Zero to Hero

The Letter Z Chapter 27: Zero to Hero

They came from the poorest district in Panem and they became Heroes. They thought they'd score zero in the training session but Katniss scored the highest and Peeta didn't do too badly either. A girl who lives in the Seam, hunts in the woods, trades in the Hob; a nobody; and a boy who bakes bread who's in love with her. We shall have to see if she chooses him.

"I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"

Yellow Victory Dress

The Letter Y Chapter 26: The Yellow Dress

"Venia helps me into a pair of flat leather sandals and I turn to the mirror. I am still the 'girl on fire.' The sheer fabric softly glows. Even the slightest movement in the air sends a ripple up my body. By comparison, the chariot costume seems garish, the interview dress too contrived. In this dress, I give the illusion of wearing candlelight."

The Capitol is furious about her showing them up in the arena. They can't stand being laughed at and being the joke of Panem. It would've sparked an upheaval in the districts of Panem had they both wound up dead. There had to be a victor and the gamemakers decision to reinstate the previous rule that "two tributes from the same district could live" was a good call.
Here's what she was supposed to say to avoid any trouble. I was madly in love with him, and the thought of living without Peeta was impossible to bear. Love made me do it.

X Marks The Spot

The Letter X Chapter 25: X Marks the Spot

Cato grabbed Peeta in a headlock, and the spot Peeta was pointing to marked the "X" for which Katniss had to shoot her arrow that would release Catos arm around Peetas neck. Katniss could do it and Peeta trusted her completely. It was an incredibly intense scene, but Peeta shoved Cato off the side causing him to fall into a pack of mutant wolves. They both watched as Cato struggled with the pack of animals until out of mercy Katniss shot her arrow through his head, then they heard the canon boom. For all intents and purposes they had won. Except when they heard the new rule was revoked they're like FUCK THAT!

She took the deadly berries out of her pouch and handed some to Peeta and on the count of 3 they were going to end both their lives because how could anyone think either of them could kill the other? Did the Capitol really think that Katniss and Peeta were going to put up with their shenanigans? Whatever Peeta did in the arena was to save Katniss. I know Peeta would have sacrificed his life for Katniss but if she killed him she couldn't live with it.

Weapons of War

The Letter W Chapter 24: Weapons of War

Wow! out of sheer ignorance Peeta outsmarted his opponent. He didn't know the berries he was picking were Nightlock and they killed Foxface. She might have been more leery of stealing the berries had it been a trap but they were gathered and arranged in a neat pile and out of desperation and hunger she nabbed a few too many. She was dead before she knew it. Katniss heard the boom of the canon and was afraid for Peeta and freaked out on him. Damn You Peeta! she said .

Victor's Village

The Letter V Chapter 23: Victor's Village

Long ago, when the Games began, the Capitol built a dozen fine houses in each district. Only one of these houses in district 12 is occupied, that of Haymitchs' because only 2 tributes in the history of the hunger games has ever won from district 12!  It would be quite an honor if Katniss and Peeta win. They would each get one of those houses for their families. They'd be rich and things would be a lot different. 

Up Up Up

The Letter U Chapter 22: Up Up Up It's going to be an unbelievable day!

Inside the first pack contained the remedy that she risked her life for; a hypodermic needle with an anti-infection drug. When she got back to the cave, Peeta was still asleep, and she immediately plunges it inside his arm right before passing out. Time passes.

Katniss wakes up lying in a big pool of blood wounded from the knife Clove threw at her and a bandage around her head. Peeta was much better, and his leg had almost healed completely. It was raining pretty bad, and they were starting to get hungry, but it was no use going hunting. All they could do was sit in the cave and wait for the rain to quit and to keep their wounds from re-opening.

She wasn't very good at acting when Peeta said he didn't have much competition here, Katniss thought "what am I?" Instead, she leaned over and was about to kill kiss him ...... :p and said "there was no competition for him anywhere" which meant Gale was nothing to worry about, and then BAM! Up in the air comes a silver parachute. In Haymitch's' words "It's that easy sweetheart."

They got a basket of food complete with fresh rolls, goat cheese, apples, and a pot of lamb stew with wild rice from a sponsor. Unbelievable!

