Did she do it on purpose?

So far through the semester i feel like i have improved on my ability to blog. On my first blogs i was just focused on getting enough words down and finishing it. However as i read my newer blogs i can clearly see that they have a point and nothing is being rushed. I have noticed that throughout blogs,people have become more open with themselves and have been telling stories about their life and personal details about themselves. I guess this is good because then when you write something you can get a personal aspect to it, but i seem to have a hard time with sharing my personal life and feelings with people over a blog. It's not that i don't share my life with people, i just think it feels weird to just put out my personal information about myself out on the internet for all to see. Maybe on one of my next free-write blogs i'll just go for it and tell a personal story about myself and see if that changes anything in how i feel about my writing. I have noticed that writing papers has become a little bit easier for me. I use to kill myself with thinking of what to put and then actually putting it on the paper, but ever since we started blogging its been a bit easier for me to process my thought onto the paper. Which makes me think, did she do this on purpose? Did my teacher know that this was going to be helpful in improving our writing ability and help us become more comfortable with writing? .....naw.

Peer Review

I found that the peer review was a helpful resource in writing my paper. i tend to have a real hard time with writing papers. i get very distracted and find it hard to stay on the topic within the paper. once i start writing a paper it's best for me not to be interrupted. While staying on task might seem great to some people its not always the best for me. If my idea doesn't really have anything to do with what the paper is about then i don't have anything from stopping me and just rambling on about the wrong topic. Having our peers review the paper really helped with directing the idea of my paper towards one that fit the prompt. It helped because it seemed that everyone had some comments that were similar so i knew that those definitely needed to be changed or re worded while they each had some comments that the others didn't which also helped with rewriting my paper.

I found it really easy to make comments on others papers for the peer review. Although i will say that i thought it was more productive in a group setting than just commenting on word. While on word i only have my thought to guide the person and have to think of the technical words and terms. If we are in a group discussion setting in class i found it easier to get the point across. It also helped with thinking up new ideas on what to add to the paper or to elaborate on since there were more people to brainstorm with. Overall i liked peer review and thought it to be a very helpful resource.

Bilal's Stand

So today I went to see a movie in the union theater. It was called Bilal's Stand. Going into the movie i had no knowledge of what it would be about so i had an open mind. The movie is about Bilal, a Muslim high school senior who works at his family's long-owned taxi stand. "The Stand," as they call it, has been the source of all activity and money for the family for the last sixty years and it seems like Bílal is about to carry the torch. He secretly applies to the University of Michigan and takes up the art of ice carving in order to win a scholarship. However, he is forced to decide whether he will continue working at the Stand, the only life he's ever known, or take a chance at social mobility. Surprisingly this was a really great movie. I truly enjoyed watching it and would definitely refer it to everyone i know. As weird as it sounds, I talked to one of my old teachers about the movie and she said that she had seen it and liked my idea of turning it into a fun assignment for after exams or midterms. I tend to be a movie buff or i guess it's called an addict because i tend to watch movies over and over again until i learn just about every line, phrase, or joke that's in them. This movie is on one of those levels where i just want to watch it over and over again. I recommend that you take the time to see this movie cause it's really worth a watch.

What to Write about?

So i spent 30 minutes with this computer in front of me trying to decide what i was going to blog about. I even asked the other people in Norm's. They said ideas like Global Warming, Politics, Why 90's are the best, but i just didn't feel strongly about any of those topics. I find that its really hard to think up something off the top of your head to write about. As you can see through my past blogs i'm they aren't very insightful. It's interesting though, because i can make up a story off the top of my head, I can even make up a freestyle rap on the spot (not a very good one but i can do it). Yet when it comes to writing this blog or even a free write story i freeze up and seem to have trouble with it. I looked at other peoples blogs for ideas but there seemed to be a trend of them talking about themselves. In fact a lot of people were really deep in their blogs about their life. It's not that im a closed person and dont share stuff about me to people (examples would be the multiple comments about me being Jewish), it's just hard for me to just go on a rant about it. If someone asks me questions like "Hows college?", "Do you like the campus?", "Are you learning anything?", i tend to answer with short yes or no answers so i ask them to make them more specific so i can respond better. I feel that this also applies to when i write papers. I tend to need questions to help as a backbone for my paper, otherwise i get distracted and get off topic. Sometimes i wish there were sample topics to choose from so it would be easier. Some people say to write about what your passionate about but if i knew what that was i wouldn't be an undecided major. Another point that throws my writing off is that it has to have a point. It's not that having a point is hard to do but, it makes me over think the topic and the blog so i tend to have an even harder time. I think about telling a story or giving a detailed play by play of an event but then i say that it doesn't have a point and there goes 10 minutes of planning time wasted.

You probably think this was a wasted blog but it was to show my thought process when it comes to writing anything let alone a blog. I'm going to try and think ahead for next time so i'll have at least a topic to go off of instead of just rambling on about me not knowing what to put.

: )->--

I Talk Real Good

I have a very interesting accent. I consider it a southern accent but that is based on the words i say or the way i say them. Just like every other person from the South i say "ya'll" and "ain't". Although i consider it a southern accent i don't have that southern slur and twang that many people associate with a southern accent. In fact my accent is very unnoticeable. Only when i say certain words do people here it. If i say "North Carolina" or "accent" you can really hear it.

