blog 70

Blog 70

Dear future students of this English course,

English 110 is an interesting course. You will do more writing during this semester than during any other span of the same time previously in your life. My advice comes in three different way. Advice number one is to keep up with blogs and commenting. Blogs and comments are an easy way to get points and represents a big chunk of your grade. Keep up with them and get ahead, and make sure they are the correct length! You may think at first that 250 words a night is horrible, but it really isn't bad at all. Advise number two is to go to the writing center. The writing center is a great resource and is EXTRA CREDIT. If I went to the writing center more this quarter than I would have received a better grade in the class and would have created better papers. Advice number three is to get a head start on your Analytical Research Paper and your Commonplace paper. These are the bulk of your grade in the class and take a lot of time and effort to perfect. They are interesting papers and are not hard to get interested in. You will most likely find yourself having a good time when writing the paper. I learned much about writing in this class, and also about the research process. The class is much harder than I thought it would be. I was expecting a repeat of senior high school English, which is a complete and utter joke, but did not experience such a class. Enjoy the material and good luck!

-Gus Womeldorph

blog 69

Blog 69

I am going to blog about the fact that I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I have woken up the past few days with the thought that I am completely lost when it comes to the direction of my existence on Earth. Where the hell am I going? What do I want to do? The answer is I don't know. I truly don't know. I worry that I am wasting my parents money here, and that I am going to end up with some shitty, dead-end job that I really won't like. I once read that to find happiness in life, one must find purpose in their profession and surround themselves with people they love. I have no problems finding and surrounding myself with people I love; I have a big, supportive family and many great friends. But when it comes to finding a purposeful job, well that's where I am concerned. Sometimes I think about the complexity and sheer size of the world we live in, and than my mind wanders to the universe and all the unknown aspects of it. I feel fairly insignificant. Actually I feel very insignificant. What can I do in my life that has purpose? As the summer begins, I feel as if I am going to spend a lot of time thinking about this, and I hope I find something. So many people seem so sure of the direction of their lives. Maybe this is a natural feeling and I am sure everyone feels it at some point, but I just don't want to become some statistic, just another person wandering aimlessly until death. I want to serve a purpose for a greater cause. And this doesn't by any means translate to some religious bullshit, sorry to those of you that are religious. I want to be a part of a symbiotic relationship with the Earth, with other people, not just a parasitic entity. I know the answer is out there, that I will discover the right path for me. It's just a matter of time.

blog 68

Blog 68

Go ahead, call me an idiot. Call me stupid for not finding out about it sooner. Call me unfashionable for just now signing up. Call me way behind in the trends of our generation. Call me stupid, but I just found out about Stumble-Upon and would like to say it is a beautiful thing. Unlike Facebook, where people spend hours of useless internet time trying to friend new people, creeping on profiles and messaging people you barely know or could just as easily go out, socialize with and talk to face to face, Stumble Upon is a revolutionary new way to waste time. It isn't just useless time that you could use doing something progressive with your life, but you actually are learning about things you are interested in. Stumble Upon is a search engine type device that you must sign up to join. What you do is you check a number of your interests- say, nature, sports and space. Then you press the “Stumble” button. This button forwards your browser to a website or webpage correlating to the interests you chose. So in the case of nature, sports and space you might stumble onto (see what I did there?) a website about the endangered species of Africa, or the official Chicago Cubs website, or the National Geographic Space Exploration page. This shit is sweet. You can literally spend hours of your time stumbling away. The first time I found out about it, I literally stumbled for 2 hours straight. It's simply dope.

blog 67

Blog 67

Not only were they hard, but they were boring as hell. So, after long talks with my reluctant parents, I was able to persuade them to let me switch my major. But, as of now I have not declared a new major. I am leaning towards environmental science with a minor in business. I am currently taking a history class, Mongol World Empire. This situation posed an issue in my life, but I was able to emerge happy and successful. I made new friends in the two years I was there, and was able to enjoy the experience very much. But more often thoughts of the mountains brings to mind skiing and hiking and camping. I like being around friends and family for the most part, yet from time to time I enjoy my own isolation to relax. Mountains also represent nature. I love being around nature and all the recreation involved, from hiking to rafting to rock climbing. I will always have a soft spot for nature, and I am pursuing an Environmental Science degree. Mountains are commonly formed when two tectonic plates collide or rub together due to movement by the Earth's crust. Not only were they hard, but they were boring as hell. So, after long talks with my reluctant parents, I was able to persuade them to let me switch my major. But, as of now I have not declared a new major. I am leaning towards environmental science with a minor in business. I am currently taking a history class, Mongol World Empire. This situation posed an issue in my life, but I was able to emerge happy and successful. I made new friends in the two years I was there, and was able to enjoy the experience very much. But more often thoughts of the mountains brings to mind skiing and hiking and camping. I like being around friends and family for the most part, yet from time to time I enjoy my own isolation to relax. Mountains also represent nature. I love being around nature and all the recreation involved, from hiking to rafting to rock climbing. I will always have a soft spot for nature, and I am pursuing an Environmental Science degree. Mountains are commonly formed when two tectonic plates collide or rub together due to movement by the Earth's crust.

