What's Your Favorite Holiday?

Everybody may or may not have a favorite holiday. My favorite holiday would have to be Christmas. I can’t believe Christmas is almost right around the corner. Christmas is definitely my all-time favorite holiday because it’s a special day for Jesus and me. I was born on December 25, 1989 no lie. It’s very exciting knowing that I was a Christmas Baby. My friends think I’m crazy for having my birthday lying on Christmas Day. They think I get gypped out and get less presents then everybody else. That’s not true I get more presents; I normally get my b-day ones the day of or day after. Every time I mention someone that my birthdays on Christmas their feedback is, “Wow that must Suck!” I’m like Heck No, I love it! I always felt ever so special every Christmas morning when I woke up because I thought it was really neat being born the same day as Jesus. Christmas is an amazing holiday because I love the decorations and getting everything ready for the holidays. The most important thing I love is the family gatherings for Christmas. I don’t get to see my cousins very often and I love it when they come down and celebrate with us. They love Christmas as much as I do and want to open presents right when we get to grandmas. What kid doesn’t enjoy Christmas? I’m pretty sure every kid on the planet loves Christmas. The only thing I really dislike about Christmas is going shopping and getting your family the gifts. It’s such a hassle if you can’t find the perfect present for your love ones and if it’s in stock or not. At my work we have 4 people with the same b-day as me. We love counting down the days till our birthdays. As of today, there are only 23 days till Christmas. I hope everybody has a great Christmas because I know I will. Now that I mentioned my favorite holiday, I’d like to know yours!

Wk 12 - Writing changing dramatically

I think my writing has improved very well after I did my Generation Y paper. I was really impressed on how it got developed. I had very good supporting details and had a good peer response with my partner, Jennine. She thought I did a very good job wrapping the paper together and did only minor errors. I just had to include a little bit more info to get the reader a better aspect of the paper. I felt really confident while writing this paper because it was a popular topic I knew a lot about and was one that I was feeling good about writing. As I started prewriting for this GenY paper I was feeling great because as soon as I touched the keys on the laptop I kept going and going. That is never me because I freeze up while writing but like I said I wanted to do this topic and it made me wanna keep typing and typing. Once I wrapped all my details and examples into one paper, it was well-developed and the way I wanted it to be. I think I improved more by having an easier topic to write on then one that a teacher assigns. It’s going to be interesting doing the free-choice essay because I will be even more confident and expressing my feelings stronger by me choosing my own topic to write about. I know I did a lot better on this paper than my other ones. I hoping the conference with Stephanie go well because I wasn’t prepared with my other papers and this one I was very prepared for and I will be getting great feedback hopefully. After taking this class I have learned lots more than in my high school. My high school English was waste of time because I didn’t learn anything; I am extremely happy I got placed into this class and learned so much and looking forward to learning a ton more. It will also get me prepared for ENG 110 which seems a tad-bit harder because it’s longer writing and more elaborating topics. But to-this-day I am staying little more confident in my writing and wanting to improve each and every day.

WK 11 - Teen Pregnancies ( Generation Y)