I have had this conversation multiple times with different people and its always a good one. It's where you go through words or items and see how different people pronounce it. One example is the word caramel. Some people pronounce it with two syllables and others pronounce it with three. Soda and pop is another situation where it changes depending on where you are from. In one of the videos the guy says the word "qualities" but he says it and emphasizes part of the word that is not normally emphasized. "Appalachian" is also a weird word. People change the way that third "a" sounds and it makes the word sound completely different.

I feel like a lot of the way we talk is depending on how we are raised or who we are raised around. A little background of my family is that they are pretty much polar opposites. My mom's side of the family are northerners from Jersey and New York. My dad's side of the family is more rednecks. My dad's side uses words that are directly associated with rednecks such as "kin folk"and "youngins". My mom's side of the family is Jewish so my grandmother says words in Yiddish that she herself learned from having them said over and over again to her from her mother and grandmother. When i was young my parents got divorced and i lived with my mom. She grew up in the city of Raleigh so it is a proper southern accent but my dad's side kicks in sometimes and i say words or phrases that people just look at me in confusion after i say it.

I tend to imitate accents if i hear them a lot or am surrounded by them which is kind of a bad thing because people think i'm making fun of their accent when i'm really doing it without trying.

How Fake Are You?

When you here this question you probably think, "i'm not fake at all", but if you take the time to think about it you might want to change your answer. Have you ever pretended you liked someone because you didn't want to be rude? How about lied about where you were so that someone wouldn't get angry? It just shows you that its all situational. Throughout your life you will meet millions of people and you will speak differently to each of them, but does that make you fake? I personally don't believe so. It's more of adapting to who you're talking to. If i was to e-mail my professor i would start off with it being formal. Make sure i introduced myself, informed him of what class i am in and what problems i am having. However, if i was to be e-mailing a friend it would be much less formal. It would be a more personal e-mail, asking how they are?, whats new?, and then in the end bring up the reasoning for the e-mail. If you don't agree just think about the last time you asked a friend to be a reference for a job. You talked them up about how things are and before the conversation ended you made sure you got an answer. Now what if instead of an e-mail it was a face to face conversation. You dress to the occasion and the person. If your trying to impress someone you tend to wear clothes that show off your best features or clean yourself up by shaving or brushing your teeth. If your just going out with friends you'll just toss on some clothes that your comfy in. Why can't people just be who they are all the time no matter what the situation? Sadly the answer is simple and is because society doesn't work like that. Society has labeled success with dressing in nice suits, speaking in articulate accents, and always presenting yourself with professionalism. There are people who break out of this quota. One of the recent one's is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban. He is known for walking around in jean, a Mavericks t-shirt, and running shoes. I just think that the perception of money and success is determined by how well someone speaks or dresses, when those are absurd things to base an opinion on.

Oh Words With Friends

Everyone has those little things they do to entertain themselves for small amounts of time or to distract them from something. For some people its music, others its TV, but for me, it's Facebook games. I guess it started with Farmville. Just about everyone i know played Farmville. It was addicting, entertaining and a distraction,but just like most things it got overrated. Whether it was because people got bored with it, people went out and got lives, or because parents started to play it and once your parents start to play then it just isn't cool anymore. Once i couldn't play Farmville i had to move on to a new game. I played Bejewled for a bit. I liked it, but then again it made loud noises and had explosions so i was just easily entertained by that. However, there is a game called Words With Friends. It's pretty much Facebook's version of Scrabble but they can't call it Scrabble because they'd probably get sued or something so Words With Friends it is. I've always been a fan of Scrabble. It makes me feel smart for the simplest words (rugby 33pts). When i first started playing i didn't do too well. Not only would i lose but i'd lose but like 100 pts, which if you've played Word With Friends you know that it's a big deal. After playing for a while, I've gotten much better. I'm winning games, using big words, and that's a big deal in this game. However, last night my roommate and i stared a game against each other. As the game went on i was winning. It was only by 20pts but then i went up by 35pts, then 45pts, i was on a roll. Until he played the word, tantalus. Tantalus- A Greek Mythological figure. The word Tantalus is also 101pts on Words With Friends.......... I probably don't need to tell you, but i lost. Even though i lost, tantalus is still joke between the people on our hall. Maybe technology doesn't cut people off from the world but gives them a new way to connect with each other.

Yea all that and there's a moral to the story, bet you never thought that was going to happen

Show me Potato Salad

http://youtu.be/TVcXWIm42Y0

The thought process in my head is actually quite random. I mean i changed what i was going to do my first blog on about 16 times,no exaggeration.....well maybe a little exaggeration. It's just hard for me to focus on something. Even right now as i write this blog i have the TV on, music playing on my itunes, and i'm texting my girlfriend. Whats the difference between multitasking and being ADD. They're both similar. Having multiple things going on at the same time while still being productive. It worked well when i had a job at a restaurant. I could take one table's order while remembering what another table wanted to drink. I guess it all depends on the situation. Think about it, if in the workplace a coworker takes on multiple projects and completes them then they are given praise. However, if you see someone who is eating food, reading a book, and watching TV you think of them as having a problem concentrating on one thing at a time. Okay on a real note, it's really hard to concentrate on this blog. One reason is because i really don't know what to write about. The other might be because i'm watching Scrubs and its a really good episode. I'm kind of looking for to like 5 years from now when my friends are interns and i can ask them if its anything like Scrubs. Well this is the end of my little tangent. Looking forward to blogging about more random stuff.......hopefully on time.