Final Thoughts

Favourite Assignment
I really enjoyed the moment piece. I know a lot of people didn't really enjoy it, but it was the closest approximation to what I thought the course was going to be like. I enjoyed how we got to get creative writing an actual story. To be honest though the amount of time we spent on it was a little ridiculous. I probably could have written at least five in the weeks we had to do it. That's the type of writing I like though, where we can go above and beyond and get a little ridiculous with the story. 


Least Favourite Assignment
I'm not sure if it can be called an assignment but I didn't like expressing my opinion on the Kony issue. I didn't like it because I wasn't aware of all of the facts and I felt like I was just putting out another non-sensical idea about an extremely large issue I had no wish in supporting one way or the other. I kind of felt like either way I was jumping on to a bandwagon that I didn't want to be on. 


Friday Reading
For me Friday reading was kind of a double whammy. I had english second period as well and every Friday we would try to read, so by the end of the third period I would start to get bored of my book. That being said I had some awesome books I read this semester, and I'm happy we got to read as much as we did because sometimes I find it hard to find time to fit it in anywhere else. The only thing I didn't like was how it petered out in the end. If we could have kept it up every Friday I would have loved that.


Monday Writing Reflection
I found it hard to get my brain to work enough to come up with responses on the Monday. Having that weekend in between was sometimes hard because I would forget key things I wanted to talk about in my book. The book I read for most of the semester was also pretty challenging so sometimes it took half the class just to figure out what was being talked about enough to formulate an answer on. I enjoyed it though because it gave me a better overall understanding of the book.


WRN
I missed the introduction into the class, and for half the semester I didn't even know what it was. It's a cool concept though, but a little bit of a waste of time/trees when almost all of the course is shifting to be online. 


Blog
I hated blogging at first. I found it really uncomfortable sharing my ideas in a forum where all of my classmates could see it, and an infinite amount of other potential people. As we went along I started to enjoy watching how other people's blogs progressed, and it gave me a better sense of what I wanted mine to look like. I like how I could compare the good with the bad and judge what I wanted to put on mine accordingly. At the end of it all I'm really proud of my blog, and I like how once I put it up the work couldn't get lost. That's an issue for me.


Tweeting
Before this class I thought twitter was a stupid waste of time. After this class I think twitter is stupid and a waste of time. It was nice being able to connect with you so instantaneously, but the whole concept of it just doesn't appeal to me. No way does anybody want to know what you're doing every two seconds, and no way would I want people knowing that info about me either. After I was FORCED into getting it I started following a couple of people, and lets just say I know more about a lot of people than I cared to. Awesome that you went to a movie, see how much I care. It's like the annoying facebook girl constantly.


Integration of technology in the course 
I was not a fan at first. I guess that was the old teaching mentality talking. I suck at computers and everything to do with them, and it was challenging for me to even set up my blog. Once we got going it opened up a ton of new doors though. I learned way more about my Mac than I ever had before, and I like how instantly I can do things. If I complete a project I don't have to wait until the next day to send it in. It's been an especial help these last couple of days when I've had to do like twenty posts, although I'm not sure Mrs. Mclaughlan is going to be too pleased with the barrage of assignments she'll be getting. 


What I've learned about myself
I'm not as bad at computers as I thought I was. It isn't as challenging and scary when there's someone there to help. I guess I need to open up my mind to new ways of doing things more because a lot of the time I would think a project was stupid when we first started and would end up liking it. I also need to work on my procrastinating, but I already knew that. Overall I think I'm a pretty creative person, and I know that my writing has gotten a lot stronger through personal posts and that.


Comments/compliments for Ms. McLauchlan
Overall I thought there were some pretty cool things going on it the course. If we could have done more stories or fairy tales I would have enjoyed that more because for a creative writing class I found we didn't do a lot of creative writing- other than if we added it into our personal posts. Overall it was a different type of experience, and I think your attitude towards it was positive enough to get most people onboard. 