Teen pregnancies are major issues in our generation. After these pregnancies movies came out, teenagers thinks it okay to have a baby. Well I disagree on this issue because these movies are showing how pregnancy is and their teaching young ones to have children. Teenagers think its okay to have babies at such a young age. They think their cute and adorable, but they don’t know the circumstances of taking care of one at their young of age.
Maury is a great show that shows how these young women want to have kids. They have sex all the time and make their own decisions and their decision is they are going to have that child any way, any how, without their parents saying yes or no! The movies that were very popular that showed pregnancies were Juno and Knocked Up. Juno was a movie about a girl that had a baby at a very young age and was deciding to adopt or not. Knocked Up was a movie about a woman that was partying and ended up drinking with a random guy and having a one-night-stand that very night and she ended up finding herself pregnant with a stranger. They did unprotected sex and weren’t prepared for having this child through the whole movie. They had to adapt to one another and decide to keep it or not.
While I was in high school, I took a parenting class and we got assigned a baby. I had a boy and we got to name it and dress it. The baby had different levels: Easy, Medium, and Hard. The hard level was absolutely ridiculous because I would get woken up at every hour and had to do its needs. It was a huge responsibility and took a lot of my time. The baby would drive me crazy because all it would do is cry. I had to feed it, change it, rock it, etc. This baby made me realize its way too much responsibility to take care of and decide to wait for kids when I get much older. I think all teenagers in high school should get the opportunity like I did and take care of a baby for 3 days.
Generation X didn’t get the opportunity to know how babies reacted like we got too. It was a different world back then for Generation X moms. The statistics for Generation Y teenage pregnancy is also far higher than average across the OECD. The UK has the fourth highest teenage pregnancy rate after Mexico, Turkey and the United States. In Britain, 23.4 teenage girls per 1,000 gave birth in 2005.
Teenagers need to realize it takes a lot of responsibility to take care of a baby and should wait till they get to a much more mature age and enjoy their life young without having a child in their younger years.

Wk 10 - Writing changed..

I have noticed that my writing has changed this semester. In High School, I couldn’t just start typing a paper right when I was givin a topic. But once I started ENG 105 I am getting a little more comfortable about writing. It’s making me express my feelings, especially in the blogs on how the writing goes for us.
On Friday, we were assigned to do a horror story and come up with catchy lines and over-all make it scary. The story could be anything we wanted and it was going into a contest. The prize was just a homework pass, and the students were buzzing their brains trying to make their stories perfect in order to win. Well my first feeling was I suck at stories, how can I do this? Well my paper didn’t get very far because I had some problems thinking of a great topic. The substitute was going around and seeing how everyone was doing and I had nothing. He gave me ideas and I tried to go along with it. I noticed there were a few others that were having problems and they were going to put this assignment off too. But after I thought about it, we could have used our free homework pass we got from Stephanie but I thought I could use that for a “harder assignment” because it wasn’t too hard to think of a horror story. The subs idea for the horror story didn’t work out like I wanted it to so I changed it.
I decided I’ll try to do this at home because it was due that Monday. Come to realize, after I did this story I am a better writer at home instead of in the classroom. It was so much easier for me to sit on my laptop and go on and on with my horror story. I think its kinda crazy that I can’t just write up a paper while in class but I can at home. Everybody is different on their writing techniques so I’m hoping by the end of this semester I will over come my problem with writing and develop my papers in class without writing them at home.

Wk 9 - Las Vegas!

My parents just got back from a trip to Las Vegas with a few of our family members and friends. My mom mentioned to me once i turn 21 i can choose anywhere to celebrate my birthday. I think Las Vegas would be a pretty sweet birthday bash. Las Vegas would let me gamble and party in the clubs and stay up all night long and DRINK! I think it would be a whole life experience going down there for my birthday. We would get the whole family together and fly on out there and just have a great time. My family has been out there twice and says its amazing. There is so much to do all day and all night. It may be expensive but it's worth saving up for and having the time of your life. When i turn 21 on December 25th next year, it will be the perfect time to go down to Vegas because in Illinois it will be Winter and in Vegas it will be Summer. When I think of Vegas, i think of partying, staying out late, gambling, and never going to bed. My parents said theres people 4-5 clock in the morning still gambling the night before. I think thats little nuts but hey they wanna win BIG! I am not much of a gambler so i dont know if that will change once we go out there. I would like to try to gamble a little bit but I like to spend my money wisely. Also when i think of Vegas i think of the song Waking up in Vegas by Katy Perry. My cousins have also had celebrated their 21st birthdays out in Vegas so I think it should run in the family and have me be next. I really hope this will be the best 21st birthday any 21 year old would want. If Vegas doesnt work out i would like to go to the Bahamas again. So every body has different opinons on where they would want to go for their birthdays, and some may not be able to chose where they can go because of money reasons. So start saving up for where you wanna go for your birthday, cause i will be!

