Almondseed and Almondella

Once upon a time there was a very poor man named Almondseed. He lived in a little village in a remote corner of Greece with his wife Almondella.

One day, Almondseed was walking through the village and happened to see a black hen tied up outside the weaver’s hut. He walked on, thinking nothing of it. A few moments later, a hysterical woman ran out of her hut exclaiming that her prize black hen had been stolen and crying for help. Almondseed whipped out an old book of his and pretended to read in it where her hen was to be found. Thrilled at the recovery of her hen, the woman paid him handsomely for his help. At that moment, Almondseed realized he could do pretty well pretending to be a seer and changed careers from poor village gadabout to entrepreneurial sage.

Word of his wisdom and ability to see things spread and one day the king’s servants appeared at Almondseed’s door. They asked him if the Queen, who was pregnant, would give birth to a boy or a girl. Almondseed pretended to consult his old book and kept muttering “Boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl…” until the king’s servants grew weary of his nonsense and left. As it happened, the Queen then gave birth to twins, one a boy and the other a girl. Thrilled with Almondseed’s apparent prophetic qualities, the King summoned him to the palace.

Once there, he was told that the King’s coffer had been stolen and the King wanted Almondseed to please tell him where it was so that it could be recovered. Almondseed retired to his room and asked for some almonds. Hearing that the King had sent for this renowned prophet to recover the coffer, the thieves made sure to be at hand and spied on Almondseed to make sure he would not tell anyone where they had hidden the coffer.

On the first night, the first thief snuck into Almondseed’s room. As the thief watched, Almondseed remarked to himself, “This is the first,” meaning the night. The thief thought that Almondseed meant him and ran off, scared for his life. On the second night, the second thief snuck into Almondseed’s room and heard him say, “The second has come,” once again meaning the evening. The second thief was similarly scared of Almondseed’s apparent powers and ran off. On the third night, there was the same misunderstanding and the thieves begged for Almondseed’s mercy and told him that they would reveal where the coffer was hidden if only he did not turn them over to the King. Almondseed agreed and turned the coffer over to the King who was once again thrilled by Almondseed’s prophetic work.

As a final test, the King took Almondseed into the garden. The King had an almond hidden in his hand and asked Almondseed what he held in his hand. Almondseed muttered something about his own name and his wife, Almondella. The King mistook his meaning and thought he meant the almond itself and the almond tree beside them and rewarded Almondseed with much gold. Almondseed retired wealthy and happy back to his village and lived happily ever after with Almondella.

(Source : https://literarytransgressions.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/fairy-tale-friday-how-to-succeed-in-fairy-tales-without-really-trying/#more-1735)

AMAZING STRUCTURE

Hello everyone! I’m going to tell you about an amazing structure. There are so many amazing structures around the world. There are many structures from the past and they contain so much history and cultures. For now, I’ll tell about a structure in Paris, France. It is The Louvre Pyramid. The Louvre Pyramid (Pyramide du Louvre) is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum. Completed in 1989, it has become a landmark of the city of Paris.

Commissioned by the President of France François Mitterrand in 1984, it was designed by the architect I. M. Pei, who is responsible for the design of the Miho Museum in Japan, the MasterCard Corporate Office Building in Purchase, New York, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Place Ville Marie in Montreal, and the National Gallery of Art (East Building) in Washington, D.C. among others. The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments, reaches a height of 21.6 metres (about 71 feet); its square base has sides of 35 metres (115 ft). It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments.

The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal (Pyramid structure / Design Consultant) and Rice Francis Ritchie (also known as RFR) of Paris (Pyramid Structure / Construction Phase).

The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of a series of problems with the Louvre's original main entrance, which could no longer handle the enormous number of visitors on an everyday basis. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings.

For design historian Mark Pimlott, "I.M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network... the architectonic framework evokes, at gigantic scale, an ancient atrium of a Pompeiian villa; the treatment of the opening above, with its tracery of engineered castings and cables, evokes the atria of corporate office buildings; the busy movement of people from all directions suggests the concourses of rail termini or international airports."

