My view on blogging

Pros of having blogging as a part of this class:

It's good to have practice writing, and not necessarily in a formal way. Blogging allows people to basically word vomit onto their keyboard creating a blog. Having assigned topics is also good because it causes the person to expand their mind a little bit to think about other topics. The practice of writing in blogs is good because it also makes the writer work on punctuation more. They can read through the sentences they write and see if they are making sense or not. Blogging is also a release. If someone is angry and they word vomit it into a blog it's as if it's off of their shoulders and is now the papers, computers, problem.

The cons of blogging:

It's boring to just write in paragraphs for every blog. It would make the blogs way more interesting if we had to write a poem or even do a blog and show our view or what we want to say through pictures. It's not interesting when we have to write about stuff from the book, or even stuff I don't care about too. If it's something that I have no interest in, then it's hard for me to spit out a few paragraphs about it. The book was generally boring, and most of the essays we read were far from interesting, and then having to write about them was painful.

I think that overall blogging is a good idea for this class, however I think there should be more freedom allowed with them. I know that we were allowed to write about what we wanted most of the time, however, I think it would have made it more pleasurable if it was required that we do paragraphs and instead were able to use pictures, poems, or whatever we want to show how we feel. Maybe just a little more freedom on the style and a little less on the book.

Technology"

Technology is all over the place. Whether it's at school, work, or even walking down a street, it occupies our lives. Computers rule our world, and in High School, I learned a very valuable lesson from my junior and senior year english teacher. He told me that when I get to college, computers don't really exist. Just like paper, they are just there. Going up to one of my professors and attempting to use an excuse related to my computer such as "my computer crashed," or "my printer ran out of ink" just wasn't going to fly because computers are everwhere. There are libraries I could go to, friends houses, or even work places in the school. It really helped me to realize it's my fault, not the computers, if I wait until the last minute to do my work and something doesn't work. It's my job to get it done.

I'm pretty sure without the internet right around me I just wouldn't be able to function. I use online banking because I have no idea how to balance my checkbook. I am pretty aweful with math, and I don't care enough to keep track of it. Some people may call this lazy, but I call it safe. It's better in my opinion to have accurate numbers for the amount of money I have, rather than the wrong ones that I added wrong or forgot to take something away.

Also, I am obsessed with music. As I already wrote in a previous blog about music, it helps me get through my life, and is one of the most interesting forms of technology to me. It's crazy how they came up with the recording part of music and it transformed into now a tiny 1 inch IPOD. Technology is a rapidly growing field, and it's facination that once one new product comes out, in just a few months there will be something newer and better.

Argument

My Claim: Doctor assisted suicide should be legal for terminally ill patients.

Text Message: If you know you're going to die, would you want to live through the pain? Assisted suicide should be allowed in severe cases. Put yourself in that situation.

Billboard:

image taken from:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/22/movies/23grac600.jpg

Blog:

All over the world, people have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. Some don't feel it, yet some do. Imagine excruciating pain, or losing control of simple bodily functions such as the movement of our joins as MS does. If these people are going through this and don't want to bear it anymore, why force them. Terminally ill patients should have the right to choose whether or not they want to end their lives rather than suffer through the last few, painful moments of their lives. If I were watching my mom deteriorate before my eyes, I wouldn't want her to only have the choice to suffer.

Terminally ill patients shouldn't have to live through the last moments of their lives miserably. If they would rather not suffer, doctors should be allowed to assist in the suicide, helping the patients to die quick and peaceful, rather than slow, painful, and miserable. Some of these people resort to killing themselves, which is a bigger mess, and worse for the family, so why not allow them to seek help in doing so.

What I'm trying to say is there should be a choice that people can make. The choice between suffering and living, or ending it and dying.

Choke

I am currently in the process of reading Choke. It is one of the greatest books I have ever read. With my kind of humor, it keeps me laughing. It's about a sex addict trying to slow down on sex, which is where no comedic book has gone before. Going through life events, it creates a great story line and I just love it so far.
There is a part in the book where it goes through a checklist to see if you are a sex addict.
The list goes as follows:

Do you cut the lining out of your bathing suit so your genitals show through?

Do you leave your fly or blouse open and pretend to hold conversations in glass telephone booths, standing so your clothes gap open with no underwear inside?

Do you jog without a bra or athletic supporter in order to attract sexual partners?

Then the main character replies:

My answer to all the above is, Well, I do now!

