Final Exam

Learning how to take responsibility for one's own learning is a very important thing to do in order to succeed in college. Many people may not know what that means, though. Taking responsibility for your own learning means that you cannot rely solely on your professors to help you learn everything you need to know like you do in high school. In high school, the teachers lay everything out for you and step you through every thing that you need to do throughout the year, making sure you understand it entirely and helping you out greatly along the way. In college, though, the professors will give you a syllabus saying what will happen in the year with all the assignments, and they will be much less attached to you than the high school teachers were. Unlike high school teachers, college professors will not constantly remind you of assignments due or give grace if you forgot to do an assignment. It is much more up to you to get everything done. It is important to do this because not only does it prepare you for future responsibilities, but it prepares you for college life and it helps you rely on yourself rather than the teachers, and it makes you take responsibility for your own mistakes. What may seem to be an impossible task, this can be accomplished by simply starting to take responsibility before you enter college, reminding yourself of due assignments and upcoming tests instead of relying on your teachers. The key to all of this is practice and time; practice taking responsibility and give it time in order to do this efficiently. It may not be easy at first, but after a while, doing things yourself instead of relying on teachers will come very easy and second nature to you.

Summer break

As of last Friday, I officially only have nine more weeks of school until summer break. This is my junior year, so of course I am very excited about only having one more year after this. I also have a few different things that I want to do over the summer. Some ideas I have been thinking about are possibly skydiving, bungee-jumping, and sky-lining I think it's called. All of these are pretty expensive and kind of out there, but I figured These are some things I would like doing, and if I cannot do them this summer, maybe some other time; but some time in my life I would like to do those things. And that is pretty much my plans at this point for my summer.

"The Case for Torture" Argument

This argument, "The Case for Torture," is simply arguing that torture is a necessary thing in times of crisis, such as when a terrorist is going to bomb a populated area, or when a preemptive strike is going to happen. He says the torture of one person to stop the slaughter of many other people is a very necessary thing that we must do. He argues his point by using the Toulman Logic; he introduces the first counter-argument, explains it, then refutes it. He then goes through other arguments in the same way, sort of like an argument in real life. Overall, he says torture is worth it because it saves the lives of many other innocent people. I do not think that he uses any fallacies; he simply uses theoretically real-life scenarios in order to bring across his point. For example, when one person says it is unconstitutional, he says it is unconstitutional of the terrorist to bomb many innocent people in a populated area. A potential counter-argument that was not brought up by the author is that it is possible that a man thought to be a terrorist is tortured, then later discovered not to be, but nothing is done to the man to compensate him after his right as a citizen has been violated.

The 3DS

As many people may know already, Nintendo's new hand-held system, the 3DS, released in stores on Sunday. My brother bought one the day it came out, and so of course I tried it out, and sure enough, the 3D actually works. It is actually pretty stunning how cool it looks. Everything pops out at you in 3D, and there is also a little depth slider so you can adjust how strong the 3D is. It is an awesome system, and I encourage those of you who have not looked at it yet to go find someone who has one and see for yourself how awesome it really is.

Andrew reflecting on Nintendo's greatness

I interviewed by brother, Andrew, about Nintendo, a company that he loves very much. These are the questions that I asked and his responses.

1. Q:What is your current favorite Nintendo video game? Why?
A:Super Mario Galaxy 2. Because the game is expansive, addicting, great sequel w/new features. cool physics. all-around cool game

2. Q:What was your most expected Nintendo game and/or system of all time? Did it meet your expectations? Explain
A:Nintendo 3Ds. yes, wasn’t sure about whether it would be good 3d, but it turned out to be brilliant; had a lot more to it than first expected

3. Q:What is your all time favorite Nintendo video game? Why?
A:Super Mario brothers 3. great for its time, great music; also expansive and addicting

4. Q:Why is Nintendo your favorite game company?
A:Because of the franchises, ex. Kirby, DK, pokemon, Mario; games are very enjoyable; games that are more to my liking than the games Sony and Microsoft produce

