The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

What a shock! Throughout my entire life I have liked science fiction type books. I was actually surprised when I realized that H.G. Wells' timeless masterpiece about a man traveling through time is actually worth reading. Usually I do not enjoy the classics. They always seem to be extremely wordy and too political. I'm not going to lie; The Time Machine does have some politics in it. However, these politics are good as they help you understand the novel.

The book itself is extremely short. I mean a classic in 76 pages that you can use on most AP Free Response questions comes in handy.

The novel contains an easily recognized symbol in the future described by the Time Traveler (his name is never mentioned). You see, the future described by the Time Traveler represents the London of the late 1800s. Wow. I'm really sorry. I was just explaining a symbol in a book. That's what happens when you type too many of those AP papers.

Anyway the novel, told from the stand point of the Time Traveler, depicts a future where the human races has evolved into two distinct beings: the Morlocks and the Eloi. The Eloi, fun-loving and carefree, quickly grow on the Time Traveler. Within minutes of arriving to their time, he begins to admire some of their qualities. The Morlocks, on the other hand, are deformed and blinded by light. They live underground in their tunnels, only coming outside at night to feed. The Time Traveler quickly realizes he was unprepared for his journey to the future when his time machine gets stolen. That is when problems start.

While some of the technical jargon in the beginning can be difficult to understand, the novel has a fast pace and is easily read in a couple days, at the most. I think that anyone who is interested in science fiction should see how it all began and read The Time Machine.

Drew

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Some of you may have heard of the new movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. What many of you might not know is that this movie is based off of a novel by Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan actually wrote a series of books following Percy Jackson, the son of the Greek god Poseidon.

Now I can't say anything about the movie because I have not seen it yet. I say yet because I do plan on seeing it as soon as I can because the books were amazing. The books have all the old Greek myths brought into a contemporary setting. I know some of you may absolutely hate Greek mythology. That is your right, but I encourage you to give these books a chance. My mom is actually reading them right now, and she cannot put them down.

You see, Percy is a demigod, which means he is the son of a god with a human for a mother. While this might sound cool, trust me it is not. Demigods attract monsters (the minotaur, giants, giant bulls, etc.) and they also have to go on extremely dangerous quests. The quests are pretty cool, and they make for an interesting story. For example, in the second book of the series, Sea of Monster, Percy, his friend Annabeth (a daughter of Athena), and his cyclops brother Tyson have to go into the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the sea of monster to all demigods, and rescue the golden fleece. If you know your mythology, that is the same fleece that Jason and the Argonauts recovered.

One of the best parts about these books is that they help you review your myths. So if you have a mythology test on the horizon, or you just want to actually enjoy a book for once, these books are for you!

-Drew

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher.

Here's another excellent story by Chris Crutcher. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes was the other result of my shopping trip to Barnes and Noble, and I'm not going to lie: I was not disappointed. The novel deals with the same type of issues as Whale Talk.

However, it goes into great depth on the issue of child abuse. The novel follows Eric Calhoune, the best friend of Sarah Byrnes, for whom the book was named. Sarah Byrnes has scars all over her face from where she was burnt by her father as a child. And yes she realizes her name has a twist of irony to it. Anyway, the book begins with Eric visiting Sarah in the hospital. Apparently one day, in the middle of class, Sarah just stops talking. Everybody is super concerned because they normally can't go five seconds without hearing Sarah say some kind of smart-alec remark.

The book then proceeds to delve into the whole history between Sarah and Eric. Eric is a chubby kid, and always has been, so Sarah and he became friends because they had the common bond of being outcasts. Everybody shunned them because of their looks. However, as time goes on, Eric becomes more popular because he joins the swim team. Don't think of Eric as a pushover; he's not. Well, at least he's not most of the time. Multiple times in the book he stands up to the devil himself a.k.a. Virgil Byrnes, Sarah's dad. The novel really heats up when Sarah leaves the hospital. Like many of Crutcher's books, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes gives the reader a glimpse of what it is like to live in the imperfect world we live in. He allows the reader to see a different side of life, a side most of us hopefully never see.

-Drew

Spinning

A few months ago, I was first introduced to the concept of spinning. Some of you may be asking "What exactly is spinning?" I definitely was. I asked one of my friends who went occasionally; she said, "Hard." I was fairly skeptical. I figured that she was just being a wimp and that it would be a walk in the park for most people. I was WRONG!

