Hunger Games slowly but surely

Katniss is on a metal circle in the arena. She wonders if she should stay at the Cornucopia (the central area in the arena) to fight for supplies or head for water, as Haymitch adviced her to do. Katniss sees a bow and arrow. She then sees Peeta and he shakes his head no to tell her not to go toward the Cornucopia. Once the gong sounds Katniss grabs a nearby sheet of plastic and loaf of bread, and an orange backpack. She sees another tribute get a knife in the back and then runs for it. Katniss heads for the forested area. By late afternoon, Katniss hears the cannons, which are shot every time a tribute is killed. The fighting at the Cornucopia must have stopped. The cannon fires eleven times; that means eleven are dead. Thirteen candidates are left. Katniss thinks of Peeta and wonders if he is dead. Exhausted, Katniss breaks to examine her backpack inside she finds a sleeping bag, crackers, beef strips, iodine, matches, wire, sunglasses, and a dissappointing empty water bottle.Water then becomes Katniss's top priority. She saw a lake back at the Cornucopia, but headed in the opposite direction. Katniss chews pine to quell her hunger and then looks for a place to camp. She sets two snares and then climbs up into a willow tree where she settles in with her sleeping bag and loops herself in with a belt. When night falls they project a death recap. The faces of the dead are projected into the sky. Katniss was relieved that Peeta was not shown. He is still alive. In the morning, Katniss hears a snap and realizes that someone only a few hundred yards to her right is building a fire. She knows it was a stupid move as the career tributes will find them. Katniss watches concealed in the tree as a pack of tributes come along and kill the girl who lit the fire. The stronger tributes have formed an aliance and are now fighting the games together. She eavesdrops on their conversation when all of a sudden she realizes that one of the voices belongs to Peeta. Katniss catches a glimpse of him and he's bloody and bruised and bandaged. Peeta leaves the group to make sure the girl they just killed is actually dead. That's when Katniss overhears the others say that they're basically using Peeta to find her. They also can't seem to figure out how she got that eleven in training. Katniss wonders why Peeta hasn't told them about her skills. Peeta returns, the cannon fires, and the Career Tributes take off. Katniss makes herself move too. Knowing she'll get a close-up from the camera when she hits the ground, she hops to the ground and puts a knowing smile on her face. She has to look like she's one step ahead of the game. Before she goes, she checks her snares and finds a rabbit. She roasts it on the dying embers of the dead tribute's fire hoping to gain sponsor's with her thinking. Katniss has had no water the last couple days and is becoming dehydrated. She's hoping to find water in the valley where she is heading. Katniss sees some berries, but just as she's about to suck the juice out she notices they're not blueberries. She puts them back. The plant instructor at the Training Center advised candidates not to eat berries unless they were completely sure they weren't poisonous. Night falls and Katniss finds a tree to sleep in. The dead girls picture is projected across the sky. The next day Katniss still has not found water. She wonders why Haymitch has not sent her some (they use silver parachutes from sponsors to get supplies to their tributes). She is hoping she is close and that is why she has received no aid. Katniss then finds mudd, and mudd means water. Crawling through the mud, Katniss finds a pond filled with water lilies. She exercises massive restraint as she takes out her flask, fills it, drops in the iodine to purify it, and then waits half an hour. Fully refreshed, Katniss hears the anthem, but sees no faces projected into the sky. She uses her sleeping bag for the night. A few hours later Katniss has a rude awakening by a wall of fire coming her way.

Reading Log: Mon: 45 min Wed: 60min

Hunger Games again Chap 10

Back at the Training Center, Katniss is furious and pushes Peeta She yells at him that he had no right to make her look like a fool. Haymitch, who apparently was in on the whole thing, intervenes and explains to Katniss that Peeta has done her a huge favor he has made her seem desirable. He tells them everyone is talking about the star crossed lovers from District 12. They argued about it more, and Katniss finally came around to the idea. She feels she was a silly girl spinning in a dress before, but now she is an object of love. Everyone watches the replay of the interviews, and they head off to bed. The Hunger Game will be the next day and only the stylists will be with the tributes at the arena. Haymitch gives some final advice telling them to go away from the Cornucopia, and head to high ground and look for water. When it is time for bed, Katniss can't sleep. All she can think about is the Games and the traps and things the gamemakers will create. Restless, Katniss goes up to the roof and finds Peeta there too. The two watch the festivities down on the ground. The celebrations mark the beginning of the Hunger Games. Katniss apologizes for pushing him and cutting up his hands. Peeta says he was never a contender anyway. He just doesn't want to disgrace himself. He talks about how he doesn't want them to change him, and if he is going to die he wants them to know that he is himself. Katniss tells Peeta to just focus on staying alive. They talk some more and then return to their rooms. In the morning, Cinna dresses Katniss and she boards a hovercraft where they inject her with a tracking device. Cinna dresses Katniss with the outfit and gear that all the tributes have, including a hooded black jacket designed to reflect body heat. He pins on her gold mockingjay pin. He had to fight to get it through the review board since they thought it might be used as a weapon. Cinna repeats Haymitch's final advice as Katniss steps onto her platform. He tells her his money is on her and wishes her luck. Katniss is then launched into the stadium. The Hunger games have started!

