December 19th class

No big deal for me. I have to be here anyway for track and oh yes, two finals. I have a Non-Western History final and a Geography final back to back. Neither will be fun.

So no worries for me. I just won't go home until Christmas Eve. Santa Claus may even beat me home this year.

But I can't complain, at least I get the most opportunity to study. Now, only if I will. But it will be hard with everybody leaving and I have to stick around a little longer. Plus it will be hard to force myslef to study with the extra time. I love taking naps and my bed will look so inviting. Well, I guess I'm a college student and have to grow up.

Back to the point of this blog, the December 19th meeting or class doesn't affect me much at all. I just got to pause my studying or awake from my slumber.

Billy Joel in Concert

My dream has come true. Billy Joel is not only out of rehab, but will perform again.

Now, I started to really love Billy Joel's music once he and Elton John stopped performing their "Face to Face" tours. I remember this because I was very dissapointed I missed their concerts and sadly found out that Billy Joel wouldn't be performing for a very long time.

But he is coming back after seven years. He is actually performing a concert in Syracuse at the Carrier Dome to comerate the dome's twenty-fifth anniversary. For this special occasion, Billy has allowed all tickets to be 39.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is amazing compared to the cheaptest tickets elsewhere like Madison Square Garden bing 120. To get the best seat in the house, front row is over one thousand dollars. If only I had the money and had the guts to spend that much.

Actually, I'm so thrilled. I heard about this gig today at the trainers and got so excited. But when I looked for it online, I didn't find Syracuse. Thinking it was a bad rumor, I planned to go to NYC for an awesome show at the Garden. Then I find out the rumor is actually true and there will be a concert at Syracuse. The only problem is that tickets arn't availbe yet. Then when I'm supposed to be writing the 6th and final paper for this class, I stumble upon the aritlce that makes everything so clear.

The concert isn't until March 26th compared to the New York one on January 23rd, but I guess I will have to wait. All the money I will save to going to the Syracuse one because of less travel and obviously the tickets. I just hope Billy doesn't make too much a deal about the dome and performs like I hope he should.

I'm like a little boy, I'm so excited. And if you ever want to jam to some Joel hits, just come down to the trainers after 7 at night, Sharon and I are singing, Sharon in her office, me in the ice bath. We are so loud and off key that people wander in wondering what the heck is going on. Can't wait.

Editing in Class

I hate editing, proofreading, or whatever it is called. Mainly because I'm bad it. I'm bad at it mainly because I don't do it often on my own papers. I don't edit or proofread my own papers mainly because I don't have the time. Getting it down on time is an accomplishment for me.

So reading other people's paragraphs and sentences are a killer for me. But I definitely see the value for it. Yes, I can learn to be a better writer, but it is so hard for me because I don't find any problems when I'm editing. It all sounds good to me.

Now, I will agree that the paragraph we all read together in class recently did need some help. That paragraphy confused me so much that I didn't even want to start doing anything with it. It was too intimating to me. It's like, it will be too hard to fix it, just destroy it and start again. Just like buying a car.

Anyway, those sentences sounded pretty good to me. I couldn't really find too much to fix. I could of re-worded them, but you can do that for any sentence.

Just not a good editor, don't enjoy it like Dan M. and just enjoy more talking in class about Christmas or Nissenbaum or Dickens, so I can try to give some correct input. Its like a game, Jeopardy, I love it.

Laptops

The power of a survey.

I have taken many surveys in my almost nineteen year existance, and I never thought things actually occured after them. Well, I finally found an instance where things did change.

I will admit closing the laptops during class is a good idea. Definitely so much easier to concentrate, but I guess I can make this topic interesting......and add more words.

Yes, shutting the laptop forces you to direct your attention at the class discussion. But when your attention is soley to the class, the potential of fading away is very high. Rather, leaving the laptop open during discusions or lectures would allow the student to bounce back and forth. Meaning, the student would may attention to the task at hand and when they feel like they need to come up for air, they can dabble on their laptop for awhile, to get some blood circulating again. Meaning, the back and forth action will always keep the student alert by not staring into space.