5. Q:What game/system/etc. do you think Nintendo should make next?
A:The new Wii, Wii 2, with better graphics and HD gameplay, more Nintendo games in general

Themes and peotic devices

The main theme for the poem "Workday" was that although we do not think about the pain and troubles in other places as we do our daily routine, they are still happening and are very real, even if we don't realize it. One poetic device that the author uses is voice. He displays his emotions through his words; she seems to be expressing sadness about the troubles in the world. She also uses language and style to display her sadness and almost disappointment at what is going on in the world and also around her. Lastly she uses allegory by telling of her sisters in prison almost as a picture of pain and anguish in every person's life.
The main theme for "Did I Miss Anything?" is that this question is not a serious question, but rather rhetorical, and therefore cannot be answered seriously, but rather sarcastically. The author uses hyperbole many times by over exaggerating what happened the previous day, whether it was angels coming down or two gigantic exams that he would fail that counted for 90% of his grade. He also partly uses dramatic irony in that the character may think that what the teacher is saying is true, whereas we know that the answers are all very sarcastic. Lastly he uses voice, again displaying the extreme sarcasm in his answers about what did or didn't happen.

Science Fair

On Tuesday our whole school had a science fair, including science experiments from kindergarten all the way up through high school. Since I'm a junior, my science experiment was done over the course of most of the year, whereas the little kids basically did a mini-science fair, which was pretty cool. My science project was figuring out which fabric out of the ones I picked burned the fastest, and it was really fun. I ended up winning first place for it, but overall I'm really glad that it's finally over.

Permit

I just got my Driver's permit today. I am very excited that I passed and that I can now start driving. I missed 6 questions, which is quite a few, but at least I passed. Hopefully I can start driving different places and just start to learn how to drive from experience and a little teaching. It looks like it would be very difficult, but hopefully I get the hang of it quickly and I enjoy driving, so it'll be fun and not a nerve-racking thing.

"A Boy Named Sue"

I think that the song "A Boy Named Sue" heavily relied on the form of casualty, which tells one event that occurs because of another event. It uses that to continue a story along very nicely. For example, each new verse just tells a different part of the life of Sue, until we arrive at the part where his dad shows up and talks to him. The story is told brilliantly this way up until the very end. Then he says how he hates the same Sue for a boy, and he will never name his boy that, but anything else first.

My favorite author

Now I don't read books very often, but when I do, I make sure I pick one out that I'm sure that I will like, so as to not waste time reading a book that I don't like. Out of the few different authors that I've read, Ted Dekker has to be my all-time favorite author for a couple reasons. First, all of his books are action packed fiction books that usually have a sense of mystery to them. They always keep me wondering what is going to happen, as well as keeping me intrigued and wanting to keep reading it. Also, not only are the books interesting, but his series' are as well. The trilogies that he makes have a great storyline which make me want to go on to the next book right after finishing the last one, just like a movie that leaves you hanging at the end, making you want to watch the sequel right away. I am currently reading the third book in his Paradise series entitled Sinner. It is a great book so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. Like I said before, I don't read much, but Ted Dekker is by far the best author I have ever read, and I encourage those who haven't read a book by him to do so; I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

"You don't know what you've got til its gone" (Joni Mitchell) Illustration

The statement "You don't know what you've got til its gone" (Joni Mitchell) is very true. For instance, once time I was playing my Wii at my house, not thinking at all that compared to the rest of the world, what I was doing right then was a rarity. I didn't realize this until all-of-a-sudden, our electricity went out. I found myself thinking about what I was going to do now that I lost electricity and I got frustrated because I was getting bored out of a lack of things to do. It was then that I realized how dependent I am on having my Wii, even more so on electricity, and at that moment I found out that I should be more appreciative of what I have, because most of the world doesn't have most of the things I do. I hope this makes other people realize that we should be more appreciative of what we have, and to think about that all the time, not just when we don't currently have those things.

