Final Blog

The first time Mrs. Gilman told us about our English Blog I was pretty freaked out; I'd never done anything relating to blogs and I hate having to memorize new passwords. Till mid-January I was still occasionally having problems logging on to my blog. I haven't been the most diligent blogger in the class and I'll admit to sometimes knowingly not doing my blog out of laziness, often though I simply forgot I even had a blog to do. From the very first blog about how we read to the last one about essay writing, I never minced words, I called it how I saw it and let my opinion be known. Maybe that wasn't always the best idea but it sure was entertaining. Since I never felt like anyone was actually reading my blog I was free to put down crazy ideas and say weird things. The strangest thing is that because of that I either remember or can tell what mood I was in when I wrote every blog.

During the first blog about my reading style I was super snarky and thinking that the whole idea of blogging was awesome. Sadly toward the end of the year my blog posts have gotten shorter and shorter, less original and have the feel of being done only to achieve a good grade. Now personality only peaks out in my posts were I talk about myself, don't have to write about what book were reading, connect things to modern culture or were I get to complain about what we are doing in English. The posts in which we were supposed to ask questions about Great Expectations just turned into me being really angry at having to read it and not knowing what was going on a lot of the time. Any of the blogs about the book we were reading are super boring and I was just hating it the entire time I was writing them.

I have a really hard time saying what I want to say over the computer. When I talk to someone a lot of the things I'm saying are understood through hand gestures and the inflection of my voice. Things in my blog are actually pretty vague and hard to understand I you didn't recently read the prompt. Thats something I should have worked on a little. I also never made writing my blog part of my homework ritual, normally I have a time every week I do weekly homework( like the blog) but I always just forgot till the last minute so they were super random and half-hearted.

Now it's over though, I never have to write another blog, and I have a strange feeling of sadness that I'll never post another comment or read Nikki's rambling blog again. This blog to me is a document of my Freshman year and I'm sad because it ending really brings home to me that the year is over and nothing is ever going to be exactly like this year was. So this quote sums up the joy and sorrow of the end of the year. " If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page" -Mark Houlahan.

Essay Writing

I don't consider myself a very accomplished essayist, I can write a decent essay but I am aware of my shortcomings. I am always second guessing every sentence I write. Every time I turn in a paper I think I'm going to get a C, but by some miracle I manage to get a decent B or A (except on timed writes, I fail at those). This year I learned a lot about how to structure and make my essay flow correctly. Literary analyzes does really help me understand whats going on in the book and what the author meant. Analyzing also helps you notice things you would probably have glossed over and forgotten.

My conclusion is really weak and I think that that may bring my essay down to a B. Some of my transitions are really awkward, they kind of jar you and bring unwanted attention to the change in idea. I have a small but noticeable amount of repetitive that really needs fixed. Sentences are worded strangely and the order of sentences in paragraphs is a little off. I think I just need to do a little fine tunning.

Both the books I want to read this summer are sequels to books I've read a while a go so I might have trouble picking a series back up again. The first book I want to read is Fire by Kristin Cashore, a prequel to Changeling, about a girl who lives in a world inhabited by 'monsters' that are enhanced and beautiful versions of various animal species. The book focuses on a girl named Fire who is a human 'monster' with the ability to control peoples minds. I normally don't like prequels but since the first novel was so good I'll give it a chance. The second book I want to read is Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr, its the third in a series. I read the first two but I was put off by the second one, Ink Exchange, so didn't immediate start reading the third one. I've heard good things though so I feel I should finish the series and just read it.

Culture Shock: Romeo & Juliet

The reference to Romeo and Juliet in culture I decided to write about is the song "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits. The song is very obviously about Romeo and Juliet but some of the lyrics imply that the song writer were more inspired by the movie than the book. Here are the lyrics:

NARRATOR:
A love-struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made.
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"

Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey la, my boyfriend's back.
You shouldn't come around here singing up to people like that...
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?"

ROMEO:
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet when you exploded into my heart
And I forget I forget the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

Come up on different streets, they're both the streets of shame.
Both dirty, both mean, yes, in the dream it was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real.
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?

When you can fall for chains of silver,
You can fall for chains of gold,
You can fall for pretty strangers
And the promises they hold.
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah!
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo? Yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him".

Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry.
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die".
There's a place for us, you know the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

I can't do the talk, like the talk on TV
And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be.
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you.
I can't do anything, 'cept be in love with you!
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be.
All I do is keep the beat... and bad company.
Now all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme,
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time!

Juliet, when we made love you used to cry.
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die".
There's a place for us, you know the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

NARRATOR:
And a love-struck Romeo sings a street-suss serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
He says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"

ROMEO:
You and me babe, how about it?

Skits

The first scene in the book that I would like to see turned into a skit is in chapter 30 when Trabb's boy is mocking Pip. I would love to see what it looks like when hes freaking out and having little seizures. If the person playing Trabb's boy could actually act I feel it would be hilarious to watch.

The second section I want to see performed is when Miss. Havisham catches on fire and Pip is completely freaking out. Its so fast and dramatic that it would be like a soup opera if it was acted out. Also the whole concept of someone trying to act like their on fire is amusing.

Lastly, I want the part were Pip is captured by Orlick to be made in to a skit. The entire chapter that happened in was so random and unnecessary and Orlick seemed so suddenly diabolical that it was funny. Plus the dialogue between Orlick and Pip was so silly, I want somebody to scream 'YOU ENEMY'. I'm just putting it out there.

Great Expectations Question #2

I am a bit confused by Miss. Skiffins character and her importance to the book. Also in chapter37 on page 299 is Wemmick trying to put his arm around Miss. Skiffins, or what is happening on that whole page. After re-reading it several times just made me more confused I gave up thinking about Miss. Skiffins and decided to forget her until she comes up again. Here's the part that really confuses me. "I noticed Weemmick's arm beginning to disappear again, and gradually fading out of view. Shortly afterwords, his mouth began to widen again." What the heck is going in right now?

Questions on Great Expectations

I was really confused about what was going on before and during Mrs. Joe's funeral in chapter 35. At the bottom of page 281 it says, "The remains of my poor sister had been brought round by the kitchen door, and it being a point of undertaking ceremony that the six bearers must be stifled and blinded under a horrible black velvet housing with a white border, the whole thing like a blind monster with twelve human legs, shuffling and blundering along under guidance."

I don't really understand what he's talking about right now or why Mr. Trabb is in control of the funeral proceedings. From pages 280 to 282 in which the funeral is described, I was lost as to what was happening. My feeling is that I'm missing some reference to how funerals were done at the time this was written. Perhaps some serious background knowledge of mourning procedure would be helpful.