Time to Wrap it Up

After being in Feature Writing I would like to think of myself as somewhat of a good writer.  I know that I am not as good as the others in my class, because believe me, some of them know what people want to read about and how to get their attention.  I have learned a lot of the last couple of months, we learned how to use blogs in different ways, how to make videos and different ways that we can use our journalistic abilities, as well as the Madagascar Penguin Silly Bandz (by far my favorite part). 

Throughout this semester, I really have enjoyed growing as a writer. I think that my writing has improved and it has become a lot less hard to write articles. I have learned a lot of things about certain questions to ask during an interview and how to react to interviewee’s answers.  I have come to understand what is needed to catch the readers attention and how to keep it for articles that I write. 

I know that what I have learned over the past semester will be taken with me wherever I go in life.  Even though we were in a class that was serious about learning new ways to write for articles, we also laughed a lot and had a good time.  I feel like those couple hours that we were with each other on Tuesdays and Thursday were good for everyone.  Laughing is good for the soul and we did plenty of that for everyone in that building.  I really enjoyed being in that class, and especially all the great people I met in the process.

Is Craigslist Safe?

Everyone thought that Craigslist was going to the new way to buy, sell and even trade people's stuff.  I even thought that it was going to be a great way to do all of that stuff.  I mean you can find people in your city who may be close to you and you can contact them to go pick up something from their house.  That is about the only problem I have had with Craigslist, you have to go to some random person's house to get something that you want, and you don't know if the something you are going to get is what the description says on the website. 


There are people trying to find jobs, housing, friendship, or products and services will find Craigslist to be a very useful community.  On top of that you could also meet other people to network or talk about issues that you think are important. You have to keep in mind that Craigslist is an online community so the risk of predators or scam artist are ready to take advantage of you as soon as you get on the site.  It is important to only go to someones hose if you trust them and trust that they aren't going to try to screw you over.

According to the Craigslist about page on the website:

The overwhelming majority of craigslist users are trustworthy and well-intentioned.

 

With billions of human interactions facilitated through craigslist, the incidence of violent crime has been extremely low.

 

Nevertheless, it's very important to take the same common sense precautions online as you would offline.

 

When meeting someone for the first time, please remember to:

• Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe
• Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home  
• Be especially careful when buying/selling high value items
• Tell a friend or family member where you're going
• Take your cell phone along if you have one
• Consider having a friend accompany you
• Trust your instincts

Taking these simple precautions helps make craigslist safer for everyone.

The College(Web)Life



http://www.facebook-stunt.com/

Throughout the United States the majority of college students spend their time on one website. Not their school website, not youtube, not myspace, but Facebook. Facebook is keeping students from writing papers, doing homework and reading textbooks. This social network has replaced every other social network out there and is still growing. People think that they need facebook, because "everyone else is doing it."
College students are becoming addicted to facebook, it is the new drug that is taking over the lives of everyone around me. It destroys your real social life. Why not go outside and hang out with your friends rather than feeding your pet in pet society or taking care of your restaurant in restaurant city? Seriously. It's pointless to play those games, it will just make you wierd and anti-social. Facebook will waste your time and I really do mean WASTE it. Nothing good will happen to you even if you get the highest scores in the games or posted the most posts, why is that important in college students lives? None of your real friends care if you get the highest scores, what people cares about is having the best time of their lives in their real physical life, by that I mean hanging out wityh your friends, spending time with your family and helping others.  You'd even be wasting your parents money with facebook with the electricity bills so why not do your parents a favor and do also yourself a favor by going out or at least read a book, come on now.

According to the Why Facebook is Bad for Your Health "person" on Facebook:

