Hello, everyone! I will be doing something a little different this week. I will update this weekly blog everyday this week with three things that went well and how it did. This is discussed in the following site sources: What is Positive Psychology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program), Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page), and Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action). Hope you all enjoy reading and hopefully you or someone else may get some benefit from this! Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 1
Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 2
Thursday, November 1, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 3
Friday, November 2, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 4
Saturday, November 3, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 5
Sunday, November 4, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 6
Monday, November 5, 2018 - 3 of Today's Well-Going Things! Entry 7
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Hello, everyone! Welcome to my ninth blog entry. I've taken a look at What is Fan Fiction -- and why is it making people nervous? (Stephen Downes) as well as Rewinding and Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Head (Hidden Brain Podcast), and so I've also decided to do another vlog to discuss in detail my use of third person present tense, as well as other elements and ideas that came to mind while working on the latest draft of my narrative project.
Howdy! For this blog post, I've filmed and posted a YouTube video reflecting on my experiences of my final course at my six-year stint at Delaware County Community College. For this post, we could either film a 5-10-minute YouTube video or write a 450-word reflection blog. Despite that I would've found it easier to do the 450-word writing, I've opted to shoot the video instead because I like the idea of "challenging myself" rather than just taking the easy way out of things, which, admittedly, I've often been prone to doing. I MAY plan to refilm this video due to my choppy speech. If I do sound kind of "choppy" it's because I put myself through the nervousness of being on camera and putting myself and my video out there on the Internet as it's not something I'm used to doing. It however felt very rewarding to take the plunge and do something challenging that made me step out of my comfort zone.
Hello, all. In this blog post, I will be creating a "Found Poem" using pieces of my first draft of my Narrative Project. In it, I'll be also experimenting with different kinds of subgenres to compose the piece. They are listed below. Enjoy!
Section 1: Found Poetry Genres Used: Cut-up, Cento, and Erasure In the Darkness of Night A Saturday night 8:00 or 9:00 Shopping at the mall with a friend of mine She and I spent the entire day walking My feet felt sore and achy Pain radiating up my lower legs I started for the exit Thinking the chilly night air would remedy the discomfort in my feet I was greeted by a comfortably-cool breeze That had swept through me Caressing my body taking in the beautiful air closing my eyes opened my eyes the sky was pitch black the streetlights all across the parking lot gave the night air a brownish-orange hue There were small wet puddles of water Scattered all over the ground and pavement As well as little droplets of water Scattered all across the exteriors of the vehicles That had crowded the parking lot As it had rained earlier that day I love the rain I love being out at night. I saw Ayesha emerge from the mall Carrying an array of large shopping bags in her hands She and I began walking toward her red Kia Rio making what had to have been a less-than-three-minute walk feel more like a thirty as the more steps I took the more labored they've become and the more laborious my steps the more it felt like I couldn't take another As soon as Ayesha unlocked her car doors I immediately pulled open the front passenger side door and took my seat "Are you gonna be okay in here?" asked Ayesha. "Yeah! Oh, yeah," I immediately and confidently affirmed. "Okay, I'll be right back." She then closed the car door I watched her as she walked back into the mall Once she disappeared into the building that's when I felt completely alone… In a frightening sense I was alone But there were mall patrons and shoppers all around me Going in and out of their vehicles and in and out the mall Some of whom were also carrying shopping bags I could hear very faint conversations taking place as people were walking But that was it And did little to nothing to ease the fear that was slowly racing through my body like a vicious wild virus It was silence Eerie silence It was dark in here Eerie darkness So silent you could hear a spider slowly climbing up a wall I heard a small thud I instantly felt chills going up my spine I asked myself "Was I really going to be okay in here alone?" I like being in the dark But I'm afraid of being in the dark "What if there's a ghost in here? Am I going to be attacked by the ghost? It is too dark and quiet in here!" The windows were shut All of them I pressed the button below the window next to me to open it Nothing happened I unlocked and opened the door The light comes on But the open-door chime is nonstop And gets more and more annoying by the micro-second What if there's a carjacker nearby? I