Time To Thresh

The Letter T Chapter 21: It's Thresh Time

The remaining tributes, sans Peeta, all come to the feast to get what they need. Katniss first sees Foxface tearing across the cornucopia grabbing her pack and disappearing, so she decides to do the same only she gets a knife to the forehead and a struggle ensumes. Clove wrestles her to the ground and teases her about killing her and what they did to Rue and Peeta.

If it weren't for Thresh grabbing Clove from behind, Katniss would have never made it back alive. Clove was about to cut her throat. Thresh overheard Clove talking about killing Rue so in defense of Rue he slammed her head against a rock. He looks at Katniss and says "Just this once 12, for Rue". Thanks to Thresh for sparing Katniss' life letting her go free. They both hear Cato calling out Clove's name so they run off. Thresh takes his and Cato's pack with him.
Katniss got what she came for . In her little pack was a loaded syringe with an anti infection drug that she will administer to Peeta.

Sweet Sleep

The Letter S Chapter 20: Sleep Syrup

When she goes to the stream for some water, a silver parachute drops down near her. This time it is a vial of sleep syrup. It dawns on her if Peeta is sleeping it's the only way she'll be able to go to the feast and it will give her plenty of time to prepare. So she tricks him into taking the sleep syrup saying they're just sugar berries and before he realizes what hit him he's out like a light. There was no other option.

"They're sweet as syrup, " he says, taking the last spoonful. "Syrup." His eyes widen as he realizes the truth. I clamp my hand over his mouth and nose hard, forcing him to swallow instead of spit. He tries to make himself vomit the stuff up, but it's too late, he's already losing consciousness. Even as he fades away, I can see in his eyes what I've done is unforgivable.

She's so wrong. He'll forgive her because he will be alive and not dead and then they can both go home.

Risky Remedy

The Letter R Chapter 20: Risky Remedy

Peeta is so feverish and can barely drink the whole pot of broth after coaxing him for an hour.

It's nice seeing them together, and I love when they are in the cave, but I'm tired of Katniss' constant doubts about Peeta. Why can't she see that Peeta isn't faking it? He loves her for real.

She notices the temperature drop, and it must be because the game makers are manipulating the weather. It could either help Peeta at this point or hurt him- (I'm thinking because of his fever) She climbs into the sleeping bag with Peeta to get warm, but his body is sweltering. Should she leave him to sweat it out or let the cold weather cool him off? All's she can do is place some fresh bandages on his forehead.

Her selfish side starts thinking how much more vulnerable she's become since teaming up with Peeta because he is so sick and needy and she has to take care of him. By morning it looks like the Peetas fever has broken and she gives him some crushed berries. He is so happy having her with him.

So now that he's feeling a little bit better, it's Katniss' turn to sleep. He watches her sleep and naturally strokes her hair because HE IS REAL! Katniss is so stupid. He lets her sleep longer than she'd hoped to but gets up and starts attending to his needs again. His leg is getting a lot worse, but the pus is gone at least. They both know he has blood poisoning and in desperate need of a powerful remedy like an anti-infection drug otherwise he will undoubtedly die.

Katniss goes to make more soup, and Peeta wants her to tell him a story. She thinks it will take more effort than the soup. We hear about how she got some money to buy Prim a goat for her birthday, but she conceals the real story from the game makers about her hunting activities to keep the others from getting in trouble back home. She lies to Peeta as well by saying that she sold an old silver locket of her mother's. Anyway, she bought a goat for Prim from an old man, and it was a wise investment. Prim was thrilled with it. Nobody had to know where the money came from. The truth was that she and Gale caught a deer and sold it in the Hob for a good price.

Just then Claudius Templesmith makes an announcement that there is going to be a feast. It will have exactly what each one needs, so make sure to be there first thing in the morning because for some it might be their last chance. Of course, Peeta needs something robust and remedial. Will she risk her life to save Peeta? His life hangs in the balance. The fates will come to take him away if Katniss doesn't get to the feast, but it proves to be a battle of wits and stubbornness when it comes to Peeta letting Katniss go.

Quick Quotes

The Letter Q Chapter 19 Quick Quotes

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I never understood why Katniss and Peeta didn't become allies from the start. Does it take bending the rules, or making a new one in this case,  to make Katniss do that? I am more ecstatic over the news than Katniss is. The two can live now. It's a relief but I wanted them to choose it for themselves.

