Final Blog: Review of Semester

Well, this is it, the final blog I'll be posting for English Composition 105. I'm actually feeling a little sad as I'm typing this blog since the semester will soon be over and I'll be off taking new classes. I've grown used to the classes I've taken so far in this semester and am feeling reluctant at starting over in terms of being "class comfortable". Throughout my time in Composition 105 I've worked on a variety of different papers, such as an observation paper of our community and a restaurant review. I've received very good scores on everything and for those papers where I haven't done as well as I would've liked, I was able to rewrite them and turn a mediocre grade into a good one. I also feel that my writing skills have improved ever since I first started this class. I've learned to control how much I should write and consider whether or not something fits in with everything else in a paper, as well as the writing techniques discussed in Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy. Before I finish this blog I would also like to mention that Professor Stewart has been extremely helpful to me and was never too busy to pay any attention to me, or anyone else in the class during the times we were stuck. I hope the professor I have in Composition 106 is as nice and helpful as Professor Stewart was. Finally, the students that were taking Comp. 105 with me were very likeable and it was easy to become friends with them. I hope I'll be able to stay in contact with them after the semester is over!

This has been my final blog for English Composition 105, a class that helped me fit in with everything to do concerning the life at college.

Christmas Tree Set-up

I just found out today that we'll be setting up the Christmas tree again tomorrow. Normally we wait until around the 1st of December to set it up, so I'm not sure why we're doing it before Thanskgiving. It could just be that everyone is going to be busy once December starts to spend any time on it (I know I'm going to busy with that final English paper). To me, setting up the Christmas tree is a very enjoyable experience since it reminds me that Christmas is coming and will soon be here. I'm not really sure how everyone else reacts when they set up the tree (or if they even set one up for that matter), but they should be happy to know that Christmas, and a big break from school, are rapidly approaching.

Hard Interpretive Essay Question

I seem to really be struggling to come up with a good question for an Interpretive Essay I have to do for History. The book we'll be doing the essay on is When I Was a Slave by Norman R. Yetman. The question and answer, or thesis, have to be focused(neither too broad nor too short), interesting, motivating, and controversial, all at the same time. Whenever I think I may have come up with a question and answer, one of the requirements above just seems to be missing. I find this to be really frustrating since the paper is due next Tuesday and I'm not able to get anywhere on it at the moment. I wonder how everyone else is doing with this paper. They all seem to be total slackers so they probably haven't really started working on it yet. I'm sure that those who have started it are probably just as stuck as I am. Fortunately, the grading scale for my History class is very low, so even if it looks like I haven't done a good job, I'll still be getting a passing grade.

No Spoiled Olives in the Olive Garden

Olive Garden Restaurant Review

Location: 15355 Eureka Road
Southgate, MI 48195
Phone Number: (734)-282-7838
Times: Sun.-Thurs. 11:00 AM-10:00 PM
Fri.-Sat. 11:00 AM-11:00 PM
(Olive Garden)
Rating: *** out of ****

The first few steps I took as I walked into the Olive Garden didn't exactly give off a feeling of wonder or excitement. At first glance the atmosphere seemed to be pleasant enough and the restaurant was fairly clean, but there just didn't seem to be anything special about it. However, the closer I looked, the more I realized the pleasantry of everything around me. The restaurant provided a nice, calm feeling to help its guests feel comfortable and the service, for the most part, was very good. On top of that the food was outstanding, with a hot, spicy flavor being dominant above all others. The only minor problem I had was with the prices, which seemed to be a little on the high side. Ultimately, the Olive Garden Restaurant creates a feeling of relaxation and satisfaction that will make you crave a return to its gently ordained interior and superbly crafted meals. The interior of the Olive Garden is made of plaster white-walls. Hanging on a few walls are dishes made of china and pictures that portray chefs from the restaurant's past. In addition, the constant conversations of people can be heard in a quiet, muffled voice. All these elements combine to form a nice relaxing atmosphere, one that isn't too excessive in its presentation nor too bare of any form of personality. Part of the effort to help keep this atmosphere intact can be seen in the form of mostly-clean floors, walls, and tables in the restaurant.

