Looking Back on Summer C

College has been everything that I was expecting and more. My first five weeks have moved faster than any other five weeks in my life. Classes were, for the most part, pretty easy and my study habits have greatly improved. I now study for tests and pre write for all of my papers. Getting assignments in by the deadline has to be one of the most stressful parts about college. If you aren't able to get your assignments turned in on time then you don't belong at college in the first place.

One way that I have totally been changed by college is that my sleeping schedule has been drastically altered. Before in high school I would get to sleep at a reasonable time and wake up early in the morning. Now in college I'm up till two or three in the morning working on papers, hanging out, enjoying Tallahassee nightlife, or just studying for tomorrows class. Even with staying up this late I still wake up at 9 every morning to attend class. This has been a major change in my routine. Another way that i have been changed is that I now realize the importance of schooling. Many people goof around in college and end up not having successful careers later on in their life. Thankfully, I have realized this early in college. I have the goal of being successful in the future, so I am now striving to achieve that goal by working very hard throughout my years at Florida State..

Overall, the time i have experienced at Florida State University so far will be ones that i will tell my kids about and will never be forgotten. Hopefully, the rest of my college encounters follow my previous experiences and in some cases end up being better. Can't wait until fall!!!! GO Seminoles!

How I feel on 7/27

I feel as if I haven't slept for days. As if every ounce of energy that was left in my body has exasperated. I've tried numerous techniques to try and create a more awake me, but all of these attempts were futile. Iv tried coffee, coke, loud music, going to sleep earlier the night before, and everything else you can imagine, but to no avail.

The grogginess can be seen by my fellow classmates. They can see the dark pouches under my eyes from not having had enough sleep. They can tell I'm tired from the bad attitude that I've had for the last couple of days. Finally, they can tell I am exhausted just by my bodies demeanor. I'm slouched in my chair and battling to keep my eyes open.

Fiction Tips

http://www.fictionwriters.com/tips-novel-writing.html

I found the website listed above to be very helpful in my attempt to start writing my first fiction story ever. When I began I had no idea how to start a fiction novel or where I would go with my writing but by learning a few important tips from this website I believe I am on the right track. I learned that the reader has to know who the characters are and their importance to the plot and somewhere in your story there has to be a climax which keeps suspense in your writing. Using these and a couple of other tips should allow you to begin on your own fiction story.

Reflection

When I walked into ENC 1101 I was not a very good writer. I knew the basics but my main goal when writing was to just try and get the paper done as soon as possible. That's because I believed that the sooner the paper was completed the more time I would have to do other more enjoyable things like hanging out with buddies or playing sports. I have come along way in the short time we have spent in this freshman English class.

Writing has now become something that I have no problem with and enjoy doing. Like I stated earlier, writing was an obstacle for me so I would rush through my papers and get them done. My first draft that I would write would be my final draft. Thats the crazy concept i had of writing. I have now learned that the act of revision is a vital step if you want a well written paper. I now revise my papers anywhere from 3 to 10 times just to get the best possible final product that I can. Another valuable lesson i have learned dealing with revising is to allow another person to read and edit your paper. This allows you to find many mistakes that you would not have seen if only you had read it.

The last thing I have learned about my writing is that it comes a lot easier when I write about something I can relate to and am interested in. For instance if I am writing about sports or if I'm writing a paper about experiences I find it to be easy because I know about the details and what happened. Basically I learned that if you ENJOY what your writing about you will ENJOY writing itself!

Overall, I have dramatically grown as a writer. I believe that I can now complete any writing assignment with ease because of what i have learned. I am going to write a mystery for my last paper so hopefully these lessons i have learned will allow me to write it with ease.

My Obituary

Kyle Kubacki (1993-2011) Was known to all as a very pleasant and easy going young man. Known for his intense desire to follow sports and his love for everyone that was contagious. He left this planet way earlier than he should have and could have contributed to this world if he had the time. With this said he achieved many things throughout his life. He was on the honor roll at his high-school, he was the captain of his soccer team, and donated much of his time to helping others through his volunteer work. He left behind his two parents and a brother. A quote that explains this solemn situation would be, " Only the good die young." Kyle Kubacki will remembered by all for a very long time.

Artistic Achievement

Art to me is the creation of beautiful or significant things. I believe that art is not a substance or simple creation. Art is much more than that. Art brings happiness to yourself and others and makes people question reality.

