The end is near!

I can almost see it, that dream I'm dreaming...

IT'S ALMOST SUMMER!

I am so pumped. I pretty much had my life due this week but phew it's all over now. Just a nice easy ride through finals and then summer! It's been a long time coming. The monday after spring break I started my countdown and now it's within sight. Days filled with pool parties and working will soon occupy my time as opposed to projects and essays and group assignments. I am writing this blog from my couch and I am having trouble figuring out what to write. For the past semester my brain has been squished so that every ounce of thinking is now gone. Hopefully it returns before finals.

Encouragement

I have come to the conclusion that in college the teachers are much different than the teachers in high school. In high school teachers are there to help you along and encourage you all the way to graduation. In college the teachers are not careless but there is a lot more self responsibility. College teachers are not going to hunt you down and find a student that they think needs help but the student must come to them. And as opposed to high school, the college professors usually just want to help you and get on with their day.

I would just like to give a shout out to my Jesus class teacher Dr. Borek. She is awesome and I would recommend her to anyone wether they have the interest in religious studies or are just looking for a trad. I entered into her class not knowing that the 3 in 378 meant it was a junior level course. I was in for a surprise being that I am a freshman. Her class was the most challenging, thought wise, that I have ever taken. The class has challenged me to think about the things I believe, why I believe them, and what history tells us. When I would go and talk to Dr. Borek about how I was doing in her class she always had positive things to say to help me. We had a movie review assignment on a past Jesus movie and I turned mine in, a couple days later I received an email from Dr. Borek saying that I did a good job and that my thought process was spot on. This made me feel so good. A tiny little "good job" can make someone feel so good. This made me think, I need to encourage people more often.

Journal #6 about Voice and Tone

I find myself writing this blog purely out of need and not out of enjoyment which is probably not the right tone. I am slightly discouraged about the shape my third essay is taking and I am confused about how to fix it. I want to have a bold, confident, interesting tone but I feel like I am all over the place and inconsistent with my tone.

My ideal voice and tone that I not only strive to attain but to read also is relatable and casual but intelligent. I think this voice can be achieved by paying close attention to your audience. With the type of audience that we are writing for in these essays I think the tone that should be taken is one of simplicity and directness. When someone tries to sound overly intelligent or overly complicated it is blatant and looses the ideas and value of your paper. I used to make the mistake of trying to replace every word with a more intelligent adjective or adverb. This was a giant mistake because my paper lost the meaning and was drown out by this fluff.

The best advice that I could give about writing in a interesting tone is to write how you would talk. Write how you would tell someone what you know and what you would say to argue your point, except leave out the ummms and likes.

I hope this is helpful. I feel slightly hesitant about telling people how to write when I myself am struggling but hopefully this is of some use.

The little things in life

There are many things in life that can bring complete joy to your day, extra caramel in your caramel macchiato, seeing a little kid running around in complete bliss, realizing that you can sleep in, and warmer weather are just a few that brighten my day.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there are little things that can happen that just destroy any happiness you might have been feeling at the time. One culprit for me is stubbing my toe particularly the pinky toe. Is there anything worse than stubbing your pinky toe? I know having it cut off would be worse but at the moment of stubbing you feel as though it might as well be chopped off with a butter knife. Maybe I am just clumsy or don't pay enough attention to my surroundings but it seems like every time I walk by my couch I have to consciously focus on where my feet go so that I protect the toes. And why is it always the pinky toe, she is the most innocent and harmless of them all. I just don't know but with the weather warming up and wanting to wear sandals everyday I must pay more attention to the possible perpetrators of the pinky toes.

My dog Fly

I love my dog. Her name is Fly. She is awesome.

I named her Fly because of the movie BABE. In that movie the mama dog is a border collie named Fly so when I got my little border collie pup I thought there could be no other name. I've had Fly since she was just a little pup, she is a border collie Australian shepherd mix. She is white with large brown spots. Typical to the border collie breed, she is a genius.( like owner, like doggy) I have taught her many tricks such as roll over, fetch, and jumping really high. I have tried to teach her other tricks but I think she is too old and too stubborn now to try and remember them plus I think she knows I'm a softy and I'll just give her the treats anyway. Fly has a special spot in my heart and she knows it. I usually like having rules but this is impossible when it comes to Fly. When I moved into my house I said no dog on the bed and no dog on the couch. I bought Fly her own bed so that she wouldn't feel neglected. Well that plan did not even last one night. Fly does this thing where she puts her front paws up on the bed and lays her head down then she just slinks up onto the bed and goes to sleep. It is now a normal thing. Fly sleeping on the end of the bed has now turned into Fly sprawled out over 3/4th of the bed and me curled up in a nugget shape trying not to disturb Fly. Why is this? I'll tell you why, Fly is spoiled and it's my fault. O well what can I do. I just can't bring myself to be mean to a doggy that's so cute no matter how many times she drops her toy on my head when I'm sleeping.

Journal about Big Metal Statue (#5)

It's a sunny day and the field trip to the big metal statue by the Harvill building is a treat compared to our normal 2.5 hours in a bright windowless room.

I have never seen this statue before and my initial thoughts that come to mind are war, strength, calmness and opposites. When looking straight on the two men on the left side of the wall are calm and have smiles on their faces. The first man is calmly leaning against the wall and looks content and almost pleased with himself. The man further down the wall is pushing against the wall but still does not look strained and has a smile on his face. On the right side of the wall the first man is also leaning but is straining to keep his composure. His face looks pained and his lean is much more forced and not as calm as the man on the other side of the wall. The second man on the right side appears to be giving his all to push against this wall. He also has the same angry/painful face. The meaning behind these 4 men is some kind of struggle and maybe it is not a particular struggle but a depiction of any struggle that may be happening. In any kind of struggle there are opposing sides. This statue seems to have no emotion attached to it. It makes me think of very in shape athletes. The left side would be the winning side and the right side would be the team striving for redemption. The reason that there seems to be no emotion is because the colors are not vibrant although they are not black either. There is also an athletic aspect to these statues because of the muscle definition. On the left side of the wall the men's muscles are less contracted. They seem to be working less. On the right side of the wall the men have bulging muscles and appear to be trying to fight this wall or the people on the other side.

Overall, I see two sides with two men on each side. The left side is more successful than the right but the right has more depth and more heart in their goals rather than the laid back left side.