With the exception of a few leaves near the entrance and the occasional garbage scrap here and there, the floor of Olive Garden was virtually spotless. Even the restroom seemed to have been scrubbed and cleaned. The walls and tables were largely the same as the floors in regards to how clean they were, with a few smudges and forgotten straw wrappers to tarnish a perfect surface. Despite these little blemishes, I knew the restaurant staff cared about their customers' view of cleanliness and felt almost at home sitting at a clean table with my family. The service provided by our waiter and waitress also helped us feel comfortable.

Before I was able to get too comfy in my clean chair, a waiter and waitress came over to greet us. Two servers were needed to effectively tend to our family since my aunt, uncles, cousins, and grandparents had come with us to celebrate a birthday my grandpa had recently had. Throughout our stay at the Olive Garden our waiter and waitress treated us with respect and attentively took our orders, making sure they had heard us correctly when we told them what we wanted. As the hours passed, the service seemed to slow down a little. Our waiter and waitress gradually came by less and less to check up on us and we had to wait several minutes to recieve our check when we were ready for it. However, every single food and drinking item that was brought out was so good, albeit pricey, that we managed to forgive this minor inconvenience.

The appetizers we had while waiting for the main course were the Brushcetta, pictured above, and the stuffed mushrooms. The Bruschetta was essentially made of several pieces of warm, chewy bread with a small dish of crushed tomatoes for dipping. The bread itself had a slightly salty taste to it while the combination of bread and crushed tomatoes gave off a warm, sweet flavor. The stuffed mushrooms had crab meat inside and provided a hot flavor almost like garlic. I found myself enjoying the stuffed mushrooms more than the Brushcetta simply because the flavor of garlic given off seemed to be more enjoyable. Altogether, the appetizers cost a total of $12.60, $6.25 for the Bruschetta and $6.35 for the stuffed mushrooms. Other menu appetizers we could've chosen from were the Caprese Flatbread ($6.25), the Sicilian Scampi ($9.95), and the Calamari ($8.50). There was also a vast majority to choose from in regards to drinks, including red and white wine for $5.25 and soft drinks such as Coke and Pepsi for free (Olive Garden). I found these prices (except for the free soft drinks) to be very high. A couple of appetizers for $12.60, as well as everything else, just seemed to be a little too expensive for me. At least the prices for our main course items were almost the same as those for the appetizers and drinks. The main course I had was the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, costing $9.95. This dish would have been almost tasteless if it wasn't for the spicy sauce that came with it. The sauce had a ground-up combination of meatballs and mushrooms and, together with the spaghetti itself, provided an abundance of extremely hot and spicy flavors. I've always been a fan of spaghetti and found this particular dish to be satisfyingly delicious. Other dishes my family had were the Ravioli di Portobello ($11.50), the Stuffed Chicken Marsala ($14.50), and a pizza with cheese and pepperoni costing $10.95 (Olive Garden). I was told that all these dishes were pretty much the same in terms of flavor, with spicy being dominant and cheesy being subdomiant. These meals filled us up so much that we just didn't have any room for dessert.

Even though we didn't have anything after our main meal, a few dessert items were the Black Tie Mousse Cake shown above at $6.25, The White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake for $5.25, and the Lemon Cream Cake for $6.25 (Olive Garden). All the dessert items looked extremely good and seemed to emphasize a wide variety of flavors, as shown by the names of the items above.

I would strongly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys a calm, gentle atmosphere to eat in and a wide variety of hot and spicy foods, if you can stand the prices. The service and cleanliness aren't perfect, but they're good enough to help make your stay enjoyable. Though we didn't have any dessert, I can tell that those particular food items can only add to the fullness you'll experience by devouring everything before them.

Give the Olive Garden a try and you won't be disappointed.

Works Cited

Olive Garden Italian Restaurant. Olive Garden's Culinary Institute of Tuscany. 2009. Web.

22 Nov. 2009.

Ryanrules95. Olive Garden interior. 19 Feb. 2009. FlickR. Web. 22 Nov. 2009.

Thanksgiving just around the corner

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving! It's hard to imagine just how fast this semester is moving. It seemed like only yesterday was Halloween and now we have Thanksgiving. I think I may be going over to my aunt's house this time around. Other than that, nothing really changes each year. Everyone comes over and has a good time conversing, watching TV (especially my dad, uncle, and grandpa), and enjoys the delightful turkey dinner that's prepared. I'll make sure that I get a good amount of homework done (especially English) so I can also have a good time and not be stressed out. Until then, I'll see what I can get done.