Author's Note

So it’s my last semester of high school ever, and I’m not going to lie, as it gets closer to the end there’s a lot of questions left unanswered and loose ends left untied. Before I go any further, I should probably explain that I have no ambition of staying in Winnipeg. It’s not that I don’t like it here, or even that I wouldn’t be content staying, but there’s a lot of the world out there and I can’t picture myself living in one place for my whole life. I think what happens to a lot of people right out of high school is that they get scared with how much freedom they suddenly have, and fall into a routine that’s familiar to them… This is not what I want to do. There are so many possibilities out there, and things to see, and I feel like now’s the time to experience it all. That being said, this Bucket List has been a great opportunity for me to start thinking about what it is I want to do with the rest of my life. I’ve done a list like this before in grade 11, when everything seemed a far off possibility, and there were a lot of stupid entries in that one like wrestle a hippo and finish this list. This time, I wanted to make a legitimate one that I could actually follow through with. It will not only going to be a guideline to help me map out where it is I want to go, but will also be a way of making sure that I didn’t fall into a cookie cutter, vanilla lifestyle. There’s been a lot of editing and revising, but at the end of the day these are just some of the things I hope to accomplish in the next couple of years. I’m sure it will change as I start to get older (and hopefully wiser), but I believe we should always have at least a couple of things that keep us inspired or driven. My hope is that as soon as I have one thing crossed off my list there will be another one waiting in the wings… You always have to have goals, right?

Kickin the Bucket Visual Representation

http://indulgy.com/morgan%20wankling

28- the faces of diving

When you dive what you're doing may look pretty, but your face does not. Everybody looks like an idiot. The link below is an example of some horrendous faces divers have had. Enjoy

http://thestar.blogs.com/photoblog/2012/05/spins-twists-and-impacts-the-faces-of-canadian-diving.html

27

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

 

Ever since I can remember my dad's had a book of the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe. This one is my favourite works of his- more so than The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart. I know a lot of his works are creepy and sad, but I think this one is really pretty.

#26- Pirates

So over the years there's been a lot of badasses. In my opinion pirates are the best. They aren't the original BAMF's, but they sure are the coolest. They get to carry around swords all day, sail around the world, and follow not too well written maps in the hopes of finding Davy Jone's buried treasure. What a life eh. Plus they get to pillage, plunder, and generally FSU. They didn't have to bathe if they didn't want to, and a vast majority of their time was spent getting boozed on rum and lounging about. Sure they had to worry about storms, and attacks, and getting the noose, but what a life of excitement.

Epicnesss

It's always been a dream of mine to walk away from an explosion in slow mo without turning around. How much of a badass would you feel if you did that? Millions of debris flying at you, followed by a potentially fatal sound boom? Nope, gotta put on the shades instead.

Also, it would be cool to be that one random person in a movie that doesn't show up anywhere else, and only has one line for like 3 seconds, but it's the most epic thing ever. And everyone else is just left sitting there scratching their heads thinking where did this swami of wisdom pop up from? I want to be that swami of wisdom. Epic

Writing response #10

Writing response #9

Writing response #8

#24

I LOVE FRIENDS! I know the series ended like 10 years ago... But there's a reason why it's still on tv every single day. Because it's a winner. And because it was one of the first sit coms that was actually hilarious. Out of everyone on the show my favourite was Joey. He's such a goof, and we share a love of sandwiches, which I can get behind. Plus, he's not that smart, but he's one of the most genuine characters. How you doinnn?

Quotes

Here are some of my favourite quotes I've been collecting recently:

“Indeed, the only truly serious questions are ones that even a child can formulate. Only the most naive of questions are truly serious. They are the questions with no answers. A question with no answer is a barrier that cannot be breached. In other words, it is questions with no answers that set the limit of human possibilities, describe the boundaries of human existence.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I learned about Milan Kundera's work here in class when I started reading his book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. For me it was one of the most eye opening books I've ever read. I know I've done some reading logs on him in the past, but to me he seems like one of the most insightful people I've ever come across. If you have the time read one of his books... There's a new revelation on almost every page. It really changed the way I thought about the world.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

Lao Tzu

While this isn't necessarily one of my favourite quotes, Lao Tzu is also another one of my favourite.. Authors I guess would be the word. I learned about his work while reading A Million Little Pieces. The author of that book received a book while in rehab called Tao Te Ching, and shared some quotes in it that I found interesting. I looked it up online and apparently it's a book on Taoism. While reading it I really enjoyed gaining the new perspective of thinking about things like the earth and how you wish to react to certain situations. 

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
― Chris McCandless 

I watched the movie Into the Wild a while back, and it was another one that made me think about life differently.. While I've always kind of had the dream of being a doctor and making lots of money this really made me stop and think about what it is I want to do with my life.

