Friday, June 15, 2012

Reading Reflection/Tweet - Nine

Book: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages Read: 83-117

Tweet: "Reading The Hunger Games (pg. 117) is making me wish that I read it before I saw the movie "


"I wonder if she'll enjoy watching me die."

Throughout this chapter you see Peeta's jealous side. While reading Katniss and Peeta start to raise their voice at one another while talking about what they're capable of, you could almost feel the tension.
I thought it was interesting that Peeta told Katniss that his mom said that District 12 was finally going to have a winner.. and the she meant Katniss, not Peeta.
The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe he's lying. Katniss has mentioned how he seems to be a good lier so I wouldn't be surprised if he was lying about this. It could be a way to make Katniss feel sorry for him and weaken her. If that is what his intentions were, then I have to admit, that's pretty clever.
I'm curious to see how well Katniss and Peeta will get along during the games. At this moment, I'm wondering if Peeta will play the sweet card until the games start, and when they begin turn his back again Katniss.
On the other hand, maybe Peeta really is feeling like he doesn't stand a chance next to Katniss. She is very skilled using a bow and arrow and probably has a really good chance at getting herself to the end and winning.

As I'm getting farther into the book I'm starting to wish that I hadn't seen the movie before I read it. I'm enjoying the book and it's disappointing when you lose the ability to be surprised while reading. It also takes away that element of trying to figure out what will happen next.
Nonetheless, I'm excited to read about the game itself and experience it in the book rather than in the movie.

Reading Reflection - Eight

Book: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages Read: 61- 83

This section that I read starts off with Katniss being pampered before the opening ceremony. I want to use this reading reflection to connect that certain situation with the real world.
The way that they describe Katniss being made up makes it seem as though she's an ugly person. The people that are working on her talk about how her legs are "so hairy" and that she seems greasy.
One of the things that a man name Flavius says is, "Excellent! You almost look like a human being now!" Katniss replied to this by saying, "We don't have much cause to look nice in District 12." She seemed okay with his comment, but if it was me I would have been a little offended. Yes, they would have made me "look nice" but their comments would have been unnecessary. Katniss comes from a poor District where they just barely get by. Just like I said in a previous reflection about her not having time to really worry about love, I don't think that when you're starving or close to it that looking beautiful is the first thing on your mind.
It reminded me how society today has such high expectations on looks. It seems as though if you don't look a specific way than you aren't good enough. Whose right is it to decide what's good enough?
I wish that people could dress how ever they want, do their hair how ever they want and live their life how ever they want without being ridiculed.
It's rather pathetic that people care so much about what others look like. If you're happy with yourself then what someone else looks like shouldn't matter to you.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Personal Addition 18 - Quebec

As of today (June 14, 2012) the countdown is at: 17 days. In 17 days I'll be flying out to Quebec for an experience that I'll never forget.
Last November, I signed up for a program that chooses participants by a lottery. If your name is chosen, you are placed in a French speaking city/community in Canada. When I signed up, I requested Quebec and much to my surprise, I got it!
The program is paid for (except for the flights) and it lasts for five weeks. For the five weeks that you're there you have to speak French (yes, the entire time).
There are so many things that we get to do and get to see that I can't even begin to imagine what it's going to be like. Not only am I going to meet so many new people, but my best friend also happened to get the same place that I did!
As excited as I am, I'm honestly quite nervous. Five weeks is a long time for me to be away (considering the longest that I've been away is probably about.. four days). I think it will be weird the first couple of days but I'm sure it won't take too long for me to adjust. I know that everyone else there is in the same position as me so meeting new people shouldn't be much of a struggle.
Looking past being nervous and leaving my family for a while, I am so excited that I get the chance to experience this. I owe a huge thanks to the people that run this program and I can't wait until I get back to share stories and pictures! Here's to a great summer!

Personal Addition 17 - Store Credit

You know what bugs me? Store credit. I feel like a huge hypocrite saying that because the store I used to work at only allowed store credit or exchange as well. Even though I was working there I still didn't agree with it.
All I want is to get my money back because a certain pair of shorts or a top looked a lot uglier on than they looked on the hanger. I'm sorry, but I didn't have enough time to try them on (that or I was just too lazy to..) and all I ask is that they allow me to simply give them their merchandise back in exchange for some money. Is it really that hard?

Personal Addition 16 - Raising Awareness

In the beginning of this school year, my friend and I decided to make a video on our own time to enter a contest on raising awareness for HIV. Unfortunately, we didn't win but we're still very proud of how the video turned out. We wanted to make a video that created emotion while watching it and really capture the audience. Because we were limited to lunch time to make the video it was sometimes frustrating to shoot exactly what we needed with enough time to do so. We pushed through all of the complications that we faced while filming in a short amount of time (along with a deadline that was quickly approaching) and this is what we ended up with...

