Monday, March 15, 2010

Why Blog?

What is the point in blogging? Blogging is a way to express ones thoughts. To get to know someone you hardly know anything about and to be able to hear what their options are. There are people out there that are shy so the internet is a great way to open these people up. These people can get behind a computer and just type out exactly how they feel about the situation without worrying what people may say to them or how others may react. Also by having a chance to blog about a certain subject gives you time to think about how you want to word what you want to say. Rather than in person you just have to say what come first without thinking it through fully.

Douglas Rushoff writes an article called “The Internet Is Not Killing off Conversation but Actively Encouraging It” Douglas thinks it is not the product that sells the item. Rushoff, believes it is the cartoon character or the bubble gum on or inside the product that makes the product sell faster. Just like any product he thinks the internet is the same way. The internet helps start questions with someone you hardly know. But we don’t always use the internet, in our conversations, just like the product. We use “Something to have when the conversation goes quiet at work the next day; an excuse to start a discussion with that attractive person in the next cubicle.” He says we may use “video clips” just to start off a conversation with someone we want to know better. Not necessary say the internet, although we work our way around it.
While Neale Talbot writes an article called “Weblogs (Good God Y’all) What Are They Good for (Absolutely Nothing-Say It Again)” He believes that blogging “is not a revolution.” Neale thinks “there is nothing revolutionary about something that’s been going on since the Web began.” What Neale doesn’t fully understand is the fact that revolutionary means new. With the internet there is always something new going on. Due to that fact the internet is a huge revolution in the world today.
Although I have to disagree with Talbot and agree with Rushoff, I believe that the web is an easy way to get new information’s about worldly things or about a friend’s life. Therefore web blogging has changed the world in which we live in. If we didn’t have the internet information would not be getting to place to place as fast as it is. We wouldn’t know about any new information’s and by the time we did hear about it would be considered old.

Can you remember the first time you posted your blog and the next day you got a message saying modify your blog post? After clicking that picture as your reading what your fellow blogger was saying about your blog? I am pretty sure your heart just filled with excitement. The internet is a great way to connect with old and new friends.

Word of wisdom: Using blogs can help you get to know someone you hardly know.




Rushoff, Douglas. "The Internet Is Not Killing Off Conversation but Actively Encouraging It." Web Log post. Web. MA: Perseus Pub 2002. 116-118.


Talbot, Neale. "Weblogs What Are They Good For." Web Log post. Web. MA: Preseus Pub. 130-132


My Needs or a Friend’s Needs

What does one have to do to be known as selfish? I have heard many of my close friends explain that being selfish means caring only about your main ideas. I however think that being selfish is thinking about your own self and not caring about other people around you. I assume when someone is being selfish they push other people out of the way to reach what they want in life Take a good look at your life: are all your thoughts and actions being selfish and you haven’t even realized it?


I have been following Tony Anders who is a very wise man and writes many popular blogs. Anders has been through a lot of different experiences in his life. Anders owns his own business, has a family, is writing a book, is engaged in much more. In “Am I being Selfish?” Anders explains when being selfish is wrong. But, Anders also states when it is okay to be selfish when we’re dealing with our health, faith, or money. Anders tries to figure out if people are selfish only because they are after their goals. Anders tries to figure out what it truly means to be selfish. He finally comes to the main point that being selfish means “chiefly concerned with one’s own interest, advantage, especially to the exclusion of the interests of others.” While I think being selfish is meeting your own needs instead of helping someone else. Being selfish never has a positive outcome. When someone is being selfish there is always a chance for pain, jealously, and other mix up feelings that people must deal with. While when we give up our pride of being selfish and help someone out we receive this joy in our heart of helping someone.
Anders also talks about being pleased for “righteous efforts are not selfish.” You should feel good about yourself when accomplish a goal you had. Instead of feeling guilty about accomplish your biggest goal. Anders feels like his needs should come before others when working towards a particular goal in life.
Anders blog about being selfish, I will have disagree with Anders. I do not agree when Anders says “ I believe people should steal someone else’s joy” while I believe we should be happy when they accomplished a goal instead of being rude about and being mad that they accomplished something before us. We should help others reach their goal. We would get a whole lot more done in this world if we were to help another person out. Instead of filling our own wants. I think that if we gave up some of our selfishness this world would be a much better place to live in. All because we could give people who have the talent and passion to want to achieve a goal but never have an opportunity to. These people would do a whole lot more with it if we were much less selfish.

