Final Post

We only have three more classes left! I am so excited for this semester to be finished. It seems like this semester, I have always had something that I should have been doing. But there is a lot more to life than school. I have a job, I babysit, and I hang out with friends. I am extremely busy and even though I spend a lot of time doing nothing, there is never a time when I SHOULD be doing nothing. This class especially has given me a ton of stuff to work on throughout the semester. The last couple of weeks, I have been working on a paper for this class every single day. I am putting so much time into the assignments lately because I have not been satisfied with the grades from my previous assignments. There are three more papers to turn in and I want them to be even better than my papers have been; but I have been trying hard all semester so I don't know if I can do any better. Basically, I have an insane amount of stuff going on in my life right now, and I always want to do extremely well in everything that I am involved in, so I am always stressed out and worrying about something. I need a break.

Good vs. Evil

I have been putting so much time and effort into this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde paper. I have probably spent a total of twelve hours on it over the last four days. Basically, it is at the point where it is completely ridiculous. This paper should not take this much time to write. I already have the outside sources that I am going to use, and I have already went through the book and highlighted and bookmarked examples that I want to use in my paper. I actually believe in the topic that I am writing about (how Jekyll and Hyde is relevant today). But still, I am having no luck what-so-ever on writing the paper. I will seriously just stare at the screen and try to figure out what to write next, but nothing is coming out. There are a few different reasons that are contributing to this.

The main reason is that I am discouraged. I am discouraged because I have always done really well in English, especially writing, and I feel like anything that I do in this class is not good enough. I am not satisfied with the grades that I have been getting and I am extremely worried that I will not get the grade that I am aiming for. I am very worried about upholding the 4.0 that I have in college and I feel like this class is going to ruin that. I feel like nothing I do is good enough, so why try?

Alter Ego

For the creative project, I was going to do a literary analysis of a song by Taylor Swift and then link that to research about the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This came to mind because I was at a complete loss for a topic. The song I chose was called "The Best Day", and I chose that mainly because it reminds me of a vacation that I went on with my parents to NYC a couple of summers ago. That is somewhere that I have always wanted to go, and one day we got in the car and my parents said that we were going to New York! That is where the Make-A-Wish Foundation comes in, I was going to find out more about the foundation and also, find examples of some of the wishes that children have had in the past. For the creative aspect of it, I was going to make a slideshow of my vacation pictures with "The Best Day" playing in the background.

But after reading Jekyll and Hyde, I think I might want to do my creative project on alter egos and living a double life...

Social Distance

In class, we talked about traditions that needed to be changed or ended. I am going to talk about something that has changed a lot in the past decade or two. The acceptance of gays. I was not around when the general population was against this lifestyle, but I realize that people are now a  lot more open to the idea than they used to be.

I asked 5 people yes or no questions about their opinions of gay people. (It is for a paper that I am writing in Sociology using the Bogardus Social Distance scale, a scale that measures how close you will let someone from a certain group get to you socially.) Here are the questions that I asked:

Would you be okay with having a homosexual as a close kin by marriage?
Would you be okay with having a homosexual in your club as a personal chum?
Would you be okay with having a homosexual on your street as a neighbor?
Would you be okay with having a homosexual working alongside you in your job?
Would you be okay with having a homosexual as a citizen in your country?
Would you be okay with having a homosexual as a visitor to your country?

Every single person answered 'Yes'. But there was one last question:

Would you exclude a homosexual from your country?

All five people answered 'No'.

Maybe this mini survey does not hold a lot of weight because it was only five people aged 18-22 that grew up in the same city. But I think it is really cool that people are starting to be more accepting of other's choices.

Papers Galore

I had a lot of writing to do in seven days; four separate papers for three different classes. Plus, two books to read.

The first paper was for my Sociology class. It was about deviance and breaking norms. I wrote about a two-year-old boy from Indonesia named Ardi Rizal that smokes 40 cigarettes a day. He weighs about 56 pounds and can barely move on his own.

The second paper was for my Theater class. I had to read a play and then summarize it and discuss how I would run the play. Basically just talk about what I would do the same, or different, than the author of the play. Then I had to find pictures to give a visual of how I saw the play in my head.

The last two papers were for English. I wrote down my idea for the creative project, but I don't think that I can make it a page long. Then the Frankenstein paper... Well, I went through the entire book and summarized everything, then I was going to go back in and add details. But then I realized that that is not a literary analysis, so I have to start all over again.

Not to mention, I had to write all of these while still going to class, working, babysitting, hanging out with friends, going out to dinner with the family, and attempting to sleep. Needless to say, I am so ready for Spring Break next week!

Random

I forgot all about posting a blog until just now. I've had so much homework lately and so much going on that it completely slipped my mind. But I just went to check my e-mail and it gave me the option of signing in with my google account, so it reminded me.

But anyways, I am in the process of writing the literary analysis of Frankenstein. I went through and quickly summarized all of the chapters. Now I am going to go back and add details and quotes and what-not. I figured that it would be less stressful to do it this way; and hopefully the paper will turn out better because of it.

