my performance

As far as general procedures have gone, I'd say its gone decent for me. I almost always had a writing utensil, notebook, and books I needed for class. The only book I was missing was my book for outside reading. I usually didn't bring that. I asked to go to the restroom very few times and I wasn't in any rush to get out of the class, I was usually last anyway.

I have been pretty good about taking notes and listening although I can get rather distracted sometimes. For the group work aspect, I did well I think and got the work done, with some side conversation though. I didn't ask too many questions, because I didn't rally have many questions.

I believe I have gotten better with participating though. I mean, of course I didn't participate much at the beginning of the year, but then again, it hasn't gotten as good as some people are. Even though I participated fairly, some others did indeed do better with that.

Fellow class members

Well, I'd have to say I'm very glad this year is over. We have been through a lot and I bet all of you are glad we are done with freshman year. I can't say that I am looking forward to sophomore year, but I can't do much about that. I believe this year has prepared me for the rest of high school though. English class, especially, has been quite an experience. Even though it has been rather difficult at most times, for me at least, it has definitely helped me and prepared me. It seems difficult and I didn't like it, but I'll admit it has probably been one of my most helpful classes. It has taught me to not procrastinate definitely, although I still have issues with that.

Reading reflection

Over the court of this year, I have learned a couple of things about myself. For one thing, which isn't so good, I seem to be a rather slow reader. Ive always been a slow reader. One thing that seems to be goo though it that if I don't understand something the first time, I read it over again to make sure I understand.

In the future, I hope I am able to read more quickly and have better understanding of what I read. Now that I have learned about various literary elements, I've been able to make connections to these within the works that I read. I find it nice to know how to spot these elements of literature, and I think that this knowledge will help my overall comprehension while reading.

I made a separate post regarding my reading times this week. I read some more in Desperation and wrote about that some. I thought we needed to make a post like that, buy I was mistaken. I kept the post anyway and it includes my times.

Macbeth

From the way that Macbeth acts on stage, through the way he behaves and the way he speaks, I think that he didn't want to be king as much in the first place. But after the three witches told him he would be king and lady Macbeth persuaded him, he wanted to be king even more. He wanted to wait it out, and become king after Duncan died on his own, but he found out the pleasures of being king. 

Whenever he killed Duncan, that night he was very scared and nervous. He was jumpy and every little thing startled him. He started acting paranoid, but the next morning he had calmed down and was overacting and made it more noticeable that and obvious that he was guilty of murder. 

Desperation

This past week in my Desperation reading, it was rather uneventful. The man that was taken by the cop, well he had taken him in because he was relieving himself on the side of the road. The cop apparently though of this as unacceptable. I don't see why he even cared though, after all, they are seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
The cop takes him to the same place as the original family, and like the last people that were taken in, he was told to wait in the room while the cop went and did something. Since the last cop told the family to do the same, i wonder what they are doing when they leave. Maybe they are keeping track of who they take in or something.

Desperation: 1 hour, 45mins.
Macbeth: 45 mins.

Common mistakes

Common errors list

Usage of un-necessary commas: I really don’t like that scarf, although, it looks rather nice, on you.

Not knowing when to use a semi-colon or comma: I’m quite glad that it was so tough; I believe it has prepared me for next year and has set helpful guidelines for me that I wont forget.

Run-on sentences: When I saw the thing hovering in the air, it looked rather frightening, I soon realized it was an alien spacecraft, I was afraid that I may get abducted or what not.

Issues with quoting: Then Reginald said “, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do at all”.

Switching between tenses: Talking about something that already happened “That was a horrid thing really, but it isn’t that bad I suppose. Maybe it will be.”

Repetition of words: It is rather nice that you got that good grade, but my grade was rather bad. I hope I get a rather good grade on the next assignment.

Yearly Reflection

Austin Howard

Dr. deGravelles

Block 2

4/30/12

Yearly English Reflection

This year in English I think that I have come a long way in the way I write and have a better understanding of the overall writing process. Even though I do still need improvements in some areas of writing, I feel that I have improved greatly from the first semester. In some areas I don’t believe I need much help at all while other areas of writing, I need to do better.

After looking at all of the comments and editions that were made on my papers, I realized a couple of things that I seemed to have trouble on throughout the year that were consecutive through out my papers. One of the largest issues that I had on seemingly all of my papers was simply actually focusing on what is supposed to be written. I seemed to go off on tangents or start talking about something else and go into detail about it when I was supposed to be focused on something else, or sometimes just missing the entire topic all together. I seemed to get a bit better with that every essay I wrote but I have always seemed to struggle with this issue and I still struggle with it. I hope to improve with this issue in the next year or so, or maybe even erase the mistake all together.