My friend read me this passage from the book and it is what made me want to read it. Seriously, this guy is hilarious. It's funny to think about someone being a sex addict though because how does one overcome that? It would suck completely to have to give it up, and is nearly impossible. It's just a funny concept, that of being a sex addict. Great book though, and I recommend anyone with a sense of humor, and that isn't prude, read it!

Music is Life!

Basically, if I didn't have music in my life, there's a good chance I wouldn't survive! Think about how boring being stuck in traffic would be, or even working out. I'm pretty sure I would never be able to work out without music, so it's a good thing it exists or the obiesity epidemic would be worse.
When it comes to taste in music, I'm all over the place. I listen to everything from folk to rap. Some of my favorite artists include Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Neil Young, and Jack Johnson. The music I listen to at one moment depends on the mood I'm in at the time. When I'm feeling down, I like to throw on "Here comes the Sun" or anything by Neil Young because it reminds me of my dad. When I'm feeling a little bit goofy, it's Katy Perry, Metro Station, or 3OH!3.
Certain bands remind me of people I'm close to as well. If I'm missing someone, I can throw a song on by that band and it will feel as if they are there with me. As I've said before, it's Neil Young for my dad. For my mom, it's Nickelback because I grew up jamming to them on the way to school in her car. With my sister, a little Aerosmith will do the trick because we love to kareoke to "I don't wanna miss a thing!" My best friend Rachel and I love listening to "Crazy Bitch" or "Not if you were the last junkie on!" Those songs remind me of us being crazy on our drives up to snowboard.
Basically, music rules my life. I can't live without it and it helps me get through my days, whether good or bad. It makes me see the other side of things and can always make me feel better.

Election Calls

In the past 2 weeks, I have recieved at least 5 calls a day from people saying "Vote for me because I'm better!" Lets do the math: 5x14=70. Seriously? Does anyone else agree that 70 phone calls is completely rediculous! I honestly can't handle it anymore. After about the 3rd phone call, I began not being so nice anymore. All I can say to these people now is stop f$%#ing calling me! It's so bad that I don't want to vote for those ones that have been calling me just because they have annoyed me so bad! I can't wait for the election to be over!
Along the lines of the election, I have finally started on my ballet. I have had the mail-in ballet for about 2 weeks now, and since it's the night before I've decided it's definately a good time to start on it. Reading over the amendments, I have realized that I barely understand half of them. They are worded so strangely it makes me wonder how the average, or even below average, American understands what they are voting for. I honestly don't even know who those judges are so I just skipped over that entire section. Seriously though, our government should strongly reconsider how they write amendments so that every citizen understands what is going on.

This I Believe

I think the "This I Believe" essay is one of the coolest ways for people to learn about other people. They way the writers convey their messages are clever, and even sometime humorous with how accurately they compare things using similes or metaphors. An essay written by a man named John who is in prison is titled "The Fear That I Don't Matter." John grew up in a household where his father beat him down repeatedly, whether through words or extension cords. After being told time after time that he is basically worthless, John chose to believe it and eventually that choice made him end up in prison. He soon discovered that he was far from being worthless and that he actually liked who he was, really was, when he chose to be a good person. He began to help children with special needs from prison by making him toys, coming up with projects to help more people, and even sponsoring a child from Kenya so that he could continue attending school.
John, through his experiences of helping people from inside of prison, learned that he believed in life, and that all forms of life are important, no matter what people say about them. His tone through the essay is positive in a way that no matter where a person is in life, or what they did, they can change who they are and do good things. His voice shows through with how he talks about him realizing that he is important. His essay is inspiring in a way, coming from a child who was beat down to the size of a dime, believing it, and then turning it all around while still paying for whatever mistakes were made.

Finally

I have finally fulfilled my snowboarding void!!! It has been too long, then I was finally able to go to A-Baisin on Saturday. It was pretty much epic. There was only one run of man-made snow about 1 and 1/2 feet deep. I wasn't even able to make it through one song before I reached the bottom again, but it was still completely awesome. People are crazy at the begining of the season. There were mini parties going on in the parking lot. There were also some of the cutest dogs I have ever seen.
As I was going down my first run of the season, however, some crazy guy was doing a little jump off to the side, lost control, and slid into me, knocking me over and slicing my arm a little on his board. That wasn't very fun at all, and my arm is still numb, but I know that that kind of stuff happens so I didn't let it ruin my first day of the season. I can't wait to go again.

What is fair?