Restaurant Review Link

Here's the link for a review for the restaurant Winsor Dim Sum Cafe. The review was done by a professional restaurant reviewer named Robert Nadeau. The website that hosts his
reviews is The Boston Phoenix. Nadeau seems to organize his reviews in a particular way. First, he describes several of the restaurant's best food servings and lists their price, than writes a short summary paragraph on the desserts. Nadeau than writes a few more paragraphs that give summaries on the service and general atmosphere (room decorations for example) that the restaurant provides.

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Food/71762-WINSOR-DIM-SUM-CAFe/?page=1#TOPCONTENT

Another A in Algebra

Today I got back the second Algebra test I've taken. Unlike the previous test, this one seemed to be a little more difficult. This is probably because we're just getting further into the book and because of that, the types of problems get harder and harder. I knew that I had done well on it, but I didn't know just how well I had done until I got it back. At the top of the paper in green ink was 95%. I've now Aced two out of three total tests in my Math class! I'm not sure if we'll be having a final exam, since the third test is just going to be over a couple more chapters. Even if we do have a final, I'm not worried since the scores of these tests have convinced me that I can Ace anything the teacher might throw at me.

Another Music Concert on the 13th

Things have been getting pretty busy lately for my Music class. Aside from going to the 11/6 concert and writing a paper on that, I'm now going to another music concert this Friday. The music that's going to be played this time is different from the music that was played at the other concert. Instead of Chinese music, I'm going to be listening to Polish music. Personally, I think I'll enjoy this type of music more than I enjoyed the other type. Also, my class and I were able to meet the conductor of this performance yesterday, which was pretty interesting. From him we learned the basic skills (such as music awareness and perception) that a conductor needs to successfully coordinate all the musicians who are playing. Even though I just went to a music concert last week, I'm still looking forward to this one. I'm also looking forward to what type of musical experience I'll have received when the concert's over.

Music concert tomorrow

Tomorrow at 3:30 within the CASL auditorium (the large open space visible as one enters the building) will be a Chinese music concert. When I say Chinese I mean that those who will be playing are Chinese in nationality. They won't necessarily be playing Chinese music. Usually I wouldn't really care about a musical concert, but one of the assignments I have in my music class is to go to a musical concert and write about what you experience, so this concert works for me! By experience I mean what may be heard or felt within the music and whether or not this excites, disturbs, or gives you things to think about. It's actually a pretty easy and short paper to write, so I won't worry about it. I'm also going to be going to another musical concert on the 13th with all my other classmates in music. This concert will be at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. Hopefully nothing will happen that will make me miss any of these, since I'm actually starting to get excited over them.

QW for Cisneros and Oblivious Empire

I'm not really sure if this is a required assignment, but it's on the syllabus so I'll do it.
"I've never made love in Spanish"
The first thing that caught my attention with this reading was the use of figurative language. Cisneros describes the Spanish language as being a "sweep of palm leaves and fringed shaws" (par. 5) and that it "whirred like silk, rolled, puckered, and hissed" (par. 6). Cisneros also describes the English language as being "crunchy as apples, resilient and stiff as sailcloth"
(par. 5). Other uses of figurative language reveal little details about how Cisneros views the Spanish language that wouldn't be seen otherwise. However, a few similes that are used, such as talking in the kitchen at the same time, don't really make seem to fit in with everything else. Also to me, this excerpt reminds me a bit about the concept of ethnocentrism. Cisneros is partly Mexican and thus, seems to view the language of Spanish as being superior to the language of English. This basically seems to be the case for all people. They view their languages as superior to those of others. Still, Cisneros does provide a good view of how bilinguals experience their languages by showing how she sees each of her languages.
The Oblivious Empire
I've known for a little while that the US really gets out and tries to make other countries see its views on issues, and this reading proved it. What kind of struck me was how oblivious some Americans can be in regards to other countries as well as their own, hence the title Oblivious Empire. The article states that we "know little of the outside world" and are ill-informed about what our government is doing" (p. 101). Both of my parents seem to be very knowledgeable about what goes on in the world and what the government is doing, so it was a little bit of a shock to read how we as citizens don't even know what our own government is doing. What I also read, but wasn't really surprised at, was how the US government insists that it's fighting in other countries to impose liberty and freedom, but is actually helping to create and support laws that endanger everyone living in other countries. This doesn't seem surprising since I know that the US has, over the years, really let itself go in terms of holding a view of liberty that everyone agrees on.

