Moon Phases

I don't pretend to be even a slight expert on Moon Phases, which is not typical astrology.  However, as I was born under a New Moon, I am quite intrigued by them.  I did some research, so here are the sites to look up your moon phase and determine what that means:
Birthday Analysis to Find Your Moon Phase
Moon Phase Analysis
*disseminating lunar phase = waning gibbous

Famous Aries

Alec Baldwin

Marlon Brando

Matthew Broderick

Russell Crowe

Celine Dion

Robert Frost

Hugh Hefner

Harry Houdini

Thomas Jefferson

Elton John

Keira Knightley

Peyton Manning

Eddie Murphy

Rosie O'Donnell

Sarah Jessica Parker

Vincent van Gogh

Tennessee Williams
James Franco <3
Jesse McCartney
Alex Pettyfer

Robert Downey Jr.

Very exciting people!

Health Tips for Aries

Exercise:
- avoid dangerous physical activity and risky sports, like snowboarding
- try very active team sports, like soccer

Diet:
- green leafy vegetables are especially necessary
- fruits rich in potassium
- beans are especially important
- eat fish (low in fat, not salmon) about twice a week
- drink lots of water
- avoid salt
- avoid alcohol
- don't eat quickly; chew slowly and give your food time to settle before engaging in physical activities

Suggestions:
- find time to relax and rest your body
- get lots of sleep at night

What You Need to Know About Aries

Aries people tend to be energetic, impulsive, optimistic, assertive, and aggressive.  Aries people are typically aware of their own needs, but not usually aware of other people's needs.

Random Facts:

Aries is a masculine, fire, and cardinal sign.  Aries people are the most prone to injury than people of other zodiac signs.  Aries is the first sign in the zodiac.

"Jane Eyre" in Review

I just finished reading Jane Eyre Tuesday (3/13/12) at about 2a.m. for school.  I really did actually enjoy this book and it falls under one of the few books in high school that I have read cover-to-cover. From what I knew of the story (from the movie versions, preferring the BBC mini-series), I would have never wanted to read the novel, but I actually enjoyed it!  Jane and Rochester are both very complex characters that could be developed even more.  They are like real people.


My favorite thing about Jane Eyre is that it is the ultimate love story.  Rochester is a total creep, spider, and vampire by trying to trap the pure Jane in order to gain the purity and redemption he so longs for, but he does truly fall in love with her.  Although many would argue that the point of the novel is to make some sort of feminist statement, I really disagree.  Jane's personality propels her to act as she does, and Jane as a real person would have acted the same way even with the societal constraints.  She longs for independence because she does not want to be obligated to those who don't truly want her, not because she does not want to be obligated specifically to a man.  Jane seeks love for happiness and does feel that marriage and God are the best ways to find this happiness.  That is a very normal thing for a woman to wish for at the time.  Because of Jane's human personality, it is not unnatural or spectacularly feminist to want true love.


Now for my astrological point of view:  Jane is a Capricorn, Rochester is a Scorpio, St. John is an Aquarius, Bessie is an Aries, Georgiana Reed is a Libra, and Eliza Reed is a Gemini.  Those are really the only characters with enough description and depth for me to accurately characterize by an astrological sign.  Jane, although not apparent to me at first when reading about her childhood years, is the most stereotypical Capricorn woman there possibly is (intriguingly enough, in my favored BBC version, Jane is played by a Capricorn, Ruth Wilson, who's birthday is 1/13/82).  Jane is a dutiful and happy audience to those who wish to talk to her.  She is nonjudgmental, but curious about others.  She doesn't present many apparent emotions to others.  Rochester is a typical Scorpio in that he is possessive, jealous, and mysterious, as shown through countless examples throughout the text.  St. John is one of the most determined and domineering people, and for me was very difficult to figure out.  I placed him as an Aquarius because he is too aggressive for a Virgo and too docile and ambitious for an Aries (although he is "disturbed" as many Aries men seem to be).  Bessie is an Aries because she responds well to forwardness and isn't afraid of speaking her mind and being abrupt.  Georgiana is a Libra because of her constant need for an untroubled surrounding as well as lots and lots of flattery.  Eliza is a Gemini because she feels a great amount of agitated obligation to her family, is extremely selfish, and has her own mindset on the exact steps to do everything.


