Final Test

A. Would you rather live in the world of the Yellow Wallpaper or The Things They Carried?
I would rather live in the world of the yello wallpaper. Of course, I would probably not be the narrator, but rather, John, who is actually "normal." I would not enjoy being locked up in a room full of yellow wallpaper, and this would probably drive me crazy. Of course, the alternative to a room full of yellow wallpaper is actually psyhiological truama that would most likely come from an experience like one in TTTC. Regardless, both of these choices require you to become crazy, but I think that the yellow wallpaper is less haunting. Or is it?

B. The scariest moment in English (from any year)
The scariest moment in english was probably a disaster scene from last year. Me and Mike had wrote a paper together, and when we went to submit our paper, the disk wouldn't open. We ended up running around, trying to find a solution. Eventually, though, there's a happy ending. we managed to piece together what we had already printed out to form a perfectly good copy of the paper, although the formatting was off. We managed to get an A on the paper.

C. If this class was turned into a magical realism story, who would be real? Who would not be believable?
I think in a sense, the whole class would be barely believable. Quite certainly, I wouldn't have imagined a class like this last year. The stories and the experiences we have all endured all add up the great things we have gotten out of CIS. I think that specifically, it is many events that are not believable, like me in a dress. Certainly, everyone can be real then, but at the same time have unbelievable aspects to them.

My writing process

I will start overwriting for my final memo.

My writing has changed over the last semester. I think that it has significantly improved in many ways. We can list it off here.
First, I now approach my writing systematically. I have a type of outline that I follow, and I go about the lines with this plan in mind. This helps me to logically organize my points.
Next, I look at the rubric, and I go about writing to fulfill and surpass these points. I will use this along with my outline for my organization.
I also know that I should start writing spontaneously, and not worry about what goes down on the page, because I will be able to go back and edit once I'm done with a first draft.
An important thing I discovered was to avoid using certain words, such as that and then. These words are often not necessary to transition. Also, I have to be careful using words like I and is, because I tend to repeat those often.

Primarily, then, my writing has visibly improved in terms of the organization, and word usage.

The joy of editing

This is William Huynh reporting for NBN news.
I have confirmed first hand that editing is a vital process in any type of paper. In typing a paper, it is absolutely necessary to edit furiously.
The reasoning behind this lies in the blitzkrieg style of writing a paper. The first step in writing, then, is to start off and keep going continuously. It is quite more efficient to write for 20 minutes and have 3 pages of removable text, then to have one page of text. Remember, afterwards, you can always change everything. What you are doing, though, is you are setting down something to work with.
We are here with an expert and a student, the MLA style handbook, and William, a writing composition student. What do you have to say?
"No comment. Just remember to follow my rules if they apply," quotes the MLA style handbook.
"It is never good enough; papers continue to haunt you because they desire your editing, and the only way you can supress their moans and groans is to start editing!" states William. "Well, lets start with this news transcription."
There you have it folks, a good way to start the day- remember to keep editing!
William Huynh, NBN news.

Its the world as we know it

Have anyone of you guys been to JohnKerry.com or GeorgeWBush.com lately? Well, I don't know why you would, because the elections were over a long time ago and the inguaration of Bush's second term is already done with, for crying outloud, but nevertheless, I visited the two websites just 3 mintues ago. Yep, and the scary part is, they both have blog things, too! John Kerry seems to be setting the stage for if he wants to run again (I respect his decision, but good luck!) Oh, and georgeWbush.com is no longer about W, but its now the GOP Republican National committee's website.
How times change. How websites change. Everything changes, because CIS english days are coming to an end! I will miss this class, and especially the people, but maybe the CIS legacy will live on in my blog... What do you say?

Somewhere my love

Somewhere my love is the name of a song from the movie Doctor Zhivago, which happens to also be one of my dad's favorite movies and song. This movie happens to fall into a catagory known as oldies. Well, today, I happened to play this song at my Grandpa's remarriage. He is 82 years old, and has been widowed one year. My new grandma's name is Pauline, and she has been widowed for 17 years. The pastor made a comparison of their second marriage to the incidental presidental inauguration that also happened today. It was quite humorous, but it was an amazingly well thought analogy.
The music that Bill, my grandpa, requested was a hocus pocus of oldie tunes. It came from a CD of sappier string music called "Golden Strings." We ended up playing a bunch of stuff, and it was quite fun.

The Prevailing Fish

Fish look different to different people. In fact, even little girls know this. Jenny, the little girl from Spectre, had explained to Edward Bloom that night when he saw the naked woman in the river- she's a fish!

