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Well, I guess the paper is done. Also, blog+class reflection

That was not the paper I wanted to turn in but nothing can be done now, past the date. I've got 2 exams tomorrow (and by tomorrow I mean Thursday, after I sleep) and still a lot of work to do in the quarter and having one class all but out of the way is a relief. 
As a side note, I took all my reflections, papers, and blogs I wrote this quarter for English and put them together into a word document because I was bored 5 minutes ago. I know I shouldn't be bored with so much going on but I guess I got tired of working for a minute. Anyhow, what I found is I had written about 13000 words over the course of the quarter, and they fill 42 pages. I find this to be quite interesting, as it puts the quarter into perspective.
Still, what also surprised me is this pales in comparison to what I've done before. Once while riding on a plane I decided to take my laptop out and just write. I had no goal, other than entertaining myself, which allowed me to write quite a bit. In the 90 minute flight I wrote 3400 words. That is the best medium I can think to use right now. Because I had no goal for my writing then, and I wanted things to come out as they were, I did not fix typos or errors. It was also simplistic at times and I was a bit redundant. Does that mean those 3400 words are inferior to another set of 3400 words? Well they certainly didn't take long to go down, and not much thought went into that, but I was still rather surprised by it. That was 3400 words spanning 10 pages in 90 minutes.
I really want to find something that I enjoy writing about. I enjoyed that trip and writing it all, but it has no purpose to me now. I tried reading it and it just goes on and on and on, and I cannot do it. In fact much of my writing was simply based on my tracking how long it was getting and how many words I had at a given time. Here's the start of what I wrote about a year ago now.

"I am traveling on a plane right now, writing about nothing.  My ears feel like they're about to pop, too much pressure, but nothing I can do about it.  I'm flying down to Onterio california for a vintage kart race, and I dont feel like utilizing the media I have on my laptop at the moment, so I decided to write.  I dont know if anyone will ever read this, or what it's purpose is, but I hope to discover that along the way.  I'm currently in a text document with no real formatting aside from text wrap so I cant even see how much i've really written.  It is currently 9:30 pm and I'll be arriving at an estimated 11:22 pm.  We were schedueled to arrive at 10:15, but do to electrical problems with a light, we had to switch planes and caused us a considerable delay.  We just now achieved 35000 feet in the air and were advised they now estimate us arriving at 11:15.  We can now unfasten our seat belts as needed, though it is Alaska Airlines' policy that we must keep seat belts fastened while seated.  I hope to not have to get up during the flight.  The date is 1/27/10, a wednesday.  I had Math today, precalc 2, and am skipping chemistry 162 tomorrow.  I already turned in my mostlab that would have otherwise been due tomorrow.  I am however missing a 3 point reading uh.. I cant remember the word, not exam, but mini-test.  It is my intention to not correct myself and simply write this as it comes to me.  If I can recall the word at some point, I'll share it.  Anyhow, the 3 points isnt a big deal.  Oh, it's Quiz by the way, just came to me, figures, as soon as I finish explaining that, it would come to me. "

That's just a short part, the very beginning, because ... why not. It's about the only part I can look back on and enjoy reading. Well, no, that's not true. The best part I felt was the end. It was the only part I took out, corrected typos, and saved in a different document. It's not perfect but hey, does it have to be?

"Oh, if my plane crashes and everyone dies, I hope that my family could be allowed to read this.  That would suck, but I have no regrets.. well kinda, anyhow, don't be sad.. not that my saying that would help, but whatever, I'd like to live longer, but if I die, I die, I just hope I don't really see it coming, no time for regrets, no time to be unsatisfied with how things went.  Gotta move on in this big experiment we go through every day called life.

Doug Waterman, Jan 27 2010"

Actually, in reading it right this second, it seems a little stupid. That's it though, it's out there.

So, it just occurred to me I'm supposed to write a reflection on here. I changed the Title accordingly to include that in here as well as this post has had very little meaning to this point.

As is likely evident, I've enjoyed my blog. I was saying earlier in an obscure way how I enjoy writing. This has been a fun way for me to express my thoughts throughout the quarter.

I do feel a slight disappointment though. While I have enjoyed my own blog, I have not enjoyed searching for other blogs to write forced feedback to. We all know what I'm talking about. It's hard to find a blog that naturally sticks out to me as something I must reply to. With replies being required for a grade, we do it, or at least some do I suppose, but is that good enough? I hit on the idea that the blogs are the wrong medium before. With everyone on different blogs, separated into different places, it's inherently more difficult to communicate fluidly with each other.

After some brief research I found Google Groups may work decently if you are interested in giving that a try (Melissa). (I don't know why I include that, it's implied that that is directed to you, but anyhow....). If you dont like that, there's always good old php, or what ever is current these days. There is free hosting if you do a little searching, it's easy to find. The more people are tied together to one another, the better I think. They also make group or community blogs, which could also be an option, but I don't much like that one myself. The one plus to these is it makes grading easy as you can see each person's blog right there. However, what you cannot easily see are replies so it's still limited in that respect. A php board could do a better job for that. All you do is click on a user, and you can search for all posts made. Feel free to ask me if you want more information on these. I can try to get more at a more convenient time (for me) (aka, tomorrow afternoon).