Remember when you're a kid and your parents tell you no, so you say "That's not fair!" Well my parents always responded with "life isn't fair." That is something I honestly believe because what defines fair? Is it fair for a little child to grow up without a father because he died in a war? Yes, the father may have chosen to go to war. However that child did not choose to lose their father. Choices people make create different situations that happen to them, but it doesn't mean that those situations are fair. When I was in 4th grade I had this friend who lived down the street from me who was actually more like a brother than anything else. When I fell down and was crying, he picked me up and brought me home. He ended up killing himself, and that situation wasn't fair for anyone. Some people may say that life is fair, but the only way I would be able to see it that way is if horrible things didn't happen to anyone. If the world was perfect and peace and love took over, then, and only then would life be fair.
Even people who have a great life can see that life isn't fair to those little children all around the world who are starving because there isn't enough food to eat. Or the people in Darfur, Sudan who are trying to survive through one of the worst things a human can experience: genocide. They didn't choose to be born into those situations, yet it happened and it's definately not fair that they have to deal with those difficult things.
Families that have money tend to spoil their children, giving them everything they beg, whine, and cry for. If they want a car, they get 2. Life isn't fair in that respect because there are kids out there who don't even have a bed to sleep in, or a blanket to keep them warm, while there are rich, spoiled kids who have a huge beds, and a closet full of warm clothes.

In the words of my parents, "Life isn't fair."

Fort Collins

On Friday my friend Rachel and I went to Fort Collins to tour CSU's campus. We decided to sign up for a tour thinking it would be beneficial, however it was the biggest waste of time ever. They put you with students, but they weren 't students who knew things about classes, only the campus. We didn't realize this until too late. They split us up into groups, and even separated Rachel and me, leaving us to be bored all by ourselves, and leaving me to text the entire tour. I don't remember a thing said throughout it except for the library, which is huge.
I'm pretty much stoked to go there next year. The area is sweet, and there's so much to do. Cute little coffee shops, a lot of resturaunts, as well as the mountains and Puter Canyon are right in it's backyard. It's going to be a great experience and I can't wait to start on it.

Writing

I have recently discovered that I am starting to hate writing. Something that before brought me freedom and release has turned into a chore. I'm becoming annoyed with it and frusturated because I no longer have time to write in the ways I enjoy or wand to write, nor do I really want to anymore. This whole blogging thing is one of the things bothering me. I wouldn't mind it if only certain people could read it, but I guess it bothers me a little that people from all over the world get to look at what I write about, leaving me to feel as if I can only say certain things. I guess I just feel like I'm not allowed to be that creative with how I write anymore.
I use to love to write poetry, but now I dread even thinking about writing so I don't feel like it anymore. It's kinda a bummer, but I guess it's a good thing to find out how much it sucks before I think about doing it for a living. With this blog though, I don't even know what to write about half of the time. Sometimes, when I feel like I can't make it at least two paragraphs as required that it turns into me blabbering about nothing, just like right now. That makes me realize how much I'm really not enjoying it anymore and I guess it just sucks. Hopefully I'll get it back because it was fun for a while.

Snow

I want it to snow so bad! I seriously can't wait for those mornings where everyone has to go ten miles per hour to ensure they don't slide off of the road. I want to go snowboarding so bad, it's not even funny. I've been having a reacurring dream that I'm finally up on the mountain, in a foot of powder, having the time of my life taking up the whole mountain and carving my way down. It hurts to wake up and realize that not only was the dream not true, but I can't even make up for it by actually going snowboarding yet.
I can't wait to be able to go to empty parking lots and do donuts with crazy e-brake turns. It's one of the funnest things to practice. I also can't wait for the drives up to snowboarding. My friends and I make it so much fun, that the hour of getting there seems to only be actually about 20 minutes. Snow sort of brings us all together, with is weird because generally when people think of winter it reminds them of isolation. I don't feel isolated at all, nor stuck, because there is always something to do in the snow, and someone who wants to do it with me! Can't wait like 2 more weeks!!!