Throughout his life, Edward Bloom is a man that has been defined by the stories of his life. Specifically, it is the threshold of separating fact from fiction that has Edward's son so unappreciating of his dad's life.

Spectre is an important element in the movie. It is symbolic of a refuge in life, and the changes that time brings to things. Spectre starts off as "the best kept secret in Alabama." However, as time progresses, the town of Spectre finds itself dying, and the thoughts and lifestyles that it once held and preserved dissappear.

Edward Bloom is a man of "amusing lies." His son William does not believe the stories that Edward tells.

Don't be distracted by this incomplete dissection of the movie. If you haven't seen it, go and rent it now!

K-Paxians

Over the weekend, while I was out renting Big Fish, I also decided to pick up a couple other movies I had never seen, but had planned on watching one day. One of them includes K-Pax, which now has been added to my list of favorite movies.
Keven Spacey does a good job of being a K-Paxian. It's interesting to see how he manages to seem to kind of be human, but refute from it every time someone asks. It's also interesting to see the literary ideas that have been hidden inside the movie. KPAX can be considered a satire. For example, Prot (Spacey) quotes a few lines about the human race, saying "its been lucky how you humans have gotten this far." K-Pax seems to be a utopia. It does not have all of the limitations of society that we have placed on ourselves. It is also really interesting how they use light as symbolism, also. Light is so magnificent through a prism, especially an irregular one. The beams shine everywhere at once. What I got out of this is it represents optimism and believing, because it is so apparent in everyday life, yet there are traits of it that we do not understand. Yes, I like K-Paxians. It's too bad they don't exist, because society can use people who are not always confined to their desks. "I have a beam of light to catch."

Southern hospitality

I notice that in the film Big Fish, Ewan McGregor does a very good job of making that southern accent. It is quite adorable, and it makes me want to talk in that manner, also. Here's a list of things I want to do that involve the Southern United States.
1. Develop an aspiring southern accent
2. Start my day with a big bowl of grits
3. get that southern charm and gentlemanly style (wink)
4. Talk in complicated terms and have the extended vocabulary that defines southern dialogue
5. Visit the south
6. ask why they decided to set Big Fish in Alabama instead of Minnesota or something (we have the most gosh darned accent anyways, right?)
7. Ask why Edward Bloom lost his southern accent when he became older (and acted by Albert Finney instead of Ewan Mcregor)
8. Maybe I'll do an ethnography on the average southern joe (or maybe not, but its an idea)
9. Ask them what they think of the North (they just might put on their grey uniforms)
10. Ask them what they do about the mosquitoes they have down there

Saturday is flopping like a Big Fish

Well, I've chosen to watch Big Fish for my film critique. I've always seen it on movie store shelves, and I've always wanted to rent it, but apparently it always gets away before I can get to the checkout counter. However, this has allowed me to say that in this way, it has become even greater to me, because it has built up my curiosity. "The biggest fish in the river gets that way by never being caught." Well, my Saturday is actually not flopping at all, but it was a catchy title.
Here's some song lyrics to be played to some gentle guitar strumming (sing it to a country music beat, it works quite well)
I've always seen it on movie store shelves
but I've never seen it, haven't planned to
I look across the store and what do I find
but nothing, nothing at all

Saturday is flopping like a Big Fish
but you know what they say about the little things
its the thought that has always counted,
So take my small advice and drive down to the video store
pick up the Biggest Fish of all. . . before its gone

I look across the fields and I gaze at the river
I glance to the sky and I see the constellations
but one thing doesn't change, and its the little things that remain

Saturday is flopping like a Big Fish
but you know what they say about the little things
its the thought that has always counted,
So take my small advice and drive down to the video store
pick up the Biggest Fish of all. . . before its gone

It seems to have some good points, but it needs some work.

A toast to Governor Pawlenty

Dear Governor,
I am a student who attends a school in our state. There has been much talk from people in my school, and all of them are willing to sign petitions to get this through.
I like that you're a hardcore republican and all that, but you gotta face it. You need votes, and votes from people like me. So call that snow day tomorrow.
Governor, you need to recogize the needs of your people. Therefore, let us sleep in tomorrow because our whole class has been deprived of sleep for sometime now. Think of all the votes you would recieve! Also, think of the retribution you will recieve the next election if you do not call the state of emergency. Appear on the radio or TV now, and you will get to call the next snow day in 4 years.

What colleges are you looking at?

