TO DA FUTURE!

I am going to be busy with the upcoming holidays so I am not going to be posting much in this blog for the next couple of weeks. (This is due to Christmas and my 21st B-day being right around the corner) However, I will be talking about movies I have recently seen along with books, games, and various television shows I am currently watching. Until then enjoy Daft Punk's latest music for their hit single Derezzed!

And yet again I must be a sleep! AVAST! Busy times and a bright future ahead!

First I like to apologize for posting this late since I thought it was due on the stereotypical Friday due date. There is always something to remind me to get my act in gear may it be reading things carefully or just paying attention. I feel like such a dimwit at times when I notice things like this. Our teacher’s post about the final blog entries made me go, “what?”
To start things off I have to say that for a first experience for an online course this wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. This online English course was actually pretty fun when all is said and done. If I didn’t take this course I wouldn’t have made this awesome blog that I will be converting to a information blog in concerns for all kinds of mass media entertainment that I am in too. I enjoyed doing new things like doing group projects online in a group in concerns for an assigned project.
I can’t not begin to thank you all who have been a part of the various different team groups for peer drafting my papers considering they helped out a lot in the end. I am pleased to say that I feel like my writing has improved since I joined this class. Since this class wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be I guess I just might take another future online course, maybe I will see some of you there and maybe I won’t. I am hope that I will have a similar experience as I had for this course for my other future online courses. For all of those majoring in English and going for their AA degree like I am I wish you all the best of luck and easiest of times for your future endeavors. There will be challenges ahead and I imagine even harder papers to write but, with a little patience and good study habits I believe we will all come up on top in the end. This will be my final entry in concerns for this English course in my blog so I would like to finally say peace to you all and hang loose.


P.S. One last thing I like to bid you all MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Time to fight a good fight. Prepare yourselves for the end is near!

What has this research paper taught me besides knowledge with Iranian culture? Well to start things off it taught me to become more organized in my thought process and just general writing. I am kind of a procrastinator and this project has been smacking my own ass and getting me into better shape to the point where I am not wasting time. Considering I am also writing another research paper, this other one being ten pages, I have been really tight for time trying to balance these two papers out. In general I guess one could say that this is really testing my time management skills. The other things it is teaching me is how to rely on other people such as the people who work at AVC, the people in my online course team, and family as well at times for tips. I am hoping that everything will come out for the better by the time next week has come and gone.
I am a bit worried though that I may not get everything done on time, but I understand that this is something that I must sacrifice for in order to get a good grade in the class in general. I hope that our teacher understands how much effort and time we are all putting into this research paper. I am pretty sure I am just over thinking things like I normally due when I get pressed for time. As long as I keep focused at the task at hand I do believe I wouldn’t have any trouble at all.
I would like to thank all those who have sent me peer draft reviews and that their help and input is greatly appreciated. I understand that there have been some errors going on in our group file sharing section and that what I have posted was deleted so I will be re-posting them and sending emails out to everyone in our group with copies of the peer drafts that I typed to them either tonight or tomorrow morning. Once again thank you for your shared input and I wish you all good luck in this final week for everything else that is coming up in terms of finals not just for this class but for all your other classes you guys may be taking as well.

Busy.. Just simply busy.....

Where to start? Last week was kind of hectic for me since I had to go down to San Diego to celebrate my uncle’s sixtieth birthday and then drive back home immediately the day after. I haven’t had really any time to start on this research paper until this week. I choose to do the Great Gatsby topic since I just recently wrote a paper for it for one of my other English courses, which now I have to type out a revision as well. The revisions are also another thing holding me back from starting this paper mainly for the fact that I have three papers to revise which are the second essay for this class, a different Great Gatsby paper, and the final draft of the Doublespeak and bullshit paper. I am just glad I have read Great Gatsby so many times already; this allows me to not have to reread it again and just focus on writing the paper and gather sources. I will be getting the books need for my sources today after my American Literature class.
I am probably going to get the majority of my papers done before Friday, including this research project. I don’t imagine I will have any real trouble finishing this since it is after all the first draft and it will not be perfect anyway. The only thing that I will probably have trouble with is my biggest fault which is my procrastination. I am afraid that I might forget something or dwindle my time away with out paying to much attention to what really needs to be down. If all else fails I am going to be pulling all nighters, I am used to this so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me to do. If I am have any further problems I will probably try to make arrangements to have a meeting with our teacher since she seems pretty understandable.
The one thing I am not looking forward to though is doing peer draft reviews. Sine each of these first drafts we are all doing are suppose to be five pages in length that means there is going to be a lot to review for everyone, this doesn’t help since it seems like I am in an even bigger group now than I was previously. Anyway, I look forward to reading other people’s papers regardless since I don’t know the majority of the people in my group now.
Right now I am praying that I am able to cover everything down to the letter in this research project, even though this is only the first draft I am still nervous a bit. I hope that I can rely on my new group to help me with their edits in their peer draft reviews on my paper and I hope I can offer the same kind of services in return.