Goodbye to Mickey Mouse pancakes

I use to spend the week looking forward to Saturday mornings. Out of bed by 6, glass of chocolate milk, and classic cartoons featuring Road Runner and Yosemite Sam. My grandpa would wake up and ask me what I wanted for breakfast, as if the answer was going to be different that time. I always replied, with a huge smile on my face, "Mickey Mouse pancakes!!!" Such a delicious breakfast that was guaranteed to make anyone who ate it happy for the rest of the day. With blueberries and whipped cream as the eyes, and a banana cut into a long, curved slice for the mouth, it was almost too awesome to eat. I had conversations with Mickey on these mornings, since everyone else was still asleep, and he helped me decide what to do that day, and really helped me with my problems. By problems, of course, I mean like whether to wear my blue or green shirt that day. Mickey Mouse pancakes really livened up my childhood.
Now that I'm older, I'm not allowed to have Mickey Mouse pancakes anymore. It hurts to go to a restaurant and see Mickey hanging out on the kids menu, for 12 and under. I can't pass off as 12 anymore, and being 18, would be judged to even attempt to order off of the child's menu. My grandpa has long since passed, and Mickey sort of died with him. My dad won't even make me Mickey Mouse pancakes anymore, and it makes me feel as if I've lost a part of me. A part of my childhood is gone. I know if my grandpa was still alive, he would wake up to find me watching Saturday morning cartoons and ask me the same old question, not even thinking about my age. "What do you want for Breakfast?"
"Mickey Mouse pancakes!!!"
I miss you Mickey Mouse pancakes. Saturdays just aren't the same without you!

The American House

The central point of the essay "The McMansion Next Door: Why the American House Needs a Makeover" is that the average American house is increasing in size each year, and is unnecessarily large for the family size, as well as the lot size. The writer uses a lot of evidence to support her claim. She uses the fact that average family sizes are becoming smaller, and along with it they are buying bigger and bigger houses as if necessary following the trend at the moment that the more garage space they have, the larger the bedrooms, or the taller the house is the better off that family is. It's all a matter of identity and how people want to be percieved as wealthy with bigger houses.
I agree with her claim because the new housing communities that are being built are a complete joke. Every house in the community looks the same by size and shape, and even color. The houses are so large, there's barely any room for a backyard, and if the backyard is so small what's the point in living in a house? The houses are also so close together there's no room for privacy. I think the new houses and communities just show conformity and how Americans strive to apparently be the same as everyone.

picture

On page 522 of Beyond Words, there's a picture of an old station wagon that is covered in bumper stickers on the back of the car. I love it because the stickers are so lame, but funny at the same time because they make clear points about how earth loving and hippie the person who put those stickers there is. One of the stickers says "Farms Not Arms," which I think is funny because it's as if they couldn't find anything else that is "green" I guess to rhyme with arms. And it's saying plant stuff, or have domesticated animals instead of owning a gun. It's just funny because basically the person is trying to get other people to agree through stickers to go green and love all.

Mood?

The sky as blue as the crayola crayon I use to color with as a child blinds me as I walk outside from how bright it is. The wind is picking up, blowing in the clouds that cover the mountains that strech across as far as I can see. Ripping through trees, creating a rustling sound that covers the voices of the smokers sitting along the wall of the school, the wind anounces it's presence and brings with it a warning of a storm. Hair being tossled, paper blowing everywhere, people start to head inside to get away. Away from the wind. Away from the storm. The clouds take over the sky, covering that beautiful blue and the sun with a fluffy white blanket, letting everyone know they are here now, and the beautiful day is hidden. The more clouds that move in, the darker it gets, saying to the world that they hold the power of rain, and will let it out when they please.

If I were president...

If I were president, I would like to think I would make my speech short and sweet. It's too hard to sit and watch a speech that drags on for an hour, and to add on like 90% of them are lame. I would hope to add a little humor into it too. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get elected president however, because people would think I was a joke, but whatever. I would never actually want to be president anyway. So, here's my presidential speech:

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Thanks for taking time away from your children, work, even just life

to comeand listen to my speech, however I'm going to warn you it's

probably a waste of your time. I'm going to be compeletely

honest with you. All the things that anyone says they are going

to do isn't the truth. I can stand here and say I'm going to change

our economy, I'm going to bring our troops home, or I'm going to

lower gas prices, however I can't. How can I make a statement like

that when there's no way I can promise these changes because it's

not just up to me. It's up to congress, it's up to the people, and yes I

do have the final say in things, but I can't just make things happen.

What I can say is vote for me and I will try to change everything for

the better. I will try to help the homeless of our country. I will try to

lower the cost of healthcare. I will try to bring our troops home. I

will try. That's all I got. Goodnight and goodluck.

Ok, so I wasn't exactly funny, nor did I really persuade anyone to vote for me, but at least I was honest, unlike any other candidate that has ran for president. Anyway, VOTE FOR ME! And I'll try. That's my campain slogan, "I will try."

