Everything that can go wrong has...

I got an E-mail from my teacher's assistant Nahir yesterday stating that since the power was out last Thursday we would have to do extra work in class today. A following E-mail about 2 hours later said that were should arrive at class promptly at 8:20 so we could start our 2 quizzes (one from last week and one from this week) at exactly 8:30. This morning I set my alarm for 6:15 so I could get up and get ready in time to be to class. My room was pitch black this morning, I could not even see my hand. My dog jumped up onto my bed startling me, should I be up right now? Should my alarm clock went off? Something seemed wrong. I patted my bed down so I could find my "alarm clock" my phone. I felt it, picked it up and hit the side button, 6:23 the clock said. OMG! WHY DIDN'T MY ALARM CLOCK GO OFF!?!? There was no time to investigate, so I jumped in the shower, and still got out in time. However I was still panicking! I had to still finish a Pre-lab for my 8:30 lab. So much to do, so little time. I guess I am wearing sweats and a bun today... I grabbed my highlighter and my pen and started scribbling words onto the pages just so I could get the lab done. It had to be neat enough to read and follow. I left my house 10 minutes early because I knew traffic was going to be crazy. I zoomed out to my car, dragging my feet in the wet grass. I didn't care that my shoes were getting wet. I hopped into the car, it was cold enough to give me goosebumps, even though I was wearing a sweatshirt. I then proceeded onto the road to start my journey to school. Rush hour, Why did I choose to have a morning class? All these people drive so slow. Brake lights surrounded me, as I inched on to the ramp to get onto I-96 East. At least people on the freeway early in the morning are nice enough to let you merge on. I slowly merged into the right lane and every mile I merged another lane left so I could start cruising down the road. I picked up speed, starting at 10 mph, then finally got to 65mph. I hate going slow... I am so impatient. Traffic wasn't as bad as it normally is. Does leaving 10 mins earlier really make a difference? I could now walk to class at a leisurely pace instead of being out of breath by time I got to class. The doors opened, and I saw the person in front of my pull out his lab coat before he went to sign in. SHIT! I FORGOT MY LAB COAT! I knew that you could not participate in lab if you don't have your lab coat. Again I started panicking? Why me? Today is just not my day. I remembered that last night I put my lab coat next to my back pack so I wouldn't forget it.... but I still did... IDIOT! So I could not participate in class... at all... I couldn't take the two quizzes, Or do the 5 labs we were suppose to do today... literally I am screwed. So now I sit here in the undergraduate library listening to music and typing furiously because I am so mad at myself. But hey, at least I have 2 hours before my next class to do some homework!

Reflection

From writing weekly articles I have learned that a thesis is not easy to come by, and you have to keep working on the thesis so it can: 1.) Make sense 2.)Tell what you are thinking entirely and 3.) Get to the point. When I started off writing the weekly article responses my thesis’s were long and were made up of a lot of words that weren’t needed. My thesis writing began to improve and now they have a whole idea included in them. In my letter to Paul my thesis was “The United Nations should focus on stopping the Interhamwe because they are extremely dangerous to the people around and are armed with machetes.” I think this thesis is to the point and it explains what I am thinking, but can still use some work.

After thinking about a thesis for the Paul letter I also had to know a lot about the Rwandan genocide. I learned that in a conflict there are many sides of a story, and it is hard to determine who is responsible for the Rwandan Genocide because of the many people who played a role, like the Interhamwe or the MRND. The Interhamwe was to blame because they were the people that we killing victims on the street. But, the MRND might have been responsible because they wanted Hutu power and they were instructing the Interhamwe to kill the Tutsi’s.

Not only did I learn how to write letters I learned how to write stories and myths. From writing the group myths I learned that there are many perspectives that people can have on a certain topic. My group’s topic was the reason people die. And it was hard for us to decide on a reason. We brain stormed and thought that a good idea would be, a person to have a time clock and when their clock ran out they would die. But then the question was why would children die? My group and I went back to the drawing board and decided that each person would have a mission and when their mission was complete they would die. I learned that it is also hard to have a probable story that people would believe as well.

