blog 16

Today we went to the computer lab and checked out pandora and last fm. I knew about pandora for a long time since it first came out so it was nothing new. Last fm i didn't know existed. So we went on pandora and I had my stations already and I was listening to them and stuff already. I like pandora so I was justall up on it when we started. Later the teacher told us to go to last fm. I get to the website and it's way different. I type in an artist I want to listen to and I the page comes up. The thing about this website is that it only plays individual songs. I put on a song from the cool kids and it plays each song individually. I don't like that really. I like pandora's player better. What I like about pandora is that it plays the artist you wanna listen to and other artist that sound similar. It kind of shuffles the music which I like. I don't just like listening to the same artist I like when they mix it up throwing other bands and newer and older songs for the artist you want to listen and other bands as well. I like last fm only because you get to pick the songs individually that you want to listen to. That I think is the coolest thing about the site. Sometimes I wish I could listen to a specific song on pandora but is shuffles and sometimes it plays the song. Last fm is really only good when you want to listen to single songs and watch videos from the artist. If you want more of a variety then pandora is the best choice. Alot of people I know have heard of pandora and like it alot. It also has a free application for phones so you can use it anywhere. Pandora radio is growing everyday and reaching a bigger audience. It's pretty much a fan favorite. Last fm I barely heard of the other day and I don't know how well they will do but all they can do is try. They won't be better thatn pandora because it's big and getting better.

blog 15

Well for starters I haven't gone to the writing center. I haven't really got any feedback from anybody. I mostly asked questions about my paper and that's the only feedback I got. The writing center thing I just don't have time for and that's a problem I have. I can do the paper and complete it but when it comes down to having to go to the writing center I just fail at that. I don't really have time for it and would rather just turn it in instead of going through a whole process. The things I wish would go different are the writing center situation. I have a job and can't always make time for the writing center. If that's going to be an issue then I guess I will just have to get zero's on those assignment's. I wish it was a bit easier but I it's not and i'm trying to work around that but it's just not going my way. I guess the best thing for me is to just keep trying and hoping by a miracle I can pass even though it's hard for me to work around this class. I do get feedback on my papers from like my friends or my family members. My friends understand more and in a way kind of help me out a little. They know my situation is tough and that I might barely be sliding by. But yes I do wish the writing center process was a little easier because I wouldn't be in the situation i'm in. My eassy was coming along just great but then I forgot about the whole writing center thing and I kind of just gave up a little becasue I knew I wasn't going to turn it in on time and it's kind of my fault but then again it's not because the teacher expects us to be able to make it there everytime and sometimes we can't because we have life outside of college. I guess to end it all im just going to say if your not going to change somethings for people who do the work but can't meet certain things because there life bthen don't expect to much from them if your putting the extra pressure on them or myself.

blog 14

Well today in class we had an assignment about commenting on people's blog's. When i first came across it I was like what ok this might be interesting. So the teacher said go and find somebody's vlogs from the class and comment on two people. So I went through and commented on two of my classmates. I think it felt wierd because if they read them they might look at me like that's what he had to say. When it came down to someone commenting on mine I was cool about it and I didn't really care. It was a fun little activity that we had to do. Although I was a airhead about it at the begining, but then I figured it out. I read there easiest blog's to comment on so it would be to hard to do. It was an easy day for me and I would imagine an easy day for everybody else in the class who had to do it. I hope we can do something as easy as that again because that was an easy assignment and today's blog was shorter and easier. This blog we kind of got a little break on and I was glad.

blog 13

Today in class with a member of our team we had to create a timeline for our blog. I don't kno why we did this because it didn't help me at all. The partner I had my teamate steven it was more of me helping him though. He hadn't watched a video yet so I told him to watch a couple then pick one he liked. It got down to the timeline and his video was perfect for the timeline. The timeline thing was confusing. I looked at mine a couple of time to see how it would help start my essay. It was more of order of sequence to me. My video was really short so didn't have to much to work with. As I started my paper though I kind of just went from what the name of the blog was to what he first started saying. Alot that could have helped me more was having an example of an descriptive essay to look at and kind of see how I could start and how I could end it. The little experience in class today was not to much help. Yes I did ask the teacher like from what to what on the timeline. What can I start with and other things. She told me to start with the name maybe and some things he might talk about. But I asked what if my video is short and he repeats alot of things. She said to make it longer just describe the background behind the person. Describe the mood the tension and also what you think and feel about it. Also they said to describe the person who is in the video. That I though added a litttle bit more to my paper. Yes my vlog was a short video and I had a hard time thinking of how to do it. But I came through with some of the paper not all. I had a hard time tryin to get six paragraphs. Also the length of the paragraphs were hurting me too. But my paper is coming along and hope it gets finished soon so I canmaybe turn it in.