Peeta's doing a good job staying alive so far. How did he do it? Do you think his camouflage skills paid off? I can't imagine him hiding underneath a rock bleeding to death all this time. It's been days maybe even a week since Cato cut him. Katniss should have come to his rescue sooner. When she almost steps on him he says.....


"You here to finish me off, sweetheart?"  I love that!

"Peeta!" she yells. He's all covered in the mudd and very well camouflaged. It's a miracle she finds him. He looks like the rock itself, that's how well he's hidden.

"I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off."

Peeta smiles. "Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying." :p beautiful.

Katniss reminds him they are on the same team now and that he isn't going to die. She wants to wash him off and clean him up but he's really weak. He wants to whisper something in her ear so she leans down and he says..

"Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it."

How can he joke at a time like this? I think he's just happy to see her and I hope the feelings mutual jeez. His wounds are pretty bad and he is suffering from blood poisoning. At least Katniss has a first aid kit from the boy from district 1 except it doesn't have everything she needs to treat him with. She draws out the tracker jacker venom with the medicine leaves and gives him some pain killer. She applies burn ointment on his deep cut and wraps his leg up but it doesn't do any good with his pants being so dirty and full of contagion. She can't stomach all the puss and she's sure she's killing him but then Peeta asks

"How about that kiss?"  She pretty near falls over laughing.

She's not as good as her mother is treating wounds and puss, Peeta jokes about her comment about killing him "Can you speed it up a little?" he asks.

Peeta was right, for a lethal person she sure is squeamish at the sight of all that puss! euh. Peeta hasn't been given a single gift so far.

Katniss needs to move him to someplace safe so he can get better but he can't make it very far without fainting so she finds a cave made out of a big rock 20 meters from where they were by the stream, and he's panting and shivering. She thinks he's going to die and leans over to kiss him then.

After that they receive a parachute gift. A pot of broth. What kind of gift is that when he can't even eat? well he takes it anyway but it's not anything that will save him. What they need to do is make out more. That's the message she's getting from Haymitch anyway. More Romance!

Prim's Piece

The Letter P Chapter 18: Prim's Piece and A Promise

Katniss pulls her bow and shoots an arrow that pierces his neck, killing the boy from District 1, while Rue lay dying. She promises Rue the same thing she promised Prim. "I'm going to win for both of us now."

Rue asks Katniss to sing. She used to sing Prim a song to sleep, so she begins singing Prims Piece

Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your eyes

And when they open, the sun will rise

Here it’s safe, and here it’s warm

Here the daisies guard you against every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

–and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away

A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray

Forget your woes and let your troubles lay

And when again it’s morning, they’ll wash away

Here it’s safe, and here it’s warm

Here the daisies guard you against every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

– and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

She remembers Peeta's words and how he doesn't want to just be a piece in their games. "Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to... to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their games."
For the first time, she understands what he means and doesn't want the game makers to think Rue is just a piece in their games.

She wants them to take responsibility for her death and holds them accountable, so she gathers a bunch of wild flowers knowing they are probably watching her, and says farewell honoring Rue with a District 12 three fingered salute.

She grabs both victims packs, and now six tributes are left. She receives another gift from District 11 that should have been for Rue. A loaf of bread. To get far away from the day's events she climbs high up into a tree and goes to sleep while clutching the bread tightly and dreams peaceful dreams of Rue.

At the end of Part II, it is announced that the rules have changed. Someone must have pleaded for it. It smells like it was meant just for Peeta and Katniss too.

Two tributes from the same district can win this year. Both can live.

Odes and Obstacles

The Letter O Chapter 15, 17 The color Orange

Rue heals Katniss' stings with the same medicine leaves found in the Orchards of District 11.
In Katniss' orange backpack there was a pair of opticals but she didn't think they worked. Rue tells her they are night vision goggles. The workers used them to see at night when the torchlights didn't work. A kid in her district once got killed for wanting to keep a pair.
Katniss barely recovering from the bomb blast that hurt her ear in the explosion, goes in search of Rue. She's worried something might have happened to her when she hears a Mockingjay call and Rue scream. She finds Rue trapped in a net and before she could get her out, Rue is shot with a spear to her chest.

