Harry Potter pgs. 180 - 309

After the troll, there are flying lessons. A boy named Neville gets hurt and Madam Hooch takes him to the hospital. Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin punk, picks up a belonging of Neville's. He flies away with it and Harry comes after him. Malfoy throws it and Harry flies after it. He catches it just before it hits the building and Madam McGonagle sees him do this. She wants Harry to be the Seeker for the Griffyndor house. In Quidditch, Harry's only job is to catch the Golden Snitch. In his first game, he falls off his broom and catches the snitch in his mouth.
After that Christmas comes up and Harry gets an invisibility cloak. They're very rare and it doesn't say who it's from. Harry uses it to roam the halls at night. Hermione has been doing research about a mysterious object that Hagrid got from a vault. She believed it to be something powerful that was being hidden in the school and made by Nicholas Flamel. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have always been suspicious of Snape and think he plans to steal it. Harry uses his invisibility cloak to go to the restricted section in the library. He finds that Nicholas Flamel is the only known creator of the Sorcerer's Stone which can give someone immortality. The next night, the three go to Hagrid's to ask about the stone. They are seen by Draco and he turns them in. All four of them have detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. Draco and Harry are trying to find a dead unicorn. When they find it, they also find someone sucking the blood of the unicorn. It tries to attack Harry and Draco but the centaurs come and scare it away. Hagrid explains that that was Voldemort. On their way back they accidentally go on the third floor which is forbidden. They go into a door and and find Fluffy, the three headed dog. He's guarding a trapdoor. The next night they go into the trapdoor to stop Snape from getting the Sorcerer's Stone which they believe is hidden in their.
Once in they go through obstacles and Ron is injured in a human chess game. Harry continues while Hermione stays with Ron. He meets up with Mr. Quirrel. Harry was expecting Snape and he's confused. Professor Quirrel takes off his headbands to reveal another face on the back of his head. Harry looks in a mirror to see his reflection put the stone in his pocket. Quirrel attacks Harry for it, but as soon as he touches Harry, he disintegrates. The dust reforms and knocks Harry out. He wakes up in the hospital.
Dumbledore explains everything to him. On the last day of school, Harry wins them the house cup and he has to go home, but he'll come back next year.

Harry Potter pgs. 1 - 179

Harry is an eleven year old boy who lives with his cousin, aunt, and uncle. His parents died when he was only one. They are terrible to him and basically treat him like a slave. He's always been a bit odd. Once, his aunt gave him a horrible haircut and the next day he had grown his hair over four inches back to what it was. One day, he gets a letter, which never happens. The Dursley's don't let him open it. The next Sunday his house is flooded with the letters but they still don't let him see them. They move out to a nice secluded island. Harry sleeps on the floor when there's a bang on the door. A giant comes in and tells Harry he's a wizard. He's in chock and doesn't believe it. They leave the Dursley's behind and go shopping to prepare Harry for school.

They go into a bar where everyone seems to recognize Harry, which is weird for Harry. Hagrid, the giant, explains that Harry is famous because he's the only person to ever survive the killing curse. The same curse that killed his parents. They were killed by Voldemort.

They go to Diagon Alley, a magic shopping center. Harry gets his wand, money, and an owl named Hedwig. Afterwards, he goes to King's Crossing to get on his train to the school. Its on platform 9 3/4. To get there, he follows people that look like wizards. They walk straight into a wall and disappear. He does the same and it takes him to the train.

On the train, he sits with a boy named Ron Weasly. Hermione Granger visits them and repairs Harry's glasses with magic. She seems to excel and is very smart.

Once at Hogwarts, they're sorted into their houses. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are in Griffindor. They go to classes. Snape, the potions teacher doesn't like Harry. Their other classes are charms, spells, and transfiguration. They learn a spell, Wingardian Leviosa, which makes things float.

At the Halloween feast, a teacher, Professor Quirrel, runs in screaming "Troll! Troll in the Dungeon!" They all go back to their house corridors, but earlier that day Ron said something about Hermione and she was still in the bathroom crying. She didn't know about the troll so Harry and Ron go to the bathroom to find her. The troll is there too and they fight it. They knock it out by making the troll's club float above his head, then dropping it. Teachers rush in and award them points for bravery.

I've read all seven of these books four times and the first book seems to go very quickly. There's not nearly as much description in the first few as there is in the last three. However, they're all great books.

