The OC #2-May 11-Mind Boggling.

What's on my mind is probably the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. To a normal person, I sound pathetic, but I am nowhere near normal, now am I? Haha.

What's on my mind is....Vampire class. The class I'm teaching next year, hopefully. I haven't stopped thinking about it for weeks. And it keeps coming up in conversation so I think about it even more. I don't understand why I'm so afraid. Why the thought of teaching a class and talking in front of a large group of...oh, right that's why. People. People frighten me. Spider? Fine. Snakes? Adorable. People? Scary. People in large groups? *cries* The thought of even ten people looking at me, watching me mess up and make an idiot of myself, that's the scariest thing I can imagine.

I have been planning it, though. Very, very thoroughly. I have many options. We could take this course and read this book or this one, we can switch in the middle or...the options are endless. It's going to very...changeable. The class is going to help decide what we read, what we do, all of it. But there will definitely be structure. I just have options. The class can have their input and help me decide what to do next. I am quite fond of the planning aspect.

Haha, Ethan came up with a name for it, too.
"This Class Sucks." Haha, creative, right? Thanks Newman.
I think I should use that. Hahahaha.

The OC #1-May 11-Linworthian Mark.

I don't know that I can leave a mark on Linworth. I've not done anything spectacular and I don't think I can. I do know, however, that Linworth has left and will leave a very huge mark on me. Those of you who knew me freshman year, and actually remember, know how quiet, shy, and anti-social I was. I still am, though not nearly as much. I couldn't talk to anyone. Not even my closest friend. Talking in classes was not an option and when forced to, I cried and shook and practically passed out. I also still do some of that, though definitely not to that extreme. Talking is still awkward for me, but I can hold a conversation reasonably well with some, and I can sometimes talk in class and at least pretend I'm comfortable. I have a job at CVS and that requires lots of conversation. I pull it off as comfortable pretty well, just to make sure they don't feel awkward. It's not so hard, though scary at first. And the pièce de résistance...I'm teaching a class next year. Of all things I could possibly want to do, teaching was...unexpected. But I want to do it, and, hopefully, I can. All of these things, the willing to try something new, the ability to hold a conversation for more than just a few minutes, and the wanting to teach, are all thanks to Linworth and the huge huge impact it has had on me. I may not be able to do much for Linworth, but I will always be thankful for what it has done for me.

The OC #2-May 4th-Headlines & Money.

Wow. They really do that? That's...depressing, really. They're that desperate for money? Just can't have enough? I hate that people try to make money off of the stupidest things. Like headlines on T-shirts. If someone really wanted to wear a headline on their shirt they could easily make one for, what, $10? Buy a white T-shirt and some iron-on transfer paper. There you go. People will sell anything for some cash. It's really sad. No wonder our economy sucks. People buy useless junk for way more than they need to.

The OC #1-May 4- Mockingbird

I don't really know what we're supposed to write about, exactly, but I'll just comment.
I don't remember much of To Kill A Mockingbird. It didn't really spark my interest. The Innocence Project, however, sounds really cool. I know innocent people get put in jail because people just want someone to blame. As long as someone gets in trouble for it, they're happy. Of course, what happens to the true criminal? The one who actually murdered someone or raped someone. They're still out there hurting more people. Arresting innocents gets nothing done except having someone to blame. I'm glad there are people helping the innocent ones. I just hope the ones who truly did the crimes get caught.

The OC #1-April 20th-F on Finances.

I was in the class they interviewed about students and finances. I wasn't interviewed personally (how scary would that have been?), but I was there when the news people came.

I don't know what I'd do without having taken that class. My family has a bad history of financial issues and I wanted to stop that tradition. I learned so much from that class. I learned how to choose the right bank, how to buy a house, how to buy a car, both new and used, and so much more. Stocks, savings, checks, insurance, interest rates, all of it. I just hope I remember it all in the future. I know that in the future, my kids, if I have any, will know how to use money, and they will pass it down. I think I stopped the financial failures of my family.

I do think this class is extremely necessary. No one knows how to handle money and debts. That's why our economy is failing. If people were forced to take classes about handling money they would be able to pull us out of this hole we dug ourselves into. We could have a good economy again.

Reading and Reflection-Week of April 20-Gladwell?

I'm pretty fond of Gladwell's writing. He has lots of fun facts and information that help make his point. However, I think I might like to read something else. I think podcasts would be really cool, sorry it's too late for my opinion to matter. But, if we were to, maybe, find podcasts and talk about them or be assigned some and comment, I think that'd be really fun! News articles would be nice, as well. We could stay up to date with current events, whether they be political or entertainment based. Either would be fun, though.

Reading and Reflection-Twilight, again. For week of March 30.

Sorry, my brain forgets really important stuff when I'm all stressed. Wrote this when my computer was spazzing and forgot to post it.

