Of course I again forget to write my blog ontime. I honestly do not know why i constantly forget to write it. This time I forgot because I took a three-hour nap after my classes ended at 2:00. Then of course, I had practice. After that I had to take a shower, during which, by my luck, the fire alarm went off for the second time this week. So, five hours after I meant to have it in, I remember the blog assignment. But since I doubt anyone cares to hear me complain any further, for the remainder of my blog, will share some of my observations.

Well, I noticed that a lot of people decided to wear their Halloween costume tonight. Apparently they like to get started early. I myself decided not to join in the Halloween festivities by dressing up tonight. Tomorrow night, on the other hand, I plan to go all out. This year, I chose the costume of a 60s go-go dancer. I know I could have put more creativity into my costume, but time ran out in my search, and besides, it looked pretty good. I noticed a lot of good costumes this year. I saw a couple that dressed up as Adam and Eve, a Betty Boop, and a big goober named Adam in a Twinkie costume. I love Halloween.

A Difficult Copula

It remains a fact that trying something informed of not doing always creates much more stress and resistance in the executing of a task and leads into situations of much awkwardness. For example, when meeting someone for the first time, previous advice before meeting the individual from a friend tells you that this person sports an extremely large ear. Just one ear for the other side of his face lies all in good proportion. So the information relayed beforehand advises you in not looking at this person’s abnormal ear because if you look oddly at it, the man becomes furious. Expressing a general desire for a good first impression, the goal of not glancing at this man's ear becomes the main focus of attention. When the action unfolds, and the man enters the room for the greeting, you develop into a fearful and uneasy state because the sole thing that your mind limits you from doing causes you a desire of doing it. The human's natural curiosity for undiscovered things fights the urge of complying and succumbs reluctantly into looking away. This answers the question of why it remains tremendously difficult because what your brain tries telling you continues as the only thing in your mind. A famous movie series of our time with a witty character named Austin Powers encounters this circumstance when he meets a man with a large mole. Although previous instruction orders him of looking away or straying from talking about the mole, Powers cannot fight the urge and makes a mockery of the mole. I believe these instances compare most significantly with the assignment at hand. As a result, this blogg so far relies heavily on much revision and thought and consequently holds first place for the hardest and trying blogg ever written in the history of my profound and exquisite blogging. Although I find it quite perplexing that the advantages in writing like this make my writing a bit more interesting. I hope my efforts reap great rewards and that there lies no mistakes in my courageous efforts. I want knowledge of anyone finding this assignment easy.

Week 8 Blog Entries

For this week, you have an open topic for the blog, with the following restrictions: 1) you must use complete sentences (including subjects and verbs), and 2) you may not use any forms of the verb "to be" ("be," "am," "is," "are," "was," "were," "been," "being," or contraction forms such as "I'm" or "you're"). Let these restrictions guide how you choose to express yourselves this week, and see what emerges. By not relying on the copula (look it up) this week, you have an opportunity to practice strengthening your language use.

Note that except for the words within quotation marks serving to illustrate the list of proscribed words, this entry does not use the copula...

I want to know what I'm going to do in my future. To be more specific, I wonder how the rest of my semester is going to go. If it is going like it is now, I think I'll do alright, maybe even pull out a 3.0 average, of course my goal is a 4.0 but with the way Calculus and English are going, it doesn't look like it will happen. I want to know why the B-on time loan is ending and why I have to find some other means of finacial support. I want to know if I will be able to find enough financial aid to cover my costs here at school. I wonder if I will be able to decide on which classes I want to take next year and if the classes I want/need will be availiable. If not, what will happen. I want to know if I will be able to handle the classes I receive next year. I know Rhetoric and Comp. II is required and I've heard it's tough. What sort of teachers will I have, will they be as helpful as the ones I have now. Will I be ready? My grades are the point of concern, the question at hand, the focus of my worries. I hope I'm headed down the right path and that my grades improve instead of worsen. But everyday seems to get a little bit more harder more in depth. My teachers grading is becomes more strenuous for the mistakes made in the past should be learned and fixed. My desire is to learn, but how will I do?

ah, facebook

Why won't Analisa let us get on facebook? I mean, I can understand if you know, Dr. Barndollar is teaching us something, or if we are supposed to be doing something in class. But if we are given free time to do what we want, why can't we get on facebook for just a moment to check our facebook at one of the only times in the day that we are able to? I suppose this isn't a very big problem for most of the class, but for me, it is a very serious problem. this is because Analisa sits right next to me. Even Adam, who sits on the other side of me, is able to check his facebook AND his myspace during class without any problem. It's just not fair. Then again, I guess another problem this leads me to is why is facebook so addicting? honestly, it's almost impossible to not check your facebook when you are given free time on the computer. even if you don't have any messages or comments, you still find something to do on there, someone's profile to go snooping at, some gossip to find in the feeder, etc.