And now for my book to movie comparison:  I don't remember the 2011 movie version very well, though I remember in some ways it was more accurate than the BBC version.  However, since I own the BBC version, I know it more thoroughly and will compare the novel to it.  I believe that the movie is not an accurate portrayal of Jane as a character, though it portrays Rochester very well.  Jane has way too many complex thoughts to easily portray her on camera, but I think they could have developed her more by at least accurately portraying her childhood and how she got from many point A's to point B's.  I also think that Bertha is drawn out too much in the movie, focusing less on the love between Rochester and Jane.  The movie focuses on the Gothic feel, but not the love story.  The novel is not very Gothic and focuses much more on love and Jane's quest for happiness.


Favorite quotes:

• "This room was chill" pg. 8
• "nestling in a wreath of convolvuli" pg. 16
• "Broughton Brocklehurst" pg. 32
• "'onding on snaw'" pg. 36 - not even kidding
• "each bearing a tray, with portions of something" pg. 42 - yum
• "Brocklebridge Church" pg. 60
• "could I ever rise more?" pg. 69 - probably actually important for the essay I must write for school...
• "'if others don't love me, I would rather die than live'" pg. 70
• "she breathed a little fast, and coughed a short cough" pg. 71 - foreshadowing
• "'Continue to act as a good girl, and you will satisfy us.'" pg. 71 - more foreshadowing
• "'add nothing and exaggerate nothing'" pg. 72 - important life lesson
• "Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed, from what source I cannot tell; has a girl of fourteen a heart large enough, vigorous enough to hold the swelling spring of pure, full, fervid eloquence?" pg. 74 - perhaps a little feminist?
• "Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now" pg. 79 - hope surfaces that Brocklehurst will no longer be mentioned in the novel
• "'No - I have no family.'" pg. 100 - Jane should have felt more comfortable with Mrs. Fairfax
• "took the cat on her knee" pg. 100 - Mrs. Fairfax is a cat person
• "Twilight and snowflakes together thickened the air, and hid the very shrubs on the lawn." pg. 125 - good to know that British people have always been fascinated by the shrubbery
• "'She began by feeling my horse.' 'Sir?' said Mrs. Fairfax." pg. 129 - Mrs. Fairfax is just as creeped by that statement from Rochester as the reader
• "There was a reviving pleasure in this intercourse, of a kind now tasted by me for the first time" pg. 378
• "substituting peace for war, freedom for bondage, religion for superstition" pg. 405 - 1984 reference?
• "'They are coming!  They are coming!'" pg. 427 - sounds like a quote in HP7P1
• "'St. John is a strange being'" pg. 451
• "I heard the front door open and St. John pass out." pg. 458 - such weird word choice...

Things I learned:

• &c. = etc.
• foreshadowing is much more obvious than I could have ever otherwise realized
• "Rasselas" was a typical read of the time
• imadversions is not a real word
• adding "Brockle" to a name before identifying the thing was a very popular practice of the time
• British people automatically know what -shire you're talking about without actually naming it
• knowing French is important
• knowing German is important
• commas are necessary for life
• "'ing' and holm" is a folk phrase of the time
• I do not know what "'Resurgam'" means
• spelling things the "British" way is best, like "colour", pronounced "cul-lore"
• it takes about an hour and a half to go six miles in a carriage...I think it takes less time to walk that distance...
• hot negus was an important staple of the time
• people did not merely have a globe during that time, instead they had a "pair of globes"
• alliteration provides comic relief for a reader after reading for 3-5 hours straight
• translating all the French in margins of Jane Eyre is totes tedious
• irascible = rascal-like
• choler = irascible temper, but not drippy snot
• sometimes Charlotte Bronte got bored and pulled out a thesaurus so that she could make paragraphs full of vocabulary words that make no sense
• "cadeau" is certainly not pronounced "Caillou"
• Bronte really needs to modify her word choice in many instances
• ribaldry is a funny word
• "sententious sage" means very wise
• Céline is pronounced "say-lean"
• Rochester saying "refresh me" means that he wants you to let him suck your blood
• when referring to "a chicken in the pip", you mean that there is a respiratory illness or something of the sort
• I am way too entertained by this wonderful novel
• "'she looks such a tinkler'" does not mean that she looks like she needs to go potty
• "'nichered'" means "laughing snickeringly"
• Janet.
• "surmises" is a good word

