English 103

Considering this is my last blog post for English 103 I decided to blog about my experience in this class. I was very surprised at everything I have learned in this class. Although it is a prerequisite for my required English 104 class I feel prepared for English 104 and I have felt prepared for all of the papers I have written thus far this semester. This class has taught me how to get all my primary ideas on paper and then edit them into an organized pattern that tells the story I need it to. Thanks to this class I have learned about websites like Wiki and this blog website that I know now how to navigate pretty thoroughly. I believe this class has been very beneficial for my future writing skills and all of my future classes that will involve me writing papers.

Finally an A!

After months of working in this English 103 class I have finally received an A on a paper! Personally it was by far the paper that needed the most attention considering it was a research paper and I think that had a lot to do with it. I needed to give a paper the attention it deserved and up until this paper I was not doing that I think. Thanks to the difficulty level of this paper I was more in tuned to giving it the attention it needed to become an A paper. I think with this last paper I will be doing the same considering it is not necessarily complicated, but time consuming. With this new-found confidence I have acquired with my writing skills I feel hopeful with this next paper. I feel much more accomplished than I did after writing my past papers! 

The Multi-Genre Paper

I am actually very excited to write this next paper! I have thought a lot about what I should write about and the only idea I have come up with so far is inside the life of a sorority girl or inside the life of sorority recruitment. These may sound stupid, but after experiencing these things I feel as if it is something worth sharing. It was absolutely awful to see how many girls cried, were dirty rushed, and how many girls talked behind eachother's backs to get into a sorority. My personal experience was very interesting, and although it was not sad like some of the stories I heard, it is worth telling from my point of view. The politics that go behind rushing are so complicated an outsider would be totally lost. For instance; I am in Alpha Phi because a girl I do not particularly is in AGD because a girl she does not like is in Chi Omega. As I am writing about this it does sound very insignificant, but to me it was a great experience.

Working Out

Since I've gotten to college I have been terrified of gaining weight. My extended family is full of fairly large people because we are all naturally short so keeping off the weight is extremely difficult. At orientation for Ball State my dad leaned over to me and said, fyi I hope you are planning on working out because your aunt was your size when she got to ball state, and now my aunt is  fairly large woman. Everyone says the freshman 15 is a serious issue, and with my frame I am sure it would be if I was not eating fairly healthy and working out on a regular basis. I have not gained a single pound yet and I intend to keep it that way. I feel awful for the people who come back from school and have gained an ungodly amount of weight. Part of college is learning to balance studying, social activities, and your health. I feel as if I am doing a very good job so far, but hey, I am only a first semester freshman...

Halloween!

This week is starting halloween weekend! I am so excited to dress up and hang out with my friends! Halloween is a great time to go all out and be something or someone you aren't. Of course some girls take advantage of this by dressing a little or a lot on the scandalous side and it is kind of appalling. There should not be an excuse to be distasteful. I understand where they get the idea that is may be accepted, but I find it unnecessary. There are so many things you can be for Halloween, why be something revealing or skanky? I am being an 80's workout girl and I find that highly appropriate and plan to show my mom pictures of my weekend because I have nothing to hide!

Research 2

So far I am having a good time researching. Since we are doing violent video games I am staying pretty interested. The database is my new favorite thing because it makes everything so easy! I love how it can cite things automatically for us and find valuable and reliable resources! I am trying to practice and learn  how to use it more efficiently. This paper, which I have yet to start writing, might be somewhat of a challenge for me though. I am having a difficult time starting because it is a factual paper and not an opinion one. I am planning on starting tomorrow and I am hoping procrastination does not get the best of me. I will try my best and hardest on this paper because I have got two 85%'s in a row and it is so frustrating! It is not bad by any means, but it is average and I do not like it. I am putting all of my english knowledge into this next paper and I hope it pays off!

Research

Apparently I did not blog about the right thing last week so I am going to do that now. The research for this assignment is fairly easy because violent video games is a hot topic. It is very controversial to give a small toddler a video game with shootings and drugs. Could these things effect how a child sees the world? Could these things promote violent behavior? These are questions I plan on addressing with my research and my paper. I personally believe that video games have a part in violent behavior to a point. I think constant exposure to violence creates violence just like exposure to domestic violence creates a higher likelihood that domestic violence will continue throughout generations.

Midterm Week!

