7/27

Today I feel like crap. I am sick and it’s getting really annoying. It all started last weekend, I started to get a head cold. Then it turned into an ear infection. Right now my ear feels like it is clogged up with tissue paper or something. It has impaired my hearing a decent amount from that side. I also have a stuffy nose. It has been runny for the past few days especially. Because my nose is stuffy I can’t fall asleep very well at night. I finally was able to fall asleep around 2:30 last night, and woke up at 9:00 this morning. It was not enough sleep as I am still tired and am still feeling sick. My eyes are having a hard time staying completely open because I am still tired. On top of all this, I feel a little tickle in the back of my throat, which causes me to cough every few minutes or sooner if I breathe in too deep. Overall it's not a happy feeling.

Paper Threeeee Prewriting

For my third paper I am going to write a fictitious short story. I will probably write about a person vs. person conflict, I feel the most comfortable writing that. It will be a short story with a point of view from the main character.

Week Four Blogpost

When I first entered college, I never so much as considered prewriting. Whenever I would write a paper, I would just sit down, and begin writing. Just start typing what I was thinking. I would write out the whole paper that way. Rarely it would end up as a good paper. Without prewriting my thoughts usually get jumbled up, and don’t follow the same theme from paragraph to paragraph.  While writing I would just pound on keys, in one fluid motion. I wouldn’t stop to think about how the ideas would match up with each other to convey one universal theme. As I would reach the end of my paper, I would just write out the conclusion, put my name at the top, and press print. There would be no first, second and especially not third drafts. On top of that there was never any revision. I would write out the whole paper in one sitting. Usually I would rush through it, trying to get it finished as soon as possible was the main goal, not writing a well thought out paper. Since I have begun English 1101, I have learned how almost everything with my paper writing needed “improvement”. I now prewrite before all of my papers because it can help me to draw a line of similarity between all of my separate thoughts. Not only do I prewrite, but I am also writing my papers in drafts, which allows me to improve my paper each time I go back and write more. I can use specific details where I was maybe unclear before. Along with having drafts, I, and sometimes even a peer or two, revise my paper. I go through it and look for mistakes, such as talking in different tenses, or having “fluff” (excess wording where not necessary). My peers will go through and tell me where they don’t fully understand my meaning and what parts are well written. Overall I feel that I am writing better papers than ever before because of these new writing techniques that I am using.

My Obituary

The young Alexander Orenchuk died on this day, the 21st of July, 2011. He lived a happy life, although unfulfilled, as he was still in college. His spirit left his body at 4:19 this morning to rise to heaven. He was just 18 years old. A Florida born native and life time resident, was born April 19, 1993 in Orange Park, FL. He was very outgoing and an all around people person. He was never married. If anything, Alexander will be remembered as a young man who just wanted everyone to be happy. If he hadn't fought off the evil Dread Pirate Robins, then he may not have been as well known as he is today. He was a man, a citizen, a hero. May he rest in peace.

My Watcher

My watcher is a large burly man. He is wide and slow moving, but he is always just one step behind. I don't think that he ever sleeps, or at least every time I have seen him he is standing guard at my brown picket fence. All I need to do is get into the cottage to write my paper, but first I have to trick my Watcher to get through the picket fence. My Watcher doesn't have a name, he is just Watcher. I can never make out his exact words when I am near him, but I clearly understand what he means. He doesn't want me to write my paper because if I do then I may not get a 100. I have never seen him so much as eat, all I ever see is Watcher standing by that gate. Sometimes if I get too close then I am forced to watch him over my shoulder because he is chasing me away from the cottage. Sometimes, I can get tricky enough to outsmart the Watcher. I lure him away from the entrance of the fence gates, then I sneak in so I can write my paper.

Hometown Speech

I was born in Jacksonville, Florida. When you take a listen to the sounds that the people of Jacksonville make, it sounds as if you can almost hear the sizzle of fondue dripping down the sides of the hot boiling pot as Jacksonville has different accents from all over the world. It has some New York accents, some country accents, some Spanish accents and even some Boston accents. It really is like a giant melting pot of accents from across the nation, and even the globe.

Character Description

The Joker is a very sinister character, as anyone who has seen The Dark Knight would know. He has greenish-yellow hair color, almost as if you were to mix them into one color. His hair is always greasy; it looks almost as if the grease were about be dripping on the floor. It is safe to say that the Joker has not taken a shower in quite some time. He always wears make-up, very white make-up, that he has all over his face. He has black make-up around each eye, with black eye-liner. The Joker is probably most known for his painted on red smile. It is an obvious exaggeration of where his mouth actually is. The lipstick smile always provides the idea that he is grinning literally from ear to ear. He has a smile painted on to cover up his scars. He reveals how he got these scars in The Dark Knight saying, "My father was... A drinker, and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that, not... One.... Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and he says, 'Why so serious?!' He comes at me with the knife, 'Why so serious?!' He sticks the blade in my mouth, 'Lets put a smile on that face!'" He was then left with scars 'extending' his mouth. He wears all purple; a purple suit, a purple tie, purple shoes, and even purple gloves. Instead of passing out a business card he simply gives people a joker card from a typical 52 card deck. The Joker is always the most lit thing in the scene, but is never actually well lit, giving him a dark and sinister look from the viewer's eyes. His number one goal in life is to stop Batman, to do everything in his power to get Batman's attention and lure him into a trap. He recruits major mobsters and crime lords to do his dirty work. The will be the bait, then once he can get Batman in a cornered situation, he will try in take him out. No matter what the Joker seems to do throughout the Batman series, he always ends up on the short end of things.

