I'm done! I finished my first semester of community college. Now I will be able to post every day(right). I really am going to try to post something everyday even if it is just a small quote or something.

For my English class our final assignment was a research report on an artist. I chose to do mine on J.R.R Tolkien. The paper had six parts, a biography, historical context, cultural context, argument, comparison and a conclusion. This is the biography. Probably the blandest part of the paper but a good introduction.

The Making of an Artist
John Ronald Reul Tolkien, also known as J.R.R Tolkien, began writing stories at the age of seven. From his earliest years he was attracted to fantasy. His first story was about a big, green dragon. He was also fascinated with languages and words. In grammar school one of his teachers introduced him to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, which greatly influenced his style of writing. In high school his favorite subjects were grammar, Greek, Latin and philology, the study of languages. He began to study Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse during this time. In college he took an interest in Finnish and began to attend a Finnish Grammar school were he studied the language and mythology of Finland. (Collins, David. J.R.R Tolkien. First. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2005. Print.)During World War I Tolkien lost many of his good friends. The loss of his school colleagues deeply touched him. He realized how frail human life is and resolved to give something to England before he died, a great work, similar to the old Finnish tales he had studied. He wanted to write an epic that embodied the spirit and culture of the English people. “Tolkien had read thousands of legends from many countries. He knew how they were set up. But he didn’t want to copy any other story. For England he hoped to write with clear and simple beauty.” (Collins, David. J.R.R Tolkien. First. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2005. Print. ) Tolkien began his great epic in 1917. It took almost his whole life to complete and is known to the world as The Silmarillion. It was his tribute to his fallen comrades and his gift to his country. It was published in 1977 four years after his death.
Although Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his greatest work the world knows him as the creator of The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of Rings began in 1929 with the creation of the first hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo was originally invented to entertain Tolkien’s children at bedtime. Upon sharing the stories with his friends they insisted he publish them. Tolkien was reluctant but eventually agreed. Bilbo’s adventures, titled The Hobbit, were published in 1937. The public loved them. They wanted a sequel so J.R began work on part one of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. It wasn’t published until 1954 due to the great length of the story. In between the time of the Hobbit’s publication and Lord of the Rings Tolkien wrote a number of short stories including The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Farmer Giles of Ham. These stories never had the success of the others. The public loved him for his hobbits.

What's Up

Hey all you bloggy bloggers out there. How's it going. Life is pretty good for me right now. I usually don't just write posts about myself but maybe I would enjoy blogging more if I did so today that is what I'm gonna do.
Since I am no longer working(summer job ended) and I'm not ready to go to college yet I've just been hanging out at home. It has been kind of boring so far but the beginning of the school year holds promises of entertainment(if you can call it that). Although I am no longer part of the industrious realm of scholars 7 of my 8 siblings are. Since we are home schooled all the action takes place right in our kitchen. Yesterday I witnessed an experiment by Dave, Patch's first attempts at cursive and Emma's first day of Kindergarden. It was neat watching her use the same math book that I began with.
Don't think I just sat around idly while they all worked their little brains out. I was entrusted with Little Mags who wasn't to happy about being left out of all the fun. The two of us spent the morning loading and unloading the dishwasher, making the beds, building puzzles, singing and reciting nursery rhymes as well as attempting to build a castle(let's just say I will never be an architect) and watching Mr. Rogers. I felt like a little kid again and was glad to spend the morning in my sister's shoes. I actually was looking forward to doing it again today but fate saw fit to do other wise. I woke this morning at 10 after "oh my gosh" eight instead of six and my whole day was screwed up. I tryed to make the best of it though. I ran as usual but unfortunately fell on mile 3 and didn't return till 9:30. Mom needed Mags out of the house so she could work with Em so I volunteered to take her on a quick trip to the library. Well the quick trip didn't get us home untill quarter after noon. First because I couldn't find one of the DVDs that was due and second because I got carried away at the library as usual. Thirdly because Mags got upset on the way home and rode particularly slow. When we did get home I took a shower, had a cup of coffee and made my bed all the things you are supposed to do when you first get up. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful enough until five when Dad usually arrives home from work but today was delayed until six which meant we had to miss our Wednesday holy hour and that dinner was late. Now it's 8:36. I'm blogging. The kids are putting on a show for Mom and Dad. Soon they will start getting ready for bed(I hope). Even though I love them and really enjoy being able to learn and play and just spend time with them I really look forward to the silence that ensues after there night time video is over and they are tucked into bed. That and early in the morning is the only time when it comes anywhere close to hearing a needle drop in our house. Hopefully tomorrow my alarm will go off at the right time and everything will run smoother but if it doesn't I'll just cope with another discombobulated day at home.