Throughout the year we had to write paragraph responses. I never knew that from writing two paragraph responses you could learn so much. From the paragraph response I learned that transitions bring your paper together and they are pretty much essential to have your paper make sense. When I wrote my first response I don’t think my paper had any transitions. But in my letter to Paul in the second paragraph was “Another reason the Interhamwe should be stopped is if they continue to kill people, they are most likely going to recruit civilians to kill more people,” Which moves the last paragraph to a new idea.

From paragraph response writing I also learned that it is important to eliminate clutter in your writing, which is taking out words or phrases that aren’t needed. In my first article response, my two paragraphs took up about two pages, and included a lot of information that wasn’t needed. As I started to write more responses I learned that your piece of writing makes more sense when you eliminate words. When you eliminate clutter it is easier to get your point across also.

Our last unit was about the area of South Africa. From the South African unit I learned that there was settling in South Africa, first for a port and later for minerals when gold and diamonds were found. When the British started to settle for the minerals, it forced the South African tribes to move north. The British kept getting in wars over the land and the minerals, but soon enslaved the South African natives. The natives worked on farms or the mined for the British people. The British later banned the black Africans from parliament and discriminated against them.

colonization

I would like to be an Australian native during colonization, where the British settled many places around the world. When they settled in Australia, they didn't plan on doing much harm to the Aborigines, they just needed to use some land for prisoners. They had good intentions until the Aborigines started fighting for their land. Considering the natives from other countries the Aborigines seemed like they were the least mistreated.

In the South African colonization the British first settled for land, but later found out that South Africa had tons of diamonds and gold. The British kept getting in wars with the South African tribes thinking that this would make the African tribes give the British the land and minerals. The British treated the South Africans badly just so they could acquire the items they wanted. When the British settled in North America, the British were nice at first, but then became nasty. They forced the Native Americans to move west so they could stay in the east and create a new government. Even though after fighting for their land the Aborigines civilization was destroyed and many diseases were spread, I would still rather be an Australian native.

Pant-O-Mime

Every year Stevenson high school puts on a Pant-O-Mime show. A Pant-O-Mime is where people lip sync to songs and act out scenarios that are popular around the time. I was involved in the Pant-O-Mime show this year. It was my first year because I am a freshman. There were only two freshmen in the show, so it made me feel special.

Preparing for the Pant-O-Mime show takes a lot of time and effort. I was only in one act, so I didn’t have to put in as much time as the people in multiple acts had to. Before the show even started, students had to prepare their act before they could even consider being in the show. My act was called “Be a Man”. It was from the Disney movie Mulan. The group I was in practiced every day after school for an hour a week before try outs. We choreographed moves, and we made sure everyone had an equal opportunity to have a part.

The try outs for the Pant-O-Mime show lasted only about five minutes because you only had to show your act twice. When my group and I walked in to the auditorium, everyone could tell we were nervous. The room was dark and Mrs. Vanhorn told us to go on stage and show the audience what we had. We went on stage and went through the act a few times. Mrs. Vanhorn complimented us and let us continue on with the rest of the day. She let us know that our act number would be outside the auditorium if we made the show.

The next day I got a text message saying that we had made the show and we had to attend the practice. My group and I attended six hour practices required for the show for a week. The show was running smoothly by the end of the first day. The practices were demanding, but they were also fun. I had barely any time to do my homework, but I managed.

After a few weeks of practicing with the whole cast I felt comfortable in front of an audience. Our first performance was during school, and many of my class mates would be attending. As I went on stage I felt butterflies in my stomach, but I knew I was going to do fine. The music turned on the lights glared in my face, and our whole group started to perform. Soon enough the act was over and everyone was rushing out the door to go sit back on the floor to watch the rest of the show.

Over all the Pant-O-Mime show was a great experience even though it only lasted a few weeks. All the people were so enjoyable to be with. I wish the show would of lasted longer. I would defiantly consider being a part of the show next year.

