Your Choice 4/21/2011

For this blog post I’m just going to tell you about my day.

This morning I woke up at 9:30 A.M. I am unable to drive myself to school right now because my car needed repairs so, it’s in the shop for the week. Because of this, I was driven to school by my mother. The conversation on the way there was strangely uneventful. My mother and I usually have no problems striking up some sort of conversation but, for some reason, on this particular day, I wasn’t in the mood.

Anyway, once I arrived at school, I proceeded to attend my math class as usual. For some reason math class has proven extremely difficult for me this semester. I’ve always had some monor difficulties with math but never to this extent.  Bear in mind, this is my first college level math class though, so it could just be that I’m not used to the pace.

After going to math class my day was over because I don’t have to attend English class this week. My teacher is holding conferences, or as I call them, last minute counseling sessions. ” I’m assuming he is going to calculate his grade book soon; especially since the final exam is just around the corner.

Sorry, got off on a little tangent there.

When I got home from school I took a nap. “But you barley did anything” you say. I tire easily, what can I say. It was a shot nap thiugh, because I had to work today ar 4:30 P.M.

I went to work and the day went pretty smoothe for the most part. Except for this one thing that happened. As soon as I got there, I was tasked with clearning up a spill. For some reason I always seem to be cleaning up spills at that place (I work at Farm Fresh for those who don’t know). Besides that though, the rest of my night went pretty smoothe.

That’s what I got for today. There you go. My entire day can be boiled down to about our paragraphs of text.

Enjoy.

4q's - Suprising Essay

1.    What one specific aspect of your paper are you proudest of? Why?

a.      I am proudest of the length of my paper. I was surprised that I could take a topic that I knew next to nothing about and still write an excellent essay on it.

2.    What was the most difficult aspect of writing this essay? Why?

a.     In my opinion the most difficult aspect of writing my paper was citing my sources. I had forgotten how to do it.

3.    Imagine that you have a few extra hours to revise this paper. What aspect(s) of the paper would you reword, write, and/or polish? Why?

a.     I probably have a few grammar issues to work out. Improper grammar bothers me a lot

4.    How would you approach such a revision?

a.     I would research how to properly use grammar.

Writting Quick Start 573

The picture on the left side of page 573 is meant to make a statement about the environment. The statement, in my opinion is pretty clear. There is a sign in the picture that says “Save the Redwoods”. There is also, in my opinion a bigger meaning behind this picture. I believe the overall theme or message of this picture is “Save the rainforest”. With that being said, in order for me to form a working thesis about this photograph I would consider consulting sources such as The Wildlife Conservation Society (wcs.org), defenders.org, or any other organizations whose main interest revolves around the conservation of wildlife and the rainforest.

 In order to provide further evidence for my thesis I would look at how Red Wood trees in particular help to support the eco-system in the rain forest. The main questions I would ask myself is: What affect does the Red wood Tree have on the forest and its inhabitants? And what would happen to the eco-system if that tree were to disappear? The answers to these two questions alone would provide enough substance and evidence to make a compelling argument about this topic

Writting Quick start 553

The Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial is a monument that was erected in recognition of the sacrifices that 50,000+ soldiers made to protect our country from communism.

Necessary information

·         Where it’s located?

·         Does the location of the memorial have anything  to do with the memorial itself?

·         How many names are on the wall?

·         Who built it?

·         What is it made from?

·         Was it always supposed to be a wall?

·         Interesting facts

·         What year was it made?

·         How tall/big is it?

4 Questions - Midterm

 What one specific aspect of your paper are you proudest of?   Why?

The one aspect of my paper that I am the most proud of is the amount of topics I covered. Given that I had a very limited amount of time to complete this paper, I find that fact impressive

2.   What was the most difficult aspect of writing this essay?

 The most difficult aspect of writing my paper was probably the brainstorming portion; it was difficult to come up with a topic that I was comfortable writing about for this paper

3.   Imagine that you have a few extra hours to revise this paper.   What aspect(s) of the paper would you reword, write, and/or polish?   Why?

 The transitional phrases between topic within the paper were probably the least though of aspect of my paper

4.   How would you approach such a revision?

 I’d re-word the conclusion and topic sentences of my paragraphs in order to make the essay flow better.

4 Questions - Advertisment Paper 3/3/11

1. What one specific aspect of your paper are you proudest of?   Why?

A: I would say that I am most proud of the introduction portion of this paper, not just because I wrote it. I think it did a very good job of setting the stage for the rest of the paper.

2.   What was the most difficult aspect of writing this essay?   Why?

     A: The most difficult aspect of writing this paper was collaborating as a group. On the days in which we did not have class, generating ideas for the paper became difficult.

3 Imagine that you have a few extra hours to revise this paper.   What aspect(s) of the paper would you reword, write, and/or polish?   Why?

     A: I would revise the portion of our paper that includes how we would change the Advertisement. Although I find this portion of the paper completely sufficient, there’s always room for improvement.

