Monday, April 30, 2012

Writing Reflection - Seven

Comment #1
http://crizelyneve.blogspot.ca/2012/04/you-cant-change-my-religion-and-beliefs.html

Time for some more comments! This time, my first comment went to Criz. Her post on religion really intrigued me. I personally don't have a religion and therefore have had people's religious beliefs pushed upon me before. I get really frustrated when people do this because they tell me that I'm a bad person or that I'm going to "hell" just because I have my own beliefs that happen to be different than theirs. I actually find it really rude! Don't push your beliefs on me and I won't push mine on you. It was nice to see her post about respecting people's beliefs whether they believe in god or not.

Comment #2
http://cheyennecu.blogspot.ca/2012/04/personal-addition-20.html?showComment=1335810961855#c8274271024409475325

My second comment was on Cheyenne's blog. I noticed that she made a list about the places that she has visited before. I love traveling myself so I was curious to read where she has been. I asked her if her list was in a particular order or not. This question came to my mind because I noticed that Paris was first and a small town in Manitoba was last. Whether it's in a specific order or not, she has made her way to a good amount of places!

Comment #3
http://lindsaymck.blogspot.ca/2012/04/writing-reflection-eight.html?showComment=1335811323403#c386109102159545326

My final comment was on Lindsay's post about blackout poetry. She was talking about how she didn't really enjoy that assignment and found it to be quite difficult. I completely agree with how she feels so I had to comment. I was actually really surprised at how hard it could be and I'm glad that I'm not the only one that felt that way!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Personal Addition 7 - The Night

sleep-moon-full-night.jpg.jpeg
http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/189562/sleep-moon-full-night.jpg
How many times have you heard someone say "I'm not a morning person"? If only we got a dime for every time someone has said that.
My real question is.. What's so appealing about the night? Is it the darkness? The moon? Staying awake when you know you should be asleep?
I know for a fact that I'm not a morning person (ten cents please). Therefore, yes, I am a night person. I absolutely love staying up as late as I can, which then turns in to me sleeping in as long as I can.
It's this long continuous pattern that I can't seem to break. Maybe it's the late night bonfires, the way that the moon lights up the sky, or being able to gaze up at the stars, looking at everything that's bigger and far beyond our reach. Whatever it is, I love it. Maybe I don't need an explanation for why the night is so appealing; maybe that's the magic of it.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Writing Reflection - Six

Comment #1
http://creativewritinggradetwelve.blogspot.ca/2012/04/my-first-friend.html?showComment=1335205369200#c2589627927448768483

The first comment I posted was on Bella's blog. I really enjoyed how she brought such a big part of her life into this moment. We all have that first best friend that we went through so much with. This was definitely something that I could connect with and I'm sure many others could as well. I loved how she ended it by adding that although they may be distant now, they will always have those childhood memories to look back on.


Comment #2
http://lindsaymck.blogspot.ca/2012/04/top-5-theme-park-rides.html?showComment=1335401481510#c6633101495100553440

Lindsay's blog was the second one I commented on. I love theme parks so it makes sense that this post intrigued me! I love how she added the visual aspect to this post because it allowed me to really imagine what those rides would have been like. I've never been to the theme parks she mentioned in this post (unless Disney Land counts) so reading about the rides was really interesting!


Comment #3
http://jolums.blogspot.ca/2012/04/sharing.html?showComment=1335402630972#c2417962652973841861

For my third comment, I decided to take a look at Jordyn's blog. Her post about sharing stuff on the internet was very interesting to read because so many people abuse their access to the internet. I really liked how she proved that it can be a place to share more than the typical teenage hormonal posts but a place that you can express what's on your mind in a classy ("stay classy") manner.

Personal Addition 6 - What To Do

When I was five I decided that I was going to be a teacher. I was quite clear from early on that my mind had been made up and that it wasn't going to change. I know that it had a lot to do with my mom teaching at the school I was attending, but who wouldn't want to follow in their parents footsteps? They were (and of course still are) our role models. We thought everything that they did was absolutely amazing and flawless. They were mom and dad. The most powerful people in the eyes of a five year old. But then... We grew up.
First of all, I'm not trying to imply that we push our parents out of the picture at this point. We simply form a mind of our own. This is when we drop our idea that "wasn't going to change" (ironic isn't it?) and pick up a new one that falls into our point of view.
For me, I've dropped wanting to be a teacher and have picked up wanting to be in the film industry. I really love editing and directing and I thought that I had the rest of my life planned out.. Go to university, study film, start small, land a great job with a big company, make lots of money.. But let's be realistic, it's not that easy. Nothing's that easy.
Now onto the next stage: graduation.
I still have a good year ahead of me before this landmark in life. A year goes by fast though and I need to start applying for universities soon. But why am I so hesitant? I'm not nervous to graduate, I'm ready to. So what is it?
I keep changing my mind. I've discovered how much I enjoy writing in the past few months and I've started thinking I want become a writer. But then I look back and I see "film" and as soon as I'm close to letting go, I hold onto it.
I know that there are options for me, such as the joint communications program, but I can't figure out what it is that's disabling me from making up my mind!