Several other museums have duplicated this concept, most notably the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The Dolphin Centre, featuring a similar pyramid, was opened in April 1982, by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The construction work on the pyramid base and underground lobby was carried out by the Vinci construction company.

The Large Glass Pyramid seen at night.

The Large Glass Pyramid seen by day.

                That’s all about The Louvre Pyramid. I wish I could visit it one day… thank you for reading guys! Have a nice day :D

(souce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre_Pyramid)

Matswapati's Parade

Hello everyone! Now, I'm going to tell you about my school's event. My school, 3 Senior High School held a cultural festival called 'MATSWAPATI'. Matswapati is one of the wayang in West Java. We held this even because we want to preserve our culture as the people of West Java. Matswapati held on Saturday, 27th September 2014 at Lapangan Bali from 08.00 to 19.00. Before the opening, there was a parade. And now, I'll tell you about the parade.
The parade attended by elementary and secondary scholers and the 10th graders too. We competed to win the prize! My class, X-3, we wore headbands written '#Matswapati' with feathers which was from feather duster. We wore black t-shirt and batik wich was tied onto our waist. Before we started the parade, we lined up in front of Matswapati's gate and waited for elementary and secondary schoolers. We talked and took so much photos there. Soon, after they came, the parade begin. We started to sing our chants loudly with a lot of spirit. We waved to people around too. The route was from Lapangan Bali head to Taman Musik, then 5 and 3 Senior High School, Taman Lalu Lintas, Hyatt Hotel, then to Merdeka street, passed St. Angela and Banjarsari school, then we turned to Java street to Bali street back to Lapangan Bali and we welcomed by Kuda Lumping show. We were tired but we're so happy!
Then at 1 pm, there was an announcement to declare the winner. The winner from elementary school was Karang Pawulang elementary school, it was Diana's elementary school. Hehe. And the winner from 10th graders is........ X-3!!! We won the parade! We got one million rupiah! The boys were so happy they danced and the girls cheered! Yeay! Our effort has paid off! It was really surprising! What a dayy~
Well, i didn't watch the festival until finished, cause i was sick:( so sad i can't watch until the night... But I'm also happy for it :)

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT

Hello!! This week, I’m going to tell you about my unforgettable moments. There’s so much thing that can be unforgettable. It may be bad or good, and I’ve been experienced so muchhhhh! Of course, I can’t tell you every unforgettable moment I had. But don’t worry, I’ll tell you about my experience on 14^th February 2014. Do you know what day it was? Well yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day! So, happy reading :)

                One day before Valentine’s Day, I was so tired after took a course at my private teacher’s home for preparation of National Exam (It was still 3 months to go. Yeah, I’m so diligent, I know:))). But then, I remember! I haven’t prepared anything for Valentine’s Day! (I have a bf, btw). Then, I went to the minimarket before went home and I found a chocolate. The chocolate reminded me of him, because one year ago, I took that chocolate to trip from school to Jogjakarta. When I ate it, he came over and just took a bite of it! Ewh. (we were not couple that time). He’s so annoying, I know it=)). Back to the topic, so I bought it 3 for him and 2 for me (hehe:9). At home, I wrapped it with gift paper with love patterns (it was the only gift paper I had at home actually). Then I took a pink paper and a pink pen and I wrote a love letter.  I wrote it on English by the way=)). After I finished, I put it on a pink envelope and I glued the love letter on the chocolate. I really hoped that he will like my gift:)

                Later next day, the 14^th February aka Valentine’s day, I went to school and I sat on my usual chair as usual (I still studied on junior high school). Then I checked my table’s locker and I found a box full of chocolate with a pink ribbon and a paper! It written “Be my valentine?” I was surprised and I spontaneously took my gift for him and ran to his class (he was IX-C and I was IX-D). I sneaked and closed his eyes and then I thanked him and gave my gift for him. He smiled to me and patted my head. Then I found out that he made the chocolate himself! Well, the shapes were a little out of shapes=)) but the flavor is so yummy!