Werid arguement, but that was my technique earlier in the year. I left my laptop open during class during discussions but made sure I had eye contact with whoever was talking. And when I couldn't take it anymore or felt I was going to start drifting, I fiddled with the laptop for awhile and always came back. It was kind of like my secruity blanket in a way. Always there for me to hang on to.

But, the new policy we got going on now, is a good one. But I thought I would just comment on it because my blog situation is not pretty.

Laptops

The power of a survey.

I have taken many surveys in my almost nineteen year existance, and I never thought things actually occured after them. Well, I finally found an instance where things did change.

I will admit closing the laptops during class is a good idea. Definitely so much easier to concentrate, but I guess I can make this topic interesting......and add more words.

Yes, shutting the laptop forces you to direct your attention at the class discussion. But when your attention is soley to the class, the potential of fading away is very high. Rather, leaving the laptop open during discusions or lectures would allow the student to bounce back and forth. Meaning, the student would may attention to the task at hand and when they feel like they need to come up for air, they can dabble on their laptop for awhile, to get some blood circulating again. Meaning, the back and forth action will always keep the student alert by not staring into space.

Werid arguement, but that was my technique earlier in the year. I left my laptop open during class during discussions but made sure I had eye contact with whoever was talking. And when I couldn't take it anymore or felt I was going to start drifting, I fiddled with the laptop for awhile and always came back. It was kind of like my secruity blanket in a way. Always there for me to hang on to.

But, the new policy we got going on now, is a good one. But I thought I would just comment on it because my blog situation is not pretty.

Laptops

The power of a survey.

I have taken many surveys in my almost nineteen year existance, and I never thought things actually occured after them. Well, I finally found an instance where things did change.

I will admit closing the laptops during class is a good idea. Definitely so much easier to concentrate, but I guess I can make this topic interesting......and add more words.

Yes, shutting the laptop forces you to direct your attention at the class discussion. But when your attention is soley to the class, the potential of fading away is very high. Rather, leaving the laptop open during discusions or lectures would allow the student to bounce back and forth. Meaning, the student would may attention to the task at hand and when they feel like they need to come up for air, they can dabble on their laptop for awhile, to get some blood circulating again. Meaning, the back and forth action will always keep the student alert by not staring into space.

Werid arguement, but that was my technique earlier in the year. I left my laptop open during class during discussions but made sure I had eye contact with whoever was talking. And when I couldn't take it anymore or felt I was going to start drifting, I fiddled with the laptop for awhile and always came back. It was kind of like my secruity blanket in a way. Always there for me to hang on to.

But, the new policy we got going on now, is a good one. But I thought I would just comment on it because my blog situation is not pretty.

Crazy Orgin

Maybe I'm a simple-minded person or perhaps naive, but who would have thought our Christmas traditions that we celebrate today had so many political/social motives. Sadly, I wasn't taking notes on Monday's class and didn't memorize the screen Professor Schacht had on the screen, but I do remember some stuff.

I don't think I have many details, but I just think it is crazy that the rich and powerful in the past developed Christmas traditions just to keep their status. It is just mind-boggling me to think about all the reasons and roots of charity, giving gifts to kids, and so on. I thought Christmas was developed for families to get together and to commemrate the birth of Christ.

Charties for entrerainment? The elite and rich would dress in their Sunday's best just to watch all the poor people eat in Masion Square Garden. I guess with it being in the Garden, it was a spectacle.

But come on now? I believe that stuff that was said Monday, but wouldn't u think charties grew out of the desire to help the less fortunate? I guess theres always an alternate motive to evertything.

I can definitely believe though that during the late 19th century and early 20th that there was a concern of consumerism. I also buy that people were replacing human relationships with money. Like the professor said, their was the rise of the middle class. More people were getting the spread of money. And I can imagine that people that weren't to getting their hands on money, start to create feelings of greed. Who cares about the rest of society, just keep on working to get that cash. Its a dog eats dog world. This world is measured by your bank account, so it is easy to believe people were showing off their wallets not to showoff their kid's photos but their cash.