Memoirs of a Geisha (pgs. 289 - 428)

I was right in my last post when I thought Hatsumomo would come back. Sayuri goes into her room only to find her holding the handkerchief the Chairman gave to her over a flame. Sayuri tackles her, knocking the flame over. They fight for a few minutes until they realize the fire has started to spread. Auntie and Mother run in to try and stop the fire. Hatsumomo, watching them, takes another oil lamp and cracks it in front of the doorway, spreading the oil and fire. She is banned from the okiya and is never heard from again. Sayuri wondered if she was looking into her own future. Hatsumomo loved her boyfriend, which wasn't allowed, and Sayuri loves the Chairman. Mameha explains that geishas can't love, and they become geisha because they have no other choice.
They stop the fire and the okiya is back into business but just in time for the war. Americans are everywhere and anyone with a kimono could call themselves a geisha. All of the women residents of Kyoto are to be taken to a safe camp. Nobu and the Chairman help Sayuri, Mameha, Mother, and Auntie get away to a safe, secluded place. While there, Sayuri works for a kimono maker. She's there for three years until her old life seems like a dream. Then Nobu comes and tells her it's safe to go back.
Once back, she talks with Mameha who is simply a much lesser person. Pumpkin has been in Kyoto entertaining Americans for a while. She's more of a prostitute than a geisha by now though. Sayuri, Mameha, Pumpkin, the Chairman, Nobu, and an American Minister go to an island called Amami. When there Nobu tries to get Sayuri to sleep with the Minister so that he'll help Nobu and the Chairman rebuild there empire. Sayuri doesn't know this and refuses. Nobu is angry and tells her that after that he wanted to be her danna. So, Sayuri has Pumpkin tell the Minister to go to her room at a certain time and not tell anyone. Pumpkin had told Sayuri earlier that she wasn't mad about Sayuri being adopted over her. But a few minutes after the Minister gets there, Pumpkin leads Chairman to the room. They are caught in the act and Chairman walks away. Sayuri is mortified and asks Pumpkin why. She says the a long time ago she took away the one thing she ever truly wanted, now Sayuri knows how that feels.
Later, Sayuri and the Chairman talk. She apologizes, but Chairman stops her. He tells her he never wanted to go against Nobu, his business partner, but he's always wanted the girl he cheered up all those years ago. He calls her by Chiyo and they kiss. Chairman becomes her danna.
This was a great book and a heart-warming ending.

Current Reading

I've read 288 pages of Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a great book so far and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Excuse Me

Hahaha! This picture is hilarious. That guy is shoving aside a live Great White shark! This is what makes Stumbleupon great.

Stumbleupon

For all of the random stuff on my blog, I usually just go to Stumbleupon.com. You tell it some topics that interest you and then hit Stumble! It will take you to a ton of random websites that are usually really, funny or cool. I could stumble for hours because it shows you parts of the internet you'd never find on your own. It's a great tool.

National Geographic Photo

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/img/2009/07/jul09wallpaper-8_1280.jpg
This picture is awesome. It shows how old the shrine is by looking at how the tree has grown around it. I wonder how old it really is.

Life Explained

This will explain everything there is to know about life.

Mature People Truths

http://www.funlol.com/15926/Mature_people_truths.html
This website has 32 hilarious facts that are all extremely true. Most of them you never think of but they definitely apply to everyone.

Photography of the Decade (2000-2010)

http://totallycoolpix.com/2010/12/best-pictures-of-the-decade-the-noughties/
This website has a over 100 powerful photos of events in the 2000's. Each one has a description and they're all great pictures.

Awesome Photography

Think how high of a speed camera you would need to capture this. If you can afford a camera like this, you can get some pretty cool shots out of it.

Cool Writing Technique

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1857110/how_to_write_shape_relief_alphabet/
This link shows a new way of writing 3D letters by just drawin the shadow. It can be tricky at first but once you're done, it looks awesome.

Memoirs of a Geisha (pgs. 155-288)