 

Spitz

Another personal post about food... Ground breaking. So one of my favourite things about summertime is Spitz! They're the perfect beach/camping snack. Since you're outside all the time you can just spit the shells where ever, and since I like salty snacks they're the perfect thing because even though I know they're horrible for you I don't feel guilty eating them because you're actually only eating a seed not much bigger than your pinky nail. Plus they always remind me of my lake whenever I eat them... Sitting on the dock just munching on Spitz and kicking my feet in the water. It's funny how little things like that can remind you of such big memories.. Like for me the sound of wind always reminds me of camping in a tent and hearing the wind rustling around at night. I remember one time when we were kids me and Lindsey and Jen went down to my lake and we ate one of those huge bags of Spitz a day... By the end of the long weekend my lips legitimately bled. And we didn't have any lip chap so we had to use bees wax.

#21

You know who I love? Barry from Storage Wars. You wanna know why? He's this crazy eccentric millionaire with money to throw around on lockers where he takes away one thing. He literally throws his money away so he can look for weird ass things like a carved head with a man in the back hidden away. That's gotta be one of the most expensive hobbies I've ever seen. I bet you he was the reason Storage Wars even started in the first place, cause he was such a crazy eccentric. Like imagine if you knew a Barry in real life. One can only dream

Personal post #20

You know what sucks? When you have something you're really looking forward to and then when you go to get it it's gone. Let me just give you a little background on what I'm talking about here. So a couple of days ago I bought one of those packs of ice cream sandwiches from Superstore, and I'm not very good at pacing myself. Like at anything. So anyways I decided to make these babies last cause if I ate all of them in one go I'd be dying on the couch for at least a couple of hours. So I spaced it out nicely and there was ONE left. And I'm not going to lie today was a pretty horrible day, and I was looking forward to that last ice cream sandwich because let's face it, I love food. So as I was saying, all day long as all that crap was coming at me I was just thinking, "at least I'll get that bite of deliciousness at the end of my day!" so finally I came home at 9 and first thing I did was go to the refrigerator, pulled open the door... And no sandwich of deliciousness was there to greet me. I was pissed. I had been banking on that bar and it wasn't there. It turns out Eric my brother (the little pilferer) snuck in last night and ate MY food. I swear to god I almost smacked him. He always does this too! He eats my leftovers from restaurants, or finishes off the tp without replacing it, and just generally screws me over because he finishes off things I was planning on myself. Frustration

Shout out to the Grams

So my great grandma (a.k.a Babcia) just turned 104 this weekend. Seriously, she's such a champ. Just a couple of asides about her... She only uses a walker to get around, she's probably still the most lucid person I know (she remembers more about what's going on than I do... But that isn't saying a lot), she still lives in her own apartment, and she cooks 90% of her meals.. No microwave or anything. Another thing that's pretty cool about her is that she drinks a bottle of whiskey a week and swears like a sailor most of the time- and has a wicked sense of humour to boot. She's my icon. I only hope I can be half as awesome as she is when I'm half her age. Plus, she always has some awesome story about her childhood and whatnot... From the time her brother escaped a concentration camp and walked from Russia to Poland, to the time she saved her family when the barn lit on fire. She's literally the coolest person I've ever talked to, and I'm so happy to say she's my grandma. Love ya grams, happy birthday! :)

Reading reflection #11

Personal Post #18

I had a sandwich today.. Just like every other day. It was pretty good. To be honest I'll probably get a drunk tattoo or something when I'm older for my love of sandwiches. I could see myself being that dedicated. Just kidding, I'm running out of ideas for personal additions. Enjoy this picture of a shark versing a bear.

So this weekend I went flying by myself for the first time. It wasn't that exciting. Talked to the old lady knitting beside me. Three hours later we touched down and I knew her whole life story. Why do people continue to talk the less you do? Whatever, she was a sweetheart.

Personal Post #16

Why didn't I add any of these to my Bucket List!

