Recent events at ISU

This past week I went to see two plays at my College. I go to Illinois State University located in Normal. The two shows I saw were Don Juan comes back from the war and A Street car named Desiree. Don Juan was absolutely fantastic. They covered the whole stage in snow, had snow falling from the ceiling and had a backdrop onto which they projected an animation of a snow storm. The play had only one male actor who plays Don Juan, every other character was a female of some sort. Don Juan was a womanizer before the war and even worse after wards. The set was in a thrust setting which means that the audience surrounded the stage on three sides. It was a beautiful set and lighting design. The costumes where lovely, even the tattered clothing looked good. It was delightful performance and it got me excited for the spring season.


The second show I say was Street Car. The set was absolutely fantastic. It had different levels, this wonderful spiral staircase. The main play area had walls made from scrim, so you could see through them when lit from behind. The show had a fantastic cast and the play was long but amazingly done. I cannot believe that it was three hours long. The show takes you on a ride through Blanche Dubois’s visit to her sister Stella and her husband Stanley. There is something off about Blanche when we first meet her and Stanley takes it upon himself to find out what is up with Blanche. At the end of the play Stanley has raped Blanche, Stella birthed a baby and Blanche is being tricked by her sister into getting mental help.

These plays were both done with such art and a focus to detail. I applaud the directors and actors of both theses wonderful shows.

The Master of Youth(part II)

“Come on get up I like my meals not to be sittin for to long.” She grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me up. I looked her in the eyes, smiled and threw the rowan wood at her. She screamed as the wood touched her skin. I watched as it started to burn her flesh. The burnt flesh fell of her body as a ball or fire. But she was right this was not going to be enough her skin was healing as the burning flesh kept falling off. The wood wouldn’t last to much long I had to run now. Our eyes locked as I bolted past. He eyes showed me that she would not forget this. I couldn’t care less. I ran for the clearing hearing her shout behind me in pain. I knew my master was waiting for me at the river. He had to take care of a skela at the light house. A skela looks like a skeleton of a fish that has been turned human. It has a long tube-like claw that reaches down from each arm that acts as its hands. The claws are used to drink the blood of their victims. Most of the time skela’s feed on sharks or whales but on occasion go after humans on land. I saw him standing their on the beach. I called out to him. He turned around and stood their waiting for me. I came to him and fell at his feet gasping for air. “What happened? Is she dead? Did you kill her?” he looked at me, his face full of worry. “No the rowan wood didn’t work,” I said. He backed away slowly from and kneeled in front of me. “Are you ok?” he asked. I nodded my head slowly as my breath started to come back. “When we start moving tell me exactly what happened.” I nodded my head again and took long deep breaths. We both knew we had to move or the witch would find us.

Favorite books and how it all got started

Growing up my favorite books where books about dinosaurs. I was not an avid reader until sixth grade. But when I was little any book about dinosaurs was on my list. I would check out book after book and I kept doing this till the end of my freshman year. That is the when the dream of becoming a Paleontologist just wasn’t in my future anymore. I can still remember to this day the book that sparked this interest in me. Although, I will admit that I do not remember the name of the book, I can remember the story. The story was about a little boy who went on a dig with his dad and found this big dinosaur tooth. When he picked the tooth up he was sent back in time and could talk with the dinosaurs. The book ended with him learning and befriending the dinosaurs and returning to his own time. To me that was the most interesting thing in the world.


My passion for Paleontology has not died away completely but my reading list has changed quite a bit. I love fantasy books, and plays, and little bit of everything else. But my niche is fantasy. Now I don’t mean it’s all about elves and dragons and space aliens. Yes I will read those kinds of books. My favorite books are those that take this world and change it just a little, sort of like Harry Potter’s world, a coexisting. My favorite book today is hard to pick because I am really into series. So if I have to pick my favorite none series book it would have to be Warbreaker. But my favorite author who writes the books the read the most is Garth Nix. His books have so much creativity in them and the characters are real(not two dimensional). I do not know why or how I started liking fantasy books but I am still sort of a kid so there is plenty of time for growth and exploration.

About Me : D

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away called Huntington Oaks there once lived an elf named Andrew Joseph Rosenblat (that would be me). Honestly, I would prefer to be called A.J. It is definitely much easier than Andrew Joseph. I would have to say I have the most “normal” name in my family when comparing to you humans’ names. My mother’s name is Sunshine and my father’s name is Midnight. I guess what they say is true, opposites really do attract. In addition to me, I have 2 other siblings, my sister, Teardrop, and my brother, Chaos. Their names really do fit their personality. Teardrop always seems to have some sort of drama in her life; while Chaos can never sit still and is always causing some kind of mischief. Sometimes I feel left out of the loop because my siblings have names that fit them and mine is just some average human name (no offense to you humans). No matter what my name might be, I love my family and always will love for anything they do. I have a bunch of friends too who just like me are elves. They are what get me through the day. They are my backbone.


Okay, so there is a possibility that I might have lied about everything that I have just told you. Okay, so I DID lie about everything I just said. What can I say? I have a very imaginative mind. Although, I did tell you the truth about my name, I am Andrew Joseph Rosenblat. I honestly am probably one of the most outgoing people you will ever meet. I will talk to anyone that can hold a conversation. I have the best friends in the world and would not replace them for anything. The people I love even more than my friends are my family members. Family is the most important thing to me. They are the ones that, no matter what, will love me unconditionally even if I mess up really bad. I come from a big family so I have a ton of supporters.

