Isn't my cat modelworthy? @petsmart hit us up.
Something I also noticed in my writing, my tone is really in my work. Also isn't petsmart a weird word? I also pronounced it as "pet's mart" for ever but I googled it and it's really "pet smart", whoops.
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Hello! Blog number eight here! This will be my last blog post for at least a week or so because I am going on spring break! Woohoo! I'm not doing anything exciting besides working, but it'll be nice to have the week off from classes. The past week of class was great. I got to share my first draft for my memoir and I was also able to get feedback. I also had a midterm conference with Sabatino, my professor, and we discussed where I'm at so far in the semester. For this blog post, I am going to reflect on where my digital portfolio (aka this webpage) is at and if I need to add anything to improve it!
I felt like I needed to share this picture of my cat, Malcolm. I was trying to write in my journal but I was failing because of him.
I still adore him though. Blog number 7! We made it! (Sorta) This is my vlog blog post! In this assignment, I had to reflect on this semester so far and how I feel about a few things regarding myself and my writing. This was an interesting assignment to do because I have never vlogged before. It was a little weird at first but once I got into it, it became easier. It was really cool to reflect on my work so far and if you're interested in reflective writing, check out this video on Youtube called Reflective Writing! This was pretty cool to watch. Anyways, check out my vlog! Hello! This is blog number five. In this assignment, I had to answer some questions regarding my first draft of my memoir. I also had to watch three videos from the Wizard of Oz, If I Only Had The Brain, Heart, Nerve, Meeting The Wizard, and You’ve Always Had The Power. Watching these videos showed what the characters wanted (heart, brain, and nerve), and realizing they had them all along. This sort of logic applies to writing a story. I know I have it in me but I’ll have to go through a process to get what I need out.
For the story I chose, I had to think back to a time when I was going through a lot. I was young and stupid, and I didn’t understand how the choices I made would affect me and those around me. I realized looking back now that I was very selfish but also lost. I didn’t have anything stable in my life and I was doing certain things in hopes that it would take away that empty feeling. And I’m happy that now I’ve gotten myself to a good point, with school, work, and those I surround myself with. When I was writing this story, it took me back to being seventeen again. I felt as if I was a young, rebellious teenager again, and to be honest, I didn’t like it. I get angry at the fact that I was so careless, and if I could go back in time, I would smack the shit out of me. But back then, I didn’t have any strong feelings about what I was doing or realized how awful it was. I liked how I felt and I thought that it was right, but now I know better. Picking this as my story to write about took a lot of guts. I don’t like to open up about this part of my life because I’m afraid people will judge me. I mean, I was only a kid but that doesn’t excuse the terrible things I put myself through. However, I like to think that someone else could read this story and relate. It’s a hard thing to go through no matter what age and I think having someone say, “yeah I’ve been there,” makes you feel less alone. Growing up in school, we always write about something fun we did over the summer or something along those lines so being able to write about an intense moment in my life was interesting. I felt like I had the ability to pick and choose what I wanted to focus on and how I realize that I do have control over my life. Everyone makes the decisions that get them where they are and I always thought I was just dealt a certain hand but really I’m where I’m at because of me. I definitely believe that the stories we tell ourselves shape about our lives shape our identity. I believe this because whatever happens to you happens, it’s how we process and react to it that makes us who we are. Processing and reflecting on a break-up, promotion, or any event is what causes you to become angry or happy or sad. Things happen, but it’s how we respond to it that shapes who we are. I’m back! This is blog number four, and in this assignment, we had to create a scene that involves a symbol and dialogue. I chose to write about the time I lost my high school friend group in the span of one night. In my story, there was a lot of back and forth arguments and disagreements, just like in Ernest Hemingway’s, “Hills Like White Elephants”, which is a story about a couple disagreeing on having an abortion. We had to read this short story for our class, and I had a fun time acting it out as well. Check it out in the link below if you have time, it’s a very interesting read.
Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway) It was a late summer night in the early month of August of 2016. I was alone in my room, just me, my phone, and a bottle of wine that I stole from my mother’s fridge. It was a few weeks before my birthday, and my group of friends at the time were trying to figure out what the moves were for the last Friday before college started. I wasn’t going away to school, I was staying home but all my friends were leaving me. I wanted to have one last hoorah before things changed, before they went away, and before I was by myself. I decided to have a bonfire the week before my birthday, it would be fun. We would be able to get drunk and we wouldn’t have to drive or sneak out anywhere. It would be perfect. “So I think I’m gonna have a fire on Saturday, the 13th, for my birthday” I sent into my group chat. There were six of us total, and we had all gotten really close over the course of our senior year. We did everything together, we’d have sleepovers, go shopping, gossip, basically anything you can imagine a group of 17-18 year old girls would do, we did it. “Actually, there’s a house party in West Grove that night. We should try and go to that,” Donna said. This made the other four girls chime in with a bunch of, “Oh totally! I haven’t gone to a party all summer!” or “Yesss lets turn up!” “It’s fine, we can leave your house and sneak back in afterwards,” Donna stated, “It would be so fun, and the other girls didn’t go out as much as we did.” “Well, my dad isn’t going to be cool with that. He’s not going to let me take my car and sneak out all of us to a house party,” I texted back, “And there’s cops out on Route One. If we get pulled over, I’m the one that’ll be fucked.” “I guess we can just go to your house for a bit, then leave to go to the party,” Donna texted back, “You don’t have to come with us, but can we come back to your house when we’re done?” “No?????” I replied, “I don’t want to go at all! Find somewhere else to crash at.” I picked my phone up, and texted another friend of mine, Marissa. She wasn’t apart of our group chat but she was friendly with all of them and was going to be apart of what I thought were my birthday plans. “I can’t believe Donna is basically blowing off my birthday for this stupid house party,” I ranted, “I really want to hit her right now.” “Yeah that’s dumb, I’ll do whatever you wanna do on Saturday,” Marissa texted back, “Donna is coming over tonight. I wonder if she’ll say anything about it.” I put my phone down and finished up the bottle, while wondering why my bonfire plans weren’t good enough. An hour or so went by when the little chirp of a ringtone snapped me out of my daze. “I can’t believe you said you wanted to hit me. I’m so upset,” the text message read from Donna, “I’m so hurt.” My jaw dropped, I can’t believe that little snake told her what I said. I went to her in confidence! “You know that’s not what I meant,” I quickly sent, “I was upset that no one wanted to hang out and do what I wanted for my birthday!” “We’ve been friends for years, and you said you wanted to cause physical harm to me,” even through text I could hear the drama in her voice. “Oh please, we always say shit like that when we’re mad,” I pointed out to her, but obviously, she wouldn’t hear it. For the next half hour, it was a lot of back and forth. A lot of “you said this,” or “you did that,” before Donna dropped an atomic bomb. “Our friendship will never be the same.” “Well if it’s never going to be the same, then there isn’t any point in trying,” I sent back. I can’t believe that this was happening to me. I knew I was going to lose them all if I got into this fight with Donna. She was the voice of reason and they were the blind sheep that followed her. I was always a good friend, and I never said anything bad about them throughout the course of our friendship. But, of course, the one time I let my anger get ahead of me and put it in writing, it comes back to bite me in my ass. I took my phone and blocked Donna, Marissa, and the other four girls on everything you can imagine. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, even through text. I thought that doing this would help me move on and get over the heartbreak of losing all of my friends in the span of four hours. I turned my phone on silent and didn’t pay any attention to it for the rest of my sleepless night. Happy early 19th birthday to me! Hello again, this is my third blog post for my English Composition class. In this assignment, we had to pick an object that evokes emotion in us and write a scene regarding that object. Surprisingly, I knew exactly what object to write about. We also had to read Maya Angelou’s, “My Name Is Margaret,” which is a small section from her book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” In this passage, we read about this young girl named Margaret who deals with racism and is renamed to please her rich, white boss. She knows exactly who she is and she can’t believe she has to put up with being called something that isn’t her name. Her sense of identity relates to my story because my object and the person who gave it to me has helped me figure out who I am. Below, I’ll be posting a link to this little passage if you’re interested in checking it out.
