Sunday, December 14, 2014
Not the Last Paper
As I have mentioned it is the end
of the semester for me. This week is finals week, which means I can see the
light at the end of the tunnel. That being said I still have a few large
assignments due. In my geology class I have a large assignment due called an
Environmental Impact Statement. An EIS is basically a written summary of why or
why not a building or construction should happen. I never thought I would have
to do so much writing in my geology class. I have learned over this past
semester how important it is for me to have writing skill. My English class has
helped me so much in my writing process and learning. As excited as I am to be
done with my English requirements for WCC I have realized that I will be
writing papers for a very long time so I need to start to learn to enjoy writing.
My New Writing Experience
Today I had to write a
research paper for my sociology class as my final assignment. This weekend I
went to the library to do some research and then started my pre-writing
process. An odd thing happened to me while I was writing my research paper
today. I knew exactly how I wanted to set my paper up, I made sure to find
great sources to help support my thesis, and I was able to write with ease. I
repeat I was able to write a research paper with ease…. A couple of things occurred
to me today, first thing was I had no anxiety when it came to writing this
paper, which for me is a very unfamiliar feeling. The second thing is I new
exactly what I was talking about and what my model was, thesis, literature
review and supporting arguments to my thesis. The third thing that occurred to
me, which was hard for me to admit was that my teacher was right. This past
semester my English teacher would tell my class after we wrote our research
papers every paper after would be so much easier to write. By golly she was
right! Anyway I was happy to write a research paper that I knew exactly how to
go about researching and writing it, and I feel confident in the quality of my
paper.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Life is Beautiful
Earlier this week as I was
on my way to work I found myself in amazement and gratitude. As I drove along a
busy road that gloomy day I found myself in amazement and gratitude for all of
the above. When I say all of the above I mean everything. I found myself in
amazement and gratitude of weather; I was grateful to have the terribly gloomy
day because it meant something was happening. I was grateful and amazed by my
ears listening to music. The insanity and wonder that I function as a human
being. My ears function and hear sound and music; that is a truly an amazing
thing. I just couldn’t stop thinking about how awesome and amazing the littlest
and most unsubstantial things in this life are. These thoughts and feelings overcame me to the point that I felt compelled to write it down and share to
the void. So take a look around, revel in the beauty that is life.
Original Photo by me
Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom
This past semester I have been
talking about my research paper, my thoughts, and challenges with it. It has
just occurred to me that I have been talking all about my Harry Potter paper
all semester on my crazy cat lady blog and have yet to talk about My Cats! To
start off I must tell you there is a reason I chose to write my research paper
about a Harry Potter film; I LOVE Harry Potter. That information know known, I
will tell you about my awesome cats. My husband and I have a 3 ½ year old cat
named Luna, appropriately named after one of the best characters in the Harry
Potter series, Luna Lovegood. When we first met Luna and her siblings at the
Kendall County pound she was not one of the kittens running all over the place.
She was very calm and usually off on her own. I know this will sound cheesy but
we did not choose Luna, she chose us. Based on her demeanor and her color we
knew she was Luna. Our other cat just turned 2 this fall and is the most
bizarre cat I have ever known. Our handsome big boy Neville we also rescued, in
a less conventional story that is too long to talk about. Neville is named after
another great character, Neville Longbottom. When most people find out that my
cats names are named after Harry Potter characters, it is always 2 different
ways this fact presents itself. I am either asked with much excitement and hope
that our cats are named after Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom or the fact
comes out in conversation and people respond with a, really?? I didn’t know
that, I don’t know who those characters are, or oh, those characters.... I think anyone who has READ the
Harry Potter books will understand why I love those characters so much.
Honestly I could write about my cats for much longer but there is a time and a
place to be over the top crazy cat lady and I am quickly reaching the top.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
A blog coming to a close?
