Thursday, March 18, 2010

Favorite Car

I am quite a big fan of my 1997 Honda Civic EX. It is the first car (not a truck or a van) that my family has had since the early-mid nineties. This car possesses such features as a sun/moon roof (opens both ways), cup holders, a non-stock radio, and many other very nice additions. We initially bought the car as a birthday present to me. Over the summer, my brother and I shared the vehicle quite well. We took roadtrips together, and switched off usage while we were at home. When the school year started, we were faced with the problem of who would keep the car. My brother, off to college, loved the car every bit as much as I did. Also, we can both agree on how much we HATE the other vehicle that we would get, a 1999 Dodge Dakota. This truck is an absolute piece of junk. It is a gas-guzzling, road-hogging, dinosaur of a truck. I honestly feel like I am going to die every time I get into the truck. Along with all of this horribleness, the car is known for not starting in very needed situations. One time the truck even died WHILE I WAS DRIVING IT. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

I digress... My brother took one for the team and drove the truck to school. I was left with my favorite car ever, and I was very happy about that. The months went by, and my brother was finally fed up with the truck. My parents decided that they were tired of driving an hour and a half at least once a week to pick up my brother after the truck died on him. I now have the truck, and I live in constant fear that it will die on me again. I count the days until my lovely car will be returned to me.

Oh, right. And my dream car is one of these http://www.teslamotors.com/design/exterior_colors.php

Monday, March 15, 2010

GoogleSites: Emily Dickinson Project

I think that the concept of this project is quite ingenious. Rather than just writing several essays analyzing Dickinson's work, we will become totally immersed in her life and works in creative venues. Probably the most creative part of the project for my group is the song that we will be writing for the "How did Dickinson's Life Effect her Writing Style" portion of the project. This song will be biographical of Dickinson's life and then tie the biographical info into how it affected her writing. For example, we may include information about the letters that Dickinson wrote to her friends. These letters were often written about death or other such subjects and her views on these subjects. This topic translated itself over into her poetry quite often. As you can tell, this information is quite boring stated as I just have. For this reason, writing a song about it will seem much more interesting and creative to whatever audience may be listening to it. I don't know about others, but if something interesting, such as random trivia, is set to music, I will remember it more. Also, I marvel at how awesome songwriters are. They get the point across all while fitting certain rhythms or rhyme patterns. Who knows, maybe someone will marvel at how AWESOME I am for once. HOORAY FOR CREATIVITY!

The project will also utilize technology as a means by which to get information across. My group, for instance is making analytical podcasts of Dickinson poems. We have to do ten analyses of Emily Dickinson poems, a task that would become tedious if just typed out. Through the use of technology we will effectively lighten our total workload AND make the analyses into a somewhat more accessible form for the visitors to our site.

So far, my group has been pretty awesome. We are all getting along quite well in splitting up the work. Plus, we are allowing ourselves to have fun with this project while still taking it seriously. I think that our end result will be quite awesome. Don't hold me to that, though.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Imagery of Nature

Set the scene: A forest. Green all around. Many shades. Morning light streaming longingly down through the canopy high above. The rays fall about all along the forest floor. Strewn all around the dewy ground are various species of leaves, logs, and creatures. Many, many creatures. Thousands or them. They crawl all over everything! Look closer! Do you see them?! No? They are everywhere! How can you not see them?! You must not be looking very closely, for I see them everywhere. Look at that little guy. The beetle, right there... On that log. He looks so lonesome. I wish he could have some little beetle friends. They could go beetle clubbing, they could start a little beetle-sized band. That would be great. HE LOOKS SO NICE, DOESN'T HE?! Why shouldn't he have friends? He just crawls around. He's nice to everyone. Did you see what he just did?! WOW! He just did a little beetle-sized flip. Does he have a home? I hope he has a home. A nice little beetle house. A nice little beetle family. A nice little beetle wife. That would be the best. Don't you think it would be? I do. Wow. He is so fascinating! I like him. A lot. What a curious little beetle!

HEY! Look! A stream! Right over there. I bet it has fishies in it. Don't you like fishies? Eating them, you say? Preposterous! How could you eat such a fine little guy. Look at him. Look at the muscles in his tail. What coordination he possesses. Look at how fast he swims along. I wonder if he plays and fishy sports: fish football... Do fish have feet... no... tailball? Maybe he's the star in the NTL. A regular Peyton Manning, this one. He should be in sports, if he isn't. He's quite the athlete, this guy. I hope he keeps up his swimming forever. Such a beauty.

Time to leave the woods, you say? Must we? I really don't want to. I want to live here. Can I live here, mommy? It's so beautiful. The little guys can be my friends. They'll take care of me. I'll brush my teeth every night and even go to bed early. How does that sound? Can I stay? Please? No. That makes me sad...