I also struggled quite a lot with the MLA format and citing in my papers. I don’t think that I fully understood how to put my paper into the correct format, or properly cite certain quotations and give credit to the author. I would get confused about the authors name, and where to properly place the first or last name, or just last when applicable. Now that I have written many papers this year though, many that I have had to cite names, I believe I have gotten better with the process and can now cite authors properly.

One of my greatest strengths, while writing, is my use of word choice. I believe I have improved much on this. After scanning over my papers thoroughly, my choice of words never seemed to be an issue. When writing, I always try to avoid repeating the same words too often, and to use a wider variety of words in my work. I’ve found that this use to be an issue at a younger age, and somewhat at the beginning of this year. Once I grew older and my vocabulary expanded, I strove to use more advanced words. At first, it was a challenge to do so, although as I used more developed words in my writing, I also used them in everyday talk. Using these words regularly seemed to help me to understand the words and even encourage me to use them more in writing.

After contemplating over the responses I received on my papers, I now understand what I did that was incorrect. I have definitely learned from these mistakes and I’m sure that this will help me not to make the same errors in the future. While writing, I now find it easier to find mistakes that I would have previously over looked.

For the years to come, I imagine that my writing will get better, and I hope it does. My plan to improve my writing is maybe to write some over the summer. About random stuff, just to make sure I don’t get rusty. I think this will help me for next year because at the beginning of school years, I usually have trouble getting back into writing.

This years English class seemed rather brutal at some times, but now that I look back on it, I’m sure it will pay off and it definitely has helped me, quite a lot. I’m quite glad that it was so tough; I believe it has prepared me for next year and has set helpful guidelines for me that I wont forget. 

Reading times

Desperation: 150min. consecutively.

"Across the Universe" The Beatles

The first line of these lyrics, I notice that there is a simile. Also in this first stanza there is personification. 
"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me" This is showing personification because waves can't be joyful , nor can pools be sorrowful. Neither can waves possess or caress someone or something. 

Something else I saw when reading these lyrics is that there seems to be some imagery involved. As a matter of fact, I believe this whole stanza is using imagery. 

"Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes

They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe" I believe this is imagery and I do indeed get a sort of picture in my mind when i read, or hear this stanza. 


Link to lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/acrosstheuniverse.html

More Desperation.

I kept reading Desperation this week. The story went back to the original family I read about. The cop that had captured them locked them up, upstairs in some cells. The woman got loose and grabbed a shotgun and nearly killed the cop. She missed, I assume because she was in a hurry and was very frightened. He then pushes a desk into her, nearly killing her. He seemed angry at first then was nice to her. She asked him not to kill her and he acted like he would never attempt to hurt her. Is this guy crazy?

Im thinking that maybe something is going on because while this is happening, the other guy that was taken by the other cop, I now remember that it was the same description as the other cop. Could they be androids or something? I'm really not sure but I'm eager to find out. The other man talks about his previous life, before he was taken by the cop.

1hr. 20min. on Friday
1hr. on Saturday
15min. on Sunday

"My Papa's Waltz."

When reading this poem I focused my attention to imagery and also to sound. I noticed that it has a sort of classic rhyme scheme to it, where the end of the lines, on every other line, the words rhyme. The rhymes aren't always exact rhymes while some of the words just slightly rhyme with one another such as dizzy and easy. I also noticed how each section of the poem is like a different scene, at least thats how I imagined it. Each part of the poem is just one sentence each.
 I understand how the title of the poem relates to the poem itself. It essentially sounds like it is explaining a scenario, where a young boy is "waltzing" with his father. The father is drunk and this reflects as they go about the kitchen knocking over pots and such. The mother in the family seems to be disappointed maybe at the father, not just for knocking over the pans but maybe also the fact that he is drunk and playing with their child.
One other thing I noticed that may be nothing at all is that it seems to have a hint of violence. For on thing, the drunk man. Then the author uses phrases and words such as, "hung on like death" "the hand that held my wrist was battered at one knuckle" and "you beat time on my head." Maybe this is something subtle that the author added, to show that the father may be abusive.

Desperation part 4.

