Hey, Script Frenzy starts Sunday!

I will be participating, writing a stage play, and you can check my progress in the widget below or on my Script Frenzy page.

Maybe I’ll even post an excerpt of my writing!

Hello!

I am here to announce yet another writing program run by the Office of Letters and Light, namely Script Frenzy! Script Frenzy is similar to NaNoWriMo, but one writes scripts. In that sense, Script Frenzy offers a bit more freedom, because your script can be a screen play, stage play, TV screenplay, radio play, comic book, etc.

I have still not decided on what medium I am going to write in, nor what my plot will be remotely like, but I will most likely write at least 30-50 pages before I have a chance at running out of steam. Check out the poll to let me know what you think of my possible topics.

I would highly recommend it, as it should be lots of fun.

Below is the text from our podcast. I apologize for any missing parts– other group members didn’t finish their work.

(Raffi)This is Raffi, Peter, and Duncan, and we’re here to give you some insight on some books you might want to read in the eighth grade.

(Peter) The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is a tale about a land called Middle Earth, which is home to elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons, men, and hobbits. In this book, a normal hobbit named Bilbo Baggins does something very unusual. He leaves the Shire, where the hobbits live, and goes on adventure with a bunch of dwarves to reclaim the dwarves’ home, the Lonely Mountain. This is a classic fantasy book that I would recommend to anyone.

(Duncan) Another book by J.R.R. Tolkien is The Fellowship of the Ring.  This story is about one of Bilbo Baggins’ nephews, Frodo.  Frodo goes on a quest with Elves, Men, and Dwarves alike to destroy the ring of power once controlled by Sauron.

(Raffi) Hey this is Raffi again and I read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, it’s a book about a girl named Katniss and a boy named Peetah who need to survive a merciless contest where they must kill each other. It’s actually a really good book, very sad at points, and a bit confusing, and sometimes a little bit heartless I’ll admit. But it’s a pretty good book series and I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes to read that kind of stuff.

(Peter) Murder on the Orient Express is another classic, by Agatha Christie, but it is a mystery novel. It is a truly singular case about a murder on a snow-engulfed train, and it is amazingly solved by Ms. Christie’s usual detective hero, Hercule Poirot. This is a must-read for any mystery lover, and a definite should for everyone else.

(Duncan) iRobot by Isaac Asimov is another classic story.  This is a science-fiction story about different robots that are very human-like.  Some of them have emotion while many of them are just like slaves.  This story is science-fiction with a hint of mystery and suspense as many lives get put in dangered by these crazy inventions.  I advise this book to anyone who likes science fiction and even those who do not.

(Raffi) House of the Scorpion

(Peter) Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is another book I’d recommend. It is a political satire about communism, set on a English farm. Once defeating the humans, the animals try to set up a fair government where everyone shares everything and are equal. Eventually, though, the pigs begin to take over, and dominate everyone else. Don’t think that it’s bad just because its about politics– it’s got a great storyline, too, and I’d recommend it to all people.

(Peter) One more book I would recommend is Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. Similar to the story of Robinson Crusoe, a family is stranded on a desert island. As they try to survive, they make many interesting innovations with the few things that they have. This book, though lengthy, is a worthy read with many good subplots and detailed explanations.

Peter Duncan and Raffi’s Final Reader’s Chair!

It feels like standing at the peak of a hill, not sure which way to look. Behind me is a long and winding road, of which I can remember every stone wall and pothole, and every flower and field that I passed going that way. Going down the opposite side is another path, leading out onto a much larger expanse, but which is yet obscured. I don’t know what lies out there, but it is the path every eighth grader must tread when they reach the top. You just have to take the first step.

The proverb “life is short but broad” fits perfectly with this, because as time goes on, life just keeps on getting wider. From elementary to middle, and from middle to high school, your life gets more personalized, so to speak, and middle school graduation, as pointless as it might seem, is a pivotal transition.

June 22 will be my last day of middle school. The next class I enter after then will be my high school homeroom, which is actually a somewhat scary thought. I have bonded with this school, all the good and bad things, and now I must leave it for another one, one that I do not know. Leaving middle school must be hard for everyone, but it is yet another inevitable change in life that everyone must sometime face. Over my three years here, I think I and all of my classmates have changed immensely, as students, children, and friends.

Everyone was in the same boat in elementary school. We all learned the same things, and were always with the same group of people. Other than specials, we were always with the same teachers, as well, and music and art and gym were the same every year. In middle school, we were academically assessed to decide what we would do in the coming four years, and now they are here. Now, in high school, everyone is going to go down their own academic paths, more and more becoming an individual, as they decide the greater part of their own education.

Middle school covers three years of life’s most drastic changes. It is the big transition period, from being little kids to (hopefully) mature teenagers, small elementary school students to big high schoolers. It is a self-defining period of life, where kids learn who they are academically, emotionally, and socially. Looking back, I really didn’t know myself as well as I do now, and I think that goes for most of my classmates. Everyone was together in elementary school, but now everyone has broken apart into more secluded groups. The academics, the socialites, the introverts, the extroverts, the musicians, the writers, they all know who they are now. Some people, like me, have stuck with the same people and types all the time, while others have completely remodeled their identities.

Over any amount of time, people will change. In different ways, at different times, in response to different situations, and with varying effects, but we all do. Middle school seems like one of those times where people change more than ever. It will be a period of life I will look back on a lot, in what light only time and changing perspectives can tell. It has been a defining segment of my life, that my own character will be a souvenir of for the rest of my life.

Cam stood outside the door of room 189, of Lakeview High School. From inside the door wafted beautiful trumpet melodies, and it seemed that never in his life would he ever be so good, or even have a chance at getting a spot in the Lakeview Youth Symphony Orchestra. The piece he had prepared was hard, and he had just finished learning it. The heat would make his trumpet all messed up and out of tune, and he would most certainly fail.

It was really hot, the June heat smothering everyone and everything, especially inside this poorly ventilated hallway at the back of the high school. His hands were sweating like crazy, moistening the leather handle of his trumpet case as it started to slip a bit. But what would happen if he didn’t get accepted to this group? He loved trumpet, but he would have nothing else to do for music other than private lessons. He would have to resign as a complete failure. As a tall, studious-looking high schooler came out of the classroom, Cam tensed up even more.

“Next,” emanated a neutral voice from inside the room. If it had been possible, Cam’s heart rate would have quickened. He was pale and trembling ever so slightly; his friends from school would hardly have recognized him, could they have seen him now. His musical side was one he didn’t really advertise to his less-studious pals at school.

He walked into the high school music room, feeling as small as his own mouthpiece, timidly, nervously, and then found himself surprised that there were no booby traps embedded in the door frame ready to kill him as he stepped over the threshold. Actually, it was a rather neat and tidy place, quite nice, and he realized also that he would be there next year. It had pictures of all the musical instruments in the orchestra, and he realized that this was where he belonged. He was pretty good, and he most likely would get in, if not this year, then the next. He was a good trumpet player, now confident and calm, and he would do absolutely fine.