4.   How would you approach such a revision?

     A: I would expand a little bit upon the information that already exists in the paper, then brainstorm for new ideas .

Blog Post 2/24/11

Who would have ever thought we’d be writing a blog post about whatever we want? Writing about whatever you want is fun! There doesn’t have to be any structure to whatever you write. Gone are the worries of describing mundane events from your life in an overly dramatic, needlessly compelling, ridiculously wordy, stupidly over sized paper. Think about that for a minute. I mean, every time you sit down at your desk, office, class room, or wherever else it is you find yourself when tasked with writing a paper like this, take note of one thing.“What is this thing?” you ask? It’s the fact that anytime you’re writing one of these papers all that being asked of you is to take a topic, whatever it may be, find out what they facts are, then exaggerate the hell out of them with savvy, emotional stimulating word play. That’s it. In my opinion, there really is nothing more to it than that.

I suppose one could argue that my viewpoint is, in some way, very flawed. Who knows, they may even present it to me in one of those over exaggerated, emotionally stimulating, pointlessly long, essays of misery, I love so much! All kidding aside though, consider this before you completely discount my seemingly anger driven viewpoint of this subject.

When you write something like this, do you really consider your audience? Now you might say, “of course I do, that’s the silliest question I’ve ever heard!” Read on though and you may find that the above question isn’t so silly after all.

For instance, if your writing a biography for a Skate Boarding magazine, do you really think the audience of that magazine is intended for is really going to sit there and read your wordy description of the events in someone’s life. The answer is no; they’ll pick it up for ten minutes of so if you’re lucky, read the articles that interest them and be on their way. The rest of their time will probably be used skateboarding. In cases such as this, there is no need for such clever, polished, emotionally charged, language. In this case it would be more useful to state just the essential facts, and attract the reader in some other way. For example, you could use pictures to attract their eye to your article.

The bottom line here is: Before you write a paper, decide how much an emotional stimulus is really needed for your intended audience, otherwise you run the risk of over doing it. Nobody wants to read your piece of writing if it’s pointlessly overcharged with emotion. Believe me, it creates boredom.

Writting Qucik Start 303 - 2/17/11

As you can see by the illustration you should have received some materials for building your book shelf. The box should contain a total of four pieces of wood. Two pieces of the wood should be labeled “A” and the other three should be labeled “B2.” You also should have received a total of four screws. In order to assemble your bookshelf, simply place the two pieces of wood labeled “A” in a parallel fashion on the floor as shown in picture 1; place the three boards labeled “B2” in between them. Be sure to align the three boards with the holes for the screws on the boards labeled “A” as illustrated in the second picture. Next proceed to place the screws into the holes and tighten them. Perform this task on one side first, then, do the same on the other side. After you have tightened the screws on both sides of the shelf, the shelf should represent a box, as depicted in the third picture.

As a side note, feel free to stain the wood for added visual appeal.

Blog Post Writing Quick Start Page 409 – 2/10/10

The predominant behavior depicted in the photograph is that of Human Compassion. Human Compassion, in this context, is when someone has sympathy for the circumstances of someone else’s situation. The picture represents the epitome of the above mentioned word. The Salvation Army Workers are passing out much needed food to the inhabitants of whatever area has been victimized by this clearly significant disaster. I am a strong believer that there has to be at least some level of compassion in a person’s heart in order for them to be a part of such an organization; unless I’m mistaken, the workers of the Salvation Army are not paid to do what they do, so something tells me they aren’t doing this job for their own financial gain.

The above mentioned fact leads me to believe that in addition to compassion, which is primarily a sympathetic emotion, the workers are also portraying empathetic behavior toward the victims. After all, if they didn’t care about helping the victims of this disaster, they wouldn’t be there. Now, these people may have different reasons for helping the victims. Some of them may have been in a similar situation themselves; other people may just have big hears. We will never know the source of their motivations however, so obviously it doesn’t do anyone any good to speculate about the subject.

The bottom line is as follows. In my opinion, in order for the workers in the picture to be doing what they are doing, it is essential for them to possess varying levels of the above mentioned feelings toward their fellow human being. I suppose peer pressure could also be a contributing factor to the behavior depicted. If someone’s friends are doing something, that person has a tendency to follow the lead of their friends so to speak.

4 Questions about my Narrative Essay - 2/2/11

Q: What one specific aspect of your paper are you proudest of and why?
A: I am most proud of the story i told about myself in the beginning of the essay. I feel this story was an essential part of the narrative the set the stage for the rest of the essay.

Q: What was the most difficult aspect of writing this essay and why?
A: The most difficult part of writing this paper was that it was really difficult for me to transfer the thoughts from my head onto the paper. A lot of the time, it's difficult to just write things sown on a sheet of paper in the same way they sound in your head. As a consequence, i found myself having to reword certain things in different ways so that they would make sense in the essay.