Personal Post

I love smart-ass comments like this. Pure gold

Reading response #10

Reading reflection #9

Kickin the Bucket

1. Obtain my motorcycle license
2. Ride in the side buggy of a motorcycle
3. Crowd surf at a concert
4. Stage dive
5. Go to a music festival
6. Ride a tandem bike
7. Eat authentic sushi in Japan
8. Swim in jellyfish lake
9. Learn how to surf
10. Go zorbing
11. Get a big dog and name it Brutus.
12. Participate in La Tomate
13. Go hiking in the wilderness with nothing but a backpack of supplies
14. Visit the Into the Wild bus
15. Be in a parade
16. Work on a vinery
17. Ride an elephant
18. Eat lunch with an old person sitting alone
19. Buy someone's groceries
20. Save a life
21. Win a hot dog eating contest
22. Go on a road trip from coast to coast
23. Build an ice sculpture
24. Pass the grade 9 and 10 french exams
25. Visit Alcatraz
26. Go hot air ballooning
27. Watch a sumo wrestling match
28. Ride a bull
29. Longboard in San Francisco
30. Swim in the Dead Sea
31. Visit Jose's farm
32. Fall in love
33. Design a wedding cake
34. Drink a beer in an authentic Irish bar on St. Patty's Day
35. Kiss a stranger
36. Not for your eyes
37. Also not for your eyes
38. Sorry, not this one either
39. Help out someone in need
40. Build a waterslide off of my roof
41. Work on a farm
42. Party like a rockstar
43. Dress up and be in one of those conventions
44. Toboggan behind a car
45. Hold a sloth
46. Visit the sloth rehabilitation center in Costa Rica
47. Canoe down the Amazon River
48. Watch an Olympic event
49. Travel the world
50. See my niece in Africa
51. Go white water rafting
52. Be a roady
53. Start a standing ovation
54. Graffiti a train car
55. Attend a pig roast in Fiji
56. Have long, luscious hair
57. Be an extra on a tv show
58. Pretend to be a mannequin in a store until someone kicks me out
59. Attend the lumberjack Olympics
60. Fix a car engine
61. Climb a tree all the way to the top
62. Climb a mountain
63. Streak down a busy street
64. Go on a speed date
65. Visit Louis again in France
66. Go squirrel suiting
67. Attend a Redbull event
68. Live in Alaska
69. Go sailing across an ocean

Reading Response #7

So I'm still plowing through The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Yup, it's pretty much taken me this entire semester to read... So Milan Kundera, who is now in my opinion one of the most interesting authors I've ever read, brought up another extremely interesting idea. Where does he come up with all this? Every page I turn it's like another new idea is popping out at me. This week the idea of sexuality came up. Now, most of his book has had to do with sex or some form of love, but I never really talked about it because I didn't think it would be appropriate for school. But then I thought we're in grade 12 now anyways, and everyone's practically an adult, so why not. While I was reading the subject of men who sleep with a lot of women came up. One of the main characters, Tomas, is a womanizer who sleeps with hundreds of women. Kundera was saying that there are 2 main categories that womanizers fall into. The first is a man who sleeps with lots of women because he's looking for that "something" that is always eluding him... He's looking for that one quality that will make him fall in love, and looks for it through sex, because that's when everyone is their most vulnerable. He never finds it though, because what he's really looking for is a quality in himself that he in fact does not possess, and so he is never satisfied by his conquests. This is the womanizer that everybody feels sorry for because they know he'll never attain his goal. Women throw themselves at him in the hopes of being his missing piece. The second one is the man who sleeps with lots of women because he wants to find the differences between each. Everyone has a million things that are the same as the next person, and they're looking for that 1/1 000 000 difference between each. Again, sex is when people are the most vulnerable so they are always sleeping with people to get to know what makes them unique from everybody else. Kundera was saying that this womanizer people don't like as much, and feel less empathetic towards them, but in my opinion I think they're the better one. I mean, isn't it kind of sad that the first one is just like a dog chasing his tail, always searching for something they can't attain. Why would you do something you know doesn't work again and again and again? The second one could be viewed as selfish and somewhat self centered, never thinking about the emotions of others, but in my opinion I don't think they do it maliciously. They're being like a weird kind of scientist.

Reading Response #8

Ok so I'm reading The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. I've read 33 pages so far. I'm not really sure if this could be considered a reading response, but is it just me or is it weird that this middle aged woman keeps on writing books about teenagers? I've read a couple of her books already, like Along For The Ride and Just Listen, and dont get me wrong they're alright stories, but one thing I always got from them was that it seems strange that this 40 something year old soccer mom is writing about a 16 year olds love life. And has anyone else noticed that all of her books are the same? Something traumatic happens to girl, girl feels shut off from the world, girl finds boy that makes her feel "alive" again, some melodrama occurs between them, problem solved, girl no longer depressed. Literally, every single story of hers is like that. The family life isn't good, dad dies, sister is anorexic and it's tearing the family apart. I could tell you the plot of the story before I even open up the book. I know a lot of famous authors do this all the time, Skapespeare being one of them.. But could you please be even a little more creative. Throw in one good twist. Another thing I don't like is that every one of her main characters always needs a guy to help her fix her problems. I'm not some crazy feminist over here but why can't you have at least one of your characters figure their shit out on their own. I guess that formula isn't the one that's getting the books off of the shelves though. Anyways, I guess I better get back to the book, and see if this Wes character is going to help Macy out of her boring little life. Is it just me or are we starting to see a little bit into the psyche of the author? I mean, it's been 10 books of this stuff. Hmmm...