I am sorry about my paper being so short. I have had quite a bit of focus on my math and biology classes over the last 2 weeks. If it's any consolation, I certainly know how to write a research paper. That is the goal right? I've generally been more interested in learning than actually caring of a grade. That is not to say a grade is not important or that I did not want to write anything. Practice writing is always a plus, even if it may not be fun. I thought hard on what I should do over the last 2 weeks. I was 5 weeks behind in math back at that time, and it was a debate. I looked at my grades continuously, and decided I must focus on math rather than my paper. I am sorry for this. Being that I have 805 points right now, this cannot be a surprise that my focus would be elsewhere if there is anywhere for it to be. I don't expect much as far as points go for my paper. I put some effort into what I wrote, but it certainly was not enough. I still hope to get around to making more in my 'rage comic' series. It's all about time now, and I say that as I'm blogging which could be seen as unnecessary. Again, proof that this is at the least something that I've enjoyed.

I may be going up to Tulalip next week (tuesday was it?) to see Sherman Alexie as well. It all depends on what I'm doing that day, as I may be bound to other plans, so we'll see. 

I may continue blogging, though not likely on this particular blog. I will however leave a place for you to post things if you or anyone wishes. You are welcome to keep me on the email list as well.

Doug

The end of the quarter!

The end of the quarter is upon us! I think for everyone now, all content in whatever classes has been covered, and it's down to the finish. We only have 1 more class period in English. Still, the culmination of this class has not yet been completed. While we have a paper, many others have tests. I myself have 4 exams coming up this week alone. I have a Lab Exam in biology tomorrow after our class, a calculus final Thursday, followed by part 1 of my Biology final. Part 2 of my Biology final is Friday.

I am still stressed, as I believe I said last time, but I think things are going well right now. I really have to learn not to procrastinate so much though. In Calc 2, I basically waited until the last 2 weeks to learn all the material from week 4-week 10. I've still got a bit to do but at this point I feel good about it.

Again I want to thank everyone for last Wednesday, allowing me to go up front and speak my mind about the government.

Doug

Thanks for coming out again!

I just wanted to thank Paco, Kohl, and Jordan for coming out and speaking with us again. On top of that, I was (happy to be able to push my political thoughts on to everyone and hope no one minds. I've blogged about that before, (whether anyone's read it is another thing) so I won't go into it now. If people want to know more, read that blog which is on here somewhere, there's only so many of them so it will just take a minute. I would like to hear back thoughts or ideas on what I wrote before, but whatever.

What I want is a better place for everyone.


Also, I must include this last thought that I don't quite know how to address. I'm not sure how I feel about Native Americans seemingly having more rights than I do. That how they were born entitles them to something more from the land. I wont go any further into this either, that's the general idea I'm thinking about now. I know they were here first, and what's been done to them, but I am unsure on my thoughts her.
(An example of what I mean.. uh, well each year I go crabbing, but weeks before the crabbing season opens, you can see Native Americans out catching a ton of them. There is no way that I know of for me to go out and do this, I have to wait for the season to starts. This is a rather trivial example, but I think it shows rather well what I'm thinking about.)

This is the busiest I have ever felt going into the final 2 weeks

This quarter has had me very busy. I've outlined many of my problems already, such as being flooded out of my apartment, and living in a hotel for a month. After than the process of moving in was quite time consuming. I had to quit my job because they could not cut my hours back enough for me to be able to pass my classes. My mom is now in Afghanistan, and there are various other responsibilities I must fulfill now, such as making sure rent payment is on time, grocery shopping, and sending things to her.

Even after quitting my job, I have not had time for all my work. I am 5 weeks behind as of right now in math, Calculus 2. I am confident I will pass and learn the material but do not know what my grade will be like outside of that. I am all but done on my artistic response, which is a good thing. I still have my paper to write for this class but I have it shaped out pretty well at this point and don't anticipate any problems there.

I have 2 presentations to prepare for however. One in math and another in my biology class. On top of that I have 4 exams coming up between the two classes.

As for my artistic response, I have gone with a comic. Well, it's not exactly a traditional comic. I gathered my inspiration from the internet and have created a series of 'Rage Comics'. These comics are a form of art and expression often used throughout the internet. If something happens in your life, you can create a rage comic to illustrate the event. The name "rage comic" comes from its roots as something people create to vent their anger or frustration at an event. They are most often created using standard sprites or characters with varying facial expressions and moods, which have been created by various internet users for their respective purposes. While they are often relatively simple and simplistic in appearance, I can assure much time, thought and effort is going into my comics as I try to make them perfect.

