Bye Bye Blogspot

I can't believe that this semester is coming to an end. Everyone always says that college will fly by and I now see what they mean. I just can't believe my first semester in college is basically over. I feel like i have adressed the questions in the blog to the best of my ability. Some entries sparked more interest in me so some of them are a bit longer. I enjoyed keeping this blog. I now have a journal commemorating my first semester in college. I feel like the blog was a good addition to the course. I was weary about it at first but as the semester went along I came to enjoy it. I think I kept up with it pretty well. I also like looking at the other students' blogs. It helps get to know them better. I enjoyed this blog and I enjoyed this class. I might even miss it. College doesn't seem so bad after all.

All You Need is Loveee

Public speaking is always easier than it seems. The hardest part is before the actual presentation. Dreading getting up in front of the class is always the most horrible part. As usual, once I actually do the presentation I feel a hundred times better. I still get really nervous when speaking though. I can't help but get red and forget what to say. I must say that post presentation is when I experience the best feeling in the world, relief. It feels so good to finally get something done. I think my favorite presentation was Meagan's. I absolutley agreed with everything she said. I am also a huge Beatles fan. The Beatles are one of the most timeless bands. N'Sync did have their time but they just couldn't stand the test of time. N'Sync brings back some childhood memories. I also like that she played music during her presentation. It kept me more focused on what she was saying.

Public Speaking

I have many apprehensions about my oral presentation. Public speaking is my worst fear. My stomach gets all sick and I get shaky and my face turns red. It is an absolutely horrible experience. I hate it. I signed up for Friday because there was no way I was going first and I like to see what other people come up with it. Sometimes presenting is easier when a student sees someone else go first. It breaks the ice and it makes the presentation seem not so bad. Rehearsing a presentation can also be helpful. I know I don't do this but other people say it works. Knowing the material being presented inside and out can make the presenter feel more confident about it. The one thing I try to do when a presentation is assigned is to try to get it done as soon as possible. I won't go first but I also won't go last. The worst part about public speaking is waiting your turn. It is terrifying sitting and waiting for your chance in the limelight. Getting it done as soon as possible leaves my stomach more time to not be sick.

Decisions, Decisions

The picture on page 375 shows a man standing in front of shelves of books, deciding what to pick. The books are humorously organized by attention span, the options being short, medium, and long. I feel like books are classified in a convenient sections already. In bookstores, books are put together with the same subjects. This seems to be the easiest way for me to find a book. You could classify books by how interesting they are, how much they will make you cry, how mad you will be at the end, or how well they will put you to sleep. There would be rather-pluck-out-my-eyes to omg-cant-put-this-book-down for the interesting section. There would be not-a-tear-in-sight to i-need-a-bucket for the level of sadness books. There would be the feeling of saw-that-coming to I'm-gonna-rip-this-book-to-shreds for themadness section. There would be not-even-remotely-tired to zzzzzzzzz for the sleepiness section. These would all be a matter of opinon so the way bookstores are set up now is probably the best, unbias way.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell tried to explain how little things can make a huge difference in our society. I found this book to be very interesting. I liked how Gladwell said that it takes only a few people with special "gifts" to start an epidemic. These are the Mavens, the Connectors, and the Salesman. That part made complete sense to me. Epidemics don't start out with a lot of people, that's just how they end up. These people with their "gifts" spread information like wildfire. The explanation of the stickiness factor was also another part that I believed in. Without the stickiness factor, Sesame Street wouldn't have become so popular. One strength of the book was that Gladwell included relatable examples such as Sesame Street and Hush Puppies. These examples helped me understand some of his points better. I was impressed by the amount of information that the book provided. Gladwell put a lot of research into The Tipping Point and it backed up his points. The book explained every step in the starting and spreading of an epidemic. The weaknesses of the book would be that it is somewhat repetitive and at some points it lost my attention. It was a lot of information to take in.

