"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
-I don't want to elaborate on this quote as of right now, but I think this quote is a perfect example of our "vision quest."
Reference: A poster in a store at the Seaport shopping mall
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Oh the choices!
To be honest, I am a bit stumped as to what to write my research paper on. Of course I am carious about a lot of things in life, but I don’t really acknowledge them! I don’t know if the things I am interested could be considered a good research topic for a school paper. This kind of goes back to the good or bad student blog. I am not interested in reading writing about this or anything, but what I’m asking is, is there a certain topic that is more acceptable than another for an English class paper? I mean, I might have written a blog based on the party I attended last weekend but will my English teacher really want to read about it? Perhaps I could do research about this type of party, and maybe do a survey on the types of kids who do party on the weekend (who knows, it was just something I brainstormed).
Anyway, I was just reading through my blogs trying to find one I really enjoyed writing. I ran across my Good student or bad (only because people have commented on it) so maybe that would be a good one to go off from. You guys left decent comments that could really help me to start a paper (Thanks for that!). However, the last one I wrote about being a tourist for the weekend is kind of interesting…to me anyway. Everything I wrote in it was completely true because New York City is such a splendid city and I love every moment that I am in it! There is so much one can learn from living in a place like this. This could definitely make for an interesting story. The other one I liked was the way we do research. This would make for an interesting topic considering I would have to research to talk about research...hehe…I liked this one mostly because it focused on us as teenagers and the way we research and write. As we discussed in class, there are many ways in which we write but we don’t even realize that we are doing it! For example, I just sent out a text message to someone, so therefore I was writing. As the lady at the writing center pointed out, everyone is a good writer in their own way. This is completely true. Everyone has their own style of writing, and we all have a special way in which we do research.
Anyway, I was just reading through my blogs trying to find one I really enjoyed writing. I ran across my Good student or bad (only because people have commented on it) so maybe that would be a good one to go off from. You guys left decent comments that could really help me to start a paper (Thanks for that!). However, the last one I wrote about being a tourist for the weekend is kind of interesting…to me anyway. Everything I wrote in it was completely true because New York City is such a splendid city and I love every moment that I am in it! There is so much one can learn from living in a place like this. This could definitely make for an interesting story. The other one I liked was the way we do research. This would make for an interesting topic considering I would have to research to talk about research...hehe…I liked this one mostly because it focused on us as teenagers and the way we research and write. As we discussed in class, there are many ways in which we write but we don’t even realize that we are doing it! For example, I just sent out a text message to someone, so therefore I was writing. As the lady at the writing center pointed out, everyone is a good writer in their own way. This is completely true. Everyone has their own style of writing, and we all have a special way in which we do research.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Guys and girls
"Guys have to play good to feel good, but girls have to feel good to play good."
Reference: St. Johns softball coach, Red Storm website
Reference: St. Johns softball coach, Red Storm website
Monday, February 12, 2007
Research: our social life depends on it
I think the education system has thoroughly screwed us up as human beings. Of course it has done a lot of good, but when it comes time to research, we are all wrong about everything! If someone was to mention the word research to me (or when someone does, I should say) it pretty much makes me gag. All that comes to my mind are the horrible memories of the hours I have spent in my lifetime slaving away in the library. I recall those times that I have been assigned a topic for a paper that I swear to God, didn’t really exist (one of those topics that no one has dared to write about because it’s that bad. Therefore, you can’t find a book or even web site that provides you with enough information to even help you write your opening sentence). No, my research experience in the past has not been a pleasant one.
However, if you think really hard about it, we spend our entire lives researching. Ah yes, that’s right. Everyday as we set out on our journey (or in other words as we drag our feet out of bed and stumble to the elevator) we begin a day of research. Everything we engage in consists of research. When we go to Montgoris for breakfast, we are forced t scope out something edible. We are, at that moment, doing research. I don’t think it necessarily means we have to read anything. In my eyes, as long as we are searching and discovering, we are researching!
The most evident kind of research we engage in is in school. As I mentioned before, we are forced to write papers which unfortunately means we must go on the internet or go to a library to find the answers we are looking for. We may not realize it, but there are other types of research we do without even realizing it. Our social life, as teenagers and young adults, depends thoroughly on doing research. C’mon girls, I know you know just what I am saying. Your friend calls you up crying because she thinks her boyfriend is cheating, so she depends on you to find out. What’s the first thing you do? You start talking to other people who might know something, or you even confront that person to see just what the deal is. See, you are researching, all for the sake of helping a best friend out.