Debate Expirence

During the debate the United Nations was trying to blame the United States for causing the genocide. We stated that when we tried to enter into Rwanda, but we couldn’t get enough support, like armed forces from the United States. The United Nations also needed supplies like tanks from the United States, but the United States refused to provide the materials. They didn’t want to participate in Rwanda because they were previously engaged in a conflict in Somalia. We argued that the United Nations was not reliable for stopping the whole entire genocide and we also needed help from nations that were included in the United Nations to help us out. Belgium was also a main player in the genocide because they were trying to create ethnic diversity, that wasn’t necessary. They had a comment that was really confusing, made no sense and was not relevant to the question, why did you create ethnic diversity? They said that they had to switch from being on the Hutus side to being on the Tutsi’s side.

Even though in the debate the United Nations blamed most of their flaws and mistakes on the United States, I felt the United Nations was responsible for letting the Rwandan Genocide happen, because they didn’t act and try to help prevent the killing in Rwanda. The United Nations just sat back and used excuses to give reasons why they didn’t help. It was hard to find information about the United Nations making smart decisions with good answers. I thought this activity was a good way to portray the decision making of all the countries involved. I liked how all the countries got to state what they thought about their countries decisions and why they aren’t responsible. I think this is a good way of learning about citations because you get to learn the others perspective and before the debate begins you have to do research about the Rwandan Genocide and you have to know all the facts about every side of the genocide. And you have to always be ready to react when someone tried to blame the country you are trying to defend. I liked how you could say what you wanted to say about other countries and try to defend your country in every way possible. Over all I thought the debating was a good experience and it was a better way to help children to learn about historical events.

American Society

Thesis: Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about the American society still holds true today.

People want the greatest outcome, while doing the least amount of work. When a student is asked to write a paper, they only meet the requirements. They don't go one step beyond, because when they do the bare minimum they still get the best grade possible. "The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars." When a working person is asked to do a chore they don't usually perform at their best, as long as they get the job done and still get money.

Americans learn only the skills related to their workforce. Americans find that it would be a waste of money and time if they learned things that aren't necessary. Like how to speak a different language when they are planning on being a doctor. When learning how to speak a new language can help when they need to help someone who doesn't speak English. In the air force the men are not taught how to drive ships or submarines, but they are taught how to fly planes. But in war it could be beneficial to the pilot if they knew how to use a boat, because it could give the individual more options.

Halloween is Near

Halloween is just around the corner and everyone is getting excited about dressing up, trick or treating and hanging out with friends. My friends think its lame to go trick or treating because we are in high school now. HA yeah right trick or treating is the best part of the fall season. I am going to be the person who goes trick or treating until they are an adult, and then has kids so they can go trick or treating with them. I love dressing up. I am being a witch this year, which isn’t original at all. I have a black poncho type thing with silver spider webs on it and a big spider on the shoulder. I am going to wear fish net stockings and black shirt with black shoes. It has a silver hat to match, with black feathers and silver streamers. Every year I try to be something different. But this year I didn’t have enough time to plan out my costume.

The candy you get at Halloween is so good. It lasts me almost a whole year, so I have a supply of candy (that was free) for a whole year. I hate candy that has Carmel in it. Carmel is the worst type of sugar there is. Anything with Carmel in it I refuse to eat. My brother and I go trick or treating with different groups of people, but at the end of the night we dump out our bags of candy and then trade, so that we get only the candy we like. I love candy with peanut butter and chocolate. M&M’s with peanuts are the best.

The cutest part of Halloween is the tiny children dressed up because they always look so adorable. They always look so cozy if their big puffy outfits, and by time they grow up they will look back and think they looked like retards. When I am handing out candy I always give them extra pieces because they are super cute, even though they probably don’t need it.

My friend is having a party on Halloween for the people who aren’t trick or treating. My friend and I don’t want to miss out because you only get to trick or treat one time a year, so we are going to go trick or treating and then head over to her party. Everyone there is going to be dressed up, just like the Halloween parties we used to have in elementary school. I am excited to go trick or treating this year!