Instead of continuing with the story form the first family I read about,  the author describes a different person. It seems to me as if the author is maybe rounding people up in a way, showing different scenarios of people. I assume that they are all around the same time though. I don't know what the big cop is going to do with everyone though, he also takes this new character to the police station as well.

I'm wondering if there may be multiple cops because since all of these people being taken, it makes sense that multiple cops are involved. I don't know what going to happen to these people, and I am also curious as to if there will be more people joining the current group I have read about.

Reading time:

1hr. on Saturday
1hr. 45 min. on Sunday

Desperation part 3.

I continued to read Desperation this week and I had trouble putting it down. I left off when the larger cop had brought the family to a police station I assume it was? Anyway, he told them to stay there and he would be right back. What was he going to get? He also told the family to stay there or they would be sorry. I think I know what he means by that. He seems to be gone for awhile but probably wasn't actually because for awhile the author described what life was for the family back home and how that all had changed now.

The family then notices the blood stains on the stairs where the screams and moans seem to be illuminating from. The author is very descriptive about this part as he discusses possibilities that the family could take to escape, but they couldn't think of anything before the cop came back that is. I wonder is they will escape?  The scary cop comes back and seems to be pleased that they hadn't left. He then tells them to be quiet and step up stairs, "You first please" he says to the family as he gently nudges them up stairs. Thats as far as I got, but I'm eager to find out whats up the stairs. I'm starting to wonder if the "cop" is actually a cop at all. After all, the family got here just by speeding. Why did he just give them a ticket come to think of it? 

Reading times: 150 min. consecutively. 

School work.

Iv'e had a bunch of school work lately and I have had some  trouble keeping up with it all. I have no doubt that others are having trouble as well. I am trying to focus on school but I just have a bit of trouble focusing anyway. I participated in cross country along with track last year but this year I only did cross country so I could have some more time in the second semester to complete my work.

I have a bunch of projects going on. I'm working on my English research project and my partner and I have been working on our Nervous Conditions project which is coming along well. I thought that project would be tougher than it actually is, so that's cool.

Desperation part 2.

I had lost my Desperation book but i just found it in time for my blog and I've been reading non stop now. I believe i left off where the family went past some morbid looking RV. Soon afterwards, the family was pulled over by a cop because the man was speeding. I don't know why it is such a big deal though because there is nobody else around.

When the cop steps out of his car, the family was startled because he was so large, almost unnaturally large. He then doesn't say anything else but to get in his car. They family unwillingly go with him after arguing but he seems to have a short temper. He takes them to a town. Nobody is around though. Is it deserted? Im not sure but he takes them into a building and the family is hearing screams. What are the screams? Will the family meet the same fate as those that are screaming?

Time read: 150min. consecutively.

Projects.

I have quite a lot of projects going on in school right now, and I'm sure many people can relate. I have two in English class and on in History and they are due rather soon. I am trying not to procrastinate about these because I know this is the last quarter of the year and i need to do well so I'm going to try to do well on these.

In addition to these projects though, I have been having more homework than usual, I suppose because the school year is coming to end. I'm gong to try to end the year strong and I think that my freshman year has prepared me for the rest of fish school.

Sam.

Over the past few months, my family has been in contact with a man in the military who's in his twenties and his name is Sam. We have gotten the chance to talk on the phone with him and we often sent him packages of things he would request such as comics and what not.

Recently, he came home to Indiana and we have been talking to him even more ever since. He is interested in working for the same company that my mum does so she is trying to set him up. I also have gotten the chance to speak with him over the phone and he is really a nice guy and he gave me some advice for college as well.

Desperation.

I started a new book recently called Insomnia by Stephen King. I just started the book and I am not that far into it although it is quite creepy. The story takes place in Nevada and it just starts out with a family driving down a highway until things start to get quite odd.

The family drives by an overturned RV. While not only overturned, there are bloodstains around it and a doll lying on the ground. What could this mean? Does he doll belong to a child? I'm not sure of that but I'm sure that question will be answered later on.

Reading times:
pg. 1 - 25: 1hr. 45
pg. 25 - 35: 55min.

Driver's ed.

Well, I'm pretty sure that most people i the grade have already gotten their permit. Is that true? Anyway, I have not gotten mine yet, probably because I'm lazy and don't want to take the time to do it. Plus, everyone else said that it was pretty boring, which makes me procrastinate about it even more.