Reading Log: Wed: 30 min Sun: 60 min.

Hunger Games

Katniss runs back to her room and starts crying uncontrollably. She feels the gamemakers will punish her. Katniss decides the Gamemakers will probably give her a low score so that she'll get no sponsors. She feels defeated, and goes down to dinner. Everyone is there. Eventually Haymitch asks Katniss and Peeta just how bad they were today. Peeta says he got ignored, and Katniss tells the company she shot an arrow at the Gamemakers. Katniss asks what will happen to her. Haymitch tells her that it wouldn't make sense to arrest her or punish her family. This cheers Katniss up a bit, and they all laugh and joke a bit at Katniss's description of the shocked Gamemakers. After this it is time to watch the announcement of the scores from training. The Career tributes are in the eight-to-ten range, little Rue pulls a seven, and Peeta gets an eight. All of these are very good scores. However, Katniss gets an ELEVEN! This score is very high and everyone is excited for her. Haymitch thinks they must have liked her temper. The next day Katniss wakes up thinking of her friend Gale (her hunting partner from back home). She has a flashback of their first meeting in the forest. She was collecting tubers in the forest when she saw rabbits strung up in snares, and traps to catch more animals. She never had much luck with snares so she moved closer to have a better look. That is when Gale appeared. He warned her that touching his snares would be dangerous, and that stealing is punishable by law. The talk back and forth for a while, and then Katniss shows him her bow. They began talking about hunting, and eventually they started teaching each other and trading knowledge, and over time they became hunting partners, friends, and more. In her mind she compares her friendship with Gale to what she has with Peeta. Her daydream is broken by Effie calling her to breakfast. Katniss goes to the dining room and fills her plate with the delicious food and questions when they will start prepping for interviews. That is when Haymitch tells her that Peeta would like to be coached seperately from her.
Katniss feels betrayed by Peeta's decision, but feels that the sooner they start acknowledging that they are enemies, the better. Katniss has here interview session with Effie. She puts her in a gown and heels, and teaches her how to walk in them. She teaches her about eye contact, gesture, smiling, and so on. Katniss struggles with all of this, and Effie emphasizes that Katniss needs the audience to like her which is hard if Katniss is not pleasant. She has to pretend, and sell herself to the audience. In her session with Haymitch, Katniss is coached on her interview skills, and has a rough time. Katniss is very angry and has trouble talking about herself or her family. Haymitch says she has about as much charm "as a dead slug." Haymitch tries to teach her the humble, witty, sexy, etc. approaches and all of these she fails at. Katniss eats dinner alone in her room and is very angry. When the redheaded Avox girl comes to clear them away, Katniss yells at her to leave them. Instead of leaving like Katniss says she gets a damp cloth and washes off Katniss's face and bloody hand. She apologizes to the Avox girl for the time in the forest that she didn't save her. The girl taps her lips to tell her pretty much that it is okay. That they would have cut her tongue out too. The next day, Cinna, the stylist, makes Katniss beautiful. They put her in a heavy, yet totally gorgeous dress. It sparkles with jeweled cloth, giving the impression that Katniss is engulfed in flames. Katniss is thankful to Cinna for making her beautiful. Katniss expresses that she will be hated. Cinna tells her to be herself that she is only irritable around Haymitch. Cinna feels that the audience will admire her spirit. The interviews proceed in order each of the tributes playing up a character or trait. One has the sex appeal, another a ruthless killer, and Peeta plays the humor card. Katniss decides to be honest in her interview as her and Cinna discussed. She is asked about her sister, and what it took for her to take her place in the games. Katniss smiled said something along the lines of her telling Prim that she would win, and her interview was over. Cinna gave her two thumbs up. After this it is Peeta's turn. He plays on the fact that he is a baker's son and uses humor in his interview. He drops a bombshell that he has a crush on a girl, but that it will never work out because she came to the games with  him! Yep, he has a crush on Katniss. I saw that coming, but it makes things interesting.

Reading log: Mon: 45 min Wed: 45 Sat: 30 min