                That day didn’t end there, after school he took me to an Ice cream station and we ate Ice cream together. He knows really well that I always love ice cream :) and things that make me prouder to have him is, he prefer eat ice cream with me to go out with his friend:)). We talked and we smiled and we had such a happy time. That was one of my unforgettable moments with him.

                Well, that’s it! Thanks for reading my somehow ‘alay’ stories, but that’s really unforgettable… oh! And there’s some last word from me : “It’s not about how much the price that makes a moment special, but how to makes a moment to be special with the precious one:)” 

DIANA

Hello I'm going to tell you about my chairmate at X Science 3. Her name is Diana. She is the most diligent person I've ever met. Her long name is Diana Fauziyyah. She was born on 18^th December 1998. She has a brother and a twin. Her twin name is Diane, Siane studies at 8 Senior High School. She lives at Comp. Gading regency, Gading Utara street no. 12-2. Diana and I went to the same school, 5 Junior High Scohol. But, we’re not as close as now.

Diana is very smart. Her favorite subject since elementary school is math. She has joined Math Olympic when she was still at elementary school. Her elementary school is Karang Pawulang 1, Bandung. She used to join basketball extracurricular too. But when she was grade 6, she’s out because she wanted to focus at National Exam. She joined Olympic too at junior high school. But she chose biology, because she wanted to learn another lessons.

Her home is far from our school, so she always goes to school at 05.20 so she can arrives at 06.20. She always studies when I arrives at school. She’s so happy if the teacher comes so she can learn many lessons. She takes course at Ganesha Operation every Monday and  Wednesday. But everyday she also takes tutoring at Ganesha Operation after school. Before she does her homework or studies, she always takes a meal at home. But she doesn’t have a housekeeper so every Sunday she always do housework such as washing clothes and washing her shoes. She often feels tired but then she remembers her parents and her spirit will rise.

She wants to continue her school to STEI ITB and become a minister. Why? Because, she wants to change Indonesia to be a good country. She thinks that Indonesia has a big potential but Indonesia can’t grow because the bad character of Indonesian people and she wants to change it. That’s awesome right??

She always thinks her mother is the best mother ever because her mother always smiles at her and gives her motivation words when she gives up. Her mother always says that she is the best and she can achieve all of her dreams. Diana’s hope is to make her mother happy because she really loves her mother. She also hopes she can learn from her mistakes, her dreams come true and a happy life.

ME

Let me introduce myself,  I am 15 years old, just an ordinary teenager and my name is Maya Larasati. Usually I am a shy person, at first. But, once you know me well, maybe 'shy' is really far from me. I live in Bandung since I was born. FYI, my date of birthday is March 4th, if you ever want to know...

I study at 3 Senior High School Bandung which is the best school in Indonesia. Well, there are so many smart people here and I have to study hard so I can get good grades and continuing education to a great college. But actually, I don't even know my passion yet. It's sad, really. My class is at X Science 3. Science is hard, but i don't even understand the subjects on Social, so i prefer Science. Some said that I am smart, but I just study when there are homeworks or exam. Sometimes i don't study at all... HEHE but I'm trying to always study now.

They said that I'm a cheerful person, and annoying though, but in a fun way (maybe, I hope). I can be the most desperate person too.. And I am the kind of person who sometimes is so panicked. And my friends said I am scary when I'm mad. But if i have to act that I'm mad, I can't and end up laughing. I'm bad at acting. Which means that I'm a honest person (or maybe no). I love scary stories! But, I end up scared to death when I'm going to sleep, but I'm curious....

Maybe you're wondering why my blog title is "Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.". Well, if you aren't, I'm going to tell you anyway. I quoted it from my favorite book, "The Fault in our Star" by John Green. The plot is so amazing, it's a teenage romance book but not too excessive like romance book mostly. It's about life and love. Girl's stuff. But it's great really. I love reading novel, and comic too sometimes. Reading is my hobby. But it's so hard to get a great book these days. I'm so picky at choosing a book, honestly.
That's a short description about me. Thanks for reading :)