Halloween just around the corner

Tomorrow is Halloween. I wonder if anyone is going to bother going out trick-or-treating. Personally, I think I'm past the trick-or-treating part and will probably just go out to see the many Halloween decorations that people have put up. One of the things I talked about in my Observation paper was how my subdivision puts up so many decorations, for almost any type of holiday, that it feels like I'm walking through some type of decorations museum. For some reason I've always been interested in what exactly people will do to celebrate Halloween and over the last few years I've gone out just to get a good look at what people have done. This year looks like it's not going to be any different. Does anyone else share this type of interest?

Thursday=Relaxation Day (Almost)

Yesterday I was able to take a break from all the pressure that comes from turning in important assighments. Aside from studying a little Math, I did absolutely nothing that was related to schoolwork. Instead I sat around on my computer and looked up any good games that may be coming out around the holidays. Silent Hill Shattered Memories and Bioshock 2 are games that I'm currently interested in. For those who don't know, the former is about a guy named Harry Mason who searches an abandoned, haunted town to find his missing daughter and the latter is about an underwater city called Rapture in the 1970's that's fallen into chaos. Today I'm back to the old routine of working on homework. Still, it was nice to catch a little break yesterday.

Busy Weekend

For some reason this weekend seems to be really busy for me. On top of the english observation paper, I've got to study for a music exam on Monday and work on a History paper for Thursday. All of this might not seem to be too bad, but usually when I've got a test to study for or a paper to complete I have a habit of spending too much time on it. Thus us because I have a habit of pondering over whether or not I'm ready for the test or if the paper's good enough to turn in. Hopefully I'll be able to stop worrying over my performance and just do what needs to be done. For now, I'll just be working on these current assighments and hope for the best.

Analysis for Midterm

So far we have worked on a "introduction to who we are" paper, a visual that shows our views on democracy and a paper to go along with it, read and reviewed several chapters from "Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy", and are now working on a Observation paper. I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable within the class in terms of what to expect and am currently getting a solid B. I find the papers that we have written, and will write, concerning our community and democracy to be very interesting, though I would prefer these papers to have a little more "variety." What I mean by this is instead of just focusing on current events strictly within our communities, we could focus on the diversity of communities that may have existed thousands of years ago and how these communities may be different from the ones that exist today. To me, it just seems that some of the other students may be bored with the class and I think that this focus on diversity would help to make the class far more interesting. It's always better to explore new areas rather than focus on ones that students may already be familiar with.

QW for p. 45 #1 and p. 71 #1

p. 45 #1
The current number of parking spaces that are on campus is not enough to effectively allow students to get to class on time. As students who are late drive around hoping to run across a free spot or find one where a student is leaving, they can easily spend up to fifteen minutes in a time frame where they only have around five minutes to get to class. This can result in students getting repeated tardies and eventually, getting a failing grade for a class. If the number of parking spots is increased around the buildings on campus, it would allow many students to find a parking spot next to the building in which they have class more easily, allowing many students the ability to avoid repeated tardies and a potential failing grade.

p. 71 #1
Many of the "basic" courses that I have taken throughout high school and are currently taking in college, such as History, English, and Math, have promoted various critical thinking skills. History requires a cumulativeness of historical facts in order to be able to write about conditions that may have existed in a certain time period and how those conditions may have effected the people living in that time period. Math relies on a very similar form of cumultativeness, since certain knowledge in one section would be carried over to and expanded upon in another section. English, out of History and Math, promotes the most critical thinking skills, such cumulativeness, symbolism, metaphors, and viewpoints. Many of these skills were given to help us write papers that focused on our own opinion about a certain topic, or thesis papers. These are the classes where I have retained the most knowledge, since I have been taking them ever since I first started school and because they continue to go over and expand on the knowledge I have already gained.
Many of the elective and filler classes I've taken in high school and also in college, such as Computer Applications, and Music, are classes that seem to "jump through the hoops." These classes didn't and don't have any type of relation with the other classes I have taken and there wasn't really any type of class that continued what was learned in these classes. Since many of these classes was, and currently are, being taken so I can get enough credits to graduate, I just focus on the material so I can successfully pass the course, with the sense that I wouldn't really need to retain what I've learned.