Q: Imagine you had extra time to revise this essay, what would you want to polish and why?
A: If i had the extra time to revise and polish the aspects of this paper, i would probably use the time to infuse more imagery and descriptive language into this essay.

Q: How would you approach such a revision?
A: I would approach this revision by looking at the situations i described in the story and thinking about how i could use more sensory language to further immerse the reader's mind into the content of my essay.

Writing Quick Start - Page 339

There are many differences and similarities in the scenes depicted on page 339. For example, it’s no secret that both of the pictures were taken at musical performances. However, that’s pretty much were the similarities end. If someone were to look at these pictures they would notice that, for instance, the clothes worn by the performers in the top picture are representative of a Rock Concert of some kind. In contrast, in the bottom picture, the attire of the performers is much more formal.

To me, as a person who has never seen these pictures before, it looks as if the bottom photograph may have been taken at some sort of auditorium, whereas the  top picture was obviously taken outdoors, probably at some sort of sports stadium. Perhaps the band in the top picture was performing during a half–time show at a football game. The bottom picture looks more finished and decorated than the picture on the top. The picture on the top looks more impromptu, almost as if it were just taken on a whim, and unplanned.

There is no doubt in my mind that the man in the center of the bottom picture is a musical conductor. He has sticks in his hands and it looks as if he is moving them up and down in a wave-like motion. Another interesting fact to note about the bottom picture is that most of the performers are older than both the singer and the fans in the top picture. From this information one can assume that the younger fans in the top picture probably would not like the same type of music that the people in the bottom picture do.

There also appears to be a noticeable difference in the energy level of the people in the two pictures. The people in the top picture look as if they are having a good time and just enjoying themselves. In contrast , the people in the bottom picture look as if they all have stone cold serious looks on their faces. They all look as if they are in deep concentration.

Personally, if I had to choose which performance to attend, I’d choose the top one. It looks to me like that one would be more fun to be at than the bottom one.

Blog Post 2 - Writing quick start page 201

On January 1, 2010 John and his friend Jim were studying at john’s house for a math final they had the next day at school. After about two hours of studying factoring, Jim said “Hey john, I’m getting really hungry.  Let’s go get some food; we’ll finish studying when we get back.” John agreed and they proceeded to walk down the road to the convenience store.

As they walked into the convenience store they both said hello to the clerk at the register and began to look for what they wanted to eat. As they scanned the numerous shelves, they heard another customer enter the store. Jim turned around and a load popping noise rang out. Instinctively, John turned to see what had caused the noise. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of a man running full speed out of the door. At the same time he noticed his friend Jim lying on the floor. “What happened!” he cried. “Oh my god, we’ve just been robbed!” said the clerk “Call the police!” screamed Jim. The police arrived 30 minutes later however; Jim had already succumbed to his injuries.

A week later a memorial was held in Jim’s honor at Virginia Tech. He had been studying Accounting at the school with his friend John. Over 1500 mourners attended the memorial. After giving the eulogy, John knelt down next to Jim’s grave alongside Jim’s former girlfriend and said a prayer on his friend’s behalf. Neither John, nor Jim’s former girl friend could hold back their tears any longer. The emotions of the situation finally got to them and they started crying. Reality had hit them like a ton of bricks. Their beloved friend was gone because of someone’s carelessness and there was nothing they could do about it. All they had left now was memories.

What do I want to accomplish in this course?

The one thing I expect to achieve in this course is an overall understanding and firm grasp of all fundamental concepts of English writing. Yes, this is a simple and obvious answer for sure, but that doesn’t make my answer any less true, and the rest of this Blog Post will explain why.

When I was taught Writing in high school it felt as if they were just teaching me a broad range of superficial lessens that seemed to be designed with nothing but memorization in mind. I wouldn’t say I necessarily LEARNED anything; in fact, all I did was memorize as much as I could, take the SOL test, pass it, and move on to the next grade.  I believe this is the reason why I still struggle with some of the most fundamental concepts pertaining to the Writing process. Some of these concepts include Expressiveness and Mechanics.

 For instance, I have noticed throughout my life that I tend to rely heavily on words such as nevertheless, moreover, and however throughout my writings.  Needless to say I’d love to expand my vocabulary so that I no longer feel the need to rely so heavily on these words in the future.  As mentioned above I also have many mechanical problems in most of my essays.  I graduated high school and I still don’t know when to use the words there and their or whole and hole. Now I’m not an expert or anything but, I’d say that’s a problem.

Now as you know, this course is not the only subject in which I am going to have to write essays. Consequently the things that I learn in this course will prove useful in many other classes that I may choose to participate in while I attend Tidewater Community College.

This class will help me in my professional life as well. I plan to pursue a career in Business Administration. Understanding the fundamentals of Writing is crucial to being a good businessman. If I ever have to write a Cover Letter or Proposal for example, I want to write it correctly.