A trio of poems

My first poem is called "An Uphill Battle". The second is titled "Who Are We?", and the third is "A Good Thing". My theme was heroes

Prison Break

So I've been pretty MIA lately this past week. The reason? My dad just bought Netflix, and Prison Break is one of the shows on it. I'm the type of person that when I like something, I REALLY like it. Not just a little bit. I go full out obsessed with it. I finished the Hunger Games trilogy in 4 days... I'm embarrassed to admit it but the Twilight series took me a week and a half. Finished 4 seasons of Breaking Bad in a little over a month. I loved corned beef sandwiches when I was in grade 7 so much I didn't eat anything else for 3 weeks, until I got so sick my mom had to force feed me something else. These are just some of the crazy examples from my past. I'm not proud to admit it, but it's one of the only character flaws I possess. Prison Break is the new one. How obsessed am I? Well, I've watched 30 episodes in 7 days. I had a dream about it the other night. This is why when I start to read a book, or watch a show, or listen to a song or ANYTHING I'm very hesitant to do so, and need to make sure nothing else is pressing in my life. Otherwise, I have no self control and end up throwing out all other responsibilities to do whatever it is I want to do. It's a good thing I didn't find this show around exams, or there'd be a serious problemo on my hands. But anyways, it's 12:15, and I've done 3 of these, and Netflix is calling my name. Peace easy

THIS

This is literally my life. Why is it every time I actually come to class I can't seem to do anything productive? All I do is dick around, and end up doing all my homework at 12 at night. Seriously. But on a funnier note, how adorable is this sloth. Has anybody else seen the youtube video of Kristin Bell finding out her birthday surprise is a sloth? Best youtube video around. I'm going to stop talking and let y'all enjoy the beauty of this picture

... School?

So in about 23 minutes it's going to be May 1st... School ends June something. I'm going to guess mid June. MID JUNE!! That's a month and a half. I can't handle that. A month and a half and I have to face the real world... I-20's, visa's, tickets, college tuition, packing, learning to cook.. This is too stressful. I'm just going to curl up under my baby blanket and have my mom bake me some cookies. Screw getting older, screw college. I'm growing up to be a vagrant who lives in their mothers basements. This whole real world stuff is hitting me like a bag of bricks, and I don't like it! Can we please just go back to playing hop scotch and jump rope all day long?

Writing Response #7

http://jolums.blogspot.ca/2012/04/true-love.html?showComment=1335844801876#c1206641853420619504

http://ryanbruce45.blogspot.ca/2012/04/friends.html

http://bethradons.blogspot.ca/2012/04/reading-and-writing-reflection-7.html?showComment=1335846648048#c4678779493984201380

I always really enjoy reading Ryan's blog, because there's always something on there that makes me laugh. Also, Jordyn's taste in music is exceptional, minus the country. And I'm loving the book choice Beth! Everyone's blogs are coming along quite nicely

Reading response #6

This week I decided to continue reading "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera. I don't know how many pages I read because I read this book off and on since it hurts my brain to think about it for too long. There's a couple of ideas Kundera presents that I would like to elaborate on right now. One is the idea that it is easy for someone to take a light thought or action and turn it into a heavy one. He exemplifies this with Beethoven's 19th symphony "Es Muss Sein!" (it must be!). The whole idea behind the symphony is that one side goes "must it be?" and the other goes, "it must be!". Beethoven heard these words spoken by a friend who had to pay rent the next day and he said, "must it be?" and his landlord responded, "it must be!". This was just an everyday conversation that Beethoven took and made heavy by turning it into this huge question of life.. So big he decided to create an entire symphony based on these words. I think that people do this in everyday life as well. If somebody forgets to do something another person asks the other person gets offended and takes the action as something a lot heavier than what it was. The person thinks that because they forgot they don't have any respect for what that person says, and don't care about their needs. They take a simple action and read too much into it and give it all this meaning that it doesn't have. Maybe the person that forgot just didn't write it down because they didnt have a pen handy when they were being asked. But people don't think like that, and automatically give everything so much meaning that it doesn't possess.

