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.

End Week 2: Mommy!

“You don't get anywhere without hard work. Hard work will get you to the top and will distinguish you from the rest” is a famous quote my mommy lives by and instilled in me since I was a little girl. A role model pushes you to do your best and make you become something greater in life, which is exactly what my mom does. My mothers name is Marcelle Lopez and she grew up being one of eight kids in a mexican family with not much money or benefits like we have today. My mom grew up struggling throughout her life and in return she has made my life the best it could be. My mother is caring, loving, sweet, and the best friend anyone could ever ask for. We’ve always been told that me and my mom look like sisters. One memory I have of my mom was at my last swim meet of my high school season. It was a cold winter yet sunny day in Daytona Beach Florida. She was standing behind the diving blocks, alone, holding my parka and the heat sheet (so she knows what race I was in next). She was screaming my name, jumping up and down, hoping I’d come in first place. She was wearing white capris, a Boca High Bobcat Swim sweatshirt, and Uggs since it was so cold out. When the light from the sun hit her face her most beautiful flaws came out (her little freckles on her face or no makeup on her eyes). She has a tattoo of three hearts behind her right ear representing me, Nathan, and Nick which are my brothers. Her jet-black hair was so striking it caught everyones attention when she walked by. She wore her diamond dangling earrings that are always hard to miss. She couldn’t stop talking about how well I swam and how proud she was of me. Even though I’d always come in second and never first, my mommy always told me that “I did the best I could and whatever place I got in, she was just proud that I swam for her and tried my hardest.” Whenever I was down about something or upset my mom would be the first to ask me whats wrong and do her best to cheer me up. Without my mom I wouldn’t be the strong independent person I am today because without my mom I wouldn’t have amazing footsteps to follow.  

Corresponding. Pennies from Heaven

The image I chose was a penny. I chose a penny because in my opening crot I describe how I see something copper and shiny that catches my eye from the distance. I use a penny in my crot because every since my grandmother died about 11 years ago me and my family have grown to believe that my grandma sends her love from heaven through pennies. A penny has such little nominal profit but can mean so much to someone. A penny is round, shiny, copper, and has a metal smell to it. The texture of the penny is rough even though the penny is so small in size. President Lincolns portrait is on the face of the penny and the words "In God we Trust" are some of the characteristics the penny displays. The pennies weight is about 1/6 ounce, both sides of the penny have raised rims around the edges, and the front and back of the penny are inverted from each other. Such a small object can mean so much to a huge group of people. I love you grandma and all the wonderful pennies and love you send unexpectedly.

End Week 1: compare.contrast

Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts describes and addresses the steps she uses to come up with her final works or papers. She starts off with summarizing her beliefs by describing her personal life and her thoughts that follow. She describes five paragraphs as a "child’s draft" containing lots of gibberish. She gives her self the ability to write down whatever comes to mind because the first draft is suppose to be crappy anyways. I agree with Anne because the first draft shouldn’t be your best work because you start out by jotting down feelings and thoughts and as time goes by you elaborate more to make the best paper possible.

Lorrie Moore’s How to Become a Writer is about Moore’s sense of confusion. Its about realizing where her inspirations came from to make her want to write. At first she wants to become a child psychologist major but ends up in the creative writing department. Her story is like a first semester in college, students think they want to be one thing and by the end of it they become something else. In her story she goes into detail about different jobs she had like babysitting children. I agree with Moore because at first you feel confusion and not sure about anything but after practice and time you learn to become the person you want to be. 

Gail Godwin’s The Watcher at the Gate addresses a common problem that happens among writers known as the “inner critic”. The Watcher in the story is a symbol for the inner critic that Godwin experiences in her works. Her main goal is to keep students from pursing the flow of their imagination. I agree with Godwin because everyone has an inner critic when it comes to something we really care about, which for her was writing. She instills in us to not reject too soon or discriminate too severely or we will end up beating ourselves up.

The three stories in some way have something in common. Each of the three stories has humor and teaches a lesson. They also all have a ending that wasn’t expected in the beginning. I enjoyed reading each story but I have to say that I like Anne Lamott’s story the most because it can be most related to me life.

Sensory: Trees

My walk to the Williams building consists of talking about what happened the night before, the usual gossip. As I walk to class and socialize, I notice all the versatile and diverse green trees around me and can't help but breathe the fresh air. The scenery when I walk to class everyday helps me to be in touch with nature. I'm not an outdoorsy kinda of person so the little time I have that it takes me to walk to class everyday lets become one with nature. When I breathe the oxygen that the trees give off, it makes me feel fresh and ready for my days work. The texture of the trees are solid and resemble tranquility. The tall rooted trees actually speak a peaceful mind of their own without even saying a word. Trees are described as majestic shady objects that will forever be a part of our Earth and home at Florida State University. Without trees, our environment and ecosystems would not be the same.

Digital.Selves

The world today revolves and depends strictly on technology. The demand for the internet and online communities is significantly high and its growing at a fast rate every single day. Who you are on Facebook and Twitter may be slightly different then you actually are in person, and people only act this way to "fit in." The internet and social networks are in the process of changing our society, which may not always be for the good.

I personally invest at least an hour or less of my time on a social network a day, but that is a very small amount compared to the millions of people in the world who depend their lives on these online communities and environments. I am currently only a user of the infamous Facebook and I hope to keep it that way so I don't get dragged into the other world on the computer. Thankfully these networks and social communities haven't taken me off track from my most important goals and everyday standards that I am expected to live up to.

First Week Emotional Responses

Arriving at Florida State University on June 22,2011 made me have so many different emotions that it was all hard to take in at once. Beginning this new chapter of my life was one of the best things that's happened to me. I wouldn't know what I would do if I hadn't gotten accepted into FSU. It had a huge impact on the way I felt and it made me open my eyes to realize a lot.

I came to Florida State not knowing how to act or feel about the whole situation because the last thing I wanted to do was be seven hours away from my mommy. After spending almost a week in Tallahassee and meeting all the new diverse and wonderful people, I'm blessed to have this fresh start and all the doors that are now going to be open for me. The last thing anyone could be is upset or angry in my position, so emotionally I feel like nothing can stop me.

Cutoms of Speech - Boca Raton

Common speech in Boca Raton FL consists of what had happened the night before, what gossip was happening in the city, and where they were going to go shopping that day. Boca Raton FL is considered one of the wealthiest places in South Florida and its only because the people they are raised and given everything they could ever imagine without having to work as hard. Boca Raton's speech is like a blond Barbie doll who had just gotten her hair and makeup done and out of no where it starts to down pour on her head, ruining her beautiful hair and makeup she spent hours in the salon getting done. The people in Boca Raton are self absorbed and arrogant, everyone really only cares about themselves. I'm not saying that no one in Boca has a heart, I'm saying that the only heart that people in Boca Raton care about is their own. Exceptions would have to be people who are just living in their vacation homes or people who recently started a family there, and even those people are slowly getting sucked into Boca's fakeness. I love Boca but it definitely isn't one of the "nicest" places to live, of course minus the beautiful beaches that you cannot resist. Boca can most likely be considered a step down from Beverly Hills but its not far behind.