English this year

Over the past few months, i have written about many different subjects.  First, i planned on writing about my daily life, but i found that boring to work on.  The next thing i tried to accomplish was to blog about politics, but again, it was just too boring.  I ended up writing about what ever was on my mind: I wrote about a past experience when i got hit is the head, “The Ball Game”, a book i erad that i thought would be a good class book “The Silent Boy”, and a story i wrote in writing class “Broken bones” (part 1 and 2)  I also wrote many responses to others’ blogs: One about Bullying, one about Freshman Year, one about Racism, one about “LOL” and one about twitter. I also enjoyed writing a more academic essay about Of Mice and Men:

The novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays two migrant workers who seek a farm of their own. Throughout the story, Steinbeck provides characters who oppose this, saying it is ‘impossible’.  One of them, George, is very practical and straightforward. He really cares about his traveling partner, Lennie, and takes care of him even though he is a burden...They have a conflict with fate through out the whole book.

I like how there is a balance between free writing and structural, more strict writing. So overall, throughout writing these blogs, i saw that i need a lot of improvement in writing, still, and that i actually enjoy writing in this class because of the open ended... everything.  


This first quarter surprised me.  I found that writing two blogs a week have been much easier than i first expected.  At first, i thought that I'd spend three or four hours a week writing two blogs, but instead it only takes me about one a half hours.  This caught me off guard, but now that i think about it, i think that my writing has changed dramatically because of the summer reading assignments.  During my three middle school years (and throughout my whole life) writing has come to me very hard.  I could not get my ideas down on paper, organize them, and have them make sense.  I first realized my major advancement in writing in either grade, where i learned to organize and make my ideas comprehensive.  Then over the summer, i procrastinated a lot, and while i tried to cram all of my writing into a few days write, i realized that i made a major mistake, and i learned to never procrastinate that badly again.  But from this, came a good thing: i learned how to get my ideas on paper.  because i had so much to do in such a little time, i just wrote, and wrote, and wrote.  I didn't look back and try to edit until i finished the whole essay or paragraph,which i had  been doing and slowed me down.  This is what i believe brought me to where i am today, but i still know that i have much to work on.  


Even thought i learned my lesson to never procrastinate on long term projects, i still happen to do so during my blog posts.  One of my goals for this next quarter is to work on procrastination (especially because the require has bumped itself up to three blog posts a week, instead of two).  In the moment, i usually wait until the Friday night that it is due, and actually start working at around 10:00.  It has not been a problem in me not having enough time to finish, but the constant thought of it haunts me the whole week.  even with this constant pressure, it is not enough to get me to start working on it early.  I think my problem is that i do not work well unless i am under pressure.  Another problem with procrastinating is that if i am busy that day, then i will fail that week’s assignment.  An idea that i have developed to fix this problem is to work on my blogs at the same time i do currently but for the next week.  I would just have to set the blog to post itself after 12:00 that day.  This way, i will not have to worry about that week’s assignment until the next Friday.  It seems like the same amount of work, but this way, i will not be constantly reminded about the whole bunch of work i have to finish Friday night.  Also, if i miss that Friday, i still have a whole week to complete my work.


Another problem i face is that, right now, i do not edit my posts before posting them.  I do this out of laziness and tho thought that my writing was good enough the first time around, but while i was rereading my blog the other day, i found a lot of embarrassing grammar and spelling errors, along with some sentences and ideas that just do not make sense.  From now on, i will proofread my writing before posting them.  