Nuking the Nest

The Letter N Chapter 16 : Katniss blows up the Nest of Supplies

...to even out the playing field "Let the 74th Hunger Games begin, Cato." I think. "Let them begin for real."

Nice Shot even though it took 3 arrows! The Careers booby trapped all the supplies so it needed to be nuked. Nuff said . 

The Mockingjay

Letter M Chapter 15,16: Medicine and Meat

Rue and Katniss become Allies. Rue heals Katniss' bee stings by chewing up medicine leaves in her mouth and applying it to the sting which relieves and soothes the pain immediately, bringing out the venom poison. Katniss shares her meat with Rue and treats Rue's burns with the burn medicine she got from a sponsor. I think Katniss' mothering skills attract Rue but the mockingjay pin is what made her decide to trust her. Back home she sings to the mockingjay and they can carry messages for her like when she signals a call letting everyone know when work is done. It is also the mockingjay that becomes the symbol for the rebellion. Between the two of them they make up a mockingjay call to communicate to each other. Rue is the same age as Prim.

Kat feels stronger with a whole new sense of perspective in the Game now that she has a weapon to hunt with (the bow and arrow). She strategizes over what her next move will be. Rue informs Kat that the Careers are hording all the supplies near the cornucopia and Katniss thinks maybe if they could even out the playing field and get rid of their food supply it would make it a fair game because the Careers don't know how to be hungry like they do.

The Mockingjay Call

The Lake and Lucky Loot

The Letter L Chapters 12-14: Looking for the Lake and finds Lucky Loot

Staying alive in the game is one thing. Running for your life when the game makers let loose fireballs is another. They launch them at Katniss and lure her toward the lake, licking her wounds. Her leg is badly burned. Her injuries lead her to climb a tree for safety out of the way of the other Careers. They had been looking for her with lover boy.

Night falls, and a nest of tracker jackers high up on a tree limb looms over their sleeping heads unknowingly. They are large poisonous bees spawned in a lab created by the Capitol in war times, like landmines in the districts of Panem. It is the only thing that will save Katniss from the careers, and she's gotta try to drop it on them while they're still sleeping; if she wants to live. It's a perfect opportunity really, thanks to Little Rue's ingenuity for pointing out the nest of Tracker Jackers.

She has until sunrise before they wake up, to carry out her plan. A parachute drops a pot of ointment for her burned leg. Lucky Loot. Lives are at stake. All of them seem to have been bitten by the giant wasps including Peeta. Lucky for her she was able to retrieve the bow and arrow from glimmer who dies from tracker jacker poison. 

Kids Killing Kids

The Letter K Chapter 11: Killing and Kissing are Key

Let the Hunger Games begin. Katniss comes away from the Cornucopia with a backpack, and a knife stuck in her pack from the girl who threw it at her from District 2. "Thanks for the knife," she says. She runs for miles into the woods. She was lucky to get anything at all let alone escape with her life after disregarding orders. At the end of the day, eleven are dead. She worries if Peeta made it out alive. I'm glad she's resolved to letting Peeta die from someone else rather than doing it herself *sarcasm*. I'm so happy he shook his head at her knowing Katniss, she would have wanted the bow and arrow after seeing all those weapons! They were told to run away from there and get to water asap. Peeta does. Katniss hesitates. Now she'll have to kiss him to deatIDKbut that's what I would do.

She settles up high in the tree for the night all alone and tries to sleep. Some tribute lights a fire and she thinks what stupid person would do that and then hears her scream. The careers attack the girl but Peeta ends up killing her. To Katniss' surprise Peeta is allied with the careers.

The boom of the canons, land mines, screams, blood, kids killing each other, make a jam packed action reality tv program from Capitol Entertainment.

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I had to choose a faction, I'd want to be divergent because I am all of the factions at once. I hated the factions - Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite and Dauntless because they were too wierd for me. The Amity community reminds me of a Hutterite Colony. Only Tris and Tobias were real and so was Tris' mother because they were Divergent. I have to agree that the training and initiation of the Dauntless was more like torture and I'd have to be a masochist to join that faction. Fear is a terrible thing.

