Reflective Essay

   The other day in English, Mr Sutherland asked us to reflect on our writing goals for the second quarter. Throughout the first quarter, I was introduced to lots of different writing styles and have recognized new things and bad habits in my writing.I noticed that I don’t have the easiest time being able to write a 500 word blog post/essay easily with no difficulties. But a bad habit that I’ve had for a while now has been procrastinating on my assignments. And lastly I would like to work on not getting writer’s block.  

     Right now I have a tendency to write about a 300 word essay. This is not a good thing because I have to go back over my essay and try to add in extra words so i can meet the requirement of 350 words. This also happens when I have to write response posts too. It can get very annoying at times because once I am done and have written my assignment, I don’t like having to spend another hour going back over it trying to get 350 words. One example is a quick write that I did last month. I read back over it and it was a pretty good blog post in my opinion, but it seemed very short and there were things in it that weren’t necessary. I could tell that I was just putting in extra details to try and so I could lengthen my post. Therefore, I would like to practice and learn how to write at least a 500 word essay without any problems whatsoever.

    Secondly, a major problem I have in school in general is procrastinating. Sometimes I wait until the morning the assignment is due to do it. I think  do this because I like hanging out with my friends and playing on the computer rather than taking hours out of my day to do my schoolwork.  Procrastinating is a bad habit that I have always had and would like to break because so far, it has made one of my grades go from an A+ to a B-. I am worried that if I don’t do anything about this soon, the pattern will continue and soon I will have an F. Then things will be all bad. But mainly the only times I do procrastinate is when I have to read something like a chapter book or have to respond to a text that I have read. It’s really sad, but I do not like reading because I don’t have the patience at all to sit and focus on one thing for over an hour. I guess you can say that I have a short attention span. Therefore, to stop procrastinating is one of my main goals this year.

    Lastly, I want to have the ability to stay focused and not run into writer’s block when I am doing a quick write or any type of essay. I tend to get it about once out of every two quick writes/essays we do when I have lots of things on my mind that are bothering me. Rather it’s in or outside of school. When I do get blocked, I start to write about these things that are on my mind. But once I do get all of the stuff off my chest and onto paper, new ideas on the original topic that I was writing about tend to pop up in my head. This process happens every time I get stuck on an assignment. Hopefully, by the end of this quarter, i will be less stressed and getting writer’s block will only happen rarely.   

    Over time, I have been writing better and it has gotten fairly easy for me to write essays and blog posts. Back in middle school, I hated writing essays and would’ve never imagined having to write two essays a week without breaking down at some point. Surprisingly, blog posts, essays, big projects, and labs almost every week has not overwhelmed me yet. Comparing one of the first essays I wrote this year to my most recent, you can see how I have grown as a writer. My essays now, are more organized and they sound like I am actually writing about something important. At least that’s what I think from perspective. Writing basically two essays a week has definitely helped me become a stronger writer over time. In conclusion, I have a few goals that I would hope to achieve this second quarter and become better as a student overall.  

0f Mice & Men thoughts

     Of Mice & Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, is about two migrant workers who have a dream of having the perfect farm to live on. Except, one of them, Lennie, is mentally challenged and gets him & his companion into a lot of trouble. Iwould say that the central conflict in this story is character vs. society, or Lennie vs. the world because almost everyone has some sort of problem with Lennie.

     First of all, Lennie has his own problem to deal with 24/7, George. George is the boss of Lennie so Lennie has to listen to him and put up with whatever George does to him. One time, George says,“You never had none, you crazy bastard. I got both 'em here. Think I'd let you carry your own work card?”(5) George is calling Lennie a bastard, then saying he is incapable of carrying his things. Now this may be true, but he could've said it a little nicer and not so harsh.

      Secondly, Curley has it out for Lennie just because he's is big. Now we didn't here this directly from Curley's mouth, but the way he says things to Lennie tells us that this might be true. But later on in the book,  there is a scene where everyone gangs up on Curley because he's wimping out on fighting when he picks the fights! Lennie just happened to be there, and he was smiling at a happy thought. Curley thought he was laughing at him. He says,“Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's yella.(62) Now since Curley doesn't like big guys and Lennie is a big person, so he decided to take his anger out on Lennie because he knew Lennie wouldn't do anything back. But after a brutal beating, Lennie finally steps up, grabs Curley's fist and squishes it until every bone in his hand is broken. Lennie didn't mean to do this, but he got caught up and held onto his fist like his life depended on it. The other men had to literally beat Lennie to get him off of Curley. Although, Curley might have been very mad at Lennie because of this, he wasn't going to rat him out because then all the men would have told his secret about being a wimp against the other guys.