blog 12

Today I saw a vlog video from youtube. The title was my first vlog with a smiley face at the end. The guy never mentions his name but his screen name was acidmetal1. This guy says he is orginally from el paso and lives in austin. He said this is his first vlog unexpected. The music he mentions he listens to is rap, metal, black metal and others. He says he's into all types of music. He said he had done this vlog because he had been watching other videos from a guy who's screen name was DC. Acidmetal1 goes on with his talking and just say's that he's been working and singing. He said he recorded a song and posted it up but it sucked because he did it in one take. Another thing he mentions is yes again he's from austin and wants to go to houston so he can record some quality work. During some other he goes on just repeating the same stuff say he has to go to work and hes gunna be there for like an hour and twenty minutes. He says he had just got out of the shower and will probably head out soon after the vlog. Also to mention in the background it looks like he had the lights off but you can see the white walls to the room he is in. It's kind of a dark background. He also has some rap music playing in the background but I don't know who it is but it souunds cool. His hair looks wet like he got out of the shower and he's wearing a new era hat to the side along with his long hair down along his face and neck. So later he just said he's been rapping and listening to old stuff and just getting inspired by it and recording stuff. He also says when he thinks of stuff he writes it down and even at work he does. Then when he gets home he writes it down and turns it into a song. He also say's he wants to join someone like partners or like also with someone on youtube because he said he see's alot of good MC's on youtube.

blog 11

After watching the video I was just in a little daze. This guy Micheal Wesch was just going off straight from the begining. Saying how alots changed from 1948 till now. Back then watching tv was less and he compared watching tv in 1948 to watching youtube videos and stating that youtube beat a record in one day. He talked about how one video that was on youtube led to another thing ad another. Youtube made some people cyber stars. Micheal himself was recgonzied as a cyber star just for making a video about digital text call web 2.0. He was also showing how other people watch videos and remake there own versions of them and upload them for others to watch. Soulja Boy a teenage music artist got his fame from youtube. He made a song and video and it got around youtube and multiple other sites. There were many remakes of it but he eventually got signed and made a real video for it and made it big. He also talks about people using there webcams then post videos about maybe talking about something or reflecting on something. That is pretty much a video blog that they do there. Also adding to the video blogs Micheal said comments others leave behind kind of push people to make another vlog to talk about those comments and how they impact the person doing the video blog. He also show that some people fing that video blogging is more free and comfortable than actual interacting and you still see the human in front of you just not as you would in person. Also in the video he says theres some cultural tenison with video blogs. As you watch some of the vlogs you see that some people are very emotional and are talking about there day. Other users of youtube also make vlogs in respond back to those people. Personally in my opinion alot of people make things a big deal. Micheal made a great point about youtube and the internet in general. Alot from this video was very new to me and informative. But as a youtube viewer I knew most of the things he was talking about and why we comment the way we do and why we wonder people put dumb videos on there.

Reflecting on essays

The things than come in my head about this email essay and my third blog really just hit me. The email essay we have been working on is really a big step up from alot of papers i have done in my life. This email essay and blog number three are the same topic just written differently. The third blog was jus straight up write to a friend about a bad grade you got. There was no format or a certain way to write. All you had to do was jump into it. The email essay basicly came with a page of instructions on how the paper should be written and what should not be in there. When I got that page of instructions I knew I was heading for big problems. The rough draft I had showed up with at class was a total buzz kill paper. I saw some of my teammates papers and I was like I don't even know what I was doing. When it came time for me to read my paper they said it was a good paper but that it needed alot of work. I know it needed alot of work when I stepped in that door. Mostly the whole paper was just messing with my head and it had me all lose in the head. I went to the writing center and that set my head for sure. I wish this paper was as easy as blog number three but teachers just like to make things hard for us. But both blog number three and the email essay are the same but also completley different. All in all I learned something from both blog number three and also the email essay that will stick with me because it will only get worse for me in english.

