End week 5: Reflection

I have been a college student for five weeks and it has been the best five weeks of my life. I was so surprised to meet all the new amazing students from different places around Florida and the world, which I am interested in. Over the past five weeks I've had the tendency to get stressed over every assignment and paper that I was assigned to do. I am so easily affected by stress which is probably why I have two ulcers at such a young age. I've had the added responsibilities of doing my own laundry, buying and cooking my own food, cleaning my own apartment, and not having any parents telling me what to do, so I’d have to push myself to do everything on my own. I learned to appreciate my parents and all that they do for me because I now see that the real world is very challenging and stressful, and college is only the beginning. I never use to study in high school, so coming to college and having to study constantly was very new to me. I had to learn time management and that you will not get good grades by just listening in class. 

Over the summer I had to ramp up the intensity of my work and work as hard as I could because the last thing I want to do is come to fall with a bad GPA and start off poorly. I have learned that I need to sit back, relax, and breathe deeply before starting an assignment because you can never start an assignment with a negative attitude and expect to do your best. In high school I would always put things to the side and worry about them last minute but coming to college has taught me that I need to stay on top of assignments because you never want to get behind and end up having to do your assignment last minute and not give your best effort, resulting in a bad grade. College has taught me that I need to be more independent and work my hardest at any little obstacle thrown my way. 

I LOVE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY! 

7.27

Today I feel fresh, new, free, and happier than ever. I am so happy with my life because I have been having the best summer of my life. College is amazing and I cannot compare anything to it. I came to Florida State worried that I might not like it but over the past few weeks I have grown fond of the campus and city more and more. Coming to Florida State University has opened my eyes to many amazing opportunities and people. I feel that we should only really be putting ourselves down when a family member has passed or something really detrimental has happened to you causing you to be upset without any control. After my grandma died I decided to have happiness in my life on a daily basis so I could always have a smile on my face. It takes 43 muscles to frown but 17 muscles to smile :)

Creative nonfiction

The story I plan to write is creative fiction. Creative fiction is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. I plan to take the story about my grandmothers passing and work around that to make it a interesting story that people will get engaged in. I plan to think of all the little information I can remember about how it was before my grandmothers passing, the process of the passing, and how everything was dealt with after her passing. I plan to make the story kind of mysterious yet a lovey-dovey story because my family is all about having love be the number one priority. "Creative nonfiction writers do not make things up; they make ideas and information that already exist more interesting and, often, more accessible."  

Refelction

During these past fews weeks in college and starting brand new I have learned that writing is not only the five paragraphs or so that we are use to in high school. I feel that the revising process we are introduced to in college is interesting and very helpful. Meeting for workshops every time we have a new paper and having people sit there and revise your paper and make little comments about what's good and what needs to be fixed helps people get through the writing process easier and the help is actually very beneficial to your final product. I have grown to favor perspective writing and I will continue to use it in future papers. I like how in we recently had a topic about certain things that have helped us be the better writer and reader that we are today and I can say that prewriting is one of those things that have helped me be a better writer that I am today and that I will continue to be. Some special techniques would be just sitting down and relaxing, kicking my feet back with my computer on lap, typing anything that came to my head and then re-read over and over again to fix any little perfections. I would then of course have a partner or friend re-read over for me and fix anything that needed changes. My reflection as a writer has changed because I use to be kind of shy about writing because I felt that I wasn't good enough or what I was trying to say wasn't being typed on the paper how it was sounding to me. I finally learned that I need to be more open with my writing and just go with the flow and go through the process of writing as best as I can with the wonderful help that I have.

My Obituary

Bianca LaParl died last night (4/1/3001) in her Los Angeles mansion, snuggling with her puggle Jordan. She was 100 years old when she passed and without a doubt lived those 100 years to their fullest. Bianca traveled the world and lived her life spontaneously without any boundaries getting in her way. Bianca was a loving mother of three kids and grandmother of six grandchildren. She was married to Bob Hope's brother No Hope and was happily married for fifty years. Bianca did all she could to give to the world everything she had, wanting little in return. Bianca's favorite thing to do was shop and her favorite quote was "live like nobody is watching." Bianca LaParl will be very missed by all of her family and friends.

Rest in Peace babygirl.

End Week 3: my garden of life

My life changed in good and bad ways ever since my grandma died. After getting over the mourning process of her being gone I had to do something fun to get my mind off of her and her death. Me and my mom decided we would take gardening classes to improve the area of dirt she has right outside of her kindergarten classroom. We both felt the need to do something good for the environment and at the same time get our minds off of all the negative we’ve recently experienced. My mom believes that a garden is a friend that you can visit anytime and I now see the resemblance. After taking hours of gardening classes we had finally felt that we were ready to construct a beautiful garden outside of her classroom for her and her kindergartners. It was a learning experience and made me and my mom grow a better bond with each other. We went to Lowe’s and chose at least the most beautiful flowers that caught our eyes. We chose flowers like roses, daisies, sun flowers, lilies, and many others. This gardening process with my mom gave me the greatest satisfaction. In my garden each flower represented a characteristic that me and mom shared. For example the rose symbolized the love that we had for our family. The sun flower symbolized the happiness that was going to come our way. The different flowers had opened up our eyes to look at life through a different perspective and both my mom and I became more open with what obstacles were thrown our way. For some reason the garden inspired us to be better people, her as a teacher and me as a student. Without this growing process that me and my mom went through I don’t think I’d look at life as positively as I do today. Believe it or not gardening changed my life. As Hans Christian Anderson always said “just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” 

The Watcher at the Gate

In "The Watcher at the Gates," Gail Godwin describes that pernicious character inside each writer's head that prevents her from consistent and confident writing. Godwin's "Watcher" relies heavily on Freudian psychology and seems to loiter around a castle gate. Who is your watcher? What does your watcher look like? What does he say to you to protect you from failing, and in turn prevent you from writing at all? Where does he live? What does he eat? You may want to use a visual to enhance your audience's conception of your "Watcher."

My watcher in my head grandma, she is the one person that could make my world and time stop. Even though my grandma is a great distraction I of course love her dearly. My watcher is not someone you would consider scary or mean. My watcher looks like a typical Spanish grandma with dark hair, dark complexion, dark eyes, and a bunch of kids. My grandma prevents me from writing and clogs my brain from thinking because when I think about my grandma and when I find her pennies on the floor from heaven, I get distracted from what I really need to be focusing on and put all my attention towards trying to remember as much as I can about my grandma and just cherishing the time I have thinking about her. My watcher has lived in heaven with God and the angels for almost eleven years now and I wouldn't want my watcher to be anywhere else. My watcher eats whatever her heart desires because in heaven there is no limits or boundaries. Typical foods you would see my grandma eating would have to be beans, Spanish rice, tortillas, chicken, steak, and all the amazing Mexican foods that my grandma loves. You definitely cannot forget about apple pies either :) ....despite my writers block and the little voice inside my head (my grandmas voice) that takes me away from writing, I would not want any one else to be my Watcher besides my grandma.