I liked Tris aka Beatrice and Tobias but Tris' mother was too short lived. I would have liked to know more about her.

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When was the last time you visited a library?

Divergent
It's been at least a couple months since I visited a library. It was when I returned a book. I can't even remember what the book was admittingly. I like to go to Chapters though. Recently I bought Divergent by Veronica Roth and finished reading it yesterday. I'm glad I don't have to wait long for Insurgent. It comes out next month so I'll probably purchase that book as well.

I should visit the library more, it would be much cheaper but then again I don't like deadlines and I also have no more room on my bookshelf. There's no excuse really. I live right across the way from one. I guess it's because I'm impatient. When I want to read a book , I want it and I want it now. I don't like waiting and most of the time because the book isn't available it means I have to be put on the waiting list, so instead I just go out and buy the book. It's different with Ebooks but I could spend a fortune there and I'd rather not.

Juliet is upset

The Letter J Chapter 10: Juliet is not jovial

It was Peeta's idea to confess his love for Katniss and make the crowd think they were together. He stayed right to his feelings, but unfortunately, Katniss was furious because she thought it made her look weak --- and shoved him into a flower pot.(suck it up, princess)

Haymitch helped her see that it made her look more desirable. I don't think she needed aid for that, but I believe she was totally out of line for attacking Peeta the way she did. He has the right to his feelings, however, personal. I didn't like the way she acted, and it was like throwing salt on a wound, adding insult to injury. Not nice. I guess she hadn't exhausted enough of her temper back in her room the night before.

Ok, so a remorseful Katniss now thinks she owes Peeta for doing her a favor again, helping her gain more votes from sponsors. I'm sure if Gale were there he would have punched Peeta in the face no doubt, but he isn't. I can see her action appear in defense of Gale unintentionally, but she said he wasn't her boyfriend so whatever. I've always been on the Peetas side, can you tell? If the choice were mine, I'd forget about Gale. Hasn't her mother ever told her that it's not ladylike to beat on boys? Fyi mine didn't either.

I hope by now Katniss will realize how charming and utterly winning the boy in love is. She, on the other hand, was only made beautiful by Cinna, desirable by Peeta's confession, tragic by circumstance and by all accounts unforgettable That about sums her up.

Final instructions from Haymitch is to get as far away from the Cornucopia and find water. It is no place for them unless they want to be a part of the bloodbath. Haymitch wants them to 'Stay Alive.'

The time in the arena can last for weeks, but there is no way of knowing how long it's going to take for them to die. The game makers don't reveal what the arena will be like either. Katniss hopes there will be trees.

That night..... She's feeling anxious and couldn't sleep so decides to get some air and finds Peeta also on the roof. It's a convenient place to talk when they both should be sleeping. Peeta opens up about not being a contender in the games and that he wants to die as himself without becoming a monster and a pawn in their silly Games. Okay well so much for a pleasant conversation, Katniss is like "I can't wait to cut him down and rip his heart out" wtf is wrong with her?

Cinna would bet on Katniss to win if he could. Aww, how sweet. At least he wins her heart. I'm so disillusioned by love at this point. Where is the Joy in it?

Impressive Interview

The Letter I Chapter 9: Impressive Interview

The parade of tributes is forced to talk to a man named Caesar Flickerman, who embodies the inanity of the entire Capitol. He's as irritating as American Idol's Ryan Seacrest.

I'll never understand why Katniss doesn't make friends with Peeta or trust him. After all, he's done for her

" risked a beating to give me bread, steadied me in the chariot, covered me with the redheaded Avox girl, insisted Haymitch know my hunting skills"

Why is she so convinced they can't be friends? Because of her, they fail to form an alliance from the start. I'm sure she thinks she's going to die yet she promises to win for Prim. Why does she think she'll have to kill him? She's irrational. Yes, the games are unjust, unfair, cruel, barbaric, absurd and unreal. Peeta is a really nice guy but what he feels for her is real, and she has every reason to trust him.

Katniss spends the next 4 hours with Effie preparing for her interview learning how to walk in high heels and a full-length gown and all kinds of mannerisms like posture, sitting, eye contact, hand gestures, smiling. All this is irrelevant anyways seeings as they will all be dead soon but still, the point of the interview is to make the audience like her. I think Katniss feels indifferent towards the capitol.