The greatest artistic achievement that I have ever produced was winning a penalty kick shootout in a soccer game on the national level. It was my freshman year and I had just turned 15. My team SWFL United was playing at an international tournament in Virginia Beach, Va. We were representing the state of Florida and in many ways the United States just by being in this tournament. This tournament was filled with teams from England, France, China, The Bahamas,  Mexico, and many other countries. It was the biggest stage i had ever played on and ever single second of it was nerve wracking.

The production of this artistic achievement happened in the semi-final game of the tournament. We were playing a team from Mexico City, Mexico and had battled the entire game with them. The game went into penalty kicks, which every team dreads. In penalty kicks the pressure builds to an astronomical level and the only thing that keeps the players going is their adrenaline and their will. During the overtime our match had come to be a huge spectacle. There were tons of other teams who had lined up along our field to watch this game. Other teams from states like California, North Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona were watching and cheering us on because we were a representative of the U.S. The penalty shoot out got under way and after a couple minutes it was finally my turn. When I got up to take my kick, it was four penalty kicks to three, in favor of my team. If I made this kick we would clinch the game and advance to the finals. As I walked up to the penalty mark my legs started to shake like a wet dog. The sweat was dripping down my face and I was thinking about my teammates and what they had endured throughout the game. I set the ball down and looked at the goalie with his uneven mustache and slick greasy hair. He looked like a giant in the goal. I proceeded to take the kick and put it right in the lower right corner and past the goalie. The whole stadium where we were playing erupted in joyous cheers. I had won the game on that kick. I was quickly tackled by my teammates. When I woke up the next morning in the hotel, I had to ask my mom if that penalty kick really happened. She gave me the biggest smile and told me that it had.

After the game i remember my dad coming up to me and telling me how beautiful that kick was and how I had made this tournament worth coming to for so many families. This is why I believe that this penalty was my greatest artistic achievement. Not only was the actual kick a piece of art but it made delighted many people. I will always remember this special time.

My watcher

The watcher at my gate is constantly in my head. Always telling me not to begin a piece of writing because if I don't begin then there is no way that I can fail. When I picture my "Watcher at the gate", I picture a version of myself. Its not exactly me but he has the same voice as me and thinks along the same lines that I myself think along. My watcher feeds on my negative spirits. Every time that I stop writing and say I have had enough he becomes stronger and ever more present in my mind. But with every sentence and line that I get down on my paper he seems to diminish more and more. My weapon against my "Watcher at the Gate" is my productive writing. Every time I begin a piece of writing I hear him telling me how  wont be able to do the whole paper and how I will get a bad grade. With each paper that I complete my confidence builds and I come close to finally defeating the "Watcher at my Gate.

Hometown Speech

I grew up in Naples Florida which has a ton of people who are over the age of 60 and don't know what to spend their money on. The sound of the speech used by these specific people is as hoarse and raspy as an elderly person who is trying to get their last words out before passing away. Yet the vocabulary is as affluent and elegant as a pristine rhinestone right off the hand of Donald Trumps Wife.

Character Description

The athletes name was Jack Smith. He was a basketball player by profession and had just completed the biggest victory in his life when I first met him. The meeting that occurred will never be lost in my mind. He was all alone in the dark and musky locker room sitting down by himself contemplating about what had just occurred. His face was in his hands, his head in his lap and he was crying. Not tears of sadness but tears of joy. The sweat was still fresh on his body from battling his opponents for nearly 2 hours. He was a warrior and a courageous worker on and off the court. He had on no shirt and was wearing his warmup bottoms. Ice bags were wrapped around every major muscle of his body relieving him of some of the pain he had received in the game that had just ended. I didn't know how to start the conversation with this man that I have looked up too for many years. So i just stood there and waited. He was one of the biggest, most muscular men i had ever seen in my life, yet it looked like he was gentle and at peace with himself.

He finally looked up at me and asked what I was doing and why I was just standing there staring at him and hadn't said anything. I told him that I was his number one fan and that I had wanted to meet him all my life. I thought he was going to call security and have me escorted out of the building but he stood up and shook my hand. He was towering over me and as wide as two dump trucks. This man was a monster. I staggered back for a moment out of shock of his size but he told me not to worry and that he was used to that happening. He then offered to sign some fan memorabilia for me and my eyes lit up like a christmas tree. I was so excited. Never in a million years had I thought that my idol would be standing in front of me offering to sign things for me. I took all the memorabilia from him and was getting ready to keep talking to this giant of a man when I remembered that I had told my parents I was going to the bathroom before we left the stadium. I told my new friend that I had to leave to meet my parents and he was very understanding.