1. When you sit at a computer on Facebook for any length of time, you kill vital brain cells.

2. It is unhealthy to stalk both yourself and others.
3. Stop looking at your own photos- you are so vain!
4. Facebook makes you worry about what other people think- why do you think they like to comment?
5. You do not have 1000 friends-stop kidding yourself.
6. It makes you wonder why nobody is talking to you on facebook chat- they’re only looking at their own profiles, just like you!
7. “Why has no one left me a notification in the last three minutes!?!?!?!?”- Get a life!
8. He’s not going to fall in love with you because you have facebook stalked every photo and comment left by all his friends!!
9. Facebook makes you chuckle with glee at others misfortunes, Yes that slut from school is working in McDonalds!
10. No one needs to know every aspect of your life through your status- if they want to know that you’re tired at 11pm they will ASK!
11. Facebook hating of pretty friends wont make you happier OR prettier.
12. Just because facebook suggests that there are people you may know, it doesn’t mean you know them!
13. Invite your friends to join Facebook? Why would you want to invite your friends into a stalking routine? They will only stalk you back!
14. Stalking wall to walls is not cool. Although it is their own fault for publicly publishing their conversations.
15. Parents have become Facebook savvy- is this cool? Or just Stalkerish?
16. In reference to no. 15, will you do this to your children??
17. Facebook can make you lonelier.
18. No-one sensors their photo uploads. – do we want to see you on the bog?
19. Everyone including your manager, mother and mangy haired stalker can see EVERYTHING you do on their “News Feed.”
20. We cant publish this list anonymously on Facebook!
21. Facebook- its free and anyone can join!

Secrets are like Masks....

Secrets are like masks, they hide the real person underneath.  Have you ever had a secret that you wanted to get out but didn't know where you could share it?  PostSecret is the way to do it.  You write down your secret that you want to share on a piece of paper, a post card, old receipts, literally anything and then send it to Frank Warren at 13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, MD 20874.  Warren is the man who founded PostSecret.

Many people in the nation check his website to browse the latest reader-submitted postcards expressing people's deepest secrets, those including feelings, fears and/or desires. Warren also has compiled five books with what he thinks are the most memorable postcards.  The first book was published on December 1, 2005 and the most recent book was published October 6, 2009.  I think something that would be cool for people to do with their postcards is to hide them in random books throughout the world.  It would be a surprise for whoever picked up the book to read it.

PostSecret is a form of personal therapy for people throughout the world.  It allows people to say whatever they want and not have any repercussions for doing it. It also shows people that are posting their secrets that there are other people out there in the world who have some of the same problems that they do.  It is a good way for people to share their feelings and not have to worry about being judged.  I have read a couple of the books that Warren has published and I think that it is a great thing that he is doing.  He is giving people the chance to do something that a lot of them have thought about doing.

You Woke the Bears! Why did you do that?

Earlier tonight I watched the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the main actor being Will Ferrell.  The movie is about a guy named Ron Burgundy who is the top-rated anchorman in San Diego in the 1970s. Then when feminism marches into the newsroom in the form of ambitious newswoman Veronica Corningstone.  Ron is willing to play along at first-as long as Veronica stays in her place, covering cat fashion shows, cooking, and other "female" interests.  But that is not what she wants, she refuses to settle for only being eye candy for the men at the station, she steps behind the news desk and fights for her right to be a news anchor. 

In Ron's eyes, Veronica Coringstone is not so much the studio's most welcome addition. Ron and Veronica become passoinate with each other early in the movie but Veronica doesn't want their relationship to jeoprodize her chances of becoming a news anchor.  After Veronica pays her dues covering the female-oriented fluffy pieces, the ambitious Veronica sets her eyes on the news desk; more specifically, on Ron's seat behind it.  Ron doesn't take the threat lightly, and not long before the rival newscasters are engaged in a very personal battle of the sexes. 

Even though this movie is supposed to be a comedy, I think that it has a very important message behind the comedy.  The message is that even though there are things that are changing throughout the world, you need to learn how to accept them and not try to fight them.  If you try to fight them, it will more than likely end up in the favor of what you are trying to fight.  If you just step back and embrace it, everything will work out for you as well as everyone else.

Once Upon a...I mean StumbleUpon a...

A website that I have found very important in my procrastination is StumbleUpon, it is a website that has you pick things that are interesting to you and then generates random websites that match up with the things that are of interest to you.  I really enjoy this website; I have been able to fnd a lot of cool things while procrastinating my homework and writing papers.  I have found some pretty cool games while stumbling, along with really good quotes and things that I could also blog about. 

There is a Thumbs Up bottom that you can click on if you like the page that you are on.  It is true, I think, that the traffic that comes from most social media sites is basically all or nothing.  The popular pages may receive thousands of visitors.  There’s really no middle ground in the number of visitors that a page receives. Even if only a few people give the page a thumbs up and maybe a review or something, it will cause a significant amount of traffic for that page.