Last week and this week for track practice we have had spin classes. By then I knew the general idea: you sit on a stationary bike called a "spinner" and you ride for an hour or so. I was happy when the girl's track coach invited the boys to come to spin class with them because I had been wanting to go to one, but did not have the time (or the money). Our coach thought it was a good idea, so four of us went that week. I had some preconceived notions on what spin class was going to be like, but all of them were wrong. For example, although I knew that a teacher taught the class, I believed I would just be sitting there riding a bike the whole time. I was in for a surprise. After I adjusted the seat on my bike, the real workout began. During the class, the teacher puts in a CD with some pump up music. S/he then has you alternate between standing and sitting while increasing or decreasing the tension. I quickly realized that spinning was not a walk in the park. The day after my workout, I could hardly walk. School was crazy. Walking was hard enough, let alone going up and down stairs all day. However, I do not regret going to spin class. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me feel as if I had actually accomplished something that day, even if my legs felt like Jello.

-Drew

Notre Dame

As some of you may have heard, Greg and I are going to be attending the University of Notre Dame next fall, so since I had nothing better to blog about, I figured I might as well go with that. For those of you who don't know, which my bet would be a very small amount of the population, Notre Dame is the most prestigious Catholic University in America, and, at least in my opinion, the world.

My dad has gotten more and more people asking him questions about Notre Dame. Most of them involve the general question of "Where is Notre Dame?" The University of Notre Dame is located in South Bend, Indiana (well it actually has its own area code so its technically its own town). Notre Dame is on the northern side of the city, which is about five miles from Michigan, 93 miles from Chicago, and about that same amount from Ohio. The nearest shore of Lake Michigan is about 20 miles away, just to give you a bit of an idea where Notre Dame is located.

Notre Dame itself has the most beautiful campus. One of the first things you will notice on the campus is the famous Golden Dome of the main building. To its left is the cathedral. Here's a little fun fact: Notre Dame's cathedral has more 18th century stained glass than any church in Europe.

Of course, everyone has heard of Notre Dame football, too. If you have a chance to go to one of those games, take it. It is the most amazing experience ever. A

ll of these things are great, but my favorite part of the university is the atmosphere. The Catholic spirit is alive at Notre Dame and extremely evident. Everyone is exceptionally kind as well. If you are interested in Notre Dame at all, check out their website: http://www.blogger.com/www.nd.edu.
-Drew

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Ok, I'm going back to book reviews. They're nice and easy, and I think they're pretty enjoyable. This past weekend I made a trip to heaven a.k.a. Barnes and Noble and bought some books with some gift cards given to me at Christmas. Exciting so far isn't it? Ok, so back to the story.

I had absolutely no idea what books to buy until I came upon two books by a certain author named Chris Crutcher. I don't know if I mentioned this in my earlier blog about Deadline (also by Crutcher), but he is possibly one of my favorite authors. His books all deal with some kind of social issue and happen to be extremely easy to read. Whale Talk pretty much deals with everything. The book contains aspects of racism: the main character, The Tao (pronounced Dow) Jones is part white, part black, and part Japanese. Yes, his name does sound like the industrial average. But that's besides the point.

The Tao, also known as T.J. by... well almost everyone, was adopted as a young lad when the child services took him away from his mom because she only fed him once every three days. He had to go to some major counseling to get over that one, let me tell ya'. The book also deals with child abuse. T.J.'s major "enemy" has an African-American stepdaughter, whom he abuses on a regular basis. It deals with abuse in general, too. Every page seems to have another episode of somebody getting abused, whether it's the slow, crack-child freshman, whose brother died a few years back, or somebody's girlfriend. T.J. always connects with these people in some way and always feels the need to stand up for them. In order to make one of his least favorite people in school extremely angry, and give a group of misfit high schoolers a chance to win letters and wear lettermen jackets, which is a huge deal at his school, T.J. starts up a swim team.

The story, while it may seem jumpy in parts, has valuable lessons in it. The ending is a shocker and almost left me in tears when I read it... and I knew what was coming because I had already read it once. I highly recommend this book. I guarantee that you will get something out of it.

-Drew

WYSE: A Tale of Domination by St. Anthony High School

Many of you have heard about the amazing feats accomplished by the St. Anthony WYSE Team a few weeks ago. Some may be wondering "What in the world is WYSE?" WYSE stands for Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering. Students from many different schools get together to compete at regional, sectional, and state competitions. St. Anthony has pretty much dominated the regional and sectional competitions the past few years so while it's really cool how well we did, it's not something new.

What happens at WYSE competitions one may ask? Well first, everybody gets off the bus and goes into the college/university. Next, we all get our picture taken. After that we all sit down and get ready to use up some major brain power. Everyone at the WYSE competition takes two separate tests out of seven different areas: Math, Physics, Chemistry, English, Biology, Engineering Graphics, and Computer Science.

