Dad's story

My dad is in the hospital right now because he has Dengue. He got it when he was bitten by mosquitoes. Dengue is a sickness in the tropics caused by mosquitoes. It  can bring sudden fever and loss of platelets. It has many other symptoms. My dad had blood transfused into him because his platelet count is going down. His last count was 9,000/μl which is way below the normal range, 150,000/μl. The problem is that it is so hard to find the platelet units that he needs. My aunts have contacted almost all of the blood centers and big hospitals but only got 3 packs when the doctor asked for 4. The next day, they needed 7 bags and we were lucky to access all 7.

Platelets are tiny red blood cells that form clots to stop bleeding, so these little cells are the ones that help you recover from nose bleeds, wounds and other physical pains that can cause bleeding. To help recover platelets during dengue we get blood to replace the platelets. We get blood from blood banks and the blood banks like Red Cross get their blood from donors. Here in the Philippines, it is hard to get blood because there are not much blood donors. That is why it is SO important to donate blood because if someone suffers from a sickness like dengue, the patient will need blood. When I grow up I will repay the world for giving my dad blood by being a donor to Red Cross and I will donate at least once per month.

Creative Writing - Expressing a Favorite

Fine print time!!

I have finished a book called The Lightning Thief. Grover, the satyr, is my favorite character. The first reason why I liked him the best is because he is funny. For example, when they slayed Medusa Grover landed and said, “That was not fun! Well, hitting Medusa with a branch, that was fun. But bumping into a stone bear? Not fun.”

Another reason is that he follows his dad’s footsteps while at the same time believing that he can accomplish what his dad did not. Grover was a searcher. A searchers mission is to find the god Pan but no searcher has found him nor came back alive.

The final reason why is he knows how to be supportive but does not know when to be supportive. For example, when they were close to the underworld Percy’s morale went down and Annabeth kicked Grover near the hooves then Grover realized that Percy needed some cheering up because he left his mom at the underworld so he gave some useful moral support by saying that we made it far and don’t worry we will save your mother etc.

All in all, Grover is friendly, funny, and he is a good follower. By follower, I mean follows his dads path to being a searcher.

Until the next blog this is Alex for the A.L.E.X project.

Creative Writing - Narrating a part of a Story

          Percy Jackson, Annabeth and Grover visited an old water park because the god of war made them do it. He asked them to go to Waterland because he left his shield there and a enemy of his put up a some traps. When they went in, the first thing that Percy thought was why did he go here? After a while they found a merchandise stand and the first thing that Annabeth said about it is ‘’Clothes… Fresh clothes.’’ It was a big deal because their clothes were dirty from all their adventure. After that, she got the clothes and disappeared into the women’s bathroom. She came out in a red waterpark T-shirt, Red flower shorts etc. A couple of minutes later, they found the shield. Percy said ‘‘Too easy,’’ so he got the shield but triggered a trap. Then there were cameras and lights everywhere. Before Percy could say ‘’Run!’’ a monitor said ‘’2 minutes until live at Olympus’’ so they rushed to get out but it was up slope so it was really hard. 

          After a few seconds, they were close to the top, then latches opened that released metal spiders. Annabeth was so scared that the only thing that she can do is scream ‘’SPIDER!’’. When Percy fought of some spiders his guts felt weird. Then the water hit the boat hard but they were going towards the exit fast. They were going to crash so they jumped and apparently survived. Annabeth yelled “Ow!” because Grover caught them in mid-air to help them down. Then Grover said’’ You are too heavy!’’ so he dropped them. Grover was able to decrease the pain of falling by a little but he did not save them from getting hurt.

Creative Writing - Expressing an Opinion

I have been reading a story called The Lightning Thief. The main character there is Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is a demi-god because he is the son of Poseidon, King of the seas. I think that Percy is sort of lucky because he has the power to control water, and at the same time heal when he is in it. But despite all these abilities, I still think that being a demi-god sucks.

One of the reasons why I think being a demi-god sucks is that you already attract monsters and you can’t use gadgets because that just attracts more monsters. Like at the beginning of the story, Percy went on a field trip to a museum. He was attacked by a fury that was pretending to be his teacher.

Another reason is that all powers have a price. For example, most demi-gods have to go on a dangerous quest. Like that one time when they were on their way to go on a trip to a beach. They were attacked by a minotaur that killed Percy’s mom. Another example is when they where set on a quest to retrieve the master bolt. While they where on a bus they were attacked by a group of furies.                        

 And that ends my statement that being demi-gods suck. I would rather be a normal person than be a demi-god.