Greek Myth Reflection

A Fool’s Battle

At dawn, Crocodaelus, a young hunter, crept out towards the wood near his hut to go hunting. Like the hero Odysseus, Crocodaelus was strong, brave, and handsome. For these reasons, he was pursued by all women and nymphs. But he was also arrogant and prideful - these traits would soon change his life forever.

As he stalked through the woods, the whole forest seemed to be delighted by his company. Branches bent towards him, and squirrels and insects seemed to lean to sniff his luscious, masculine scent.

As Crocodaelus ventured towards the heart of the woods, he stumbled upon a clearing - one he had never seen before. The rising sun shone and lit up the dazzling meadow, and blossoming vivid flowers sprang up from the forest floor.

Camouflaged behind a thick, green tree, he stared at an elegant fawn slurping from a nearby spring, calm and undisturbed. Stupid, naive creature, do you not know that you are in the presence of a huntsman? Crocodaelus smirked to himself. Soundlessly, he raised the bow and took aim.

Suddenly, a loud rustle of moving ferns made him jerk around. He scowled as he heard the thumping of hooves galloping away. Wanting to find who had scared off his game, Crocodaelus' glanced around, searching.

He saw a couple, hand-in-hand, entering the clearing. The man, he observed, had a tall, robust, and muscular figure. The stunned hunter immediately recognized him as Ares, the god of war and violence. In his strong and calloused hand, was the delicate hand of the most handsome and elegant female to ever roam the earth, Aphrodite. Her golden hair, beautiful olive skin, perfect nose, lush, blue eyes, full lips - they overwhelmed Crocodaelus. Immediately, as if struck by Cupid’s arrow, he fell in love with the goddess of love.

“Aphrodite, my dear one, I do not think you realize how extremely privileged you are, to have someone so grand as I - to want your hand in marriage.” Rage shook Crocodaelus as Ares spoke,

“Tell Zeus that you demand me as your husband instead of Hephaestus, that coward. Declare you do not want the weak and lame god of forge, but I, the strongest and best man there could be.” Before a reply could escape Aphrodite’s lips, Crocodaelus strode out of his hiding place, and chuckled mockingly,

“You think you are so grand and gallant... But behold! The man standing before you, I, Crocodaelus, am a greater man than you - I am stronger, bolder, and someone as fair as Aphrodite shouldn’t have a big, hairy, man. But a beautiful person like myself! I am the only living creature worthy enough for Aphrodite! If we must, I will prove this! We will battle… Unless you are afraid of defeat?” At first, Ares’ face turned beet red, but almost as immediately, his expression became amused.

“Foolish mortal! You dare challenge the god of violence? I must admit, I do admire your ill-advised bravery. I have won many known battles and wars - yet as I speak, your countenance remains confident. For your extreme bravery and courage, we will have this duel -” Aphrodite’s voice rang,

“Ares, you will not-”

“-and we will see who is more worthy!”

Ares’ booming voice sent chills down Crocodaelus' body, but he was still convinced he could beat Ares, He calls ME a fool… Soon every soul on earth will see that not I, but Ares is the fool. When I beat him, then Aphrodite will come to me… He grinned at the wonderful thought.

“Let us not wait any longer!” Crocodaelus demanded. He coveted Aphrodite, and wanted to win her hand in marriage. He felt as if his life would end if he lost. As if all his life he had been preparing for this one moment, to win her over as his wife.

“We need a proper battlefield.” Ares ordered, and as soon as he said these words, wood nymphs ran out to the clearing, and immediately constructed a battle ring made of the wood of a laurel tree. Woven in between were flowers of every color.

Crocodaelus realized that this beautiful ring would soon decide his fate.

He strode towards the ring, and shudder ran through him as he realized that the fight could be the last thing he would ever do. He pushed the thought away, No, I will not lose. I refuse to. I will win. I have to win.

Wood nymphs hid behind trees as they both eagerly and worriedly watched Crocodaelus' every move.

Approaching the ring, he removed his quiver, and lay his bow on the grass. He inspected the two swords in the middle of the ring. Crocodaelus shuffled towards the center, and picked up a sword. Ares did the same. Each sword was made of magnificent silver, and the hilts had marvelous spiral engravings. Crocodaelus yanked the sheath off and watched his nervous face on the blade. Seeing Crocodaelus' nervous expression, Ares jeered,

“What happened to your unwavering confidence? Are you too scared?”

Outraged, Crocodaelus swung his sword at his opponent’s head. Ares quickly ducked, and sliced his sword at Crocodaelus' chest. Both swords collided, and the sound of scratching metal filled the meadow.

Finding his arm stinging in pain, Crocodaelus glanced down. Dark, red blood stained the sleeve of his toga, and dripped down his arm. Instead of hitting his chest, Ares had hurt Crocodaelus' arm, and the deep gash made him enraged.

Furiously, Crocodaelus executed an unexpected kick on Ares’ side, and took the chance to swipe his sword through his foe. Crocodaelus managed to cut Ares’ stomach, and a magical fluid rushed out of the wound. The blood of gods. Pride soared through him as Ares cried in pain.

Ares then thrust his weapon at his opposer’s face. Swiftly, Crocodaelus blocked Ares’ sword with his own - one hand holding the hilt, and the other gripping the blade. He pushed against Ares’ blade with all his might, but soon droplets of blood dripped down his fingers.