The afternoon spent with Haymitch learning how to present herself isn't any better. He thinks she comes across hostile and has as much charm as a dead slug. She's mad at him and can't accept the injustice of the Hunger Games but has to try to be herself and answer the questions as honestly as she can.

Katniss takes all her anger out on everyone by smashing plates around in her room, and when the Avox girl tries to clean up, she yells at her too. Being Avox isn't the worst thing that can happen. There was really nothing she could have done to save the Avox' boyfriend without the risk of being one herself or dying. Oh, the injustice! Only a new uprising could change things where nobody would have to attend another reaping, play in their hunger games, get their tongue cut out, be punished for learning to feed their families instead of starving to death.

I love the dress Cinna made. It was very impressive indeed! It had fiery flames like the other costume and looked stunning on her. When she twirled, the dress engulfed in flames at the bottom. Peeta admits to all of Panem that he's loved her forever.

Hayyyyymitch

The Letter H Chapter 8: Haymitch No Harm Done

Katniss believes she failed miserably in the private audition with the gamemakers and they'll make her family suffer for shooting an arrow at them but she was only trying to get their attention. Nothing happens of course. No harm done. Being a tribute in their Games is punishment enough. Haymitch tells her if they wanted to punish her they'd probably just put her through hell in the arena. Oddly enough the advice she gets from Haymitch cheers her up. Peeta was also ignored but he didn't take it as bad or overreact like she did.

In spite of her hissy fit they thought she deserved the high score of 11. Peeta gets an 8, Rue got a seven and the careers scoring in the 8-10 range regard her with disdain. The higher the score the better chances of getting sponsors. I was a little suspicious for the Gamemakers giving her such a high score. In Catching fire we hear that Plutarch Heavensbee, the gamemaker who fell over in the punch bowl was part of a secret hidden rebellion that was planning to overthrow the Capitol. He's on Katniss' side and so is Haymitch but Seneca Crane isn't and neither is President Snow.

Katniss was really starting to miss hunting in the woods and the first time she met Gale. It was on a Sunday afternoon in late October while she was out hunting and gathering. She spotted a dead rabbit in a snare that belonged to Gale. He thought she was going to steal it and said "That's dangerous" but she was just curious and wanted to know how to set traps and snares because hers weren't working. They began trading their knowledge of hunting. Gale, with snares and traps and Katniss, with edible plants. Katniss gained a new sense of security having him around and became a better hunter. He was her confidant and a strong shoulder to lean on.

She never questions Gales motives but she always doubts Peetas. The difference with Gale is they were thrown together by a mutual need to survive whereas with Peeta the other's survival means their own death. It's quite easy to die in the hunger games if one chooses and I think Peeta would sacrifice his own life for hers. There is no telling what Gale would do. In my mind he would let her die.

Haymitch announces a change in plans when Peeta decides to be coached separately. Katniss does not understand it and questions his motives again.

Gardening Experience

Plinky Prompt: Have you ever tried to grow your own fruits or vegetables?

Just for fun. In Zeralda when we were kids we lived in a villa that had an outside garden with a little bit of dirt and we used to spit our watermelon seeds there and grew watermelon unintentionally!. Before we knew it we had small watermelon the size of a cantaloupe.. Another time I grew potatoes on the side of my townhouse. I was composting actually.

Recently I thought of growing a hydroponic garden in our community. I actually entered The Aviva Community Fund contest in order to get funds to grow a hydroponic garden in our community.The problem with living in the city is not having enough space to grow a decent size garden. Hydroponics is an ideal way to grow your own food where it doesn't take up a lot of space. Heck you can do this in your own basement or on a balcony but unfortunately not many people know how to start one.

Gamemaker Grudge

Letter G Chapter 7: Gamemaker Grudge 

Katniss is awakened by disturbing dreams and takes a shower. She ends up pushing all the wrong buttons and jet streams of cold and hot water make her jump getting her blood pumping which isn't a bad thing but rather annoying when she has to scrape the soap off with a bristle brush.