Over the past
semester I have participated in my first ever blog; never would I ever have
imagined that I would have a blog. At the beginning of the semester I found it
pointless and a nuisance, I would also forget about it a lot. However as the
seasons have progressed I have come to appreciate it more. I know my thoughts
don’t have deep powerful meaning to them, but it is sort of fun to write out to the
void. Much like peer reviews, this blog has made me self analyze my writing and
helped me with the writing process and editing. I have wondered if I will continue
with this blog after my class is over, and my answer is… I don’t know. Part of
me has thought it would be fun to write a blog about our adventures to becoming
more environmentally aware and consumer conscious people. By no means do I have
any intention of writing a blog for profit, but the idea of writing about our
journey has some appeal. So here I
write last blog post for my class and possibly the first blog post for my
journey. We shall see what happens.
Fairy Tales
In my English
class we have been learning about fairy tales. Not just reading or watching
fairy tales but learning why the original fairy tales are important for
children to read. As an adult it is harder to analyze fairy tales without some
bias or pre-conceived notions. As a child the only fairy tales I read or
watched were the Disney versions for the most part. What I was drawn to most as
a child was the music or the illustrations and the animals. Since we have been
talking more about fairy tales and discussing Bettelheim’s analysis on fairy
tales it almost makes me view them in a different way. Not in a corrupt way but
more of an appreciative way. There are definite lessons that children are
intended to learn from these stories. I have been so far removed from fairy
tales that I never really thought about why they are good, and why they are
more than a way to occupy and amuse children.
Books books books
With the winter
break coming up and continuously on my mind, I decided to set a few goals for
myself for the 4 weeks I have off. One goal I am very much looking forward to
accomplishing is to read at least 2 books over the break. Now the big question
is what books should I read? I am torn to re-read the Harry Potter series, or
start the Game of Thrones series. There are also other books I started and
never finished. This past summer I started reading “I am Malala”, but didn’t
finish reading it. There are so many books but so little time! As far as break
goes thought I am glad to have the conflict of what book to read rather than
how many assignments I need to get done.
Last 2 Weeks!
I have 2 weeks
left of school until the semester is over! That being said this is when
EVERYTHING is due. Turning in my research paper felt awesome, but the feeling
didn’t last long. Yes I turned in my big paper for English, but now I have 2
major papers I still have to write for my sociology class. The sad fact is I
look forward for the weekends because the weekend means I get a chance to catch
up on all of my homework and assignments. Knowing there are 2 weeks left is
what helps me stay motivated and focused. I just tell myself I need to push
through and it will all be over soon enough! To all of the other students out
there, I feel your pain, but we can do this!
A Research Reflected
Looking back on my
research paper there are plenty of things I could have done differently. One
large aspect of the paper I would do differently if I could, would be to
understand the assignment from the beginning of the semester. Not having a
clear understanding of the assignment for a long time made it harder to know
what I needed to look for in sources, how to search for sources, and what
exactly I was looking for in my research for my paper. If I had a better
understanding I feel I would have better sources. Another thing I could have
possibly done differently would be to change my movie and approach. There were
plenty of times during the semester when I second-guessed my approach. However
now that my paper is over with I am glad I decided to go with the Harry Potter
5 and my approach. I feel I gave myself much more of a challenge but because of
the challenge I feel much more accomplished now that I conquered it!
The Research Paper
This past week I
turned in the final revision of my research paper, and man did it feel good to
be done with it! Now I am anxiously awaiting my grade... Overall I feel I did
well on my paper. I was feeling like it was a fairly decent paper when asked my
husband to proofread it for me. More than a few minutes had passed as he read
it, which made me a little nervous, but after he read it he gave me great
criticism and said it was a good paper! Like I said I feel I did pretty decent
on my paper, there are a few sections I feel are a little weak, such as my
conclusion. For some reason when I am ready to write my conclusion I have a
really hard time summing up everything I have written in a clear way. In my
conclusion I knew how I wanted to end it but I had a hard time finding a way to
get there. My overall paper I feel I did well on but my conclusion I think I
could have made a little stronger.
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