Pressure Off

During my high school years I had a lot of pressure to attain high marks. The pressure came from my parents and more intensely from me. I expected a lot out of me so I could go to a presitgious college. Now that I'm enrolled as a student, I think the pressure if off.

My older brother, who've I learend a lot from, went to RIT and barely scrapped by. He was in acadmic probation more times than he got an A. His GPA was very low but he graduated and that diploma and his knowledge from that insutitution, allowed him to nail down an amazing computer test engineering job in Florida. I refer to him as living the "high life" because of the crazy money he makes and how he lives. He loves his job and his whole company wears the most casual attire you will ever see. My brother gets to wear his entire closet collection of Abercombie + Fitch clothes and their cut-off shorts to work.

With my brother attaining success even though he didn't do so hot in college, my parents have loosen the leach a tad, in which I'm grateful. They have told me to study hard but make sure you have fun and not to worry about your grades.

Sadly, I'm no longer striving for a one-hundred on every assignment because I'm no longer at Oakfield-Alabama any more. I'm a student of SUNY Geneseo, pretty much the ivy school of the State school. Now I shoot for eighties and any thing in the ninety range is a bonus. Actually, it took me many weeks here to get my first A in any subject on any assignment. But hey, things are a lot tougher now and I'm so glad my parents realized it.

I remember back in Middle School and my early years of High School, I used to say that I couldn't wait to graduate so I would be relieved of all the pressure I was facing. I was kind of rushing things back then because of all the pain I put myself throught to get good grades. Now, with the "best times of my life" ahead of me, I don't want to rush anything.

Religion In Dickens?

Hell yeah!

When you think about religion during the Christmas season, you automatically refer to the littleinfant born in a manger more than two thousand years ago in a little town of Bethlem. Was that aspect of religion, the birth of Jesus Christ, in Dicken's novel, "A Christmas Carol"? No, but another aspect of religion was snuggled in that novel just like the little infant was in his swadling clothes. A less obvious one, but hey, but finding the underlying themes is what reading is all about.

Religion is featured in "A Christmas Carol" by showing Scoorge's intent of changing his morals and ethics. After he was visited by his deceased friend/co-worker Marbley, Scoorge realized that if he didn't turn his life around, he would end up like him...in hell.

Now it doesn't appear through the text or through the illustrations that Marbley is a residence of hell, but look what he has around his waist. He is strapped down by all the sins and horrible things he has done in his life. Isn't that what hell is pretty much like. You are stuck in hell, trapped below the earth because of all the evil things you have done during you life on earth.

So I think religion is definantely portrayed in Dicken's novel because that is the whole reason Scoorge goes through his transformation. He knows that if he doesn't turn things around that he will end up being like Marbley, held down eternally by all his bad deeds.

So what I said in class maybe wasn't too radical or wrong, at least to me. I enjoy your viewpoint and not only think it is a valid one, but one that woke up the class.

A Godly Class

This definitely isn't High School. Never in my life have I talked about religion and faith for so long in an academic setting. Proably because in High School, the teahers would be sued. But I actually enjoy talking about religion with my family, moslty my two grandmas, but that is around a dinner table, not a classroom.

But hey, it was an interesting class. A tree that looks like Jesus' face, why not. In a society that is so fast moving and packed with so much evil and unethical things, a glimpse of Jesus could only help.

Why was an image of Jesus on the tree? God has done some crazy things and most of times it all has to do with symbols. Burning bush, crow, serpants, apples, wine, bread, and I'm sure they're are more. But maybe one solution to that question, an answer I didn't think was brought up was...........maybe the people WANTED to Jesus. That they saw an image of a man on the tree and WANTED to see the face of Jesus. I think that is a good thing, that they wanted the face to be Jesus'. They are doing this to be a one-second celebrity or news maker but for their own belief. They only wanted to strenghten their face. How about that positive spin.

Nobody really knows if that was the face of Jesus on that tree, but it did one thing. It made every individual reflect and think about their own faith when they were looking at that tree. And maybe that was the purpose.

Nissenbaum Versus Primary Source

What can I say, I'm a terrible formal writer. I love to write e-mails to my extended family but when it comes to research/thesis papers, I fail in the clutch. But actually, I should of known better.