Another thing that surprised me was how easy it was to write.  Because of the open ended topics and different (a little easier) expectations, i could write freely, without the pressure of making all of my writing flawless, with many layers of editing.  It is a way for me to express what i feel.  In other classes, i feel confined when writing.  For example, if i have an idea that seems “out there” i tend to not include that in my writing because i feel that the teacher may grade it based on that thought.  also, i fear that i would not be able to display that thought strongly enough for the reader to comprehend.  On the other hand, doing these blog posts, i feel confident enough to actually take off my mask and write my true feelings and thoughts.  And once i started doing this, surprisingly, i found it actually much easier than i thought.  i would just write down my ideas quickly, and then go back and tweak them.  I think that the slackened pressure helped me do this by encouraging me to be brave and try a new thing, without the worry of crashing and burning.  Also, this open ended prompt adds a little fun to writing.  I actually wrote about the acronym “LOL”:

I believe that the acronym LOL appeared because a person who easily laughed actually laughed out loud when chatting or text and got tired of typing “laugh out loud” and made LOL up, then people talking to him didn’t realized at that he/she was actually laughing out loud and that he just meant “hey that’s funny” or something in that content.  They then started saying it and passed it on, and so on.  Since the “l” and the “o” are right on top of each other, it is easy to type LOL quickly.  It’s much faster than typing LQTM (“laugh quietly to myself”) or simply haha.  It soon becomes a habit, and then now everyone is doing it.

This is something that we would never write about in a “normal” class, but it just feels 'right' to write about this in this particular class.  And it actually feels like we are in a creative writing class because of all the new perspectives that we look at, the different writing to pics, and just the over all freedom in writing this year.  Personally, i enjoy the way Mr. Sutherland teaches more than the average English class.

Character Vs Fate. Of Mice and Men

The novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays two migrant workers who seek a farm of their own. Throughout the story, Steinbeck provides characters who oppose this, saying it is ‘impossible’.  One of them, George, is very practical and straightforward. He really cares about his traveling partner, Lennie, and takes care of him even though he is a burden.  Lennie is what one would call a ‘gentle giant’.  He is overly powerful, yet he cannot control it.  to make it even worse, Lennie does not have a good understanding of anything, and doesnt even know his own strength.  On their quest to earn their farm, they face many people who say it is impossible, and they have to work hard to keep a low profile, in order to earn enough money.  This is difficult because the boss’s son, Curley, is always looking for random fights.  They have a conflict with fate through out the whole book.

For example, George tells Lennie a story about their fate and heavily contrasts it with what they yearn to actually do:

”’Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest of guys. They got no family... no place... but with us it ain’t like that. We got a future... Some day we’re gonna get a jack together and we’re gonna have a little house’...And ‘Live off the fatta the lan’’” (page 13-14)

George tells about what all ranch people live like.  In those days, if one does not have a ranch of their own, they would never get one, but Lennie and George try to break free of this fate by earning their own farm.  They seem hopeful because they think they are different, better, than the other, and they are.  But Lennie seems to always get into trouble, so George has to especially look out for him and be extremely cautious, in order to keep him out of trouble.  However, Lennie seems to pull trouble towards himself, though.

Even though Lennie tries the hardest to keep out of trouble, he is always drawn into it, without intention. For example:

“‘Of course he ain’t mean but he gets into trouble alla time because hes so God damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed...’” (page 41)

...In Weed, Lennie had seen a red dress a girl was wearing.  Being himself, he wanted to touch it, so he went up and grabbed the dress.  Since he was so big and strong, the girl thought that he was trying to rape her.  She started to scream.  This frightened Lennie and he held on tighter.  It took many men and a hit over the head to get him to release the poor girl’s dress.  She was not hurt though.

Lennie seems to attract problems with his own actions, but they are not his fault.  He has this metal block that does not allow him to understand things as well as most people.  He also does not think that much, so his actions are usually wrong, and because he is so strong, someone may get hurt or scared by what he did wrongly.  As George said, he is not mean, but he is so ‘dumb’, that his actions make him seem like he is mean.  Throughout this book, however, Lennie tries especially hard to stay out of trouble.  He fights against fate to keep out of trouble and to actually earn his coveted farm.
Also, Lennie and George face another fate throughout trying to stay out of trouble.  Once Curley takes a glance at Lennie, he feels jealous of Lennie’s size and immediately sets out for trouble, and George warns Lennie to stay out of any fights and make as little contact with him as possible but George says:

“‘Ya know, Lennie, I’m scared I’m gonna get tangled with that bastard myself.  I hat his guts. Jesus Christ!...” (page 37)

Although George warns Lennie to stay out of trouble, Curly makes it impossible for anyone to like him.  They must stay out of the fight in order to earn enough to buy the farm.  It seems inevitable because Curly wants the fight so bad.  In time, it will happen, and it is a matter of fighting with fate to stay out of it.