I think that StumbleUpon is a great site for networking, it builds on social media sites.  It is easy to add friends and keep them, join and be active in groups and even send email to other people directly from StumbleUpon.  Even though i don't used the StumbleUpon message system to communicate with people I am friends with, I hear that it is a good way to keep in touch with the friends that you make on StumbleUpon.  The networking that I’ve been able to do on StumbleUpon has been very valuable, it has helped me meet some very interesting people and understand what they are trying to do with themselves.  StumbleUpon is a close second behind Facebook for networking, but that is more because I am in college and the majority of the people I know and try to keep in touch with are on there.

Those Never Left Behind

The article "Final Salute" is a story in the Rocky Mountain News.  It is a story that is pretty hard to get through. I can't think about having to go to the doors of fallen Marines and telling their families of their child's death, it has to be so hard to do something like that.  When I think about the U.S. Marines, I think about yelling, guns, ships in the water, and the phrase "Oorah," but after reading through the "Final Salute" my mind has definitely changed. This article is about the men whose job it is to give the grave news to the families of their fallen soldier(s).  Not only does this article show what these select few do almost everyday, it also helps the reader to experience what is going on in the hearts of the men and the families.

I don't think I would be able to know that going into work everyday is going to tell families how their children have died.  I think that this article was interesting as well as emoional, these men had to share the worst news any military news family could ever recieve.  I think that is is an amazing thing for the men to stay with the families and be there for them when they needed it, no matter how long they needed it.  Time is not a problem for these military men.  There was a part in the article that was tough for me to get through, it was the part about the twenty three year old widow, who spent her last night at the resting grounds of her husband’s body before he was buried.  She talk about how she had one of the best night’s sleep, but had felt bad because she had taken that night's sleep for granted.  I know that it is hard to let someone close to you go, I have done it with four of my close friends.  I never got to say good bye or even tell them how I felt about them, they were there and then they were gone.  It hurts.  I think that it would hurt so much more if my spouse had died, knowing that I never got to tell them how much I loved them before they died.  It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I think that this was a interesting article to read, it is good for non-military people to understand what the men and the families had to deal with.  It is easy to not care about everything else that is going on in the world and just care about your life.  People tend to not think about those who are serving overseas for our country trying to keep us safe from terrorists.  Those who are dying for our country for the betterment of other generation is a really high honor.  Even though it is a high honor, it seems like it would be hard for the families of the soldiers to have to deal with all of pain and suffering that comes with a military soldier.  Like Beck said, it is not up to him, but it is up to the families and the loved ones to decide.

The True Meaning of Beauty in This World

This article is about an awesome violinist named Joshua Bell. Even though i am not into violin music, I looked him up on youtube and found out that his is both a big influence in the world of music as well as the world in general. It surprised me a lot to hear that for few people stopped to listen to him play during the Washington Post experiment describe in the article "Pearls Before Breakfast."  The article talks about how Bell was standing on a busy metro platform, in front of thousands of people during the morning rush hour.  He ended up only getting a couple people to look at him and not even enough change to buy a small coffee.

Gene Wiengarten did a pretty legitimate job at showing me everything that was going on at the metro scene. He went into detail about what Bell was wearing along with some other details for the experiment.  The descriptions throughout the article were broken up by conversations, but it was done very well.  Then Wiengarten goes into detail about Bell's background and why he chose music and whatnot.  

When I started to read the part about L’Enfant Plaza it showed me that it was a performance that didn't live up to anything like Bell's normal ones.  Wiengarten talks about the satire of the lottery ticket patrons.  The ones who were getting the show of their lives and didn't seem to care.  Even though no one gave him the time of day Bell still played beautiful music.  He was taken out of the music world and put into the general world and it seems like no one cared what he had to share with them.  


I really enjoyed reading this article, I didn't know what to think about it because of the title.  The next time I see someone playing on a busy street corner I think I might stop and listen for awhile before I assume that they are either not good at what they are doing or just another homeless person looking for some change.

'Cause the plane's already paid for.

The weasel, twelve monkeys and the shrub.  I honestly did not think that this was going to be politics especially with the title of the article.  And John McCain of all people? Really? In my opinion that guy isn't all that great.  I do understand why not many people voted for him though, it is because he is older looking.  Even though he may have more knowledge and experience, that didn't matter.  But back to the article about McCain.  I don't really enjoy reading about politics because I don't really enjoy politics in general.  The author David Foster Wallace or DFW wrote this article for Rolling Stones Magazine.  Rolling Stones sent out DFW to cover the John McCain against George W. Bush not because he is an awesome journalist or anything but because he wasn't a great journalist.  By "twelve monkeys" DFW means the humorless, immaculately dressed, no talent ass clowns (sorry for the language it seemed to fit), who represent what has become known as the top dogs of media.