My mother, a third grade teacher, actually my third grade teacher, would have killed me if she read my intro paragraph. She always used to proofread/edit my papers from middle school through high school. I finally gave up giving her my papers because I was sick of her wripping it up. I had to pretty much triple space it for her so she could have room for all her comments.

Her big thing, that I always screwed up was introductions for every paragraph, big surprise right.

But I should have known better. I've written better research/thesis papers in high school. My favorites were actually on the Panama Canal and the Cherokee Indians actually. But, I reacted why too personal to what I was reading from my primary source. What my primary source was talking about was so radical, that I just started typing about it. But, when in Rome.

Actually, I know what I have to fix and noow I'm more consciencious about my next writing assignments. It's just going to be a lot of work to fix.

I'm just hoping the rest of my paper didn't represent the theme in my first two paragraphs. I do need to improve my conlusion though. It will come, San Diego wasn't built in one day you know by the Nazis. (If confused watch Anchorman, you'll thank yourself)

Wiki Frustration

Me not being technology gifted, I had some thoughts before I jumped on the Wiki bandwagon. My motivations for joining the Wiki project was writing as a whole class would be fun and I wasn't personally sound on the "A Visit From St. Nicholas" controversy.

So, me being a unique, creative person, I wanted to add something cool and different to the Wiki. I didn't know what to do until I thought about the reindeer and how those eight crazy animals played a role in who wrote the poem and so on. So Wednesday night during "Jock Jail" I started typing about the reindeer after it took me forever to understand what the hell Dan Foster was saying. I read those paragraphs over and over. While pulling my hair out, I managed a couple of paragraphs, in which I was very proud of my opening, which referenced the famous "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer " Song in which the first verse begins, "You know..........(all the reindeer)".

I finished that night and was so happy because I was leaving for a Pre-Nationals Cross-Country meet the next afternoon and would have no time to add to it before Friday, the rough draft deadline. But my happiness ended when I found out everything I typed didn't end up on the ariticle.

I was completely heart-broken and couldn't even try to re-type what I just wrote because the process of what I did type was so hard and had so many revisions, it would be impossible. So, I sauntered home and let my heart break anymore with a game 2 loss of the Yankees.
That night though, Tina did show me what I needed to do for my typing to show up on the aritcle. She typed my article and I thought I was set.

But when I went on the Wiki to re-do what I did Wednesday night, I found someone wrote about the reindeer under my title. I'm actually glad they did, because they understood that topic a lot better than I did. They did an excellent job and they saved me from going through that pain again. But I just wish everyone recognizes that I came up with that awesome title of, "Don't Forget About Those Reindeer".

So, I typed about X.C. Kennedy and his article about the poem. Professor Schacht mentioned it in class and I thought it was an awesome idea. I even wrote a past blog about it because of how much I agreed with Kennedy.

I guess my Wiki Frustration turned out to be a good thing because I first joined Wiki for the that very reason-to get help in areas that I'm weak in or don't quite understand as well as others.

Pure Genius

We all think geniuses are people who invent things or win tons of money on "Jeopardy", but after reading A Visit from St. Nicholas I have a much great appreciatation and broader definition for a genius. I think Moore, the man many people believe wrote that poem, was brillant. Not only because every line rhymed without desperatoin tries to makes things work, but he pretty much invented the modern day Santa Claus.

I don't know if Moore was smoking too many doobies in a van down by the river, but he had one hell of an imingation. How can a person come up with all that in such detail? His iminaginative poem was so accepted that our modern thinking and ideals of Santa Claus come straight from his poem. They only thing he forgot was the reindeer with the red nose.

I do get excited over little things, but I just think Moore did an excellent job. His poem tells a story that invents Santa Claus. His imagine and play of words were so perfect that I read the poem with my head right to the screen. I followed along with my finger just like my elementary school teachers taught me just so I wouldn't miss a word.

I've heard this poem so many times but after reading the article about A Visit from St. Nicholas, it instantly put the spot-light on Moore for me. I don't know if Moore is rolling in his grave with my praises but I just found my favorite poem. I can finally cross off Roses are red, violetes are blue.