Finally, I shall point out some of the Twilight references:

• Edward = Edward
• Jane's appearance is similar to Bella's appearance; both are totes plain and quite small
• Edward's description is Edward's description, just less beautiful; "how like quarried marble was his pale, firm, massive front at this moment!  How his eyes shone, still watchful, yet wild beneath" pg. 312
• "He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun." pg. 295 - Eclipse is the book where Edward and Bella are engaged...Jane and Edward have just become engaged at this point
• "ice glazed the ripe apples" pg. 319
• I'm pretty sure that Jane is 19 when she gets married to Rochester (Edward)
• Jane and Rochester's children would most likely be called, Ednet and Janward

Did I mention that I can't believe I managed to read the whole thing?

Defense Against the Dark Arts or French Class?

Other than taking exploratory level languages (French, Latin, and Spanish) in seventh grade, I have only taken French as another language other than English.  Since eighth grade, I have taken French I-IV and I am currently in French V (French IV and V are at an "Honors" level - or at least they say so at my school).


For exploratory French, French I, part of French II, part of French III, and part of French IV, we had the "original" French teacher who took a maternity leave and then became a guidance counselor for our school.  Before said teacher left on her maternity leave, she promised us that she would remain our teacher until we graduate.  False...sort of.


A little more than half-way of French II, we attained a long-term substitute who could not handle classroom behavior nor speak with an appropriate accent.  Fortunately, however, we managed to stay pretty much on task.  This sub remained our teacher until a little more than half-way through French III, when the original teacher returned to finish the year before becoming a guidance counselor.


The French teacher position was not successfully filled by the beginning of French IV and the new school year, so our original French teacher remained on for a few weeks, though we got very little complete.  Eventually, the position was filled by my school's first black teacher.  Apparently there was some racism going on at my school as well as some family obligations on his part, so he left to fulfill a family occupation after the loss of his father after Christmas break.  We soon gained a new teacher who after a few weeks and getting through the majority of The Little Prince, had the misfortune of getting in a severe car crash.  She was out of school for the rest of the year.  We had countless substitutes over the period of time it took to locate a long-term sub to finish out the school year.  Apparently, my school hired one woman who came for just two class periods and quit.  Then they hired another woman who was elderly and could barely speak English (she was not French, however).  We were able to at least speak French with this woman although we did not get through any new grammar.


The teacher who unfortunately got into a car accident returned this school year, but left unexpectedly at some point in February (we had just begun reading The Phantom of the Opera).  We were given no explanation, just a letter from the principal saying that she would no longer be teaching at our school.  We got through very little while our new teacher taught, but I would have much preferred knowing that there would be a consistent French teacher for the years to come.


After about a week and a half of substitutes and movies, we received a new sub (who will not be taking on the "long-term" role necessarily, because she is not certified in French though she can speak, read, and understand the language).  She is retired and quite eccentric, but what can you expect to get when the position is so notoriously cursed?


The irony of the situation is that our original teacher is now needing to create lesson plans and grade our work; she may truly be our French teacher until graduation, as she once promised.

The above picture portrays much of my free-time in French class last year....

(and yes, the picture is shown below on my blog)

This Is Spreading Like Wild Fire

or visit:  Kony 2012 Video

Although I seriously agree with spreading the video and even a bit with supporting the cause by ordering one of those boxes, I don't agree with graffiti-ing the world by illegally putting up posters during the night.  Definitely watch the video and write to either your Congressman or one of the featured ones.