Speling Changus?

Simplr spellings 2 cum?

And my response:
First off, ow. Reading that hurt with all the misspellings.
That said, I think this is ridiculous and would cause much more trouble than it's worth. Yes, it's hard on our brains some times when spellings of words don't make sense (I've even had conversations about this recently), but changing the way we do everything would make things more confusing than that. My vote is for neither changing the system or keeping it the same. I say that we do what was mentioned in that article, alternate spellings. We can keep "tonight" but also have "tonite" as an acceptable spelling. Changing everything would take forever to do anyways. Everyone would have to learn how to read and spell all over again, not just little kids. What's the point in that? Yes, we helped the little children learn to read, but we inhibited everyone else; sounds like a Pyrrhic victory to me.

Also, our English language has evolved throughout the generations to give us what we have today. It started out as local dialects, eventually became Latin, which after awhile became English. That English has existed in England for centuries, and in the 18th century came to The United States where it became "Modern American English." So the spellings today have evolved, and whereas they have been getting shorter, they have not changed like this. Therefore a change this drastic would be stripping us of some of our culture and heritage.

So, in conclusion, keep the old stuff, but let some of the new stuff in as well. It'll help everyone in the long run.
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All that being said, I feel compelled to say that I use colour, honour, and labour, as well as theatre and centre. I also subscribe to the SHIFT theory if anyone has read So Yesterday.

Reviews: Blue Noon, Peeps, and Lost in a Good Book

These are short, so I thought I'd put them all in one post.

Midnighters: Blue Noon, Scott Westerfeld (young adult fiction)
Westerfeld certainly doesn't fail in his dramatic conclusion of the Midnighters trilogy. In the Midnighters series anyone born at midnight who lives in Bixby, OK gets an extra hour a day. Sounds great, huh? Everyone wants an extra hour, but these kids don't use that time to finish their homework, they're too busy saving the world. While everyone else is frozen, completely oblivious to the midnight hour or "blue time", creatures are all over the place, creatures who exist only inside the blue time. But those creatures, darklings, are getting ready to hunt. So when the blue time suddenly occurs at times other than midnight the teens are forced to investigate and find a way to stop the darklings from getting their way.

This book was fantastic, admittedly not my favourite of the series, but still great. It brings a great close to the series, but also leaves it open if Westerfeld decides to continue it. I really hope he does because this book got me to pay attention to math more, keep an eye out for tridecagolisms, and make me wish I could visit the blue time. And I couldn't put it down, not even for sleep; a great book for the dark hours.

Peeps, Scott Westerfeld (young adult fiction)
Westerfeld puts a new spin on the classic vampire story in Peeps. Peeps are people who are "parasite positive" or vampires. Cal is a carrier for the parasite, someone who has it, but isn't effected by it, besides increased strength and heightened senses. It's Cal's job to find other peeps and capture them before they cause any more harm or spread the disease farther.

If you've read Westerfeld's So Yesterday, then you'll love Peeps. I loved the plot and suspense of the novel, and can't wait for the next installment coming this September. But if you're squeamish you probably shouldn't read this book because all the even numbered chapters are information on real life parasites.

Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde (adult fiction)
In the series the main character Thursday Next works for SpecOps (Special Operations) in the Literary Detectives has to save the classic of Jane Eyre, from the notorious Archeron Hades, by heading into the book itself. Last time she used an invention of her Uncle Mycroft's the Prose Portal, but now she'll have to read her way in. Once inside the book world, she is drafted into Jurisfiction, the government inside books, and apprenticed to Miss Havisham (yes, that Miss Havisham, the one from Great Expectations). Will she be able to save Jack Schitt for Goliath, save her husband, and make her fictious court date?

This book, the second in the series, is my favorite of the four that have been released. I love learning more about Jurisfiction and the book world, and Thursday's world amuses me to no end. The thing I most love about this book, however, is the villian. I'll try not to give away too much, but the villian is quite formidable, and has the most unique way of trying to kill Thursday. But who is this foe, what score do they have to settle, and what is their power? You'll have to read and find out.

June 2006 Reading List

Here's all what I read in June.

Midnighters (Volume 3) Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
PhD: Phantasy Degree Volume 1 by Son Hee-Joon (manga)
Fushigi Yûgi Volume 1 by Yû Watase (manga)
Fushigi Yûgi Volume 2 by Yû Watase (manga)
Fushigi Yûgi Volume 3 by Yû Watase (manga)
Ultimate X-Men Volume 9 (comic trade)
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

It doesn't look like much, but those books were great. Look for some short reviews on the novels here soon, I've got to write them for the library anyways.

Writing, reading, life update

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last update, so sorry about that. Thing is, without school or a daily job, everything just melds together and I loose all track of time what-so-ever. Like tomorrow is the 4th of July, that doesn't seem possible at all. And I also just realized it's 1:30 AM here, probably shouldn't be on, but I'm awake and I won't remember to update when I'm online later.

So, because of the time, I'll try to keep things short.
I'm taking a short break from The Conqueror to get some things sorted out with its plot, mostly with the timeline of it all. Been working a little on Zarcona, but not much writing sadly. Zarcona book 1 is planned out from start to finish, just a sketchy outline, but at least I won't have the problems Conqueror has given me. And I've got a plot bunny gnawing on my leg to write some fanfiction.

With reading I haven't read too much that's new, but right now I'm reading Scott Westerfeld's "Specials", the conclusion of his Uglies series. I love Westerfeld, so I'm enjoying this book. And really trying to catch up with comics, because I'm a comic junkie and I missed so much over the past few months. And as predicted, I finished my books for the library's summer reading program in the first two weeks, a whole month before I was supposed to be done.

Speaking of the summer reading program, I've been busy with it. Months ago I figured I'd have a totally boring summer and I'd want something to do, so I signed up to volunteer with a lot of things at the library. And now I'm there a lot and just wanting to bang my head against the wall repetitively most of the time. And handling 4 younger siblings full time babysitting, not fun.

So busy, busy, busy, but still alive.