Personal Addition 15 - Solo

The lights were glaring right into my eyes and I couldn't see anyone in the audience. It looked like I was all alone, but I knew I wasn't. I could hear the whispers coming from what looked like a black hole and I wanted the music to start before I got more nervous than I already was.

When I found out that I was given a jazz solo in 2008 for dance festival I was so excited! I had been wanting a solo for years and it was finally my turn. After weeks and weeks of practicing and perfecting, it was time for me to perform in front of too many strangers. I wasn't comfortable walking onto the stage. I had never danced in front of this many people by myself. I always had at least five other girls with me on stage so this feeling of being alone was completely new to me. I had always watched the other girls do their solos in the previous years and wondered what it felt like to be up there alone. It wasn't nearly as glorious as I thought it would be. My heart was beating so fast. I told myself that this was it and I had to do it; get it over with.

Looking back on that day, I'd like to say that I'm proud of how I performed, but for some reason I can't. Whenever I look back on that day all that I can remember was the beating of my heart and the glaring lights. I can't even remember the actual performance.
What I did take away from that day was that I was able to put myself out there for everyone to see. Mistakes included. It's the fact that I pushed myself to do it that I'm proud of. Sure, my dancing may not have been perfect that day, and I may have psyched myself out, but I did it. That's really what I should be remembering from that day. Not the heartbeat, not the lights, and not the small mistakes. All that I should remember was that I did it and that's enough for me.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Personal Addition 14 - Simple Smile

In 2010, one of our video projects in media class was to make a PSA. We decided to do ours on bullying. It's something that affects so many people every day and we wanted to raise awareness on bullying. Hot 103 hosted a video contest to raise awareness on bullying a few months after we created this video. We decided to enter it and despite the fact that we thought we had no chance at winning, we got a call from Hot 103 and we had won after all! Below is the video that we entered in the contest and I can honestly say that I'm quite proud of it!
Made by Nathalie and Sydney

Final Thoughts

Favourite Assignment: My favourite assignment from this year was definitely our final project: My Buried Life. Not only did it allow me to be creative and make a video to represent my 25 items, it gave me an opportunity to learn a bit more about myself and what I want to do with my life.

Least Favourite Assignment: My least favourite assignment from this year was probably the newspaper blackout poetry. I thought that the idea it was really interesting but I just honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed our other assignments.

Friday Reading: I found it hard to read during the Friday classes because I'd much rather read on my own time than in class. I find it difficult to concentrate sometimes when you're in a room full of other people and you're trying to get into a book. Even if no one is talking, it's just that I'm aware that there's people there and it disables me to invest all of myself into what I'm reading.

Monday Written Reflection: Out of the two reflections at we'd do on Monday (reading and writing) it's easy to say that I preferred the writing reflections. I don't necessarily like writing about what I've read (I'd rather have an actual conversation about it). What was different with the writing reflections was it allowed me to catch myself up on what we've been doing and the progress that I've been making in the class. It was also just a good chance to brush up on some of my writing skills.

The WRN: I really liked the idea of the WRN. Although I used my blog more than I used my notebook, it was a good place to keep things that I may not have felt like sharing on the internet or even just wanted to keep a bit more personal.

The blog: I would have never thought that we'd be making blogs in a creative writing class. After some time I warmed up to the idea and started to really enjoy it. I thought that it was a good way to be able to see what other students in the class have been writing about and to be able to share your work with them as well.

Tweeting: I wasn't too sure how well Twitter would work when it came to using it in the classroom. I was pleasantly surprised though when I realized how convenient it was when it came to tweeting our items off of our bucket lists. It was perfect for doing that because you really don't need more than 140 characters to share an item or two. It also allowed me to connect with my grade 4/5. I thought that that was really neat because not only did it allow her to see the progress I've made in the past six years, but it showed me how Twitter really can be used to connect with people.

The integration of technology into the course: I think that integrating technology with this course worked out better than I had been expecting it to. It was honestly a little weird being able to see your own work online at first but it allowed us to view other students work by simply clicking on a link. It's definitely a clever way to get students to put in more effort with what they're writing because it's no longer only you and your teacher that have access to it.


What you learned about yourself as a reader, writer, thinker, and creator: My main goal coming into this course was to be able to transfer my thoughts from my mind into words on paper (or in this case on my blog). I feel as though I've grown as a writer throughout this semester and that I can say that I've achieved my goal. I think that all it took was simply going for it. Less thinking, more writing. I have a tendency to over think what I'm about to write so all it took was pushing myself to let my fingers take control and keep going from there.