1st month of college

The 9th of October marks my first whole month in college. Ever since my first day at U of M Dearborn I've grown more and more accustomed to the school and by now I'm starting to feel right at home. I don't think I'm going to start feeling uneasy as I'm driving to school anymore since I pretty much now what to expect by now. I feel like I know each of my teachers a lot better then when I first started to get to know them when school started. I also feel like I know what to expect in terms of homework, how much I'll be getting, and how much effort I have to put in towards completing it and getting a good grade. However, I haven't really gotten involved in any extracurricular activities, such as clubs, simply because of all the work I have to do. For now, I'll just concentrate on keeping up with the work assigned and doing the best I can to do well in class. Hopefully as time goes by I'll be able to start exploring the world of college outside of just going to class and really get to see what it is that people do to have fun at U of M Dearborn.

Easy Math Test

Today I took what must have been one of the easiest tests I've had in Math for a long time. I've always been OK with Math and thought that I would do alright on the test but man, this test was so simple I bet even a 3rd grader could do it! I wish the other classes I'm taking offer tests like this. That way, I could just breeze right through them without a worry in the world. Oh well, I'm sure that the tests in Math will get harder later on and eventually I'll soon start sweating over studying for them. Still, it was a nice break from the constant tension over trying to do well in class and it helped give me the confidence that I can do well if I put my mind to it.

This weekend's football game

Saturday will see both Michigan and Michigan State squaring off on the big field. To be perfectly honest, I've never really been into big football game events such as this, but I'll see if I can spare a little time from working on my English paper to watch some of it. Obviously, I'll be rooting for Michigan to win (unlike my next-door neighbors who always root for State). I'm not sure if my family and I will be going over to any of my relatives' house for this one, but seeing as no one has said anything, it looks like we'll be watching it at home. If anyone else wants to talk about this game, than feel free to leave a comment!

Famous Martin Luther King Quote

The famous Martin Luther King Quote that I have chosen is "oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever" (King excerpt, paragraph 7). Even though this quote seems very simple and obvious, it still contains a lot of power. Through this quote, one can remember the times in history where oppressed people found the strength and courage to conquer the challenges against them and establish their beliefs for everyone to see. The colonists fought against the opposing rule of the British and established their freedom in the Revolutionary War. Blacks fought against the oppression of slavery in the Civil War and have since then established their freedom throughout the world. People today fight against the oppressions of government to establish their belief in a free society. This quote, essentially, contains the desire of almost every single person in the world. A desire to rise above any challenges or oppressions, no matter how long it might take, to establish the belief of freedom and peace within their lives.

My view of democracy

When I first started thinking about my interpretation about how democracy should be, I focused mainly on the question of what we should be free of. The first and biggest thing that came to mind was corrupted government. The government frequently uses types of rhetoric, such as wartime rhetoric, to further its own desires. Wartime rhetoric focuses on the people's desire for a strong leadership to help those with high political power, such as the President, get what they want. "A presidential administration might exploit the public's psychological need to believe in its trustworthiness in order to push its partisan political agendas, having little or nothing to do with the war effort, through a Congress whose members are afraid to be branded unpatriotic if they vote against the president, and without critical scrutiny by news media, which are similarly intimidated" (Lazere 252). Such political agendas can end up hurting the everyday people of society rather than helping them. For example, "there is profiteering by corporations who provide weapons" (Lazere 252) that may result from placing heavy taxes on the people, making them have less money to support themselves. Also, the government frequently tries to abuse its ability to make and enforce laws. This can be seen in Obama's health care plan, where Obama plans to enforce a new law that will strip the freedom we have about how we will handle health care. This would result, in a way, in the government taking over our lives and making the rules for us, something that should not be done without the freedom-filled hand of the people to guide it. As everyday citizens, we should expect equal oppertunity for everyone, a belief towards a brighter and better future, and the government to uphold the virtues we deem necessary and to assist us when we need it. As FDR said, "A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups" (23.) My view of democracy is this: A system of government that sees the people as superior and works to give and maintain the needs, wants, and freedoms as specified by the people.