shut the door Darkness My paranoia reached its peak point I finally stepped out the vehicle I power-walked back into the mall Ayesha was just exiting it Section 2: Reflection (The following will all be discussed in a vlog I'll be covering in the very-near future.) Q: Do you think the narrative provides enough descriptive language to create a compelling found poem? A: YES! Most definitely! Q: Do you think the descriptive language more so creates a setting or delivers the subtext of a theme? A: I think both. In my opinion, I've utilized so much description and description of senses that I feel I've made it possible to create a setting and delivered on the subtext of being afraid of the dark I've depicted in both the narrative and the piece of poetry I've created above. Q: In revision, will you focus on using description to develop more of the setting or more of a theme? A: I plan to; yes. Interestingly, this week's blog post is a revision of last week's blog post! Unfortunately, I did make the error of making small changes and corrections to my previous blog when the idea hear was to revamp it, so to speak. It is kind of a touchy topic since I speak a lot about reincarnation, which is something I've touched on a lot lately but here we go:
She and I are at the brink of yelling our lungs out at each other. It is a dark Saturday night, and the further we continue bickering back and forth, the more her focus seems to on me and this argument than the dark and busy road ahead. Strangely enough, I knew it was a possibility, but I wasn't too concerned with getting into an accident. I've always fancied the idea of reincarnation. For as long as I can remember I was a fan of the philosophy that when we die, that's not the end-all-be-all of our life experience, and that we as souls—or at least a good majority of us—are prepping for our next earthly life experience. There's this dynamic to this all that to a good few people with whom I spoke to on the topic, be it in person or on Internet forums, who know of or support the idea of reincarnation do NOT favor the idea of having to reincarnate for another earthly life at all, yet I am the few who do want to reincarnate after this life. Myesha and I have been friends since the summer of 2014 despite our different views on spirituality and religion. She follows Christianity, which I was absolutely nothing to do with. She's also informed me on a few occasions that she is "unsure" about whether reincarnation really exists. I've always hoped our friendship could thrive and flourish despite these conflicting views but now I'm left questioning whether I want to continue being friends with her at all. Saturday evening, about 9 pm. I'd been sitting next to her in the passenger's seat in her Kia Rio as she was driving me home. It started out as a quite ride home as we were hungover after having spent the whole afternoon and a small part of the evening at the Franklin Mills Mall, as she and I both love to shop. What started out as a quiet, relaxing drive turned into a tense, heated showdown very fast. Feeling and believing as though I could talk to Myesha about absolutely anything, I, after having rejected her offer for me to accompany her to Bible Study the following Sunday, I told her about this argument that I've had with someone online on a forum catering to the subject of reincarnation as to whether or not we can choose who we can become between those lives, and so I'd like to stay off the topic of anything spiritual for a while. I though, since this individual was someone who I considered to be a friend, she would respect my wishes but instead of doing just that, how petty she thought I was being for arguing back and forth with someone over the Internet about reincarnation as well as her "concern" that I'm devoting so much of my time and energy to something that may not exist was all she could ramble on about. Well… all I could ramble about was how wrong and crass she was for saying those kinds of things to me, whereas this is something that means a whole lot to me and she ought to respect it if I really mean that much to her. "You do mean a lot to me," she stated, but everything she's said before that caused me to exponentially doubt her claims. "How freaking dare you!" I snarled. There's nothing "petty" about this situation. She had no right to call me, this situation, and my strong desire to reincarnate "petty" just because she doesn't believe in it. Where does she get off? I asked her that too. Not much was said after that. For the rest of the ride, I thought to myself, "this is why it's a bad idea to be friends with or at least share spiritual views or desires with someone who beliefs doesn't correspond with yours." For the sake of retaliation, I slammed her car door with the intent to cause minor damage to her vehicle when she dropped me off at my place, almost neglecting to say "good night" when she said the same to me. To say the very least, this situation played a small role into why she and I are nowhere as close with each other as we were when we first met and Myesha, as I see her, is just an acquaintance, rather than a close friend. |
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who sees life as a giant canvas, on which an artists paints her portrait. What will you paint on your canvas of life? Archives
December 2018
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