2010 Winter Olympics

I love the winter Olympics. Unlike the summer Olympics, these games involve many daring, dangerous, and death-defying events. This is highly exciting to watch. You are forced to the edge of your seat, cheering for your country, but most of all, cheering for the whole world. This year was the first year in which I could truly grasp, understand, and appreciate these games. I would have to say that the sport that I watched most was Curling. I know, this contradicts my love of the dangerous sports, but being a logical and intelligent person, I love games of strategy such as curling. The curling in these Olympics was very well televised, perfect for my first year of true understanding. The matches were ALWAYS on on either CNBC or MSNBC at my house. Women's, Men's, American, or not, I soaked up every bit of the sport that I could. The whole concept of the game, guarding, how the scoring works, the actual 'curling' of the stones, the whole concept of sweeping the ice, is all just so interesting to me.

I think of all of the curling that I watched, I had two favorite matches, the first of which being the men's final between Canada and Norway. For one, the Norwegians had probably the coolest pants ever known to mankind (http://estore.websitepros.com/1957025/-strse-1456/Dixie-dsh-A/Detail.bok). Beyond that, both teams produced spectacular shots all throughout the match. Even with both teams on the absolute tops of their games, Canada was just such a dominant force that Norway had no chance of winning. It is truly inspiring to see such dominance in sport.

My second favorite curling match was the first that I saw in all of the 2010 Olympics. This match was between the female teams from Canada and Denmark. For several years I have been somewhat intrigued by the Danish people as a whole. Thus, I was immediately glued to the television screen when I saw that this match was on. The Danish women pulled out some absolutely incredible shots, but once again, Canada was a dominant force in this game of finesse and strategy.

Friday, March 5, 2010

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass is a wonderful little poem written by the American poet Emily Dickinson. The poem conforms to her usual styles and distinctive nuances. One of these common themes, nature, is strewn throughout the poem. Dickinson's imagery applies itself quite well to nature in such lines as line number five, "The grass divides as with a comb..." and lines number nine and ten, "He likes a boggy acre,/ A floor too cool for corn." The first of these lines gives the reader a sense of truly being in nature as the "Narrow Fellow" slips beneath your feet, cutting itself through the grass as would a comb through one's hair. The latter allows the reader to envision his or herself in a boggy marsh. The "...floor too cool for corn...", as well, refers to a marsh. Being as corn is a fickle plant, it cannot be planted in a marsh. Thus, the "floor" is "too cool" for it.

Another common theme of Dickinson's works appears in this poem: Death. The narrow fellow (presumably a venomous snake) is characterized as killer. The last stanza of the poem sums up the fear brought about by the snake: "But never met this fellow,/ Attended or alone,/ Without a tighter breathing,/ And zero at the bone." To summarize this stanza, Dickinson is mainly trying to say, "None have met this snake without being scared." To be scared, some danger must be involved. Seeing as death is a common undertone of her works, it is a fair assumption that the creature is deadly.

Dickinson personifies the snake by, quite obviously and simply, calling him a "fellow". A fellow is defined as:
1. A man or boy: a fine old fellow; a nice little fellow.
2. Informal. beau; suitor: Mary had her fellow over to meet her folks.
3. Informal. person; one: They don't treat a fellow very well here

etc... The basic gist of the word is "person" which the creature clearly is not. This, therefore, is personification, a literary device often used by Emily Dickinson.

Preparing for the ACT

I feel that the preparation that I need for the ACT should come from what I learn in my classes. I mean, it is a standardized test. It tests what we SHOULD be learning in school. The only thing that I feel would be necessary to prepare for is the format of the test. This involves taking practice tests and other such actions so as not to be totally surprised going into the test. I feel that my teachers are doing a great job of showing me the format of the test. Mrs. Williams is probably the best at pounding into our heads the test's layout. We take practice tests almost every day of class, and over these practice tests I have become much faster and much more accurate in my mathematics. I usually get all of the questions right and with much time to spare. Before these practice tests I would have much trouble finishing in the time allotted. Now I am much more confident in my answers allowing me to go faster. Just the constant repetition and practice of these test taking skills has helped me to feel prepared for the Math portion of the test.

As for science, I have heard that the whole test is just reading graphs and charts and applying that information. Through my science courses in High School, I feel that I am an effective reader of such graphical analyses. I feel that I can do quite well when tested on these graphs. I have checked this off of my list of ACT preparations.

I am taking the English test for WYSE, and I feel that this is good preparation for the ACT. I have been doing quite well on them, too. I feel pretty confident in my multiple choice grammar test-taking abilities. I guess that I'll check this portion off of my list as well.

I think that I am a decent writer. However, my argumentative writing is not incredibly effective. I'm not really the most opinionated or argumentative person that you'll ever meet, so I find it hard to effectively argue my points. We have been writing ACT style essays in English class recently, and I think that I am getting better at it. I'm not really certain, though. This is probably the area that needs the most work, still.