Prem-oh-nitions

I guess there's a lot to say on the subject of premonitions. They kind of come in so many different ways. I never really have any of great consequence...usually silly little things like "I have a feeling today won't be a good day" but there's something I noticed about feelings like that. If I do end up have a bad day, I've realized it's because I was expecting it, I'm usually just very pessimistic; waiting for bad things to happen and purposefully see all the bad in everything, when it would normally be a good day. So maybe a lot of it is in my head...
Since I never really have good premonitions, I thought of one from the movie Big Fish, I recall from many years ago. In the scene the dad is telling a lot about his life to his sons fiance. He says "I had a dream where this crow came and told me, “Your Aunt is going to die.” I was so scared I woke up my parents. They told me it was just a dream, to go back to bed. But the next morning, my Aunt Stacy was dead. Wasn’t three weeks later that the crow came back to me in a dream and said, “Your Grampa is going to die.” Well, I ran right back to my parents. My father said, no, Gramps is fine, but I could see there was trepidation. And true enough, that next morning my Grampa was dead. For the next couple weeks, I didn’t have another dream. Until one night the crow came back and said, 'Your Daddy is going to die.' Well, I didn’t know what to do. But finally I told my father. And he said not to worry, but I could tell he was rattled. That next day, he wasn’t himself, always looking around, waiting for something to drop on his head. Because the crow didn’t tell how it was going to happen, just those words: your Daddy is going to die. Well, he went into town early and was gone for a long time. And when he finally came back, he looked terrible, like he was waiting for the axe to fall all day. He said to my mother, 'Good God. I just had the worst day of my life.' 'You think you’ve had a bad day,' she said. 'This morning the milkman dropped dead on the porch!'"

I suppose there was really nothing the he could have done to save his aunt, grandpa or dad. He did tell his parents each time, but it seems like fate, if that's the right word. Like no matter how many precautions we taken there wasn't anything that could be done to prevent the deaths. I thought that the story was humorous though, the end bit I mean, even though it was pretty tragic. Especially scary for a kid.

So something strange just happened; I was writing this and I took a break because my mom made me go to my friends house because she does this dinner trade thing with them and they made dinner for us. And I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, I was really set on not going, it's dark and creepy outside, and so I dragged my brother along with me. Then when we were walking down Glass st. he tripped and fell on his hands and knees, and his right knee looks...demented. I knew something was going to happen! I feel a bit bad for making him come with me, but there wasn't too much I could do without feeling the wrath of my mother.

Shakespearian Stories

I would say that, like Romeo and Juliet, A Westside Story has a mix of love triangle, disobeying parents, and above all star-crossed lovers. A Westside Story is basically a modern (and musical) version of Romeo and Juliet. It starts out in New York, with two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Sharks and the members families have just moved to New York from Peurto Rico, and the Jets feel like they've invaded their "turf", so almost immeadiately there is rivalry(as in the Capulet's and Montagues). Very soon Tony from the Jets and Maria from the Sharks fall in love at a dance, and are forbidden to see eachother ever again. Thus we are introduced to Romeo and Juliet.

The Sharks and Jet's call a rumble underneath the highway, and the leader of the Sharks (Maria's brother Bernardo) kills the leader of the Jets (Riff). Tony gets angry because Riff was his best friend; like a brother to him, and he kills Bernardo. Chino, a member of the Sharks(also in love with Maria) wants to get even with Tony and goes out looking for him. Tony and Maria make plans to run away from New York, but Bernardo's girlfriend, out of anger, has Tony told that Maria was killed by Chino because he found out about their affair. Tony doesn't want to live without Maria and tries to find Chino shouting that he wants to be shot as well. Chino shoots and kills Tony, but there is a twist to the ending. Maria finds Tony but does not kill herself; instead she is angry at everyone for all the hate and makes the Jets and the Sharks realize how wrong their rivalry was. Also, Chino(Paris) is not killed, instead he kills Tony(Romeo).

Anticipating Shakespeare

I find it a bit confusing to read Shakespeare, because firstly the way it's written with rhyme and tempo throws me off. I almost seems distracting to me; sometimes I will find myself not paying much attention to what the characters are saying, rather how it is all said. Also how the characters, especially in movies like A Midsummer Night's Dream, speak so fast, and with all these words that are new to me, I get lost. That's why I am looking forward more to reading Shakespeare's plays, I can go at my own pace and comprehend everything better. One more, slightly less confusing thing is how he may be talking about one thing, and I think he's talking about something else because of the different words used and words that are still used meaning other things. It always surprises me how words we use today mean completely different things in his writing, but I remembered something from the fifth grade...Shakespeare created tons of new phrases that people hadn't ever used before, so who knows, maybe the first people to read his plays got confused as well.

Almost everyone knows at least the basic outline of Romeo and Juliet, I would be surprised to find someone in the US who hadn't at least heard of it. It has inspired tons of stories and movies, the whole tragic love thing. Not that I'm saying it's not a good plot, definitely original(at the time), but to be completely honest: I'm getting sick and tired of Romeo and his Juliet. Sure it may have been a brilliant piece of work, but you can only read, analyze and discuss something so many times before you become just plain bored of it. I have read it over and over from different teachers, done all the projects that they had with it, I know it backwards and inside out. If the choice presented itself, I would have much rather read one of his less mainstream plays.