Reading response #5

So I started to read "The Old Man and the Sea" by Earnest Hemingway the other day, but I've only gotten through 16 pages so far. I can kind of relate to it so far because it's set in Cuba, and I was there last month! I actually bought it while I was there which makes it a little more interesting. There was one quote that I read that's stuck with me.. It read "Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated." I really like this quote because I love how descriptive it is. I can picture an old wrinkly fisherman with smiling blue eyes that smells like the sea. Also, when I read this passage I was on a bus bench in Cuba and there was an old fisherman beside me and I noticed the irony of it which made it more special than I think it might have been otherwise, but I'm happy it happened that way. I also really enjoy the way that it's written- how blunt and straightforward the writing technique is. As I understand Hemingway helped change the way sentences were structured after his writing came out, and I'm a fan of it. I think it's straightforward as well as descriptive and beautiful which is rare. As for the content of the book I haven't gotten far enough along to judge how I'm going to like the story, but I like Santiago so far. I like how optimistic he is even though he hasn't caught fish in almost 3 months, and how he still goes out everyday. Maybe it's just because it's the only thing he knows, and e needs to make money to live, but I like how he never complains about his luck and is always hopeful that the next day will be better.

Writing response #8

So at first I didn't like the blackout poems because they were really difficult to do. Like my brain just wasn't used to making poems out of random words in a completely unrelated text, but when we started to do it I really enjoyed it. Once I got a theme going I found it much easier, and I think they're going to turn out really cool. I'm excited to see everyone else's. I liked how you kind of started to get an idea of what you wanted to say and then it was like an eye spy to see if that word was in the text. I also really enjoy my theme, heroes, because I didn't know if I'd be able to make happy poems out of newspaper clippings. When you consider that everyone mostly reports on bad things I'm happy I found 3 articles about heroes.

Writing Response #6

http://breanne94.blogspot.ca/2012/04/happy-easter.html?showComment=1334594206343#c1221820248333422508

http://noodlingfordummies.blogspot.ca/2012/03/spring-break-in-nutshell.html?showComment=1334594621316#c9149302013318292326

http://grandoptimism.blogspot.ca/2012/03/flashback.html?showComment=1334594964346#c8497807949789825737

So all of the comments I wrote seem to have a theme... Bringing up childhood memories. Maybe I'm getting sentimental over the fact that I'm practically an adult now? Scary thoughts, scary thoughts. I'm starting to feel more comfortable writing on other people's blogs, and a lot of what people are posting I find very interesting.. I especially enjoy all of the personal entries. It's cool that we get to see what people do "in the classroom", because it's like we're always showcasing our work... Kind of like back in grade 4 when the teacher would put up your posters at the end of an assignment. Loving the childhood references

Personal post 11

These are some of the views I got to see in Cuba. The first is just a typical picture i took while going to the pool in Matanzas. Its awesome there because everybody spends their days outside, so you always get to interact with a lot of different people. The next is a picture from my balcony, where we got to watch the sun set most nights. The last is a picture of the newly renovated pool we were at. I was really happy it was an outdoor one since then I got to work on my killer tan!

Personal post 10

This past week I went to Cuba for a diving training camp!! It was honestly the best week of my life, and I got to meet some o the nicest, most interesting people. Since we were there for diving a lot of the people we met were also divers. The first picture is of my diving team and some of the divers from Cuba. The one in the red shirt and the one in the blue were from there. The guy in the red shirt's name is Torro, and he went to the Olympics in 2008 and came 5th! The guy in the blue is named Leno and he's the best coach in Cuba. He's also a really famous fisherman there and once wrestled a 200 pound turtle with his bare hands! In the next picture it's Dawson, me, and Jose. He's 33 and has been diving since he was 8. This summer will be the third time he's gone to the Olympics. He was basically our tour guide the entire time, and showed us all of the things we wouldn't have had a chance to see otherwise. He's also extremely funny, and by the end of the trip it was like he was one of the team. After this summer he's quitting diving, and is hoping to start farming. The last picture is of me and our bus driver Lazaro. He didn't know any English but was still super friendly and charismatic. It was such an awesome experience, I wish I could go back already!