Classes I'm taking

I'm currently taking four classes: Intro to Music, English Composition, History, and Algebra. Intro to Music is an interesting class in that it's about the history of music from the 1600's up to the present. We talk about the types of instruments people used, how musicians were viewed in their society, and how popular music was back then. In addition, our professor wants us to "wake up our musical ear" so to speak, so we practice listening to music and learning musical vocabulary. English Composition also sounds interesting since we'll actually be going out into our community and learning more about the people that live here. In my previous English classes, I just seemed to go over very basic English skills and read simple stories for discussion. That doesn't seem to be the case this time around! History is a class that demands a lot of reading from us. Seriously, during the first week-end of school we were assigned to read 148 pages in one of our books! This high reading load hasn't really let up so far and I doubt that it will. Fortunately, the books we're reading so far seem to be interesting, which helps with the load somewhat. Algebra is just a total joke. I've always been good at math and my Algebra class seems way too easy to be a college class. Hopefully it will get harder later on so that I'm not constantly falling asleep while my teacher talks!

Reaction to Four Freedoms poster

The Four Freedoms poster that I liked the best was a slightly different interpretation of the original Freedom from Fear poster. This interpretation was done by R. O. Blechman and features a father and mother tucking their kids into bed. The reason I liked this poster is because of how it stresses the element of fear by using the father as an example. The main difference between this interpretation and the original is that the father seems to be looking at us and thinking about current fears of the era, such as terrorist attacks and the deep recession. All of these fears are put right up in the foreground in large text bubbles that are pressed next to each other. This creates a negative idea of constant emotional anxiety that can clearly be seen in the face of the father as he looks at us. Even though both the mother and the kids look calm and peaceful (seeming to symbolize the desire to believe that all will be right with the world), the father doesn't seem to think so and the fearful, questioning look on him makes me wonder whether or not anyone can, or will be, truly safe in this world. The freedom that I think is the most important now is the freedom from fear, since we live in a world that seems to be run mainly by fear. Practically all the world leaders are in constant anxiety over whether are not someone is just going to start blowing people up. Citizens in most of the world's countries worry about any recessions that might be caused by the current state of economy. Everyone wants a desire to be safe from the evils that consume the world. If everyone could somehow work together in such a way as to reduce the fear that corrupts people's minds, it would allow us to create a world that looks beyond fear and focuses on the other three freedoms to give people the world they dream of: a world that is run by the Four Freedoms of FDR.

Vacation to South Carolina

One of the things that happened over the summer vacation was I went to a beach resort in South Carolina. It was a big family reunion so most, if not all, family members that I knew were there. My grandparents had rented this large green (that's right, green) house right beside the beach. It was big enough for everyone to stay in during the time we were there. Everyone had their own room and bathroom and each room was created with a certain theme in mind. For example, the room my cousins stayed in was based off of ancient Egypt, complete with little Egyptian god figurines and a fake tomb of King Tut. We all stayed there for a week and did all sorts of activities such as swimming in the ocean and playing bingo. When it was time to leave I felt a little sad. I had such a good time that I was resentful of leaving. As we were leaving I thought back to all the other places we had spent vacation at and was glad for a chance to go somewhere and relax before going back to school and resuming work.

Powerful Words

Up until today I had never really thought too much about the power of words. I certainly knew that some of them have a large impact on people and that in certain situations you have to be careful of what you say for fear of affecting someone in a negative way, but I had never really thought of a word as being something that was alive in the sense that it's born out into the world and can never be taken back, or killed. After thinking a little about this view of words I can see how some of them can have a long lasting impression and can never be forgotten. A few examples of these words are liberty, dedication, and equality. President Lincoln used these words in his Gettysburg Address to make the people remember the casualties and changes that occurred during the Civil War. Indeed liberty, dedication, and equality have been around for hundreds of years and have shaped mankind's ideas and character for centuries.
A few powerful words that I might choose are life, graduation, and family. Life is something that almost every single person who exists or who has existed has thought about. It was part of the three virtues (life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness) that shaped our very nation. If someone told another person "your life is worthless", it would have a drastic effect on the person being spoken to, making that person think that himself/herself is worthless. Graduation is a major part of almost everyone's life. It allows someone to be seen as a person who has overcome hardships and successfully passed through school. If someone says to another person "you have graduated", it makes the person being spoken to feel satisfied with themselves and allows him/her to move on to the next phase in their life with confidence. Family is also something that almost every single person who has existed or currently exists has thought about. It allows a person to have a connection with others and can make them feel welcomed in this world. If a father tells his son "your a part of our family", it can make the son feel very warm inside and can also keep him in a mood that's cheerful and confident about the future.