Thankfully, unlike others, I have had a pretty simple midterm week. I have one more left that I take on Monday and I am dreading it. The other ones I have taken were relatively simple but I did only get B's on them. I was disappointed that after all that studying I only managed to get a B. I mean I know I could have gotten a MUCH lower score, but still. I emailed one of my teachers after one of my finals though and he said I had the second highest grade on it and that it was a huge accomplishment especially since I am a freshman! That did make me pretty happy. The last midterm I have to take is my Comm midterm and I heard it was full of tricky questions. This bothers me and worries me because those are the hardest tests to take. Plus it is like 70 questions long and on inqsit! That is going to be awful. UGH! But nonetheless I have survived Midterm week and am happy to say so!

Lil' Wayne

Since I wrote my open letter on Lil' Wayne's lyrics, I was inspired to blog about it this week. Considering this is a more open domain then my formal open letter, I feel more open to say the things that bother me about these lyrics. While writing my blog the specific lyrics "open her legs then fillet Mignon" were in my head. This is utterly disgusting to me. It is such a nasty phrase. The song goes on to say "i'm gonna own that p***y". EW! Who is Lil' Wayne to say these things about a woman. Those things are private and should not be said out loud let alone in a song for the world to hear. I find it very inappropriate, and even though I have many friends that "respect" his work, I am still confused as to why anyone would. What is there to respect about those lyrics? They most definitely are not very poetic. I thought the point of music was to write poetry in song form. As far as I'm concerned that is no where near poetry.

Writing English Papers

Even though this blog is for my English class, I am going to write about my English class frustration anyway. The other day we got our memoir papers back. I got an 85. I do not blame anyone but myself. I know that it is a fair grade, I am just frustrated at myself for not realizing it was not an A. Although it was a full story, it was not full of good enough detail. I realized after writing this paper that I need to improve my detail writing ability. For some reason it was difficult for me to go back to the moment and describe it in accurate and vivid details. During this next assignment I am going to strive for an A. I want an A on this paper to confirm my writing ability because I am naturally an O.K writer, which may be why I have not improved in the past because my ability has never been challenged. I am going to try and put my hardest work into this next paper and challenge myself. We will see how it works out...

Paul

I decided to write about Paul this week on my blog! I sit next to Paul Sommers in English 103! Everyday we come in I hope Paul is here so I have someone to talk to during class. It is nice having someone to talk to in class because you feel like you are more awake and attentive if you have someone to keep you awake! The one time Paul was not in class I was sad because there was no one sitting next to me! I think it is important to have people you like in your classes because then you are more willing to participate during discussions, group projects, and peer editing. Thanks to Paul I thoroughly enjoy coming to English class!

The Sorority Life

Okay, I know what you're thinking, just another dumb girl that joined a sorority and is obsessed. Well, yes I am those things, but I was on the other end of it too. I was anti-sorority life all throughout high school and even coming into college. I was so confused as to why anyone would pay for friends and live a life that sounds so shallow, but my roommate rushed so I decided it was worth the experience. Here I am a week later and I cannot believe how much my views have changed. Being in a sorority is not like I had expected in most aspects. On Saturday I'm doing community service with the sorority and tye-dying tonight. There's so many events to get involved in and I love how busy it keeps me! All the girls are nice and completely not the sorority girls you see in movies and on TV. I am so happy that I joined a sorority and it's been an amazing experience already. I totally recommend the greek life to anyone who is hesitant about it. It is such a rewarding experience and it is a completely well-rounded organization to join. Go Alpha Phi :)

Moving Forward

Today I am writing to you from a good place. This week has been a very productive one for me, one in which I feel like I am learning interesting things in my classes and finishing assignments on time. I am doing good in all of my classes and have managed to get A's and B's on all my tests. I've learned time management quite well so far and that is something that I was never able to grasp before now. I have always been a procrastinator, so to be able to say I am finally staying on top of things is a really good feeling. Tonight starts rush, and although I am not certain I want to be in a sorority, I am certain that I do want to go through rush to have that experience. I feel as if there are things I want to take away from college and memories I want to acquire. Being part of the Greek Life may interest me and it may not but I do want to see what all the fuss is about. I am in only one club for my major which is the Student Council for Exceptional Children, which is a club that focuses on people who want to deal with children with special needs. Both the SCEC and Greek Life are organizations that I will take so much from. I guess we will just have to see..

FRUSTRATED!

Since this is my first blog and I am not quite sure what to write about I think I will share how extremely frustrated I am with school. I know that it could be worse and that it probably will get worse but for now I just do not know what I am going to do! I just realized that I need to do a ton of stuff by September 7th and I am not ready for it all! With labor day weekend just around the corner I feel as if I do not want to do homework during the weekend that I'm spending with my family, but it seems as if I have no choice. Although this blog is not very long, I obviously need to get started on more studying and other homework and will hopefully have something more substantial to blog about later!