Lennie and George face trying to stay out of a fight, in order to stay out of trouble, in order to earn enough money for their little house.  All of these fates work against their goal.  Even though they work extremely hard to try and make it, fate prevails, and George stays a migrant worker forever.  Even now, people strive to earn their own business.  They want to work their own hours (ball game) and not get bossed around by unfair superiors (Curley).  They strive for something to call their own, and even now, few actually make it.  The struggle against fate to work oneself up the economic ladder is always present.

Broken Bones Part 2

Richard gawked, anxious, at the end of the lift.  He was supposed to leap off the lift and skate out of the way in time for the next person to exit the lift.  He began sweating and forgot all about the amazing ride.  He tried to observe every graceful movement of the man in front of him: he confidently lifted his body into a standing position, sliding his snowboard on the snow, barely touching it.  He glided over the snow and turned to the side when he got to the end of the runway.  Richard tried to imitate the perfect, precise movements of the previous person but could not copy him.  He started lifting his body over the chair but instantly got his board stuck on a small lump of snow and fell over instantly.  The workers were forced to stop the lift and help him back up. His face turned completely red, and he quickly walked to the beginning of the slope.  He had no idea what to do now; he didn't know how to snowboard.

Richard thought he would be able to maneuver the snowboard well because he skateboarded, but soon found out that it was a completely different concept.  He rushed down, through the woods and a pace that was much too fast.  Now, the trees that looked so serene on the lift looked like Richard’s enemy, trying to kill him.  He awkwardly swung his arms around to keep his balance.  Once he thought he got the hang of it, he hit a small snow pile that he thought he could jump and flipped over. 

It was as if he were in slow motion.  He heard the crunching of snow at each bounce.  He saw white, more white, and then black.  He smelled nothing but sweat.  And all he felt was searing pain in his left wrist.  He struggled to get up with out putting any pressure on his left hand, falling twice before he got to his feet.  He fiddled with his bindings until he could take them off and took a look around his surroundings.  He noticed that he strayed from the path greatly and all he could see was the brown and green of trees.  He decided to take a rest so he sat down.  Within five minutes, he spotted a red jacket coming down the slope, dragging a red sled behind him.  Someone had called for help.  The man strapped him in so tightly, it was uncomfortable, and they rushed down the mountain faster than Richard had gone, but this time, he felt safe.  The trees that looked like enemies before, now looked like guardians, making a path for them to go by, while watching over them.  This snowboarder was in complete control.  Richard felt safe, so he closed his eyes.  The next thing he knew was that he was in the hospital for a broken arm.

Response to sutherland...

I was reading this post about twitter use in class on Mr. Sutherland’s blog and decided to respond:

I believe that since the children of this world are drawn to attention by technology, schools should adapt to their likings in order to teach them better. If schools taught by using technology and such, the students have more of a motive to actually stay focused.  The younger generation enjoys being involved in using computers, cell phones, or any other electrical technology because it is a shield between them and the actual world, and they are able to hide behind their computers or phones.  This allows them to be more confident in the boundaries of cyber space than they would be in the real life.