I have been very selfish toward one of my best friend named Kaitlynn. But when I started to act selfish things started to turn upside down. I ended up dating two of her friends. And though I did not know at the time, she had a huge crush on one of them.

This is where I have to tell you, that I was not a very good friend here. To be honest, I did not mind the boy’s interest. I dated one of them for a short while without mentioning it to Kaitlin. If I could go back, I would have never dated him, but at the time I had it all rationalized. Now imagine you are Kaitlin and you have a crummy friend like me. We all had different outlooks on this situation. I admit that I never should have hurt Kaitlin like I did.

Anders asks the question “When is selfishness wrong?” Well selfishness is wrong when you take a dream from a friend and it doesn’t mean as much to you as it would to them. Is it worth all the pain to hurt a really close friend? I personally do not think it is worth all the pain. My point is that there are a lot of people in the world. No one ever sees everything the same way you do; it just doesn't happen. So when you find one person who gets a couple of things, especially if they're important ones, you might as well hold on to them. You know?

Word of Wisdom: Hope for your friends’ successes.



Disability: Overcoming the Challenge

I have had many obstacles I have faced and overcome. Grades do not come easily for me. I have to work hard to achieve the grades that I have earned. I work on a problem until I fully understand it. Imagine having important needs and ideas to communicate but being unable to express them. Or trying to read or add but not being able to make sense of the information.

I was just starting the second grade. I started yelling at my mom “I DON’T WANT TO GO” you could tell my mom was getting very frustrated with me. I hated school. I was a little behind on my reading, math, and writing skills. The teachers all thought I needed to get some testing done to figure out why I was so behind on all of these skills. These tests dragged on day after day for an entire week. They were each two hours long for a whole week. I was sitting in a small square room no claiming pictures on the walls, with a guy named Steven. Steven was about five feet ten inches. He had short brown hair and was very thin. My hands were extremely sweaty before meeting with Steven. He kept asking me all these questions with a bold voice and had me to read him a lot of stories from a gigantic book each page had a different sentence and then he would turn to the next page very slowly. After that week, my parents had to wait for a couple of weeks for the test results to come in. As we waited I wonder what was going on with me. Once they came in, my parents and teacher had to attend a meeting with Steven, my teacher, and the principal. They discussed what was going on with me and why my reading, writing, and math skills were behind compared to other students.
The test results stated that I am a person with a learning disability. I have experienced a cycle of learning failures and lower self-esteem since the age of eight. Having a learning disability brings overwhelming frustration. The most important information I had to remember is “with a learning disability, I can still learn.”

Now, I feel like I am always hitting the books. While my friends are meeting up after school, I am back at home in my room reading and rereading the same material. But no matter how hard I study, I have difficulty remembering things and my grades remain average. While my friends, who never seemed to study, always aced their tests. It does not seem fair. I get so frustrated.

When I was diagnosed with a learning disability, I felt relieved to know what was going on; I was also worried. I did not like the “disability” label. I was concerned about what it might mean for my future. Would I be able to go to college and study special education like I hoped while accomplishing all of my goals? In my senior year of high school, I was determined not to let my learning disability get the best of me. I promised myself I was going to go to college and afterward teach special education. I worked very hard to get scholarships and to improve my grades. All of this hard work paid off. I earned three scholarships because of the hard work I put into those essays to get the scholarship. By my senior year I learned a lot and I tried a lot of new things. I am now at a point in my life where I realize I can do anything I want to accomplish if I put my mind towards it. This was not an easy process but by the end all of the hard work was worth it. I am now excited to be able to graduate college and help students who are having problems with learning. I believe I can help these students because I have been in their positions. I know how hard it is when someone is teaching you something you do not understand and the teacher acting like you should. This becomes very frustrating I hope I will be able to teach these students they can do anything as long as they are going to work hard toward their goals.

The first step in solving any problem is realizing there is one. I no longer believe I am dumb, and my use of words has improved. I am making slow but steady progress in all my classes. No matter what I have to learn I always learn the material. It just, may take me longer and I may need someone to help me at times. I study in all the free time I have. I always have an open book in my hand. I utilize my time to my best benefit.

While I have a learning disability I learned that not every one learns the same way. Some people are visual, auditory, or even kinesthetic also known as tactile. Some people are a combination of all three. The best way to get through learning something you have never seen before is to figure out your learning style and learn how to solve the problem your own way. All of us are different. If we were the same it wouldn’t be as changeling and fun to teach someone who does not see the way you see things. We each have our own ideas and thought which create more discussions and seeing others point of view. As of for me I had to work extremely hard to accomplish all that I have done in school. When something does not work for one person a teacher needs to see that and find a new way so that person can learn.