Second Multi-Draft

I was actually surprised when I got back my first multi-draft paper. I did a lot better than I had anticipated. There are some things I need to work on though. One of my goals for the second multi-draft paper is to improve my proof-reading skills. I made some dumb mistakes in my first paper that could have been avoided if I looked harder. The peer revising was very helpful but it also makes my nervous. I don't like having someone else read my work. I need to be more open to others reading over my papers. My second goal is to focus more on my thesis. I tend to drift away from the main point of my paper as I write. I also need to work on supporting the points I make in a paper. Towards the end of a paper, I tend to write less and less. I hope the second multi-draft goes as well as the first one. Hopefully I'll surprise myself again.

Yes We Can

Some advertising companies blow my mind. There's so many kinds of "sticky" advertising. I personally enjoy the jingles companies come out with to promote a product. The Freecreditreport.com commercials are my favorite. If I see one of those commercials, the song will be stuck in my head the rest of that day. For me, songs that go along with something always stick better. Bright colors and catchy slogans are always good too. This is a picture of my friend's band. They changed the picture to look like those Obama style pictures. They also changed the "Yes We Can" slogan to "Yes We Ska." I thought this was a pretty cool idea. I helped them out with this earlier this year. This was eventually turned into a poster for one of their shows but I didn't have a copy of it. They turned a catch phrase into something that fits their music. I feel that this could be considered "sticky." Everyone has seen the posters of President Obama so this was an interesting spin off of them.

They're Greeeeaaatt! (Or Not)

This broadcast is about the cereals that are advertised to appeal to children. The newscaster goes on to say that the top ten least healthy cereals are the ones children want most. The entire broadcast is about how these cereals surround children in a "toxic" food environment. The newscaster literally spent like 30 seconds talking to a woman against this claim. Even when she makes valid points, he shoots her down. Obviously the broadcast was against cereals such as Reese's Puffs, Frosted Flakes, Coca Pebbles, Lucky Charms, and others. It presented little to no facts about the pros of these cereals.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=8913445

My Forgotten Memory

Thinking back to my sophmore year there is one event that, no matter how hard I try, I will never live down. My own stupidity is shown in this story but the true character of my so called friends is as well.  At the ripe old age of 15 I had my first and hopefully last encounter with alcohol poisoning. It was a Friday night so everyone was pretty pumped for the weekend. My best friends decided it would be a good idea to get wasted in Huddy Park. Not only is this a public park down the street from the courthouse but it was also a cold night in November. We managed to get about 100 dollars worth of liquor and it started off as a good night. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Last thing I remember is walking away from the drinks and talking to my best friend Rachel. My next memory is waking up in a hospital bed with IVs in my hand and I noticed I was in my pajamas. My first thought was "Damn, my parents caught me." I never once thought "Holy crap I almost died."
As the story goes, I apparently was more drunk than I had thought. I was all over the place and in and out of consciousness. My neighbor by some stoke of luck was downtown that night and found me. She called my mother and my mother called the cops. When the ambulance and my mother arrived guess how many of my friends were there? I believe it was 2 out of the over 10 people I was there with. My best friend since first grade left me there. My friends that I have known for years abandoned me. My one friend Rich is the one I have to thank for being here today. He apparently didn't leave my side. He tried to keep me warm and made sure I didn't choke to death. He did a good job considering the doctor said hypothermia was setting in and my BAC was high enough to put my in a coma. I still have no idea what happened that night. What I do know is that if it wasn't for Rich and my neighbor I wouldn't have seen the rest of sophmore year. I am eternally grateful for having them in my life. I learned the hard way who my true friends were.

Campus Activities

I haven't begun to get involved in any activities on campus. My classes take up the majority of my time when I am on campus. I would like to eventually become involved in something. Clubs and other activities are a great way to meet new people. As of right now, I am actually pretty stressed out. I am overwhelmed with my classes and having to go to work as well. I barely have enough time to actually sit down and relax. Maybe next semester I will get involved. I am thinking about living at Stockton so that should make getting involved easier. I would love to do something with my friends. I haven't had much time to even hang out with them when I am on campus so maybe next semester things will be easier.