Wk 8 - Improving my Lit Snap!

I think my writing has improved a lot better for my Lit Snap paper. Here are some reasons I think I can gather the paper easier. Today, I had to meet with Stephanie for a conference in her office for a second sitting to go over my paper. She thought I did an overall pretty good job on it, but it wasn’t “well-developed” like she assumed. So we sat down and went over each paragraph and found my easy, common mistakes. The mistakes I thought were right and they were completely out of proportion. She said I was just telling my audience about what the book was about, and not expressing how I feel for what has happened in the book. It was pretty complicated for my part to do this, because it’s easier for me to write up what has happened in a book, than say how I feel about so and so. I do realize it does get out of hand when a writer just writes what has happened in the book and not show how they feel. It’s like they are writing up a huge book just about what happened and not showing a feeling. I tend to repeat lines and it gets frustrating to think of new options for that given sentence. I did outlining for this paper when it was assigned, and it helped out a lot, but Stephanie helped me out a ton by breaking it down in sections and giving details and better supporting sentences to each paragraph. I love the way she told me to do it this way because it seemed a whole heck a lot easier than what I did and also saved a little time. As we were progressing through each paragraph, I felt so much more comfortable with the paper being put together easily. After each main idea in the paragraphs, I was coming up with many supporting details and kept thinking of more and more as we went through the paper. I was really amazed I thought of those there and not when I did the lit snap in the first place. I guess that is normal because a paper like this was on my chest for a while and you just want to get it out of the way. I tend to freeze up when I write papers, but everyone is like that when they aren’t used to writing. I’m hoping I can use that outlining process for the next drafts we do this semester by progressing my writing skills and techniques, and become a better writer

Wk 7 - Shuttle Buses

My opinion is dealing with keeping the shuttle buses or not. I have been hearing students saying that they are quitting the shuttle buses as of the last few weeks. Well I don’t know if it’s a rumor or not because I been seeing them running and dropping students off. In the beginning of the semester, I had to walk around the roads just to get to school because the shuttle buses were getting backed up with a ton of students. So now I have to get up earlier and get an earlier parking spot. But as of today, I been noticing there are a lot of open parking spots, so I don’t know if it depends on the day if it will be packed or not. Walking the roads was a pain in the ass and we shouldn’t have to do so. But by the time the other shuttle bus come, there is a huge line and it’s not worth waiting for a ride, so students decide to walk. So you were better off walking instead of waiting. Let me tell yah, it was great exercise doing that walk early in the morning because it seems like a mile, plus carrying a book bag full of heavy books. When winter comes, students are not gonna want to walk to class with the side-roads full of huge snow-drifts, plus it will be a freezing, cold walk. So you can disagree with me or agree, but I think they should keep the shuttle buses so students can get transportation from the East Campus to the Main Campus.

Wk 6 - Intervention

Intervention affected my writing a little bit while preparing for my Lit Snap Assignment. The peer response we did in class helped a lot for preparing for this paper. While we had the chance to read each others papers out loud, it helped one another get a better perspective on how we should change our wording. For example, we would tell our partners, “I think it would be better for you to add more dialogue.” By adding more dialogue to your paper, the reader will understand your emotions and feelings towards your writing. Nobody has really told me to start my paper with outlining. I’ve always been doing outlining while preparing for my papers. The only problem I had with writing was to put things in order correctly and give a specific detail or example supporting my statement. For my paper, it was hard for me to tell how I felt about what has happened and give a supporting detail. There was so much information that was given and it was complicated to put me in for the situation and show how I would feel for what has happened. It’s easier for me to give someone else advice on their paper, instead of my own, because I think of better ideas for their paper because there’s more-developed than mine and makes much more sense. I like getting the feedback from others though after they read my paper and give me a better perspective; but I just wish I could develop the paper better in the first place. So by doing this Lit Snap Assignment it has changed my writing a lot and I hope it improves down the road.

