five down, one to go!

So, this wonderful place known as college has treated me with the utmost greatness for these past five weeks. I still can’t grasp the reality of being a college student; this summer has felt like a summer camp that, once the six weeks are over, I’ll go home and go back to my high school. I don’t know, it is a weird concept to understand but it just seem like I don’t really go to Florida State. I was really surprised at how interesting and fun the classes have been and that I actually enjoyed taking them. I was proud of myself for being able to handle the challenges of completing these papers for my classes in such short time and didn’t let my social life take over. I didn’t really face too much stress so far this summer, but when I did, I was able to get through it with time and patience; stress is something you want to avoid because it is bad for your health! As far as having to feed myself, I had no problems because I had a meal plan and flex bucks so I didn’t do much cooking beside microwaveable foods of course. Laundry was a little nerve-racking the first time I did it on my own here because I was scared I wasn’t going to know how to even work the machine and look like an idiot, but thankfully there were directions on the lid. Something new that I learned about myself was that I was actually able to do my homework right away and get it out of the way; back at home I would always wait until the last minute to do all of my academic assignments. I didn’t really have to do much study during this summer session, but when I had to study for quizzes for my second class, I just did it in between classes. I think the intensity of the school work kind of lessened because here you don’t have to do pointless assignments just to take up time. On the other hand, it was a little intense because your grades were basically only four assignments, so doing well on each assignment was crucial!

Today, I feel very tired and stressed. I have a lot on my mind and I fear the lack of knowing what comes next in the near future. I barely slept last night because I had so many thoughts running through my head about a million different things that I should worry about, some things weren’t even applicable to me, but I worried about them anyway.

Now, I just feel sluggish and wish I could go back to my dorm and sleep the rest of the day away without any questions. I don’t know why I am having these random anxiety attacks lately, but it’s not like me one bit. I am usually a very upbeat and happy person and I don’t let little things affect me, but I have been a different person these past few days. Besides the negative feelings, I am very excited to be going home next week to see my family, to be able to sleep in, and to be able to go to the beach everyday!

Ideas for Paper Three

for paper three, I am considering writing a mystery in the fictional genre. There will be a helpless, vulnerable character(s) who is going to be the obvious victim(s). Also, there will be an eerie and unknown person who is causing all the commotion that is going on throughout the story. As for the conventions of this genre, the following link can help the goals and guideline for writing a fictional mystery: http://www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/r/reading_bestpractices_comprehension_genrechart.pdf. I plan to fit my form with my content by adhering to the basic guidelines for a hard-hitting, unpredictable mystery that people will be able to be intrigued and on their toes throughout the entire story.

end of week four

My process of writing, as it has always been, goes a little like this: I read the prompt topic over about three times and sit and take a second to let it soak in. Then once I get a thought about what I can write, I just jump into the writing process, usually skipping the brainstorming part. Recently, I have learned this is not such a good thing because getting your ideas out on paper, and being able to outline and organize your thoughts makes the writing part much easier and usually less time consuming.  I also tend to always use adverbs in basically every sentence to try and make my writing stronger, but through this class I have learned that they are usually unnecessary, extra words that weaken the point you are trying to get across. On the topic of revision, when I first heard that we were going to do three different drafts for just one paper I was shocked; the first draft is usually good enough and doesn’t need to be written two more times. That’s the initial thought I had in my head until I actually revised my first paper. I was still adding or making corrections all the way through the third draft and even then it still was probably not perfect. When writing, I start to get distracted and worried that my text doesn’t make any sense, isn’t good enough, and is completely off topic. I stop writing and question whether I should just start over completely or change what I’m writing about. Then in class we learned about “the watcher at the gates” and I realized that that little person in my mind was the one who was preventing me to complete my paper. It helped me out a lot to realize that tuning out and ignore the watcher was a dire thing that needed to be done in order to complete a paper. I have learned so much in these four weeks of English that I would never imagine possible!

Rest In Peace, Allison

Mrs. Allison Michelle Davis, 1993-2073, passed away peacefully in her sleep this morning at approximately 4:00 AM in Beverly Hills, California. The music industry is devastated about the loss of the renown singer, but even though she is gone from our world, her music will always be immortal. She was an intelligent, lovely woman who had so much love for her husband and three children; she would have done anything for them. Keep her family in your prayers because they, along with many across the world, suffered a great loss today. Passing onto the after life with all her amazing accomplishments and success is very inspiring to all. She will be greatly missed, but will remain and live on in our hearts forever. Her daughter, 35, says she will be holding a ceremony for all who would like to say a last farewell to the lovely, expired talent. For more information on the funeral date and time, stay posted. Rest in peace Mrs. Davis.

a way to express yourself

I would say art is considered to be a way of expressing oneself in any way, shape, or form. Art is a big part of my life because I use it daily, such as singing or dancing. I also enjoy hands on art such as painting and sculpting pottery.  In high school, I took a class for ceramics where you were given a simple wedge of clay for each project and you were expected to build a masterpiece out of it. I usually did an average Joe job for my projects and tried to make my pieces perfect, but it just never seemed to work out for me. Then my teacher told us we were going to create a mug with a design of our choosing. I thought long and hard on what I could sculpt my mug into. I looked up some designs in the sample books and online, and then one image hit me especially hard. I was going to do an awesome mug with a Hawaiian tiki face on it. When I started to roll out the clay and build my mug, I had a great feeling about the outcome of this project. I used applique to attach the big rectangle nose, eyes, eyebrows and designs on its face, carved many intricate tribal designs all over the mug, and attached the perfect handle. After every piece was put on the mug, I started to add the effect that made the clay look like old, gnarled wood. I gave my half-finished piece to my teacher so she could fire it in the kiln. I waited a few days after for it to be ready to do the next step in the process. Once out, I painted the piece with fierce, bright colors that really blended well together. Then I added shoe polish to give it that old, ancient look and BAM, my mug turned out to be a masterpiece. My teacher loved it and even put it on display for the whole school to walk past and marvel at.

writer's block

My watcher at the gate is a small, slender woman with big, black, thick-rimmed glasses who is also always dressed in an all-black business suit and holds a scorching coffee in her hands. She always has her nose up in the air because she is better than anyone else and nothing, to her, is ever good. She is very serious and harshly scrutinizes every word I write down on the page. "No. This is okay, but it is not good enough. Start over," she constantly repeats after every sentence. I take in her advice and I think to myself, "maybe this really isn't good enough..." and I erase the entire line and sit for a long time with a blank expression staring at the empty white paper. She lives in a small cubical, night and day, and makes lists of what I am doing wrong with my writing. Like I said, she lives solely on coffee; no food is required for her to survive.