It is nearly dawn so she gets ready and goes downstairs for breakfast. She finds nobody around except an Avox servant (someone without a voice) so she pigs out on all the food. While waiting for the rest of her team members to show up-Peeta, Haymitch etc.. she sits by the window watching the sunrise and daydreams about her mother and Prim and what they must be doing right now.

She starts worrying about the training in the next 3 days and how well she will perform for the Gamemakers.

Peeta speaks highly of Katniss and her hunting skills and they decide to train together as a team. When he thinks there is no way he can win with his lack of skills, Katniss reminds everyone that Peeta can lift hundred pound bags of flour. Lol poor Peeta, he is such a good sport. I get a chuckle when he says "Yes, I'm sure the arena will be full of bags of flour for me to chuck at people". Katniss defends Peeta by saying he can wrestle. That's good. Peeta still isn't convinced. I think maybe he's feeling a little bit sorry for himself and he gets upset when he tells us about how his mother thought District 12 might have a winner because Katniss was a survivor. I think it made him jealous.

The training room is a big gymnasium below ground level. The gamemakers sit above the room and observe to see how the tributes do while they judge them. At the end of the training sessions they each have a chance to show their special skills privately. The gamemakers then decide on a final score for each of them. I guess the higher the score the better chances of being sponsored.

Katniss shows off her Archery skills. She does pretty good but the gamemakers don't seem to be paying much attention to her and she takes offense to it. Uh Oh. She sees the pig which they seem to be more fixated on, and shoots her arrow straight into the apple of the roast pigs mouth~! Great shot ! She takes a bow saying "Thank you for your consideration" and steps out. Her performance scored her an 11 and here she thought the gamemakers hated her.

Friends On Fire

The Letter F Chapter 6: Friends On Fire

 "Presenting ourselves not as adversaries but as friends has distinguished us as much as the fiery costumes."

In their flashy costumes, Katniss and Peetas Fiery Debut was spectacular. They're told to hold hands and smile a lot in the chariot of fools  champions. Haymitch says it's the perfect touch of rebellion. They both agree to play starcrossed lovers for the camera although Peeta is serious about being in love with her, it infuriates Katniss because she doesn't love him :( Tributes are assigned their own quarters in the tower of the Training Center. Every district gets a floor to themselves, it was no small surprise that Katniss's room was larger than her entire house.

In the more modern future perhaps we will be able to change the view out of our windows. The shower in her bedroom had a lot of buttons you could press, and if you got hungry there was a button for that as well. She could dress to whatever she felt like wearing fit for her at her fingertips. They are lavished with rich food from Cinna's lunch to Katniss eating goose liver and puffy bread.

Even though I don't particularly like lamb or duck or squirrels, the Everdeen's were having Fish Stew for the Reaping. How it must seem like a fairytale even though she feels nothing but disdain for the Capitol!

For dinner they eat a flaming cake and some kind of mushroom soup with bitter greens and tomato size peas, rare roast beef sliced thin, noodles in green sauce, and cheese that melts on your tongue served with sweet blue grapes.

Engulfed in Flames

The Letter E Chapter 5: Engulfed in flames

In the Remake center one of Flavius, Venia's and Octavia's task is to strip and wax the hair off the body. Haymitch had warned both tributes that they aren't going to like what they do to the both of them but they should just grin and bear it. He was right of course because getting the hair ripped off your body isn't pleasant. I know after my eyebrows are waxed it feels kind of numb.

They also remove all the dirt by using some gritty foam that removes the slough and dead skin cells 3 layers deep. Katniss gets a manicure and pedicure. I think I would enjoy it apart from the pain.

It's funny that the Prep Team thinks this is the way a human should look like, but the irony is that compared to the stylists in the Capitol, they are the monsters for being dyed, stencilled, and surgically altered. It's gross. Cinna, Katniss' stylist, is an exception. He looks normal. Cinna thinks Katniss' hair braids her mother made, are classic. How else would they have appeared to him? How does the Capitol styles and fashion appear to Katniss? She thinks they're disgusting!

Time to eat. Cinna invites Katniss to lunch. He pushes a button and out comes some chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.  Expensive edibles like this would require days of hunting.

Cinna and Portia plan an unforgettable ensemble for Katniss and Peeta. Their focus is on coal except they use it to set them on fire, hence, the girl who was on fire.