Workshop experience

Well today we were supposed to get in a circle with our group and discuss how our essay paper are coming along. Each member in my group including myself read what we had and suggested to each other the best ways to make each others papers better. My group told me mine was good but that I should make it longer and to make it longer we I need to put more detail into it. The paper has alot of difficult things in it and it just makes it harder to write it almost perfect. My group didn't want to tell me anything about my paper but I needed them to because I didn't know if I was doing it right so I made them tell me how I can better the paper. All in all they did a good job of telling me what to do and I took it under my consideration because it's the best thing to do right now. Other groups looked like they knew what they were doing and some I am sure were unprepared. This little workshop thing was ok I guess it was helpful to me but not nessesary. My rough draft is out of they way and all I can do now is try to write another and see where I can improve on that one. The final draft will be due soon and I know my paper should be up to the standards set for the essay. Still I need to get the paper looked at in the writing center before I turn it in. Why I need to get it looked at puzzels me but I have to do it so my final draft can be just right. This is a major thing to me and I hope all of it can go my way and not get to me.

Dating

Well today my team did a presentation on dating and how it is now and what are the effects of online dating. Well my paper was about gays not liking that they can't use eharmony's services beacuse eharmony doesn't have a same sex compatiablity feature. I don't why they would want to use eharmony anyway because the other sites such as chemistry.com, match.com, and true.com allow same sex compatablilty. Another article that got me was the one where in mumbai they date online meet that person every now and then but the one of them sends a private detective to see if that can be there future girlfriend or boyfriend. In the article we find out that a guy sends private detectives to see if this girl he's talking to could be his potential girlfriend but the detectives tell him they saw that girl checking into a hotel with another man so I was like wow this is bad. There was also another article that was catching my eye. It was one where people don't have time to date so they use some website where they use avatars and go on dates and can give each other good night kisses. They also take pictures of them selves and send it to the website for the other person to see what they look like. It's a dating website where people can date and never really have the risk of meeting each other and never anything bad happening. These people just go online and use there avatar with this other person and date just like that. Over there is nothing wrong with the online dating thing going on. The only thing I would stress is being very careful and choosing the right sites to use because some sites just might not allow what you may want.

Email essay

Well the discussion about the email etiquette assignment coming up seems to be very difficult. We have to go through a whole process before we do anything. We read the entire paper of directions that were given to us. Alot of it was confusing and I felt was junk. It seems that the teacher wants everything a certain way in a certain time and it's just not that easy. The eassay is about an email you sent to your teacher about a grade you got and you want to know if the teacher can change it. We need to have fully developed body paragraphs and we can only use certain writing and when I was hearing this I was jus freaking out. I was like how can we write a paper when there is limiting on the wording we want. I am going to have to think long and hard before I even write this paper. There is to much that we can and can not do on this paper. Stuff like that just keeps getting me thinking can I even do this I don't think I can. The reqirements for this paper are way different from high school and are tripping me out. This is not going to be easy for me. Another thing that makes this harder is that before we can even turn in this paper we have to get it looked at by someone else before we can turn it into the teacher. The teacher will not grade that paper unless the english lab looks at it and buts a stamp on it. I don't have time for things like that. I have a job that I go to and I just don't have time to make an appointment with the english lab. This paper is going to get done right by me it's just going to be hard.

What's with the ipod

Well today in our class I found two articles that really caught my attention. One was about ipods such as iphone and itouch are allowed at one university. They say its a good way to have kids learning to use the new technology and not have to deal with the hassel of a laptop. In the articles somewhere it said that it saves you money on not having to buy books and other resources the iphones have. I say that's a lie and a scam. You have to pay the monthly service and additional fees for other stuff on the phone. You will be paying way more for that phone that books that you will not need for long and can always sell back. The iphone is a distraction. Another article I read today was on internet in schools. Some people think its a good and in the articles it said the parents should teach there younger ones to use the computer at a young age and be caught up with the technology. This will help them learn quick, know what they are doing and also help them be ahead. There are lots of people that are behind on knowing how to use the computers but that should not stop us from teaching others. 60 percent of jobs require computer skills and thats alot of people. So its best that we teach the world because one day every job will reqire computer skills. One last think the articles mentioned something about how english teachers love students to write there papers on the computer because it takes away bad handwriting pencils, pens, and has spell check and other additions you just can't know from smarts. All in all i like computers but im not the best typer so i woud rather write it out because it's faster and an easier more effcient way because you can always get a pen and paper to write and not always a computer.

articles discussion about texting and literature.