I am currently 18 years old as a freshman in college at Illinois State University and I must say, even though it does have its ups and downs, I do love it here. I have met some great people and have shared some wonderful memories. Even though I am declared as a Mathematics/Theatre education major, a job that I would love to be able to have would be a radiologist. For those of you that do not know what a radiologist is, they are the people at the doctor’s offices and hospitals that deal with the x-rays. To me, they just have the coolest job taking pictures of people’s bones. Not to mention that they make absolute bank! For anyone that might be confused by that phrase, it means that they make a whole bunch of money. The job that I would definitely not want to have would have to be a high school English teacher. I could never be able to handle reading all of those papers. Proofreading is one thing, grading and critiquing a paper is a completely different thing. It is just not my style.

I may be very interested in the entertainment world, but there are some things that I cannot bring myself to watch or listen to. Those would include gory movies and rap/hip hop music. For instance, there is no way you will find me watching any of the Saw movies. If I am in the same room that one of the movies are playing, you will see me sitting in the corner, covering my ears, under a blanket, while closing my eyes. In the car, the radio will be on and if a Lil’ Wayne or T-Pain song comes on, I will bet you that my hand will be the first one to the seek button to turn off the song. I understand that other people might like that music (I do not understand why they would) so I am not going to sit here and completely trash it. Everyone has their own opinion and they are free to express it in whatever way they wish to. I would not advise you to try to turn that music on around me, that is all I am saying.

You know those people that talk in Internet lingo, the people that say things like, “IDK” (I don’t know) and “BRB” (be right back)? Well I would hate to admit it, but my most over used phrase would have to be “JK” which means just kidding. I know, I know, you all are probably all saying to yourself, “Really?” And as sad as it is to say, it is 100% true. Even though that is the word that I use the most, the word that I love to say and use is omnipotent. For anyone that does not know, it means all-powerful, invincible, or unstoppable. The best example I can think of right now to describe someone that is omnipotent would have to be God. Yeah, I could say some sort of super hero, but God is the only one that is truly omnipotent. There is one word that I absolutely, without a doubt cannot stand, and that word would be faggot. That word just gets under my skin and just shoots this hatred through my body.

I have yet to be out of the country. I have been to a few different states here and there but nothing was really all that special. If I could ever travel anywhere in the world, I would definitely have to choose to go to Australia. I would go there for the sole reason of being very far away from my family. Of course I love them with all my heart, but I think, just like everyone else might, you can only take so much of your family for so long. It would also be nice to go to Australia to see all of the kangaroos and joeys. I would love to organize a trip there this summer just to get the feel of it and experience being there.

I would have to say that I am a pretty organized person. If I have clutter around me then I just feel like I can’t concentrate on anything. The only thing I think about is the clutter. At my desk, everything has its place and by golly, it better be in that place or else I just feel like my day will just be completely off. Another way that I am very organized is that if I am given instructions, they must be actual directions, not just guidelines. Not just telling me to do something and expect me to know how to do it on my own. So for instance, if you ever want me to get your lunch for you, tell me exactly what you want.

Everyone has their own life goals. And everyone’s are different. Some of my ambitions are to get married and have twins. I know usually people who have twins don’t plan on having twins, it just kind of happens. But I am one of the few random people in this world that actually want to plan on having twins. I love children and just believe twins are the best type of kids to have.

Well this is me. Take me as you will. If you want to get to know me, maybe be my new friend, or if you want to just find a different blog to find, that is perfectly fine with me. No one will change me.

-A.J.

The Master of Youth

Hey this is a little short story that I am writing and every other week i'll post some more of it. ENJOY!

I ran through the forest hoping to get away. I couldn’t fight her off by myself, I needed help. I heard her foot steps behind me closing in. I couldn’t out run her I knew that I just needed to get out of the swamp. I was following the stream hoping that it would lead to the lake close to the western capitol. I tripped over a root and fell to the ground hitting my face hard on a rock. My face was now bleeding the blood making a small pool by the rock. I desperately tried to get up but the pain was too much. I heard laughing; she was behind me walking towards me slowly. As she approached I dug my hands into my pockets and filled my hands with crushed rowan wood, hoping that would be enough to slow her down or save my life. Her hands grabbed me by the hair and tugged my head up to meet her face. This was the first time I had seen a blood witch up close. Her eyes we black and her skin in patches on her face covering up the bone underneath. Her teeth were pointy and red. She held me there for minute, just looking into my eyes. “Rowan wood don’t work on me, boy,” she said smiling. My eyes must have showed my fear since she began to laugh. “You stupid boy, don’t your master teach ya anyting, rowan wood only good for lower witches,” her face began to smile “For me you be needing some armous dust.” I looked at her trying to understand what she was saying. “What boy, don’t yah know what armous dust be?” she looked into my eyes and didn’t even wait for me to answer, “armous dust come form the armous flower which bloom only once ever sixty-seven years, boy.” She threw my head down into the dirt, laughing as she did so. I was angry why would my master send me hear if he didn’t teach me how to defeat her. “Now yah gonna pay for comin after me.” I had to get away it was my only chance whether the rowan wood would work on not I had to try it.