I think that DFW did a great job and getting underneath the skin in this article.  He captures what it was like for McCain during the Vietnam War, what happened to him and how he became a prisoner.  DFW talks about McCain's unbelievable honor and balls that he showed with a prisoner in North Vietnam.  McCain was imprisoned in a box by himself while getting tortured and not receiving any food.  That is a pretty intense thing for someone to have to go through.  The pictures that are shown in this article are gruesome: "got bayoneted in the groin; a soldier broke his shoulder apart with a rifle butt.  Plus by this time his right knew was bent 90 degrees to the side with the bone sticking out." Things like that are not something that i want to picture, and I don't think anyone would want to. 

Wallace makes it a good story because he seems to know how to use his words in order to make people think.  The article showed me that there is more the some of the people in politics than you could ever imagine, it shows you that you should look underneath something to fully understand it.  I really liked the glossary that was included especially how the shrub is George W. Bush and how the twelve monkeys McCain's press corps, and the weasel is the gray fuzzy thing sound techs put over their boom mikes at scrums to keep annoying wind-noise off the audio.  I didn't know all of those before I read this article.  I think one of my favorite parts in this article is when one of the monkeys is talking to Mike Murphy.  I like when the monkey asks Murphy to talk about why he is going to fly to Michigan if he wins or loses in South Carolina, the Murphy answers: " 'Cause the plane's already paid for.  It makes me think that he doesn't really care what the result is, all he knows is that there is a set schedule to follow.  I just think it is funny.

DWF came about writing this article by using an anecdotal type article.   He is telling a story of how the life of McCain was like and the conversations with the people that were close to him during the campaign.  I think that it was a good way to start the article because it gives you the background information about McCain and also tells you about what happened to him and with his followers and whoever during the campian against George W. Bush and what he had to go through.  I came into this article not wanting to read it, but after reading it in full I really like it.  It is just a must read.

Media in My World

Throughout my life media has always been a big part, but I think that Internet media has become a big part of the media world.  It started off with Myspace, connecting people from all around the world together to be "friends" so you can talk, look at pictures and make new friends.  There were millions of people all around the world that were and still are on Myspace, people were following the social norm for that time period.
Then, YouTube came about, it skyrocketed video sharing throughout the world.  It is free to sign up and you can put up any video you want as long as it does not show too much skin.  There are probably over a billion videos on YouTube right now, think about it, there are probably more videos online than there are people in the world.  That is kind of crazy.
As Myspace seemed to fall from the top spot in the United States Facebook popped up to be the new Internet media sensation and take the spotlight from Myspace.  Facebook is the sensation that does what Myspace did but goes above and beyond what Myspace couldn't do.  Facebook allows people to keep in touch on a more personal level, and pretty much "creep" on what their friends are doing throughout the day and in their lives.  It is pretty much like talking to someone who is a friend or an acquaintance and figure out pretty much anything you every wanted to know about them.  It is also a good way to meet and connect with people in the real world and the job world.  Another thing that popped up and made talking with friedns so much easier is Texting.  It has made it easier to get ahold of someone if you don't have enough time to call them.  It is quick and a lot easier than calling someone and everything else.  Texting has made a huge impact on people in the world especially on those who are in junior high, high school and college.  Kids these days find it a better way to get a hold of their friends especially when they are in class and supposed to be doing homework haha.  But seriously, texting is another thing that has changed the media world.     
At the same time Flickr, Twitter and Blogs started showing up.  Flickr is photo sharing, hundreds of thousands of people put up their pictures that can be accessed by anyone online.  I don't use Flickr, so I don't really understand it all that much but I hear it is a good thing to be a part of if you want to get travel photos out on the internet.  I think that blogs are a pretty legitimate, they let people speak their mind on pretty much any issue that is at hand or really anything that you can think of (like what I am doing right now).  Twitter is something that allows people to "follow" their friends, family members, celebrities, even local newspapers and news stations.  You get to put up a "status" of how you are feeling or what you are doing, you can also add links to websites and also pictures.  I just recently joined Twitter and I like it so far, I like to see all the stuff that people have to say and what pictures they put up.  It's a lot of fun.
The best thing about all of these programs are that you can sign up for FREE.  Making all of these free was a really good idea, it gives people the opportunity to do what that want to, not having to pay anything for it.  As of right now there are a lot of things that have to do with media but I think that as the media world evolves there will be more and more things that come up and make the media better than it is right now.