Week 7 Blogs

This week, focus on a question of any kind that is occupying your attention in some way, and tell us about it. It can be personal, academic, metaphysical, practical—whatever. You don't have to answer it; you can just talk about the question, and why it's important to you, or how you came to understand it as a question, and so on. If you wish to answer it, that's of course fine. Notice what kinds of things are puzzling, troubling, interesting, or engaging your attention (consciously or otherwise) at the moment.

Just in time, they turned off the lights and quieted down. Everyone thought his surprise would be ruined because of the commotion that had erupted when it was discovered that he had arrived prematurely. But luckily, someone had turned off the lights and the room grew still. The door creaked open, and there was a pause of silence. Then all of a sudden, as if on cue, everyone yelled, “Surprise!” Everyone, that is, except for the caterers and other service people who had not been informed that it was not a birthday party. Those “happy birthdays” went almost unheard, but the guest of honor noticed them immediately, and it made him chuckle. A giant grin spread across his beaming red face as he began to greet the guests. What none of them knew was that he had already known. He had known for weeks. Things just can’t be kept secret in this company, he had thought, when he saw one of the invite letters in the trash. But they didn’t need to know, and he wasn’t going to be the one to bring their spirits down. One by one, he thanked and embraced his colleagues and friends, making his way to the front of the room. As he did so, the heat of the room began to get to him, and beads of sweat began to trickle down his neck. Finally, he reached the front table, and stepped behind the microphone. With his friends ushering him on, he began to give his speech. But as he did so, he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest.

The older kids had sought out a fishing spot thirty feet down from us. They had been there for hours. Not as long as my brother and I, but nearly. They had drunk themselves sober and were now arguing over whether or not they should begin using M-80s on whatever fish they caught. M-80s were a little expensive to be using on catfish. One of them said they should just drag their catch from the bumper of their car. The lone female, and there is always a lonely girl hanging out with older kids, said they should take their fish home, scale them and eat them. Her simple more normal method was ignored. The girl is always ignored, until around midnight or so. Sometimes they do not wait that long and finish when the bickering is at a standstill. At that time, the girl always becomes the focus.
My brother recognized that we knew of these kids. These were the Kennedy’s. Joe, Carrie and Teddy. They lived in a house where we grew up, and were widely regarded for their capacity for alcohol and pain. Their dogs ruled the neighborhood streets after dark. These were lonely animals, proud and dangerous. They were little balls of matted fur and starved, bitter anger. I had been attacked once by a tag-team made up of the collie and the terrier. The bite marks on my legs and the claw marks on my lower back drew laughter from the owners. They pointed at me from their screened-in front porch and suggested that I run faster next time……

observations around campus

As I walked along the path between Trustee and Ragsdale, I observed a lot of trees, but one in particular caught my eye. One tree had a memorial to a brother who had died in 1997. It honored his hard work and his kind character. It was something that I had never noticed before, which made me feel kind of bad. I realize that if no one ever took the time to sit and read those few words about a very special person who is gone, it would be almost as if that person had never lived. It is nice to see that the university found a way to honor someone who contributed to the university, and that they did so in a quiet, yet special way.

On Sunday, I was by myself walking back from having lunch at Ragsdale, and there was no one around campus. Since I had nothing to do but read my book for class and since it was a nice time of day, I sat down on the stone bench that runs along the Trustee building. I had seen people sit there before, and I had always wanted to. As soon as I sat down, I just felt completely calm and relaxed, and I realized how beautiful our campus really is. I noticed that the grass grows much greener the further away it is from the main walkways. And rather than actually reading my book, I watched people go by. There was a large family taking a tour of the campus with their two small sons, who were probably not more than three and five years old. It was adorable to watch the little boys running around. They were completely carefree, and everything was entertaining to them. I miss those days. Another thing I noticed was a woman holding her baby. With the woman’s back turned to me, all that I saw was the baby, who looked at me with big blue eyes and a precious little innocent face. But what was most interesting to me of all my observations was the way the baby clutched her mother’s arm, as if she would lose her if she let go.