Could anyone give me any tips on when I do take it? I mean, how was the class and what not? And also, when is a good time that I could take off to actually take the class? I know i have to take it eventually, the problem is that I just don't really feel like it.

The Mist FINISHED.

So this weekend i finally finished the Mist. I was rather sad for it to end but now i get to start a new book which is cool. I thought that Stephen King kind of didn't finish the story but thats okay because I believe that he wanted the readers to imagine what happens after where he left off.

I actually watched the movie The Mist. It followed rather closely, but as most movies based of of books do, it left out some pretty large parts. I thought that the movie was good though and was somewhat of what i imagined the market and the rest of the setting to look like, probably because Stephen King is so descriptive in his writing.

The Mist.

I continued to read The Mist by Stephen King this week. Its gotten pretty intense, and i didn't think it would get like it has. People start to go crazy because they've been in the market so long and people start to get corrupt and kill each other. I don't see how killing each other will answer anything though. Many people are tired of waiting for something to happen so they take their own chances and go outside and attempt to get to their cars. I don't believe that this is a very good either.

Few people are left it seems because many people have gone and left and gotten killed or escaped but I'm not sure as to what actually happened. I don't know what the remaining people can do anyways. They seem to be stuck in the market although they have plenty of supplies which is convenient. The story seems to be coming to an end but ill finish it next week.

Reading times
pg. 155 - 178 1hr. 25min
pg. 178 - 190 1hr. 5min.

update on grandma.

My grandma met with her doctor, Dr. Craft today. She says its the best type of bone cancer one can have if you were able to choose. There going to treat her with zometa IV and arimadex. To put off more invasive chemo as long as possible. She has the cancer in her skull, legs, ribs and arms. We are waiting to see what the side effects will 
be from the zometa IV that she had today. She will see Dr. Barr in the morning.


She visited with us over the Mardi-Gras holiday and we got to spend a bunch of time with her and take care of her. She was stiff feeling quite sore from her surgery but she is feeling a bit better now. She went back home in Mississippi but she got to spen the majority of the holiday with us.

grandma.

well, I've been absent for these few days. I've been visiting my grandmother in mississippi. as i may or may not have mentioned before, she has bone cancer. today, i sat in the waiting room in the hospital for about 5 hours while we were waiting for my grandma to get in to her procedure. after awhile of waiting, her name was finally called, and she had a bone biopsy.

When she got through, she wasn't feeling very well, for obvious reasons. essentially what a bone biopsy is, where the doctors drill through the bone, and the bad cells, presumably caner cells, although hopefully not, are then taken through a hollow tube. This process had to be repeated 4 times because they didn't get a good enough sample. she is very sore and tired and what not and spending time with her these past days has been quite nice.

The mist.

I left off last time reading this book when the people that were shopping finally found out what was out in the mist. They weren't pleased with what they found and not many people believed that anything was out there at first. So, many people are frightened now, and they have been waiting for the mist to pass. Will it pass anytime soon, or ever for that matter?  Where did this mist come from?

There is a military man in the market and mentioned something about a government project that may have something to do with the mist. could that be true? many people are curios as to if that is true and people start demanding answers. some people get very hostile and start hurting and in some instances killing each other. it gets straitened out somewhat, but people are still rather angry. will these people be their own end?

time:
pg. 100 - 155 2hr. 30min.

relieved.

so, i finished up up rough draft for my world analysis paper. it feels really good to be finished with that, im not as stressed as i was now. i know there is a ways to go on the paper, but i feel that most of the work has been done because the rough draft is kind of like a backbone, so its all good.

so far, i feel pretty good about this paper. at first, i was hesitant to whether i would be able to write such a paper with ease, turns out, it wasn't nearly as challenging as i thought it would be. i feel pretty good about my paper, hope we get it over with soon though.

The Mist continued.

I continued reading The Mist again this week. As i left off, the people were in the market gathering groceries when the mist rolled in. It was unusually thick and people started getting nervous. Could there be something lurking in the mist? Could it be toxic or what not? People started leaving and then screams and what not were heard. Then they all stopped leaving and became very scared. I wonder what could be out there?

Some people were frightened while other thought it was a prank or some sick joke as they decided to leave as well and gore-like sounds came from outside. Could this be some sick joke? A tentacle was seen by some people as it grabbed some one. Could there be other creatures out there? This is quite curious.