My Name Is Margaret (Maya Angelou) “Where do you wanna do gifts at? In my room or in the basement?” I look up at Ryan, my very tall and nerdy boyfriend, as he looks down at me from the top of his steps. I come stumbling in his house with his Christmas gifts and the McDonalds I picked up on the way. I stand there with my hands full and reply, “Um..”, hoping he decides for me. “Alright we can go in the basement, you can go down, I’ll be right there.” I make my way down into the basement he recently converted in his “Man Cave”, he likes to call it that and I roll my eyes every time he does. I’m extremely eager to swap our gifts, so I place our huge bag of burgers and fries to the side and sit nervously while I hear him make his way down. It’s our first Christmas together so I don’t know what to expect on his end. Did he get me a lot? Did he get me nothing? Will I like what he got? Will he like what I got? After what felt like years, he finally comes walking down the steps, carefully holding this awkward wrapped lump with a goofy smile on his face. I give him a smirk and raise my eyebrow as if I’m trying to say, “What the hell is that?” He hands me this bundle of Christmas wrapping paper and as I go to move it, he butts in with, “Woah, woah, woah, keep it flat, okay?” Now my interest is peaked, what could he have gotten me that needs to remain flat? I smile at him as he sits next to me on the sofa and tells me to be careful opening it. I start to lightly rip at the paper which reveals a green Jansport backpack. He then gestures which pocket to open up, I could tell he thought carefully about putting this together. I open up the medium sized pocket on the front of the bag first, inside he stocked it with pencils and pens and a Starbucks gift card. He then points to the largest pouch and inside that I find a Harry Potter documentary. I hold it up and read the back, and he then gestures that there is something else inside. I reach in the laptop sleeve and feel a small box. I pull it out and come face to face with a delicate, rectangular, blue box. I lift open the lid and inside is the prettiest necklace I’ve ever seen. It’s has a thin, silver chain with a little green teardrop stone as the charm. It’s peridot, which is my birthstone. I fall in love with it, it’s simple yet elegant and it has something that represents me. “Do you like it?” he breaks the silence, “it’s peridot, your birthstone. Do you know that different countries have different birthstones? I looked it up to be sure.” I smile up at him and tell him I love it, and give him a kiss. I immediately put it on and start playing with it, getting familiar to the chain against my neck and looking down awkwardly at the little green stone I adore. Everyday I find myself mindlessly running my finger along it and overtime it’s become somewhat of a security blanket. My hand searches for it while I’m at work or in class to make sure it’s there and when it finally finds it, a sense of security and calmness washes over me. I never really knew who or what I belonged to, but since I’ve met Ryan, I know he’s who I’m supposed to be with and he helps me become a better person each day. I feel safe with him and my necklace reminds me of that, even when he’s not around. Welcome back! This is my second blog for my English Composition class. In this assignment, I had to read and annotate three articles discussing the writing process. After reading the articles, I had to create a scene where I discuss writing with the authors and use three quotes from each of them. I had a fun time tapping into my creative side where I was able to have a frozen yogurt date with Don Murray, Anne Lammott, and Mary Karr. I’m happy I was able to read these pieces because it really opened up my eyes to how writing is a constant process and you’ll have to push yourself through stages of writing and rewriting. I’ll provide links to the articles below and I encourage checking them out!
Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product (Don Murray) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) Against Vanity: In Praise of Revision (Mary Karr) Ahh. It’s a lovely spring day, it’s about 60 degrees outside with a slight breeze and the sun is quietly peeking out behind the clouds that flow overhead. The perfect weather to take a stroll into the hustle and bustle of town to grab some delicious frozen yogurt. Mango mixed with a little bit of tart and topped with rainbow sprinkles, my favorite! As I walk on down to Yogurt City, I get overcome with anxiety about my blog I should be typing for my English class. How do I start writing? What should I even write about? Can I just push it off to the last minute and pray for a good grade? I’ve never been the best at writing, but I’m sure some frozen yogurt will clear my writer’s block. I finally make it in the shop after a 15 minute walk of second guessing my options for this assignment, when I overhear a rather intelligent point being made, “And once you can look at your composition program with the realization you are teaching a process, you may be able to design a curriculum which works.” I quickly turned my head to see three intuitive adults munching on froyo. I soon recognized the man who caught my attention with that fabulous point, it was Don Murray. He was discussing his idea on the writing process with two women who seemed to be very intrigued with his points, as with their tasty treats. I went into stalker mode while scooping my toppings so I could figure out who else was at this table I desperately needed to be at. After dumping the chocolate chips all over the topping station and being scolded by the teenage staff member for my carelessness, I realized it was Mary Karr and Anne Lamott! I need to find a way to weasel in this conversation, I need advice on my blog! I tried to come up with a casual way to approach this situation, but I soon swallowed my pride and made my way over to this table of winners. I was starstuck as all three looked up at me with quizzical looks on their faces and I realized I should probably speak. “Uh hi, I overheard your comment on the writing process and I thought it was brilliant. I’m stuck on a blog assignment I need to work on for class tomorrow and I figured you guys could help me,” I spat out with a small smile of hope. The three looked at each other and soon broke into huge smiles. I knew I was in. Anne grabbed a nearby chair and patted it, signalling me to sit down and start asking questions. “So I always thought of writing to be a one-way shot, you’re good or you’re not,” and I could tell I screwed up by the look of disgust on their faces. I quickly try to redeem myself by spitting out, “But there’s a lot more to it then writing one draft and having it be the one you’ll stick by.” Don let out a sigh of relief while taking a bite of his chocolate froyo and enlightened me, “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting.” I could tell Anne agreed as she leaned forward and whispered, “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.” I was in awe at her profanity, and she let out chuckle and followed up with, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.” I enjoyed her point of view on the first draft. Don chimed in, “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know.” I wish I had brought a notebook to write this stuff down! “Now I always thought revising your essay can be a lengthy process but a good one, is that true? Do all struggling authors need that stage?” I questioned the group. “Revision is the secret to their troubles - and yours. That, and a sense of quality that exceeds what you can do - that gives you something to strive for,” Mary Karr took the lead on that question. “Actually, every writer needs two selves - the generative self and the editor self.” Interesting. I never thought about having different selves. I had one more question I wanted to ask before I get going on my blog, “I’ve heard that having people look over your writing can be a risky choice. I always enjoyed getting feedback, I think it helps me see what I do and don’t need. Any thoughts on that?” I could tell that Anne and Mary had some ideas by the way their faces lit up with excitement. Anne took the floor first, “I always show my work to one of two people before sending a copy to my editor or agent. I feel more secure and connected this way, and these two people get a lot of good work out of me.” I was jealous of her, she had people she could turn to, I frowned and whispered, “What if you don’t have anyone to read your paper?” Mary leaned forward and touched my hand in a comforting way, “Even the smallest towns have coffee shop bulletin boards or community centers with a writer’s workshop now. Even the less good groups can help you by speaking for your potential reader - they’re way better than the echo chamber of your own head.” I felt a sudden burst of inspiration after discussing my options with this wonderful group! I thanked them for the help and finished up my frozen dessert and ran all the way home to finish my project! I felt so good about writing, it felt somewhat wrong. Hello. Welcome to the first blog of many for my English Composition class. Our first assignment was to answer The Proust Questionnaire, which is thirty-five questions written by Marcel Proust. Proust was a French writer who believed that when filling out this questionnaire, one’s true personality was shown. I had a fun time answering these questions and I suggest checking it out for yourself at the link below.