At St. A, we mainly stick with the first 5 areas. In fact, I don't think we have ever taken the other two tests. Anywho, the students take one test at a time. Each tests last 40 minutes and has between 30 and 100 questions. For example, math and chemistry both have 40 questions. English is the big one, in case you were wondering. So then, after the students have taken both of their tests, there might be a drawing for some door prizes and then we're off to lunch. Once we get back from lunch, they announce the winners. They do both individual and team winners. For the team winners they somehow standardize the scores in a way which is too complicated for me to explain on this blog. St. A has pretty much dominated for some time. State is always the goal.

My past three years of high school has seen St. Anthony rise to a power at the state competition. We've gotten 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the past three years. Hopefully, this year we'll get the one we've been missing. It seems like a very good possibility with Uni High, who has won the past two years, slacking off this year in their scores. It doesn't hurt that our team pretty much rocks at life either. If you want to check out the WYSE website for results, info, etc, the address is http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/wyse/AC/index.html.

Sectionals are March 11. It should be a great time!
Drew

Bubble Shooter: The Most Counterproductive Game

Walk into any computer lab at SAHS, or the library, or even the college resource room and I guarantee that you will see at least one person playing a computer game called Bubble Shooter. I don't know who the first person to play it at St. Anthony was, but I do know they were not the last. Bubble Shooter took St. A by storm. Everyone has at least tried to play it. I even know people who have gotten their parents addicted to it. Unfortunately, many of the students themselves are addicted. I know I am. Every time I get on the Internet, I open up three windows: Facebook, Bubble Shooter, and whatever I am actually on the computer for. Bubble Shooter can be extremely counterproductive. I used to be able to type a three or four page essay in about an hour. It now takes me three. Although I do beat the game almost every time I play, I still cannot stop. It's bad. So whatever you do, DO NOT PLAY BUBBLE SHOOTER! If you already have, I'm sorry. It is very hard to stop.
Drew

Track

Yeah, I know it's early, but track practice has already begun. Personally I don't know what the IHSA is thinking allowing track practice to start already, but oh well it gives me something to do. So far, the track team is rather small. This is partially do to the fact that basketball and wrestling are still going on. Like I said it's rather early.

Anyway, I was talking to Coach Weidman about an early outlook of this year's season, and he told me that we're going to be pretty dang good. We have four returning state qualifiers: Derek Rohlfing in the high jump, Aaron Wall in pole vault, Myles Baker in triple jump (he thinks he's cool because he got third in state... but he's not), and yours truly in the 400. That alone is probably enough to achieve one of our major goals this season, winning the NTC meet for the third year in a row. Now, I'm going to break down our strengths and weaknesses just for the fun of it. Obviously, our field events are loaded. Besides Myles, Derek, and Aaron, we also have two world class throwers in Paul Sudkamp and Zach Bradshaw. Paul told me that everyone who beat him last year in shot at sectionals graduated, so that's pretty good. Zach's pretty good as well, plus you never know what freshman will pop up.

Our distance guys have taken huge strides since last year. Hurdles with Myles and Pook are going to rock. Myles will go for his own record in the 110s, while Pook will try to beat our former coaches in the 300s. Mid-distance, aka Drew Willenborg, doesn't have any worries either, except for pulled muscles. The only races we're weak in are the sprints. Apparently we have some talent in freshman Alex Ritz, but we graduated Brett Haarmann last year, and rumor has it that Charles McGuire and Riley Westendorf are not going out this year. I can say that rumor is partially false. Coach succeeded in guilting Charles into it on Monday. It works for me. Relays should be pretty good as well, if we can keep some decent people in them. That about does it for track. Updates will be posted at random intervals.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Hello there! I'm back again with another exciting addition of Drew Has Read Way Too Many Books and Has Nothing Better to Blog About Than Books! This installment is all about a book named Peeps. Now I know what you are thinking. NO I did not read a book all about the little marshmallow things that taste so darn good and blow up in the microwave. This book is all about vampires. Shocking, another vamp book.

Unfortunately for all you on Team Jacob, this book does not have any werewolves, and unfortunately for those of you on team Edward, these vamps do not maliciously separate themselves from their girlfriends; they just try to eat them, or in other cases make out with them. Darn the luck.