1st full week of college

Today marks the end of my first full week of college. For the most part, everything went very well; I was able to attend all my classes and completed all assignments given to me. I was also able to really learn where everything is around the campus and got very familiar with buildings such as CASL and the library. One thing that I didn't like about my first week was the amount of tension that I had, especially over the weekend. Since it's the beginning of school I got really anxious over doing any assignments I had correctly, so I wouldn't start getting poor grades or in- completes within the first few days. I'm sure this nervousness will vanish as I become more familiar with my teachers and what they're looking for. As the days go by I'm sure I'll begin to feel right at home within the University and look forward to any challenges I may be given while I'm there.

Interesting movies coming up

This last Saturday I decided to temporarily get away from a little homework pressure and watched a movie called 9. That was the title, just the number 9. I had heard that it was supposed to be an interesting movie, dealing with yet another apocalyptic future about machines taking over the world. After watching it I concluded that it had definitely been interesting, mostly because of the new approach it took as to how humanity would survive and live on. When I got home I wondered what other movies may eventually come out. After finishing my homework for the day I got on my laptop and surfed for any future movies that people were looking forward to. One movie was called Avatar, due to be released in December of this year. Basically, it's about how all the natural resources on the earth are disappearing and that we find a planet in some distant solar system that has everything we need in abundance. The only problem is, when we start digging for resources we anger the planet's native species and a war breaks out between us. Another movie that may be coming up sometime is a new Batman movie by Chris Nolan. After the huge success of The Dark Knight it was only fitting that another sequel would be developed. No plot details have been released yet and there are still just rumors going on about who the next villian will be (some say it's the Riddler, others say it'll be the Joker again, even though Heath Ledger has died). Still another Batman sequel is definitly in the works and it's something that I, as well as hundreds of others, are looking forward to. Does anyone else know of any movies that will be coming out that they're interested in?

Reaction to Karp's story

Reading through Karp’s story made me realize just how much of an effect even the smallest things in the world can have on people. Blogging may have started out as just a fad or a way to pass the time online, but this story shows that even economically-powerful use it as part of their daily lives. Blogging seems to have gained a very large following all around the globe. This following is rapidly changing the way we view people around us. As more and more people blog and put their thoughts out for everyone to see, we find that everyone isn’t so different from everyone else. We relate to the struggles that others may be going through and sympathize with them. Because of this, we are starting to learn about communities all around the world and befriending them. As time goes on more and more people may start to learn about and sympathize with others through the art of blogging, helping people like Karp to find peace within their lives.

Stuff that interests me

It's very easy for me to become interested in something. If I just find something that looks cool than there's a possiblity that I'll eventually get hooked on it. There are several things that I'm currently interested in. One is video games. Ever since I was about 6 years old I've played video games. What I find interesting about video games is that they contradict reality. You can do virtually anything you want when you are playing them. Another thing that has interested me over the years is surfing the web. I always enjoy learning something new and sometimes I'll just get on the web, find out what topic I'm interested in at the current moment, and just read stuff about that topic. One last thing that I'm interested in at the moment is reading. I don't know anyone who dosen't like reading. One of the genres that I like to read about is fantasy. Much like in video games, fantasy contradicts reality; anything can happen inside a good fantasy book. As the years go by I will no doubt become interested in other new things. If anyone else would like to talk about what they're most interested in, please subscribe!

1st day of college

Today was the first day of college. I must admit, I was a little nervous before I actually got started. Once I had however, I found out that there was really nothing to be worried about. Everything turned to be pretty smooth(except for finding a parking spot, that took about 10 minutes). My first two classes, music and english, don't seem to be that bad. I did get a little homework from each but hey, that's just the way college works. I'm sure it's just going to get harder from here on out. I'm actually looking forward to tommorrow and my other two classes, algebra and history. As the days go by, I'm confident that I'll start to feel relaxed and just go with the flow for whatever happens at college.