With that said, I'm assuming I'm not the only one that has felt this way. Maybe it's the fact that there are so many options, or maybe it's simply a factor of not wanting to let that last little bit of our childhood go. Whatever it is, it's there. Not to torture us, not to frighten us, but to lead us in the right direction.
I'm not quite sure where life will take me in the future. All that I can guarantee is that it's going to be quite a long, emotional and thrilling ride.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Reading Reflection - Five

Book: The Pilot's Wife
Author: Anita Shreve
Pages Read: 107-130

As I get further into this book, it seems to get more and more depressing. The idea of Jack's death being suicide is still floating in the air and Mattie had to hear about the rumors through a friend rather than her mom. I'm honestly not too sure what will happen next. All I know is that someone is going to lose it soon (and yes, by that I mean have a mental breakdown). I may be wrong, but I'm going to stick with it until the book proves otherwise.
Looking past the depressing pieces, I'm really enjoying this book. It's something different from the other books I've read by choice and although I was little hesitant at first, I've been pleasantly surprised.
Moving on from the topic of suicide, I'm going to go ahead and say that I have a weird feeling that something might happen between Kathryn and Robert (the man who has basically been protecting her from the press and who had shared the horrible news with her). I know that being there is his job and that he's done it many times, but I do think (and hope) that something's different this time around. I may be completely off, but you never know!
As for the process of reading, I don't find myself reading at home. It's not necessarily that I don't want to read at home, it's just that I don't have too much time. I have a job, a film class I attend every Wednesday, and of course on top of that there's homework. When I do have free time, I'd honestly much rather use it to hang out with my friends than read a book. In the summer I read at home because I don't have homework to worry about, but throughout the school year, I leave my reading for class.

To sum things up in a sentence, the book seems to being going down an interesting path and I'm curious to see how the next few chapters play out.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Writing Reflection - "One"

Long overdue, but here it is nonetheless.

I have to say, blogging is starting to grow on me. I was pretty skeptical about it at first, but after adding some personal additions and really making it my own, I'm quite proud of my blog.
I feel as though it has pushed me to dig a bit deeper with my writing and put more thought into the process of it. It has also showed me that in order to write something meaningful you really have to put your all into writing it. There's no way to fake a truly powerful piece of work.

Now for my questions... Where do I want my blog to go from here? What type of writing projects do I want to work on?
I don't necessarily have a path set for how I want my blog to look in the future, but I do know that I want to continue with my personal additions. I think that having some different writing projects could be an interesting way to spice up my blog, but the personal additions seem to be the first thing that always come to my mind. There's something so satisfying when you have complete control on what you're writing about and how no one can set any limits on the thoughts pouring out of your mind. I understand that I will have to branch off from only personal additions, but for now, what's the rush?

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Reading Reflection - Four

Book: The Pilot's Wife
Author: Anita Shreve
Pages Read:71-107

While reading more of this book, I've found myself becoming intrigued to learn more about Kathryn's daughter, Mattie. Recently, Mattie revealed some secrets to her mom that she was too scared to share in the past because she didn't want her dad finding out. After doing so, she was saying to her mom that  maybe her dad will come back. Kathryn responded to this by trying to comfort Mattie back to reality. During this part of the book, I was able to make a text to self connection. It was that moment of disbelief and hope that seemed familiar to me. It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that someone's gone for good and you try to block out the reality of it by thinking of all of the possibilities. You can only pretend for so long before you have no choice but to face the truth.
It seems as though Mattie is more than just the average teenager.  I think that it just might take a while for her character to develop. I've been able to make some connections with this character so far and because of this, watching her character evolve should be interesting for me.
After I read the sequence that revolved around Mattie, one question popped into my mind.. Is there more that Mattie is hiding from her mom? This question made me connect to my prediction of her dad. I know that he hid something from Kathryn and I wonder if Mattie is going to follow in his footsteps. After all.. Like father like daughter.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Reading Reflection - Three

Rather than writing the typical reading reflection, we were given the option to get creative and make an iPhone for the protagonists of our books. By "make and iPhone" I mean creating apps that we think our protagonists would use and could come in handy.