Lolz! I r 1337! jk No, really I am joking...

Okay first off I apologize for this entry being so late and there is a good reason behind it being late. I know excuses are just poor, but when you are preparing to transfer and graduate while going to visit relatives due to one of your uncles turning sixty things can get really hectic. On with the show as they say in show business. When I am communicating online through emails, forum posts, comments, or what ever form of text I normally try to be as literate as possible. I don’t normally shorten words by using acronyms or something like brb, gtg, lol, or lmao. I don’t use smilies unless I am being flirtatious or just being goofy with someone I know well.
My style is normally to the point since I want to get answers as fast as possible to my questions and I figure it would be safer if I was just straight to the point with my questions. My answers to other people’s questions can range from being short to long and detailed depending on the situation at hand. If I want people to get the full grasp of something I would try to be as detailed as possible with my answers to their questions. If I am irritated at a person online I may give a negative long detailed answer as well to prove how wrong or just how foolish their previous response was.
On forums I tend to be very silent and just lurk, when a user reads other post on the said thread of the forum to get a grasp of the situation that is being discussed. If I feel like I understand the subject that is being discussed I may or may not share my input on the topic. I tend to hang out website forums that are very deep in my own hobbies, so I tend to run into people online who know more about my hobbies than even I do which is why I tend to be silent at times more than talkative less I get trolled/flamed, insulted or teased, for saying something that may be slightly off or wrong. Listening, in this case reading, instead of talking can sometimes be the better of the two options so you don’t sound foolish or just plain out wrong when you do decide to share your input on a situation or topic that is currently being discussed on the said forum.
I tend to send emails only when I am trying to send something in, asking questions, or wanting assistance in which case I would be just as formal and literal as I would at anything else that I am posting in. I figure if I want something I should be as clear as crystal with what I am trying to say to obtain the information that I want to get from the people I am trying to talk or communicate online with. There are too many situations where I can’t answer someone’s question due to the post from that said person being very illiterate and filled with internet acronyms. In the end I just want to be as polite and understanding as possible.

Th-th-th-that's all folks..I don't think so.

The newspaper is one of the oldest forms of written communication in a society for a person to share their opinion or views, the oldest form being books which also sometimes contained political/editorial cartoons themselves. An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration or comic strip containing a political or social message, which usually relates to current events or personalities. You can see editorial cartoons in the Sunday funnies section or the editorial page, like Doonesbury and Boondocks. As already mentioned these types of cartoons are trying to give off political message of some sort of what the artist/creator may be in favor or against a particular event dealing with normally the government at the time. Since the editorial and the Sunday funnies sections are commonly read by a lot of today’s society it is probably one the best ways to promote an opinion about some political event that may be going on or has passed.

Editorial cartoons are made specifically to entertain and amuse readers. Most of the time the editorial cartoons are set up in a way to make a situation look funny, even if the final message is in support of the political event. With giving the message a cartoon humorous look not only does it attract views of audience it also may help the attended audience to get a better grasp and understanding of the political situation that may be going on. The audience does not have to agree or disagree with artist’s opinion since the editorial cartoon’s purpose to begin with is just to make hidden truths and the opinion of artist known to society.

I don’t necessarily agree with Marlette’s fears of editorial cartoons being endangered. If anything is happening to editorial cartoons they are expanding and increasing in number due to technologies like the internet allowing people to express themselves as cartoonist in a broader, cheaper, and faster way. The internet itself just grants that many more options and freedoms for artist to publish their political cartoons. Of course the amount of freedoms and options for artist who create these cartoons varies from country to country, but even then I doubt that stops the artist from trying to get their opinions out there.

To be the better man, or in this case writer.

Finally a blog entry where I can let loose and just fritter away and talk a little about my improvements over this semester in terms of writing. In short I believe that I still have a long way to go as a focused writer, meaning a writer that is has to write something that he is being told to write and not what he wants to write. When I am being able to write about whatever I please is when I can really show my true skills and totally just let myself loose upon my reader audience.
I believe that the area which I have grown stronger in is being able to communicate my feelings stronger in my writing and be able to convince others to support my cause. The area which I believe I am weakest in is coming up with a strong thesis. I can’t seem to wrap my head around the area of solely focusing on one thesis through out an entire paper since I am so use to expressing many different opinions when I normally speak. I normally do not like to put people through ordeals or ask for help when I am working on a written piece of work, but I am beginning to learn to rely on others who have experience in the fields by having people peer edit my writing drafts and seeing what they think about it.
I have learned and gained experience in using MLA format correctly. The thing about MLA format is that it can vary depending on how the teacher prefers the format. One way you may cite a source or use a block quote may vary from one teacher to the next. I am lucky that most of my teachers haven’t asked for anything beyond MLA format, except the occasional odd ball of a teacher that may ask for APA format.

I will be meeting up with my teacher from this online course for the first time next week to see if I can get some help from her and work on improving my previous essay. I am praying that things will go well with the meeting and hopefully I will understand her method of writing so I can adapt to it myself.