Another way we research is by using facebook. Whether we are using it to talk with friends, or to stalk other people (yeah, don’t deny, we are all guilty of it) we are looking for answers and reading. This, according to our Vision Quest book, is research. Who would ever think gossiping would ever be research? More importantly, who would ever think research could be so fun?
However, if you think really hard about it, we spend our entire lives researching. Ah yes, that’s right. Everyday as we set out on our journey (or in other words as we drag our feet out of bed and stumble to the elevator) we begin a day of research. Everything we engage in consists of research. When we go to Montgoris for breakfast, we are forced t scope out something edible. We are, at that moment, doing research. I don’t think it necessarily means we have to read anything. In my eyes, as long as we are searching and discovering, we are researching!
The most evident kind of research we engage in is in school. As I mentioned before, we are forced to write papers which unfortunately means we must go on the internet or go to a library to find the answers we are looking for. We may not realize it, but there are other types of research we do without even realizing it. Our social life, as teenagers and young adults, depends thoroughly on doing research. C’mon girls, I know you know just what I am saying. Your friend calls you up crying because she thinks her boyfriend is cheating, so she depends on you to find out. What’s the first thing you do? You start talking to other people who might know something, or you even confront that person to see just what the deal is. See, you are researching, all for the sake of helping a best friend out.
Another way we research is by using facebook. Whether we are using it to talk with friends, or to stalk other people (yeah, don’t deny, we are all guilty of it) we are looking for answers and reading. This, according to our Vision Quest book, is research. Who would ever think gossiping would ever be research? More importantly, who would ever think research could be so fun?
A love of reading
As I reading our Vision Quest book tonight I ran across the question of “how many books do you own?” I happened to like this question only because it proposed a possible blog topic. Oh yes, and of course it made me brain storm a bit, so I suppose that’s always a good thing.
I personally loved to read as a child. I wouldn’t say I had a specific genre, but anything I could get my hands on, I would read. Actually, to be honest, I owned, and read multiple times, every Lurlene McDaniel book. My parents were really worried about me because her books were about teenagers who had different kinds of diseases (mostly cancer) and someone would always end up dying. They were supposed to be a tear jerker, but being the “cold hearted person I am” (this is what my family calls me because I don’t show emotion..ha) I absolutely LOVED to read them and I could never put them down. As I grew older, I turned to different kinds of books.
All through elementary school, my dad would take me to the library and I would check out three or four more books. By the end of the week, I was ready for three or four more books. This brings me to my first point. You cannot determine if one likes to read based on the amount of books they own because of places like the library. Just recently, I applied for a Queen’s library card and a New York City library card. When they came in the mail, I couldn’t stop smiling because I figured now that I had a NYC library card, I was a real New Yorker!
I’m not exactly sure where my love for books came from, but I had a friend in 5th grade who read the coolest books. They were all about young teens and I remember liking them only because I was young and that sort of stuff was “juicy.” Once I reached High School my taste for books changed (thank goodness). I took AP English classes so I was reading more literature books (like Ernest Hemingway and such). I discovered I loved reading this stuff, but I couldn’t explain why. I think at first I just liked to tell people I was reading these books because it made me sound smart, but then I started truly liking them.
Once I started school (here at SJU) I stopped reading so much, which was completely silly on my part. I figured that I would have enough reading in all my other classes and juggling another book on the side might not be a good idea. My roommates were reading books called “Gossip Girls” but these didn’t interest me because I felt like they were too childish. Then I discovered something grand! At Barnes and Noble I was browsing through the Literature section and I ran across a section called Fiction Literature (who ever knew such a thing existed?!) On this shelf I found “girly” books but with a little more of an adult touch to them. I absolutely fell in love. I bought every book I could get my hands on (I have tiny hands so that didn’t work out too well). The week before Christmas break I read 6 books. Ever since then, I have been reading none stop. My goal, however, is to complete The Iliad and the Odyssey by the beginning of next semester!
I personally loved to read as a child. I wouldn’t say I had a specific genre, but anything I could get my hands on, I would read. Actually, to be honest, I owned, and read multiple times, every Lurlene McDaniel book. My parents were really worried about me because her books were about teenagers who had different kinds of diseases (mostly cancer) and someone would always end up dying. They were supposed to be a tear jerker, but being the “cold hearted person I am” (this is what my family calls me because I don’t show emotion..ha) I absolutely LOVED to read them and I could never put them down. As I grew older, I turned to different kinds of books.