The Proust Questionnaire _1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? My perfect idea of happiness would have to be having a daily routine I stick to religiously. Waking up early, having a light breakfast, going to the gym for about an hour, showering and taking care of my skin, getting ready to go to school or work, having a healthy lunch, getting home and eating a prepared healthy dinner, and either reading or watching tv for an hour. I would kill to have a routine. __2.__What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear would have to be dying. It’s scary and it can be painful, and we don’t know what’ll happen. I think I’m just afraid to not exist. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I have no self control. I can sit on my butt all day long and do absolutely nothing. I’ll think about stuff I should be doing or stuff I could be doing and I just don’t. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? I would have to say, most people are selfish and that’s what I hate. They only think and do things for themselves, and they don’t realize that there are more people out there who have it worse than they do. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mom. She’s been through a lot. She didn’t have a good relationship with her mother, she was always a second-thought or people didn’t take her seriously, she had a miscarriage, she has been told by all four of us kids that she was annoying, awful, bitchy, etc., and then she got cut off by her oldest and only son. However, she still manages to wake up and work her 3 jobs everyday, take care of the dogs, and do housework in under 24 hours. That to me is very admiring. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? FOOD. I love food! I love going out and spending $30+ on dinner for me and my boyfriend. I don’t know why but I can’t control that! __7.__What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is like a bowl of noodles. It’s just a bunch of mush. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I really have no idea. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I feel like I don’t lie that much anymore, but I will bend the truth a bit at work so I don’t get backhanded by my manager. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? My stomach and my face. My stomach is weird, sometimes it’s thin and sometimes it’s not. And my face is just awkward, my mouth can’t smile and I feel like my eyes look beady. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? I can’t really think of one. I guess I can’t stand talk show hosts, they’re just annoying and talk about the lamest stuff or have really stupid “games.” __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Being reasonable. My last relationship was so awful because my ex and I could never argue reasonably and it could get scary. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Confidence. When I’m around a woman who’s confident, it definitely rubs off on me and makes me feel better about myself. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Dude” and “like” especially when I’m with my best friend. I’ll facetime her and we’ll talk about our boyfriends or something that someone did and it sounds something like this, “Dude like I know, I was so mad dude, like how dare he do that?” __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? Ryan. I don’t think my heart has ever been more content in a relationship, actually I don’t think, I know. Everything with him came so easy and it just fits perfect. He makes me want to be a better person and he believes in me more than myself or anyone else. But also hummus is good. __16.__When and where were you happiest? I’ve had a lot of happy moments in my life, but one of the most recents was when Ryan and I spent our first weekend together. We had nice dinners and we were barely on our phones. It was just amazing spending so much time with him and not having to leave his side. Lame, I know. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to play an instrument. I really don’t even care what one, it would just be cool to be able to make music. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My weight, if I was ten pounds lighter, I would be happy. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? I can’t really think of one. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would want to come back as an animal, perhaps an aquatic animal but I don’t know how I would feel about living underwater forever. So maybe a jaguar or a panther, they’re so sleek and sneaky. __21.__Where would you most like to live? Somewhere close to a city and somewhere warm. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? I don’t own anything too expensive or crazy, but the necklace I got for Christmas is probably the only thing I would be really upset about if it broke or went missing. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Probably Fall and Winter of 2017 into 2018, it was an awful time mentally and emotionally for me. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? I miss working at Pizza Hut, it was my first job and I loved how carefree it was, but never eat there, it’s gross. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? I have no idea. I feel like I can be a lot of different people so I feel like picking one wouldn’t be true because I’m a different person with everyone else. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Humor. I need a friend who can laugh at themselves and laugh at me. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Well, JK Rowling because I love Harry Potter. But Alice Sebold is interesting as well, I read the Lovely Bones and I fell in love with it. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Jack from Lost. I love him, he’s so selfless and very cute. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? I can’t really think of anyone I relate to. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? The unsung heroes who make a mean pineapple chicken at Sake Hana. I wish I could thank them personally. __31.__What are your favorite names? My favorite guy names would have to be Oliver or Liam, but I like Desmond as well. My favorite girl names would be Eleanor or Vivian. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? When I get out of the shower in the morning and it’s freezing, and all the hair I just shaved off grows back because of the goosebumps. __33.__What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret would have to be not sticking with an instrument growing up and sticking around with my ex boyfriend in high school, he was trash. __34.__How would you like to die? Perhaps in my sleep. I don’t want to die from an illness that’s for sure. __35.__What is your motto? I really don’t know. My motto changes everyday, but my view on life changes all the time. I guess my motto would have to be: stuff changes? |
Julia PeabodyThis is my zone Archives
April 2019
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