There has been one particular question that has developed into a big pet peeve of mine, and I prefer not to get asked it. "What colleges are you looking at?" To respond, I usually just off my short list of colleges I applied to, and then I add at the end, "Carleton is my first choice" as if they really cared. However, now, the stupid college application is asking me, "How did your interest in Carleton develop?" Here we go.
As I left Northfield for the road at the end of that cold and cloudy day, I was looking over at the glossy brochures that Carleton had given me. Everyone was happy, the pictures were full of joy, and the sky in the pictures were blue enough to enroach on the particular cloudy day that I had been experiencing. I had been pondering about what made everyone so happy in those pictures. As I was on the road, I continued recalling about the experience I had had on the Fall visit day. Then, I had came to the conclusion. Carleton, I was impressed. The glossy pictures were exactly as it seemed. Why? Everyone around was smiling, and everyone was enjoying their day. Two kids were running around The Bald Spot, chasing leaves as they fell down. The class I sat in was funny to watch as the students fooled around. A couple started waltzing in the middle of a dining hall for no apparent reason. These were the small-everyday things that I noticed. They left their stamp on me- I was hooked on the people at Carleton College. I look foreward to ultimate frizbee on The Bald Spot!

Major William

I have been asked what I want to do in college many times over, as has anybody that has told others, "I'm going to college." The problem does not stem from people just trying to start a conversation on college, but it is a deep rooted and justified curiosity. Really, what will you do for four expensive years of your life? Don't waste it now. I tell them what I think I will major in. "College is a place to find your perks, to find your interests, and to find yourself. I have a sense that, with my particular life experiences, I will choose a science major, yet it will not be technical science that I am after. I chose a liberal arts college because I wanted to experience a fuller experience that incorporates as much of human experience in it as it can. By human experience, I mean a set of characteristics that help to define a culture and a particular society. Therefore, in choosing a liberal arts major, I would choose biology, or political science, both of which are sciences in particular, yet, they preserve their holistic approach to human knowledge." Go figure.

Getting out

For our ethnography, we got kicked out, or formally "uninvited." The story has been told a number of times now, and apparently, they all vary. So, I will get on the record, and write a thrilling story about being "on the way out." I hope to use this in my paper.
As William had set up the visits with the nurse manager, he had noticed that the communication between him and Lisa had not been very clear. They found out the hard way that there had been misunderstandings that took place. On a day that they had visited the ER department, they had started to follow Dr. White into patient rooms. They had gone into about 3 or 4 when suddenly William got a phone call from the Nurse manager, Lisa, telling him that they couldn't be in patient rooms.
On the next day that William was in the ER, a tired looking woman with brown hair and a brown sweater appeared. “Are you William?” The woman questioned, waiting for a response, then going on after a slight pause. “Hello, I am Lisa Hovde, and I need to talk to you for one moment. Would you come to my office?”
William followed her to her office, past the double doors, and past another door with a label entitled “Lisa Hovde, Nurse Manager,” and into the seat inside her spacious office.
She started first, and for next minutes, with the exception of William’s hopeless attempts to renegotiate, she kept going, getting her point across very blatantly, but keeping it polite and composed at the same time.
“William, I understand that you have not really understood that there are boundaries to you being here. The last time you visited, you went into patient rooms, and you had specifically told me that you didn’t need to go into patient rooms. Also, you made copies of the doctors’ work schedule. However, your attitude has me most concerned with patient confidentiality, and quite frankly, your safety, in the manner of legal security. You know, if you use the infomation you have obtained wrong, you could be sued. . .”
After Robert was not invited back, William took notes as he volunteered. He observed that the nurse manager had crossed their names off the bulletin board and wrote next to it, “uninvited to return.” However, William returned, He wore a medical garb, and a badge that said volunteer. Although he had been a volunteer before, the difference at that moment was that there was a sense of defiance and confidence in him, a sense that he had beat the system at its own game. William was on his way to becoming an insider.

Cold plays

It is funny that I have this CD that my friend gave me, and it's even funnier that she thinks that I haven't listened to it. Yet, I have. I don't think I have ever completely cleared this problem up, so thereafter it remains. In this world, I have learned that some things will be "what you want it to be." Therefore, the problem is what is to my friend. Well, I'm listening to another song, and this song is describing what this blog is all about. It is "Numb" by Linkin Park. Yeah, numb is what emotional truama can do. Don't worry, I'm not going crazy over this numbing business.