Reading times:
pg. 50 - 100: 2hr. 40min.

scuba diving.

this summer, i got my scuba diving license. my dad was already certified and he wanted me to get certified and i thought it might be rather neat so i did. i had my checkout dive during the summer, which is essentially a test to put all the skills  i learned as a diver to the test. there were a multitude of tasks i had to perform to show that i knew what i was doing including taking off mask underwater and clearing it and what not.

i got to dive a wreck when we went diving as well. it was in florida and we had two dives. one was the wreck and another was some big sunken military equipment. i saw a variety of sea life including some things I've never even heard of before, which was awesome. it was quite an experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again in the future.

world analysis paper.

so, last week we started working on our world analysis paper. i was, and still am a bit stressed about this because i didn't think i had enough research about my topic. my topic is how iran and iraq have and effect on the rest of the world. i spent my 150 minutes working on this and i got closer to writing my paper.

I spent quite a bit of time just gathering more research which, as i said before, i didnt have much and i was stressed over it. I didn't have very many sources to begin with so i got more and i am continuing to gather more research and make more notecards to help me out. i worked on my thesis as well, trying to make it sound good although the majority of my time was spent on research.

stuff going on in life.

I have recently been rather stressed about school. There are some things outside of school that are stressing me out. One of these is my grandmother being ill. She is very sick right now and I'm quite worried for her. She has lots of things going on with her such as bone cancer, which is quite scary. She means a lot to me, i hope everything turns out well.

I am also a bit stressed with school right now, partially because of my grandmother and just all these projects and what not. Im having a bit of trouble keeping up with all the work but i think i can manage. Is there any way to help relieve stress? what can i do to help this?

The Mist.

I recently started a new book called, The Mist, written by Stephen King. It takes place in a small town in Maine and revolves around a family that lives on the outskirts of the town. The father of the family decides to go into town with the families son to go to the market. The mum stays home while she says she is going to clean up after a big storm that came through. There is something strange though, the son sees a giant cloud of a mist or fog like substance that is nearing rather quickly. What is with the fog? It must be important, after all, the book is called, The Mist.

The son and father go to the market and they start grabbing a bunch of groceries and a bunch of other people are in there as well. Why are there so many people in the store, i wondered. That question was soon answered when the people in the store start having conversations and they say they heard something on the radio about a thick fog rolling in, so they are stocking up on goods and essentials and what not. Thats as far as i got, but I wonder what is going to happen next.

Times:
Pg. 1 - 20 1hr.
pg. 20 - 50 1hr. 35 min.

the national championship.

I never have been a football fan. The rest of my family are always outside watching football while I'm sitting inside doing something else such as playing video games or drawing or what not. I know everyone was bummed because LSU lost the national championship to Alabama, although my family was quite happy about it.
My mum and dad have always been Alabama fans. When they won the championship this past year, they were overjoyed and my dad is still stoked about it. All of his friends have always been teasing him about how Alabama was going to lose and what not but when they won, he couldn't wait to go to work out at Foxy's where a bunch of his friends are and talk about the game.

The Shining.

So, I finally finished The Shining, by Stephen King. I stopped reading it for while and then started it again. The end was quite good. Through out the story, there is tension building up between the main characters. The family that is care taking for the Overlook Hotel is slowly being corrupted by the evil that lurks within the hotel itself.

It isn't so much the whole family that gets corrupted, as much as it is the father. Jack Torrence is perfectly fine at the beginning of the story, but towards the end of the novel, he is corrupted and bloodthirsty. He wants to kill his family and it isn't so much that he wants to as it is the evil that possess' him. He doesn't succeed in the demise of his own family, although the demise of himself is what was to come.  As his son and wife escaped the hotel, he was plotting to chase after them. He wasn't able to carry out this plan though because the hotel then blew up. It blew up because at the beginning of the story, he had to put water on the furnace to put it out and then he forgot about it and the hotel blew up and brought him with it.

resolutions.

Well, last year i did rather well in English class. I certainly didn't do as well as I hoped I would although I will be sure to perform much better this semester. Now that I know what is expected of me and know what is coming, I believe I will do better. Last semester I had quite a bit of trouble keeping up with all the work, and it was rather overwhelming and I got somewhat lazy. This new year though, I am going to complete all the homework and classwork to the best of my abilities.

I know that I always tell myself I'm going to make resolutions in the new year, yet unfortunately, that doesn't always go as planned. Probably my biggest goal for this year is to not procrastinate. I know i say this, yet as I'm typing this blog, I have waited to the last moment to do so. This is what I'm attempting to work on.