As far as the creative project goes... I have absolutely no idea what to do it about. Partially because I don't exactly understand the assignment. Write a paper? Then draw a picture? Or no picture, just... anything? There has to be some research in the paper? And the paper can be about anything? As long as it relates to what we have been doing in class? Well, I am lost. I originally wanted to do my creative project about my favorite winter activity, snowboarding, but I'm not sure if that is a valid topic.

First Impressions

"You only get one chance to make a first impression!"

I'm sure that everyone has heard it, but that doesn't make it any less true. We tend to remember our first impression of something due to the primacy effect. In Psychology, the primacy effect is the tendency to remember the first items presented in a series, and for those items to be more influential.

Let's face it- we, as a society, are quick to judge others. If we meet someone through a mutual acquaintance, then we have probably heard stories about the new person, so we have already started to form an opinion of how we feel about this person. So going into the situation, we have a predisposition of whether or not we are going to like the person. Based on this predisposition, we will then pick out the positives or negatives of this person according to what we want to be true.

If you go into the situation thinking that someone is a good person, then you will pick up on all of their positive attributes. Then due to the primacy effect, chances are, this is how you will feel about this person for a very long time. Once you have made up your mind that they are a good person, then it is likely that it will take a lot to convince you otherwise.

Option 1, 2, or 3

The discussion in class on Friday helped me understand a little more about what was going on in the book. So now I feel like I might possibly have a shot at writing this paper. But as far as knowing what to write about, I've got nothing. Here are the reasons why I am baffled:

Option 1: Find a relatively current event and research how rulers take care of their people.
When I read this, I think of politics. I know absolutely nothing about politics, so I can not think of a current example. Maybe I will think of something really cheesy to write about; I guess any group that has a leader would work.

Option 2: Look at a specific battle and compare it to how Macciavelli would suggest to handle it.
Well, I am most definitely not a history buff, and I am not interested in any certain period of time. So in order to so this option, I would have to brush up on some history which does not sound fun at all.

Option 3: Research an example Macciavelli gives and decide whether or not it is biased.
This option would also require me to know some history, which I don't. So I would have to do a lot of research. Plus, with my lack of understanding about the book, I would probably get all of the facts mixed up and my whole entire paper would be completely wrong.

Regardless of which option I choose, I need to pick a solid topic. My first paper did not go so well, apparently I did not pick a sufficient topic. I am motivated to do better.

The Prince

     I have been slowly working my way through "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. This book is not necessarily easy to understand,  so I am some-what confused. I have been reading and re-reading, and looking up spark notes. The language and style of speaking is what confuses me the most. I feel like the author kind of goes back and forth on what he says. Also, the sentences are like 7 lines long, so he talks about 18 different topics in one sentence; it is just  hard to follow. Even after the discussion in class on Friday, it is still hard for me to understand what is going on.
     What I have gotten out of this book so far is: Niccolo is telling an upcoming prince how to do his job. I think that he is writing this book as a gift to the prince because he believes that this book is the best gift that he can offer to the prince. I guess I just do not understand what makes Niccolo so special that he can tell a prince what to do and what not to do. Keep in mind that I am not finished with the book, but so far, basically nothing has happened. You can either obtain a new state which you can decide to live in or not live in, or you can acquire a state where you already live. That is the just of what I have read so far, but the author put it into about ten chapters.

Good Friend, Good Push

A few days ago, I made yet another trip out to Mt. Holly. This time I went with a friend and he encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone and go down some runs that I normally would not have considered. We started off on the bunny hill because he had not gone skiing since middle school. He picked it up like an old pro and I was fighting to catch up with him all day. We quickly moved up to the intermediate runs. After a few trips down, he decided that he wanted something more challenging and he knew that I could handle it, so we headed to the terrain park (the run that has jumps and rails and what-not). I did not have the guts to hit a jump at first, but by the end of the day, I was riding on the incline leading up to the jumps, hoping to build up enough courage to go for it. Unfortunately, it never happened… But I did attempt some crazy moguls! We also did this one black diamond run a few times; while you were standing a little ways away from the top, you could not even see the run, that is how steep it was. It was a good trip; I enjoyed spending the day with my friend and I appreciate that he had enough confidence in me to push me to achieve bigger and better things (even though I was terrified the entire time!).

Snowboarding

      I feel strongly about snowboarding. When I was learning, I aspired to be able to make it down a run "the proper way". My belief of the proper way of snowboarding was to alternate heel-side to toe-side. I would sit on the chair lift and watch others snowboard, mesmerized; especially if it was a chick snowboarder. I think it is so neat to see a chick be able to go out and hold her own in a male dominated sport. Now, I am one of the chicks that I aspired to be, and it feels incredible.
      When guys see me at the top of a run, they most likely underestimate me. All that they see is a girl, sitting on the ground in her purple jacket, strapping her feet onto a pink and purple flowery board. But when I take off and blow past them half way down the run, they realize that I mean business. Riding to me, is so relaxing and exhilarating all at the same time. I feel in control, like I can take on the world with one hand strapped behind my back; but I also feel like I am constantly at the mercy of the mountain, I never know what will happen next and possibly cut my run short. When I am on a run, my mind is free and absolutely nothing else matters; that is exactly the way that I like it!