Crocodaelus' hand was bleeding. In seconds, his hand was so wet it slipped from the sword, and he tumbled down.

Taking advantage of his fall, Ares kicked his leg, breaking Crocodaelus' calf. Roaring in agony, Crocodaelus scrambled to pick up his weapon that had skidded away while he fell. He didn’t get the chance to.

Ares’ foot pushed Crocodaelus' cheek against the forest floor, and his sword was at Crocodaelus' neck.

Slowly, Ares’ sword dug into Crocodaelus' flesh…

“NO! Please! Mercy! Oh great god! Please spare me!” wailed Crocodaelus. Tears streamed down his face. He wasn’t thinking about Aphrodite anymore, he just wanted to live.

The metal stopped digging into Crocodaelus' neck. Ares chortled,

“You are right. It would be a waste to lose such a brave soul. This fight has been the most amusing battle I have fought since the Trojan War!” He paused and lifted his sword off of Crocodaelus’ neck, “I will spare your life only because it is not often I come by a man with such bravery, confidence, and tenacious behavior. But you will not be the same - your beauty, your admirers, your possessions - they will all be lost. You will live a bleak, depressing life, but you will keep your strength and vicious character.”

With these words, Crocodaelus' skin turn rough and green. His face grew long, his teeth turned pointy, and his arms and legs shrank. Crocodaelus was no longer a handsome mortal, but a crocodile. Embarrassed, Crocodaelus, the very first crocodile, waddled away, and splashed into a muddy swamp.

Because of his actions, crocodiles have always lived gloomy lives, and they are also very fierce and ferocious creatures, just like the first of their kind.

Never again did Crocodaelus show his face, and his story will always haunt him for the rest of his life.

How have you grown as a writer?

Before, I wrote my myths as sort of a personal narrative - which doesn't really make sense, so I've learned to make my myths sound like an actual myth instead of another genre of writing. I learned how to write in third person, and use ADD (action, dialogue, and description) in my scenes.

What new skills do you feel more confident to apply to your narrative writing? Think about your goals...

Well, I learned how to use my plans effectively, in this case, I learned how to make story mountains, and use them effectively. I also really used the rubric and checklist to improve my writing, and to use appositives, participle phrases, and absolute phrases.

What challenges did you face when writing your myth?

A challenge I faced was going through writers' blocks, and making my myth sound like an actual myth instead of a personal narrative. Another challenge was making my scenes sound as I wanted them to.

How have you surprised yourself as a writer?

I have surprised myself as a writer because I thought I'd be absolutely terrible at writing in third person, and I thought I would be really bad at writing a myth that actually sounds (a bit) like a myth.

What feedback did you receive that will help you to grow as a writer?

Feedback I received was to add inner thinking to make the story more interesting, and I also received feedback on making my scenes more interesting.

Semester 2 Reading Goal Reflection

During the second semester, we made habit and thinking goals for our reading. My habit goal is to write flags on my thinking at least twice in every reading session, and to work on jotting down things like claim and evidence, theme, author craft, characters, etc. My thinking goal is to write specific and clear sticky notes (flags) on whichever type of flagging I choose to do (stated above).

I think I have made the most progress on the my thinking goal, because whenever I flag, I make specific notes that usually include evidence from the text (and page numbers) and my own thinking. I used to just state the obvious and show some text from the book, but now I add more of my own original thinking. I think I have made very little progress with my habit goal, because I tend to only write flags on my thinking when it is assigned and necessary, and a lot of the times I don't end up writing flags when I read in my free time. A challenge I have faced in my habit goal is to just remember to flag while reading.

To achieve my habit goal, I think all I have to do is flag more often to make it a custom while I read, so it comes more easily and it is not forgotten. I think to achieve my thinking goal, I just have to flag more.

Overall, I think I am doing okay with my goals, but I will try to work harder to achieve my habit goal, and flag more.

Photography Unit: Art

I took this photo in the area nearby my condo's baby pool. I took it by crouching down near the water, and I used my phone to take it. I took this photo because I thought the ripples well represented texture, then I enhanced and cropped it in iPhoto.

For this photo, I took it during art class, and there was a curved brick wall near the HS cafeteria and the track. I had to squat to take the photo because it was low near the ground, and I wanted to take a good close-up. I took the photo because I thought it would be a good texture photo because it shows the texture of the brick very well. I enhanced and cropped it in iPhoto as well.

I think this rule of thirds photo also represents atypical angle, because it was taken from a weird angle. It was taken from an angle that's not very common - facing the sky.If I could do this again, I would work on taking photos during the break, I would not procrastinate, and I take the pictures from hard categories first. Since I found texture the easiest, I ended up with mostly texture photos, and barely any shadow and reflection photos. 

Lab 'e' Microscope

Why do they look different?
I e's look different because under different lenses, some 'e's are more magnified that others. For example, the strongest lens (400x) makes the 'e' super magnified, and you can't really tell what it is. All you see are black blotches and and lines that look as if it had been crumpled. If you compare that 'e' with what the 'e' looks like under the weakest lens (4x), they look different because for the weakest 'e', you can really tell that it is an 'e', but like the other one, it looks as it had been crumpled.

Why does the 'e' appear different (inverted) to the naked eye?
The 'e' appears inverted, because the object's light rays cross before reaching the eye, so the image you see in light microscopes are upside down or inverted.