I thought The Tipping Point was okay. I had a hard time following it though. I think it was just the time cause over the past few months I've been really spacey and my attention span went to like zero, so I couldn't focus on anything. It may have just been the weather or maybe it was the book, I'm not sure, but I didn't hate it! Just wasn't something I'd read a million times like I do with some books. Speaking of which, I'll tell you about the book I'm reading now.
In my first OC this week I told you about a town called Forks, WA. Well, I didn't just magically find that town. Forks is where Twilight is based in. Twilight is probably one of the greatest books, well the series, actually, I've ever read. It has vampires, it has romance, and it has probably some of the best writing I've ever read. It really is breathtaking. It's hard not to start hyperventilating when you read it, honestly. Stephenie Meyer is...incredible. She knows how to get a reaction out of you. I'm hoping, if I teach a class next year, to use this. Plus, a movie is currently being made out of it. I'm so excited. So, if I were to teach it, we might be able to take a field trip or something to go see it. Of topic, sorry. It's such an incredible book and it's impossible to not read over and over and over again. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The OC #2 (#1?)-War...

I don't really have much to say in this one. It'll be pretty self-explanatory, but here it goes. War is shit. Talk it out and be friends. It'd be so much easier! That's basically it, but just in case that's not enough I'll try to talk about it.
As I've said before, I don't like government, I don't understand it, and I want nothing to do with it. I feel exactly the same about war. I don't know why people feel it's necessary. There are other ways to solve things besides violence. Just talk it out. Even arguing is better than actual fighting. Killing people is unnecessary and people should just chill. Is there some key thing that I'm missing here? Give me one good reason why we should fight. I bet I can come up with a better way to solve it. I dare you.

Random Rant

Just so you know, this post is for ranting reasons only and has nothing to do with this class at all. I feel like complaining about computers and how shitty they are! My internet has been going from perfect to dead in a matter of seconds for weeks now and it's basically impossible to do anything worthwhile on it. I've been able to check my email briefly, then it'll die. No websites are working and, if they do, it'll let you login then say, "Oh, sorry. I feel like being a mega douche today!" I was able to get one blog posted while it was being somewhat nice, then death. It seems to be okay, for now, so I'll speed type my other blogs and hope I don't start crying. There's a computer guy coming tomorrow, so, hopefully, it'll be better. I hate technology...and yet my life depends on it. Sorry about the language in this blog, but I needed to rant and I thought here was the perfect place to do so.

The OC #1-Forks.

I'm actually doing my second OC first and it's about something I find extremely interesting and exciting. Forks, WA is a small town in Washington, obviously, basically in the middle of nowhere. The closest city is Port Angeles nearly an hour away. Forks is one of those small towns with one or two high schools, a small grocery store, maybe a little coffee shop, a gas station or two, and a small library. That's about it. It's always rainy, never lower than 40 degrees, and is close to a number of gorgeous beaches surrounded by cliffs, mountains, and forests. It's probably one of the most adorable towns I've ever seen. I actually hope to go there for one of my walkabouts. While on the topic of walkabouts, I'll tell you about what made me want to post about Forks in the first place. At Forks High School, there's this thing the seniors do called The Senior Culminating Project. It's kind of like walkabout, only not as awesome. The seniors have to go out and do a 45 hour service learning-oriented hands-on project then have to write a reflective paper of 1000 words or more, give a 15 minute formal presentation before a panel of three to five judges, and create a presentation of a visual display for a community exhibition at the high school near the end of each term. They do something that will enhance the community, the school, everyone, they have a mentor, they keep logs and journals. It's pretty much like walkabout. I think it's really cool and, maybe if I go to Forks for my walkabout, I can give them new ideas for it. Maybe their students will be able to do more in the future outside of Forks. You never know.


Senior Project Link.

Comments

I commented on Dylan's and Laura's posts.

OC #2-Drugs at age 10.

Is it already normal for older teens/college students/etc. to be taking drugs illegally? People are taking drugs in middle school now. What's worse is it doesn't shock me one bit. Kids are realizing there are ways to have fun and they're taking it. They'll do anything to enjoy their childhood, but they end up ruining their futures. I have a 13 (I think?) year-old sister and I would not be at all surprised to hear that she was caught with illegal prescriptions. Our house is full of them. My mom and I only take about 4573763936139431 different medications and Ron takes even more. She has plenty of resources. I just hate how people have their medicines in such accessible places. They hear their kids were caught with drugs and they get mad, when it's partially their faults. People are so unwilling to admit they may have done something wrong. People are too proud.

OC #1-Drug Water?

I read the Drug Water article.

First, Benjamin H. Grumbles...just putting that out there.