Peeps puts a new spin on the vamp novel. The vampiric disease (a parasite) in this book is not spread through biting, but through sexual conduct. Wow now some of you kids are interested. Well the book is all about a guy named Cal. Cal is kind of nerdy, and in every other chapter, he explains a new and fascinating disease, parasite, protozoa, etc. Well anyway, Cal has the parasite that causes the freaky mutation, except he show none of the symptoms, except for super strength, super speed, and supped up senses. He got all the cool things with none of the cannibalism. Well Cal has to track down the person who gave him the parasite, and it makes for quite a story. Cal uncovers a conspiracy he never expected.

The book is pretty good, and I'm glad I bought it. The sequel, The Last Days, is equally as good. I highly recommend both. Five stars, two thumbs way way up.

The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron

Drew here again! Time for everyone's favorite book reviews! This will be my last one until next semester so I picked a personal favorite, or rather five personal favorites. That's right I'm reviewing an entire series this time. I know; I'm pretty gutsy. Unfortunately these books and my affection for them show the inner nerd in me. So if you have a relatively good opinion of me and do not already believe that I'm a little different, STOP READING THIS NOW!!! Otherwise, feel free to continue.

These books are about Merlin. If you have never heard of Merlin, I am convinced that you have lived under a rock for the past twelve years of your life. However, this Merlin is a little different than the one you may or, in the case of you people under your rock, may not have heard of. This Merlin does not have a beard (or any facial hair for that matter) or glasses. In fact, he's blind! That's a shocker. This Merlin has not discovered any of his amazing gifts yet, and does not fully understand and master them until the end of the fifth book. The first novel begins around the Roman occupation of Britain. You may wonder how I know this. Let's just say I did my homework.

Any who, Merlin is a young lad of roughly twelve. He washed ashore GB five years before this story begins. Towards the beginning, he is blinded and accidentally discovers his own powers. Soon Merlin goes to a land known as the Isle of Fincayra, for those of you not familiar Gaelic mythology is a place that is in between the spirit world and earth. Merlin has numerous adventures in Fincayra, including finding both his parents, his sister, cavorting with a giant spider, walking with giants, running with dear people (one of whom he falls in love with), finding Excalibur (King Arthur's sword), and many other. These books are some of the best I have ever read, and I frequently reread them.

If you need a book to read over Christmas (oops, I posted this a bit late), and like books like Harry Potter, READ THESE BOOKS. They could be some of the greatest ever. I give them max stars and max fingers. Ok well everybody have a merry Christmas!

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Ok, I'm going for my second book review and I had a little trouble deciding which book I was going to use. I decided to go for a book that has a select audience. Lucky, as of late, this audience has grown exponentially, due to the Twilight series. Boys, don't stop reading this because of that line.

This book is similar to the Twilight books, yes, but it is also more manly and does not have a creepy, clingy vampire dude and an obsessive werewolf in it. The book is called Intertwined. In it, an orphan named Aden must deal with not only his life, but the life of four other people, as he has four other souls imprisoned in his body. That is not even the beginning of the weirdness of the book. Each of the these souls has a certain attribute. One can raise the dead. One can tell the future. One can time travel. One can possess other people. Aden has to put up with these voices for his entire life, until he is walking out of a cemetery (after killing a few zombies) and sees a girl who magically makes all the voices go away. She's sort of a medicine for his schizophrenia, except the voices are real and he doesn't swallow the girl. Well anyway, the boy follows her home (stalker right?) and soon talks to her and all that jazz. This is when the book begins to get Twilight-esque. Aden soon enters a world he never knew existed. Sure zombies are one thing, but pretty soon vampires and werewolves begin popping up. Who would have guessed?

However, the story line is pretty solid and it moves rather quickly. I did enjoy reading it. 4 stars out of 5 and a thumb and a pinkie up.

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

If you're in the mood for a book with a more classical twist that still draws your attention, this is the book for you.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the genius who brought you Sherlock Holmes wrote The Lost World, a story about a London reporter in search of adventure to win over the heart of a girl. Cliched slightly? Not really because this book was written before there were such things as cliches (well, almost).

Any who, the book begins with a young lad named Ed Malone. Ed just had his heart broken by a girl; she told him she could never love a man who didn't have an adventure to his name. Luckily for Ed Malone, he winds up on one of the greatest adventures ever. When forced to interview the hot-tempered Professor Challenger, Ed sees his opportunity for at least some minimal action. What he receives is an offer he never excepts. Professor Challenger invites him to a sort of press conference for science. Challenger shocks his audience with a fascinating story of dinosaurs in the present world. Words are spoken and shouted, and the next thing Malone knows, he's off to South America to discover the lost world. He faces challenges along the way, including betrayal, dinosaurs, hairy ape men, and much, much more.