Web 2.0

The Web has meaning to my life in many different ways. The first way is that it gives me a way to talk and interact with my friends and see what we are all doing online. It's very nice to be able to interact with someone much more deeply then one can through the phone to someone that you would otherwise not be communicating with at all. It also gives me meaning because it lets me stay current with the news and what is going on much faster and easier than it is to read the newspaper or listen to the radio. I simply have all the information I need right at my fingertips, just seconds from finding it. Lastly, it is also a great source of entertainment. Whether it be music, games, or videos, I can access all of these efficiently and quickly like I could never have before. Overall the computer and the internet are both great things to have.

My current favorite video game

I have played many different video games recently, most of which I enjoy very much. Out of all of them that I have played, though, I would have to say that my favorite is Call of Duty: Black Ops. To start, Black Ops has amazing graphics, not to mention great game-play. The campaign mode is very exciting, and I've played online for a very long time. One thing I especially like about it is the expansive weapon selection, which I think is much bigger than the previous games. There are also many different perks and kinds of equipment, leaving room for almost an infinite amount of combinations for me to try online. All of these things work together to make Call of Duty: Black Ops my current favorite video game.

My favorite Classic video game

I have played many video games on many different consoles, but I would have to say that one of my favorite old-time classic video games has to be... Mario Kart for the Nintendo 64 (N-64). This is probably because, for its day, Mario Kart had pretty stunning graphics, and it has awesome game play. Many of the older games that were made were just really boring for me, and I didn't get into them much. Mario Kart, though, is a pretty exciting game, and it also has an exciting four player mode. Not many games of the time had a four player mode, and the ones that did were not all that great. I have three brothers, and we used to play this all the time and it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this game and I encourage those who haven't ever played it to try it out some time, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Response of "The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome"

Response: I thought that The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome by Mike Adams was a well written essay that cleverly used humor and satire to make this come alive.  I thought it was very clever the way that he used graphs to prove his points, selling the idea that what he was saying was actually very true, and that we need to do something about it before the danger becomes much bigger than what it already has.  At every turn, he stressed the danger of this problem, that relatives were really dying because of their child's exams.  The fact that he made it sound so serious made it all that much more funny to me reading it.  For example, when he gives the statistics that the FDR (family death rate) jumps from .054 with no exam to .574 with a midterm and to 1.042 for a final exam, he makes it sound like this is a real thing (176).  I think that this was a great essay that sounded very believable, and at the same time very ridiculous, so as to kind of keep the reader guessing and to give him a good laugh when he is finished reading it.

Man stuff ministries

The church where I attend, Christ Community Church, has a ministry called Man Stuff Ministries.  This ministry is just a group of men that got together so that they could do events and other things for the church.  One thing they made, called the Iron shop, is just many different things that they put on the second floor of our church.  It includes a ping-pong, carpet-ball, air hockey, corn-hole, and a b-b gun range.  They also made a putt-putt golf course which they set up on the main floor when they open the Iron shop on weekends.  They also have an over-night event once a year.  I personally love this ministry, so I thought I'd post it to tell you all about it.

Summary/Response of Einsteins "An Ideal of Service to our Fellow Man"

Summary: Einstein is saying that the Being that created everything is mysterious and that people that are trying to be like Him try to live ethically.  Many people try to live ethically, and he says that an ethical person shows the values of love, compassion, and moral goodness.  He also says that if one wants to live rightly and justly, they need to hold firm to these things and practice them, and someone who does realizes what a bad circumstance the world is in.

Response: My response to this is that I agree with it completely.  The person who realizes that the Creator is a mysterious person can truly grasp how powerful He must be.  This will also help in being able to live justly.  I completely agree that a person needs to be full of love, compassion, and goodness, because it gives someone an honest look on the world.  That translates into someone realizing what bad shape the world is in.  That further translates into thinking about how he can change the world by doing what he can to help it out.