I'm not really surprised that we have drugs in our water, actually. I mean, very few Americans don't take drugs and I envy those who don't. I'm on quite a few medicines for various different things, so it doesn't surprise me at all. I'm kind of surprised at the amount of concern people are showing, however. I mean it's a very small amount of the drugs that is getting into your system so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, though the combination of the drugs may not be too good. It's still less than people who take drugs regularly are getting. I don't know, maybe I'm just not realizing how dangerous it really is.

Comments

I commented on Dylan's, Allie's, Melissa's, and Katie's.

Reading and Reflection Pt. 2 Broken Windows

This theory was really interesting. I had problems understanding it at first, probably because it was really late and I was exhausted, but I reread it and am pretty sure I get it now. Fixing the small problems before they get too bad is a good idea. I liked the graffiti cleaning idea. Because it takes three days to finish a piece, once they finish just fix it. They put so much work into it and now no one can appreciate it. It is like taking a completed roll of film from a photographer and exposing it or recording over a musicians tape. They were probably so proud of that and now its ruined. There's no way to get it back. It's the worst kind of punishment.

Reading and Reflection Pt. 1-Stanford Studies

The studies Stanford did with the underground jail thing, like Dylan said, made me think of the Chinese Water Torture episode of Mythbusters, too. That's what you get for being in a class based on Mythbusters. The less choice you have, the more stressed you are. Even if you know there are people right there who can get you out and get you to safety, you still can't help but become super paranoid. Maybe they'll turn on you and force you to stay strapped down. You never know. I wasn't at all surprised by the outcome of their "tests." The environment you are in definitely effects how you act. It's kind of like what I said about the last chapter, what you are exposed to is what determines your future. People who are treated poorly and are raised in less than decent environments are much more likely to either become serial killers or become super depressed. Sometimes even both. It all depends on how you are treated and brought up.

The OC #2-Shootings

I didn't know much about this shooting before reading this article and I don't know much about any of the previous ones. I don't watch t.v. much and I never watch the news, nor do I read the newspaper or anything news related. I should probably start caring about what's going on, but I don't. I think what happened was horrible, who wouldn't? People were hurt and killed, but this kind of thing probably happens more often than we know. Though, I looked it up and the number of school shootings have gone down quite drastically in the past decade or so. I wasn't really affected by the article that said the shooters bought their weapons from the same place. Anyone, anywhere can get anything easily and it's not that surprising that more than one person buys from the same place. I'm sure there are more than three people buying from stores online. No big deal really. I bet someone else in some other state bought something from, say Barnes and Noble, sometime recently. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Anyways, I really hope school shootings aren't going to become a regular thing and I hope the numbers keep going down, not up. Maybe people should stop being so judgemental. Most shooters are people with poor social lives and got picked on. Some of them have mental problems, but for the most part it's because they weren't treated right and were hurt in the past.

The OC #1-Bloggerific.

I really like this class. It's my kind of class, since it requires no talking. It's a great class for people like me. Those of us who may have something to say, but are too afraid to say it. I like having a chance to think about what I'm going to say. No one just asks me a question and expects me to answer on the spot. That kind of thing stresses me out a lot. Also, I really like computers so any excuse for me to be on the computer is a good thing to me.
I tried thinking of something I wanted to change about this class, but I couldn't really think of anything. It's such a great class. The assignments aren't too difficult, the reading isn't all that bad, and we have plenty of time to get everything done. The only thing I think I might change would be maybe to add choices. For example, with the OC or Research and Linking there could be a few options and we'd only have to pick one or two. So if there's a student who doesn't like, let's say, politics, there could be another options. You could even offer a choice where they can make it up themselves, but you can only use it some specified number of times so it's not just random crap week after week.

Reading and Response Pt. 2-Emily

The story about Emily, and the story she created, just amazed me! I didn't realize how complexly kids that young think. She was not only making a story of things she normally does, but she made it up completely and used everyday stuff in a fiction story. And she was only two and a half years old!! It just amazes me how intelligent kids are at such young ages. Though I'm not totally convinced it's from t.v. A lot of it comes from their environment, how their parents raise them, and how they are taught things at school and at home. If t.v. shows like Blue's Clues and Sesame Street help, then that's awesome.

Reading and Response Pt. 1-Sticky

I didn't realize that shows like Sesame Street and Blue's Clues took so much thought and research. I never really thought about it, but now that I have, it's not actually all that surprising. They feature some intense stuff for kids. Emotions are a big deal to them because they don't get it. My brothers get so confused when one of us gets sad or angry cause they don't know what's happening. They just ask, "What's wrong with (insert anyone's name here)?" Even when we try to explain what's wrong they still don't get it. Watching it on t.v. helps them comprehend it a little bit. Lots of exposure to it in the past, present and future will prepare them for their own emotions. I hope. Or they'll grow up to be heartless, uncaring people. Whatever works.