Reading Reflection #4

Doing it out of order. Whatever. So I'm still reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and it's getting very complex. One thing I'm noticing is that the scenery in the book is completely contrasting to how the characters are feeling. At one point the character Tereza goes out to photograph the Russian invasion of her homeland of Prague. There's girls in mini skirts parading around in front of the soldiers, and general chaos and anarchy, and it's one of the only times in the book Tereza is truly happy. She's impassioned by the rebellion and the chaos and feels light in that moment. Another time where the scenery doesn't reflect the situation is when another character Sabina decides to leave her lover. She doesn't want to be tied down to him anymore and doesn't like how "heavy" his personality is (how he gives every little thing so much weight and value), and decides to celebrate by going to a cemetery. That's right, a cemetery to celebrate. A third example is when Tereza goes to the park. It's this REALLY strange part where her husband has sent her there to die. He's arranged for a firing squad to kill her because he thinks she doesn't want to live anymore. At this point in time I can't tell whether Tereza is starting to go crazy, and whether this is a made up situation in her mind, or she was the one that decided to go herself. Anyways, when she realizes what her husband intended to do the author suddenly takes note of how beautiful the surroundings are. He talks about the elegance of the trees and how Prague is the most beautiful city in the world. To me this plays a huge part in the theme of the novel. The theme so far is the comparison of lightness and heaviness. Not just like weight wise, but in actually living. For what is typically considered "heavy" (depressing, sad, responsible) moments like Tereza almost getting killed, the scenery doesn't reflect the heaviness of the situation. It's what is normally considered a "light" scene (happy, carefree). Then, when the character feels a "lightness" (like finally coming to a decision on a tough subject), the surroundings are suddenly what is considered depressing (cemetery). It makes it seem that everything is not what as it seems, and that there's many different nuances to every single situation encountered in life. It is also a good way of the author remaining unbiased about what he thinks is the better way to live; with heaviness or lightness. I don't understand how the author thought up these ideas, and had the ability to put them into words, but I'm glad he did. It's really made me think.

Personal Post 7

I'm not sure what other people look up when they go on youtube, but whenever I do I go to the extreme sports stuff like cliff diving and snowboarding and the redbull challenges and stuff. For those of you that don't really know me I'm kind of an adrenaline junky, and I LOVE watching other people trying to push themselves to do all these awesome new tricks and skills. Obviously in this section of youtube there's also a ton of wipeout videos, and I'm not going to lie, as much as I like seeing the crazy stunts is the amount that I don't like watching the wipeouts. Anyways, here's some of my favourite videos so far. One of the things I've been realllllllly interested in lately is wingsuit base jumping, and it's now on my bucket list to try it! Imagine the first person to ever try... Like what was going through their head? They were probably more than just a little suicidal- either that or they had the biggest balls on earth. I guess it's a good thing they were crazy enough to leap off a cliff in a death suit though, because that means one day I could potentially do it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQgFxDSqft4&ob=av3e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4U6T_BB1N8

Writing Reflection #2

So we've been doing the blogging now for a couple of weeks, and I'm still not a fan yet. To be honest creative writing is not what I thought it would be. I would really like to be doing a myth or a comic or something, and I want to use my imagination a little bit more. I don't know, I guess it's a good way to get us all interconnected, but I get now why I didn't have a blog in the first place. Computers don't interest me in the slightest, and they're really frustrating to try and use. We're doing moments right now which is pretty sweet, but I'm having a hard time writing it since I don't find it that interesting. One good thing I like about blogging is that I feel like we have more of a voice in the classroom.

Personal Post 6

Whenever there's a thunderstorm there's no place I'd rather be than at the lake playing cards with the neighbours and my famjam. The lake's definitely held some of my best memories- from blueberry picking, to cliff jumping, to tubing, to rainy days- I love it more than anywhere else

A Rant (personal post 5)

So I work at Quiznos. You know, gettin paid and whatnot. For the most part it's a pretty sick job, I get paid to make some sandwiches and hang out with some people. Plus my boss is great and lets us eat there for free (but that's a secret). Not that hard. But you know what really irks me, is when people I serve are unnecessarily rude or talk to me like I'm an idiot because I work at a sandwich shop. Like you know what, it's not my fault I have a minimum wage job because I'm still in school. I wasn't aware it was necessary to yell at someone and call them a moron because they forgot to make 3 inches of your sandwich. If you're having a heart attack over 2 bites of bread maybe you should be somewhere other than at Quiznos, like anger management classes for example. I'm aware Quiznos is like a little taste of heaven in every bite but common man, no need to go berzerk. And the best part is that as an employee I'm expected to stand there and listen to this complete nonsense and at the end pretend like I'm sorry I forgot to make you that extra little piece. You know what, there's the door, and if you have an issue with what you got go get some meat and bread from Sobey's across the parking lot and make your own sub. That is all.