In this class, the teacher has the students text or twitter their ideas in instead of raising their hands and actually stating their ideas out loud.  This method is good in a larg class.  Many people are left unspoken to during class because there are too many ideas floating around.  Twitter or texting it would organize all of these and make it be able to share the ideas. Also, this is important because in a class, there may be many students who feel unsafe or uncomfortable speaking to an audience in fear of being made fun of for their idea or the way they speak.  Texting in their ideas instead of talking it out acts a sufficient “crutch” to the person, and helps guide them to feel more confident.  This crutch allows people to feel safer in sharing their ideas in class.

I do not believe that this method would work well in out class because some people do not have a cell phone.  Also, since our class is small, people will be able to share their ideas.  Although I believe that this would work for a larger class such as a college because it is difficult to address every one in the class, it is impractical to use it in such a small class.  Plus, ASTI’s community ensures that everyone feels safe and no one is ever made fun of for sharing their thoughts. This method is a great idea, but I think it should only be use for larger groups of people.

LOL-Response to Tiffany Cao's Question

I found this question that Tiffany brought up.  It amused me a little, so I decided to write about it:

    During lunch, a question randomly popped up and I asked if everyone actually LOLs(Laugh out loud) when they are chatting?

   Honestly, I usually use LOL incorrectly. I do not laugh out loud. I just smile or have an content face as my expression. Why must we use LOL? Is it because it's shorter than "haha" Why must we use LOL?

I believe that the acronym LOL appeared because a person who easily laughed actually laughed out loud when chatting or text and got tired of typing “laugh out loud” and made LOL up, then people talking to him didn’t realized at that he/she was actually laughing out loud and that he just meant “hey that’s funny” or something in that content.  They then started saying it and passed it on, and so on.  Since the “l” and the “o” are right on top of each other, it is easy to type LOL quickly.  It’s much faster than typing LQTM (“laugh quietly to myself”) or simply haha.  It soon becomes a habit, and then now everyone is doing it.

            Another reason may be that someone might actually laugh out loud if the person talked to them in real life and said the thing he/she typed.  In the effort to make the conversation more realistic, they say “LOL” because they would actually laugh out loud in real life.  It gives a visual of what the person does, making it feel more real.  If people were talking from different sides of the country so something, that visualization makes them feel closer.

            Also, it’s a good indication for when people are happy or not.  For example, since it becomes a habit to say “LOL” and it is so easy to type it, they could say it a lot, absent mindedly, when they are happy.  If they don’t say it often, you can see that they are not in a good mood without having to see their face.  Inc conclusion, I think people say LOL out of a habit, its quick, to make the conversation feel more real, and it is a good indication of the other’s mood. 

Broken Bones Part 1

Richard sat in the car surrounded by white, with a huge frown on his face.  His parents forced him to visit the snow, away from his much loved bustling city.  The car smelled like the Chinese chow mien and fried rice they stopped for right outside of town for.  The sound of crunching snow under the tires emerged, and reminded him of his destination.  Once they arrived at the cabin, Richard decided to wash his disappointment away with a nap; he missed his city already.  When he woke up, he decided to do something interesting during the horrible visit to the mountains: snowboarding.

Richard stood there quite comfortably as he stared in awe as the gleaming red lift as it screeched and grumbled to take the other snowboarders and skiers up the slopes, and to their demise.  He stood there, frozen.  The loud snap of the lift brought him back to reality, and he took up his heavy, metallic green rental board and dragged it behind him while he started the short walk to the lift.  As he waited in line, all he could smell was the distinct odor of gasoline that filled up the air.  Before he knew it, he was next in line, and Richard quickly waddled up to the lift area, and before he knew it, a big lift chair bumped into making him fall into it with much force, taking him off in an instance.  On the way up, he completely forgot about the rickety design of the lift and the disgusting smell of the oil.  All he could do was take in the great view that he was faced with.  The ever green trees standing tall with piles of snow on each branch looked oddly like the city buildings that Richard grew up with.  The icy wind cutting through his face reminded him of the wind that comes in every morning from the ocean.  He pulled up his collar to protect against it.  And now the end of the ride approached.  The snowy mountains are not that different from the city after all.