Dandelions To Die For

The Letter D Chapter 4: Dandelions To Die For

Why does Katniss avoid Peeta? She doesn't want Peeta getting to her because he is so kind and selfless. He always thinks of others like when he offered to take a drunk Haymitch back to his room to clean the vomit off him, and when he gave Katniss the bread. She thinks the kinder the person, the more dangerous they are, so in an attempt to get rid of him she tosses the cookies his dad gave her out the train window, and they end up crashing in a bunch of dandelions.

What is the significance of the dandelion? It reminded Katniss that she wasn't doomed to die. In the schoolyard, after seeing Peeta's bruise on his face, she saw a dandelion, and she realized what she had to do to keep her family alive. She talks about hunting and learns to pick herbs and wild edible plants and flowers like the Katniss to eat. She begins hunting rabbit and catches fish.

If dandelions and the bread symbolized hope, the woods were her savior. She learned how to keep her family alive, but now she was going to the Capitol to die.

The events of the day were like an extended dream, where just this morning she was laughing with Gale, but it turned into a nightmare, and she wishes she could just fall asleep and wake up back in District 12.

In the morning she meets in the dining car with Peeta, Haymitch and Effie Trinket. Haymitch doesn't give them much advice other than "Stay Alive." This upsets Peeta and Katniss, and they lash out at him, only Peeta gets punched in the jaw. That's twice Peeta gets hurt for defending Katniss. I wonder why?

I don't believe for a minute that Peeta is thinking of killing Katniss. Why does she think like that? Does she want to piss him off just so it'd give her a reason to kill him or hate him? There is no need to kill him!!! That is the point I think. Peeta would die for her even if it meant being killed by her.

Coal To Capitol

The Letter C Chapter 3: From the Coal Mines to the Comforts of the Capitol 

This is not your basic rags to riches story.
Cinderella never fought in an arena, unlike Katniss, nor did she kill anyone. Gale is like "How hard can it be really?" I always knew him to be a very self-centered, narrow minded, selfish individual.

Here they travel on a train to the Capitol, located in a place once called the Rockies quite a distance from where Katniss lives, but with the trains high-speed it'd take less than a day. It is forbidden for any of Panem's citizens to travel except on official duty. The train is even fancier than the justice building where rooms come with hot showers and clothes to wear. She's never had a hot shower before because in the Seam they don't have hot running water, and she's never been on a train or to the Capitol before.

What turns me off about the Capitol is the Crazy Couture. I don't like their creepy fashions and colorful pageantry. Cinna wasn't bad but I think Effie Trinket is hideous so is the announcer with the blue hair, Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith, who was the voice of the announcer we heard in the arena. Cranes beard is cutting edge wouldn't you say?

Creatures of the Capitol

Caesar Flickerman - TV host and announcer

Cinna- Katniss' Stylist

Effie Trinket - Escort

Seneca Crane-Head Gamemaker

The Boy With The Bread

The Letter B Chapter 2: The Boy with the Bread 

background:

When she was eleven years old, her mother turned catatonic over losing her husband, that forced Katniss and Prim to fend for themselves and they almost starved to death. Katniss went to trade in some baby clothes in the marketplace they call the 'Hob' hoping she could get something to eat to bring home. All they'd had to eat for 3 days was hot water and mint leaves.

The boy in the bakery threw her the bread perhaps because he loved her 'from the first moment he laid eyes on her.' Whatever the case was, his mother told him to throw it to the pigs because no decent person would buy it and he got a black eye for it. Except to Katniss, it was her last hope. "You don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope." Reduced to steal from the garbage bin to keep her family from starving and fearing Peeta's sick mother would hit her with her broomstick, she sat down tired, exhausted and hungry underneath an apple tree and watched Peeta chuck the loaves that were meant for her.

"It didn’t occur to me until the next morning that the boy might have burned the bread on purpose. Might have dropped the loaves into the flames, knowing it meant being punished, and then delivered them to me. But I dismissed this. It must have been an accident. Why would he have done it? He didn’t even know me. Still, just throwing me the bread was an enormous kindness that would have inevitably resulted in a beating if discovered. I couldn’t explain his actions." pg.31 chapter 2