Wk 5 - Gay Marriage

My opinion would have to be on gay marriage. I have no problem with a couple of the same-sex getting married. It’s a free country, so what if they chose to love the same sex. Honestly it’s not a big deal. Many people out in the world have a huge problem with gays or lesbians getting married and/or dating. They may stare and laugh while they see them in public or not mind them at all. The only thing that bothers me when I see them in public is when they are all over each other. It’s like why can’t you guys do that “stuff” at home or elsewhere. I think the couples just want attention and have the people out in the world gossip and see what they think about what they are doing.
In the past few years, the dispute over same-sex marriage has increased from an issue that occasionally grew in a few states to a nationwide disagreement. Without a doubt, in the last five years, the debate over gay marriage has been heard that the U.S. Congress, at the White House, and dozens of state legislatures and courtrooms, and in the public speaking of election campaigns at both the national and state levels. In addition, the battle over whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to wed shows no signs of reduction. Last year alone, 3 states have banned same-sex marriage and 4 states have legalized the practice. As the debate rages on, the American religious community remains deeply separated over the issue.
So like I said earlier I have no problem with gay marriage, it’s a free country and God made everyone equal so they can do whatever with their life.

Wk 4 - My method of writing!

My learning preference for writing was aural when we did the VARK test in class. That surprised Stephanie when I told her. It surprised me because in my PSY104 class last semester we learned writing and our learning preferences and I was a tactile learner. So I guess I can go either way but my preference changes every time I prepare for writing a paper. It is easy to be an aural learner because there’s lot to remember and I’m good at that. But now that I think about it, it’s hard to be a tactile learner again. From the play-doh activity we did in class was pretty difficult on my part because I can’t just think of something to write or make in a specific amount of time assigned. So being hands-on with the play-doh was a hard task. I had to try and think it out. So each of us was passed out a color and mine was black, so it was hard to think of an object that would characterize my writing. I thought of doing stars but not that artistic to do that. Doing the stars would have been great because while I prepare for a paper I daze out and the stars would’ve been perfect, because I imagine stars above my head in a bubble when I prepare for something. Stephanie just had to give me an example to construct out of the play-doh. She decided a banana. When she gave me that idea, all I could think of was “Are you kidding?” After I thought about it though, it was a perfect idea because like I said earlier when I prepare for something I blank out. So I constructed the banana out of play-doh and started realizing my brain is rotten when I think of options for a paper. The only best way I can prepare for a paper is to just take a few minutes and start outlining on what I would be interested in writing about. I know I’m not the only one out there that chooses to outline, but I think it characterizes my thoughts and beliefs of writing and keeps me on task.

Wk3- ICC banning the privilege to smoke

I highly disagree with this decision and how ICC just came up with this idea. There are many smokers out there and they need that nicotine in their system for them to concentrate. I chose not to smoke but I think its wrong for this to all come about. The non-smokers may think it was a great idea for them to ban because they may not wanna inhale it while they are on their breaks. I think it's crazy for the smokers to smoke at a particular spot. They have classes after another and they have no time to walk across the bridge to get that nicotine addition. If they decide to bann it completely, the students will be not looking forward to doing well in college because that's all the student needs is a cigarette. I didn't mind getting out of class and seeing students smoking across the Court yard. Smoking doesn't bother me a whole lot, it's just when they blow the smoke in your face. I think the students should have done a survey or something that will let us decide whether they can smoke near or far from the ICC property. That would have been totally better instead of ICC just coming up with this crazy idea and banning it when there was nothing going wrong with it in the first place. I bet the students are getting more stressed out from this and hating the idea like i am.

