heads for the feast

Getting to what she needs is not going to be easy

She barely escapes from the strong beast

But the thought of him dying makes her queasy

Back to the safety of the cave she goes

Knowing he will be mad, she has to explain

Understanding her reasons, he does not oppose

So in goes the medicine, and out goes the pain

After many days, there is no more rain

They know it is time to leave safety and end the game

With no more water, they can no longer refrain

Back to the Cornucopia is the way they aim

As there are only three left and two are on the same side

The battle to the end will be bloody and hard

Mutations interfere, so up the Cornucopia is the only place to reside

Eyes and similarities of the dead, they know they will be scarred

A plan comes about after two almost die

The enemy goes down to the mutations as the others watch and listen

Hours go by and the battle drags on, still on the Cornucopia, they just want to cry

She decides to put the enemy out of misery with a simple shot, she strikes right on, and they watch the blood glisten

The rules change and only one can win

But star-crossed lovers cannot kill the other

She thinks of a plan to begin

There HAS to be one winner, but what if both die, one right after the other

Poisonous berries become the solution

Back to back, they take them in their hands

With this action, starts a whole new revolution

The plan works, both victors, is what the voice commands

For now, the games are done

The best the Capitol has ever seen, where two lovers gain victory

But the love is only true to one, little do they know, there will be no more fun

Their little plot at the end is very contradictory

Back in District 12, not much has changed

Her true love still awaits but she knows things will never be the same

Money and food, neither feel happy, but deranged

She knows she is the one to blame

A revolution has begun and therefore, change came

The Capitol is angry for the scene at the end

Soon enough, they will be back in the game

On each other, they will have to depend

Journal #1

             I have experienced many wonderful moments through the Arts, like music and museums, but most of my magical moments have all been through books.  I love to read classics, which are books written a very long time ago.  There is something about the language that was used hundreds of years ago that is truly compelling.  The vocabulary is so different than today and the way that the words are put together make us think deeper and really dig for what the author is trying to say.  These worlds that we, as readers, get to enter are so much different than what exists today.  The customs of life these characters live seem simpler in many ways, but their lives and relationships and ideas can also be much more complex.  Jane Austen remains one of my absolute favorite authors.  Pride and Prejudice, by the lovely Austen is one of my favorite books.  Sense and Sensibility and Emma, also by Austen, are equally as wonderful.  I also think that Ayn Rand is fantastic because she was such a thinker and a very strong-willed woman.  Many other classics, that were more complex, at least to me, were extremely mind boggling.  These include The Awakening, A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre and Heart of Darkness.  The Awakening and Heart of Darkness are not some of my favorites, but taught me many morals and I am glad I read them.  As for the rest of the classics I have read so far, I did not really like as much as the aforementioned.  I hope to read many more as I grow in the understanding of literature.  I also believe that Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling will one day be among these phenomenal authors and books.  They have brought me much joy.  If you have not already, I recommend reading the Harry Potter series.  All of these books have made, and still are, making huge impacts on so many lives.  They have given us entertainment, ideas, lessons, hope, happiness, and sorrow.  Thanks to all these wonderful and intelligent people.