Mrs. Kelly's Monster

Mrs. Kelly’s Monster by Jon Franklin is detailed, heart wrenching, suspenseful and inspiring.  The story is about a woman name Mrs. Kelly who is suffering from a tangled knot of abnormal blood vessels in the back of her brain.  Over time the knot has caused her to lose part of her eyesight, hemorrhages, lost her sense of smell, taste, she had seizures, and she smelled a strange odor then started strangling.  It started affecting her legs, and she was partially paralyzed.  She was constantly in pain and didn’t want to deal with it anymore.  The story gives me the feeling that I am in the room while they are doing this operation.  It shows that it is a deadly operation and that anything could go wrong at any moment.

I think that the author does a wonderful job at describing what is going on during the operation.  He seems to know how to catch the reader’s attention and pull them in so that the reader wants to continue with the story until it is done.  The conversation between the doctor and the nurse helped to make the story into a dialogue as well, which I think also contributed to it.     

The thing that makes this a good story is how the story gives the reader the blow-by-blow scene of what is going on during the operation.  I also like how the author uses certain times in every couple paragraphs.  I think the “pop, pop, pop” added a lot of action to the story, it let the reader know the pace of the heart beat while the story went on.  There were great details to describe to the reader that certain things are as well as what is happening with “the monster.”

Franklin approached the story in the right way, he told the story of Mrs. Kelly from how she got “the monster” all the way through her life with it, what it did to her and then to her operation.  I think that this type was perfect for this story because in give the information in such a way that it seems to flow the best when read aloud.  This was a wonderful story, it was very dynamic and it made me want to turn the page and continue but at the same time I didn’t want to find out if something bad was going to happen to Mrs. Kelly.

Once Upon A Time

I have read about Mr. Rogers before I read this article but I didn't really enjoy reading this one at all.  Maybe it was the way the author worded it and asked so many questions or set the scene.  When I read through it I got mad every time "Once upon a time" would show up, I don't think that it was needed every single time he put it in there, I thought it was stupid.  I enjoyed reading about Mr. Rogers' everyday life and it was something new to me to find out that he did the same routine every day and every night.  It seemed to me that Mr. Rogers was the type of guy that wasn't routine, he seemed like a guy that was doing things that others would expect him to.  I think that this article shows the things that went in the writing of the chapter for the ophthalmologists book.

The thing that makes this a good article is the dialogue between Mr. Rogers and the author as well as the other people that are mentioned in this article.  Another thing is that it shows that Mr. Rogers goes to multiple cities seeing different people but it also makes it seem like all of this is coming from the conversation that the author is having with Mr. Rogers in his apartment in New York City, I think this aspect of the article. 

I like that the author talks a little about each person and what is going on in their lives and also how Mr. Rogers is involved in each one of their lives.  My favorite part of this article was "He looked ver little in the backseat of the car.  Then the car stopped on Thirty-fourth Street, in front of the escalators leading down to the station, and when the doors opened--Holy S**t! It's Mister F***ing Rogers!"  That right there was by far one of my favorite parts of this article along with the part about the children singing the song that is played at the beginning of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  Another aspect that I liked about this was that the author had a gorilla named Koko who learned sign language and did the sign for child when it watched Mr. Rogers on T.V. 

The author of this article approached it by using an anecdotal type article.   This is the author telling a story of how their conversation went with Mr. Rogers and what happened as a result on this conversation, I think that it was a good way to start the article because it gives the needed information about Mr. Rogers and what he went through to be able to write the chapter for the ophthalmologists' book.  I think that the author has a well written article, there are some things that I would change about it but all in all I enjoyed reading and writing about this article.

Reporter

Hello All,

I have recently watched "The Reporter" in my International Mass Communications class at school.  The movie is about Nicholas Kristof, who is a Editorial/Opinion writer for the New York Times.  He has traveled all around the world going to countries that have been experiencing genocide, wars between rebel forces and wide spread disease.

This video was intense right from the get go, it started off with Kristof and his crew walking with some African people from a tribe in Africa.  The images that I saw were sad.  I didn't really know that people actually lived like that.  I have seen pictures and scenes from movies but I also thought that they made it seem worse than it actually was.  It really is not good in Africa, people have get their water from when it rains, they have no electricity and they only have the bare essentials from what I saw.