      Lastly, Curley's wife creates another problem because she's such a slut. She joins Lennie in the barn while he is alone with a puppy. Now, Lennie likes to pat soft things like mice, rabbits, puppies, and velvet. Curley's wife has very soft hair and she doesn't know Lennie well, so she doesn't know how bad of a position she's putting her slutty self in.

“She took Lennie's hand and put it on her head. 'Feel right aroun there an see how soft it is.' Lennie's big fingers fell to stroking her hair. 'Don't you muss it up,' she said. Lennie said, 'Oh! That's nice,' and he stroked harder. 'Oh, that's nice.' 'Look out, now, you'll muss it.' And then she cried angrily, 'You stop it now, you'll mess it all up.' She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie's fingers closed on her hair and hung on...Lennie was in a panic...She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose...And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror...'Don't you go yellin,' he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”(90-91)Now this situation is not Lennie's fault, it's Curley's wife's fault. If she wasn't so gun ho for guys other than her husband, this would have never happened. Lennie didn't know he was hurting her, he just freaked out because he didn't want to disappoint George.

     In conclusion, none of these situations was Lennie the one to put the blame on. It isn't his fault he acts like that, the fact that he's big, or that they ended up on that ranch to work. Lennie is a very sensitive & unaware of his surroundings so everyone seeks him out as an easy target. Just because he's being himself and minding his own business.

*****IMPORTANT!!!! BREAKING NEWS!!!!!*****

This is a very important announcement. There has been a change of plans.
For my birthday, I want a G-Shock !!!!!!!!
And that is all.
Thank you for your time.
Goodbye.

*****My Birthday Wishlist*****

As some of you may already know, my birthday is on October 17th and I am celebrating it on the October 16th. Many people come up to me and ask me,"Well Ebone, what would you like for your birthday? I do not know what to get you." And I may say something like,"Oh, I just want money." But that is a lie. You will discover what I truly want for my birthday in this blog post.

First of all, I would like a Trey Songz CD and 3 posters of him. I love Trey Songz and someday I will get to meet him in person. I am going to a Trey Songz & Usher concert in November so I do not want concert tickets for my birthday. Unless they are front row seats. Then I will make an acception. Here is the next thing I want.

I also would like two new pairs of Vans shoes. An all black pair, and a purple and white pair too. I only own two pairs of Vans and I would like more if possible. And I am a size 8.5 by the way if you would like to fulfill this birthday wish and make me happy.

For my third wish, I would like a new purple leather jacket to go with the new pair of purple Vans that I will be getting. I like to match my clothes and not look a mess so thats why I want this jacket. This jacket is available at Rainbow and Burlington Coat Factory. But I would prefer the one that is at Rainbow which is on sale now for 24.99. Now this may sound a bit self centered, but I'm really not. I just want to be spoiled on my birthday. That's all.

And last but not least, I want a $50 gift card to Wet Seal because that is my favorite store and I need a new pair of black skinny jeans. If all of my wishes come true, I will be the happiest person in the world and I will definitely return the favor.

Now remember Trey Songz CD & 3 posters of him, two pairs of Vans all black and purple & white size 8.5, purple leather jacket at Rainbow for 24.99, and a $50 gift card to Wet Seal. 

L.O.V.E Response Post

Love is overrated. Love is too much for teenagers to handle and can cause extra stress that is not needed and when YOU GET DUMPED, your heart will break into a million pieces and you will feel like your whole world has come to an end and you will go into a dark, deep depression. Here's a quote I got from Karen's blog:

All love basically is you give someone all the love you have until they decided to hurt you or end it.

 As a teenager, I agree with this statement. Some of us fall in love, then get our hearts broken after we have given one person all of our time and trust. Now why does this happen? Well it's apart of life and nowadays, it's hard to find one person that you will be with forever and stay faithful to. And this is very sad. Back in our grandparents time, it was easier to commit to one person for all of your life and it would be okay to fall in love when you were young. But since then, times have become worse, people have become more sly and temptation is skyrocketing through the roof.

Cheating is now the thing to do and you really have to watch out who you fall for because you got guys and girls that will be dating two or three people at one time while dating you, then in the end you will feel like the stupid one, if you ever find out. And the domestic violence rate has went up greatly because women fall in love with men and then the men take advantage of them because they know the women won't leave. This is also the reason that most people cheat because they know that their partner deep in love with them and they will not leave.

And on the other hand, you got teenagers that fall in love with a person they aren't even going out with. Back in middle school, their was this girl who fell really hard for this guy and he basically told her he didn't like her as more than a friend. Now this was in about November and she didn't get over him until after our eighth grade graduation in June. Now its not like she was ugly, she was very pretty in fact but he wanted another girl. She was crushed and in my opinion she shouldn't have fallen for him so easily. But I guess some people can't help themselves.