Kathryn's iPhone Apps:
1) The Press - After Jack's death had been announced the press won't leave Kathryn and her daughter alone. I find it very suspicious that the press is focusing so much of their attention on the two girls.
2) Plane Tracker - With Jack being a pilot, having this "app" would have allowed her to know that he was safe and give her a sense of comfort.
3) The News - Kathryn had to watch her now deceased husband's name appear on the news (along with his picture) and having this app would allow her to know what's being said about the accident (the good and the bad).
4) Weather - Knowing the conditions that her husband would have been flying in could have been another form of comfort for her.
5) Paintings - The first time that Kathryn and Jack met was in her grandmother's old store. A painting Jack found in the store was used as an "ice breaker" to start a conversation with her. This app could have provided her with connections to the past.
6) Lie Detector - As I've read on in the book (and have learned more about Jack and Kathryn as a couple before the accident), it seems as though there may have been some things that Jack lied to Kathryn about.
7) Mind Reader - When I read about how the plane crash may have been an attempt at suicide I knew that Kathryn would have nothing but questions running through her mind. Jack seemed happy and content in Kathryn's eyes. If only she knew what he was really thinking...

After reading that there was a possibility that the plane crash was an attempt at suicide (a successful one too) I'm very intrigued to read on. From the beginning of the book I was already questioning Jack's character and now I'm seeing my predictions become reality in this book.
My biggest question that I have right now is what was wrong in Jack's life? Kathryn seemed stunned when she heard the word suicide. Jack never seemed depressed or upset around her so she never had a reason to question what was going on his mind. You'd think that if her husband were to be going through such a depressing time in his life she'd catch on. If it really was suicide then there obviously would have been something quite huge that led him towards making such a life changing decision.
The first thing that came to my mind was that he was possibly cheating on Kathryn (due to all of the traveling that he did) and couldn't stand to live with the guilt.
If Jack was cheating on Kathryn, I wonder how their daughter will take it. Her dad was one of her role models and if he had been unfaithful to her mom how would she be able to cope with everything (especially when it's all happening so fast)? Being a teenager, I can see her rebelling from all of the stress because she can't handle it.
If that is the situation, I'm more than curious to see how it plays out.




Writing Reflection - Five

Writing my moment really forced me to push myself as a writer. The topic of my moment is very close to my heart and I knew that I needed to do it justice. Because of that, I knew that the one thing I needed to not do while writing it was over think.
Too often I get stuck while writing because I'm over thinking my word choice or thinking too far ahead. While writing my moment I made sure that I allowed myself to write exactly what came to my mind and not second guess myself. I'm hoping that doing so made my moment more powerful and helped it contain the emotions that my family and myself experienced that day.
I'm really glad that we were given the opportunity to do a writing exercise like this one because it did make me push myself as a writer. I look forward to writing more and finding out what other writing exercises we will be doing. I've already seen major progress in my writing since I've been in this class and that's exactly what I was hoping to achieve. With that said, let's hope that things only get better from here.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Writing Reflection - Four

When it comes to writing, I tend to want to block out the world around me. Sometimes that means removing myself from a group, or simply putting in my headphones and turning the volume up until all I hear is the music.
When we were given the opportunity to find a quiet place in the school to start writing our moment stories, I was all for it. It was the perfect chance to get the silence I had been longing for.
The topic that I chose for my moment was quiet personal. Having the chance to completely shut out the world around me made it a lot easier for me to put it on paper.
Writing from personal experience is definitely my first choice, but it can be really difficult at times. Therefore, being given that time of "solitary confinement" was exactly what I needed to process my thoughts before I could write about them.

As for writing on my blog, I still feel so determined to perfect everything before I post. I definitely need to learn to move past this because writing's not about perfection.
Maybe the thing that having a blog will teach me is how to stop being such a perfectionist.. Only time will tell.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Personal Addition 5 - Video Contest


The link above will take you to a video that my friend and I made for a video contest. The video was made to encourage safe driving and we hope that the message is clear!

We are both very passionate about film and hope to continue with it after high school. Currently, my friend and I are attending film classes every Wednesday in hopes to expand our knowledge on film. While learning camera techniques and script writing, we also hope to acquire a better understanding of the industry itself. We are both very dedicated and are looking forward to discovering our potential in the real world.

This is only one of many videos that we've made together and it's most definitely not the last. It would mean a lot to us if you took the time to watch the video and like it too!
To anyone who decides to click on the link, thank you so much!