I think that the two people that went along with Kristof  received a reality check as they were traveling throughout Rwanda and Congo.  I don't think that they actually understood what was going on over there until they arrived in Congo and had to live there and deal with everything that those people went through everyday of their lives.  Watching Kristof go from village to village to find out about the wars and the sicknesses that were going on, I saw that he actually cares about these people and wants to get their story out to the world about what is going on in their village and to get people in the United States to have a better understanding of what they are going through.

I think that the part in the video that got to me the most was when Kristof and his crew went to talk to the warlord General Nkunda that was ruling the streets and towns in Congo at that time.  The two others that went with him didn't know what to expect while they were going to talk to the General Nkunda, they both looked scared while Kristof was speaking to his people.  Then when General Nkunda came out, they seemed to be scared for their lives which is totally understandable.  I was taken aback when the warlord showed and let Kristof and his crew talk to the Hutu captives that they had.  I didn't think that General Nkunda would be alright with Kristof asking questions and having the Hutu captives give their honest answers, it was just weird to me.

This video was a big eye opener to me though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this video.  It brought many emotions that needed to be brought to the people of the United States.  I would definitely recommend this video to anyone who wants to learn more about what is going on in Rwanda and Congo.

"The American Male at Age Ten"

 I chose this picture because this is
what I think Colin looks like as a ten
 year old, also he said he likes candy
so I thought this image was perfect for him.

The American Male at Age Ten by Susan Orlean is a cute, funny and interesting article about a ten year old boy named Colin Duffy.  The story put me into the mind of an average ten year old boy, it brought back memories of my elementary school days and made me laugh.  The story also showed that if you can actually get a ten year old to open up and talk to you about his life, there could be things that go on in his head that will surprise you.  I really enjoyed reading this story.

I think the thing that makes this story good is that Orlean used so many great details to describe Colin, his friends and what goes on in his daily life that it brought the story to life for me while I was reading it.  The quotes that she used also made the story a better read for me because it wasn't just paragraph after paragraph, she added the Q & A affect to the story that she used while talking to Colin. 

Something that also makes it a good story is that she goes farther with her details, like the sign on the black board in Colin's classroom and also the conversation between Colin and his friend about Street Fighter II Championship Edition.  My favorite quote from the story is, "The best candy is Skittles and Symphony bars and Crybabies and Warheads.  Crybabies are great because if you eat a lot at once you feel so sour." After reading this quote I legitimately laughed out loud at it.  I think that all the quotes about Colin's world views were the best part of the story. 

Orlean approached the story by using an anecdotal type story, which is her telling a story of how her life with Colin would be if they were to get married, I think that it was a good way to start the story because it gives information about Colin before she goes into the rest of the story.  I think that Orlean wrote a great story and went about doing it in the right way.

My Writing Process

My writing process is very important to me.  There are things that I enjoy writing about and then things that I don't enjoy writing about.  Mainly, I like to write about my life as well as things that are going on at Creighton while I am going to school here.  There are a lot of things that go on at campus that are worth writing about, some things better than other.  Another thing that I like to write is poetry and I really do like when people give me feedback on what I have written.  Sometimes you just have to look at certain things in the world and write about them in a different thought process, like writing about a subject from a different point of view. 

There aren't very many things that I don't like to write about.  I just like to get the word out about what is important to the people in my community as well as the people that read my blog.  I enjoy reading all kinds of publications.  My favorite thing to read is books, the best thing about them is that the author has so many opportunities to give descriptions and use any kind of wording that they want to.  I want to be able to start reading more blogs written by other people.  I don't really know what kind of blogs I want to read but I will figure it out. 

I like my writing for the most part, but there is always room for improvement.  I think that I need to work on my style of writing as well as working on shortening sentences.  I have a tendency to making the majority of my sentences into run-on sentences.

There are a lot of things that I like about the reporting process.  My favorite thing is that the reporters get to be in the mix of things.  They get to be there when history is made; it would be the greatest feeling in the world.  I also like that the reporters get to have their own style of writing while keeping in mind the morals and ethics of reporting. 

Saturday

So my day started off pretty shitty, or I thought it did. My computer was acting up and wouldn't let me do anything that I wanted it to do, I needed to do laundry and it was hot out as usual. I decided that I would take my laundry to my parents house to do it there, and at the same time try to fix my computer.

As of right now I am almost done with my laundry and my brother and my dad have fixed my computer and we got norton antivirus installed on there so hopefully it won't be shitty anymore.