Personal Post 4

With this whole kony thing that's been going on recently it reminded me of a book I read this summer on the pirates of Somalia. It's by a now famous Canadian journalist named Jay Bahadur who decided to travel to Somalia to do his dissertation on a topic that was very popular but that he felt was only getting limited publicity, and the publicity it was getting was just sensational press. For those of you that are interested in these types of topics I highly recommend this book because it's one of the most informative, well written pieces I have ever read. He covers every aspect of pirating and the reason it came about. So how does this relate to kony? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but it did make me aware of the irony of western culture and civilization. Does anyone know why there was suddenly an upsurge in pirating in the middle of such a war torn country? Wouldn't you think that they would be more interested in stabilizing their country? You would think. But in order to have a stable country you need a source of income. That's where the problem lies. For hundreds of years the people of Somalia have relied on fishing as a source of income and food. It was their livelihood. Then, in the middle of a civil war, when food and income was a huge priority, illegal fishing trawlers from Japan and Europe and even Canada started fishing their shores. Suddenly they were destroying habitat and taking all of the fish, and the government couldn't do anything because all its resources were being used in the war. The fishermen started to get angry; wouldn't you? They decided they weren't going to sit by as their only source of sustinence was taken away and decided to take action. At first they held boats hostage just as a way of showing the other countries not to mess with them, and to have some sort of justice, but as newer generations came along they realized they could make a lot of money on the ransoming the ships and that's where we are today. Now for the ironic part. Why did this whole pandemic start? Because rich countries like ourselves were taking fish from poor countries like Africa. This is why I have a hard time supporting government and big businesses and stuff, because at the end of the day, no matter what their mission statements are, or what they supposedly believe, there's always a bottom line- money. Who can make the most money? Is it morally wrong to take from a country that already has nothing? You bet, but they have the best resources. If they go in and take what they want will there be consequences? No, because they have the bigger guns, and the better government, and more money. Then, when suddenly the people you're stealing from don't let themselves be walked all over it's as if they came out of the blue and are doing it for no reason. Before I read this book I had heard a little on the Somali pirates, but only about western side of it, how they were asking for millions of dollars to ransom ships and how businesses were shutting down because they couldn't meet the demands the pirates were asking. After reading the book I realized the amount of propaganda in the media, and how one sided news is. The people who shout above the rest are the ones heard, and the ones with the most money are the ones controlling everything. This is why I am sometimes cynical when it comes to the governments response and the western civilizations response to helping Africa. Sure, a lot of whats going on is atrocious and something needs to be done, but a lot of the time we were as much of the problem as they were. Did we really need to take fish from an already poor country? I think if the excess of wealth we have here was spread to other less fortunate countries there'd be so much less conflict. Instead, the bullies take everything, and when the light gets shined on them they feel remorseful and try to make amends with the people they bullied.

"Poking the Puddle" Response

So we were asked by our teacher to share our thoughts on this new sensation going around the internet relating to the Kony campaign. I'm not they type of person who makes assumptions quickly because I like to take my time researching an issue and deciding my point of view before going around and spreading false information. At this point in time I'm still undecided as to how I feel about Kony specifically because from the research I've done and the sites I've visited both in favour of the video and against it I think there's a lot of propaganda and lies circulating. My conclusion as of right now is that a lot of what was in the video was somewhat dated information trying to get people interested in their cause. It was a half hour clip that showed nothing of Kony's background or what has been going on in the last couple of years with the LRA and Uganda. Mostly it used people's compassion to make them interested in the Invisible Children's cause and to want to help us support them. That being said I think the message they're trying to convey is a good one. As a society that has such an excess of wealth and justice I think it's our responsibility to help out other countries that aren't as fortunate as ourselves. Often I feel like there's nothing I can do to help but I like how this video provided us with an answer to that dilemma, and I feel that donating 30 dollars and a couple hours of my time is not going to be the end of the world. My only addition is that the money I spend may go towards a more legitimate organization like UNICEF or Red Cross. I'm more interested in seeing that the victims of Kony are getting the help they need to recover.

six word memoir #4

I think this one speaks for itself. I've noticed that a lot of people complain about how mean/rude other people are and while others can have a bad personality I feel like how they treat you is a direct reflection of the way you yourself act. Unless you're being bullied, but that's another story.

six word memoir #3

 So I didn't mean for this to be posted upside down but I think it works better with the message. This one is my favourite because I feel like we're all really weird sometimes and it would be a lot funner if everyone just accepted it and owned it.

six word memoir #2

 

This memoir is one of the more personal ones I did because it's not something I like to share a lot. With graduation coming up soon I feel like I have to start thinking about my future more and I came to the realization that I'm scared to aim for anything above "average" and push myself to the next level.