Hello, reader, I'm Joseph. I like reading. My favorite book series is Redwall by Brian Jaques, and my favorite character is Boar the Fighter from Mossflower. I hope you enjoy my blog! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:31:00 -0600 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:31:00 -0600 I thought Homer was bad until... I came across The Aeneid (ominous music playing in the background). I start The Aeneid. So Virgil starts with a dedication to a muse--fine, simple procedure for epic poems. Then he starts rambling on about some people who are sailing. Now questions come up in my mind: Who are these people? Who is the person that is doing the narration? And why do I care? Now you ask, how many of those questions were answered? The first one. But today I answered, Who is the person that is doing the narration? I still don't know why I care but that's that. Matthew http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/656973/ Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:31:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/656973/   Yep this post is on cleaning hamsters' cages (mine in particular). This is the dialogue between me and my hamster: Me:Ccome on, Sam. Don't you want to go in the run-about-ball? Sam: No, bwhahahaha!!!! Me:Yes you do; come on. Sam:Give me fooooooood! My food dish is empty. Me:You just emptied it, you glutton. Come on, get in the ball! *grrr*. Sam: Fat chance. At this point, I try to corner her in the cage with the top of the run-about-ball so she has to get on it, and then I can get her. Mwhaha! Then she gets on it and now I have her or so I thought... When I try to take her out, she jumps out of the top, and I'm back to square one. Let's skip ahead to when I get Sam out of the cage. I tip the top that I've caught her with vertically until she falls into the run-about-ball. So, it might have a happy ending after all, but, then, I look at the bio-hazard hamster cage. (For those of you who don't know, Sam is the messiest hamster alive.) I go and get a trash bag hold my breath and dump the bottom of the cage into the bag. I take a deep breath, tip the cage so the bedding falls out, and safely dispose of the bio-hazard. *Heroic music plays in the background.*  *Joseph* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/647995/ Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:01:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/647995/ We had a country ham for Christmas.  Which, of course, had to be soaked in water for a couple days.  To get rid of the salt because their heavily salted.  Oh, a quick note on country hams, they are known for having mold on them (ours didn't *snif*).  Even after all the soaking I think it was still a litle salty.    *Joseph*  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/641562/ Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:20:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/641562/  Shakespeare Photos! I have't got any of the play but I have some of me in my costume. And a closeup...     * Joseph * http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/573689/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/573689/ I haven't had my morning laugh yet, so, I will randomly choose words out of my mom's book 2000 Most Challenging and Obscure Words and you must make up definitions for them.  This will be a two-part tag, so here's part one, and I'll post part two later.  Here are the rules, the words, my made up definintions for the words, and the real definitions: Copy the instructions and the words, replace my definitions with yours, and tag at least one other person.  The real definitions for the words are at the bottom of the page; do not read the real definitions until you have filled in your guesses.  Enjoy!  Mwahahaha...  The Challenging Word Tag Part One  1)ashram (AHSH rum) running into ash 2)bicameral (bye KAM ur ul) glasses 3)chiaroscuro (kyah ruh SKYOOR oh) a private school 4)dap (dap) to tap 5)ex post facto (eks post FAK toh) gibberish 6)floccinaucinihilipilification --yes this is a real word!-- (floks ee nos ee nih hil ee pil ih fih KAY shun) your doom has come! 7)gyre (jire)a musical instrument 8)horripilation (ho rip uh LAY shun) horror 9)izzat (IZ ut) the 4th dimension 10)jehu (JEE hyooh)a molotov cocktail (a kind of homemade bomb) 11)kinesics (kih NEE siks) knee surgery 12)Lustrum (LUS trum) food Definitions: 1)Ashram: A Hindi word meaning: "a hermitage, religious retreat, place for religous instruction or excercise." 2)Bicameral: Derived from Latin.  It is "a term used to describe a legislative system consisting of two houses, an upper and lower, like the Senate amd the House of Representatives, which together constitute the U.S. Congress." 3)Chiaroscuro: Derived from Latin.  It is "the use and effect of gradations of light and shade in a picture, esp. when there is a pronounced contrast." 4)Dap: From Middle English.  Meaning "to fish by letting bait bob up and down on the surface of the water." 5)Ex post facto: A Latin phrase meaning "retroactive;" lit. translated as "from something done later." 6)Floccinaucinihilipilification: This word exists solemnly in British English dictionaries; it is a jocular concoction of Latin nouns, and it means "trifle" or "nothing."  7)Gyre: From Greek and Latin, meaning "a ring, a cirle, or a circular or spiral turn or movement." 8)Horripilation: From Latin, meaning "gooseflesh, the bristleing of one's skin produced by fright or horror or just extreme cold."  (In other words "goose bumps.") 9)Izzat: From Hindi, Persian, and Arabic, meaning "personal dignity, honor, self-respect, prestige, credit,or reputation." 10)Jehu: Derived from a Biblical discription of king Jehu, and means a fast driver; (according to 2 Kings 9:20 "...[Jehu] driveth furiously,"). 11)Kinesics: From Greek, meaning "the study of body language, body movements and gestures as a method of communication without speech." 12)Lustrum: From Latin, meaning "a period of five years." *Joseph* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/549404/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/549404/  Hi, I'm reading a book called Magyk from the Septimus Heap series. Septimus gets kidnapped, under the cover of him being stillborn.   It's more of a litle kid book, but it's really funny and a best seller The Heaps have a slobbery wolfhound named Maxie thats partly why It's funny. The author's name is Angie Sage. *Joseph* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/422196/ Tue, 6 Nov 2007 14:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/422196/ My brother has a bird. In fact, he's had about 13 birds at different times of course. I say "about"  because we lost count.  All of them were named Ralph and all of them were parakeets.  We had 1 once thet would fall off his perch at night; it seemed brain dead. *Joseph*   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/406395/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:52:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/406395/ The Mistmantle Chronicles ane a book series by M. I. Mcllister.  There's 1: Urchin of the Riding stars 2: Urchin and the Heartstone 3:The Heir of Mistmantle  * Joseph * http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/383180/ Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/383180/ Hello In February we (me and my family) went to tryouts for the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It's a homeschool Shakespeare troupe.  They  were initially going to do it on Friday August 3rd at baylor, but then the tickets got sold out, and we have more people that still want to come, so we are going to perform the play a second time on Saturday August 4th! I'm the Indian prince.  *Joseph* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/361993/ Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/361993/  You probably don't care, but Brian Jacques is writing a new Redwall book called Eulalia. This is the US cover: pretty cool, huh?  It was drawn by Troy Howell.  It will be published October 4th 2007 *Joseph* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/354525/ Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/novelboy/354525/