Overall, the book is extremely exciting, and it kept me on the edge of my seat right up to the end. If you're worried that classical literature is much to wordy for you to handle, don't be. This book is easy to read. If you're wanting to break into classical literature, this could be the book for you. 4 stars out of five, two thumbs up.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Hello again. I'm back for another book review. Yet again I'm going for a different genre. This one is a sort of post-apocalyptic book. The book is called Little Brother, and it was written by Cory Doctorow. The book starts out with a nerdy senior named Marcus. Marcus is super tech-savvy; he knows how to write computer code, can understand cryptology, taught his entire school how to fool their school board's monitoring of their computers, and even built his own computer from scratch.

This book actually takes place in the near future in San Fransisco and can be rather startling at some points. You see, Marcus and some of his friends skip school one day to play a new online game. Unfortunately, that same day, there is a terrorist attack on San Fransisco. The Department of Homeland Security arrests Marcus and his friends and tortures them and all of that jazz, thinking he is a terrorist. When Marcus is finally released, he comes back to find his city completely controlled by the DHS. The DHS are keeping tabs on everyone, so it reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984. Well needless to say, Marcus is not too happy with the DHS at that point, so he decides to oppose them at every turn. He hitches numerous plans to thwart them, all of them more ingenious than the last.

The book can be highly unrealistic at parts, I mean how many seniors do you know who have a complete grasp on cryptology, let alone can spell it? I will give Cory D. this though, he can make a story interesting. If you can get past all of the technical language, the book is actually pretty entertaining. 3.5 stars, and one thumb up.

~Drew W.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Ok, I have been trying to come up with something to write on in the blog. Then, it hit me. As many of you know, I enjoy a good book probably more than most people. The most recent book I read was called Deadline by Chris Crutcher. I am the kind of guy who could spend hours in Borders or Barnes & Noble looking for a good book to read.

I'm not going to lie; this one did not catch my eye at first. However, I had read many of Crutcher's books in Junior High and was considering buying a box set, so needless to say I bought the book. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

The book goes into the storyline right from the start, and it never stops. Deadline is about an eighteen year-old boy named Ben Wolf. Ben goes to the doctor one day and finds out that he has terminal disease (they never mention which one). Ben makes a shocking decision that enrages the doctor: he decides not to tell anyone and not to undergo treatment for the disease. Since he is eighteen, he threatens to sue his doctor if he tells any of Ben's family members. Ben has a plan for the year, and he does not want to be sickly the whole year and just die later. He wants to go out with a bang. Ben does many things that most people would not have the guts to do. He joins the football team his senior year, he asks the girl of his dreams to homecoming, he tries to help the town drunk, and many other amazing things. At one point, Ben begins to have dreams about a mysterious guy named Hey-Soos (take that as you will). I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, but let's just put it this way: I stayed up till the wee hours of the night (10:45) reading this book. When it was over I almost cried. It is by far one of the best books I have read in a long time.

5 stars out of 5, two thumbs up and all that jazz. Read it!

~Drew W.

Trick-or-Treat!

Trick Or Treat For Hunger 2009 is over, and what a success it was! Student Council has out done themselves this year. At least seven trashcans were filled with all sorts of non-perishable food items -and a bag of clothes (Thank you Mr. Cunningham). Student Council members come back from this with many great stories, so be sure to ask them what all happened this year on one of the most successful Trick Or Treat For Hungers ever. They will be happy to tell stories of all the fun they had.

Don't forget about the costume contest on Friday either! I know Mrs. Cross has offered bonus points, but Mrs. Thoele has as well. Try getting some in both classes. My suggestion is Abraham Lincoln, not too original, but definitely qualified. He is, after all, according to Fr. Bracco, the second most written about person ever (Literary and Historical all mashed into one). The costume contest, hosted by student council, will take place at lunch. There are several different categories, and the winners of each get a free vendor lunch, so make sure to enter one. What have you got to lose?

Drew Willenborg

Trick or Treat for Hunger

Many of you have seen the student council working around school, whether on food drives or jeans days or anything of that sort. Tonight, Wednesday, October 28, the Student Council is doing something that they only do once a year. They are going around to different houses in Effingham and "Trick or Treating for Hunger." This annual event allows St. Anthony via student council to donate hundreds of food items to Catholic Charities.

The Student Council will begin at approximately 6:30 and drive to most of the neighborhoods in Effingham. However, they only stop if the lights are on. They need all the food they can get, so everybody needs to make sure to turn on their porch lights before 6:30. Any sort of contribution helps, so make sure to give something if you here a knock at the door. Remember, the food goes to a good cause. Don't hesitate to give!




Drew Willenborg