Crots Picture

This is a picture of a community pool, very similar to the pool in my first crot. Here it is a very hot day, as I'm sure the lifeguards can attest to. They have beads of sweat rolling down there backs from sitting out in the sun all day. As they sit out on their guard chairs, the can see the bright, glistening water move around as the sun reflects off top of the water. When at the pool you can hear all the cheers of laughter coming from the children at the pool. From time to time you will hear the lifeguard tweet their whistle and say "NO RUNNING!" As you move along the pool deck, your feet begin to almost burn, your mind tells you the deck is at least 1,000 degrees, whereas it is really not that hot.

Sensory Details

As I walk over to the Williams Building I have to walk on one side of the Suwannee Room building to get here. Walking past that part of the building, I can see red brick all around, there are a few dumpsters, and what looks like an A/C vent. It smells absolutely terrible, I believe it is where gross smells go to die. Whats worse about the smell, is that it is so bad that I can almost taste the rotten food and what ever else is making up the bad smell. I taste it just a little bit, the smell is so strong that I every time I inhale I get a few different, nasty flavors in my mouth. When I walk past the A/C vent I can here the constant humming of the fan spinning around. Whats worse is that it spits out really hot, moist air. As I am walking it feels like I am going through a steam room with thicker air. I feel a huge gust as I walk in front of the vent, it makes the already hot Tallahassee temperatures even hotter for that few steps of my walk to the Williams Building.

End of Week One

Anne Lamott's approach to writing is that you always need to write poor rough drafts. The number one misconception is that writers just go out and write the entire book or article in one swift effort. The real secret is to write poor first drafts. She claims that writing a poor first draft is the key to writing a good second draft, which will lead to a terrific third draft. Lamott says that if you just throw all of the thoughts and ideas running through your head onto paper, it will allow you to make changes to better your paper as you continue to work on it. She says that no one will see the first draft so you can write what you feel, knowing that you can edit it on your next run through the paper editing process.

Lorrie Moore's thoughts on writing consist largely on creativity. She talks about how no writing has blended genres, a fiction story is a fiction story. She says that you have to imagine character personas, each one being different, but involving at least one similar quality as you. Moore says to take one story, such as a car ride with your uncle, and change it into a violent happening. Her moral is that if you happen to make a mistake in your writing, go with it. If you are writing and you happen to talk about something that is not making much sense, continue to talk about it and give details about it until it does. I believe she is implying this in her story about a college student who gets put in a creative writing course instead of their computer course. Even though it wasn't what that student had intended, they ended up staying with the course and really liking it.

Gale Godwin's take on writing is all about dealing with your "Watcher", which is anything that will prohibit the flow of creativity through your thoughts. She goes on to give different examples of watchers: compulsive looker-uppers, people who don't want to risk making a fool of themselves in their writings, and anything that can be a distraction, such as procrastination of a writing until after the dentist appointment. She tells you how to cope with your watcher and how to outsmart it, so you can write with ease.

Overal I think that all three of these writers are using their personal experience to help the reader to write a better paper, they all give a problem, and the key to solving it. All three of these writers address different areas where you can be the most efficient writer as possible, from rough drafts, to utilizing your creativity, to dealing with obstacles that are in the way of your creative writing.

My Digital Self

I have given a decent amount of my information out on social websites and online communities. I started with myspace when I was in seventh grade. I joined to communicate with my friends from school because I had no phone and wanted to talk with everyone outside of school. I posted my interests, likes and dislikes, birthday and so on. Then facebook became popular. It is basically just a more grown-up version of myspace. I gave out the same amount of information plus my address. Other than those two websites I am not a member of any other social networking websites, such as twitter or any dating websites. I never shop or pay bills online, but I do talk with friends on facebook at least twice a day. Facebook goes a long way in creating my digital self, as it is basically the entirety of my digital self. My digital self is slightly less personable than my physical self, given that I am communicating with another computer instead of face to face.

First week emotional responses.

When I first stepped on campus last Friday, I was a little nervous about being here. The feeling that I most felt was sadness because I now have to live in a different city than my girlfriend. She is three hours away and that was tough at first. I had the whole weekend to do whatever I wanted, with no rules. I didn't feel like an FSU student until yesterday when I first attended class; that's when it really sunk in. Walking around campus, seeing all the other college students, some who look like they are way older than me; it really is a college atmosphere around the school.