Things are starting to look even gloomier for Chiyo. She's still stuck in her same horrible situation. She goes down to a bridge crying when she sees the Chairman. He's nice to her, which is a first for Chiyo. He tells her to pray so that she may become a geisha. Then he gives her a piece of candy. This starts a little school-girl crush on the Chairman.
Later, Granny is electrocuted by a heater and dies. At the funeral, Mameha shows up and recognizes Chiyo and offers to take her back into being to a geisha. The deal she strikes up with the ladies at the okiya is that if Chiyo can repay her fees by the time she's twenty. If they can do that, Mameha will receive twice her fee; but if she can't, she'll only get a fraction of it. So, Mameha starts to teach Chiyo the ways of the geisha. She sleeps with her head elevated on a small "head holder". That's surrounded with salt and rice. So if she falls off the head-holder, it's not very pleasant to wake up. This teaches her to sleep peacefully, and only on her back. After countless lessons like this, Mameha and Chiyo walk down the streets and try to stop a man with one look. This is terribly easy for Chiyo because of her rare blue-gray eyes. She takes a glimpse at a man on a bike, who crashes by just looking at her. This was pretty funny.
They later see Pumpkin has become a geisha and Chiyo is jealous. Next, it's Chiyo's turn. She changes her name to Sayuri and starts by going to tea. However, Hatsumomo is there to embarrass her. Hatsumomo goes wherever Sayuri goes to always try to outdo her with Pumpkin. So, Mameha takes Sayuri to a sumo match and they find the Chairman and his business partner who normally doesn't like geisha. However, he does take a liking to Sayuri. A while later, Sayuri is made the lead in a show with 100's of men waiting to bid on her. She becomes the most famous geisha in all of Kyoto and the most desired.
She goes to the Baron's (the Chairman's business partner) house for a party. The Baron takes her back into his room and strips her down. He doesn't rape her, just looks. But it is equally humiliating and violating to Sayuri. She is later examined and still found to be a virgin. This means she's worth a lot to the bidders. So much that she makes history, 15,000 yen. Mother declares Sayuri as the inheritor of the okiya. This devistates Pumpkin and Hatsumomo. Mother calls Hatsumomo nothing more than a common prostitute, based on how many men she sleeps with. Geisha are moving art, they sell that art but not their bodies. Pumpkin is sad, but Hatsumomo wants revenge.
Sayuri finds out the Baron was actually the highest bidder, even higher than 15,000 yen. But Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of how the Baron tried to rape Sayuri. She's very thankful.

These chapters were great. I still love all of her description and Sayuri is finally getting what she's been trying to get. however, she still hasn't gotten the Chairman. Hatsumomo will probably come back to get revenge on Sayuri, which will be interesting.

Memoirs of a Geisha (pgs. 41- 154)

A lot happens in these chapters. First, after only a month Chiyo is sent to geisha school with Pumpkin. On the way there, Pumpkin eats a squid tentacle off the sidewalk. This shows how desperate they are for food and how poorly they're treated. Chiyo is still set on finding her sister. Hatsumomo told her earlier that her sister stopped by but she's dangling her sister's whereabouts above Chiyo. Her agreement is that she'll tell her where she is if Chiyo does Hatsumomo's every bidding.
A while later Hatsumomo and her friend are drunk and they get Chiyo to vandalize a fine kimono of Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha. Chiyo is punished cruelly and beat nearly to death. She's also told that she won't be free until she's paid off all of her debts (school, food, the kimono, etc...) However, Hatsumomo does tell Chiyo where her sister is and Chiyo sneaks out looking for her. They plan their escape, to meet at the train in another week. Chiyo is caught and is punished by no longer going to school to be a geisha and instead being just a maid forever.
She finds out her mother and father are both already dead and Satsu made it back to Yoroido and has run off with Mr. Tanaka's assistant's son.
These chapters, as I said were very important. I like the vivid descriptions given about everything. The way she describes herself getting beat sounds horrible and cruel, but it makes it much more interesting. So far the story's been pretty devastating but maybe it will pick up.

Memoirs of a Geisha (pgs. 1 - 40)

This book is set in Japan, 1930. An eight year old girl with light blue eyes named Chiyo lives in a small fishing town by the ocean. Her father is very old and her mother is dying. Chiyo had to go down to the fish market to get medicine for her mom when she tripped and fell in the rain. She was taken into the fishing harbor and met Mr. Tanaka, the owner of the market. He learned that both of her parents were just about at the end of the rope and Chiyo thought he sought to adopt her and her older sister, Satsu. They go to Mr. Tanaka's house for a night but are inspected by a lady. The next day, that same lady is waiting for the sisters at the train and they are taken to the city of Koyto, far from Mr. Tanaka and their lives as they know it. To make matters worse, when Chiyo gets out of the buggie that's took them from the train, she realizes Satsu is meant to go somewhere else. They are separated. Chiyo is taken to an Okiya. This house has a few servants, one of which is about Chiyo's age, Mother, Auntie, Granny, and a geisha, Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo is beautiful but evil; she strikes Chiyo just for being in her room. Granny is Mother and Auntie's mom. They're job is to help Hatsumomo be a successful geisha. Chiyo learns that if she is obedient, she'll go to school to learn how to be a geisha also.

This is a great book so far. The author uses great comparisons in describing little details that give the book a lot more flavor. I think Chiyo got to go to the Okiya because of her rare (for Japanese people) eye color. Whereas her sister had brown eyes.