On the walk back to my parents I realized nobody in a thousand years was going to believe what had just happened to me. So i decided to keep this little adventure that i had gone on a secret between me and Andrew.

Image from Crots

This picture deals with the trip that I took to Mexico two summers ago with my family. This was one of the towns we drove through on the way to the beach in Cozumel, Mexico. My life was changed for ever the moment I saw this place. The stench coming from the buildup of garbage was ten times worse than any dead animal i had ever smelt before. The colors were so brown and dark that it gave the town an almost ghost like feeling. I saw kids washing themselves in dirt brown puddles that the rainstorm had left the day before. Nobody in the world should have to live in a place like this. The clearest memory that I get from this image is the sound of the kids of the town. I clearly remember hearing them talk and scream and have a good time with what they were doing even though they were in one of the most unfortunate situations I had ever seen before. Overall, this time changed my life in a way that i would have never imagined.

Sensory Description

Every day on my walk to the WMS building I walk in a groggy haze. 9 o'clock in the morning is way to early for me. One detail that I notice every morning are the construction workers hard at work. When you walk by them you can hear the sound of their hammers banging the bricks into place, see the sweat dripping off their hardworking arms with every swing of their tools. They have hard, labor intensive jobs but sometimes they will be singing a happy tune or chatting among one another. The redness of the bricks pops out at me like the sun rising on the east coast. My world is filled with color the moment I step out of my dorm and see these men hard at work. It brings a start to my day and gets me ready for whatever else I am to encounter.

End of My First Week

So far in english we have read only three short passages and I already feel like a much more accomplished writer than from where I had started. The three selections that we have read are Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts",  Lorrie Moore's "How to Become a Writer," and Gail Godwin's "The Watcher at the Gates." All three of theses writings deal with becoming a writer and conquering your fears. The first two passages we read are very similar to each other in the fact that they both deal with just trying to get started and get something written down even if it makes no sense and has no flow or rhythm. Then once you have the first draft down on paper you can go back and critique it and make it more descriptive and better and eventually it will turn into a well polished piece of writing that you can be proud of. The passage by Gail Goodwin was a little bit different than the other two because she talks about the "Watcher at the Gate" in her head and how it sometimes prohibits her from getting started and discriminates her work too severely. The fact that the "Watcher at the Gate"rejects her work from the start makes it hard for her to begin which is similar to what happens to the other two writers. 


Just in this first week I have learned so much. The most difficult part of writing for me throughout high school was trying to get started. Therefore these articles were a major help in the progress of my writing. It would literally take me hours just to try and come up with an idea of how I would start my paper or what exactly I would write about. Now that I have heard these three different selections I have no problem sitting down and getting started right away with any type of writing. A perfect example of this was on our first assignment for this class. I was scared that I would not know what to write about or if I would be able to get the required amount of 6 pages completed, but using the tips that I had learned from Gail Goodwin, Anne Lamott, and Lorrie Moore I was easily able to get the paper done. It may not have been the perfect paper from the start but at least its something to work with and eventually when I am totally finished it will be a masterpiece. 


Overall, the writing flow for me has become much, much easier. I have learned valuable lessons from these articles and they have allowed me to become a better writer. I now feel more confident and hopefully this confidence will carry over into other classes and allow my writing to continue to grow.

Digital Self

The number one growing industry in the world is Information Technologies. That being true I feel that in someway every single person is connected to the internet in someway. Ever since I was in 6th grade I have in some way had either a Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or sometimes all three at the same time. I feel like having these go a long way to defining who you are as a person. Online a person can be whoever they want to be. Nobody will judge them or think of them as somebody who they aren't. When I am on the computer I try to be the same person that I am in real life. But still sometimes things get carried away. Overall, computer are a way of life that a person has to deal with if they want to thrive in this world filled with technology.

First week in Tally

The first few days in Tallahassee have been filled with activities and adventures. I'll admit at first that being on my own without my parents supervision was a little nerve wracking but i eased into it quite nicely. The first day I was just walking around campus trying to find my way around the huge campus. A benefit of having a brother who is about to be the president of Pike is that you are introduced to a bunch of people. Right from the beginning I was meeting new people and making new friends that I will remember for a long time after college. The nights leading up towards the first day of school were filled with anxiousness and a lot of excitement. A bunch of pike brothers brought me out on a malts to yiannis for a time filled of fun. The next night I was back out with them meeting new people and making connections that will make college a better experience all around. The two things I will remember the most about my first couple of days as a college student at Florida State University is how it pours down rain ALL the time and how hot it is when the sun is out and shining.