Comments/Compliments/Constructive criticism for Ms. McLauchlan about the course: I am really glad that I took this course and I really enjoyed it! I thought it was a great way to encourage students to take a different approach to writing by giving us assignments that we weren't exactly used to.

Advice for future CW students: My advice for future Creative Writing students would be to keep on top of your blog. Don't allow yourself to fall behind because it will be time consuming when you try to catch up. It's a really good course if you actually apply yourself and put effort into updating your blog or WRN. There's some really different assignments that you'll get to do so be ready to not perfect everything right from the start! This course is a great way to challenge yourself in ways other classes wouldn't allow you to and I would definitely recommend it.

Personal Addition 13 - Grilled Cheese

The title of the video explains it all: How To Make The Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Made by Nathalie and Sydney

Personal Addition 12 - Masks








I came across this poem and absolutely fell in love with it. It sends such a powerful message about being true to yourself and not trying to hide. Your unique or "different" qualities are what make you who you are, and rather than covering them up, you need to embrace them. You never know what you might be missing out on.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

My Buried Life - Video

Now What?

Now that I have this bucket list, what am I going to do with it?

May 26, 2012. Probably the best night of my life. Not only was it the night that I saw The Maine in concert, but the night that I met The Maine. That means that I have successfully crossed off number 11 and number 12 on my bucket list!
I've been waiting to see this band for over three years so I was definitely more than excited when I found out they were coming.
Of course, I bought my ticket as soon as they went on sale and all that was left was waiting. I was honestly counting down the days until the concert.
I had hopes of meeting the band but I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment. There were no guarantees and I knew that I couldn't just expect them to visit with their fans after every show. But, I knew that The Maine was headlining the American half of the show, not the Canadian half. Therefore, I knew that my chances were greater in meeting them. Just in case, I kept reminding myself that even if I didn't meet them, I got to see them perform live and that's all that really mattered.
The day of the show: I don't know how I stayed so calm. I didn't even experience those pre-show butterflies that get your adrenaline rushing.
When we arrived at the Garrick Theatre it felt surreal. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was actually about to see my favourite band live. I looked to my right: the entrance to the floor and seats. I looked to my left: the merch stand. We went on the floor to check out the stage, then went to the merch stand so I could buy a shirt. I wasn't going to leave "The Maine" concert without a tour shirt! I bought it and we went back to the floor, ready for the concert to start.
A band named Lydia opened the show. The band had a very mellow yet upbeat sound. They were actually pretty good.. a little bit repetitive, but I'm not complaining. The entire time they were playing I just kept on thinking how The Maine was going to be on that stage next.
Lydia finished their set, the roadies started switching the instruments, and we moved as close to the stage as we could. We ended up right up front and with my luck I was standing right next to the speaker. Let's just say I had some trouble hearing those next few days.
When The Maine came out the crowd screamed. There they were.. right in front of me. I was blown away by how amazing they were live. Just when you think you can't like a band anymore you see them live and prove yourself wrong.
Being a graphic arts student, a couple months ago I had made a poster which had happened to be of The Maine. I decided that I'd bring it with me to the concert and get over a fear of putting myself out there by throwing it on stage. I was so nervous that it took me almost their entire set before I threw it. After it flew out of my hands, it landed perfectly beside their guitar player and he picked it up and put it off to the side then proceeded to take it off stage with him at the end of their set.
When they finished I couldn't stop smiling. They were amazing!
The Arkells were last to perform and they were also very good live. It was hard to sit still while they played because of all of the excitement running through my body and I was really hoping that I'd get to meet The Maine.
It was time for the encore and The Maine and Lydia joined The Arkells on stage to do a cover of the Beatles song "With A Little Help From My Friends." Once again, amazing.
After the show, we went around to the back of the theatre after seeing a group of people hanging around back there. That was when I met The Maine. All five of the members came out and I waited patiently for my turn to meet them. Being pretty much the last ones there it gave me the opportunity to have small conversations with each of the members. I brought up my poster with them and two of them had already seen it and said they really liked it and were impressed that I made it (I was only a little bit excited!). I then took pictures with each of them and received a couple of hugs (which made me even more excited). Through all of the excitement, I'm proud to say that I kept most of it inside and stayed very calm around the band! I was definitely not expecting that.

Since the concert I've been calling that day the "best day of my life." I got to meet and see my favourite band and I got to feel a sense of accomplishment for checking two things off of my bucket list. It was the best feeling in the world and I can't wait to find out what I'll be crossing off of my list next!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Writing Reflection - Eleven - Tweet

"Finished writing my author's note. I'm really happy with it & have a good idea for making my project unique. I hope it works

Writing Reflection - Ten - Tweet

"I completed two things from my list: I saw The Maine in concert and I got to meet them! Yes, my Saturday night was amazing