Having a learning disability has taught me how to deal with people, how to learn, how others learn, and also how to be a hard worker. I deal with my friends better because I have to be more patient. A learning disability has taught me how to be more patient. I can help others learn because I understand how hard the material can be. My hard work comes into play every day. If I was lazy, I would not overcome this challenge. A learning disability is a very hard challenge to overcome. People need the right support from teachers, family, and friends to help overcome a disability. My learning disability is a hidden handicap.

Word of wisdom: everyone learns at a different speed and different ways so be patient and creative if your way of teaching someone does not work


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

keep the people that make you smile



My friend Amy called me the other night we have not talked since graduation. She was telling me story about a guy named Adam. Amy kept saying “he is amazing. He’s all I’ve ever wanted and more, he is one of them people you can walk down the street with and you do not even have to hold hands because we know how we feel.”

During high school Amy was in a long term relationship with Toby. This guy was completely different than Adam. Amy thinks it’s not fake with her and Adam. She is totally comfortable with him. She has known Adam for about two years, and she like him for those two years she would call during high school and go on and on about him. She never thought it would work out with the. She had no idea he actually liked her. That is why she dated other guys.

When Adam told Amy he liked her, she was still with Toby. She was a mess. But Amy and Toby split up because he cheated, and Adam and all her other guys wanted to beat him up for hurting her so much.
Adam was the only one out of all of Amy’s friends who would talk to her about the relationship with Toby. She told him she had feelings for him and she always has. Now the two of them are together. It’s weird she has never had something so perfect and exactly what she wanted. He is tall dark haired, and green eyed guy. It is not just that either she says, “He’s amazing, he is nice, funny, and can take any side of me, even me in the morning. He always knows how to make me smile when I am upset and is one of the nicest guys I have met.”

From her experience I learned a lot about life. Imagine the people you see everyday right now, the people you would least expect to not see tomorrow. In a couple years, college will come and with it new friends and new experiences. The people you see every day in the halls; your friends and some of them, your best friends, will disappear from your life... each going their own way. You'll see them once every 10 years at some random reunion, if that. These are the people you have grown up with and become friends with or even if you're not, there will come a time when many of them won't even cross your mind. The truth is ... you'll see your best friends maybe once a year because time goes by so fast and everyone is so busy. Enjoy today and enjoy tomorrow because these days come but once in your lives. Be thankful for what you have and most of all, for who you have in your life because life's plan for you may bring you away from these people. But no matter what anyone else says, and no matter what time can do, your heart will always bring the best back, and your memories with them will forever hold a place in your soul.
Words of wisdom: keep in touch with close friends.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I Could Use A Hand






The episode of love on the rocks from the well-liked television show full house is about how D.J. is Feeling that her relationship with Steve has drifted apart, DJ explores all other options, before ultimately breaking up with him. Steve goes off to Hollywood for a school trip. While D.J. is stuck at home watching her cousins and trying to figure out if she still wants to be with Steve. D.J. decides that she does not want to wait at home for Steve to get home. D.J. goes out with her best friend Kimmy mountain climbing. D.J. was really scared to climb the mountain. But once she faced her fear she learned there is more than life then just being with Steve. The whole week that Steve was gone D.J. keep busy. After forgetting the day Steve got back home D.J. then decided that it is time to break up with Steve. She asks Danny her dad what his advice is. She explains to Steve that she wants to break up. She tells Steve “breaking up is like climbing a mountain it’s really scary until you do it then it is incredible.”


D.J learned a lot about herself the entire week Steve was gone. As humans we are scared to take risk. We hate change. But once we take the first step towards that change we are usually happy we took that step. It is also a lot easier to make that first step with a supportive friend or family member. That way we know we’re not going on this new adventure by our self.


By taking a risk and having a supportive family can leave a person with a positive outcome. D.J. learns to give up the want for a boyfriend to find out who she is and what she likes. D.J. also learns from her family mistakes. Also she has an open mind to trying new thing even thought she is very afraid to try it. But once she tries it she thinks it is incredible.



Word of wisdom: pain is easier to handle when you go through it with another person



Works cited


"Love on the rocks." Full House. DIR. Guylas, Ellen. ABC. 01 Mar. 9 4. Television.