All through elementary school, my dad would take me to the library and I would check out three or four more books. By the end of the week, I was ready for three or four more books. This brings me to my first point. You cannot determine if one likes to read based on the amount of books they own because of places like the library. Just recently, I applied for a Queen’s library card and a New York City library card. When they came in the mail, I couldn’t stop smiling because I figured now that I had a NYC library card, I was a real New Yorker!
I’m not exactly sure where my love for books came from, but I had a friend in 5th grade who read the coolest books. They were all about young teens and I remember liking them only because I was young and that sort of stuff was “juicy.” Once I reached High School my taste for books changed (thank goodness). I took AP English classes so I was reading more literature books (like Ernest Hemingway and such). I discovered I loved reading this stuff, but I couldn’t explain why. I think at first I just liked to tell people I was reading these books because it made me sound smart, but then I started truly liking them.
Once I started school (here at SJU) I stopped reading so much, which was completely silly on my part. I figured that I would have enough reading in all my other classes and juggling another book on the side might not be a good idea. My roommates were reading books called “Gossip Girls” but these didn’t interest me because I felt like they were too childish. Then I discovered something grand! At Barnes and Noble I was browsing through the Literature section and I ran across a section called Fiction Literature (who ever knew such a thing existed?!) On this shelf I found “girly” books but with a little more of an adult touch to them. I absolutely fell in love. I bought every book I could get my hands on (I have tiny hands so that didn’t work out too well). The week before Christmas break I read 6 books. Ever since then, I have been reading none stop. My goal, however, is to complete The Iliad and the Odyssey by the beginning of next semester!
The difference between boys and girls
I am assuming that when most of you read the title of this particular blog entry, you immediately clicked on it, in hopes of reading something juicy. Well, as a fair warning, you will be disappointed if this is what was running through your mind.
What I’m about to talk about is an occurrence, or maybe a characteristic I should say, that we, as human beings, observe everyday in other people. Sometimes the signs are obvious, but other times, they are hidden. We know that the differences exist (if you don’t then there is something seriously wrong with you) but they are simply human factors that we unconsciously know about: there is a big diversity between boys and girls.
Ah yes, I have just stated the obvious, but my differences go further than just physical difference. I was at the gym this afternoon when I overheard four guys talking. They were all standing in front of the scale waiting for their turn to weigh themselves. The first guy got on and all I hear is “Oh dude, there is no fat on you what-so-ever.” Then the rest of the guys laugh. The next guy in line stepped on and a similar comment was made, except this time, he was being praised because he weighed a lot more than the first guy. As I sat there, I overheard the rest of the conversations as the situation progressed for a few more minutes. I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but what I was hearing was a big distinction between guys and girls. I will get back to this in one moment.
Following the gym I went to dinner (good combination, ay?) I sat with my roommate and soon after, a few guys sat down with us. For dinner, I chose to have a salad with egg, croutons, no dressing, and a glass of water. My friend had a sandwich. To me, this was a filling meal that would pretty much satisfy my appetite for the rest of the night. I looked over at one of the guy’s plates and I could not believe my eyes. On the tray in front of this guy (this guy, mind you, was about 5’8, maybe 170 pounds, in any case, not a huge football player kind) was two cheeseburgers, a sandwich, fries, two glasses of soda, and something else. There was no doubt in my mind that this guy would be eating ice cream as soon as he devoured everything else. I was amazed at what was going on. Guys and girls think so differently on many levels, but this one is just crazy in my eyes. As a girl I can honestly tell you that I watch my weight, which is why I eat healthy and work out. Guys, on the other hand, work out, possibly watch what they eat, but they do it for different reasons. The guys at the gym were picking on one another when they weighed LESS than someone else. Why is it that if it was a bunch of girls one of two things would be going on: either the girls would be hiding their weight, or it would all of a sudden be a competition of who weighs the least or who is thinner. I’m not about to go into the whole media thing that talks about why girls act the way they do, but this is just a comparison I have been noticing a lot since I entered college.
What I’m about to talk about is an occurrence, or maybe a characteristic I should say, that we, as human beings, observe everyday in other people. Sometimes the signs are obvious, but other times, they are hidden. We know that the differences exist (if you don’t then there is something seriously wrong with you) but they are simply human factors that we unconsciously know about: there is a big diversity between boys and girls.
