Blog 75 - And So It Goes...

Hello future English 110.01-ers! I guess this blog post is supposed to discuss my feelings about the course and any extra advice I would potentially have for you. This course is a general English course, so the difficulty level isn't that high, but don't let that fool you into thinking this class is a joke, because it isn't. There is a good amount of effort that you put into your essays (well, if you want decent grades on them, which you do). If you do put in a lot of effort, your writing will improve. On the other hand, if you slack off or really don't care, or maybe your writing skills are already off the charts, then this class won't really do much to improve your writing skills. In this course I feel that your effort will show through your writing, and that if a decent amount of effort is put into your writing then you will definitely develop some better writing skills. I think overall, my writing style developed a bit more. More importantly, my idea developing skills improved quite a bit. I'm better at formulating ideas and connecting them into a good topic or statement to back up whatever ideas I want to discuss. I've realized after taking this class that I don't hate English as much as I do. I have never been a fan of English classes, mainly because I don't like writing and writing for me is difficult because I'm not very good at conveying my thoughts into text. After this class, I realized that when I write about things I'm passionate about or have a great deal of interest in, I really do enjoy writing! Hopefully those of you who take this course will find some sort of interest or connection with the things you write about, because that's what writing is for isn't it? To take an idea you really care about and sharing that knowledge of viewpoint to others.

Blog 74 - My Thoughts on Scifi...

In all honesty I was kind of a scifi fan before I really got into this class. I was a big fan of the 2009 Star Trek movie, a fan of the Star Wars Trilogy movies, and I guess things like Avatar and sorts were also scifi. A lot of the scifi that I liked were movie related though, so this class definitely introduced me to scifi tv shows and stuff like that. I was surprised in both a positive and negative way. TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of veered me away from liking scifi..mainly because I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer seemed so...I don't know kind of childish and immature. It seemed like they were just trying to get a bunch of teenagers into scifi so the only way to do it was to use kind of fairytale animals and teenage drama to pull them in. Other shows like Dollhouse and the long episode/short movie of Battlestar Gallactica were surprisingly good! I got really sucked into Dollhouse and I definitely want to watch more of the show during the break :) I think scifi kind of has this reputation of being really nerdy and only interesting to the kind of loser geek crowd, but in all honesty they aren't that at all. I mean, there has to be a reason why intelligent people happen to love something in a cult-ish-like way (I guess I say 'intelligent people' because a lot of 'geeks' like scifi...) and theres definitely good reason for it because scifi really is..well....cool!

Blog 73 - All You Need is Love...But Love Isn't Enough.

I'll admit, I love love stories. I love love songs. Romantic comedies, romance novels...I'm definitely one of those suckers who fall for those cheesy affections of love. Something about love is so magical, it makes you feel like you're floating on cloud nine, like nothing can go wrong and the world is at peace.


As much as I'm an advocate for love, I've come to the conclusion for many years now that love isn't enough. The famous Beatles song "All You Need Is Love" and other similarly related messages claiming that love can solve your problems, that love can conquer all is, quite frankly, bullshit. Yes, love does have amazing qualities that can bring people together in harmony. Yes, it's undeniable that love is something rare, and that a spark between two people isn't just coincidence...but I really don't believe it's love that keeps people together. Love is something that you can discover with someone else, someone you realize you get along with amazingly well, that shares some indescribable something that makes you want to spend all your time with them and never wanting them to leave your side, but love isn't just that. It isn't just the feeling you share with someone. You can't base a romantic relationship solely on love, and love isn't whats going to keep you together for all eternity. It's respect, understanding, communication, sacrifice, and most importantly, hard work that makes a solid relationship. Not love.


I don't know when I came to this kind of idea about love. It was probably in middle school. There was a time where I was talking to my mom, and I realized something. My mom and dad have worked hard all their lives, and they've always taught me the importance of hard work, that hard work can get you further in life that intelligence can. Somehow, I took this lesson and applied it to how I thought about love. I guess what it comes down to is that hard work can get you anywhere, and only after hard work is not enough is where intelligence and love come into play. If you don't work hard in the first place, love won't get you anywhere. 


There are many forms of love, and I'd like to believe that I've felt a good amount of them throughout my short 19 years. There have been moments when I realized how much I really love my family, how much I love my friends, and I'd like to think that I've felt even a romantic kind of love. I've been fortunate to not have lost any important relationships in my life with someone, and from each one of my relationships I've learned that hard work is maybe just as important as love itself. If you have problems with someone, it won't be solved because you love that person. It is because you love that person that you're willing to put in the effort to make things work. Your love for someone makes you want to sacrifice your own well-being for the sake of your loved one. When people reach this point, I think it's a sign of true love. Romantic love isn't going to last forever. I can't really imagine and old couple still having a kind of "spark" with each other after spending probably 30+ years together. At the time where romantic love fizzles, true love grows...because you choose to stay with that person because you care about them and you love them for who they are, not how they make you feel so much anymore. And come on...that's true love, isn't it?

Blog 72 - Facebook Officiality

"Oh they're together now?"

"Yeah. It's facebook official."

Sound familiar? It's not that uncommon for people to talk about things that go on on facebook, especially since everyone has access to it, and in all honesty theres been a lot of times where we go on facebook because we're bored. We take time to creep on people we don't know, or to comment on pictures or statuses..the list goes on. Since when has facebook been the one to decide whether or not something is legitimate? I was talking to a friend of mine and she said that she feels like a couple isn't really a couple until they're facebook official. I think this is ridiculous. I mean, yes, by putting your relationship status as "in a relationship with ___" basically just lets everyone you don't really care about to know that you're in a relationship, but if you're in a relationship you'll let the important people in your lives know about it. Stacy from 7th grade band camp who I haven't seen since doesn't need to know that I'm now in a relationship with someone. I also don't need to see Timmy from 9th grade science class being all kissy lovey dovey with his new girlfriend Amanda from 10th grade English class. Facebook officiality...it shouldn't govern whether or not something is legitimate or not. In fact, I know a good amount of people that don't post their relationship statuses on facebook because they DON'T want all that attention from people that don't matter to them. Just because you're not together on facebook doesn't mean that they aren't going steady in real life. In fact, more often than not, I'll see someone is in a relationship and a week or two later they'll be single again. Come on guys. Facebook officiality is overrated and and just plain stupid in the seriousness that people take on it.

Blog 71 - Caprica

I think the thing I like the most about Caprica is the use of the technolgy...those virtual "glasses" I guess you could call them. It's very interesting how it can, I guess essentially attach to your visual nerve endings and create a virtual world for you. And, I guess in this case, even make virtual versions of yourself. In many ways, this technology is already being developed. It would be very interesting to see the kind of applications this kind of technology creates. It could be made into something beneficial, like training people to fly planes or drive cars without the risk of real injury until they're good enough to drive on the real road. It can also create a new generation of gaming, much more advanced than the wii or kinect (ist that spelled right?). It can probably even help people who have been somehow paralyzed to learn how to walk again, and advance enough for other medical related things. There can be a lot of positive technology that virtual realities can offer, but at the same time there are many negative routes that can be taken. It's possible for people to get so sucked into reality that all they ever want to live in is the virtual reality, not their own. This kind of mentality is already happening right now. Look at these online chat rooms, facebook, twitter...all of these sites that are supposed to get us connected really suck us into an online reality, one where we think being online is better than our actual lives.