Tulalip Reflection

I was looking forward to going to Tulalip. It had been a while since I was up that way, and I had never been in the casino before so I expected it to be a bit of an adventure. I brought a friend as well. Upon arriving, the first place we went to was the front desk of the casino where we were told we wanted to go to the hotel for events. Our hopes of a tour through the casino were quickly dashed, as we realized we needed to go outside and walk about 50-60 yards south. See, neither of us are 21, so we cannot simply walk through the casino, we would have been kicked out. Anyhow, when we got to the front counter of the hotel, they were not exactly sure of where the movie was, but told us to go the conference rooms and hopefully it will be there. Soon enough, after another short walk and nearly getting hypnotized by the pattern on a carpet, we found the conference rooms and were happy to see that we were in the right place.

I was ever so slightly disappointed in the food I must admit. I had sort of expected a full dinner being at the casino, and had not had much to eat beforehand. This left me a little hungry but I managed to survive, somehow.

The discussion we had was interesting in my group. It was made up of me, my friend Raphael, and several women who are involved in Native American education either there in Tulalip or Marysville, and we were later joined by Bridgett from our class. In discussing the book, I first had to convince them that the book did not take place in the 70’s or 80’s. After all, they were using email for communication throughout the book. While the internet may have existed in a primitive form back in the 70’s and 80’s, there is no way it would have been that easily accessible or used by people in that capacity back then. After mentioning this, one of the women in my group mentioned how she was on a reservation that didn’t have electricity of running water in 2000, let alone internet, and agreed with me. I tried to think of where in the book I remember it stating a date, because I want to say it was set in 2005 or 2006 but I cannot be sure at this point and it’s hardly relevant.

At one point I was sort of embarrassed. My friend Raphael had not read the book nor does he really know anything about the problems facing many Native Americans, and when he tried to enter the conversation, it seemed from my view that he made an ass of himself through his ignorance. I was surprised though at how open and understanding everyone in our group was. They were happy to talk to him and explain a bit about the conditions and problems facing many Native Americans, and I think it became a very good, if not an eye opening experience for him.

The topic of teaching Native Americans came up later which turned out to be interesting. From what they said, you cannot teach quite the same way. Often times we think of personal incentives as a way to help move people along. Whether it’s a grade, or competition, or a prize, it turns out for many Natives to not be as effective. The reason being as the woman explained is that they put much more consideration into the group rather than the individual. This meant that her traditional teaching skills were not as useful with Native American children, requiring her to change her teaching style. Unfortunately we ran short on time and were unable to finish that conversation. I don’t know what she might do for incentives for the group, but I am somewhat interested.

The movie was next. I had not seen it, and so I enjoyed it to an extent. It was a little silly, and often times seemed stereotypical but that was fine. The biggest issue I had was while I know it followed the plot or a book (or was it two books?), I felt the plot itself was not thought out very well. The characters did not seem to develop too well either. For example, on the drive back Victor was very cold towards Thomas until they were in the accident. From that point on, without real explanation, they seemed like best of friends. I felt like Thomas did not develop as a character at all. Mid-way through they tried by having him change clothes and unbraid his hair, but he was not only the same character, but went back to how he started not soon after. I’m going to guess my complaints are due to them trying to adapts 2 books into 1 movie. While using the ideas of the books, they have to likely drop quite a bit of material which makes the movie a little shallow.

Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable experience. I have yet to decide if I will be going back on the 18th I believe it is for the Poetry event they are having. I’m thinking about it, but will depend on what else I’m doing at that time.

It's been a few days

Hello blog, it's been a few days since we talked so here I am. I attended the book discussion/movie up at Tulalip last Friday. It was an interesting experience, but I'll save the rest of that for my reflection. I am now living alone as I mentioned I believe last post, but nothing much has changed yet.

After some thought, I have come to the conclusion that the blogs like this are the wrong way to go. When we have everyone on separate sites and we are trying to get a discussion, it is difficult. I understand the idea, to start a narrative between Cascadia and Tulalip, but I don't think this is the right way to go. While everyone is given their own domain, it makes it very difficult to see everything unless you follow everyone. Even then though it doesn't really offer a very nice interface to view everything quickly. Instead, I believe a public or semi-public forum might be better. There are many cheap and free forum utilities available. I'm not much a fan of the Angel Discussion board, and it has many limitations such as needing to be in the class to participate.

A public discussion board or forum would allow students from Cascadia and Tulalip to communicate in a more organized manner. Similar principals could be applied to what we have on the blogs now, such as a required 1 post a week and 1 reply a week. On a discussion board it could be the same, with making one new thread a week, and replying to someone else's thread. Maybe make it 2 replies, just to keep conversations going.

If everyone can easily see all the discussions going on, they might find more to relate to, and more to reply. I believe this setup would be much more conducive to a real conversation.

Well, I should go to sleep. Class is in uh.. 8 hours 23 minutes. I'll be sure to set my alarm.