Today was a heated discussion about the technology known as cell phones and texting. How all that is connected toward the way you write or in your english class. Man well the texting article got me thinking and disagreeing alot. Alot of it is that people say its rude and bad posture. Well I got some words for them. Get over it, this is the new generation. We need to use our phones to call but to text more because thats less rude than yamming your mouth on the phone. Also the texting slang and how it affects me and many other people. We control when we use computer and texting slang. There are no affects of it toward writing an english paper of letter. Kids and young adults just need to turn off the texting mode they have in there brain and start up there modern language mode. There is controveresy about it. I have sometimes done it but always find myself catching so I know that I am not texting right then and there but writing a paper. Lets start with the iphones that are given to freshman at a university. Thats just a way to make money for the phone company and lure students to that universtiy. It's a big scam. That phone is super popular and all it will do is distract students from what they are really there for. It just another great idea for theft, more phone use and distraction. Finally lets get to the last thing. Writing has changed alot since from along time ago. We text now and write and also have slang talk. It may be a new revoultion for writing because back then it was limited and faked in a way. Writing is changing and will continue to do so. We use writing on devices now and have a slang for it. Eventually something more bigger and universal will impact the way we write in the future.

A reflection

Well overall the discussion went good and the teacher gave us a whole lot of information on the rest of the semester. Well be getting alot of stuff to do, mostly essays and writing assignments. My group is actually made up of really good people who actually will get the work done. We all communicate really well and get along. We talk together everyday we go to class so I think we will be one of those stronger groups and rise above the others. We are very serious about our work and will go to the extreme to get it done. What I have to say about the writing assignments is that I hope there easy and eye catching topics I can write about. I really don't want something I won't want to write about because it will take me a while to get it done. The assignments do seem to be easy just from looking at the assignments sheet. I know I will be able to get stuff done in a timely manner as well as my group members. Also as a member of my group I will try to get my group to pull together even though I am not team leader. I really want a good grade for myself and as well for my group because they are a reflection on me since I am part of there team. So for the remaining semester days I hope me and my group can hold it together me work around my life outside school and work to get what I need done. I am a strong person and hope that this semester can make me a better person in english and better person with a team that can help me succeed. Thats all I have to say about my reflection about my team and the upcoming assignments.

Complaing about a grade I got

Dear, Joey

Hey man I'm writing to you because I need to let some rage out man. Well It's about a damn grade that a teacher of mine gave me. It was on a writing assignment that needed to be five pages long. So she said it will be due in two weeks. So I start looking up stuff to write because we could write about anything. After that for the next week I blow off eveybody and everything to get this paper done right. I pour my heart out and stay up late nights because I am never satisfied. Then I continue to start over and over again right. Days are coming to an end and my brain is blistering, my eyeslids are heavy and fingers just stiff as hell. Two days before the due date I tone it down and start getting things done hour by hour. The night before comes and I'm re-writing it so it can look nice and proffesional. The next morning I turn it in and sit there till class ends and race out of there. I go home proud, tired and worn out. I feel I will get a good grade and don't worry about it. Finally the next class day I arrive in class and the teacher passes out the paper with a grade on them. Mine gets to me and all I see is a big red seventy. I was flaming because that paper should have been an A. So I go home and beat myself because I went to hell and back for that paper to be an A and it wasn't so I just wanted to cry so bad. I got over it and hated the teacher for the rest of the year but I guess it was a lesson learned. Thanks for listening man. Peace

MY WRITING PROCESS

During my years of writing my process for it has been complicated. I start off writing on the topic but then continue to use examples like I need to. I eventually speed off topic and bring something else into the mix. I get very distracted and sometimes don't want to write about a certain topic because I have no interest in it. It would be better if it was something that would catch my eye and open my mind. Alot has to do with I stay stuck on something when there is nothing else to say. The begining is the hardest because I have to make or hear an example before I know how to start. When I just don't know I completely go off the topic and spin out of control. Some teachers tell me I am a strong writer I just don't stay on topic my process for writing is that I just don't want to write what they want but what I want. It takes time for me to understand what I am writing or what I am going to write. Everybody goes through there own process of writing but for the most part people get it done. I wish it would just come to me easy but I have to work at it. Hands down I know I am a difficult person and writer who makes things sometimes difficult for others and myself. So what I am trying to say is that my process can't be well explained because it's complicated.

HOW I USE TECHNOLOGY IN MY WORLD..

I use technology everyday in my world. There has been days I haven't used it at all. But technology is getting more advance everyday and may create a better or worse future. Electronics are something I love and consider a very advance part of technology. Computers, game consels, gadgets and more. Computers are everywhere and one day are going to be used by everyone. People need to catch up with this technology because years from now everything will be computerized and people will get lost. I love that techology is getting more advance I would just hate to see us give to much more to technology to where it can beat us. We need to allow ourselves to stay a step ahead of the technology put in front of us. Hands down techology is awsome and great and will only get better. We will use it everyday as I do and that's also what the future will be.