Body Art

Currently the only piercing I have is my ears. Just the basic piercing that my parents took me to get when I turned 8. I don't have any tattoos yet, but it's not because I don't want one, it's just because I haven't built up enough courage to actually go through with it. I already know what I want, and where I want it, it's just a matter of money and courage.
I have trouble following through with some things that are so permanant because I just freak out about having to live with the decision for the rest of my life. I'm not very good at making decisions, especially lasting ones. However, the plan is to get my tattoo on my birthday this year. I want it, not for other people, but for myself because what I want to get is such a defining characteristic about me, I just want it there. I also want to do it to prove to myself I can go through with something.

A routine doctors visit. You sit in the waiting room looking for something to keep your interest just long enough until that one person you've been hoping would come calls your name. Then more waiting. With nothing to do, you see posters on the walls to read, or magazines on the table. On the covers of these magazines, or the focal points of the posters, "beautiful" people. What society views as the perfect person takes over the covers, whether it's a "hot" celeb such as Lindsey Lohan, or Jessica Alba. Skinny models in the ads for our favorite pair of jeans, or some hot new fashion item on page 23. These images are everywhere. Even on the poster for diabetes, or some other disease, it's some skinny, pretty, model portraying the sickness, giving off the idea that even sick people are supposed to be beautiful.
These small images are put into peoples heads giving a distorted view on what people should look like according to society. It makes people think that if you aren't skinny, don't have the perfect smile, hairs in all the right places, or the right kind of make-up, that they themselves are ugly. Seeing these things in places like doctors or dentists offices, we sometimes don't notice that they effect us and change the way we see beauty, or ourselves. Sitting there reading about how the latest celeb lost all of her baby weight and got back down to a size 0 generally makes people want to do the same thing. Images everywhere change how we view not only other people, but also ourselves.

McCain's Speech

A waste of a perfectly good hour.
John McCain was so ridiculously boring during his speech. It seemed way over rehearsed as well, so it didn't even come across or as how he really felt; it seemed fake. I guess I would say his speech was directed to those who have no sense of humor, as well as enjoy being bored out of their minds. With the way his speech was, I would say he was mostly speaking to those who are already dead set on voting for him. As for the rest of the people, like those undecided voters, I feel almost as if he killed any chance of having them vote for him because they couldn't stay awake during his speech. I feel like he also used a lot from Obama's speech, trying to keep the crowd interested in the same way by talking about his mother, and family as well, but like I said before, it just didn't seem genuine at all.
Overall, I would say from my point of view, his speech was very ineffective. I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say about certain issues, and what kind of a person he is, yet now that I have heard it, I wish I wouldn't of had to waste my time on it.

Barak Obama's Acceptance Speech

Senator Obama's speech at the DNC Thursday night seemed to be a major success. As he talked, there were multiple times the crowd could not keep quiet and he had to calm them down. The point of his speech seemed to be to get people to understand that he too is a person, yet a person who has the ability to run our country. He addressed all of the hits he took from Senator McCain, and backed himself up with who he really is; not just a celebrity, but a human being who also went through struggles and continues to struggle. He obviously had the attention of the crowd at Invesco Field, and it was easy to hear that the majority, if not all, agreed with him by the way they screamed after he spoke. He was able to keep everyone interested and interested in his speech by tying his own family into it and saying he wants his own daughters to be equal with everyone else, as well as mentioning his mother and the struggles she faced with health insurance, bills, and just raising him.
Obama wasn't just speaking to all of America through his speech, but mostly the middle and lower class citizens who are currently struggling to pay their bills, get health insurance, or even save money to send their children to school. By the way he brought his mother into the speech, like I mentioned before, it humanized him and made these citizens able to equalize themselves with him. Obama was also talking to people who are looking toward the future. The people who are looking at what types of fuels we can use and how we can make gas prices go down. The people who are tired of war and are looking to set a plan to get our troops out of Iraq. The people who want a change in the government and our country to prosper. He spoke to all these people, and successfully I might add. He did a great job at mentioning all the problems our country is looking at right now, and saying how he would like to change them, capturing the audiences attention and making them feel as if he was just talking to them. Overall I'd say his speech was very successful.

Texts

I believe that all text is educational in some way. No matter what it is, whether it's on a shirt, a billboard, music, ect., it teaches you something about the audience it's trying to capture, or even how some people think. As long as you're learning something, I consider it educational. Take a shirt that has a band name on it. Whoever is wearing that shirt obviously wants people to know they like that band, or think it's cool, which means you learned that person likes that band.

For people who think some texts aren't educational, they may be thinking about, say cosmo magazine. Men may think they learn nothing from it, however they can learn a lot about women and how they think, not just about themselves and life, but also how they view men. So it's educational to them. So, all text is educational.