I don't know what I am going to do tonight, any ideas? My last day of work is on monday, I am pretty stoked about that and then I leave to see my gf on thursday so that's pretty exciting too.

Quote:

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."

-Earl Shoaf

Untitled

I was sleeping for a good hour and a half and then I woke up, so I decided I would write about my day. So today, it was pretty hot out. It was about 102 degrees at like 5:30 pm, while I was at work. I was hanging out at a gate and a pen exploded on me, all over my hands and on my pants. At that point I decided that I would put latex gloves on to take away the ink that was stuck to my skin. For the most part it worked to get the ink off, I attempted to get the ink off of my shorts. Rubbing alcohol worked for awhile but then I took the shorts home well to my parents house to get it off and it worked for the most part. My shorts are still at my parents house, while I was there the ink was coming out which is good and all but I do need those shorts back because I like them a lot and I like to wear them on an everyday basis.

Other than that I had a pretty solid day at work. It was super hot but I could deal with it. I don't like how this week has been so hot. I think that it should go back to being like mid 80s maybe upper 70s that would be legit.

I am super tired, so I am going to go to sleep now.

Goodnight all.

Quote:

"It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday

Work: So I work at a place where I am always outside, its an alright job I mean it could be worse like not having a job. But that is besides the point, I enjoy making money and have a decent amount of hours. The thing that gets to me the most is that it has been super hot outside the last week or so, I do not enjoy sweating constantly for 6 hours at a time. It's just not for me, that's all.

Work Continued: On a lighter note I am almost done with working there, I only have 3 more days of work which is pretty sweet...and then next thursday I fly up to see my gf for the weekend and then I am driving back with here a few days before we start school again. We are going to be staying at her family's cottage on the lake which should be a good experience, I am very excited to stay there for the weekend and to hang out with her and her family.

School: I still need to switch out of a class and pick up a different one, I also need to get my books which shouldn't take that long but I still need to do it. I think I am going to go up to school tomorrow and get my pin number and switch classes so I can get that out of the way before school starts. I am pretty excited for this year and for living in my apartment, that was kind of random but still.

Movies: I really want to see dinner for schmucks, because I think it looks hilarious. Steve Carell is a funny actor and this movie seems to fit well for him. Another movie that I have been wanting to see is inception, a guy I work with was telling me about it and said that it makes you think about life and look at life in a different way which would be pretty sweet.

A Quote That Makes You Think:

"Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are be observed from each new vantage point."

- Harold B. Melchart

Updated Life

I know it has been a super long time since I was last on here, but I was talking to a guy a couple weeks ago and he told me that I should get back into writing on my blog....so here I am :)

There has been a lot of stuff that has happened to me over the last year or so, I was doing better in school...my gf and I are almost up to our one year anniversary which is always a plus and I am figuring out what I want to do for the rest of my life. It feels good to be able to be happy with your life and with what you want to do with everything. This summer has taught me a lot about patience and trust and finding out who your real friends are. It was been for the most part a good summer for me.

I am looking forward to this upcoming year which will be my senior year in college. I think about my last three years that I have completed and just think that there are things that I wish I wouldn't have done but then again I think that everyone has that feeling at some point while they are in college. It is a learning experience that I think everyone should go through even if its only for a couple of years. I have met some of the greatest people while in college and I plan to keep in touch with the ones that have been there for me through thick and thin. College is the place where you find those certain people that you want to be in your wedding down the road, they are that important to you. You guys know who you are, and I just want to thank you for being awesome.

My senior year should be a good learning experience, not only with people but also for the things that I plan on being apart of. I feel like recently I have figured out that I need to get more invloved with organizations on campus, I think that its better to have figured this out now and start late than figure it out farther down the road and have it be too late. I also want to be able to take part in an internship the summer after I graduate, my ideal intership to take part in would be in Washington D.C. or any big city. I want to get the feel of what big time journalists do, even if I don't start out as being a writer. I like the big city feel, it seems to fit me the best.

Well that's all for now, I will be back on here tomorrow.

Here's one of my favorite quotes that make you think:

"Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

-Mahatma Gandhi

the new year

its been awhile since i've been on here, about a good month and a half and a lot of happened since then. i got new shoes that i had designed on nike ID, i went to visit my gf in phoenix that was a good time....got back from that and then school started.....it started off pretty well, i go to class and all that jazz but fuck it i quit....i don't deserve it anymore...im done