Wk 2- Entry #2 Case Study

The hardest accomplishment for me while writing a paper is getting distracted by others. Many students may disagree with me and some may agree. But while you’re sitting in class trying to think of something to write and you hear the sounds of students typing on the keyboards it’s very distracting and hard to ignore. That piece of writing that your going to talk about in your paper is not going to get very far, because you can’t concentrate on what your writing and you keep having the sounds of keyboards in the back of your mind. Students think it’s easier to wear headphones while writing papers and it blocks out the noises. Classmates listen to music softly or loudly on the headphones to help them prepare for their papers; however, others don’t need the courage to listen to music and rather have they just blocked out the sound completely. I don’t like it when students start out writing for their papers and they end up getting ahead of others. It makes me feel like I can’t get ahead of the game. Everybody has different paces of typing a paper and thinks of different setups. I normally prefer doing a 5-10 minute outline on what I’ll be covering over in my paper. It’s hard to think of more elaborating details to your examples while preparing for this paper if you do not choose to write an outline.
While I’m preparing a paper at home, I have to be in a room alone, listening to low music, and it helps me think of brighter thoughts for the paper. I can’t have anybody interrupt me while writing because I’ll lose my train of thought. It’s too much for me to start a conversation with someone and then try and go back to what I was writing about. On the other hand, if I’m in the classroom I freeze up and can’t think of anything to write about. Students prefer different areas to be in there comfort zone to write papers. They may prefer being with a group of people or listening to loud music, but everybody has different opinions towards their writing technique.
In Conclusion, many students may have the same aspects as I do while preparing for a paper. For instance, they are being distracted by others from keyboards, losing train of thought by blanking out, or not thinking of something to write about. So don’t have any of these points get in the way of you preparing for a paper.

Letter of Intro.

Dear Stephanie,

My formal letter of introduction to you is providing the interesting information about my favorites. While I was growing up in my younger years in school, my favorite subject was Math. I used to catch on very well while learning math. In the 3rd grade I was the queen of times-tables. For instance, we would have the teacher hold up a flash card, and this math game was like Around the World, we would have two students standing next to each other yell out what the answer was, and see who had it right and yelled out faster. If you got it right, then you would go around the world. By doing that, you would go to the next student in the desk and repeat the process. If you got the answer wrong you sit down. I have so many movies that are my favorite but I’ll only name a few. I like comedy movies such as, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber. Every girl likes to laugh once in a while and a comedy movie will make her day. My favorite people would have to be a few great actors. Jim Carrey is my all-time favorite actor because every movie he does it turns out amazing and hilarious. Adam Sandler is the same way in his movies. He cracks up jokes in his movies and they turn out to be funny. My favorite musicians are Pop Evil, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Hailstorm, and Daughtry. Music has been an inspiration to me my whole life, there’s not a day I don’t listen to music. My dad was the one that got me into music so much. He is the disc jockey of the family; he has been doing this part-time job for while now and is keeping it up to-this-day. My brother is going to take over the business once my dad retires. I love jamming loud in my car with my sub woofers thumping in the trunk. It’s my comfort zone and keeps me stress free. Everybody has a favorite food, but I have many favorites. I love Subway, pizza, harvest cheddar sun chips, macaroni and cheese, steak, and ice cream. One of favorite hangouts is the movie theatre. I love going to the movies right when a new movie is previewed on the television. My family and I go to movies once in a while, but I normally go see them with my boyfriend or the girls. Another favorite hangout is my boyfriend’s house; we chill, watch movies, and get the friends together and have parties. The campground is a fun hangout for me, I used to never be the camping type but after my boyfriend introduced me into it I loved it ever since. We go swimming in the lake; have camp fires, stay up late and watch movies. It’s an all-around great adventure to test out. The last favorite hangout is my friend’s house. We always have a good time over there. We stay up late and watch movies, play games, party, have girl talks, and try not to cause trouble. That said this concludes the story of my life. My personal goals would be pass my MAT 108 class and become a better writer in ENG 105.




Sincerely,


Bri Dalton