Sunday, October 30, 2011

Writing my way!

I am very particular about how I write. I need to be in my upstairs living room which is the perfects size for me to spread out all my work. I also have this one spot on the couch in my living room that I have to sit at. I sit there because the rays from the sun seep through my window and hit exactly that spot. When I am sitting there I feel warm and I do not need a sweater or a blanket like I usually do in my house. My house happens to be very cold. This spot also gives me a view right in front of my house and that way I can look outside to see animals running outside, because we live in front of woods.

When I was writing this paper I was sitting on my favorite spot and I had my essay in front of me with my favorite black gel pen and a notebook. We were suppose to type this essay but I personally am a big fan of actually writing out my writing. It is called writing for a reason. I love the sound of a pen scratching on a piece of paper. I love how handwriting is not perfect and uniform like on the computer. I love how mistakes are shown in writing. Sure it is easier to just type out your paper, but to me it is not the same, it is completely different. My writing is more seriously when I type it.

When I sat down to write my paper the first time I wrote 12 pages. I proof read it, quickly got up, went to the trash can, ripped out every single page, and I threw them out. My first attempt at writing this essay was horrific. I felt completely disgusted by it. That essay we read, "Shitty first drafts," completely summed up my essay. Except mine was worse. The second time I wrote my essay it turned out much better. It was readable. I typed it up and left it for 2 days. By the time I came back to read it I could barely remember what I had written. This allowed me to read it from a new angle.

Rereading. Revisions. Rewriting. I did this so many times I can barely remember what my first draft even looked like. When I revise I usually read my essay out loud. Sure I sound crazy talking to myself, but it is the only thing that works for me. I hate rereading certain things, unless it is for fun. I usually zone out. Therefore when I read out loud it allows me to comprehend what I am reading. Yet even though I worked for a very long time on my essay I could have still revised it more and more. And more.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Major Movie Madness

This weekend my friend and I decided we were going to create a free one month netflix account and watch as many movies as we possibly could! We had a plan, go through the new releases and if either of us likes the cover to a movie we would watch it. Sure your not suppose to judge a book by its cover but to be honest, we really did not want to read the summaries for the movies. Bad idea.

Ever read part of a book and regret opening it? Well almost every time we played a movie we instantly regretted it. Sure there were some good movies, such as Avatar, Picture Perfect, and Tron Legacy. Yet somehow every other movie we picked we had to stop playing it before one of us pulled our hair out from frustration at the horrible plot.

One of the movies we watched was called Kissing Cousins, somehow we both failed to acknowledge the title and decided to watch anyways. 45 minutes of my life I will never get back. Also the movie Parenthood, in the first 10 minutes me and my friend had completely zoned out and changed it. The plots were both so cliched and the acting was so mediocre, I sometimes wonder how these movies even got played in the theaters.

I can't even remember the rest of those movies because I have mentally blocked the titles and the few minutes that we attempted to watch them. Sure I love watching bad movies once in a while but these movies made the bad ones look good! Well one good thing came out of this, I learned to always read the summaries!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Way American Students are Portrayed

"You americans are so lazy. You never do anything and you guys sit there all day eating fast food." When I was in London this summer many of my cousins repeatedly said things about Americans, how we are slackers and how we are at school for one less year then them so we are not smart. This came from people that had never been to America, had met maybe 6 or 7 people from America, and got most of their information from movies. I felt as if I was always defending myself. I do not sit around doing nothing and I rarely have any free time because I am always doing my homework or working.
In 2 million minute the Americans seemed very laid back, careless, and lazy while the Indian and Chinese students were motivated, smart, and spent all their time studying. I felt that they showed the 2 extreme sides of it. Many students may be lazy in America, but just as many are driven and motivated to do well and succeed. They took the very extreme approach in showing 2 students that both are lazy and do not try in school yet do well in the end. This does not happen everyday, it is not like this, many students try very hard and work more than others but it does not end well for them. For the Chinese and Indians I felt as if they showed only one end of the spectrum. Not all of the students there can be that motivated, some are slackers and are not very smart at all. In the end those most of the students did not end up going to the colleges that they had wished to.
In the essays, "A Modest Proposal" and "For Once Blame the Students" the students are mostly portrayed as slackers. Both these essays show how Americans do not really try very hard. Both these essays show how the failed worth ethic of the students lead America to being behind other countries. Both of these essays portray the America students as lazy and undisciplined. Why is the blame completely on the students though? I feel like there should be some blame on the parents and teachers. In one of my classes my teacher asked how many of the students felt they had to do well because of their parents. Only 2 students said they felt pressured by their parents. Also haven't we all had that one teacher that does not really teach you very much and even though you get an A in the class you walk out feeling as though you learned nothing? I have had a teacher like that and I feel as though the blame can not be put completely on the students for not learning anything. Most of the students in that class went to the office to try and fix the problem, we went to get some help from the school because we wanted to learn. Yet nothing was done about it.
American students to some extent are behind in Academics yet others are doing very well. I feel that saying all Americans are slackers is stereotypical and completely a lie. Many do try hard and attempt to do well but are not given the same opportunities and there for tend to do worse than they could be. Teachers and Parents are also to blame for this, if they motivated their students more maybe Americans would be doing better now. 2 million minutes, A modest Proposal, and For once blame the students only show one side. What about the other side of the story?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Woke up in London yesterday, found myself in a city near piccadilly!

I decided I would write my blog post on my trip this summer. I was at a restaurant with some family friends and they were going to london the next day and my dad said I could go with them! I was so excited and we went to get my passport the next morning and we had left by 9 p.m. So the first week there I met a bunch of my family that I never knew I had. It was so much fun and I went to one of there weddings and did lots of shopping!

The next week I went site seeing! I have been to London before but I really could not remember some of the sites so it was a lot of fun! My favorite part was the boat ride we took down the Thames river and we got to see all these bridges! (My favorite one was the millennium bridge which was in Harry Potter) We saw all the main sites, globe theater, the london eye, big ben and even westminster abbey. My favorite part of the entire trip was seeing Kate Middleton's dress on display with the wedding cake and which was gorgeous!

I also went to Madam Tussaud's! That was one of the highlights of my trip! So Madam Tussaud's is a wax museum and it has wax figures of celebrities! I went with one of my cousins and we had so much fun!


After 2 weeks I was ready to go home because my brother was going off to college so I wanted to spend some time with him. Except I had not bought a ticket, instead we were on standby for Delta. Delta was having a strike during this time so I was stuck in London. A trip that was suppose to last 2 weeks lasted 1 month! I was not complaining because I was in London! I spent more time with my family and friends and the trip was so much fun, and my mom said I can go next year also! Which is the summer that the Olympics are there!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Obama Speech!

So I looked everywhere for the Obama Speech but I couldn't find it, so i watched the speech from 2 years ago. In this speech he began by talking about his own personal experience and how he had not gotten a normal education. He had gotten part of his education in a different country where his mom taught him. Obama related his own personal experience to ours because he said he knew how it felt to get up early and not want to learn.
He also talked about our responsibilities. Not just the students responsibilities but also the parents. The parents should encourage the students to learn, and not just sit at home watching T.V and playing XBox.
He used a lot of logos and pathos in this speech. He talks about how education will allow you to succeed. If you succeed you may possibly change the world and make it better for everybody. He talks about how he had not done as well as he should of in school, or even could have. How he did not have the same opportunities as some kids. He relates that to those kids that have gone through some difficult problems in life just as he had. Obama also uses specific examples of people that pushed through difficult parts of their lives and end up with a great life.
Obama's speech was very motivational and made me want to try even harder. Not just in school but in life. To do whatever I can to make the world better.