blog 66

Blog 66

I once saw a Hobo with a Shotgun in the street. He had a Hangover because he took a pill of first class Xmen. His name was Harry, and he used to be a potter for a funeral home called the deathly hollows. He was met a Pirates in the Caribbean, and sailed with him to Florida to look for some fountain. This trip made his knees really Thor. Along with his shotgun, he was carrying a Green Lantern. A Panda followed him, and had Kung Fu painted on his forehead. He was on his way to meet Five Fast Bridesmaids. This hobo was a badass. I talked to him once. He told me about how he used to be an assassin. He used to be named Jason Bourne, and he killed bitches for fun. Just douches mainly, but anyone who pissed him off too. The CIA was after him, so he killed the boss of the CIA, became boss himself, and fired all the people who were trying to catch him. He was the Dos Equis most interesting man in the world at one point, then decided that was too boring of a title, so he quit in order to be an international criminal. He was once in Thailand, and ate some rufied marshmallows. He and his friends woke up he next day, and didn't know what had happened. They lost their friend Teddy but ended up finding him at the end. I know this blog sounds stupid as hell, my bad.

blog 65

Blog 65

I am currently enrolled in a history class called Mongol World Empire. The Mongols were complete bad-asses. They started out as nomads on the outskirts of China that occasionally battled with other tribes of the area such as the Naiman's, the Kerait's, and the Merkits. These tribes were periodically placed on the side of China. China would pick a favorite tribe from time to time and support them. The Mongols were a fairly divided tribe, and were not very strong. Then a badass by the name of Temudgin came along. He battled and fought and talked his way into leading the Mongols. He quickly conquered the rest of the tribes in inner Mongolia and was given the name Chinggis Khan, or Oceanic Ruler. He ended up conquering much of Asia and setting the stage for his successors to conquer almost all of Asia. They started out as nomads on the outskirts of China that occasionally battled with other tribes of the area such as the Naiman's, the Kerait's, and the Merkits. These tribes were periodically placed on the side of China. China would pick a favorite tribe from time to time and support them. The Mongols were a fairly divided tribe, and were not very strong. Then a badass by the name of Temudgin came along. He battled and fought and talked his way into leading the Mongols. He quickly conquered the rest of the tribes in inner Mongolia and was given the name Chinggis Khan, or Oceanic Ruler. He ended up conquering much of Asia and setting the stage for his successors to conquer almost all of Asia.

blog 64

Blog 64

I watched “Inception” yesterday for the third time. This movie is nuts, simply bat-shit insane. But in a good way of course. While I had no difficulty in understanding, as many viewers have stated in many reviews, the concept is entirely unique. Some days when I go to the movie theater, I wonder if the producers and directors in Hollywood are running out of ideas for movies. I remember recently seeing the review for an action movie about owls. What the hell? The producers were interviewed during the preview. They said about the movie, “it's like Lord of the Rings, with owls!” That's honestly one of the stupidest things I have ever learned. Just dumb as hell. Now, movies like Inception are great because they are not just mindless action sequences strewn together, even though Inception has more than enough dope actions scenes. Inception also makes the viewers think about what they are watching, it expresses entirely unique ideas. The manipulation of dreams. Dreams are interesting, confusing, and sometimes scary things. They always seem vague and fuzzy, and we all wonder what they mean. The idea of manipulating dreams to serve an agenda is a very impressive subject for a movie. Beyond this manipulation, the concept of planting the seeds of an idea into someone's head to manipulate their actions is an interesting and terrifying idea. Many futuristic novels and movies have explored the idea of control and manipulation such as “1984” and “The Minority Report”. The major concept in Inception, however, is unique and simple dope as hell.