Politick

The whole world is a big game of politics. Politicians swabble over the smallest and most neglibile things for a neglibile amount more of power. Nations fight over treaty points and atempt to call the shots, themselves. Even in the smallest angle of society, you are fighting to get what you want. At school, there is a debate every time an issue is raised. Here is a pretend example: the administration doesn't believe that selling parking permits for x amount of money will be enough revenue. However, Mr. Brom wants to gain favorablility in the school community by agreeing that x amount will be enough, even though it won't. While there is a fight to get what you would want in life, there is also a separate fight in how you go about getting what you want in life. You are either playing the game, or you are not. The advantage rests in those who choose to play the game, but what would you choose?

Aliens at CPHS

Pretend you're an alien
The Landing
Greetings. We have come to your planet to study your species and the ways that you conduct your lives. Our landing happened on January 5, 2005 (earthling time.) We came through your dense clouds to a landscape of white- apparently your planet has been covered with some form of frozen liquid- analysis indicates H2O.
We landed one of your tarred and scarred surfaces, the color being a blackish-blue with yellow lines stripping across. It was early. Too early. It was 3:00 AM. You earthlings are always sleeping, and then waking up at the last moment to get to where you are supposed to be. Well, it was 3:00 AM, so we decided to walk through the walls to set up in one of your more crowded areas: an area where you earthlings devour other earth-creatures and fruits of nature- the lunchroom.

The Lunchroom
Here we are, at the very center of humanity. The day is well under way, and people walk every which way! Wait, the humans sit down. . . in pods of tables. They begin to feed on human food.

The tables are arranged in succeding rows upon rows, and the humans all fall into place in each seat, almost such as they are assigned seats. Humans are very systematic, and they always do the same things. They are creatures of comfort, and would not be pleased to sit somewhere else. "Get out of my seat" is the response that John that shouted when he found out someone else was in his seat.This is evident by the patterns of how the humans arrange themselves into the seats: some areas are dense, while others are empty. Human behavior is very systematic.

T is for Tuesday. T is for thing. T is for Theories. T is for Time. . .

Time is a fun subject to write about because it is on everyone’s mind. It is one of those things where you can find anything to talk about it. For example, why do we need time? How would life be like without clocks? Actually, for that matter, how would life be like if humans didn’t care about time? That is a question to ponder. . . for a couple minutes. Today is Tuesday. Here's the catch phrase- big deal. If weeks or months did not exist, and no one followed any sense of time, people would do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. There would be chaos, from our point of view, but then again, would there be any chaos if time was not an important factor in society?
I find it hard to imagine a life with no time constraints. However, would we be free then, still? If time was not a factor in our lives and our society, would we really have all the time in the world to do something, then?
Logic is the key. If time was not an important constraint, then something else would replace it as a constraint. This ties into economics and philosophy, because this blog questions how humanity would function if there was no sense of time or direction. Does humanity find something else as a constraint, then? It is not possible to exist without constraints or limits. Therefore, a constraint is necessary in existence. Existance cannot be infinite. If this is confusing, please tell me and I will add/rewrite it. Until then, on to Wednesday!

Being a slacker is never good

Today is the last day of winter break. . . but I don't get to enjoy it. Why? My math book beckons me to open it, along with all the other homework or "catching up" I have to do. The fun in life is gone for today, and I wonder why.
Procrastination is a topic that everyone deals with. However, some people seem to do it more than others, which may produce problems for those people. I know because I am in the latter category.
I don't always understand why some people slack and get away with it. When I slack, there are consequences. First, there is the stress to get it done. Second, there is the scramble to get it finished. Third, there is the regret, and the agony I recieve from knowing that I will be up late that night.
Well, I have made it a personal goal to slack less in 2005. I suppose that is a good thing, then. I'm off to talk to my econ book. . . . Oh, school starts again in less than 12 hours. Let's get down to business, already.

Oh fear and dreaded list, please forgive my reluctance to complete your contents

The dreaded new year's resolutions list! Behold the mighty goals that we all wish to accomplish in the next year, and then fall short.
Well, in acknowledgement of this de facto, I will not make a list of new year resolutions. Those don't work. Instead, I will make a plan. A resoution falls short because it has no structure to make it into reality. They will be short-term and long-term goals that I will set a plan for. The list will resemble the following, with the general theme of "be proactive."
Be proactive by handling situations in deeper thought, therefore preventing hasty decisions. Prevent 3 problems and collect $200 as you past go.
Gain visable change in muscle mass (10%) in 1 month by starting a regimen of weight workouts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Ace my next three tests in the next month by always completing my homework each day before dinner.
Make and keep many more friends in high school before I go off to college in 8 months.
Get a job that pays well and allows for slacking before 4 months past.
I'll think of a better list before the day is done.