Ah yes, I have just stated the obvious, but my differences go further than just physical difference. I was at the gym this afternoon when I overheard four guys talking. They were all standing in front of the scale waiting for their turn to weigh themselves. The first guy got on and all I hear is “Oh dude, there is no fat on you what-so-ever.” Then the rest of the guys laugh. The next guy in line stepped on and a similar comment was made, except this time, he was being praised because he weighed a lot more than the first guy. As I sat there, I overheard the rest of the conversations as the situation progressed for a few more minutes. I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but what I was hearing was a big distinction between guys and girls. I will get back to this in one moment.
Following the gym I went to dinner (good combination, ay?) I sat with my roommate and soon after, a few guys sat down with us. For dinner, I chose to have a salad with egg, croutons, no dressing, and a glass of water. My friend had a sandwich. To me, this was a filling meal that would pretty much satisfy my appetite for the rest of the night. I looked over at one of the guy’s plates and I could not believe my eyes. On the tray in front of this guy (this guy, mind you, was about 5’8, maybe 170 pounds, in any case, not a huge football player kind) was two cheeseburgers, a sandwich, fries, two glasses of soda, and something else. There was no doubt in my mind that this guy would be eating ice cream as soon as he devoured everything else. I was amazed at what was going on. Guys and girls think so differently on many levels, but this one is just crazy in my eyes. As a girl I can honestly tell you that I watch my weight, which is why I eat healthy and work out. Guys, on the other hand, work out, possibly watch what they eat, but they do it for different reasons. The guys at the gym were picking on one another when they weighed LESS than someone else. Why is it that if it was a bunch of girls one of two things would be going on: either the girls would be hiding their weight, or it would all of a sudden be a competition of who weighs the least or who is thinner. I’m not about to go into the whole media thing that talks about why girls act the way they do, but this is just a comparison I have been noticing a lot since I entered college.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Class connection
I started to share this *cool* information with my roomate, but the disgusted look on her face made me realize that she didn't care. So I thought, hmm, I want to tell someone about this neat discovery but who will listen to me? Then it came to me...I'll write about it in my blog. That way, I'll be able to get it out of my system, and if people choose to read it, that's their problem (ha!).
It all started this weekend when I was being a *good* student and doing my reading my teachers had assigned for the weekend. I began reading my history book and at this point in the semester, we are learning about The French Revolution and a lot of things that were going on in England. In the past few chapters, we have also gone over poets and philosophers of that time. When I was done reading History, I started reading my Physics. In this class, we are discussing all the physics people, (what do you call them?) like Newton and Galileo (I'm sure I am not spelling this correctly). I discovered that everything I was reading in my Physics book I had just read in my History book. Being the intellectual kind of girl I am, I was amazed by this. When Physics was all over, I pulled out my British Literature book. As the name states, we are learning about poetry and literary works from the Romantic Literature point in time (Which took place in England). In class, we are learning about the history of everything that happened in this time, which was the French Revolution. If you remember what I was learning in History at this time, you should be gasping with disbelief at this time. Yes! I discovered yet another connection. Last but not least, I started reading my Vision Quest book for English. Although I couldn't find a direct connection, I decided that if it weren't for this blog, I wouldn't be able to write about my new discoveries! Whoa, it feels good to finally have someone listen to my thoughts...
It all started this weekend when I was being a *good* student and doing my reading my teachers had assigned for the weekend. I began reading my history book and at this point in the semester, we are learning about The French Revolution and a lot of things that were going on in England. In the past few chapters, we have also gone over poets and philosophers of that time. When I was done reading History, I started reading my Physics. In this class, we are discussing all the physics people, (what do you call them?) like Newton and Galileo (I'm sure I am not spelling this correctly). I discovered that everything I was reading in my Physics book I had just read in my History book. Being the intellectual kind of girl I am, I was amazed by this. When Physics was all over, I pulled out my British Literature book. As the name states, we are learning about poetry and literary works from the Romantic Literature point in time (Which took place in England). In class, we are learning about the history of everything that happened in this time, which was the French Revolution. If you remember what I was learning in History at this time, you should be gasping with disbelief at this time. Yes! I discovered yet another connection. Last but not least, I started reading my Vision Quest book for English. Although I couldn't find a direct connection, I decided that if it weren't for this blog, I wouldn't be able to write about my new discoveries! Whoa, it feels good to finally have someone listen to my thoughts...
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