Classroom exercise

I'm gonna write about my experience last week when Dr. B told us to go and just explore. I didn't have high hopes but this is what happened. I walk out of Trustee and notice everyone is going down the left sidewalk. I start walking down the right sidewalk, and just keep watching until something catches my eye. It's early morning so everything is still a little quieter than usual, the sun is shining quite brightly though. I walk past the library, and then sort of wander down past the side of the old gymnamsium, which is old and is being overgrown by nature. Behind the old gymnasium is a street, and as I turn up the street, I notice a big swampy area in the distance. It sort of looks like a big pond or something. Anyways, I walk towards it in hopes that I have found the thing that has caught my eye. As I became closer, the area grew larger. I made it to the point where I was standing underneath a large, old tree, something not uncommon at St. Ed's. But as I looked out at my view, I came to the realization that this was what I was searching for. It sounds kinda corny, and it didn't really have a whole lot of impact on me, but nevertheless, I still felt a little sense of accomplishment. By the way, the "pond" that I was looking at was St. Edwards storm drain area, and was like a little habitat for animals that live in the swamp. I'm sure the biology & ecology students go crazy over that place. But if anybody wants to ever take a gander, this place is cool and quiet place to go.

Week 5 Posts

To continue our theme of focusing on direct experience, this week's entry should be a description of something you have recently observed in your surroundings, whatever those may be. Spend 15 uninterrupted minutes observing something, possibly in your everyday lived environment, possibly in a favorite natural spot, possibly in a crowded place, and simply pay attention to what is presented to you. Tell us about it in the usual 250 words or so. Help us see in language what you see in your world.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was born in Copenhagen on May 5, 1813. He attended the University of Copenhagen to study theology, trying to make his father happy (his father wanted him to be a minister). However, Søren was more interested in liberal studies and philosophy. Earning his Master’s degree, he wrote his first major work, a dissertation called “The Concept of Irony.” In many of his writings, Kierkegaard used pseudonyms. As a writer, he did not achieve much success, he mostly attacked Christendom and showed his criticism for Hegel, a Western philosopher. Kierkegaard attacked Christendom, stating that truly becoming a Christian required an extremism, but the Danish State Church allowed all Danes to consider themselves Christians. Kierkegaard also introduced the three spheres of human existence: aesthetic, ethical, and religious. In the aesthetic sphere, people are only concerned with aesthetic pleasures. Eventually, people realize that they cannot find meaning in material things, and must move on to the next sphere of existence. In the ethical stage, an individual becomes aware of good and evil and adjust their lives to fit what they see and good and ethical. This person lives in obedience to duty. In the religious stage, the highest stage of development, an individual discovers a commitment and relationship with God. This stage is divided into two stages: Religiousness A and Religiousness B. Religiousness A refers to the religion of Socrates, and Religion B refers to the religion of Jesus Christ. Kierkegaard’s beliefs show influence in many writers as well as other philosophers of his generation and in the generations since.

http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_490_kierkegaard.htm

Fred N.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/
This little blog is going to be about the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Hopefully whoever is reading this will be take away a bit of knowledge about this critical thinker named Friedrich and his profound views of life. Little Friedrich was born in a small rural farmland in Germany. His family was very religious with his grandfather being ministers and his father being a Protestant scholar, whatever that means. Nevertheless his family instilled in him strong religious views. He grew up in a strict boarding school and went to the University of Bonn in 1864 where he studied philology which I thought was pretty interesting. It's kind of like philosophy except studying religious views instead of moralistic views. He moved to the University of Leipzig in 1865 and discovered the writings of Schopenhauer. This pretty much is how he discovered his enthusiasm for philosophy. A lot of other interesting things happened to him during his lifetime, one instance involving him going literally insane over a horse being whipped. But that's another story. Let's concentrate on his works.
Mr. Nietzsche was a bit more religious than other philosophers as he tested the traditional values of Christianity. Following this trend, he studied the common moralities of society too. Instead of many other philosophers who concentrated their thoughts on crazy out of this world ideas, Nietzsche believed in reality-the suffering, health, creativity, and all of the feelings we feel in life. “Central to Nietzsche's philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation," which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines which drain life's energies, however socially prevalent those views might be.” Quite interesting……